"Hmm, why did I appear here? I thought I was still having a blast of drinking in the last pub, or was I...? Ah, a mission... But, hey, I've never signed myself as one of Counter Guardians!" A certain swordswoman looked around confusedly. She was just starting to recognize her surrounding as a basement of some magus residence before a forceful instruction appeared inside her mind; forced her to complete a mission.

[.....]

[Refusal denied.]

"...shiet! The system's broken. It's actually replied!" A certain swordswoman exclaimed, surprised by the unexpected reply. At the same time she's also intrigued by what kind of important matter warranted that much attention from it.

She knew there existed the supreme forces who were always monitoring the World; Will of planet Earth - Gaia, and Will of collective unconsciousness of Mankind - Alayashiki. They're always taking the position of overlooking everything from their high ground and 'safeguarding' Earth (Gaia) and Mankind (Alaya) from possible extinction.

Her own experience made her aware how callous and cold-hearted those Wills were. Even destruction of certain timelines wouldn't faze them as long as Earth (Gaia) and Mankind (Alaya) would continue to exist in another timeline; those timelines which were heading to ruination would be deemed as failures and culled by them - only timeline which had possible continuation future where life was thriving that wouldn't be culled and left alone to develop.

Miyamoto Musashi herself was the sole survivor of a timeline which was eliminated by those Wills as it was deemed as failure. Ever since her original world was eliminated, she had been perpetually shifted through different timelines at random, visiting many various locales and time-periods. It was also at those times she knew the existence of Gaia and Alaya, as well as their hands and eyes on Earth.

Because Gaia and Alaya didn't have a physical form, they needed a 'feeler' to monitor their respective domain; Earth and Mankind. With Gaia had the Elementals such as: Fairies, True Ancestors, some Phantasmal Species, and some Divine Spirits as extension of her Will. Meanwhile, Agents of Alaya consisted of Heroic Spirits; those remarkable person who left their respective mark and legend on the Wheel of History of Man, and Counter Guardians; people who pledged their eternal service to Alaya in exchange for power during their lifetime.

As she was still alive, Miyamoto Musashi herself wasn't a Heroic Spirit nor a Counter Guardian. But she's an existence nearing Heroic Spirit level by virtue of her power and mastery of sword.

To even make those callous and unfeeling supreme Wills feeling restless, going as far forcing a mission on her who's not a Counter Guardian, she couldn't help wonder what kind of serious matter it was.

Going by the mission she's been given, she only had to eliminate a person at the upper floor in the mansion she's in currently. Still, Miyamoto Mushashi couldn't really ignore that order in case 'they' decided to use more powerful force to eliminate the problem. She just knew how frightening the power 'they' could use to settle a problem.

Depending on its severity, Gaia and Alaya could just influence certain individuals to do something which aligned with their Will - it was a slight effort by them to settle minor problems; or 'they' could also use their own Agents to settle more problematic matters.

Although Gaia and Alaya always abided by using minimal strength to settle a problem, if necessary, even levelling a continent to dust wouldn't bother them if such force was actually required; the most important matter for them was that their interest would be secured through the use of such force.

That's why the fact that either Gaia or Alaya only sent her meant the problem wasn't considered too big which required more powerful Agents.

As Miyamoto Musashi was going to the upper floor, she exclaimed slightly as she noticed that her breath, movement, and energy were more concealed than ever - as if she was a highly skilled Assassin. Miyamoto Musashi knew without asking that those was a little help from 'them' to ensure her task completion.

Even so, despite her new gift of presence concealment, Miyamoto Musashi didn't know that her every action in the mansion had been noticed by a certain someone since she first appeared on the summoning circle...

That person was indeed surprised when she saw that Miyamoto Musashi had suddenly appeared on summoning circle after Rin Tohsaka and Archer of Red left. Since then she had been keeping part of her attention on Miyamoto Musashi as she was holding off three combatants; two Servants and an Elemental, in a defensive battle all while waiting for Rafi to wake up.

***

Meanwhile, inside the room.

When Rafi was stabbed, the only thought in his mind were disbelief and sadness as he imagined what kind of grudges she might had with his future self which propelled her current action.

However, just as he asked her why, he was dumbstruck as realization quickly dawned on him. From the beginning, she'd not lied to him; if all, she was just being 'slightly' mischievous in her words. Because it's indeed true that he could quickly understand her meaning that way - being stabbed that was. Though, it would definitely cause a misunderstanding for the onlookers...

As soon as the black sword pierced Rafi, it quickly melted and started to merge with him. Shortly after, Rafi felt his consciousness was pulled into a dark space filled with countless brilliant and colorful stars.

As soon as Rafi saw those radiant stars, they began covering within a sea of stars. The nearest and dimmest stars started to flow - being absorbed into him, with those brighter and farther star clusters soon went closer and similarly being absorbed. There was no rejection nor resistance as those stars let themselves being absorbed, it was as if they just returned to their rightful place.

Along with the absorption process, influx of foreign yet also familiar memories quickly entered Rafi's mind at once. Calling it foreign might not be entirely true as those were too real to be another person's memories - more than everything, they gave off a familiar feeling as though he was the one who had been encountering all of those events and living that life.

During that process, his feeling went into a swirl of emotions; be it joyful, sad, love, hatred, rage, lust, confusion, disbelief, regret, intrigued, yearning, hurt, guilt, and many other emotions swarmed his heart, mixed into one complicated feeling, as Rafi was viewing those memories.

Even so, suddenly receiving those memories was not without a risk. Due to the huge amount of informations rushing into his mind, it made his head felt like splitting apart, his consciousness was seemingly on the verge of dissipating, as though unable to resist the brunt of receiving those memories.

Every moment a new memory flashed inside his mind, many invisible blades seemed to cut his soul, burned his mind and caused searing pain with every seconds Rafi bore with the process. Within that dark space, occasionally, agonizing howls and gut-wrenching cries could be heard echoing from within the vortex of stars.

There was no concept of day and night within that dark space. It was unknown how many days, months or even years had passed within. Those excruciating roars were getting less and less with each time passed. After seemingly a long period of time, there was only silence amidst the glittering star clusters. The vortex of stars was slowly disappearing, with around a quarter of them were already absorbed.

Rafi could be seen sitting cross-legged at the center of star clusters, surrounded by them. His previously blurry soul form became more outlined, slightly solidified. Although it couldn't be compared to a physical body, but a materialized soul body was still an extremely rare thing to find.

Occasionally, his face slightly twitched in pain, yet he chose to stubbornly bear it in silence. It was almost like a miracle how Rafi could withstand that process - though it was more appropriate to be called as torture at this point. With each new memories he absorbed, his mind and soul was seemingly on the verge of breaking apart, yet it was quickly restored as though that dark space wouldn't allow such thing to occur. Those destruction-and-restoration process was repeated many times, tempering his will and soul with each cycle.

With such torturous tempering, if one's mind and will was unable to endure it, there was a high chance one could turn into a fool, their mind dulled - being crippled. Although their body might be fine, but their mind would be unresponsive, a state close enough to death. Worse, one could go insane, becoming only a vessel of those memories without one's own thought or free will.

Even so, despite such risky tempering, Rafi was able to stay sane as he absorbed a quarter of those sea of stars. He was almost unable to endure it at beginning, but then a sudden realization hit him and became a new drive for him to withstand such torturous process. It was not something grand as indomitable spirit, nor it was a heaven-defying will. It was just his curiosity which drove him hard to the point it was almost obsessed him. His curiosity to know the end of 'his' life, the reason why 'he' did send her back in time, and 'his' wishes. After reviewing those memories he had absorbed, Rafi could catch a glimpse of 'his' regrets, desires and what 'he' wanted to do but finally couldn't...

Bracing himself for new cycles of pain and restoration, Rafi continued to absorb those stars within that quiet dark space...

***

Elsewhere, on the Real world, when Rafi was undergoing the memories inheritance in the Dungeon World, an undetectable ripple happened at certain part of the sky. A small crack was almost formed at surrounding space, but it quickly recovered as though what happened previously was only an illusion.

Far away on the other side of that small crack on Earth's sky, after crossing almost innumerable galaxies and celestial bodies, a massive continent could be seen floating silently amidst the boundless vast space and starry skies. Surrounding that massive continent were nine giant suns, rotating in harmony around it.

On the sky above that continent, a beautiful figure dressed in white clothes could be seen floating calmly on the air. Her long black hair reaching her waist, tied in a lock reminiscent of ponytail. Her blue gem-like eyes flickered with a surprised look for a moment.

After reaching her level, only few things could move her attention albeit barely, as she had gone through much on all these years. The fact that she was surprised was indication how much she cared for it. At that moment, she seemed to gaze at countless distance away, penetrating through space and time as though she tried to look for something- or someone.

"The Star of Origin...

"I seems to feel a karmic tie attached to me briefly from there, yet it's quickly hidden. Could it be..., no, it should not be 'that'. What I just felt was different..."

She was perplexed, a hint of doubt momentarily flashed within her limpid eyes, though she soon recovered her calm. A moment later, her gaze became deep, astral lights seemed to revolve inside her eyes as she tried to divinate certain matters. After a while, her eyes returned to normal as she then released an imperceptible sigh.

"The barrier has yet to weaken. It is not the time yet. Then, just who was it...?"

Amidst the vast starry skies, a massive continent was floating in silence, slowly heading to Earth.

***

"Another path, huh..."

As he remembered the bits of memories at the end of 'his' life. Rafi clenched his hand tightly as determined light flashed inside his eyes.

Currently, after another round of torturous tempering, Rafi was able to absorb around a third of those stars of memories before he stopped. He had a feeling that it was his limit at the moment. Anymore than that would only harm him, as his current strength was still too weak compared to 'his' strength at the peak. Only when Rafi had raised his strength would he be able to absorb more of them.

However, Rafi was not worried much about it. His newly-gained memories didn't only contain the ways to increase his strength, it had more interesting things waiting for him to explore. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

In his hand was a small black spere. Its shape kept changing previously, turning into various things before finally settled as a small black sphere. As Rafi kept absorbing those memories, Rafi could feel he was slowly forming a connection with that small black sphere. Although it's currently weak, but Rafi knew it was there.

'From the way things are, that small black sphere was likely a core of this space', Rafi thought quietly as he stared at the small black sphere.

After refining a third of those stars, and formed a connection with the small black sphere, Rafi was already halfway to be the master of that space. It would be easier for him to leave and enter that space next time. After deciding it was enough for now, Rafi moved out of that dark space with a thought, returning his consciousness to his body. Though, as soon as he opened his eyes in outside world, Rafi was a bit absentminded when he saw what was happening.

'Holy shiet! This is really a mess...!'

Upon waking up, Rafi was greeted with the sight of a broken mansion with four life-like ice sculptures which were frozen solid. Their expression was of shock and disbelief, tinged with fear clearly plastered on their frozen look.

"Hm, you've woken up eh? Hey, don't look at me like that! You can't really blame me, they were being too noisy back then. Besides, it's not like they're dead- yet."

Seeing Rafi had woken up, Caster said with a smug expression which clearly meant 'it can't be helped, they're just too weak.'

"Ah, there's another one on the stair. I bet you'll be surprised when you see her." Caster said, smiling mysteriously, she was clearly interested to see his reaction after knowing who was the newcomer.

Rafi: "....."

Heavens! She's too damn powerful! Won't I be henpecked if I don't get stronger sooner...?!