The first prison transformed into a tiny cube-shaped moon suspended within the vast starry sea.

As if she had anticipated this moment, Nivalis immediately rummaged through the Gacha Machine and pulled out a mirror. Flapping her wings, she flew in front of Rita and thoughtfully held it up.

Rita looked into her reflection.

The black pupil that had always occupied her right eye was gone.

In its place was a silver iris.

And within that silver eye, a miniature cube slowly rotated, turning with quiet precision.

The sight was strange.

Yet somehow, it also felt natural.

There was no time to dwell on the implications.

No time to calculate how much of her fortune had just disappeared.

No time to mourn the beginning of what increasingly felt like the largest bankruptcy in Starsea’s history. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Without hesitation, Rita headed toward the next prison.

Beacon.

This time, when she activated Cut the Moonlight, the mist that drifted from the moon was different.

The First Moon had released starlight.

Beacon released petals.

Countless glowing flower petals flowed from the moon like a luminous river and entered her right eye.

The sight was beautiful enough to leave anyone speechless.

Was it because the prison had already been named Beacon?

Or because the prison had become home to the Vineborne?

Or perhaps the prison itself had already begun changing under the influence of its future world.

Rita couldn’t tell.

The answer would have to wait.

Just like before, the prison began shaking violently after part of its Order was removed.

The chambers trembled.

Walls groaned.

The countless prison cells behaved like living creatures that had suddenly tasted freedom for the first time.

Rita quickly brought Nivalis and Spring Guest outside.

Then the familiar process began once more.

Stories flowed from World Sigh.

Prison chambers shrank and disappeared.

The moon absorbed everything.

A short while later, a glowing celestial body shaped like a Vine appeared within Starsea.

Beacon’s moon.

Smoke Tune arrived beside Spring Guest.

Without waiting for instructions, the two flew toward the newly formed moon and began constructing a harbor according to the memories they had witnessed within the River of Time.

Watching them work, Rita suddenly thought of the myths she had loved reading as a child.

Greek legends.

Fantasy epics.

Stories about fate.

There were always one or two characters who fascinated her.

People who spent their entire lives chasing prophecies.

People willing to cross mountains and oceans just to glimpse the future.

Yet after finally learning their destinies, they would exhaust every possible effort trying to change them.

They struggled.

Resisted.

Fought.

Only to discover that every attempt merely pushed them closer to fulfilling the prophecy they had hoped to escape.

The irony had always amused her.

Yet now...

Standing outside the story.

Living inside one herself.

She was doing the exact opposite.

She and countless others were actively trying to approach the future.

Trying to recreate it.

Trying to become it.

A dragon claw once again appeared beside her face, holding up a mirror.

Nivalis had clearly become addicted to checking Rita’s eye.

Rita glanced over.

The rotating cube inside her silver iris had disappeared.

In its place floated a glowing petal.

Nivalis gasped.

"It changed again!"

Rita smiled.

Then she lowered her gaze toward World Sigh.

Several more pages had become blank.

Several more stories had left the book forever.

And so she headed toward the next prison.

The chat channels had become unusually quiet.

No arguments.

No jokes.

No nonsense.

Everyone had silently begun organizing the populations of the liberated prisons.

After all, once the worlds were rebuilt, nobody wanted a Vineborne accidentally ending up in Snowland.

Or a Moonfox waking up in Brilliance.

Or a Lightchaser discovering they’d somehow been assigned to Beacon.

Countless players worked together to sort populations and prepare for what was coming.

The silence spread beyond the chat channels.

Even reality itself seemed quieter.

Elsewhere, Shadow.Q sensed something unusual.

After spending quite some effort searching through multiple prisons, she eventually found Avery.

"Did something happen?"

Her tone carried more curiosity than concern.

The atmosphere felt strange.

But it wasn’t dangerous.

There was no tension.

No sense of impending doom.

No killing intent.

If anything, everyone looked oddly emotional.

Avery was also watching the various world leaders and divine players.

Even though she couldn’t identify most of them by name, their presence was unmistakable.

One glance was enough.

"Yeah."

Avery folded her arms.

"It probably has something to do with her."

Other than BS Rita, she genuinely couldn’t think of anyone capable of affecting every god and every world leader simultaneously.

Shadow.Q nodded.

That had been her conclusion as well.

Which was why she had come looking for Avery.

"What kind of thing?"

Avery thought for several seconds.

Then she answered slowly.

"It doesn’t look bad."

"In fact..."

She hesitated.

"It’s almost like everyone’s happy."

"But also guilty."

"Like they’re trying really hard not to smile."

Shadow.Q stared at her.

Then nodded.

"...Yeah."

That was exactly the feeling.

Avery suddenly remembered something.

"By the way."

"Have you met Quiet Mountain Rita?"

Shadow.Q’s expression became complicated.

"Yeah."

A pause.

"But she doesn’t know me."

Avery sighed.

"Same."

"She doesn’t know me either."

Neither woman knew whether to feel relieved or disappointed.

Elsewhere, similar conversations were happening all over Starsea.

In another prison, Sanchez leaned against a transparent wall while watching Zoey play chess against a powerful Prisoner.

"Hey."

"You think something happened to her?"

Without looking up from the board, Zoey moved a piece.

"What could possibly happen?"

"I don’t think there’s a single person here who doesn’t trust her."

Sanchez ignored the answer.

"What if she’s fighting somebody right now?"

"What if she needs help?"

She sighed dramatically.

"Honestly, I’m starting to think she grew up playing only single-player games."

"How can someone dislike teamwork this much?"

Zoey calmly placed another piece.

"If she wanted teammates, she still wouldn’t choose you."

"One sneeze from her would kill you."

Sanchez immediately frowned.

"I hate you."

Zoey didn’t even blink.

"As if I like you."

"...Bleh."

Sanchez chose violence.

Not physical violence.

Emotional violence.

She crossed her arms and smirked.

"Quiet Mountain Rita beat you up."

Zoey finally looked up.

"Heh."

"As though she hasn’t beaten you up too."

"..."

"..."

The two immediately resumed insulting each other.

Neither willing to lose.

Neither willing to stop.

Meanwhile, one familiar moon after another appeared throughout Starsea.

Players skilled in construction flew out from prisons and began building harbors around the worlds that would someday belong to them.

No one knew where the River of Time truly existed.

No one knew what the future after the Twelfth Epoch would look like.

But everyone knew one thing.

Whatever came next...

It had to be better than this.

Most of the rescued Prisoners felt the same way.

They had spent years imprisoned.

Locked inside tiny cells.

Treated like livestock.

Forced to learn.

Forced to create.

Forced to innovate.

Only to have their achievements stripped away again and again.

How could the future possibly be worse?

Yet not everyone shared that optimism.

Some Prisoners were confused.

Others were frightened.

Many had only recently arrived.

Many had never experienced enough suffering to hate the system.

Others simply feared conflict by nature.

These doubts began spreading.

Quiet questions emerged.

Soft objections.

Whispers of uncertainty.

Distrust.

Fear.

Rita heard them all.

She could feel the emotions spreading throughout Starsea.

Yet she still refused to offer anyone a faction choice.

Not yet.

Because there were still questions she hadn’t answered.

Still truths she hadn’t uncovered.

Still pieces missing from the puzzle.

Fortunately, those whispers didn’t last long.

Before they could spread further, the world leaders stepped in.

The Quiet Mountain players stepped in.

The gods stepped in.

And despite coming from countless different worlds, their reactions were remarkably unified.

The meaning could be summarized in a single sentence:

Shut up.

She’s busy saving the universe.

You’re distracting her.