"How enviable."
"To think that someone actually wants to take you away from here…"
"If you leave this place, you'll definitely encounter Him eventually. And in the end, He will punish you as well… the outcome will be the same."
"Whether it was Him or me, the fact that time became like this… it's all my fault."
Different voices echoed throughout the surrounding space.
And in that frozen instant of stopped time—
Kanzaki Rei finally made his decision.
"Then… let's go."
Smack—
Kanzaki Rei grabbed Aehkator's wrist in a single motion.
At that exact instant, the restriction sealing her in place shattered completely.
"You!"
An angry shout erupted beside them.
Another ivory-haired girl glared furiously at Kanzaki Rei.
But the Aehkator whose hand he held was overwhelmed with joy.
"Kanzaki Rei! Don't you want to break free from the reset?!"
"I can help you right now!"
Bzzzz—
In the next instant, the distance between the two of them and Iz's group stretched farther and farther away.
Time itself elongated into a vast tunnel.
Far away, the manifested Aehkators revealed different expressions—anger, blame, fear… and even envy.
Every version of Aehkator displayed a completely different emotion.
BOOM—
In the blink of an eye, the two of them had already appeared outside the door!
"And Iz's group?"
Kanzaki Rei's expression darkened slightly.
"Relax. They'll be fine," Aehkator answered calmly.
"They've probably already left by now."
Kanzaki Rei spread his perception through the surroundings.
This was still the Valley of Empty Echoes.
But the Moonwind was no longer the Harvest Moon.
It had become the War Moon—October.
In that brief instant just now—
an entire month had already passed.
"Sorry. Escaping like this was simply safer."
"Once we left, they should've been forcibly expelled as well. The other versions of me still trapped inside wouldn't be able to pursue us outside."
Kanzaki Rei looked at her.
"Sounds like you planned this long ago."
"Hmph. I wouldn't call it planning."
"I just happened to encounter all of you."
"If one of the other versions of me had met you instead of this one… the door probably wouldn't even have opened."
"They wouldn't have let you inside."
As she spoke, she greedily inhaled a deep breath.
Breathing in the air of the world outside.
"At last… at last I'm back."
Crystal-clear tears unconsciously rolled from her eyes.
"So this is the world…"
"It's been so long since I've seen it."
"It's just… why?"
"Why did I have to remain trapped in that room forever?"
"So many years. Such endless ages. Even if the entire world shattered apart, what would it matter?"
"What do they mean by saying I bear some kind of inherent sin?"
Kanzaki Rei could clearly feel the anger surging within Aehkator.
Yet he said nothing to comfort her.
He merely watched her emotions quietly.
Gradually—
Aehkator calmed down once more.
"Sorry. I lost control for a moment."
Kanzaki Rei replied, "It's fine."
Truthfully, compared to the Aehkator before him, Kanzaki Rei found it harder to understand the others.
One hundred million years.
And yet she had been imprisoned within that cage for all eternity.
If it had been him, he felt he would have gone insane long ago.
Forget a hundred million years—even being locked away for merely ten days would already make him restless.
And yet she had endured for that long?
"The experience you're going through right now is actually a blessing of time that I left behind."
"A blessing?"
"That's right. The full name of this blessing is Aehkator's Temporal Immortality Art."
Temporal Immortality Art.
Just hearing the name alone was enough to roughly understand its effects.
Indeed, its effects came incredibly close to true immortality.
As long as one did not break free from the blessing, living for tens of thousands—or even hundreds of thousands—of years would pose no issue whatsoever.
"Do you truly want to free yourself from this blessing?"
"You should already understand the benefits this blessing provides, shouldn't you?"
Aehkator's voice carried a trace of confusion.
"Or have the people of this era already stopped pursuing immortality?"
Not pursuing immortality was impossible.
Even in the current era, there were still countless individuals obsessed with obtaining eternal life.
"Mhm."
"I think… there are still things I need to do."
"If I keep living in the past while reality changes into something I never wanted to see… then I'll regret it forever."
"Oh?"
"That's good then."
"So, are you planning to return now?"
Kanzaki Rei replied,
"If possible, there are still several important things I want to witness first."
"What things?"
Kanzaki Rei did not answer directly.
Instead, he raised one hand slightly.
BZZZT!
A purple-black phase corridor instantly opened before Aehkator.
"Phase teleportation?"
"You actually recognize it?"
"One hundred million years ago, this already existed."
"It was an ability possessed exclusively by the Brood Sovereign."
"Exclusively by the Brood Sovereign?"
"Mhm. That's right."
"They were among the earliest monsters to appear in the world. Those creatures themselves were already infinitely close to the Origin."
"The Brood Sovereign's Origin should actually be related to evolution."
"It accidentally evolved and obtained spatial transportation abilities."
"The phase movement you use now is precisely the power it once possessed."
Kanzaki Rei replied,
"But in the current era, it's no longer limited to the Brood Sovereign alone. Its nests and many of its insect descendants have also learned forms of phase movement."
Hearing that explanation—
Aehkator froze slightly before smiling helplessly.
"It seems that after one hundred million years… the world truly has changed quite a lot."
Kanzaki Rei stepped through the corridor.
Almost instantly, he returned to Kronolya.
"These seas really are completely different from before."
After arriving in Kronolya, Aehkator's perception swept across the surroundings.
"What were they like before?"
"The sea used to be simply the sea."
"It should've been called the Primordial Sea."
"It was an incomparably massive living organism."
"But now, I can no longer sense that creature's presence within these oceans."
So it really was the Primordial Sea.
After returning—
Kanzaki Rei immediately headed back to the estate.
Because his perception had detected an unmistakable magical marker.
Kanzaki Rei picked up the letter resting on the table in the estate's reception hall.
[Kanzaki Rei,
After the day you took that little girl away, you suddenly disappeared.
It seemed like some form of time magic rapidly sent you forward to another point in time.
I was wondering whether you had already returned.
Not long afterward, we were expelled from that place as well.
After thinking it over, endlessly waiting around didn't seem like much of a solution.
So we headed toward the Boundless Mountain Range to explore the Forbidden Zone of Life there.
Oh, and regarding the matters you mentioned—the Abyssal Sea and Earth—we really aren't in a position to investigate them easily.
The Abyssal Sea is simply too vast. Without precise coordinates, finding the planet you specified would be nearly impossible.
If the problem affecting you has already been resolved, then you should return as soon as possible.
And if you still need help—
you can come find us at the Boundless Mountain Range.
But judging from the future you described, I still believe it would be best for you to return sooner rather than later.]