I Don't Need To Log Out

The silence that followed wasn't especially long, but it stretched like a thread about to snap.

Karmel had turned his head to the side, arms crossed, his expression caught somewhere between disdain and... sulking.

For someone who was supposedly above human emotion, he looked like a child who didn't get the last cookie.

Arlon didn't dare laugh.

He didn't even let his brain form the thought that he looks like a child. Because he knew. They'd hear it. Both of them.

He didn't need Karmel turning around with another I'm not reading your mind line, followed by a comment that proved he absolutely was.

So Arlon focused. Not on them. Not on the moment. Just on something neutral. Something boring.

Basic elemental theory. Right. Fire plus wind... equals...

But then he saw Agema.

She was staring at him. Not Karmel—him.

Her honey-colored eyes were glowing, soft, and vibrant like twin suns reflected on water.

She wasn't hiding it either. There was a calm joy in her face, one that seemed to warm the space between them.

Why was she looking at him like that?

He tried not to think anything weird, but even trying not to think something weird ended up being... weird.

She tilted her head slightly as if she could hear the storm of thoughts he was scrambling to silence. Which, of course, she could.

So Arlon gave up.

He cleared his mind as best he could and decided, with an almost childlike honesty: I want to go back now.

And the space listened.

A subtle pull stirred at his back. Not a shove, not a door opening. Just a quiet, slow vacuum, drawing him backward without movement.

As if space itself had shifted, and he was sliding down a slope invisible to the eye.

He glanced at the two figures.

"I guess this is goodbye."

Karmel's arms remained folded, but his voice came through clear.

"Save Trion," he said.

Then, just before Arlon drifted too far, Karmel added, "Please."

Arlon blinked. It was a small word. But from Karmel, it weighed more than most oaths.

He nodded slowly.

Then, Agema stepped a little closer, her glowing, honey-colored gaze never once leaving his.

"See you in a minute," she said softly. "Even if only a part of me sees you... when we merge, it'll be my memory too."

The words carried more than comfort. They carried promise.

And then she put her hand in his head, caressing it a bit until the pull on Arlon strengthened.

But before they parted apart, a notification came.

Arlon didn't look at it, though. He didn't want to leave Agema's gaze, disrespecting her.

The pull intensified. Light twisted around the edges of his vision. The space, the blackness, the two beings—it all faded as if sinking into water.

And then Arlon fell.

Down, down, weightless through the dark—

Until his eyes opened.

---

June wasn't as strong as Arlon.

She knew it. In terms of level, in terms of experience, in raw fighting instinct—she was behind.

Even if they were at the exact same level, she had no doubts about how it would go. Arlon would beat her every time. Ten out of ten.

It wasn't even something she felt bitter about. It was just the truth.

Still, she wondered about him sometimes. Who was he before all this? Had he been some kind of fighter on Earth? Maybe a soldier?

But no, that didn't quite fit. Soldiers didn't fight with swords. And Earth didn't have mana or spellcasting.

Maybe something else. Fencing? Kendo? Or maybe just a strange obsession with old weapons.

Swords, medieval tactics—something niche. Something out of place in a modern world.

Whatever it was, he was good. Unnaturally good.

But June wasn't someone who could just accept that and move on.

Even if she couldn't reach him, she still wanted to get closer. She wanted to stand next to him.

So, she tried her best in the Tower.

She climbed. Through blood, sweat, and near-death, she climbed.

Even when her body screamed at her to stop, even when she felt the loneliness pressing in, she didn't stop. She wanted to be stronger.

And in the end, sometime toward the close of the second month, she reached level 199.

One more push, and she made it past Floor 55.

Level 200.

That was where she stopped.

She didn't want to spend more time alone in the Tower.

She always thought about Arlon whenever she felt lonely. How he didn't log out and probably spent decades alone in the Tower.

She knew because she was the same. Even if she didn't have to log out, she would still do.

She couldn't carry the burden of being alone.

And Arlon was all alone all this time.

No, he was probably much higher in the Tower, and the time was probably much faster for him.

She knew what that did to a person.

She had only been alone for a short time before the system forcibly logged her out, but even then, it was almost too much.

Too quiet. Too still. Even her own breath felt loud after a while.

She had logged out a few times on her own before the forced logout. Just to see people. Just to hear voices that weren't hers.

But Arlon had probably never logged out.

That thought hurt more than anything.

He had stayed inside that endless place by himself.

Maybe he had lived a lifetime in there.

Maybe more.

That was why she stopped.

She couldn't climb higher alone.

But she could exit. She could wait.

She believed Arlon would come back eventually. Once he reached level 250. Once he finished what he had started.

This way, time would move faster. At least for her.

And maybe—just maybe—she could help him then.

So she waited with Agema.

Of course, they continued their training.

Not just physically but mentally. She learned more about existence, about mana, about herself. It helped pass the time.

And then, just one week later, he came back.

His first hug wasn't for her—but that didn't matter. She saw his eyes didn't look Agema that way.

Also because he had hugged her. He had run to her without a second thought and wrapped his arms around her like she was real. Like she mattered.

Now, June lay on her bed, staring at the ceiling of her room, unable to think of anything else.