Hate me, Miss Witch!

Silvia's soft body fell through the air.

Shiyar stepped forward, catching her delicate figure.

Almost at the same instant Silvia lost consciousness, dark shadows, black as ink, surged from The Void around her like a tide.

Like a dark tide, they instantly enveloped the surrounding sea of fragrant telosma flowers.

The slightest contact caused the light purple flowers to wither in an extremely short time, as if they had touched some forbidden calamity.

Then, a thousandth of a second later, the once-tender petals weathered into countless specks of desiccated yellow powder.

This was the Twilight Divine Power harbored within Silvia.

In her past, even while asleep, Silvia had subconsciously suppressed the unrest within the Bronze Crucifix.

But this time, Silvia had given up.

The moment she lost consciousness, she simply let those shadows disperse, occupying her entire body and spirit.

Observing the sweeping, dull yellow glow around him, Shiyar's expression remained unchanged.

Back when he was only 2-Ring, he had resolved a similar situation with the aid of spiritual power-strengthening elixirs.

This time, Shiyar had not ingested such depleting elixirs again, keeping his subsequent plan in mind. However, with his advancement to 3-Ring, resolving this minor loss of control over the Twilight Divine Power was naturally not an issue.

Shiyar's pitch-black eyes silently mirrored three rotating silver moons, similar to magatama.

"Moon Reading" activated.

The next moment, a bright silver moon silently emerged above the dull yellow tide.

Then, under the illumination of that silver moonlight, the formerly surging, world-swallowing dull yellow Divine Power gradually returned to calm.

Eventually, the dull yellow Divine Power receded like a tide, withdrawing back into Silvia's body.

Only the withered sea of flowers around them remained as proof of its passage.

When all movement in the vicinity had completely subsided, Shiyar squatted down again.

He took a bottle of Healing Potion from his Spatial Pocket and opened the cap.

He dripped the emerald-green liquid, full of the aura of Life, onto Silvia's back.

DRIP. DRIP.

The emerald liquid was absorbed by the wound, the gushing blood stemmed, and Shiyar immediately put away the alchemical Healing Potion.

Before him, the girl's eyes were tightly closed, sunk in a deep coma.

Only on her pale, delicate cheeks remained two moist trails of tears.

When a woman loves a man, the cost is often far greater than when a man loves a woman...

Am I now bearing witness to the truth of this saying from my previous life?

Shiyar laughed self-deprecatingly.

He extended his hand, wiping away the two still-wet tear tracks from Silvia's tranquil, pretty face.

Immediately afterward, Shiyar squatted down and cradled the unconscious girl's body in a princess carry.

"'Shiny.'"

"'CHIRP!'"

In the Soul Pact Space, the little snub-nosed monkey, who had been patiently waiting, swiftly activated "Flash," taking Shiyar along.

The two figures on Morningstar Hills rapidly vanished, teleporting toward the foothills in successive short jumps.

「Azure Garden Royal Capital.」

There lay the final act of the Echo of History that was the Ancient Dukedom Azure Garden.

It was also the stage toward which Shiyar was hastening.

The curtain, ablaze with flames, had been drawn.

From all around the Western Continent—people with different allegiances, different purposes, and different agendas gathered within the Royal Capital, all to vie for the divine Authority known as 'Twilight.'

Your act is over.

I take the stage.

...

「Western Continent, Golden Plains.」

「Silver City, White Chalk Tower Headquarters.」

"You want to go to the Eternal Slumber Plane?" Isveytan, Manager of the White Tower Great Library and known by the title 'Silent Singer,' repeated Fioran's words.

On her usually indifferent face, a rare expression of surprise emerged.

"Fioran, do you understand what you're saying?"

"The Eternal Slumber Plane, that is..."

"I'm rushing back from the Fresta Empire precisely because I know the secrets of the Eternal Slumber Plane," Fioran interrupted Isveytan directly.

She waved her hand, recalling the Black Scales Drake that exuded boundless Dragon's Might back into her Soul Pact Space, her cool eyes tinged with urgency.

"Isveytan, do you still remember the words left by the Tower Master before her slumber?"

At Fioran's words, Isveytan's gaze grew increasingly solemn.

"Are you speaking of matters related to Azure Garden?"

"Exactly."

A brief silence fell before the grand tower.

After a moment of quiet, Isveytan finally spoke again, her words hesitant and laden with deliberation, "You need to think carefully. If the information you bring is merely a false alarm, what exactly would that imply..."

"That is the Tower Master's exclusive domain. If it turns out to be a false alarm, you might never be able to return to The Tower."

"I never intended to return to The Tower, Deputy Tower Master." Fioran gave a carefree laugh. "Coming back to report this time is simply to repay The Tower for raising me. I have no other intentions."

Isveytan's gaze lingered on Fioran's pitch-black metal mask for a long while.

Only after a long moment did she speak softly, "Alright."

As her words fell, to an onlooker, the plaza surrounding the White Tower remained calm, as if nothing had transpired.