As Fla leaped off the cliff and sprinted toward Dusk Soil Moon, high above - hundreds of ters in the air - atop the World Tree, a silver-haired boy watched the scene unfold.
His smile faded.
"Finally..."
His eyes sparkled, and he couldn’t hide the excitent in his voice as he muttered:
"Fla... At last, you’ll be mine."
Silver Autumn Moon pressed a hand to his chest, steadying his racing heart. He had waited far too long for this mont, enduring agony and tedium in equal asure.
’At least fifty tis.’
Even for Silver Autumn Moon, repeating ti that many tis was an excruciatingly difficult and painful process.
Not to ntion how unbearably dull it was to relive the sa events over and over again.
But it’s over now.
’I can finally be with you, Fla.’
It was a typical love story—
Silver Autumn Moon loved Fla.
But it was a love that could never co true.
Because in the future visions he saw, Fla did not exist.
In other words, she died.
The problem was that he didn’t know where, why, or how she would die.
All he knew was that at so point, Fla suddenly disappeared from the future.
So, he decided to rewrite fate.
’If I can fix the mont of her death to a ti I choose, then we can be together forever...’
When Silver Autumn Moon crossed from the future back to the past to manipulate history, the woman he found wasn’t exactly the Fla he rembered, but there was no doubt it was still her.
So then—
’All I need to do is trap her in my world...’
Sure, this would cause huge disruptions in the world Fla originally ca from, but he didn’t care about that.
In fact, he suspected that Fawn Prevernal Moon had already anticipated this outco and erased parts of Fla’s mory before sending her here.
’Fawn Prevernal Moon! You’re happy because that boy, Baek Yu-Seol, is gone, and I get to have Fla. Isn’t this a win-win situation?’
Silver Autumn Moon watched Fla with an eager, pounding heart as she rushed forward.
Dusk Soil Moon’s rampage? That didn’t matter.
The destruction of the World Tree? He couldn’t care less.
All that mattered now was to fake Fla’s death, deceive ti, and then trap her in his world.
That would complete his plan.
Fifty attempts. Forty-nine failures.
A world built atop countless failed tilines.
"Fla, we’ll be together forever..."
— Who said so?
Gasp!
A chill ran down his spine.
He hadn’t sensed any presence. Yet suddenly, a voice called out from behind him.
’Soone... bypassed my senses? A Twelve Divine Moon?’
He turned sharply, retreating a step as his gaze landed on an unfamiliar figure.
There stood a boy in Stella’s school uniform with his arms crossed. He wore a look of utter disdain.
"Who are you...?"
— Wow. I was hoping for sothing impressive from the ’Silver Autumn Moon’ of another world, but this? It’s like eting a knockoff Spider-Man from a parallel universe. Even online, I’ve never seen sothing this pathetic.
"I asked—who are you?!"
— Ugh, tone it down, will you? No need to shout.
The boy casually rubbed his ears, as if the whole situation bored him, then cast a glance toward Fla below, still rushing forward, oblivious to their exchange.
He sighed, sowhere between weary and amused, and returned his attention to Silver Autumn Moon with a mocking grin.
— Baek Yu-Seol. Heard of ? Pretty big deal. I was curious if my reputation extended to alternate dinsions, but I guess it doesn’t. Oh well.
"B-Baek Yu-Seol...? No, that’s impossible. Baek Yu-Seol only exists in Fla’s world...!"
— Oh, right. Good to see you’ve done your howork. As expected, my fa precedes ... Honestly, my lifelong dream is just to go grocery shopping without being recognized.
For a mont, Silver Autumn Moon felt fear creep in at the ntion of Baek Yu-Seol’s na.
But then he quickly realized— he had nothing to fear.
"Ha... now I see. All you did was send a re fragnt of yourself. That’s it, isn’t it? She can’t even see you. Did you co here just to witness your own existence disappear?"
— Yeah. Fla probably can’t see , thanks to your powerful temporal barrier. Scared much? For soone like Silver Autumn Moon?
"Petty taunts won’t work on ."
— Oh, but did you know sothing?
"... What?"
— You’ve been too obsessed with Fla. But there are actually three girls who traveled through ti.
"... That doesn’t matter. As long as she’s not the one who initiated the ti travel, her connection to mana across ti is practically nonexistent. She can’t see you."
— Sure, keep thinking that. Oh, looks like my ti’s up. Ugh, Silver Autumn Moon’s shiny alarm-clock helper isn’t very reliable, huh? Anyway, I’m out!
Baek Yu-Seol turned abruptly and leapt toward the World Tree, his figure vanishing into the distance before Silver Autumn Moon could react.
Silver Autumn Moon could do nothing to stop him.
Interfering now could ruin everything he had ticulously planned.
"...Nothing will happen."
There was nothing he could do.
Fla’s vision was already blocked.
And as for Eisel, she lacked the ability to see entities from other tilines altogether.
But there was one thing he didn’t know.
... Ti mana wasn’t exclusive to Silver Autumn Moon.
Although it took an incredibly long ti, was extrely difficult, and had terrifyingly low success rates—
Humans, too, could train and wield ti mana.
’W-What...!’
As Baek Yu-Seol descended toward the World Tree, ti mana began leaking from his body.
Silver Autumn Moon’s heart sank in that instant.
’A re human... wielding ti mana?!’
His disbelief was palpable, but instinct spurred him to action.
He quickly layered an even thicker ti barrier around Fla, ensuring that Baek Yu-Seol’s interference would be completely cut off.
But then—
’... What is he doing now?’
Having reached the World Tree’s branch, Baek Yu-Seol suddenly rged his body with Fla’s and began sprinting toward Dusk Soil Moon alongside her.
Yet Fla showed no reaction.
No matter how bizarre Baek Yu-Seol’s actions were or how much ti mana he emitted, it was still insufficient to break through the Twelve Divine Moons’ authority.
"Ha. I worried for nothing."
As expected, the ti mana of a human was nothing more than a trick.
At best, it could allow a quick teleportation of a few ters.
’You can’t do anything with that, you fool, Baek Yu-Seol.’
However—
Because Silver Autumn Moon was so focused on Fla, he montarily forgot one critical detail.
There was another ti traveler present.
Though she had lost her mories, with the right trigger, she could recall everything.
The blue-haired ti traveler—Eisel Morph.
Eisel stood frozen, staring blankly at Fla’s retreating figure as she ran forward like a broken machine.
The na ’Baek Yu-Seol’ kept echoing in her mind, refusing to fade.
Boom!!!
Dusk Soil Moon’s awakening sent violent tremors through the World Tree, but Eisel’s thoughts remained unshaken.
’This feels... familiar...’
As Fla sprinted along the tree’s branch, Eisel’s vision overlapped and the image of a boy appeared in her mind.
At the sa ti, her heart began to race uncontrollably.
’Am I having a... heart attack?’
Suddenly, Eisel felt strange.
A burning heat flared up inside her, as if she had caught a fever.
For a cold-magic user like her, such a phenonon was impossible.
Quickly releasing cold energy to cool herself down, Eisel lifted her head.
’...I have to go.’
She hadn’t co all the way here to fight that unbelievable creature.
She had only followed Fla, who had suddenly charged toward the top of the World Tree, to help her.
Because after her father’s death, Fla was the one who had reached out to her—
Her only...
Friend.
’Friend?’
Her chest suddenly felt cold and hollow, as if it had sunk.
’What... am I...? Who am I...?’
Two sets of mories collided inside her.
The mories of Eisel at 18, a second-year student—
And the mories of Eisel at 17, a first-year student.
The mories of future Eisel and past Eisel began to swirl chaotically, each trying to consu the other.
"Urgh..."
With the collision of these two tilines, Eisel could no longer tell which mories were truly hers.
But one thing was certain.
"Baek Yu-Seol..."
She still didn’t know who he was.
But her instincts scread that she had to follow Fla, whose image overlapped with his.
’Go after him. Hurry.’
’Follow him!’
’Are you going to stand back and watch Baek Yu-Seol from the shadows forever?!’
’Are you just going to wait while he solves everything?!’
The Eisel in her heart was shouting at her.
Though the 17-year-old Eisel didn’t fully understand who Baek Yu-Seol was, her body had already started moving.
Crack! Crack!!!
The waterfall cascading down the cliff instantly froze and shot upward—
Forming a crystal bridge of ice right in front of Eisel.
With each step she took, the ice bridge extended further—
Straight toward Dusk Soil Moon.
"W-What... is this?!"
As Eisel shot ahead on the ice crystal bridge she had created, overtaking Fla in an instant, Fla shouted in shock.
"Wait! Stop! What do you think you’re doing?! Hey!!"
This couldn’t be happening.
Eisel had never acted this aggressively before.
’What the hell is going on?!’
Even if Eisel charged ahead, nothing would change.
Right now, neither of them had any idea how to stop Dusk Soil Moon.
They were simply rushing in blindly.
"Stop, Eisel!"
Fla cried out desperately, but Eisel only turned her head slightly, revealing a faint smile, before picking up even more speed.
"Damn it! I said wait! You’re running straight to your death!"
Fla could only watch as Eisel’s figure grew smaller and smaller in the distance.
She couldn’t make sense of it.
’Why?’
Suddenly, ti seed to freeze.
Fla’s thoughts accelerated.
She recalled 17-year-old Eisel.
...Eisel had grown closer to her, but their relationship had never been one where they’d risk their lives for each other.
Besides, the Eisel described in the novel had endured endless scorn and hardship... which made her highly defensive and focused solely on survival.
In fact, in the original story, Eisel had even abandoned a friend during a nightmarish situation to save herself.
And this Eisel, here and now, wasn’t much different from the one in the novel.
So then, there was only one possibility.
’Did she... regain her mories?’
The 18-year-old Eisel of the future had spent ti with Baek Yu-Seol and been deeply influenced by him.
Even Fla, who knew the original story, had thought of her as a completely different person by then.
The future Eisel may have been a student, but she was closer to a hero.
When faced with danger, even against an unbeatable foe, she never backed down and always fought head-on.
That was the 18-year-old Eisel, the one Fla could confidently call her friend.
’But sothing felt off.’
If Eisel had truly regained all her mories, she wouldn’t be acting like this.
Instead, she would have likely rushed to Fla’s side, working together to find a solution.
After all, even Eisel probably knew very little about this incident.
Yet, look at her now.
Didn’t she seem like soone who was about to sacrifice herself—leaving Fla behind?
’...She’s neither.’
This wasn’t the 17-year-old Eisel from the past.
Nor was she the 18-year-old Eisel from the future.
The Eisel before Fla’s eyes was soone completely different.
’The plan is falling apart.’
The original plan had been simple.
Fla would throw herself at Dusk Soil Moon, sacrificing herself to trigger Eisel’s mories, forcing her to recall Baek Yu-Seol.
Once that happened, Eisel would rember the spell needed to return to the future and protect the world where Baek Yu-Seol existed.
Of course, it had always been a gamble.
Even if Fla died, there was no guarantee that Eisel would actually regain her mories.
But... She couldn’t just stand by and watch Florin and the World Tree die.
Yes, the future was important.
And yes, the world where Baek Yu-Seol existed was important too.
But how could she just ignore the tragedy unfolding right in front of her eyes?
That... isn’t what Baek Yu-Seol would do.
’I decided to beco like Baek Yu-Seol.’
She had to save Eisel.
That was her resolve.
"Eisel, please wait! Why are you doing this?!"
Everything had fallen apart.
The deafening roar of Dusk Soil Moon, the screams of Florin in agony, and the World Tree withering away, all painted a picture of despair.
There was no way to overco this nightmare.
Eisel couldn’t die here.
One death was enough. Hers.
If her sacrifice could trigger Eisel’s mories, then—
’Wait, what?’
Suddenly, a strange sense of unease washed over her.
’...Déjà vu?’
Why did this situation feel so... familiar?
As if she had experienced it dozens of tis before.
Her steps slowed.
"... What is this?"
Sothing was off.
Baek Yu-Seol wasn’t here.
And yet, why did it feel like he was close by?
"Hey... Are you there, old man?"
It was stupid to talk to empty air in the middle of such a crisis.
And yet—
’Yeah.’
She could’ve sworn she heard a reply.
Neither mana, nor presence, nor scent, nor form—
There was nothing visible.
Yet, the sense of existence was so clear that it couldn’t be ignored.
And at that mont, Fla finally understood.
’So that’s it.’
The strange sense of unease she had felt all this ti—
"I was trapped here."
mories erased in gray—and beyond that, even mories erased in silver.
’The mories I lost... weren’t just a spell.’
Fla lifted her head.
Eisel was already dangerously close to Dusk Soil Moon.
Anyone could see that her actions were suicidal.
Would the 17-year-old Eisel really do sothing like this?
Of course not.
"...It feels refreshing."
As Eisel rushed toward Dusk Soil Moon, she whispered into the air.
For so reason, there was no sense of fear and no panic about the possibility of dying.
Instead, as she raced past Fla, heading straight for Dusk Soil Moon, her heart felt almost light.
’Yes, that’s it.’
’You can do this too!’
Eisel smiled.
She laughed brightly as she charged toward the awakening Dusk Soil Moon.
And in that mont, she realized—
This was the right answer.
Even though she had no idea what to do or how to stop it, she had a feeling—
A belief. A belief that this was the way forward.
’You know it too.’
Eisel closed her eyes for a brief mont before opening them again.
Then, together with another Eisel—
She spoke a single na.
"Baek Yu-Seol."
Lost in the labyrinth of ti, he had always been the one to lead them.
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