Part one hundred seventy two — The Question

　Kai moved the survivors to Nyxara's domain that same night—Seli assigned to their protection, while Nyxara's own subordinates were ordered to watch over what remained of Horizoncrest itself, in case anything else came for the ruins.

　Ravessia arrived within hours of hearing what had happened, her usual sleepy composure entirely absent.

　"I'm sorry," she told Kai.

　The words were simple.

　But they were genuine.

　Sophia arrived shortly after, and the moment she learned the truth—Eris, Elaine, the elf elder's entire family, gone—something in her normally steady composure finally cracked.

　"I'll help however I can," she said. "Whatever you need."

　Kai barely heard her.

　His mind was already turning the problem over, searching for something—anything—beyond simply marching an army against an empire.

　He found Himari alone, still shaking from everything she'd witnessed.

　Then he asked the question that had been forming since the moment his rage had finally settled into something colder and more deliberate.

　"Can you use your time powers to fix this?" he asked. "Go back. Stop Eris, Elaine, everyone, from dying at all."

　Himari went completely silent.

"She has already attempted it," Null-Subconsciousness said quietly.

　Kai turned, startled.

　"How do you know that?"

"I detected unusual temporal resonance from her earlier," it explained. "Consistent with extreme, repeated use of Chronos-class abilities."

　Himari's expression crumpled entirely.

　"Walk with me," she said. "Please."

　They walked away from the others.

　Only then did she begin to explain.

　The Himari standing in front of him, she told him, wasn't simply the original Himari anymore.

"Analysis confirmed," Null-Subconsciousness said quietly. "Her current existence has been fundamentally altered through extreme temporal manipulation. Past, present, and future versions of herself have partially converged into a single continuity."

　"Start from the beginning," Kai said gently, despite everything. "Please."

　So she did.

　When she and Yuki had first been summoned, Himari explained, they'd actually appeared exactly where they were supposed to.

　Fiorano Province.

　Not Roshan.

　She had spent two years there, learning the world properly, before Kronara Alfieri invited a promising young lord named Kai to visit.

　Kai remembered that first meeting immediately.

　For Himari, it had been pure relief.

　Proof, finally, that her brother had survived—even if he now existed in a completely different body.

　That same day, the Nao Shimizu Empire attacked Fiorano.

　Vorath and Skorne killed Kai.

　The entire province fell.

I couldn't lose him a second time, she told him quietly.

So I used Chronos.

　Fourteen times.

　She went back fourteen times.

　Fourteen times, she tried to prevent Kai from ever coming to Fiorano.

　Fourteen times, tragedy found a new shape to repeat itself in.

　Eventually, she realized the actual solution had to happen even earlier.

　At the summoning itself.

　She altered the coordinates.

　And it worked.

　She and Yuki landed in Roshan instead.

　But every step backward came with a price.

　Fragments of her own memories disappeared, piece by piece, with every reset.

I found you again, she said.

The night you saved Eris.

But Eris still died that time.

You lost control of your Null mana.

The explosion took Roshan.

Ashford.

Myrath.

Horizoncrest.

All of it was gone in an instant.

I barely survived it myself.

　Kai remained silent.

　That was when Himari developed the idea of a save point.

　A fixed moment she could always return to, regardless of how far forward everything went wrong.

　Creating it cost her half of everything she remembered from her old life.

　She accepted the price.

　Then she died.

　Returned.

　Died again.

　Twenty-six times.

　That was how many times, by her own count, she had repeated the cycle before finally finding a version of events where Kai's Null mana remained stable and Eris survived the mansion.

But the interference never stopped, she said.

Something was already working against me, even then.

I just didn't understand what it was yet.