Lynch strokes his beard—being in a world where only a skull accompanies him, he no longer needs to care about his appearance. The Mage asked, "Is this also the reason why summoning devil spells often go awry? Because the True Names obtained by Mages are incomplete?"

The skull swayed in the air, seemingly very pleased. "That's precisely why the devils threw me into this world. Asmodeus feared his secrets would be discovered, so he created a place like this at the very bottom of Bator Hell, meant to imprison me and, of course, some other things he considers troublesome. However, I reckon even he has forgotten about my existence; only the devils managing the teleportation gates can remember my name."

"Tell me about them," Lynch asked impatiently. "After all, I still have a huge score to settle with them."

"I might as well tell you, since you only have three months left to live here anyway."

Lynch always scoffed at this notion from the Demigod Lich, believing that he could find a way to leave this place. However, in the eyes of the decryptor, such actions were nothing more than what thousands of predecessors had repeatedly done. They struggled; they tried tirelessly; they even abandoned everything to find a way out. Sometimes, it's not despair that's the most terrifying, but rather the act of clinging to ephemeral hope that torments the soul most in this world. Hence, the decryptor would rather choose despair than indulge in fantasies.

Nonetheless, time continued to tick away, and Lynch kept training his focus. Sometimes he would frantically memorize large, random numbers or imagine complex geometric shapes rapidly forming before his eyes. The Mage's spiritual power grew stronger, but his physical condition deteriorated.

The Demigod Lich continued to tell Lynch everything he knew while Lynch was awake, as always. But he also knew the Mage's time was running out. Just a few days ago, Lynch dared to use the spell on himself to modify his own memory, attempting to erase Banaya's words, "You cannot leave this place," from his mind. However, this required him to both remember what needed to be erased and then erase it. If not for the Demigod Lich's help, Lynch would have nearly driven himself insane with this contradictory logic, ending his life in just four months.

"Thank you." Lynch, physically and mentally exhausted, lay down for two whole days before recovering. The first words he spoke upon waking were those two words.

"You're welcome." The skull gently floated away from him, speaking in a calm tone: "Besides, I really don't know what you have to thank me for."

The Mage understood that the decryptor believed he would die in two months, saving himself now only prolonged the wait for that moment of suffering. He tried not to think about it, yet thoughts of death sprouted like bamboo shoots after a rain, constantly emerging.

Sometimes, Lynch would, out of nowhere, burst into laughter while alone. He mocked this bizarre place: the thoughts he wanted to focus on constructing, as if building a world from grains of sand, would always collapse at the last moment; yet the thoughts he tried hard not to think, no matter how many times they were burned, stubbornly sprouted anew from the charred soil.

This behavior undoubtedly confirmed the Demigod Lich's judgment that Lynch was indeed headed toward madness. The decryptor began to lecture the Mage on theories about "how to face reality and accept reality." Deep down, he still hoped that this young human wouldn't wither and die. He tried to smooth out Lynch's impulses and dreams with those detached and escapist ideas, hoping to at least save his life.

Thus, in the last month as predicted by the Demigod Lich, Lynch distanced himself from the decryptor and sat alone quietly. He no longer conversed with the skull but retrieved long-unread books from his pocket and began to read them carefully.

The decryptor watched the Mage's figure from afar, knowing that his actions had entered the final stage. Isolation is the best weapon against the strong, and self-seclusion is an incurable poison. The floating skull seemed to have already foreseen Lynch's end. One day, the Mage would suddenly stand up, shout loudly, and then fall straight down, extinguishing his Life Fire.

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