I, the Final Boss of the Beta Server!

Chapter 124: Hate Me, Despise Me, Then Keep Living in Ugly Struggle

The two locked eyes.

Rast stood on the cliff where stormy waves crashed violently, while Grey stood beneath a pitch-black sky, thunder roaring overhead and a violent downpour drowning the entire world.

Since their fateful encounter in Frostwater Town, this was the first time Grey had looked at Rast’s full figure from such close distance—

In the flash of lightning, the contours of the boy’s side profile were deep and distinct, and those pitch-black eyes remained as clear as ever, like stars calmly resting at the bottom of a tranquil lake—exactly as Grey remembered them.

Even though it had been nearly ten years since they first met, those years seemed to have left no trace on his body…

However, in this very moment—

This face, which used to bring Grey peace of mind, happiness, and fulfillment just by appearing before her, now only made her feel immense hatred and unfamiliarity.

Though their bodies were close, separated by nothing more than a curtain of rain,

The distance between their hearts had never been so vast—like an unbridgeable chasm.

“Do you feel the wonder of power now, Grey?”

“And in you right now, that original sin called weakness.”

Lifted by her throat and suspended mid-air, the near-suffocating pressure contorted the girl's delicate face with pain, as Rast's voice echoed relentlessly beside her.

“Actually, within you too lies the potential to become strong.”

“I noticed it from the very moment we first met.”

“The long stair of the sequence called ‘Fate’… just like the Death God’s Holy Grail that I contain, it represents a uniqueness that exists nowhere else in the world.”

“It is the key to abandoning the void and fragility of the human form, ascending to that distant divine realm… the true stepping stone to eternity and immortality.”

“With fate’s favor upon you, no matter where you are, you’ll be a coveted prize.”

The boy’s voice drifted in Grey’s ears, like a devil’s seductive whisper.

“So, little Grey…”

“Why not try joining me… become one of the ‘Gravekeepers’?”

“Just like back in Frostwater Town, when you developed admiration for the Shoreguards because I saved you, and eventually became one of them yourself.”

“And now, this is simply a reenactment of the past. Since I’ve betrayed the Shoreguards, all you have to do is follow in my footsteps.”

“Then—”

“In a brand-new place, with an eternal life… we can continue that sweet and beautiful daily life you long for.”

When he said this, the boy’s voice, once cold and indifferent, softened somewhat to his former gentle tone.

This was the tone Rast often used during those six months of training at the Watchtower—those daily moments Grey cherished like treasure.

Had it been just a few days ago, hearing such a direct invitation and knowing there was a chance to resume those sweet days with Big Brother Rast again… Grey might have already blushed with joy, her heart fluttering like a startled fawn.

And if it were ten years ago, when she was still a naive, ignorant little girl like a lost cub—who had no idea what ideals or beliefs were, wandering aimlessly and putting her own interests above all else—she probably would have accepted Rast’s invitation without a second thought.

But—

Right now, Grey simply closed her eyes.

Two lines of clear tears slid down her pale cheeks, but when she opened her eyes again, the confusion in them was gone.

“Big Brother Rast… I still instinctively want to call you that… but in my heart, the real Big Brother Rast is already dead.”

“The person standing before me now only fills me with disgust and hatred.”

“You are not my Big Brother Rast. You’re merely a shell that’s replaced him, a soul willing to abandon everything for so-called strength and eternity… just a grotesque and savage beast.”

“You’ve trampled the legacy of generations of Shoreguards, and Sister Shadow Servant’s sacrifice…”

She endured the pain of her tightening throat, suffocating to the brink of death.

Staring at Rast, she spoke resolute words.

“What do you take life to be!”

Grey refused Rast’s invitation.

The very same invitation she once longed for so much that just thinking about it brought a sweet joy.

“There’s nothing more to say between Big Brother Rast and me.”

“Since you’ve chosen betrayal, then I don’t need this kind of hypocritical mercy from an enemy.”

Grey uttered her hoarse voice, just like many years ago, when she pleaded with Rast in Frostwater Town:

“Kill… me.”

However, in the face of her plea for death, the boy before her merely shook his head slightly.

As if he sensed the finality in Grey’s words, Rast dropped his previously persuasive tone and returned to his cold indifference.

“Kill you?”

“You didn’t really think I’d grant your wish so easily, did you?”

“Sometimes, death is a luxurious release.”

“As the one favored by fate, the sole holder of this sequence stair… your existence alone holds value equivalent to the Death God’s Holy Grail.”

“I believe the Gravekeepers will love this little gift of mine.”

He snapped his fingers lightly.

In the next moment, light gathered at his fingertips.

Around Grey’s soft and delicate body, a set of shackles glowing with the hue of dusk formed.

The moment those dusk-colored shackles bound her, Grey felt her whole body go stiff.

She lost all control over her limbs, unable to even move a single finger, let alone find a way to end her own life.

“This is the gap between the strong and the weak.”

“As long as one has power, they can manipulate the fates of others at will.”

“And the weak can only be turned into lambs for slaughter—”

“Even death must come from the mercy and charity of their enemies.”

Insult after insult rained down again from the boy who looked down upon her, carving scar after scar into Grey’s heart.

But just then, Rast’s movements suddenly froze.

The next instant, he abruptly let go of Grey—now completely reduced to a lamb awaiting slaughter—and retreated swiftly backward.

Boom—

The blazing sun pierced through the sky.

In the pitch-black canopy, at the deepest point of the darkest long night, a burning corona suddenly rose.

It lit up half the sky, like a true sun, spreading incomparable light and heat across the world, as if true daylight had arrived.

Gale winds.

Thunder.

Torrential rain.

Even that everlasting dark night all silently dissipated under the radiant, blazing light, vanishing without a trace.

This was power belonging solely to a legend—where every word and action could alter the laws of the world, even rewrite the weather across entire regions.

Sisel’s figure emerged from the brilliant, blazing corona.

He gazed at Rast, his eyes calm and without ripples.

“Betraying the Shoreguards, leaking mission plans, harming comrades… the sentence is death.”

There were no unnecessary words.

Though once they had been superior and subordinate fighting side by side, in this moment, Sisel passed judgment on Rast’s fate with just this single sentence.

The brilliant corona expanded in an instant.

Radiance blazed, carrying with it endless light and heat as if it could evaporate the entire sea, crushing down upon Rast.

Crack—

Crack—

Countless sounds of shattering burst out all at once.

Pale and dusky light intertwined; the remnants of the Death God's power, the original tome equipped by Rast…

Everything shattered in the sunlight, then was annihilated into dust and void.

In the end, Rast’s own sequence rank in the “Tower” series was no higher than Tier 3.

Of course, as the wielder of the Nightblade 「Fool’s Library」, and having also contained the Death God’s Holy Grail while standing upon Paradise—the Death God’s remains—his true combat power couldn't be judged by the standards of an ordinary Tier 3 transcendent.

However, Rast was ultimately not truly a sequence holder of the “Death God” series. It was merely a facade forcibly forged using the 「Fool’s Library」.

And unlike Helen, who had contained the Death God’s Holy Grail from the moment of birth, he had fused with it through an extremely crude and violent method.

Naturally, he could not grasp the Death God’s power the way the Queen of the Underworld could—he had not internalized it, only manipulated it clumsily.

It was enough to bully someone like Grey—likewise young and unrefined, a raw gem not yet grown.

But when facing the Shoreguard leader Sisel… all power forcibly elevated through external means became meaningless, like a mayfly before the sky.

Only a legend could oppose another legend. That was the iron rule of the transcendent world.

Every legend was the protagonist of an entire era; their births were unique miracles, impossible to replicate.

Even Rast and Grey had only just obtained the key to becoming legends, barely glimpsing a corner of their own unique legendary paths… whether they could truly ascend the throne of legend was still unknown.

Sisel, however—even among legends—was a powerhouse.

This was an insurmountable abyss.

Around Rast, beams of light flashed one after another, but these skills immediately shattered in succession, failing even to cause a flicker of resistance.

He could only watch helplessly as that brilliant corona approached, carrying scorching heat.

Once that corona completely engulfed Rast, then whether it was the power of the Death God’s remains or the Nightblade 「Silent Disqualification · Withering Pebble」 given by Professor Barbalossa, all of it would be rendered useless.

The sunlight crept closer to his body.

Extremely slow, yet unstoppable and irreversible—marching toward Rast’s end, where he would be reduced to ashes.

As if sensing that doomed fate, Rast’s body struggled desperately.

Yet for some reason, his gaze remained as calm as still water.

In silence, Rast exchanged a glance with Sisel in the distance.

Then, he subtly nodded.

A flicker of something strange passed through Sisel’s eyes, but quickly vanished.

The next moment—

The blazing corona’s expansion suddenly sped up, directly engulfing half of Rast’s body.

Without the slightest pause.

Inside the brilliant corona, half of Rast’s body was instantly burned away by the sun’s intense heat.

Reduced to nothing but ashes, only a mangled half-body remained.

…

“No!”

Everything had happened far too suddenly.

Watching as the corona devoured half of Rast’s body, leaving behind a dismembered shell, Grey had no time to process what had just occurred before she found herself shouting out loud.

Even she didn’t know what kind of emotion, what kind of thought had prompted her scream.

But alongside Grey’s hoarse cry came an aged laugh.

“Heh, Sisel, it seems I cannot let you have your way.”

“Though he is a traitor to you Shoreguards—Rast is the one we have chosen, the heart of a god, the host of the Death God’s Holy Grail.”

A calm voice echoed across the cliff, as a field of lush green, full of vitality and abundance, silently spread over the cliffside.

It halted the corona from further devouring Rast’s body.

The charred remnants of Rast’s body, already on the verge of death from the blazing sunlight, silently fell into that green field.

Then, bathed in that bountiful, life-filled light, the missing half of his body began rapidly regenerating flesh.

Cells breathed at an overloaded pace, rapidly repairing… or rather, patching.

Some supernatural force worked on him, causing that ruined body, like a torn doll, to begin reconstruction.

In the span of a few breaths, aside from his completely burned clothing, Rast’s body had fully returned to normal.

“Beneath legends, all are ants. That’s the iron law of this world.”

“But you don’t need to fear. Someday, when you truly contain the Death God’s Holy Grail… you too can touch this domain.”

Clad in white robes, decorated with tombstone patterns, with a calm and ethereal presence like a gardener, the elderly man appeared beside Rast.

His aged and gentle voice rang softly in Rast’s ears.

“You need not obsess over clashing with a legend like Sisel.”

“People like Sisel, like the Shoreguards, are merely moths flying into flame—burning meteors.”

“They may seem dazzling, radiant, with immense momentum… but they are fleeting, sacrificing the chance for a long life for a brief, illusory brilliance.”

“When the flames fade, meteors crash to the earth, sleeping forever in dust. Yet the stars in the night sky shine eternally… just like us Gravekeepers, witnessing the turn of eras, the rise and fall of civilizations, existing eternally.”

“In this way, one aligns more closely with the laws of this world.”

“Sisel and the Shoreguards are destined to burn themselves out, crushed into dust… pitiful firewood, nothing more.”

As his words fell, the gardener-like elder vanished, leaving only a faintly glowing green doorway formed of lush light.

Rast walked toward that illusory doorway of abundance.

But just as his figure was about to completely disappear, he suddenly paused.

He turned slightly to look down at Grey, who sat collapsed on the ground, her pale face streaked with dried tears.

“Do you want revenge, Grey?”

“To kill me—the heartless traitor, the one who stole your Big Brother Rast’s soul and body, who abandoned all morals for strength and eternity, this grotesque beast.”

“Only, with your current self, you’re not even qualified to seek vengeance.”

The glory of abundance vanished into the night mist, leaving only a wicked laugh echoing endlessly.

“If you wish to kill me, then hate me, despise me…”

“And then, live on—ugly and struggling.”