Rage was never something logical. It never followed proportional laws. Someone could kill a million people, but as long as it was far away, Nova would only feel light anger, cold and calculable.

Instead, rage was exponential. The closer an injustice is done to someone, the more intensely it is felt. Despite all his lives, nothing had hurt him quite like this place—this island once filled with kindness.

Oh, how many plans he made that day as he stared into the depths, to get back at the one responsible. Oh, how twisted his mind was with rage.

[Absolute Intent (10% Evolved)]

[Your killing intent transcends all defensive abilities. Not even the strongest will can resist freezing under your murderous intent.]

[Evolved: Your killing intent begins to take physical form, but its power is unstable, barely under your control.]

The lighthouse shattered first. Cracks spiderwebbed from Nova's boots, cleaving wood and water into splintered shards. Darkness bled through the fractures, devouring the harbor, the waves, the salt-stung air. Only the corpses remained. The villagers. The hollow-eyed version of Nova from a life steeped in failure.

"You actually dared to show yourself to me. Did you never understand the dangers you unleashed on yourself back then? How lucky you were that the void was out of reach in my last life?"

The man stood completely still in front of him, unable to move. Only his heart, which sounded far too large and deep for a human, still made sound. And it grew louder.

The scene, which had fractured into pieces, revealed what was behind it all.

The rift being.

It loomed above the collapsing memory, a blasphemy of insectile limbs and human guise. A dozen stick-thin arms twitched as pupils swelled across its bulbous head—each eye a perfect echo of the void that once watched Nova from the deep. The creature's heartbeat thundered, deeper than any human organ, shaking the remnants of the dream.

"Still hiding behind borrowed faces?" Nova's voice scraped raw. Killing intent coiled around him like black lightning, fracturing the air. "But the Holy City's celestial essence scalds worse than saltwater, doesn't it? You can't flee into the deep this time."

The being had no mouth, and even if it did, it could only understand basic intent. What it mastered was emotions, and right now it could feel that Nova was in control.

The old Nova lunged against him, trying to turn the tables. "Go on, then. Drench that book some more. It's only ri—"

A whip-crack of darkness severed the specter mid-sentence as the refined intent took action. Two halves of his body crumpled, sending blood in every direction. Black guts fell to the ground, still connecting the two halves.

Nova inhaled sharply as the unstable energy recoiled in his grip. It was too much in his current form, too sharp and too soon.

"Beg," Nova hissed, advancing on the rift being. The creature's limbs spasmed, eyes flickering between his face and the pulsating massacre below. "Or cling to pride. Either way, I'll savor your silence. Feel this sensation of powerlessness, and savor it well."

The rift being's torso rippled. A low, guttural groan reverberated—not from any mouth, but from the darkness itself. Nova recognized the sound. The same despair that once forced his hand, escaping Jenny's throat.

"You fucking—"

"NOVA!"

Annelie's voice cut through the storm in his mind as silver fell over his vision."Stop." Her thumbs pressed into his temples, trembling. Blood dripped from her bitten lips, smearing the helmet's rim. "Please."

Nova whirled. The void's madness slid off him, but Annelie's eyes already swam with fractured light. Madness gnawed at her edges, yet she'd torn the helmet off her own head to reach him. To grip his face while her mind frayed.

"What are you doing? Put it back! You'll die out here!"

"Why are we here?" Her eyes stared into his, reddened with effort yet perfectly clear.

"Annelie!" Nova put his hands over hers, clasped firmly on the sides of his head. He attempted to push them away, but they refused to budge. "Get this damn helmet back on your head! I can't deal with you turning mad again!"

"Why are we here?!" Annelie shouted. The void recoiled from her words, as if repelled by their clarity.

His hands froze. Behind him, the rift being's heartbeat stuttered.

"...To kill that thing before more people die…"

"Right! Then do that!" Tears streaked her face. "Don't wait around to enjoy your revenge! People could be dying every second!"

The rift being hissed. Nova's killing intent flared, brushing Annelie's cheek. She didn't flinch. Blood dripped down her chin, falling on her shaking hands.

Nova closed his eyes. The scalpel glinted in his memory. The villagers' torches.

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But then Millie appeared. She only had one cardinal left to protect her, and judging by how things were going, Shivere wouldn't last long.

'...What was it Darius said? Nine lives, and still a fucking dumbass… How right you were.'

The Killing intent vanished as he unequipped the fragment, letting it rest. Instead, he turned his attention to the bright sparks near his soul.

'Ah, there are three now… And one smaller one, still dwarfing my own.'

[Soul of Archbishop Claudette equipped.]

The power was immediate, flushing through his body like a hurricane. But his blood-infused flesh could take it without issue.

Sighing, Nova pressed the helmet back onto Annelie's head. His enhanced essence flowed through the silver framework, filling it back up instantly. Annelie's breath hitched with relief, then quickly shifted to urgency.

"Don't waste time! You only have so long with the borrowed soul!"

"I know." Nova turned his attention upwards, staring at the grotesque creature floating above them. It observed him without fear, possibly mistaking his loss of killing intent for mercy.

But it could not have been more wrong.

Nova gathered the Archbishop's essence in his feet, compressing it until the void itself began to splinter beneath his boots. He launched himself skyward, moving so fast the air cracked behind him. The creature's multitude of eyes widened in unison as Nova shot straight for its bulbous head.

Instead of striking it directly, Nova twisted mid-flight. His essence carved a perfect circle through one massive eye, creating an entrance into the being's skull. He slipped through the opening like water through a breach, finding himself in a pulsating chamber lined with more watching eyes.

The walls undulated with alien life, but at the chamber's center floated what Nova sought—a massive heart that beat with otherworldly power. Each pulse sent waves of force through the void, maintaining the rift above Damascus. Even now, it had no choice but to keep that tear in reality open.

"If you do feel any human emotions," Nova's voice echoed in the cramped space, "mortal fear would be quite fitting right now."

He pulled the bomb from his backpack with deliberate care. The heart's rhythm faltered as he approached, perhaps sensing the weapon's purpose. Nova positioned the sphere precisely in the chamber's center, right beside the pulsing organ.

His fingers traced a complex pattern across the bomb's surface, activating both the remote formation and a Chain of Binding. The chains materialized from darkness, wrapping around the sphere to ensure it stayed exactly where he'd placed it.

"And I still have a minute left..." Nova studied his work with satisfaction. "It's a shame I won't be here to see your end. But at least I get to pull the trigger."

He turned away from the heart and pushed out through the wound he'd made in the being's eye, letting the Archbishop's power cushion his descent as he landed next to Annelie.

"Are you okay?" He studied her face through the silver helmet, searching for signs of the void's influence.

"I'm fine!" Annelie grabbed his shoulders for support, still not recovered after her transformation. "Did you activate the bomb?"

"Yes, it's ticking down as we speak." Nova glanced up at the writhing creature above them. Its many eyes had turned inward, perhaps sensing the celestial device now nestled beside its heart.

"How long do we have?"

"A good hour, don't worry. We can leave much faster with the string." He reached for the silvery thread still glowing in the darkness.

"So we're leaving, right?" Annelie's voice carried an edge of desperation. "There's no reason to stay any longer than we have to."

Nova sighed, knowing she was right. His eyes drifted to the villagers still standing motionless in the void. The weight in his chest grew heavier as he looked at each familiar feature. "I hope this is enough for you guys..."

Something shifted in their rigid poses, no longer carrying any malice. Their arms slowly rose to point at something behind him, as if wanting to show him something.

He turned, following their direction. The void peeled back like old wallpaper, revealing the lighthouse surgery room in stark daylight. Salt-crusted windows filtered the morning sun, casting harsh shadows across the scene.

Young Jenny thrashed against the leather restraints, possessing unnatural strength. Her eyes rolled back, showing only whites as something dark worked through her system. Near the wall, the old Nova sat with his face in his hands.

'Why would you show me this? One final attempt at breaking my spirit?'

The restraint snapped with a sharp crack. Jenny's hand shot toward the surgical tray, moving with jerky, puppet-like motions. Her fingers closed around the scalpel's handle as Nova lunged forward, too late to stop what came next.

'...What?'

His older self was pushed off, unable to stop the little girl from destroying herself. No surgeon could restore the damage she inflicted on herself. The old doctor had been helpless, and without fault.

'This… this isn't true. Why show me this? I remember it clearly! I killed her!'

The scene shifted again. Now, his past self knelt in deep water, staring into massive eyes that filled his vision. His face reflected in those dark pupils, twisted with fresh grief as tendrils of void essence reached for his mind.

Such tiny changes to his mind, to his memories, a trifle for such a powerful being. But so destructive. So monumentally changing. He had been a mere mortal in that life, unable to feel the changes as he stared into the deep.

"There's… no way."

Tiny hands held his forehead from behind as Annelie leaned against his back. "Nova…"

"Why would he show me this?" Nova asked, leaning against her palms. They felt warm, grounding his thoughts. "What reason does he have to… To heal my heart?"

"...Look behind you."

Nova turned, finding all the bodies now bowing to him. Jenny was placed at the front, holding her palms together in front of her face—the sign for gratitude in that world.

Nova breathed heavily, unable to accept what they were trying to tell him. He turned back to the rift being, seeing the hundreds of eyes staring back at him. There was no recognizable emotion, but somehow, Nova felt joy from it.

"...After attacking me so relentlessly, what reason do you have to give me this? I can't believe it if you don't give me a reason."

"Perhaps… they became part of it?" Annelie's voice was gentle against his ear. "The villagers, I mean."

"...And now that it knows it has lost, that part wanted me to know?"

"Maybe? Now that fighting no longer serves a purpose, it can let that part do what it wants?"

Nova stared at the bowing villagers, at Jenny's small hands pressed together in gratitude. "...It feels too neat. My greatest regret in life turns out to be just an altered memory? The truth is that I never wavered in my principles?"

"Are there other times you have wavered?"

"...No." The word came out as a light whisper. He already knew the answer. This place stood out to him for that exact reason.

"Then I believe it's true."

He looked up again, seeing nothing but emotionless eyes staring back. But somewhere in that alien flesh, tiny fragments of humanity had finally found their voice.

'You became your own undoing... And now these souls—or perhaps, fragments—want to go home. In peace.'

With a deep breath, Nova took hold of Annelie's arms and pulled them around his neck. He was ready to leave, and there was no time to waste.

She understood, and pulled herself up on his back. "You're ready?"

"Yeah… Let's go back."

With that, they left the scene behind, following the thin white thread leading back to Damascus. Only Annelie got to see Jenny wave at them as they left.

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