Long night.
The surface of the Ice Sea shattered as a massive airship, like a giant whale surfacing, crashed through the water.
From Yuan Ting Island, one could see flames shooting into the heavens.
The Storm stirred waves across a hundred-mile radius.
Even those believers far away in the Holy City sensed that something was amiss... A blazing pillar of light rose from the direction of the Ice Sea. Anyone who ascended into the sky could witness that grand, magnificent spectacle.
The starship was starting up.
Deafening explosions echoed across the entire sea.
Beneath the enormous waves raised by the Storm, Yuan Ting Island looked like a tiny lone boat.
Rumble!
Those "lucky ones" who had been able to board the starship had been placed in Life Pods to rest. The closed AI developed by the Church was transmitting footage of the Outside World to them through the Mental Network.
Transcendents above the third rank, along with the starship's operational staff, had the "fortune" of standing by the portholes to personally witness the starship igniting and taking off. Vast stretches of seawater were set ablaze by azure flames. The starship was like a shooting star.
They sat inside that shooting star, watching "themselves" bloom with dazzling, brilliant radiance.
"So we're leaving just like that."
Sea Eye Saint held a wineglass and stood quietly before the porthole, his expression complicated.
As Saints of the Holy City.
They all possessed independent residences, located close to the Storm God's Throne. They had been "neighbors."
"Yes... we're leaving just like that."
Saint Gadie, the youngest Saint in the Holy City, was also standing before the same enormous porthole.
Loneliness and bewilderment were impossible to hide in Saint Gadie's eyes.
He softly repeated Sea Eye Saint's words, then said, "It truly feels like a dream."