novelraw Chapter 265 : This Feeling Would Never Fall Short of Theirs
Chapter 265 : This Feeling Would Never Fall Short of Theirs
Chapter 265: This Feeling Would Never Fall Short of Theirs
The morning breeze blowing in from the window was gentle.
Rast lightly stretched out his hand, feeling the wind brush across his fingertips.
“Even if I already know it’s an illusion, a heart-born landscape reflected before me, it doesn’t matter.”
“To me, Canaan has always been such a special place.”
The young man spoke softly like this.
His figure bathed in the faint morning sunlight, falling into Emis’s gaze, his side profile sharp and deep.
“In my past life, I always wore all kinds of Masks of Personality.”
“Sometimes appearing harmless, like a face in the crowd without distinction; sometimes refined and courteous, able to win the favor of women and make others feel like a spring breeze—a charming host; sometimes cold-blooded and merciless, cruel like a killing machine of a demon…”
“In the Historical Echoes of the Nightworld, in the eyes of others in the Present World’s Western Continent… the one called ‘Rast’ bore so many contradictory faces.”
His voice paused for a moment.
“But I knew, all of that was merely disguise—masks I wore in different settings to secure the greatest benefit, to reach the goals I set.”
“They were just roles I played as an actor upon the stage, not the true me.”
Rast smiled faintly.
He raised his head, gazing out the window, as if his sight crossed the mountains and reached the cavern at the end.
“Beneath all those disguises, the real me… was nothing more than that reckless, hot-blooded, and naive little boy in the Town of Canaan.”
“Because I admired the knights in fairy tales, I would blurt out my childish ideals of becoming an ally of justice.”
“Because I wanted to find that missing little girl of the same town, I rushed headlong into the cavern all by myself, completely ignoring that I was just a six- or seven-year-old child… to the point that the rescuer almost died together with the one he tried to save.”
He pulled back his gaze, returning from the distant mountains outside the window to the golden-haired girl before him.
“In that sense, I should apologize to you, Xiao Ai.”
Rast looked at the breakfast dishes already emptied by the two of them.
“Back in that dark cavern, I clearly promised you I would take on the role of a father from then on… preparing your meals every day, taking care of your daily life.”
“But in the end, I myself forgot everything that happened in Canaan…”
“When I was trapped in the time loop of Deep Blue Port, in those days where I had lost my memory and was most broken… it was you who always took care of me.”
He smiled apologetically.
“For all those days before now, thank you, Xiao Ai.”
…
Listening to Rast’s voice,
not far away, the pale-golden-haired girl couldn’t help but show a slightly startled expression.
Only after a long while did she silently turn her head aside, not allowing Rast to see her expression at this moment.
“What’s this, apologizing all on your own like that…”
“And also—”
Emis’s voice paused for a moment.
“Saying things like, before others you were always disguised, always wearing masks… yet only in front of me do you reveal your true self.”
“To suddenly say something like that.”
“Such a confession is far too shameless, isn’t it…”
Her murmuring was so soft that even Rast, right beside her, didn’t hear it clearly.
But very soon, she calmed herself again.
The girl stood up, gathering the dishes on the table.
“Speaking of which…”
She steadied her heart and spoke again in a tone that betrayed nothing unusual: “Tomorrow is the day when Miss Shiltina is scheduled to hold the Coronation Ritual, isn’t it.”
“Mm.”
Rast nodded.
“Those angels lingering among the Gravekeepers who have slept since the last era… and all the Ancient Gods who still covet the Present World, they should all seize this chance to strike with full force.”
Originally, this had only been the grudge among the Shoreguards, the Granwell Empire, and the Gravekeepers.
But with time’s fermentation, with the undercurrents of all powers intertwining and colluding… the influence of this war had long since surpassed a mere hidden organization or the fate of a single nation.
Rather, it could very well decide the future course of the Present World, the entire Seventh Era civilization itself.
Thinking this, Rast lifted his head slightly, gazing at the girl before him, who was full of vigor, humming a Canaan folk tune as she lightly and cheerfully tidied up the dishes.
“Xiao Ai, how’s your body now?”
“Very good.”
Emis answered with a lively tone:
“After a whole era of slumber, the Judgment Holy Grail has completely merged with me, truly becoming a power I can wield as freely as my own limbs.”
“In the Spiritual World, after that Grail and the incarnation of the World’s Order dissipated…”
“Now, I am the master of the Judgment Holy Grail, the Judgment Angel at my full peak.”
“Adding to that the combat boost of the Judgment Sequence—if I face those old fogies who slept themselves stupid in the River of History, I feel like I could take three of them on at once with no problem.”
“Is that so.”
Rast’s voice paused slightly.
“Xiao Ai, listen to me first.”
He spoke slowly.
“If possible, I hope when the great battle erupts in the Imperial Capital, you won’t fight at the start…”
“Wait until the situation becomes completely clear, then enter the battlefield depending on circumstances—as our reserve strength.”
It was a perfectly reasonable decision.
Even though Emis had truly ascended as an Angel, even though she wielded the “Judgment” Sequence, known for its destructive might and overwhelming combat power among all Higher Sequences.
However, Emis, after all, was not someone born into the world of transcendents.
Before being swept into the catastrophe of Temporal Collapse, Emis had merely been a countryside girl who grew up in Canaan since childhood, who had never seen the scenery beyond the mountains, and who had never touched the world that belonged exclusively to transcendents—naive and ignorant.
And after time had shifted her into the Sixth Era, Emis soon became a part of the “Artificial Angel Project,” slumbering and self-sealed all the way until this very day.
Though she bore the rank of an Angel, she had never truly trained or fought like those transcendents who rose from humble origins.
Compared with Rast, Grey, Shiltina, Sisel, and even those Gravekeepers’ Legends and Angels… those who had gone through countless battles of life and death, who had truly walked out from the trials of mountains of corpses and seas of blood, who had long since engraved combat and slaughter deep into the instincts of their very souls—
Emis was undoubtedly an exception among Angels, an anomaly among anomalies.
Even the Night Travelers of Starfall University possessed far more combat experience and killing skill than Emis.
If her rank stood in absolute superiority, if she could crush her enemies through overwhelming might, that battle required no further concern.
But if both sides were evenly matched, with their ranks close in parity… then the gap in battle experience could very well bring about an unexpected accident.
And Rast absolutely did not wish to see Emis suffer such an accident.
Yet, just as such a thought rose in his heart,
the next moment, Rast saw the golden-haired girl place the dishes into the sink, then slowly turn around, staring silently at him.
Afterward, she lowered her head slightly with a trace of sorrow and said:
“Why do you have to say something like that to me?”
“Because, Xiao Ai, you lack the real combat experience of a transcendent… I fear you might face an accident when clashing directly with other Angels.”
“Rast, I really will get angry.”
She quickly stepped forward to stand before him, her sky-blue eyes shimmering with a complex light.
There was anger within, but more than that, something far deeper, something indescribable.
“You’re saying, you would go with Miss Shiltina and the others into that kind of dangerous place, facing those Gravekeeper Angels full of malice toward you, and the half-incarnations of the Evil Gods’ Descents… while I stay behind in safety, waiting all alone for you, watching you?”
“For this question, you already know what my answer will be.”
She drew a deep breath.
“If I were the kind of person who, because of fear of danger, fear of death, and recognition of my own weakness, could accept such a choice…”
“If I were like the games of Brave against Demon Dragon, where, when the hero ventured deep into the magic tower to challenge the final Demon King, all I could do was stay in the safe zone at the rear, quietly praying and offering blessings—then appear only as a flower-vase heroine in the after-story CG after the game was cleared…”
“Then, from the very beginning, I would never have accepted Sister Grey’s proposal to become part of the Artificial Angel Project.”
Emis’s eyes fixed firmly on Rast.
Sky-blue eyes and pitch-black pupils met at a distance so close—normally her gaze was so gentle, but at this moment it burned like blazing flame, unyielding.
“If, Rast, you went and never returned, then I too would take my own life.”
“Because to me, not only would life lose all meaning… but I also could not forgive the self who, when you faced powerful foes, failed to stand together with you and instead remained waiting behind.”
Having said this, Emis leaned closer to Rast.
She pressed the fingers of her right hand lightly against the center of the young man’s chest, a faint smile appearing on her lips.
And her sky-blue eyes, once filled with sorrow and anger, softened once again.
“To this very day, my promise from back then still holds true.”
“If we were to become deserters, then let us both desert together… hide away in Nightworld, in this reborn Town of Canaan, until the end of time. No matter what happens outside, even if the world perishes, even if floodwaters drown the land—it would no longer concern us.”
“Or even if we abandoned our faith, choosing to defect to the Gravekeepers, to the Ancient Gods, it would not matter.”
“If that was what you wished, Rast, then I would also be willing to be a cowardly deserter together with you.”
She spread her arms and gently embraced Rast, resting her face against his chest.
The faint warmth of skin against skin flowed quietly, carrying the heat of her heart.
“But… I think, Rast, in the end, you would never make that choice of escape, would you?”
“Because, just as you yourself admitted moments ago… even now, the real you is still that boy of the Town of Canaan—reckless and hot-blooded, dreaming of becoming an ally of justice.”
“To lose to anyone else does not matter. But no matter what, you cannot lose to yourself.”
Emis’s voice resounded at his ear, at an extremely close distance.
It was the echo of years, like a sound flowing from the Town of Canaan two hundred years ago, lingering until this day without end.
“Besides, deep in the Starry Sea, Sister Grey is still waiting for you.”
“And in the Present World, in the Western Continent… there is still Miss Shiltina, who is fighting to protect our future, isn’t there?”
“Although I have never truly met Miss Shiltina, nor seen her face even once…”
“But I believe Miss Shiltina must be a beautiful woman… after all, for her to receive a score of nine-point-five from you, Rast, that’s something I had never heard you give to any other girl before.”
Emis stepped back a little, her fair hand gently caressing Rast’s cheek.
“In the past, I truly envied Miss Shiltina and Sister Grey… because, sharing similar ideals with you, they were undoubtedly more fitting companions for you.”
“But now, I no longer think that way.”
Her voice paused slightly.
“I truly do not have lofty ideals like Sister Grey, which she pursued her whole life.”
“Nor do I have the courage and resolve like Miss Shiltina, wielding her Holy Sword to cut down all obstacles, decisively like a War Chariot.”
“But—”
“In this one thing alone.”
“This feeling in my chest, for you, I would never fall short of theirs in the slightest.”
She whispered at Rast’s ear.
“What they can do, I can also do.”
“Even if it means dying for you.”
Listening to the girl’s whisper at his ear, Rast once again felt his heart grow still.
He had already lost count of how many times he had been moved by Emis’s sincerity and strength.
Thinking now, the reason he could recover his original heart from that endless time loop was because of this girl before him, who always made him set aside his masks.
“Mm, I understand.”
Rast nodded lightly, without saying anything more.
What they had to do now was simply wait quietly for tomorrow to arrive.
Not a tense wait for the coming of battle, but a hopeful anticipation for the reunion of that day.