Gray Serpent saw so many Lords appear that its CPU nearly crashed.
"Gray Serpent, long time no see. Do you still remember me?" Mobius smiled.
To it, Mobius was a creator. The one who had given it life in this world.
"Gray Serpent, if you had to choose a Lord between Mobius and Kevin, who would you pick?" Koji asked.
Gray Serpent: "..."
Even as a machine, Gray Serpent did not know how to answer. The pressure was immense.
If it picked wrong, would it be torn down into scrap?
"Boring question," Mobius said coolly. "Hurry and take us over."
Koji nodded and led the Flame-Chasers into Omphalos.
Because a large number of outsiders had shown up all at once, the Ancient Dynasty's administrator automatons were baffled. To protect the secrecy of the experiment, this place had been specially encrypted. Even Volka Kakamu couldn't observe it.
How did so many variables suddenly enter? Earlier, Phainon and that pink-haired schemer had already started Eternal Return—more than thirty million loops. If they stirred up more trouble, could the Iron Tomb still be born?
The Ancient Dynasty decided to witness these uninvited guests in person.
"So this is a simulated data world. It does have a bit of the Elysian Realm's flavor," Vill-V said evenly.
"The Solar System is too barren. No vitality. You can't live there. Only those with something extraordinary, shackled by the Cocoon of Finality, can survive in the Solar System," Koji said with a smile.
None of the Flame-Chasers disagreed. Their civilization had been strangled by the Cocoon of Finality.
Suddenly a stone statue in the distance moved. The stone shell flaked away, revealing monsters within. Koji recognized them.
Minions of the Titan.
Swish, swish, swish—
Elysia brought out bygone crystal blossoms—her favorite. She drew and loosed. Crystal arrows flashed and felled the Titan's minions in an instant.
"I thought I'd be weak here," Elysia said, surprised. Entering a broader world, it was natural to worry that your power would fall behind.
"Don't be fooled by the Solar System's isolation. Its top fighters aren't weak. Put in this world, the Herrscher of Finality ranks very high," Koji said.
A single strike could burst a star. Even the Archivist admitted that Makima could, by will alone, stir waves on par with an Envoy. That definitely wasn't the Herrscher of Finality's full power.
"Cy… Cyrene?"
A white-haired youth appeared. He stared at Elysia in disbelief, rubbed his eyes hard, then stared again.
"Are you talking to me?" Elysia tilted her head. That wasn't her name.
Cyrene—Lotus of the Past—was a fine name, though.
The white-haired youth, Phainon, sucked in a breath. Her look, her tone, her voice—uncannily similar.
But Cyrene was not this tall. More like this Elysia was Cyrene all grown up.
He had never heard that Cyrene had an older sister or any other relatives.
"My name is Elysia. Don't call a girl by the wrong name," Elysia said. She pushed Kevin's face aside to make him look away, then studied him again.
The resemblance really was outrageous. Only the aura differed.
Tenkai: Open Eyes.
Su couldn't help opening his eyes. The likeness was striking. The aura was almost identical to Kevin's back in their student days.
Kevin saw Phainon and a faint nostalgia crossed his face. Then he composed himself.
So, in this world, "he" would meet a different ending.
"Hello, I'm Phainon." The young man scratched his head. He looked gentle. Someone looking like that probably wasn't a bad person.
"Hello, Kaslana," Koji said directly.
"Kaslana?"
Elysia and the others exchanged amused looks when they heard that surname.
They had heard that fifty thousand years later Kevin would walk the world under the name "Kaslana," and this Phainon—who looked so much like Kevin—had the true name
Kaslana.
The coincidence was very interesting.
"We've met?" Phainon's expression shifted. Very few people knew that name of his.
"No. But I know you—the savior of this world," Koji said with a smile.
Elysia glanced at Kevin again. Your counterpart is probably just as annoying as you.
Kevin said nothing. He also felt Phainon shared certain traits with him.
"Why do you look so much like me?" Phainon stared at Kevin, dazed.
On Kevin he sensed an icy chill, and a near-obsessive, unshakable resolve.
"I'm Kevin. A warrior who bears the path of salvation. If you ask me about saving others—sometimes we can't even save a single person. But that is never a reason to give up," Kevin said, his tone meaningful.
After hearing this, Phainon fell into thought, clenching his fists.
Yes. Sometimes you can't even save one person. He knew that too well.
He hadn't saved his homeland. He hadn't saved Cyrene.
He had done nothing.
Anyone with eyes could tell Phainon carried a story—and not a happy one.
"Phainon, right? That Cyrene you mentioned—does she look like me?" Elysia asked, curious.
"Mm. Very much like your counterpart. She's my best partner," Phainon said, indicating Cyrene's height.
"You really do look alike."
Mobius smiled faintly.
"How could she not? She must be a beautiful maiden just like Elysia," Elysia said, a little eager to meet a counterpart of her own.
Kevin pondered. There would never be a second Elysia. This Cyrene was only a coincidental resemblance.
A savior here who resembled him. A Cyrene who resembled Elysia. A Journey of Flames Reborn—but it didn't smell like a happy ending.
At the same time he caught the scent of schemes and calculations.
Whoever planned this virtual world was not a benevolent soul.
(End of Chapter)
[100 Power Stones = 1 Extra Chapter]
[Check out my Patreon to read 20+ chapters ahead]
[[email protected]/Zukooo]
[Thanks for your support!]