Neither I nor Y know how to fly.

So, I use [Necromancy], and [Whalelich] supports me.

We float in the darkness of the great void, a few miles from a dark blue cylinder. It is a swarm of flames. Significantly smaller than the Corestar. The fact that I can grasp its shape in its entirety is proof of this.

“A collapsed core. It is reduced to the bar state of the cosmos.” Y intertwines her fingers and her tails interact in the air, with a screen I cannot see.

I also summoned Sylviette for her use of basic magic, [Light], to illuminate the space just surrounding us.

After the chats with Y, looking at Sylviette had an alienating effect on me.

Her expression, ironically expressionless, is the same as always. Her gestures, her movements, and her attitudes…

…it is Sylviette.

Yet it is not her.

Sylviette is dead and now sleeps in the eternal dream.

This one is a puppet.

A puppet artfully made by me.

I feel a weight in my chest. But I try to push it away.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Maybe I should distract myself. “What are you doing, then?”

“I'm setting a trap. Irferno failed to destroy the core. It will finish the job, but when it interacts… well, it'll be in for a nasty surprise. We will use its energy to reactivate the Corestar.”

“Oh, can you do that?”

“Sure. Cosmic bars are malleable. I doubt Irferno knows the difference between Corestar and Resetstar.”

I sit cross-legged on the sperm whale's back. I look at the cylinder in the distance.

“I don't know either…”

“Uh, you didn't even know what a Corestar was! How silly, I took it for granted, hehe.”

“So?”

“A Resetstar is a very harmful mechanism for the System. But it uses the right amount of energy. It can turn back time by a few hours. Let's say until before the destruction of the Corestar. When this happens, Resetstar will annihilate itself with Irferno and—”

“Gron will be back!”

Y stops with her arms and tails in mid-air. She turns to me. The perplexed expression.

“No, really not. As well as the dungeon. The area affected by the Resetstar is large, but it can never extend beyond the limit of the starting Corestar.”

“Oh, um…”

Y goes back to work.

Sigh.

“Look…”

“…”

“And the glacier? Le Flare-Oil underneath it?”

“Evaporated in the explosion. Indeed, if the explosion was so destructive it is because they reacted, starting a chain reaction.”

“Can the Corestar exist without it?”

“The glacier will regenerate. Yes, the Corestar will hold up long enough, don't worry.”

Silence falls.

Different reasons. But neither of them wants to talk anymore.

Sylviette watches us and says nothing.

It does not matter. The curiosity that I have always had towards the Underwasteland, my home, suddenly...

…It does not matter.

I look at the darkness. The cylinder. I try to see signs of Dal. But it is not possible.

Without his buffs, I will never be able to do it.

No trace of Irferno. Hours pass, yet no trace. I wonder if it is true that magic cannot eliminate it.

Can such an ancient creature coexist with a modernized System?

Maybe in Y's time.

Ci-cin.

The sound of the bells is lost in the darkness.

…It does not matter.