Soliette wasn't sure if her mind was playing tricks on her. But the more she looked at Abyss, listened to her speak, the clearer the image became.
And the more unsettling it was.
"Why do you… look like…."
Abyss smiled faintly.
——Keep this a secret between us, Archmage.
Soliette's eyes narrowed. "Why are you revealing yourself to me? Are you really—"
——Because I want you to stop it.
A single word dropped like a stone.
Soliette's mouth froze.
——And it's already here.
At that moment, a rift sliced cleanly through the trunk of the massive tree behind them. Soliette whipped her head toward it, but Abyss didn't move.
Something stepped out from the rift.
Her hair was as white as snow, and her eyes glowed the vibrant purple of spring lavender.
Soliette turned to Abyss, only to find her gone.
In her place, an overwhelming pressure hung in the air loomed over the woman who had emerged from the rift.
The bloodlust was suffocating.
"Watch ou—" Soliette raised her staff, beginning to chant instinctively.
But the woman moved faster.
Soliette hadn't even registered when she had drawn her sword. Only that it was already there, gleaming under the light.
Now that Soliette had a moment to breathe, she realized something crucial. Vanitas was nowhere to be seen.
And she wasn't the only one who noticed.
The white-haired woman glanced around, her expression turning from confusion to growing concern. She seemed to have expected him to follow her out.
Abyss vanished, slipping into the rift Margaret had just torn open.
Margaret instinctively took a step forward, as if to follow her, but Soliette moved to grab her wrist.
"Don't," she said. "Vanitas worked hard to bring you out. Who knows where you'll be thrown if you go back in?"
Margaret paused, startled. Her eyes finally locked with Soliette's.
"You're… the Archmage."
Soliette was about to respond, but stopped.
The moment Margaret truly recognized her, her entire body stiffened with signs of fear.
She shrank back, as if seeing a ghost. As if Soliette had been the one to kill her… over and over again.
"Yes," Soliette said cautiously, noting the reaction. "That's right. And you are… Margaret Illenia?"
"A-ah," Margaret stammered, snapping out of her daze. "Yes… that's right."
Margaret blinked upon Soliette's question, then looked behind her, as if expecting him to appear.
"I don't know… I thought we went out together…"
Margaret had torn open the rift, and Vanitas was just about to leave with her.
But as her figure vanished into existence, he stopped.
From every direction, faint sounds from alternate realities echoed. Fragments of timelines, scattered voices from what could've been, routes that might have unfolded within the game.
A whisper that should not have existed here.
His breath caught in his throat.
There was another reality. One that had never been part of the game. One he had pushed to the back of his mind.
A reality he thought he had long severed ties with. A life that shouldn't have followed him here.
He turned toward the voice.
He stepped forward, as if pulled by an invisible force.
And there it was, just beyond the gap.
A vision of what once was. Chae Eunwoo, nestled in the arms of Kim Minjeong. Her eyes filled with love. The home he had lost. The life he once had.
The temptation was as sweet as honey.
He could go back. He was certain if he ever stepped through, he could take his place, replacing the Chae Eunwoo in that world.
And if he didn't, he would kill him with his own hands.
Was this his second chance?
Could he undo it all? Prevent her suicide? Prevent the pain?
Could he rewrite the tragedy with better choices? Avoid the wrong paths that had led him to ruin?
A life where Chae Eunwoo... was simply happy.
It was truly tempting.
So much so that he found himself already reaching toward it.
But just as he was about to surrender to it, another voice broke through the echoes.
This time, an unfamiliar one.
And yet, the man's face, though slightly different, bore a chilling resemblance to his own. The soft features of Chae Eunwoo mixed seamlessly with the colder eyes of Vanitas Astrea.
Vanitas's breath hitched.
From that single name alone, he understood. He knew whose life this was.
The First Archmage, Zen
But what truly caught him off guard were the people surrounding Zen in that vision.
His eyes widened further.
——Thread the mana carefully, Zen. You won't get results if you half-ass it. ɪꜰ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡᴀɴᴛ ᴛᴏ ʀᴇᴀᴅ ᴍᴏʀᴇ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs, ᴘʟᴇᴀsᴇ ᴠɪsɪᴛ NovєlFіre.net
——I'm trying, teacher!
The Archmage… was learning magic?
That couldn't be right. Wasn't he the first mage? The progenitor?
Vanitas didn't need to think too deeply. The answer revealed itself in the woman guiding him.
A woman who looked almost identical to Kim Minjeong.
Just like in this life, she was with him. Not just as a mentor, but perhaps something more, it wouldn't be so far a stretch.
Her eyes, though stern while teaching him, seemed to exude the sweetness of honey. It was something too tender to be platonic.
——Ah…! Unnie, don't be too harsh on Oppa! Gosh! He just came back from bringing five months' worth of firewood, you know?!
——It's fine, Melissa.
A young energetic girl stormed into the scene. Her cheeks puffed in indignation as she scolded the older woman, fiercely protective of her brother.
And she looked exactly like…
Chae Eunah, his little sister.
Vanitas staggered a step back.
"What kind of sick joke is this…?"
It was as if three versions of reality had collided, overlapping like reflections of the same soul.
One from his life in South Korea. Another from what looked like a past era of this very world. And the third, the present he now walked in.
Each version bore the same faces. Familiar people, different stories, and different circumstances.
But ultimately, similar positions.
He clutched at his head, feeling overwhelmed.
"....Ah, what am I supposed to do?"
The revelation struck harder than anything Vanitas had ever faced.
For someone who had died countless times, who had endured an innumerable amount of looping, this moment was too much to process.
Even he felt something breaking inside him.
A voice that was different from the rest. Unlike the cacophony of illusions luring him from the rivers of reality, this one was clear.
"You don't belong there anymore, Oppa."
His breath caught in his throat at her words, at her appearance.
There, standing before him, was a little girl. Just the two of them in the endless rivers of time. Her voice, her eyes, even her slight pout, everything mirrored Chae Eunah.
But as he moved to step closer, his body stopped on its own.
The truth sank in his gut like a stone
No, she was, and yet she wasn't.
It was the very incarnation of evil itself.
The spirit that had made the bet with him. The spirit that had made it possible for him to even be here and save Margaret.
"Call me anything," she said gently. "Eunah. Abyss. Selena. Melissa."
His eyes widened. His lips parted, but no words came out.
That… practically confirmed it.
They were all the same.
Different names. Different lives. Different roles. But the same soul. He was certain of it.
The realization made his vision spin. His chest tightened and his breaths became horrifyingly frantic.
"Eunah… tell me everything." He stepped forward, desperation leaking into his voice. "Please. What am I doing here? Why is this happening?"
His mind raced hysterically.
"This is a game, isn't it? You designed this game, right? To show me all of this. To give me a chance."
He gripped his head, nails gradually digging in his scalp.
"This is the true intent, isn't it? So I can breach past the boundaries and go back to my world. Our world. To the start of it all. To save you and our parents. I can do it, Eunah. I swear, I'll do it right this time. We can avoid it all—"
Just one word was enough to stop him cold.
"Eunah… please," he whispered, voice cracking. "I… I don't want this…"
"Oppa," she said softly, "this is the only place where I can truly materialize. But there's not much time left for me."
It was cracking slowly as if made of brittle porcelain.
"I've been watching you this whole time," she said. "Wherever you've been… whatever name you took… I've always been with you. Just know that."
Tears welled in his eyes again.
"Then tell me what I'm supposed to do now!" he shouted. "I'm dying too, Eunah! I'm tired and I'm scared! I'm so scared!"
"Oppa… all your answers will come if you find me. Find where my true soul resides. And while you do… you must protect the Saintess. They're after her."
His breathing hitched.
"The Saintess…" he muttered. "She's a variant of you, isn't she?"
"She contains a fragment of my soul, yes."
"Then tell me. Who's after her? I'll kill every single one of those bastards!"
"Araxys," she replied. "She is the vessel for their God."
His heart skipped a beat.
"Wait… Eunah, what do you mean—"
His body froze. The air left his lungs.
"I was also a vessel for Araxys."
His hoarse voice, which was barely audible, finally broke through. "Where can I find you?"
"The Archives of Haven."
But before he could finish the question, her form began to crack apart before breaking into glowing fragments and drifting upward like dust in moonlight.
He stood there with his jaw slack open, his mind blank. It took him minutes to calm his racing mind.
And then, he looked up, recalling her words.
'I've been watching you, this whole time. Wherever you've been, whatever name you took, I've always been with you. Just know that.'
And somehow, those words brought solace into his raging heart.
"I'll find you, Eunah. Whatever it takes."
With his thoughts finally having calmed down, Vanitas stepped forward through the shattered remnants of the rivers of fate.
Through fractured realities of what could've been.
——Happy Birthday, Eunwoo!
——You're still such a child, Zen.
——Let's take a picture, Eunwoo!
——Oh, my… You've grown so much, Zen. I'm… really proud of you.
Each voice tugged at his heart. It was painful. So painful, and so tormenting.
Vanitas clenched his fists, feeling his heart ache with everything he had chosen to leave behind.
——I love you, Eunwoo.
And then everything turned white.
Smoke curled toward the ceiling of the Astrea mansion within the Axenburg Domain, where Vanitas leaned back in his seat.
He had isolated himself in one of the rooms with a cigarette between his fingers.
Sleep seemed to be impossible for him at the moment. Every time he closed his eyes, the memories of all his deaths haunted him.
Earlier, when he finally stepped out of the rift, the only one waiting for him was Margaret.
They returned to the village together to witness it slightly damaged, but not devastated. Signs of battle marked the area, but not nearly to the extent he'd feared.
Silas, Ezra, Violette, and the rest of the Illenia Order had held their ground. Their suppression efforts had been nothing but extraordinary. And they each deserved appropriate rewards.
But what caught him most off-guard was not the state of the village.
It was the person waiting for him inside the mansion.
Soliette, the current Archmage.
She had filled him in on what happened regarding the Emperor's forces retreating, the sudden appearance of the Swordsaint and herself, how Silas and Ezra had held the front while he was gone.
But he remained impassive.
He didn't respond to any of it. Not to the praise of successfully bringing the Grand Knight back, not to any of their concerns, not even to the implication of how long he had been missing.
That was how long he had been gone in this world.
But to him, time had long since lost meaning.
◆ Understanding: +60%
Such a difficult quest that ate away at his sanity. And now, Vanitas finally understood why purification had dropped.
His body was in complete shambles.
And just when he thought things couldn't get any worse, the sound of a knock broke through the silence. The door creaked open, and in stepped two figures.
It was Evan, his butler, having apparently come all the way from the capital, Valenora. Behind him was Margaret, who must have guided him inside the mansion.
"The mansion was attacked!"
Vanitas remained silent.
"And Lady Charlotte… is missing!"
He didn't sit up, nor did he react. He just stared at the ceiling and exhaled.
Then, he let out a hollow laugh.