At this moment, chaotic thin threads gradually clung to the man's body, shifting unsteadily like some image on the verge of malfunctioning.
"…So it was Su who sent you here."
Indeed, in that brief instant just now, a guess had flickered in her mind—that Kevin's data might have developed an anomaly as well—
—but in the very next moment, she was certain that was absolutely impossible.
She knew that everything here could perish… with the sole exception of Kevin.
If such a thing truly happened, then… the pillars upholding the celestial mechanism would fall into eternal ruin.
At that point, even the dullest person would despairingly realize… the end was near.
"Then, farewell, Kevin—I hope we can meet again."
"…Mm, until we meet again."
Kevin dissipated into the depths of the Elysian Realm.
His consciousness returned, and he once again appeared before Su: "…Thank you. I did indeed see her."
Su asked: "Any progress?"
Kevin shook his head: "What about your observations of the earlier anomaly?"
Su shook his head: "No trace to be found. By all logic, I should be able to locate SAKURA's current position."
"But she… remains the only ordered thread in this tangled mess."
Kevin said: "I want to hear your intuition."
Su replied: "If not dead… then turned enemy."
"Kevin, what exactly… is making you hesitate here?"
Kevin said: "A choice."
"A choice? Kevin, have you found another way?"
Kevin nodded: "Before coming here, someone approached me on their own initiative and showed me some anomalies we had overlooked."
"—That was something I hadn't anticipated. That was a clue I hadn't anticipated."
Su asked: "Even I failed to notice?"
Kevin nodded and said: "Mm. But I'm sorry—even to you… I cannot reveal the details here truthfully."
He raised his head, his gaze piercing through the distant horizon, cutting through every illusion and reality—that was the look he wore when sizing up a formidable foe.
"If that hypothesis turns out to be true… speaking it aloud would be tantamount to failure."
"…"
Su looked at him earnestly and said: "Kevin, my trust in you is unconditional and without reservation—you don't need to force yourself to explain."
Kevin said: "The same goes for you."
Su said: "Yes, the same for me. So… next, have you already made up your mind?"
Kevin said: "Mm. I must go assist the other party in completing one task—only then can we verify the truth of a certain hypothesis."
"So… before that…"
Su understood his meaning: "…It's fine. You don't need to say it, I don't need to ask—just give me the conclusion."
Kevin said: "Understood. There is one thing—I must entrust it to you first."
He stood there with no sign of preparing to move. Yet in the very next instant, azure light overflowed from his body.
It was a light capable of drowning out everything—even with eyes open, one would surely be unable to see any surrounding scene.
But Su's eyes, precisely at that moment, snapped wide open, flickering with emotions impossible to decipher.
Unconditional, without reservation… he had indeed said that. Yet at this moment, a trace of hesitation surged in Su's heart.
Entrust. Kevin uttered this word exceedingly rarely, and the last time the situation…
At this moment, Su found himself unable to recall it. Because there were too many past events between them, impossible to sift through in detail right now.
"So… shall we part for now?"
Kevin didn't respond. Instead, he asked: "Su, in your foresight, what will ultimately become of this Elysian Realm?"
"And how will we end?"
"I…" Su shook his head: "As far as my sight reaches, there is only darkness. Yet the deduction has not been obstructed."
Kevin asked: "So… that is the future?"
Su said: "Kevin. The Elysian Realm is but one corner of a world; formation, dwelling, decay, emptiness—it cannot be avoided."
"Perhaps… everything will ultimately cease to exist."
Even after hearing such a description, Kevin's face showed no change.
He turned away—the words of farewell, both extremely light and extremely heavy, scattered onto the ground.
Kevin said: "When I return, we will go back to yesterday."
"…Kevin."
Su's final words ultimately remained unspoken.
But the TV screen had already shifted to Mei's side.
She awoke from her slumber and looked at the person before her: "…Fu Hua?"
Fu Hua said: "You're awake."
Mei hurriedly asked: "…Fu Hua, how much time has passed in the world?"
Fu Hua replied: "From the moment I found you, only one hour has passed. But… it seems you had already collapsed there some time ago."
"I only went there to find you because I had to convey some important matters."
Mei recalled and said: "But I remember… at that time I was fighting monsters in the Elysian Realm. After I collapsed… I didn't log out?"
"Was it that the monsters didn't pursue, or…"
Fu Hua said: "I think… it was because of this."
Her gaze fell to Mei's thigh. Ice-blue data streams were dispersing like mist—at most in a short while, they would vanish completely.
Mei recognized it too: "Is it… the communication module Klein left on me before?"
"That makes sense. The only thing that could protect me while I was unconscious would be that."
But… if this was its final activation, it also meant the last chance to contact the outside world was gone.
Mei said: "Fu Hua, you said earlier there was an important matter to convey. Has something happened?"
"…"
Fu Hua still didn't know how to begin.
Even though—during the hour the girl had been unconscious, she had been constantly thinking over her wording.
"Let's talk while we walk."
"Walk?" Mei looked at her puzzled.
Fu Hua nodded: "Mm, Mei, you must leave the Elysian Realm—it can't be delayed any longer."
Mei said: "I didn't expect you to say that to me too, Fu Hua. But… I know you're different from them. You must have a very fair reason."
"But right now, I simply can't do that—the path back to reality has already been severed."
Fu Hua said in shock: "Severed? You mean…"
Mei nodded: "Mm. From the results, it seems I'm trapped here. And whether I've lost that privilege of reviving after death… is probably not something I can rashly test."
Fu Hua hurriedly asked: "Is there a problem in reality? Or… from inside… has someone deliberately done this?"
Mei said: "I was just about to go confirm it. So… Fu Hua, what exactly happened that made even you come to urge me to leave immediately?"
Fu Hua sighed: "Given how things stand… Mei, you should come with me. At least traveling together, we'll both be safer."
"And moreover, that is… a situation no one would believe unless they saw it with their own eyes."
Fu Hua brought her directly back to the Elysian Realm.
Countless flaming meteors fell from the sky.
This scene was all too familiar to Mei.
"This is… Kalpas? Has he gone mad again? But… the reason you want me to leave shouldn't be just this, right?"
Fu Hua said: "Indeed. If it were merely Kalpas's madness, it wouldn't yet qualify as extremely perilous. But the real problem now is… the only one who could reliably handle this kind of situation is no longer here."
"…?"
Just as Mei was about to ponder the meaning of her words, she was startled by the erupting power.
"This strength even surpasses what he showed when fighting me. Who is Kalpas clashing with??"
Fu Hua replied: "You should understand him somewhat. The one he always wants to fight is never a single person… but everyone."
Mei and her quickly rushed toward the center of the battlefield.
"Good… this is even better!" Kalpas's furious roar immediately followed.
"Not a single one of you… is qualified to face me alone."
"Come at me together! Don't waste time!"
Kosma said: "…The typewriter hasn't made a judgment like last time. We shouldn't act rashly."
Kalpas roared: "Is that so? That blind man next to you—he's supposed to be very special here, isn't he?"
"If this hadn't happened at all, do you think he'd still look like that? Like a dead man?!"
Su: "…"
Kalpas said furiously: "Once I've annihilated all of you, I'll go find the rest one by one."
"Only then will that scum, that traitor, realize he can't escape after doing something like this!"
Kalpas wasn't just talking. From fifty thousand years ago until now, he had faced his comrades in this manner—only once before.
From the lingering embers, it wasn't hard to imagine… just what Kalpas had done moments ago.
And what was worse.
None of the people standing here had the ability to persuade him.
Eden, Griseo, Kosma… Fu Hua subtly shifted her gaze across each one.
Seeing that Su was still uncharacteristically silent.
She said: "Calm down first, Kalpas. You're not a beast after all."
Kalpas's rage was hard to suppress: "Perhaps… but not right now!"
Once, a similar conversation had occurred between them. And afterward, what exactly had happened?
Step by step, Kalpas advanced toward the group.
That Kalpas whose kill count stood at the top of the organization.
This Kalpas who very possibly now regarded everyone as potential enemies.
—For everyone present, anything more terrifying than this could probably only be found in nightmares.
There was no other choice. Fu Hua took a few steps forward and stood before that nightmare.
"…Fu Hua?" Mei looked at her worriedly.
Fu Hua said: "Don't worry. I'm just doing what I should do—that's all."
Kalpas said: "Ridiculous!"
Fu Hua sighed: "Kalpas, I'm not going to explain to you, because I know it would be futile."
"I have only one request, Kalpas—please let Griseo leave this place. She's still just a child after all."
Kalpas said: "I don't care."
"Wait a moment." Su suddenly spoke from the side: "Kalpas, the message you received earlier has almost exactly the same characteristics as SAKURA's. Have you seen her?"
Kalpas roared: "You… are not qualified to mention her name. And don't even think… of using my rage as a tool in your hands!"
"When we deceived her, we should have known this day would come—but she is absolutely not a traitor! Not then, and not now!"
"Shouldn't Aponia pay the price for this? As long as SAKURA is willing to speak, I would have slaughtered that woman for her long ago!"
Su said: "Kalpas, I have no intention of arguing with you now. I only want to know—have you actually seen SAKURA?"
"You… are also qualified… to question me like that? Hm?" The surrounding temperature suddenly surged—the air in his field of vision instantly turned into wavering, indistinct ripples.
"You know what Discipline is on me, but none of you… are innocent! And right now, I don't care at all!"
"The one who killed them… must pay the price!"
"—You! —You! —No, starting with you!"
A strike brimming with killing intent, heavy as ten thousand jun, was already prepared.
Though no one knew when it would erupt… aside from Eden, who remained thoughtful and seemingly detached, everyone else instinctively reacted.
"Sigh~"
Su let out a long sigh: "Seed of Sumeru."
A flash of white light came and went, and Kalpas's figure… vanished.
It was he who had used Cosmic Juggernaut to transfer Kalpas away.
Mei looked around and said: "It seems that during the time I was gone, something… changed here again?"
This didn't require an answer.
She had already noticed.
Even after Kalpas disappeared, Kosma still hadn't let Griseo leave from behind him—
and ensured he stood in a position where he could see every person present.
And it was only then.
That Mei noticed every single person before her was keeping a certain distance from one another—
a distance far too great to be kept between comrades.
Some changes are formless and indescribable, yet… sufficiently lethal.
Mei looked toward Su: "You don't seem surprised that I've returned, Su."
Fu Hua answered in his place: "Mm. The reason I was able to find you was because Su sensed your situation."
Su said: "I noticed a bit late… but thankfully I didn't make a grave mistake."
"Visitor, you'd best not move alone anymore. Though we still haven't grasped any clues… we have reason to believe that among the Flame-Chasers, there is one—or at least one—traitor."
"And… he or they… are attempting to erase the other memory bodies one by one."
Mei hurriedly asked: "You mean… Elysia…"
"Better… not to continue." Eden interrupted her and said: "Su, at this point, we can no longer remain idle."
"If you're willing—though it carries no such implication—may I, as the fourth, take charge of directing everyone from here on?"
Su replied: "That was my original intention, but Eden…"
This unique psionic-type MANTIS instinctively sensed something from the fluctuations in the other's consciousness.
He said: "She… is not coming back."
"Mm."
Though the answer was affirmative, Eden's expression revealed nothing.
Any possible disbelief or similar emotion did not appear there.
Mei asked: "So, if one memory body kills another memory body, it actually causes the other to disappear completely?"
Su replied: "No. Based on the architecture of the Elysian Realm, damaged data should be rapidly restored from the nearest backup, and memory loss wouldn't even exceed five seconds."
"But such a thing has never happened before. Whether there's an exception, whether interference has already occurred—no one can say lightly."
"Erasure and killing… in the end, none of us can determine exactly where the boundary lies."
Fu Hua asked: "Then… what should we do next? Kevin… you're old acquaintances… did he say anything to you alone before?"
"…"
Su pondered and said: "This is precisely why things have turned out this way. He entrusted something to me."
Fu Hua said in shock: "Entrusted? Su, we once witnessed together—that time when he—"
Su nodded: "It's only now that I recall… back then, when he last entrusted something to me, he was also preparing to do something."
"So, Fu Hua, you should understand why I said earlier that handing command to Eden was my original plan, right?"
Fu Hua nodded firmly without hesitation.
"Then… let's move."
The familiar white light surged forth once more, enveloping both Su and Fu Hua.
As the white light gradually faded, Su and Fu Hua vanished along with it.
And at the same time, the distant anomaly… or perhaps the obituary, finally fell from the sky.
It was the message they had been waiting for since earlier—one that sought to press the final piece of cold iron onto everyone's hearts.
Mei caught a sheet of white paper. Dense words covered it, bearing a chilling similarity.
"This is impossible!!"
She blurted it out without thinking.
—Leaving aside that she had never heard the typewriter had been repaired.
—At the very least, the content of those words was unbelievable enough.
—On that page that would never bear falsehoods, only one sentence lay there in endless repetition.
Kevin… is dead.