After the huge freight fleet left, the dock area seemed much quieter than ever under the cover of night - all large loading and unloading equipment had been shut down, irrelevant personnel had evacuated the work area, and now, apart from the necessary guard teams, there were only ubiquitous gas lamps lined up on both sides of the road, keeping watch for the city.

Go down the ramp on the south side of the pier and walk through a long staircase, and you will see the coast covered with fine sand in front of you. On days when the sun is still shining, there are always citizens resting here.

But now there is only a dead beach and a dark sea in the night. The fishy and cold sea breeze blows from the direction of the endless darkness, and there seems to be a suspicious whimper in it. The waves hit the rocks far away from the coast, and there are undulating foam from time to time. The pale color of the corpse is reflected by the cold light of the creation of the world.

Stern-faced guards guard all roads leading to the coast. Holding lanterns and swords, they vigilantly watch the endless darkness outside the city-state.

"The coast has been blocked," a fully armed knowledge guard stopped Taran El. He shone a lantern on the scholar's face, carefully confirming the shape of his facial features and the number of his eyes. "It's very dangerous outside now... Your Excellency the Secret Keeper?"

The dutiful night watchman finally noticed the figure following Taran, and in the glow of the lantern he was surprised to see the face of Ted Lear.

"Let's go to the coast," Ted Riel nodded gently to the defender, "and we'll be back in an hour."

"...You can pass, but this gentleman needs to show his pass." The knowledge guard hesitated, and still looked at Taran El sternly, "You can't pass without a pass."

"I'm Taran El, a professor at the academy, and I have a second-level night pass," Taran El hurriedly reached into his arms and fumbled around, finding the pass he had been carrying with him, "The pass includes the coastal area..."

The knowledge guard took Taran El's ID and checked it carefully. His tense expression relaxed a little. He stepped aside and signaled for passage.

"Thank you," Ted Lear said to the night watchman and stepped forward.

But when the two of them were about to pass the sentry post, the guard couldn't help but speak: "... Mr. Secret Keeper, and Professor Taran, the sun fragments have left. Now the coast is a blockade area. There is nothing over there. What are you going to do?"

"... Let's just take this as a confirmation of the changes in the coastal area after the departure of the Sun Fragment," Taran El said as he slowly walked forward, "We will be back soon."

Taran El and Ted Lill passed the sentry post and walked slowly forward on the dead beach. For a while, neither of them spoke.

"This place has now become a blockade area," Taran El said, breaking his silence after an unknown amount of time. "The guards here are very dedicated."

"I carefully selected them," Ted Lill said. "The coast area is just a general blockade area. If it were the Big Steam Core or the Level 1 Containment Area, even the Archon and I would have to show our ID to verify our identity before we could pass."

Taran El said "hmm" and then fell silent. He walked slowly like this. After an unknown amount of time, he spoke again: "Still no news from them?"

"It's been a month since the Lost Homeland and the Brilliant Star crossed the border. Now we can only confirm that they still 'exist'," Ted Riel said calmly. "Captain Duncan's avatars left in Plande and Frost are still active. Occasionally, some information about the Lost Homeland will be sent from those two city-states, but in most cases, news related to the 'End of the World' is not allowed to spread between city-states."

He paused and shook his head slightly: "Even I can only find out this much."

"…It's good to know that they are still alive," Taran El said softly, "Knowing that they are still alive and still operating at the border, I feel a little better."

"It's not quite right to say this," Ted Riel unknowingly slowed down his pace with a strange expression on his face, "but there are not even one or two truly 'alive' people on those two ships combined."

Taran El rolled his eyes. "So I put quotation marks around the word 'alive.' Can't you tell?"

Ted Reard immediately glared at the scholar: "...How could you possibly hear that?!"

Taran El laughed, took a deep breath in the cool night breeze, seemed to feel a little relaxed, then raised his head and looked in a certain direction at the end of the coast.

It used to be the place where the Deep Sea Church's pilgrimage ark "Storm Cathedral" docked, but now the towering sea ark has left the city-state, and at the end of the sight there is only an empty sea, with pale foam under the illumination of the World's Creation.

"The arks have all left," the great scholar sighed, "there is always an illusion that Breeze Harbor has been suddenly abandoned..."

"It's a holiday," Ted Lear said bluntly, "You're just being pretentious. Your symptoms can be cured by staying in your office for a night reviewing student papers. I guarantee that all your delusions will disappear."

"I'm different from you," Taran El crossed his arms and raised his head slightly, "My students are all ambitious young people, and they usually write their papers seriously..."

Ted Riel snorted coldly and ignored the scholar.

But after being silent for a long time, they suddenly broke the silence at the same time: "It's good to review papers."

The two long-time friends were stunned at the same time, looked at each other with a wry smile, and fell silent again.

And beyond the coastline not far from them, the vast ocean was as quiet as they were at this moment. The sea surface was boundless, neither rising nor falling. The fishy, ​​salty and cold sea breeze blew from the darkness, but the sea surface was still as calm as a mirror.

The light of the creation of the world shines on the sea, coating the entire world with an extremely uniform pale luster.

Ted Riel suddenly frowned and looked towards the coastline with some confusion.

"What's wrong?" Taran El asked curiously, not understanding what was going on.

"I don't know, I just suddenly felt... as if something was missing," Ted Lill frowned slightly and muttered uncertainly, "Do you feel... that something is missing? It should be some kind of sound. When the wind blows across the sea, there should be some kind of sound, and there should be some kind of phenomenon, hitting the rocks..."

He stopped, turned around, and stared at the mirror-like sea in the distance, standing for a long time in the night.

He and Taran El gradually felt that nothing seemed to be wrong.

※※※

Tirian frowned, standing on the shore, gazing at the mirror-like smooth and quiet sea in the distance. A trance that kept emerging and then subsided lingered in his mind, making him feel difficult to distinguish between reality and illusion for a short time.

He shook his head vigorously, trying to drive the feeling of cognitive confusion out of his mind.

He felt that everything was normal on the sea surface, but he clearly "remembered" that it should not be like this. After struggling with the contradiction between thinking and cognition for a long time, he could not help but break the silence: "...the waves disappeared."

Then he turned his head and looked at the tall figure standing next to him: "Father, is something wrong?"

Duncan didn't say anything for a while, but Aiden, who was standing on the other side, looked at his captain in confusion: "Waves? Something's wrong? What are you talking about?"

Hearing Aiden's voice, Tirian felt dazed again. He raised his hand and tapped his forehead, looking at the distant sea in confusion. He felt that something was rapidly disappearing from his cognition. It was a "natural phenomenon", something that should have existed in the world as a matter of course, but now... it was disappearing.

Then, he heard his father's voice enter his ears——

"She forgot about the waves."

My father said this in a low and solemn tone.

The trance in his mind finally faded away. The moment he heard his father mention the word "wave", Tirian finally felt himself coming to his senses again. The next second, the expression on his face changed from confusion to astonishment.

He opened his eyes wide and stared at the sea in the distance.

Even Aiden next to him seemed to wake up suddenly. The ferocious-looking bald man looked towards the boundless sea, and even a hint of fear appeared on his face.

At this moment, all over the world, the vast ocean became as calm as a mirror - the "waves" disappeared from this world.

"Father," Tirian finally responded, and turned to look at Duncan, "The Storm Goddess..."

"Rotation," Duncan interrupted quietly. "The inevitable result."

Tirian and Aiden stood frozen.

"Don't worry, she is still there. Although the decay is getting worse, the sea is still there, and she is still there," Duncan shook his head. His voice woke Tirian up. "This is just a 'peeling' in the process of deepening decay, and this kind of 'peeling' is not the first time for this world."

Tirian was stunned and repeated subconsciously: "Isn't this the first time?"

"Do you know how many intelligent races there are in this world?" Duncan suddenly asked.

"Three, of course..." Tirian answered almost without thinking.

But the next second, this "Lieutenant General of Steel" seemed to understand something. Although he didn't remember anything, he guessed the terrifying... "meaning" behind his father's question.

"Soon, you will also forget the sound of waves hitting the rocks. The world will 'correct' everything, but before that, you can briefly cherish the memory of its past 'existence'." Duncan said softly, then reached out and patted Tirian's shoulder hard.

"Don't mention the word 'wave' to anyone else. From now on, it is 'blasphemy'."