I, the final BOSS of the beta test server!

He raised his head and gazed at the clear blue sky. "It's true that hunters can tame eagles by using the 'hawk training' method."

"But once the bird has been domesticated, its wildness has faded, and it now obediently follows the hunter's orders, it is no longer an eagle..."

"And it's just an eagle--"

“Poultry only.”

Rast stood up from the rocks by the sea and brushed the dust off his hands.

"Senior, I am indeed forming my own organization and am currently recruiting personnel... However, the difficulties this organization will face are far more dangerous than what I described."

"The darkness and despair you've faced in the past—perhaps they will pale in comparison to what you'll face after joining the organization."

"That's why I designed this 'Eagle-Stay Test'."

"As for the result of 'staying up late', I am actually very happy."

Luster paused. "Because in my eyes, a true eagle—"

"I would rather die than bow to a falconer."

"Only a true eagle is qualified to be my partner."

“Even in hell, I never forget the martyrs who looked up at the stars…those who walked with me.”

……

Rast's right hand gently clenched in the air.

The next moment, a heavy-hitting revolver engraved with an iron moon pattern quietly appeared in his palm.

Then, Rast placed the revolver etched with the Iron Moon on the big rock in front of Ingrid.

"Senior Ingrid, I told you you won."

"So no matter what choice you make, I will not interfere anymore."

"You can either evacuate the border and continue to collude with those secret organizations and evil cults; or you can choose to return to the imperial capital and surrender yourself, accept the judgment of imperial law, and spend the rest of your life in prison."

"Or, you could continue what I stopped you from doing earlier and commit suicide with this 'Iron Moon'. Or even attack me right now and lock me in an iron coffin and sink it to the bottom of the sea."

"but--"

"Senior sister..."

Luster turned around, his back to Ingrid, and his soft words drifted on the sea breeze.

"If in your heart, there still remains a trace of yearning and longing for the military hero who saved the Gustav Nuclear Power Plant from crisis, for the glory and honor of that time, that boundless glory..."

"Then, please consider my earlier offer to become my companion."

He slowly reached out his hand.

A crystal as gloomy as the dark night, as if it had swallowed up all the light in the world, quietly condensed in Rast's palm.

Then, Last placed this pitch-black crystal of the night on the reef in front of Ingrid, together with the "Iron Moon" revolver.

"This is the crystallization of my memory."

"Inside the memory crystals are stored fragments of my past life, as well as incomplete miniatures of my memories."

Rast turned sideways, his dark eyes reflecting the brilliance of the sun on the coast.

"Senior, you said you were a moth in the darkness, and you would only be roasted into charcoal by the sun."

"You also said that Hiltina's light couldn't illuminate Ingrid's darkness... Because Hiltina was born with everything, never stooped to the dust, and never experienced the process of rising from the humblest, so she could never empathize with you."

"Well, Senior Sister, you might as well take a look at this memory crystal and see my past life and experiences."

"Let's see if I, a demon who has returned from hell, can reach the dark night that belongs to Ingrid."

"Then, cut off your fate, Senior Sister."

……

When Ingrid came back to her senses from her trance, the dark-haired boy was no longer visible on the dusk-covered coastline.

Only the revolver and memory crystal shrouded in the sunset on the reef not far away confirmed what Last had just said.

"If Senpai changes her mind, then—"

"I'll be waiting for you in the student dormitory of Star University."

The boy's calm and clear voice seemed to still be ringing in my ears.

Ingrid looked at the revolver on the rock.

Followed by.

With some hesitation, she reached out her hand to the dark memory crystal that was as black as the night.

Chapter 188 The way to change you is to marry Rast (two in one)

As the sun sets, the lonely sea surface is dim.

On the messy reefs, the two objects left by Last were now dyed with a layer of light golden neon under the afterglow of the setting sun.

A heavy-hitting revolver engraved with the Iron Eclipse Moon, and a memory crystal as black as the night.

This was the last question that Luster left for Ingrid before he left.

A multiple-choice question with only single-choice options.

Just as Ingrid had imagined before, she would end her life once and for all.

Or choose to live, become the companion of the black-haired boy, swear allegiance to him... spend the rest of your life following him, and regain the past glory and honor that Ingrid has forgotten.

Ingrid's gaze paused on the revolver for a long time, and she hesitated.

However, after a long silence, she finally reached out her hand towards the dark crystal.

Ingrid is not the type of person who is indecisive. Once she decides on something, she will definitely do it... Her background means that she does not have enough options for retreat like other people of her age.

For Ingrid, every decision is a gamble. She will not leave herself a way out, but can only move forward.

but--

However, the words that Last had said before did make her concerned.

In that case, let’s first take a look at what Rast left behind and see what the hell it is.

With this thought in mind, Ingrid picked up the crystal of memory that was as dark as the night.

Those above the fifth level who have also achieved some accomplishments in the cultivation of mental power all possess the ability to cut off part of their own mental power and memory fragments, and present them as physical memory crystals to others... As the former Chief of the Military Inspectorate, Ingrid is no stranger to this.

She emptied her mind, allowed her spirit to become one with the soul fluctuations of the memory crystal, and slowly injected her thoughts into the memory crystal.

The next moment, countless fragmented memories and images came flooding back like a tide... causing Ingrid's delicate body to tremble slightly.

In the past, when interrogating some enemy spies, Ingrid had used skills similar to "soul search" with the help of her subordinates, so she was very familiar with reading other people's memories.

As the former inspector general of the military, Ingrid can be described as knowledgeable and experienced. She has seen black, white, and gray... Ingrid is a true extraordinary person who has risen from the bottom of society. In her life journey, she has already seen through the world and the warmth and coldness of human nature.

But even so - Ingrid had never seen such a memory before, which made her heart tremble and almost have a mental breakdown.

What kind of mental image is this...

The Deep Blue Harbor, contaminated by the plague of the evil god, was shattered overnight and turned into a hell on earth.

The same day repeats itself over and over again, and life remains stagnant.

Having his flesh gnawed away inch by inch by the Iron Crosses, being utterly destroyed by a steam boiler explosion in the harbor, dying from an overdose of animal stimulants, feeling his body and soul gradually incinerated in molten steel...

These ways of dying that ordinary people find horrifying to even think about, but the young man has already experienced them hundreds and thousands of times.

What Rust said was not wrong.

Endlessly repeating the same day, with no way to move forward, is like hell for humans... and the only ones who can return from hell are probably "evil spirits."

The mind weathers over a long period of time, and the soul also cracks.

Even memories fade away, and recollections of the past become blurred.

The only constant——

It is the ideal of the "Shore Keeper" that still exists despite its dilapidated state.

……

When Ingrid finally woke up from the memories that flooded into her mind like a tide, the sun had already set.

The glow of the setting sun disappeared, leaving only the curtain of eternal night falling, covering the sky.

In her hand, the memory crystal shattered silently, turning into countless scattered fragments, which drifted silently into the night.

However, Ingrid's eyes were still immersed in the previous shock, and she could not extricate herself for a long time.

What she said when she rejected Hiltina's rescue was not empty words.

Ingrid felt disgusted and envious of Hiltina from the bottom of her heart.

Hiltina is regarded as hope by countless people in the empire, as dazzling as the sun... But Hiltina, who was born with everything, has never experienced what it feels like to be the weakest and most helpless, so she will never be able to empathize with Ingrid.

The light belonging to Hiltina cannot illuminate her own darkness.

That's why when Sheltina wanted to rescue herself in the ruins of the nuclear power plant, Ingrid resolutely and decisively slashed with her sword.

but--

Where's Luster?

She mocked Hiltina, saying that she had never experienced the despair of a lower-ranking person, the feeling of being the weakest and most insignificant... But in that memory, the situation that Last faced in Deep Blue Harbor was far more desperate than what Ingrid herself had ever faced.

A plague engulfed the entire city, a beast in human form that knew only to wreak havoc, the pollution and corruption of the evil god, and the half-body of the evil god that would descend upon its time limit—

But Last, who was in Deep Blue Harbor at that time and faced all this, was just an ordinary person who was powerless.

However, in such a desperate situation, Last spent three hundred years and one hundred thousand cycles to find the only turning point for himself from the one in a thousand probability.

Compared with Last, his own experience of rising from humble beginnings and the achievements he once took pride in suddenly seemed insignificant.

Ingrid's silence lasted a long, long time.

After a long while, she raised her eyes slightly and looked towards the end of the distant sky——

That is the direction of Star University.

"Last—"

"Can you really illuminate...my dark night?"

……

Last walked in the student dormitory area of ​​Star University, basking in the glow of the setting sun.

In the past few months, he has focused all his thoughts and energy on Ingrid, just as Rust said to Ingrid, "tearing the eagle"... In order to conquer Ingrid, it has been a long tug-of-war.

Therefore, this was also the first time that Last had returned to the academy after more than three months.

However, just as Rast was about to arrive at his dormitory.

He heard faint sounds of conversation, or rather quarrel, coming across the dim sky.

Last's mind moved slightly and he stopped.

One of the parties in the quarrel, Rast, seemed a little unfamiliar. She seemed to be a middle-aged noble lady, and her speech was full of grace and elegance that was hard to conceal.

The other party in the conversation was very familiar to Rast; it was the voice of Hiltina.

"fool!"

Suddenly, one of the quarrelers raised his voice sharply.

The college dormitory area was silent under the setting sun, with only the stern reprimand ringing clearly in Last's ears.

"You must come back, and you must change your stubborn temper—"

"You are the eldest daughter of the royal family. The heir to this empire can only be you, and must be you!"

The middle-aged lady's tone was still excited, but her voice was lowered again.

"If to become the successor to the empire, the future leader... I must become as cold-blooded and ruthless as my father, abandoning the lives of innocent people for the sake of so-called trade-offs and decisions, and even cruelly abandoning my own wife, then I would rather not be a princess, not be an empress."

This was Hiltina's voice, speaking firmly: "I only follow my own path."

"Go your own way? Then where do you intend for us, the entire empire, your father, Ophelia, and I to go?"