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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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Looking at Daniel McLean, frozen and still, she instinctively tightened her grip on the staff.
– Ouch.
The Yggdrasil staff, having awakened along with Eris, spoke, but she didn’t hear it.
“You knew this was what the training was for,” she said, her voice filled with resentment towards the staff.
– Daniel McLean said this was the way to save the world. And it worked. We achieved the impossible, even earning the gods’ praise.
“…”
– It took a ridiculously long time, but… his training finally bore fruit.
“Haa…”
– So don’t hesitate. His fate was sealed.
Even if she didn’t kill him now, he wouldn’t wake up. But if she did, she would lose him, but the world would return to normal.
“That’s why he stopped his own time.”
The Goddess of Time, watching from behind, nodded in understanding.
If he’d remained half-alive, Eris might have found a way to revive him. He’d stopped his own time to remove himself as an obstacle.
“How… beautiful.”
She chuckled wryly. She’d thought he’d given up when he stopped his own time. A last, desperate act in a hopeless situation.
But she was wrong.
Everything he’d done had led to the continent’s victory.
And her defeat.
Tears streamed down Eris’s face. The goddess had told her. He’d waited for her for eons.
“I’m sorry.”
But he hadn’t been able to endure and had stopped his own time.
“I’m so sorry.”
Eris knelt and embraced him.
The Goddess of Time was displeased, like a museum visitor touching a priceless artifact.
But she couldn’t interfere.
She had lost.
“I’m sorry I was late. I’m sorry I couldn’t overcome it sooner.”
She wished he could hear her. She wondered what his expression would have been.
“And I’m sorry for my wavering heart. I… I want to be with you.”
But she slowly stood, gripping the staff tightly.
“But I know that would defile your sacrifice and your convictions.”
She wiped her tears and channeled mana into the staff. Sharcal’s distorting mana would release Daniel from his frozen state.
“I have to say goodbye now.”
She plunged the staff into his chest.
The Daggers of Sealing were meant to save those consumed by calamity.
But they were gone now.
The only way to end a calamity was death.
Color returned to the world, spreading outwards from Daniel McLean’s heart like a rainbow, painting the grey landscape.
“You did well. You did so well.”
Eris knelt before him.
Daniel McLean dissolved into light, scattering in the wind.
The Goddess of Time, watching, felt a hollow ache.
“I see.”
But she wasn’t entirely unhappy.
It was her first true defeat, and it felt… liberating.
“You win, Daniel McLean.”
She raised her hand towards the sky.
Her power, depleted from freezing the continent, wasn’t meant for destruction like the other gods.
Using her power now would leave her weakened for a long time, but…
She wanted to offer him a parting gift.
A gift for the captivating spectacle he’d shown her.
“And a curse upon you, who were too incompetent to bear your own burdens and forced them upon a single man.”
A gentle rain of light fell upon the reviving continent.
A defeated goddess’s last act of defiance.
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