"So this cycle has descended into endless war?"
"Something similar happened during cycle 684,671."
"That time, Hubris 504 stepped forward and brought the war to an end."
"On a continent already devastated beyond recognition, she established a unified nation."
"With the strength of an entire civilization behind her and absolute authority concentrated in her hands, she confidently believed she could defeat the Black Tide."
"Unfortunately, the emperor who created that unified nation was assassinated."
"Everything she built collapsed shortly afterward."
"And in the end, the outcome remained unchanged."
Lygus observed the flames of war spreading across the land.
Everyone had become so consumed by hatred that they had almost forgotten themselves in the slaughter.
This cycle had produced some rather useful experimental data.
He would need to record it carefully.
"Hm?"
Lygus seemed to notice something.
He raised his head slightly and turned his attention toward the ocean.
"Aporia 432..."
"Without finding the purpose in life she discovered during previous cycles, she somehow found herself within the Dark Sea instead."
"She even successfully obtained the Ocean Titan's Coreflame."
"This is the first time anything like this has happened across all these cycles."
...
Within the pitch-black ocean, blue light carved a path through the endless darkness.
The path itself was simply seawater restored to its original color.
Yet surrounded on every side by blackness, that strip of blue stood out brilliantly.
A woman swam through it.
Like a mermaid from an ancient legend, her movements beneath the water were graceful, powerful, beautiful, and astonishingly fast.
She still held a book tightly against her chest.
It was the story of an adventurer.
Or rather, a collection of stories and experiences recorded by countless adventurers.
Through that book, she had discovered many things she had never known before.
Deserts.
Forests.
And worlds beyond her own.
Some were similar to Amphoreus.
Others were completely different.
There were even worlds entirely surrounded by oceans.
"Somewhere among the endless stars lies the answer I'm searching for."
Her former kin, already corrupted and assimilated by the Black Tide, surged from the darkness and tried to stop her from leaving.
The woman merely began humming a song she had once sung together with her companions.
The gentle melody spread through the sea.
Her corrupted kin did not react.
She had never intended to purify them with her song.
Instead, within the deep-blue path, small fish began swimming into view.
One after another.
More and more gathered together until they became an enormous school.
The swarm swept forward like a living current.
The monsters were driven back into the darkness beneath the sheer force of the fish.
And strangely, those tiny creatures seemed completely immune to the corruption of the blackened sea.
They darted joyfully through the water.
The once-dead, twisted ocean seemed to come alive again.
"Fascinating."
"How exactly did she accomplish that?"
"Through nothing more than song, she directly commanded the ocean itself to resist."
"That can no longer be explained solely through the Ocean Titan's authority."
"A major variable has appeared."
Lygus immediately focused on the book held in the woman's arms.
He suspected that book was responsible for this unexpected change.
When the woman finally left the sea and once again stood upon dry land, she suddenly realized that the book had disappeared from her arms.
...
Lygus opened the collection of adventurers' stories.
He slowly read through it.
Following the perspective of an adventurer named Omaris, he visited one strange planet after another.
He encountered countless unfamiliar species.
He witnessed civilizations unlike anything on Amphoreus.
And he experienced one extraordinary event after another through the words on those pages.
It was a story of Trailblaze.
Near the end of the book, Lygus found Omaris's reflections on his life.
And then he saw the final words the adventurer had left behind.
[I have never regretted my choice.]
[If anything, I consider myself extraordinarily fortunate that I was able to make that deal with you.]
[You gave me a new life, █████.]
Lygus stared at the section where the name had been blacked out.
What had been written there?
Who was the person who had given Omaris a new life?
The story said that this individual had granted him new power, allowing him to travel freely among the stars.
The instinctive curiosity of a scholar drove Lygus to uncover the answer.
He attempted to manipulate the blackened section.
To his surprise, the ink-like obstruction could actually be altered.
He erased it.
The hidden name appeared.
Lygus froze.
Then, after several seconds, he finally remembered what that name represented.
"The creator of Penacony's Eternal Dreamscape."
"A chosen one blessed by multiple Aeons, capable even of directly calling upon Aeons for assistance."
"Thank you for the compliment."
A calm voice came from behind him.
Lygus turned around.
A gray-haired young man stood there, quietly watching him.
"We meet again, Mr. Lycurgus."
Caelus looked at him.
"Or should I call you Lygus?"
Lygus was surprised for only a moment.
Then he calmly closed the book and spoke with perfect courtesy.
"So you are Caelus."
"My apologies. I failed to recognize you during our previous meeting."
Caelus had originally been by the coast, watching the sea and observing how the woman who once possessed nothing but emptiness in her heart finally discovered her own path.
Then, quite unexpectedly, he heard someone elsewhere in the world speak his name.
So he came to see who it was.
He had not expected to find the suspicious mechanical stranger from before holding a storybook Caelus had once given to someone else.
"It seems my intuition was right."
"Even if you aren't the mastermind behind this world, you clearly know a great deal about what's happening."
"If you're willing, shall we talk?"
"I assume I don't actually have the right to refuse?"
"No."
"Then please follow me."
"This isn't an appropriate place for such a conversation."
The surroundings shifted.
The two appeared in a vast space resembling a plaza.
Above them stretched a star-filled universe.
At the center of the plaza stood a stone structure resembling a large basin.
"This is a long story."
Lygus looked toward Caelus.
"So perhaps I should begin with my true identity."
"You're really willing to tell me everything?"
"Would you necessarily believe that everything I tell you is the complete truth?"
Caelus paused.
"Fair point."
"Continue."
"I once had another name."
"Zandar One Kuwabara."
"The first member of the Genius Society."
"The genius who created a monster that could no longer be controlled."
The legendary creator of Nous, the Aeon of Erudition.
"Of course, the real Zandar died long ago."
"What stands before you now is merely a machine that inherited his thoughts, memories, and goals, and continues working toward them."
"So you may continue calling me Lygus."
"I imagine you already discovered the fundamental problem with this world."
"Yes."
"This is a virtual world."
"A data-based reality simulated through an Emperor's Scepter."
"Although I still don't understand how you bypassed the Scepter's identification systems, entered this world without triggering any alarms, and even escaped my own detection."
Caelus looked around the vast artificial space.
"You created a virtual world at the edge of the universe and forced it through endless cycles."
"What are you ultimately trying to accomplish?"
Lygus studied him.
"You can even see the cycles?"
"It seems your reputation is well deserved."
"As for my ultimate objective..."
Lygus raised a hand and pointed toward the stars overhead.
"To kill Nous."
"The Aeon of Erudition."
Caelus immediately understood why Lygus had been so willing to speak with him.
When Caelus created Penacony's Eternal Dreamscape, only one Aeon had strongly opposed it and personally intervened.
Erudition.
(To be continued.)