After the chaos finally settled, when the screams thinned into silence, and the storms of spear destruction faded into a hollow stillness, what remained was... not peace but a suffocating emptiness.
Pain lingered.
Suffering clung to the air like a fading echo.
Death had done its work across every empire... And yet, not a single soul felt relief.
Not one heart found comfort in the end of it all.
The world itself seed to breathe blood. The scent of iron and grief soaked into the soil, into the wind, into the very fabric of existence. Beneath that heavy sky, people stood not as survivors, but as sothing broken beyond recognition, hollowed from within, unable to even weep properly.
Aether stood silently, unmoving.
He saved Empires!
He saved what remained there!
Yet... Happiness never reached him, not even for a fleeting mont.
His long white hair, flowing like a quiet river of pale light, nearly brushed against his feet as it swayed gently in the restless air.
His eyes remained closed and rested on the ground beneath him.
Deep within him, The twin-domains...
"I have finished my duty."
Iteration No.25 spoke in a calm, steady voice, his eyes fixed on Aether’s back.
Aether knelt there, unmoving, his head lowered as he stared at his own hand, as though it belonged to soone else, as though he no longer recognised what it had done.
No.25 did not need to ask.
He already knew.
They were fragnts of the sa existence... reflections within reflections.
And yet, despite knowing everything, No.25 chose silence.
He simply waited.
He waited for the mont Aether would finally break.
Because only in that collapse could the storm within him be released.
"I... I should kill myself."
The words slipped out, like sothing that had been clawing its way out for far too long. Even Aether barely heard his own voice, as if it had dissolved before reaching his ears.
"T-That’s the only way to stop all of this... Y-Yes... if I die... then maybe—"
Before the thought could finish, No.25 gently placed a hand on Aether’s trembling shoulder. The touch was soft, grounding, almost impossibly gentle against the chaos within him.
His voice followed, quiet yet absolute.
"They are dead."
Aether’s body tensed as a sharp shiver ran down his spine. His lips trembled before he bit down on them, as though trying to contain sothing far more violent than tears.
His voice ca out strained,
"That’s why... that’s exactly why I have to do it... for them... I have to—"
No.25 slowly shook his head, his expression untouched by anger or pity, only a quiet certainty.
"Even if you turn back ti... those souls will not return."
Aether’s brows tightened, confusion breaking through the haze of despair. His thoughts stumbled, trying to grasp sothing that refused to fit.
That did not make sense.
He knew the rules. The only souls that disappeared in his reversal were the ones he had personally erased, those bound by direct consequence, often enemies consud by hatred toward him.
Even they were replaced!
Everything else should return, should be restored, should breathe again under the flow of reversed ti.
Then what was No.25 saying?
Aether slowly lifted his head, his gaze turning toward him.
No.25 stood there, radiant beyond comprehension. His presence shimred like condensed light, so brilliant that even Aether could not make out his face.
It was not blinding, but it was absolute, like sothing that did not belong to the limits of mortal sight.
No.25’s hand moved gently, wiping away the tears Aether had not realised were falling. His voice softened, carrying a warmth that felt almost maternal, almost painfully kind.
"Pardon , No.28... but even if you turn back ti... those souls will not return. Not as they were... not even as replacents."
Aether’s eyes widened.
No.25 lowered himself, crouching in front of him so their presence aligned, so that Aether could not escape what was being said.
His voice remained calm, but now it carried sothing deeper, sothing that pressed directly against the core of Aether’s being.
"Do you know what is worse than death?"
"..."
A brief silence followed, thick and suffocating, before he answered his own question.
"Being forgotten... being as though you never existed at all."
No.25’s gaze held Aether in place as he continued,
"Is that what you truly want? For those who died here... to vanish so completely that even existence itself denies them? To erase them so deeply that no mory, no trace, no echo of their lives remains within the very nature of this world?"
Aether said nothing.
Being forgotten?
Being as though they had never existed?
The thought twisted inside him, far more unbearable than death, far more cruel than any suffering he had witnessed.
Death at least left sothing behind, a mory, a scar, a proof that life had once burned.
But this... this was annihilation beyond aning.
His fingers curled slightly.
Of course, it was worse.
Of course, it was!
But then... why?
No.25 smiled, even before Aether could speak. There was no need for questions. The thoughts stirring within Aether’s mind unfolded clearly before him, like ripples across the sa still water.
"As much as I would love to stay and talk with you..." He said softly, as he lifted his hand and pointed behind him.
There, standing in silence, was a figure clad in black armour.
His gaze remained fixed on No.25, sharp and unwavering, filled with a cold, watchful intent that allowed no room for ’unwanted’ information.
"He would not like that," No.25 finished gently.
Aether’s eyes lowered, his expression dimming as sothing resurfaced within him.
A mory.
He rembered.
The mont he tried to save Lia, when she was taken by those ch-suits... And those who died... their souls had not lingered. They did not drift as they should.
They rose.
One by one, like fragnts of light, their souls flowed upward into the Arcane.
Even when he manipulated those who encountered the ch-suits, they died in the sa way.
If not the Path of Samsara... then where?
No rebirth?
The thought twisted violently within him.
That could not be right.
That had to be wrong.
No.25 let out a quiet sigh before rising to his feet, his expression calm, as though he had already accepted what ca next.
"Well then... it was nice talking to you, No.28—"
"I don’t want it!"
The words tore out of Aether.
No.25 paused, his brows drawing together slightly as he looked at him.
"What do you an?"
Aether lifted his head, his gaze steady now, no longer lost. There was sothing fierce in his eyes, sothing that refused to yield.
"I don’t want them to disappear," he said, his voice firm despite the tremor beneath it, "I don’t want them to go to... anyone else!"
No.25 watched him in silence for a mont. No explanation was needed. He already understood.
Every thought, every feeling, every desperate refusal unfolding within Aether reached him without words.
A soft hum escaped him, thoughtful, almost fond.
Then he sighed again, though this ti it carried sothing lighter, sothing quietly approving.
A small, gentle smile ford on his lips.
"I suppose... You truly are different from us," he murmured.
His gaze flickered briefly toward the black-armored figure. The man responded with a faint click of his tongue, though he did not interfere.
No.25 turned back to Aether, his smile deepening, warr now. He reached out and cupped Aether’s cheek, his touch filled with a quiet tenderness.
"Since it is you who asked ... I will gladly accept it."
Aether looked up.
The overwhelming radiance surrounding No.25 began to soften, dimming just enough for sothing hidden to finally be seen.
The blinding light peeled away like a veil, revealing what lay beneath.
A face.
Human.
A man who had endured everything until the very end. His eyes held warmth, deep and gentle, yet within them lingered a fracture, sothing quietly broken that no light could fully conceal.
His lips parted slightly as he spoke, his voice softer than before.
"Tell them... I am sorry for not being there."
A single tear slipped down his cheek, catching the fading light before it fell.
Aether did not ask who he ant.
... He already knew.
***
Sera and Helena stood at a distance, hesitant. Aether remained where he was, surrounded by a faint, warm glow.
They approached him quietly.
"A-Aether?"
Then, without warning, a soft sound escaped his lips.
"Laaa... laaa... laaa... mmm..."
The lody drifted into the air.
Sera and Helena flinched, instinctively stepping back as Aether began to move. Slowly, gently, his body swayed. His arm lifted, folding against his chest as though he cradled sothing precious.
And then he sang.
"Laaa~... laaa~... mmm... laaa~..."
The sound deepened, steady and soothing. It was not loud, not overwhelming, yet it carried with it a strange, undeniable pull.
It felt like warmth.
Like being held.
Like a mother lulling a restless child into sleep beneath a quiet night sky.
The tone wrapped itself around everything it touched.
The air softened. The tension in the world loosened, if only slightly.
People began to move.
Drawn forward, step by step, as if guided by sothing beyond their understanding.
Drip... Drip...
Tears fell.
They flowed freely, as though the song had reached into the deepest corners of their hearts and stirred everything they had buried.
Breaking the broken expression and letting out everything.
Grief, pain, loss, longing, all rising at once.
They covered their mouths, trembling, struggling to contain the sobs that threatened to break loose. Not because they could not cry, but because they did not want to disturb him.
They knelt.
One by one, then many, hands clenched tightly as their tears fell to the ground, soaking into the bloodstained earth while Aether’s lullaby continued to echo.
It did not belong to a battlefield.
It did not belong to death.
And yet, it embraced both.
The lody spread.
Beyond the Aurora land. Beyond the silent crowds.
It travelled across borders.
Across all five empires.
The broken people, those who had lost everything, those who believed they could no longer feel, who forced themselves to hold together what little remained, finally shattered.
What they had suppressed for so long burst forth like a dam collapsing under unbearable pressure, all because of that song.
They cried.
They wept, they bawled, they poured everything from the depths of their hearts as the lody reached into them and pulled out every buried emotion.
Grief, love, regret, longing, all unravelled at once, leaving nothing hidden.
They knew that voice.
They knew exactly to whom that gentle, wonderful voice belonged.
"Lord Aether..."
"Our God..."
"Please... t-thank you..."
Their voices did not rise loudly into the air, yet they echoed just as strongly, carried through trembling lips and breaking hearts, woven together with their cries.
And yet, amidst all of it, sothing else began to change.
Across five empires, the scattered snow particles began to move. At first, it was subtle, almost unnoticeable. Then, slowly, they started to swirl, lifting from the ground like soft breaths of winter.
They danced.
Like countless snowflakes caught in a silent waltz, they spiralled upward, flowing gently toward the sky. The motion was not chaotic, but graceful, almost guided, as though the world itself responded to the lullaby.
It looked like stars returning to the heavens.
Yet, instead of vanishing, they curved.
Helena and Sera watched, their breath caught in their throats, as the glowing snowflakes drifted toward Aether. One by one, then in streams, they gathered into his arm, settling into the invisible cradle he held close to his chest.
The more they ca, the brighter it beca.
He continued to sway, his voice soft, steady, filled with a warmth that seed to hold each fragnt gently, as though afraid to let even one slip away.
It was unbearably beautiful.
Ethereal.
Almost sacred!
Then, lowering his voice to a tender whisper, Aether looked down at what he held and spoke softly,
"Sweet dreams... my children."
At those words, the gathered snowflakes flickered.
Their light dimd slowly, like distant stars fading at the edge of night. One by one, they disappeared, not into nothingness, but into... a golden feather that had been within him all this ti!
The golden feather swayed gently.
THUD
The white spear, still shedding faint ethereal particles, fell beside him, its purpose fulfilled. The glow around it weakened as it struck the ground.
Aether’s lips curved into a faint, fragile smile.
And then his body gave in.
He collapsed.
But before he could fall completely, Sera and Helena rushed forward, catching him between them.
"A-Aether?"
"Darling!"
Helena’s and Sera’s voices trembled as they called out to him, but the mont their eyes fell upon his face, fear overtook them completely.
Cracks!
"... I... I am sorry" Aether muttered softly towards them.
Helena and Sera’s eyes turned teary as they hugged him and bawled, unable to see him like that.
Thin, white fractures spread across his skin, branching like veins, crawling over his face, his neck, his arms.
It looked as though his body itself was breaking apart from within.
His long white hair began to fracture as well, the strands dissolving into mist, vanishing piece by piece into the air.
Beside them, the once radiant spear lost its glow entirely, returning to a dull, rusted form, lifeless and cold.
Sera and Helena’s hands tightened around him. It felt as though he might shatter at any mont, as though the next second would take him away completely.
And then...
A faint light appeared.
A small, white flare rose from among the kneeling people.
Then another.
And another.
They erged not only from those nearby but far beyond, spreading across the lands, from the Zephyra Empire to the Naiadae Empire.
Countless tiny lights began to rise.
They drifted gently through the air.
Drawn to him.
One by one, they entered his chest.
Though no one could see them clearly, though no eye could truly follow their path, their presence was undeniable.
They flowed into him, warm and steady, like fragnts of sothing returned.
!~Ding~!
[Twin Domains: 949/917↑]
[Twin Domains: 949/919↑]
[Twin Domains: 949/925↑]
[Twin Domains: 949/940↑]
...
..
!~Ding~!
[Twin Domains: 949/999↑]
The cracks along his body began to nd. Slowly, gently, as though stitched together by 1000s of golden hands, his fractured form healed, piece by piece.
Holding him... as Hope!
It was not power alone.
It was them.
His people.
!~Ding~!
[Trinity: 20%↑]
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