However, since the Federal Speaker had taken control of the Construct Network at the final moment, Gray Mist had not been tainted by the shifts in fate caused by Ma'eilimu's descent.
Silently listening to Gray Mist, Xing gazed at the distant horizon, her thoughts suddenly returning to the time just before the Ritual began.
Back then, the Federal Speaker had met with her alone and said goodbye in advance.
Perhaps he had already foreseen his own failure at that time.
She had also tried to persuade him to temporarily abandon the plan and wait for a better opportunity that might arise in the future.
But having grown accustomed to solving problems through strength, she was not skilled at persuading others with words alone. This time was no different.
In response to her persuasion, the Federal Speaker had merely smiled and shaken his head. She was certain that the one who had refused her then was the Federal Speaker himself, not Suo's will.
"It's too late, Xing, too late.
If I had not explored the Life Forbidden Zone, if I had not encountered it there, perhaps I would have continued waiting peacefully until the day my life came to its end."
"But all of that is merely hypothetical. Once I encountered it and shared its memories, when I looked upon this world again, I noticed all kinds of unbearable absences in its rules.
Like someone who had lived at the bottom of a well suddenly reaching the surface one day and seeing the boundless world beyond, only to find that they could no longer endure living at the bottom of that well... Once some things have been experienced, there is no going back."
As he spoke, the Federal Speaker raised a hand and pointed toward the sky, dyed golden-red by the