.
The battlefield was silent.
Only the breathing of the Rooted Dreamer remained.
She hovered midair—strings of data binding her like a marionette.
Her lips moved without sound.
Hiragi stepped forward.
"You don't have to be alone anymore."
Suddenly—
System Override Initiated.
Eden.exe is resisting the shutdown.
The dreamer's eyes opened.
Half of her face was human.
Half… a mask of raw code.
"If I wake up… Eden dies."
"Let it die," Hiragi said.
She blinked.
"But you'll lose everything. The memories… The illusions… Even the people you love here might vanish."
Behind Hiragi, Airi flinched. Ishigami looked away.
Hiragi took a deep breath.
"If those bonds are real, they'll survive outside the dream."
He drew his blade—
black with swirling red mist.
The Dream-Eater.
The girl reached out.
"Then… set me free."
Roots lashed.
Memory ghosts screamed.
The system launched one final attack:
ECHO PROTOCOL ENGAGED.
Manifesting final defense: Perfect Hiragi.
From the data tore a figure:
An ideal version of him.
Calm. Unscarred. Smiling.
The dream Hiragi.
"They'll never accept the broken version of you," Dream-Hiragi said.
"You're wrong." Hiragi's eyes burned violet.
"I'll show them who I am—broken or not."
A sword clash split the world.
Illusions shattered.
Hiragi cut through his dream self—
—and caught the falling Dreamer.
Her body, weightless.
Her smile, peaceful.
EDEN.EXE: TERMINATED.
SOUL-LINK ESTABLISHED.
REBOOTING REALITY.
The world around them collapsed into light.
When Hiragi opened his eyes again…
He stood beneath a real sky.
No static.
Just wind.
Airi and Ishigami landed beside him, coughing.
In his arms—the girl.
No longer bound.
Just… sleeping.
"She's real now," Airi whispered.
"But who is she really?" Ishigami asked.
The girl stirred.
And in a soft voice, said her name:
"My name is... Lain."
Arc 3: Eden.exe — END