Shattered Peace, Shattered Moon Peace

Silver Wolf spotted a familiar figure amid the panicked crowd. She looked toward the edge of the distant forest.

A purple-haired woman stood atop a collapsed stone wall.

She did not look up at the sky, but at the people who had fallen into complete panic.

Her clear voice carried through the chaos.

"Don't stand there! Take food with you!"

"Bring water! The elderly and children go first!"

"Don't look back!"

Several young people froze. "But the temple—"

"As long as people remain, the temple remains! Go!"

The woman cut them off directly, raising a hand to point into the distance. "See clearly. If you stay in the forest, you'll only die together."

Someone asked in a trembling voice, "Then where do we go?"

The purple-haired woman did not hesitate. "The far side of the moon!"

"But that place is completely barren..."

"Go first!" She looked back at the massive World Tree behind her. "At least there's still a future there."

Everyone froze as the woman walked to the roots of the World Tree.

She carefully dug out an incredibly tiny green sprout from beside the roots. It was only palm-sized, yet it radiated a faint light of life.

The purple-haired woman turned and looked at the forest being swallowed by darkness. Strange silver-green-haired Elves emerged behind her as well, leading everyone away.

Some people even tossed what had once been nobles' possessions straight onto the roadside. No one looked at those things anymore.

Because the darkness in the sky was drawing closer and closer.

The purple-haired woman walked at the rear. She looked back once, and half of the once-prosperous forest had already sunk into darkness. The Abyss surged over the treetops like a tide.

"Go. As long as we survive, there will be a second forest."

At last, the purple-haired woman turned and took up the very end of the procession, but not before casting one final glance in Silver Wolf's direction.

Just as the last group was about to leave the forest—

The sky suddenly lit up.

A sword light pierced through the heavens from an unimaginable distance away. There was no sound, only an extremely thin white line.

Then the entire world paused for an instant.

Silver Wolf abruptly looked up. She saw a sword—or rather, a sword woven from countless fine threads.

It descended from one side of the moon, passing through everything in sight and disregarding it all with the majesty of a miracle.

BOOM!!!

Only a crack stretching across the entire moon remained.

The Abyss in the heavens was split apart by that single strike. For the first time, that massive maw of darkness visibly stalled.

Then the sword light continued onward, splitting the moon itself in two.

The Abyss was forced back by a single sword strike.

Windchaser stared at the grand scene in shock, utterly speechless. She could only frantically smack Vernacular Poet beside her while wildly pointing at the spectacle.

Vernacular Poet and Sunken Crow merely stared blankly, unable to put it into words.

Though Silver Wolf was not shocked, she truly had not expected Phanes to actually split a planet in half with one move...

But then again, having contended with the Abyss for so long, he should have some real skill.

Looking at it this way, Radiant Law having a life limit had come far too early. It made Them seem like they had dragged down the strength of the native gods.

"God! G-God!" Windchaser covered her mouth, finally shouting, "The Abyss is still alive!"

Silver Wolf looked up at the Abyss writhing and retreating through the sky. "No wonder he didn't make a move. So it's a thousand damage to the enemy and two thousand damage to himself."

Vernacular Poet slowly came back to his senses. "If... the Abyss invaded our world..."

Silver Wolf patted Vernacular Poet's back. "What are you thinking? Do you think I'm some district? One comes, I kill one. Two come, I kill two."

Vernacular Poet looked at the grand sight in the sky with complicated emotions and nodded slightly.

Sunken Crow let out a long sigh. "Leave it to fate."

Silver Wolf checked the time. "Looks like this replay ends here. Get ready to head out. Now you understand the Abyss's true danger, right?"

The three said nothing more, as though they had truly been scared out of their wits.

"What are you afraid of? You're invincible here. You can revive infinitely. You really are [protagonists], you know~"

Silver Wolf truly was not very good at comforting people. She could only state the objective facts and see whether they helped.

Windchaser nodded immediately. "Yeah! We're the Fourth Calamity!"

Vernacular Poet swallowed, unable to forget the spectacle in the sky for a long time.

Silver Wolf teleported everyone back to the present timeline. After landing, she did not leave in a hurry, instead standing before that massive fault line for a while.

The sword scar Phanes had left still stretched across the lunar surface. It was no ordinary rift.

Space itself seemed to have been forcibly sliced open by some power. Faint silver traces of light occasionally surfaced on either side of the fault, as though severed time were slowly healing.

Silver Wolf withdrew her gaze. "All right." She turned to look at the Boundarybreaker Squad. "Go investigate the recent anomaly points."

Vernacular Poet nodded at once. "Understood."

Windchaser nodded as well. "Got it."

Sunken Crow said nothing. He merely stepped to Windchaser's side.

Their positions had barely required any discussion, yet they had naturally formed a front-and-back formation.

Silver Wolf watched this and nodded with satisfaction. "Your coordination isn't bad."

Windchaser paused. "Huh?"

"Nothing." Silver Wolf waved a hand. "Once you find a clue, regroup at the place where we first teleported in."

"OK!"

The three quickly left.

Silver Wolf did not follow. She turned and walked toward a relatively flat stretch of wasteland.

This place was not far from the fault Phanes had left behind, yet it was secluded enough. There were no natives around, only the lonely wind sweeping over the lunar surface from afar.

Silver Wolf sat on a rock.

With a raise of her hand, two cards appeared between her fingers at once.

One was blank.

The other was the Ace of Spades.

She placed the two cards side by side before her. "Never thought this card of yours..."

Silver Wolf narrowed her eyes. "Didn't show up at all during the replay."

She recalled everything that had happened inside the World Tree.

That final battle, which had almost entirely belonged to Phanes.

Then she suddenly remembered a detail.

Before the purple-haired woman had left, she seemed to have glanced toward the direction where they were.

Silver Wolf stared at the Ace of Spades in her hand. "A coincidence?"

After thinking for a few seconds.

She shook her head. "Forget it."

There was no need to waste time on something without evidence for now.

Silver Wolf lowered her head again. What was truly worth studying were the two cards before her.

She first placed the blank card in her palm, and a thread of silver-blue light flowed from her fingertips into it.

There was no reaction.

Silver Wolf increased her strength slightly, but there was still no reaction.

A third time.

More energy was poured into the card, yet there was still no change.

But Silver Wolf could clearly feel her strength diminishing.

As if it had been eaten.

"..." Silver Wolf stared at the blank card. "What the hell?"

She flipped the card over, looked at the front, then the back. It was still completely blank.

"What exactly are you?"

She even tried scanning it with Data Sight, but the result was still only a blur.

[Blank Card]

[Status: Unknown]

Silver Wolf fell silent for a second.

"Still blank."

She casually tossed the card into the air. The blank card hovered there without changing at all.

Silver Wolf picked up the Ace of Spades again. This card was already different from before.

The Abyss that had once resided within it had been forcibly stripped away by her.

Now, only an exceptionally pure power of the Path of Elation remained inside the card.

She brought the Ace of Spades close to the blank card, leaving less than a centimeter between them.

There was no reaction.

Silver Wolf frowned. "Then what if..."

She raised her hand, and her Cartridge slowly appeared.

[Unknown Save Cartridge Level 999]

Silver-blue light covered both cards.

The Cartridge, the Ace of Spades, and the blank card all floated in the air at once.

Silver Wolf observed the data changes.

Nothing unexpected happened. There was only the sound of the silent wind.

"..."

Silver Wolf expressionlessly put away the Cartridge, and the Ace of Spades fell back into her palm.

"What does that mean?"

She hated things like this the most.

No description, no hints, not even a tutorial.

It did not even provide the reason for failure. It was exactly like a puzzle game.

Silver Wolf held the two cards between her fingers and flipped them back and forth.

"Something from Elation..." she muttered. "It can't really just be for playing cards, can it?"

She thought for a moment, then glanced at the blank card again.

When she had fed power into it earlier, it really had swallowed some energy.

That meant it was not truly empty.

Silver Wolf narrowed her eyes. "If that's the case..."

She picked up the Ace of Spades again.

The blank card slowly floated before her as well.

"Then let's give it a try."

She did not directly smash the two cards together.

Instead, she first drew out a tiny thread of the Path of Elation's power from the Ace of Spades.

The patterns on the surface of the Ace of Spades lit up faintly.

Then she guided that power out and slowly brought it toward the blank card.

The blank card still did not change.

Silver Wolf continued increasing the power, and the blank card began to ripple almost imperceptibly.

Silver Wolf's gaze shifted slightly. "It reacted."

She immediately stopped and did not continue forcing power into it.

Instead, she readjusted the positions of the two cards.

The Ace of Spades floated on the left.

The blank card floated on the right.

Between the two cards, an extremely thin silver-blue thread of light connected them.