Chapter 248: You Must Take Responsibility for Shaming the Witch (8k)
The Star Chalice, emanating a dreamlike radiance, let out a crisp groan.
Then it shattered, dissipating.
No one, nor any god, could comprehend why Shaya would do such a thing.
Boom—
After a moment of stunned silence.
Astonished gazes, berserk spiritual power, and the divine radiance erupting from the depths of the Astral Realm.
Countless chaotic events illuminated the entire Astral Realm in a jumbled disarray.
However, as the source of all these chaotic vortexes.
Shaya no longer had the leisure to concern himself with anything in the outside world.
The instant he crushed the Star Chalice—
Deep within Shaya’s soul, within the boundary of “Origin,” he had also unleashed a strike.
A strike that severed all connections to everything that remained within “Origin.”
The Creator of the Glorious Era, the “Golden King” Rhine, was Shaya.
But Shaya was not the Creator, nor the Golden King.
And after delivering this strike to his own origin.
From this day forward, he would bid farewell to all the heroes who had left countless brilliant achievements in human history in all previous reset timelines.
He had become an unrelated individual, with no further intersection.
Swish.
Swish.
Around Shaya, the river of time flowed and roared.
It stirred up countless whirlpools, blurring everything around them, even the boundary between matter and time.
On the Western Continent.
Whether it was Aerora, Isadorella, or Sylvia.
At this very moment, they all found their figures becoming illusory.
The diverging currents of time swirled around them, carrying them towards the downstream of the river of time.
This was an era where they should not have existed.
And at this very moment, with the curtain falling on the Mythological Era and all causality resolved.
The sound of the flowing river of time grew even louder, like the roar of thunder, or the collapse of mountains.
It was about to sweep these intruders, who did not belong to the Divine Age, downstream towards their own era.
Soon, the figures of the three became extremely vague and hazy, with shattered streams of light scattering around them.
“Is it over?”
On Atlantis Island, Augustina’s body had not become illusory and fragmented like Sylvia’s and the others.
However, ripples of time were slowly undulating within her golden dragon eyes.
Mysterious fluctuations emanated from around her.
The Dragon of Darkness was an ancient dragon born in the Divine Age.
But at this moment, the will within this black dragon’s body did not belong to this era.
Augustina had only used the authority of the “Sands of Time” to send her will in the present world back to the First Era.
And at this moment, as the Mythological Era concluded, the power of time contained within the “Sands of Time” had been exhausted.
A single grain of sand fell in the hourglass.
The consciousness of the “Queen of the Night” also departed from this youthful shell, returning to the Fourth Era along with the sands of time.
In the instant before their figures vanished.
Aerora suddenly turned her head, looking towards the star realm, at the boyish figure also entwined by the river of time.
Her lips moved slightly, as if sensing something, and a hint of panic flashed in her sky-blue beautiful eyes.
The silver-blue Holy Spear Rungoniumad shone, radiating mystery.
It was about to carry the golden-haired maiden out of the surging river of time, and re-establish her footing in this era.
But in the end, the silver-blue radiance dimmed.
Along with the golden-haired maiden’s figure, it flowed towards the downstream of the river of time.
This was an era far more ancient than the end of the Third Era, the Historical Echo of Escarnia, and much closer to the primordial Divine Age at the beginning of creation.
And the Holy Spear Rungoniumad had previously been summoned by Shaya with a mere “Spear, come!”
In that battle to bid farewell to the gods, the Holy Spear, as the anchor grounding the gods to the world barrier, had exhausted all its power and mystery, creating the opportunity for the Holy Sword’s “Divine Dodge.”
In these mere ten-odd minutes, the Holy Spear had only recovered a tenth or two of its strength, enough to protect Aerora and ensure her safe return to the current time node was its limit.
It was no longer able to respond to its master’s expectations and do more.
…
In the Astral Realm.
Shaya silently watched the light gradually receding in the river of time until it could no longer be seen.
In stark contrast to his silence.
was a place beyond the Astral Realm and Spirit World, located above time and space.
The “Origin” that Shaya had ruthlessly severed, was now in a state of rampage.
This represented the complete farewell of the individual known as “Shaya Egut” from all his past.
All connections, all causality, along with the intertwined destiny, were severed together.
From this day forward, he would truly live as Shaya, not as the “Sun God who lost his memory,” or the “resurrected Golden King.”
“You will regret this.”
“Shaya Egut.”
In the collapsing, disintegrating Origin.
The soul imprint, also severed by Shaya, without a vessel to contain it, was now slowly dimming, heading towards complete dissipation.
As if acknowledging the destiny severed by Shaya, the two had become unrelated individuals.
The soul imprint’s address to Shaya finally changed from “another me” to “Shaya Egut.”
“A mortal being with flesh and blood has insurmountable limits.”
“Perhaps you are young now, full of vigor, and your heart is as pure as unblemished jade, untainted by any dust, able to overcome all obstacles with a temporary surge of spirit and reach the pinnacle of glorious light.”
“You look down upon those gods who resorted to any means to ascend to godhood.”
“But even the purest heart will eventually experience ‘wear and tear’.”
“Life itself is a pilgrimage of accumulating pain.”
“In infinitely extending time, in this never-ending journey of suffering, one will be stained with dust, bit by bit.”
“Like a raw jade ore, eroded by wind and frost, eventually becoming unrecognizable.”
“One day—”
“When your loved ones and friends around you gradually grow old, and your originally flawless soul becomes stained with gloom and dust due to stagnation.”
“You will also tread the same path as that Sun God.”
“Gaining power, ascending the eternal throne, will become your sole pursuit and ambition.”
That illusory voice gradually faded.
But Shaya, listening to the voice from his own origin, merely shook his head slightly.
“Perhaps.”
“Maybe one day, I too will be stuck at a bottleneck, dominated by twisted obsessions.”
“Perhaps one day, with the passage of time, I will forget my original intentions and become a monstrous figure that I now find hideous.”
“After all, no one can predict the future.”
“But that is an ethereal future.”
“And not today.”
“Today, I can clearly hear my inner voice: I do not want to become that person, nor am I willing to become that person.”
“Regardless of whether I eventually stray onto the same path as you…”
“I will not regret choosing to give up the Star Chalice and the Heavenly Throne today.”
“As long as it is so, that is enough.”
…
“No regrets?”
Around Shaya, the flow of time became even more turbulent.
It transformed into layers and layers of time, creating a barrier between him and the myriad creatures of the Mythological Era, and even the entire world, as if separated by a vast distance.
“Then, do you know…”
“The consequences of severing your origin, cutting off all causality and threads of fate, and thus cutting off your connection and causality with that Sun God?”
“The price for every gift of fate has long been marked in secret.”
The illusory voice became incredibly faint, almost inaudible.
It was merely a soul imprint, preserved until today due to the special nature of the origin, but it was still just an imprint.
After being awakened by Shaya, this imprint was destined to not last, whether Shaya struck at his origin or not, it was destined to perish, the only difference being the duration.
Listening to the almost inaudible voice, Shaya nodded gently.
“Of course.”
As the other party said, every gift of fate had long ago been marked with a price in secret.
Shaya was a special person.
An exceptionally unique individual even when he was only in the weak Second Ring.
He could freely traverse history, rewriting everything that happened in the Historical Echo according to his will.
Even things etched in history books were not exceptions.
He rewrote the endings of imperfect stories into the forms Shaya desired.
With this special power, Shaya encountered Sylvia, and Augustina… in the Historical Echo.
Without this uniqueness, Shaya might not have formed a connection with Isadorella during the heroic epic of the King of Knights.
And his relationship with the Second Princess would likely have remained at the level of reliable allies, not developing into the present intimate relationship.
It could be said that without the uniqueness of transcending time and space, Shaya might still have risen in another way, becoming brilliant…
However, the people by his side today, in another equally brilliant world line, might have been like two parallel lines, never intersecting with Shaya’s trajectory.
And such an innate uniqueness naturally wouldn’t be without reason.
Even Isadorella, powerful as she was, having ascended to Legend and wielding the Holy Sword of Stars, only altered the future historical trajectory of an empire in the Third Era.
She became the King of the Hypothetical Zone, targeted by the wrath of the entire river of time and historical correction force.
Yet Shaya, who wasn’t even a Legend at the time and lacked the protection of a Holy Sword, could freely enter and exit the Historical Echo…
Even to save Isadorella, Shaya transferred the karma and weight of an entire country onto himself, and ultimately suffered no major punishment.
Living leisurely in Eden for ten years… compared to the sins borne by Isadorella as the King of the Hypothetical Zone, it was negligible.
And the source of Shaya’s uniqueness has finally become clear today.
Everything was due to the origin he carried.
As a Sun God who sat high in the heavens since the First Era, looking down upon the mortal world.
In the repeated resets, in each reset, he was a hero, a king who left a distinct mark in the civilized epics of various eras.
That was why Shaya could so easily traverse the Historical Echo, and even when rewriting history, he wouldn’t suffer severe backlash from the correction force.
He was, after all, a human who had existed from ancient times to the present. His footsteps were present at every critical juncture of civilization’s history.
Any era in the history of civilization was Shaya’s territory, a time he had lived in. No matter what Shaya did, as a being of that era, he naturally wouldn’t suffer the violent backlash of the correction force that a transmigrator from the future would experience when interfering with the past.
But—
At this very moment.
As Shaya severed his origin, cutting off his connection with the Sun God, the Golden King Rhine, and his identities from the repeated resets.
His identity changed from an ancient hero of antiquity… to truly become that youth from the Ceylon Snowfield.
He was born in the Fourth Era, rose in the Fourth Era. The mere few decades spent in the Empire were Shaya’s entire life.
Regarding the history of the past, Shaya had once again become an outsider, a stranger.
Therefore—
The punishment from the historical correction force for Shaya’s repeated rewriting of historical trajectories… would now, after Shaya cut off his origin, finally see its true reckoning.
In the flowing time, Shaya slowly closed his eyes.
Then, he listened to the approaching roar of the monstrous wave known as the correction force.
The past Shaya could disregard historical correction forces and the river of time due to his uniqueness, fearless.
But now, he had lost that uniqueness.
From a chosen son favored by the gods, he had reverted to an ordinary human.
This was the correction force wave that reverberated across four eras, with the accumulated sins of the Ancient Azure Court, Escarnia, and even the Shaya of the Divine Age, all combined.
It was tens or hundreds of times stronger than the correction force backlash that Solun had faced, or that had occurred during the collapse of Escarnia’s Hypothetical Zone.
This was why Shaya had not told Aerora and the others about this.
Even when Aerora, through some tacit understanding that Shaya himself couldn’t detect, discovered something amiss with Shaya, he could only forcefully make a small adjustment with the Holy Spear and send Little Ai back to the current historical node.
Because this was a natural correction that they could not resist, and even the most powerful and ancient Holy Relics like the Holy Spear or the Holy Sword would be useless.
If Shaya hadn’t done so, Aerora would have definitely chosen to stay and accompany him… and the consequence of doing so would be Aerora falling into a desperate situation with no chance of survival amidst the wave of correction force, extinguishing all her vitality.
This was no longer the affectionate companionship in Eden… Unlike Escarnia back then, Shaya had not left himself any backup this time.
“Even without incorporating the divinity from that Star Chalice, you are already strong.”
“Perhaps stronger than the Sun God at his peak.”
“Even this historical correction force, bearing the weight of all human history, might not be able to completely obliterate your existence.”
“But— even if you can resist the erosion of the correction force, you will be swept away by the wave of correction, completely losing your way.”
“Shaya Egut.”
“You will be banished by the correction force to the deepest part of the Astral Realm…”
“Wandering adrift at the end of time, forgotten by the world.”
“And the duration of this banishment…”
“Will be eternal.”
Listening to the ethereal words, Shaya smiled slightly.
“Yes, I understand all of this.”
“But it’s fair, isn’t it?”
“Riding on this special ability of time travel that you bestowed upon me, I accumulated so many cross-temporal debts of love, showed off so many times, and revealed myself so many times.”
“And now, I am unwilling to accept the past that brought me these gifts… Is there such a good thing in the world?”
“Since that is the case, this is the price I should pay.”
Shaya’s gaze was serious.
“Moreover, if I am to be banished to the end of time, to an eternity of wandering and drifting.”
“Then, as long as I continue to drift endlessly, there will always be a possibility.”
“That in the lost river of time, a tiny miracle occurs, and by chance, I drift in the only correct direction, reaching the correct exit.”
“Of course, the probability of this coincidence is very, very small, no better than finding a needle in a haystack.”
“But—”
“Since this probability is not zero.”
“Then, in the infinitely extending, eternal span of time… the probability of this miracle eventually occurring is one hundred percent.”
“Just like the infinite repetition of 0.9 is actually 1.”
Shaya smiled.
“And as soon as that tiny miracle occurs, I can return to the correct history, back to the Fourth Era.”
“From the perspective of their perceived time, it will only be the blink of an eye for Little Ai and the others.”
“They will only think that I returned to the Fourth Era right after them, and naturally will not know what happened here.”
The last wisp of Origin was severed, transforming into scattered starlight.
Within the shattered starlight, Shaya heard a long sigh.
“You should know how many attempts it will take to wait for the probability of this tiny miracle to occur?”
“That’s not a trifling matter of decades or centuries.”
“The length of time might be tens of thousands of years, or even hundreds of thousands of years…”
“Or perhaps, even longer.”
“And in this process, to maintain your existence and not be annihilated by the correction force, you must always remain vigilant, unable to fall into sleep for a single moment.”
“Maintaining a clear consciousness, wandering in a world devoid of anything but darkness for tens of thousands of years.”
“How many years has your life spanned so far?”
“Even so, you have no regrets?”
Shaya did not directly answer the question from the soul imprint.
He merely silently gazed at the last few wisps of scattered starlight before him.
After a long while.
Shaya spoke softly.
“This is my choice. No regrets.”
…
“Is that so—”
“It really feels like looking into a very, very old mirror.”
“So that’s how it is…”
“Such a person truly existed.”
The last wisp of starlight from the Star Chalice.
Along with those final words, it dissipated, leaving no trace behind.
Shaya did not turn back.
Instead, he faced the approaching, overwhelming tide of correction force directly.
Before being engulfed by the wave of correction force, this was his last moment.
Shaya slightly turned his body.
Through the illusory, hazy passage of time, he looked into the Astral Realm, at the graceful figure of the Golden Elf.
He moved his lips slightly.
After being completely engulfed by the correction force, what he would face was an eternity of solitude spanning tens of thousands of years.
In this remaining time, Shaya wanted to say his final farewell to his still somewhat immature teacher-mentor.
After all, among the few people Shaya cared about, she was the only one whose relationship with him had not yet been truly established.
Before embarking on what might be an endless, long journey, Shaya did not want to leave himself with regrets.
However, in the next moment.
Shaya was suddenly stunned.
Because he saw the azure flames that illuminated the flowing time around them, engulfing even the howling correction force.
The backlash of the correction force was intercepted by the azure flames.
Only the flow of time remained, no longer roaring and turbulent, but calm and gentle.
It carried Shaya’s body safely and smoothly towards the downstream of time.
Slowly, but irreversibly.
Human and Elf, gazing at each other across the flowing time.
Shaya was downstream, while Heiser was upstream.
“Why—”
Shaya asked blankly.
This was something beyond his expectations.
Even the secrets hidden in that place of origin, Shaya had actually guessed them all correctly beforehand.
However, what was happening at this very moment was completely unexpected.
“Don’t you always say that a scholar changes after three days of not seeing him, Teacher Shaya?”
“Or perhaps, my little Shaya.”
A voice like heavenly music came from upstream in the river of time.
The stunningly beautiful Golden Elf looked at the face of the human youth downstream through the scattering light of time.
How could this be?
Shaya was stunned.
“Little Shaya.”
This address was only ever used by a certain Golden Elf for him.
But that should have been the mysterious teacher of the future, not this young Golden Elf maiden before him.
“It’s not just humans; Elves also grow, Shaya.”
Looking at the bewildered Shaya, a slight smile appeared on the Golden Elf’s breathtakingly beautiful face.
“The Secret Fire of the Goddess of Magic represents ‘Magic of the Void’.”
“It is the mystery of glimpsing realms.”
“And the Magic of the Void contains not only spatial laws, but also— time.”
Her crimson-gold eyes held nostalgia, affection, and a hint of determination.
Heiser’s gaze remained fixed on Shaya’s face for a long time.
“After incorporating the Secret Fire of the Goddess of Magic, I can now use the ‘Magic of the Void’ to briefly glimpse a corner of the future.”
“Of course, it’s only some insignificant, fragmented glimpses of the future.”
“But by piecing together these fragments, it’s enough for me to see a future that belongs only to you.”
The Golden Elf’s pleasant voice paused slightly.
“I have seen your stories with Little Ai and Solun, with Sylvia and the others…”
“The love that transcends time and space, the unwavering loyalty, the maiden saved from darkness, the epic of the knight and the king…”
“Those are indeed touching pasts, so much so that the jealousy I should have felt towards those heroines has disappeared.”
“It’s just that—”
“Teacher Shaya.”
A hint of tenderness entered her crimson-gold eyes.
“You always do this, saving others again and again—”
“To let that green and naive daughter of the Grand Duke survive in a chaotic world, you made her hate you to the bone.”
“For the safe return of that Knight King, you chose to wear the thorny crown yourself, bearing the sins of an entire Hypothetical Zone.”
“You turn one imperfect story ending after another into the form you desire.”
“But, when I saw those past fragments through the Magic of the Void… I kept wondering.”
“You saved them—”
“Then, who will…”
“Save you?”
“Until later, I saw your childhood memories, fragments within the Black Tower, pertaining to that Golden Elf, or rather, my future self.”
The world became silent.
The tide of correction force was briefly held back by the azure Secret Fire; even the roaring sound was barely audible.
Only the two of them remained, gazing at each other across time.
“Teacher Shaya—”
The Golden Elf maiden suddenly brushed aside a few strands of light golden hair from her temple.
“Do you still remember what you and I said when we said goodbye on the day the Lost Island fell into the abyss?”
“You said—”
“‘As a teacher, I must protect my student well.’”
“And then you left so coolly, leaving behind only a grand, unforgettable back figure.”
“So, my response today is the same.”
She looked at Shaya and said softly.
“As a teacher, I must also protect my student well.”
“Even if that master-disciple fate comes from the future, it doesn’t matter.”
…
Boom—
The river of time, which had briefly calmed under the suppression of the Goddess of Magic’s Secret Fire, began to surge once more, creating wave after wave.
But the Golden Elf’s voice, piercing through the tides of time, was still clearly audible.
“Don’t worry about me, Teacher Shaya.”
“You and I, and Little Ai, are different… You don’t belong to this era; you are outsiders rejected by natural law, and whatever you do will be met with backlash from the correction force.”
“However, I am a High Elf born in the Divine Age. The damage and rejection from the historical correction force will be much weaker for me.”
“Although I am still somewhat immature compared to you, Shaya… with the help of the Silver Fire, this level of correction force cannot annihilate my existence.”
“At most—”
“I will be repelled by the correction force, banished to some part of the Astral Realm or Spirit World, and wander in the deserted Star Abyss for many years, several epochs.”
Through the towering waves, the Golden Elf’s gaze towards Shaya was filled with undisguised affection.
“However, don’t think I’m acting all deep and in control like you, Teacher Shaya.”
“I’m actually quite afraid of the dark and loneliness.”
“Therefore—”
“You must come and save me someday.”
At this moment, time flowed past Shaya.
Everything was irreversibly heading downstream.
And in that descending passage of time, the Golden Elf’s figure became increasingly small, and even her voice became more ethereal and distant.
Heiser’s words suddenly became lighter.
“Also, I haven’t forgotten, Teacher Shaya.”
“Even though from your perspective, I am your teacher, you took advantage of me, and mischievously took me as your disciple instead.”
“In your words, that’s Master-Disciple Reversal, right?”
“This is a grave sin of disrespect.”
“So—”
Phenomena faded.
The scene of the Divine Age disappeared, leaving only shifting light and shadow.
Second Era, Third Era—
Until the Fourth Era.
Even with Shaya’s perception, he could no longer see the Golden Elf maiden traversing time.
Only Heiser’s last words echoed in Shaya’s ears.
“You must take responsibility for shaming the witch.”
