Vastarael lay back against the wooden bed with one arm draped over his eyes and the other resting loosely at his side.
Asenane's words replayed in his mind again and again. Normally, risking himself didn't bother him. Now he hesitated.
The Sucking Void wasn't something clever tactics could bypass. There was no loophole, no hidden angle or trick waiting to be exploited. The Ninth Star Teleportation Mystic Circle was the only way out and he knew exactly what that meant.
The scale alone was monstrous. Activating it would demand a price measured in existence, not stamina. Even with his new body, even with all the adjustments made to him, he wouldn't walk away intact. He would lose something fundamental again.
He was the only one who could do it since he's the only Circlecraft mage present. He was the only one who could even see the structure clearly enough to complete it. No one else could shoulder that burden, no matter how willing they were. The responsibility sat squarely on him. For the first time in a very long while, he didn't immediately accept it.
That hesitation scared him more than the sacrifice ever had.
That was when a calm, amused voice spoke from the side of the room.
"You really are a selfless man."
He turned his head slowly. Standing near the doorway was a man he hadn't sensed enter at all.
He had short white hair, golden eyes and a well-trimmed beard that was neat but not overly groomed. He wore farm clothes—simple shirt, trousers, boots dusted with dried soil—and an apron loosely tied at his waist, Vastarael sat up slightly when he used his Soul Vision.
"You're an Aeterium."
"Good eye. You got that right. Though not a direct descendant. I'm a bit too pale for that. You've got the proper Aeterium complexion. That deep bronze skin really takes me back."
The man stepped closer and offered a casual bow. "Name's Reynolds."
"The Forgotten Architect."
Reynolds shrugged lightly. "Some people insist on calling me that, yes. You're really favored by time, you know. But Destiny? Destiny absolutely despises you."
"I've always figured I'm just a toy to it. She winds me up and see how much suffering I can take before I break."
Reynolds didn't disagree. That alone said enough.
"You were extremely lucky. Using Preservation Runes to anchor your soul to the body is genius."
Vastarael went quiet.
"So that's why no one could get close. To them, you were frozen."
"What did you do to me?"
"I gave you a mechanical heart, for starters. A proper one too. Fixed your marriage bond as well on both ends. Including the instability with Miss Phaenora."
Vastarael's fingers twitched unconsciously at that.
"I rebuilt your pseudo-cores, testored them and embedded them directly into the heart itself. You're a Ninth Star Mage now. Your output demanded more capacity. So I expanded the system. You have twelve pseudo-cores now."
Vastarael stared. "Twelve?"
"Mm-hm. Any less and you'd tear yourself apart the first time you actually let loose. Those arms are indestructible, by the way. They're my own crystal. They act as auxiliary reservoirs."
Vastarael flexed his fingers slowly, feeling the strange absence of pain.
"So that's why."
"Exactly. Your Omniphage was the real problem. Passive absorption was killing you. So, I altered it. It's active now. You decide when it feeds. And instead of dumping energy into your pseudo-cores directly, it routes excess into the crystal arms. You won't be in constant pain anymore. You won't suffer just because you're empty."
Vastarael lowered his gaze.
"You changed everything."
Reynolds shrugged again. "I fixed what I could. You did the rest to yourself long before you ever reached my doorstep."
Vastarael looked up at him slowly. "Are you a Deity?"
Reynolds laughed outright this time. "No. Nothing that dramatic. I'm a Sixth Enlightenment Divine. That's all. No true Deities or Primordial ones walking around anymore, not like the old myths at least. Just creatures with time, experience, and stubbornness. And you are far more dangerous than you realize. Not because of your power but because you're finally reaching a point where sacrificing yourself isn't the only option left. Have a look at your system."