The R■■d ■■■ to the Stage (■)
The Carnival King's domain is hidden.
As you already know, her domain is protected by four Forbidden Zones. With ordinary thods, you would not only fail to break through those zones, you would not even be able to find her domain.
Yes, that is correct.
It is impossible by normal ans, but you used thods that were anything but normal. You defeated her Jesters one by one.
Demon King of Lantation, Carpe Diem.
Praise Horn, Akut.
Lighthouse that Illuminates the Abyss, Ariel.
You brought down not only a Demon King who had lived for centuries, but also two Transcendents the Carnival King had hidden on the continent. Who could have imagined it? That a plan built over hundreds of years would crumble before a re twenty-year-old young man.
The Carnival King's Forbidden Zones were heavily damaged.
Those zones can no longer hide her domain.
And so, the Carnival King's revealed domain lies in the deepest part of the Outland. Whether you call it the deepest point or the farthest edge of the Outland is up to you. But most people call it this.
The land closest to the Abyss.
That is where the Carnival King's domain is. Yes, the place you are heading right now. Naturally, the road to the deepest part of the Outland is harsh. It would not be strange if a few soldiers vanished without a sound. Every endeavor demands sacrifice.
Ti passed without anything unusual.
At this rate, you would soon arrive at the Carnival King's sanctuary. The journey was smooth.
"..."
And you.
You looked back on the road you had walked so far.
Who are you?
'Najin.'
Yes, your na. It is only two syllables, "Najin," yet you carry many titles. Free Knight, Dawn Horn, descendant of the greatest knight, and more.
But when you think about it, it is strange.
Do not all your titles seem to exist for one opponent alone?
"rlin."
"Hm? Why?"
"Now that I think about it, doesn't sothing feel strange?"
"Strange? What does?"
You rubbed your chin.
"The Carnival King. It feels like every one of my stars fits the Carnival King too perfectly."
Yes, exactly.
It starts with the title of Free Knight. You saw the Carnival King mock the final monts of knights. You witnessed her insult their lives. That sight made you decide.
You would let knights be knights.
You would let them close their eyes as knights.
Was that not why you chose to beco a Free Knight? And when you think about it, it was not just Free Knight.
"Indomitable, Requiem, Banter..."
The stars you gained in the Outland were the sa. They were blades sharpened for one purpose only, to kill the Carnival King.
Your life points in a straight line toward the Carnival King. A true nesis. If your life is one story, then the one who will decorate its ending is bound to be the woman called the Carnival King.
'...The ending?'
You tilted your head.
Is there sothing strange about that?
'Why should my end be the Carnival King?'
Because she is your fated enemy.
'I have what cos next...'
Every one of your stories points to the Carnival King. You honed your life for her alone. Even against a demon with eleven stars, the weapon you hold is a threat.
An arrow is drawn on the bowstring.
All you have to do is fire it.
There is only one place that arrow should strike. The Carnival King's heart. You need no other target. Erase all else from your sight.
'Ah, yeah. Definitely.'
You felt nothing strange.
Your eyes, your ears, the tip of your blade, all only...
"Najin."
Clench.
"rlin?"
"Stay still."
rlin reached out and held Najin's face.
She covered Najin's ears with both palms. As if telling him to hear nothing, she kept his ears covered and pushed her face close to his.
Their eyes t.
They were close enough for their breaths to mingle.
In Najin's eyes, only rlin's blue eyes were reflected. A spirit body should not have had a scent, yet a sharp waterside fragrance rushed from rlin. It reminded him of a forest after rain.
"Look at ."
Only rlin's voice reached him. Her slender fingers tapped his face once, then again. Then rlin stepped one pace closer.
Then, softly.
She pressed her forehead to Najin's. With their foreheads touching, rlin spoke to him. She did not need words. Even without speaking, she could send her voice.
-Close your eyes.
He closed them.
-Breathe out.
He breathed out.
-Dive in. All the way to the deepest part of your Imagery.
rlin is suspicious. Doubt her. Her words are not always right. Najin did not listen to the noise filling his head. Doubting rlin was one thing that could never happen for him.
He followed her words.
With his eyes closed, Najin sank into his inner world.
2.
When he opened his closed eyes, he was in the underground city.
Najin stood in the underground city, Artman. The mont he entered, he noticed the change inside himself. Sothing was rippling from the city's outer edge.
Paint.
The Carnival King's paint was eating away at Artman's outskirts. Slowly chewing inward from the edge toward the center. Najin had seen a scene like this before.
"La Mancha."
The sa thing had happened in La Mancha of the Star of Mirth, Don Quixote. Najin frowned. Since when had this started? He steadied his breathing and tried to push the paint back, but it barely moved.
The paint had rooted itself in the deepest part of his Imagery.
It had not spread to the center yet, but at this rate it was only a matter of ti.
"Slowly."
At the pressure in his hand, Najin turned his head. rlin was there. She was gripping his hand tightly.
"Calm down first."
"rlin."
"Yeah."
"How did this happen?"
With her free hand, rlin wiped her face.
"I don't know the exact mont. I don't know when, or at what point, or how it took hold. What I do know is that this is a very carefully designed trap."
She clicked her tongue.
"As you know, Excalibur has resistance to Authorities related to ntal control and manipulation. It can resist even the Witch of the Abyss's mind control, so that says enough. But what is affecting right now..."
rlin's eyes narrowed.
"...is not magic that directly touches the mind."
"Pardon? What do you an...?"
"How should I explain this?"
She paused, then spoke.
"How we perceive things, how we interpret information, how we organize it and draw conclusions, all of that inevitably includes our own subjectivity. That is natural for humans."
"Right."
"The Carnival King is touching that part now. She is narrowing your field of view, narrowing the information, and guiding your judgnt in one direction."
rlin traced the air with her finger.
"And then one step further."
Swipe.
"If this world is a novel, she is tampering with the narration between lines of dialogue. Like moving ga pieces from outside the board."
"Is that possible?"
"It is. In a Star's Tomb."
Najin fell silent. A Star's Tomb, a space created by a star for itself. In that space, truly anything was possible. Even Ladon, once just another dragon, could beco a giant dragon on rlin's level.
"Then does this an we've already entered a tomb?"
"I don't know that either. I can't tell whether we entered a tomb, or whether this is possible because we stepped into the Carnival King's sphere of influence."
It was very rare for rlin to say she did not know. Najin's eyes narrowed further.
"No way."
"Yeah."
"Did you get caught too, rlin?"
rlin let out a long sigh.
"Until now, I existed only inside your Imagery, so affecting was impossible. But on the day you fought Mordred, I materialized."
"You did."
"And after that, I sotis stayed materialized by your side."
"You did."
"That was probably the problem. Most likely."
rlin bit her lip.
"It is impossible to toy with my True Body using this kind of Authority. The mana in my body and my resistance would crush it all. But... things are different now, when I only have a spirit body."
A spirit body with output limited to the sa level as Najin.
And a spirit body defenseless against outside stimulus.
"That doesn't an I'm weak enough to be caught easily, but it looks like both of us made the sa mistake."
They misjudged the Carnival King's level. They failed to grasp how far she could go. In one sense, it was arrogance and carelessness.
...Even that could have been guided.
There was no way to know from which point the Carnival King had started interfering. Najin clenched his teeth.
"What should we do?"
"The mont we go back outside, both of us will fall into that trap again. Our thoughts will be pushed in a specific direction."
"..."
"She is extrely subtle. She is widening her influence from tiny details, bending the flow of thought without us noticing."
rlin moved her finger.
A finely detailed magic circle appeared in midair.
"As an archmage, I can say this for sure. This is not easy even for soone at my level. It demands extre concentration, and if even one part slips, the whole thing collapses. It is a very delicate operation."
Dozens, hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of gears shed and turned. It was a precarious magic circle, as if the entire structure would collapse if even one gear opened a gap.
"A small gap."
Tap. rlin touched the magic circle. One gear slid forward by a handspan, opening a tiny gap. From that gap, the circle began to creak and turn slowly.
"We need to widen a gap sohow."
"And then?"
"We force our way in. Through that gap."
Najin did not ask, Can we do it?
It was sothing they had to do.
Najin nodded and steadied his breathing. While the Carnival King's paint slowly expanded, Najin planted his feet hard on the ground so he would not be swept away.
When he opened his once-closed eyes.
His vision began to flip again.
It felt like fireworks were exploding in his head. Vivid sparks burst upward. Was this what it would feel like if soone opened your skull and poured paint inside? The color of the sky, the color of the earth, the texture of the ground under his feet, the weight of the air, its density, its temperature, all of it tangled together in chaos.
And then.
You open your eyes.
3.
You took a brief mont to steady your breathing and organize your thoughts. You must have been tense. After collecting your thoughts, you confird that your resolve had not wavered.
Strong resolve.
Unshakable certainty.
For a Transcendent, nothing is more important. You are still certain. Now then, the road ahead is long. You must quicken your steps.
"..."
You said nothing.
Your expression is strange.
Is sothing bothering you?
"rlin."
"Yeah."
"You can hear , right?"
"I can."
...
"This isn't easy. My head is spinning. I can barely tell what's what."
"Looks that way."
"Am I walking? I am, right?"
"Yeah."
"What about my hand?"
"You're holding a sword."
"Good."
You open your eyes.
"You don't need to open them. I'll see for you."
"Yes, rlin."
You open your eyes. The voice in your ears is false. You are receiving information distorted by the Carnival King. Everything is false. Open your eyes and face reality.
You must face reality.
Open your eyes.
"rlin."
"I'm listening."
You hear nothing at all.
"I can hardly hear you."
"..."
"You are holding my hand, right?"
Squeeze.
"Where are we?"
...Haa.
Yes, understood.
Like that.
Ti passed. Najin walked, and walked again.
Sothing led him on. With his eyes closed, Najin moved in the direction his hand guided him. The sensation felt wrong. He should have been holding rlin's thin white hand, but his palm stung as if burned by fire. He could feel his skin searing.
He ignored it. Ignored it and kept walking.
Then, at so point.
Everything returned to normal.
The sounds at his ears faded away. The feeling in his hand returned to normal. Then soone cupped Najin's cheek. Najin slowly opened his closed eyes.
The curtain cast by the Carnival King had lifted.
And what entered Najin's sight was a vast wilderness stretching far into the distance. Najin turned around. Behind him, Imperial soldiers lay collapsed on the ground.
They were not dead.
Every one of them was asleep. It was right as Najin drew Excalibur and took his stance.
"Your eyes."
rlin, standing beside Najin, smiled.
"They're open now?"
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