Captain – Chapter 596 – I Promise

That pendant was clearly a gift from the goddess, containing unimaginable divine grace within. Like water, it flowed upward along the man’s fingers toward his rapidly fading heart, engaging in a tug-of-war with the death energy.

Time passed in deathly silence. Gradually, the aura of death around the man grew fainter.

If he were willing to destroy the sacred object and absorb all the radiance within—the goddess’s final blessing left in this world—he might truly be able to drive death from his body.

After all, he himself bore the greatest blessing. From every perspective, he was the most perfect person in the world, the closest to divinity. This was why he could continue moving forward with unwavering determination even after being pierced through the heart by the Nethergate Dagger, his body never once decaying.

Yes, he had a chance to survive.

As long as he removed the death goddess’s curse, the man would still have choices.

He could abandon ship and flee. If he detonated the warship’s core, the giant serpent would be “blinded” for a moment, and the man was confident he could vanish without a trace in that brief instant.

Of course, he could also raise his broken sword and, along with the listing giant ship and the remaining soldiers, engage in bloody battle with that specter, trying to fight his way to survival and tomorrow.

These were all choices—choices that would help him live.

But…

His fingertips slowly separated from the pendant. The man closed his eyes somewhat wearily, and without suppression, the black energy in his chest, which had already faded almost beyond detection, surged forth once more.

They had already lost.

Listening to the wails that echoed constantly around them, “seeing” the great fog that had invaded every part of the warship, stripping away life and even souls, the man thought silently.

Even if he could survive, this battle was already lost. They might be able to repel it, but they could no longer kill that final specter. They could only watch helplessly as it departed.

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Watch it live through this era, live through countless years, perhaps never dying.

When all gods had departed and all blessings were scattered, it would return with destruction and death.

He could not accept this ending.

His eyes suddenly opened. The man’s dark pupils were now occupied by even deeper undercurrents, almost completely dim, yet they still held the radiance called sacrifice.

This was emotion, and also gentle fire.

Similar to what Roy had seen in First Mate Isaac when she first awakened from the “nightmare,” the only difference being that divine grace did not blaze forth.

Instead, it merely flowed out from the man’s heart, then dispersed as countless streams of light.

Dispersing to every corner of the magnificent giant ship.

With effort, he pulled out the broken sword embedded in the wooden table and put it away. The man reached out to pick up the pendant, and having lost the sacred object’s protection, that long wooden table was gradually permeated by death energy.

Starting from where the broken sword had pierced it, accompanied by a muffled sound, it mournfully split in half.

Though he held the pendant, the man no longer summoned its magic to protect himself. He only gazed affectionately at the center of the cross, at that sea-blue gemstone.

As if through it, he could once again see his faith, see the people he loved deeply.

Tell them, tell Lady Goddess…

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Everything that happened here.

The man whispered in his heart, and the pendant seemed to hear his voice. The blue gemstone glowed faintly, and the iris flower among the flame patterns began to dance like burning fire.

The next moment, the man exerted all his strength to hurl the pendant in his hand sideways.

“Crash!”

With a crisp sound, the pendant flew out, shattering a porthole on the side wall. Accompanied by countless fragments, it fell toward the sea, toward final hope.

Perhaps years later it would drift back to shore, stopping before a waiting girl.

Inheritance, and then redemption.

After doing all this, the man could barely stand. He trembled forward, then turned and collapsed powerlessly into a chair that, due to its materials and symbolic meaning, had not been corroded. Then he slowly raised his head to look outside.

Though his view was blocked by the ship’s superstructure beyond the door, he could still see everything clearly—the crew’s tragic state, the terrifying specter waiting for its “feast.”

He would change these things. Though nothing could be salvaged, he could at least leave hope.

For future generations, and for the soldiers who trusted him.

As this thought settled, the streams of light emanating from the man’s chest became increasingly brilliant and substantial. They drifted to every part of the giant ship, landing on the painfully struggling skeletons, rolling up the fog and bringing it back bit by bit to the captain’s quarters.

They protected the soldiers’ remaining souls and caused the dimming divine radiance to blaze forth once more.

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The goddess statue at the bow, the cross in the center of the chapel within the giant ship’s hold—upon sensing these streams of light, upon sensing that man’s approaching end—began to shine with great brilliance. The light was like a tide, nearly illuminating the entire night sky!

Feeling the burning pain brought by the piercing light, feeling the sorrowful gaze cast by that deity who had not yet departed, the giant serpent finally fell silent and retreated.

It dove deep into the sea, never to return.

Finally, the light was extinguished. Only the candles within the giant ship continued to burn steadily.

But the next moment, the warm light spilling from portholes and gun ports was also cut off by sudden white fog. Even divine sight could no longer penetrate within.

This warship that had been placed with such high hopes, and all the people aboard it, were forgotten.

Eternally exiled by the world and time.

In the captain’s quarters, all the streams of light and the fog symbolizing death that the light had gathered flowed into the man’s chest. The room plunged into deep darkness.

Accompanied by the sound of wind blowing sand, the man’s previously intact body began to turn to ash and scatter from his chest. Within, there was no longer flesh and blood, only shocking bone remains.

But though death had claimed him, he still sat upright with straight back and hands on the armrests, as if he had never known what it meant to bow. And his lowered head…

Slowly lifted to gaze ahead.

“This is the story of what happened that night, and what you call the end of the Old Calendar.”

The man’s voice was as steady as always. In his dark pupils there was no regret, only relief and release, for standing before him was a young girl.

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At some point, Roy had separated from within his body and regained her ability to move.

Paying no mind to the sound of the wooden door closing heavily without wind behind her, the girl looked at the man whose “ossification” had spread to his chin and gently nodded.

“I saw it all, Representative.”

The corner of his mouth moved slightly, forming a somewhat terrifying smile. The man asked gently: “Then you also know what must be done. Let me ask you one final time.”

“Are you willing to take up my authority and mission, to take on the two thousand three hundred and twenty remaining souls aboard this ship, and carry the goddess’s unfinished wish to continue this redemption?”

“Can you… promise?”

Hearing that question that reached straight to her heart, feeling the man’s gentle gaze and the heavy pressure on her shoulders, Roy took a deep breath, then knelt on one knee.

She closed her eyes slightly, and when she opened them again, they held no complex emotions.

Only determination remained, nothing else.

She looked at the somewhat decayed wooden planks before her that nonetheless bore the radiance of that almost selfless sacrifice from that final day, and after a moment of silence, responded softly.

“I promise.”

As her words fell, in the blink of an eye, the scene before her changed. The wooden planks were still the same wooden planks, only now illuminated by candlelight with some drops of blood upon them.

She had returned to the present world.