Kirin’s essence settled slowly into the toddler’s body, a fusion delicate and terrifying, yet inevitable. Every inch of the vessel pulsed beneath him, every heartbeat a fragile drum of life, reminding him how tenuous this existence truly was. He breathed—though not with lungs yet still aware of the rhythm, the warmth, the softness of innocence cradled in the tiny chest he now occupied. It was quiet, deceptively calm, and for the first time in countless eons, he felt the peculiar, surreal sensation of being fully present, yet wholly restrained, a paradox of existence he could never have imagined.As his consciousness intertwined with the infant, memories flashed violently, not just of the past decades, the battles, the betrayals, the pain and fury, but also of the long wandering through space and time. Every moment of loss, every encounter with Yose, every clash with the demon, every seal, every tear in reality, every fight in the arena—they were all here, converging at this point. Kir