A Love Offered to the Final Guardian: A Suicidal Boy Finds Meaning in Life in Another World
Seventeen-year-old Kanata Amemiya has lost all meaning in life and wishes only for death in an abandoned building. When he loses consciousness, he awakens in Fiore, a fantasy world of magic and monsters. He finds himself in the Mist Village, a remote settlement cursed and isolated from the outside world by a monster-filled forest.
Lilia, a silver-haired young guardian, single-handedly protects the village with barrier magic and cold determination. She dismisses Kanata as a 'useless foreigner.'
A Love Offered to the Final Guardian: A Suicidal Boy Finds Meaning in Life in Another World - Beyond the Dawn Crystal
The light of dawn dyed the inside of her eyelids orange.
Lilia slowly opened her eyes. Atop the old tree on the watchtower — her usual spot. The place where she had spent her final night with Kanata last night.
(*Kanata.*)
Unconsciously, she looked beside her.
No one was there.
On the dew-soaked grass, only the faint indentation of where knees had rested remained. Proof that Kanata had certainly sat there last night. But his warmth was already gone. Only the cold morning air brushed against Lilia's fingertips.
Deep in her chest, something tightened sharply.
(*—He's gone, hasn't he?*)
That was when she noticed it.
On the palm of her hand, an orange light was flickering. The message crystal Kanata had gently pressed into her hand last night — she had been too exhausted to notice it then, but now, in the pale light of dawn, it was unmistakably glowing. Pulsing with a steady rhythm, like a tiny heart.
With trembling fingers, Lilia touched the crystal.
In that instant.
A voice flowed directly into her mind.
"[gentle]Lilia."
It was Kanata's voice. But it wasn't the voice tinged with hesitation from last night. It was quiet, calm — and yet utterly unwavering.
"[gentle]I'm truly glad I met you."
Lilia's breath stopped.
"[gentle]This time, I'm going by my own will. You taught me that — choosing something for someone else, by my own choice."
Her amethyst eyes opened wide.
"[gentle]Thank you. I was happy to protect you."
Kanata's voice was terrifyingly gentle.
"[gentle]Live properly — Lilia."
The crystal's light softly faded.
Lilia stood up.
(*No.*)
(*I haven't — I haven't said anything yet.*)
(*I still haven't told you anything.*)
She was still in her nightclothes. Barefoot. She hadn't even thrown on her indigo cloak. But none of that mattered. Lilia broke into a full sprint. The cobblestones were cold. Small stones cut into the soles of her feet. But she felt no pain. She just — she just had to reach Kanata.
The northern hill. The shrine of the barrier core.
Her heart pounded so fiercely it felt like it might burst. Her lungs screamed for oxygen. Still, she didn't stop her legs. Her silver hair tangled in the morning wind, swaying at the edges of her tear-blurred vision.
(*Make it in time.*)
(*Please, make it —*)
She raced up the stone steps.
The shrine came into view.
And then — Lilia gasped.
The entire shrine was enveloped in pure white light. The magical elements in the atmosphere swirled like a tornado, a roaring gale raging around it. Trees groaned and bent. Lilia's silver hair stood on end, her nightclothes flapping violently.
"[crying]Kanata—!!"
Lilia tried to step into the light. But the pressure of the magical elements stood before her like a wall. Pushed back by an invisible barrier, she still planted her feet, trying to move forward. Her toes scraped against the ground.
At the center of the vortex of light — she could see Kanata's silhouette.
He was standing. Back straight, face raised. That silhouette was slowly, bit by bit, dissolving into particles of light. From his feet, from his knees, from his chest — like night mist melting into the morning sun.
"[crying]No...!"
Lilia reached out her hand. She thrust her fingertips forward with all her strength. The pressure of the magical elements seared her skin. Still, she didn't pull her hand back.
"[crying]Kanata... I still haven't...!"
She felt Kanata turn slightly toward her.
His lips moved faintly.
— *Thank you.*
It looked like he said that.
The next moment.
His silhouette completely scattered into mist.
Countless particles of light soared up into the sky. Riding the wind, into the dawn sky. Lilia's fingertips grasped only empty air.
She couldn't reach him.
The gale ceased. The vortex of magical elements vanished. The pure white light that had enveloped the shrine slowly converged.
Silence.
Lilia stood frozen before the shrine.
At that moment — the mist that had spread across the entire village cleared all at once. The thick fog that had confined the village for over three hundred years vanished as if it had been a lie. As the veil of mist was peeled away, the sky expanded. Clouds streamed by, and then — a blue sky appeared.
A deep, crystalline blue.
A blue sky that no one in the village had ever seen, the first in three hundred years, stretched endlessly overhead.
Lilia looked up at that sky.
"[crying]...You idiot."
Her voice trembled.
"[crying]Idiot... idiot...!"
The strength drained from her knees. She collapsed onto the cobblestones. The pride of a guardian, her cold composure, everything crumbled away with an audible sound. The tears wouldn't stop. Forgetting even to stifle her voice, Lilia sobbed like a child.
The tears spilling from her amethyst eyes crystallized just before they fell, turning into tiny fragments of lumina that scattered onto the cobblestones. They glittered, reflecting the morning sun, and that made her even sadder, and the tears wouldn't stop.
(*You.*)
(*You're always like this.*)
(*Never letting me say anything.*)
(*Deciding everything on your own —*)
Her fingertips clawed at the cobblestones. She didn't even notice her nails cracking. Her chest felt like it was about to burst, and she couldn't breathe properly. A sob leaked from the back of her throat.
That was when —.
At the edge of her vision, something glowed.
Lilia raised her face. Beyond her tear-blurred sight — inside the shrine, atop a stone pillar, a faint light pulsed.
(*...What?*)
She stood on trembling legs. Unsteadily, she walked into the shrine.
On the stone pillar was a crystal the size of a fist.
It was translucent, holding a pale light within. It flickered with a steady rhythm, like a heartbeat. As if — it were alive.
Lilia gently picked it up with both hands.
The moment her fingers touched it — it was warm.
A warmth the same as human body temperature radiated from the crystal. The warmth from when he had held her last night. Unmistakably, Kanata's warmth.
And then, once more, she heard a voice.
Closer than the message crystal had been. Right beside her, as if whispering in her ear.
"[gentle]Thank you. I'm glad I could protect you."
Lilia's hands wrapped around the crystal.
"[gentle]This is my feelings."
Tears fell from her chin, wetting the crystal.
"[gentle]Live properly — Lilia."
Lilia pressed the crystal to her chest. Over her heart, she held it tight. It was warm. Kanata was certainly here.
"[crying]...I promise."
Her voice trembled, the words barely forming. Still, Lilia forced her voice out.
"[crying]Your love — I'll make it the proof that I lived."
It wasn't a statement meant for anyone to hear. It was simply a vow directed at Kanata.
The tears wouldn't stop. But — these tears were different from the ones of pure despair from just moments ago. Beneath the sorrow, a faint warmth was mingled in.
(*Thank you.*)
(*I'm glad — that I could love you.*)
Clutching the crystal, Lilia couldn't move for a while.
How long had she been like that?
"[crying]Lilia-nee—!!"
She heard Marco's voice. Turning around, she saw the boy racing up the stone steps at full speed. Behind him, she could see Celes slowly walking up, leaning on her cane.
Marco's face was a mess of tears. The boy who had stifled his sobs at the second-floor window last night no longer tried to hide it.
"[crying]Lilia-nee... Aniki... Aniki..."
As soon as he reached Lilia, Marco fell to his knees. His shoulders trembled. Lilia gently reached out and stroked Marco's reddish-brown hair.
"[sad]...I know."
Marco looked up. From his large hazel eyes, huge tears fell in streams.
"[crying]I... I saw it... Last night, Aniki going to the shrine alone... I couldn't stop him..."
Marco's voice was hoarse.
"[crying]Aniki said he was going to protect Lilia-nee... So I thought I shouldn't call out to him..."
"[sad]...Marco."
Lilia pulled Marco's shoulder close. The boy's body trembled faintly, and the soot marks from the forge still remained on his cheeks.
Celes slowly approached. The old woman with her white hair braided behind her gazed at Lilia with calm blue eyes. On her face was deep sorrow — and an equal measure of affection.
"[sad]Lilia."
Wordlessly, Celes drew Lilia's head to her chest. Her wrinkled hand slowly stroked the silver hair. Burying her face in her grandmother's chest, Lilia began to cry once more.
The three of them stayed like that for a while.
Before the shrine of the barrier core, beneath the blue sky, they held each other and wept.
Eventually — Celes quietly spoke.
"[sad]My husband... saw the same light."
Lilia raised her face.
"[sad]The winter of forty-two years ago. The barrier was heavily damaged. That man entered the shrine without saying a word."
Celes's voice was calm. But deep within it, the pain of profound loss seeped through.
"[sad]All that was left behind was this ring."
Celes gazed at the old silver ring on her right hand. A memento of her late husband. Proof of a marriage between guardians.
Lilia understood for the first time. That her grandmother, too, was a person who had lived through the same loss. That she, too, had lost the one she loved, and yet had continued to live.
"[sad]Grandmother..."
"[gentle]Lilia. You are not alone."
Celes's blue eyes looked straight at Lilia.
"[gentle]That boy loved you. And he wished for you to live. If that is so — then live. That is the way to answer his feelings."
Lilia bit her lip.
Tears spilled over again. But — they were different from the tears she had shed until just moments ago.
Sniffling, Marco suddenly pointed at the blue sky.
"[crying]Lilia-nee, look... This is the sky Aniki protected for us."
The deep blue sky stretched endlessly. A clear sky without a single cloud. The sun, shining on the village for the first time in three hundred years, sparkled brilliantly.
Lilia looked up at the sky.
"[sad]...Yes."
The corners of her mouth softened slightly.
Her face still wet with tears, even so — she was definitely smiling.
Several days passed.
Beneath the restored barrier, in the village where the mist had cleared, children ran about under a blue sky they were seeing for the first time in their lives. The crops in the fields grew lush and green, bathed in sunlight, and the water of the Sylph Spring seemed clearer than ever. Smiles were slowly returning to the faces of the villagers, too.
But — Lilia knew.
That the barrier no longer needed her magical power. That the guardian's covenant had been released from her heart. Because Kanata had offered up hundreds of years' worth of power — Lilia no longer needed to whittle away her own life.
Early morning.
Lilia called Celes out to the veranda. In the garden visible from the veranda, morning glories were opening their blossoms toward the blue sky.
"[serious]Grandmother — I'm going on a journey."
Celes slowly nodded. There was no surprise on her face.
"[gentle]I see."
"[sad]This crystal... I feel like it's trying to show me something."
Lilia took out the Lumina Core from her chest. The crystal pulsed faintly, as always.
"[sad]Kanata... is still trying to tell me something. That's the feeling I have."
"[gentle]I won't stop you."
Celes placed her wrinkled palm on Lilia's forehead.
"[gentle]Go. Walk your own path."
Lilia gently squeezed her grandmother's hand in return.
Marco helped her prepare for the journey.
The boy gathered salves from the herb hut, took a short sword for self-defense from the forge, and swiped dried meat from Mina's dining hall —.
"[sad]Lilia-nee... You need all of this, right?"
The luggage swelled more and more. Lilia gave a wry smile.
"[gentle]Marco. I'm just going a little farther away. I'll be back soon."
"[sad]...Liar."
Marco's voice trembled.
"[crying]Lilia-nee, you've always wanted to leave the village. I know. Ever since you were a kid, you've longed for the outside world — I knew it."
Lilia couldn't say anything.
"[crying]But... but still. Come back once in a while, okay?"
Rubbing hi
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