Dragged away by the guards, Ian trudged back to his room, his steps heavy and his heart heavier.

She was going to die.

If she had chosen to marry him, she could have lived, but she insisted on choosing death.

“…Ha. Of course. The idea of marrying her pet frog must be worse than death.”

Maybe he had been a fool to love her, someone so far beyond his reach.

Time passed as Ian lay in a daze, and the next day arrived.

It was the day of the war criminals’ execution.

Ian rose from his bed.

Even if he was nothing more than a rejected pet frog, he couldn’t let her die.

"Proceed."

Count Carlyuga’s hand swept through the air.

Thwack!

Another head rolled as the golem’s axe cleaved through the neck. Blood spurted like a fountain from the severed body.

“Next.”

The lifeless body was dragged away, and the former Saintess was brought to the execution block.

“Prepare.”

The golem raised its axe high.

Just as Count Carlyuga raised his hand to give the final signal—

“…Stop.”

A frantic voice cut through the air, and Ian appeared, his hair disheveled from running.

“Ian Carlyuga. What is the meaning of this?”

The pale-faced Count frowned deeply.

“I can’t honor that promise.”

Mana sparked in Ian’s hands.

Whirrrrr.

The air vibrated as the golems reacted to his power.

“These golems, created by my technology, belong to me. I’m taking them back.”

“…Treason, is it? You foolish son.”

“It’s not treason. I’m simply reclaiming what’s mine.”

The golems knelt before Ian, bowing to him in submission.

But the Count only laughed at the sight.

“How naive you are, my son.”

Whirr.

Mana radiated from the Count’s hands as well.

“You may be a genius in magitech, but you’ve never engaged in a real battle for control over command rights.”

Snap.

The Count snapped his fingers, and the golems rose to obey his will once again.

“Did you really think I wouldn’t anticipate such an act?”

“…Tch.”

Ian clicked his tongue and thrust his hands forward, mana swirling around him like a vortex.

He had to win.

Even if it cost him his life, he couldn’t let her die here.

The invisible battle over the golems’ command rights between the two Carlyugas raged fiercely.

“…Impossible. Such adaptive speed!”

The Count’s expression stiffened as Ian matched him move for move.

Losing his composure, the Count shouted, “Guards! Anyone! Kill him!”

But before anyone could act—

Boom!

The golem’s fist smashed down on the Count before his orders could take effect.

Bloodied and broken, the Count writhed on the ground.

“Kate!”

Ian rushed to free her, breaking the chains that bound her wrists.

As he turned his attention to her, the Count, filled with malice, issued one final command with his dying breath.

His last surge of mana spread to all the golems.

Wrrrrrrrrr.

Eradicate.

Eradicate all living beings.

Ian freed Kate completely and turned to embrace her.

Boom!

A golem’s attack came crashing down. Kate grabbed Ian and rolled them both out of harm’s way.

“What’s happening?!”

Ian tried to halt the golems with his mana, but it was futile.

The Count’s last act of defiance had pushed the golems into a berserk state, using his life force to override their circuits.

Already weakened by the intense command struggle, the golems’ circuits had burned out, rendering them uncontrollable.

“Be careful, Ian!”

Crash!

Kate, her fists wrapped in divine energy, destroyed one of the golems with a single punch.

“Th-thanks, Kate…”

Holding Ian close, Kate scanned the area.

Screams filled the air.

“Help us! I don’t want to die!”

“The golems have gone mad!”

The crowd that had gathered to watch the executions was now being slaughtered by the rampaging golems.

With all the knights having fled, the situation spiraled into chaos. The malfunctioning golems were unstoppable.

“Kate, let’s run! I’ll get reinforcements! We just need to find a safe place—”

Kate looked at him with sorrowful eyes.

“I’m sorry, Ian.”

“No. No, Kate. You don’t have any weapons or armor—”

“But I’m a Saintess, Ian. I am Saintess Cartecia, the one who protects and guides the people.”

She gently set Ian down and leapt into the fray.

“No! Kate!”

Kate began destroying golems and rescuing the people.

But in a battlefield stripped of allies, there was only so much one Saintess could do alone.

Ian ran.

Surely, the mansion’s underground vault still held emergency golems for situations like this.

He had to bring them back and save her.

He ran faster than he ever thought possible, activating the dormant golem army and rushing back to the execution site.

But when he arrived, he found her lying on the ground, broken and lifeless.

Her left arm was gone, and her right arm bent at a grotesque angle.

A massive hole in her abdomen exposed mangled organs, unrecognizable as human.

“Kate!”

Ian cradled her in his arms.

“No! Kate! Open your eyes! Please! Where is a healer? Somebody help!”

But the execution site was silent, filled only with the wreckage of golems and the stench of death.

“Ian…”

“Kate! Kate!”

“I want… to hear your music…”

Her voice faded as the light in her eyes dimmed and finally disappeared.

“AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!”

Ian’s anguished cries echoed as raindrops began to fall, soaking the bloodstained ground.

Next Vision

Ian, having brutally killed other rulers, ascended as the Magus King.

He arranged a grand funeral for Kate and began sorting through her belongings.

Despite being the greatest Saintess in the kingdom, her possessions were meager.

Rustle.

Inside her bundle, Ian found a diary, a small storybook, and a mana recorder.

The storybook was worn and tattered, its pages smudged with age and use.

"The Prince Who Became a Frog."

Ian’s eyes widened as he read the title.

With trembling hands, he activated the mana recorder, unable to shake off a growing sense of dread.

Ding.

A familiar melody played—his ostinato. The simple, beautiful tune he had composed and often played for her.

Desperate, Ian grabbed the diary and opened it.

As he read, tears streamed uncontrollably down his face.

He was not her pet frog.

He had been her prince, the one transformed into a frog.

Kate had not become a Saintess because she despised him or his family.

She had reluctantly taken on the role of Saintess to challenge society’s perception of magitech from within the religious order.

She had not rejected his proposal out of hatred.

Before Ian had arrived, the Count Carlyuga had threatened her. To protect Ian, she had no choice but to turn him away.

She had never disliked him.

From the moment they first met, she had been as smitten with him as he was with her.

The vision ended with Ian’s anguished cries echoing as he wept uncontrollably.

Next Vision

As the Magus King, Ian erected an enormous magic circle across the kingdom.

He conducted countless experiments in his search for a way to resurrect her.

He melted down every jewel in the kingdom to create alchemical materials.

He sacrificed hundreds of innocent lives as offerings.

But no matter what he tried, reversing time was impossible.

Yet, Ian refused to give up.

Even if it meant the destruction of the world, he would bring her back.

In his relentless pursuit, Ian eventually reached transcendence, unlocking the secrets of the world.

He discovered the existence of the [Akashic Archive], a repository that governed all the stories of the universe.

A place where every history was stored and could be rewritten as a narrative.

“I understand your plight, but no.”

The Curator of the Archive blocked his path.

“Changing history would shatter the balance of the world. As the Curator of [Akashic Archive], I cannot allow it.”

Ian attacked the Curator but found himself hopelessly outmatched by their overwhelming power.

“If the Archive won’t let me, I’ll have to turn to the Abyss.”

“You’ll regret it.”

“...I’ve regretted more than enough already. I have no regrets left to make.”

The Curator could only watch with sorrow as Ian walked away.

Ian and the Abyss

“I will give you everything.”

The Abyss’s power seeped into Ian, blackening him with its corruptive energy.

“Bring her back to me.”

Now consumed by the Abyss, Ian became its Apostle and a Sin of Destruction, known as Orpheus.

He could feel the Abyss mocking him, its laughter reverberating through his soul.

But Ian turned away.

If it meant saving her, he would endure anything—even his own damnation.