Years had passed.
Through patience, persistence, and Kazuo's strategic delegation of imperial duties, Chinen Suzuki had ascended to the position of Azure Empress.
To the world, she was the Emperor's consort—his Empress in name.
But behind closed doors?
Her heart had never once belonged to Kazuo.
It had always belonged to Hoshimi Rin.
The man who once tried so desperately to escape her.
The man who eventually—slowly, painfully—fell in love with her instead.
Kazuo, ever the pragmatic ruler, didn't mind. If anything, he approved.
Suzuki was not only stunning and intelligent but terrifyingly powerful. At a young age, she had reached Forbidden-tier magic—a level that even her predecessor, the mighty Azure Empress Hoshimi Nao, struggled to match.
But even so, she was still not the strongest.
Rin had already surpassed human limits.
He had touched the realm of myths.
He was an Ascendant-tier mage, a living legend walking in the skin of a man. He had become the Empire's greatest shield and sword—stronger than armies, sharper than prophecy, and wiser than fate.
Together, they traveled across the world, upholding the ideals of the Hoshimi Empire. They calmed rebellions, sealed demonic rifts, healed cursed lands, and negotiated with foreign kingdoms. Rin served as the Empire's chief envoy, diplomat, and silent guardian.
Meanwhile, Emperor Kazuo brought the empire into a new age.
Princess Izumi and Princess Aya had married strong, capable men of influence, stabilizing the court. The four former Empresses retired to a secluded villa near the northern border, enjoying peace for the first time in decades.
Everything was moving toward a golden era.
And then—
Everything changed.
When Rin and Suzuki returned to the Imperial Palace after a three-month mission, they were immediately summoned to the Grand Assembly Chamber.
The atmosphere was heavy.
Inside the vast, gold-trimmed chamber, Emperor Kazuo sat upon his obsidian throne, flanked by the three ruling Empresses—Miharu, Rei, and Akane. Their faces were grim, their eyes sharp.
A single sealed scroll sat upon the table between them.
Kazuo's fingers tapped rhythmically on the armrest, the only sound in the room.
"This letter," Kazuo said at last, "arrived from the Golden Dragon Palace."
Suzuki stiffened immediately.
A letter? From Higa Ayumi?
That was no ordinary correspondence.
The Golden Dragon Palace was a sovereign superpower—the home of the Golden Princess, a ruler whose political influence rivaled that of the Hoshimi Emperor.
"This is not a request," Akane said coldly. "It's a direct order. Addressed to Rin. And she has demanded… he comes alone."
The chamber fell into silence.
Even the air seemed to pause.
Rei narrowed her eyes. "She must be planning something."
"No one refuses the Golden Princess," Miharu muttered. "Not without starting a war."
Suzuki's fists clenched so tightly her knuckles turned white.
She had always known Rin would attract others.
He was too brilliant, too rare, too beautiful in power and heart.
But for her—a woman of that status—to summon him alone?
Her blood ran cold.
A sealed envelope was handed to Rin.
His name was written on it in elegant gold ink—yet the handwriting made his eyes flicker with familiarity.
He broke the seal without a word.
The others waited.
Seconds passed. Then minutes.
Suzuki's breath caught when Rin finally moved.
He let out a quiet sigh—and then, without hesitation, incinerated the letter in his hand. The flames danced for only a second before vanishing into smoke.
And then, he spoke.
His voice was low. Distant.
"Prepare the Hoshimi Empire to defend its borders."
Everyone froze.
"What?" Kazuo shot up. "What are you saying?"
"Is it war?" Suzuki's voice cracked.
Rin didn't answer immediately. His expression was unreadable, carved from stone.
But his eyes—those golden eyes—shimmered faintly with power.
"If what she wrote is true…" he said quietly, "then this world is… fated to die."
Suzuki's world crumbled.
"No," she whispered. "No, that's—"
"She knew my code," Rin interrupted. His voice had never sounded so heavy.
Everyone turned to him in confusion.
"That code is something I've never shared in this life. Only those I trust with everything—my absolute loyalty—would know it. And yet… she wrote it, word for word."
He looked toward Kazuo.
"I've lived two lives."
The words echoed through the chamber like thunder.
"I was not just born as Hoshimi Rin," he continued. "Before this… I lived during the Divine Era. A world where humans walked with gods. Where technology and magic flourished side by side. I was… one of the few who transcended mortality."
He paused.
"Back then, I was called Hoshimi Leon. Brother to the First Empress. Defender of the Divine Age."
Gasps filled the room.
Even the mighty Empresses were stunned into silence.
"I fought for the world once. And failed. I thought I'd never get another chance."
He looked down at his hands.
"But now… If Higa Ayumi remembers the code from my first life, then she must have been someone I trusted deeply. Perhaps someone who lived through it, like me."
Silence.
Grief.
Resolve.
At the Palace's front gates, the time had come.
Rin stood in his ceremonial traveling attire: flowing black and white robes adorned with golden embroidery, his katana resting against his hip.
Suzuki clung to him, her arms wrapped tightly around his body as if trying to anchor him in place.
"I can't stop you, can I?" she whispered, her voice cracking under the weight of tears she refused to shed.
Rin exhaled softly, resting his forehead against hers.
"I need to know the truth," he whispered back.
Behind them stood Kazuo, Miharu, Rei, and Akane. None of them spoke. They simply watched. Reverently. Gratefully.
Because they remembered.
They remembered how close they came to tearing each other apart after their engagement to Kazuo.
And how Rin—gentle, stubborn Rin—held the empire together with his bare hands.
He saved them all.
And now, he was walking into the unknown.
Suzuki pulled back just enough to look him in the eyes.
"Promise me," she said, her voice trembling, "that you'll come back."
He smiled softly.
"I promise."
Then she kissed him.
It was not gentle.
It was desperate. Fierce. Everything she couldn't say in words was poured into that kiss.
"I love you," she whispered against his lips.
"I love you too," Rin replied, brushing her hair back gently. "Always."
And then—
He turned.
He walked away.
And for the first time in years…
Suzuki felt truly alone.
The battlefield was soaked in blood.
The proud banners of the Hoshimi Empire lay torn and trampled. Smoke choked the skies. Screams echoed into silence.
The soldiers had begun to retreat—fleeing from the monstrous entity that had taken the form of a man cloaked in pure darkness.
The Absolute Corruption.
A single figure had brought down an entire legion.
Spears of corruption rained from the sky—each one carrying the might of forbidden-tier magic. No barrier could hold. No defense stood long.
Two warriors fell first.
Their blades slipped from bloodied hands.
Vermillion Empress Rei.
Former Vermillion Empress Hikari.
They had died side by side—shielding the fleeing soldiers to the very end.
Not far behind, Empress Miharu and her loyal Shadow Assassins collapsed, a final formation broken around her lifeless body. Beside her, Empress Akane lay motionless—her last spell half-finished.
At the center of it all, Emperor Kazuo had fallen to his knees. His final defense—a painting of a divine barrier—had vanished in a burst of ink as the last of his magic bled dry. His brush snapped as a spear pierced through his chest.
And still—
One man remained.
Blood dripping from a gash on his forehead, Hoshimi Rin stood alone, sword in hand.
His breath was ragged.
His stance wavered.
But his eyes never left the darkness.
"Ugha..." Rin coughed, crimson spilling from his lips. His knees nearly buckled.
Then he turned.
And saw it.
A golden light had pierced the heavens.
A single, defiant pillar—the Golden Pillar of Time.
The ritual had begun.
The reset was in motion.
The Golden Princess had succeeded.
The dark figure paused, gazing up at the light.
"So... you've bought her enough time," the Corruption spoke, its voice echoing like metal grinding on bone. "You two have always resisted the hardest since the original cycle. Still trying to delay the inevitable, Hoshimi Rin?"
Rin gritted his teeth, lifting his sword despite the pain.
"You and I... we're stuck in this loop," he said. "Until the final cycle. And she—Higa Ayumi—will keep resetting the world until we find a future where we defeat you. That's her promise."
The Corruption let out a low, mocking laugh.
"So full of faith," it sneered. "You've barely met her in this cycle. If it weren't for you two meddling with time, this world would already be mine."
"The world isn't yours," Rin spat. "It never was. It never will be. Not mine. Not yours. Not anyone's."
The Corruption's form flickered, its shape blurring.
"So stubborn. That's always been your most irritating trait."
It raised its hand.
Dozens of corrupted spears manifested, humming with death.
Rin smiled bitterly.
"I could say the same to you."
He adjusted his stance, sword raised to head level.
"My duty to this world, in this cycle, is over."
"These regrets… they'll carry on. Through the next life. The next reset. One day, I'll choose a better path. I'll make sure of it."
Behind him, a figure stumbled forward—Chinen Suzuki, eyes wide with grief, hands trembling.
Her magic was gone.
Her heart, shattered.
She had seen it all.
The fall of the Empresses. The Emperor. The old rulers and the new.
All that remained—was Rin.
And her.
Rin looked back at her, and for a moment, his fierce expression softened.
"Suzuki… thank you. For being the one I loved in this cycle."
She opened her mouth—but the spears were already flying.
Rin turned back just in time.
Steel clashed against corruption.
He defended, each strike shaking his entire body. Bones cracked. Blood sprayed.
One spear pierced his side.
Then another.
And another.
Suzuki screamed.
He stood before her, arms stretched wide, body riddled with spears—and still, he tried to reach for his katana.
His grip trembled.
"Ugh…"
Another cough.
More blood.
The Absolute Corruption hovered forward.
"You did better this time," it said, watching him die. "Four days. In the original cycle, you lasted two hours. But you're still weak."
Rin's lips curled into a bloodied grin.
"That crown... still doesn't suit you."
Golden eyes gleamed.
The Corruption tilted its head.
"Yet you wore the same. You and I—we're two sides of the same broken mirror. We both changed... and walked different paths."
Rin's gaze grew distant.
"Then let the mirror shatter."
His final breath escaped him.
Eyes wide open.
Still watching.
Still defiant.
Rin fell.
Suzuki's scream tore through the battlefield.
"RIIIIIIIIIN—!!"
The world fell silent.
The entity turned its hollow eyes to her.
Its smile widened.
"You…" it whispered.
Rin lay motionless, his body pierced by a forest of corrupted spears. Blood soaked the ground beneath him, dyeing the soil crimson. The once-proud warrior, the light of the Hoshimi Empire, now lay broken in the heart of a ruined battlefield.
The sky wept black ash.
The Absolute Corruption, draped in a mantle of writhing shadows, knelt beside Rin. Its hand, skeletal yet solid, brushed against Rin's bloodied cheek with a mockery of tenderness.
"You and I are the same," it whispered. Its voice was a chilling blend of contempt and familiarity. "Yet we strayed... In the first life, both of us lost everything. You chose to protect. I chose to take. Noble... but foolish."
A scream tore through the air.
"Rin!"
Suzuki collapsed beside his fallen body, tears pouring from her azure eyes. Her hands trembled as she touched his cooling face.
"Rin… please… don't leave me…"
The Entity's voice slithered around her like a serpent.
"Poor soul," it sneered. "To lose the one you love... again."
The veil of darkness cloaking the Entity's face slowly peeled back. And as it revealed its features—
Suzuki froze.
"No… It can't be... you…"
The horror in her eyes deepened.
Before she could speak again, a cold hand wrapped around her throat and lifted her into the air. She clawed at the grip, choking, gasping— "Ugh…ha—!"
"I still have time," the Corruption murmured. "Before the reset... I'll make you useful."
Darkness surged from its body, tendrils of shadow crashing down upon her. She screamed, struggling, her mind already reeling from grief. She tried to resist, to fight it off—but her heart was shattered, and in that brokenness, the corruption found its way in.
"Your love," it whispered. "I will twist it."
The corruption wrapped her in an ocean of despair, and her world turned upside down.
"You will corrupt him for me. In every cycle. If you can succeed, I will spare him. A bargain… of mercy."
"No... I'll never—!" she cried, but her voice faltered. The shadows slithered into her mind.
Her memories of Rin—his warmth, his sacrifice, their love—were turned inside out. The light of love became a searing obsession. A hunger. Not to be with Rin... but to possess him. To keep him, no matter the cost.
"I won't lose you again," she whispered, even as tears streamed down her cheeks. "You'll be mine... in every world."
Her pure azure robes darkened, threads of midnight blue and black weaving through the once-royal fabric. Her magic pulsed with a twisted echo of what it once was—beautiful, but wrong. Her eyes, once serene, now shimmered with a possessive gleam.
The Azure Empress was no more.
In her place stood something new—something terrifying.
The Corrupted Azure Empress Suzuki.
The Entity raised a hand, the very air shaking with the weight of forbidden power.
"Divine Magic: Real World Manipulation."
Golden chains of divine law shattered around them. The world screamed in resistance. Even the Corruption winced—divine magic powerful enough to break the rules of time itself.
"You will be unaffected by the reset. Go," it commanded. "Find him. Prevent his awakening. Twist his love. Corrupt Hoshimi Rin… to save him."
The world trembled. The battlefield fractured into blinding light. A laugh—mad, familiar, unrelenting—echoed through the void as time cracked and splintered.
The world reset.
But three beings remembered:
—The Absolute Corruption, smiling beneath a stolen face.
—Higa Ayumi, who sent the golden pillar of light into the sky.
—And the Corrupted Azure Empress Suzuki, whose obsession would transcend time.
Over and over, the mantra whispered in her mind:
Corrupt Rin… to save Rin.
A vast light swept across the sky, erasing pain, rewinding tragedy, returning all to the start—except for a few.
At the center of it all stood a girl dressed in radiant gold, her long hair billowing in the divine wind of temporal change. Her gaze, tinged with sorrow and unspoken longing, pierced the veil between past and future.
Higa Ayumi—the Golden Princess who bore the burden of remembrance.
She stood alone on the edge of the fading world, her voice soft yet unwavering.
"In the end… you still chose to help me," she whispered, "even though you fell for someone else in this cycle."
A faint, bittersweet smile formed on her lips.
"Your soul… it's so stubbornly kind. It clings to regret, to pain, to hope. That's why… no matter how many cycles pass, no matter how many fall in love with you… you'll always find your way back. To me. And to them."
The light intensified, engulfing the fractured skies.
Ayumi closed her eyes as the warmth enveloped her, her hands folded over her chest like a silent prayer.
"But still," she whispered, her voice now full of quiet fire, "I won't lose when it comes to loving you. Not in this life, and not in any of the others. I'll always be your number one… even if you forget."
Her mind drifted, just for a moment—
To his voice.
To that moment.
"Do what you want... If it means getting closer to the goal of killing that thing, use my life as you wish. In every cycle, I'll trust you, Ayumi."
Those words—so selfless, so raw—burned into her soul. Words spoken not by a prince, nor a hero, but by the boy she first met…
Shimuzu Rin.
The one who hid his name.
The one who carried wounds older than time itself.
The one who treated her not as the Golden Princess of fate, but simply as Ayumi.
She saw it clearly—the first timeline. Before the resets. Before all this madness. When he had nothing, and yet still gave her everything.
That version of him… never once asked for anything in return.
"See you tomorrow," she said gently, raising her hand toward the blinding sky. "My partner."
And as the world turned to light once more, she smiled—not out of joy, but out of memory.
The beginning was returning. But so was she. And so was he.
This time…
She would make sure they'd win.
Many cycles had passed.
Many attempts to corrupt him had failed.
But this was a new cycle.
A new chance.
And perhaps—her final hope.
The battlefield was silent.
The iron stench of blood clung to the wind, mingling with the scorched remnants of spellfire and steel. Corpses of the Dark Order lay scattered across the valley floor like broken dolls—lifeless, soulless, forgotten.
And there, amid the carnage…
She stood.
Clad in deep azure robes, untouched by ash or gore, her silhouette was regal—too pristine for this hellish scene. Her black hair shimmered beneath the dying embers of magic, and her golden eyes—once gentle—now glowed with a murky, consuming light.
But it wasn't her beauty that chilled the hearts of the Red Palace soldiers.
It was the aura.
Thick, dark, ancient.
A corruption so heavy it made the ground groan beneath her feet. The very air recoiled from her presence, vibrating with unease as tendrils of malevolent energy curled like smoke around her figure.
Her gaze ignored the dozens of warriors before her.
Her attention was focused on only one.
Hoshimi Rin.
Seated atop his mount, the white and crimson of the Red Palace banner clinging to his armor, he radiated clarity and strength. His mana furnace, the sacred light of the Hoshimi line, shimmered faintly—not yet fully awakened, but already enough to battle the oppressive dread that leaked from her.
Their auras clashed silently in the valley.
Light and darkness.
Hope and ruin.
And yet…
She smiled.
A slow, soul-stirring smile.
It wasn't cruel.
It wasn't kind either.
It was familiar.
Like the ghost of a forgotten dream.
Her lips parted. Her heart ached. Her voice, barely a whisper, cut through the valley with haunting clarity.
"Rin…"
The warriors tensed.
"Don't go…"
It wasn't a command. It was a plea.
A raw, aching cry muffled by time, by countless cycles, by unbearable loss.
Rin's brow furrowed.
He had never seen her before.
He was sure of it.
And yet—
Why did her voice sound like memory?
Why did it hurt?
Officer Tsutomu stepped forward, sword flashing under the cloudy sky. "Identify yourself!" he barked. "This area is under Imperial protection. Any threat to the carriage will be—"
The woman tilted her head.
Slowly.
Almost innocently.
Like a child hearing a question not worth answering.
The shadows beneath her began to swirl—stretching unnaturally, slithering like living things across the bloodstained earth.
And she took a step forward.
Just one.
But it was enough.
The soldiers raised their weapons.
The horses neighed in panic.
Magic circles began forming in the air.
And Rin—Rin's hand hovered over the hilt of his blade, eyes locked on hers.
"Who are you…?" he asked quietly.
Her smile didn't change.
Instead, her eyes shimmered.
Not with malice.
But with grief.
"You always forget me," she said, her voice breaking just slightly. "But I always find you. No matter how many times you leave… I will find you."
Her aura flared.
The wind screamed.
And the valley braced for what was to come.
The corrupted Azure Empress had arrived.
And the cycle had begun again.