Even though there are some things I cannot tell you

Zhou Mingrui stepped forward as the door closed back behind him.

The room seemed to expand to infinity, far beyond than the simple building that could be seen from outside.

There were no walls, no floor, no ceiling—only void.

But in the center of that void stood a monster taking up most of his field of vision.

It had a shape, but that shape seemed to change constantly. It had a body, but that body wasn't material. It had a life, but it appeared to be dead at the same time. The Lord of Mysteries couldn't grasp the form of the being in front of him.

It surpassed human cognition as Cthulhu seemed to represent chaos itself.

The most common shape that appeared in front of Zhou Mingrui was that of a pulpy, tentacled head surmounting a grotesque and scaly body with rudimentary wings.

A mix of an octopus, a dragon and a human.

Zhou Mingrui's expression darkened.

The octopus was the mythological form of the three pathways of the Lord of Mysteries while the dragon was the symbol of the God Almighty's pathways.

If that being indeed had these abilities, then its power would surpass his expectations.

Its mere presence would destroy everything if it was allowed into his world.

He couldn't let it approach Earth.

The Evernight Goddess descended to help him, a brooch containing water from the River of Eternal Darkness in her hand.

Then, Cthulhu opened its eyes, the two Great Old Ones entering his sight.

Despite being a pillar of the universe himself, Zhou Mingrui shuddered at the monster's sheer power.

This battle would decide the fate of their world.

"Its state seems wrong, it can't use all its strength."

Not deterred by its aura, Amanises reassured Zhou Mingrui, making him return to his senses.

The Lord of Mysteries nodded.

It was going to be a tough fight.

Grafting fate and fooling time, a battle of concepts began.

Zhou Mingrui fell into a dream but the blessings of the Evernight Goddess helped him maintain his consciousness.

The monster tried to hypnotize him but Zhou Mingrui grafted this state onto a marionette pulled out of the historical pores.

Blessing himself with good luck, he tried to seize the monster's spiritual threads but his thoughts were stolen. The being's state was then grafted back to Zhou Mingrui who suddenly moved stiffly.

Fighting a monster with the same abilities as you—and even more—was really annoying.

Zhou Mingrui exchanged his fate with another marionette pulled out of the historical pores and opened the door to teleport away then attacked the monster again from another side.

Meanwhile, the Evernight Goddess sent bad luck to Cthulu and tried to turn it into an undead, in vain.

At one point, Adam also joined to help them. It seemed like his and the goddess's experiment with Anderson had been successful since they had both come here.

In that space where time became meaningless, a few days passed, even though it was only a few minutes outside.

Until finally…

Zhou Mingrui looked at the monster they had defeated, showing no sign of life anymore, while Amanises went back to the sky and Adam disappeared in place.

They had killed Cthulu. Without any casualties, at that.

That was no hidden danger left at the end of the world. The other outer gods should be manageable.

Earth would survive.

Zhou Mingrui turned to the side where Xin Jian had come back out of the key at some point in time.

Her entire body was surrounded by light as an energy seemed to disappear in her.

Looking down at her hands, she made a soft smile.

Zhou Mingrui's eyes trembled as he was stuck in place.

Xin Jian raised her gaze and explained:

"My curse has been lifted."

She wasn't immortal anymore.

She could finally die after all these years.

"Thank you."

Thank you so much.

"Klein."

The immortal angel's wish was finally realized.

As the light faded, without anything sustaining her body anymore, Xin Jian turned into ashes, disappearing while leaving only a tear behind.

Then, the tear blended with the void, leaving no proof that Xin Jian had ever disappeared.

Klein stared at the place where she was standing a few seconds ago, still alive, in silence.

Should he have killed that monster if it also meant killing Xin Jian?

It was too late to think about it now.

He wouldn't be able to see her ever again.

Klein felt that he had lost something important.

Nobody from their world remembered Xin Jian's existence, he couldn't even recall her name and a mysterious force seemed to be trying to erase her existence from people's memories.

He was bound to forget her one day, even if he didn't want to.

Klein stared at that place, trying to engrave that moment into his brain before her face could also disappear from his memory.

Then, he turned his gaze to the sky before this dream could crumble further and addressed its owner.

"I would like to ask for a favor."

The person in question also directed his gaze at the Lord of Mysteries.

[??? is looking at you.]

Feeling the Oldest Dream's eyes on him, Klein spoke up.

"Can I stay a little longer?"

***

Audrey smiled at a little girl as she went away, waving at her.

After treating another patient and giving them hope to continue going through this apocalyptic world, she prepared to welcome another when she felt something change.

She looked up at the sky and watched it crack as her body disappeared, being sent back to her world.

Miss Justice closed her eyes and made the sign praising her god.

"Praise the Fool!"

Next to her, Fors also stopped lazing around and imitated her behavior as her body faded away as well.

"Praise the Fool!"

The two smiled at each other.

***

Outside, Leonard was smoking a cigar while trying to compose a poem and failing miserably.

Frustrated by the lack of sentences he could come up with, he ruffled his hair but suddenly paused.

Then, he felt the familiar sensation of his body disappearing.

He was being sent back to his world.

The poet relaxed and smiled brightly, thinking of seeing Klein again.

Would he be able to see him when he went back?

He had written a lot of poems as he was told!

He even had to endure the harsh criticism of Miss Magician! (Which, from Miss Magician's point of view, wasn't harsh at all but well-deserved.)

He hummed while looking forward to it.

***

Meanwhile, Anderson, who was strolling through the streets alone because he was chased away from a refuge after provoking people too much and starting a fight between the survivors, suddenly felt something wrong.

He then saw that his body was fading away and made a dry laugh.

"Is my world finally taking me back because it missed my ordinary handsome face too much?"

It's more like this dream sent you back because it couldn't bear your presence anymore, but let's not nitpick on that point.

***

In front of the door, Yoo Jonghyuk's existence itself began to disappear as the dream came to an end, like the inhabitants of the dream.

After all, this version of 'Yoo Jonghyuk' was merely imagined and couldn't continue to exist.

That's why this 'Yoo Jonghyuk' was erased, as if the last rounds, hardships, pain, and struggles—had been a lie.

***

As the dream slowly crumbled, every outsider was sent back one by one while Klein appeared in front of Sharron.

It was time to confront her one last time.

He couldn't run away from his problems forever under the excuse that it was better for her not to be near him, as he had done with his siblings, and that he could deal with it later.

He had to explain things now before it was too late.

As Sharron noticed him, Klein was scared.

What was she thinking now?

She shouldn't be able to recognize him since he didn't have Sherlock's appearance.

He had also left her without saying goodbye before.

Klein hesitated. He could still give up now. She wouldn't ever know that it was him.

However, he took a step forward.

He had to face this situation.

What would happen now?

Under the wraith's wary gaze, the Lord of Mysteries used a recorded ability to hypnotize Sharron and make her recite his honorific name.

Then, the memories of all the previous rounds were transferred back to her with the help of the gray fog.

He watched her recover her senses as she processed the information and opened his mouth.

"Even though there are some things I cannot say…"

What was going through her mind?

She should be even more suspicious now.

The unknown was truly one of the most terrifying things.

Klein met Sharron's eyes, who now recognized him.

"I believe you deserve an explanation."

He could leave out the information that could threaten her life and tell her as much as possible.

Taking a deep breath, Klein put his apprehension aside and decided to let out every secret he had been hiding. Whatever the consequences were, he would accept them.

"I already knew this world because it is very similar to where I come from. However, at that time, there were no Beyonder abilities. I come from the pre-first epoch, then for some reasons I fell into a deep sleep and only woke up in the fifth epoch. After that, I became a god in only a few years, under the name of 'The Fool'. I didn't tell you because I was scared of your reaction. …I am in charge of the Seer, Apprentice and Thief pathways. My true name was Zhou Mingrui…"

Answering all of Sharron's silent questions, Klein told her information about him as much as possible.

"…I reincarnated into the body of Klein Moretti, joined the Nighthawks, then died and resurrected. Since I would be chased by the official Beyonders if it was known that I came back to life, I hid in Backlund under the identity of Sherlock Moriarty…"

He told her everything, even some things he had never told to anyone, then concluded.

"I apologize for keeping silent until now."

He didn't know what Sharron's reaction would be.

Would she become distant because he was a god?

Would she resent him because he withheld so much from her?

At this point, Klein thought that it wouldn't matter it he wasn't forgiven.

She had all the rights to blame him.

As he spoke, Sharron never interrupted him, her thoughts unreadable.

Even as he ended his narration, Sharron didn't speak up.

However, he answer was far different from what he had expected.

Sharron stayed silent and smiled from the first time since he had met her.

Looking into the eyes of this god who looked sincerely sorry and took the trouble of apologizing to her, this person who gave her memories of her previous suspicions back when he could've simply left her in the dark about it, she felt like she had forgiven him.

At that moment, the dream completely disintegrated and the two were sent back.

***

In Sefirah Castle, The Fool opened his eyes.

End.