"Mm... much warmer now."
Diana's body stiffened slightly, but this time she didn't struggle. She simply rested her head gently on the shoulder of this man who was always so shameless yet always so reliable.
That night, no one spoke again. There was only moonlight like water, and three hearts beating closely together.
After they had both fallen into deep sleep, Cloud similarly used his most gentle yet most powerful strength to leave guardian seals for these two stunning women—one representing the pinnacle of "mortal love," the other the zenith of "divine beauty."
"Sleep well, my queens."
...
The third day belonged to "the wise" and "the guides."
That day, Cloud went nowhere. He simply stayed in Infinite Manor's Zen-like Japanese garden, accompanying Chizuru Kagura and Natasha.
He played Go with Chizuru Kagura all day long. On the board, black and white stones coiled and clashed like two great dragons, the situation shifting between peril and opportunity.
Chizuru placed her stones with composed elegance. Her every move demonstrated her mastery of the big picture and understanding of balance—she guarded the rules and order of the board.
Cloud's moves, on the other hand, were wild and unconventional. His style sometimes resembled a reckless newcomer, sometimes a sage who had seen through millennia. A single stone could overturn heaven and earth. He enjoyed breaking rules and creating miracles.
They played from dawn to dusk. Finally, the black and white stones on the board formed an extraordinarily profound shape of yin and yang intertwined—an "infinity" symbol. A draw.
"You're leaving, aren't you?" Chizuru set down her stone and looked up. Those eyes, always filled with wisdom and calm, showed a rare trace of reluctance.
"...Will you come back?"
Nearby, Natasha had been sitting quietly, silently watching their game.
Every movement, every expression, she carved deeply into her soul.
"Yeah." Cloud nodded. "An uninvited 'guest' has shown up at home. I need to go 'entertain' them."
"Of course." Cloud smiled. "This game isn't finished yet. Next time, I won't go easy on you."
When Cloud walked over to her, she handed him a cup of tea she'd brewed earlier—the temperature just right.
"Take care." She said only those three words, but they contained a thousand unspoken words of care and concern.
She asked nothing, said nothing more. She simply watched Cloud with those eyes sharper than any spy satellite, as if memorizing his every expression and movement.
Cloud drained the tea in one gulp. Then he reached out to ruffle her hair as he usually did, but halfway there, his hand paused.
Instead, he gently smoothed that strand of red hair the wind had tousled at her temple.
"Wait for me." He also said only those three words.
Similarly, in the quiet of night, he left eternal guardian seals for these two—his most steadfast supporter and his most synchronized eyes—his soul companions.
...
The seventy-two-hour "holiday" ended.
When the dawn of the fourth day arrived, the Angler's Negative-Entropy force finally descended in full.
The warm, vibrant scenery of Infinite Manor began to regress in a silent, bone-chilling manner.
Budding roses reversed from bloom to bud, then to stem, finally becoming seeds buried in the earth. The gurgling spring water in the garden began flowing backward to its source, the surface becoming still and dead.
The women noticed something was wrong.
Mai was shocked to discover that the clothes she'd just finished sewing for Cloud last night had somehow reverted to scattered fabric and thread.
Kula discovered, with a tearful face, that the giant "Rainbow Honey Candy" she'd eaten yesterday had made her hungry again.
Even their memories began showing slight regression—suddenly forgetting what they'd been thinking a second ago, having to struggle to recall what they'd just experienced.
A final law that reversed all "existence" into "nothingness" was silently eroding this home Cloud had created with his own hands.
Cloud stood alone at the highest point of Infinite Manor.
He gazed at this world being "erased," at the women behind him who felt uneasy but still chose to trust him because he was there. All expression vanished from his face, leaving only unprecedented calm—and the absolute resolve of one about to wage war against "heaven."
He knew that a final battle with no retreat, no escape, was upon him.
And this time, what he protected was no longer just a world, nor just a universe.
It was the garden of spring colors behind him.
...
The mastermind behind all of this—the Angler—floated silently in that void of erasure.
He remained that blurred, formless silhouette.
He said nothing, made no movements.
Like the most skilled surgeon, he was using an invisible scalpel to excise, bit by bit, the world Cloud had created from the very roots of existence.
He savored the helpless, despairing dissolution of these once-powerful lives before him.
But just when he thought everything was settled—
A voice full of irritation shattered the silence.
"Hey."
The Angler's blurred silhouette shifted slightly.
He "looked" toward the source of the voice.
There stood Cloud, at the center of the manor.
His face was written with the ultimate displeasure of someone who had finally finished building their theme park only to have it condemned for demolition before opening day!
"Listen, buddy."
Cloud looked up at that incomprehensible existence and complained with theatrical exasperation:
"Don't you think you're being kind of a sore loser here?"
"You work so hard raising a fish, then the fish jumps out of the pond—and while it's at it, takes over a couple neighboring ponds too."
"So then you, the pond owner, just flip the table and tear down the whole fish market?"
The Angler didn't answer.
He merely accelerated the speed of his "erasure."
He would make this BUG who dared mock him the first thing to disappear from this world.