Chapter: 184. Each Person’s Future
Not far from the crowd at the funeral, beneath a lush, leafy tree, Xiaochun stood quietly, dressed in a well-tailored neutral suit, one hand holding a pitch-black umbrella as rain silently slid down, dripping from the edge of the umbrella onto the damp soil.
Under the umbrella stood a silver-haired girl in a black dress in front of her, her slender figure wrapped in the slightly cold rain curtain.
That was Tianyu from the Tian Shang Yuan family.
She did not step into the funeral crowd nor greet anyone; she merely gazed at the scene from a distance. If it weren’t for her black dress, she would have seemed like a passing stranger.
Tianyu’s purplish-red eyes reflected the scene in front of the gravestone, but the overcast sky and the continuous light rain cast a hazy filter over it, as if reality itself had become unreal.
In front of the gravestone, a white priest stood quietly, dressed in a pure white ceremonial robe, holding a thick Bible with both hands, softly reciting the final prayer.
His voice mingled with the sound of rain, deep and distant like the tide.
He was the priest Tianyu had discreetly invited.
Holding a formal Western funeral in a remote town like Chuan Ye City was not easy.
Tianyu had quietly arranged everything utilizing the influence of the Tian Shang Yuan family.
“Miss, are you really not planning to go over?” Xiaochun slightly turned her head and asked softly.
Tianyu silently shook her head.
She herself was unsure why she participated in the funeral in this manner.
Was it because she couldn’t accept the reality of losing her family again? Imagining that as long as she didn’t see them off in person, they wouldn’t completely disappear from this world?
Or was it simply that she felt this whole affair was just a false performance?
Could the “brother” she knew who had lived two lifetimes, standing as the savior at the pinnacle of the world, truly die so easily?
Thoughts surged and swirled in Tianyu’s mind, so complex that they brought forth an inability to feel sadness or anger.
There weren’t many attendees at the funeral.
The special unit SEMA had kept the numbers to a minimum to avoid unexpected situations.
Around the cemetery, abilities disguised as staff vigilantly observed their surroundings.
Only the priest, who came to lay the deceased to rest, was arranged by Tianyu specifically to avoid any involvement from the special unit SEMA in the funeral itself.
Even so, almost everyone who shared a deep bond with Nayin had come.
Yukino, Chika, Kuzuka… even members from Ark Academy like Uemon, Seiryu, and Yako stood among the crowd.
But the boy who should not have been absent was missing.
Thinking of him made Tianyu’s mood exceedingly complicated.
She had already learned through the intelligence network of the Tian Shang Yuan family, along with her own ability, about SEMA’s report on the whole situation.
That boy had betrayed the promise made with her.
But she wasn’t sure if she should resent him for that.
From a rational standpoint, he had saved this world and liberated Nayin from the pollution of the end, allowing her to die as a human being. Yet, emotionally, Tianyu wished that in that moment he could abandon the world and stand beside Nayin.
Though she knew this thought was extremely selfish.
But she understood that she was not the only one harboring such thoughts.
Tianyu’s gaze crossed over the crowd at the funeral, resting upon a girl in a black dress.
Her crimson-red pupils resembled an unquenchable flame, burning against the gloomy sky, radiating endless obsession.
The black coffin was slowly lowered into the grave by the funeral staff, the surroundings silent, except for the whisper of wind rustling through the treetops, with occasional low sobs mixed in.
The priest closed the Bible, made the sign of the cross before his chest, and softly recited the final blessing.
The funeral personnel signaled the family for the final farewell—
Renzi, the most composed among the family, stepped forward slowly under the priest’s gaze, holding a handful of white fine sand, and gently sprinkled it into the grave. The sound of sand falling on the coffin was so faint, yet it struck heavily upon everyone’s hearts.
Next, Sayaka in her black dress moved forward.
She held something wrapped in black gauze in her arms, which looked like a thick notebook from its contour. Seemingly hesitant, she considered whether to toss it into the grave along with the dust.
But at the last moment, as she silently gazed at the coffin, she seemed to sense some calling, relinquishing that thought. She held the notebook tightly to her chest again, letting only the dust in her hand fall.
Subsequently, others stepped forward one by one, laying down the soil symbolizing their mourning.
…..
……
The funeral concluded.
People began to leave, some talking softly, others walking in silence, the mixed footsteps fading weakly into the stillness.
Eventually, only one figure remained standing before the gravestone.
“Renzi, I’m going home.”
Sayaka’s voice broke the silence softly. Although they were not far apart, Renzi felt as though her voice came from a distant world.
“I’ll head back myself later; you all can go first.” Renzi replied in a calm tone, his gaze fixed on the gravestone without turning to look at Sayaka.
“I understand.”
Sayaka nodded slightly and turned to leave.
But after taking a few steps, she suddenly stopped, looked back at him, her lips moving slightly as she whispered—
“Renzi… will you come back…?”
Sayaka unexpectedly repeated a phrase that seemed out of place.
But this time she received no response from Renzi.
Seeing this, Sayaka said nothing more and turned back in silence.
Her footsteps grew distant, ultimately dissolving in the remnants of the dreary rain.
As the sky darkened, the continuous light rain had unknowingly ceased, the sunset’s afterglow swallowed by the trees’ shadows, leaving an endless gloom.
When the last person present vanished from the cemetery’s exit, the world returned to utter silence.
The sky gradually darkened, and the relentless rain had long stopped, the sunset’s afterglow consumed by the shadows of the trees.
Unexpectedly, Renzi maintained his silence throughout.
He turned and slowly walked toward the street.
The wind on the bridge carried the slightly brackish scent of the river, brushing through his hair. Renzi stood at the bridge railing, facing away from the setting sun, his gaze fixed on the river below.
Ripples danced across the water, reflecting the remaining afterglow, like shattered dreams layered upon one another.
Finally—
For the first time since the event, Renzi stopped his relentless march forward.
He had continuously presented a rational front, supporting everyone around him, completing his farewell to his sister.
But after it all ended, Renzi suddenly felt he had lost his direction.
Under the gradually rising night sky, that star which had always guided the path had completely vanished from this world.
Slowly, Renzi raised his head and removed his glasses.
A drop of water, unknown in origin, fell from his fingertip, but the crisp sound was drowned out by the flow of the river beneath the bridge.
“SEMA…” Renzi whispered.
Crack—
The glasses cradled in Renzi’s palm made a cracking sound.
“Elemental Sovereign…”
Thud—thud—
The deep heartbeat echoed once more, growing urgent.
“Principality…”
Above the night sky.
One of the stars suddenly erupted with a cold radiance, its profound and tranquil azure hue infecting the surrounding night, where countless faint crimson lines intertwined and flowed, like a spider’s web stretching across fractured remnants.
In ancient times, blue was often regarded as the color closest to divinity and the extraordinary, as it was associated with the sky, the universe, and the stars. Many supreme deities or powerful gods in various mythologies resided in the celestial realm, such as Zeus from ancient Greece and Odin from Norse mythology.
Renzi let go of his hand, and the shattered lenses slipped through his fingers, silently plunging into the river below—yet the same cracks were deeply imprinted in Renzi’s azure eyes, cold and sharp as ice, the fine fissures resembling the veins of death spreading within his pupils.
The magic radiating from the cracks in his soul ignited a brilliant glow in those shattered eyes.
“The end…”
All things in the world maintained a fragile and delicate balance, but when one side loses something crucial, the scale tilts rapidly to the other side. If everything in this world follows the principle of equivalent exchange, how much must the other side pay to restore the balance of all things?
—————–
SEMA Division.
During this period, Kanade had not returned to the familiar home in Chuan Ye City but chose to stay in a building where Nayin had left no traces.
Perhaps to numb the sorrow in his heart, he had immersed himself in the inspection work of SEMA.
What he did during the incident proved to SEMA and the three major academies that the end’s corruption could be eliminated entirely.
In the past, the deceased Nayin’s body might have been taken back as a specimen by SEMA and the three major academies due to the lingering aura of the end, much like the previous elemental sovereign, but thanks to himself, Nayin was able to leave this world in a dignified manner—at least, this was how he consoled himself.
Since Nayin left.
The world that Kanade saw now was left in a monotonous gray.
Although he had undergone a thorough examination by SEMA, both the scientific and supernatural diagnoses indicated that Kanade’s body was entirely normal, ruling out any possibility of this being a residual effect from physical trauma or the end’s aura.
If one word could describe Kanade’s state after that, it would be—confused.
Kanade didn’t know what he was supposed to do next, nor where his future lay.
He had indeed promised Nayin to protect this world she loved so dearly.
But since Nayin had left, news about fantasy monsters worldwide had also vanished, as if everything truly happened as Nayin and the Book of Future stated, that the purpose of fantasy monsters was only to eliminate the protagonist, and once the protagonist was gone, this world would usher in peace—
Even if this was a peace he was unwilling to accept.
If the struggle between humans and fantasy monsters were viewed as a story, it seemed that this story had reached its final chapter.
……
“Kanade, someone wants to see you.”
Kurokawa’s low voice broke the silence in the room.
He leaned against the door frame, hands in his pockets, his tone carrying a hint of fatigue.
Today was the day Nayin was buried. Though Kurokawa allowed Kanade to temporarily leave the SEMA division to attend the funeral, Kanade felt that as the “culprit” who had personally killed Nayin, he had no right to send her off for her final journey.
That very night.
Unexpectedly, through Mana’s help, someone found Kurokawa and requested to meet Kanade.
In the dim room, the table lamp cast a weak glow, illuminating Kanade’s pale face.
Hearing Kurokawa’s words, he slowly rose, moving like a soulless puppet.
His vacant eyes gazed at Kurokawa as he murmured softly, “…Who?”
Kurokawa observed the scene, having sighed countless times in his heart.
Seeing this, Kurokawa couldn’t help but sigh yet again. After the incident, he had hoped that his childhood friend Mana could ignite a ray of hope in Kanade’s heart with her gentleness, but the results seemed ineffective.
He could understand Kanade’s feelings at this moment; to save the world, he had killed his dearest love, and to rally himself again was not a simple task. It was likely that he would maintain a state of being lost for the rest of his life.
However, Kurokawa did not want to watch that once gentle and kind boy completely degenerate into a soulless shell.
SEMA and the three major academies also did not wish to see their “protagonist candidate” drifting aimlessly like a lifeless driftwood, devoid of spirit.
Indeed.
Even though the Book of Future had been deciphered, revealing that “Hoshimiya Nayin” was the true protagonist and that she had departed from this world, the protagonist plan had not yet been abandoned by SEMA and the three major academies. However, they would still publicly assert this was merely a precautionary measure for the future.
As the one who had killed the “protagonist” and resolved the end’s pollution issue, Kanade would naturally be regarded as the strongest candidate for the protagonist.
Thus, SEMA and the three major academies had ordered Kurokawa more than once to employ every means necessary to help Kanade recover as soon as possible.
Consequently, all actions that might help Kanade regain his spirit were tacitly approved by SEMA and the three major academies, such as allowing him to enter special areas of SEMA like ordinary civilians.
Facing Kanade’s inquiry, Kurokawa fell silent for a moment, his gaze dropping as if weighing something.
In the end, he raised his head and slowly said, “It’s Hoshimiya Nayin’s sister—Hoshimiya Sayaka. She said she has something she wants to personally hand over to you.”
