Guest is the ultimate lifeform, possessing the power to annihilate universes. Leading universes that have lost their future to their end, recovering the energy left at their final moments, and returning it to the multiverse. That was the sole mission imposed upon Guest from the moment of birth.

But—just a moment ago, Guest fulfilled one such mission. Watching as a single universe quietly closed. Stars lost their light, galaxies unraveled, and the world where countless lives once existed vanished as if sinking to the bottom of the night.

And the vast amount of recovered energy was returned to the multiverse without delay.

Everything was perfect.

Therefore, there is nothing to do for a while. A futureless universe likely won't appear again so soon.

Then—.

Guest thought idly while floating weightlessly.

The space between universes.

A tranquil void where time, distance, life, and death all lose their meaning. Only a faint light, like stardust, flows from nowhere.

And within that light, there was one being.

Alka Origin.

The one who created Guest. To Guest—Papa.

He was drifting in the air as if asleep. His long white hair spread out quietly as if it knew no gravity, and his body, its very outline ambiguous, melted into the space itself.

Beyond his closed eyelids, infinite galaxies seemed to sleep. Nebulae flowed inside his body, and a faint light flickered slowly. His form lost its definition, dissolving into the space itself.

His long hair, his fingertips, even the hem of his clothes.

Everything unraveled into faint light, drifting around him as countless specks of stardust.

It was as if, rather than a single living being— He was a beautiful universe itself. Guest watched Papa like that, saying nothing for a while.

And then, a thought occurs.

Until a futureless universe appears. Until the next mission is given.

Until then, all this time—

...Just me and Papa, all alone?

The words reached no one, melting into the gap of the universe. There was no reply. Alka Origin simply continued to sleep quietly.

Embracing infinite stars within himself. While gazing at that figure, a slightly mysterious emotion sprouted deep within Guest's chest.

No mission. No universe to end. Just in a place of nothingness. Together with Papa.

It was—for Guest, who knew nothing but the destruction of universes—the first, incredibly peaceful rest they had ever encountered.