In that moment, I finally understood—
The world was not waiting for us to choose.
It was waiting for us to make a mistake.
Silent Man stood in front of me, his back sliced thin by the night.He had just reined in his power, his breathing still unstable—like a blade freshly drawn from fire.
The air still carried traces of correction.
Those humans from another spatial layer had retreated, but they had not left.
They had simply marked us as "deferred for processing."
That feeling was worse than being hunted.
I pressed my hand to the mark on my chest.
The Rose did not respond.
But something deeper stirred.
Not pain.
Alignment.
My vision was suddenly pulled upward.
Not out of my body—but as if some presence had issued a command:
Look up.
I saw an image.
She stood at a distance impossible to measure, as though separated from us by an entire era.
Her silhouette was human, yet she belonged to no race.
Her eyes erupted with pure golden light.
Not flame.
The next instant, my consciousness was pulled apart.
Not dominated—but borrowed.
I saw more than one world burning.
She stood at the center of those battlefields, not to save anyone, but to carry out a duty that had begun long before us.
In that moment, I knew—
Her level of existence was far beyond ours.
Not emotion.But an unhidden act of authority activation.
Golden energy flowed around her, without direction or boundary, as if the world itself were breathing.
I knew she was not here for me.
She might not even possess the concept of seeking.
But when a process deviates, a visible form is required.
And so—she appeared.
I heard no voice.
Yet in that instant, I understood one thing—
This world had failed like this before.
Not because anyone was too weak.
But because everything had been too correct.
Golden light reflected in my eyes.
The mark on my chest suddenly grew warm.
Not the Rose.
Something older than the Rose.
A faint sound rose from the ground.
I lowered my gaze and saw movement along the edge of a crack.
Not rapid growth.
Just—
awakening.
A pale green branch slipped out from between the stones.Then a second.A third.
Not vines.
Mistletoe.
They carried no aggression, no thorns—only winding, clinging, searching for a place to coexist.
One tendril quietly wrapped around Silent Man's wrist.
He froze, instinctively trying to shake it off.
"Don't move," I said.
He turned to look at me.
In that moment, I knew with absolute clarity—
This was not my will controlling them.
It was nature making a choice.
The mistletoe did not drink his blood.
It merely rested against his skin, faintly glowing, as if bearing a weight that was never meant to be his.
My chest tightened.
That sense of connection nearly knocked me off my feet.
Silent Man stared at the plants, then at me, his voice barely audible.
"What are you… doing?"
I drew a slow breath.
The golden image was already fading, as if a necessary correction had been completed.
I understood then—
This was not a gift.
It was permission.
I looked at Silent Man and, for the first time, did not retreat.
"Since my life is meant to activate the Rose War across worlds," I said.My voice was steady—not because I wasn't afraid, but because I was past hesitation.
"Then I will break this meaningless fate."
His pupils tightened.
I stepped forward, placing myself between him and the world.
The wind stopped.
"I will protect you from the attacks of others," I said."Not because you are a variable—but because you are the one I chose to keep."
My hand trembled.
But I did not pull it back.
"I offer my life as the premise."
This was not a declaration.
It was an unauthorized request.
For a single instant, the world fell silent.
Not because it was persuaded.
But because—
for the first time, the core process was refused cooperation.
The plants on the ground no longer merely clung.
They began to form cover—not walls, but delay.
Delay of tracking.Delay of locking.Delay of the next correction.
The price was immediate.
A metallic taste flooded my throat.Blood.
Not from an external wound.
Something had been taken.
The Rose in my chest trembled lightly, as if reminding me—
this path would not be tolerated for long.
Silent Man caught me at once.
"You're insane," he said quietly.
I looked up at him and smiled.
"Yes," I said."But this time, it was my choice."
In the distance, the night resumed its movement.
I knew those humans from another spatial layerhad already updated their list.
Not just Silent Man.
Now, I too had been marked.
Not because I was dangerous—
but because—
defying the world had officially begun.