The man stood in silence.

This wasn't the end for them, he knew that now. After traveling through countless universes, he had begun to understand the law that governed all existence: Balance.

The old entities might have perished, erased beyond remembrance, but sooner or later, new ones would emerge, the same essence reborn under different names, different wills. That was how the universe worked. It never tolerated imbalance.

Creation demanded destruction, death gave birth to life, and for every god that vanished, another would rise to take its place.

That man, Taufik sighed faintly, his gaze drifting downward. Below him floated a blue planet, bathed in clouds and sunlight... It was not his Earth… and yet, it was.

He had seen it before, or versions of it.

No matter the universe, there was always one.

A world of oceans and continents, of fragile people and fleeting dreams.

Perhaps, he thought, Earth is the one constant... A canon written into every universe.

Some of them were breathtaking, civilizations far beyond even the Kingdoms of Saranjana, their cities glittering like constellations. Others were steeped in fantasy, filled with knights, dragons, and divine wars. And once, he even found himself in a world consumed by plague and the walking dead.

It should have amused him, the absurdity of it all.

If it had been the old Taufik, perhaps it would have.

But now? He felt nothing.

Every world, every universe he entered, the pattern repeated.

There were always beings who called themselves gods, guardians, or keepers of the cosmic code.

Every one of them played their little "games."

And every time, he destroyed them.

They called him an anomaly.

A mistake.

A threat to the universal order.

But they never understood, he didn't seek to break the balance.

He only refused to play by their rules.

One by one, they tried to stop him.

Erase him.

End him.

None succeeded.

Not against the man who bore both the Power of Destruction and the Power of Creation.

Yet that power came with a price, one so heavy even he could barely remember what it cost him anymore.

He didn't know how long it had been since he left his own universe. Time had no meaning here.

All he could recall was the last battle, the hellfire, the Seven Deadly Sins, the clash that shattered his soul, and then darkness.

When he woke, he was already here. Outside everything he had ever known.

He had a suspicion, no, a certainty, that this, too, was connected to the System.

Every time the System acted beyond its original design, saving Gaia, closing Heaven's Gate, it burned through its functions to preserve reality, entering long cycles of dormancy afterward.

Perhaps this was another one of those times.

Perhaps when he fell unconscious, the System had intervened again, pulling him out through the veil of creation itself and leaving him stranded across the boundary of universes.

And just like before… the System had gone silent.

Inactive.

For how long, he didn't know.

He closed his eyes.

The stars shifted around him like slow-moving thoughts, and for a moment, he wondered...not for the first time... if even a god could ever find his way home.

If only the System had been active.

He could've tracked his own coordinates in an instant.

Every replica System, every auxiliary unit integrated into every adult on his Earth... Together, they formed a single network, a beacon he could use to anchor himself, a guide to find his way back home.

But now, with the System still dormant, he had no such way.

Still, something watched him. A presence. A gaze. Familiar, constant, never fading.

He didn't know where it came from, only that it followed him from one universe to the next, like a memory that refused to die.

That was why he never stayed still.

He wandered endlessly, slipping between worlds like a traveler lost in eternity.

In every universe, he earned a new name.

Some called him the Outsider.

Others, the Stranger of the Void.

But the one that lingered the longest, was The Forgotten One.

Taufik sighed, the faintest trace of weariness in his eyes.

Then he reached for his katana.

"Alright," he murmured, his tone quiet, resigned. "Let's try our luck again"

The blade darkened, deeper than shadow, as though every absence of light in existence converged upon it.

"SwordMagic - Dark Form…" he whispered.

"…Dimension Cut"

*Slash*

Reality split open.

Before him bloomed a wound in the void, edges glowing faintly with silver distortion.

A new door.

A new beginning.

A new universe.

Taufik gazed at it in silence. No sense of excitement. No fear... Only a simple acknowledgment.

"…Another failure, huh?" he said quietly.

Still, he stepped forward.

Into the wound.

Into whatever waited beyond.

Whether he would become part of that world's story, or its destroyer, he no longer cared.

It wasn't the first time.

As he entered, the pull came.

It always did. A force dragging at his body and soul, reshaping him, rewriting his essence to fit the new universe.

Not rejection.

Acceptance by compulsion.

Then... Darkness.

When he opened his eyes again, what greeted him wasn't a void or a battlefield.

It was… a tree.

Taufik blinked, tilting his head slightly. "...A tree?"

He looked closer.

Nine planets drifted in the emptiness, each connected by colossal roots and branches made of luminous energy, ike a celestial network spanning the cosmos itself.

The sight stirred something within him, an echo of a name he'd once read long ago.

"…Yggdrasil?" he whispered. "The legendary world tree…?"

He turned his gaze toward one of the nine worlds.

Life pulsed there, vibrant, layered, countless.

And among those countless signatures, one stood out.

Familiar.

His eyes widened.

"This… this presence…" he breathed. Then the name left his lips, almost disbelievingly. "…Thalia?" (Chapter 154)

The elf he once met in Japan, the one he'd sent back to her home. Back to her world.

He frowned slightly. "…So, it wasn't another dimension after all. Or just another planet… but another universe"

Then realization hit him.

"Wait…" His eyes narrowed, voice dropping. "Does that mean they have a way... A way to my Earth?"

With that realization, Taufik made his way toward that planet, toward the one he believed was named Álfheimr.

---

It wasn't a planet, not truly.

It was a living world of light, suspended in the branches of what seemed to be Yggdrasil itself. Vast continents of emerald and silver floated upon oceans of mist, each landmass connected by bridges woven from threads of luminescent energy. From afar, they looked like strands of a spider's web glimmering under an eternal dawn.

A soft radiance bathed everything.

There was no sun, yet the world glowed as if light itself were breathing. Its skies shimmered between hues of pale gold and azure, shifting like liquid glass.

Curtains of aurora drifted lazily through the upper atmosphere, painting ripples of color that resonated faintly, not mere light, but sound, music woven into the air.

Across the horizon, mountains of crystal pierced through silver clouds, their peaks crowned with halos of mana that arced like lightning frozen in beauty. Rivers of pure light flowed down their slopes, cascading into lakes so bright they looked like molten moonstone.

Forests blanketed the valleys below, trees of glass and gold, their leaves translucent and humming softly, as if whispering secrets to the wind. Flowers bloomed in fractal patterns, glowing in response to unseen rhythms. Even from space, Taufik could feel the pulse, gentle, harmonious, alive.

Cities glimmered within that endless serenity. Not built from stone or metal, but grown, crystalline spires rising from the trunks of colossal trees, glowing softly like stars anchored to the earth.

Roads shimmered faintly, carved from silverstone veined with runes, and every structure seemed to sing, resonating with the same frequency as the realm itself.

And above it all, in the highest reaches of its sky, hovered an arc of light, a vast ring encircling the world, where Yggdrasil's roots brushed against Álfheimr's atmosphere. Through that halo, streams of luminous energy fell like rain, feeding the realm below in eternal brilliance.

For a moment, Taufik said nothing. He only stared, feeling the soft tug of that familiar presence calling to him from deep within that ocean of light.

"Thalia… you really did come from here," he murmured, awe flickering in his voice.

Then the glow of his Concept flared faintly in his eyes, darkness meeting light, shadow rippling against the radiance before him.

And with one step forward, he began his descent into Álfheimr, the world where dawn never ends.

---

The moment Taufik crossed the boundary between realms, Álfheimr shivered.

Its light, eternal, pure, and unbroken since the dawn of creation, flickered for the first time.

Not dimmed… but disturbed, as though a foreign rhythm had entered its perfect melody.

Across the world, rivers of light rippled.

Trees whispered with unease.

Even the song of mana that flowed beneath every leaf and stone trembled with a dissonant note, deep, ancient, and unfamiliar.

At the heart of Álfheimr, within the vast citadel of living crystal that pulsed like a breathing sun, Queen Lysandra Ljósaara opened her eyes.

For the first time in centuries, the Dawnmother stirred from her meditation.

Threads of golden radiance coiled around her, responding to her quiet thought.

"A breach… no, not a breach. A resonance." Her voice was calm, but the air itself bowed before its tone. "The Light feels… uncertain."

And deep within the Verdant Gardens of the Bloom, Thalia froze mid-step. The flowers around her dimmed, not in fear, but in recognition.

Her heart stuttered. "No… it can't be-"

She looked skyward, and through the canopy of radiant leaves, she saw it:

A single streak of shadow cutting through the sea of gold, descending from the stars.

Her breath caught. "Taufik…?"

For an instant, the world felt smaller, not as a prison, but as home rediscovered.

She pressed a trembling hand to her chest. "... He's here"

....

...

..

.