It started with a whisper.
A tremor beneath their feet.
Then the entire Tower tilted, as if the laws of time and reality had slipped on invisible ice.
Naia grabbed Lucian's arm.
"What's happening?"
The system didn't respond.
Instead, black snow began to fall.
Lysia drew her blade.
"Lucian…"
But he didn't answer.
Because he recognized the snow.
He'd seen it once, a long time ago—
Right before the world ended.
The next step landed them in another world.
Everything was silent.
Not just quiet—as if sound had been erased.
Above them, the sky hung upside down.
Cities floated in ruins.
Statues of Lucian towered over broken temples.
A giant obsidian throne sat at the heart of it all.
And on it—
Another Lucian.
But not tired.
Not uncertain.
This one wore armor stitched from divinity itself.His eyes burned with calculated calm.His voice, when it came, was ice:
"Ah. The failed echo."
Lucian froze.
Naia stared.
"That's… you?"
The armored Lucian smiled thinly.
"No. That's what you could have been—if you didn't flinch."
[System Notification]
You have entered: Floor B90 – The Inverted MemoryRule: Your past shall rise.Rule: Your future shall fight.Objective: Defeat the Self That Never Regretted.
Lysia shivered.
"…This floor created an evil version of you?"
The Armored Lucian stood.
"I was never evil."
He descended the obsidian steps.
"I simply stopped pretending people deserved kindness."
His gaze swept over Naia.
"And I never erased her. I let her die. Clean. Noble."
He raised a gauntlet.
"And I never begged forgiveness. I took it."
Selaria, still recovering behind them, whispered.
"…That version of you… it feels older than time."
Lucian clenched his fists.
"You're not real."
Armored Lucian chuckled.
"I am the truth your memories censored. I am the version the gods sealed for good reason."
He looked around the others.
"And I remember everything."
He snapped his fingers.
A broken god fell from the sky—chained, bleeding, twisted.
Lysia gasped.
"That's… Elyon?"
The armored Lucian stepped on the god's throat.
"Was. He tried to write fate over me."
Then he looked back to Lucian.
"I wrote back."
Naia stepped forward.
"Why are we here?"
Armored Lucian answered simply.
"To ask a question:When kindness fails, when sacrifice ruins all—Will you become me?"
Then he charged.
The ground cracked under his steps.
Lucian barely blocked the first blow.
But it wasn't just force.
His own thoughts began to blur—
As if the other Lucian's will was rewriting him from within.
"Do you really think they'll stay, if they see what you are?"
Another strike.
Lucian slid back.
Naia threw a wall of mirrored energy between them.
"Don't listen—!"
But the Armored Lucian shattered it with a word:
"Break."
Lysia leapt forward, blade glowing.
He caught her sword between two fingers.
"Cute."
Then flung her into a monument of himself.
Selaria trembled.
"…He's not just you."
Lucian nodded, panting.
"He's what I would've become if I stopped… caring."
Naia turned to him.
"Then fight for what you still care about."
Lucian stood.
He remembered:
Naia's tears.
Selaria's pain.
Lysia's doubts.
He remembered what it cost to keep going.
He raised his hand.
And for the first time since being summoned—
He called the [Core Truth].
Golden glyphs erupted from his skin.
The Tower trembled.
The Armored Lucian halted.
"…So. You found it."
Lucian's eyes glowed.
"This world you rule? It's empty. You won—but lost yourself."
"I'd rather die human than live as that."
The air bent.
They clashed.
Sword against quill.Narrative versus command.Kindness versus control.
Each strike echoed with memory and meaning.
Lucian remembered the night he chose to erase Selaria.
Armored Lucian remembered choosing to kill her instead.
Lucian remembered pleading for his companions to live.
Armored Lucian remembered burning them to fuel his rewrite.
At last—Lucian drove his blade into the obsidian throne.
The entire floor shook.
The Armored Lucian staggered.
Lucian stood over him.
Breathing hard.
Eyes locked.
The reflection asked:
"Would you do it all again?"
Lucian answered.
"No."
"I'll do better."
The reflection smirked.
"…Then maybe you're stronger than me."
He faded.
Leaving behind only a single line burned into stone:
"Kindness… is the longest rebellion."
[System Update]
Floor Cleared: B90 – Inverted MemoryTrait Acquired: [Echo of the Other] – Lucian now has access to limited powers of his darker selfMental Resistance: UpgradedParty Morale: StabilizedInner Conflict: Deferred (Not Resolved)
As the world around them realigned, Naia looked at Lucian.
"…Do you think he was really just a reflection?"
Lucian shook his head.
"No. He was real."
He looked up.
"He still is. In me."
Selaria's voice was soft.
"Then don't forget what made you different."
Lucian nodded.
And for the first time in a long time—
He felt whole.