After the great bell rang, the only ones falling slowly through the air were no longer just Cuhlun and the queen pill bug with the split head—Renas had joined them too.
When Renas froze time, he used his ability Titan's Wink to reinforce his own body, and in a single leap he crossed the distance from the school gate—ten stories high—to reach Cuhlun in midair.
Of course, the school entrance was obliterated in a massive explosion, and Mind Eater got caught in the blast too—but what could he have done?
The queen pill bug's head bore a massive wound from breaking through the cavern ceiling. Her enormous purple-black scales had split open, and blue blood poured from the gash toward Cuhlun.
Renas landed with the sound of the bell, and the immense force and air pressure he'd generated while time was stopped were released the moment time resumed—turning him into a living projectile.
Even so, Titan's Wink was not to be underestimated. Thanks to it, he survived the collision without injury. Still, the impact hurled both him and Cuhlun, who was clinging to the queen, far away—because Renas had basically fired himself like a cannonball.
Yet even that wasn't the end of it. Renas plunged the bayonet of his rifle deep into the queen pill bug's gaping wound, forcing it wider.
The queen thrashed violently, struggling to push him away, to protect herself—but Renas fired once.
The creature's resistance faltered. Its limbs weakened, and the life in its eyes faded away. Was it… dead?
Before Cuhlun could even process that question, they hit the water. He plunged into the freezing sea at tremendous speed; if he hadn't used his wind ability to slow himself, he would have sunk straight back down to the depths where the Leviathans lurked.
Renas had no such wind ability. Which meant he had likely fallen into the Leviathan depths. Even for the post-apocalypse version of Renas, surviving there would be nearly impossible.
Cuhlun wished he could've said goodbye to that echo of Renas—just once.
He sighed quietly, then gave his power back to the wind and lifted himself out of the water.
Around him stretched the same endless ocean as before. It looked infinite. Above, a sun hung motionless in the center of the sky—unmoving.
This wasn't Cuhlun's first time using this kind of power, so he quickly guessed why the sun didn't move.
The being who had shaped this ocean—the pill bug queen beneath it—knew that the sun existed, but had never seen it move. In her memory, the sun was static, a mere concept—"it exists"—and so, in this dream world shaped by her mind, the sun never shifted.
Cuhlun exhaled and scanned the horizon. No Renas. No queen.
But something was out there.
At first glance, he thought it was the "school" he had summoned earlier—but no.
It was a castle.
Mind Eater must've gotten bored of waiting.
Cuhlun had fought Mind Eater before, and based on what that entity had conjured, he seemed to come from a less technological, more aristocratic world. Every time he manifested something from his memories, it took on the refined style of nobility—the kind of clothes and structures that belonged to a lord.
So the castle must've been his doing.
Cuhlun summoned his geometric wings again and used wind magic to propel himself in perfect sync toward the castle. The wings weren't technically his own ability, but ever since he'd experienced them in World 774, he could recall and recreate them from memory.
He soared over the vast ocean and crashing waves until he finally landed on one of the castle's outer walls.
Below him: armored soldiers, an armory, tents, beer, bread, and various birds. The scene was almost medieval.
Cuhlun sat down on a soft rug between the soldiers and waited for Mind Eater.
Mind Eater must have already sensed his arrival. He'd surely come soon—to discuss updates, perhaps. But Cuhlun didn't plan to chat long. He just needed to say one thing.
When Mind Eater finally arrived, Cuhlun didn't bother to turn toward him; the sound of footsteps was enough.
"You already know who the enemy is—and I think you've got the strength to defeat it. Unlike you, I can leave this place whenever I want, and there's no point in entering its body. So I'll depart now and tell your original self what's happened. Good luck killing it."
Mind Eater seemed like he wanted to say something more, but Cuhlun didn't care. He deactivated the ability.
When Cuhlun opened his eyes again, he was back in the darkness, Mind Eater sitting across from him. The creature's eyes drooped, as if it were fighting to stay awake.
When Mind Eater noticed Cuhlun awake, it stirred and stood."Finally. You're up. What happened?"
Its tone was commanding—devoid of any courtesy.
"I'll keep it simple," Cuhlun said. "But first, stay away from that puddle. Don't touch it."
Mind Eater shot him a puzzled look. "In case you haven't noticed, that puddle's our only light source."
Cuhlun sighed. "I know. But it's dangerous. That's what I entered earlier—its mind. And you were there too. We talked a bit about your ability, which you were bound to explain eventually. We also found the source of the dream—and fought it. Hard. It looked dead at the end, but somehow the dream didn't end. So I gave up and came back to report. The other version of you is probably still fighting it."
Mind Eater thought silently for a while, processing every word. When Cuhlun finally stopped speaking, it asked:
"So we can't find and kill that thing here, in reality, instead of in the memory realm? What did it look like?"
Cuhlun's voice turned grim. There wasn't much hope in it.
"That thing… it was too strong. In the dream world, we couldn't defeat it because being underwater made us weak, and dragging it to the surface was nearly impossible. But here—our current selves wouldn't stand a chance. As for what it looked like… a massive queen pill bug. It controlled its children through threads, transmitting its consciousness along them. One of those threads connects to that puddle. That's why part of its mind is linked to it—through that, we could access its memories."
At that, Mind Eater smacked his own forehead and spoke sharply, his tone cutting.
"Sleepwalker—or rather, Mr. Idiot. I've got a few questions for you."
Cuhlun leaned back slightly, calm. "Go ahead." He thought Mind Eater was just being petty—calling him an idiot for the sake of it. After all, Cuhlun wasn't that foolish.
But maybe, just this once… he really had been. Because what Mind Eater said next made perfect sense.