Charles coughed again, blood spattering against the white robe already stained crimson. His head tilted upward despite pain, the featureless mask fixing on Reinhard's face with intensity suggesting focused analysis even at death's threshold.

"You used the tide's wide range ." His voice emerged weak but carrying certainty. "To know where I was moving, predicted my positioning through connection rather than precognition."

Reinhard shifted weight slightly, the spear still held loosely in one hand.

"You coordinated with Marie on the Brunhilde symbols that are still placed on you guys." Charles continued, each word requiring visible effort. "Timed the gathering of light to coincide with our aerial position, ensuring I couldn't simply flee."

A pause as more blood welled beneath the mask's edge.

"You deliberately took my strike to create a grapple I couldn't escape without releasing a weapon. If I tried to, it would leave me open for an attack, and then you could just drag me up with your Drasil Step." His breathing grew more labored. "And you smiled to make me question strategy, creating a moment of hesitation that allowed establishing hold."

Reinhard sighed, the sound carrying a mixture of exhaustion and reluctant admiration. His free hand rose to rub the back of his neck. "Your abilities are broken. Analyzing everything in real-time, calculating futures through sheer thought processing... How is anyone supposed to fight that fairly?"

Charles laughed before he was interrupted by another set of coughing and spraying more blood from beneath his mask.

"I spent centuries training myself up, just in case I would need to take on the Dark Silence alone." Charles says softly.

Centuries of preparation for a battle that he would take on if the Seekers and Precursors didn't do it already.

Reinhard nodded slowly before he then said. "About what you said to Vlad..." His voice dropped to conversational volume, addressing the dying man rather than an enemy. "I can understand where you're coming from. After working with the Golden Melo Warriors, I see your frustrations."

He paused before then saying. "But... You're missing the biggest reason the Forerunners made their sacrifice."

Charles fell silent; his body remained motionless except for shallow breathing. Three seconds passed before he asked quietly. "And what is that?"

Reinhard's gaze lifted toward the sky, the blue returning as golden radiance faded. "Those who made sacrifices only cared for one thing. They just wanted their loved ones to survive. They just wanted their people to continue living. They just didn't want them buried alongside others."

His hand gestured vaguely toward the landscape being restored around them.

"Sure, they hoped they would defeat the Dark Silence, destroy the previous roots around, and continue the Golden Age. But at the core of their wishes, it was the simple hope that others would continue living. And that is the best way to validate their sacrifices to them."

Reinhard's tone hardened slightly, gaining an edge. "Your wish to erase the past is no different than erasing those people's struggles and memories. Sure, a blank slate will appear, one that would allow the current Precursors to move forward. But it also erases those from the past, abandons them and their sacrifices."

His fist clenched around the spear shaft. "It abandons the reason why Seekers continue working and fighting against the Dark Silence even when it seems futile. It abandons the reason why Precursor people continue living, pushed by the beliefs and wishes of those in the past."

His voice rose slightly as he recalled those familiar Golden Melo Warriors who rushed through the roots with him. "All of them inherited the beliefs of those who sacrificed themselves, and that has kept them alive and struggling to keep existing. Every time they feel like giving up, I am sure they recall the past, the story of their Golden Age, which inspires and forces them to stand up just a little bit more."

His eyes returned to Charles's masked face, as he recalled the goodbye to Bargest and the others. "That gave them the courage to not only keep surviving but to trust in others and believe in the future. It's because of this that Precursors and Seekers don't think every day is crap and the worst thing. That they themselves don't believe looking to the future might be the worst thing ever."

His final statement emerged flat, brooking no argument.

"You have no right to deny what my friends, the Golden Melo Warriors have tried to preserve and pass on. Or the memories Janus and Amiya try to live up to and use as encouragement."

And that was the core point of his anger. Charles' action would destroy the things important to his friends, and that isn't something he wanted to see.

Charles laughed again, but the sound was weaker this time as his life was fading rapidly. His body trembled with the effort required to produce noise.

"Maybe you're right..." A pause filled with labored breathing. "In truth, it was just me projecting."

Reinhard's brows furrowed as confusion flickered across his face. "Projecting?"

Charles's mask tilted slightly, and he softly said. "I became tired of everything. Suffocating from the pressure of being the leader of the Seekers." Each word emerged slowly, carefully, as if speaking truth long denied. "Of being constantly relied on. Of having to be the beacon of light and hope. Of having to always smile and never break."

His breathing grew more ragged between sentences.

"Raising everyone's morale. Never showing weakness. Never being allowed to be small. Constantly leading people toward the proper path."

Blood pooled beneath his collapsed form, staining the restored earth crimson.

"As time went on, I felt less like a human and more of a symbol or an icon. Or maybe I was just a thing that others would look at to cheer them up and keep going."

His voice cracked completely.

"It was so suffocating that it gradually became too much. So when I heard about the people being pulled by roots, I went ahead instead of calling for backup." A bitter laugh. "And then I willingly charged toward it for my death. Because in the end, I was a coward, too scared to ask for help from the others and break their perception of me. To show them that their golden symbol and light was human just like the rest of them."

Silence fell.

Reinhard's expression shifted through multiple emotions. First, it was shock, then realization, sympathy, and then understanding crossed his face.

"And when you survived..." Reinhard's voice emerged softly.

Charles nodded weakly. "I felt guilt, but also relief and freedom. I had left them to deal with the aftermath and ran away to live my life like a human being."

Reinhard fell silent before his eyes closed, and then he whispered. "Did you plan to die after erasing the past?"

"Yes." No hesitation. "It would be my way of taking all the blame and punishment. I already had a successor for the Luminous Knights, and this was meant to be my final journey."

Charles's body began breaking down completely, starting with his fingers crumbling to dust, then his arm following, and more.

"As expected." Charles said with something approaching relief. "I really pushed this body beyond its limit."

"Is that why it took time for your First Class magic to come back?" Reinhard's question.

Charles shook his head, but motion was barely noticeable. "To create the barriers, I had to reduce myself for a couple of hours. I simply burned my souls to push back into First Class temporarily."

His head lifted toward the sky, with Reinhard also following his gaze.

The golden radiance had faded completely, revealing pure blue unmarred by clouds or corruption. Beautiful in simplicity that defied three centuries of being blackened by towering trees and roots.

"Don't become like us." Charles' voice was fading, words requiring supreme effort. "Don't become fools who can't rely on or use those around you to achieve a goal."

His chest rose and fell irregularly.

"It's impossible for one person to tackle everything alone. Even more so to withstand the pressure and expectation of everyone."

A pause filled with labored breathing.

"But if we all work together, then even an impossible disaster such as the Dark Silence can be overcome..." He laughed weakly. "And a Second Class Beast Master defeating a First Class Beast Master becomes reality."

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