The final moment of the 2nd loop.
Yujin held Leila's body as it grew cold in his arms, and made a decision.
If there was a next time, he would never let this person die.
By any means necessary.
Even if it led him to his own ruin.
He wanted to give her a future, somehow.
And this was the result.
Scorned by everyone, trapped in the dark.
Even though he had finally succeeded in achieving what he wanted.
Yujin sank to the cold floor, closed his eyes, and laughed bitterly at himself.
*If my brother saw me like this… he'd probably laugh and call me an idiot.*
Right. It had been a connection of barely two weeks.
No — she wouldn't even remember that much.
Every memory existed only inside Yujin's head.
And yet, to throw away everything ahead of him for someone else's sake.
Rationally speaking, it was undeniably a foolish choice.
He had become Commander to avenge his brother.
At this rate, he had no face to show his dead brother.
*But no matter how many times I repeat this, I….*
Even so, he had no regrets.
The moment Leila saved his life on the train where they first met.
The moment she called him a friend without a second thought, despite how lacking he was.
And the moment she willingly threw her life away for him.
All of those memories had burned themselves into him as marks that would never fade.
He had wanted to repay her for everything she had given him.
It didn't matter if no one understood that effort.
As long as Leila had a future ahead of her — that was enough.
"The plan is going smoothly. It is, but…."
Yujin thought back over what he had done these past few days.
Deliberately playing the incompetent Commander so everyone would despise him.
Throwing himself off a cliff to create a justification for reinforcing the walls.
Pretending to tamper with the Core to draw an Inspector into the city….
He had done everything he possibly could within that desperate stretch of time.
If things stood as they were now, he could surely make it past that one week.
He wouldn't have to feel the agony of losing Leila again.
So everything had worked out.
It should have worked out….
Suddenly, Yujin's hands trembled against his will.
"Still… it's hard."
Of course it wasn't nothing. It couldn't be.
He couldn't drag everyone else into the mess he was making.
He'd had to say cruel things he didn't mean, deliberately, to everyone around him.
Every time he wounded someone with his words, he felt the pain of it too.
What hurt most was the way people looked at him.
The moment every pair of eyes that had once held warmth for him filled instead with contempt and disgust —
Yujin felt as though his insides were being carved out.
He wanted to apologize on the spot. To tell them it wasn't what he meant.
That they were precious people, and they deserved to be treated with respect.
But if he did that, he couldn't save everyone.
To deceive whatever informants and masterminds might be watching from somewhere —
he had no choice but to remain the one who was hated.
*Staying as Commander any longer… probably isn't possible.*
Yujin thought about what lay ahead of him.
If things went according to plan and he made it past the week —
he would most likely no longer be Commander after that.
He had known that from the beginning.
If he could keep Leila from dying, that should be enough.
And yet — not being able to be with her was still painful.
But what could he do, having come this far.
It was already far too late to stop.
Suppressing his true feelings with effort, Yujin quietly rose to his feet.
No matter how much it hurt, no matter how exhausted he was, he still had to eat.
If he starved to death, he'd have to start all over again.
If at all possible, he didn't want to say things he didn't mean again.
"…!"
"Hm?"
Reaching the entryway, Yujin noticed a commotion outside.
There should have been someone standing guard to keep him from leaving.
He drifted closer without thinking, and a familiar voice reached his ears.
"There must be some kind of misunderstanding, I'm sure of it. Please, let me speak with the Commander…!"
"Lei… la…."
The one causing the commotion was none other than Leila.
The person he so desperately wanted to save.
But right now… he didn't want to hear her voice.
*Why would she go this far….*
Yujin couldn't understand Leila's behavior.
Since regressing into the second loop, he had done nothing but treat her terribly.
And yet, for some reason, she had never doubted him. Not once.
An unshakeable conviction — as if she simply knew he wasn't that kind of person.
Under normal circumstances, that faith would have felt deeply precious to him.
But for Yujin, who had to become a traitor despised by all —
it was a warmth harder to bear than any contempt or hatred.
He wanted to tell Leila the truth.
He wanted to confess that he had never meant to hurt her.
Yujin clenched his fist until it hurt.
"Ngh — ugh…!"
But he couldn't let his true feelings show.
When he thought of her warmth fading in his arms —
it felt like something was gouging through his stomach with an awl.
He didn't want to see that same scene a third time.
Yujin turned his back and fled blindly to his bedroom.
"Damn it…. God, this is painful…."
He leaned against the closed door and slid down to the floor.
Had his mind reached its limit? He couldn't even find the strength to stand.
More than anything else, what tormented him was betraying Leila's trust.
If someday even she turned her back on him —
if he found himself unable to turn back time —
could he still look at all of this and say it was worth it?
Unable to find an answer to that question —
exhausted as he was, Yujin drifted off without realizing it.
And then, at some point —
a loud, jarring alarm tore him rudely from his shallow sleep.
"Ugh, that sound…."
Wheeeeeee!
A piercing siren shrieked across the entire city.
Immediately after, an emergency broadcast began blaring from somewhere, repeating without pause.
What on earth was happening right now.
His mind was foggy from being wrenched awake, but —
even so, Yujin's gut told him exactly what was going on.
"Th-that can't be right! There's still time…!"
He shot to his feet in alarm and grabbed his terminal.
The clock read 1:00 AM — a full day had passed.
There should have been two days left before the Erosion Species attack.
*Don't tell me — the mastermind again…?*
Had it been a mistake to let the Inspector into the city?
The plan unraveling in ways he hadn't anticipated shook him badly.
But if he thought calmly, there was no reason to panic.
All the preparations were already in place — he had only been waiting for the time.
Even if the attack came two days early, the outcome shouldn't change.
Yujin quickly changed his clothes and pounded on the front door.
And layered on top of it, the performance of an incompetent Commander.
"Hey, hey! What's going on out there! I'm going to be okay, right?!"
He hammered on the door several times.
Before long, the firmly shut door slid open.
On the other side stood a pale-haired girl with a furrowed brow — Lute.
"I — Inspector…."
"…You're still technically the Commander. I'll keep you alive. For now, let's get you somewhere safe."
"Tch…. What is going on?! Someone tell me what's happening!"
Yujin desperately hoped for a reassuring answer.
That the reinforced walls were holding the Erosion Species back.
That the Valkyries were somehow managing to repel the attack right now.
He wanted her to say something that would put him at ease.
But Lute's expression twisted sharply at his question.
Seeing that look, Yujin understood that something had gone wrong.
A moment later, a violent explosion erupted in the distance, engulfed in flames.
An ominous sign that anyone could read.
"That explosion…."
"The wall has been breached. Erosion Species are flooding into the city right now. All available Valkyries have been deployed to minimize civilian casualties, but…. We may have to abandon the city."
"What…."
The wall was already breached?
Yujin's eyes wavered at the unbelievable news.
It couldn't be. The siren had only just started sounding.
That meant the wall had been breached the moment the attack was detected.
For him, this was the worst possible news.
But Lute seemed to take his reaction as simple shock at the Erosion Species entering the city.
She told him not to worry, and reached up to grasp the rosary swaying at her chest.
"Let's move quickly. I'll get you to safety, then I'll do what I can against the Erosion Species."
Tug.
She pulled the rosary, snapping the cord it hung from.
The moment Lute closed her fist around it, flower petals began to gather in her hand.
Beautiful petals that looked as though they were woven from light.
Gradually, with the rosary as its hilt, a slender rapier took shape.
The Blade of Blossoms — Lute's personal weapon.
She turned to the other Valkyries standing nearby and gave her orders.
"You — help deal with the Erosion Species. I'll escort this one to the shelter and come back."
"Yes!"
"Don't die."
"We'll be careful."
The Valkyries from the Eye of Odin hurried off.
Lute looked at Yujin with an impassive gaze and said:
"Then. Let's go."
"…."
But Yujin's expression was dark as he stared out at the city.
Gunfire, inhuman shrieks, and screams from every direction.
It all felt like a testament to his failure.
*Even after all of this… was it still not enough…?*
The fact that the Erosion Species had entered the city at all was the worst-case scenario.
Now that it had come to this, the Valkyries would have to fight while protecting civilians.
Someone among the Valkyries would die today. That was certain.
The realization sent a sensation like swallowing a shard of ice through Yujin's chest.
But he couldn't stand there frozen forever.
Urged on by Lute, he forced his legs to move and headed toward the shelter.
The distance from the Commander's quarters to the shelter wasn't far.
Before long, the two of them reached the building that housed it, and —
what they found there made even Lute's eyes go wide with alarm.
"What…. Already, here…?!"
Impossibly, the building had already been attacked by something.
It had barely been any time since news of the wall being breached.
How had it reached this far into the central district?
The moment the Commander and Lute rushed toward the entrance of the half-destroyed building —
something lunged out from the dark shadows and came crashing down on them.
"Ngh?!"
Clang!
Lute reflexively raised the Blade of Blossoms and deflected the ambush.
But she couldn't erase the force of the impact entirely.
She was sent flying backward along with her attacker.
Yujin spun around in alarm to look where Lute had landed —
and found her pinned beneath something, barely managing to hold off the assault.
Shockingly, the attacker was a form he recognized.
*That's…. The black Erosion Species?!*
The monster that had killed everyone in the first timeline.
The Erosion Species with its unidentified abilities had Lute pinned to the ground.
It was bleeding heavily, as though it had already been through a fierce fight —
and Lute, caught in a disadvantaged position, looked to be struggling just to hold on.
"This — insolent creature!"
"Kreeee!"
Just before its claws could pierce her throat —
Lute drove it back with a kick and created distance between them.
In the same motion, she slashed a deep gash across the Erosion Species' skin with the Blade of Blossoms —
and the black Erosion Species writhed in agony before hurling itself at her again.
"You! Run to the shelter! Wait there for rescue!"
"Krrrk!"
"Haaah!"
Yujin hesitated for a moment, torn about leaving her behind.
Could Lute beat the black Erosion Species?
It was a formidable enemy that even Leila had struggled against….
But he quickly realized that was a pointless concern.
He had no power to fight. None at all.
Gritting his teeth, he fled into the building so as not to get in her way.
And as he hurried down the stairs toward the shelter —
Yujin saw something at the bottom that he never wanted to see again.
A horrific memory he had sworn, no matter what, never to repeat.
It gnawed at his mind like something crawling under his skin.
"Ah… Commander…."
At the bottom of the stairs, a girl sat slumped against the wall, bleeding, looking utterly spent.
As though she had been waiting there for him all along.
It was Leila.