diff --git a/src/db.zig b/src/db.zig
index e07f39f..4e3868c 100644
--- a/src/db.zig
+++ b/src/db.zig
@@ -800,12 +800,14 @@ pub const RangeIterator = struct {
             }
 
             var winner: ?Record = null;
-            for (self.cursors) |*c| {
-                if (c.valid() and order(c.record().key, minKey.?) == .eq) {
-                    const rec = c.record();
-                    if (rec.seq <= self.maxSeq and (winner == null or rec.seq > winner.?.seq)) winner = rec;
-                    c.advance();
-                }
+            while (self.heap.peek()) |entry| {
+                if (order(entry.key, minKey) != .eq) break;
+                const popped = self.heap.pop().?;
+                var c = &self.cursors[popped.idx];
+                const rec = c.record();
+                if (rec.seq <= self.maxSeq and (winner == null or rec.seq > winner.?.seq)) winner = rec;
+                c.advance();
+                if (c.valid()) try self.heap.push(.{ .key = c.record().key, .idx = popped.idx });
             }
             if (winner == null) continue;
             if (!self.startInclusive) {
@@ -825,6 +827,7 @@ pub const RangeIterator = struct {
 
     pub fn deinit(self: *RangeIterator) void {
         self.arena.deinit();
+        self.heap.deinit();
         if (self.start) |bound| self.resultAllocator.free(bound);
         if (self.end) |bound| self.resultAllocator.free(bound);
         self.resultAllocator.free(self.cursors);
@@ -868,32 +871,29 @@ pub const ReverseRangeIterator = struct {
     resultAllocator: Allocator,
     arena: std.heap.ArenaAllocator,
     cursors: []ReverseSource,
+    heap: DescKeyHeap,
     start: ?[]u8,
     startInclusive: bool,
     maxSeq: u64,
 
     pub fn next(self: *ReverseRangeIterator) !?Entry {
         while (true) {
-            var maxKey: ?[]const u8 = null;
-            for (self.cursors) |*c| {
-                if (c.valid()) {
-                    const key = c.record().key;
-                    if (maxKey == null or order(key, maxKey.?) == .gt) maxKey = key;
-                }
-            }
-            if (maxKey == null) return null;
+            const top = self.heap.peek() orelse return null;
+            const maxKey = top.key;
             if (self.start) |bound| {
-                const past = if (self.startInclusive) order(maxKey.?, bound) == .lt else order(maxKey.?, bound) != .gt;
+                const past = if (self.startInclusive) order(maxKey, bound) == .lt else order(maxKey, bound) != .gt;
                 if (past) return null;
             }
 
             var winner: ?Record = null;
-            for (self.cursors) |*c| {
-                if (c.valid() and order(c.record().key, maxKey.?) == .eq) {
-                    const rec = c.record();
-                    if (rec.seq <= self.maxSeq and (winner == null or rec.seq > winner.?.seq)) winner = rec;
-                    c.advance();
-                }
+            while (self.heap.peek()) |entry| {
+                if (order(entry.key, maxKey) != .eq) break;
+                const popped = self.heap.pop().?;
+                var c = &self.cursors[popped.idx];
+                const rec = c.record();
+                if (rec.seq <= self.maxSeq and (winner == null or rec.seq > winner.?.seq)) winner = rec;
+                c.advance();
+                if (c.valid()) try self.heap.push(.{ .key = c.record().key, .idx = popped.idx });
             }
             if (winner == null) continue;
             if (winner.?.kind == .tombstone) continue;
@@ -908,6 +908,7 @@ pub const ReverseRangeIterator = struct {
 
     pub fn deinit(self: *ReverseRangeIterator) void {
         self.arena.deinit();
+        self.heap.deinit();
         for (self.cursors) |*c| c.deinit();
         if (self.start) |bound| self.resultAllocator.free(bound);
         self.resultAllocator.free(self.cursors);
@@ -918,36 +919,6 @@ fn rangesOverlap(aMin: []const u8, aMax: []const u8, bMin: []const u8, bMax: []c
     return order(aMin, bMax) != .gt and order(bMin, aMax) != .gt;
 }
 
-fn loadManifest(allocator: Allocator, dir: std.fs.Dir) !std.AutoHashMap(u64, usize) {
-    var map = std.AutoHashMap(u64, usize).init(allocator);
-    errdefer map.deinit();
-
-    const file = dir.openFile(manifestName, .{}) catch |err| switch (err) {
-        error.FileNotFound => return map,
-        else => return err,
-    };
-    defer file.close();
-    const data = try file.readToEndAlloc(allocator, std.math.maxInt(usize));
-    defer allocator.free(data);
-    if (data.len < 8) return map;
-
-    const storedCrc = encode.readU32(data, 0);
-    const body = data[4..];
-    if (encode.crc(body) != storedCrc) return map;
-
-    const count = encode.readU32(body, 0);
-    var pos: usize = 4;
-    var i: u32 = 0;
-    while (i < count) : (i += 1) {
-        if (pos + 12 > body.len) break;
-        const fileId = encode.readU64(body, pos);
-        const level = encode.readU32(body, pos + 8);
-        try map.put(fileId, level);
-        pos += 12;
-    }
-    return map;
-}
-
 fn sstName(buf: []u8, id: u64) ![]const u8 {
     return std.fmt.bufPrint(buf, "sst-{d:0>10}.cbt", .{id});
 }
@@ -1310,6 +1281,67 @@ test "leveled compaction keeps levels disjoint and drops bottom tombstones" {
     try std.testing.expectEqual(@as(u64, 58), totalEntries);
 }
 
+test "seq and fileId counters survive a compaction that garbage-collects every key" {
+    // Reproduces a real recovery gap: when a bottom-level compaction merges
+    // inputs that are entirely tombstones, runMerge produces zero output
+    // files (see the `builder == null` guard around minting a fresh
+    // fileId). If every file that ever carried a high seq/fileId gets
+    // deleted in that round and nothing new gets flushed before a restart,
+    // a directory-scan-only recovery would compute too low a floor and
+    // risk reusing already-consumed seq numbers. The manifest's persisted
+    // counters (VersionEdit.nextFileId/nextSeq, stamped unconditionally in
+    // runMerge) must close that gap.
+    const allocator = std.testing.allocator;
+    var tmp = std.testing.tmpDir(.{});
+    defer tmp.cleanup();
+
+    var beforeNextSeq: u64 = 0;
+    var beforeNextFileId: u64 = 0;
+    {
+        var db = try openTemp(&tmp, allocator, .{
+            .l0CompactionTrigger = 2,
+            .l1BaseBytes = 4 * 1024 * 1024,
+        });
+        defer db.close();
+
+        var keyBuf: [16]u8 = undefined;
+        var round: usize = 0;
+        while (round < 2) : (round += 1) {
+            const key = try std.fmt.bufPrint(&keyBuf, "gone:{d}", .{round});
+            try db.put(key, "value");
+            try db.delete(key);
+            try db.flush();
+        }
+        try std.testing.expectEqual(@as(usize, 2), db.countLevel(0));
+
+        try db.maybeCompact();
+
+        // The whole point: every input was a dropped tombstone, so the
+        // compaction round produced no output file at all, and no new
+        // fileId was ever minted for it.
+        try std.testing.expectEqual(@as(usize, 0), db.sstables.items.len);
+
+        beforeNextSeq = db.nextSeq;
+        beforeNextFileId = db.nextFileId;
+        try std.testing.expect(beforeNextSeq > 1);
+    }
+
+    // On disk right now: no sstable files, an empty (reset) WAL. A
+    // scan-only recovery would compute nextSeq=1/nextFileId=1 here.
+    var reopened = try openTemp(&tmp, allocator, .{
+        .l0CompactionTrigger = 2,
+        .l1BaseBytes = 4 * 1024 * 1024,
+    });
+    defer reopened.close();
+    try std.testing.expectEqual(beforeNextSeq, reopened.nextSeq);
+    try std.testing.expectEqual(beforeNextFileId, reopened.nextFileId);
+
+    // Functional proof, not just counter equality: a fresh write after
+    // reopen must not reuse a seq number already spent on the GC'd keys.
+    try reopened.put("fresh", "value");
+    try std.testing.expect(reopened.nextSeq > beforeNextSeq);
+}
+
 fn lessByMinKey(_: void, a: *Reader, b: *Reader) bool {
     return order(a.minKey, b.minKey) == .lt;
 }
@@ -1385,6 +1417,56 @@ test "prefix scan isolates a namespace" {
     try std.testing.expectEqual(expected.len, idx);
 }
 
+test "scan merges a wide fan-in of uncompacted sstables with overlapping keys" {
+    const allocator = std.testing.allocator;
+    var tmp = std.testing.tmpDir(.{});
+    defer tmp.cleanup();
+
+    var db = try openTemp(&tmp, allocator, .{ .flushThreshold = 1 });
+    defer db.close();
+
+    const sstableCount = 14;
+    var round: usize = 0;
+    while (round < sstableCount) : (round += 1) {
+        var keyBuf: [16]u8 = undefined;
+        var valBuf: [24]u8 = undefined;
+        var i: usize = 0;
+        while (i < 5) : (i += 1) {
+            const key = try std.fmt.bufPrint(&keyBuf, "shared:{d:0>2}", .{i});
+            const value = try std.fmt.bufPrint(&valBuf, "round{d}", .{round});
+            try db.put(key, value);
+        }
+        try db.flush();
+    }
+    try db.delete("shared:02");
+    try db.flush();
+    try std.testing.expect(db.sstables.items.len >= sstableCount + 1);
+
+    var forward = try db.scan(allocator, null, null);
+    defer forward.deinit();
+    var seen: usize = 0;
+    while (try forward.next()) |entry| {
+        if (std.mem.eql(u8, entry.key, "shared:02")) {
+            try std.testing.expect(false);
+        }
+        try std.testing.expectEqualStrings("round13", entry.value);
+        seen += 1;
+    }
+    try std.testing.expectEqual(@as(usize, 4), seen);
+
+    var reverse = try db.scanReverse(allocator, .{});
+    defer reverse.deinit();
+    var revSeen: usize = 0;
+    var lastKey: ?[]const u8 = null;
+    while (try reverse.next()) |entry| {
+        if (lastKey) |prev| try std.testing.expect(order(entry.key, prev) == .lt);
+        lastKey = entry.key;
+        try std.testing.expectEqualStrings("round13", entry.value);
+        revSeen += 1;
+    }
+    try std.testing.expectEqual(@as(usize, 4), revSeen);
+}
+
 test "inclusive and exclusive bounds" {
     const allocator = std.testing.allocator;
     var tmp = std.testing.tmpDir(.{});