Phantoms of the past and present gradually overlapped within the girl's vision.
She struggled and floundered amidst her memories, immersed in a shallow, crude world, blind to the difference between black and white, lost within the crevices of gray.
The crimson spider lily swayed gently in the breeze.
Even with the tip of his sword so perilously close, it still bloomed with reckless abandon.
And Phrolova, too, still smiled.
Perhaps, in her heart, the girl had long known that this moment would come.
She understood all too well that neither the him of the past nor the him of the present could ever approve of the path she now walked.
In the girl's world, the memories of bygone days were like faded, yellowed paintings. They would wash over her heart like the tide in the quietest of moments, punctuated by many pauses, like a kind of choked sob.
"Who... exactly are you?"
The wind stilled in that moment. It seemed as though even the girl's heart had stopped along with it.
In her eyes, only his figure was reflected, and his alone.
"Who am I?" Phrolova spoke softly, her gaze never straying from his. "Does it truly matter? Even if I told you now, how much would you be willing to believe?"
"Back in Septimont, I once met a Fractsidus Overseer named Scar," Ray said coldly. "He told me that there was another Fractsidus Overseer hidden right beside me only, I wasn't aware of it."
Phrolova tilted her head gently. "So, you've suspected me all along?"
Ray shook his head in denial, though the tip of his sword never wavered. "No. Before coming here, I never once suspected you."
"Not until I saw this world built from Tacet Discords with my own eyes. Until I saw you imprisoning these souls that should have been laid to rest, trapping them inside husks that don't belong to them."
"What exactly are you trying to do?"
To this, the girl did not choose to answer his question directly. Instead, she stepped forward, until the sharp edge of his blade rested against her throat.
Even so, she still gazed at him.
"You... should have been the one person in this world who understood me best."
"You have experienced far too much death, far too much destruction. You have witnessed the rise and extinction of countless civilizations."
"Precisely because of that, you understand better than anyone—"
"Only by drawing closer to death can one feel the weight of life, and see clearly what one truly desires."
"A vitality within decay. A quiet song of life undying."
Ray furrowed his brow and instinctively took a small step back. "Don't speak to me in these flowery riddles. That's not what I want to hear."
But Phrolova was relentless. When he retreated a step, she advanced a step, perpetually maintaining that perilous distance between them.
"I am saving people."
"In my own way, saving those souls that should have scattered into oblivion forever."
"When destruction descended, sowing calamity and terror across the human world, I alone survived amidst that burning hell."
"Do you think that was fortune, or misfortune?"
"I don't know. And no one can give me an answer."
"I once thought of ending my life as well. But I couldn't do it."
"Because I carry their hope to 'live on' upon my shoulders. And in this world, I seek to create an eternal 'Other Shore' for all departed souls."
"And the emergence of the Fractsidus allowed me to glimpse the hope of realizing that Other Shore."
The girl had never begun with any noble ideal. She had never held any noble ideal at all.
All she yearned for was for "love" to never drift away, to continue on, unbroken, until "eternity."
Phrolova never denied her own selfishness.
It was nothing more than an emotion innate to all humanity.
Ray's pupils quivered faintly. "You really are... with the Fractsidus."
"In name only," Phrolova replied. "The Fractsidus needs my abilities, and I need the Fractsidus's assistance."
"Even if what the Fractsidus has bestowed upon you is nothing but a false hope?"
Phrolova let out a soft, noncommittal laugh. "The Fractsidus has allowed me to see the possibility of advancing further along this path. Whether or not it is a false hope, I do not care. I have failed many times already. One more failure makes no difference."
"You truly are insane." Ray froze for a brief moment. "The dead cannot be brought back to life. Reverberations will always remain Reverberations. You've seen it yourself, everyone here is nothing more than a walking corpse, living only by the lingering obsessions they held before death. If you truly love them, then let them go. Let them rest in peace."
"The dead cannot be brought back to life?" Phrolova turned her gaze aside, her tone unhurried. "What an amusing thing to say. Tell me then, when those you cherish most pass away before your eyes, one after another, will you still be able to maintain your current rationality? Even knowing full well they are dead, if there remained even a one percent chance of bringing them back to this world, would you give up?"
Her gaze returned to Ray's face, filled with an understanding that saw straight through him.
"No. You wouldn't."
"You would stop at nothing. You would ignore the dissuasion of everyone around you, and insist on bringing them back to this world."
Her voice was very soft, yet it cut like a dagger straight into the most tender part of the heart.
Ray shook his head with a sigh. "You're in far too deep. What kind of past could have set you on this path you walk now?"
"Fufu..." At this, the girl covered her mouth and chuckled softly. "Was it not you who set me upon this very path?"
She was clearly smiling, yet for some reason, what reached Ray's ears was a sound akin to a heart shattering, conveyed with aching clarity.
"In the river of infinite time, you seek the truest, ultimate perfection."
"For that, you would even sacrifice everything you have and start all over again."
"You... are the one who is far more obsessive."
Ray stood there, utterly unmoved. This was not the first time Phrolova had spoken of his past.
And it wasn't just her, Carlotta's grandfather had hinted at similar things as well.
If he truly possessed some unknown, forgotten past...
Then why did his memories stop at the moment before he had crossed into this world?
"I have no idea what you're talking about." Ray's blade remained steadfast against the girl's throat. "I don't want to raise a hand against you. And besides, did you really bring me all the way here just to tell me you're with the Fractsidus?"
Phrolova suddenly leaned forward, allowing the tip of the sword to press a faint mark into her neck. Yet the corner of her lips curved into a smile of almost blissful delight.
"Reluctant to strike... is it because you can't bear to?"
"It's simply because, up until now, you haven't given me a reason I must."
"Still as gentle as ever, aren't you?" She let out a light laugh. But in her hand, at some unknown moment, a dark, dull stone tablet had appeared. "Then what if... what you see is this?"
"That's—?!"
Ray's pupils abruptly contracted.
But before he could even move, the girl before him had already scattered into a swirl of red spider lily petals, vanishing soundlessly.
When she coalesced once more, she stood in the shadows on the other side of the room.
And beside her, a portal had materialized.
Within the portal, a familiar face could be faintly glimpsed, blending into the shifting light and shadow.
Scar.