chapter 68: A Shadow in the Wind – Xiao's Legacy

Weeks had passed since that decisive moment...

And since Xiao's disappearance, the Nine Realms had begun to heal—slowly, yet steadily.

In the Temple of the Seven Strings, Ester sat quietly, contemplating a faded replica of the sword Xiao once wielded.

Her trembling hand touched it delicately, as if afraid it would vanish.

"You promised me..."

she whispered, her gaze drifting between sky and earth.

Elsewhere, Heim stood atop the ruins of the kingdom of "Neufein," destroyed in the final battle.

He carried a wound in his chest that refused to heal—not from a weapon, but from absence.

"You accomplished what no god could… and now we live in a world without your shadow."

Yet despite everything… Xiao was neither dead nor alive.

He existed—within the threads that wove the new reality.

For every time someone chose good over evil,

For every innocent saved,

For every sacrifice made for another...

His spirit soared there, watching, smiling… and perhaps, weeping.

⚜ *At the Hall of the Grand Archive*

The Grand Scribe of the gods' realm recorded the final chronicles.

He opened a strange manuscript, marked with traces of frozen blood, and engraved in Xiao's own hand:

> "I offer my blood not to the gods… but to the people.

> So that justice remains possible, and destiny breakable."

The scribe smiled and wrote at the end of the record:

*"His name was inscribed as the first to shatter the chain of fate, and restore to the world the right to choose."*

And in the corner… a faint shadow of Xiao passed by, as if he had never left at all.