Chapter 149 Even so, do you still long to become a Guardian? (5k)
The boy’s words pierced through the wasteland.
There was nowhere to hide, no way to escape.
Each syllable was like a blade of judgment, engraving deep marks in Grey’s heart.
“No…”
“It’s not true…”
“It isn’t like that…”
In the green-eyed girl’s eyes, unprecedented vulnerability and panic flickered.
Grey had thought she had buried all her joy and sorrow, laughter and tears… in that rainy night three years ago.
And three years later, she had grown enough.
She had completely bid farewell to the weak self from three years ago, qualified to stand before Brother Rast once more.
As long as she could wake Brother Rast up and correct his worldview that sought strength as the highest pursuit… then she could bring Brother Rast back, and the two of them could return to the Guardian of the Shore Organization together.
Then, in the Watchtower, they could continue the past’s dreamlike tranquility.
Of course, as the heir of Leader Cisel, faced with the increasingly perilous situation, the monstrous Forbidden Beasts, the Beast Tide, the Iron Cross, and the pressure from the Cult Organization lurking in the endless sea… she would inevitably face severe trials.
But, if she could be with Brother Rast…
Then no matter how perilous the situation or harsh the trials were, as long as the two of them worked hard together, and the entire Guardian of the Shore Organization fought with them, they would certainly find a way to break the deadlock and continue the Sixth Epoch’s civilization.
All along, this had been Grey’s belief, a lifeline that supported her onward.
But, at this moment.
If what Brother Rast had just said was the absolute truth—
Then what was the difference between her persistence and obsession over the past three years and a joke?
The support she relied on, which could counterbalance Brother Rast, the legacy from the Guardians, he equally possessed.
Her biggest trump card, being able to rewind time and read the saved data infinitely, Brother Rast could also be immune to.
She had thought she had gained power, prepared herself thoroughly…
But, until this day.
When she truly returned to the Royal City of Paradise and faced the boy she had longed for day and night, Grey finally recalled… the despair she felt when Brother Rast had controlled her on that night of torrential rain.
The self that seemed to have undergone transformation.
In reality, there was not a shred of difference from the girl three years ago who could only be grasped by the neck in mid-air, helplessly crying while kneeling in the mud.
If it were just that, it would be fine.
It was merely confronting her own weakness once more, acknowledging her own incompetence…
However, the other message hidden in Brother Rast’s words was even more despairing—
The boy who held the legacy of the Guardians came from an era where the name “Guardian of the Shore” had long been forgotten by the world.
The implications were self-evident.
“Do you remember, during those six months we lived in the Watchtower—”
“Did I ever play Monopoly with you, Little Grey?”
The boy’s voice was no longer as imposing as before, but had returned to a gentle warmth, just like the tone Rast and Grey used during the time they lived together.
Between the contrasting images of the king of the Underworld, who had one foot in divinity, and the peaceful Guardian boy, Rast’s manner appeared particularly jarring in Grey’s eyes.
It carried a sense of incongruity and absurdity.
Yet, it was this illusory absurdity that made Grey’s heart even more uneasy.
“In the Monopoly game, we used clay figures to represent the characters controlled by the players, using dice and drawing cards to simulate the lives our characters experienced in the game.”
“To us, it was just a casual role-playing game to pass the time.”
“It could be interrupted anytime, restarted anytime, played and ended at will.”
“But for those clay figures… the Monopoly board was their entire world.”
“And the Monopoly game that took half an hour in our eyes was their entire life.”
“So—”
“You should understand now, Grey…”
His words were like sharp blades, echoing in the wind over the wasteland.
“The world you find yourself in is, to me, no different from a Monopoly board.”
“It’s just that, compared to that simple and crude Monopoly game… this game is set against an era that has long perished, making it seem more real, with richer details, even capable of blurring the line between fake and real.”
“But no matter how lifelike the game experience is, it is still just a game—”
“There are some players who become so immersed that they forget themselves, putting themselves into the token on the board, embodying the role they play… but a player is always a player, and a token is always a token.”
“When the game ends, everything will be settled.”
He paused slightly, then continued.
“The world we are in right now, you can understand it as a divergence point in time… just like the different timelines that emerged because of your time rewind, but on a larger scale, existing for a longer duration.”
“And in the real history known to the world where I reside… the organization named Guardians has already perished.”
“Only the ‘Graveminders’ remain eternally unchanged.”
He silently gazed at the grey-haired girl before him, who displayed signs of collapse.
In his eyes, there was neither the indifference of two adversaries nor the warmth from when they were friends… only the darkness that devoured light.
“As for when I saved you from Frozen Water Town and later chose to betray the Guardians, siding with the Graveminders…”
“What I did was never because I truly supported either the Guardians or the Graveminders…”
“It’s like even if you play Monopoly, controlling a piece that acts immorally and does all sorts of evil… it doesn’t mean you are truly a bad person.”
“What I did was simply to please myself—”
“Or rather, to win the game and receive the winner’s prize from the host, nothing more.”
“From start to finish, I have not fallen nor betrayed the Guardians—”
“It’s just that the player changed their playing style and switched factions…”
“A player switching from one of multiple endings to another, what’s the betrayal in that?”
Rast’s voice resonated across the entire wasteland, elucidating all truths in meticulous detail.
Similarly, it shattered Grey’s last mental defense.
“No… I don’t believe it.”
“I don’t believe this is real.”
“This can’t be real.”
Initially, it was just the girl murmuring to herself.
But soon after.
The murmurs transformed into a piercing wail, echoing throughout the wasteland.
Even knowing that according to the “razor principle of ‘entities should not be multiplied beyond necessity,'”
The explanation Rast provided actually aligned more with the anomalies she had previously sensed.
However—
Almost instinctively.
Grey chose to evade reality.
She was unwilling to think, even more unwilling to acknowledge such reality.
Because, if she were to admit it… then the belief that had supported her through the past three years would shatter completely.
Even the very meaning of her existence would be denied along with it.
No… it wasn’t true.
Being able to retain memories from the previous timeline during a time rewind was indeed rare.
But just as Legendary Strongmen can be immune to time rewinds, perhaps it’s because of containing the d*ath God’s Chalice that Brother Rast had acquired a status akin to the legendary and thus created this unique coincidence…
And the ability to mimic others’ skills, while rare, was not impossible to happen.
As for that flame seed, which was identical to her own legacy… perhaps it was merely an illusion created through some kind of illusion technique; the Shadow Sequence possessed similar abilities.
After all, it originally was a seed stolen from the Graveminders.
Brother Rast had learned the corresponding information from the Graveminders… it was even possible he acquired a counterfeit with a similar ability.
Yes, it must be so.
Brother Rast must be deceiving her.
This was his scheme to counter her time rewind—
Trying to use the allure of words to dismantle her mental defenses… to give up the chance to rewind, to abandon all resistance and struggle, and willingly surrender.
…
The girl’s thoughts surged violently, like the tides.
And in the midst of this tumult of emotions.
Crack—
Grey clearly heard a voice deep within her soul.
It was the sound of “Fate” shattering.
Instantly.
Boom—
Around Grey, the once-slowly flowing time, completely under her control, which she could command as she wished, surged violently.
What was once a gentle stream transformed into a roaring river in an instant.
The whole world twisted.
Carriages, winding muddy paths, the azure sky, the solidified radiance of twilight, and the Royal City distant in the intense sunlight.
Whether it was the drifting clouds or the gentle breeze blowing through the wasteland, everything was frozen, stuck in a bizarre halt.
It was a time gone wild.
The mighty power named “Fate.”
For the past decade, even in her dreams, Grey had suppressed the uprising of that “Fate” deep within her soul in her subconscious.
Because this was the promise Grey made to Rast when they first met— to no longer avoid, but to confront fate.
To suppress the power of fate that had brought disaster to those around her and turned her into a cursed lone star, placing it under her control and fully transforming it into her strength.
It was for herself and to protect those beside her.
Yet, at this moment.
Grey chose to give in.
She released the subconscious restraint and abandoned the long-standing binding on that power…
Allowing that towering power of fate to run rampant, turning the originally gently flowing river of time into a surging sea.
Then, engulfing and distorting the entire world, roaring toward a more distant direction.
Since Brother Rast was unwilling to let her rewind again and wanted to use words to make her surrender and give up resistance,
Then, she would do the opposite.
With her last strength, squeezing the final ounce of potential from her soul… at all costs, she would trigger a further time rewind.
Returning to the moment when she met Brother Rast, to the very origin—
That first Frozen Water Town.
Then, to pierce through the lies he had fabricated.
This was a rewind that traversed a full decade, far beyond any of Grey’s previous time rewinds.
Even Grey herself was uncertain what price she would pay for this rewind… or if she could even succeed.
But she had no choice.
This was Grey’s last path, the final possibility to fulfill her wish.
Even if it were minute, even if it were unrealistic, she had to grasp it.
Because aside from this, the girl had no other choice.
…
Boom—
Boom—
Far exceeding any previous rewind.
No longer a gentle stream, but a whirlpool devouring everything in a vast ocean.
The distorted time swallowed everything, marching toward the infinitely distant river of time.
And Grey found herself at the center of the whirlpool, the origin of the storm.
Not knowing how long had passed, the roaring waves of time slowly dissipated, and the distorted glow receded, revealing the scenery of the real world.
The town covered in mist, the pale threads scattered everywhere…
The broken clock tower, the pitch-black night, and above the night sky, the quivering, flesh-like mass that replaced the moon—the projection of the Evil God named “Zhuyue.”
Everything had returned to ten years ago.
Back to the moment when the boy and girl first met, the origin of the story in Frozen Water Town.
Even Grey herself did not expect that this rewind spanning a full decade had indeed succeeded.
“If I rewind to this point…”
“Even if Brother Rast has the protection of the d*ath God’s Chalice, he will definitely be affected.”
“If that’s the case, I can pierce through Brother Rast’s lies.”
Looking at the mist-covered town, the scenery that had appeared countless times in her midnight dreams…
Grey felt an endless fatigue rising from within her soul, spreading to her entire body and mind.
Just a few hours of rewind, after repeating it hundreds of times, that wear and tear was enough to make Grey lose parts of her memory.
How much more so for a rewind of a full decade.
That was an irretrievable wear—at this moment, for Grey to still maintain a thread of self-awareness was already a miracle.
She was surrounded by twisted time… such a long rewind was achieved only because she had drained the last ounce of power from deep within her soul, and even Grey herself could not maintain it for long.
Before long, she would be washed back to the current time node by the correcting force of the river of time.
However, Grey’s expression was one of joy.
Since Brother Rast had not appeared again.
Then at least, she had proven the flaws in Brother Rast’s words.
That was merely a lie that Brother Rast had fabricated to deceive her…
The beliefs she had clung to all this time, the efforts she had made for so long, were not in vain.
Yet.
Such a thought had barely arisen.
In the next moment, she saw a figure slowly walking out from the mist.
His form was cloaked in black flames… it was the final counterattack initiated by the pollutants of Zhuyue before being defeated in Frozen Water Town, directly affecting Rast.
His flesh and tendons were almost completely burned away by the black flames, leaving only a bronze skeleton, with no discernible form remaining.
But—
Only the boy’s eyes remained clear and bright, like fallen morning stars.
Grey would never forget those eyes.
“The dream should awaken, Little Grey.”
The boy stepped out of the flames, towering over time.
His calm voice pierced the black flames, cutting through the distorted air heated by the fire, ringing directly in Grey’s ears.
It shattered the last trace of self-deception in Grey’s heart.
“Reality is not a fairy tale.”
“Not all good people who uphold justice can necessarily turn the tide, defeat evil, and reverse their fated outcomes.”
“Moreover, the morality defining the word ‘justice’ is always written by the victors.”
“The legacy you received was never glory… nor is there ever a statement that if you try hard enough, be strong enough, and attempt every means, you can achieve a beautiful ending.”
“Fate is never something that can be easily overturned.”
“Exhausting all means, exploring all possibilities in endless timelines… after doing all of this, to find oneself still powerless and unable to change, that is the norm.”
“After giving it your all, facing a tragic end…”
“The so-called ‘Leader of the Guardians’ is such a heavy burden, something only one with the corresponding enlightenment can bear.”
As the boy spoke, Grey’s vision gradually turned black.
The last shred of obsession was ruthlessly worn away by the cold facts, completely robbing Grey of the power to forcibly support herself.
The fatigue flooding from deep within her soul, born from wear and tear, in an instant occupied all of Grey’s body and mind.
With the grey-haired girl’s consciousness plummeting into the boundless abyss, unsure of her return.
Before Grey’s consciousness completely vanished.
She heard the boy’s final words, carried along with the howling wind:
“So, even so.”
“After knowing everything and losing everything…”
“Do you still long to become a Guardian?”
(End of Chapter)
