"Nor did ...... How long does it take to ......"

In just one sentence, he opened his mouth without thinking and hesitated at the end.

Ed's eyes flickered, and he didn't notice that something was wrong. After a moment of panic, he tried to find an explanation for himself: "Actually, it shouldn't be long...... But it's been a long time......"

Iss was silent. He knew what it was like to know that the world, like Inglis's library, could not distinguish between night and day, and that not being able to clearly perceive the passage of time would lead to some kind of confusion...... But Ed's current situation seems to be much more serious than his.

He doesn't think it's just because he's a dragon.

He looked at Ed. The firmness that had been evident between the young man's brows not long ago, by his deliberate stimulation, had rapidly faded into depression and bewilderment.

He had lost his courage and confidence so easily, so easily that even the resilience he had hidden in the depths of his soul and that occasionally surprised Is's would have seemed to have completely vanished. And not just because of the gray-haired hair that grew darker...... When he was stunned, his dark blue eyes were dull, as if he was an old man whose heart was dead under the torture of long time and endless pain, and he no longer knew what "hope" was.

It reminded Isse of an eye he had never really seen - his father's eyes. The ice dragon named Crystal Crown, in despair with no way forward, chose death by himself.

Even when it comes to Ankramaras...... In fulfilling its obligation to "reproduce", its eyes are already empty – no love, no expectation...... Nothing.

“...... Is?" Ed spoke uneasily in his long silence, freeing him from the cold, hollow golden phantom.

He clutched his arm as if he feared he would disappear as soon as he let go. Iss couldn't help but suspect that the anger in his eyes was all because he was here...... If he had appeared any later, perhaps there would have been only a gray-white shadow that he couldn't even recognize.

This possibility sent chills down his spine, and he unconsciously spoke with extra gentleness.

"Nothing. He said, looking around to hide his uneasiness, "I'm just ......"

Aside from the fact that everything had faded to gray, it didn't look much different from what he remembered. He kicked the books heaped on the floor, and to his unsurprising discovery, the pages were blank — in short, useless.

He hadn't thought he'd start missing the library so quickly, which he had escaped so easily.

"The bottom of the tower ......" his heart moved, and blurted out: "Can you still enter the bottom of the tower?"

Ed gripped his hand tightly, and it took a while for him to let go.

He lowered his head and said nothing, his shoulders slightly curled as if some kind of silent resistance.

“...... You want to say 'can't'. "But you know you can—you know you can't fool me." Ed...... I've even seen my own 'corpse', is there anything I can't see?"

"That's not ......," Ed subconsciously retorted.

"Well, that's not. With unprecedented patience, Isis tried to be a reasonable dragon: "So all this is likely to be fake...... If so, there's nothing I can't watch. ”

.

In fact...... There was really nothing he couldn't see.

Perhaps because the bottom of the tower is actually another space, there is still a trace of color here - the gem embedded in the center of the ground still maintains the deep blue of the sea.

Isis squatted down, carefully observing the precious blue, as if seeing a pool of blue water in the endless desert, and his depressed mood involuntarily lightened a little...... Then it sank heavily.

He didn't want to admit that this was the heart of the deep sea, which was tantamount to acknowledging the reality of this world. But he could still feel its power, and it held up the remnants of the tower...... Maybe it also holds up the world.

There is no gem like this.

However, the edges of the gem have turned a bleak grayish, and countless cracks crisscross it, turning the original clarity and depth into a cloudy one on the verge of collapse.

Like a sea that is about to dry up, or a starry sky that is about to fall.

"Can you ......"

He looked up, only to see Ed standing there dumbfounded, his eyes drooping thoughtfully, and there was something strange on his face—like doubt, but also like joy.

“...... What are you looking for?" he asked.

Ed jerked his head up, the answer he almost blurted out was locked on the tip of his tongue by his rapidly closing lips.

"What are you looking for, it should be here...... Something that is now gone. Isis asked, "Is that what you don't want me to see?"

He didn't want to be pressed like this. The human in front of him was as fragile as a shadow that was about to collapse at the touch of a button...... But he suspects that the world has a far stronger influence on Ed than it does on him - they must get out as soon as possible.

To do this, he had to at least figure out what was really going on here, if not to cheer Ed up.

He looked deeply into the eyes that he was trying to dodge, and watched the uneasiness erupt into a flame of faint anger under his persecution...... and extinguished to ashes the moment it ignited.

- He'd rather he really burst out.

But in any case, he gave him an answer.

"That's ...... Something that should have gone away. ”

Ed's low voice was as colorless as everything around them, calm but empty: "That's me. ”

Is's fingers clenched and loosened.

“...... Is it like the 'me' out there?" he pretended to be light-hearted, and he hated to give himself a moment—it was a clumsy joke.

"It's not the same. Ed replied, "You're dead, but I'm alive." ”

Is's scalp tingles.

He rarely felt that way. Such...... A shiver from the depths of the soul. He had no such fear even when confronted with his own corpse......

"I was left to face it all. Ed's voice continued without hesitation, "Face the consequences of my incompetence. I looked at ......"

"Ed!"

Iss interrupted him sharply.

"I watched everything turn to ashes," Ed said, "every day is an eternal hell—but even this hell is a gift." ”

It was as if ash was pouring out of his eyes, obscuring the glimmer of light. Those lifeless eyes were finally able to meet Is's gaze at this moment, and it was the latter who involuntarily wanted to dodge.

“...... Shut up!"

Iss roared and grabbed the hem of his coat, lifting him almost entirely: "Get out of his body!"

This is definitely not the Ed Singhal he knew!

looked up at him with a look of pity...... And a glimmer of malice that creeped him out—a malice of sorrow, despair, anger, and hatred, as if all the pain that had accumulated over the years had finally burst out.

"But I'm him...... You know. ”