Captain – Chapter 735 – Shattered Before Dawn

The breaking sound echoed out, and the seal just shattered like that.

Although it was originally formless and immaterial, although it broke in the depths of fog too distant to see, there were still those who appreciated this magnificent scene.

Whether the sight itself or the history it represented.

In the devil’s eyes on the throne, that false sky, that barrier half-collapsed with cracks covering the remainder, suddenly scattered into glass fragments filling the sky.

The varied glass fragments fell reflecting dim light, like a meteor shower in the night curtain.

Not particularly brilliant, more tragically beautiful, the melancholy of an era ending.

But in the devil’s eyes, there was no sadness or sentiment, only calm pleasure and praise for the supremely beautiful scene invisible to the present world.

He slowly raised his hand, reaching toward the horizon.

As if wanting to touch the starry sky that had become even clearer after the seal’s shattering caused fog to retreat and night to scatter.

And as if sensing his thoughts and call, the complex stars and moon suddenly brightened, blazing so intensely they almost merged into one, looking like thousands of suns blooming.

In the endless radiance, a weak ray of starlight finer than silk threads descended.

It danced and swayed, falling toward the devil’s hand.

Though it looked so fragile, no matter how fierce the wind and rain, no matter how violent the enveloping night or flashing lightning, none could shake it in the slightest.

No, it should be said they simply couldn’t affect it at all.

Because that starlight wasn’t matter or energy. Its form of existence and meaning was incomprehensible even to near-divine beings, transcending all rules.

It was something from the other shore, or rather, acknowledgment and acceptance from that world toward the devil.

Acknowledging he could enter, acknowledging he was qualified…

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To birth a divine nature.

The moment he touched the starlight, he would sublimate, shed mortality, and become a divine being embodying rules. From then on he would hold authority and be omnipotent. More terrifyingly, the part of the rules he would inherit and be reborn with originated from the Lady.

Inherited from the goddess of disaster and misfortune, Annisdora.

You must know, nearly a thousand years ago, when he could only borrow divine power through the magic box, the devil could already stir terrible curses, turning the entire Ancient Auran coast into deadlands.

So when he fully grasped divine authority, what heights would he reach?

No one knew, but it would likely be thousands of times more cruel than anything he had done since ancient times.

Those who defied him would all struggle to escape his claws.

Besides the Pirate King about to ascend to godhood, no one else could witness this peaceful yet sacred, stunningly beautiful ceremony. But at least previously, that scene of the seal completely shattering had fallen into the eyes of various transcendent beings.

The one who felt it most strongly was naturally the girl who had chased the night and now set foot on the solitary island.

After leaving the Ghost Scythe, she had leaped without stopping, landing on and flying past countless ghost ships before finally reaching the eastern coast of the nameless island.

This was also where she had disembarked when she first came to the devil’s island waters piloting the Mermaid. Though many years had passed, the memories and experiences of that rainy night remained deeply etched in her heart, not fading in the slightest.

Because that was the beginning of everything, the true starting point of the long, bitter journey.

Now she had finally returned to the old place, very close to the destined battlefield and that person.

If the fog were dispelled and night scattered, this storm with its occasional thunder and lightning splitting the sky would seem almost identical to the scenery in her memories.

Only the people standing on either side, whether in position or purpose, had become completely different.

Roy was ultimately not that cold-blooded ancestor.

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When familiar scenery came into view, when scenes from memory flashed through her mind, complex sentiment still arose in the girl’s dark gold eyes.

But not just the current her – even that pirate legend who hadn’t yet awakened and emerged years ago wouldn’t let such emotions delay her steps for even a moment.

Much less shake her resolve.

So after landing lightly on the beach amid swirling wind currents and night, Roy’s figure showed no pause, immediately rushing toward the dense forest following her memory.

Having walked this path once, she naturally couldn’t forget the way, even without pendant guidance.

Moreover, after breaking through the fog onto the island, nothing could block that devil’s glaring radiance – he was simply like a sun in the night.

How could she possibly lose her way?

But…

“Crack!”

Before Roy could enter the forest, a breaking sound arose without warning by her ears, in her heart, even in the depths of her soul, making her instinctively stop.

Following the sound’s source, the girl looked up at the dim horizon with slight bewilderment.

Her gaze pierced through night, rain curtain, and layers upon layers of ancient tree branches and leaves, “seeing” all the way to the depths of mid-air, “seeing” the glass falling like rain.

Then she suddenly awakened and thought silently: Oh, so the seal has broken.

And at quite the… opportune moment too.

Just in terms of life’s height, the girl who also stood before the threshold, one step away from the other shore, had a will already powerful enough to approach a true divine being. Even momentary emotions like bewilderment would instantly disappear like rain into the sea.

Fear, panic and the like didn’t even show the slightest trace.

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But at this moment, one emotion burned like wildfire in her heart, impossible to extinguish no matter what, as if it would burn all her efforts along the way to ash.

Worthless ash.

That was unwillingness – heart-piercing, painful unwillingness.

The girl “watched” the glass falling from the sky, her fists clenched tightly at her sides, fingertips digging deep into her palms as if to draw blood.

The moment she felt the seal shatter and glass sky fall, she knew she was still too late. Her ancestor had already broken free, and everything would become a foregone conclusion.

She couldn’t think of even the slightest possibility of victory.

Though she had never planned to accept the other shore’s call and shed emotion to become divine, as the person closest to that step, Roy deeply understood this process was irreversible.

Once that person became a new god, in this world where all gods had departed and curses were about to break, who could stop him? Even if the entire world united against him, there was no hope.

In the end, was she still too late?

Unwillingness gradually faded, replaced by calm – the calm of facing death without fear. Roy withdrew her gaze, knowing that even so, she still had to fight.

Whether for herself, those she loved, or to save their world.

Even if victory was remote, she couldn’t retreat. Moreover, behind her still stood…

Suddenly thinking of someone, understanding something, the girl’s body suddenly stiffened, then she slowly turned around, her eyes trembling slightly as she looked back toward the path she’d come.

This was the first time Roy had looked back since this assault gathering the present world’s strength to clear her path began, because she had known from the start there was no retreat.

So why look back now?

Not from some slight weakness, wanting to seek support and encouragement from those close to her.

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But because she knew she was about to face another parting.

Always so unoriginal, yet endlessly sad and hard to bear.

So what you wanted to see, what you were waiting for…

Is now?

Sadness rippled in the girl’s eyes. She pressed her lips tightly together, her clenched hands long since released. Gradually, her gaze stopped trembling and returned to tranquility.

Complex thoughts had also sunk into her mirror-like heart.

Then she gathered her gaze, turned back and rushed forward, her figure disappearing among the heavy tree shadows.

At the same time, across the vast sea where the captain gazed, the Victoria that had remained quiet in the still night for months finally showed slight movement.

That old man who had been sleeping continuously, as if he could never sleep enough, finally awakened.

He raised his face slightly, looking at the night fog that seemed peaceful as before to outsiders. But in those deep sea-like tranquil eyes beneath raised eyelids and hat brim shadows, glass fragments and that gentle starlight were reflected.

Looking at that absolutely unprecedented scene in human and civilization history, one that could be called the most soul-stirring magnificent sight in the world, the man’s gaze held no appreciation and remained indifferent as before.

Not like viewing an epoch-making masterpiece, but only seeing a collection stained with blood and sin, being forged by the most vile person, something that shouldn’t exist.

Since it shouldn’t exist, then don’t let it be created.

Let it be destroyed in the furnace.

Perhaps for this reason, the man turned his head slightly and spoke softly in respectful request:

“It is time, Lady.”