Night World Players

Chapter 230: You Must Come and Save Me (Two in One)

I can’t remember how many times I have recalled the scenery of the ruins.

There was steam and flames all around. The metal was deformed by the high temperature. Pieces of wooden planks fell and hit the ground, turning into scattered fragments.

The blizzard mixed with ice chips took away the little boy's body temperature.

Through the broken floor, one could see the sky, burned black and red by the smoke and fire, and the air was filled with the rotten smell of dust and ashes.

This is a hell, a purgatory on earth called "Canaan".

The only moving figure in hell was the woman who was wandering and searching in the desolate ruins, with a sad expression on her face that was uglier than crying.

She searched desperately, like a homeless ghost in hell...

Until the woman found the boy still alive in the burning ruins.

Their eyes met in mid-air, and she just stared at the boy blankly, as if she had just woken up from a nightmare, gradually recognizing the people in reality and regaining the sense of being a human being.

She slowly squatted down and slowly hugged the boy tightly. The sad expression that was uglier than crying gradually turned into a smile.

Laughter with tears.

In the fragmented memories, the woman's face has become blurred, but Last still remembers that smile——

That was perhaps the most beautiful smile he had ever seen in his life.

……

"In the very beginning, it was really just because of longing."

"It's like every child who, when they were young and naive, longed to see the backs of their elders and made a wish to become an astronaut, scientist, teacher, or firefighter when they grew up."

"That was my initial wish."

"Because when she rescued me, the reassuring smile on that woman's face was so happy, so dazzling, it made me yearn for her..."

"So much so that the desire to become someone like her when I grow up sprouted in my heart, and the seeds of the ideal called 'Shore Keeper' were planted."

Luster said softly.

"Of course, this is just an inconspicuous seed..."

"Just like many childhood thoughts, when I look back as an adult, I only think of them as pure black history—"

"If my life had continued normally, I might have been gradually smoothed out by the secular world, becoming smooth and mercenary, or what you might call 'mature'..."

"Such vague and unrealistic ideals in childhood will naturally remain buried in the dust, never sprouting, becoming only a topic of conversation after dinner."

He couldn't help but smile.

"But, later on... my life didn't follow the logical and original track."

"Rather, we are trapped in the echoes of Deep Blue Harbor's history, in that endless time loop."

"then……"

"At that time, I was trying to prevent myself from a mental breakdown in the hell of time loops, falling into utter despair and self-destruction... Just like a drowning person desperately grasping at anything at hand, I also regarded this childhood ideal as my lifeline."

Rast gazed into his own heart, and he saw again the lost boy who was trapped in the same day and could never move forward.

"I haven't become a shore guardian like her yet, so I must not fall here, and I can't stop moving forward."

"For a long time, this was my only remaining hope, the only motivation that allowed me to persist in finding a way out of the time loop in Deep Blue Harbor, rather than completely giving up and abandoning myself."

"This ideal has been twisted bit by bit over the course of time, and its weight in my heart has grown heavier, like a scorching furnace core, driving this broken body forward..."

"In the end, it became a proof that I still exist..."

"As if as long as I still remember the ideals of the Shore Watchers, the human being named Rast will still be alive in this world, instead of being defeated by that damned fate."

……

"But by now, Rust, you should also know that this is just your own wishful thinking."

Amys's words seemed to come from far away.

"The woman who rescued you from the sea of ​​fire filled with the breath of death in the ruins of Canaan was Sister Gray."

"But, Sister Gray herself was the source of the disaster in Canaan just now."

"If she hadn't made that wrong wish to fate, then the Canaan Fire wouldn't have happened at all, and your life trajectory wouldn't have been distorted, and you would have been able to live a normal life like an ordinary person."

"The 'shore guard' you long for, admire, and dream of becoming..."

"In fact, he is the culprit who destroyed Canaan."

For some reason, Amy's voice was unusually cold and calm.

"Besides, by now, Rust, you have also been freed from the historical remnants of the night world."

"You no longer need to rely on that sick, long-deteriorated ideal... as your lifeline, your anchor of existence."

"If that's the case, then completely abandoning this desire that has gone astray and returning to the path of a normal person is the best option, isn't it?"

Listening to Amys' words, Rast fell into silence for a moment.

After a long moment, he spoke again.

"Yes, Xiao Ai, you are right."

"That was an ideal that was accompanied by misunderstandings and lies from the very beginning."

"This wish was borrowed from Gray, and has deteriorated over time. It's no longer what it originally was."

"If I were the one who had just escaped from Deep Blue Harbor, I would definitely agree with your point of view without hesitation."

"but……"

Luster gently closed his eyes.

Scenes of broken light and shadow, countless people and things he had met before, flashed back in his mind again.

……

In the port area of ​​Deep Blue Harbor, he completed the task of buying twenty minutes, faced the tide of the Iron Cross and went to his death... but was pulled up by the returning Hiltina, and was asked to escape together with her.

In that academy blessed by the stars, I met myself for the first time as a talking ferret.

In the small town shrouded in endless white fog, the gray-haired little girl was given the name "Gray" and was seriously warned of the weight of the three words "shore guard".

In the royal city of Paradise, I was reading a fairy tale to Axia.

On the cliff in the rainstorm, in order to speed up Gray's growth, he put on a traitor's hideous face.

In the abyss of the underworld, he resolutely rejected the invitation of the gravekeeper to become a god and launched the "King and Rook Exchange".

During the Battle of Broken Shore, he witnessed Cecil's death fight with his own eyes, and was shocked beyond words.

On the rocky beach, even though his body was already in tatters, he still pretended to be carefree in front of the grieving Grey.

……

During the Deep Blue Harbor period, perhaps I was truly just a hollow, walking corpse, a machine driven only by a single obsession...

But today, within that body, damaged by the wear and tear of memories, is already filled with brand new things...

Those are the countless passionate and exciting emotions that are born after encountering many different people and things.

It is these passionate and exciting emotions that come together to form the person named Rast.

I am unique, a self that can never be denied by gods or fate.

"Indeed, it started out as a longing."

"But, ultimately, it all comes from my own deep desire."

"The desire to overthrow that hell, the desire to save future generations from suffering."

"And that gray-haired girl who spent her entire life chasing the illusive dream called 'Shore Keeper,' but ultimately achieved nothing and drifted alone in the depths of the starry sea... that unfulfilled ideal."

He opened his eyes and gazed at Amy before him. "Amy, even now, becoming a 'Guardian of the Shore' remains my ideal."

"It's a wish that comes from my heart. There's absolutely no falsehood in it."

……

"I see."

"So, this is the answer you gave, Rust?"

Amy's voice sounded again.

She gazed at the scenery outside the window, the quiet town shrouded in the night.

In those sky-blue eyes, extremely complex colors flashed.

There is attachment, reluctance, and also a sense of relief as if a heavy burden has been lifted...complex emotions are intertwined together, and there are countless of them.

But there is more joy than sadness.

"Well, that's my answer."

"Since becoming a shore guardian is my ideal, then even if I'm nostalgic and reluctant to leave..."

"I can't be trapped in the land of comfort and stop moving forward."

Luster said softly.

"Besides, Xiao Ai, have you forgotten the promise I made to you when we were little, when that tree house was built?"

"I told you at that time... one day, we will have a home that is much bigger and more spacious than the tree house, a home that belongs only to us."

He was also overlooking the town scenery outside the window: "And now, since the tree house has been in disrepair for a long time and may collapse at any time, it's better to just tear it down."

"Soon, we'll have a new home, one rooted not in the treetops of lies, but in the real world."

Amys just listened to Last's words in a daze.

After a moment, she suddenly smiled.

"Sure enough, what I was thinking..."

"If it were you, you would definitely give such an answer."

She wiped her eyes and nodded seriously.

"Well, I'll wait."

"The day when that house, which is bigger and more spacious than the tree house, is built, and I move into the new home with you and become the mistress of the house."

……

There was a brief silence in the small cabin late at night.

Neither Luster nor Amys spoke again.

But in fact, there was no need for words between them. After just two simple conversations, they already understood each other's intentions.

Last slowly stretched out his right hand and clenched it in mid-air.

The next moment, in the empty air, silver-white spots of light suddenly gathered.

Immediately afterwards, a revolver engraved with the Iron-colored Black Moon fell into his hands.

He raised the "Iron Moon" pistol and slowly raised the muzzle.

However, at the moment when he was about to aim at the girl in front of him, the wrist of Rast that was holding the gun suddenly trembled slightly... With his honed marksmanship, this tremor should never have occurred.

Last suddenly recalled a scene he had experienced a long time ago in the echoes of Frozen Water Town's history.

At that time, he was dragged into the dream woven by the evil god of Dongshui Town... In that dream, there were also Canaan and Xiao Ai.

At that time, in order to escape from the dream, Rast chose to shoot the fake Amys in the dream without hesitation, thus breaking the nightmare woven by the pollutants.

At that time and moment, it was just like this.

Both the scene and the characters are exactly the same as they were at that time.

However, this time, Last knew that what he was facing was no longer a dream woven by pollutants, but the real Canaan... where he had lived for who knows how many years and which he regarded as his utopia and safe haven.

But the next moment, Rast felt that his right hand, which was holding the gun, was supported by a soft little hand.

It was a very slight tremor that should never be noticed by outsiders...but Amys could clearly see it.

She reached out and gently held Luster's wrist, which had been trembling slightly.

The hand was soft as if it had no bones, yet warm and firm.

"I said... Amys will tolerate everything about Rast. No matter what you do, I will always stand by your side."

“So, there’s no need to struggle or feel pain.”

"This is not a decision you make alone, but a decision we make together."

“The world is fake, but love is real… Even though Canaan began as a fabricated lie, the little things we experience here and the emotions that have grown from them are by no means false.”

"From now on, no matter what we face on the road ahead, whether it's joy or sorrow, laughter or tears... we will face it together."

Amis guided Rast gently in this way.

He slowly pointed the black muzzle of the revolver towards her heart.

"After becoming an angel, I sealed my true self within the deepest historical echoes of the night world."

"To prevent a recurrence of the previous 'Omnic Disaster', where the Judgment Star Grail's will ran wild and slaughtered all living beings, over a long period of time... the self-seal I have set cannot be removed from within, but can only be awakened from the outside by others."

"The specific coordinates of the deepest historical reverberation are... With the evolution of the Night World, it seems to have become quite dangerous. If possible, it's best to wait until you break through to Legendary status before attempting this."

Amys used her other hand to gently stroke the side of Rast's face, and the two of them were very close to each other.

"I will always be waiting for the day when I become the mistress of your new home... As long as you don't come to pick me up, I will keep waiting."

"But, frankly speaking, it's not very pleasant to seal yourself in the coffin of historical echoes."

"It's dark and cold there, and I'm afraid of the dark."

"So, definitely, definitely..."

"Come pick me up."

Rust felt a slight touch on his left hand.

Amy's little finger had been placed lightly on her pinky finger without her noticing.

This was a move that Luster had taught her as a child.

It is said that a vow made in this way cannot be broken even after many changes in the world, or even after separation of life and death.

"Ah."

Luster nodded: "Let's make a promise and hang ourselves. One hundred years..."

"No, it's not allowed to change even for a hundred thousand years."

The next second after saying this.

Last saw a smile on Amis' pretty face...

It was the most beautiful smile that rivaled the one Gray had worn when he found himself in the ruins, a smile he would never forget in his lifetime.

Then, under the guidance of those slender fingers.

The trigger of Iron Moon was pulled.

The bright flames burst out from the muzzle, completely engulfing the entire world.

(End of this chapter)