Ch. 397 - Like a Tiger (2)

As Flame leaped off the cliff and sprinted toward Dusk Soil Moon, high above - hundreds of meters in the air - atop the World Tree, a silver-haired boy watched the scene unfold.  

His smile faded.  

"Finally..."  

His eyes sparkled, and he couldn’t hide the excitement in his voice as he muttered:  

“Flame… At last, you’ll be mine.”

Silver Autumn Moon pressed a hand to his chest, steadying his racing heart. He had waited far too long for this moment, enduring agony and tedium in equal measure.

‘At least fifty times.’  

Even for Silver Autumn Moon, repeating time that many times was an excruciatingly difficult and painful process.  

Not to mention how unbearably dull it was to relive the same events over and over again.  

But it’s over now.  

‘I can finally be with you, Flame.’  

It was a typical love story—  

Silver Autumn Moon loved Flame.  

But it was a love that could never come true.  

Because in the future visions he saw, Flame did not exist.  

In other words, she died.  

The problem was that he didn’t know where, why, or how she would die.  

All he knew was that at some point, Flame suddenly disappeared from the future.  

So, he decided to rewrite fate.  

‘If I can fix the moment of her death to a time I choose, then we can be together forever…’  

When Silver Autumn Moon crossed from the future back to the past to manipulate history, the woman he found wasn’t exactly the Flame he remembered, but there was no doubt it was still her.  

So then—  

‘All I need to do is trap her in my world…’  

Sure, this would cause huge disruptions in the world Flame originally came from, but he didn’t care about that.  

In fact, he suspected that Fawn Prevernal Moon had already anticipated this outcome and erased parts of Flame’s memory before sending her here.  

‘Fawn Prevernal Moon! You’re happy because that boy, Baek Yu-Seol, is gone, and I get to have Flame. Isn’t this a win-win situation?’ 

Silver Autumn Moon watched Flame with an eager, pounding heart as she rushed forward.  

Dusk Soil Moon’s rampage? That didn’t matter.  

The destruction of the World Tree? He couldn’t care less.  

All that mattered now was to fake Flame’s death, deceive time, and then trap her in his world.  

That would complete his plan.  

Fifty attempts. Forty-nine failures.  

A world built atop countless failed timelines.  

“Flame, we’ll be together forever...”  

— Who said so?  

Gasp!  

A chill ran down his spine.  

He hadn’t sensed any presence. Yet suddenly, a voice called out from behind him.  

‘Someone… bypassed my senses? A Twelve Divine Moon?’  

He turned sharply, retreating a step as his gaze landed on an unfamiliar figure.

There stood a boy in Stella’s school uniform with his arms crossed. He wore a look of utter disdain.  

“Who are you…?”  

— Wow. I was hoping for something impressive from the ‘Silver Autumn Moon’ of another world, but this? It’s like meeting a knockoff Spider-Man from a parallel universe. Even online, I’ve never seen something this pathetic.  

“I asked—who are you?!”  

— Ugh, tone it down, will you? No need to shout.

The boy casually rubbed his ears, as if the whole situation bored him, then cast a glance toward Flame below, still rushing forward, oblivious to their exchange.

He sighed, somewhere between weary and amused, and returned his attention to Silver Autumn Moon with a mocking grin.

— Baek Yu-Seol. Heard of me? Pretty big deal. I was curious if my reputation extended to alternate dimensions, but I guess it doesn’t. Oh well.

“B-Baek Yu-Seol...? No, that’s impossible. Baek Yu-Seol only exists in Flame’s world…!”  

— Oh, right. Good to see you’ve done your homework. As expected, my fame precedes me… Honestly, my lifelong dream is just to go grocery shopping without being recognized.  

For a moment, Silver Autumn Moon felt fear creep in at the mention of Baek Yu-Seol’s name.  

But then he quickly realized— he had nothing to fear. 

"Ha... now I see. All you did was send a mere fragment of yourself. That’s it, isn’t it? She can’t even see you. Did you come here just to witness your own existence disappear?"  

— Yeah. Flame probably can’t see me, thanks to your powerful temporal barrier. Scared much? For someone like Silver Autumn Moon? 

"Petty taunts won’t work on me."  

—  Oh, but did you know something?  

"… What?"  

— You’ve been too obsessed with Flame. But there are actually three girls who traveled through time.  

"… That doesn’t matter. As long as she’s not the one who initiated the time travel, her connection to mana across time is practically nonexistent. She can’t see you."  

— Sure, keep thinking that. Oh, looks like my time’s up. Ugh, Silver Autumn Moon’s shiny alarm-clock helper isn’t very reliable, huh? Anyway, I’m out!  

Baek Yu-Seol turned abruptly and leapt toward the World Tree, his figure vanishing into the distance before Silver Autumn Moon could react.

Silver Autumn Moon could do nothing to stop him.  

Interfering now could ruin everything he had meticulously planned.  

"…Nothing will happen."  

There was nothing he could do.

Flame’s vision was already blocked.  

And as for Eisel, she lacked the ability to see entities from other timelines altogether.

But there was one thing he didn’t know.  

… Time mana wasn’t exclusive to Silver Autumn Moon.  

Although it took an incredibly long time, was extremely difficult, and had terrifyingly low success rates—  

Humans, too, could train and wield time mana.  

‘W-What…!’  

As Baek Yu-Seol descended toward the World Tree, time mana began leaking from his body.  

Silver Autumn Moon’s heart sank in that instant. 

‘A mere human... wielding time mana?!’  

His disbelief was palpable, but instinct spurred him to action.

He quickly layered an even thicker time barrier around Flame, ensuring that Baek Yu-Seol’s interference would be completely cut off.  

But then—  

‘… What is he doing now?’  

Having reached the World Tree’s branch, Baek Yu-Seol suddenly merged his body with Flame’s and began sprinting toward Dusk Soil Moon alongside her.  

Yet Flame showed no reaction.  

No matter how bizarre Baek Yu-Seol’s actions were or how much time mana he emitted, it was still insufficient to break through the Twelve Divine Moons’ authority.  

"Ha. I worried for nothing."  

As expected, the time mana of a human was nothing more than a trick.  

At best, it could allow a quick teleportation of a few meters.  

‘You can’t do anything with that, you fool, Baek Yu-Seol.’  

However—  

Because Silver Autumn Moon was so focused on Flame, he momentarily forgot one critical detail.  

There was another time traveler present.  

Though she had lost her memories, with the right trigger, she could recall everything.  

The blue-haired time traveler—Eisel Morph.  

Eisel stood frozen, staring blankly at Flame’s retreating figure as she ran forward like a broken machine.  

The name ‘Baek Yu-Seol’ kept echoing in her mind, refusing to fade.  

Boom!!!  

Dusk Soil Moon’s awakening sent violent tremors through the World Tree, but Eisel’s thoughts remained unshaken.  

‘This feels… familiar…’  

As Flame sprinted along the tree’s branch, Eisel’s vision overlapped and the image of a boy appeared in her mind.  

At the same time, her heart began to race uncontrollably.  

'Am I having a... heart attack?’

Suddenly, Eisel felt strange.  

A burning heat flared up inside her, as if she had caught a fever.  

For a cold-magic user like her, such a phenomenon was impossible.  

Quickly releasing cold energy to cool herself down, Eisel lifted her head.  

‘...I have to go.’  

She hadn’t come all the way here to fight that unbelievable creature.  

She had only followed Flame, who had suddenly charged toward the top of the World Tree, to help her.  

Because after her father’s death, Flame was the one who had reached out to her—  

Her only...  

Friend.  

‘Friend?’  

Her chest suddenly felt cold and hollow, as if it had sunk.  

‘What... am I...? Who am I...?’  

Two sets of memories collided inside her.  

The memories of Eisel at 18, a second-year student—  

And the memories of Eisel at 17, a first-year student.  

The memories of future Eisel and past Eisel began to swirl chaotically, each trying to consume the other.  

"Urgh..."  

With the collision of these two timelines, Eisel could no longer tell which memories were truly hers.  

But one thing was certain.  

"Baek Yu-Seol..."  

She still didn’t know who he was.  

But her instincts screamed that she had to follow Flame, whose image overlapped with his.  

‘Go after him. Hurry.’  

‘Follow him!’  

‘Are you going to stand back and watch Baek Yu-Seol from the shadows forever?!’  

‘Are you just going to wait while he solves everything?!’  

The Eisel in her heart was shouting at her.  

Though the 17-year-old Eisel didn’t fully understand who Baek Yu-Seol was, her body had already started moving.  

Crack! Crack!!!  

The waterfall cascading down the cliff instantly froze and shot upward—  

Forming a crystal bridge of ice right in front of Eisel.  

With each step she took, the ice bridge extended further—  

Straight toward Dusk Soil Moon.  

"W-What... is this?!" 

As Eisel shot ahead on the ice crystal bridge she had created, overtaking Flame in an instant, Flame shouted in shock.  

"Wait! Stop! What do you think you’re doing?! Hey!!"  

This couldn’t be happening.  

Eisel had never acted this aggressively before.  

‘What the hell is going on?!’  

Even if Eisel charged ahead, nothing would change.  

Right now, neither of them had any idea how to stop Dusk Soil Moon.  

They were simply rushing in blindly.  

"Stop, Eisel!"  

Flame cried out desperately, but Eisel only turned her head slightly, revealing a faint smile, before picking up even more speed.  

"Damn it! I said wait! You’re running straight to your death!"  

Flame could only watch as Eisel’s figure grew smaller and smaller in the distance.  

She couldn’t make sense of it.  

‘Why?’  

Suddenly, time seemed to freeze.  

Flame’s thoughts accelerated.  

She recalled 17-year-old Eisel.  

…Eisel had grown closer to her, but their relationship had never been one where they’d risk their lives for each other.  

Besides, the Eisel described in the novel had endured endless scorn and hardship… which made her highly defensive and focused solely on survival.  

In fact, in the original story, Eisel had even abandoned a friend during a nightmarish situation to save herself.  

And this Eisel, here and now, wasn’t much different from the one in the novel.  

So then, there was only one possibility.  

‘Did she… regain her memories?’  

The 18-year-old Eisel of the future had spent time with Baek Yu-Seol and been deeply influenced by him.  

Even Flame, who knew the original story, had thought of her as a completely different person by then. 

The future Eisel may have been a student, but she was closer to a hero.  

When faced with danger, even against an unbeatable foe, she never backed down and always fought head-on.  

That was the 18-year-old Eisel, the one Flame could confidently call her friend.  

‘But something felt off.’  

If Eisel had truly regained all her memories, she wouldn’t be acting like this.  

Instead, she would have likely rushed to Flame’s side, working together to find a solution.  

After all, even Eisel probably knew very little about this incident.  

Yet, look at her now.  

Didn’t she seem like someone who was about to sacrifice herself—leaving Flame behind?  

‘…She’s neither.’ 

This wasn’t the 17-year-old Eisel from the past.  

Nor was she the 18-year-old Eisel from the future.  

The Eisel before Flame’s eyes was someone completely different.  

‘The plan is falling apart.’  

The original plan had been simple.  

Flame would throw herself at Dusk Soil Moon, sacrificing herself to trigger Eisel’s memories, forcing her to recall Baek Yu-Seol.  

Once that happened, Eisel would remember the spell needed to return to the future and protect the world where Baek Yu-Seol existed.  

Of course, it had always been a gamble.  

Even if Flame died, there was no guarantee that Eisel would actually regain her memories. 

But… She couldn’t just stand by and watch Florin and the World Tree die.  

Yes, the future was important.  

And yes, the world where Baek Yu-Seol existed was important too.  

But how could she just ignore the tragedy unfolding right in front of her eyes?  

That… isn’t what Baek Yu-Seol would do.  

‘I decided to become like Baek Yu-Seol.’  

She had to save Eisel.  

That was her resolve.  

"Eisel, please wait! Why are you doing this?!"  

Everything had fallen apart.  

The deafening roar of Dusk Soil Moon, the screams of Florin in agony, and the World Tree withering away, all painted a picture of despair.  

There was no way to overcome this nightmare.  

Eisel couldn’t die here.  

One death was enough. Hers.  

If her sacrifice could trigger Eisel’s memories, then—  

‘Wait, what?’  

Suddenly, a strange sense of unease washed over her.  

‘...Déjà vu?’  

Why did this situation feel so… familiar?  

As if she had experienced it dozens of times before.  

Her steps slowed.  

"... What is this?"  

Something was off.  

Baek Yu-Seol wasn’t here.  

And yet, why did it feel like he was close by?  

"Hey... Are you there, old man?"  

It was stupid to talk to empty air in the middle of such a crisis.  

And yet—  

‘Yeah.’  

She could’ve sworn she heard a reply. 

Neither mana, nor presence, nor scent, nor form—  

There was nothing visible.  

Yet, the sense of existence was so clear that it couldn’t be ignored.  

And at that moment, Flame finally understood.  

‘So that’s it.’ 

The strange sense of unease she had felt all this time—  

“I was trapped here.”  

Memories erased in gray—and beyond that, even memories erased in silver.  

‘The memories I lost… weren’t just a spell.’  

Flame lifted her head.  

Eisel was already dangerously close to Dusk Soil Moon.  

Anyone could see that her actions were suicidal.  

Would the 17-year-old Eisel really do something like this?  

Of course not.  

“…It feels refreshing.”  

As Eisel rushed toward Dusk Soil Moon, she whispered into the air.  

For some reason, there was no sense of fear and no panic about the possibility of dying.  

Instead, as she raced past Flame, heading straight for Dusk Soil Moon, her heart felt almost light.  

‘Yes, that’s it.’  

‘You can do this too!’  

Eisel smiled.  

She laughed brightly as she charged toward the awakening Dusk Soil Moon.  

And in that moment, she realized—  

This was the right answer.  

Even though she had no idea what to do or how to stop it, she had a feeling—  

A belief. A belief that this was the way forward.  

‘You know it too.’ 

Eisel closed her eyes for a brief moment before opening them again.  

Then, together with another Eisel—  

She spoke a single name.  

"Baek Yu-Seol."  

Lost in the labyrinth of time, he had always been the one to lead them. 

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