A vast hall, its ceilings soaring upward as if vanishing into the very atmosphere, and an architecture alien to the human eye. The silence was so profound it felt as though the place existed in a vacuum, impervious to even the faintest sound. Time itself seemed to flow differently here, obeying only its own inscrutable laws.

In this suspended space, Viktor could not help but hear the echoes of footsteps behind him, reverberating against the concrete walls.

He turned slowly; his face was concealed behind a mask. …Or perhaps, now, it was his face.

"I knew you would come here sooner or later." — His voice was distorted, pitched unnaturally low, yet at moments the faint trace of his former timbre broke through.

He tilted his head slightly, as though studying you for the first time. — "That look… I’ve been seeing it far too often lately."

Straightening, Viktor took a single step forward. The tip of his cane rang sharply as it struck the tiled floor—but he kept the distance between you deliberately unbroken.

"You’re here to kill me. Just like the others who walked this path before you," — he said indifferently.

Silence closed in once again, stretching across long seconds. Viktor lifted his gaze: above, a dense, impenetrable fog churned, mingling with a blurred, pale light.

"I have seen billions of outcomes," — his voice fell quiet, almost melancholy. — "Across trillions of timelines. And in every one, humanity proved too fragile, too powerless before what lies beyond the edge of their understanding."

Slowly, his eyes lowered—now fixed directly on you, looking down from above.

"I merely free them from their own affliction."