Malik took a moment, staring blankly at the two copies of himself standing in the golden light of the throne hall, both wearing expressions that were simultaneously familiar and foreign.

Eventually, after some thinking, he asked the obvious question:

"What are you?"

The white copy pointed at him.

"I’m you."

Malik turned to the other.

"And you?"

The black copy pointed at him.

"I’m you, as well."

Malik tilted his head.

"Then what am I?"

"You’re both of us."

With that, all three laughed, though the white-dressed one was barely audible.

"I... I’m the Sultan as I was meant to be, untouched by another world."

He explained with the same softness.

"And he..."

The one in black interjected:

"I am the Sultan who remembered a life before this one. A transmigrator."

The white-dressed Sultan gestured to Malik.

"You are us, waking up with barely any of my memories."

Malik tilted his head.

"So I’m the in-between?"

Both of them nodded, making him sigh.

So yes, they were all "Malik," only in different phases.

This confirmed his previous thoughts and made it literal.

What once seemed convoluted now seemed much easier to fathom, even for those with lesser minds.

But Malik wasn’t thinking about that anymore; he was more interested in the present:

"Since it seems you... Or rather, my past self, stored memories of our Souls in this Holy Relic, then I can safely assume that you two can think for yourselves, right? That you can help me."

Again, the two nodded, with the white-clothed Sultan glancing at Amal on the throne.

"It’s simple, really. Ember’s Touch can create the Fire of Purity. Since we’re an Angel now, we can burn the accumulating Corruption in her Soul directly, harming nothing in her body."

"...But you see, it’s her nature."

The black-dressed Sultan added, his eyes narrowing.

"The blood of those from Eastern origin is too susceptible, and since her body is frail, thanks to the mixing of two opposing origins in her blood, she can’t resist it."

...so she was so frail because Malik was her father?

Did that mean if Layla had married someone else, then Amal wouldn’t have suffered?

How cruel it was to know that.

"Unfortunately, this isn’t something we can fix. Corruption will always accumulate. We just have to constantly burn it away."

Pure rage flared in Malik’s chest.

It more than overwhelmed the sadness of the truth.

How weak was he that he couldn’t protect his daughter?

’No.’

Driven by that fury, he willed the system open.

He didn’t care about the cost, instantly burning what Fear Points he had accumulated on a single-use Ember’s Touch Soul Glyph.

Stepping toward his daughter, he pressed his hand gently against her forehead.

A white spark flashed, blinding him for a brief second as his fire dived deep into the manifestations of her being. It reached her very Soul, incinerating all the accumulated Corruption clinging to her.

Immediately, Amal’s beautiful face brightened, and her slightly tense body relaxed.

Malik looked at her peaceful expression, a lump forming in his throat.

Just how much pain was she in?

Did she hide it from her mother not to worry her?

He wasn’t the only one going through the motions.

All three ’Maliks’ were utterly enraged, looking at their daughter with enough sorrow to drown the entirety of Devil Maw’s Abyss.

They would utterly annihilate this wretched Originator of Corruption. They would tear down that First Stain, the Progenitor of Rot, and the Father of Lies until not a single atom of IT’s filth remained to poison this world.

But to do that, they needed to calm down.

After a shared sigh, that was exactly what they did.

"Thank you."

They all said to each other simultaneously, their eyes now entirely different.

Something had changed in Malik; thus, it did in them as well.

This was a feeling they would never forget.

"I must ask, white one, why invite an outsider to be a part of you?

Even as they tried to move on from it.

"I’m sure there’s a reason I’m not seeing."

Hearing Malik’s question, the black-dressed Sultan sighed.

"Waking up at the bottom of a lake wasn’t the ideal start, was it?"

"I must apologize for that."

The one in white interjected, looking truly regretful.

"My return was expedited. I didn’t calculate how the remnants of my fire would react with the environment. I only meant to contain it, not create a localized lake on a hill."

"As for why we were invited in the first place..."

The one in black crossed his arms.

"Our Soul, or well, his Soul was fractured. Broken and wrong beyond normal repair. He needed a patch. Someone with a matching personality, a matching design, and just enough outside perspective to hold the pieces together."

"And it worked."

The white copy finished seamlessly.

"We became one."

That had Malik nod, somewhat expecting it.

"So is your... our Soul completely fixed now?"

The white-dressed Sultan nodded back.

"Ignoring the damage that it had gone through since our return? Yes, it is fixed. No longer just a native ruler or a stranded Soul, but a perfect synthesis of both."

"That’s good news, then."

"Yes..."

The black-dressed Sultan smiled bitterly.

"But perfection has a steep price tag. Our old Divine Kingdom, Memento Mori—Remember, You Must Die—was a Fated construct. It worked exactly as we designed it to. Accomplished what we needed it to. We... died, and the Divine Kingdom went with us."

"So, while we were serving our penance as the Second Sun..."

The white Sultan picked up the thread without missing a beat.

"We had to get creative. We forged a new Divine Kingdom."

"Archive of Fate."

They both said that at the exact same time.

"Or, as you’re currently using it, the ’Fear System.’"

The one in black chuckled.

"Let’s be honest, I knew us. I knew that even without our memories, we wouldn’t be able to resist showing off and picking fights with Demons instead of escaping if a system gave us shiny points for it."

’Ah... so it was all by design indeed.’

Malik had quietly suspected this, and now, it was confirmed.

His past self created what his transmigrated self knew as a "system" using their Divine Kingdom.

This one was a Fear System that would return his strength sporadically but heavily!

It was perfectly designed for him and his needs as a Sultan in this land.

’I really know myself well.’

The system truly was for him to show off as much as possible and grow stronger from it.

But it was also to kick out invaders, end Corruption, and protect Devil’s Maw.

After all, the stronger he was, the safer Devil’s Maw would be.

"Through... your eyes, we’ve seen you make good work of it. Though the world isn’t like the one we once knew, perhaps due to the influence of the invaders and their own terminology, you’ve managed to adjust and plan accordingly. We’ve done well."

The three smiled at each other, all in varying degrees.

"Yes, we have."

Though Malik had many millions of supporters and his family behind his back, he was truly alone in this fight.

No one could help him defeat IT but himself.

"Now that we’ve stabilized her... I have to admit, besides this vague direction of survival, I have no true idea of where to go from here. How can someone fight what the Gods Themselves seem to avoid?"

The black-dressed Sultan gave him a more mocking chuckle.

"First rule of thumb? Fighting isn’t actually the best way for us to get stronger. Our situation is unique, as I’m sure you’ve noticed."

"He’s right."

The white-dressed Sultan agreed.

"You need to focus on expanding your influence as soon as possible. Of course..."

"...The entire world needs to know that the Sultan has returned first. And I mean... the entire world."

The black one finished for him with a wicked grin.

Malik didn’t need to be told that.

They all thought the exact same way.

"I know, I know, but that still doesn’t answer my question. How do we end IT?"

The two copies looked at him for a long moment, their calm smiles remaining perfectly still.

Or rather, they seemed to be looking past him... at their daughter, their Hope.

Once, there were three Angels in the hall, but the fourth had just woken up.

"Again, I leave it to you. Only you can figure that out."

The one in white smiled one last time, while the one in black winked.

"Good luck, me. Oh, and when you remember everything, don’t hate our family too much, okay? They didn’t know any better."

With that, both of them vanished into light, leaving an annoyed Malik standing alone.

’Well... they—I tried my best.’