The girl screamed.
The scene around them suddenly froze—
like a still painting.
Then, from its very center—
it began to crack.
Fractures spread outward, silent yet unstoppable.
As if… the reality Lam Huy Trường was witnessing
had never been real to begin with.
A vortex appeared in the sky—
as though it were swallowing the rising sun itself.
Around it, rings of red slowly materialized.
Layer upon layer.
Linking together.
Like a colossal net… weaving itself across the entire sky.
Beneath the girl's feet—
the ground began to change color.
A sickly brown spread outward, slow… yet impossible to stop.
The stone cracked.
The ruined foundations began to rot.
As though something… was corroding it from within.
From the very spot where she stood,
circular patterns began expanding across the ground.
At the center of each ring—
was the image of a blue crystal,
as if someone were drawing them… directly onto the earth.
Her entire body was engulfed in an eerie crimson glow.
Sand and debris lifted around her,
spiraling…
like petals caught in a storm.
Zero stopped.
His blade—
was only a few millimeters away from the professor's throat.
But he did not strike.
He raised his head.
And looked.
The scene before him—
looked like the end of the world.
His left hand tightened slowly in front of him.
His eyes…
flashed with amusement.
As if he were savoring everything unfolding before him.
Lam Huy Trường froze.
He could not believe what he was seeing.
"What the hell is happening…?"
A pained groan echoed somewhere—
it was unclear who it came from.
He lowered his head.
His hand…
was fading.
Like silk.
Like smoke.
Piece by piece—
it was dissolving.
"No… that's impossible…"
His body…
was disappearing?
Inside this very memory?
Panic surged through him.
"Could it be… the professor…"
Lam Huy Trường looked toward him.
The professor lay there—motionless.
His eyes were half-closed.
White tentacles crawled over him,
coiling gently… as though they were wrapping around him to protect him.
If he died…
then I would disappear.
But that wasn't right—
When I entered this memory, he was still alive…
So then—
what exactly is happening here…?
Lam Huy Trường looked down.
The lower half of his body—
was already gone.
From his feet…
up to his waist.
He turned to Eva.
"Eva…"
"Please."
He reached out toward her.
A selfish desire rose within him—
"Don't let the professor die."
His knees buckled.
His body began to disintegrate—
like smoke,
like dust.
Piece by piece…
it vanished into nothingness.
The last thing he saw—
was a streak of light
striking down from above.
Boom.
Zero was blasted backward.
The vortex in the sky
suddenly constricted—
dragging the professor's body along with it.
Space twisted.
Everything…
began to rise into the air.
Zero stood amid the wreckage—
his head tilted upward.
He started laughing.
"That's right…"
"Destroy everything."
"…Queen."
He spread his arms wide—
as if embracing the chaos before him.
The raging wind, the shattering debris, the maddened crimson light—
all of it reflected in his eyes…
like a man standing in the middle of the apocalypse
and enjoying every second of it.
And Eva… stood there.
Around her,
black tentacles surged and coiled,
twisting like living darkness.
Above her head,
a black crown flickered into existence.
It wasn't fully real—
appearing one moment, warping the next,
as if it were struggling to anchor itself to reality.
The girl's face… was filled with sorrow.
Her reddened eyes were so deep
they seemed capable of swallowing anything that looked into them.
A grief… without a bottom.
She clutched her head.
Her body twitched—
glitch…
like a distorted signal.
For a brief moment,
her image warped—
as if something else were overlapping her form.
She lowered her head.
One hand slowly reached forward—
trembling…
as though trying to grasp something that did not exist.
Then—
slowly…
she raised her head.
A smile appeared.
Twisted.
Crooked.
And…
it wasn't hers.
--
Lam Huy Trường jolted awake.
As if he had just been dragged out of a nightmare.
His entire body was drenched in cold sweat.
His breathing came in ragged gasps.
He hugged his shoulders tightly—
his body still trembling.
"… "
His hands clenched.
In front of him—
the fragment of the professor's journal
began to disintegrate.
Tiny specks of light broke away from it,
floating upward…
before shooting straight into his head.
Lam Huy Trường opened his mouth.
But the voice that came out…
felt so unfamiliar that even he wasn't sure it was his.
"I… came back?"
The sensation from earlier—
being erased from existence—
was still there.
Vivid.
He shuddered.
Once…
was more than enough.
He tried to stand.
But his legs gave out.
His entire body collapsed.
Thud.
A mechanical voice sounded from his left wrist.
"You have awakened, sir?"
At the same time—
a trembling female voice came from behind him.
"P-Professor… you…"
Lam Huy Trường froze.
His hand…
was touching something soft.
Instinctively, he squeezed.
A faint moan slipped out.
The air went still.
Lam Huy Trường slowly turned his head—
…
Beneath him—
was a girl.
And his hand…
was resting in a place it absolutely should not have been.
"… "
SMACK!
CRACK!
A slap.
And a surge of electricity.
Struck him at the same time.
"What exactly do you think you're doing, Professor?"
The two voices overlapped.
Lam Huy Trường lay sprawled on the floor.
His entire body numb.
And on his face…
the clear imprint of a hand remained.