Chapter 121: Ophelia, the Woman Who Wants to Cuckold Your Sister, Is Apparently Not the Only One
The sun had already set, yet the bright moon had not risen.
This was the darkest night.
Rast stood atop the steep cliff, like a silent statue, with the roaring crash of ocean tides pounding in his ears.
On the evening wind that brushed against his face, there lingered a faint fragrance—cold and cedar-like—that reminded one of a girl’s hair.
That soft and warm figure seemed as though it still remained in his embrace.
But below, the icy ocean had already swallowed everything, leaving behind only tens of millions of tons of seawater churning beneath the cliff, the waves shattering into white foam against the black stone.
At some point, Rast’s pitch-black eyes had turned silver-white, within them swirling a mysterious hue—the 「Eye of Secret Insight」 had been silently activated.
And in the spiritual vision of the Eye of Secret Insight… the ocean into which the Queen of the Underworld, Helen, had fallen had transformed.
The seawater, once so deep and impenetrable by any light, had become completely transparent within the spiritual sight.
And at the end of the deep sea, where the continental shelf ought to have been—
At this very moment, there was a fissure of pitch-black and dim yellow interwoven together, devouring all light, silently opening with the fall of the Queen of the Underworld, and then slowly closing again.
It was as if, in the myth of the Sixth Age’s Genesis, one of the oldest deities—the Death God—after falling, had his remaining corpse transformed into the Abyss of the Underworld.
No.
This was not some fabricated, illusory myth or legend, but a reality made clear and undeniable.
The mysterious silver light in Rast’s eyes grew even more intense.
He withdrew his gaze from the black sea below the cliff and turned his eyes to his palm—there lay a chess piece, hazy and illusory, seemingly out of place in reality.
Originally, this phantom chess piece, which Rast had only managed to extract after piercing Helen’s heart, appeared entirely translucent like jade.
But now, at this very moment—
In the vision of the 「Eye of Secret Insight」, strands of dim yellow patterns covered the piece’s previously flawless and jade-like surface.
Like a dense spider web.
Countless illusory, vein-like paths extended outward from the chess piece as their source.
Reaching the ends of the sky, the depths of the ocean, and the far side of nothingness.
At the same time, in his spiritual vision… this crystalline chess piece, along with the dim yellow phantom vessels encircling it, pulsed with a steady rhythm.
Like the beating of a heart.
With every throb, the web-like dim yellow vascular patterns would grow deeper in color.
As though it were truly a heart, supplying blood to an entire body.
Only, the body connected by those thousands of vessel-like twilight paths—this heart's vessel—was not some insignificant human flesh and blood…
But the entire royal city.
Even the entire nation called 「Paradise」, along with its encompassing sky, earth, and ocean…
…
“『The Heart of the Death God』, huh?”
Rast looked at the illusory and hazy chess piece in his hand, a smile curving at his lips.
「Relic of the Death God」
「Remains of the Old God」
「Heart of the God」
This crystalline chess piece had too many names and bore too many secrets.
When he first heard these exaggerated names, Rast thought they were just grandiose, inflated titles people had made up.
Like those shameless web games from his past life in China—where any random blade could be called the 「Dragon-Slaying Sword」, any sword held in hand became the 「Immortal Execution Sword」, and random NPCs were equipped with 「Pangu’s Axe」—in the end, they were just names, and the more over-the-top, the better.
It’s not illegal to boast.
But, after using the 「Eye of Secret Insight」 and carefully analyzing it in conjunction with the intel he gathered from the Arcane Tower—
Rast realized that perhaps these names weren’t fabricated at all.
Why was the existence of 「Paradise」 so unique… as a resting place for the dead, how could it allow deceased remnants, those no longer accepted by the laws of this world, to remain and even live like normal people?
Why was it that both Sisel and the hidden figure behind history’s veil, the almost-never-revealed 「Gravekeeper」… such legendary beings, who stood above all and had the right to look down on the masses, placed such importance on the existence of 「Paradise」?
Why had Sisel once said that every path to legend, every birth of a legend, was an unrepeatable miracle—each one a protagonist of their era… yet the Queen of the Underworld, Helen, was born strong, without cultivation, already possessing a near-legendary status within Paradise?
All of this—everything—was because of the remnants of that ancient god of the past known as the 「Death God」.
And the so-called 「Paradise」, the nation of the underworld, was built upon the corpse of the Death God.
Even after falling for several epochs, the remains of the Death God still constantly emitted power, transforming nearby life into the dead, turning the original land and ocean into the Abyss of the Underworld.
And the heart of the Death God’s remains had, following some unknown law, become the illusory chess piece before Rast’s eyes—glowing with twilight hues, like a piece from an international chessboard.
In later generations, the Arcane Tower had given a unified term to such divine relics—
「Holy Grail」
When a mythological creature that had touched the realm of gods fell into extinction… the crystallization of divinity and authority extracted from its remains became the Holy Grail.
Even though across epochs, most of the power within the Death God’s remains and the divinity within the Holy Grail had already faded, it still held immense value.
Helen, born already bearing the Holy Grail of the Death God, had never undergone training or battle, yet her sequence rank in the 「Death God」 series had naturally reached Tier Six.
And as the core organ of the divine remains, she stood atop Paradise, capable of directly wielding part of that divine residue’s authority, attaining a near-legendary status.
In fact, by using the Holy Grail as a key, she might slowly devour all the remaining power within the Death God’s corpse and eventually become a new Death God herself.
Only—
If this were during the pages of the epoch, the golden age of flourishing civilization, then this heart of an old god would certainly be an irreplaceable treasure, allowing Helen to ascend the throne of Queen of the Underworld.
But now…
At this very moment.
In this twilight of an epoch, with the spark of civilization flickering and the end drawing near, the Death God’s 「Holy Grail」 was no longer a heavenly gift nor a treasure of sudden ascension.
It was the origin of chaos and calamity, the source of all coming conflicts.
A Holy Grail left behind by an ancient god, containing all of their divinity and authority… even the Gravekeeper would never let it go.
The authority and bonuses of the Holy Grail itself did not hold much appeal to those who had already stepped onto the path of legends.
They had long since carved out their own legendary journeys and could not possibly change their sequence and start over for something like this.
However, this particular Holy Grail was a key.
A key that might allow someone to inherit the entire legacy of the old deity known as the 「Death God」.
And from the standpoint of the Shoreguard, Sisel would never allow such a key to fall into the hands of the Gravekeeper.
True gods who still existed—whether righteous or evil—were inevitably restricted in their interference with the mortal world.
Perhaps they resided in different dimensions, or perhaps there were barriers too great to cross… so their powers could only descend briefly into the world through sacrifices, pollutants, believers, or the spread of faith.
If that were not the case, if the gods could walk freely upon the earth… then a single legendary Shoreguard could never have maintained the survival of human civilization for so long under the covetous eyes of so many cults.
However—
Newly born, or already fallen mythical beings, were exceptions not bound by such restrictions.
If someone with malicious intent used the Holy Grail as a key to inherit the Death God’s legacy… or awakened the deity’s corpse, which had slumbered for countless epochs—
Then everything would spiral beyond redemption.
Thus, what had begun to form around the Death God’s Holy Grail was a massive storm that would draw in both the Gravekeeper and the Shoreguard, along with several legends.
Helen’s rank might compare to legends while within her domain, but in front of those who had truly climbed the ladder step by step, her temperament and combat experience were no different from that of a child—
If she continued to hold the key to the Death God’s legacy while remaining at the eye of the storm… then there was no other possible outcome for her besides being torn apart by that raging tempest.
An innocent man gets blamed for holding treasure—this had always been the way of the world, whether in Rast’s previous life or in this otherworld after his transmigration.
So, at this moment—
The Abyss of the Underworld, formed from the remains of the Death God at the bottom of the deep sea… was far safer for Helen than the royal city of Paradise, which sat at the storm’s center.
As this thought flashed through his mind, Rast’s spirit suddenly paused for a moment.
In the next second—
…
【You have formed a new “Bond”. The Fool’s Library – Death God Sequence has been unlocked.】
【You have unlocked a new card —『Death God』·Akxia】
…
【Your “Bond” with Akxia has deepened. The Fool’s Library has gained new strength.】
【『Death God』·Akxia’s current bond level has increased from 1 to 2】
【You have unlocked a new Codex: “Death God · Shadowed Sight”】
…
【Your “Bond” with Akxia has deepened. The Fool’s Library has gained new strength.】
【『Death God』·Akxia’s current bond level has increased from 5 to 6】
【You have unlocked a new Codex: “Death God · Pale Body”】
…
It was like logging into an old QQ account after many days—line after line of azure text flickered through his mind, flashing by in a rapid stream.
This was the feedback from the Nightblade 「Fool’s Library」, which had finally erupted all at once at this moment.
And deep within Rast’s mental world—
Inside the pitch-black tower devoid of light, where twenty-one long sequences stretched infinitely upward.
In front of a new, pure white sequence, the illusory golden chains sealing it quietly released, revealing the staircase beyond that led endlessly into the distance.
Within that white sequence, six levels had already been illuminated by light, but four remained dark, shrouded in void and shadow.
Points of light were gathering before the long stair, converging into a slowly rotating, radiant, illusory card.
The back of the illusory card depicted a Death God riding a pale horse, holding a flag adorned with a rose cross, overlooking the masses, with a kneeling crowned king at his feet.
On the front of the card was a girl with dark purple eyes and flowing ice-blue hair.
She wore a long white uniform skirt and bore the Starfall University emblem, her fair and delicate face devoid of emotion, as cold and aloof as a glacier.
Staring at the slowly rotating 「Death God · Akxia」 card before him, Rast exhaled lightly.
Whether it was the illustration of the Death God card or the data from the Fool’s Library, both clearly revealed one thing to him.
And confirmed the speculation that had long lingered in Rast’s heart—
The student council president of Starfall University, head of the Round Table, wielder of the Nightblade 「Death-Announcing Angel」, Akxia… was the same person as the Queen of the Underworld, Helen, who had accompanied him for half a month.
Only, for some unknown reason—
Akxia and himself had appeared in the same Epoch Remnant, a place where they should not have been able to form a party together.
Moreover, it seemed that the Nightworld had suppressed some of Akxia’s memories—her identity as a Night Traveler—causing her to live within the Nightworld under the name of Helen.
“The Fool’s Library had been completely silent until now, and only just revealed the prompts…”
“Was it because the so-called bond between me and Queen Helen was nothing more than an illusion created under the memory suppression of the Nightworld?”
“And only at this moment, when I pierced the memory seal on Akxia with the Light Dagger Sisel gave me, awakening her memories as a Night Traveler…”
“That bond was transformed from a fabrication into reality.”
“And my bond level with Akxia—it’s at Bond Level Six…”
“The Codices unlocked are all abilities tied to the Death God sequence, and none relate to the Nightblade ‘Death-Announcing Angel’.”
“It seems that the Nightblade ‘Death-Announcing Angel’ is not like Shiltina’s ‘Infinity Blade’ with multi-layered functions, but instead is a one-time unlock… Such a powerful Nightblade may only become available at Bond Level Seven, the level that corresponds to the legendary tier.”
Rast stared at the text on the Fool’s Library panel, lost in thought.
This was the highest bond level he had ever reached in the Fool’s Library—one level higher than the “Bond Level: 5” he had with Shiltina.
But if he were to estimate the bond between himself and Queen Helen, that bond should be even deeper than Bond Level Six.
To that naïve Queen of the Underworld, he was the only light in her life—the fairy tale prince stepping out of fantasy and appearing before her on clouds.
And in the end, the backstabbing embrace, the dagger he drove into her back as they hugged, shattered the hopes of a queen who longed for a fairy tale, plunging her from hope into the abyss of despair…
Such a soul-deep bond—if it did not reach Bond Level Nine, it should at least be at Level Eight or Seven.
But at this moment, his bond with Akxia was only Bond Level Six.
A reasonable explanation would be that Helen was not the entirety of Akxia.
The “Queen of the Underworld, Helen” in the Nightworld was nothing more than an NPC created by the Nightworld’s power, a flashback echo in the Epoch Remnant—a phantom of past history… a phantom that was empty on its own, but gained meaning only because Akxia played the role.
Akxia and Rast were like the male and female leads of a stage play.
Because of the many coincidences and misunderstandings arranged by the Nightworld as the play’s director, they performed together in this illusionary historical echo, acting out a romantic drama.
And now that the misunderstanding was resolved, and Akxia’s original memories had returned—now that she knew she was a Night Traveler, and understood she had only been the heroine of a stage play… the recent “performance” had simply involved a memory-loss pill taken for dramatic effect—it was all for the show, part of the script, never meant to be real.
Then, what actors playing the lead roles ought to do next was naturally end the performance, say their peaceful goodbyes, and return to their own lives.
Only—
Even though a Bond Level of Six was lower than what a romantic script would call for between its leads…
It still far surpassed something like “colleagues putting on a show.”
“Fairy tales are fake, but love is real.”
Those words, written carefully and earnestly by the ice-blue-haired girl under the crimson sky at sunset, seemed to appear before his eyes again.
So, to her—
The “fairy tale” in that sentence did not merely refer to The Silverwing Chronicles…
But also to the fairy tale in which she, the Queen of the Underworld Helen, and Rast, the captain of the Shoreguard squad, played the lead roles?
The performance might be fake, but the feelings that blossomed during it were sincere and shone like diamonds—not illusions.
This was Akxia’s stance.
Even while knowing fairy tales were false, and reality was cold and cruel, she still believed wholeheartedly…
Whether she was the student council president of Starfall University, or the Queen of the Underworld’s nation, this feeling in her heart had never changed.
Then what about me?
From beginning to end, had I too been on the stage of a fairy tale script, playing a part without even knowing it?
Not only in the Epoch Remnant within the Nightworld—but also—
「Canaan」
Staring at the crystalline chess piece in his hand, rippling with twilight glow beneath the night sky—the Holy Grail of the Death God.
A rare trace of daze flickered in Rast’s pitch-black eyes.
But soon, that faint confusion disappeared in an instant, and his eyes returned to their usual clarity and void.
Whether Helen was Akxia or not…
From start to finish, what he needed to do had never changed in the slightest.
“To give a dreamlike fairy tale a perfect, happy ending.”
“If Dean Silver finds out I’ve worked this hard just to keep one of her other ‘meal tickets’ safe… maybe the Fool’s Library’s 『Moon』 card could go up another level?”
As he murmured these words, Rast slowly raised the Holy Grail of the Death God.
Ever since he touched that hazy, illusory chess piece with his hand—
In the perspective of the 「Eye of Secret Insight」, countless vein-like twilight tendrils had surged from the Holy Grail, rushing toward the skin of his right hand without hesitation.
As if they had finally found a new host…
However, each time these twilight blood vessels were about to invade Rast’s skin, a pale radiance would flash and block them from entering his flesh.
That was the Nightblade Codex: 「Silence Rejection · Withering Pebble」.
Only now, as he looked at those twilight threads writhing toward his flesh like famished vipers—
The corner of Rast’s lips curled into a slight smile.
“If you so desperately wish to find a new host, a new body…”
“Then I’ll give you one.”
His voiceless words fell like a whisper.
Just before Rast could take further action, his movement suddenly paused slightly.
From behind him, along the winding path leading up to the cliff’s peak, came a rush of hurried and panicked footsteps.
From far to near, with the passage of time, the sound of someone climbing up the mountain grew clearer and more distinct.
…
Present World – Arcane Tower.
Dean Silver, whose face was full of worry and whose fluffy tail drooped listlessly as she paced in circles, suddenly stopped walking.
And beside him, Ophelia—whose pale face was tinged with an unnatural blush—also froze for a moment in slight surprise.
“Shiltina’s little sister.”
“Looks like I’m not the only one… Even your champagne popped too early.”
Dean Silver’s voice drifted faintly, tinged with some smug gloating and a bit of ironic reversal.
“The woman who wants to put a green hat on your royal sister.”
“Apparently, she’s not the only one…”