---
The land before him was unnatural.
A crimson fog rolled over shattered roots and skeletal branches.
Trees weren't made of wood here — but veins.
They pulsed.
Dripped.
Screamed.
> [Location: Crownfall Gravepath – Memory Forest Detected]
[Status: Temporally Unstable]
[Echo Presence Confirmed: ID #003 – "The Forgiver"]
Li Tianming took a slow breath.
> "Forgiver…? That's a new one."
He stepped into the bleeding forest — and time fractured.
---
Inside the Gravepath
With every step, Tianming saw a different future.
A girl running toward him with bright eyes and a bloody letter: "You saved us."
A tower burning as a crowd screamed his name: "You monster!"
His own corpse being dragged across a battlefield by mechanical worms.
> "These aren't dreams," he muttered.
"They're futures that could've happened… if I chose differently."
The forest was alive with possibility.
And pain.
> [System Suppressed]
[Chaos Eye: Passive Only]
[No Skills Available – Memory Anchor Field Engaged]
Suddenly, a voice echoed through the trees.
Gentle.
Tired.
> "I know what you're thinking, Tianming."
"You think you're the only one who carried the guilt."
> "But I chose something worse than destruction."
Tianming turned — and saw himself.
Wearing white.
No weapons.
No system mark.
Eyes dull… but kind.
> "You're Echo #003," Tianming said.
> "You were me in a timeline where I never fought back."
The Forgiver nodded.
> "I let them take Yue'er. I let them kill the Architects. I let the Empress rewrite the world… because I thought mercy would save us."
> "But mercy didn't stop the world from burning."
He gestured to the trees.
> "This forest? These roots? They're made of futures I didn't fight for."
---
[Scene Shift – The Heart of the Forest]
The Forgiver knelt at a tree wrapped in blood-crystal vines.
Inside it… was a young girl suspended in memory.
> "Yue'er," Tianming whispered.
The Forgiver looked up.
> "You wanted power so you could save her.
I gave it up… so I wouldn't hurt her."
> "We both failed."
---
Internal Battle: Mind vs Mind
> "So what now?" Tianming asked.
> "Do we fight?"
> "No," the Forgiver said. "I want to fuse."
Tianming's blade trembled.
> "What?"
> "You have the will. I have the heart."
> "Together, we can rewrite better than either of us alone."
---
[System Reactivated – Fusion Protocol Engaged]
> Echo #003 has offered merger. Resulting traits may mutate.
Warning: Emotional Overload Possible
Accept or Reject Fusion?
Tianming hesitated.
Then stepped forward.
The two versions of himself placed palms together—
and fused.
---
[NEW TRAIT ACQUIRED: Echo of Mercy]
> 🔹 Passive – Dual Instinct: You now feel both logical and emotional path outcomes for all decisions.
🔹 Skill – Memory Bloom: For 3 seconds, anchor one future path as reality (cooldown: 1/day).
🔹 Soul Harmony: Slight corruption resistance (-2%)
> [Corruption Level Dropped: 24.8% → 22.3%]
[Mind Stabilized]
---
[Forest – Clearing]
The bleeding stopped.
The trees turned to ash.
Yue'er's image faded from the blood-vine.
And Tianming stood taller.
Not just as a warrior.
But as something more.
> "I don't have to erase everything to win."
> "Some memories deserve to be kept."
---
[Meanwhile – Eagle Dominion, Dimensional Core Vault]
A mechanical voice shrieked to life.
> "Echo Fusion Detected. Prototype 001 has merged timelines."
> "Initiate Deployment of Echo #000: The Architect."
A door opened.
Chains clattered.
And a figure with a gold face and no eyes stepped into the living void.
---