In that instant, all was silent.

Then, a torrent of roaring engulfed everything.

When the roar faded away, Huai Shi lowered his eyes and saw the fresh blood on the ground, the dagger in his chest, and Lily with tears streaming down her face.

"Oh dear, I missed. What a pity."

Gazing at that astonished face, Huai Shi's eyebrows lifted in amusement. As if feigning regret, he chuckled softly and lowered his eyes.

He fell to his knees, powerless.

Lily looked at him blankly, as if she wanted to say something.

Blood fell on her face. Her lips moved, but no words came out.

"I'm sorry, I can no longer accompany you on your journey."

Huai Shi leaned on her shoulder, gasping, and whispered. Lily watched him blankly. Unable to hold back a wail, she reached out to save him, but Huai Shi gripped her hand tightly.

Very tightly.

Huai Shi raised his head, looked at her face, and forced her to look into his eyes.

"Listen to me, Lily, from today on... you have to learn to be alone."

He strained to breathe as he told her, "When you reach the new world, you must start living alone, working alone, and traveling alone. You will embrace your own fate and future. You'll face the storms of the future alone, and you may end up dying quietly all by yourself."

"But you must not fear, nor must you run away."

Huai Shi stroked the teenage girl's cheek, looked into her tearful eyes, and said softly, "You are not alone, Lily, so you must have courage."

He slowly raised his hand and gently embraced Lily's shoulders with all his strength.

"Goodbye, Lily," he bade farewell, "and goodbye, my friend."

Thank you for your companionship.

Thank you for everything you've done for me.

And thank you for that hug from before.

When he lifted his gaze, he saw the shattered clouds above the sky dome and the twinkling stars shining under the moonlight. The tranquil sea, its blood-red hue dispersed, brought forth a gentle, warm, refreshing breeze.

At the edge of the sea, faint outlines of continents and mountains emerged.

Their journey had reached its destination.

The brief journey was about to end.

He smiled, closed his eyes, and breathed his last breath.

May the wind be at your back.

.

.

"Why didn't you stop him?" KP looked down at the final scene and pondered softly. "I thought at least you'd let him kill that girl since, after all, this is just a game."

"Yes, it's only a game." Ai Qing calmly lit a cigarette at the corner of her mouth. "Too bad, I also quite like this ending."

With that, she raised her middle finger to KP on behalf of Huai Shi, telling him word by word:

"—Go to hell, game."

KP calmly accepted the anger and disdain from Ai Qing and Huai Shi. He calmly closed the Rule Book in his hands, took off his glasses, and shook his head slightly with a sigh. "Should I say it's incredible, or is it to be expected? You actually made the same choice as the last round... If once is an accident, then twice is no coincidence."

He paused for a moment, nodding solemnly to Ai Qing. "Your resolve and will are admirable, Miss Ai, and your respect for the story astonishes me. I must admit: I underestimated you."

"Can pretty words change the outcome?" Ai Qing stubbed out her cigarette and looked up at him. "Whatever you're going to do, do it quickly. Don't expect to hear me plead."

"No, I think you've misunderstood something." KP stared at the image within the game, a smile curling at the corner of his mouth. "The game is not over yet... after all, what's happening now, someone will not permit it."

At his fingertips, a chess piece oozing with a deep, blood-red color emerged and was slowly placed on the table.

In that instant, within the darkness, an icy pupil opened.

[Ending Error]

[Fallacy in the Third Branch]

[Logic Direction Deviation, Correction Begins... Correction Fails... Problem Report Uploaded... Central Core Analysis Begins...]

[Analysis Complete]

[Correction Begins...]

And so, time came to a sudden halt.

In the dying, dim twilight, Huai Shi opened his eyes and listened to the myriad roars and noises that rose and fell until they finally transformed into a vast thunder, exploding from within his soul.

"Rebellion!"

"Rebellion!!"

"Rebellion!!!"

Thunder, as if tangible, fell from the sky, piercing into his soul. A certain rigid and decisive power moved within his consciousness, beginning to seek the roots of rebellion and correct erroneous intentions.

To reverse everything that was happening now, along with time!

In that moment, Huai Shi opened his eyes amid excruciating pain, glimpsing the deepest layers of darkness, where a gaunt figure stood amidst the shadows. And those blood-red eyes—so familiar.

The Philosopher's Stone that recorded it all.

The memories left behind by Van Essen!

"In the original history, Van Essen chose to kill the woman who trusted him and successfully passed the test, arriving at the New World," KP spoke slowly in the silence. "He eventually joined the American Genealogy, becoming a despicable traitor. Two hundred and seventy years later, he nearly exiled himself by throwing himself into the endeavor of pioneering Hell, never once returning to the Current Circumstances, as if fleeing something. Until he died of old age in the twenty-first layer of Hell, not a day passed without regret over his choice that day. Not a day passed without penance for that pure and sorrowful soul. This was the original sin he committed for rebirth, an unchangeable fact."

He lowered his eyes in pity and sighed softly, "Just like that, he died with deep remorse, leaving behind this record within the Philosopher's Stone."

"So, I'm sorry, Miss Ai." He shook his head slowly. "This is the predetermined history, the destiny that was meant for him and her, the confirmed ending of this story."

Countless moments of past remorse and sorrow had now condensed into a vast, lingering obsession.

He forgot why he existed, forgot what had truly happened.

It was a mechanical repetition, replaying the past over and over again, bearing witness to this eternal original sin.

And because of that, no change was permitted; the destruction of any ending could not be forgiven.

"Kill, Paracelsus."

The vampire stared into Huai Shi's eyes as violent power surged into his soul. That immense will stirred in the void. It burst forth with fierce electric light, unyieldingly altering Huai Shi's will bit by bit.

"Fulfill your mission!" Roars of thunderous wrath echoed within his soul. "Kill her to obtain your redemption!"

"...Fuck your redemption!"

In that moment, Huai Shi lifted his gaze from the turmoil of his soul, even as his eyes were scorched by the frenzied electric light, spewing out flames.

The modification of will came to a sudden halt.

Before that thick tome, countless colossal wills dissipated upon impact like waves crashing against rocks.

Huai Shi roared in defiance, advancing against that majestic gaze from the darkness.

He reached out, abruptly grasping into the darkness as if seizing reversing time itself. The backward flow of time faltered; the records trembled violently, then ceased their rush.

Under his will, they were forcibly brought to a halt.

And Huai Shi reached out, seizing the vampire by the collar, his charred eyes locking onto his hollow visage, telling him word by word, "I don't want such redemption!"

The vampire's phantom shattered resoundingly.

"You're going to lose, KP." In that instant, Raven calmly issued the final judgment from the very front of the auditorium.

KP looked up in astonishment, catching sight of the cracks appearing on the chess piece.

This was an inner contradiction and an unbelievable discovery for him—the records of Van Essen were actually defying his Philosopher's Stone?

His history was defying his will!

The story had abandoned its original master.

And then, it chose a new protagonist, standing by Huai Shi's side.

Thus, the ground shook, the heavens and earth roared, everything that had been static suddenly whirred into motion towards a new direction, a new ending. Resisting the persistent oppressive will, resisting the power of the Philosopher's Stone!

BOOM!

Huai Shi's soul trembled violently as cracks appeared.

He extended his hand, thrusting fiercely into the void, finding among the countless shattered records the original ending, clutching it as if grasping a red-hot iron.

Unmindful of his crumbling soul.

Then, he saw her, the teenage girl lying in a pool of blood as per her destined fate, her eyes slowly closing amidst sorrow.

She died.

"Such an ending..." Huai Shi proclaimed hoarsely, "I don't permit it!"

Even if it was the true history.

Even if all was beyond change...

Yet, even in dreams, in all that is fictional, this world should have a place for her.

Thus, as KP watched in astonishment, Huai Shi roared, tearing apart the original ending, along with layers of darkness!

He ripped open a fissure through the multitude of records, glimpsing the massive obsession operating behind it, its angry tremors raising a howling backlash.

And Huai Shi, in a daze, reached out to grasp the void before him.

Then, from his fingertips, metal light burst forth.

The light, sharp as the gleaming stars, converged in his hands, growing inch by inch, and in a flash, formed a long and fierce Cross Spear.

Potent Source Substance flowed along its blade, woven into a gorgeous and intricate pattern, which burst with the sun's radiance at his call.

From the darkness, Huai Shi stepped forward, raising his arm, and in a silent roar, he delivered a decisive thrust.

With this strike, he nailed down the final ending.

Let the dust settle!

CRASH!

The dream-like illusion shattered.

In a haze, Huai Shi heard the sound of shattering. As countless lights and shadows whisked past him, he found himself back in the familiar cabin.

Clutching the long spear, he still maintained the position of a thrust.

Before him, within the opened safe, the Philosopher's Stone glittered like a dream. It was now pierced by the blade, light green blood oozing from the crystal-like giant eye.

The crack spread.

The Philosopher's Stone, silent and broken.

In the stillness, Huai Shi forced a smile, then collapsed to the ground.

He lost consciousness.

.

.

In a daze, it seemed he heard the sound of cracking.

In the deep darkness of the night, the swaying lifeboat drifted among the waves. Lily turned back in confusion, searching for the source of that sound.

There, the riddled ship was consumed by flames and slowly sank into the churning waves.

But for a moment, she thought she saw the silhouette of a boy at the ship's bow. He was cheerfully waving goodbye to her, then turned and walked into the rising flames, vanishing from sight.

Only the faint sound of a cello emerged from the flames, gentle and deep, dancing on the wave crests beneath the starlight.

As beautiful as the creation of a soul.

"Huai Shi..."

The teenage girl stared blankly at the gradually extinguishing flames for a long, long time, until she curled up helplessly on the boat and burst into tears, like a newborn baby.

In the distance, the first light of dawn brightened, illuminating the land of the New World.

Her life had officially begun.

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