The Lantern Keeper

The blue roses at the edge of the Star Ring burned silently in the void. Bai Mei knelt before a crystal statue as the eleventh petal fell into his palm. The instant it touched his skin, he heard Horikita's voice—

"Head north."

His Stardust Cloak swept over the ruins as he followed the directions to the far northern ice fields. A Bronze Giant Gate stood in the endless night, its doors covered in Klein Bottle Totems of the same origin as the Cage of Entropy.

Black mist seeped through the crack in the doors. Within it floated the silhouette of Kiyotaka holding a lantern.

"Who are you, really?" Bai Mei pointed his Stardust Dagger at the mist. "Are you a remnant of Tsukishiro... or the last of his humanity?"

The Lantern Keeper turned. In the light of the flame, his face made Bai Mei's pupils contract—he was a fifteen-year-old clone of Kiyotaka, an untainted Child of Pure White.

"I'm the only one among all possibilities who refused to become a god." He raised the lantern. In its glow appeared Horikita's spirit, bound in chains. "If you want to save her, open this Gate of Finality for me."

Beyond the bronze gate lay a sea of time flowing backward. Its waves were made of memory fragments, each drop bearing the end of a universe.

As Bai Mei stepped inside, the black mist became shackles that wrapped around his limbs. Tsukishiro's whisper sounded in his ear:

"Beyond the gate lies the Dark Side of the Moon. Everything I discarded as a 'mistake' has piled up there... including your mother's complete consciousness."

The Lantern Keeper poured lamp oil over Bai Mei's Stardust Cloak. Flames instantly engulfed them both. "Pain is the key; burning is the code—this is the only way to break through the Cage of Entropy."

In the blaze, Bai Mei saw Horikita's sealed memories: when she had activated the Nirvana Protocol ten years ago, fragments of Tsukishiro's consciousness had already been lying in wait beneath the Star Ring. The supposed backlash of entropy was actually a plot by Tsukishiro to resurrect himself through γ-000!

"Do you understand now?" The Lantern Keeper's body turned transparent in the fire. "I'm the 'mistake' Tsukishiro feared most. He created me, then personally exiled me beyond time."

When the flames died, Bai Mei stood on a pale wasteland. Countless shattered Star Rings hung in the sky, each imprisoning fragments of Horikita's spirit.

In the distance, an old man sat upon a throne built from Mechanical Roses. He had the same face as Tsukishiro.

"You're even more foolish than I imagined," the old man said, stroking the black cat on his lap. "You actually brought my 'scrap' back here to die."

Bai Mei plunged his Stardust Dagger into the ground. Blue Rose vines instantly coiled around the throne. "Give my mother... back to me!"

"Your mother?" The old man sneered. "Do you really think Horikita Suzune is the 'mother' in your genetic memories?"

The black cat leaped into the air and became a holographic projection. In the image, Tsukishiro's biological signature was unmistakably branded deep within Bai Mei's genetic code.

"You're the ultimate weapon I cultivated using Horikita's cells and Kiyotaka's quantum state." The old man rose, his skin peeling away to reveal a mechanical core. "What you call maternal love is nothing but a preprogrammed command to tame you."

Bai Mei's Stardust Cloak disintegrated piece by piece, and the Blue Roses withered under the weight of the truth. Suddenly, the Lantern Keeper appeared from the shadows and smashed his lantern into Tsukishiro's mechanical skull. "Now!"

As the lamp oil splashed, Bai Mei saw the hidden code. Buried deep in his genetic chain was Kiyotaka's final gift: a self-erasure program powerful enough to wipe Tsukishiro from every timeline.

"Choose," the Lantern Keeper said as Tsukishiro twisted his arm until it broke. "Become a godslayer... or keep being a good boy."

Bai Mei closed his eyes. Horikita's tears, the Mechanical Dolphin's playful antics, and Hirata's record of the Codex of Possibilities whirled through his mind.

At last, his thoughts settled on her smile before she faded away in front of the Cage of Entropy.

"I choose..." He tore the Stardust Dagger from his chest. "To become myself."

The dagger pierced the core of his genetic chain, and the erasure program activated. Tsukishiro's mad laughter cut off abruptly. His mechanical body collapsed like a sandcastle.

The fragments of Horikita's spirit in every Star Ring gathered into a river of light and surged into Bai Mei's dying body.

From the observation deck, Hirata witnessed a sight he would never forget: the Bronze Giant Gate dissolved into flecks of light, and a Blue Rose Tree rose from the ice fields, reaching from earth to heaven.

Within its trunk, Bai Mei and Horikita's spirits slept in each other's arms. With every falling petal, the Mechanical Roses in some universe lost their bloody hue.

Kei's Mechanical Heart floated above the tree and broadcast its final message:

[New Era Protocol detected]

[Name: Seed of Humanity]

[Executors: Bai Mei & Horikita Suzune]

Deep in the sea of stars, the Lantern Keeper picked up Tsukishiro's broken chip. Kiyotaka's face flickered across it. "Time to find the next 'lost soul'..."