Next day, I stood in the living room with everyone gathered together—Knight, Ragnar, Lyrate, Aurora, Silver, and Ash, along with Steve, North, and Vivi.
Their discussion about who would accompany me had clearly reached a conclusion.
"So," I asked, looking at them, "what have you decided?"
Knight and Lyrate stepped forward.
I paused for a brief moment, my gaze shifting between the two.
That was unexpected.
A small smile formed on my face.
"Oh, that’s a surprise," I said. "How did you come to that conclusion?"
"Well, it took a lot of arguments... and a few fights," Aurora stepped forward and answered, though the disappointment in her tone was hard to miss.
I nodded slightly, then folded my arms.
"Alright," I said. "I’m ready to hear why each of you got rejected."
Aurora let out a quiet sigh. "Because I’m an elemental. My soul isn’t strong enough to begin with. The argument was that I might not be able to support you properly or develop a talent after reincarnating there."
I considered that for a moment, then nodded.
"What about you, Ragnar?"
Ragnar scoffed, crossing his arms. "They said I’m too hot-headed and don’t know how to talk."
I had to stop myself from laughing, because that was... not entirely wrong.
"Silver?"
He shrugged lightly. "Something about me being absent-minded and too focused on my looks. Which doesn’t make sense, by the way. I’m just as strong as them."
"That’s because of Billion," Aurora added calmly. "That advantage might not exist there since you’ll be starting from scratch."
Silver frowned slightly but didn’t argue further.
Before I could continue, Ash spoke on his own.
"They rejected me because I have no personality," he said flatly. "They think I won’t be able to integrate into society there if required."
I nodded, not commenting on that.
My gaze shifted to Vivi.
"I’m supposed to stay here and protect the galaxy," she said, her voice normal, though the anger in her eyes was clear.
For a moment, I didn’t say anything. There wasn’t much I could say that would make that better.
Finally, my attention moved to North and Steve.
"Our souls were at the bottom of the list," Steve said, shaking his head. "That one requirement knocked us out right at the start. This sucks. I wanted to go explore another universe, and now I’m stuck here leveling up, trying to reach Saint... and probably getting into a bunch of relationships. Because of you, I never even got the chance to be in one."
I blinked and looked at him. "Are you seriously blaming me for that?"
"Indirectly, yes," he replied without hesitation.
"Really?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. "You actually believe that?"
He paused for a moment, then shrugged. "Some part of it."
I let out a small chuckle. "Alright then. Now that I’m out of the picture, you’ll have all the time you need. Go ahead, get into as many relationships as you want."
"Oh, I will," he said confidently.
I shook my head lightly before turning to North. She didn’t say anything, but she didn’t need to. We had already said everything that mattered the night before. I had asked her to take care of Vaythos and our people, and she had asked me to come back.
That was enough.
With that, it was settled. Through elimination, Knight and Lyrate were the ones coming with me.
"Alright," I said, looking at everyone. "I’m leaving everything here to you, Aurora and Vivi. The plans with Primus and Ash are already in motion. Focus on executing them properly, and once I’m back, we move toward the Prime Galaxy."
I paused briefly before adding,
"And of course... you’ll be responsible for protecting our bodies while we’re gone."
"Now I need a few minutes alone with North," I said.
No one said anything. One by one, they flashed out of the house.
I moved toward her slowly, closing the distance, and wrapped my arms around her, pulling her close. She leaned into me without hesitation, her head resting against my chest as if she had been waiting for this moment.
I could feel her breathing, steady at first, then slightly uneven, and I tightened my hold on her just a little.
"I don’t like this," she murmured softly.
"I know," I replied, my voice low as I rested my cheek lightly against her hair.
She shifted, lifting her head to look at me, her eyes searching mine as if trying to find something to hold on to.
"This time... I can’t even feel where you’ll be," she said quietly.
I raised my hand and gently brushed a strand of her hair away from her face, my fingers lingering against her cheek.
"I’ll come back," I said.
Her gaze softened slightly, though the worry didn’t disappear.
"You better," she replied.
A small smile formed on my face, and before she could say anything else, I leaned in and pressed a soft kiss to her forehead.
"Be safe," I said quietly, my thumb brushing lightly along her cheek.
"You too," she whispered.
I leaned in again, this time pressing a gentle kiss to her lips.
When I pulled back slightly, she didn’t let go. Instead, she stepped closer, closing the small space between us again and kissing me back, a little more firmly this time, as if she didn’t want the moment to end.
"I’ll be back before you miss me too much," I murmured lightly.
She huffed softly, though her lips curved just a little. "That’s not possible."
I chuckled under my breath and placed one last soft kiss near the corner of her lips, my forehead resting briefly against hers.
For a moment, we stayed like that, close enough to feel every breath, every heartbeat.
*****
We were back at the base near the Crimson Zone, and just as before, Amun was exactly where I had left him, sitting cross-legged with his eyes closed, one elbow resting on his knee and his face supported lazily against his palm as if time itself hadn’t moved for him.
The moment we arrived, his eyes opened.
"So... ready to go?" he asked, a faint glint of excitement already visible.
"You look even more excited than yesterday," I said, watching him closely.
In the next instant, he vanished and reappeared right in front of me, close enough that the shift in space was still settling.
"Of course I am," he said, his tone carrying a rare intensity. "You don’t understand what this moment means. This is a fork in the road. If you succeed, our chances of defeating the Eternals and ending this invasion will increase exponentially. And if you don’t come back..."
He made a simple motion across his throat.
"...then we’re finished."
The lightness from before was gone.
"But," he continued, straightening slightly, "as a sign of goodwill, neither I nor the system have placed any conditions on what you can ask from the Crimson authorities. That decision is entirely yours."
His gaze held mine.
"The only thing we ask is that you remember why you’re going. Your home is under invasion. You are going there to find a solution to that."
I smirked faintly.
"Don’t worry," I said. "I’m not going there to ask them to make me a billionaire."
A brief pause followed before I continued, "Anyway, no more talking. I’ve made all the arrangements I needed. Let’s begin."
Amun nodded once and pulled out three tokens, handing them over. I took one for myself and passed the other two to Knight and Lyrate.
Amun glanced at them and gave a small nod. "Good choice."
Then he added, "One more thing. You won’t arrive together. You’ll be reincarnated in different places. So find each other as soon as possible."
I frowned slightly. "Different places? How are we supposed to recognize each other then?"
He shrugged lightly. "Whatever name you will have there, change it to your current name. Your memories stay with you. Beyond that... it depends on where you end up and what kind of mission you take. You’ll have to figure it out."
Knight flipped the token once in his hand, his expression unimpressed. "So much for acting all powerful and not even being able to help with something this basic."
"I’ll ignore that," Amun replied without missing a beat.
With a wave of his hand, the three coffins appeared again, settling quietly on the ground.
"Alright," he said. "Lie down inside, crush the tokens, and you’ll be transferred to the terminal. From there, you can select your mission."