304 THE BRINGER OF THE END
Yun-Yun knelt beneath the waning moon, her trembling hands tracing the ancient sigils she had etched into the frozen earth. A whisper of frost curled through the air as she summoned her ethereal handler, the being she called Santa.
"Santa, I need your help," she called, her voice laced with desperation. "I must save my husband."
From the shadows a figure emerged, cloaked in the suit of festivity. Santa's long, tattered hat draped over his shoulders, and his enormous frame, veiled in a deep crimson robe, seemed more imposing than festive.
There was no jovial "ho-ho-ho" on his lips tonight—only the weight of grim solemnity.
"You speak of saving him again?" Santa's deep voice resonated like the groan of ancient ice. "Last time, you barely escaped the eternal storage. Do you truly understand what you ask?"
Yun-Yun's eyes burned with resolve. "I will save him, even if it costs me my life."
Santa exhaled, his breath curling like smoke into the frozen air between them. "The wrath of the Thunder God is beyond measure," he murmured. "Even I cannot quell it."
"There must be a way," Yun-Yun's voice cracked with desperation, raw and trembling.
His gaze met hers, eyes aglow with a wisdom that seemed carved from the dawn of time. He studied her, weighed her, and then finally spoke—slow, deliberate, every word heavy as stone.
"Perhaps… there is one path."
Her breath caught. "What path?"
"You may yet see him again," he said simply.
Her heart lurched. "What do you mean? I don't understand."
Santa's expression deepened into solemn gravity. "You stand on the edge of ascension. You have endured every trial, found a love that binds soul to soul, a bond strong enough to pierce the veil of eternity. If your husband's love for you is as pure as you believe… then you may enter the Hatta Realm. The gates of worlds will yield to you now."
"Then—if I ascend—will I see him again?"
He hesitated before answering, his tone sharp as a warning bell. "Yes. But know this: your ascension will not pass without cost. A major calamity. The price will not be yours alone. It will echo through countless worlds."
"What?"
Her chest tightened, but her eyes shone with resolve. "If calamity is the price of his life, then I will pay it. I would rather hold him once more than save a thousand worlds."
"Save the world?" Santa's lips curled into something between sorrow and irony. "No, child. You will not save it. You may end it."
Her voice faltered. "End… the world?"
He looked away for the first time, as though reluctant to voice the truth. "You do not yet grasp why you have been brought here in this world originally. This place is a prison meant to bind your destiny. You are the herald of ending for your original world."
The reason she was brought into the Realm of Sins was to prevent her from bringing calamity to her original world. The revelation shocked her.
Yun-Yun staggered beneath the weight of the revelation, her mind reeling. Yet her heart did not waver. She clenched her fists, lifted her chin, and spoke with unshaken conviction.
"Whatever… then let it tremble. Let it fall. If the price of being with him again is the world's ruin… then so be it. I will bear that sin."
Santa's expression softened—sad, knowing, almost tender—yet his tone remained as grave as the toll of a funeral bell. "So be it."
With a single wave of his hand, the world around them quivered. The air rippled like liquid glass, and the realm itself bent, shimmering with unbearable light.
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Yun-Yun's body began to radiate an otherworldly brilliance as golden light poured from her skin. Arcane runes spiraled across her form, weaving a tapestry of power.
A celestial jade wheel materialized behind her, its spokes glimmering with unfathomable energy. As a third eye opened upon her forehead, her soul surged into the Hatta Cakra, the realm of divinity.
The world around Yun-Yun dissolved into endless reflections.
Mirrors rose in every direction, stretching into infinity, each one gleaming with its own impossible light. Yet what unsettled her most was not their number, but what lay within them—whole worlds flickering, breathing, alive.
"Where… where am I?" Yun-Yun whispered, her voice trembling as her eyes darted from one shimmering glass to the next.
A cloaked figure emerged from the shifting silver haze, his presence calm, almost timeless.
"You've reached Hatta," he said, his voice deep and resonant. "This is the Crossroad of Mirrors. Here, every reflection is a world, a door… and every door is a choice. You may return to your own realm… or step into another."
Her breath caught. "Worlds… inside these mirrors?"
"Yes." He inclined his head solemnly. "You stand at the very crossroads of the multi-verse itself."
"I don't care about multi-verses." Her voice hardened. "I need to save Leo. Tell me— which world holds him? I'll go there."
Santa hesitated. "That… is not so simple. Your husband does not exist in only one place. His soul has been… scattered."
"Scattered?" she pressed, her voice sharp. "Don't speak in riddles. Tell me plainly."
Santa exhaled, as if the weight of truth itself pained him. "Leo has fallen under the Godly hands of Divine Retribution. Such a judgment does not merely kill. It shatters. His soul has fractured into many parts, cast adrift across the worlds you see before you."
Her hands balled into fists. "Then I will travel them all. Every mirror, every world—I will search until I gather him whole again."
For a long moment, Santa studied her with eyes older than stars. Then he shook his head. "You need not save every fragment. Only one truly matters—the fragment of your husband that carries his love for you."
Her heart clenched.
She knew Leo's heart had never belonged to her alone. He had loved others, and though she never doubted his devotion to her, she could not deny the truth of those bonds.
Her voice trembled as she looked up at the countless mirrors. "Then tell me… is there a part of him that loves only me?"
"Yes," Santa replied to her.
"Then I'll go there", she replied simply.
"His soul in in the very world you would bring enormous calamity… its end. Do you still want to go there?" Santa asked.
Yun-Yun did not hesitate. "Yes, I'll find him…. No matter the cost."
"So be it."
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