The black crack was only one finger wide.
It hangs below the now-defunct first layer, devoid of both data glow and coordinates recognizable by the system. The unnumbered records lose their direction here, and the last point of light is slowly fading in front of Lin Yuan.
Lin Yuan extended his hand.
The moment my fingertips touched the crack, a familiar spatial fluctuation came from the other side.
There is magic there.
Extremely faint, yet not a light effect simulated numerically in Aincrad, but a force that truly exists in the air, the land, and life itself.
The world where Fairy Tail is located is on the other side.
Lin Yuan gripped the Nameless Sword tightly and swung it with the same feeling he had when he struck Kayaba.
The sword's edge struck the crack.
There was no disappearance of distance, nor did the black lines spread out to the sides. The metal collided with an invisible barrier, and the recoil caused the wound on Lin Yuan's shoulder to bleed again.
The "Space· Mountain Severance " section did not appear.
During the final battle, Kayaba repeatedly invoked administrator privileges, actively pulling the hidden data layer to the surface of the world. Lin Yuan was able to see the target coordinates, which allowed " Mountain Severance " to cross the distance in between.
Now that Aincrad has ceased functioning, its coordinates and commands are vanishing. He can only sense the cracks, but cannot see the other end that could be connected by the sword's edge.
Lin Yuan did not continue blindly swinging his sword.
He pressed the records left by the Kayaba) against the crack.
Unnumbered collisions lit up in sequence. From the first sword in the first-floor boss room to the last sword that struck Kayaba in the Ruby Palace, all traces that did not belong to the player or the NPC over the past two years pointed to the blank space in front of them.
The crack vibrated slightly.
Records did not create the export.
It merely serves as proof to a collapsing world that the same anomaly once existed here.
A final roar echoed in the distance.
The connections left by ten thousand players are being severed on a massive scale. The NERvGears in the real world are disconnecting one by one, and the countless lines that originally supported Aincrad from the outside are being withdrawn simultaneously. As a result, the entire world is temporarily contracting, and the boundaries that were covered by data at the start of the game are being revealed again at this moment.
The black crack widened by an inch.
Lin Yuan finally saw the other side.
It wasn't a clear view, just a forest soaked by rain and a blurry stone wall behind the trees.
The ruins of a mobile castle.
The crack quickly stopped expanding, and the edges began to close inward instead.
The large-scale disconnection will only happen once. Once the last batch of players log out, this old wound, reopened by the global fluctuations, will completely disappear.
Lin Yuan inserted " Nameless " into the crevice.
As soon as the sword entered halfway, fine cracks appeared on its surface.
Nameless was born in Aincrad. Its blade, materials, and durability were all defined by this world, and it should have disappeared along with the game once it left the data environment that supported it.
Lin Yuan did not let go.
For two years, Nameless has never provided him with any attack power displayed on his character sheet. It simply bears Lin Yuan's real power in the form of a physical longsword, colliding with monsters, player weapons, and floor bosses time and time again.
It has severed Cardinal's access control space and also carried "Space: Mountain Severance ".
Those collisions that couldn't be numbered by the system had already left another kind of mark on the sword.
A faint throbbing sensation came from deep within Lin Yuan's palm.
The long-silent World Marker displayed no text or provided any hints; it simply extended the World Adaptation Layer covering Lin Yuan's body outwards, slowly enveloping " Nameless ".
The data glow on the sword peeled away layer by layer.
The weight, durability, and sharpness originally determined by the system disappeared, but the remaining outline did not crumble. The marks left by each real collision over the past two years connected with each other, giving this sword, for the first time, a form that did not depend on Aincrad.
The fine cracks stopped spreading.
Lin Yuan gripped the sword hilt and slashed downwards with force.
He didn't create a new path; he simply reopened the edges that were about to close, following the old cracks left two years ago.
The black gap widened to the width of one person.
Unnumbered records ignited at the same instant. The earliest coordinates transformed into white light, piercing the depths of the crack and marking the direction to the ruins of the mobile castle for Lin Yuan.
The remaining records disappear sequentially, starting from the first layer.
The guidance left behind by Kayaba has fulfilled its mission.
Lin Yuan glanced back.
There was no floating city behind her, nor the Ruby Palace. The last remaining white trail was fading into the darkness, only the coordinates of Yui's slumber remained firmly remembered by the World Marker.
"Wait for me to come back."
After he finished speaking, he carried the book " Nameless " and stepped into the crevice.
Two world rules are simultaneously squeezing the body.
The World Adaptation Layer on the surface of his skin vibrated violently, and Lin Yuan felt as if he had been swept into a torrent with no direction. His wounds reopened, and his consciousness rapidly blurred as space spun around.
He still gripped the sword tightly.
I don't know how much time passed, but suddenly weight returned to my feet.
Lin Yuan fell from mid-air, breaking tree branches, and landed heavily on the damp soil.
Raindrops hit my face.
The scent of earth and leaves filled my nostrils, and a long-lost magic enveloped me from all directions.
He opened his eyes and saw the ruins of an ancient castle covered in vines at the end of the woods.
The crack closed behind him.
Lin Yuan returned to the world where Fairy Tail was located.