We arrived beneath the Imperial Capital.
The request Adwin had made during the second trial was being faithfully upheld.
“Feels empty.”
There wasn’t a single sign of life anywhere in this vast expanse of land.
It was probably a rare experience I would never have again in my lifeti.
But compared to what awaited us next, it was nothing but paltry.
I steadied myself and spoke.
“Before we enter the special room, there is one thing we should sort out.”
“Yes. Go ahead.”
“Objectively speaking, our combat power overwhelmingly surpasses theirs. We don’t know whether Kaeld or Aktion ended up taking control of that body, but…….”
“Kaeld isn’t even worth ntioning, and even if it’s Aktion, there is nothing to fear.”
“Right. There’s only one unsettling factor.”
Offense spoke.
“The unknown existence.”
“…….”
“Huh? Is it not?”
“No. You are right. I was just wondering again what that thing really is.”
Adwin nodded.
“Co to think of it, Bion unni said this, right. That you thought the unknown existence wasn’t the Law.”
“Yeah. Just like back then, I still think the sa now.”
“…….”
“The Law, how should I put it, feels like a neutral existence that just observes without caring who prospers or who falls. Sothing like that wouldn’t have will or ego to begin with.”
“That’s true. Then what do you think that thing really is?”
“That’s the problem.”
I let out a sigh and brought up the screen window.
“Bion. Got a mont?”
“Everything okay?”
“Huh? What is it?”
That Demon King chatting away.
I couldn’t imagine it at all.
It seed Bion had set the screen window to be visible to everyone, because Serein spoke with a sly smile.
“I know exactly how that feels. Like watching people rolling around in a flower field.”
“Are you saying that so I can hear it?”
“Yes. Neril. You caught on perfectly.”
“Enough. Anyway, Mide, this is what you were going to say, right? That you want to see the secret related to that existence’s identity.”
As expected, Neril was sharp.
Bion had told us every secret in the world, except for one thing.
The one thing she couldn’t tell us was about the being that was trying to interfere with this world.
“Yeah. For now, it’s certain that it’s not the Law. Then what on earth is it?”
“A pretty useless ability, then.”
“Thinking about it, why can’t it see? What’s lacking?”
Bion seed to ponder for a mont, not answering right away.
Soon after, new words appeared.
“……That makes sense. Then is there no way?”
“You said it yourself. That thing might have already interfered at so point during our journey.”
We had deliberately failed once and gone back seven years to avoid its interference.
By estimation, when we went back 230,000 years, it probably couldn’t interfere for around ten thousand years.
With just seven years, how much interference had we really avoided?
There was no guarantee the ratio would be the sa as with the 230,000-year regression, so there was no way to know for sure.
But my intuition told …
“A few hours…… no, maybe only a few minutes.”
“Not completely. If it had been able to interfere from the mont we regressed, I might never have t Trail.”
“Honestly, like you said, its identity isn’t that important. What I’m curious about is how, and in what way, it interfered.”
Bion hesitated briefly, then began writing.
“A lot of negative energy, right? Even if Idria pushes herself, it will be tough for now.”
“Huh? Why?”
Did I say that?
Neril snorted softly.
Even without saying it, it was obvious she was thinking, ‘That’s so like Mide.’
Xenia clapped her hands.
“Got it. So you need fa, right?”
“…….”
Bion continued.
“You would be able to see secrets even humanity 230,000 years ago didn’t know.”
“Then while we are speculating, give one more. How much more fa would be needed?”
That was only natural.
Since everything was based on speculation anyway, it was an impossible area to calculate.
“Then I will just pick a number. Let’s say 50 million.”
“Let’s say that once it goes past 50 million, we can learn even the secrets of the being that’s been tornting us.”
“My intuition has never been wrong. I have got a feeling 50 million will do it.”
Offense spoke.
“But if it’s 50 million, doesn’t that basically an it’s impossible? You are already considered dead, after all.”
“True. And you said last ti, during the second trial, that raising fa then would be the last chance. I even had the intuition back then that ‘this is the last one.’”
“Then…….”
“Well, nothing we can do.”
I looked up at the sky.
“It’s a bit unsettling, but if we wrap this up properly, it won’t matter anyway.”
“…….”
“Anyway, I rambled on too long. Just keep what I said in mind.”
Before we realized it, we were standing right in front of the special room.
Bion spoke.
“Did you get her permission?”
“Forget it. We are starting.”
I grabbed the handle of the special room door, turning it as I spoke to my party.
“Then let’s go in. To end everything.”
Click.
The special room door opened far too easily.
Stepping inside, I said,
“Looks like Kaeld won.”
“Huh?”
“The special room door would have been locked by Aktion originally, but it’s open now. He must have been killed by Kaeld.”
“Can you really tell just from that? It could also be because you have beco far stronger than Aktion, Mide.”
“No. It didn’t feel like it was forced open.”
Everyone looked surprised.
“Kaeld beat Aktion…….”
“Well, he did win last ti too, when we ca to kidnap Velosian.”
“That was thanks to Mide hyung’s wholehearted cheering.”
“So even after ssing up once 230,000 years ago, he still manages sothing.”
“That doesn’t really have anything to do with it.”
“Well… still, it feels right that our final fight is with Kaeld.”
I wholeheartedly agreed with Lisel’s last words.
It wasn’t that there was little bad blood with Aktion.
He had invaded our world, after all, and colluded with Velosian to wreak quite a bit of havoc.
Even so, he couldn’t compare to Kaeld.
‘He was the beginning of everything.’
I scratched my head and said,
“First problem is finding where Kaeld is inside this enormous world.”
“Yes. Got it. Mi.”
I hadn’t even said anything yet.
Soon, Mi appeared on Lisel’s shoulder.
“My king. Where have you been all this ti?”
Lisel tilted her head, then said,
“Ah. Looks like Bion didn’t call you. But Mi is one of our party mbers too.”
“By that logic, she couldn’t call Agril either. With so little negative energy left, it must have been a burden to increase our numbers.”
“True enough.”
“If you want, ask Bion later. Tell her to call Mi too.”
“Huh? Is that okay?”
“As you said, he is part of the party. He has the right to hear everything, before and after we make you a complete human.”
Idria could pile up a massive amount of negative energy in the lab, and with the help of the countless devices there and Bion’s knowledge, it wouldn’t be difficult.
Making Lisel a complete human.
Mi asked in great shock.
“You. Have you found a thod?”
“More importantly, could you find Kaeld for ? He should be sowhere in the special room.”
“Answer the question…….”
“Please find him, Mr. Mi.”
“Yes. Of course, my king.”
At this point, if that pattern didn’t co out, I would almost feel disappointed.
Mi flew up into the sky.
Neril also activated a simple detection spell.
With the two of them working together, it didn’t take long to pinpoint the location.
The one who found him was Mi.
“About 400 kiloters straight ahead in that direction, there is a massive rock. He is leaning against it.”
“Thanks.”
“But there was filth all around him.”
“Sounds fitting for him.”
“Looks like he kept alternating between vomiting and soiling himself. I don’t know why, but it seems he went through considerable suffering.”
There must have been a fierce battle with Aktion over ownership of the body.
Offense asked.
“What about the surrounding terrain?”
“There were so trees, for one…… wait a mont. I will describe it in detail.”
“That’s enough. That’s plenty.”
The next instant.
We were sucked into our own shadows.
When I ca to again, Kaeld was visible about 200 ters ahead.
Adwin said with a startled expression.
“Did we move 400 kiloters in one go? Last ti, we moved in segnts of a few kiloters at a ti.”
“What? that’s nothing. There is soone who plays with underworld bubbles like pebbles.”
“Heh heh.”
“……No coback?”
“I’m kind of sick of it now.”
For a mont, we all stared at Adwin in shock.
“W-What? Why?”
“If it weren’t for the situation, I would feel like tossing you up in the air first.”
“…….”
“I will really do it later. ……After we kill that guy.”
Neril stared at Kaeld with cold eyes.
He was leaning against the rock with his eyes closed.
Was he asleep?
Should I just cut his throat instead of waiting for him to wake up?
“With my current fa, I probably don’t even need to close the distance.”
Thinking that, I brought my hand to my sword.
That was when it happened.
Flash.
Unfortunately, he opened his eyes.
“So you woke up. Well, it doesn’t matter. Even awake, you won’t be able to avoid it.”
I was about to swing my sword.
But before that, Kaeld’s mouth opened.
“Mide Mohan…….”
Huh? Sothing feels off.
That guy doesn’t seem like Kaeld.
“Are you Aktion, by any chance?”
The party mbers looked at as if asking what I was talking about.
“You said the door wasn’t locked.”
“That’s right. But that guy seems to be Aktion.”
“If Mide says so, it can’t be wrong, but…….”
That was when…
“Heh heh. All the main figures of the lab gathered in one place.”
Those words startled more than a little.
Aktion was closer to the secrets of the world than anyone else aside from us, but even so, it didn’t seem like he should be casually using the word “lab.”
I narrowed my eyes.
“Who did you hear that from?”
“The Primordial Demon King.”
“The Primordial Demon King?”
“The one who sent you back 230,000 years. A crystallized mass of negative energies born from a civilization different from humanity. That is its true identity. It calls itself the Primordial Demon King.”
I swallowed.
I had unintentionally learned its identity, but I didn’t feel even a little happy.
What I was truly curious about wasn’t its identity, but its sche.
Neril asked with a cautious expression.
“Then why are you telling us all that so readily? We appreciate it, but…”
“Hearing its identity won’t do you any good anyway.”
“……?”
“It is trying to make one last gamble using Kaeld, and that will definitely work.”
At those words, Lisel spoke up.
“On what basis are you saying that?”
Stagger.
He struggled to rise to his feet.
He walked toward us, squelching across the ground sared with vomit and filth.
“I heard you regressed seven years to avoid the Primordial Demon King’s interference. Of course, that idea was correct, but the period during which you avoided his interference was extrely short.”
That was sothing I had been worried about myself for a while now.
I swallowed and asked.
“When did it start interfering in our journey? And how did it interfere?”
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