Outside, the divine light receded just as those who had already died began to awaken once more.
Drake held tightly to Alden's body, which had started to turn translucent. In return, Alden kept patting his back, his voice small yet firm. "Don't worry. This ti, we won…"
Asta could barely understand what had happened. He had felt himself die—but before that, he seed to have seen sothing. Marax… turning into a man? And then going mad, killing everything?
Co on. He was still alive, so that must have been nothing more than so bizarre hallucination caused by the darkness.
But the mont Asta lifted his eyes, he imdiately saw Cain.
His mouth fell open, words failing him. One finger pointed at Cain, then back at himself.
At that mont, Nick suddenly asked, "Was it you who saved us?"
Cain shook his head. "It was him."
Nick looked toward the two unfamiliar figures who had just appeared and asked, "Are they also friends of Silvanus?"
"More precisely, we are all servants who serve Silvanus," Cain replied without hesitation.
"Then do you know where Silvanus is now?"
Clearly, the battle should have ended when the black hole disappeared. Only the sky remained gloomy—and Silvanus was nowhere to be seen.
Asta, still sitting on the ground, suddenly shouted, "Why are you so calm?! Don't you see anything strange?! That was Marax! That was a man! So is your na really Marax? Or is this just another form of yours, right, Marax? Answer !"
As he spoke, he crawled forward and clutched Cain's leg, tears streaming down his face.
Nick couldn't help snapping, "How is that more important than Silvanus?!"
"Waaaah, sob sob sob… This can't be real… This has to be a dream."
Dorian held Nerio in his arms, tilting his head slightly as he watched the scene unfold. He said gently, "Feeling deceived must be awful."
The mont Dorian finished speaking, Asta cried even louder.
Cain couldn't help laughing. "Dorian, are you siding with outsiders now?"
Dorian turned his back without another word.
Cain couldn't help but say, "So when Nerio tricks people, it's clever and adorable—but when it's , I'm the villain, is that it?"
He then looked down at Asta and shrugged. "If you don't believe , you can take off my pants and check. There's no miracle hidden here."
Unexpectedly, the mont Cain finished speaking, Asta actually grabbed onto his waistband.
Cain flickered away in an instant, reappearing sowhere else. He frowned at Asta, suddenly unsure what to do. If Asta had been furious and demanded to hunt him down like others might have, that would have been easier to deal with… one clean strike and it would be over. But Asta seed capable of nothing except sitting there and wiping his tears.
Tsk, how troubleso. You've been deceived and all you can do is cry? What a dull reaction. Cain truly wondered why, in that other world, Silvanus had chosen this guy as his foremost Believer.
"Boom!"
At that mont, the sky suddenly trembled violently. The air split into countless fractures, light pouring out from the cracks and illuminating the gloomy land below.
Cain and the others began to grow increasingly translucent. Asta clearly noticed it as well.
He sprang to his feet, frowning as he demanded, "After everything, you're just going to leave without giving an explanation? No! You're not allowed to go!"
As he spoke, he rushed forward to grab Cain—but his hand passed straight through his body!
Asta stared at Cain in a daze. Realizing this person was truly about to disappear before anything could be resolved, he didn't even know how to react.
At that mont, Cain suddenly extended his hand. "Co with . I'll explain everything." Or Asta could live out an entire lifeti in this world and then return to the original one without mories—it didn't matter. The authority of the angels could handle that for him, Cain thought to himself.
Asta looked at Cain blankly, feeling that this person was truly awful. After all, this was his reaction after deceiving soone so thoroughly.
But perhaps Asta rembered the last look in Cain's eyes when he had died… Looking at this man's current expression—utterly unserious, almost indifferent—he finally raised his hand and placed it in Cain's.
This ti, he did not pass through him.
Nick stood among the crowd, completely at a loss. What the hell was going on? It felt like so grand farewell was about to take place—and he didn't know a damn thing about it!
At that mont, light suddenly engulfed everything, washing over not only the world but also the mories of its people.
Order would be reestablished once more, just as Nana had wished. There would no longer be a rigid hierarchy between the Nobility and the commoners. Knowledge would co to everyone equally.
The existence of Silvanus would also be erased from the mories of those in this world. Only the God of Light would remain in their faith, as he always had.
Whenever Nana looked up at that towering statue, it would sotis feel as though fragnts of mories that had never existed flickered through her mind—yet she could never quite grasp them. She would grow strong, and she would beco great, just as she had always pursued—but that would be her story, a tale for another ti.
Nick stared at the radiant expanse before him. For a mont, he almost thought he had returned to Chaosland. But there was no ground, no sky—clearly, this was only a void of light. High above, there seed to be a figure, but it was too bright to look at directly.
"Silvanus… is that you?" he asked almost instinctively. Because deep down, he believed that only Silvanus could have brought everything to this point.
Suddenly, a beam of light touched the center of his forehead. Before Nick could react, his soul was swept into a massive vortex. Countless colors rushed past his eyes at a speed too fast to follow—he seed to be inside an enormous passageway.
"Silvanus, what's going on?! Where are you?! Silvanus!" Nick tried to shout, but within this tunnel, every cry felt unbearably small.
At that mont, Silvanus's voice suddenly echoed right beside him—close, yet impossibly distant.
"You once said that in your world, you were nothing at all. But I hope you understand that your existence carried a special aning. Thank you for walking this path with . This is the last road I can lead you down."
Nick froze for a mont, then hurriedly shouted, "Hey, take with you, damn it! Hey! You bastard!"
His curses were quickly swallowed by the vast passageway. No one answered him again.
…
That sa day, on a distant planet in so world.
"What? There's really nothing wrong anymore?"
"Nick is completely cured? Just like that?"
"He's not going to die, right?"
"This isn't so kind of last flash before death, is it?"
The four mbers of the Wilder family had gathered in the hospital room after the doctor brought the latest update about their son and younger brother.
Just yesterday, they had been prepared for the possibility that Nick would never wake up again. Yet now the doctor was telling them that all his vital signs were completely normal. It was utterly unbelievable—but knowing it was true, Nick's mother couldn't help letting tears of happiness fall.
At that mont, the hospital bed suddenly stirred.
Nick's eyes snapped open. He instinctively sat upright, the sudden movent causing his frail heart to clench painfully for a mont. His family quickly crowded around him, their voices overlapping in anxious concern—but as Nick looked at them, he seed unable to clearly hear what they were saying.
He stared at his own thin, skeletal hands. At his body, so weak it seed sustained by little more than a final breath. This wasn't right.
He should have had a healthy body. He should have had a friend. Why wasn't that person here to visit him?
"Nick, what's wrong?"
"Call the doctor!"
The room erupted into chaos. Soone pulled him into a tight embrace, but Nick only broke down into loud sobs.
He should have been overjoyed to wake up after brushing so close to death.
So why did he feel so unbearably empty?
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