As one of the few people who had truly delved into Bayonetta's heart, Solomon had witnessed this scene more than once. Back then, however, he always experienced it from Bayonetta's perspective—feeling her helplessness and despair as she beheld Rosa's lifeless body. This kind of dream-probing magic required the subject's complete openness and zero resistance in order for the caster to repeatedly observe specific details. As part of psychological therapy between partners, Solomon would usually perform this spell after intimacy, while Bayonetta drifted off to sleep, gradually helping her come to terms with the memory. If cast while she was awake, her mental defenses would affect the spell's efficacy.
Perhaps for this very reason, when Bayonetta once again saw her mother's corpse, she was able to maintain her composure through overwhelming grief and come up with the right solution. Balder had no idea that Bayonetta had nodded slightly toward an empty corner before stepping into the moonlight—his attention entirely on the deceased Rosa. The pale moonlight passively amplified the witch's power, allowing Bayonetta to use Witch Walk, a spell similar to Spider Climb, without incantation. She stood steadily on the glass of the circular skylight. Bayonetta rarely used the power of the Eye of the World by choice, but now she had no other option. Only the combined power of the Right Eye of Light and the Left Eye of Darkness could return them to the future.
"The dimensional passage is open. We must return to my time!" Bayonetta shouted as she saw Balder still holding Rosa motionless. "Hurry—we're out of time!"
"Balder." Perhaps it was Bayonetta's voice that stirred Rosa in her final moments. Perhaps it was Rosa's lingering soul animating her long-dead body. Miraculously, Rosa opened her eyes and looked at her beloved. "Take care of Cereza. Our child will awaken her power—she will be called by the Eye of the World."
She glanced up at the black silhouette submerged in moonlight atop the skylight. After that, Rosa seemed to sink into the mire of death, her consciousness fading, her soul descending into a warm, spring-like darkness. Balder screamed her name in agony, but no matter what he did, she would not stir again. He cursed his own powerlessness. This wasn't the first time he had seen Rosa die—he had thought that this time he might be able to change something. But again, he had failed.
The first time, they had fought side by side when she was struck down by a hidden enemy. After that, he'd trusted the one calling himself the Prophet, traveling to the future to seek revenge. The second time, he didn't even make it in time—he had watched helplessly as she was murdered by that damned boy. Rage and sorrow ground in his mind like two rusted gears, shrieking, jammed, immovable.
Had Rosa not told him their daughter's name, he might not have been able to think clearly at all. It was clear Rosa retained memories from the time loop—she had handed him the lipstick the first time around.
"Balder!" Bayonetta urged again, her voice anxious. "We don't have time!"
Gently laying Rosa down, Balder stood up slowly, brimming with fury. He leapt into the air and grasped the hand Bayonetta extended.
"Mummy..." Bayonetta looked down lovingly at her mother's form, then resolutely cast the spell, activating the power of the Eye of the World.
"Mummy... no!" The Bayonetta of this era and Jeanne burst into the room just then. Jeanne shut the door and sealed it to prevent anyone else from entering. But the room was not empty. This younger Bayonetta raised a pistol, her grief and anger boiling over as she pointed it at the golden-armored figure cradling Rosa. "I saw you kill the angels! Who are you? Put her down!"
Solomon slowly removed his helmet. The young witch gasped, her breath catching. "It's you... Big Brother?"
"Cereza! You know him?" Jeanne asked warily, still aiming her gun at Solomon's head.
"Yes... I know him." The scene overwhelmed the younger Bayonetta. "What is going on…"
"This is a time loop, Cereza. A merging of timelines and parallel universes. You'll understand it all in time." Solomon now realized why the Sorcerer Supreme had left him here. He had tried to sneak back to Kamar-Taj's Himalayan base early, but the Sorcerer wanted him to witness firsthand the looping events surrounding the Sun Island Incident—while sparing him the messy family drama.
Solomon understood that the girl before him wasn't the Bayonetta he had grown close to over the years, but the younger Cereza—still with her memories intact, the girl he had once cared for. So he softened his tone, speaking gently as he once had when looking after her. "I will take Rosa away. No one will be able to find her," he said. "That's my promise to you. You'll face difficult choices in your life—but I'll remove this burden."
"What is he talking about, Cereza?" Jeanne asked, growing impatient. "Should I kill him?"
"No…" Cereza stepped forward, eyes full of sorrow as she gazed at her mother's body. "I'm entrusting everything to you, Big Brother."
Solomon nodded. "Don't worry. We'll meet again in the future."
In front of Cereza and Jeanne, he opened a portal to the Himalayas. A blizzard raged through the opening. Solomon donned his helmet again, cradled Rosa's body, and walked through without looking back. When only a slowly melting dusting of snow remained on the floor, distant cries of battle echoed from outside the sealed door.
Cereza shook off her grief and stood beside Jeanne, ready to face the incoming enemy. This was the outcome of the Sun Island Incident: the past Cereza had not wallowed in sorrow, and thus was never sealed away by Jeanne.
Solomon finally understood why the Sorcerer Supreme had arranged this lesson for him. Cereza was Bayonetta. Bayonetta was Cereza. After the timelines merged, all versions of her across the multiverse became one and the same. That was why she had become his partner—why she had, even before he came of age, proposed living together. Such was the mystery of time: causality didn't follow logic.
When he arrived at Kamar-Taj, no one stopped him.
He first visited the tombs behind the main temple. There, he placed Rosa's body into a stone sarcophagus long prepared for her. He brought in a slab of marble and spent several hours carving it into her likeness. Then he sealed the chamber completely. After finishing everything, Solomon walked toward the Sorcerer Supreme's meditation room. His master was already waiting.
The two didn't speak—just exchanged a nod. The Sorcerer then led him deep into the underground prison for dangerous entities. Solomon had been here many times before, yet he never knew what was hidden in some of the cells—until the Sorcerer pointed to an empty one. Then he understood. While studying magic in the future, he had seen records mentioning that this particular cell had been sealed for five hundred years.
The cells nearby were already locked tight. The warden in charge stepped back into the shadows—his face exactly the same as five centuries later.
"Is there anything else you want to do?" the Sorcerer asked.
"No, Master," Solomon said, shaking his head. He lay down on the rune-engraved stone bed, hands gripping his sword like a knight being interred. He placed his helmet beside his head and folded the burial cloth neatly at his side. "I just hope Rosa's grave won't be disturbed."
"No one will disturb it," the Sorcerer Supreme said, drawing a deep breath. "Get ready. Once the spell is cast, you'll lose consciousness."
"See you in five hundred years, Master." Solomon closed his eyes. He knew the mechanics of the spell. Once complete, he would fall into a suspended state—like an insect frozen in amber. It was the most temporally delicate way to travel through time. Solomon's interference with time would incur backlash, but only here—like this—could he begin repaying his temporal debt without affecting himself.
"See you in five hundred years, my most beloved disciple."
An orange-red light flashed, and Solomon sank into endless darkness.
(End of Chapter)
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