'Too fast!'

That was what Virgo wanted to scream as she felt her heart pounding against her chest like a wild horse on a goddamn race.

But her inward shouting changed nothing about the situation, not when she was staring at Noah's bright and open smile.

It was truly unjust. She didn't want to describe Noah's beauty again, she believed people had already grasped it by now.

But even so, she couldn't help but think that no… they didn't actually understand how utterly and harrowingly beautiful Noah was. And the most unfair thing about him… was his attitude.

Noah always acted carefree, looking at all of creation as if he were its born ruler. His demeanor reflected someone who truly believed that nothing in the universe could ever threaten him.

Virgo wanted to believe it was arrogance. And maybe it was. But she, more than anyone, knew that arrogance alone does not make a Law Creator.

You need more. Oh… you need so much more.

"Answers acknowledged," the mechanical voice said, dragging Virgo out of her chaotic thoughts.

She turned, still clutching Noah's clothes tightly, and looked around the white room. Noah stood beside her, a faint smile on his lips.

She smiled too — softly, sincerely — because he had understood. He had understood why she would kill him for her goal, for her dreams. It was simple, really. It was how she viewed existence, and what made someone unique in her eyes.

Noah had said names.

She had said dreams.

If she was Virginia Ti Raneth because of the dreams she held dear, then who would she be if she abandoned those dreams for a man?

She would lose herself. She would no longer be who she was. She would become an empty husk, stripped of individuality. The worst fate imaginable, because Noah liked her for who she was. He liked her with her sweets, her candies, and her love for games. He liked her soft nature and her dreamy mind. And so, out of love for the man who loved her as she was, she would kill him to remain herself…even if he would no longer be there to see who she became.

A smile, as soft as melting snow and as warm as the morning sun in summer, crept across her lips and refused to fade. She finally uncurled her fingers from Noah's shirt, her hand sliding down timidly, searching for his.

She found it. Her fingers stretched, brushing his skin, scratching lightly — a shy signal for what she wanted. She seemed too embarrassed to take it directly. If she hadn't been red-skinned, everyone would have seen her face burning crimson.

Once again, she thanked the Pillars for her skin. It was lifesaving. She got embarrassed far too easily.

Noah sensed it and found it amusing. He was tempted to act like he hadn't noticed, but since Virgo had made such an effort, it didn't feel right to tease her now. So softly, his hand opened like a blooming lotus, intertwining with hers seamlessly.

The heat and softness of his skin flowed through Virgo like water running through the soil of a river — tranquil, peaceful, unstoppable.

Virgo sank deeply into that warmth. It felt like a blanket after a storm of ice.

They stayed that way, in perfect silence, their minds drifting, their hearts linked, trying to understand, to feel each other.

Well, not entirely. Noah was different.

Because ever since answering his question, Noah had raised his perception to the absolute maximum, Providence itself acting in ways he had never tested before. Threads — so thin they were invisible — escaped his body, wrapping around the white room in search of a way out, just in case.

He would have preferred a gentler approach. He didn't want to show this unknown entity that he carried a world inside him, not even to Virgo. It was still too early. Her affection wasn't yet at seventy percent, let alone one hundred.

Not that he needed it to access her power but to make her part of his race and world, he would. That would make him stronger.

Because whether it was world or race, he was the Progenitor. And everything about the Progenitor was designed to make him stronger….by using his subordinates.

Every time he thought about that, he became more aware of how powerful the other Progenitors must be.

'They've lived long lives… accumulating power, followers, worlds. Killing them won't be easy,' he thought. Then smiled faintly. 'Well, not for me. But let's not kill. I'm a goodman. I negotiate first… and kill next if their eyes remain blind.'

Before his thoughts could wander further, the cold, feminine, mechanical voice cut through his mind like a blade.

"The questions have been answered correctly. Each of you responded in a way aligned with your own existence."

A tense line appeared between Noah's winged eyebrows. His threads hadn't found anything even as the voice spoke. He sighed inwardly, weary that he might have to use his world.

But the voice wasn't finished.

"But there is one more thing left."

Both Virgo and Noah frowned, lips pressing into thin lines as unease began to rise. Noah's fingers twitched.

"Another question?" he murmured.

Surprisingly…

"No. Not a question. A simple statement for you two, Noah and Virginia, to ponder upon, if you wish to reach your goals. It is a reward granted to all who succeed as you have."

"After this statement, you are free to use your points to ask questions before being teleported anywhere you wish… except Earth."

Again, Noah and Virgo frowned, both for the same reason.

Anywhere but Earth?

Why?

"What do you mean?" Virgo asked, her tone sharp. "What do you mean by 'anywhere you want except Earth'? What does Earth mean to you?"

The mechanical voice didn't respond. Virgo clicked her tongue, frustrated. Noah remained silent, unreactive.

After several seconds, the voice spoke again.

"Here is the statement. One, if understood deeply, might help you traverse the greatest ordeal on your path."

It paused for a heartbeat. Then…

"To reach the truth of all objective and imagined realities is to know how to swim upstream to the Great River."

Virgo and Noah both shuddered, but for completely different reasons.

Virgo shuddered because the words sparked something deep within her, a strange resonance, a flicker of revelation.

Noah, however, froze for another reason entirely.

Because these were the exact same words Echidna had told him when he summoned her.

The same words she had read in the ruined place where she found Lucie who, in the beginning, had been nothing but a simple malleable metallic sphere.

And with that thought, Noah's mind ignited like a flame of clarity burning through the fog of uncertainty.

Not clarity of meaning of these words but of the origin. He suddenly understood where Lucie might have come from.

His gaze swept across the room anew, perceiving it in a completely different light. It was advanced, unfathomably so n, filled with technology beyond anything that could exist on Earth.

It felt like a world eons after Earth. Eons of progress. And if humanity on Earth had already created robots and artificial intelligence…

Then what would stop a place like this from creating living beings — with blood, flesh, and organs — using the blood of another species?

Noah's mind reeled. Still, he needed confirmation. He couldn't build assumptions alone. So he opened his mouth and asked the question burning inside him, the one that had to be answered first.

"Where… no, what is this place?"

Silence fell.

And for reason unknown, both Virgo and Noah felt an unseen tension swell across the room, choking the breath from their lungs. It lasted only a heartbeat before fading, just as the voice answered.

"A relic…"

It paused. The silence stretched thin. Then…

"Relic of Earth."

—End of Chapter 354—

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