Outside the dungeon.

Orien stood silently, watching the demons and the humans under Lilith's control as they patrolled the vast volcano. Their movements were orderly, disciplined, as if nothing unusual had happened, yet the air itself felt tense, as though it was holding its breath.

In reality, he had never left.

He could not afford to.

Ash had taken something far too precious from him, something he could not simply abandon. Leaving was never an option.

Yet forcing his way into the dungeon was just as impossible. Doing so would risk triggering a spatial storm, and if that happened, everything would be over.

There would be nothing left to reclaim.

His wrists had regenerated, but the hand that had bore the brunt of the runic energy still hung limply by his side.

The damage was not superficial.

The runes had carved themselves too deeply into his existence, and it would take far longer to fully heal.

It has been hours….. they should be coming out any time now…..

It was universal knowledge that no one could teleport out of a dungeon on their own.

One either had to clear the dungeon or use a special escape stone that could bypass the spatial lock surrounding it. Even then, the escape stone would only bring the user to the outside of the dungeon.

That was precisely why Orien was confident.

Ash would appear here.

There was nowhere else he could go.

His senses spread across the entire region, stretched to their absolute limits, leaving no corner unchecked.

Even if he uses an escape stone, I will still get him before he can escape…..

Then he felt it.

At first, it was faint, almost easy to dismiss, but the disturbance grew clearer with every passing breath.

The space is vibrating….. looks like the portal is about to open…..

But something was wrong.

The vibration was not coming from a single point. It was coming from everywhere at once, as if the space itself was trembling in fear.

Orien's eyes widened.

Without hesitation, \he escaped the area in an instant.

And the very next moment.

-CRACK!!!!!

Space burst apart with a violent sound, as if reality itself had shattered. Massive waves of mana, debris, warped space, and void energy flooded the entire region, devouring everything in their path. The ground split open, the air twisted, and the laws that held the world together began to unravel.

Soon, white flames appeared within the chaos, weaving through the destruction. Mana surged wildly, causing everything caught within to spin and collide, dragged by an invisible force toward a single collapsing center.

A spatial storm formed.

Vast and merciless.

It sucked everything toward itself, pulling matter, energy, and life alike into the void.

"No….. No….. No, No, No!!!!!!"

Orien's voice cracked as despair overwhelmed him. Tears filled his eyes as he stared at the scene before him.

Anyone who witnessed this would have been utterly shocked, seeing the bloodthirsty demon prince brought to such a state.

His eyes glowed as he strained his perception, forcing it deeper into the spatial storm, even as it continued to grow larger and more violent.

The storm expanded relentlessly, feeding on everything around it as it dragged the world toward annihilation.

Even as an SSS rank existence, Orien feared spatial storms.

They were manifestations of pure uncertainty.

If one was lucky, they might be thrown somewhere within the world, or perhaps to another planet entirely. If not, they would be cast into the endless void, drifting aimlessly with no way to escape.

In the worst cases, the storm itself would shred them apart, erasing their existence piece by piece.

Even an SSS rank being could not survive long in open space, let alone endure the chaos of the void.

Still, he hoped.

He searched desperately within the storm, his gaze piercing through layers of twisted space and violent energy.

He hoped to see it.

The Spirit Devouring Crystal.

But there was nothing.

Only dead bodies of humans and demons, broken swords, shattered trees, molten rock, drifting debris, and beyond them all, an endless pitch black darkness that opened directly into the unknown void.

"DAMN IT!!!!!!!!!"

His anguished scream echoed across the forest of the Neutral Continent, carrying his fury, his regret, and his loss far into the distance.

***

The Universe is infinite.

But infinite does not mean "very big." It means there is no end.

No matter how far you go, there is always more space ahead of you.

Most of the universe is not made of stars, planets, or galaxies. It is made of emptiness.

Huge stretches of dark space where nothing shines and almost nothing exists. This empty space is actually the largest part of the universe, and it is also the part that grows the fastest.

When the universe expands, it is not the stars that move away first. It is the space between them.

The darkness stretches, the distance increases, and galaxies slowly drift farther and farther apart, until even light cannot keep up.

People often say the universe expands at the speed of light, but that is not exactly true in the way most imagine it.

Stars and galaxies are not flying through space like arrows.

What is really happening is that the space between very distant places is growing so fast that light can never cross it.

It was like trying to walk across a road that kept stretching ahead as he moved. No matter how far he stepped forward, the other side seemed to pull away from him, always just out of reach.

Somewhere in this infinite space, a naked body drifted, scarred and burned as if it had survived a nuclear attack, with deep cuts that looked as though made by some colossal blade. The wounds were slowly knitting themselves back together, but the figure remained unconscious.

Time passed, measured in a way that felt endless, and his body continued to drift weightlessly through the void. Gradually, the injuries healed completely, leaving his body pristine, untouched, as if nothing had ever harmed it. Still, he did not awaken.

After what seemed like eternity, he finally blinked open his eyes. The first thing he saw was the starry sky, as mesmerizing and infinite as he remembered. Massive celestial bodies hovered in the darkness, and distant stars glittered faintly, their light traveling across unfathomable distances.

Looks like my bad luck hasn't left me at all… drifting through space, and I can't even see Planet Akumia…

He closed his eyes and reached out with his senses, searching for the anchor he had left on Elysia.

There…

Turning his head, he found the faint trace of her presence. The connection was there, but it was incredibly distant. Even if he tried to break the anchor and teleport to her, it would be impossible.

The distance is too vast…

He pulled a ring from his Soul Vault, the same artifact that had allowed him to monitor Elysia's mana levels. But now, given the immense distance, the ring was useless. There was no way to tell if it would function again once he came within range, yet he slipped it onto his finger anyway.

For now, he drifted further from Akumia, utterly unable to change course. He could not teleport, nor could he move freely in the void, let alone steer himself.

My rank is too low, and I haven't even begun to understand a single Rune… there's no way I can move…

Though he had escaped, his mind raced with worry. Thoughts of Akumia, of Elysia, of the danger surrounding her, made his heart pound. He knew the demons were planning something, targeting those blessed by Star and Moon, just as the Whisperer had warned him.

What if I had to sacrifice my body, my soul, and both of my Primordial Cores…?

Ash closed his eyes, taking a moment to calm the panic rising in his chest. He reminded himself that despair would do nothing. He was drifting in the endless void, yes, but surrendering to fear would only make things worse.

Stop running in circles… think. Find a way out of this…

He instinctively opened his Status Window, and it appeared before him.

So… the Status Window isn't limited to Akumia. It's universal.

Skipping all the other details, he opened the description of the new Rune.

**

Rune: Rune of Truth

Description:

-Truth is its mercy. Truth is its curse.

**

The description was vague, yet he understood its meaning with absolute clarity.

In front of this Rune, every lie was meaningless, whether it came from a mortal, a god, or even the universe itself. Under its influence, truth was stripped bare, and even reality would feel exposed, unable to hide behind false layers.

This was something Ray's system had once explained to him in detail, back when Ray had been visibly disappointed that the Rune offered no passive effect beyond lie detection.

That explanation had turned into a long monologue. Ray had sounded frustrated at first, then reflective, and by the end of it he had clearly matured. Ash remembered it well, but there was no reason to repeat it now.

I have one more skill creation chance...

Yet a sense of pressure tightened around his thoughts.

Should I create a skill that uses the surrounding space mana to initiate teleportation..?

It was entirely possible. His surroundings were nothing but space itself, endless and dense with spatial essence. If conditions were considered alone, creating such a skill would not be difficult. With it, he could reach Elysia and pull her out of danger.

But the thought stopped there.

And then what?

At this moment, Ash was powerless. His mana pathways were gone, and even if he returned, he would not be able to change anything.

Even if I still had mana, I would remain powerless....

Yes, with mana he could have taken her into his Soul Vault and hidden somewhere remote, but that solution was nothing more than self deception. Time flowed far faster inside the vault. If she stayed there, she would age and die. If she stayed outside, she would be discovered sooner or later by the countless methods at the demons' disposal.

It would only become a prolonged game of pursuit, with no path toward resolution.

In the end, I would still be caught, and everything would collapse.

I am so powerless, even after doing so much...

He acknowledged it without resistance.

His heart was in turmoil, urging him to return no matter the cost. To abandon her now felt like betrayal. If death awaited her, then shouldn't he be there as well? Elysia had sacrificed herself for him without hesitation. Was he really going to retreat simply because an obstacle had grown too large?

Ash questioned himself deeply.

But,

I am so pathetic..

His body, his will, and his emotions screamed for him to go to her, even if it meant dying together. Yet the part of him that sought survival refused to step forward.

It was easy to love when love was returned freely. But when life forced a choice between someone you loved and your own existence, that was when a person's true nature was exposed, stripped of excuses and comforting lies.

Ash let the feeling sink in instead of pushing it away.

Pathetic.

That was the most accurate word he could assign to himself, not as an insult born from emotion, but as an objective evaluation. He hated himself for hesitating.

He hated himself for calculating when he should have acted.

He hated himself for standing still in the void while someone precious to him was drowning back on Akumia.

He cursed everything in silence.

The universe that stretched endlessly between them.

The distance that mocked his urgency.

The laws that bound him when he needed freedom the most.

He even cursed fate, though he knew fate did not listen and never cared.

What am I really feeling right now?

It was not courage holding him back. It was not wisdom either. It was fear, dressed up as reason.

Fear of pain. Fear of failure.

He wanted to save Elysia, but not at the cost of everything. Not at the cost of his future. Not at the cost of his own survival.

That realization cut deeper than any blade.

So this is who I am.

Elysia had jumped into death without calculation, without hesitation, without bargaining with fate.

She had acted purely, guided by love and instinct alone. There was no weighing of gains and losses in her heart, no silent comparison between herself and him.

She was a pure soul.

And he was not.

His soul was filled with selfishness, with fear disguised as intelligence, with caution sharpened by past failures.

He had survived by stepping over corpses, by retreating when needed, by choosing himself when the world demanded sacrifice.

That was not strength. That was cowardice disguised as survival..

And survival had shaped him into something incompatible with her.

He hated his weakness, but more than that, he hated the version of himself that weakness had created. He hated the past Ash who had made grand promises, who had sworn to do everything in his power to save Elysia and protect her, yet now stood still, bound by fear and calculation.

Promises were easy when spoken in safety, but when the price had to be paid, his resolve cracked.

I am not suited for her.

The thought settled heavily in his chest, firm and undeniable.

She deserved someone who would burn without regret, someone who would throw away the future for the present moment without even thinking twice, someone whose love outweighed fear, logic, and survival itself.

Ash was not that person.

And perhaps, he never had been.

The void around him remained silent as he reached that realization, offering neither judgment nor comfort, only endless darkness that reflected his own thoughts back at him.

What a good lover I am, huh...

Ash mocked himself bitterly, the words hollow and sharp at the same time, as a small tear escaped his eyes and drifted away into the infinite darkness.

***

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