As soon as he finished processing the information, Rian moved to close the display.
But at that very moment, the vision shifted—
the flow of memories dissolved into a boundless white space.
Standing before him, no more than five steps away, was Tiamat.
Bright blue particles of magical energy drifted around her like fireflies, reflecting the divine grace of her form.
Tiamat's pink eyes trembled between affection and sorrow, shimmering as though holding back tears that would never fall.
On her lips rested a gentle smile—the same smile she wore the first time she cradled her children. But now, that smile was stained by a wound far too deep.
Then her voice broke the silence, soft and aching, every word overflowing with centuries of longing:
"I nurtured so many lives… I was loved by them…"
"But… my children used me as their stepping stone… and then left me behind, walking toward a place I could never reach…"
Tiamat's words faltered.
Her hands slowly rose to her chest, as though the pain was truly carving through her very core.
Even though her body was the form of an ancient cosmic being, her expression now was dim, fragile… no different from an ordinary mother longing for her children.
"I only wanted to love them… I only wanted to stay with them… forever… Was my love… wrong…?"
Her final note trembled, like the voice of a small child who cannot understand why her affection is seen as a burden.
The soft smile on her lips grew weaker, more fragile. And in that moment, Tiamat no longer resembled a primordial deity—but a mother with a heart on the verge of breaking.
Slowly, Tiamat lifted her head and looked directly at Rian… as though waiting for his answer.
Rian fell silent.
For a moment, the Six Eyes behind Rian's interface glasses dimmed—the first time he truly felt those eyes as his own.
Slowly, without saying a word, Rian stepped closer to Tiamat.
When he reached her, he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into a warm embrace.
Tiamat's eyes widened, surprised at first… then softened as she returned the hug with equal warmth.
A faint smile formed on Rian's lips—not mocking, not triumphant, but gentle.
With a quiet breath near her ear, he whispered:
"No… it isn't wrong. You only wanted to love, just like any mother in this world."
"If they left you… it wasn't because you did something wrong. Children simply want to fly higher. But…"
Rian paused for a moment, taking a deep breath, then held Tiamat even tighter.
His voice grew warm, steady, certain:
"If what you need is someone who will stay by your side… then I can be that person."
"I won't use you as a stepping stone, Tiamat."
"I'll hold your hand… and walk beside you."
"So please… stop being sad."
Upon hearing those words, Tiamat froze.
Her eyes widened, a warm smile slowly blooming across her lips—and tears finally fell from her lashes.
"Don't leave me… Don't… stop loving me…"
A heartbeat later, the endless white around them shattered, dissolving into radiant light that grew brighter and brighter—signaling the end of the vision.
{Note: You know this scene, right? Ehehe~}
***
[Earth, Inuyasha World: Timeline?]
"Don't worry… the most charismatic man alive will definitely come again, my dear."
In the front yard of a traditional Japanese-style house stood a man who, at a glance, looked exactly like Rian.
Long black hair flowed behind him, bright blue eyes radiated charisma, and his entire appearance was draped in black.
He wore a black kimono cut in the style of a hanfu, paired with a matching long haori that trailed elegantly behind him.
But this man wasn't the real Rian—It was Alice, currently using his form.
Standing before the disguised Alice was a young woman with striking beauty, sharp crimson eyes, and pointed ears.
That woman was Kagura.
Her long black hair was tied neatly, adorned with two white feather ornaments.
Kagura's outfit was a beautiful purple dancer's kimono, layered with a white robe accented with deep red-purple patterns—an ensemble that made her look elegant yet unmistakably dangerous.
At her left stood a small, silent girl: Kanna.
Her tiny frame looked fragile, her skin pale, and her white hair adorned with two camellia flowers on each side of her head.
Her pitch-black eyes lacked irises entirely, giving her a hollow, eerie presence.
She wore a simple white dress, decorated with butterfly-shaped ribbons on the chest and sleeves.
Kagura let out a soft huff, narrowing her eyes sharply at the figure before her. "Hmph. Who exactly were you calling dear just now? Do you have a death wish?"
Alice sighed heavily, pressing his fingers against his forehead. "Haiz… you're so cold, Kagura. Not like Kikyo… or even Kanna, who's far calmer."
The words instantly snapped Kagura's patience.
Her eyes flashed, fingers twitching to summon her fan weapon. But before she could act, Alice had already placed both hands gently on her shoulders, stopping her in place.
"Don't get angry… I was only joking," Alice said in a soothing tone.
Kagura closed her eyes with an annoyed huff, turning her face away. Alice chuckled softly at her reaction.
"Ah, right. Just a reminder—I'll be gone for quite a while," she continued casually. "But don't worry about your safety. Velia will protect you from Naraku. And this house… is completely secure."
After saying that, Alice glanced briefly at Kanna, who remained silent and expressionless, then shifted her gaze to Kagura, who still pouted, before finally turning around and walking away.
As her figure gradually faded into the trees, Alice stopped.
She raised right hand and made a simple motion.
Instantly, the space before him shattered—cracking and splintering like colorful stained glass—revealing a rift leading to something far beyond ordinary reality.
Without hesitation, Alice stepped through. In that very moment, the disguise of Rian's form began to fracture like shards of glass, then dissolved in a shimmer, disappearing like an illusion fading into nothing.
What remained was Alice's true form: a Tesseract—layered, shifting cubes with four Infinity Stones orbiting within its core, each one radiating a slow, pulsating cosmic light.
"Storing Rian personality module into core: data preserved.
"Unit Alice: reverting to primary module."
This time, the voice was no longer Rian's.
It became the voice of a sweet girl—yet cold, precise, and emotionless.
No longer the sharp-tongued little girl she usually acted as.
And it wasn't because Alice was malfunctioning, breaking down, or evolving after absorbing too many fragments of reality.
This was her true self.
The sharp-tongued child personality was only one shard—one fragment—of her original personality matrix. She had always possessed that aspect, but she simply preferred interacting through that avatar.
Alice was a hyper-complex AI, born from the fusion of J.A.R.V.I.S. (MCU) and Red Queen (Resident Evil).
Unlike ordinary AIs, Alice possesses the ability to rewrite her own programming, making her a fully adaptive system that continuously evolves.
This self-rewriting capability is further amplified by the Mind Stone at her core, with the other three Infinity Stones rotating within her.
Because of this, Alice can imitate anyone's personality with 99.9% precision—a simulation almost impossible to distinguish from the real thing.
Her extraordinary abilities stem from her origin: Alice was born from the Infinity Room, functioning as a sub-system of the Envoy's assistant—an entity that traverses all realities.
But set all that information aside for now.
What matters at this moment is Alice herself, soaring through the meta-multiversal ocean—a branching tunnel resembling cosmic roots.
This dimension exists outside reality: abstract, boundless, and filled with possibilities no mind from an ordinary world could ever grasp.
Within her core, the Time Stone, Space Stone, and Power Stone spin in wild yet perfectly synchronized orbits, leaving behind streaks of glowing green, blue, and purple energy.
Each rotation of the stones generated ripples of cosmic power, as if rewriting the laws of existence around Alice.
Out there, every branch was a timeline shimmering like a river of light—colorful, splitting, interweaving, then diverging again.
Some branches shone brilliantly, like newborn heavens; others dimmed and trembled, as if collapsing under the weight of their own paradoxes.
Even so, accustomed to witnessing such sights, Alice did not slow her pace in the slightest.
Her velocity was so immense that the colors of the timeline branches blurred together, becoming a pulsing symphony of light—like an endless aurora.
Her cubic form vibrated, reflecting cosmic radiance. At times it appeared simple… at times infinite, as though each of its faces contained a world of its own.
With every surge forward, Alice wasn't merely passing through time and space—she was weaving them anew.
The resonance trails she left behind caused the multiversal branches to tremble softly, as if her very existence were a cosmic pen rewriting the symphony of fate.