The Puppet Paradise
Serena remained silent in my arms, simply soaking in the warmth. …This reaction was something I hadn't anticipated.
Unlike her harsh tone from just moments ago, she held me with surprising gentleness. The cognitive dissonance hit me hard. Did this mean she had missed the version of me from the first round that much?
Just what kind of relationship did we have for her to show this level of affection?
To be completely honest, even though Serena was embracing me, I didn't feel much of anything. Normally, having someone of the opposite sex in your arms would stir at least some excitement or tenderness, but…
No matter how I look at it, she just feels like a cute little sister.
For one thing, she looked far too young to be seen as a romantic interest, and this was technically our first time meeting in the flesh. That probably explained it.
Well, since she's gone through regression, she might actually be older than me.
Anyway, we couldn't stay like this forever, so I tried to gently push her away.
Squeeze—
Huh?
She didn't budge an inch. By size and gender alone, I should have had the advantage in strength, yet she wouldn't move at all. It was like an insect being drawn into its predator's embrace.
Serena, on the contrary, began pulling me in even tighter.
Squeeze—
Ouch. This is getting a bit much.
When the pressure started to become uncomfortable, I finally spoke first.
"…Um, who might you be?"
Since the current 'me' wasn't supposed to know Serena, I acted as if I had no idea who she was. I put on the most innocent expression I could muster.
"…I knew this would happen, but it still feels like shit. Yeah, it's fine. From now on, we'll slowly get to know each other together."
Together?
That sounded ominously foreboding.
"You seem to be a friend of the young lady. If I've done anything wrong, then…"
"No, you haven't done anything wrong. And we've met before."
"…Pardon?"
Was she really about to reveal the regression just like that? Serena's personality seemed far more impulsive than I'd imagined.
"It's natural that you don't understand right now. It's okay. I'll explain everything to you."
Everything?
Did this mean I was finally going to hear about what happened in the previous rounds?
Just as Serena seemed about to say more—
"Enough."
⟨ THE WORLD HAS STOPPED ⟩
The world froze in place.
***
It was the forced intervention of a restraining power meant to protect the world. A kind of protective zone had formed to prevent all nearby life from being swept away. In simple terms, time had temporarily stopped.
Of course, it was an extremely localized effect, but at least within Barhen Castle right now, everyone except for the 'five' had ceased all movement.
Goooo—
In the empty air above the training grounds, something tore through space and descended alongside darkness. The figure that appeared wearing a veil had the curved silhouette of a woman.
An entity that observed everything from beyond the veil. The 'Veiled Whisperer,' Minuel.
She spoke to Serena in a benevolent voice.
The child is far too fragile to bear the truth. You wouldn't want to shatter his sense of self, would you?
Some 'knowledge' could drive a person mad simply by being known. If one's soul wasn't strong enough, they would fall into madness and chaos in an instant. Even truths too immense to be spoken aloud came with their own restrictions.
Therefore, to accept such knowledge, one had to at least step into the realm of 'Transcendence.'
Minuel wasn't wrong, but Serena didn't like her advice one bit.
"Bullshit. You've never helped us before, so why the sudden meddling?"
It is all for your sake. That child is the most anomalous among the 'Seeds of Possibility.' It would be far too wasteful for him to break over something like this.
Ha, seriously.
Even in the future, this god had never been any help and only ever interfered, but she was eerily good at looking out for her own interests. Serena instinctively realized that Minuel wasn't lying.
She couldn't ruin Ian just because of her own stubbornness. Serena let out a sigh and conceded.
"Fine, I won't tell him. Now get lost. I don't want to see your face."
Crude language that spared no one, not even a god. It was incredibly audacious, but Minuel simply laughed it off without a hint of offense.
Hehe, how amusing. This 'round' looks like it will be quite entertaining.
Minuel glanced at the frozen Ian before vanishing in an instant.
***
The world began moving again.
What the fuck?
And I remembered everything that had just happened. My body couldn't move at all, but my consciousness had been crystal clear throughout.
More importantly, there was a god that friendly with humans?
In the Haerlan Chronicles, gods were beings who looked down on humans like insignificant insects. Even Solenea, the goddess who was supposedly friendly toward humanity, treated all humans except her own saintess and apostles like bugs.
Yet the god I'd just seen could converse with us as equals and had retreated without any emotional reaction to Serena's insults.
That kind of god didn't appear in the original story either. Is this another variable I don't know about?
From the supporting characters' regressions to this secret divine being that never showed up in the original work. The situation was spiraling out of control.
Let's calm down first. Thinking about it more won't change anything right now.
Getting through the current situation was the priority. There would be time to think about the rest later.
Serena let out a sigh and muttered as if something didn't sit right with her.
"Haa, it's a shame, but it can't be helped. It won't be a problem to tell you once I've gotten a bit stronger."
She looked at me with a dissatisfied expression before pulling me into an even tighter embrace.
"Ugh. Why are you so weak?"
"Ugh."
This was… a bit much.
I'm not some kind of body pillow.
I wanted to say something, but remembering what had just happened made my irritation fade on its own.
Yeah, I should just endure it.
Such was the sorrow of the weak.
***
Serena felt a strange sense of pleasure as she watched Ian squirm helplessly in her arms. Before her regression, Ian had been an overwhelmingly 'strong' figure, so she had never even imagined him struggling in her embrace.
Of course, from an outside perspective, it probably just looked like she was clinging to him due to their size difference, but Serena herself didn't care about that at all.
The fact that her unattainable idol was writhing like this in her arms was a dangerously stimulating pleasure.
Looking at it this way, she could almost understand how Philia felt.
…No, I'm different from Sister Philia.
This was nothing more than a 'reward' for all the suffering she'd endured in her previous life.
While Serena was savoring that sweetness in Ian's arms, Philia was watching the entire scene in vivid detail. Even the recent descent of that 'god.'
Ugh—
For a moment, she nearly vomited, but Philia barely held it in. This wasn't strange at all. The fact that merely looking directly at a god had only caused mild nausea proved just how high her soul rank was.
But compared to Serena, who remained strangely unaffected, she felt utterly miserable.
Ian slaughtered beings like that so easily?
Having joined the journey near its end, Philia had far less combat experience alongside Ian than the other companions. Even then, after watching gods get brutally torn apart by Ian's casual sword swings, she'd thought they were weaker than expected.
Only after facing one up close like this did Philia truly understand the gap between herself and the gods. The moment their eyes met through that veil, she realized that Minuel could kill her with a mere glance if she so desired.
A 'real' death with no possibility of resurrection. An overwhelmingly powerful being capable of erasing even a devil's immortality.
Yet more than the shock of facing such a god, what bothered Philia more was the sight of Serena acting so affectionately right in front of her.
A completely unexpected rival had appeared.
…So. You liked Ian too, huh? You hid it so well until now.
A devil stirred within Philia's heart. The 'Flower Devil' dwelling inside her wasn't simply sealed away. It was merely in a stable phase, preparing to ascend to an even more superior form. The day of its metamorphosis was not far off.
Just wait a little longer, Ian. I will definitely take you back.
***
Children playing energetically in the streets. A clown cracking jokes and drawing laughter. Merchants enthusiastically selling fruit in the corner of the market. Everyone looked genuinely happy.
The scene felt so peaceful that it almost evoked a strange sense of nostalgia, as if the world had truly returned to tranquil times.
"How repulsive."
The man swung his sword through the empty air.
Riiip—
With a sound like something tearing, the true nature of the city was revealed.
Everyone here except the man had their eyes closed, asleep. On the surface, they looked no different from corpses. They had no consciousness, yet every person was still 'moving.'
It was because dense bundles of tentacles were forcibly controlling their bodies.
Children were still skipping lightly through the streets, but if you looked closely, their eyes were completely empty. The clown laughed while performing ridiculous gestures alone, and the merchants passionately explained things to thin air.
It was an utterly bizarre sight in every way. A massive puppet show created by turning humans into marionettes.
This was the true form of 'Paradise.'