Shoda barreled into the cavern of the Trail Tree, his breaths ragged and uneven, voice breaking as he called her name. "Elmira! Elmira, where are you?"
The crystalline light of the tree flickered, reflecting in the jagged minerals, casting dancing shadows across the cave walls. He saw her at last—lying unconscious on the ground, pale and still. Panic clawed at his chest. He sprinted forward, cradling her head in his lap, fingers digging into the cold stone floor.
"Elmira! Wake up! Please!" he shouted, shaking her gently, desperation cutting through every breath.
And then… a voice. Hollow. Empty. Reverberating in his skull.
"Witness a past you wish you never had…"
Shoda froze. His legs buckled. Dizziness swamped him, and darkness clawed at the edges of his vision. He collapsed to the floor, consciousness slipping as terror gripped him.
Outside, the obsidian-black dragon Black Death circled lazily, its immense wings stirring the around the Trail Tree. Aruz sat perched on its scaled back, a faint smile curling her lips. "How long is this going to take?" he murmured, his fingers brushing lightly against the dragon's jagged scales.
Hector's voice came from the edge of the snow-dusted cliffs. "It will take as long as the person doing the Trail needs."
Aruz's grin widened, teeth flashing. "Ohhh? Then I suppose I'll have to have some fun."
A shiver ran through the gathered citizens, fear prickling their skin. Gatling's voice rang out, sharp and commanding. "Enough! Stop scaring the people!"
A low, unnatural frost began seeping from the tree's mouth, curling out in jagged, crystalline fingers. Shoda's scream echoed somewhere in the infinite void.
White. Pitch-white. Infinity stretched around him. Shoda staggered to his knees, clutching his head as a migraine of unimaginable intensity ripped through his skull.
"I… where am I?" His voice was hoarse, strained. The space stretched on endlessly, and the ache in his head intensified, a relentless hammer of pain.
"I love you."
The words tore through his mind, and Shoda dropped to the ground, knees digging into the nothingness. His chest heaved. His fingers trembled as he pressed them to his temples.
Then he saw… himself. Or rather, a version of himself. But dead. Bloodied, battered, slashed across the shoulders. The first Shoda—the one Roderic had killed—stared at him, accusing.
"Why… why?" it rasped. "If you'd minded your business, I wouldn't have died!"
Shoda stumbled backward, shrieking. The void stretched endlessly. He ran blindly, only to collide with another Shoda—the one skewered through the torso, blood spilling like ink across a white canvas.
Then they came. Hundreds, thousands of Shodas, all dead, all blaming, all screaming. Accusing him of carelessness, of cowardice, of failure.
Shoda screamed until his throat burned. "Enough! ENOUGH!"
And they were gone, as quickly as they had appeared.
His chest heaved. He collapsed to the ground, trembling, tears freezing on his cheeks. And then… a headless Shoda appeared. The one killed by Mana Hounds, crushed beyond recognition. Without warning, he swung a punch that connected with Shoda's side, sending him sprawling across the infinite void.
The dead Shodas returned, faster, more violent, assaulting him from every angle. Every scream, every accusation, every attack—he took it all, curling into himself, bleeding, crying.
"Why… why is this happening?!" Shoda gasped through sobs. "Please… help me…"
Then, the white void shifted. The cold, the pain, the screaming dissolved. He was somewhere else.
A lush, infinite pasture stretched before him, grass waving gently in a breeze that smelled of spring. Daisies dotted the emerald waves, sunlight gleaming across a placid landscape. A tea table rested in the center, pristine and delicate.
And there she sat. Blonde hair cascading over her shoulders, a calm, exquisite face, delicate hands lifting a teacup out of thin air. She smiled.
"Welcome to my garden party," she said, her voice soft, unnervingly polite.
Shoda swallowed, terror and awe warring in his chest. "Wh… who… are you?"
"I am Daenerys," she said smoothly. "The Devil Sister of Time."
Shoda froze, pale, every nerve on edge. "What… how is that possible?"
Her smile only widened. She leaned forward slightly, enjoying his panic like a cat playing with a trapped mouse. Shoda lashed out, flipping the tea table in frustration.
"Stop! I don't want to be here!"
A flick of her wrist, and everything was as it had been—the table upright, her composed smile unbroken, Shoda's panic erased, yet he remembered everything.
"What… what did you do? How—?"
She sipped her tea serenely. "Aren't you going to introduce yourself?"
"Answer me!" he barked.
"Rude, aren't you? Let's try again." Her smile never faltered.
"I know what you Devil Sisters are," Shoda growled. "You're monsters. I want nothing to do with you."
"Yes," she said softly, "we are evil. We are monsters. If you don't want to stay, you may leave."
Shoda turned toward a black portal forming at the edge of the garden. "Thank you."
"Wait," she said, tilting her head. "Wouldn't you rather know what's been happening to you? Every answer, every mystery… I can show you."
Shoda hesitated.
Her expression darkened just slightly, eyes gleaming with cruel amusement. "I did see your… pathetic display in the Trail. Embarrassing, really. You are… pathetic, aren't you?"
Shoda's jaw tightened, and he grabbed a chair, sitting across from her. "My name is Iwamoto Shoda."
"I know," she replied, smiling, pouring tea with meticulous grace.
"When you said you saw me in the Trail… you saw me?"
"Yes," she said, eyes calm.
"Are we in the Trail now?"
"Oh, heavens, no," she said lightly. "This is my Memory Corridor. Everything I've seen across time, all knowledge, is here."
Shoda's mind spun. "You knew me before… how?"
"I've been watching," she said with a tilt of her head.
"Creepy," he muttered.
"Yes," she said, smiling. "Quite creepy."
The garden shifted. Light drained away, replaced by a dark, purple-tinged space, shelves upon shelves of geometry books surrounding them. Time itself seemed to pulse through the air. Shoda's mind raced.
"That… is amazing," he whispered.
"Yes," Daenerys replied. "But that's not the point."
Shoda's eyes narrowed. "Then what is the point?"
"I know how you've been looping," she said, her voice low, dangerous.
Shoda's stomach dropped. "Tell me… now."
"I wanted to build suspense," she said, smiling cunningly.
Shoda groaned, gripping his head as pain shot through him, memories of Anastasia, murder fogs, and countless deaths flashing violently in his mind. His body shook violently, sweat flying, spit hitting the floor as he collapsed.
Daenerys sighed, moving toward him. She laid a hand on his head. Magic tingled through his skull, rewinding, untangling, unlocking.
"You can sit now," she said finally.
Shoda shakily rose. "What… what did you do?"
"I removed the block," she said. "Your brain was… locked. I localized your mind in time and rewound it. You retain all knowledge."
Shoda exhaled, trembling. "Thank you."
She gestured to a book before her: Lazarus.
"You mean Rewind… death rewinding?"
"Yes," she said with a faint giggle. "But it's a boring name. I suggest… Lazarus's Loop."
Shoda considered it, eyes narrowing thoughtfully. "I like it… but I'll miss Rewind."
"And if you were still in that state?" he asked cautiously. "Would you have helped"
"No," she said lightly. "I like watching people in pain. I have no interest in helping those who won't benefit me."
"Really the worst kind of person," Shoda muttered.
Daenerys shrugged, sipping her tea. "I am DEVIL, after all."
Shoda clenched his fists. "Who put this on me?"
A pause. She dropped her tea. "…Anastasia. The Devil Sister of Hatred."
Shoda's memories flooded back—every death, every moment, every flash of terror. He screamed, fury and understanding colliding.
"How many times… will I be able to die?"
"Infinite," Daenerys replied. "Your Lazarus Loop can continue for your entire life."
Shoda's face hardened. "Fine. I'll use it… to defeat Aruz and save Elmira and this city."
The garden, the corridor, everything around him began to fizzle and fade.
"Our time is up," Daenerys said, her smile serene.
Shoda blinked, cold and numb. "Really?"
"Really," she said. "I have a feeling we'll meet again, very soon. But… never mention her name near me. The girl you just spoke of. Don't. Ever."
"Why?"
"I don't like her. That's all."
"Anything else?"
"Don't trust everyone," she said, voice fading. "Even the loyalest, smartest… aren't who they seem."
And then Shoda woke.
Cold. Freezing. Minus 230 degrees. Ice crunched underfoot. He stumbled, shivering violently.
Elmira lay in his arms, a childish grin twisting her face, her lifeless companion Lucky held in her hands. "Ohhh, Shoda… you bastard. Playing hide and seek?"
Before he could react, ice spikes shot from the ground, piercing his arms and torso. He screamed, pain tearing through him like fire.
Elmira collapsed onto him, laughing hysterically.
Shoda clutched her head against his chest. "What did you face… what did the Trail do to you? You're… still too cute… even insane."
He lifted her, staggering, blood freezing in his veins. Outside, Anruin was buried in snow. Citizens, friends—Gatling, Lysa, Hector, Mira, Shun—all frozen in ice, unmoving.
Aruz and Black Death were encased in frozen silence, wings and body turned to jagged crystal.
Shoda dropped to his knees, chest heaving. "Why… why… why?!"
And then… Lucky rose before him, massive, transformed. A beast of seventy-two feet, jagged fur, cold blue eyes.
"Not Lucky," it said, voice booming, terrifying. "From today… I am Uridimmu. You failed. You let her fall into madness. You disappoint me."
Shoda's tears froze on his cheeks. Uridimmu loomed over him.
"Without my daughter… to keep me sane… I shall commit this world to eternal ice," the beast rumbled, wings of frost spreading across the horizon.
Shoda clutched Elmira closer, watching the world dissolve under the unrelenting frost.
"Dammit… dammit… I'm… tired…"
And he died.