In that instant…
The hot, vibrating tip of the energy sword was less than an inch from Owen's neck… but he closed his eyes calmly. His mind was no longer focused on the impending death, but was concentrating all its power inward… to the [Essence of Dreams] that was vibrating violently in his soul, like a struck bell.
The whistle of the wind and the hum of the energy sword slowly faded… replaced by the sound of a heartbeat, "Thump… Thump…" like a war drum thundering in his senses. It wasn't just a sound… it was a vibration he could feel from within… and at the same time… a thousand incomprehensible whispers flooded Owen's head like a tsunami of despair. They were the voices of every soul lost in that tragedy…
The image of the ruined plaza and the Sentinel's shattered face slowly melted and distorted… becoming a tunnel of purple light and black shadows, swirling madly. Owen felt as if his body wasn't moving… but it was his "spirit" that was being "sucked" into something deeper and more complex than a normal dimension… It was a journey of consciousness, being dragged into the depths of a shattered memory…
And then… the frantic journey came to an abrupt halt… Everything fell still and silent…
Owen opened his eyes again… but the place he was in was no longer the plaza filled with corpses…
He was standing in the center of a modern and grand "combat command center"… Everything around him was still in perfect condition… The polished metal walls shone, beautifully reflecting the blue neon lights… All the control panels and hologram screens were fully functional…
But the atmosphere in the room was anything but calm…
WEE-WOO! WEE-WOO! WEE-WOO!
The sound of an emergency alarm blared throughout the area, deafening! Red lights flashed rapidly, bathing the room and creating an atmosphere as tense and oppressive as being in a submarine about to sink to the bottom of the ocean!
On the giant hologram screens all around him… images of the chaos that was happening throughout the metropolis were being displayed… He could see the horde of monsters from another dimension rampaging through the city… hear the screams of the people… and see the beams of battle that lit up the sky… It was a live broadcast of the end of the world…
He tried to reach out and touch the nearest control panel… but his hand passed right through it like thin air…
'Am I… in a memory?' he understood instantly… He was just a non-existent "observer" in this event… just a spirit watching a past tragedy repeat itself…
And then… the automatic door of the command center opened… and a familiar figure appeared…
The "female Sentinel," still in perfect condition… Her silver armor was still shining beautifully, without a single scratch… She stepped into the room with a graceful and resolute gait… but in her eyes… was an exhaustion and despair she could not hide…
Owen turned to face the "memory" that was the source of everything… He was about to see with his own eyes… what happened on the final day of the metropolis of Arcadia…
Owen, as a non-existent observer, watched the "female Sentinel" in her perfect state… She stood, giving resolute commands in the center of the command center, which was in a state of chaos.
She seemed to be the center of a raging storm… Amidst the blaring alarms and flashing red lights… she moved with a fluid grace and authority. Her long, slender fingers danced across the holographic control panels, giving orders to the various screens that showed the damage across the city. Her voice remained firm, trying to keep the situation under control.
"Move the forces from the eastern sector to reinforce the central bridge! Now!"
"Medical unit! Respond! Why has the civilian evacuation at the main station stopped!"
"Activate all automated turrets! Fire at everything in your path! Don't worry about ammunition anymore!"
Every command was decisive… but Owen, standing there… as a spirit who could see through the outer shell… he could feel the exhaustion and despair hidden beneath that strength… He noticed her hand trembling slightly when no one was looking… and the bead of sweat that trickled from her temple…
She was a commander on the verge of defeat… but she was still fighting to the very last second…
But then… the worst reports came flooding in from all directions like a broken dam…
Screams and despair cut through the static, non-stop…
"Guardian! The final defensive line on the east side of the city is about to break!"
"We… we can't hold them back! There are too many of them! You have to run! It's over… (static…)"
The voice from the communication system cut out… replaced by the chilling sound of static…
The Sentinel stood motionless before the main hologram screen, which displayed a three-dimensional map of the metropolis… On the map… the blue dots representing the allied forces slowly winked out, one by one… one by one… before being swallowed by the crimson wave that represented the horde of beasts…
Like candles being blown out by a storm, one by one…
Until finally… the last blue dot went out…
Now… the entire map had turned a brilliant red… She was the only one left…
The alarm still blared… but the center of the command room fell into an uncomfortable silence… the silence that comes when all hope is lost.
Owen saw it with his own eyes… her gaze slowly changing from the determination of a warrior… to the shattered despair of a young woman who had to bear the fate of an entire world on her shoulders…
A single tear slowly trickled from her eye… tracing a path down her smooth cheek before dropping onto the armor on her chest… It was the final tear for a metropolis that was about to fall.
She wiped the tear away quickly… Her gaze turned hard again… but this time, it wasn't the strength of a leader… but the hardness of one who had already given up everything.
She opened the city-wide emergency communication system for the last time… and sent out her final message… Her voice trembled but was still full of responsibility…
"[Emergency alert! … Our frontline forces can no longer handle the invasion!… All citizens… evacuate… immediately…]"
After sending her final message… she turned her back on the now-useless control panels… and walked straight to the exit of the command center…
She picked up her energy sword… and walked out with a firm stride… Every step was heavy and resolute… This wasn't an escape… but a walk out to the "central plaza"…
To fight for the last time…
To buy time for her citizens to evacuate…
Even if it was just for a few seconds…
Owen watched her elegant and lonely back as she walked out the door… He knew that the next scene he would see… was the final battlefield he had just left…
But the moment her form disappeared from his sight… the memory of the command center began to "distort."
The once-perfect metal walls began to crack, and black, web-like shadows spread across them rapidly like a disease! The red lights that had once been just a warning now looked evil and alive like the eyes of a demon! And the siren began to warp, its frequency twisting until it became an incomprehensible, wailing scream…
The clear memory was rotting and becoming a tangible nightmare!
The form of the Sentinel in the memory, who had just walked out… appeared again in the center of the room… but this time, it was no longer her perfect form… Her body slowly dissolved into a jet-black shadow like ink dropped on water…
That dark shadow began to "absorb" everything around it! It absorbed the red lights that flashed like a heartbeat… absorbed the wailing screams… absorbed all the despair that lingered in this command room… and formed a new monster…
It was the "Failure Incarnate"…
It still had a form similar to the Sentinel… but a distorted and horrifying version… Its armor wasn't made of metal… but of the hardened shadow of "guilt," with cracks all over its body like glass about to shatter… Under its helmet was only an empty darkness and a brilliant red lens filled with self-hatred…
And in its hand was no longer a sword… but the "chains" of sorrow… Jet-black chains that vibrated and scraped against each other constantly… They were the chains that bound her soul to this final memory for eternity…
The uncomfortable silence in the rotting command center was suddenly shattered…
Not by an explosion… but by a slow and chilling movement…
The "Failure Incarnate," which had been standing motionless in the center of the room, slowly turned its distorted head towards Owen… Every one of its movements was stiff and unnatural, like a doll with rusted joints. The brilliant red lens under its cracked helmet slowly lit up… and fixed directly on him.
In that instant… Owen felt as if he had been yanked from his "observer" status and thrown into a beast's cage. He could feel an immense, invisible pressure radiating from that being. The air around him grew heavy and cold, as if the temperature had dropped by dozens of degrees in a flash. He was no longer a spectator… but an "invader" in this private world filled with pain… a foreign object that had to be eliminated.
And then… it began its attack… with the most vicious weapon… the negative power of its "despair."
It was the shattered, synthetic voice of the Sentinel… distorted by the static of despair and coated with a self-hatred so bitter it had become a poison…
[…You… you saw it, didn't you?...]
The voice didn't come from any direction… it echoed directly in Owen's head as if it were his own thought.
[…My pathetic state… My weakness… I am a failed guardian! I couldn't protect anyone! I am worthless!!!]
Every word was as sharp as broken glass! And as the final roar ended… a jet-black chain shot from its shadow hand like an unleashed serpent! It didn't move with the laws of physics but slithered through the air like an evil spirit, leaving a trail of darkness in its wake…
Schlick!
The chain shot through Owen's "chest" silently… creating no physical wound…
But in that split second… Owen's entire world "shattered"…
He felt no pain… but a chilling cold that ate its way to the core of his soul… as if all the warmth and hope in his life were being "sucked" from his body… The vision of the distorted command center shattered into fragments of light and darkness… and his body sank into his own "nightmare"…
…
The first image that appeared was of Damian…
He was sitting in an old office chair amidst piles of bankruptcy documents that surrounded him like a paper graveyard. The light from a desk lamp illuminated his gaunt-cheeked face and his empty eyes… Owen stood there… in the office he knew so well… He could smell the cold coffee and the musty scent of failure that hung in the air…
And the voice of the "Incarnate" echoed in his head like a demon's whisper…
[Look… you were there… but what did you do? What could you have done to help him? …Nothing… All you could do was watch… His ruin… is your sin!]
The image changed… as if an unseen hand had changed the channel…
This time, he saw Clara… She was sitting in front of a webcam… in the first black lace lingerie she had bought to do OnlyStar… She was forcing a smile… a smile that was beautiful but broken… And Owen saw it… a small tear that silently trickled down her cheek… before she quickly wiped it away…
The serpent's whisper sounded again… colder and more ruthless than before…
[She is so beautiful… in that shame… The dignity she had to throw away for a pittance… it's because of your worthlessness! Every time she forces a smile… it's your failure, hammered home!]
"Aaaaaaaaaargh!!!"
A tsunami of despair and guilt slammed into Owen's mind so violently he had to clutch his head! His knees buckled, and he collapsed onto a non-existent floor! His body began to tremble uncontrollably… The determination to "liberate" the Sentinel he'd had a moment ago… now wavered and shattered like glass struck by a sledgehammer!
Before him… in the darkness of his collapsing mind… the "Incarnate" slowly raised its other hand… It was "reveling" in his pain…
And then… as if in response to Owen's weakness… the shadows around him came to life!
[Surrender… Sleep… in your failure… forever…]
Its voice echoed one last time… not a roar… but a whisper as seductive as a lullaby of death.
A hundred chains of sorrow shot from the shadows around him like an army of serpents unleashed from hell! They didn't bring physical pain… but the aura of an endless regret… The scraping sound of each chain link was deafening… It was the lament of a surrendered soul…
They shot towards Owen… ready to bind him… to his own "failure"… for eternity…
But then… in the split second Owen was about to close his eyes and accept his fate…
A flash of light appeared in the darkest recess of his mind…
He did what the "Incarnate" had not expected… He didn't scream… he didn't struggle… but he thought of the "light" in his life…
'No…' A thought as faint as a whisper but as firm as a mountain sounded in his mind. 'I'm not someone who drowns in past mistakes… I'm not someone who surrenders to failure!'
CRACK!
Like shattered glass! The illusion of failure the "Incarnate" had created began to be overlaid and torn apart by Owen's true memories!
The image of Clara forcing a smile and crying in shame… shattered… replaced by the image of her seductive and loving smile on the night they held each other under the moonlight… There was no shame in her eyes then… only a love she was ready to give him for the rest of her life…
The "Incarnate" tried to project a new nightmare… but the image was interrupted! It was replaced by the image of Jessica laughing openly… her playful and sincere eyes on the day she had accepted him unconditionally…
The image of Damian, hopeless amidst the documents… faded… replaced by the image of his blissful face as he raised a glass of champagne high, proudly proclaiming… "To the new pillar of the house!"
The image of Rosy, practicing singing for her stream with fierce determination… the image of Talia, working out with resolved eyes… and the image of Victoria, circulating her mana with a face full of sweat… Everyone was fighting for him!
Thump…
Suddenly! The [Essence of Dreams] vibrating in his soul responded! It vibrated violently… not with pain… but in joyful response to his overwhelming positive emotions!
Warm, golden particles of light began to bloom around Owen, who was still kneeling… It was the light of hope… the light of love… and the light of a will to protect… The light slowly chased away the cold and darkness in his mind…
The moment this light appeared… the hundred chains that were shooting towards him froze in mid-air as if time had stopped… before they were incinerated by the golden light, letting out a wail, and dissolving into black ash in an instant!
The "Incarnate" froze in shock! It stopped its attack completely for the first time!
Owen slowly looked up… His eyes no longer held any despair… They shone with a faint golden light, filled with a fierce love and determination. He slowly held out his right hand…
And then… all the golden particles of light flowed into his palm like a river of stars… forming a beautiful "Sword of Light"…
Its blade was transparent and shone as if made from millions of stars, brought together… The hilt felt strangely warm, as if he were holding a lover's hand… It was a weapon not forged from steel… but woven from all the "good memories" of his life.
Owen gripped the hilt of the light sword tightly and slowly rose to his feet, steady…
The warm golden light from the sword shone throughout the dark command center… chasing away the shadows and the rot, revealing the true ruins under the light of hope for the first time…
The "Failure Incarnate" took a step back by instinct…
For the first time… it showed "fear"…
Its brilliant red lens widened with panic and disbelief… It stared at the Sword of Light in Owen's hand… a weapon born from something it had never understood…
Light and darkness… Hope and despair… were about to truly clash…
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