Their gazes met.

Tie’s slightly frightened eyes met the gaze of the duplicate.

Tie nervously fidgeted with her fingers and muttered quietly:

“It’s a doplen.......”

A doplen.

One of the creatures from the scary stories older children secretly read at kindergarten.

A doplen was something that looked exactly like you.

The problem was that meeting a doplen was considered a terrible omen.

‘They said if you meet one, you die!’

Remembering the story, Tie covered her mouth with both hands.

But the duplicate said nothing.

Just like during their first meeting, it merely stood there motionless.

Tie anxiously darted her eyes around without making a sound.

And then—

“Are you afraid?”

The duplicate suddenly spoke.

Tie flinched and widened her eyes.

The duplicate could talk.

“Afraid of me, who lives inside you, child?”

The duplicate’s face remained expressionless.

Its voice was calm, yet boredom lingered within it.

Tie swallowed hard.

‘Tie’s doplen...... a hundred year old grandpa......?’

Otherwise, why would it call Tie “child.”

And speak in that kind of tone too.

But at that moment—

“How amusing that you mistake me for a mortal. However, I am not the being you think I am, child.”

As though it had read Tie’s thoughts, the duplicate answered and took a step forward.

“Mortals. Those destined to disappear. Those who, in time, cannot escape death. Beings such as you, your companions, and your family.”

Tie’s lips parted slightly.

“Originally, mortals cannot be chosen. But you are different, because you are my seed.”

A chill ran through Tie, making her shudder as she lowered her gaze.

The duplicate was already holding her hand.

“The fact that we have met means you are finally prepared to fully accept me.”

A strange sensation flooded through their joined hands.

“Become me in this place. Then you will not die. You will become part of me and obtain eternity together with me.”

Tie’s eyes widened.

But the next moment, she violently yanked her hand away.

“Don’t want to!”

Staring fearfully at the duplicate, Tie shouted:

“Why do you keep telling someone to become something?! Tie is Tie! Tie won’t become anybody! Tie wants to go home!”

The duplicate did not answer.

It simply continued staring at her just as it had before.

“P Papa.”

Tie hurriedly turned around.

“Mamaaa......!”

Before her eyes appeared Ardiana’s face, the mama she had finally met.

Sniffling, Tie began running in the opposite direction from the duplicate.

She did not know what this creature was.

But she knew for certain that it wanted something bad for Tie.

However—

“Your home is here, child.”

The duplicate appeared directly in front of her once again.

Tie froze in terror.

But immediately turned around again.

Trying to flee somewhere it was not.

“Right now, you are afraid. But we have been together since long ago. You simply did not know it.”

Yet now the duplicate was not only in front of her and behind her, but beside her as well.

“The fact that I chose you was not coincidence.”

“G go away!”

“From the very beginning, you were the only vessel capable of containing me. I knew you before you were conceived inside your mother’s womb.”

Everything around her suddenly flared with light.

Dozens of duplicates surrounded Tie.

“And now. At last, you are ready to see me. We have won.”

The duplicates slowly began approaching.

Tie hurriedly gathered magic into her trembling hands.

Papa, Mama, and the squad members were not here right now.

If she wanted to escape this place alive, the only option left was to fight the duplicates.

But—

“Why, why.......”

The control over magic that had never once failed her suddenly began breaking apart.

The power gathering at her fingertips crumbled into dust.

One of the duplicates spoke:

“How pitiful. It seems you never knew that the source of all your power belonged to me.”

Tie raised her head.

One of the duplicates approached her again.

It took hold of her frozen hand.

“Remember. The moment you saved Basto Paerix and Bale in Brioude.”

“.......”

“I was there as well.”

The duplicate snapped its fingers.

The world turned white.

A battle from shortly after Tie first arrived in Tallocium unfolded before her eyes.

“Urgh—!”

Bale groaned as the claws of a magical creature pierced through his thigh.

“Run—!!” 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

Basto collapsed onto the ground while the creature slowly lunged over him.

“The Tenebraum Cave.......”

Back then, when they had decided to form a mercenary squad and entered Tenebraum Cave for the test.

Inside, there had not only been the small magic core they expected, but two medium sized cores as well.

Huge magical creatures burst out one after another while flames engulfed the mountain.

“Uncle Basto......!”

Tears welled in Tie’s eyes as she watched Basto collapse.

He had been on the verge of death.

If no one helped him, the magical creature would simply devour him alive.

But at that moment—

[......Friend. Help.......]

[The world of the dead.......]

Coldness stirred within her chest.

And voices began echoing up from beneath the ground.

The bone friends rose through the earth.

The power pouring from Tie’s body breathed life into them.

And made them move.

Snap—

The scene changed again.

“Death Hound is attacking Agavert!”

Pearlcity.

The men of the evil mercenary Kal Worben leapt onto Agavert’s ship one after another.

The sky and sea were filled with magical creatures.

But they were attacking people rather than the creatures.

“M magical creature!”

The harbor descended into chaos.

Consul Marianne’s face turned pale after Raul and Enzo vanished somewhere unknown.

“And this was me as well.”

The duplicate’s voice rang out.

The view returned once more to the raging sea.

[......Master.]

An unfamiliar voice called to Tie from beneath the water.

[I waited.]

[Only for Master.]

That same power again.

The same power that had raised the bone friends.

It swelled inside her heart as though it were about to burst.

And Tie summoned the ghost ship sleeping beneath the sea.

Snap—

The scene changed again.

Moments when Tie had used her power—without distinguishing between magic and holy power—flashed past one after another.

Snap—

In the weapon district.

Snap—

On the Caldenbein ridge.

Snap—

When she recklessly stormed magic cores in order to gather the squad members.

And—

Snap—

Even the mission at the clock tower.

And ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) the moment she saved dying Ribia.

All of it.

“Do you understand now?”

The world returned into focus.

The duplicate that looked exactly like her curled the corners of its lips upward.

“This power never belonged to you in the first place. You cannot oppose me with your own will.”

The duplicate’s voice spread through the dark space, now far more excited than before.

“I am the World Tree. An absolute being capable of containing everything upon this land.”

The duplicate spread its arms wide.

“The time has come to become one with me, seed.”

“......Tan.”

In the darkness—

“Tesetan!”

Tesetan’s eyes snapped open.

Within the room, already touched by the pale light of dawn, Astie’s profile entered his vision.

“Tie......!”

Behind the child, Ardiana was panicking.

“Tie has a fever, the fever’s too high......!”

Tesetan abruptly sat up and scooped the child into his arms.

Just as Ardiana had said, Tie’s skin burned like fire.

A faint glow was leaking once more from the child’s heart—the same light as back then in Jongno.

“She kept groaning in her sleep, and I thought something felt wrong......!”

Ardiana’s voice broke.

Tesetan hurriedly climbed out of bed.

Today, for the first time, he hated the fact that he always slept too deeply beside Tie.

“What happened, did the little one get sick?!”

Bale and Basto, awakened by the noise, were already standing in the hallway.

After seeing the child’s flushed face, Basto spoke.

“The fever looks severe. We need to call a healer, a healer.......”

“No. Not a healer.”

But Tesetan already knew who could explain what was happening.

“Where is Lucarion?”

The source of the light spilling from the child’s heart was the World Tree.

And as though proving it, unfamiliar vines had already begun spreading along the hallway railings and ceiling.

“Vice Captain! Over here!”

Quick moving Ribia flung open the door to Lucarion’s room.

But the moment Tesetan stepped inside, he froze.

“......H hey, Kkamani, w what happened to you?!”

Even Ribia began stammering.

“What the...... even an elephant......!”

The room had already been completely swallowed by thick branches and leaves.

And in the middle of it all, Lucarion and Pupu in human form lay collapsed on the floor with deathly pale faces.