Evelyn carefully rolled the absurdly long scroll back together before placing it on the table with far more force than necessary.
"Fine."
Gerald immediately looked pleased.
"I knew you’d see reason."
"I didn’t."
She shot him an irritated glance.
"But the ship is necessary."
Her expression became completely serious once again.
"I’ll have every material that actually matters delivered to your workshop before tomorrow morning. If something is unavailable inside the settlement, I’ll send people to retrieve it from our storage locations throughout the Prime Territory."
Gerald nodded in satisfaction.
"Excellent."
"You may also occupy one of the guest residences while you’re here. They’re empty anyway, and you’ll need a proper place to work."
"I appreciate the hospitality."
Evelyn’s eyes narrowed.
"But let me make one thing absolutely clear."
Gerald’s smile slowly began disappearing.
"You’ll receive the formations materials. The rare ores. The Soul Crystals. The Essence Wood. The Spatial Stones."
She pointed the rolled scroll directly at him.
"And absolutely nothing else written in this ridiculous document."
Gerald sighed dramatically.
"I was hoping you’d reconsider."
"I’m not."
"So no massage therapists?"
"No."
"Not even one?"
Evelyn slowly raised her hand. Gerald immediately lifted both of his.
"Understood. A tragic day for craftsmen everywhere."
"I genuinely can’t decide whether you’re a genius or an idiot."
Gerald smiled proudly.
"I’ve spent several thousand years making sure people can’t answer that question."
The meeting had clearly reached its natural conclusion. Evelyn looked around the council chamber one final time before her gaze settled on me.
"Billion."
"Yes?"
"For now..wait."
I nodded.
"I’ll begin contacting the other settlements tonight. The invitations will be delivered personally through our secure channels. Once the representatives begin arriving, I’ll send someone to inform you."
She slowly stood.
"Until then, continue your own preparations."
"I will."
One after another, the remaining Saints also rose from their seats.
Dean stretched lazily before heading toward the exit, Samuel exchanged a few quiet words with Marcus, while the unfamiliar Saint gave me a respectful nod before following the others.
Within less than a minute, only Gerald and I remained inside the enormous council hall. The atmosphere changed almost immediately. The humor disappeared. The smiles faded.
Gerald quietly watched the others leave before turning back toward me.
For a while, neither of us spoke. Eventually, he released a long breath.
"This is going to be far more dangerous than either of us admitted in front of them."
His voice no longer carried the playful tone from earlier. It was simply an old man speaking honestly.
I nodded.
"I know."
"If the trials fail...We die. If the trials succeed but the Twelfth Current rejects us...We probably die."
"If we somehow control it but fail against Varylux...We definitely die."
A faint smile appeared on his face.
"And if, by some miracle, everything actually works..."
He looked back at me.
"...there’s still a decent chance we die."
I couldn’t help laughing quietly.
"When you put it like that..."
"...it really does sound hopeless."
"It does."
The old man smiled.
"So why are you still smiling?"
I looked toward the settlement outside the window.
"Because coming to the Null Realm was already a hopeless mission."
Gerald remained silent.
"When I first crossed over here, I had no idea where my parents were. I didn’t know whether the Ironhearts still existed. I didn’t know if Gerald the Wise was real. I didn’t even know whether the Prime Territory could actually be saved."
I shrugged.
"And yet....here we are."
The old man stared at me for several moments before slowly nodding.
"I suppose that’s one way of looking at it."
"It’s the only way I know."
Gerald chuckled softly.
"I sincerely hope your optimism survives what’s waiting behind that gate."
"So do I."
We exchanged one final look before extending our hands toward each other. Neither of us needed another speech.
The handshake itself was enough.
"Take care of yourself," Gerald said quietly.
"You too."
"And Billion..."
I looked back.
"Don’t die before I finish building that ship."
I grinned.
Leaving the council hall behind, I quietly returned home. I didn’t stop at the house for long.
After checking that no one was nearby, I returned to my room and activated Echo Reversion once again.
The three familiar runes appeared before me, intertwining into the now familiar formation. My consciousness expanded across countless crimson echoes scattered throughout reality before I deliberately ignored every recognizable location.
Instead...
I selected one completely random point somewhere within the endless Soul Sea. The technique activated instantly.
Reality folded. For a fraction of a second my body dissolved into Soul Force before reforming once more. This time the transition was so smooth that I barely noticed it.
The next moment, I found myself standing alone upon the surface of the endless Soul Sea.
It stretched toward every horizon while enormous waves slowly rolled beneath the pale sky. There wasn’t another soul in sight.
Only silence.
I slowly looked around the seemingly empty ocean before smiling faintly.
"I know you’re watching."
The waves continued moving peacefully. I folded my hands behind my back.
"Defender Aurora....if you’re listening...I’d like to have a few words with you."
My voice drifted across the endless Soul Sea before disappearing into the distance.
Then...I waited.
Aurora had arrived in the Null Realm alongside me as my assigned bodyguard. Although she rarely interfered with my decisions, her mere presence gave me confidence to attempt plans that no sane person should even consider.
If the Warden decided to involve himself directly, she was the only existence I knew who could stand between him and me, even if only for a short while.
In many ways, she was the biggest reason I had been willing to think about the Twelfth Soul Current in the first place.
If everything went catastrophically wrong, if the current escaped my control or the Wardens deemed my actions unacceptable, then at least I wouldn’t be facing that disaster completely alone.
Which was exactly why her absence had started bothering me.
She hadn’t shown herself for quite some time now.
I had infiltrated Region Four, abducted and killed an Eternal Saint, stolen the All-Knowing Eyes, and now I was actively planning to unseal one of the most dangerous existences ever imprisoned by the Ruler of the Null Realm himself.
Any one of those actions should have been enough for Aurora to appear, lecture me about my recklessness, or at the very least ask what in the world I was trying to accomplish.
Instead...Nothing.
At first, I convinced myself that she simply trusted my judgment and didn’t consider it necessary to interfere. That explanation sounded reasonable for a while, but the more I thought about it, the less convincing it became. The Twelfth Soul Current wasn’t just another dangerous mission. It was the kind of decision that could shake the entire Null Realm.
Even the Wardens should have paid attention to something like that.
Unless...
A thought quietly surfaced in my mind, causing my expression to harden.
Aurora wasn’t ignoring me.
She couldn’t come.
For the first time in a long while, a faint feeling of unease settled inside my chest.