There is a shadow, a shadow outside of Silantis, always floating in this vast dark space constructed by Silantis's dreams and memories.

Now, for the first time, Duncan discovered its existence.

"In the name of Lahem!" Rune's eyes widened as he stared at the huge structure that finally emerged from the dark space under the reflection of the green firelight and exclaimed, "What is that?!"

Duncan did not answer. He just walked to the window and looked at the dark structure that seemed to be crushing Silantis but was frozen in a certain moment with an extremely solemn expression. After a moment, his eyes finally changed slightly, as if he suddenly understood something -

"The Great Annihilation... So this is what it is..."

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Corruption and distortion are spreading through the forest, spreading through the land, and spreading throughout the world.

Something invisible is "seeping" into this land of the elves. Wherever it permeates, the earth wriggles and undulates like swollen flesh and blood, endless fangs and eyes appear in the shadows, trees grow wantonly and dissipate and rise like flames... Everything seems to have lost its existing order and has become something else in a crazy, bizarre, nightmare-like drastic change.

Sharp and terrifying roars and howls swept through the entire forest without stopping, whistling through the huge canopy structure of Silantis, echoing between heaven and earth as if to tear apart the soul.

Shirley looked at the ground below in shock, watching the lush and vibrant land just a moment ago turn into an absurd purgatory that even nightmares could not describe in the blink of an eye. Looking at the huge mouth of the abyss gaping in the forest and the flesh and shadows that kept expanding and contracting, she subconsciously grabbed the bulge on the edge of the "paper boat".

"Is this thing really not going to fall?"

She took another look at the "boat" made of paper under her feet and confirmed with the witch lady beside her with great concern.

Not long ago, when the terrible "erosion" phenomenon suddenly broke out in the whole forest and there seemed to be no way out, Lucrecia took out a piece of paper in front of her, folded a small boat and pulled her onto the boat - Shirley could not understand the principle of this strange "witchcraft". She only knew that the boat was now floating above the terrible land, and the touch of the paper under her feet made her dare not breathe.

Even the dog beside him carefully retracted his claws and curled up, as if he was afraid of accidentally scratching the bottom of the paper boat.

"I've never fallen down before," Lucrecia said without raising her head as she took out more white paper and folded more strange shapes with her hands. "If you're too worried, just close your eyes and pretend you're lying on the sofa at home."

“How can this be done!” Shirley screamed subconsciously, and then she screamed again because the boat was shaking in the wind. Then she noticed the movement of Lucrecia’s hands, “What are you still folding?!”

"Soldiers, the kind of 'winged flying soldiers' described by Ginny Hideaway in 'Castle in the Clouds'," Lucrecia said casually, "We need to know the situation in other places. If we really encounter the enemy, we also need combat power to protect the ship."

As she spoke, she casually threw the origami figures in her hand into the air outside the paper boat. Several exquisite origami figures spread their wings in the air, and their size quickly became the same as that of real people. They bowed in the direction of Lucrecia to salute, and then quickly flew away.

Shirley stared at the scene in amazement. However, just as she opened her mouth to say something, a voice seemed to drill into her mind and interrupted her communication with Lucrecia: "...Initially, those 'erosions' appeared. At the border of the world, things began to become strange and terrifying..."

Shirley and Lucrecia looked at each other at the same time. They both heard the voice—it was a voice that sounded childish, like that of a little girl.

That was Silendis's voice.

The howling wind blew up more dust, but the storm in the desert dissipated at some point, leaving only disordered dust and fog rising in the field of vision, blurring the sight and distorting the distant scene.

"When the weather first started changing, scholars were already warning people to prepare - but what could they prepare for?"

The giant's voice rang out in the wind and sand, deep and steady, like a stone standing in the wind.

Fanna stood in the endless wind and sand, looking at the "giant tower" in the distance.

She has followed the giant back to this place called "Archives", back to this big pit that symbolizes the end of civilization. She doesn't know why the giant brought her back here, but she can feel that some earth-shaking changes are taking place - with this "Archives" as the center, something terrible is unfolding.

The sound of something being torn apart was heard suddenly, and the huge noise seemed enough to shatter the mountains.

Vanna looked up in astonishment, looking at the huge red crack in the sky, looking at the red light that represented the end - in the surge of blood-red light, she saw undulating shadows, and the thing that destroyed this world finally began to reveal a trace of its true appearance before her eyes -

Fire appeared in the forest - there was no exact source, as if in just a moment, countless trees became blazing torches, and the destructive tide began to burn the World Tree that covered the earth in the blink of an eye.

Shirley watched in horror as the flames spread across her field of vision. She watched everything—the twisted earth, the lush forests, the shadows in the air, the tentacles and flesh that spread and grew between heaven and earth, all being engulfed in flames in an instant.

She heard a huge noise and countless creatures screaming in the flames. She also heard terrible thunder, but the thunder did not come from the sky. Instead, it came from the branches of Silantis breaking in the flames and twisting, and falling to the ground like a series of giant peaks.

The paper boat swayed left and right in the howling heat waves. The terrible sight of the sky and the earth burning at the same time made Shirley subconsciously curl up in the boat. While curling up, she looked up at the sky and saw the branches and leaves on the edge of Silandis breaking and falling in the sky, roaring and falling from the surroundings of the boat with blazing flames. In the loud collapse of the treetops, she could finally see the true appearance of the sky.

A suffocating and terrifying shadow filled her vision, and she felt as if her heart had stopped beating at that moment.

She heard Silendis speaking in her heart—or perhaps the whole world was telling her about the destruction and death that happened aeons ago—

"...Then the sky fell, and something invisible struck our world, slowly striking our world...We could not see it, could not understand it, could not think about it...Can you? You things that grew out of the darkness, can you see it?"

Fanna's eyes widened as she watched the bloody cracks in the sky gradually bloom in her field of vision. The entire sky was gradually torn apart like a cracked eggshell, and then it sank towards the center in a chilling way. Then, a burning sea of ​​fire slowly crushed down from the shattered sky -

"As their 'God', I sensed its arrival one step ahead of them. I felt something invisible approaching our world. I felt the end of history - a crack appeared on the chronology column in my hand. There was no record of anything after that. The flame... went out at the end of my vision."

A low, suppressed whistle and a strange creaking sound came from the sky and the earth, as if the world itself was making its last groan. Vanna finally understood what she was seeing, and finally understood the "answer" that the giant had never been able to understand.

A tall figure walked out from the corner of his eye and came to the edge of the huge pit.

Vanna saw the giant standing there, looking up at the sky.

"From fire and stone, to fire and stone - traveler, I feel it, 'it' is coming again... You see it, don't you? You see it more clearly than I do... Because you come from a different time stream than me, you come from after the darkness, you have eyes born after that, you can understand it..."

On the paper boat, in the sight of Shirley and Lucrecia, the upside-down land kept lowering, and they could finally see many structures on its surface.

At a certain moment, Shirley felt as if she saw continuous mountains and abundant rivers on that inverted continent, huge stone cities standing on the mountains and plains, huge canals and long roads connecting countless lights, and under the lights were countless fertile fields.

But in the next moment, she saw the land suddenly become desolate. After some kind of... "boiling" illusion, the land turned into a desert and gravel Gobi.

Another world is crushing down.

The piece of earth that fell from the sky first touched the treetops of Silantis.

Silently, the final collapse of all things began to spread from that "contact point" to the entire world...

In the increasingly chaotic and disorderly sandstorm, in front of Vanna's eyes, the giant tower that symbolized "the last person in the world" seemed to have changed.

It began to shake and crack. The upper layer, which looked like charred rock, suddenly cracked. After it fell off, it revealed some kind of grayish-white... "skin".

The giant tower began to shrink, as if time was turning back. It was shrinking little by little, and gradually turning back into the appearance of a "human".

An upside-down, burning forest has completely replaced the entire sky. Another continent has crushed this world. In the burning forest, Vanna finally saw some of the terrain that her companions had described when they were acting in the dream of the Nameless One.

The "tower" finally collapsed.

As the whole world recalled the end of the world, he also remembered his original appearance.

He became a human being.

A Sen'jin with skin as textured as rock and metallic patterns on his body.

His size continued to shrink, and soon it would be so small that Vanna would not be able to see him clearly at this distance.

He seemed to be crying out in fear - in the last minute before the great annihilation, this "person" who had been stagnant for countless years finally took a step forward in the flow of time.

"Traveler," the giant's voice came. The old god in tattered robes bent down towards Vanna, and he thrust the huge cane into the ground. Then he reached into his bosom with his other hand and placed something in front of Vanna, "Take it."

Vanna looked in amazement at what the giant handed her.

It is a sun that emits brilliant light and burns quietly in the long river of time.

She raised her head, but before she could ask any questions, the giant shook his head gently: "You can take it now - traveler, I have remembered it, I remember everything... Our sun is free, take it away, it should not continue to sink in this dream."

Vanna stretched out her hand somewhat dazedly, and the bright little ball fell into her palm.

Radiating warm heat.

The giant laughed, slowly straightened up and turned his head.

"What are you going to do?" Vanna asked in surprise behind him.

"Tell him not to be afraid."

"wait……"

"It's alright, traveler, the journey will end, and we will have to say goodbye to each other one day... because Tarekhin is dead, he died a long, long time ago.

"Also, I'll give you the cane as a souvenir."

The giant did not look back until the end. He just waved his hand and then walked towards the deep pit.

With every step he took, his body grew taller.

But with every step he took, his figure became more illusory.

The ruins called "Archives" are also gradually disappearing under the footsteps of giants.

The god who recorded history finally disappeared in the wind and sand, and the last person recorded by history also disappeared in the slow and unstoppable collision of the two worlds.

In this endless wasteland and sandstorm, Vanna slowly raised her head.

The burning Silendis hangs high above this world.

Now is the last second of the Great Annihilation.

The Sen'jin world was destroyed in the final collision with Silendis.

★Illustration 25★