Chapter 118: He Betrayed the Shoreguards
A note to remind her?
So, what this head maid was saying… was that Big Brother Rast had tipped her off, informing her of Grey’s imminent infiltration?
Hearing the cold voice echoing in the room, Grey couldn’t help but freeze for a moment.
Big Brother Rast… had betrayed the Shoreguards?
Such a thought flashed through her mind, but was quickly and forcefully expelled by Grey herself.
This was nothing more than an enemy's attempt to sow doubt in her heart.
If just a few words like that were enough to shake her will, then she didn’t deserve to be a member of the Shoreguards—let alone be Big Brother Rast’s companion.
As her thoughts spun, a vague premonition suddenly surged in Grey’s heart.
It was a revelation from 「Fate」.
Following this hunch, Grey’s figure suddenly burst forth without warning, sprinting toward the iron gate through which she had entered earlier.
The very next moment, the spot she had just been standing in was pierced by a chain glowing with dusky light, crashing down with a thunderous roar.
Sixth Tier—
Sensing the surge of power from behind, Grey made a judgment in her mind.
Although in name, Anna was just the head maid of this palace.
In reality, she had served Helen’s mother—the previous queen of the Underworld—long before Helen was even born… Anna’s true rank was far beyond what the title "head maid" could represent.
As one of the earliest inhabitants of the Paradise to be blessed with Eternity, Anna possessed a degree of control over the Dusk Domain within the palace, allowing her to wield power comparable to the Sixth Tier.
This completely matched the intel Big Brother Rast had delivered—every detail aligned perfectly.
In that case… everything Anna had said earlier was clearly just lies meant to confuse her.
If Big Brother Rast had truly betrayed the Shoreguards, why would he have revealed Anna’s true combat power in the first place?
Even though she was in a perilous situation, Grey felt a breath of relief rise in her heart.
Another chain crashed down beside her, but Grey once again dodged it by a hair’s breadth.
One side was of the Sixth Tier, while the other barely reached the Second Tier… in any normal battle between transcendents, this should have been a hopeless mismatch, where the weaker side wouldn’t even have time to struggle before being instantly crushed.
However, guided by the faint premonitions in her heart, Grey narrowly evaded every chain lunging toward her and successfully reached the large door through which she had entered.
This was the terrifying strength of the high-ranking sequence called 「Fate」.
It could ignore the vast difference in ranks and alter the course of the future through mysterious, almost metaphysical means.
She once again retrieved the 「Master Key」 from her pocket and reached toward the heavy steel gate.
But the crisp click of an unlocking mechanism did not sound as she had expected.
“It’s the power of the Dusk Seal. She has applied it to the steel door—it exceeds the level the Master Key can affect.”
The shadow servant’s urgent voice rang in Grey’s ear.
“Whether what she said is true or not, whether Captain Rast betrayed us or not…”
“The fact remains that the enemy discovered our plan to steal the Death God’s relic by some unknown method, and laid a trap in advance.”
“In this situation, the final phase of the 『Lost Paradise』 operation must be aborted. We need to execute emergency evacuation.”
“Grey, stall her somehow. I’ll force a breach through the barrier surrounding the palace and come to get you out.”
“She only barely reached the Sixth Tier using borrowed power… As long as the Queen of the Underworld isn’t here, a mere head maid can’t stop me.”
Hearing the vice-captain’s instructions, Grey nodded seriously.
Of course she didn’t believe Big Brother Rast had truly betrayed the Shoreguards and leaked their plan.
But she also had no idea how the head maid Anna had discovered her… the enemy had even laid a trap in advance.
The only explanation was that the enemy had already seen through the entire plan before Grey even began her infiltration.
Which meant—could it be that Big Brother Rast’s identity had also already been exposed?
And the ruler of the Underworld had simply been waiting in silence, using this as bait to draw them out?
What’s more, unlike her, who at least had the vice-captain to assist with extraction, Big Brother Rast was completely isolated… utterly alone.
And the one he had to face was the queen—who had seen through everything—and was now seething with fury.
Countless messy thoughts surged in Grey’s heart—confusion and questions over how their plan had been seen through, and deep concern for Big Brother Rast’s safety.
Yet Grey still forced herself to stay focused, dodging another chain lashing toward her by instinct, guided by the blurry foresight in her heart.
Her mind activated, directly connecting with the Astral Realm—touching that faint, elusive spiritual ocean…
Then, through the thread called 「Fate」, she peered into the future’s flow.
As long as she could hold out against the head maid’s attacks, endure until the vice-captain broke the barrier and extracted her—
Then, the vice-captain would be free to go and assist Big Brother Rast…
With this belief in her heart—
In that electrifying moment, Grey suddenly felt her spirit draw closer to the power slumbering deep within her soul—this force named 「Fate」.
A revelation from the Astral Realm, a spiritual premonition…
Those previously vague and unpredictable signs in Grey’s eyes now solidified into visible light and imagery, manifesting clearly in her soul.
No need for roles, training, or life-and-death battles—
At that very moment, Grey’s sequence of 「Fate」 suddenly advanced, without warning, to a higher tier.
The flow of time, the trajectory of destiny—everything became sharp and vivid before Grey’s eyes.
A silver gleam suddenly flashed within her emerald eyes, as if pale silver flowed within them.
No longer were they just vague hints or obscure signs.
Now, she could clearly see a few seconds into the future—events that hadn’t yet occurred.
This was true 「Future Sight」.
With the help of 「Future Sight」, Grey’s evasive movements became much more relaxed, every step executed with plenty of margin.
Even head maid Anna showed a hint of surprise on her face.
Clearly, she hadn’t expected that this frail little thief could repeatedly slip from her grasp.
If things continued like this, lasting until the vice-captain broke the seal shouldn’t be a problem.
That thought naturally emerged in Grey’s mind.
However—
In the very next moment.
Deep within Grey’s soul, the image from 「Future Sight」 sent by the Astral Realm suddenly froze.
The silver glow in her eyes shattered without warning, revealing her original, fragile pupils.
The flowing time, the clear trajectory of destiny, the glimpses of the future… all vanished without a trace.
As if something had forcibly severed the course of fate, leaving behind only pure void.
Grey’s face turned deathly pale, completely drained of color, and blood tears streamed from her eyes…
This was the backlash of peering into fate—it inflicted a devastating blow to both her soul and her spirit in an instant.
Yet more frightening than the pain, which felt as if her soul were being torn apart, was the faint and fleeting sense she felt just before the backlash struck.
As if—
Something terrifying was about to happen.
…
“As expected, the Death God’s remains aren’t here.”
Suddenly.
A calm voice echoed through the metallic space.
It came from an old man who looked like a gardener, dressed in pure white robes embroidered with a gravestone-like sigil, with verdant vines coiled around him.
His face was plain, his indifferent gaze overlooking the palace, carrying a kind of indescribable detachment.
No one knew when he had arrived, but he stood there as if he were part of the world itself… had one not seen him with their own eyes, not even the slightest trace of his presence could be detected.
“Who are you?”
“An accomplice of those little thieves too?”
Head maid Anna narrowed her eyes at the suddenly appearing old man and questioned in a harsh voice.
With a sharp wave of her hand, chains glowing with dusky light surged forth at her command, launching toward the gardener-like old man.
But then—
“Not even possessing a domain of your own… merely a wraith who clings to this world through the protection of the Death God’s remains—a hollow, illusory ghost.”
“And yet you dare raise your hand against the embodiment of abundance, the master of life.”
“A moth flying into the flame… how pitiful, how laughable.”
Accompanied by that indifferent voice, in the very next instant—
A verdant green domain, brimming with vitality, spread silently from beneath the feet of that gardener-like old man.
Then, in the blink of an eye, it enveloped the entire palace.
Immediately afterward, within that radiant green glow filled with the breath of life—
The surging dusky chains, head maid Anna’s figure, even the palace itself… everything froze.
The dusk-colored light quietly shattered and then disintegrated inch by inch, returning to nothingness.
Even Anna herself—her body froze in place, the dusky halo fading from her form… that layer of yellow light had been the blessing of the Death God, now being stripped from her.
It was as if, in just a few seconds, the hundreds of years she had suspended in eternal time were forcibly played out on her body all at once.
Anna’s body and garments aged rapidly, weathered, and decayed.
Then, within a single breath, the accelerated time of billions of times ran its course through her.
Head maid Anna vanished from this world.
Only fragments of dusk remained, scattering with the wind as ashes.
What… exactly just happened here?
Grey felt her thoughts slowing down to a crawl, unable to comprehend what had unfolded before her eyes.
Even though Anna had clearly been her enemy in this moment…
A Sixth-Tier powerhouse… had been erased from the world in an instant?
No, it wasn’t just the chains or Anna.
Even the entire palace was shedding that dusky radiance bit by bit.
The eternal blessing disappeared, and time, once held still, resumed upon this once-unchanging palace.
Then it too weathered, decayed, broke apart… and finally dissolved into scattered dust.
The groaning of the palace’s main beams echoed in the wind, as if the whole world were breaking apart, collapsing.
It was exactly like the sight in Grey’s memory, when Frostwater Town crumbled into ruins.
“Grey! Run!”
“If I’m not mistaken, that’s a Legend!”
“A Legend from the 【Gravekeeper】 path, of the Abundance sequence!”
The shadow servant’s voice snapped Grey out of her dazed thoughts.
Gravekeeper?
What was that?
That question flashed through her mind as Grey instinctively tried to obey the vice-captain’s command—to flee the palace that was rapidly decaying and falling apart.
But then she saw it.
The old man with the gravestone symbol on his white robe turned his gaze toward her.
In that verdant glow, Grey’s body froze in place—unable to move.
“So that’s how it is.”
“The sensation earlier of someone peering into my fate… it was you?”
“Not a prophetic-type ability, but a product of the Ascension-tier… it seems a unique Ascension sequence has emerged—『Fate』.”
“Though I haven’t found the Death God’s remains, it seems I’ve stumbled upon an unexpected reward.”
Though his gaze was casual—
The man referred to as “Gravekeeper” by the shadow servant appeared to instantly perceive all of Grey’s secrets.
The next moment—
Countless rose petals and leaves danced in the air.
They gathered into a massive hand that blocked out the sun, descending from above toward Grey.
Its motion was slow, seemingly easy to avoid… yet it carried an overwhelming force, unstoppable and irreversible.
Grey’s mind and spirit both struggled desperately, trying to awaken the power of the 「Fate」 sequence deep within her soul.
But that power—once unbeatable, capable of binding even Evil God remnants, effective even against Sixth-Tier foes, reversing entire battles—now lay utterly silent, like a dead pool of water.
All she could do was watch as that giant hand of flora slowly descended from the sky toward her.
Before the might of a Legend, all threads of fate were cut…
The endless branching paths of the future were now converging—toward a single, inevitable conclusion.
But at that moment, beneath Grey’s feet, the shadow that had lain dormant—
Suddenly surged forth, black as ink.
It transformed into a sharp sword, clashing with the descending Hand of Abundance.
Ink-dark shadows collided with radiant green light brimming with life—
In an instant, the black shadow shattered piece by piece into mottled fragments.
Like a moth to flame.
That thick shadow didn’t even last a second—it was devoured by the verdant glow, erased into nothingness, not even leaving a ripple.
But in that fraction of a second, Grey managed to briefly break free from the Abundance Domain’s lock.
A faint, illusion-like shadow surged beneath her, lifting the girl’s body.
And then, it fled at incredible speed toward the outside of the palace.
“An Ascension-tier Sixth-Tier from the『Demon』path, but with a hint of solar radiance?”
“Sisel’s subordinate?”
“Not just the sequence… even her ability is fascinating—splitting her soul, creating a second incarnation…”
“If not for her broken physical body, she might’ve had a chance to ascend to Legend.”
“Such a pity—”
The Gravekeeper’s eyes calmly swept past the black shadow disintegrating in his domain without raising even a ripple… then turned toward the illusion racing far into the distance, eyes still ancient and unshaken.
Just one exchange, and he had seen through everything about the shadow servant.
Ascension-tier 「Demon」… or in this era’s terms—Sequence-tier 「Shadow」.
In an age when transcendental knowledge had nearly been lost, someone walking the ancient path of「Demon」to the very end of the Sixth Tier was rare indeed.
Unlike that earlier wraith who barely reached Sixth Tier through the borrowed blessing of the Death God’s remains—this was fundamentally different.
A true seed of Legend—one with a slim, yet real chance to cross the great chasm and become a Legend.
Every path to Legend was a unique, unrepeatable miracle… every one who ascended to Legend became the protagonist of an era.
Therefore, even hidden organizations like the Gravekeepers—who spanned multiple eras and looked down upon all living things as ants—would still give respect to true Legends and their seeds.
But this woman’s path to Legend… had already been utterly severed.
Her body was already ruined—she only survived by the power of the 「Sun」.
Moreover, she possessed a powerful ability—to split her soul and create a new shadow clone.
Just now, she had sacrificed her main body and soul to collide with the Gravekeeper, buying only a brief moment of disruption in the Abundance Domain… and used her shadow clone to save the young girl of the 「Fate」 path.
“To trade her life for a moment’s escape…”
“But what’s the point of that?”
“It’s all meaningless in the end.”
The Gravekeeper extended his hand again—reaching toward the illusion racing away with Grey.
Though that shadow had already fled for miles in mere breaths, barely visible in the distance—
With the wave of the gardener-like elder’s hand, that vast distance seemed to collapse in an instant, rapidly closing.
Only a Legend can oppose a Legend—this was a law of the transcendental world.
Aside from that, even those who had reached the end of Sixth Tier, a single step from Legend—those who sacrificed their lives to strike—
Could only delay a Legend for a pitiful instant, never altering the outcome.
This was the prestige of a Legend—irreversible, unstoppable, like fate itself.
But then, the gardener’s hand suddenly froze.
Though it was dusk, a scorching and radiant light rose from beyond the horizon.
It shone together with the sinking sun above, as if twin suns now hovered in the sky.
It was the radiance of the blazing sun—bearing an illusory corona, its aura no weaker than the elder’s Abundance Domain.
“The current Shoreguard… Sisel.”
For the first time, the Gravekeeper’s ancient eyes showed a change.
He recognized that aura—it belonged to someone he had clashed with briefly not long ago.
Even among Legends, there were vast differences.
As a Gravekeeper who had endured across several epochs, his accumulation within the Legendary realm should have far surpassed that of any newly emerged Legend in the current era.
However, that brief exchange earlier had made this gardener-like old man realize—this generation’s Shoreguard, Sisel, was far from a typical fresh Legend.
He was someone who had truly walked the path of Legend to its pinnacle, capable of standing on equal footing with himself.
At the same time, a ripple stirred in his spiritual energy.
This Legend of the Abundance sequence had finally sensed it too… the very location of what the Gravekeepers had been seeking—the Death God’s remains.
That Death God relic was not located in the palace, the core of the Paradise where the Death God's power was thickest.
Instead, it lay atop a mountain peak in the suburbs of Paradise’s royal city.
The old man’s gaze lingered briefly in the direction of Grey and the fleeing shadow servant, and also on the rising, sun-like aura.
In the end, he turned toward the outskirts of the city—toward the Death God relic’s location.
“Child of Fate, is it…”
His indifferent voice faded.
In the next moment, the gardener-like figure had already vanished.
Compared to the accidental discovery—this unexpected reward of the 「Fate」 Ascension path—the priority remained firmly on retrieving the Death God relic, the goal given by the Gravekeepers.
…
The shadow carried Grey’s petite form swiftly away, the scenery flashing past like lightning.
In an instant, she had crossed the entire royal city of Paradise, now standing outside the city limits.
But even though she had fled thousands of meters from the palace, and from the gardener-like Gravekeeper…
That suffocating sense of annihilation—as if all futures had been severed, converging into a single bleak end—still lingered around Grey’s heart, refusing to fade.
It was a warning from 「Fate」—the pressure of a Legend—something Grey’s current tier couldn’t resist nor foresee.
Until a middle-aged man with silvering hair appeared before her eyes.
He looked around fifty, wearing a linen shirt, and his silver-gray eyes carried a weight that words could not describe.
And the moment he appeared, that constant flickering warning from within Grey’s soul vanished, falling silent.
As a member of the Shoreguards, Grey naturally knew who this man was—
Sisel Balsat.
Leader of the Shoreguard organization, the strongest known human alive.
She hadn’t expected that Leader Sisel would come in person.
But then again, if that so-called “Gravekeeper” organization had sent out a Legend, the Shoreguards would naturally respond with equivalent force.
Leader Sisel was a true Legend…
With him here, the cataclysmic upheaval in Paradise no longer seemed so terrifying.
That thought had just risen in Grey’s heart—
When the fleeing shadow suddenly came to a halt.
The shadow that had wrapped around Grey’s body faded, reforming in the air into a vague, distorted humanoid shape, identical to the usual form the vice-captain—Shadow Servant—used.
Yet for some reason, the shadowy figure looked strangely insubstantial to Grey.
Vitality was draining continuously from the shadow’s form… it reminded Grey of the native wraiths in Paradise—
Already dead, yet lingering as ghostly remnants.
“H-How could this be?”
Grey stood frozen in place.
She had thought that although Shadow Servant had clashed with a Legendary Gravekeeper to save her… the injuries she received shouldn’t have been too serious.
Otherwise, how could she have brought Grey to safety?
But now, the revived power of Fate in her soul offered Grey a clear answer.
To oppose a Legend with a Sixth-Tier body… even to stall them for a fleeting moment… how could that come without a price?
And that price—was her life.
The real body of Shadow Servant was already gone.
The one that had carried Grey from the palace was nothing more than a secondary form—created by separating a sliver of her soul through her 「Shadow Attendant」 ability.
But her soul’s origin had already perished.
For this rootless shadow double, only one end awaited—oblivion.
This was merely a lingering remnant of the departed… no different from the dead who survived in Paradise only through the Death God’s blessing.
Grey instinctively looked up, casting her hopeful gaze toward the silver-haired elder before her.
If it was the Legendary Sisel…
Maybe there was a way to bring Shadow Servant back…
That hope had just emerged—
When Grey saw Sisel silently shake his head, as if he had read her thoughts.
“I was too late.”
“Life is the hardest thing to restore.”
“Perhaps with the unique properties of your『Fate』sequence, after ascending to Legend, one day you might accomplish the miracle of reversing time…”
“But right now, no one can bring back the dead—not even I, a Legend.”
How… could this be?
From the depths of Grey’s heart, a sound of something shattering rang out.
Like a false bubble being popped, leaving behind only emptiness and silence in her mind.
From reuniting with Big Brother Rast at Watchtower HQ, to joining the Shoreguard squad and heading to Paradise for the mission—
These past six months had been like a dream for Grey.
Eating hotpot with Big Brother Rast on her birthday.
Planning strategies with teammates to help Big Brother Rast conquer the Queen of Night, pretending to be a fortune teller, supporting his date.
Even sulking a little when she saw Rast getting too close to other girls.
Yet overall, the journey had been joyful and carefree for Grey.
Like the pages of a fairy tale—calm, light, bright, and beautiful.
Grey had been immersed in this fairy tale atmosphere all along.
So much so that even though she knew from the beginning that the true aim of the 「Lost Paradise」 plan was to overturn the entire Underworld nation…
Watching Big Brother Rast and Queen Helen’s peaceful moments together from the sidelines, feeling that tranquil beauty… Grey still believed they would surely find a perfect solution—
Maybe this land of the Underworld, this haven for countless wraiths, didn’t have to fall.
Maybe the conflict between the Shoreguards and the Underworld Queen wasn’t truly irreconcilable…
Surely there was a way—for both humans and Paradise’s wraiths, for Big Brother Rast, Queen Helen, and even herself—to reach a happy and perfect ending.
But now—
Looking at the palace that carried Queen Helen’s countless memories, now weathered and crumbled into dust.
Looking at the Shadow Servant who had sacrificed herself to save her, and whom Grey could only watch helplessly—
The fairy tale filter within Grey’s heart shattered completely.
It turned into countless razor-sharp shards, stabbing deep into her soul, bringing a pain that pierced through flesh and blood.
Reality was not a child’s fairy tale.
And not every story ended with a romantic, beautiful “happily ever after.”
From beginning to end, this had always been a war.
A war between humans and other races, between the living and the dead, between order and chaos, between the continuation and destruction of civilization, between the Shoreguards and the Gravekeepers.
The moment she wore that silver-winged badge of “Watching the Coastline,” and swore to become a Shoreguard—she had stepped onto the battlefield.
And anyone who steps onto the battlefield must be prepared for life-and-death struggles.
There was never a romantic or beautiful war in this world… the theme of war was always death and blood, and everyone who walked onto that battlefield was killing their enemies by any means necessary.
They roared, they raged, they swung bloody blades at one another—never stopping until one side perished.
The fairy-tale illusion shattered.
Only cold reality and brutal truth remained, crashing over Grey’s mind again and again.
But even so—
There was still one final conviction supporting Grey’s heart, preventing her from losing herself in the shock of her shattered dream.
Big Brother Rast…
Yes.
Big Brother Rast was still in danger.
That Gravekeeper Legend who had killed Shadow Servant’s real body—because of Leader Sisel’s deterrence, had given up hunting her and would likely head straight toward Big Brother Rast now!
With a tinge of panic, Grey hastily looked up, her voice hurried but tinged with hope.
“Leader Sisel, I know it’s a bit forward, but could you go save Big Brother Rast?”
“He’s facing the Underworld Queen right now, and that Gravekeeper Legend might be going after him too!”
She had already lost so much—she couldn’t afford to lose Big Brother Rast too!
However, when met with the silver-haired girl’s pleading gaze—
Sisel’s eyes grew even colder.
“Regretfully, he doesn’t need me to save him.”
“Nor does he deserve to be saved by me.”
“Rast… has betrayed the Shoreguards.”
It was like thunder exploding by her ears, freezing all thought in that instant.
Big Brother Rast… betrayed the Shoreguards?
No—impossible!
Absolutely impossible!
Even if these words had come directly from Sisel, the leader of the Shoreguards and a Legend himself.
Reason told Grey that Sisel’s words were likely the truth—but she still refused to believe it.
If Big Brother Rast really had betrayed them, then what about the boy who saved her from the frozen ruins of Frostwater Town?
What about all the dreams and goals she had been fighting for over these years?
But Sisel’s cold voice rang again beside her ear.
“From the beginning, all the intel Rast passed back was false.”
“The Death God relic was never inside the royal palace.”
“It was inside the Underworld Queen’s body from the very start.”
“Rast must have discovered this and, driven by greed, orchestrated this betrayal—”
“All for that Death God relic… the god’s remains that could elevate someone in one leap.”
“I even suspect that he may have contacted the Gravekeepers…”
“That was my failure to judge character.”
“If not for him, Shadow Servant would not have died.”
“From this day forth, Rast will be listed on the Shoreguards’ highest bounty order—”
“As long as the Shoreguards exist, the hunt will continue—until one of them is dead.”
…
No—there had to be a mistake!
Even someone like Leader Sisel might have been misled by traitors.
Or maybe Big Brother Rast was being blackmailed.
Maybe he’d been hypnotized, manipulated… his mind controlled, his soul corrupted.
He must have been forced into doing this.
If that were the case—
Then Big Brother Rast was now in extreme danger.
Clinging to that belief—
She completely ignored the sudden rising warnings of fate, the omens of death and annihilation, blooming from her soul.
Grey shot to her feet and dashed up the mountain path behind her.
She had already been brought by Shadow Servant to the outskirts of the royal city—
Which meant she wasn’t far from the peak where Rast and Queen Helen had arranged to meet.
Grey didn’t trust someone else’s words—not even those of the Shoreguard Leader, Sisel the Legend.
She would find Big Brother Rast herself.
Ask him directly.
Then clear his name—prove his innocence!
…
The silver-haired girl’s small figure cloaked in her hooded cape gradually faded into the distance, disappearing down the mountain trail.
Sisel did not stop her.
He merely stood there, silent, those silver-gray eyes watching her run toward the peak, ignoring the muddy path beneath her feet.
At his side, the dark shadow quietly receded.
Revealing the form that had been hidden beneath—previously obscured by shadow.
It was nothing like the withered, scarred, decaying body Rast had once seen.
Once the shadow faded, what appeared was a graceful, mature woman.
Long, wavy brown hair flowed gently over her shoulders.
Her features were elegant and confident, with a soft curve to her face.
Unlike the hideous, horrifying image Rast had once witnessed, Shadow Servant’s current appearance was nothing less than that of a true beauty.
Only now, her form carried a faint, flickering unreality—as if she might vanish at any moment.
That was only natural.
Her actual, broken body—its heart barely kept beating through Sisel’s power—had perished in the palace.
It had been silently extinguished, consumed by the domain of the Gravekeeper Legend of Abundance.
What remained here was merely a shadow clone created using her own soul fragment and the power of shadow.
Since it was a clone…
It could take the form that reflected the essence of her soul—the appearance she had before her disfigurement and near-death.
But now, with her real body gone, and the energy maintaining this clone nearing depletion—only final oblivion awaited her.
“Actually… you were already here, weren’t you, Sisel?”
Shadow Servant’s clone looked toward the distant, sunset-drenched peaks and spoke softly.
Her voice was no longer hazy and distorted, but the warm, mature tone Rast once knew.
“You arrived before that Gravekeeper did… You weren’t too late. From the start, you could’ve stepped in.”
“But… you didn’t. Did you?”
Sisel didn’t answer directly.
He just stood there beside Shadow Servant, silently watching Grey’s vanishing figure along the mountain path.
After a long time, his voice finally came—slightly hoarse.
“…I’m sorry.”
“No, you don’t need to apologize to me.”
But Shadow Servant only gently shook her head at his apology.
“I know, Sisel—you’re more protective than anyone.”
“You want to protect every Shoreguard more than anyone.”
“But… you’re afraid.”
“You’re the leader now. You have more to worry about than anyone else.”
“You didn’t want to risk a fatal battle—because if you died before raising a successor, there would be no Legendary guardian left for the Shoreguards, while the Gravekeepers still have several…”
“Everything would become irreversible.”
“You were afraid that if you stepped in, Grey wouldn’t witness death and sacrifice herself.”
“She wouldn’t mature—wouldn’t become a qualified leader who could carry humanity’s future.”
“You feared that your involvement might disrupt Rast’s plans and arrangements—forcing him into exposure.”
“To save me, you might have sacrificed the entire organization’s future.”
“You have to keep your full strength intact—because Broken Coast has been restless lately.”
“If those sea-borne taboos sense your power weakening, they’ll strike the shoreline… If the Broken Coast’s defense falls, tens of millions of lives will be lost.”
Shadow Servant’s voice was like a soliloquy, yet also a confession.
“You carry more than yourself.”
“You carry the entire Shoreguards… and the fate of human civilization in this epoch.”
“So you can’t be as reckless as we were in our youth.”
“We used to act freely—selfishly—saving whoever we wanted.”
“But back then, we had the old leader to clean up our mess… now, you’re the one responsible for all of humanity.”
“I understand all of it.”
“If you weren’t that kind of man… I wouldn’t have followed you so willingly all these years.”
“I’m a Shoreguard too. As a soldier, paving the road for Grey’s growth—that was always my duty, my mission… I have no regrets.”
“I just feel… a little unwilling.”
“Ever since you became the Shoreguards’ leader… you never shared your heart with me again.”
Her voice paused.
“Sisel, can I borrow your shoulder for a moment?”
“Just once—one final request from a subordinate who followed you for over a century.”
Under the crimson sunset, the silver-haired elder froze slightly.
Then he nodded.
Sisel reached out, gently embracing Shadow Servant’s ever-fading form beneath the dying sunlight.
She rested her head softly on his shoulder—but bore no weight.
“I’m glad—”
“That I met you like this, as a shadow clone, not that broken, dying body.”
“This way, your final memory of me…”
“Can stay frozen in this beautiful form.”
Together, she and Sisel looked toward the sunset-stained peak.
“You know… I’m hundreds of years old now… and I’m still saying silly things like a girl in love—‘Remember me at my most beautiful’…”
“Kinda embarrassing when you think about it.”
“But it really did bring back so many memories of when we were young.”
“Taking the Shoreguard entrance trials together… the training days… our first mission as a team… the applause, flowers, and glory of returning victorious…”
“By the way, Sisel.”
“Don’t you think Grey and Rast resemble the two of us when we were younger?”
Her figure grew even more transparent and unstable.
The crimson light filtered through her nearly see-through body, casting fragmented patterns across Sisel’s timeworn face.
“This mission… so many times I saw Grey staring out the window, lost in thought—it was like seeing my younger self again.”
“I first fell for you during a mission… when I saw that boy who commanded the light of the sun, and felt admiration rise in my heart…”
“That’s what started me down this path of no return.”
“And that kid Rast—he’s so much like you… in every way.”
“If he hadn’t rejected the role of Shoreguard leader, I’d think he could take your place right now.”
“I don’t want to see Grey and Rast walk the same path we did—ending in regret.”
“So promise me, okay? Sisel.”
“When Grey grows up, truly becomes a worthy leader for the Shoreguards… tell her the truth.”
“Don’t let them repeat our mistake—don’t let misunderstanding and false hatred trap them on a road with no return.”
In the glow of sunset, the silver-haired old man remained silent for a long time, then gently nodded.
“In that case, I’m at peace.”
Her voice had become so faint now that only a Legendary like Sisel could hear it.
“One last thing.”
“Let me bathe once more in your light.”
“That light I saw when we first met—so pure, so bright, able to drive away all darkness and illuminate the future of the Shoreguards.”
Upon hearing this, Sisel quietly raised his hand.
And in the next instant—
Brilliant, holy light burst forth like the blazing sun.
In that clear and radiant brilliance, the final thread of shadow that formed Shadow Servant’s clone dissipated.