Chapter 198
Chapter 198
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 198
>Chapter Title: That, I Agree
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Was it because the barrier had weakened, allowing the abundant natural energy to flow freely? The spirits could now peer into the future with greater clarity.
It wasn't quite on the level of Bahamut's prime in the past, but glimpsing the near future they sought posed no significant challenge.
The scene unfolding in the spirits' minds.
The Savior was running.
After shattering the fourth barrier stone, he charged toward Bahamut with four Infernals hot on his tail.
- Damn it, what do I do?
The Savior muttered to himself as he glanced back. His face was etched with utter distress.
Smashing the barrier had gone smoothly enough, but he hadn't dealt with the pursuing Infernals.
He'd hoped that destroying all the barrier stones might cause the purposeless Infernals to shut down, but that was a vain wish.
Here, the Savior faced a choice.
Stand and fight, or keep fleeing.
In truth, there were no real options.
No matter how vast Bahamut was, it was still a finite space. If he kept rampaging through the ruins like this, the entire structure could collapse.
Thus, fighting was the only answer... but...
The path the Savior chose was neither.
- You, go on without me now.
- Go? Me go?
- Yeah, you've got your freedom. Get lost. Don't stick your nose in.
The Savior said this to the spirit trailing him, then abruptly veered off without waiting for a reply.
But the spirit couldn't easily leave the Savior's side.
Unable to act decisively either way, the spirit hesitated before speaking up.
- Me, me curious.
- Shoot, make it quick.
- Why me Wyvern?
- What nonsense is that?
- Saw it. Future before. Friend, contract with me. But my name Wyvern.
In the previous future glimpsed, he and the Savior had formed a contract. The question was why the Savior had named him 'Wyvern' back then.
It was an ill-timed remark.
And one the Savior found tricky to answer.
What the spirit had seen was merely a future, and the one who'd named him 'Wyvern' was the Savior of that future, not the present.
Earlier, the spirit had approached the Savior under the guise of 'personal curiosity' partly to satisfy this very itch.
But.
The spirit's question now wasn't purely out of personal curiosity.
No, it was because...
The Savior's eyes held an inexplicable unease.
He looked like someone who'd steeled himself for something.
The spirit didn't know what that resolve entailed, but the intent was to buy even a little time. ...Of course, stalling wouldn't change a thing, but it was the best an immature spirit could manage.
It didn't take long for the Savior to respond.
- Did I do that?
- You did.
- Huh. Well, then, no special reason. I just hate wyverns.
- ...You hated me?
The Savior let out a wry chuckle and shook his head. As if to say no. He opened his mouth to explain further, but...
Boom!
The moment they burst through a massive wall into a new chamber, the waiting spirit realized time was up.
The new space was a vast cavern.
A battlefield littered with traces of combat.
In it stood a familiar Infernal, a boy, and an elderly mage.
The boy was dodging the Infernal's attacks with half-lidded eyes when he spotted the Savior.
- Friend.
A feeble voice. But his face lit up.
As if drawing strength from somewhere, he erected a massive ice barrier to fend off the Infernal and greeted the Savior. The Savior glanced at the boy and waved.
Almost like bidding farewell.
- Fri...end?
Right then, the Savior lunged at the Infernal the boy had been fighting, swinging his fist.
...Boom!
A resounding crash echoed. It wasn't particularly powerful. Barely a graze, really. But that didn't matter.
His goal from the start had been to draw the Infernal's attention.
And it worked.
Grgrgr—!
The Infernal twisted toward the Savior.
- Damian, see you later.
- What're you doing?
- Hang back. I've found a way to take them all out at once.
A lie.
There was no such method.
But the boy, unaware, nodded with an 'aha!' as if his earlier anxiety had vanished. Anyone would have believed him.
The Savior's expression was that of someone who'd truly found a solution.
- Then get clear.
- No! Let me he...
- Tsk, you're in the way.
The Savior drew the Infernal's focus, then fended off the four trailing Infernals to buy a moment's time.
Once the boy had fully retreated from the arena.
The Savior ran.
As far as possible.
Away from his companions.
...The Savior had resolved to face the five Infernals alone.
When he'd put enough distance between them.
The Savior halted and flashed a grin.
- Hey, you still not going?
- Me, I...
- Whatever. But you know how to kill the ones that won't die, right?
- N-no.
The Savior eyed the approaching Infernals and smirked. He cracked his neck and said,
- If they won't die...
- If they won't die?
- ...Just beat 'em till they do.
A primal approach, bypassing the brain entirely.
That's when the Savior kicked off and leaped skyward.
His body soared high into the air. When his view allowed him to look down on the Infernals, a sphere of condensed lightning crackled at his fingertips.
- First, one shot.
Kwaaaaang—!
The blast and spreading shockwave heralded the battle's start.
...And through their future sight, the spirits witnessed every moment without missing a beat.
The duration didn't matter.
This was all unfolding in their minds. No matter how much time passed there, in reality, it would be but an instant.
When the battle finally concluded.
[...Ah.]
The spirits let out gasps.
A grueling fight spanning a full day.
The Savior confronted the Infernals with strength even the spirits could scarcely believe.
Each time light flared from his hands, their massive frames shuddered, lightning ravaged them. His form blinked in and out of existence.
- Damn, friend. Me Wyvern.
The spirit declared itself Wyvern.
And through their contract, lent what meager power it could to the Savior.
An astonishing courage transcending primal fear.
Something only an ancient spirit, sentient for millennia, could muster.
But no miracle occurred.
- Wyvern... going.
The spirit met its end in oblivion.
Soon after, the Infernals fell one by one... until the final fifth went still.
- ...Cough.
Amid the ruins, the Savior closed his eyes.
And that... was it.
* * *
Having witnessed it all, the spirits did not release their future sight.
They were awed by the Savior's prowess, yes, but more importantly, no proper solution had emerged.
It was a brutal reality they wanted no part of, yet they had to maintain the vision until an answer surfaced.
- ...Friend?
Shortly after the Savior collapsed, the boy approached. Trailing him were the elderly spirit summoner and the brown-haired youth.
Seeing the fallen Savior, they refused to accept it, their eyes trembling faintly.
As the future flowed on.
[...A way. None?]
The spirits began deliberating.
[A way... there is. Hit. Smash.]
[That's a way?]
[It is. But Savior dies.]
No consensus formed.
Understandably so—the Savior's method of felling the Infernals was hardly a method at all.
So, what then?
Let the foreseen future play out? Watch the Savior die helplessly?
The spirits fell into turmoil.
Ripples of agitation stirred their serene mindscape.
As the vision wavered on the brink of shattering...
The eldest spirit, who had silently observed, finally spoke.
[Strange.]
[Strange? What?]
The spirits voiced doubts at the eldest's words.
This spirit rarely spoke, but once it had been the mental pillar supporting all spirits.
The one who followed the first Bahamut's master, possessing supreme stature over the multitude.
Though diminished now, no wiser being sat among them.
As they leaned in...
The eldest spoke again.
[What were we doing?]
[...Us?]
[This future. No us.]
[...?]
Still cryptic.
No us in this future?
But the eldest's next words made the oddity clear.
[We resolved. To help. Yet do nothing. Strange.]
In other words... if this were the true future, it should show them aiding the Savior and his group. Yet there was no sign.
[Right. Strange.]
[Why strange?]
[Stupid one, out.]
[Me smart.]
Deeper confusion spread among them.
Incomprehensible.
Why did their future selves do nothing? Had they all fled upon gaining freedom?
But then.
[One possibility.]
[...Possibility?]
They quieted at the eldest's words, listening intently.
This time, even the eldest paused, the topic complex, followed by a long silence.
How much time passed?
The eldest spoke.
[Future... could be imprecise.]
[...?]
Brief silence.
Then uproar.
[Impossible!]
[Never wrong.]
[Future accurate.]
Unbelievable.
Bahamut's future sight had never once erred before. To claim it now showed a false future?
But the eldest refuted them.
[No. Wrong many times.]
[...?]
[Hard to explain. Just many.]
Explanation was tough, but the eldest remembered.
Through long history, the ire of past Bahamut masters when future sight fell short.
And the dozens, hundreds of summoners who researched to compensate.
Spirits indifferent to humans might miss it, but the eldest had seen it all—moments others glossed over, etched in memory.
And above all.
'Not just this time.'
Yes.
The first Savior future they'd seen was odd too, in hindsight.
He should have come alone, yet arrived with three companions.
Their 'observation' and summoning might have altered it, but lingering doubt remained.
Then.
[But that's guess. Not certain.]
A doubting voice at the eldest's words.
The eldest calmly agreed.
[Yes, guess.]
Indeed, mere conjecture.
But.
[A way.]
[A way?]
At the curiosity-laden query, the eldest paused, then replied.
[See future again. Then know.]
[...Ah.]
In essence.
If the prior future was accurate... viewing again wouldn't change its frame much.
Observation alters fate inevitably, but not drastically.
Thus.
[We see again.]
...For the Savior's sake, the spirits peered into the future once more.