As the morning sun rose, a story spanning 1,523 years came to an end. At the end of that story, no god descended upon the real world, and fragile, insignificant humanity survived the disaster once more—so the stories of countless people continued onward.
Semler gripped his Battle Staff tightly and stood in the center of the hall for a long time. Around him stood countless exhausted priests and knights, all holding their breath. Intelligence from the surface had reached the archbishop earlier, but the strange phenomenon that seemed to blur dreams and reality still left him unable to confirm the final outcome. Like everyone else, he waited in silent tension and unease.
During that brief moment when the morning glow spread across all of Orandell, the priests felt as though they had waited an entire century.
Then, specks of starlight finally appeared in everyone's field of vision, appearing above the hall.
Semler heard an aged, weary voice enter his mind. "It's all over... my brethren, we're safe."
It was Megall III's voice.
After a brief silence, belated cheers suddenly erupted throughout the hall!
"We did it! We stopped a god!" "The Outworld Wanderer and Archbishop Selena succeeded!" "We survived! We survived!!"
Amid the tide of cheers all around her, Wendy, who had been tending to the wounded, slowly straightened up. The contamination deep within her mind was receding, and she felt her soul finally regain true and complete freedom. She raised her head and saw Yuri looking her way from not far off.
"We succeeded..." Wendy slowly curled her lips into a heartfelt smile.
Yuri wore a complicated expression as he smiled. He took a light breath and muttered softly, as if speaking to himself, "...At least we didn't destroy this world."
A flowing light abruptly appeared in the center