Silence fell over their surroundings.
For a long time, Lynn could not speak. He felt as though a massive stone hung in his chest, refusing to settle.
That was how the story ended.
At the cost of his own eternity, he had secured this world's survival and rebirth from him. But in that rebuilt New World, he was nowhere to be found.
At last, Lynn opened his eyes, gazed at the distant figure, and said:
"But he must have noticed that trace of hesitation in your heart too, right?"
The figure said nothing.
Lynn stood up, his eyes full of conflicting emotions.
Because if he truly had extinguished all his humanity, if he truly had become so numb that he would stop at nothing and felt no lingering attachment to this world, then those negotiations could never have happened.
It had always been a mutual compromise.
He did not want to destroy the world.
He merely sought death.
And if there was a way to keep those two things from conflicting, surely he would accept it.
Because sometimes, only when you truly realized that everything in your past was about to end could you remember. Only then could you remember how much you had once been unable to let go of, buried within the humanity suppressed by that numbness.
And that was probably why he had accepted.
[Leave this world intact, and let me never awaken again.]
Within frozen time, Lynn sat cross-legged on the platform, silent for a very, very long time.
At last, he had untangled the complicated relationship between himself and that Great Lord. He also had a rough understanding of why the Great Lord had helped him, whether deliberately or otherwise.
Because if there were other options...
Then he did not necessarily have to take