A dull longsword and a heartbroken villager

Like charcoal, it begins to disintegrate.

The venom flowing from its body seeped into the **, and how long this venom would harm this sea area remained unknown.

The beast is no longer a beast; its transformation will ultimately amount to nothing more than a giant log.

The greatsword shattered the "core" seen by the mind's eye, completely destroying the divinity within the giant tree that originated from the source of the plague.

"Crash—" The giant tree, which was worshipped as a god, split open and collapsed piece by piece.

Some sank into the ocean, while others simply landed on the shore.

Bray sank into the sea along with the pieces of wood.

But he didn't let himself continue to sink into the deep sea. Midway, he opened his eyes, grabbed a rock, and climbed out of the water.

He threw the greatsword onto the shore and slowly swam in the same direction.

At this point, Bray's body had not yet recovered.

As the seawater entered his body, the pain constantly stimulated him.

It was thanks to this excruciating pain that he didn't lose consciousness.

However, he had heard that when the pain reached a certain level, a person could die, and Bray did not want to die yet, so he swam towards the shore with all his might.

Although he swam very slowly, he had done his best.

Don't make things difficult for him; he just shattered an avatar of a Golden Seed less than a minute ago.

"Cough cough..." By the time Bray placed one hand on the sea, his body had been completely restored thanks to the effects of the Heavenly Fox Tears.

He was completely unharmed, as if everything that had just happened was an illusion.

Even if you tell people that Bray went through a bloody battle, no one will believe you because he didn't shed a single drop of blood.

But only Bray knew that if he made a few more mistakes, he would be dead.

When he was reduced to just a skeleton because his recovery ability couldn't keep up, he knew he was almost at his limit.

Ultimately, the Heavenly Fox Tears don't make Bray immortal, they just prevent him from aging.

"..." He lay on the ground, picked up the "Beers" which was missing a piece, and after a while, he crawled over to pick up the "Last Echo".

Indeed, as a swordsman, one cannot abandon one's sword.

He stared at the great black sword, remaining silent for a long time.

He did indeed kill the incarnation of the Golden Seed, but was it worth it?

The greatsword that had been with him for so long broke at the tip just to kill the incarnation of the Gold Saint.

Killing the embodiment of the Golden Seed was indeed a feat, and even Bray had to admit that it was no different from a miracle.

However, he was forced to complete this feat; he was sitting at home when disaster struck from the sky.

If one incarnation of a golden seed can appear now, is it possible that a second or third could also appear?

"Don't worry about such things, Master," an aged voice rang out.

The next moment, Bray found himself standing upside down in a dim, yellowish sky.

The sky was beneath my feet, the earth was above me, and the old knight stood before me.

"A sword is just a sword; it's a weapon to be used, not a collectible," the old knight said quietly.

The rusty helmet completely obscured his expression.

"..." Bray hesitated, but in the end, he couldn't say anything.

"If it's for your own purposes, what does it matter if the sword itself is completely broken?" the knight said.

"But I don't even understand the meaning of this battle."

What is the significance of a battle that comes suddenly and is fought out of necessity?

“Meaning? Isn’t protecting that girl the whole meaning?” the knight retorted.

Whether for a greater good or for personal reasons, weapons are meant to be dedicated to their Master.

Since he was able to awaken as a being of his own will, it already proves that the Master is someone worth sacrificing for.

Those who are not worthy of dedication cannot even awaken their initial self-will.

"Although your body is shrouded in blood, at least your soul is not obscured by it."

Countless crows swept across the sky, and a cool breeze brushed against my face.

"Don't worry, as long as I'm not completely shattered, I can exist."

“Master, you should be concerned about that girl now.” Although he couldn’t see the old knight’s expression, Bray felt that he was smiling.

"Thank you." Bray didn't know what to say, but finally managed to utter this sentence.

"Thank me? I'm the one who should be saying thank you." The old knight shook his head, then gave Bray a push.

This push sent him crashing to the ground.

This desolate battlefield is not suitable for frequent visits; only one person is needed to guard this yellow sand.

---

Bray returned to the city.

On his way back, he witnessed a scene of utter devastation.

The area near the coast is like a living hell.

Even if the incarnation of the Golden Seed dies and the concept disappears, the result is not indelible.

If we really want to erase the result, we'll have to use other "concepts".

Ultimately, these are not things that ordinary people can do.

Even Bray couldn't; all he could do was silently pass through this hell.

Because he held back the source of the plague, no disaster occurred in the inner parts of the city.

Many people were still sound asleep, unaware that an apocalypse had occurred not far away.

Levy didn't notice either.

After Bray returned to the clinic, the people on night duty in the city hurriedly ran towards the sea.

However, he no longer cares about what happens next.

Bray walked over to Levy's bed, sat down, and stared blankly at her sleeping face.

Levy doesn't snore when she sleeps, but she does make "uh" sounds from time to time.

"Hmm..." Her ears twitched a few times, and she made a cute murmur.

Bray casually pulled the blanket up a little, even though he knew that Levy couldn't possibly be cold.

But since she fell ill because of the source of the plague, no one can say for sure how weak she is now.

But she seemed to sense something in Bray's body and slightly opened her eyes.

When she vaguely saw Bray, she instinctively gave him a 0V0 expression.

"Bree~" Because she had been sleeping, Levy's shout wasn't very energetic.

But this soft tone has a unique charm (?).

“I left for a little while,” Bray said to Levy.

"Hmm, just a little while~" Levy nodded, smiled cutely, but then yawned.

She knew Bray would keep his promise. Although Bray wasn't invincible, no matter what, she had promised Levy, and in the end, she could keep it.

"Are you hurt?" Levy asked, twitching her ears.

“No,” Bray replied, despite having died many times, he hadn’t actually been injured in the strict sense.

For Bray, there were perhaps only two outcomes: death or survival; there was no option of being injured.

"You can continue sleeping. I'll stay by your side all night and won't go anywhere else."

"Really not going anywhere?"

"real."

"Mmm~" So Levy obediently closed her eyes again and quickly fell asleep.

Levy felt very safe with Bray around, so she slept very soundly.

If there were a dam, she could sleep right in the chimney.

Bray crossed his arms, adjusted his posture, and rested after seeing that she was fast asleep.

The night will pass like this.

The city, ravaged by the "plague," was far more chaotic than Bray had imagined.

Why is "plague" in quotation marks here? Because this disease, strictly speaking, is very different from the diseases people usually understand; it originated from a concept.

It is unrealistic to try to explain these "plagues" using knowledge of the Black Iron species.

But what does this have to do with Bray?

No matter how chaotic the city is, Bray can't help, and probably won't.

To put it bluntly, he's probably one of those people who lack a spirit of dedication, as others would say.

But Bray didn't care about other people's opinions of him. He had done all he could. Killing the embodiment of the plague source was his limit.

If you ask Bray to do anything more, he will refuse without hesitation.

The city was still in chaos, and he prepared to leave to explore other parts of the Western Continent, since Levy had fully recovered.

As expected, once the source of the plague was dead, ordinary diseases had no effect on Levy at all.

The next day, she was jumping around in bed, full of energy.

When Bray saw her then, he couldn't believe that she had looked so sickly just yesterday.

Look at its tail wagging so fast, it could smash a lamppost at any moment.

However, before heading to other parts of the Western Continent, Bray encountered an acquaintance on the road.

Inside the train car, Levy was eating a large steak on a seat to the side, while a mysterious bird was watching her eat.

Meanwhile, on the other side, Bray was talking to Whiteface.

When Bray saw the white face, he wasn't surprised at all, not even a little bit astonished.

He had long suspected that Bai Mian would come looking for him.

After each of these events, Shiro would come over, as if he knew in advance what was going to happen.

Perhaps this is my future self, someone who can foresee the future.

However, in reality, Bai Mian had no idea that this would happen.

It should be said that from a certain point onward, nothing that happened afterward was something Bai Mian could have predicted.

The timeline began to shift onto a path he didn't know about a very, very long time ago.

“This time, it was my fault.” These were the first words Whiteface said to Bray as he sat in the railcar.

"Thump, thump—" The wheels of the railcar rubbed against the rails, making noise.

As we passed through the tunnel, the light dimmed for a moment.

Although the light had dimmed, the two figures reflected in the windowpane became clearer.

Bray didn't say anything, but just opened the can in front of him with a "hiss".

“I never imagined that when the ‘Alliance of the Gods’ is destroyed, when the Reincarnators die, there would still be incarnations of the Golden Race.” The white-faced man’s voice came from under his helmet.

Hakumen considered many ways to solve the problem of the World Wall, but in the end he chose to eliminate the source.

In his view, the source is naturally the "union of gods" and the reincarnators.

Unfortunately, Bai Mian was wrong.

In any case, something will eventually be able to destroy the World Wall.

The scratches left on the wall after Umkandal was killed were actually insignificant.