Time had passed.Or… something like it.
For the first time in centuries, Seris Vel'Zereth felt unease.
She wasn't alone anymore. And she wasn't used to that.
Sitting beneath dim, floating candlelight, she flipped slowly through a strange book unlike the others—a thick, rune-inscribed volume whose glowing blue pages reminded her of an old world's lost magic. She was searching. Hunting. For a piece she didn't know she was missing.
The last piece.
The one that might explain why Ren Kisaragi—a boy with no magic, no presence, no strength—was in this place.
When he'd first appeared, she had thought it was a hallucination. Just another cruel trick played by the prison, twisting her mind after too many years in the dark.
But he was real.Loud. Stubborn. Infuriatingly real.
And yet, somewhere beneath the annoyance… something else stirred.
A strange part of her—buried, dusty, locked away—felt the tiniest spark of something she hadn't let herself feel in centuries.
Hope.
Not because of his jokes.Not because of his talk of friendship.
But because, for the first time in a thousand years, she remembered her sisters.
Still trapped. Still waiting.
The strange book glowed faintly in her lap. It had no entries of intrusions, no records of breaches in the seal. Just one name: Seris Vel'Zereth.
No Ren Kisaragi. No one else.
She closed it with a soft thud, eyes narrowing as she turned toward where Ren was curled up near a random bookshelf—fast asleep in the same corner where he'd been trying to strike dumb "summon poses" for half an hour.
His face was peaceful. Ridiculous.
"Interesting," she murmured, coldly. "Is this a trap?"
He had no magic. No aura. No defense against even basic spells. He hadn't even noticed when she tested his heart with hers spell.
If someone had truly meant to kill her, they would've sent someone powerful.Not him.
She frowned, watching his dumb sleeping expression.Then why is he here…?
Her thoughts cut off sharply.
Footsteps.
From deep within the aisles.
Soft at first. Then louder.Then closer.
Seris's eyes gleamed brighter, glowing like coals. She stood slowly, her fingers twitching, preparing a spell by instinct.
From the darkness came a shifting shape—no aura, just pressure. Something old and wrong.
It stepped forward, dragging itself into the pale candlelight.
A massive figure. Towering. Wrapped in rotting cloth and bound in shadows.
A skeletal knight. Ancient armor fused to bone. Its greatsword scraping along the stone as it walked.
Seris's expression darkened.
"…First time in a thousand years something shows up in this cursed library," she whispered.
She reached down, picked up the glowing book, and hurled it directly at Ren's face.
It smacked him squarely in the forehead.
"OW—WHAT THE—!?"
Ren sat up, dazed. Then his eyes caught the towering figure approaching from the shadows, and he screamed.
"S-Seri-chan!! WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?! Is that a boss?! Are we fighting a boss?! WHY DOES IT HAVE A SWORD?!"
Seris exhaled slowly, more annoyed than alarmed.
Her crimson eyes flicked once toward the skeletal knight—its massive frame trudging forward, sword dragging against the stone floor—and then to Ren, who was still frozen with a book in his lap and a full-on horror game expression on his face.
She sighed.
"That's a Shadow Skeletal Knight Guardian," she said flatly. "And I doubt it's here for a friendly chat."
Ren blinked. "Wait—Guardian of what now?"
Before he could finish, the space behind Seris shimmered.
Dozens—no, hundreds—of golden orbs appeared in the air, swirling behind her like summoned stars. Each one pulsed with an eerie, divine light, floating like miniature suns waiting for her command.
Then—
WHOOSH.
Like guided missiles, the orbs shot forward all at once.
A glowing barrage of radiant magic slammed into the knight, blinding the chamber in golden light. The creature didn't even scream—it simply disintegrated on impact, scattered into dust and echoes.
Silence followed.
The candles flickered.
Ren sat there, jaw halfway unhinged. "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!"
He pointed wildly at the fading remains. "You just vaporized him! Didn't even ask if he had a name or backstory or tragic villain arc—!"
Seris turned her eyes on him with a deadpan expression, her tone icy.
"Would you prefer I let it kill you first, human?"
Ren straightened up like a scolded student. "N-nope! All good! Thank you for your service, Seris-sama. I shall now humbly and fearfully follow your expert magical guidance."
But before he could laugh it off—
The shadows twisted again.
Two more figures began to form in the hallway behind the first.
Identical armor. Identical swords. Identical dread.
More Shadow Guardians. And they were moving faster.
Ren's smile evaporated.
"…You've gotta be kidding me."
Seris didn't wait for the skeletal guardians to finish forming.
She closed her eyes—just for a breath.
When she opened them again, her irises burned a searing crimson, brighter than before.
She raised a single hand.
"Lux."
The word echoed like a command from a higher law.
Instantly, the entire library erupted in blinding light.
Not warmth. Not fire.Pure, searing, divine light.
Even Ren had to shield his eyes, staggering back behind a bookshelf. "Okay! Okay! Bright spell! Got it! Holy crap!"
And then—silence.
When the light faded, the shadows were gone. Not destroyed—erased. As if they had never existed.
Ren blinked, lowering his arm. "What the hell… was that?"
But before he could finish the thought—
Time broke.
The air turned brittle.The temperature dropped in a single heartbeat, falling below freezing.
It felt like winter had reawakened in the middle of nowhere.
Ren turned—but Seris was no longer on the ground.She was levitating, perfectly still. Her hair floated around her like silk underwater.
Not moving. Not breathing.Frozen.
Everything was.
Everything… except Ren.
His breath caught.
"Seri-chan…?"
He stepped back instinctively, eyes darting around the library. But no one moved. The flames had stopped flickering. The floating candles were suspended in mid-air like broken clock hands.
"What is this…? Time freeze?" he muttered, voice trembling.
And then—Behind him, the air cracked.
Not like a sound.But like reality itself was peeling away, layer by layer.
The way old paint flakes off a wall.Only this time, it was the world that flaked.
"Oh no. Nope. Not good," Ren whispered, stepping back again—only to realize he couldn't move.
His body froze. Not paralyzed by fear—literally frozen.He couldn't lift his arms. Couldn't turn his head. He was stuck, staring forward, eyes wide with primal panic.
The cracking grew louder.
Reality peeled back like glass shattering in slow motion. And from the gaping tear… something stepped through.
A hooded figure. Tall. Shrouded in something darker than shadow. No face. No words. Just presence.
It stood still for a moment.Looking around.
And time still didn't move.
Ren's thoughts raced. This isn't good. This is very not good. This is like final boss entrance cutscene levels of not good.
He tried to scream. Tried to blink. Tried to breathe.
Nothing.
The figure turned its head toward him.
And Ren knew, in the deepest part of his soul—
This thing wasn't just watching.
It had found him.
Time didn't move.
Not a sound. Not a flicker. Not a breath.
Ren stood alone—trapped in the moment, unable to twitch so much as a finger. His thoughts raced like wildfire.
Think, Ren. Think.
You've played enough RPGs to know that nothing good ever walks out of a tear in reality. This is final boss music without the music. This is "bad ending unlocked" energy. This is pain—straight-up, deluxe edition pain.
He gritted his teeth, trying with all his might to move. Nothing.His body refused to listen.
And worst of all—Seri-chan's frozen too. Time's broken. What the hell is even happening?
Then—
The hooded figure began to move.
It didn't walk.It floated, gliding above the ground, its long, tattered robes dragging behind it like liquid shadows. The fabric itself writhed, alive, shifting in impossible ways.
It drifted toward Seris, now levitating mid-air, unmoving like a sealed artifact.
Ren's eyes locked on it, every nerve screaming.The figure stopped beside her, tilting its head. There was no face beneath the hood—only darkness, like staring into the void itself.
Then… a voice.
Soft. Feminine. Eerily calm.
"…Interesting."
Her hands—white as bone, glowing faintly like ghostlight—moved in elegant arcs, as if brushing dust off time itself.
Then her focus shifted.To Ren.
She floated closer.
Ren wanted to step back. Wanted to scream. Wanted to do anything.
But all he could do was stand there. Helpless.
She stopped right in front of him.
Beneath the hood, there was no face. Just a gaping, endless black.
No… no eyes. No mouth. Nothing to scream with. Nothing to plead to.
A cold, creeping dread slithered across Ren's skin as she raised a glowing hand to his face. Her fingers brushed his cheek.
It wasn't cold. It wasn't warm.It was like someone rubbing static directly into his nerves.
Ren clenched his jaw.
"L-Leave Seri-chan… alone…"
The figure paused.
"…Seri?" she repeated. Her voice echoed, layered like wind chimes breaking across dimensions.
"The Witch of Greed, branded in every scripture as the one who plunged Runteria into darkness. You call her by name. How… interesting."
She tilted her head again, studying him.
"But what is even more curious," she whispered, "is you."
She leaned closer."I feel no power from you. No magic. Not even a spark."
Then she placed her glowing hand gently on Ren's forehead.
And in that instant—
Agony.
His eyelids snapped wide, eyes rolling back. A surge of light poured into his skull like molten fire, and he screamed—a sound that didn't echo, because time itself refused to carry it.
Ren's eyes snapped open.
The library was gone.
He now stood in a vast, white space—endless, blinding, empty. No sky. No ground. Just light. A blank void pretending to be a room.
He rubbed his temples, his voice echoing softly. "Where the hell am I now…?"
Behind him, he heard the soft rustle of fabric.
He turned.The hooded woman from earlier was there, floating above the nonexistent floor. Her long, tattered robes shimmered slightly as she slowly flipped through something.
No—not something.Memories.
Tens, hundreds—Ren's life unspooling in front of her like a photo album. Scenes from childhood. University. The manga café. The tears. The loneliness. All exposed.
Her voice was soft, detached. "We're in your mind, mortal. I'm curious… how an intruder like you came to exist in a place where you never should have been."
"…Intruder?" Ren echoed, still dazed.
"I don't know who you are or what this is," he said, waving a hand around the void, "but I didn't ask to be brought here. I was—bridged, or whatever, against my will."
The hooded woman paused.Then slowly nodded.
"…I see," she said. "I do not detect any falsehood. You were brought here… by something. Or someone. But make no mistake, mortal—you were never meant to be here."
Ren gave her a half-smile. "Yeah, no kidding. Can you, like, maybe send me home then? Me and Seri-chan?"
The air shifted.
The light dimmed.
"…You cannot return home."
Her voice was calm. Final.
Ren's smile faded. "Wait. What do you mean I can't go back?"
"I mean exactly that," she said. "You were brought here on a one-way passage. No being—not even the gods of this realm—can undo that."
Silence.
Ren swallowed. His voice dropped.
"…So you came to kill us?"
The hooded figure gave a soft laugh. Not cruel. Not kind.
"Kill? No, mortal. I am not here to harm you. I'm only here to observe the disturbance. You may go wherever you wish… though where exactly would you go? Die in the outside world? Or rot in the forbidden library beside the Witch of Greed?"
Ren clenched his fists.
"…Can you at least tell me your name?"
"No," she said flatly. "It is not necessary. I am only here to watch."
She returned to flipping through his memories—pages of regret, laughter, loneliness.
"…There's truly no way back to Japan?" Ren whispered.
"Indeed. Your world is gone from your reach. A one-way ticket, as you call it."
She tilted her head slightly, still curious.
"And yet you want to leave… with the Witch of Greed. Why? Do you seek her power? Do you wish to become the next Overlord? Or perhaps destroy this world yourself?"
The light vanished.
Darkness bled into the void. Her presence loomed above him, circling.
"Tell me, mortal… what is it you desire?"
Ren rubbed his head with both hands and sighed.
"…So annoying," he muttered. "Look, I didn't ask to be here. I wanted to go home. But if that's not happening, then fine. I'll adapt."
He looked up.
"I'm not interested in dumb powers or world domination. But Seri-chan… doesn't deserve to be locked up forever. If I can help her, I will. Because my grandma always said, real men don't let women cry. Especially ones like her."
The hooded woman paused, floating quietly above.
"…Fascinating," she said. "It seems your grandmother was a good woman."
Ren smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes. "…Yeah. She was. I was the disappointment."
Silence.
Then, the voice returned—lower, almost impressed.
"Tell me, mortal… what happened to your fear of me?"
Ren blinked. "Fear? Didn't you say you're not here to kill us? So… what's the point of being afraid?"
Another long pause.
"…Fascinating," she said again.
Then she stopped flipping through his memories.
"I can grant your wish," she said. "There is a way to save the Witch of Greed."
Ren's eyes lit up.
"But," she added, "it will cost you. You may die. Painfully. Slowly. Irreversibly."
Ren didn't even hesitate.
"I don't care," he said. "If it means we get out of here… I'll take that risk."
The woman hovered in the darkness, glowing faintly, a presence beyond understanding.
"…Fascinating," she whispered once more.