The dragon slowly let out a breath after hearing those words. The tension that had been gripping his mind eased slightly. At the very least, he now knew that he wasn’t going to die here.
After calming himself, he looked at the mysterious figure once again. Countless questions filled his mind, yet for a brief moment, he didn’t know which one he should ask first.
He eventually chose the one that had been bothering him the most.
"Who... are you?"
His voice was calm this time, carrying neither arrogance, only fear and genuine curiosity.
The figure looked at the dragon for a moment before letting out a quiet laugh.
"My name?"
He shook his head. "There were many names people used to call me by, but everyone who gave me those names... and even I myself... have already died. So I don’t think they matter anymore."
After a brief pause, he continued, "Though there was one title I heard more than the others."
He looked back at the dragon.
"The God of Slaughter."
Another soft laugh escaped him.
"But if you ask me..." He paused for a moment before adding, "I’d simply call myself an Idiot."
The dragon muttered under his breath, "God of Slaughter..." His gaze swept across the endless world filled with corpses before he looked back at the figure. "That title certainly suits you. But... were you really a god? And if you were, then how did you die? More importantly... why do you call yourself an idiot?"
The figure looked at the dragon and gave a faint smile. "Yeah, I became a god." He spoke so casually that it sounded as though he were talking about something completely ordinary. "And then... I died."
His smile gradually faded.
"As for why I call myself an idiot..." He let out a quiet laugh. "It’s because I believed that becoming a god meant becoming truly immortal." He slowly shook his head. "I was wrong. Even gods can die."
The figure remained silent for a moment before letting out a faint laugh.
"But... why does any of that matter now?" He slowly shook his head. "It’s all in the past."
He then looked directly at the dragon, a hint of curiosity appearing in his voice.
"Instead..." he paused briefly, "tell me."
"How is my next life going?"
The dragon remained silent for a long moment. He hadn’t expected that question. After a brief hesitation, he slowly replied, "I... don’t know whether the person I know is truly your next life." He looked directly at the figure before continuing, "His name is Asher. He has no memories of this place, nor does he remember you. As far as he knows, he was just an ordinary human who died once."
The dragon paused before continuing, "He doesn’t even know why death keeps clinging to him. He only knows that it’s constantly eroding his will and that he has to fight against it every single moment just to stay alive." A complicated expression appeared on the dragon’s face. "Despite all of that... he still keeps moving forward."
After another brief silence, he quietly added, "The only thing he truly wants..." He remembered the endless grassland he had seen inside Asher’s consciousness. "...is freedom and peace."
The figure looked at the dragon and gave a faint smile. "Oh... then it’s probably me." He quietly looked toward the endless crimson horizon before continuing, "It seems only the world has changed. I’m still the same, even after everything."
A self-deprecating laugh escaped him. "That Loser should’ve given up a long time ago. He’s still clinging to the hope that, if we just keep living endlessly in different world after forgetting our past, one day we’ll finally change. But that’s nothing more than the wishful thinking of a fool."
The dragon listened in silence, his brows slowly furrowing. He couldn’t understand a single thing the being before him was talking about. ’Who is this "loser" he’s referring to?’ he wondered. ’And... what change is he so desperately hoping to achieve?’
The more the figure spoke, the more confused the dragon became. Every answer only seemed to create even more questions.
The figure looked at the dragon and smiled faintly. "But if what you said is really true, and he still remembers his previous life..." He paused for a moment before continuing, "...then I suppose the cycle of forgetting has finally come to an end."
The dragon frowned. He couldn’t understand what the figure meant by the "cycle of forgetting." Just as he was about to ask another question, the endless black fog above suddenly stirred. Like a living tide, it rushed downward and, within moments, flooded the entire world.
The figure looked up at the descending black fog and let out a quiet sigh.
"I suppose it’s finally time for me to be erased."
His expression remained completely calm.
"Though... it doesn’t really matter." A faint smile appeared on his face. "Erase my memories as many times as you want."
He slowly closed his eyes.
"I’ll still remain the same."
The black fog continued descending until it swallowed the entire crimson world. The endless sea of corpses, the rivers of blood, the boundless mountain, and even the mysterious figure gradually disappeared beneath the endless darkness.
Within moments, nothing remained visible.
The dragon, too, was engulfed by the black fog. He felt his consciousness and will being eroded once again, far more intensely than before. Yet he couldn’t resist. He could only watch as the endless darkness consumed everything around him, leaving him completely trapped within it.
The darkness lasted only for a moment... or perhaps an eternity. Even the dragon couldn’t tell anymore. Then, without any warning, the black fog receded from around him. Before he could understand what had happened, he found himself inside another consciousness.
Then another.
And another.
His surroundings changed again and again. Every consciousness was completely different from the last. Some were endless oceans, others were ruined cities, frozen wastelands, or worlds filled with unfamiliar stars. Yet every single one of them shared one thing in common.