Chapter 247: Today, When the False Becomes True, the True Also Becomes False
The afternoon sunlight was warm. The breeze drifted in through the open window, carrying a gentle warmth.
Inside the ward, Shiltina held Rast’s hand, pouring out the depths of her heart.
The golden silence of time trickled away bit by bit, with the sun sinking westward.
…
Out in the corridor, Ophelia watched silently through the isolation window, observing everything that happened inside.
Above her, Dean Silver swished her tail with some surprise.
“Never thought Little Tina actually held such deep feelings for Rast… to the point of being engraved upon her very bones.”
“If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I would scarcely believe it.”
“No, at least not two years ago.”
Ophelia gently shook her head.
“I know Elder Sister far too well—no one understands her more than I do.”
“At that time, before that unfinished wedding… Elder Sister’s feelings for Brother Rast, while tinged with a woman’s admiration, leaned more toward appreciation, trust, and the sympathy of two people bound by their pursuit of ideals.”
“I never doubted those feelings would eventually blossom, that Elder Sister and Brother Rast would be together. But compared to love that cuts to the bone, a bond to pledge life and death… it still lacked the tempering of years and the weight of time.”
“But now, that is hard to say.”
Her gaze lingered on the ward, her tone distant.
“Even without Elder Sister, without that wedding, Brother Rast likely would still have pulled the trigger and slain the Gravekeeper Quasi-Angel.”
“But in Elder Sister’s eyes, it was because of her that Brother Rast fell into a vegetative state… it was her own hesitation and weakness then that condemned him to this half-life upon the hospital bed.”
“Memories beautify a person. Each visit to the hospital fermented her guilt and sorrow into deeper emotion; pain to the depths also becomes sweetness to the depths.”
“As memories wore thin and time polished them further, two years passed. How could Elder Sister possibly untangle her heart so clearly…”
“Today, when the false becomes true, the true also becomes false.”
Above her, Dean Silver widened her eyes in astonishment.
“Little Lia, I must look at you differently now.”
“Even I, a mystical beast of the ‘Moon’ Sequence, cannot perceive human emotions with such clarity.”
Ophelia smiled. “After all, both Dean Silver and Brother Rast have said I’m a sister-con. As a sister-con… naturally I must understand Elder Sister and everyone around her completely.”
“If I lacked even this degree of insight into people’s hearts, how could I have once made the great nobles shudder merely upon hearing my name?”
“Is that so—”
Dean Silver scratched her head with her tail. “Then what about you?”
“The little schemer who prides herself on seeing through hearts… can you see through your own?”
Ophelia gave no answer, only continued to watch the ward in silence through the glass.
“That fragment of the Epoch Stele seems to have begun taking effect.” She diverted the subject.
“Mm. As expected of the Arcane Tower’s nexus. Even a single fragment of the stele can draw upon the power of the Nightworld.”
“In a sense, under the influence of that stele fragment, this ward has already been transformed into an entrance to the Nightworld—a channel only those in deep resonance with it may enter.”
Dean Silver dropped the earlier topic, returning to her usual indolent state, speaking lazily.
“With the Nightworld as the medium, Rast’s soul can break free from the confines of his broken body and directly enter the Nightworld.”
Outwardly, they had explained to Shiltina that it was a soul-treatment plan proposed by Starfall University.
In truth, smuggling the stele fragment from the Arcane Tower into Rast’s ward had been a secret plan conducted privately between Dean Silver and Ophelia.
They concealed it from Shiltina, as well as the numerous spies around the hospital who monitored her every move.
“So, Dean Silver also believes… that Brother Rast’s soul has already revived, but because his body remains too damaged, he cannot awaken in reality?”
Ophelia asked softly.
“Rather than say I believe Rast revived… I would say his soul never perished at all.”
Dean Silver yawned. “That boy has endured since the Bygone Era—”
“Neither the purgatory of time loops, nor the corruption of Evil Gods, nor the reversal of the Iron Cross could shake him. His heart is a firmament of steel.”
“How could a mere mortal wound from ‘Fantasia Collapse’ possibly kill the soul that returned from hell, erase the iron heart that laughs at despair?”
“The reason he became a vegetative man, fallen into long sleep, is simply because his ruined body, like a wasteland of rubble, cannot withstand the strength of his soul now.”
“But for Rast, this is not necessarily a bad thing.”
Her voice paused.
“The reason he fired that shot—beyond hunting the Gravekeeper and helping Little Tina realize her heart—was also to carve out his own legendary path.”
“The power of the ‘Fool’s Library’ contains all things, endless and vast. It was the foundation of Rast’s past strength, letting him battle beyond his rank and reach Sixth Tier’s peak in less than a year. Yet, when facing the chasm of the Legendary Realm, it became the very Shackle holding him back.”
“Past holders of the ‘Fool’s Library,’ the Gravekeepers of old, whether Grey or Sisel… upon reaching the Sixth Tier, all needed more than ten years to search through the endless ocean of worlds within, to find their own unique way.”
“But Little Rast chose a method far more brutal, far more resolute.”
“His ‘Tower’ was itself a Sequence of destruction, ruin, chaos, and loss of control.”
“So he simply shattered everything he possessed—his own Sequence, even the ‘Fool’s Library’—to collapse, destroy, and rebuild anew.”
Dean Silver flicked her fluffy tail toward the slumbering Rast inside the ward.
“His body seems ruined beyond repair… after the collapse of the Tower, only a wasteland of desolation remains.”
“But beneath that lifeless wilderness, something new is already germinating.”
“One day, upon that barren ruin, a new Tower will rise. Not relying on anything external, untouched by another’s marks—solely his own legendary path.”
“At that time, it would also be the moment that boy awakens—”
“The moment of breaking through to the Legendary Realm, and even achieving Angelhood.”
Dean Silver blinked those ruby-like beast eyes. “Of course, if you can’t wait until he wakes… you can also try using the Nightworld as a medium to directly enter his spirit and communicate with his soul.”
“If I haven’t guessed wrong, that guy’s soul has long since completed its transformation, reaching the rank of the Legendary Realm—only waiting for his body to complete its transformation as well, to ascend the Tower in that instant.”
As he spoke, Dean Silver regretfully shook his head. “It’s a pity I’m not human, so I can’t be recognized as a Night Traveler. The only time I entered the Nightworld was when that boy smuggled me in.”
“Otherwise, I’d definitely head into the Nightworld to chat with that kid… Without him, I really feel a bit unaccustomed. Little Tina and Little Shiya are flawless meal tickets, but their personalities are too proper. They can’t catch any of the jokes or punchlines I throw out.”
“He’s over there sleeping like a log, while I’m just about bored out of my mind.”
Dean Silver let out a resentful complaint.
One could only say that this group of people truly didn’t know how to care for a lonely, empty-nest ferret.
Hearing this, Ophelia nodded. “Then, Dean Silver, I will first attempt to enter the Nightworld.”
This was the plan she and Dean Silver had agreed upon from the very beginning—using fragments of the Epoch Stele to open a miniature passage to the Nightworld inside the hospital ward.
Then, using the Nightworld as a medium, she would enter Rast’s inner spirit world to communicate with him.
“Mm, go on then, I’ll keep watch for you.”
“If Little Tina finishes her business, I’ll let you know… But based on past experience, she should be staying here until sundown.”
Dean Silver casually swayed his tail.
Every week, Shiltina would make time to visit the hospital and spend the entire afternoon with that youth, staying with him in the ward from noon until nightfall. This had already become a fixed part of her life, unshakable.
Seeing this, Ophelia retreated to the end of the corridor, near the boundary of that miniature Nightworld entrance inside the ward.
Then, with a faint stirring of her thoughts, she gently touched another small fragment she carried with her.
In the next instant, a veil of night rose quietly like a thin gauze, enveloping Ophelia within it.
When Ophelia’s consciousness revived again, what entered her vision was already a brand-new world.
On the distant horizon, flames leapt and burned.
In the darkened sky above, countless colossal gears stretched endlessly, meshing together and slowly rotating.
It was a world akin to an ironworks, with nothing else in existence except for a hazy, ruined little town on the crimson wasteland, and those colossal gears turning slowly at the end of the dusky heavens.
Ophelia knew—this was Rast’s inner world, the mental landscape projected by his soul.
And that black-haired, black-eyed youth stood right beneath the sky filled with gears, at the center of that crimson wasteland.
He wore a pure black trench coat, his tall and lean figure exactly as Ophelia remembered.
“Although I had already discussed various contingency plans with Dean Silver before entering my slumber…”
“Still, being able to see an old acquaintance again after two years is rather delightful.”
As if he had long expected her arrival, the black-haired youth looked at the slowly appearing girl and smiled faintly.
“Long time no see, Ophelia. You’ve become far more charming than you were two years ago.”
“Mm, it truly has been a long time, Brother Rast.”
Ophelia lifted her skirt slightly and returned a proper noble’s courtesy.
She noticed that compared to two years ago, Rast had clearly become much gentler—not the feigned warmth of when he wore a Mask of Personality, but a change that stemmed from within.
Ophelia had never realized before that within the boy’s heart, so persistent like a demon and unyielding like steel, there actually existed such a soft side.
After exchanging a few simple words, Ophelia recounted to him the many upheavals that had occurred in the Empire and at Starfall University since his slumber.
“So, should I tell Elder Sister Wang that Brother Rast’s soul has already awakened?”
At this, Rast lightly shook his head.
“Although I do want to meet Shiltina, right now my body hasn’t yet fully awakened. The final step of the transformation toward the Legendary Realm still remains unfinished.”
“Since that’s the case, I’d rather wait until I truly awaken—and then give her a surprise in reality.”
“Also—”
He paused slightly. “If I haven’t guessed wrong…”
“Shiltina, and the Granwell Empire, have likely already drawn the gaze of certain malicious forces lurking in the dark.”
“After all, back in the Imperial Capital, I stirred up such a great commotion, killing a Gravekeeper Quasi-Angel. And Shiltina, in front of the world, so openly had the Holy Sword recognize her as its Master, declaring her identity as the future Empress.”
“If the Gravekeepers, along with the other nations of the Western Continent, continued to remain indifferent, wouldn’t that be far too restrained of them?”
At his words, Ophelia nodded faintly, silently acknowledging Rast’s judgment.
As the saying went: “The tree that rises above the forest must endure the wind.” The Holy Sword had recognized a new Master after a thousand years, and Shiltina had ascended to the Legendary Realm in record time.
On top of that, Shiltina refused compromise, openly declaring to the entire world that the one who slew a Gravekeeper Angel was sheltered by the Empire, and that anyone who dared to harm Rast would be hunted by the Empire to the ends of the earth.
This was tantamount to declaring war against the Gravekeepers—not only making their enmity irreconcilable, but also provoking the hostility of the other nations on the Western Continent.
The Empire had already been strong under Allen’s reign. Now, with Shiltina—the youngest Legendary in Western Continent history, chosen by the Holy Sword, and swiftly unifying the Sovereign Domain within the Empire—its strength had multiplied even further.
If this continued, the other nations of the Western Continent would never rise again.
Thus, though the Imperial Capital seemed calm on the surface, it was nothing more than the stillness before a storm—
In the shadows, a great tempest was already quietly gathering, centered around the Imperial Capital and Shiltina.