Chapter 211: Teacher, You’re Moving Too Fast (1)
Chapter 211: Teacher, You’re Moving Too Fast (1)
“…Is this the place?”
The place where the final fate of the world I had just witnessed reached its end.
“It is, isn't it? Though it didn't turn out like that just from the single attack by Deva you saw.”
“Then why did you specifically show me Deva?”
Judging by her tone, it sounded like the place had been attacked more than once.
“Just because? I thought that matchup would be the most fun to watch.”
…She’s just a battle maniac.
“So, how did you win? Come on, tell me. If it was Deva, he would’ve had incredible regenerative powers, enough skill to block your attacks, and even techniques to neutralize regeneration himself.”
What, did she not see it?
“This is your world. Can’t you tell what happened inside?”
“Well, normally I’d go in and spectate, but you took my spot this time. So, I don't know.”
That’s a very peculiar structure.
…It’s useless knowledge, though, since I don’t plan on ever going back in there.
Regardless, I needed to give this Anomalous Entity an answer. A clear, clean-cut one.
“I’m not telling you. And more importantly….”
I was about to start a proper conversation now that I’d passed the trial.
“WHY!?!!?!”
Whoosh.
A thunderous voice that made my head feel like it was catching fire echoed through the space.
…I’m seriously going to die.
It felt like my brain was physically being cooked. No, it was already cooking.
“Why won’t you tell me?! It sounds like such fun information! I’m the one who let you experience it!”
She threw a fit, thrashing about.
Like a child who’d had their favorite toy forcibly taken away.
The problem was that this Anomalous Entity currently throwing a tantrum was no child; flames surged and the surrounding environment evaporated according to her emotions.
Is she a brat? What’s wrong with her all of a sudden?
Wait, hasn't she been alive since the dawn of the Demon Train?
She must have lived for at least ten thousand years, if not more.
“JUST! TELL! ME!”
Seeing such a being shriek in a high-pitched female voice was nothing short of pathetic.
Didn't Al’shel say Zess was a moderate and reasonable person?
Whoosh.
The flames surged again.
Moderate?
“Give it to me!”
Screeeech.
Reasonable?
If that’s what passes for moderate and reasonable, then I must be the greatest representative of humanity ever chosen by the species.
I knew Al’shel was wrong the moment Zess pulled a sword on me, but I didn't realize he was this wrong.
Well… since Zess is acting like a brat, maybe I should approach her accordingly.
“Excuse me, Ms. Zess? You’ll still cooperate with us like you said at first, right?”
“Kyahhhhhhh!”
Now she wasn't even communicating like a Sentient Being.
At this rate, I felt like I was the one who was going to fail the first test.
How did such a mess of an entity become the leader of the most peaceful room in the Demon Train?
Sigh. Nothing for it.
“If you want it that badly, I’ll tell you—provided you cooperate.”
The moment I uttered those words, the heat dominating the area vanished instantly.
“Now you’re talking!”
In place of the heat, she returned to her original, high-spirited voice.
Perhaps she’d grown tired of rolling around on the floor, as she was suddenly standing tall, looking at me.
“Ah, and I’m not cooperating just because I want to hear the story! I was planning to cooperate from the beginning!”
Even if she said that with an air of dignity, it didn't erase the memory of the temper tantrum I’d just witnessed.
“Fine. So, how do you want to hear it? Now? Or after I pass the memory to Al’shel?”
“Oh, you can tell me whenever you have a moment. More importantly…”
Grin.
I felt her smile again, and the atmosphere of the sun shifted.
It emitted a temperature slightly higher than body heat—just enough to be uncomfortable.
…She can even fine-tune the temperature.
That meant it had been so hot during our first meeting simply because she intended to burn everything.
While I was lost in thought amidst the uncomfortable heat.
“You saw it in my world, didn't you? What war in the Demon Train truly is. Even after seeing that, has your mind not changed about wanting to change the Demon Train?”
After a brief pause, Zess threw the question at me.
A sigh escaped my lips involuntarily.
She caused all this chaos just to ask that one thing?
The Otherworld Erosion I’d experienced so far was literally a power that could upend a battlefield, yet she used such power for something so trivial. It was absurd.
Perhaps that difference was proof that the gap between Zess and the others was on an entirely different level.
Even when we fought, she only said she lost; in reality, she’d recovered instantly, and it felt like she’d been taking it easy on me.
Ever since entering the Otherworld, it felt like I was only meeting lunatics.
The Shadow Keeper, Grix, Zess… every single one of them was a world-ending monster.
Ah, except Grix. He’s strong, but not exactly world-ending.
“Whew.”
I sighed again, feeling hollow from all these thoughts.
I expected the impatient Zess to snap at me immediately, but she didn't show any of her usual violence, as if this was a truly important question to her.
Now then. How should I answer?
I thought for a moment, but the answer came quickly.
“My mind hasn't changed. The Demon Train still needs to change.”
I wouldn't say 'no matter what,' but 'if possible.'
“Hmm. Even knowing what will happen if you fail?”
“Yes. There are things I want to achieve, and if that’s the choice I’ve made…”
The incident with the Management Bureau in Hokkaido flashed through my mind.
I remembered the Heroes wailing beneath my feet.
And even further back.
In the middle of the Atlantic.
On the final battlefield that countless soldiers had risked their lives to prepare.
I remembered facing the Nautilus. I remembered throwing the dice.
At that moment, humanity had certainly perished.
What the ten of us chose there was merely a choice to stitch it back together. Or perhaps, it should be called a reprieve.
The end that would come in the not-so-distant future was clearly closer than the end of the Demon Train.
“I’ve had experience raising the stakes just as high.”
At those words.
“Hnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn….”
Zess, assuming the bizarre posture of sitting in mid-air, tilted her head and let out a long hum from her throat.
“…Mnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn.”
And that long sound ended with:
“I knew it. You’re overlapping them. I wonder where. Your home world, perhaps?”
My body went cold at her words, which seemed to pierce through everything.
Despite the uncomfortably high temperature, it felt as if I’d been shoved into a freezer.
“Judging by your reaction, it hasn't been destroyed yet, and it’s currently being invaded…. Hmm. Ah, or has it reached a safe zone? One that can be defended easily?”
There was no denying the heat in her voice.
Yet, the heat within her voice didn't seem to touch my body, conveying a strange sensation instead.
The outside of my skin was definitely uncomfortably hot, stinging my flesh.
However, my insides began to chill as if I’d swallowed dry ice.
“But in your mind, it’s completely different, isn't it? Just like the Demon Train, it could collapse one day. Gradually, gradually. Weakening, until it finally meets its end.”
The heat intensified.
My body grew colder.
Her words were becoming an undeniable truth.
“Hmm. But there’s something strange. For someone of your caliber, you could handle a single world however you liked. Well, I can’t say the outcome would be good, but to show it like that… Ah. I see.”
As if seeing through everything, she answered her own questions, trampling into my inner self with muddy feet.
“You’re bound. By many things. Yes. That was it. That’s why you tried to project your world onto another place to test it. Feeling a sense of kinship with a world that is bound by as many things as you are.”
“…No.”
For the first time, I denied her words.
“Really? If you say so, then I suppose it is. But remember one thing.”
Grin.
As she smiled, the world was dyed green.
The red sky that had lingered on the horizon vanished.
The black void that occupied most of the world was devoured by a suddenly rising Green Sun.
Two versions of her existed in this place simultaneously.
The small her, smiling and kicking her feet in front of me.
The her beyond, looking down at me, lifting a body larger than the world itself.
“I am Zess. A star born from the primordial fire. A fragment of truth. And one who sat face-to-face with The End.”
The small her spoke.
With a voice that scorched the world.
“You react to The End. Is it your enemy? No. There is no one who is not an enemy of The End. For they are enemies even to themselves. Thus, there are only those who do not know The End and those who do.”
The giant her spoke.
With a voice that shook the world.
“O twisted existence, woven from infinite threads. You will one day face The End.”
“For you possess the ability and the qualification to draw their interest.”
“Though it’s likely more a coincidence of countless overlapping conditions than a qualification.”
“The moment you face an Existence of The End, the path you have walked will be revealed.”
Now, I couldn't even tell who was speaking.
Who was I talking to right now?
“At that time. Are you confident you won’t regret your path? O tangled one, who devours himself.”
In the final world burning green, she threw the question at me.
“——.”
Something escaped my lips.
An answer that even I didn't know.
* * *
“Pass.”
Zess’s short remark.
Startled by those words, I snapped to my senses and found myself back in the drawing room.
Al’shel was still unconscious in the corner, but the drawing room looked perfectly intact, as if it had never been burned.
What was this?
Had I been caught in another manipulation-type technique, like time manipulation?
I glared at Zess with full hostility.
“What’s the matter, Lee Ha-ram? It’s quite rude to suddenly jump out of your chair during a negotiation.”
She watched me intently, her voice filled with a snickering laughter.
It was a voice full of amusement, completely contrary to the lecturing tone she’d just used.
I sat back down in the chair and spoke.
“Did you use Otherworld Erosion?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about?”
Giggle.
She didn't stop laughing and continued to stare at me.
Anger flared up, and I considered pulling out my hammer.
But something inside me stopped it.
So, instead of The Hammer, I brought out a single sentence.
“So, are you going to cooperate?”
The reason I came here. Everything.
“Ah. You said you came to find a Key Fragment, right?”
She said that, then placed her left hand on the table and began to conjure a flame above her palm.
While I watched, wondering what on earth she was doing.
“As we just negotiated, I will cooperate with you, provided you satisfy the condition I set.”
She continued to speak while looking at me, paying no mind to the flame in her hand.
“What condition?”
I didn't have a shred of memory regarding a negotiation; I only remembered trading blows with a hammer and having something strange done to me.
“Look at him. Have you forgotten already?”
Whoosh.
Her face briefly flared with fire.
“You said you’d tell me about your most recent battle.”
She spoke with a voice full of longing, like a child begging for a bedtime story.
“That was my condition for cooperating, wasn't it? So. Tell me, quickly.”
As she spoke, she finally snatched my teacup, roughly poured the tea over her own head, and continued.
“I really love hearing stories. Especially stories about fighting someone.”