The force of the forced leap from Aethelgard's ruins hurled Davin into absolute stillness. When his eyes opened once more, the scent of ozone, explosive dust, and dimensional winds had vanished entirely, replaced by a silence so profound he could hear his own heartbeat.

Davin stood upon the floor of pitch-black, obsidian-like marble within The Nexus—the absolute control center of every multiversal simulation world.

The place stretched boundless and vast, resembling a cosmic throne room that was simultaneously grand and desolate. Around him, giant stone pillars soared high to pierce a dark ceiling filled with slowly rotating star galaxies. Yet, the most astonishing sight surrounded the entire hall: fragments of collapsed reality drifted slowly in the air, and billions of thin golden strands of light spanned from floor to ceiling, pulsing softly yet appearing to weaken and dim.

Those threads of light represented the consciousness of millions of humans sleeping in mass coma back on the original earth. Every single thread marked one life, one virtual world, one story nearing its final breath.

Davin stepped slowly forward. His footsteps across the black marble generated no echo whatsoever.

With each step he took, a dull ache struck his head. The transcendence tax from prior worlds had stripped away nearly all his permanent memories. He no longer remembered Lyra’s face in detail, could not recall the voices of Oakhaven’s villagers, nor even remember his earliest days in the original earth's laboratory. What remained inside his head was merely an empty shell, a pure consciousness driven by residual instincts and a blood oath.

Yet, strangely enough, as he walked across the Nexus hall, his body began to resonate.

The hourglass symbol on the back of his right hand pulsed warmly, casting a golden-blue light flickering in rhythm with the pulsing billions of consciousness threads around him. The cosmic vibrations from every simulation he had visited—Oakhaven's false peace, Neo-Veridia's bloody neon lights, to Aethelgard's floating island fragments—flowed inward through his bloodstream.

Davin felt the echoes of each world come alive within him, as though he were a walking summary of all the suffering and hope trapped within humanity.

In the center of that grand throne room stood a white stone altar.

Atop the altar lay a giant notebook—the true Ledger. The book's cover was fashioned from intricately carved ancient metal, and its pages, formed from sheets of pure light, stood wide open, blank without text, as though patiently awaiting the Architect's final touch.

Davin halted right before the stone altar. He stared down at the giant notebook in prolonged silence. Here lay the end of everything. This book governed the cycle of suffering, dimensional leaps, and memory erasures.

He raised his right hand, bearing the hourglass symbol. He exhaled a slow breath, feeling the cool air of the cosmic control room.

With slightly trembling fingers, Davin reached out and touched the surface of the giant notebook's cover.

Whoosh—!

The instant that contact occurred, a powerful shockwave surged from the book straight into Davin’s body.

The previously pristine blank pages suddenly flared with bright light. Lines of golden code light materialized spontaneously across the cosmic paper, moving agilely to form rows of letters spelling out a full name:

D A V I N   R O N A N

That name was carved clearly across the giant notebook's main page, signaling that the master of destiny had arrived at the ultimate destination of his search.

Davin stunned, withdrawing his hand slowly.

Yet, before he could digest the meaning of that inscription, a drastic shift unfolded across the Nexus hall.

The galaxy light overhead abruptly dimmed. The dark shadows of the giant pillars behind the altar shifted slowly, stretching long across the black marble floor.

From within the darkness behind the largest pillar in the hall corner, the sound of heavy boot steps echoed softly, breaking the absolute silence of the room.

Tap... tap... tap...

Davin instantly pulled his hand back, pivoting sharply into a ready combat stance, his eyes locking onto the shadow emerging from the gloom.

A human figure stepped out from behind the pillar, illuminated by the dim glow of billions of consciousness threads.

Davin gasped heavily. His breath hitched in his throat, and his eyes widened in utter disbelief. The figure standing before him wore an explorer’s coat similar to his own, shared the exact same build, the identical facial features, and the precise cold gaze as himself—except that across the figure's entire body, the carved symbols of The Ledger glowed far brighter, and its hair was streaked with white at the temples, hinting at far greater age and overwhelming exhaustion.

The figure stopped meters away from Davin, then smiled faintly—a bitter smile belonging to someone who had endured an endless, grueling cycle.

"Welcome to Zero Point, Davin," the figure spoke in a voice identical to Davin's own.