After Terella's soul was infused into her body, the room fell into a sudden silence.

The monster lying in the corner didn't move, and Levi had no way of telling if Terrella had successfully returned to the flesh...... However, there was not much time left for him to stay in the tomb, and a faint repulsive force appeared in the air around him.

Just then, Levi noticed a black finger move across the floor, the tip of a knife-like claw slicing across the floor's surface, leaving a shallow white mark.

Immediately afterward, the five sharp claws snapped together, and nearly a square meter of the floor was clawed into pieces, and sawdust flew everywhere, bouncing all over the room.

A shrill cry of madness came from the monster's body, and the black bat's wings suddenly stretched out, filling the room, and it flailed its claws and scratched through the room, its twisted horns tearing the walls apart, and the hoarse appearance was terrifying.

In a stinging scream, Levi reached out to cover half of his ear with one hand, and shot a blue wire from his other hand around Archer's ankle.

He dragged Archer's body away from the monster and dragged him to his side, and in the next moment, the place where Archer had been lying was immediately torn apart by the sharp claws into several broken strips of wood.

Beneath the black batwings and twisted horns, the monster reveals its true colors: its skin is dark blue, and its face is covered in uneven black crusts; The distance between the eyes is very large, and the blood-red color of the two pupils overflows to the whites of the eyes, filling the two eye sockets; The entire facial bone has lost its human features, and the mandible protrudes forward, looking like the skull of a lizard; When it cracked its mouth, a slender red tongue protruded from the middle of two rows of sharp, serrated teeth, and the tip of the tongue was stained with disgusting saliva, dripping down to the floor.

"Terella......" Levi muttered her name as she looked at the ugly monster's face.

In his heart, there was no way to connect it to her.

Two sharp claws spread out, grabbing Levi's sides like ten scythes, slicing the round window behind him to pieces, and the entire wall was about to be unsaved.

The monster hung its head and looked down at Levi's face at great close...... From its vantage point, he looked familiar as he sat between his paws.

The bright red tongue poked out of its mouth and licked Levi's face, and the barbs on the tip of the tongue cut through Levi's skin, leaving scars on his face, and a little blood spilled from these wounds, looking extremely hideous.

Suddenly, the monster quickly withdrew its tongue, raised its head high, and let out another deafening scream, in which its tail swung violently, and the tip of its tail tore through the wall behind it, cutting through half the room like a sharp blade.

The room vibrated and the entire roof and two walls began to slide off, revealing the outside of the room.

Levi gritted her teeth, the situation before her clearly meant that Terella's soul return was not going well—she must have endured unimaginable torture, because of the pain to lose her mind, frantically destroying the things around her.

He was about to make a move when there was a crackling sound on Terrela's body, and a crack appeared on its claws, and then black crust shards broke off the surface of the claws and drifted into the air...... Its face, torso, limbs, and wings climbed one by one with spider-web-like cracks, and a large number of limb fragments fell off the cracks, and the whole body showed signs of disintegration.

The process of fragmentation is very rapid -

Soon, the pair of broad black bats were full of holes, their claws jagged as if they had been gnawed by dogs, a small spine attached to its waist and abdomen, and its tail completely disappeared—a skull-sized gap opened on the left side of its chest, and viscous black blood gushed out of it, and the blood seemed to be wrapped in something.

A cube stained with sticky black blood fell out of its chest and rolled down to Levi's feet under the wrap of the pillar of blood.

Levi picked up the cube from the black blood, wiped the blood from the surface with his thumb, and saw that the silver lines on the cube were the shrine containing Terella's heart.

He looked up and saw that the monster's body had disappeared for the most part, but Levi couldn't think of anything to stop it from disintegrating.

Back to the body...... A long-cherished wish that had been impossible from the start, Saladin had designed everything to lead Terella to a dead end. He knows her too well, even if it is a dead end, she will go to the end without hesitation.

Saladin had made Terella wait for a thousand years, making her go to great lengths and sacrifices for her vain wishes, and the ending had already been premeditated, and she could only end up in a bleak end.

What can I do in the face of all this?

Levi stood up and reached for the monster's arm, but as soon as his fingertips touched it, the arm turned into a cloud of black ash.

Looking at the fragments flying like quicksand in his palm, Levi clenched his fists, but the tighter he clenched them, the faster the fragments flowed.

The monster's wings were reduced to two broken roots, and it was prostrate on the ground, chirping feebly, and its cry was full of desolate and helpless feelings. Its skull was half disintegrated, and it looked at Levi with the scarlet eyes that were the only one left, and stretched out half of its ugly claws with difficulty, as if trying to touch the corners of his clothes.

In its subconscious, it thinks that it can rely on the man in front of it - although it no longer remembers who he is, it can only use it as a last straw.

Levi was half-on his knees and stretched out his hand to grab its claws, but at that moment, the house suddenly shook violently.

He didn't stand still, and almost fell to the ground, and when he managed to stabilize his body, the monster in front of him completely turned to black ashes - its mouth full of fangs opened, as if it wanted to say something, but it couldn't say any last words in human language.

Eventually, the ugly face drifted into the wind, leaving the room with nothing left.

Levi was still reaching forward, but it was empty, his hand holding the shrine, black blood running from between his fingers.

It was Terella's blood, the only thing she had left in this world.

"No, there should be a way to ......"

Levi clung to the shrine, and when he looked up, he found that the entire Ozer was shaking violently, and all the obsidian buildings were squeezing and shattering into the middle, turning into the tiniest stone gravel, and everything was moving closer to the original point, like the beginning of the universe, or the end of the destruction of the universe.

The sphere was broken, and a huge sunset and dusk sky reappeared overhead, and behind the canopy, a sea of void stars was slowly descending, countless bands of dark blue light flashing and floating. On both sides of the mirrored surface of the tomb, the black city and the white palace are about to break through the mirror and overlap together...... That would be a picture of destruction.

Feeling the increasingly repulsive force around him, Levi knew that the "repair of the tomb" mentioned by the Crown of the Cracks was to destroy everything and recreate, and that would take a long time, and the Crown of the Cracks would also fall into a long sleep.

This slumber time is measured in hundreds, or even another thousand years.

And before the tomb collapses to a point, the outsiders will be ostracized and returned to the plane of reality - the three-day period is over.

Levi felt that he would be repelled by the void in the next moment, and he crossed the void to return to reality. At the last stop, he grabbed the crown of the cracks, and the spirit was instantly bridged, and he shouted out the name-

"Clara—"

A large amount of information fragments poured out of the crown of the cracks, and Levi, who was already at the end of the crossbow, could not bear such pressure at all, and the gate of his spiritual world was like a river bank that burst its embankment, and the consciousness environment was flooded by the torrent......

Wait a minute......

Give me a little more time......

Stop it!

……

The pain and anxiety in his mind were all gone, he felt that his body was light, the air around him was filled with the smell of warmth, he was like a fish wandering in a hot spring, or a dead leaf on a waterhole, all the distractions and distractions of the outside world were left behind, and his state of mind was only the leisure and purity of going with the flow.

When he opened his eyes, the environment around him was familiar, and it was an infinitely pure white space.

"It's nice to meet you, it's nice to see you again."

The woman in the form of the crown of the cracks stood silently in front of him, her long pale hair draped behind her head, a lone horn standing on the right side of her forehead, a red pupil in one eye, and a starry light in the other.

Clara...... I love the name. ”

She whispered.

"Why are you waking me up, Levi?"

Levi took a deep breath, and he said bluntly: "I can't leave yet, only by waking you up, can I stay in the Ji Tomb." ”

Clara looked into Levi's eyes and said calmly, "But when I sleep, everything in my body will be destroyed, and if you stay, you will die." ”

"I know, what's going on out there now?" Levi asked.

"The process of collapse is paused."

Levi nodded and said, "Terella...... How's she doing? ”

"It's a strange question, you know the answer." Clara said with a blank face, "She's dead." ”

As Clara said, Levi also thought his question was stupid, but he still didn't give up, staring into Clara's eyes: "Do you have a way to resurrect her?" ”

Clara was silent for a moment, and the sea of void stars in her left eye slowly flickered.

"I don't understand." She said intermittently, "What is the exact definition of resurrection?" ”

Levi was stunned, the situation was more complicated than he had imagined.

"I was created as a reality-bending artifact, and as such, my authority covers a wide area." "But in any realm, I'm no match for any other holy thing." ”

"I understand." Levi bit her lip and said, "Either way, as long as she can keep her consciousness, she is alive." ”

He paused, then asked, "Can you do it?" ”

The black veil on Clara's body fluttered like mist, and she was silent for a moment before replying, "I'm just a tool, you're the user." ”

As soon as the words fell, Levi felt the white light around him flicker, and a strange gravity suddenly appeared on his body, and the ground under his feet disappeared-

His head and feet spun around, and he fell uncontrollably downward.

"If you want to save the Queen, you need to find her before her soul falls into hell."

Clara's emotionless voice rang in Levi's ears.

"But even if you find her, you're just grabbing a wisp of necromancer, what are you going to do?"

Levi raised his head and looked down:

Endless white light filled the background around him, countless people rained down, and at the end of the line of sight, a black abyss opened its mouth, and the bottom of the abyss faintly revealed a dark red fire.

The crowd in the air fell into the abyss one after another like dumplings, without even a single echo, and they disappeared into the dark hole as if they had never appeared.

In free fall, Levi looked around, and all he could see were falling souls with different faces and indifferent expressions.

"Why are there so many souls?" He asked through gritted teeth.

"Some souls come from the shrine, and some souls come from dead outsiders in the tombs of the Hime, who, after dissipating in reality, go to the place where all souls belong." Clara replied in his ear, "This place is almost out of my physical range, the space takes on a form similar to the conscious environment, and I can't find her." ”

Where all souls belong...... That's obviously hell.

With tens of thousands of souls in the shrine, what would he have to do to find Terrella among the thousands of people?

Wait, if Ornos is able to kill the outsider and then recreate it, it must have mastered a way to keep souls from entering hell.

"How does Ornos do it?" Seeing that he was getting closer and closer to the abyss, Levi asked loudly into the air.

Clara was silent for a moment before replying, "I see." ”

Levi's falling body suddenly stopped, and he fell in a wet environment, but there was no pain. When he got up and saw his face reflected at his feet, he found himself standing on top of a mirrored lake, the water so shallow that it didn't even reach his ankles.

He raised his head, and the mirror lake stretched infinitely into the distance, shrouded in a hazy white mist at the extreme of his vision, with no end in sight.

"Where is this?" Levi asked.

"This is the Queen's spiritual world, but it is manifested in my ability, so the form of expression is different from other conscious environments."

"But she's not here."

"Because she's been dead for a while." Clara explained, "Normally, when Ornos kills an enemy, she resurrects their physical bodies before their souls leave their conscious environment...... This time is only a few seconds. ”

Levi frowned, that is, if he had come here with the help of the Crown of the Seams in the first place, he would have been able to save Terella's soul in time, but it was too late to do so now.

At this point, Terella's soul may have reached the abyss of hell.

"You reminded me when you mentioned Ornos, Levi." Clara's voice suddenly came, "Actually, there is another way to save her. ”

"How?" Levi asked quickly.

"Look at your feet."

Levi lowered his head and realized that there was no reflection of himself on the water, and Clara's pale hair fluttered slowly, looking at him from the other side of the mirror lake.

"If I do this, I will consume the remaining strength, and Ji Ling will not be able to be repaired." Clara said calmly, "But I'm willing to help you, Levi." ”

He and her feet were facing each other, like entities and illusions on either side of the mirror, staring at each other.

"Take my authority and create the reality you want...... At least in the Himere, my power can grant all your wishes. ”

Clara closed her eyes and her body floated, sinking into the white mist beneath the Mirror Lake.

"Thank you for giving me the name."

As her words fell, Levi suddenly felt a mysterious glow in his soul, and several new forms of perception beyond the five senses appeared in his consciousness.

Levi looked at Clara, who was fading away, and pondered for a moment.

Clara said it was Ornos who alerted her...... He seemed to understand what she meant.

Ornos's body is a metal shell rather than a body, and if Levi creates a shell for Terella, her soul can be preserved as well.

As for how to recall her soul...... Although Clara didn't say it explicitly, after taking charge of the ability of the Crown of the Seams, Levi had an idea to try.

He stood in the middle of the empty Mirror Lake, surrounded by an endless white mist.

He reached out and plunged into the mist, his fingertips as if they were diving into an unknown and mysterious fate.

The authority of the crown of the cracks is beyond ordinary understanding, and even this holy relic itself can hardly control its full power, and the power of creating something out of nothing is too amazing, more cumbersome than order, more chaotic than chaos.

Every second of the past, every moment of the future, every thing in everyone's destiny...... This chaotic information poured into Levi's mind, and in order to protect his mental world, he forced himself not to look at those images, and quickly filtered out countless junk information.

"Where are you, Terella?"

In just a few seconds, Levi felt like he had gone through ten thousand years, he could no longer hold on, and his body became blurry and flickering, meaning that his soul form was on the verge of destruction.

The soul, if dissipated, is a more complete death than the physical death.

Darkness gradually took over his vision, and the next moment, he might lose consciousness and die out completely on a spiritual level.

Suddenly—

One hand grasped his outstretched palm.

Levi forced his eyes open, and in the fog in front of him, a figure loomed - she took his hand, but did not speak, just stood there motionless.

Through a layer of fog, the hands of the two were gently clasped together, and each other's faces could not be seen clearly, and this layer of fog seemed to represent an insurmountable distance.

"Is that you?" Levi asked tiredly.

The mist lifted a corner to reveal a scarlet eye, and she looked at Levi blankly, seemingly unconscious.

The next moment, the fog drifted, blurring Levi's vision for a moment, and those eyes reappeared blue, then brown and black......

Although he clutched that hand, Levi couldn't grasp the soul itself at all, and across from him was not a single soul, but a collection of consciousness of countless souls.

In his last lucid moments, Levi made a dangerous decision.

Since he couldn't find her, he didn't look for her anymore.

He finally understood what Clara really meant...... Clara didn't give him any way, she just gave power, the power to create.

Create a reality he wants, even if it consumes all his strength.

In the tomb, he is a god.

……

Body, soul, time, space...... Even if Levi was given another hundred years, he would not be able to think through the mysteries of the period.

What he did was a simple, extravagant act of profligacy, a squandering of the crown of the cracks.

As a result, he restored a mixed mass of body and soul to the original form they had been a few days ago.

Among them, there are not only Terella's souls and bodies, but also Flora, Dosset, Leanne, Harriet, and others.

Even after many years, Levi had difficulty explaining the principles behind his actions, perhaps he was just forced to be a good man for nothing, repairing the bodies and souls of a group of outsiders.

Of course, some people who have been dead for a long time and whose souls have long since fallen to hell will not be resurrected...... Poor Buniel Lang, for example, and everyone who died outside of Ozer.

……

Levi clutched the crown of the gap tightly and slowly opened his eyes.

The canopy was riddled with holes, and everywhere was filled with dark blue bands of light, and under the huge setting sun, he lay in the middle of a ruin.

As he sat up, the crown of cracks suddenly cracked, turning into countless fragments and falling to the ground in vain.

And on his body, all the wounds left before disappeared without a trace.

Not far in front of him, Terella wore a long ice-blue dress, her back to him, silently and distractingly watching the sunset.

Her shadow stretched long, long on the ground, reaching Levi's hand.

As the crown of the cracks shattered, the space around it showed signs of collapse and destruction, and the repulsive force reappeared around Levi.

"Actually, you don't need to."

Her voice came.

Levi got up from the ground, and an object fell from his sleeve, and he bent down to pick it up.

It is a shrine.

"This heart is useless." She said calmly, "Take it if you like." ”

Levi asked, "What are you going to do?" ”

Terella was silent for a moment, then reached out and stroked the hair around her ear.

"Stay here." She said lightly.

Stay in Jiling? But the tomb is about to collapse, and she will be buried with this tomb in the void turbulence...... As good as it sounds, this was her mausoleum.

Perhaps everything Levi's did was in vain.

At this moment, even if he wanted to talk to her, it was too late.

All around him, space distorted, and the power of repulsion had reached its peak—

At the last moment, Terrella looked back at Levi, her scarlet pupils looking into his eyes and smiling.

"Our pact is done, Levi's."

She laughs.

"Good luck."

After traversing the long dark blue starry sky, Levi returned to the snowfield, standing in the middle of a fork in the road outside the city.

Two days ago, he had come here to rescue Aina, who had been kidnapped.

Two days later, he felt alien to the place, as if he had woken up from a long dream and felt uncomfortable with reality.

Levi turned to look at Slom in the distance, and above the massive city, the waves of the deep blue void rapidly faded, and the upside-down pale palace disappeared into it, revealing the usual night dotted with sparse stars.

Ji Ling's quiet departure, just as it had crept in.

In the cold, boundless void, what will happen to Terella?

How long is a thousand years?

Levi didn't know the answer to the question, and by the time he tried to ask Terella, she was gone.

The story of the Himeling, a magnificent relic floating in the void, has come to an end, and whether Saladin's riddle to Terella is a trick or a revenge, the queen is sure to have her own answer.

He glanced at the Jiling mark on the palm of his right hand, which had lost its luster, like an ordinary tattoo.

Under the stars, Levi put on the hood of his black cloak and walked through the snow in the direction of Slom City.

("Farewell, Queen of the Shadow Nations. —Anonymous Diary Fragment)