Chapter 42
In his closed eyes, Theo imagined that a completely different figure would emerge—someone no longer merely silent or stiff before others, but a leader who is cold, composed, and nearly impervious to light.
A figure who would later be called the "final boss" in the twelfth episode, a symbol of the chaos in the world that had reached its own consciousness.
Theo wrote it carefully, like a painter who knows a single wrong stroke can change the destiny of the entire canvas.
And behind it all, Theo could only pray silently that everything would proceed without obstacle.
For if even once Erietta strayed, or the Realm of Gloom rejected her, what would collapse would not only be the scenario but the entire balance between Shi and Ramsh, maintained by fingers growing ever more unsteady.
'Frankly, from the start, I never intended to teach her the Realm of Gloom—even when she first asked.
First, because her way truly tests patience.
In every word I spoke, she resisted.
In every silence, she accused me of cowardice.
As if everything I did were merely a game she could conquer with a single strike.'
Uuuuussh!
'Damn!
That wasn't me.
It was Erusha Birtash, and her animalistic instinct had invaded my mind.
I could write the scenario, but I could not erase that urge.
And Erietta understood.
Her cold, mocking gaze constantly reminded me that I, too, was complicit in sin.'
Shuuuuh!
'The second reason was simpler, yet extremely risky.
Teaching her the Realm of Gloom was like shaking the balance of Flo Viva Mythology.
I am not merely an observer here.
I am a variable that should not move.
Exceed the limit, and the entire manuscript could unravel, leaving the story lost.'
In truth, far beneath the calmness of his face, often mistaken for wisdom, Theo had no intention of fulfilling Erietta's request.
He knew full well that teaching the Realm of Gloom to the girl meant altering the course of destiny that he had written with his own hands.
In the world of Flo Viva Mythology, every step, every failure, every breath of a character is no accident—it is the result of narrative carving woven with the will of a digital universe that has now become reality.
And Erietta, as written, was destined to fail.
She was not a student meant to conquer darkness, but one who would become lost within it.
Theo understood that straying even slightly from that line was tantamount to inviting the collapse of the fragile logic of the world he had maintained.
Yet his reasoning did not stop there.
Erietta herself was a figure that made Theo's blood boil in silence.
The green-haired girl possessed habits capable of testing anyone's patience—overly confident, thirsting for proof, constantly challenging anyone she deemed strong.
Even Theo, rarely shaken, was often provoked into confrontation simply by Erietta's eyes, burning like frozen embers.
He recalled how it all began with a ridiculous incident:
Theo, in the form of Erusha Birtash, was trapped in an uncontrollable surge of desire, approaching Erietta in a manner utterly unlike himself.
And from that day, everything transformed into a small battle that never ceased.
What made it even more difficult was the power of Erusha's identity within him.
That figure, with its almost mystical charm, was so strong that Theo sometimes lost the boundary between himself as writer and himself as a fragment of his creation.
Every time Erusha whispered in his mind, Theo knew he was playing with fire, for beneath the softness of the voice lay impulses capable of shaking the balance of a world even the gods could not restrain.
So when Erietta refused to hand over her sword—a weapon that was also a symbol of her own determination—Theo could only sigh, aware that a dangerous thin line had formed between them.
A line between the creator's will and the will of a character refusing control.
'There are a number of key factors—two or three—that shaped her journey to this point.
Yet the most prominent and challenging factor was her inability to control the Realm of Gloom.'
Erietta Bathee, though still young and fragile in appearance, carried an extraordinary psychological burden.
Her repeated failures in controlling the Core Lu within the Realm of Gloom shaped her into a figure that could not be ignored.
Each failure was not merely a personal defeat, but a resonance that altered the balance of the most fragile world, and could leave Theo in the position of both observer and meticulous guardian of the narrative.
'In the past, when I played as Ilux, I always allowed Erietta to be tormented.
It was cruel, but it was the only way for her to reach her final form—the transformation as the final boss in episode twelve, first arc.
All the betrayals, pressures, and psychological wounds were the foundation for the nascent power she would wield.
I knew that.'
Fuuuuh!
'But now, after the world of Flo Viva Mythology devoured almost all of reality, everything feels different.
I am no longer a writer distanced from this story—I am part of it.
And if Erietta fails to control the Realm of Gloom as in the original version, I know there will be no Ilux, no protagonist capable of stopping her.
The girl will destroy everything, even the remaining one percent I still considered reality.'
Shuuuuh!
'So I must bend the course.
Make her master the Realm of Gloom, control her emotions, subdue herself before she loses everything.
I am not changing her destiny as the final boss, only removing the triggers.
Making her calmer, more aware, more human—at least until it is her turn to face Ilux.'
In the original scenario, Erietta Bathee was not guided toward success, but toward downfall—a dark process that inflicted wound after wound until a new form of herself was born.
Theo, in the real world playing as Ilux Rediona, always let events flow as they should.
He knew Erietta had to endure inevitable suffering at the academy.
She had to be bullied, hurt, weakened, until every layer of her emotions collapsed.
For only from that ruin would the final boss in the first arc of episode twelve emerge—a girl who lost her smile but gained power.
Yet all that theory changed once Theo's real world was consumed by a game created by someone else.
When only one percent of reality remained, and he became the only human still aware of the boundary between writer and character, Theo began to realize something he had never written in any script.
Fear.
He knew what awaited in the twelfth episode—Erietta losing control, failing to understand the Realm of Gloom, turning into a destructive force no longer recognizing Ilux as human.
Theo, now trapped in Ilux's role, realized that if the story continued according to the script, what would be destroyed would not only be the characters in the game, but himself.
So, amidst his fractured awareness, he began to play with destiny.
He rewrote it.
Not directly, not with a normal pen, but through small actions—commands, glances, words never meant to be spoken.
Theo decided to bend the course, determined to make Erietta succeed in controlling the Realm of Gloom.
He wanted the green-haired girl to learn to restrain her anger, to subdue the gloom designed to destroy her.
He did not intend to cancel Erietta's transformation as the final boss, but to remove the main trigger that made her too difficult for Ilux to handle.
In his silence, Theo was rewriting a world that had already swallowed him.
For him, this was not mercy.
It was strategy.
A small step that could determine whether Ilux Rediona—the protagonist in the game, and the embodiment of himself—could ultimately conquer Erietta.
To be continued…