I, the final BOSS of the beta test server!

"Have you finally stopped running and now see your own end clearly..."

"Cesare."

Noah's old words echoed in the sound of the waves.

"Actually, you don't really have to die."

"For you, there is always another choice."

With the cooperation and impact of other legendary creatures, the emerald green field of abundance suddenly expanded.

The corona next to Cecil was compressed into a very small area.

"The civilization of the Sixth Epoch will inevitably come to an end, and the Epoch must perish, and then a new era will be opened up after the extinction."

"This is a law established by the laws of nature, like a decree of fate—"

"You can't escape, you can't resist, and you can't struggle."

"However, fortunately... you are different from those lowly ordinary people after all."

Noah stepped on the fertile land and looked down at Cecil in front of him.

"As a legend, not even a weakling among the legendary realm... you already possess the qualifications to reign supreme over time and fate, not to perish with the mortals along with the passage of time."

"Among the gravekeepers, in addition to the original members who joined at the time of its founding, there are also many who were legends of previous eras."

"After ascending to the legend, he discovered the traces we left in history and joined us, becoming a member of the gravekeepers... together he watched over the tombs of those lost civilizations and the tombstones of the era."

"Even your predecessor, the original founder of the Shore Guardians, was once one of us."

Noah's words were sincere.

It's not like the feigned deception before a big battle, using words to shake the opponent's mind, trying to find the enemy's weakness and ultimately kill him with one blow... but it's a sincere invitation from the heart.

"Give up those meaningless persistence, join us, become a member of the gravekeepers, and pursue eternity together."

"With the power of the Gravekeeper, you can gain eternal life, no longer bound by the passing of eras or the rise and fall of civilizations..."

"It transcends the long river of time and the torrent of history, and reigns supreme over all disasters."

There was suddenly a hint of sincerity in Noah's words.

"I also know that you've devoted so much effort to protecting human civilization throughout your life... It's not something you can just give up so easily."

"Even an ordinary person who has raised a cat for over a decade will develop a deep affection for it, treating it as their own child or family member... And what's more, it's the ideal and persistence of a 'shore keeper' that you've fought for your entire life and consider it the meaning of your life."

"However, when pets like cats and dogs pass away, their owners will, after a brief period of grief, eventually move on and choose to adopt a new puppy."

"The same is true for you."

Noah looked behind Cecil at the plain shrouded in the pitch-black night...which was also where the watchtower and the human gathering place it protected were located.

"If you like."

"So, during the window period when this era ends and the next era begins—"

"You can sow the seeds of civilization with your own hands, and nurture the budding and growth of the new human beings of that era."

"Those seeds will come entirely from the continuation of the Sixth Epoch civilization... and the humans of the new era will also flow with the exact same bloodline as those you are protecting right now."

"It's like a cat or dog that dies of old age, leaving behind its bloodline before its death, allowing its children to continue to protect its owner."

"Furthermore, you will be able to witness the full growth of that new civilization... You can, according to your own preferences and will, eliminate the petty and filthy things that arise in the course of civilization's development, leaving only the pure and glorious side of human nature."

"That will be a new era born entirely according to your wishes."

"And you will..."

"Becoming a new era of civilization——"

“The Creator.”

……

Peaceful words echoed across the entire empty sea.

Cecil listened to Noah's voice and couldn't help but smile.

"Become... the creator of a new era of human civilization?"

"It sounds like a very tempting proposal."

"To gain eternal life, the right to transcend history, while not having to abandon one's ideals and the things one has always stood for... It's truly the best of both worlds."

"But--"

He paused for a moment: "This is actually..."

"You're just deceiving yourself."

Cecil stretched out his hand slightly and used the back of his hand to feel the sea breeze blowing from the end of the sea level.

“Birth, growth, aging, and death… these are the unique beauties of a short-lived creature like humans.”

"It is precisely because we are destined to grow old and face death that humans are so lovable and so noble."

"The reason you think your proposal is so persuasive is simply because—"

"From the beginning to the end, you have never identified with your human identity. Instead, you have considered yourself some kind of higher and superior being. In your eyes, mortals who haven't reached the level of legend are nothing more than pawns on the chessboard, chips that can be sacrificed and discarded at will."

"This is the difference between the shore keepers and the grave keepers, and it's also why I have never been able to forgive you."

His left hand clenched lightly in the air.

The next moment, the sun's domain dissipated, leaving only a blade transformed from the sun.

Infinitely dazzling, infinitely scorching.

It was as if all the light in the world came together to illuminate the dark night.

"You are a despicable person who has been living in the clouds for a long time, thinking of yourself as the chess master, causing chaos and making a fool of history, and taking pleasure in it."

"How can I understand..."

"My human nobility!"

boom--

The dark golden blade arc flickered in the dark air.

In that arc of light, the fiery tide of dragon's breath was cut off, as if the sea was split in two, leaving only an empty passage.

Noah's fertile realm also shattered, crumbling silently and turning into scattered emerald green light spots.

"Noah, half of his legendary body was annihilated..."

"And the feeling of having lost half of your mental strength permanently, that's not pleasant, right?"

Cecil's mocking voice came from a distant direction, but Noah's expression remained unchanged.

"Although I don't know what happened in the underworld, or why my fertility incarnation was annihilated..."

"However, I was able to force you to use that meteor-like weapon backhand. Losing an Avatar of Abundance and half of my spiritual power is not unacceptable to me."

"Besides, compared to these——"

The gardener-like legend of abundance slowly raised his head: "The person you should really worry about is you, right?"

"Although it was originally just an immature guess...but from the way you just severed my domain, I can now truly confirm it."

"The myriad original wisdom contained within that spark is the product of countless generations of accumulation... It is capable of finding the optimal solution to every danger, every enemy, and every challenge in the world."

"But just now, you chose to refine your own 'Sun' domain into a blade, using the simplest and crudest brute force to destroy my domain—and you didn't use the original ability recorded in that library, which is specifically designed for domain special attacks, to achieve this goal in a more simple way."

He paused for a moment, his majestic voice blending with the mountains and the sea.

"The Library of Fools..."

"The fire that was stolen from us no longer exists in your body, correct?"

"What you are using now is merely the remnants of that fire, the snow-white ash that has not yet burned out and still retains its residual heat."

"With each use, the remaining fire will become increasingly weak... until it completely dissipates from your body, leaving no trace."

"So you've been avoiding using the 'Library of Fools' and instead repeatedly using your original Sequence Long Stage, the power called 'Sun'."

……

"Although I don't know who you left the fire to, it doesn't matter."

"Do you really think that after losing the 'Library of Fools' and your last trump card... you still have a chance to compete with the four legends?"

"And after killing you... no matter how far the new heir of that fool's library escapes to, how could he possibly escape the pursuit of a legend of abundance who can communicate with all the plants in the world?"

Noah's words finally lost their previous sincerity and peace.

In the rich aura that suddenly rose up, there was an extremely sharp murderous intent.

In the brief conversation just now, both Noah and Cecil were already aware of a fact.

There is no room for negotiation between the shore guards and the grave keepers.

Therefore, all they can do is fight each other with swords.

"Unfortunately, it seems you won't be able to find the little guy who inherited the 'Fool's Library'."

"Because you no longer have the chance to find her..."

The corners of Cecil's old mouth curved slightly.

"The Library of Fools is indeed no longer within me..."

"But you seem to have made a mistake—"

He raised the Sun Blade again, and looked down at the vast rivers and seas and the boundless sky and earth.

The dark golden blade swayed slightly in Cecil's hand, reflecting a corona-like halo.

"Even if I become weaker, it doesn't mean you become stronger."

He turned around with a knife in his hand, and the sound was carried by the sea breeze to the other side of the distant broken coast, reaching the ears of Rast who was sitting on the reef.

"Look here, from the future, the shore guardian of the new era—"

"The strongest Kagero."

Chapter 168: Protecting a World Where Ordinary People Can Smile (Two-in-One)

In the dark ocean, the brilliant corona suddenly collapsed.

All the brilliance gathered at this moment, gathered together, and then disappeared.

It was as if a total solar eclipse occurred at noon. At this moment, the dark sky and the crimson moon obscured the bright sun.

The whole world was silent and dark, whether it was the ancient dragon or the giant tree, everything became dim.

In this painting with the sea as the base and the sky as the layer, painted with pure black and white, the only thing left is the bright corona spreading on the black canvas, like a shadow accompanying the sunlight.

A bright flame lit up on Cecil's chest, clear and brilliant, yet with a hint of illusion.

This is the power of the spark passed down to this day by the shore guardians—the "Fool's Library."

As a shore guardian who once held this fire for hundreds of years, even though he has lost it, there are still residues and residual heat remaining deep in Cecil's soul, allowing Cecil to use that power again when necessary.

But that was merely the residual heat lingering in the ashes, a spark destined to vanish without even needing to be blown by the cold wind...

In the years after passing on the "Library of Fools" to Grey, Cecil has been trying his best to avoid using this power, hoping that the residual heat left in his body can last longer.

But, at this moment.

However, Cecil gave up his previous insistence and also gave up on maintaining the remaining fire, and instead released it without restraint, causing it to explode.

In the dark sky, snow suddenly began to fall.

It was snow-white ash, the embers left after the firewood in the fire had burned out.

The power of the "Library of Fools" was released without reservation, tainting both Cecil himself and the corona he incarnated with a layer of distorted time.

That was distorted time, a power called "fate". As Gray's leader in the Shore Watchers, Cecil himself also unlocked the original text of the long-level "fate" sequence and was able to use the corresponding abilities.

However, what Cecil was using at this moment was not the "World Stands Still" or "Time Rewind" that Gray had used before.

These skills were undoubtedly powerful, even capable of directly turning the tide of battle. However, there were currently five Legends within the Broken Coast. Targeting all five Legends would exponentially increase the cost of both stabilizing the world and reversing time...

The glimmer of light that remained in Cessel's body now, like a rootless duckweed, was not enough to support him to fully use such a skill.