Chapter 866: Non-Existent Memories and the Fictional Historian
[March 7th: "They're here, they're here! It's the Doomsday Companion, we're saved!"]
[Ch'en: "? This is the Doomsday of Kurumi's world. Why are you the one celebrating?"]
[Aqua: "I know why! It's because fun and interesting things are about to happen, and we might even get a livestream to watch!"]
[Tsunade: "Well, it is true that we get to see Ren in the livestream."]
[Kushina: "? You guys wouldn't happen to be watching the livestream just to do that to Ren, would you?"]
[Emilia: "Eh? What can you do while watching a livestream?"]
[Nami: "Oh. That."]
[Mikasa: "I don't understand."]
[Exusiai: "Emmm, if possible, let's not speak in riddles. It gives me PTSD."]
[Tendo Kisara: "Simply put, it means 'touching yourself' while watching Ren on the stream."]
[Shinobu Kocho: "This..."]
[Sylvia: "That's somewhat..."]
[Stella: "Perverts! You're all perverts!"]
[Kiana: "W-Who would do such a shameless thing?!"]
[Tingyun: "Miss Kiana seems awfully agitated..."]
[Kiana: "I never did that!"]
[Silver Wolf: "I believe you. But I'm afraid the others don't."]
[Shiroyasha: "Tsk, does this Ren boy really possess such magnificent charm?"]
[Ren: "Alright, enough messing around. Back to business. Durandal, you can come over directly."]
[Durandal: "I won't be holding you back, will I?"]
[Ren: "Heh. A measly seven-star Doomsday isn't even worth mentioning."]
[Shiroyasha: "Oho? It seems you've already seen through the essence of this Uncertainty Doomsday. You look completely confident."]
[Ren: "The essence is simple. The Neighboring World—which is composed entirely of spiritual power in this dimension—has an extra parasite attached to its foundational structure."]
"What parasite?" Tokisaki Kurumi tilted her head, her mismatched eyes blinking in genuine confusion. "Isn't the source of the Doomsday the Spirit of Origin?"
In Kurumi's mind, blaming the Spirit of Origin for every disaster in their world was a universal truth. It was the anchor of her entire crusade.
"The problem this time doesn't lie with her," Ren said.
He reached out, his fingers casually tracing the soft, flawless cheek of the immobilized Spirit of Origin. He studied her with a look of mild amusement, completely unbothered by the apocalyptic entity standing before him.
At his touch, the silver-haired entity finally blinked, her consciousness returning to the present. Her delicate, willow-like eyebrows drew together in a deep, troubled frown.
"My actions... they have no purpose," she murmured, her voice hollow, echoing with a deep emptiness. "Who... who made me act this way?"
The realization had shattered her foundation. Discovering that her endless cycle of actions lacked any true motive plunged the Spirit of Origin into a vortex of confusion. A desperate thirst for the truth gripped her. Why? Why had she painstakingly split the Spirit Crystals? Why had she created the Spirits in the first place?
"I don't mind sharing my findings with you," Ren replied, his tone slow and unhurried, as if they were discussing the weather rather than an impending apocalypse. "But first, why don't you tell me your name?"
"...I have no name," the Spirit of Origin answered. Her voice was flat, devoid of any emotional inflection.
Click.
The cold, metallic sound of a hammer being cocked echoed in the quiet space. Kurumi had raised her flintlock pistol—the physical manifestation of her Angel, Zafkiel—and aimed the dark muzzle directly at the center of the Spirit of Origin's smooth forehead.
"Liar," Kurumi hissed. Her usually playful demeanor vanished, replaced by a chilling, resentful glare that scrutinized the entity's every feature. "You are Mio Takamiya. You are the culprit who caused the deaths of countless innocent people!"
Off to the side, the White Queen stood leaning against the invisible barrier of the space, her arms crossed beneath her chest. She watched the unfolding drama with an aloof expression, looking entirely detached, as if this deadly confrontation had absolutely nothing to do with her.
Despite the gun leveled at her skull and the heavy accusation of the name 'Mio Takamiya', the Spirit of Origin did not even flinch. She didn't look at Kurumi. Her vacant, yet intensely focused gaze remained locked solely on Ren.
To her, only this man mattered. Only this man, who had effortlessly sealed her overwhelming power with an unknown, absolute authority, held the answers she craved.
"Calm down, Kurumi." Ren didn't shout. He simply reached out and gently pressed his hand over the barrel of Kurumi's flintlock, lowering it toward the ground.
"She's telling the truth."
Kurumi's eyes widened in disbelief. "But I clearly learned that her true identity is Mio Takamiya! I investigated it myself!"
"The information you received is false," Ren stated plainly.
He knew the truth of this specific timeline. This world was fundamentally different from the original canon. Here, from the very beginning until now, a boy named Shinji Takamiya had never existed.
If Shinji never existed, who gave her the name Mio? Where would the Spirit of Origin have even heard the name 'Mio Takamiya'?
It was a complete paradox.
However, if everything Kurumi had learned—every piece of history she had uncovered—was deliberately fabricated, then the paradox made perfect sense. Someone, or something, was playing the role of a fictional historian, planting non-existent memories into the world itself.
"If you want to know the truth, follow me," Ren said.
He stepped forward. The space in front of him rippled like water, tearing open to reveal a swirling, dimensional doorway. Without a second glance back, Ren stepped directly into the void.
Kurumi lowered her weapon completely. She and the White Queen exchanged a brief look before casting one last, penetrating stare at the Spirit of Origin. Trusting Ren implicitly, the two women followed him through the portal.
Left alone, the Spirit of Origin's eyes flickered. The heavy, invisible pressure that had been restraining her body vanished the moment Ren crossed dimensions.
Escape.
The thought bubbled up uncontrollably from the depths of her mind. Run away from this place. Run away from that terrifying man.
Meanwhile, inside the void space between dimensions.
"Did she run away?" Kurumi asked, her brows knitting together tightly.
A heavy silence stretched for several seconds. The portal remained open, but the Spirit of Origin had not appeared behind them.
"She's here," Ren said, a faint smirk tugging at his lips.
No sooner had his voice fallen than the spatial door rippled again. The ethereal figure of the Spirit of Origin stepped through, her bare feet touching the invisible floor of the void.
She had indeed considered fleeing. But after weighing her options, she chose to follow. Emotionally, the burning need to understand the meaning behind her aimless existence outweighed her fear. Rationally, her instincts screamed that her power—no matter how absolute it was in her own world—was utterly insufficient to escape Ren's grasp forever.
"This is the Neighboring World," the Spirit of Origin murmured, her gaze sweeping across the surreal, shifting landscape. She recognized the spatial signature instantly.
The very core of the Neighboring World was her own Angel, Eden. Within this dimension, the Spirit of Origin possessed absolute authority. She could freely dictate all laws, rewrite all principles, and command all natural phenomena. In the past, she had used this vast, isolated space as a sanctuary to house the human girls she had transformed into Spirits, stripping them of their original memories to keep them docile.
The Neighboring World was divided into ten distinct regions, each corresponding to one of the ten Spirit Crystals and their respective Spirit Attributes. These regions were interconnected by a metaphysical route known as the Path to Heaven.
The Tenth Region was the domain of combat and endless battle.
The Ninth Region was the domain of song and dance.
The Eighth Region was the domain of contending winds.
The Seventh Region was the domain of gambling nights.
The Sixth Region served as the absolute center of the Neighboring World.
The Fifth Region was the domain of scorching flames.
The Third Region was the domain of shadows and time.
The Dominator of the Fourth Region was Ariadne Foxrot.
The Dominator of the Second Region was Maya Yukishiro.
Only the First Region remained an anomaly. It was not connected to the other regions by the Path to Heaven, making it entirely impossible to confirm its current situation—or if it even truly existed at all.
The rule of the Neighboring World was simple: the closer a region's number was to one, the closer its dimensional frequency was to the real world.
Now that the true Spirits had vanished from the Neighboring World, returning to the human realm, the powerful entities that rose up to rule these fractured territories were known as Dominators.
However, the birth of a Quasi-Spirit within this realm did not strictly adhere to their elemental attributes. A Quasi-Spirit possessing a specific Spirit Attribute was not guaranteed to be born in its corresponding region.
For instance, Hibiki Higoromo, a Quasi-Spirit possessing the Seventh Spirit Attribute, had actually manifested in the Tenth Region.
Similarly, Isami Hijikata, a Quasi-Spirit of the First Spirit Attribute who had participated in the brutal battle royale of the Tenth Region, was obviously not born in the First Region, given its complete isolation from the rest of the dimension.
Kurumi looked around, her crimson eye narrowing in confusion as she took in the swirling, ethereal sky of the Neighboring World.
"The Neighboring World?" she muttered, flexing her fingers. "Wait... why haven't I fallen asleep?"
She was genuinely puzzled. According to the established laws of this dimension, any true Spirit that entered the Neighboring World from the outside should immediately be overwhelmed by its unique atmospheric pressure, plunging them into an inescapable, deep slumber. Yet, her mind was crystal clear, her spiritual energy flowing smoothly.
Ren stopped walking and cast a dry, sidelong glance over his shoulder at her.
"Are you just treating me as if I don't exist right now?" he asked, his tone dripping with deadpan amusement.
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