Pfft—
It wasn't the sound of a blade piercing bone.
Instead, it was the sound of the canvas of a 'beautiful dream' being violently torn apart.
Phainon was like a drop of ink falling into boundless clear water, sinking and plummeting towards the concept of 'nothingness'.
The world before his eyes was fading.
Light and shadow, clamor, emotions—all the cornerstones that formed the 'world' were drifting away from him.
His consciousness plunged into an abyss.
Perhaps it was an instant.
Or perhaps, it was an eternity.
When Phainon opened his eyes again, he was standing on a desolate, silent shore.
There was no wind here, no sound, no temperature.
The sky was a uniform leaden gray, with no sun, moon, or stars visible.
Before him was an endless black ocean, their surface smooth as a mirror, without a single ripple.
At the boundary between the sky and the sea, a slowly rotating singularity floated.
It emitted no light, yet it devoured the surrounding radiance, manifesting a pure 'void'.
"Land of the Shadow of Death... Mydei and Cipher can't follow me here."
Phainon struggled to raise his left hand, but saw only emptiness.
His entire left side was already shattered.
The vision in his left eye had been completely stripped away.
Only the light screen deep within his consciousness still stubbornly flickered.
"Body Meltdown: 81.592%..."
The progress bar's movement proved that he had entered a new cycle.
He had once again reached this familiar dead end.
But Phainon's heart was terrifyingly calm.
He saw more clearly than in any previous cycle.
A figure quietly appeared beside him; that aura of nothingness required no confirmation.
"Both your body and soul are on the verge of collapse."
The voice that came was no longer the coldness of his memories, but an ethereal and indifferent tone.
Phainon turned his head.
Long, frost-white hair cascaded down, and the intricate attire she wore had transformed into a simple, ancient-style red and black long dress.
That touch of red was the most striking mark in this gray world.
Her eyes pierced through Phainon's tattered soul.
This was the true form of the Underworld, lurking beneath 'nothingness'.
"Soon, you will face ultimate death," the Underworld stated a fact.
"I know," Phainon responded calmly, "But I don't have time. I need to leave here."
He felt his remaining right side, struggling to take a step forward.
The Underworld fell silent.
In this deadly silence, even the quietness seemed exceptionally clear.
She had seen countless souls, some mad, some weeping, some questioning, some seeking liberation.
But she had never seen one like this.
"Where the path ahead leads, I cannot know," for the first time, uncertainty appeared in her voice, "The path forward can only be walked by you alone."
The Underworld turned around, her tightly closed eyes seemingly 'gazing' at Phainon.
"You are the first."
"The first to come here and not seek any answers from me."
Only this man before her.
He simply stood quietly, calmly accepting his impending demise.
He came here, in fact, to die.
Hearing this, Phainon's face, only half of which could still show expression, slowly curved into a smile.
The smile was faint, yet it rippled through this Land of the Shadow of Death.
"Questions?"
He repeated softly.
"From the moment I bore those thirty million-plus memories, I already... had no questions."
He could feel that the last barrier, constructed by the Authority of Omniscience to resist the flood of memories, was already as thin as a cicada's wing.
Before his physical body perished, his existence might dissipate first.
But... Phainon looked up.
With his sole remaining right eye, he gazed at the singularity at the end of the black ocean.
His gaze pierced through the void.
He saw it.
He saw that destination he absolutely had to reach, no matter what.
"However, I won't give up."
His voice was soft, yet heavier than any oath, "At least for now, I cannot die."
As his words fell, he took a step, dragging his half-shattered body, walking step by step towards the singularity.
As he approached, the Land of the Shadow of Death began to tremble violently.
The black ocean and the gray-white sky twisted and shattered, transforming into countless scattered fragments of light.
Phainon's figure was finally swallowed by the 'void'... After the darkness, what greeted his eyes was light.
Soft carpet, warm wall lamps, and a faint fragrance lingering in the air.
Everything was identical to the Daydream Hotel in his memory.
Except for one detail.
On both sides of the corridor, all the rooms had the same number inscribed on their doorplates—
0720.
Phainon took a deep breath, dragging his broken body, and walked step by step forward.
The light screen flashed wildly in his consciousness.
"Body Meltdown: 82%..."
With each door he passed, his body's meltdown intensified by another percent.
"Body Meltdown: 83%..."
"Body Meltdown: 84%..."
He knew that behind every door was a failed cycle, a futile attempt to reach the end.
But... Phainon had long grown accustomed to it... He didn't know how many doors he had passed.
The world's clamor began to recede, and finally, all sound vanished, falling into a deathly silence.
He had lost his hearing.
Then.
The sensation in his legs completely disappeared; he could no longer stand and fell heavily to the ground.
Phainon did not stop.
Using his only remaining movable right hand, he propped himself on the ground, dragging a dark trail across the soft carpet, stubbornly crawling forward.
His vision began to blur.
"Body Meltdown: 95%..."
"Body Meltdown: 96%..."
"It's not... time to give up yet."
Phainon let out a low growl from his throat, continuing to crawl forward with his already numb right hand.
His vision grew darker and darker.
The last remaining sight in his right eye was just a chaotic halo of light, unable to discern anything clearly.
He endured the excruciating pain of his soul being crushed inch by inch, stubbornly pushing forward.
"Body Meltdown: 99%..."
"I said, not yet!"
Phainon gritted his teeth, relying solely on his burning will, forcefully holding back the final disintegration.
Finally.
He crawled to the end of the corridor.
The last door was right before him.
He raised his hand, using his last ounce of strength, wanting to push open that door.
But that hand froze in mid-air, unable to move forward an inch.
His body had already turned into a crumbling pile of ashes.
Only a faint, almost extinguished light remained deep within his soul.
He could no longer lift his hand.
"Body Meltdown: 99.99%..."
Just then.
In his extremely blurred vision, an incredibly warm red quietly appeared.
A familiar figure squatted down.
Her distinctive red hair, like a rekindled flame in the ashes, illuminated his final darkness.
Tribios...?
She didn't speak, only reached out and gently covered Phainon's cold, unliftable hand with her warm one.
Then, with a steady and gentle strength, she helped him slowly push open that door.
A whisper, spanning countless times and spaces, reached Phainon's ears.
"Long time no see, Snowy.