Chapter 479
Ilux, who was entirely unprepared to transform into the Void, was not merely facing a kind of unpreparedness that could be resolved with a little encouragement or added pressure.
It was not a minor obstacle he could remove with one or two instructions given to the supporters who continued to surround the brown-haired youth from all directions.
Rather, it was a chasm so deep and wide that no bridge was strong enough to connect the side where Ilux currently stood to the side where the awaited transformation lay.
If he forced himself to act, if he ignored that undeniable unpreparedness and pushed Ilux into a chasm the youth was not ready to face, then what would occur would not be the beautiful and meaningful transformation he had written in the scenario of arc one, episode eleven's conclusion.
Instead, it would become something even he could not predict with all the experience he possessed.
Something that might not only ruin this episode, but also the entire structure he had maintained for the episodes to come.
Something that would mark the beginning of chaos he could no longer control, even with all the authority of the Great Author.
The second proposal, which came in a more appealing form.
A proposal that offered a way out without having to dirty his hands directly.
A proposal that spoke of releasing control while still holding onto several of the most crucial threads.
It, too, contained flaws no less severe, even though at first glance it appeared to be the wisest option among all available choices.
Theo worried about the time he had.
Not because he feared running out of time in the ordinary sense understood by beings whose lives are limited by heartbeats and the cycle of day and night.
But because he knew with undeniable certainty that the time he currently possessed was the most critical moment.
A moment where Ilux stood on the threshold between endurance and surrender.
A moment where every second that passed without result brought the youth closer to the edge of the abyss, yet also further from the desire to truly leap.
If he chose only to direct a few supporters, if he decided to sit still while holding onto several threads that might snap in his grasp if pulled too strongly or too weakly, then there was a very real possibility that this spare time would be wasted in the most meaningless way.
Wasted without producing anything of value.
Wasted without leaving behind any trace he could use as footing for the next step.
And if that truly happened—if time continued to move forward without ever waiting for his decision, and Ilux remained on the same bed, in the same clothes, with eyes opening and closing in turns without ever truly choosing either—then perhaps Ilux had never intended to transform into the Void.
Perhaps he had never possessed that intention from the very beginning, even though the relentless pressure should have been enough to strip away anyone's reasons to keep enduring.
Then there was the third proposal, the most complex of them all.
The one that involved Aldraya, with all the uniqueness that kept her super-advanced mind spinning even when her body remained still in an unknown place.
The one that spoke of recalling a being who had only just begun synchronizing with the four aspects that extended Theo's creativity.
It, too, contained a flaw that was the hardest to ignore.
Because it involved something he had never accounted for in any risk calculation he had ever made.
Bringing Aldraya back to the Star Academy was not an efficient decision.
Not because the distance between them was too great to traverse quickly.
Not because the return journey would consume time that could be used for something more productive.
But because there, in that distant place where the two instructions she had yet to complete still remained, Aldraya was doing something he could not do himself.
She was monitoring something he could not observe from afar, even though the RWIA network stretching beneath their consciousness was never truly silent.
The data he still needed from Aldraya—data that formed a crucial part of the entire scenario he had designed with millimeter precision—would never be obtained if she returned too soon.
And without that data, without the continuous observation carried out by eyes that never tired even if the body did, he would never know whether Ilux's development—his lingering possibility of becoming the Void—was real or merely an illusion he had created after staring too long at a door that never opened and curtains that never moved.
"If you have seen all those flaws, and you also refuse to choose any of them, then what will you do?"
Dozens of seconds passed in a strange way between the two consciousnesses connected by a thin thread that was never truly silent.
A pause that did not feel like time had stopped, yet did not feel like it flowed at the ordinary pace perceived by beings whose lives are measured by beating hearts.
Aldraya allowed herself to sink into the silence she created.
She let every word spoken by Theo seep into the deepest layers of her super-advanced mind.
She allowed all the calculations of risks and flaws, presented one by one with blinding clarity, to dance within her consciousness without attempting to arrange or direct them toward any conclusion.
Something moved within her in a way she had never experienced before.
Something she could not explain, even with all the analytical capability granted by the four aspects of Theo's extended creativity.
Something that made her unwilling to rush her response, even though she knew the clock in the corner of Theo's room continued to move forward, leaving behind moments that would never return.
She examined all the information she received from a different perspective.
Not with the sharp logic she usually used to dissect every problem into smaller, more manageable pieces.
But with something unfamiliar.
Something that had only just begun to grow within her since she started synchronizing with the four aspects that allowed her to see the world in ways she had never imagined before.
And within the silence she created, within the empty space she filled with all the flaws of the three proposals rejected by the Great Author who created her, she realized that there was not a single answer perfect enough to serve as a foundation.
Not a single conclusion strong enough to bear the weight of all the questions hanging in the air, growing heavier with every passing second.
Yet then, when those dozens of seconds passed without leaving any measurable trace, Aldraya did something she rarely did in her interactions with Theo.
Something that made the silence enveloping the RWIA network during those last moments feel like a silence born from such deep thought that no space remained for anything other than total concentration focused on a single point.
To be continued…