Chaos Eye
“Eek. Aaaah. D-dodge…!”
Her tongue was twisted and her voice weak, as if her mental strength had been heavily depleted, yet the flames blazing across her body seemed even fiercer than before.
She had that trait listed in her status window earlier—Dry Tinder, wasn’t it?
A passive that granted bonuses to fire abilities the closer she came to death’s door.
Whoosh!
—Kraaaaargh!!!
A lion of flame the size of a dump truck burst from the whip Shurika swung.
‘No way, that’s too much!’
Whoosh!
I threw myself sideways, seizing the opening created by the slowed time.
Even with strong fire resistance, I already knew from experience that without complete immunity, damage still got through.
That attack wasn’t something I could take head-on and walk away from.
—KABOOM!!!
The fiery lion streaked past me, scorching empty air before vanishing.
Whip. Whoosh.
Bang!
When her decisive strike missed, Shurika spun her whip in a defensive-offensive stance, striking up and down.
If I tried to close in and exploit an opening, the spinning whip would lash my flank. If I stayed back and waited, another monstrous attack would come flying.
Since elemental resistance didn’t reduce the weapon’s raw physical force, relying on the trait and getting cocky would get me killed the moment I failed to dodge.
‘In that case… fine.’
I clenched my teeth, bracing for the coming headache.
…Now!
‘Thunderbolt!!!’
Crackle. Crackle-crackle.
The lightning flickering above Shurika became a violet bolt and slammed down with terrifying force.
BOOOOM!!!
“Kyaaagh!!”
The tip of her whip, which had broken the sound barrier for an instant, curved toward me like a snake striking its prey.
But the moment the lightning struck in time with her wrist twist, she seemed to suffer a brief shock; the whip’s trajectory veered off on its own without me needing to move.
“Nngh…!”
Good. The headache was intense, as expected, but I’d managed to weather the second attack somehow.
I glanced at the clock.
How much time was left? …Still 2 minutes and 50 seconds?
Damn it! The exact minutes left weren’t the point. What I needed to do wasn’t despair—it was move!
I hurled myself along the path shown by Chaos Eye, ignoring the gravel and sand caking my body or the heat that curled and singed my hair.
“Uwaaaah!”
—Kraaaargh!!!
50 seconds remaining!
“Ah, it’s no good—”
I was staring wide-eyed, wondering what pattern would come next if I could just hold on a little longer, when her words cut off after that single sentence.
…Her eyes had lost focus. Had she completely blacked out?
Crack. Crack.
‘What now? She’s already used rampage and unity—what else is left?!’
Before I could even get angry at the ridiculous situation, I saw it: cracks spreading across her skin, thick flames like lava seeping out from the fissures.
Shurika’s mana is being twisted by the trait ‘Evil God’s Erosion’.
The trait ‘Pure Mana’ is being corrupted.
The trait ‘Dry Tinder’ is being corrupted.
BOOOOOOM!!!
“What the—”
This was insane.
A wave of fire. That was the only phrase that came to mind.
It was far murkier and denser than any flame Shurika had produced before.
It devoured my entire field of vision without a single gap and rushed toward me with terrifying speed.
‘I can’t dodge this.’
The range was too wide for a simple roll or jump to escape.
At least I’d instinctively drawn the greatsword—that was a miracle.
“Nngh, urgh!”
Hiss—
I poured cold air from my entire body and used Rehagen’s blade to shield my vital points, including my head, while enduring the onslaught.
My legs were pushed back by the violent wave of flames. The searing fire melted through armor despite the feeble cold.
“Khaak… hah…”
It felt like an eternity, but only about ten seconds had actually passed.
The mana essence of Rehagen has been damaged.
‘The greatsword the Adventurer Guildmaster gave me… got damaged?’
No! It only said damaged, so there had to be a way to repair it if I looked. I couldn’t afford to despair.
「How dare they interfere with me, one after another. An apostle of that worthless god wasn’t enough—now even some lowly mortal? How insolent!」
Mortal, huh.
Grind. Crack.
At the mysterious voice echoing in my head, Shurika’s body began to twist and contort.
「This damned causality! Those annoying gods!」
While I stood confused by the voice throwing a tantrum over things not going its way, something else happened.
Chaos says it has finally received permission.
「Hmph. Direct intervention crosses the line.」
This voice!
「That vulgar octopus head made the first move, so I suppose I can bend the rules just this once.」
The moment the familiar voice finished speaking, my vision went completely dark.
***
It wasn’t psychological—my surroundings had literally become pitch-black, an absolute darkness where I couldn’t see an inch ahead.
‘Ugh. Aaaaaagh!!!’
Without warning, both eyes suddenly felt like they were about to burst from pain.
My body refused to obey me at all, and not even a breath escaped my lips. All I could do was endure the agony in silence.
Due to external intervention, Chaos Eye has awakened.
The pain vanished in an instant along with the system log.
“Hah… hah. Where am I?”
Thankfully it had only been temporary. My voice came out properly.
I caught my breath and turned my head to look around, then noticed something strange.
‘Everything’s so clear. Let’s see… Chaos Eye?’
Even before this, my eyesight had already improved dramatically compared to Earth after acquiring the trait upon transmigration.
Now the world looked even sharper and more distinct than that.
Space. Yes—the place I stood in now was a vast, mysterious expanse like the cosmos itself.
‘Seeing too well is a problem too.’
The issue was that the upgraded vision was simply excessive.
That was when I absentmindedly rubbed my eyelids.
“Uuu… I’m sowwy…”
Another familiar voice. As far as I knew, there was only one person with such a cute tone.
I whipped my head toward the sound.
“H-Huh? Chaos?”
“Eek.”
Chaos flinched in surprise.
“Mmph, aah! Why are you here?! T-Turn your eyes away this instant! Don’t look!”
“No. I’m the one who wants to ask. Why are you kneeling with both arms raised like that?”
It was the classic punishment pose.
Chaos was being punished. By whom?
…Could it be?
「Hmph. I knew about it, but you two have gotten quite close, haven’t you?」
!
While I was flustered watching Chaos being punished, a voice I knew all too well came from behind her. I hurriedly looked around.
“Hup.”
This was… overwhelming violence in its purest form.
The moment that feast of bare skin entered my eyes, I bit the inside of my cheek to snap back to my senses, yet I couldn’t deny that I’d been dazed for a moment.
“G-Goddess. What is this exactly—”
How could I ever forget that peerless beauty?
The Goddess of Chaos, Ceres.
She lay upon a white disk contrasting the black space, gazing at me in human form.
Ceres licked her lower lip with a languid expression, then spoke softly.
「Again.」
Again? Ah.
“C-Ceres. What’s going on? We were in the middle of a fight just now.”
「Fufu. Don’t worry about the outside. Time will remain stopped until your soul leaves this place. Since the evil god intervened directly in the lower realm, we had justification to summon you as well.」
So the reason Shurika had transformed at the end was because that evil god—Tehelum or whatever—had personally lent a hand?
I understood the angry voice I’d heard in my head earlier now. But the evil god’s apostle should have been Irmela.
‘Ah. They must have decided there was no hope left for that side because of Sena.’
「Well, explaining in detail would be complicated, so just think of it as us briefly summoning you to grant power equal to the causality caused by their intervention. You’re feeling the change, aren’t you?」
“Ah, yes. My eyes have changed quite a bit.”
The problem was they’d changed far too much. If this state continued, daily life would obviously become difficult.
Fortunately, Ceres dismissed my concern.
「No need to worry. Once you defeat the enemy, everything will return to normal. Asking for more would violate causality.」
I hadn’t been hoping for more anyway. That aside—defeat the enemy?
“Irmela will finish on her own even if I don’t go, so does that mean I just need to kill Shurika?”
Even if it was hard alone, once the ten-minute spell finished casting, it should be manageable.
「No. What you must do when you return isn’t to kill a mortal. It’s to sever the evil god’s traces clinging to that human—so that it deals damage to the evil god itself.」
“Sever them… How exactly do I do that?”
「You’ll understand when you see it with your changed eyes. That’s all. Keeping you here any longer would be too much.」
Wait—just a moment. There’s still so much I want to ask!
「Ah! One more thing before you go.」
Ceres raised her index finger, then gestured with her chin toward Chaos.
「Chaos worked very hard for your sake. Remember that well.」
“Pardon?”
「The moment that octopus’s servant appeared, she kept insisting we had to spend power to help you. She threw quite the tantrum. Fufu. She wasn’t always like this.」
So that was why Chaos had been quiet since the circus.
A corner of my heart warmed.
「Anyway, you two are so adorable to watch.」
“Ahem.”
「Now, it’s time to return. Don’t worry—I’ve been watching your every move. I’ll always be cheering you on!」
Ceres waved her hand.
Blink.
When I blinked once while watching the scolded Chaos being sent off, the ruined interior of the colosseum and Shurika came into view.
‘Now I understand. What it means to sever the evil god’s traces.’
I stared hard at Shurika, whose appearance was ruined in multiple ways, and saw things that hadn’t been visible before the awakening.
Dark energy coiling around her entire body. Tentacles gripping her limbs. Black threads connected to every joint.
Sever them. Yes—there were countless things that needed to be cut.
Creak.
Shurika, who had been motionless for a moment as if the evil god’s atrocities had collided with causality, slowly raised her head, revealing ominous light in her eyes.
I raised my sword to chest level in response and checked the clock.
“Hah.”
Three. Two.
…One.
“—Descend. Freeze everything! Frozen Field!!!”
The 6th-circle wide-area spell, Frozen Field.
Crack-crack.
The ground of stone and sand began to freeze over.
“Haa—”
The breath I exhaled became white mist and scattered.
Drip. Drip. Patter.
Cold rain fell steadily, dyeing the world.
Life force is being restored due to the trait ‘Blessing of Water’.
Enhanced vision and surging vitality.
A smile slipped out unconsciously.