Just a Hundred Thousand Monsters
“…And here I thought I'd been perfect.”
Her intuition was sharper than I'd expected.
Without bothering to argue with Lorelies, I simply let my transformation melt away.
Just as she said — after subduing the shield, Manus, I had been wearing his shape.
My plan had been to pry information out of him, then use that information as a foothold to dig for even more, which was why I'd pushed my way in here in the first place…
Unfortunately, it seemed she'd seen through me the moment I crossed the threshold.
Still, there was one thing I couldn't quite wrap my head around.
“How did you know? I was using Manus's own power to conceal myself.”
Manus had been stronger than I anticipated — his strength outright surpassed the Knights' captain. We'd traded blows far more fiercely than I'd bargained for, and when he found himself cornered, he had dragged me into yet another mental world.
But in a mental world that wasn't half-made but wholly real, beating me was never in the cards.
So I subdued him, borrowed his power, and transformed so flawlessly that I could have deceived everyone outside.
“Behavior.”
Lorelies's long finger pointed at the shield lying face-down beside me.
“Manus is a soul bound to an armament. But no matter how lifelike, he would never bow his head.”
“…Ah.”
So that was it, huh?
Too basic a detail to bother faking, apparently.
Lorelies made a light gesture with her hand. In an instant I drew out my hammer and let divinity swell through me — but the gesture had been aimed at the fallen shield. The shield simply floated up of its own accord and stood upright beside her chair.
With a grinding scrape, a second chair materialized before her.
“Sit. You came here with business for me, did you not?”
“……”
“There's no need for such vigilance. If I'd intended to kill you, you'd have already tasted my hand.”
“Fair enough.”
I sat. And I looked at Lorelies.
Long blue hair and blue eyes — the signature of the Heavenly Race. Her garments were little different from the loose robes worn by the upper echelons of her kind, and around her swirled countless armaments, invisible to the eye but brushing against the air like living things.
Manus had probably been one of those weapons, once.
Up close, it was unmistakable.
I can't win. Not like this.
Unless I threw myself at her with no thought of survival, no way back, I didn't stand a chance.
“First, let me correct a misunderstanding of yours.”
“Misunderstanding?”
“The first. This place is not the past.”
Yeah, I'd figured as much.
I'd already been through it once via the Interference Dungeon, so I'd assumed this was closer to an altered version of the past — a world where something had changed.
The past can't be returned to, after all.
“To put it precisely, this place has been severed from the past. I myself as well.”
“…Severed?”
“The 'true' me of long ago made a promise. An eternal promise, and a vow.”
Creeeeak.
“That vow was not bound by my own power. She granted me her strength — and even after thousands of years, her power still remains.”
“And the real you?”
“Already dead. The connection was severed, so I imagine it's certain.”
So, to sum it all up…
The Lorelies of the past received power from a being called 'She' and swore an eternal promise. That vow bound both the Sanctuary and this copy of Lorelies herself, and when the original was severed from it, the duplicate simply carried on exactly as she had been…
“When did the real you die?”
“Three years before the war ended.”
That was twenty-seven years after I had become Lily.
And the point at which Lorelies's knight order — the Ross Knights — had been slaughtered to the last man by the demons.
Lorelies herself had likely perished in that same moment.
“If you intend to ask about the war, I cannot answer. That is not the important thing, is it?”
“No. It isn't.”
The war was already over, and I was here undergoing the trial of the Multicolored Successor.
What mattered was the trial this fake Lorelies was about to hand down.
As if she'd skimmed the surface of my thoughts, Lorelies let out a soft sigh.
“…I would ask that you not call me a fake. Even if the true me is dead, I do not consider this place, or myself, a counterfeit.”
“Because you're the one who survived?”
“I am the only one walking the great path.”
To keep the eternal promise, Lorelies had split herself in two. The severed Lorelies existed as a 'reserve' — insurance against the possibility that the 'true' Lorelies might fail to keep the promise.
And then the real one had actually died.
The result: a Lorelies who was nothing but a backup had woken up…
“Because this place was severed from the world, it was never swept up in the war's aftermath. Though there was a price.”
“You can't leave.”
“Precisely.”
The severed Lorelies and a handful of her most trusted had been trapped inside the Sanctuary of the eternal promise, unable to ever step beyond it.
Aside from Lorelies herself and that creature Manus, no one else even knew they were trapped — because their time was still standing in the past.
“It has been long since I awoke, but the span of time I remember is not so great. The era I remember properly begins only a few hundred years ago, when hands were first laid upon the Lower Realm.”
“……”
A few hundred years ago — wouldn't that be around when Drak first appeared?
Drak had revealed himself to avert Talikal Kingdom's first destruction, accepted power and materials, forged a Masterpiece, and handed it to a chosen wielder. The wielder who received the Masterpiece averted the destruction and took that power for…
No. Wait. Then that would mean—
“…How many times have you subcontracted this?”
The being called 'She' first entrusted it to Lorelies.
Then Lorelies entrusted it to Drak, telling him to avert destruction.
Then Drak entrusted it to the wielders by handing them Masterpieces.
And the Masterpieces that had done their work were then handed to other people to avert yet other destructions, entrusting it again and again and again…
There's no end to it.
At my question, Lorelies averted her gaze.
“…That is what the great path means. One who occupies a great position cannot move as she plea—”
“You're just dressing up 'it's beneath me, so I don't want to.' Wouldn't a single flick of your finger have been enough?”
“I cannot step in beyond granting power.”
“Then why does Talikal get helped?”
A high-ranked Heavenly being, one empowered by 'She' — a being of extraordinary standing. Why would such a being aid humans? And not just any humans, but a specific one at that.
Lorelies fell silent for a moment.
“…It is merely one of my old promises.”
“And what promise is that?”
“I cannot say.”
Her lips sealed shut.
Of course. It always comes down to this.
Every fiber of me wanted to smash everything to pieces if that's what it took to drag the truth out — but capturing Lorelies in my current state was impossible.
No — even if I did capture her, so long as the being called 'She' stood above Lorelies, I couldn't afford to move recklessly.
If she turns out to be one of the Eight Seats, I'm in real trouble.
Nothing — no trick, no scheme, no force — could reach the Eight Seats.
That held true even for me at my peak.
After the silent standoff, I finally took a single step back.
“Then let's hear about the trial.”
“As I said before, this space is sustained by Her power. No matter how one struggles, breaking through it was impossible.”
But.
RRRRMM!
The sky of the Sanctuary split open.
Light poured down through the fissure, and a colossal white spiral began to turn. Something descended through the gaps of the spiral.
Somewhere, deep within—
“There are exceptions, it seems.”
“…System?”
Chime!
[■■■ ■■■]
[■■ 99%]
[Complete.]
[Trial of the Multicolored Successor — Lorelies's ■■ is in progress.]
[Upon clearing this trial, you will be granted a portion of Lorelies's power.]
[You may exit the trial at any time. Re-entry cooldown: 1 hour. Cooldown may vary depending on circumstances.]
[Progress of Lorelies's ■■ trial: 99%]
Blue system windows crowded in front of me.
System windows couldn't be used inside a mental world, but the moment that fissure opened, every window that had been held back came flooding out at once.
The broadcast, on the other hand, still couldn't relay me — though judging by the ON indicator, the stream was at least running.
Still, though…
“99%? So it's already finished?”
“Have you not seen it once already? A trial can be cleared the moment you reach the heart of the one who sets it.”
Just as I had ended Minoa's trial with the Heavenly Skewer, back when he bore the Multicolored Successor.
“Reach my heart, and that measly percentage means nothing at all.”
“So all I have to do is persuade you.”
“That is so.”
“Then what's the promise?”
“I already told you I cannot reveal it.”
“How am I supposed to persuade you if I don't know?”
Lorelies had clearly done something to the Multicolored Successor, and she'd laid out contingencies — the Light of Heritage among them. Surely the failed enhancement, and even this meeting, had all been part of her plan. Which meant there had to be something she wanted.
“Fix my weapons for me, and I'll grant whatever you want. The destruction of Talikal, or any other promise you care to name. Isn't that what you're after?”
That's why she'd had Drak running errands for her, doing this and that all this time.
“……”
Lorelies gave a faint smile.
It was the beautiful smile unique to the Heavenly Race — and hostility rose in me all the same, unbidden.
“You're right. I cannot move, and the promises must continue unbroken. I set Drak to the task, but where it all leads, who can say.”
“And so?”
“I will grant it. The Masterpieces you desire — I shall allow you to enhance exactly two.”
“Two.”
Two, huh… Not bad at all.
One would be the White Savior, which had failed last time.
And for the other — the Red or the Blue. Or one of the others, for that matter.
Clear the trial for a Transcendent-grade Masterpiece, and walk away with two Transcendent-grade Masterpieces.
There was no better deal in the world.
“And the price?”
“I will offer you two proposals. Either way, you will not be the loser.”
Lorelies raised her index finger.
“The first: eternal protection of Talikal. Whatever may come, from this day forward, you must be the first to stand and avert its destruction. Though… if you truly cannot stand, I suppose you may 'keep up appearances' by delegating it to someone else.”
“You hold a grudge, don't you.”
“Who can say?”
Eternal protection, huh…
The word eternal grated on me, but it wasn't really a difficult problem. I'd already planned to defend Talikal during the Great Cataclysm anyway, and if it ever came to a point where I truly couldn't go, I could just send Pharaoh or Rasty in my place.
Honestly, she being a Heavenly being made her words a little sharp, but entrusting a role to someone isn't such a terrible thing. The only real sin is refusing to go when the moment comes.
“And the second?”
“The second is, measured in time, a remarkably simple matter.”
KIIIIIEEEK!!
A shriek that seemed to split the eardrums tore through the fissure in the sky.
Ever since the tear had opened in the Sanctuary — a place once dimensionally, completely severed — this problem had been born.
The sky turned red.
“Slay some monsters for me. A mere hundred thousand or so.”