London, England. The Clock Tower.
Izaya slowly opened his eyes. What appeared before him was no longer a scorched wasteland, but the familiar wooden ceiling. Beneath the leaden gray canopy, fine rain tapped against the old glass panes, and outside the window, the iconic Gothic spire of the Clock Tower stood, looking solemn in the rain.
"...I've come back?"
Murmuring to himself, his eyes stared ahead, unfocused. A special interface quietly appeared.
[Note: After your death, a fully bestial Koyanskaya did not execute the human captivity plan. After the 1908 Tunguska event, for over a century she searched for traces you left behind, hoping to meet again someday.]
[She walked through the muddy trenches of World War I, hearing the gunfire and screams of the battlefield, but no wave of emotion touched those golden eyes.]
[She strolled through the Roaring Twenties, passing through decadent jazz dance halls filled with revelry, but it all seemed like a silent pantomime with nothing to do with her.]
[She witnessed the ruins and flames of World War II, saw the mushroom cloud over Hiroshima, and tread the deathly snow of Auschwitz.]
[After that, she crossed into the Cold War era and walked through the Information Age.]
[Dynasties changed, centuries shifted, and just as you once told her, she looked at the world with her own eyes, watching human "history" ceaselessly struggle, change, and advance. Yet she, like an eternal "ghost," traversed this "Human Order" that was never hers, in a perfect attitude that never aged.]
[Human Rescue Simulator Hint]
[The Tunguska Incident has concluded.]
[Final Ending Evaluation: "Imperfect Hope"]
[Follow-up report loading...]
[Although Beast IV has not been completely eliminated, her "threat" has shifted from "total denial of Human Order" to "eternal obsession with a single being," and the harm to pan-human history has been minimized.]
[With this top evaluation, the Human Rescue Simulator is beginning to determine your final rewards...]
[One Thread of Fate B → One Thread of Fate A+]
[This power surpasses the mere "struggle for life in desperate circumstances." Having experienced the beasts' civil war and built the miracle of "unification" by your own hand, your ability to observe "causality" has also sublimated. Not only can you see the threads of "survival," but you also faintly glimpse miraculous "possibilities" that should not exist.]
[You have acquired the Talent: Friend of Inhumans.]
[You accepted the "dissatisfaction" of the entire earth and gave your life. Thanks to this, all "non-human" beings now see you as a "trustworthy special human."]
[You have acquired the Talent: Determination of Self-Sacrifice A]
[By sacrificing yourself to end the beasts' civil war, this self-sacrificing awareness has condensed into a passive power, and when standing at death's edge, you can activate the effect of "endurance."]
[Scorched Earth EX] → [Distant Beast's Cradle EX]
[No longer a grudge-filled foundational magecraft, it is now a purified special domain, its essence changed from a "furnace of hatred" to the final cradle of the "reconciled beast."]
[After deploying this enchantment, you can still control everything within its bounds, but a new effect has been added: all beings with the "beast" trait within this enchantment will be calmed, and their stamina and mana will gradually recover.]
After all the interfaces faded, Izaya slowly sat up, gazing at his loose pajamas. This time, though, his mind emerged from its trance and he realized where he was.
Ah... I'm back in the dorm.
Not long ago, he'd been in a coma, harshly scolded by his instructor, Lord El-Melloi, and was facing the possibility of repeating a year. Tunguska had felt like a dream... and at last, the dream had ended.
The wall clock ticked. He glanced at the time.
Three days and nights had passed since the simulation began.
Three days...
Damn!
Still young and careless, Izaya's first reaction was to bolt upright in shock like a man with a terminal illness. Kayneth had just recently threatened that if he skipped class again, he'd be booted from the Clock Tower, among other harsh words. And now, after that warning, he'd been absent for another three days...
It wasn't hard to imagine what Kayneth would do when he saw him.
Muttering to himself, he hastily changed into his uniform, ready to leave the dorm. But at that moment, someone pushed open the door. It was a young man—Waver.
"Waver... What are you doing here?" Izaya asked reflexively.
Waver silently handed him a letter and sighed.
"Izaya... you're in trouble."
…
The Sajyou Family
Afternoon sunlight filtered through the shoji-paper windows, casting a gentle glow on the cool tatami. In the corner sat a girl with a doll-like delicacy, gracefully poised atop the straw mats.
—Sajyou Manaka.
She performed the tea ceremony with elegant, natural movements, exuding the noble calm of a princess.
But this near-absolute "serenity" was soon broken by hurried footsteps.
The sliding door opened quietly. The current head of the Sajyou family stood at the entrance, trying to find words as he looked at his daughter. Finally, he spoke in a low, powerless voice:
"Manaka, there's been word from the Clock Tower... Izaya's final evaluation was 'inadequate,' so the Lord of the Mineral Department thinks he needs to be re-examined under observation."
As the words fell, a deathly silence swept across the Japanese-style room.
Sajyou Manaka stirred her tea, then slowly stilled.
Her fair, delicate face wore an angelic smile, but the room's temperature seemed to drop several degrees.
"...You want me to wait again?"
Her soft murmur made her beautiful eyes seem dimmer for a moment. She quickly looked up at her father, voice sweet yet firm:
"Father, don't you want me to be with him?
Didn't you intend to have Ayaka engaged to him?"
The Izaya patriarch tensed unconsciously, but forced a smile.
"I never expected the Lord of the Mineral Department to make such a decision..."
The blonde girl sighed lightly.
"I've already waited three years, and now you're asking me to wait again... Does that mean I have to wait another year?"
"I don't want to wait anymore."
The patriarch was stunned for a moment, his expression shifting as if realizing something.
"Manaka, do you want to...?"
Sajyou Manaka smiled gently at her father.
"Yes.
I want to go to the Clock Tower and see him."
…