Handover

The roar echoing in the depths of his consciousness gradually faded. The scene before him stabilized once more, and the muffled voices that seemed to come from behind a curtain became clear again. Gemona's gentle voice brushed across the surface of the water like a soft breeze. "...Flame Usurper, what does the world look like through your eyes?"

"The world through my eyes..." Duncan softly repeated the words, unconsciously thinking, remembering. His gaze passed over the phantom-like girl standing quietly before him, over the Queen Leviathan's enormous remains, and over the pool—then, in his daze, fish leaped from the water and into his mind, drifting through his consciousness.

He blinked, focusing his gaze on the Calm Sea Maiden once more. After a moment of silence, he said, "The world as I see it... is often different from how ordinary people see it. Some things have changed their appearance in my perception, and then changed their appearance in the eyes of others as well. Navigator One believes this is the power of an observer, but I can vaguely sense that... it isn't that simple."

"Then Navigator Two's judgment was correct," the girl's phantom seemed to smile. "You—or rather, the civilization behind you... has already come into contact with that 'answer.'"

"...So, if we begin at the most fundamental level of all things—'information'—then we may have a chance to preserve everything currently within the sanctuary while still 'completing' the end of the world?"

"If 'information' truly is the essence of all things, and we have mastered a way to reshape the world from that level, then in theory, we can accomplish anything," Gemona said softly. "Truly 'anything.' Every possibility, every impossibility—things that have been born in the universe, things yet to be born, things that were annihilated, and those that survived annihilation...