In a single moment, everything changed.
The world around Edgar distorted,then contracted in his eyes as if time was being pulled from its edges.
The colors faded,then exploded anew into the form of a yellow road stretching into infinity, shining like molten gold under hidden shadows.
Before his eyes,the transparent instructions appeared with their glassy effect, flashing with rapid blue lines.
[System Active.]
[Door Level: E.]
[Cleaner Rank: E.]
[Mission Skill: Destructive Leap.]
[Objective: Break the Sword.]
A faint metallic sound accompanied the appearance of the words.
Tick, tick, tick... Ding!— as if the System was breathing in his head.
Edgar read the instructions with narrowed eyes, then reached his hand towards the screen and drew his red sword.
It was the Resurrection Blade — his own sword that whispered of destruction every time it left its scabbard.
His gaze turned towards Duncan, then to Duncan's back where Alexander had been sitting…
The space was empty.
His traces had vanished as if he had never been there.
Edgar said sharply:
"Where did Alexander go?"
Duncan answered him, twitching his ears nervously:
"And how should I know?"
Edgar exhaled and continued walking on the glowing yellow road.
"Whatever. Just follow me."
His voice was steady, but the thoughts in his head were colliding violently.
Every step produced a softcrack under his shoe, as if the road was made of brittle glass, and every thought led him to a deeper void.
He couldn't stop thinking about that mysterious man— Alexander.
Edgar said after a long silence:
"Damn... Duncan, do you know anything about him, Alexander?"
Duncan glanced lightly, then raised his head:
"Yes, I know him. And I know him well... In fact, I'm his biggest admirer!"
Edgar raised his eyebrow in surprise:
"Admirer? Why?"
Duncan answered in a voice mixed with enthusiasm and reverence:
"He's different, Edgar... To possess power like his, and choose to restrain it yourself — that's something worthy of respect."
Edgar tilted his head slightly and said in a skeptical tone:
"And what exactly is his power?"
Duncan was silent for a moment, then said in a low, tense voice as if whispering a forbidden secret:
"It's the strongest power the human mind can imagine...[ Illogic]."
He looked up at Edgar, who stood frozen, while Duncan continued:
"Simply put, he is capable of doing and defeating anything, anything at all, whenever he wishes. But he doesn't... because in his view, that would be logical, and anyone who possesses power would be driven to prove it. But Alexander isn't measured by power, isn't subject to any classification, and doesn't belong to any concept. He doesn't acknowledge power, nor evil, nor good, nor system. He is just... outside logic."
[Everything Duncan said about Alexander was just an attempt to understand. In fact, no one can understand that person's existential state.]
The word Illogic echoed in Edgar's mind like a reverberation from another world.
His heart began to beat at a painfully rapid pace.
He felt the air around him grow heavier,and the ground sway gently beneath him.
Suddenly,his knees began to tremble.
His body shook on its own.
"What... is happening?" — he said it in a feeble voice as he sat on the ground.
His hand pressed against his chest while his breath quickened.
"Damn... my body won't obey me!"
Duncan approached quietly and stood beside him:
"I know... don't worry. It's normal. We are humans, Edgar, we walk by logic, and hearing about the existence of a person Beyond logic... makes your limbs betray you."
Edgar took a deep breath, then said, smiling lightly despite the sweat on his brow:
"Alright... I'll try to get up. Help me."
Duncan extended his head and helped him stand.
His body was still trembling,but he moved forward with steady steps.
After a short distance, a gateway of white light appeared before them, spinning around itself.
It emitted a deep sound— Whooooommmmm — as if it were swallowing the air.
Edgar approached without hesitation.
The moment he touched the light,the door sucked them in a whirlwind of light.
---
When Edgar opened his eyes, he was standing on a vast green plain, the grass stretching until it met the sunset.
On the horizon,a towering mountain, and behind it, a half-submerged sun dyeing the sky a vivid orange.
But the beauty didn't last long.
The air carried a continuous sound— Shing! Clak! Clak! Crack! — the sound of swords clashing without cease.
Duncan said, staring at the horizon:
"Oh, it seems this place is very... lively."
The two continued advancing until they reached the mountain peak.
From there,Edgar saw the full scene:
Hundreds of thousands of humans fighting with their swords,wearing white armor with red crosses.
Blood covered the soil,and corpses rose again after death, returning to fight in an endless cycle.
It was a war without meaning,without purpose, without victory or defeat — only an eternal struggle among the ghosts of regret.
Duncan said, sitting on a high rock:
"Well, I think the view here is good enough for me. Good luck, you'll continue alone."
Edgar looked at him indifferently, then turned his gaze to his sword.
"Alright..."
He stepped forward, each step making a distinct sound — crack... crack... — as if the grass was disappearing under his feet, revealing red soil stained with old blood.
The closer he got,the colder the air became, and the sound of war swelled until he felt he was in the heart of an iron storm.
Then he saw them.
The soldiers.
They were endless rows,and all of them... with the same face.
A broad chin. Black hair. Brown eyes. A scar on the mouth.
Endless human copies,as if a curse had made the world duplicate a single person forever.
Edgar advanced slowly, his sword in hand, and said loudly:
"Hey! Look at me! I'm talking to you!"
In a single moment, the sound stopped.
The war froze.
All the soldiers turned towards him simultaneously,with the same movement, the same cold look.
Hundreds of thousands of eyes staring at him.
Even the wind stopped.
The scene was suffocating.
No one moved...until Duncan, the spectator above, muttered with genuine fear:
"Oooh... damn."