The dungeon's silence was unsettling. Monster corpses lay scattered, the eerie glow of faded sigils clinging to the stone floor. No more threats. No more countdown.

  Only the weight of immortality.

  They stood in silence, stunned.

  Kazuki was the first to speak, flexing his fingers. “I feel… the same. But different.”

  “Same here,” muttered Kael, rolling his shoulder. “It’s like… my body stopped moving forward.”

  “I think we all… stopped aging,” Thora added.

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  Lumina blinked, then looked at her hands, then at her reflection in a shattered mirror shard nearby. Her expression froze.

  Kairyuuha turned to her quickly. “What is it?”

  “I…” she pointed. “I’m still fifteen.”

  The entire party blinked at her.

  Then Yuno burst into laughter. “Wait, wait—so *you’re* younger than us now?”

  Kael smirked. “She’s the baby of the group again!”

  Lumina folded her arms, tail flicking slightly. “Excuse me, I was your elder two years ago.”

  “You’re still shorter than me,” Kazuki grinned.

  “You’re still my *uncle,* and I was taller than you once!” she huffed.

  Kairyuuha, standing nearby with crossed arms, sighed. “This isn’t important.”

  “Actually,” Thora said with a grin, “It *absolutely* is. Your daughter’s fifteen. You and Kazuki are sixteen now. Explain.”

  Lumina, flustered but clearly enjoying the teasing, tugged Kairyuuha’s coat. “Do I still count as older mentally?”

  Kairyuuha gave her a sidelong look. “No.”

  The group laughed, warm and real—something they hadn’t done in a while.

  But when the laughter faded and the fire crackled alone, Kairyuuha stared into the flames.

  “She’ll live now,” he thought. “But this… this is only the beginning. Time may not move forward for us, but the world still turns.”

  He gently rested his hand atop Lumina’s head.

  “For as long as you exist, I will too.”

  And as the stars shimmered above them, immortality no longer felt like a curse—just a promise.