The armor-clad husks collided with the front lines, their blank faces splitting with toxic purple fire.

Alaric’s sword cleaved through three of the constructs at once, the silver-white glaze on his blade turning the hatred-fueled monsters into absolute ash.

More of these monsters appeared, and everyone got busy. Everyone raised their blades to cleave the monsters in half.

But as the chaotic clash reached its peak, a suffocating, unnatural stillness suddenly dropped over Julian’s immediate surroundings.

​An invisible hand, heavy and freezing cold, dropped directly onto his shoulder.

​The heat of the battlefield faded into a distant hum. A dry, ragged breath brushed against his cheek, and a voice right near his ear whispered, "Welcome back, betrayer."

​Before Julian could even turn his head, a violent, crushing force yanked him backward. The forest, the charging knights, and the towering frame of Alaric vanished in a split second.

He was dragged down, plunging through layers of reality into the deepest floor of the abyss—the dark void.

​His physical body remained on his horse, but his consciousness had been fully summoned here, floating in an endless expanse of pitch-black nothingness where there was no wind, no sound, and no light.

It was this familiar sensation from back then that he did not even panic. He just knew... Norx was here.

​As he stood in the silence, the familiar chime of the blue system interface suddenly flickered to life in front of him. But the text boxes were glitched, trembling violently against the dark backdrop. A desperate warning was displayed on it.

> [​Why do you let him find you every time? I warned you. I warned you. You should run. You should not get involved. You should live.]

​Julian’s brow furrowed, his mind reeling. "The system..." he muttered, his confusion cutting through the void.

This system had been created by Norx to shackle him, to force miserable conditions on his life as Julian. So why did its current will feel completely separate from its master? Why was it begging him to survive?

It was just... like back then, when it told him not to let its creator notice him. As if... it cared for him.

​A sudden, painful thud hit his heart. The agony was so sharp that Julian grabbed the fabric over his chest, his fingers bunching into his blue robes as he gasped into the emptiness.

"Who... who are you?"

​The blue interface flared, attempting to answer, but a cruel, mocking laugh echoed from the shadows.

​"Let me show you," a voice hissed.

​With a sharp snap of fingers, the system window shattered into a thousand glittering pieces. But instead of dissolving, the glowing shards climbed together, weaving upwards into a shimmering, translucent figure.

It was a lady, her form still composed of the blue digital interface, but as the pieces locked into place, her face became entirely visible.

​Julian’s breath hitched. His eyes widened in absolute shock. "Maya..."

The pieces were fractured, but this was undeniably Theo’s sister. But how? Her soul was supposed to have been completely destroyed by Norx a thousand years ago. He had watched her vanish into glittering dust.

​Norx stepped out of the darkness, his presence twisting the void into jagged shapes. He began to laugh like a maniac, his eyes burning with an ancient, unhinged malice.

"You’re just so naive." ​He walked closer, his lip curling in disgust. "I told you to be a spectator, but you wanted to be a hero... To save everyone. Now, you will once again face my judgment."

​A furious, burning rage ignited in Julian’s chest, completely overwhelming the shock. This whole time, for a thousand years, had Norx been playing with Maya’s soul? If her essence hadn’t been completely wiped from existence, why didn’t he let her go? Why didn’t he let her enter the cycle of reincarnation? Why didn’t he...?

​But as the questions formed, the grim, ugly truth settled heavily in Julian’s mind. He already knew the answer. Norx’s anger was simply too vast.

His resentment, his overwhelming feelings of being betrayed by his fellow god, his partner, left no room for mercy. And he knew this well, which was why he sent Theo and Kael’s souls towards an illegal channel where Norx could not reach. If he had gotten them too, this would’ve been their fate.

Norx hadn’t repaired Maya’s soul out of kindness; he had bound her last remaining fragment into the mechanical cage of the system to serve as an engine, forcing her to watch her brother and his lover suffer tragic end after tragic end.

​"Norx," Julian said, his voice shaking with a mixture of fury and deep, heavy sorrow. "When will you let go of your resentment?"

​The question caught Norx completely off guard. He stopped, stared at Julian, and then burst into a hysterical, echoing laugh. He clutched his belly with one hand and covered his face with the other, his frame shaking as the laughter bounced off the walls of the void.

​Julian knew it was a silly, idealistic question to ask a fallen god. But as a scholar, and as the other half of the divine soul, he could not see another way out.

Norx was a god of creation. No matter how fallen or corrupted he had become, he could not die. He could not be defeated by simple iron or traditional warfare. The loop would never truly end unless the root of the hatred was severed.

He knew this and still led the vanguard, promising victory. He had fed them hope, but he wasn’t ready to deliver them despair. He would save them, save this world, and save his cycle.

​Norx stopped laughing, his face instantly turning into a mask of pure, unadulterated venom. He walked straight up to Julian, leaning in until their faces were inches apart.

"There you go again, thinking of saving everyone." He said, and Julian realized that the gods can read minds in the space they inhabit.

And right now, Norx had read his will to save everyone.

​"I don’t care for your stupid plans. I will destroy all that you cherish and all that you love over and over again," Norx promised, his voice dropping into a ragged, venomous growl. "I will make you suffer, and I will make you feel the exact weight of my resentment... Alias."

​He was looking into Julian’s eyes, but he was staring directly into the ancient soul of Alias.