See You in the Future
Serne knew it at once.
This man was Simon Polentia too.
But the air around him had changed entirely. He was a far cry from the 'boy Simon' she remembered — pure-hearted, burning with curiosity, his eyes always sparkling with wonder.
His gaze carried something that had transcended his inner self, forged through sorrow, pain, hatred, fury — and everything beyond them besides.
And there was a solid, unshakable steadiness in him that the Simon she knew had never possessed.
His hair was a shade darker than before, and the stubble he'd grown gave him a hazy, rugged charm, while a roguish, faintly rakish smile played at the corner of his mouth — almost like a mischievous uncle's.
"It's been a while, Serene."
Without warning, he ruffled her hair with a hand as broad as a pot lid.
"A teenage Serene in a school uniform! Haha! Now that takes me back."
"?!"
Ever since she'd grown up, no human being had dared treat her like a child — so Serene could only stare, dumbfounded, for a long moment.
"I'd love to greet Pier too, but I suppose he's busy keeping you in check. And you there... you'd be the Ghost of Time, wouldn't you? A pleasure!"
[Hehehe! What an odd gathering this is.]
Having finished his light round of introductions, 'Future Simon' turned his gaze down toward the floor below.
"Something noisy is coming up from underneath."
At those words, Serene snapped back to her senses.
"The Tower Master is coming! And Simon is in no condition to—!"
"Don't worry."
Future Simon tapped the hilt of the Greatsword of Ruin as he went on.
"I'll handle this."
At a single gesture from him, the tower's very structure shifted. The floor turned transparent as glass, opening a clear view far down through the levels below — and there, around the 70th floor, they could see the Ivory Tower's master, Vermund, blasting his way up through the ceilings.
[Serene!!]
A voice thick with rage carried all the way up to them. Future Simon stroked his chin with practiced grace and let out a thoughtful hmmm.
Even with one of the continent's apex warriors rising toward them, not a trace of anxiety or tension showed in this man.
"Normally, getting rid of something at that level would take nothing more than a flick of the finger."
A hand riddled with calluses and old scars rose into view.
"But the only power I can draw on right now is 'young me's.'"
Future Simon placed a hand on young Simon's shoulder.
"I'll be borrowing some."
Dark power and holy light spread out on either side of the young Simon. Future Simon seized both of them without hesitation — and merged them.
What... just happened?
Serene's eyes went round at the supernatural act unfolding before her.
"Chaos is nothing but the first wobbly steps before you learn to wield the Void."
Future Simon said it with a beaming, easy smile. The two opposing forces were swirling together, throwing off a dazzling radiance.
"You teach chaos order. When Jet-Black and Divinity — with no third element involved — purely embrace and accept one another, and fuse into one..."
The world shuddered, and a sphere of deep blue — those two opposing powers made one — was born.
"A miracle comes into being."
Remarkably similar in color to Simon's own Jet-Black, it warped the very space around it with savage distortion.
Twick.
Holding the dark-blue sphere in his palm, Future Simon grinned and looked down. In that one purely innocent smile, he looked exactly like the young Simon beside him.
Fwooooom!
Floor 85.
Floor 90.
Floor 95.
The Ivory Tower's master, wreathed in magma and accelerating, seemed unstoppable — a force that would burn through every floor in his headlong charge.
"Ghhk!"
Serne crossed her arms over her head. It felt like the sun itself was bearing down on her. The walls were melting in the heat, and she couldn't open her eyes.
And yet—
"Give it your best shot."
Future Simon snapped his fingers.
─────────────!
A black thread of lightning slashed across the air.
The dark filament caught the sun's core — then drove it downward at several hundred times the speed it had risen.
KWAAAKWAAAKWAAAKWAAAKWAAAKWAAAKWAAAK!
Floor 90.
Floor 80.
Floor 70.
Floor 60.
Floor 50.
Shards and debris scattered wildly in every direction. Plowing a second hole right beside the one he'd drilled himself, Vermund plummeted, dragging the entire Ivory Tower's ceiling down with him.
Floor 40.
Floor 30.
Floor 20.
Floor 10.
And then—
KUWOOOOOOOOOOOOM―!
—all the way down to the first floor.
Only after boring through the ground and deep into the earth below did the black filament vanish, and a churning cloud of dust erupted like an explosion, blanketing the surface.
"Well."
Future Simon lowered his fingertips, having nailed the continent's strongest man clean through the planet.
"An exit worthy of the name 'Ivory Tower Master.' I enjoyed the show."
Thump.
Her legs giving out beneath her, Serene sank to the floor where she stood.
Overwhelming.
I can't even breathe.
A thrill of awe flooded her entire body, freezing her in place. All she could do was take in the blue-haired man gazing down below with perfect composure, committing him to her eyes.
My judgment—
Serne's arms were trembling.
—was right.
The future continent would be reshaped around Simon Polentia. The vision of that future, standing right before her now, was proof beyond any doubt that her judgment had been correct.
She couldn't collect herself.
She felt on the verge of being captivated—
—by the sight of him.
—by his power.
"I've tuned the Void's properties for you. Pure physical force, nothing more."
Future Simon said it lightly, dusting off his hands — and even that trivial little habit was exactly the same as Simon's.
"Since we're in the Tower of Time, it can't be more than a year since Silaji of the Blood Heaven Sect died, right? Even if anyone investigates from outside, it'll look different from the time you actually killed him."
Then Simon turned to Serene and winked.
"You'll take care of the cleanup later, won't you? Little Serene."
"...Ah. Yes."
She nodded, a flush creeping across her cheeks. Her heart was pounding as though it had suddenly malfunctioned.
"Now then. There's one last problem to solve."
'Future Simon' lowered his head and looked at 'young Simon,' who was still running rampant. Simon's own magic and Pier's control were barely holding him together, but left as he was, the berserk state would come all the same.
"We need one more actor."
Future Simon placed his hand on the hilt of the Greatsword of Ruin once more.
The entire tower rippled at his command, and moments later, someone was spat out from the wall of the 100th floor as if ejected by the tower itself.
It was Merida.
"......"
She wore a rather sulky expression. She'd just shaken off the guards and made it down to the first floor when the wall had suddenly swallowed her whole and dumped her back up on the 100th.
"?"
Only then did she tilt her head and look around in confusion.
There was Simon, looking visibly unwell. Beside him, a man who looked exactly like Simon. A ghost drifting in midair. And the last thing she saw was that famous Serene Eindark.
"To stop Simon's rampage, I need both of your strength."
Future Simon looked at the two of them.
"You'll cooperate, won't you?"
The operation began at once.
Merida cast Phantasus's Original Sleep on Simon, holding it at the maximum of five stacks. Serene piled feathers onto his back until he looked like nothing so much as a hedgehog.
"Ready."
Serne said.
"Me too."
Merida said.
The two girls closed their eyes on either side of Simon while Future Simon directed the operation.
"On my signal, Merida — deepen the Sleep all at once. Serene — drop him down past his subconscious."
Future Simon swept his hand through the air.
"Begin."
Shaaaaaaa!
And with that as the signal—
Simon, rampaging and wandering the labyrinth of time with no destination, fell into a pitch-black darkness.
"...?"
Simon looked around.
It was a void where nothing could be felt at all.
"Hey there."
Before him, 'Future Simon' appeared in the form of a figure made of light.
Simon's eyes went wide at the sight.
"Y-you're... you can't be...!"
"That's right."
Future Simon smiled gently.
"What you'll look like in the future."
"How is this even possible?"
"Think of it as a strange phenomenon, briefly unfolded by the power of time itself."
Simon's eyes sparkled as he circled all the way around his future self, taking in the view. Then he crossed his arms and nodded.
"Pretty impressive. Do you think I could become like you someday?"
"No."
Future Simon laughed, mischievous.
"You'll be more perfect than I am. You're going to become a 'future me' far greater than this."
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Neither do I."
The two of them giggled together in the darkness.
Then young Simon lifted his head abruptly, as if remembering this was no time for joking.
"Oh, right — there's so much I want to ask you! About the Cabal! About Magnus! About White too...! And I'm curious whether I'll ever manage to create the dragon I saw — and what about this midterm—!"
"I'm sorry."
Future Simon lowered his head.
"I can't tell you."
"Huh? What? Why?"
"The only reason you and I can exist like this, right now, is because future Simon and present Simon are kept clearly separate. The moment I tell you something about the future and influence what's coming, I vanish — and unclear, corrupting errors start tearing through your life."
As he said it, 'Future Simon' glanced at the necklace of Nephthys hanging around young Simon's throat and smiled softly. The necklace's power was holding back time's erosion of Simon.
"There are other reasons besides. All sorts of them."
"Ah. Yeah. Got it."
"Just remember one thing."
At Future Simon's gesture, the hilt of the Greatsword of Ruin materialized out of the empty air.
"No matter what ending waits for you in the future. No matter what despair, what doubts, what hatred try to stain you—"
Future Simon took young Simon's hand and wrapped it around the hilt.
"—believe in yourself, unwavering."
"......"
Simon nodded slowly.
"It was nice meeting you. Future me."
Future Simon smiled.
"Same here."
Moments later.
Simon's eyes snapped open.
"Ah...!"
RRRRRUMBLE!
CRRAAACK!
The Tower of Time was collapsing.
The last thing Simon had done with 'Future Simon' was use the Dungeon Master's authority to destroy the dungeon. The Tower of Time was now a dungeon fully under its Dungeon Master's control. Its durability had already been spent to nothing by the battle between Future Simon and the Ivory Tower's master — so the instant the destruction order went out, the whole structure began coming down at once.
"Where's the Ghost of Time?"
Simon whipped around — and there he was, his form already fading at the edges.
"Ah...!"
[Hehehe! Don't make that face!]
the Ghost of Time said, laughing.
[I simply placed my bet on whichever possibility held more promise. I have no regrets now.]
"I'm sorry. If only I'd been stronger..."
[When the Frozen Clock runs rampant, no one can control it. No one.]
Ssssss—!
His body was slowly dissolving away.
[Still — thank you. I did everything I could. It was a life without regret.]
The Ghost of Time cried it out with something like relief, and then he was gone. Simon closed his eyes for a moment and said a silent prayer for him.
"Got time to be so relaxed?"
Something seized his wrist and yanked hard. Simon stumbled sideways just as the floor he'd been standing on came crashing down.
"Serene...!"
She smiled warmly.
"In a moment, you and I are going to fall from the 100th floor."
Simon looked up. The ceiling and walls of the 100th floor had crumbled away; only the bare floor remained. Through the gaping shell of the tower, the first light of dawn was breaking.
"I've used up all my Jet-Black. Can't move."
Merida opened a sub-space and began hauling out blankets, one after another.
"If I get to choose the moment I die, I'd at least like to die while I'm sleeping."
"What are you doing?! Merida!"
In the middle of all this, she spread out her blanket, laid her head on a pillow, and stretched out flat.
"If we die, we die. If we live, we live."
CRASH!
The pillars holding up the 100th floor gave way, and the floor split apart. A heartbeat later, Simon, Serene, and Merida all fell together into the open air.
"WAAAAAH!"
Looking down, he could see an endless cascade of rubble tumbling below. Far, far beneath them, the tower's ruin boomed — whump, whump — against the ground.
"Fufu. Enjoy this moment, Simon."
Serne stretched both legs out in midair and said it with perfect calm.
"Falling from the very top of a hundred-story tower as it collapses. Not an experience just anyone can have."
"How am I supposed to enjoy this when we're seconds from death!"
The absurdity of it made Simon laugh even as he shouted. Serene burst out laughing too, covering her mouth, while Merida snorted into her pillow.
"Haha."
Simon, too, gave up resisting and laughed as he watched the rising sun.
The night was passing, and a bright new day was finally arriving.
Vmm! Vmm!
The feathers Serene had attached began to glow, slowing their fall. The three of them drifted down through the open air, watching the dawn brighten together.
"Merida!"
Simon shouted as he fell. She turned her head.
"Future me had something to say!"
Future Simon couldn't change the future — but he'd said that, within the bounds of what wouldn't change, dropping hints for others was fair game.
"What?"
Merida answered listlessly, without much interest. Simon bellowed down at her:
"Phantasus! You're going to marry him in the future!"
"??!!"
Merida's head snapped up, her mouth hanging open.
"No way! I refuse!"
Relationships between men and women weren't something that could be settled just because one party objected. Simon went on, grinning.
"And he said this too! The more you obsess over Phantasus, the more distance he'll keep from you — precisely for your sake!"
"......"
"So live your own life, Merida!"
Simon turned his head toward Serene.
"Serene!"
"Is it my turn this time? What did he say about me?"
Her eyes sparkled up at him.
"He said if you want to find your roots, look for someone called Gahen in the Holy Federation!"
"......"
At the word roots, Serene's pupils wavered for just an instant. She squeezed her eyes shut, then let out a soft fufu.
"An interesting offer, but my roots hardly matter anymore. More importantly, Simon?"
"Yeah?"
From the crown of the collapsing tower, Serene's ivory hair whipped freely in the wind.
"Why not try growing out that beard?"
The moment he heard it, Simon snorted.
"I'd rather die."
The sun climbed fully into the sky, and the world turned a complete, vivid blue.