"I am whole now."
Thread of the Root felt an unprecedented sense of fullness welling up from within and let out a sigh.
But—
He was only whole for now.
He was still one final step away from true "completeness."
He turned his head and glanced at Gaia and Alaya.
Then, with a contented, liberated smile, he closed his eyes.
Outside the Swirl of the Root, he spread his arms as though he wished to embrace everything.
At that moment, Anno himself was the warmest thing in this world.
He had known laughter, and he had known sorrow. He had witnessed happiness, but even more than that, pain.
But—
"This is what it means to be complete!"
He abruptly opened his eyes and looked toward the Root, so close at hand.
"I'm back."
Still smiling, his figure gradually vanished, gradually melted away, then little by little merged into the Swirl of the Root in some form—an invisible form.
Thread of the Root had finally—
Returned to the Root.
The Swirl of the Root rotated quietly, slowly coming to a stop because of Thread of the Root's return.
It was like someone who had lost an arm, only to suddenly regain it. They would need time to adjust, after all.
After a brief pause, what followed was—
Rotation.
Faster rotation.
Bzz—
Bzz——
There was no concept of time here, nor was there any concept of space. This was merely the Root. By all rights, something like "sound" should never have existed here, but—
In some situations, onomatopoeia was indeed necessary to describe that indescribable shock.
Like a tide, the rapidly spinning Swirl of the Root sent out waves like tidal surges in every direction.
Within the range of the Root Tide, there were only two "things."
They were Gaia and Alaya,