I finally understood it.
The so-called Rose Court had never existed for rose duels or rose wars.Its true function was always retrieval.
To retrieve loss of control.To retrieve corrupted histories.To retrieve failed choices—to retrieve those who were never meant to reach the future.
And this time, the one marked as out of control—
was Silent.
When the Rose Court fully unfolded, I heard something align.
Not machinery.Rules.
The sky was pressed low, its color drained until nothing remained but a gray so flat that time itself seemed erased.The ground was layered with overlapping rose sigils, traces left behind by countless compressed cycles.
Silent stood at the very center.
No—he was forced to remain there.
His back was bent, his breathing unstable.One arm was broken, blood still seeping from the fracture.
This was not the posture of someone who had just fought.
This was the posture of someone the Rose had already judged a failure.
Humans and Rose Envoys stood throughout the court.
Not surrounding him—sealing him in.
Figures occupied every direction, yet none made unnecessary movements.As if pursuit was pointless.
There was nowhere to run.
At the front stood one man.I recognized him instantly.
The Human King.
He did not look like a king.He carried no overt pressure.
And yet, every gaze centered on him.
Because he represented world order itself—the will that had replaced Sethiel and now executed the Rose War.
"Erasure entering final phase."
The voice echoed across the court.Not spoken by anyone.
It was the conclusion the rules themselves had reached.
The mark on my chest turned cold.
Not pain—withdrawal.
I knew what it meant.
They wanted me to step forward.
Silent lifted his head and looked at me.
In that instant, I understood—
he already knew what I was about to do.
I knew that look too well.
It was not expectation.Not a plea.
It was the look that said:If you take one more step, I will lose control.
But I ignored it.
The Human King raised his hand.
No announcement.No countdown.
The gravity of the Rose Court inverted.
I heard a low sound tear out of Silent's throat—like bones being forced into the wrong alignment.
He dropped to one knee, one hand braced against the rose-etched floor.
I didn't think.
I ran.
"Stop!" I shouted at the Human King.
No one turned.
I was not a priority target—yet.
Silent's breathing grew ragged.
Not from pain.
From suppression.
"Don't," he said softly.
Not a command.
A warning.
I remembered the end of the world.
The battlefield drowned in fire.Me kneeling in ash, holding his corpse, trading my life for his return.
That time, I succeeded.
But the world never stopped hunting him.
It only changed methods—using him to track me.
I stopped.
Lifted my head.
Faced the Human King.
"If all of this requires me to restart the world—"
My voice shook, but I didn't stop.
"Then take my life!"
The Human King finally looked at me.
No emotion.
Only confirmation.
I understood.
I had always been part of the process.
Once Silent was erased, I would be next.
Just as I took a step forward—
"Jiang Hanna!"
Silent's voice exploded through the court.
Not a shout—
a roar.
The sound tore through the air, even warping the rose sigils beneath our feet.
"Listen to me!"
I froze.
"Our future is not a cycle anymore!"
His voice no longer sounded human—it was a howl forced out under absolute pressure.
"It is not circular!"
He raised his head.
In that instant, I saw his teeth.
Not the restrained points from before—
but fully exposed, elongated fangs, blood dripping from where he had bitten through his own lip.
His eyes rolled white.All color drained away, leaving only hollow light.
Veins bulged across his forehead.
"It's a straight line!""It has a future!"
His back snapped tight.
I heard bones dislocate—then forcibly realign.
Bat-like wings were torn out of his back.
Not unfurled—ripped open.
Skin split. Blood streamed down his spine.
His shadow surged and expanded, monstrous and unstable.
"Fate is not meant to be repeated!""It's meant to be lived!"
He stood.
Not steadily—
but refusing to be pressed down any longer.
"We take control of it!"
His gaze locked onto mine.
His voice echoed across the Rose Court, heavier than any command.
"No more repeating the cycle!"
The Human King stepped back.
Only half a step.
But the entire Rose Court shuddered violently.
"Variable output abnormal.""Warning—stability decreasing."
Silent moved.
Not in his usual combat form.
He launched into the air and dove straight at the Human King—a predator's pounce.
No technique.No strategy.
Only one objective—
to force him back.
The Human King raised his hand.
Rose sigils solidified into chains, lashing toward Silent.
Silent did not evade.
He crashed into them head-on.
Blood burst into the air.
I saw part of his wing severed.Saw his shoulder pierced clean through.
He did not stop.
With his body, he shattered those correct rules one by one.
The Human King finally countered.
Not with a weapon.
With authority.
The court began to revoke Silent's existence.
His form flickered.A layer of dark space wrapped around him, on the verge of deletion.
I screamed his name.
He smiled.
That smile froze my blood.
"So this is it," he murmured."Your world."
Then he spread his wings again.
Not to fly.
To tear space open.
Darkness was ripped apart by sheer force.
The Rose Court erupted in shrill alarms.
"Evacuation protocol initiated!""Erasure aborted!"
The Human King was driven back.
This time—
a full step.
Space collapsed.
Not an explosion—a forced shutdown.
Silent rushed to me and pulled me into his arms.
Not gently.
Like grabbing the only thing he could still take with him.
"Go!"
We fell into the rift.
Wind devoured everything.
Before consciousness faded, I remembered one thing.
This time—
I didn't die.
And he didn't make me trade death for a future again.
Because our fate—
will not repeat the cycle.