I, the final BOSS of the beta test server!

"Instead, it opens up a brand new path for future generations."

"Just like what Senior Sissel did for me during the Battle of Broken Coast."

The long river of time condensed into substance materialized behind Gray, surging and roaring, and even the girl's figure became illusory and transparent.

"An angel from the gravekeeper."

"You have become an angel, reigning outside of time, on the eternal throne for too long—"

"To the point of forgetting what it's like to be human."

boom--

The roar came from the end of the distant sky, yet it seemed to be very close.

The long river of time overflowed through the gaps created by Gray's wish, making everything around her radiant and colorful.

Countless images from the past, belonging to the future, and not belonging to the same time node all intersect in this collapsing time, and then collide and dissolve.

Within the Eternal Night Monument, those reflections of the past, echoes of the past, and traces of history buried by the gravekeepers are quietly released...

They are gradually converging and becoming more real and clear.

Finally, in the increasingly dense night, the prototype of something was formed.

It is the product of countless fragments of the past and history that have been aggregated... the seeds of a brand new world.

The unsprouted seeds of the "night world".

……

"so--"

"The one who opened up the night world is you after all... Gray."

Last looked at the gray-haired girl who was wandering in the long river of time and whose figure was gradually becoming illusory, and uttered a silent whisper.

Even if I have made guesses and rehearsed countless times in my mind.

But at this moment, when he witnessed with his own eyes the great achievement of the opening up of the night world, he was still shocked beyond words.

"But……"

"You who made such a grand wish to fate, 'Opening up the Night World'—"

"And how much will it cost?"

The corners of Rast's mouth trembled slightly, and he spoke softly.

According to Amis, she only used her own power to send Last and Dean Yin to the future node of the long river of time, but did not let them enter it.

This is a battlefield that belongs only to angels, and it is too dangerous for Rast at the moment... Therefore, they are now clearly just spectators, just like watching an old videotape that has been covered in dust for decades.

however--

At this moment.

It was as if through the power of one's own destiny, one knew that someone was looking at him from afar across the long river of time.

The gray-haired girl also turned slightly.

This is a gaze spanning hundreds of years, one person is upstream of history and the other is downstream, looking at each other across the roaring river of time.

"The price...?"

Gray's voice rang out quietly.

Even before this, Gray had always maintained a calm expression, even when facing another angel from the gravekeeper.

But at this moment, there was clearly a hint of inexplicable emotion on her fair face.

"A price commensurate with the ambition of 'opening up the night world'—"

"Of course, it's just everything I have as an angel, right?"

She was clearly smiling, but her expression was tinged with great sadness.

It was exactly the same as when I said goodbye to Rast by the Broken Shore.

"Falling from the throne of angels, exiled as an ordinary person in the deepest part of the sea of ​​stars..."

As if to echo Gray's words, the long river of time roared and surged, rolling up one twisted vortex after another.

Gray's reflection was reflected in the vortex.

That is the mark she left in history as an angel.

Every angel possesses an extremely domineering uniqueness in time and space. They exist in every corner of the entire history, and every moment bears the mark of an angel.

As an angel of the "Fate" sequence, Grey has left a mark on history far greater than any other angel... Even if she dies, as long as there is a mark left in that endless time node, she can return again.

This is the immortality of angels, the throne called "eternity".

But at this moment, Gray is falling from the throne, losing her eternal immortality bit by bit.

Behind Gray, the twisting vortex became more turbulent, and the figure reflected in it became clearer and clearer.

These are the marks, or footprints, she left in the long river of history as an angel.

And now, every footprint and every mark left by Gray is slowly being stripped from history...

As the price she paid for making such a grand wish to fate.

……

After listening to Amy's inner thoughts in the hospital, Grey secretly made up her mind and began to record Grey's voice for her brother Rast alone in a room in the watchtower.

……

The second time he made a wish to fate, he brought about an unexpected disaster.

After experiencing the collapse of time and space, Grey walked dazedly on the ruins of Canaan, which was burning with fire and thick smoke, until she saw the little boy buried in the ruins. She hugged him tightly with tears in her smile.

……

In the second legendary battle, under the pressure of the King of the Iron Cross and the beast tide, Grey broke through the legend in the battle, completely cleared the entire Western Continent, ended the dark age that lasted for hundreds of years, and officially ushered in the Sixth Epoch Civilization into the Federal Era.

……

After the Battle of Broken Shore, on the gravel beach full of reefs, Grey listened to her brother Rust, who was covered in wounds, saying goodbye to her, and tried hard not to cry.

……

On the cliff of Paradise Royal City, after hearing her brother Last's declaration of betrayal with her own ears and being ravaged by him again, Gray knelt in the muddy mud and cried helplessly, as if she had been abandoned by the whole world.

……

In the new recruit training camp of the Watchtower, Grey was walking alone on the street like a little match girl, but after hearing the voice of her brother Rust, the light in her green eyes rekindled.

……

These are the footprints Gray left in this world.

It is also the most precious memory in her heart, shining like a diamond, and has never faded even after hundreds of years.

But at this moment...

All these marks, all the memories, are being erased bit by bit by the long river of time, leaving only pure nothingness.

From back to front, it was as if pressing the reverse button for Grey's life, going back little by little, and being eliminated little by little.

Until, reaching the end of memory, the origin of everything.

A small town in the dark night, endless white fog.

This is a place called "Frozen Water Town", and it is also the starting point of the life of a girl named Gray.

It was here that she first met her brother Rast.

……

The end of memories is a dim room.

Gray, who was still ignorant of the world at that time, sneaked into Rust's room and wanted to steal Rust and Hiltina's Guardian Medal.

At that time, she believed that as long as she obtained the medal, she would be able to join the Shore Watchers organization and receive the protection of the most powerful person in the world.

It was also on that day that she was given the name "Gray" by Last, and for the first time she had something called an ideal.

"What 'Shore Guardian' represents is not the safe and stable life you imagine."

"It's a pair of shackles, a chain, and even... a curse."

"A curse that will stay with you for the rest of your life, like a thorn in your flesh, from which you can never escape, until the end of your life."

"Don't talk about becoming a shore guardian until you've made up your mind to bear this curse."

This was the conversation that took place in that dim room in Frozen Water Town.

And this moment is just like that time.

"Back then, in that dim room in Frozen Water Town..."

"Brother Luster, you used such serious words to solemnly refute my childish thoughts at that time—"

"Brother Luster, you said that with the level of awareness I had at that time, I wasn't qualified to talk about becoming a shore guard."

Gray's whisper, crossing the long river of time, slowly sounded in Rast's ears.

"So, what now?"

"Brother Luster."

Gray just smiled slightly.

The afterglow of the flowing time fell on her profile, making the outline clear and deep.

"I am now..."

"Have you become a qualified shore guard that you can be proud of?"

Chapter 223 Now, it’s my turn to follow in your footsteps

"Although there are long years between us, you are at one end of history, and I am at the other end."

"But I do know that fate has hinted at me... Brother Last, you are on the other side of time, watching me."

"Then, although it's a bit hasty-"

"But this is our final farewell."

Gray's voice flowed with time, becoming increasingly ethereal and distant, almost inaudible.

"To be honest, I feel a bit nostalgic about bidding farewell to this world and wandering forever in the deepest part of the starry sea."

"I'm also looking forward to meeting you again sometime in the future when you've grown up and become a fully mature brother, Rust."

"However, if I hadn't made this third wish, if I hadn't liberated the remnants of history recorded in the Eternal Night Stele and gathered them into a brand new, old world..."

"If I had not passed on the flame of the 'Library of Fools' to you, my young brother, Rust... and hidden you in the echoes of the night world's history, allowing you to cross the vast passage of time, awaiting the opportunity to return to the right time—"

"Then, perhaps Brother Luster, who appeared in my life like the wind and disappeared like the wind in Frozen Water Town... doesn't exist at all?"

There was no excessive sadness in her voice, only a hint of emotion and determination.

“Fate…”

"Even though I am fate's darling, the angel of this long staircase, even today, I still can't help but admire its impermanence."

"If you, Brother Luster, hadn't come to Frozen Water Town, if you hadn't reached out to me, a young, clueless creature who didn't even know how to cry out for help... then Gray, the 'Shore Keeper' and 'Angel of Destiny', wouldn't have been born."

"I will not have a real name, but instead keep the ridiculous nickname of 'Little Gray', slowly growing old in the endless fog of Frozen Water Town, until I die unknown to anyone."

"And if I hadn't made my second wish, 'Let Brother Luster come to me immediately,' when I felt despair after becoming an angel... then, Brother Luster, you wouldn't have inherited the 'Fool's Library.'"

"Perhaps, Brother Last, you will still live in that small town called 'Canaan,' marry your childhood sweetheart, have children, and grow old little by little...living a simple, ordinary, yet happy life, without ever setting foot in the extraordinary realm, nor experiencing the magnificent scenery of the future."

"Fate... is truly miraculous."

"We are connected by thousands of years, living in different eras, and should have no connection at all..."

"These things, whose logical order was completely disordered and reversed, are now intertwined like a snake with its tails, and pieced together again to form a complete closed loop."

Gray spoke recklessly, ignoring the time rushing by beside her, ignoring the historical imprints that were constantly disappearing around her... and completely ignoring her own continuous fall, from an angel to an ordinary person.

Both Luster and Gray knew clearly in their hearts that this was the end of everything, the very last.