"Karina...?"

A name he should not have known, yet had voiced out nonetheless, as if it were second nature.

...As if he had known her for a long time.

There she was, standing before him.

Waiting for him.

Watching him.

The silver-haired woman smiled.

There was a mix of sadness, regret, and longing within that smile.

And above all else... hope.

——You have faced the world’s inevitable end.

The countless visions continued collapsing around her.

Entire civilizations burned.

Stars vanished.

Timelines broke apart.

Yet she remained standing.

As though she existed beyond the destruction itself.

Then slowly, she extended her hand toward him.

——But...

Her voice echoed throughout the endless sea of dying possibilities.

The countless timelines continued collapsing around them as entire worlds burned, civilizations vanished, and histories that had once existed were erased as though they had never existed in the first place.

——It must not end like this.

Zen’s eyes widened.

At that moment, another realization struck him. Every timeline, every cycle, and every possibility she showed him contained the same constant.

She was there.

From the very beginning, even until the very end, she was always there.

The realization left him more confused than shocked. Never before had he met this woman. Never before had he seen her face, spoken to her, or heard her name.

Yet the visions she was showing him made it abundantly clear that she had always been by his side.

What should have only been him and Melissa was not.

There was undoubtedly another woman there.

No matter how far back the timelines stretched, no matter how drastically history diverged, and no matter how different the outcome became, she remained.

Sometimes she stood beside him during moments of triumph. Sometimes she appeared during moments of despair.

Yet regardless of how the future unfolded, she was always present.

Then another memory surfaced.

A familiar voice echoed through the chaos as one of the countless visions became clearer. The scene unfolded before him as though he were reliving it firsthand.

——Eh, do you really believe what this Unnie is saying, Oppa?

Melissa.

A Melissa from hundreds of cycles ago.

A Melissa from long before she chose to leave him.

The moment Zen heard her voice, he immediately recognized the period. This was from one of his earlier reincarnations, back when Melissa still accompanied him through every cycle.

——Did you forget what kind of existence I am, Melissa?

——Ah, right. You have memories of your past life. I guess it’s not strange for an Unnie to suddenly appear here claiming to come from the future.

——...This is an opportunity.

And then, the world collapsed.

Reality fractured apart around them as countless timelines shattered like glass. Entire civilizations disappeared, stars faded into nothingness, and histories that had taken millennia to build were erased within moments.

Yet amidst that destruction, the silver-haired woman remained completely calm.

——To keep your sanity in check, Professor, you must forget.

——Why do you keep calling me Professor?

——...Because it feels right?

Zen’s eyes widened.

Something finally began making sense.

——...?!

The silver-haired woman gently held his cheek.

Despite the world ending around them, despite reality itself collapsing into nothingness, there was not a trace of urgency in her expression.

It was as though she had witnessed this scene so many times that the end of the world no longer surprised her.

———!

Then time rewound as though the cycle itself had never existed.

Everything returned to the beginning.

Everything returned to zero.

"...."

Then realization slowly dawned upon Zen.

The memories. The inconsistencies. The strange sense that something was always missing. The feeling that certain pieces of his life had somehow disappeared.

All of it suddenly clicked into place.

"...How did I forget?"

The question was not how.

The question was why.

Because now that he could see the truth, the answer seemed obvious.

Many of his previous cycles had not been flawless.

Many of them had failed.

Many of them had ended in complete catastrophe.

Despite everything he had done, despite all his preparations and sacrifices, there had been countless timelines where humanity never reached the future he hoped for.

Sometimes Araxys found a way back.

No matter how carefully Zen prepared, no matter how much he interfered, Araxys would eventually crawl its way back into the world.

And once it did, another reset would follow.

Yet every single time, this woman stood there. And when everything finally collapsed, she simply rewound it all. As though resetting a universe was no more difficult than turning a page in a book.

As though countless years of history meant nothing.

As though destruction itself had become something like routine.

"...."

The more he witnessed, the more terrifying the truth became.

This woman’s abilities transcended even his own.

Everything Zen had accomplished throughout countless reincarnations seemed insignificant compared to what she was doing.

While he manipulated reality, she manipulated timelines.

While he challenged fate, she rewrote it.

While he fought against destruction, she undid it.

The difference between them was so vast that it was difficult to comprehend.

And yet, despite possessing such power, she never tried to solve everything herself and would instead return to him.

Again.

And again.

And again.

Each time the world fell. Each time humanity failed. Each time another timeline reached its inevitable conclusion.

She would rewind everything.

Then she would erase his memories to ensure his mind would never break. To ensure that, no matter how many worlds ended, Zen would wake up believing there was still hope.

That there was still a future. That humanity could still be saved.

Even after countless cycles had proven otherwise. Even after countless timelines had demonstrated humanity’s flaws. Even after endless failures had piled upon one another.

She continued protecting that hope.

Because the moment Zen truly understood how many times humanity had already failed, the moment he remembered every ending, the moment he realized just how hopeless the situation truly was, that would be the moment he finally gave up.

"...!"

After that single millisecond that went by like a fever dream, Zen turned to the Saintess.

"Saintes, you—"

But the Saintess of this cycle was already gone.

Ever since that day, Zen finally knew what had to be done.

The answer was not what he wanted. It was not what he had spent countless lifetimes striving toward.

In truth, every stubborn part of him resisted it.

Yet for the first time in a very long while, Zen understood that there were things even he could not continue carrying forever.

The silver-haired woman had shown him the truth. She had shown him countless failed timelines. Countless endings. Countless worlds that had fell apart despite all of his efforts.

And through all of it, she had remained there.

And unlike him, she had never received the luxury of dying.

"...."

For perhaps the first time in his existence, he felt ashamed of his own stubbornness.

The woman had burned through her very existence for his sake. She had endured a burden even greater than his own, all so that he could continue believing there was still a future worth fighting for.

To ignore those efforts now would be an insult.

To continue refusing her answer would be an insult.

And so, he had to move forward.

He had to let go.

"...."

But the conclusion should have been simple.

It should have ended there.

Yet Zen was still Zen.

No matter how much he understood the truth, no matter how much he acknowledged her sacrifice, there remained a stubborn part of him that refused to completely surrender.

A stubborn part of him that still wanted to prepare. To leave behind an insurance.

"...." 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

If he was going to let go of the burden, then he needed to ensure that humanity would not be left completely blind.

If he was going to forget, then he needed a way to preserve everything he had learned.

The solution came to him almost immediately.

Or rather, it came from a memory of a life long before all of this began.

A memory from a former life.

「Spectacles of the Player’s Archive」

The moment he thought of it, the idea rapidly expanded.

Without his memories, he needed a method of preserving every piece of knowledge he possessed. Every technique, every discovery, every warning, and every lesson learned through countless cycles needed to survive, even if he no longer remembered them himself.

However, simply recording everything as books would not be enough.

There was too much information.

No ordinary person would ever finish reading it all.

And more importantly, questions would inevitably arise.

Questions would lead to doubt.

Doubt would lead to rejection.

Humanity had always been like that.

Therefore, if he wanted his knowledge to survive, it needed to be presented in a format people could naturally understand.

A format he himself had once understood better than anything else.

A format from his former life.

A format that encouraged exploration, experimentation, and growth.

A format that rewarded curiosity.

A format that guided people without forcing them.

A video game.

"...."

The realization caused a smile to appear on his face.

After all, if humanity insisted on learning through experience, then perhaps the greatest archive ever created should be experienced rather than merely read.

Everything he had learned throughout countless reincarnations would be hidden within it as a world waiting to be explored.

A world where every answer already existed for those willing to seek it.

In the next cycle.

"Saintess, please do it."

"Huh?"

Zen met her gaze. "I’m ready to forget."

"...Are you sure?"

"Yes."

His answer was immediate.

The countless cycles, countless failures, and countless burdens had finally led him here. Continuing to cling to everything would only result in the same outcome repeating forever.

The Saintess lowered her gaze.

Then, unexpectedly, she shook her head.

"I have a guarantee."

Zen raised an eyebrow. "A guarantee?"

The statement immediately caught his attention. After all, forgetting everything was one thing. Entrusting the future to humanity was another.

Yet a guarantee implied something more. Something beyond simply erasing his memories.

At that, the Saintess began explaining.

"The problem with a hard reset is that it destroys everything."

"...?’

"You would lose all your memories, all your experiences, and everything that made you who you are. Even if you eventually found your way back, there would be no guarantee that you would still be the same person."

"...Isn’t that what we’re going for?"

"Sure. But instead of resetting everything, it’s better to return to a save point."

"A save point?"

"It’s the same principle as your archive," the Saintess explained. "Rather than deleting the data, you return to an earlier state while preserving the possibility of everything that came after."

Her gaze met his.

"To a version of yourself before the cycles even began."

Zen’s eyes widened. "To the first Archmage Zen."

"No." The Saintess slowly smiled. "To the person before that."

The world seemed to pause as Zen finished her statement.

"To Chae Eunwoo."

The person he had been before becoming Zen.

Zen lowered his gaze. He found himself thinking about the beginning instead of the end.

Then, the Saintess suddenly stepped forward. The smile on her face softened. There was a hint of vulnerability in her expression.

"...Just like you, I will forget in the next cycle."

The words that followed were so quiet that he almost failed to hear them.

"But if possible... let us meet again... under better circumstances..."

At that, the world began fading.

Reality dissolved around him.

The last thing Zen saw was the Saintess smiling at him.

The smile of someone who looked painfully familiar. To the point where Zen wonder whether Melissa had truly forgotten him or not.

And in the next cycle, Vanitas Astrea was born.