A Sense of Disconnection
Olivia von Lebeus.
Strictly speaking, this was the first time Ian had ever seen her in the flesh.
During their previous encounter in Lumiela's bedroom, he'd only heard her voice.
Olivia's appearance, now that he could see it directly, resembled Lumiela's more than he'd expected.
There was just one notable difference...
'I guess big breasts really are hereditary.'
While entertaining that pointless thought, Ian silently looked up at Olivia.
She cupped his face with both hands, as if she couldn't believe what she was seeing.
"Ugh."
Squish, squish—
After kneading his face like clay for a long moment, she asked him,
"...Ian, why are you in the imperial palace?"
Olivia's expression was slightly scrunched, as though she genuinely couldn't understand the situation.
A face where joy and confusion coexisted at the same time.
'Fuck.'
She'd recognized him instantly. There was no point in denying it.
There was only one thing Ian could do here.
He put on his most bewildered expression and tilted his head.
"...Who are you?"
In other words, he played dumb.
......
To Ian, it wasn't an act—he really was seeing her for the first time. But to Olivia, the meaning was entirely different.
'Ian... you really don't remember.'
She had already known he had no memories, but actually facing the past version of him felt strangely surreal.
It was like their once-solid bond had shattered.
'Ian, I shouldn't have left you alone back then...'
Olivia felt a piercing sadness, but she hid it as she gazed at him.
'It's fine. From now on, we can build it again together.'
Her eyes scanned every inch of his body.
There were some injuries, but compared to the first round, they were practically nonexistent.
Olivia smiled in satisfaction.
'There's just one thing I'm curious about.'
'Why' was he by Lumiela-noona's side instead of hers?
Olivia recalled the request she'd once made to her sister.
'Don't tell me Lumiela-noona has been secretly hiding Ian...?'
A shocking truth.
But Olivia remained calm.
The immature version of her would have thrown a fit, but the current Olivia was a hero who had accomplished the unprecedented feat of lifting an entire continent in a previous round.
'It's a little annoying, but I've found him anyway.'
It was far better for Ian to be safe in the imperial palace than injured somewhere dangerous.
Of course, Olivia fully intended to take him back to her own palace once this matter was settled.
'I just need to take care of a few things first.'
Flash—
Olivia's eyes blazed as her Magic Eye activated.
A vivid spiral pattern emerged.
At her gesture, an invisible force began to move.
Ian watched as the space around Serena distorted according to Olivia's hand movements.
'So that's Olivia's Magic Eye.'
Unlike Lumiela's outer eye, Olivia's Magic Eye was the complete version.
Her ability was...
'Gravity manipulation.'
Olivia could freely control gravity.
At her gesture, the pinned-down Serena began to float into the air on her own.
"Kyaaaaaah!"
Serena suffered the humiliation of her skirt flipping up for all to see, but the unprecedented power manipulating her body left her unable to regain her composure.
If she hadn't been under the suggestion, she might have stayed calm and looked for an opening. But that was impossible for the current Serena.
Olivia had every intention of crushing Serena to death.
At a glance, Ian's body clearly looked injured. Having only witnessed the scene where Ian was "being hit," Olivia's eyes had gone half-mad.
Just as she was about to apply pressure to Serena—
"W-wait a second!"
Grab—
Ian pulled Olivia into his arms to stop her.
The moment his hand touched her, Olivia's body trembled slightly, but she didn't show it. Instead, she spoke in a cold voice.
"Ian, let go. I'll clean up this trash first, then we can talk properly."
"Serena was just sparring with me! She wasn't trying to hurt me!"
Even at Ian's protest, Olivia remained indifferent.
She was a regressor who had grown jaded over countless loops. There was no hesitation in her actions.
Her ability, which operated purely on will, wouldn't be stopped simply by someone grabbing her body.
Serena's body began to rise into the air on its own.
From the outside, it looked less like gravity and more like telekinesis—an incredible sight.
"Ian, she hurt you. So she has to die, right? Don't worry. I'll send her off quickly and painlessly."
From above and below.
Gravity pressed down from both directions at once.
Crack—
"Hiiiiiik!"
Serena thrashed about in the same overwhelming helplessness she'd felt when facing Lumiela before.
Olivia hadn't even properly activated her technique yet, but Serena's entire body was already shaking violently.
"Gravity..."
The moment Olivia prepared to finish it—
Thwack—
"?"
A stinging pain bloomed at the back of her head.
Olivia turned around with a puzzled look.
There stood Ian, holding his scabbard with an awkward expression.
'...It's not like he hit me with a lump of iron.'
Ian had just struck the back of Olivia's neck with his scabbard.
He couldn't bring himself to kill her, so it was his only choice.
Of course, thanks to her Magic Eye, Olivia's body was superhuman. There was no way an attack from Ian—one completely devoid of killing intent—should have worked.
'Why would Ian...?'
Yet, astonishingly, his weak strike had broken her concentration.
'W-why?'
The younger sibling she cherished more than anyone had just attacked her.
The mental shock hit Olivia far harder than the physical sting.
"...Ian. Did you just hit me?"
"I-I told you to stop."
Ian turned his head away from Olivia's terrifying gaze and carefully protested.
"No matter what, taking a life is too much. And why are you doing this when I clearly don't want it? We aren't even close in the first place..."
"Ian."
Flinch—
Olivia pulled him tightly into her arms and spoke clearly.
"I am your noona."
"Your one and only noona, for the rest of your life."
"It's only natural for a noona to think about her little brother's safety, isn't it? Right?"
A miraculous three-step syllogism.
It was closer to baseless nonsense than anything with actual logic or evidence.
If not for the keyword regression, Ian would have concluded that Olivia had already gone insane.
He sensed something strangely familiar in her words.
'...The sisters really do talk alike.'
Similar to Lumiela, but with an even deeper level of obsession that he could feel in every fiber of her being.
At this point, Ian was starting to suspect there might be pheromones in his body.
Why did every imperial princess who saw him become so desperate to make him their little brother?
'Even though Olivia is a regressor, she's still this bad...'
It was clearly the karma from the first round kicking in again.
Ian sighed inwardly. Based on Olivia's personality and tone, he predicted exactly what she wanted.
Thanks to the precedent with Lumiela, he naturally spoke to her in a gentle, coaxing voice.
"Noona, if your little brother asks you like this... you're not going to listen...?"
"...Huh?"
For a moment, Olivia couldn't hide her bewilderment.
She'd expected him to either get innocently angry or charge at her even harder in this situation.
Seeing Ian suddenly change his attitude, she instead felt awkward.
'...This is Ian, right?'
Unlike the first round, the current Ian was somehow... somehow...
'Why is he so seductive?'
It was dangerously erotic.
The Ian from the first round had been the epitome of bluntness.
He spoke little and showed almost no emotion.
Unless the topic was swordsmanship, he wouldn't even open his mouth.
But now...
"Noona, I'm asking you like this... okay?"
Ian rested his head on Olivia's shoulder and spoke in a slightly aggrieved tone.
'...So cute.'
Olivia hadn't known Ian's younger self could be this adorable.
It was a violent kind of cuteness that made her want to devour his entire body right then and there.
Of course, while Olivia felt that way, Ian was currently experiencing an extreme case of secondhand embarrassment.
'Fuck.'
He barely held back the cringe that made his hands and feet curl.
'Still, Serena helped me. I can't let her lose her life over this.'
No matter what, Serena's life was more important than his pride.
Besides, he hadn't even properly tasted the true essence of their spar yet. He couldn't let it end like this.
Ian no longer wanted to be helplessly dragged around.
He wanted to take the initiative through his own growth.
Perhaps it was because of his serious—no, his adorable—gaze.
Olivia let out a sigh and slowly withdrew her power.
Thud—
Serena was tossed helplessly to the floor.
"Haa, haa... T-thank you for showing mercy."
She immediately offered an apology to Olivia.
It was a bizarre situation where Serena, the one who had been hit, was apologizing to Olivia instead.
Call it the pinnacle of social maneuvering.
Having been thoroughly trained by Lumiela, she could completely hide her emotions in situations like this.
"......"
Olivia completely ignored Serena.
After all, why would she bother paying attention to an insignificant bug she could kill with a single glance?
To Olivia, who was already completely focused on taking Ian with her, someone like Serena didn't even register.
Ian asked her as if seeking permission.
"Then... shall we continue the spar...? Is that okay, Noona?"
'Oh my, look at him.'
Olivia's eyes narrowed.
It hadn't been that long since they'd met, yet he was already acting so familiar with her. This was definitely different from the Ian she remembered.
'No, to be precise... hehe. He just couldn't hold back anymore, could he?'
But his eyes were something Olivia knew all too well.
Because of his squinty eyes, it wasn't obvious from the outside, but inside them burned a charcoal-like passion.
Usually dormant, but once ignited, it would consume everything—including himself.
At this moment, only one thought remained in Ian's mind.
Everything else was secondary.
'I want to swing my sword.'
He didn't want to be interrupted any longer.
Quite some time had passed since the war.
Inside a dark tent, Philia and Serena were deep in conversation.
Having just heard the story of the man's entire life so far, Philia was stunned.
"Wait, something doesn't add up. Then how does Ian end up killing a god?"
"Huh?"
Serena tilted her head at Philia's question.
But Philia continued with a serious expression.
"Think about it. Ian has no mana, and he never took the divinity..."
"Hmm, then how come you, Noona, who has mana and even received divinity from Ian-oppa, still couldn't catch a single god?"
"......"
Watching Philia at a loss for words, Serena patted her shoulder comfortingly.