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There was nothing visible to the eye.

Just a vast, dim, and dull darkness spreading out.

It felt as though I was in an unending dream.

My consciousness, freed from the pain of the flesh, was surprisingly tranquil. The death that I feared so much was accepted along with the end of my physical form.

Although it was an undesirable end through execution, I might have felt relief somewhere deep down. “I will not suffer anymore,” I thought.

The darkness enveloping me faintly flickered, and it seemed as if light was shining from somewhere. I had no physical body, hence no eyes, yet a habit from when I was alive worked, urging me to squint and focus.

As I became aware of my own body, the light increased its brightness as if it had been waiting for this.

“Awaken, Glass=Dimeria.”

At the same time as I was urged to wake up by the gentle voice, I felt a sensation of my consciousness being pulled.

“Open your eyes.”

Quietly commanded, my consciousness seemed to take on a form, as if shaping a face. Following the instruction to open my eyes, a strong gust of wind blew, transporting me to a space different from the darkness that was in front of me just moments ago.

“…Where is this…?”

I blinked at the view unfolding before me. In the instant my eyelids closed, the light was obstructed, and when I opened them, a space overflowing with nothing but dazzling light spread out.

“What does this mean? I was supposed to be dead…”

Despite being “executed,” I felt a sensation of using a body. Directing my gaze down at my feet, I could see that I was firmly standing on my own two feet, not prosthetic ones.

Both hands moved freely, and there were no signs of the black stone disease anywhere on my body.

Without any suffocation, I placed a hand on my neck, finding no scars from the beheading; however, the skin I touched was cold as a corpse.

It felt like being in a space different from a dream.

In the spacious space enclosed by white marble, a light like ice crystals was drifting. Slowly gathering around me, they turned into transparent crystals, forming a cage that trapped me.

“What do you intend to do with me, divine person Kamto?”

No response came to my call.

Assuming this is after death, this place is probably what they call the heavenly realm. Even with that conjecture, I couldn’t understand their circumstances.

“Show yourself, Cassius.”

I wondered if the divine person brought me here. I called the name, but Cassius did not appear. Instead, three luxurious chairs draped in velvet velvet materialized out of nowhere and started floating in mid-air, but no one sat in them.

This place, resembling a white unified temple, extended in a large circle as far as I could see from within the cage. Apart from the crystal-like cage entrapping me and the floating chairs, there was nothing else; no presence of anyone.

Whether some supernatural force was at work, the tripod chairs continued to float without making a sound.

“What is this prison? Do the so-called sins I committed still linger?”

As I looked up from the prison and questioned defiantly, one of the thrones began to shine.

“In your current life, your physical body was ‘executed’ by Cassius.”

The same voice that urged me to awaken responded quietly.

“Your soul has been transferred to this heavenly realm. This is the Reincarnation Chamber where the souls of heroes are managed—”

“Hero? Reincarnation?”

“That refers to you, Glass=Dimeria.”

I muttered back in a parrot-like manner, and I could see a light orb floating as if to sit in one of the chairs.

“Ah…”

In the blink of an eye, the light orb transformed into a humanoid figure. A woman with soft silver hair reaching down to her waist and a calm expression gracefully sat on the chair, her figure emerging in mid-air.

The pure white wings gently spreading out revealed the woman’s true nature.

“Goddess…”

“I am the Creation Goddess Aurora. Please remember that.”

Handling a staff crowned with a blue gem delicately with her thin fingers, the goddess named Aurora lowered her eyes with a gentle expression.

“What does a goddess want with me?”

I asked provocatively. Aurora smiled softly and looked down at me from beyond the crystal cage.

“Considering your significant contribution leading the Great War between humans and demons to victory, we have recognized you as a hero.”

“Even though the goddesses were the ones who ordered my execution?”

In the background of the divine person’s actions was the will of the goddesses. At my question, Aurora slightly lowered her brows.

“Even though you committed a taboo and were executed, your achievements remain unchanged, Glass=Dimeria.”

I felt she spoke in a tone as if comforting a child. Did she think that a nearly forty-year-old adult would be pleased with that?

“Being praised after death leaves me with nothing. The achievements of my current life have been stolen by the Alchemy Society.”

Repeating it, my life was also taken by the divine person, probably due to a decision made by the goddess in front of me.

“That matter is trivial. If we goddesses recognize you as a hero, your deeds will surely become known to people, even after death.”

Aurora’s demeanor remained unchanged. In a consoling tone, with lowered brows and slightly saddened eyes, she gazed at me.

“…Is this the atonement for executing me?”

“No. Our decisions are always just.”

Although I showed frustration, Aurora just smiled sadly.

“Your sins have been atoned for through execution. From here on, it is the story of your next life as a hero.”

“…Next life?”

He asked back, but then remembered that Cassius had mentioned the same thing. After death, my soul will be granted a new body to reincarnate.

“If you wish, we shall allow you to reincarnate immediately and grant you the permission to walk a new path in life.”

Come to think of it, what had I planned to live for after swapping bodies with a homunculus? I intended to live “the continuation” as the same Glass=Dimeria. Simply because I didn’t want to die. Because I knew no other way to live.

“A new life…”

Given that opportunity now, how would I live? How could I possibly live? Questions I had never contemplated in my life before are swirling around in my mind.

“Yes. It seems you are quite interested, aren’t you?”

Not refusing to reincarnate means, at least, accepting the next life. Although I hadn’t realized it until Aurora pointed it out, it felt like I had been confronted with the true nature of the whirlpool of concerns swirling within me.

“There’s interest in something for the first time.”

There is a sensation that is neither curiosity nor hope. At the least, I was interested in reincarnation, feeling an elation I couldn’t understand myself.

“Then, let us continue with the story. There is a reason why I proposed reincarnation without delay.”

Aurora quietly smiled and raised her staff above my head. Part of the crystal cage cleared, dissolving into the space and becoming invisible. With the grille that formed the ceiling of the cage being removed, I could see Aurora’s expression clearly. Presumably, Aurora should also be able to see me clearly now.

“Your origin, the life since being taken in by your foster father, and life after his death – they were not fitting for a hero who made a great contribution to the human-demon great war.”

Aurora did not reproach me for my sins either. While the completion level of a homunculus is in the forbidden zone to be subjected to execution, it seems patricide, although foster, is not forbidden.

“Therefore, as a token of appreciation from us to you, we are considering offering you a new life.”

As Aurora informed me with a smile, one of the empty chairs floating beside her suddenly began to glow red.

“Hey, hey, Aurora! What are you doing, going ahead with the conversation without me?”

With a sharp voice, a red light burst forth. When I opened my eyes that had instinctively closed due to the flash, another woman dressed in a crimson outfit reminiscent of flames was sitting next to Aurora.

“We said no going ahead!”

The woman who was snapping at Aurora with an obviously displeased expression had golden hair reaching her shoulders and wore a red hair ornament. Seeing her sitting in one of the chairs floating in the air, she must be one of the goddesses, too.

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