Starlit void, countless stars twinkling with light.
Leon opened his eyes, filled with confusion, feeling as though he had just awoken from an extremely long dream.
"System?"
[System's here! Daddy, you're finally awake! Woo woo woo…]
"Act normal. Don't go crazy."
System: ???
[Um… Host?]
"So, give me a simple explanation of what happened."
Oh no!
The System instantly sensed danger.
Some important memories… hadn't been automatically received by the Host?
[…Host, please confirm permission to access. Let me check how much memory you've lost.]
"Confirmed."
Leon didn't say more.
[Permission confirmed. Beginning verification—]
The check nearly crashed the program.
Turns out it had taken a spin at the gates of hell.
Just a little more—just a tiny bit more—and the Host would have fallen into the abyss of eternal shadow, forever asleep.
Dragging it down with him.
How did the Stellaron Spirit end up entering that memory?
That was terrifying, okay!
[Verification complete. Host, due to certain reasons you failed to automatically receive memories. Shall the System transmit them for you?]
"Transmit."
The missing memories flooded into his mind, bringing the familiar clutter and exhaustion.
After learning everything that had happened, Leon fell into a strange silence.
He said nothing. The System didn't even dare to "breathe."
Though it couldn't breathe anyway.
Who knows how long passed before Leon took a deep breath and let out a long sigh.
"So… I'm already this sick."
[I'm sorry, Host. The System overlooked your mental state all this time.]
"It's not your fault."
Having gone through countless reincarnations, it was impossible to retain every memory from every life.
The less important parts would naturally be forgotten.
Yet even so, the remnants accumulated over two thousand Amber Eras had unknowingly formed a burden heavy enough to crush him.
A person walking a path of constant loss—no matter how resilient the heart, it wears down.
Anyone else would have long since walked the path of self-destruction.
He had the power of the Path of Compassion as a lock, sealing shut the road to Nihility.
But that was like a blocked volcano vent.
It could be blocked for a time, but not forever.
Blocked for one lifetime—but what about thousands, tens of thousands?
There would always come a day when it erupted.
Knowing the cause, Leon's emotions didn't fluctuate much.
Because he knew that as long as he kept walking forward, there was only one way to resolve the hidden danger—
To completely abandon memories of the past, like the Vidyadhara.
Each reincarnation becoming a true rebirth.
It sounded simple, but…
Leon gave a helpless, bitter smile.
It was precisely because he couldn't let go…
A very, very long time ago, he could still clearly distinguish things and hypnotize himself—everything was just to collect faith.
But the road was long—long enough to devour everything he once "thought" he understood.
Long enough… to assimilate his subconscious, to grind that so-called clarity into dust.
When a person loses emotion, discards humanity and true nature, and treats real experiences as false—
Can they still be called a complete person?
They would probably step into self-destruction even sooner, beyond even the power of Compassion to stop.
There's a saying: when someone truly wants to die, you can't stop them.
"She really went through hell for me…"
Recalling that dream, a trace of softness flashed across Leon's face.
To wake him, Stelle had actually walked into the memories he least wanted to revisit—those sealed deepest within.
Among them, the ones involving the Izumo Kingdom and the High Heaven Divine Kingdom were the most dangerous.
Those were memories that touched the domain of Nihility…
That's why Nihility is terrifying—its Path concept isn't limited to the real; it includes the unreal.
Memories are ethereal—normally, they have no physical substance.
But Nihility doesn't care.
Leon had mocked himself more than once: if the power of the Path of Compassion suddenly vanished one day…
Would he completely fall into the deep sea of Nihility, unable to escape?
Looking across the entire cosmos—
From the era after the Dusk Wars ended, among humans still existing in the world, perhaps only he remained.
Why is the concept of Nihility the broadest?
One ancient Aeon can answer that.
Permanence: Long.
Even Permanence has a day when it returns to Nihility—what more the myriad other beings?
He, who has walked the same Path longest as a human—in other words—was now constantly dancing on the edge of Nihility, playing with fire.
One careless step, and he would burn.
This was precisely why, even after the System activated Sky Haven Nirvana and absorbed enough Path power, he still hadn't awakened.
Because the "lock" leading to Nihility had automatically opened.
IX would not welcome his visit, yet would not stop him either.
Stelle was able to enter that memory touching Nihility precisely because the lock had vanished.
Yet by sheer accident, she successfully "cleared" it and awakened him.
That experience in the Izumo Kingdom was the most oppressive, most muddled path of salvation he had ever walked.
The humans of Izumo rebelled against the gods, ultimately turning themselves into demons.
He rebelled against IX, trying to save Izumo from Their shadow.
Helping Izumo cut down the gods, forging blades from Their divine bodies.
Using the authority of Compassion to bless Raiden Bosenmori Mei and the legendary swordsmith White-Haired Oni, granting them eternal life.
And the result?
That poor child Raiden Bosenmori Mei bore everything she never should have because of him.
Touching taboos, altering others' fates, disrupting the cycle of cause and effect—yet in the end, the outcome still didn't change.
Those whose fates he altered still ultimately returned to Nihility.
In the end, he achieved nothing.
He had once been lucky enough to search for traces of the Izumo Kingdom immediately after a reincarnation, searching for Raiden Bosenmori Mei.
As long as even one side remained, it would mean everything he did had meaning.
But alas…
The Izumo Kingdom became an unverifiable legend in galactic history.
Meaning that whether Raiden Bosenmori Mei or the White-Haired Oni—most likely both—were lost in the shadow of Nihility when Izumo fell.
For Stelle to endure the unconscious erosion of Nihility in that memory, hold out until the end, and still have the resolve to drive the blade into him—
Her determination and willpower were truly moving.
A trace of comfort flickered in Leon's heart.
He hadn't raised the kid for nothing.
When it mattered, she really stepped up.
She knew what was important, could distinguish reality from illusion, and make the right choice.
If Stelle had been unable to steel herself at the final moment—not only would he have fully fallen into Nihility.
Even she herself would never have escaped IX's shadow.
Leon never worried about his memories being stolen by Memokeepers. Anyone who saw even a glimpse of that looming shadow would wisely scram on their own.
But if someone ignored everything and forced their way through the shadow—
Congratulations, they'd win IX's all-embracing gift package.
A true "all are welcome—but since you're here, why not stay forever?"
If IX had any possessive desire, THEY would definitely be the most yandere Aeon.
Being marked by THEM meant you were set… not just for this life, but for all eternity.
Come to think of it, Aha had pretty strong yandere potential too—master of clinginess and stalking.
Whatever. No point thinking about nonsense for now.
It was time to wake up. No need to let his companions worry any longer.