Stop Pissing Me Off
Just as the foreseen future had shown, Pharaoh came under attack by the demonkin.
He had fortified the place, made countless preparations — and still, the outcome never changed.
'The only difference was a few extra seconds of endurance.'
The moment his soul stood on the brink of annihilation, Pharaoh shifted himself into the statue he had prepared long in advance and left his physical body behind in Serek's hidden chamber.
And the Lily of that era — I — lay sleeping within the reverse side of Caums's sword.
The demonkin were beings whose ability to perceive power had been honed to its absolute limit. No matter how carefully one masked one's presence, they would sense it. Ideally, she would have waited beyond the continent and returned only once everything was over, but there was no telling when this place would collapse. That was information even future Lily didn't possess — so this was the only way.
Besides, when the 'second timeline' — the one where future Lily appears — would arrive was itself unknown.
Drifting into sleep, the long deliberation continued on. The process of understanding future Lily, and of deciding what to do with her.
Somehow, future Lily was weaker than I was. Not so weak that she couldn't be indulged, but if we clashed as things stood, the odds of this side winning were very high indeed. And yet she was still Lily.
'The one who single-handedly ended a war between two races, no less.'
However modest that level might seem, she was certain to be hiding something. I had no idea what abilities future Lily might possess, but of one thing I was certain.
'The past does not change.'
A law running through the very bones of the world, learned bitterly, long ago. No matter how I raged here, a 'Lily who knew the future' would never come to exist.
When the ruin dungeon vanished, so would I. This place was a world built atop the past. Had I never learned the truth, I could have simply lived on... but now, I could not.
I had tried countless methods. To avoid being left behind in a false world and erased with it, I had attempted everything — and among those attempts had been a plan that made use of the 'Legacy Inheritor.'
The Legacy Inheritor. The only being through whose special power of 'interference' the past could change, and the future with it. There was a time I had gone half-mad over it, running simulation after simulation, building plan after plan. Even a Lily like that, with her Interference limited, would find what she could do constrained. This side was stronger, and shackled by nothing — Lily would be robbed of her future without any means of resistance...
"......."
'...What am I doing?'
It was revolting. Losing the world she had lived in to some transcendent something, then stealing a replacement from an innocent other. How was that any different from the ancient monsters I had despised and hunted down?
Future Lily had done nothing wrong. She had simply worked harder than anyone, crossed countless lines between life and death, and finally returned to Earth. She had even come here, of all places, to look after Pharaoh.
'With what right?'
What right did I have to steal her place? Because she hadn't become a god? Because, without becoming some transcendent thing, she went about smiling in a form like that?
...Let's be honest with ourselves. I was jealous of her.
The Lily who returned to Earth. The Lily who, having finished everything and come home, lived without a single care. What she did was a game, and countless people adored her. The people at her side never feared death, and their bonds weren't the tired relationship of savior and saved — they were easy, like friends.
I had scoffed at it all as a ridiculous spectacle. But if I ever did return to Earth, in the far future...
'Better to remain a Lily who stayed human than a Lily who became a god, no?'
I had to meet her. Meet her and ask. What on earth happened to you. Why are you in that form. ...What am I supposed to do?
"So then... let's wait a suitable while, give him a little education, and move on. Isn't that right, Scorpio? He'll most likely appear in the third timeline."
Future Lily was holding a conversation with thin air, leaving me and Caums to our own devices.
...Come to think of it, had I really taken future Lily for some kind of celestial servant? With that divinity of hers, I'd had no choice but to see her that way — but it was a genuinely laughable notion. Lily, a servant of heaven? As if.
─……
'Didn't she say she'd only wait? The chance is now, or never.'
The sword lodged in Pharaoh — Caums — trembled with a low hum.
True. Now, or never. The moment the Forgotten Emperor woke, future Lily would clamp safeguards on him, and after that she would unquestionably separate Caums from Pharaoh. Right now, I was inside the reverse side of the sword Caums inhabited. Left as things were, I would be severed from Pharaoh for good. If I ever meant to put the 'future theft' plan I had floated to him time and again into action, this was in effect my last chance.
─I won't.
'...? What?'
But I did not do it. No — I must not. Not because the plan disgusted me. The will to do it was already gone, but even had it been necessary, it must not be done. This was the only way left.
─Instead, deliver my words for me.
'...I haven't the faintest idea what you're thinking.'
Sighing, Caums opened his mouth.
"Lily. I have something to say."
I sent Caums, lodged in Pharaoh's body, on his way upward and climbed out of the basement.
The demons' villa was an absolute wreck. No demonic energy lingered to be sensed, so the demonkin likely hadn't been the cause of its collapse. They had probably used the villa briefly and moved on, and afterward other beings had torn the place apart.
'It had been called a "villa" from the very start, after all.'
"He'll be up soon enough. I didn't hit him all that hard."
The Forgotten Emperor had only just claimed the body. However sturdy Pharaoh's flesh might be, the occupant was still in the adaptation stage — the contents were nowhere near as durable — but he would rise quickly enough. Once he did, I would give him a proper education, and then start laying countermeasures for Scorpio.
Just then, Caums spoke.
"Lily. I have something to say."
"What is it?"
"How much Interference do you have left?"
"I'm sorry?"
"...What I can do changes depending on the Interference. I cannot do it — but if you permit it, I can."
"......"
"I am begging you. You know better than anyone — next to you, I'm still a fledgling. That is why I ask."
Pharaoh's eyes were deadly serious. Whatever being resided in 'there,' it assumed I knew everything — but.
Frankly, I was only half certain myself.
'The me of this era is at the tail end of a transition period. I can't tell which way she'll tip.'
"I have no idea what you're talking about. Caums — your role is already finished. You may return at any time."
"Lily Elbrit."
The two eyes within the sun turned a deep blue, and then fixed on me.
Current Interference Gauge — 62.6%
The gauge was draining — and I hadn't used a thing.
─Great Lily Elbrit. Savior of humanity.
'...I never went around using a title like that.'
─Forgive me. I hardly understand myself anymore, either. Have I simply lived too long? I cannot bear it any longer.
"Huh?"
─There is so very much I would ask of you. But if I let you slip away now, the truth will be beyond my reach forever. That is why I beg you. Please... — Ugh?!
THWACK!!
My spear tip came down on Pharaoh — or rather, to be exact, on the past Lily — and cracked her soundly over the head.
It was one of the things he used to do all the time, back in the day. A technique that hurt like hell yet left not a single wound.
The past Lily shot upright as if launched, clutching her head, and stared at me.
The chat window had descended into utter chaos.
'...Whew.'
She had hidden it a good long while, all things considered. Keeping it undiscovered until now was honestly impressive.
Fwoosh!
Current Interference Gauge — 60.6%
I spread both wings. Wings of light unfurled and fluttered, and the divinity dwelling in the White Savior lifted me high, high into the sky. As though the heavens themselves were cracking open, a pillar of light descended through the sky the demonkin had darkened, and the divinity wrapping me coiled round and round until it took the shape of a ring — a halo.
At this level, it should read as though I'd been slapped with a Penalty.
"Ghh?!"
Current Interference Gauge — 50.6%
In the same motion, I tore the past Lily out of Pharaoh and flung the both of them down onto the ground.
The instant two Lilys appeared on screen, the already-chaotic chat went into complete overdrive.
I had meant to let it slide quietly, but no — that wasn't going to work anymore.
"Such a bright green little thing."
"???? Pardon?"
"Here you are, agonizing over where it all ends — and you haven't come even a quarter of the way. Half of a half, at most."
A Lily of a mere eighteen years was, quite literally, a fledgling among fledglings. She had yet to live through the 'second' incident, had yet to cross the hundreds, the thousands of knife-edges between life and death. Talking as though she'd seen the whole world already — the past Lily still had a very long road ahead of her.
The past Lily gritted her teeth and glared at me.
"B-but! This place is fake...!"
"Fake? Who called this place fake? Did Pharaoh? Did he tell you that since this place is fake, none of it means anything?"
"......."
"Don't misunderstand. My disappearing does not mean you disappear."
This place was merely an IF — a world built on the question of what if future Lily had come. Even if the ruin dungeon vanished, so long as the system remained intact, she would go on living here all the same.
Of course, I understood. The Lily of this era had never beheld the 'true' authorities. She must have believed that if all of this vanished, she would vanish along with it.
But the evidence was more than sufficient.
"When a timeline ends, does all your time pass in a single instant? Everything here is calibrated to me — so tell me, if I leave, does your reason for existing simply evaporate?"
No.
This place existed to decide the future of Pharaoh's 'Legacy Inheritor,' and a person called Lily Elbrit had nothing whatsoever to do with it. She would remain here regardless; the only thing that changed was that she now knew this world was an illusion.
And yet — she was already living possessed inside a game world, of all things.
'Is that really worth such a shock?'
"If anything, the one shackled by Interference is me. Whether you live or die is decided by your own will. So stop pissing me off."
Honestly, she'd be better off just coming at me.