Benjamin returned to the Consciousness Space.
Blue light glimmered in the pitch-black world. Nothing seemed to have changed much here, yet just as before, when he tried to connect with the triune rune, every link was severed. The entire space no longer resonated with him, as though it had never belonged to him in the first place.
Around him, streaks of white light appeared from nowhere, forming a narrow cage that trapped him inside.
"...What's going on?"
Benjamin was filled with uncertainty.
He had only just escaped the illusion, and lingering dread still clung to his heart. That walking-corpse-like state had been terrifying. Yet once he regained consciousness, confusion followed. What had just happened? Had the system crashed? But why had he suddenly returned to the modern world, with no memory at all like some fool?
That illusion... seemed to be filled with all kinds of hints. He did not understand what they meant.
"Truly foolish. Why couldn't you just stay obediently in your memories and enjoy yourself? Why insist on coming out to face cruel reality?"
Suddenly, a voice came from behind him. It sounded extraordinarily familiar to Benjamin—wasn't this the voice from the illusion that had urged him to fall asleep? Yet now that his mind was clear, he felt that its familiarity went beyond even that. Perhaps he had heard it a long, long time ago.
He spun around at once.
An old man stood in the darkness of the Consciousness Space, dressed in a rather primitive robe, gazing at him expressionlessly.
Benjamin froze.
"You are..."
"Yes, we meet again." The old man nodded and spoke blandly. "Perhaps you've long forgotten me. After all, the time when you stabbed me in that illusion was a long while ago."
Benjamin's face darkened. "...Cain."
This was a scene he