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The Dream's Edge.
On the rooftop of a towering building, the golden rift of flame in the sky formed a magnificent backdrop.
"Is he dead?"
Sol looked toward Black Swan.
The Dreammaster could shift endlessly, their consciousness leaping between different bodies—it wouldn't have been impossible for them to leave behind a small tail.
"He's dead. All of his incarnations within the dream have been destroyed, and there are no traces of him left among the Oak Family members either."
Black Swan carefully sensed the surroundings and spoke with certainty.
"Then he was actually a decent man."
Sol's brows relaxed as he couldn't help but sigh. "He said he'd die alone, and he really did. That's… admirable."
That saved him quite a bit of trouble—no need to chase someone all over the place.
"The key issue now is how you're going to repair that mark in the sky."
Acheron pressed a hand against her katana, eager to act. "If the flames are allowed to keep burning, the entire dreamscape will be reduced to ashes."
"Did you do it on purpose?"
She looked at Sol with suspicion. "Killing him shouldn't have required that much power."
This man's light felt warm, but that didn't necessarily mean he was good.
Casually cutting open such a massive hole—she suspected he might have world-ending tendencies.
What he said earlier might have been a lie, meant to lull her into lowering her guard before wiping everything out in one sweep.
"Easy now, don't rush."
Sol smiled faintly and explained, "He was the one orchestrating the resurrection of an Aeon. I was worried he might have had a backup plan, so I went all out."
"A great guy like me wouldn't just go around wrecking things for no reason."
He looked up at the sky and added reassuringly, "Besides, there's so much Memoria in the Asdana Star System. Losing a bit won't matter."
He had been a little careless—cutting the dream open to the point where it now needed saving.
But that was fine. He'd fix it, wouldn't he?
"Then hurry up and fix it. I don't think this place can hold out much longer."
Acheron needed to witness Sol repairing the dream with her own eyes. Otherwise, she would suspect that this man wrapped in the skin of Erudition was actually a disguised Emanator of Destruction.
"My arrangements are already in effect. If you want to see it, come with me to The Golden Hour."
Sol's lips curved slightly upward.
He gazed into the distance, as if he could already see the desperate people there. The time has come. It was time for Tiga to save the world.
"Are you sure you can do this?"
Acheron was doubtful and offered her own idea. "Your flames are burning Memoria. If I cut away the Memoria on both sides of the fire, it should lose its fuel and go out."
"If you can't do it, let me handle it."
The fire was still relatively small—using her method now wouldn't cause too much loss.
If it spread further, the damage from cutting would be far greater.
"A man can't say he can't."
Sol rejected her seriously. "Your blade would extinguish the fire by steering this place toward Nihility. That's far too dangerous."
"Right now, you're the more dangerous one."
Acheron stayed close behind Sol, afraid that if she blinked, this dangerous individual would slip away.
He said her Nihility power was dangerous, but his power was clearly far more so.
Up to now, she hadn't destroyed anything. All the 'good work' here had been done by Sol.
…
Meanwhile, at The Golden Hour.
Wails filled the air. Pedestrians and travelers on the streets looked up at the sky, praying that this was nothing more than a dream within a dream.
No matter how one looked at it, the end was coming.
"Where are the Family members?!"
"Didn't they say the dream was absolutely safe? At a time like this, shouldn't they come save us?!"
"Stop shouting. The Family members were just crying with you earlier—louder than you, even!"
"No way… are we really finished?!"
Despair spread through the crowd.
They could only watch helplessly as the flames crept across the sky.
Though the raging fire burned at the horizon, it dyed the entire dreamscape crimson.
Everyone knew what would happen if those flames continued to burn—Penacony, along with all of them, would be reduced to nothingness.
Yet there was nothing they could do. No one knew how to put out a fire in a dream. Even pouring dream-water on it would just be more Memoria!
Welt Yang, Stelle, Silver Wolf, and six others formed a nine-person team and arrived at the edge of the fiery rift in the sky.
"Let's start clearing from here."
Himeko spoke firmly. "Each of you find a way to remove the Memoria around the flames, or use your own methods to extinguish them."
"No matter what happens in the end, we need to carve out a clean zone—make sure there's at least one final place where life can be preserved."
Her expression was grave. She was already preparing for the aftermath.
The fire was too vast. All they could do for now was create a safe area to serve as a shelter within the dream.
Extinguishing everything at once didn't seem realistic.
"Don't worry! This lady here is the best at putting out fires!"
March 7th patted her chest proudly.
Her Six-Phase Ice was perfectly suited for this.
"Alright, then let's begin."
Welt Yang swept his gaze over everyone and took out a staff.
Next, he planned to unleash the power of a pseudo–black hole.
Using it like a vacuum cleaner, he would swallow up a portion of those troublesome flames.
There was no helping it—the energy of those flames was extremely high. They weren't something that could be dealt with casually.
Soon, the nine of them got to work at the edge of the dreamscape sky, each using their own methods, huffing and puffing as they worked.
The results looked decent. In just a few seconds, they cleared a kilometer-long fire line—though the flames expanded five kilometers just as quickly.
Just as the people on the streets sank into despair and confusion, just as the firefighting squad showed off their abilities—
The small sun hovering above The Golden Hour moved.
Specks of white light scattered downward, as if a rain of light were falling from the sky.
People looked up in confusion, only to see the light land on their bodies and instantly merge into their skin.
Their previously anxious, troubled hearts were filled with a sense of safety in an instant. Their spirits lifted.
"This is… light?"
People were utterly baffled.
It seemed different from the starlight they had seen in the real universe.
When they first arrived at The Golden Hour, they had received a bit of light as well. They had thought it was just a minor trick—but now, it seemed far from simple.
The rain of light grew heavier, denser.
It didn't just fall upon the crowds in the streets—it drifted outward toward the distant sky.
When the fiercely burning flames met this gentle, breeze-like light rain, it was as if they had encountered their natural nemesis, extinguishing bit by bit.
"Is this… a miracle?"
People rubbed their eyes in disbelief, their hearts trembling.
But the area engulfed by the flames was already enormous. This bit of light rain still seemed like a drop in the bucket.
Was it still not enough?
A sigh of despair rose from the crowd.
And then—
As the light rain pattered down, a gigantic figure appeared between heaven and earth.
Its form was towering, nearly reaching the sky itself.
Its entire body was silver, radiating sacred brilliance.
When people gazed upon it, they instinctively knew its name and whispered it aloud:
"The Giant of Hope… Tiga?!"
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