"Where… am I?"
Before I knew it, I was floating in a world of pure white.
No left, no right, no up or down—just an endless expanse of blinding white.
It felt similar to the times I had dived into my Sacred Gear or entered Ignis's world… yet, something about it was subtly off.
…Come to think of it, I can't feel Ddraig or Ignis.
Usually, I'd be able to spot them right away, but I couldn't feel a trace of either of them.
Which means this isn't inside my Sacred Gear, nor is it within Ignis.
My memory is hazy… What happened?
I remember matching the sphere Asem unleashed with the maximum output of my Eclipse Blaster.
The two powers collided, causing a massive explosion… and after that, nothing.
"…Did I get caught in the blast and die?"
The moment I voiced the thought trailing through my head—
"No, you're still alive. And so am I."
A voice answered my murmur.
It was the voice of the guy I had been fighting until just a moment ago.
I scanned the surrounding space, searching for the source.
A short distance away, a single figure came into view.
Standing there was Asem, appearing in the form of a young boy.
Pure white hair, draped in his familiar signature hoodie.
Asem smiled from beneath the shadow of his deeply pulled hood and spoke.
"This is my mental world."
"Your mental world? Yours?"
No wonder I couldn't feel Ddraig or Ignis.
If this was inside Asem's mind, that made perfect sense.
But how the hell did I end up in Asem's mental world?
It's not like we're connected on a soul level like I am with Ignis…
As if reading my confusion, Asem spoke up.
"You were able to come here because you absorbed my power."
"What…?"
"When you awakened that crimson armor, you absorbed the sphere that was trapping you, didn't you? Because of that, a path—like a channel—was formed between us. …To be completely honest, I never imagined something like this would happen. You really do defy my expectations at every turn."
I see… I pulled his power into myself, and that's how I ended up here.
It's true that back then, I had activated my Continuous Ring Qi Control, which meant I drew in the surrounding energy—including Asem's power.
So this was the result.
As I placed a hand on my chin, taking it all in, Asem suddenly shifted his gaze upward.
Drawn by his movement, I looked up as well.
There, floating in the previously empty space, were numerous glowing visions scattered about.
I had seen this exact sight before when we dived into the mental world of Sairaorg-san's mother, Misla-san.
Which meant these images must be—
"Shall we talk about a bit of ancient history?"
The moment the realization hit me, Asem began to speak.
It was the story of a young god who had once lived in Ast-Ade.
Long, long ago, there was a young man.
He was a god who had attained great power at a young age.
In those days, the gods were deeply involved with the lower realm, interacting closely with mortals.
And that young god was one of the divine beings who walked among the people.
He shared knowledge with humanity and taught them crafts and techniques.
While other gods might have done so to gather worshippers for themselves, to him, faith meant nothing.
Because that god found the fleeting lives of mortals in the lower realm to be profoundly beautiful.
In a span of time far shorter than a god's existence, they accomplished so much.
At times, they even surpassed the imagination of the gods themselves.
Living their brief lives with everything they had—the brilliance of their mortality was more precious than anything, and he admired it.
The god knew.
He could never live that way himself.
Which was why he felt that as long as he could push them forward, helping them take their next steps, that would be enough.
That was all he ever wanted.
Within the floating visions, scenes played out of the young man hiding his divine identity to keep the mortals at ease while living among them.
Building homes together, digging wells, clearing fields, teaching magic, and once things settled down, moving on to another place.
Moving from land to land, he touched the lives of countless people.
As decades passed in this cycle of life—he met her.
Reflected in the vision was a young woman.
Brown skin, stark white hair.
Though she had refined, beautiful features, markings were etched across her cheeks, and a small horn grew from her forehead.
"She was born between a human and a devil—what you'd call a half-breed. Back then, half-breeds were an absolute rarity. On top of that, because she possessed magic power stronger than most, she was feared by humans and devils alike. Having lost her parents early on, she was completely alone."
The young god began to involve himself with her.
It started simply, reaching out to her when she was all by herself, making time to visit her whenever he could.
Eventually, the once-silent girl began to speak back.
In a world where no one had ever dared to interact with her, he was the only one who spoke to her, who didn't fear her, and who smiled at her.
It was something entirely ordinary.
Yet to her, it brought unimaginable joy—
Asem's eyes narrowed as he looked at her image in the projection.
"Before I knew it, she began to show me her smile. I was so happy; the first time I saw her laugh, I was almost moved to tears. For a god, singling out and favoring a single mortal was a complete failure. But I was so enchanted by her smile that I forgot I was even a god."
Looking back at the visions, there were countless scenes of her speaking to him with rich, vibrant expressions.
An emotion discovered precisely because she had known absolute isolation.
A new flow of time filling what had once been an empty life.
In those moments, she must have been truly happy.
Her smile was so genuine that anyone could tell, even through the projections.
A short while later, she confessed her feelings to the young man.
She wanted to spend the rest of her time with the person who had changed her world.
"By all rights, I should have declined. But… by the time I realized it, it was already too late."
The young god had also fallen for her.
The days spent by her side were fresh, precious, and irreplaceable.
Though he had met countless people, this was a feeling he had never known before—for the first time, he found someone he wanted to protect with his entire life.
In accepting her feelings, he revealed the true identity he had kept hidden.
And then—
"I told her that the lifespan of a god and a mortal of the lower realm were far too different. I couldn't grow old or die alongside her. That it would surely be a cruel path. I asked if she was truly prepared for that. Even so… she answered that she was."
The next scene showed the young man traveling across the lands once again.
Except this time, he was no longer alone; she was standing right beside him.
He showed her the vastness of the world, pulling her out of the tight bubble she had retreated into.
He showed her people, lands, cultures, miracles, and the mysteries scattered across the world—everything she had never seen before.
She was constantly wide-eyed, marveling at every new sight.
And then—she realized how foolish she had been for holding a grudge against the world on her own.
Asem gave a bitter chuckle.
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