In his final moments, he looked at the gradually sealed Lord of Nothingness, a peaceful smile appearing on his face. "At last... I protected everyone's precious future..."
When the memory ended, tears were already streaming down Ace's face. He fully understood what true guardianship meant—it was not merely courage and strength, but the resolve to willingly give everything in order to protect what was precious.
The illusion gradually faded, and everyone returned to the main hall of the Undersea Temple. The Abyss Guardian looked at Ace with satisfaction, its blue eyes gleaming with approval.
"Now you understand," it said slowly. "A true guardian does not protect others because they are powerful. They gain great power because they possess the determination to protect others."
The guardian slowly raised a hand and placed it over its chest. The deep-blue gemstone embedded in the statue's chest began to glow, radiating a light as profound as the ocean.
"The Abyss Stone... I have guarded it for a thousand years, waiting for someone truly qualified to inherit this power," the guardian said as it carefully removed the gemstone. "Now, that moment has finally arrived."
But at that moment, the entire temple suddenly began to shake violently. Massive chunks of stone constantly fell from the ceiling, and cracks spread across the ancient pillars. Worse still, seawater began flooding in madly through every crevice, the water level rising rapidly.
"It's a spacetime disturbance!" Aquila said in horror. "The awakening of the Lord of Nothingness is affecting the stability of the entire world!"
The Abyss Guardian looked at the temple on the verge of collapse and made its final decision. It poured all its remaining power into the temple's supporting structure, temporarily stabilizing the ancient building.
But at a cost, the guardian itself began to petrify. Grayish-white stone