Goodnight, World

“Next... do I have to face some kind of trial?” Clo looked at the smiling deity before her. Her heart was filled with apprehension above all else; she had not yet lowered her guard and remained ready for combat at any moment.

“A trial?” Chronos made a puzzled expression, appearing somewhat perplexed. Her demeanor was relaxed, even indifferent. Clo couldn't quite grasp her mindset; if everything she said was true, once all of this was completed, she would vanish from this world entirely. For a deity, that was total death.

Her soul would shatter completely, merging into the myriad of living beings. The possibility of her being reconstructed again was infinitesimally close to zero.

“You know, some kind of test for me, to see if I fit the role you have in mind,” Clo said haltingly, her body language betraying her nervousness.

“No, there is no such thing.” Chronos chuckled softly, seemingly in a very good mood. She covered her mouth with one hand in a ladylike gesture.

“I have spent so many years planning just to get you to this era. If I set up some test and you failed, what would I do then?” She giggled, making Clo feel a bit awkward yet slightly more at ease.

“Then what do I need to do?” Clo swallowed hard, feeling both strained and uneasy.

“Leave your mark in this era. It will be useful when you ascend to godhood.” Chronos looked into the distance. “In this era, there are no obstacles. In your era, no matter how powerful a human is, they cannot become a god, right?”

“Why... Why is that? Is something stopping us?”

“Shhh... Ah, no, He has not descended yet.” Chronos made a shushing motion, her expression turning slightly more solemn. She carried the air of someone who dared not speak loudly for fear of disturbing a Celestial Being.

“He?”

“You do not need to know who He is. You only need to know... He corrupted the World Tree and ultimately destroyed our era.” Chronos looked to the side, her smile appearing somewhat forced. “Little Meng is still working hard to drive ‘Him’ out. For her, erasing our traces and expelling His will is already a monumental task.”

“Can I... do anything?” Clo swallowed, listening to all of this in a daze.

“You must witness it all, and then use my authority to let this era vanish into the River of Time forever.” Chronos reached out as if touching something. Clo focused her gaze and was surprised to find that the deity had reached directly into the flow of time without doing anything at all.

Is this the control over time held by the God of Time... Truly terrifying...

“Go... Take a good look at this era and the myriad beings of this world. They will cease to exist, but at the very least... they should not be forgotten.” There was a hint of sorrow in her words.

“I have no regrets. At least for everyone, I am the one who left in the most dignified way.” Chronos smiled; she held no lingering attachments to this place.

Within this forest, humans established their first city-state. The massive tree known as the World Tree towered high, and the beings called gods resided upon it.

Clo touched her surroundings, and everything began to feel increasingly real. Chronos stood before her, a tranquil smile on her lips.

She watched as people lit their first bonfire and carved their script into stone walls. Resplendent gods led ragged people to build city-states and their faiths upon this fertile land. The white stones that formed the foundation of the world were continuously transported to this city. Snow-white houses began to rise. The people were industrious, kind, pious, and loving; even the gods could not help but participate among them.

They danced joyfully under the leadership of Dionysus, casting aside their fears of darkness, death, and disease. She saw the white-haired girl walk out from the River of the Dead and stop amidst a field of flowers. A deity born of flame stood by her side, but she did not linger there. She walked the earth, witnessing both suffering and glory.

She saw a tiny speck of black haze germinating in the soil. The roots of the World Tree were gradually corroded, and the world built upon it began to suffer from the collapse of order and morality. A white-haired deity transformed into a black dragon and bit through the roots of the giant tree, but it did not slow the world’s descent. He took one last look at the world before being pierced by a spear and vanishing into His own flames.

The God of Death was sealed within the Underworld. Before the chaos reached its peak, everything returned to a state of stagnation. The once-loving gods began to seize control over the chaos of the mortal realm, and Calamities born of madness began to descend.

A quarter of humanity died of disease, a quarter from war, a quarter from conquest, and a quarter from famine.

People died in despair amidst the chaos. The gods in the heavens watched it all with indifference. Their chaotic scions destroyed the remnants of civilization in the secular world. Everything... ultimately returned to ash.

The world began to head toward its end, and it was at this moment that her power reached its zenith. “Death” emerged from the Underworld. Amidst the grand burial of the entire world, she suddenly ascended to her divine throne. With both hands gripping a blood scythe, she began to harvest the lives of her former friends and family. In that moment, she became the will of the world’s fated destruction, the paradox of all existence, and the final sigh of all living things.

Her authority enveloped the world. Clo looked at that familiar face; she could see a faint glimmer of tears in those crimson, indifferent eyes—but only a tiny bit.

“So this is... A Yue at her peak...” Clo murmured softly. She looked toward the horizon, where an entity began to grow clear in her eyes.

“Enough... You cannot look any further.” A figure stepped out from the River of Time, blocking Clo’s view and preventing her from witnessing the presence of “Him.”

“It seems... you want to take this all upon yourself.” Chronos looked at her and suddenly smiled. “Very well, then... it ends here.”

“...” Li Yue looked at the afterimage before her, of which she had only a faint memory. She couldn't resist glancing at the divine silhouettes on the horizon that looked so real. All of this... felt like only yesterday.

“I’m sorry. We just met, and now I must say goodbye.” Chronos sighed. “No... it should be, goodbye forever.”

“Your mission is complete. Let it... end here.”

“As I thought... I am still a bit reluctant.” Chronos looked at the shattered world. “You will restore everything, won’t you?”

“Yes.”

“Then... goodnight, Miss Death. Goodnight, world.”

Her figure slowly began to shatter within the River of Time. Flecks of light began to flow into the pocket watch in Li Yue’s hand. The journey of the god who loved jokes most of all had finally come to an end.