That's all.

The hourglass was gently turned over, and the little remaining quicksand was retained in the container - and the part that had already passed away had dissipated like a lost life.

Duncan's figure disappeared in this wonderful "gap between the spirit world". The pool hall made of black, white and gray became quiet. The huge body of Queen Leviathan lay quietly on the shore, while the young woman in a white robe and two warriors stood silently by.

It's time to return to sleep, but there is still a little time. The vitality leaking out of the hourglass is not much, but it is enough to have a few words with friends who haven't spoken to each other for a long time.

"Lillian...I haven't seen you for a long time..."

A low and gentle tremor echoed in the hall, and the pale limbs swayed slightly by the pool, making a sound of nostalgia.

The woman in the white robe smiled and slowly sat down by the pool, leaning her back against the tentacles of the Leviathan Queen. "Yes, Gemona, we haven't seen each other for a long time - but Lancelot and I have always been by your side."

"...Do you remember those days when the waves were caressing and the sun was shining?"

"I still remember, it seemed like it was not long ago... I also remember the first time I saw you, you broke into my dream, saying that you were tired of the days in the temple and wanted to run away from home for a few days... We went to many places together, Lancelot, Owen, and Parno who is now standing outside the temple, as well as the other people in the brigade. We took you to see the desert, volcanoes, and snowfields as you wished - in the end, I sent you, the runaway 'Queen', back to the temple, and we became your guards... It was always lively at that time."

"...Yes, it was always very lively back then. It's been so long, but I still remember it fondly. We even planned to secretly open a small shop at the starting point of the pilgrimage route, where the Queen of Leviathan would personally sell souvenirs to the pilgrims. It sounded like an interesting idea..."

"That was your idea," the taller of the two warriors suddenly broke the silence, "Owen, Lillian and I never agreed to it."

"...We should have agreed at the time," the woman in the white dress called Lillian suddenly said softly, "This sounds like an interesting idea..."

The pond was quiet for a while, and then the low and gentle tremor broke the silence again: "I don't want to sleep."

"But you should go to bed, Gemona," Lillian said softly. She raised her head and gently rubbed the tentacles of the Leviathan Queen with her hair. "You should sleep here and wake up in the timeline outside the temple... The other three 'kings' are still waiting for your news. They must be very anxious."

"But you are not here outside the temple... I miss you."

"We will meet again, one day in the distant future. Do you remember what Pilot No. 2 said? It calculated the outcome of the shelter countless times. Although the conclusion it got every time was that everything would be destroyed, every conclusion was not completely '100%'. There is always an unpredictable offset. At the end of countless zeros after the decimal point, there is always a ghostly difference..." Lillian said softly, her voice getting softer and softer, as if she was about to fall asleep.

"At the same time as the 'ending' of the extinction of all things appears, there is something hidden at the end of time. Perhaps it is a distant hope. We will meet again there... Then, we will travel together and open a souvenir shop..."

The sound stopped, and the deceased who had been "resurrected" for a short time returned to sleep. After an unknown amount of time, a gentle tremor was heard again by the pond: "Good night, Lillian, good night..."

The colors of the real dimension returned to the field of vision, and the black, white and gray hall returned to its original state. Duncan's sight once again saw the pool of water emitting a faint blue glow and the black stone bricks mixed with dark green. The tentacles of the Leviathan Queen returned to their lifeless posture, lying quietly beside the pool.

Next to the tentacles were scattered bone fragments.

Duncan lowered his head and glanced at the hourglass in his hand - there was less than one-fifth of the sand remaining in the container, emitting a subtle golden light, sparkling in the darkness.

Everyone else gathered around in an instant. Shirley used her size advantage to squeeze to the front: "Captain, Captain! What happened? Just now you suddenly turned into a shadow standing in the same place. It looks scary..."

Duncan did not answer for a moment, but carefully placed the hourglass on the altar, and then raised his head: "I met the Queen of Leviathan and talked to her about some things."

Upon hearing this, Fanna immediately stepped forward and said, "You talked to the goddess? Where on earth is this place..."

Before she could finish, Duncan waved his hand and said, "This 'temple' divides the timeline here into two parts."

As soon as this sentence came out, the others looked at each other in confusion. Morris immediately showed a thoughtful look, muttering while thinking: "The timeline is divided into two parts?"

Duncan thought for a moment, sorted out his thoughts, and talked about the information he had just learned, including some conjectures. "If I understand correctly, the timeline outside the temple belongs to the 'Deep Sea Era'. As one of the four gods of the Infinite Sea, Gemona guards the 'Outer Barrier' outside this temple. There, she is in a 'half-alive and half-dead' state to respond to the calls of believers and ensure the order of the Infinite Sea - that is the 'Storm Goddess' that Vanna is familiar with.

"Inside the temple are the parts that were stripped away from the Deep Sea Era. Leviathan Queen Gemona isolated her 'death' and 'corruption' in the timeline inside the temple. There are also memories of the Great Annihilation and a lot of information about the nature of the world... She imprisoned all of this in the temple to prevent these 'things' from contaminating the sanctuary."

Having said that, Duncan paused and looked back at the lifeless tentacle and the scattered bones by the pond.

"That's why after entering the temple, Vanna couldn't hear the voice of the Storm Goddess at all, and all we could see was a completely dead body - because Gemona had locked her own death here, and when we stepped in here, she was already dead."

Lucrecia gradually came to her senses, her eyes falling on the hourglass on the altar: "So, this hourglass is..."

"A 'dialogue window' left for me," Duncan nodded. "It comes from Bartok. The God of Death left a gap between life and death here. By turning over the hourglass, I can talk to Gemona, who has temporarily regained her vitality - but there is not much vitality left in her."

The pool became quiet. The huge amount of information made everyone here think. Morris looked at the hourglass and the pool. After a while, he broke the silence with an undisguised exclamation in his tone: "... Incredible... So, the God of Death and the Goddess of Storms jointly created this place?"

Duncan shook his head slightly: "More than that."

Thoughts were rising and falling in his mind, and he gradually understood the concept of this "temple" and the so-called "external barrier" with this temple as the "node".

The power of the hourglass comes from Bartok, the god of death. The method of imprisoning "information" by cutting the timeline seems to be related to the god of wisdom. The recorded information and the "memory" of the Great Annihilation itself are the embodiment of the everlasting fire. The entire external barrier is located at the end of the sea, outside the world of order. There is calm water as the "carrier" of the barrier... This is obviously the power of the Storm Goddess/Sea of ​​Tranquility.

The entire outer barrier is the result of the joint efforts of the four gods. They anchored the true border of the world here - and then, the King of Pale Giants, the King of Dreams, and the King of Creeps had the opportunity to "create the world" again and again in the sanctuary.

The thoughts in his mind gradually became clear, and Duncan's "understanding" of the world also became clearer. As he established his "cognition" of the external barriers, he seemed to feel that his "essence" had loosened a little.

He vaguely realized that he seemed to have understood how to "interfere" with the operation of this world, and how to start from the external barriers and infiltrate his power into the entire Infinite Ocean - his "cognition" of the world was rapidly transforming into useful "knowledge", and this "knowledge"...

Can be used to "complete" that apocalypse.

Duncan suddenly stopped thinking further, the dark color seemed a little solemn.

Now, he knew how to "destroy" the external barrier and everything inside the barrier - perhaps this was the "information" that Gemona really wanted to give him.

Alice seemed to sense something. She came to Duncan and grabbed the corner of his clothes with some concern: "Captain? The expression on your face is a bit scary..."

Duncan finally woke up from his thoughts. He saw the doll's face in front of him, with concern in its beautiful purple eyes. His slightly impetuous thoughts gradually calmed down. He breathed a sigh of relief and reached out to touch Alice's hair.

"Don't worry," he said slowly, "I just suddenly realized something..."

As he spoke, he raised his head and took another look at Gemona's "corpse".

"If I'm not mistaken, the other 'Three Gods' should have similar arrangements - they have imprisoned their own 'death' and 'corruption' on the other side of the hourglass to delay the decay of the entire world."

Nina raised her head, looked at Uncle Duncan, then looked at the hourglass not far away, and finally broke the silence: "So, next we are going to find the other three gods?"

"...Yes, let's go find them."

Duncan said with a slight nod.

He already knew what to do next.

He was to visit every major node on the Outer Barrier—to prepare for the end of the world.