Manaka knew Rikka had been planning something.
She had been lost in deep thought when they played together for a month now.
Manaka even asked what she was thinking about, but Rikka didn't tell her anything and kept changing the subject because she still thought Manak was just a normal girl and didn't know anything about magecraft.
Manaka had even planned to tell her more about herself, but she didn't know how, so she decided to bring her back to her home as maybe if Rikka sees her family she is gonna notice that Manaka is not normal.
Unfortunately, that day only Ayaka was in the house, so Rikka only talked with her before leaving and returning to the orphanage.
Since that day, Manaka rarely heard anything from Rikka until today, when she felt the spell she had placed on her activate.
The spell that was supposed to protect her if something happened and sacrifice itself so the user would not die.
It broke and disappeared, making her rush to this place thanks to another spell that tracked her location.
But the moment she arrived, she saw Rikka unconscious, her body a mess. Even her Magic Circuits were going haywire, unstable and erratic.
And another girl who seemed to be protecting Rikka's unconscious body, surrounded by many worms that she knew were Crest Worms.
And the only one that uses such magecraft in this town is.
"Makiri Zolgen!" Manaka said in a low voice, but her tone made it clear how angry she was.
The moment Manaka said that name, the entire room became silent. Even the worms that had been slithering around stopped.
Except for Sakura's low sniffing sounds as she took care of Rikka, the only sound left was breathing.
"Makiri... Zolgen?"
Zouken muttered when he heard that name. It was like a name he should know, something that reminded him of the past.
But no matter how many times he muttered that name, he couldn't remember who it was.
"Who are you?" Zouken asked, trying to get more information.
"And that name? Who is that? How did you know that name?"
Zouken kept asking more and more questions, which was unlike him. Even if he couldn't remember whose name it was, his body reacted as if it knew that name was very important to him.
Of course, Manaka is the same as Rikka. Both of them have a connection to the Root and the Akasha Record.
So Manaka knows every single being's information and their fate except Rikka. Finding someone named Makiri Zolgen in the records is easy for her.
But Manaka didn't answer him. She doesn't care about his forgotten goal or his forgotten name.
The moment she saw Rikka like that, she had already decided his fate.
She stomped her right foot forward. "Congela."
Instantly the temperature in the entire room dropped below zero, freezing every single worm.
"!?"
Zouken's lower half was frozen solid, and he couldn't even move.
The ice slowly moved upward from Zouken's lower body to his chest, then to his shoulders. He could feel what was coming, not just the cold but the end itself closing in on him. His body no longer responded, and even the worms inside him had stopped writhing, trapped in absolute stillness.
"Wait... wait!"
His voice was no longer calm or calculating. For the first time in centuries, there was clear urgency in it. The name kept echoing inside his mind. Makiri Zolgen. It felt important. It felt like something that belonged to him. Something he should remember.
"Who is Makiri Zolgen?! Tell me!"
But no answer came.
Behind Manaka, the flames surrounding Sakura and Rikka continued to burn steadily. They did not spread to the walls or the floor, nor did they produce smoke. The fire existed only around them, isolating them from the unnatural cold that filled the rest of the bedroom. Ice covered the floor, the furniture, the walls - but it stopped just short of the circle of fire.
The frost finally reached Zouken's neck and climbed to his face. His words were cut off as the ice sealed over his mouth. Within seconds, his entire body was frozen solid. Every worm around the bedroom, every fragment of his twisted existence, was locked in clear ice without exception.
Manaka looked at him without emotion. The moment she saw Rikka's condition, his fate had already been decided. There was nothing he could say that would change it.
She slowly raised her right arm toward the frozen figure.
"Zero Absolutum."
The words left her lips without emotion.
For a brief moment, the room was silent.
Then cracks began to spread across the ice. Thin fractures ran through Zouken's frozen body and across every worm trapped within the frost. The sound of splitting crystal echoed sharply through the bedroom as the cracks multiplied in an instant.
The entire structure shattered.
Ice broke apart into countless fragments, and Zouken's body shattered along with it. The worms disintegrated at the same time, breaking down before the pieces could even touch the floor. What remained did not stay long - the fragments crumbled further, turning into fine particles that faded into nothing.
When the last trace disappeared, the cold vanished with it.
The bedroom floor was intact. The walls untouched.
Only the controlled flames around Sakura and Rikka continued to burn quietly in the silence.
After a few moments and making sure none of the worms in the bedroom survived, Manaka finally turned around and extinguished the flames surrounding Sakura and Rikka. The fire faded without leaving burn marks or smoke, as if it had never been there in the first place.
She stepped closer and knelt down beside Rikka, positioning herself on the other side of her. Sakura was still breathing, shaken but unharmed. Rikka, however, was another matter entirely.
Manaka placed her hand lightly against Rikka's chest and closed her eyes for a brief second, sending a thin stream of prana into her body to examine the internal damage.
It was worse than it looked.
Rikka's Magic Circuits were not just overused - they were torn. Several pathways had ruptured from the strain of forcing her Reality Marble into manifestation. The circuits that should have remained dormant until proper stabilization had been forcefully activated all at once, pushing far more prana through her system than her body could safely handle.
Her internal pathways were scorched, like burned wiring. Some circuits were still spasming irregularly, releasing residual prana in unstable pulses. Others had completely shut down in self-defense, refusing to respond.
There were also signs of feedback damage. Manifesting a Reality Marble meant turning her inner world outward, overwriting the external environment with her own mental landscape. Doing that without proper control placed enormous pressure on both the mind and soul. The boundary between her internal world and reality had been forced open too abruptly.
If it had continued even a few seconds longer, her circuits could have collapsed entirely.
Worse, the strain had started affecting her core. The foundation that anchored her soul to her physical body had weakened slightly from the overload. It wasn't fatal but it was dangerously close to permanent damage.
Her breathing was shallow. Her skin was pale from prana depletion.
Rikka had gambled her entire existence on that manifestation.
Manaka's expression did not change, but her hand tightened slightly against Rikka's chest as she carefully assessed how much could still be repaired and making sure it won't leave permanent damage.
After checking Rikka's condition, Manaka's expression did not soften.
If anything, it grew colder.
The damage inside Rikka's body was not something that happened by accident. It was forced. Pushed to the edge. Her Magic Circuits had been strained to the point of tearing because Zouken had cornered her into using something she should not have been able to manifest yet.
Manaka gently withdrew her hand.
Then she stood up.
Before taking Rikka away, there was one thing left to do.
She walked toward the bedroom door, which had already been blown open earlier. The hallway beyond was quiet, dimly lit, stretching in both directions. The Matou house felt hollow now, but not empty.
She stopped at the doorway.
Her face was devoid of expression, but the air around her carried a sharp pressure of controlled anger compressed into silence.
She knew.
Zouken had not placed every worm in one location. He was too cautious for that. Somewhere deep in the basement, hidden within layers of dirt and ritual foundation, there was one last worm preserved separately. A final anchor. A backup in case the main body was destroyed.
He had been wary of Rikka.
Manaka slowly raised her hand.
Instead of releasing raw power, she began to write in the air.
Lines of light formed at the tip of her finger, carving complex runic symbols into empty space. The characters did not belong purely to one system - fragments of Northern runes intertwined with older curse formulae rooted in Eastern thaumaturgy. Each symbol locked into place with precise geometry, forming a layered spell structure rather than a simple attack.
The runes did not glow brightly.
They pulsed faintly, like something alive.
This was not meant to destroy a body.
It was meant to reach a concept.
The first layer established identification - the true name she had already spoken: Makiri Zolgen.
The second layer targeted lineage and soul signature, bypassing physical distance.
The third layer carried the curse itself.
Severance.
A denial of continuity.
A rejection of transference.
It was a curse designed specifically against Zouken's method of immortality. Any fragment of his consciousness that attempted to migrate into another host would find nothing to attach to. The connection between vessel and core would fail. The worms would no longer accept him. His soul would not anchor.
Even if the last worm in the basement still lived, it would become nothing more than an ordinary insect.
When the final rune was completed, the entire structure rotated once in the air, the symbols aligning into a single sigil.
Manaka spoke a short command under her breath.
The runes collapsed inward and vanished.
Far below the house, in the darkness of the basement soil, the final worm twitched once.
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"Where am I?"
The moment I regained consciousness, I realized I was standing inside someone's house.
It wasn't a bedroom. It looked more like a living room. A small one.
The air felt strange. Not heavy. Not cold. Just... still.
I slowly turned my head, taking in my surroundings. The old television placed against the wall. The worn-out couch with slightly torn fabric on the armrest. The wooden table with that faint scratch near the corner.
For some reason, everything felt familiar.
Even though I was certain I had never seen this place before.
"Wait... isn't this...?"
My breath caught in my throat.
The arrangement of the furniture. The narrow hallway to the left. The small window near the entrance that barely let sunlight in.
There was no mistake.
"This is my house...?"
Not from this life.
But my house from my previous life.
First I decided to search around the house to make sure.
After roaming the first floor, it was clear this is my parents' house. Everything was the same, even the dirty clothes still in the washing machine.
I remembered that because back then, I accidentally spilled wine on it while drinking alone. The stain was too stubborn to clean, so I just left it there, planning to deal with it on Sunday. But I got transported to another world before Sunday even came.
"Wait... what happens if I try to leave...?"
I moved toward the front door and stared at it for a few moments.
I wondered if I'd be greeted by the familiar front road, or if everything I was experiencing was just a dream.
But when I tried to open the door, it wouldn't budge. No matter how much force I applied, it felt like the door had blended into the wall itself like It wasn't a door anymore.
After struggling, I just gave up. Basically, I was trapped in this house with no way out.
I even tried to destroy the windows and everything else, but they wouldn't budge either.
Why was I even here in the first place? Usually, when I lose consciousness, I always appear in the garden of Avalon with Lady Ava.
"I hope Sakura followed my orders and actually left the mansion while Fragments of Avalon were still active..."
"Wait a minute!"
I remembered something. Because I'm in my house, does that mean those things still exist?
So far, everything is still the same, so I'm sure that stuff has to be here too.
I hurriedly ran toward the second floor where my room is.
I slammed the door open and rushed inside.
"My Manhwa!!"
My room looked exactly like I remembered. Posters of handsome men were taped to the walls, slightly crooked from when I had tried to straighten them. On the shelves, merchandise from my favorite manhwa was neatly arranged-figurines, keychains, and stacks of volumes that I had read over and over. The familiar clutter felt comforting, like a small pocket of my old life.
Everything smelled the same too, a mix of my old blankets and faint traces of the perfume my mother used to wear. I could almost forget that I wasn't in my old world anymore.
Then, at the edge of my vision, I noticed movement. On the bed, a little girl who looked just like me was lying down, her legs tucked under her, completely absorbed in one of my manhwa volumes. Her hair fell the same way mine did, and even her expression, calm and focused, mirrored me.
I blinked, unsure if I was seeing things.
The girl didn't notice me. She just flipped a page, humming quietly to herself, completely unaware of my presence.
Huh? Did I even have a girl in my room before?
No, I always lived alone. I'm pretty sure...
I rubbed my eyes a few times, trying to make sure I wasn't seeing things wrong.
But no matter what I did, the girl was still there, lying on my bed, her body relaxed, her hair spread across the pillow, and every feature eerily identical to mine.
Meanwhile, the girl turned around to see where the noise had come from.
Her face was exactly like mine. I froze, unable to say a word, my mind struggling to comprehend what I was seeing.
Then she spoke.
"Welcome me," she said, her voice flat, devoid of any emotion, carrying the quiet weight of certainty, as if she had always been here and I was only arriving now.