The Law of Causality

The blood dripped down in a slow, steady ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠trickle.

"Khh… that insane monkey…"

Sephir wiped at the wound running along his side, but his appearance could by no stretch of the word be called fine. The bag he always carried with him had been torn open beyond any further use, and the coat that had once turned aside even the attacks of other transcendents now hung from his shoulders in shreds.

He spat onto the ground.

"Whew… that should count as a warning, at least. Ideally I would have killed him outright, but…" That had been impossible. His opponent, after all, had been Sun Wukong. He hadn't actually expected to fight — he was simply grateful now that, on some distant off chance, he had brought an unbarred weapon along. "To think he figured out even that much. Sun Wukong… just what is he planning…? Kgh—"

He collapsed to one knee.

He had lost a considerable amount of divinity this time. And Sun Wukong had paid the same price.

"Whew~ Well, well. And this is what they call one of the Twelve Apostles?"

"Roenheim."

A man of pure red appeared before him. Red skin, red eyes, red hair — and yet, for all that he was drenched entirely in crimson, there was something strangely refined about him as he settled down across from Sephir.

"What do you intend to do, losing to Sun Wukong like this?"

"Kch… lost? Who says I lost?"

"You didn't win, either."

The man's icy gaze settled on Sephir, who began to tremble.

"Do it properly… our god has arranged every piece on the board."

"…Roenheim."

Roenheim, already walking away with Sephir left behind him, stopped in his tracks.

"Could we… could we not simply stop? Call it enough?"

In an instant, Roenheim was before him, gaze cold as a blade.

His hand closed around Sephir's throat.

"And that means… betraying our god?"

"No… I'm talking about retiring. That's not betrayal. We're tired, Roenheim."

"We? You mean you, you spineless wretch."

Sephir crumpled to the ground. Roenheim paid him no further mind and simply walked on, and Sephir could only stare blankly at his departing back.

"…"

"Hey… brat. Hand over those Star Fragments you've been hiding."

"What?"

"Sorry, but I can't afford to lose Sun Wukong like this. Please. I'm begging you."

"…And as fulfillment of our contract?"

"…Impossible. I'll need that someday, without fail. In exchange, I'll give you a gift later."

While I was still deliberating over Sun Wukong's words, Theostras spoke up.

"Listen to me. Sun Wukong fought a desperate battle just now to protect you. For his sake — no, for your own — you must give him those Star Fragments."

"Take them. You've both done plenty for me already."

"…Good. I won't be able to contact you for a while. The Authority will release itself in due course."

The Star Fragments slipped out of my hands and vanished. So did their presences.

"You… fought?"

Going by Theostras's words, their opponent was most likely—

Omnissiah…

Or to be precise, one of his underlings. If they had clashed with the god himself, Sun Wukong — a mere transcendent — could never have walked away alive. I had grown too strong for them to make a move within the mortal realm, so it seemed they were ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠now turning their schemes toward Sun Wukong and Theostras instead. Theostras appeared to be sacrificing something of himself to hold Omnissiah back even now — and if one of Omnissiah's agents were to throw itself at him in that state, he would unquestionably lose.

"Rune. Pitasha. Belzer. Everyone, gather round."

At my call, they all began assembling, and I looked them over and asked, "What does a transcendent have to do to grow stronger?"

"You should consider Divinity Plunder the only real option, Master."

Being praised and remembered in the mortal realm was barely enough to sustain an existence at all — and one had to accumulate that worship in stockpile so that even if they were someday forgotten, they could endure. Strengthening one's power, in short, was never easy.

"And Star Fragments?"

"Those… are entirely possible to acquire."

"If I obtain Star Fragments, should I use them myself, or give them to Sun Wukong or Theostras?"

BANG!

Rune slammed her hand down on the desk.

"Ah— f-forgive me. But you must use them yourself, Master. Absolutely must."

"You can't tell me what Star Fragments actually are, can you?"

The commanders' mouths opened briefly — and then clamped shut. After a beat, Belzer spoke. "It appears we cannot. You would need to spend a Question Ticket."

"Master, I wholeheartedly agree with Rune! You absolutely must use them yourself!"

"Same here, Master."

The three of them were in complete, flawless agreement. But I had already given the fragments to Sun Wukong — and since they already knew I possessed one, I told them as much. Sun Wukong had most likely been attacked by one of Omnissiah's agents. I'd been skeptical at first, but Theostras had confirmed it. Could the two of them have staged it together? Well — would Theostras really? His transcendent power was the power to destroy the wicked and depraved. An act like that ran so directly counter to everything his power embodied that it would have been catastrophic for him.

"In that case, giving them to Sun Wukong was the right call. The enemy on the other side is truly powerful."

"Indeed. Omnissiah commands the Twelve Apostles in total. …Ah — apparently I can say that much."

Belzer, having confirmed the boundary, continued. Omnissiah commanded countless transcendent underlings — but among them stood the Twelve Apostles, beings who had drawn near to godhood itself.

"By the way, why do you all help me? Isn't Omnissiah your true master?"

Blink.

"Absolutely not. In truth, we are the ones who were abandoned by Omnissiah — or broke away from him."

That Belzer could say even this much left him lost in thought, visibly startled by his own words. As he stood there, Pitasha spoke up.

"Karma… you attacked a Backer Star without any reason whatsoever. That means karma itself has moved."

"That's certainly true. And since this was no formal contest for dominion, I'd say the theory is all but confirmed."

"Then keep going. Tell me everything."

"Ahem. Very well, I shall continue."

Belzer's explanation ran thus: some of Omnissiah's servants had received his power directly, others indirectly. For reasons still unspeakable, certain of the transcendents granted portions of Omnissiah's Authority had abandoned him — or broken free. And as far as could presently be determined, every transcendent I summoned belonged to that faction.

"I broke away!"

"As did I."

"And I was abandoned. The reason, I'm afraid, cannot yet be spoken."

Pitasha and Rune had broken away. Belzer had been abandoned. In any case, I set that revelation aside for the moment — what mattered was intelligence on the enemy.

"The Twelve Apostles are selected by a simple standard: loyalty and combat strength. Those two criteria and nothing else. And— hmm. I suppose that's the limit. Still, that's a fair amount of intel unlocked, isn't it?"

According to him, karma came in many varieties. If Sun Wukong had been outright assassinated, far more information would have been released, but karma was not so easily fooled. He added that the karmic debt would likely be satisfied through some other means instead, so for now I simply accepted it. In the end, all we could do was gather Star Fragments by any means necessary and grow ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠our strength.

"And for that, we need force."

Just as the thought crossed my mind—

"It appears the karma has arrived."

"That's a lot. What even is this?"

[Reward: Star Fragments (5)]

"What the— five Star Fragments?"

"You must accept, Master. Without question."

"Yeah… obviously. But before that, I need to look at the rewards from the waves you cleared."

In that short span of time, Rune had cleared waves all the way up to stage 78, yielding a total of eight rewards.

Four new traits from this round. On top of that, three Trait Enhancement Tickets and a mountain of coins.

"The coup is in nine days. Within those nine days, we annihilate every last enemy. Everyone understands?"

"I'll gather intel here in the—"

"Right. You stay here."

"Haha, thank you kindly. I couldn't beat a single Orc Great Warrior as I am now."

One way or another, Pitasha and Rune would be accompanying me on this quest as well.

"Let's move. Now."

Light burst forth just as before, and my vision shifted. When I opened my eyes, the place — unlike where we'd been summoned last time — had not a single patch of red earth. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Or more precisely, there was land that was about to turn red.

"Wha—! Enemies!"

Soldiers, suddenly confronted with our arrival, raised their spears and began to tremble.

"Regular soldiers, huh. Fetch your commander."

"Y-yes sir! Ah, no… understood!"

At Rune's words — and she looked, with her enormous frame, every inch a knight — a soldier bolted off at once. I watched him go for a moment, then turned to the rest. "Report the current situation. How far have the orcs advanced?"

"H-how would we know that?"

The one who answered looked to be a squad leader. There were eleven soldiers in total around us, after all.

"Speak with me, then. You're the Hero the Saintess spoke of, aren't you?"

"Skip the chatter. How far have the orcs advanced?"

"Ten minutes, and they'll be upon us."

"From which direction?"

"There. The east."

I gazed for a moment at where the commander pointed. We stood on open plain; the direction he indicated was forest.

"We strike first."

"What…?"

I had nothing more to say to these people. We would slaughter the hundreds of thousands of orcs written into the quest and return — all within nine days.

"Summon every Intermediate Combat Trooper."

At my word, the empty plain began to fill, edge to edge. The moment the soldiers saw the land swallowed whole by the Machine Legion, they started screaming.

I ignored them, boarded a transport unit, and rolled slowly into the forest. Someone was shouting something behind us, but… well.

"Scouts have visual on the orcs. Your orders?"

"Numbers?"

"…Tens of thousands at the very least. We're detecting units up to 4th Order."

"Exterminate them."

"Yes, sir!"

Pitasha took command on the spot. At the same instant, Rune charged out. I pulled up a hologram, and there she was — Rune, slaughtering orcs by the untold thousands.

"I bestow the Twilight Light."

Light flared. The scouts were my power, my eyes and reach — and the moment I poured that strength into Rune's blade through them, the orcs began vanishing in an eyeblink. Her pace was the same as ever, but now each single stroke of her sword killed hundreds of orcs at once, which meant my own power would grow that much stronger for it.

"Once we've killed every one of these things, that's a good hundred thousand, give or take. Process all of it."