Being 8 stars was not enough.
This was sothing Peran had realised in the previous battle.
He needed to be strong.
Much stronger than he was now.
9 stars.
To play his part in the fight against Diablo, he would need to make that distant state his own.
So Peran went to visit Lukas.
Although he wasn’t sure how it happened, last ti, he had appeared as ‘Frey Blake’ and completely overpowered Diablo with nothing but his magical skills.
That scene had been embedded into the deepest part of Peran’s mind.
“Do you know how to reach 9 stars?”
“I do.”
He couldn’t help but freeze slightly when he heard the prompt response.
Lukas, on the other hand, had a calm expression.
…It was a strange feeling. Not so long ago, Lukas seed a lot more complex. It felt like he had troubles that he didn’t know how to deal with and that he couldn’t share with him.
But now, he felt carefree.
It seed that he’d co to a conclusion. That was a good thing, and it was sothing he should be happy about.
But, for so reason, Peran felt conflicted instead.
‘I’m being too sensitive.’
Peran shook his head.
“Can you teach ?”
“There is no need to rush. You’re moving quickly enough. It’s almost impossible to reach your level at your age.”
“…I know that.”
Others might mistake it as arrogance, but Peran nodded as if it was natural.
At the very least, he didn’t need to act humble in front of Lukas.
“However, in the current situation, I will just be dead weight in future battles.”
“There is no other Wizard in our camp other than you. Besides, you were able to use spells even while enduring Diablo’s pressure, which caused even him to feel threatened by you.”
“There’s you.”
Lukas smiled at those words.
“I can’t now.”
Peran felt his heart sink.
It felt like the strange feeling he’d been having for a while was finally being materialised.
“Did sothing happen?”
“Why?”
“…you just feel… a bit strange.”
He couldn’t say more than that because it was nothing more than a feeling.
Lukas looked at Peran with a mysterious glint in his eyes, but he simply nodded.
“Nothing happened. I’m fine.”
“But…”
Just as Peran was about to say more, the door opened with a click and the Great dium walked in.
“Am I interrupting?”
“No. It’s fine.”
Lukas answered first before asking.
“What is it?”
“Iris and Anastasia have returned.”
“They ca back so quickly?”
“They ca without even going for the Grand Master, Ivan. It seems they want to talk about the tremors that happened not so long ago.”
Looking at the Great dium’s expression, it was clear that it was a serious situation.
Peran got up first and started walking out of the room. Lukas didn’t move.
“Lukas?”
“You go and co back.”
“What about you?”
“There’s sothing I have to do.”
“But this is important…”
“Peran.”
It was the Great dium, not Lukas, that interrupted him in a soft tone.
She shook her head gently at him.
“Leave him be for now.”
“…”
A lot of words were stuck in his throat, but none of them ca out of his mouth. Instead, after hesitating for a mont, Peran nodded.
“Understood. I’ll be right back.”
“Right.”
Peran left the room and Lukas’ gaze t the Great dium’s.
“Do you intend to entrust everything to him?”
As expected, she was quick to notice.
Since there was no point in hiding it, Lukas nodded.
“…I know about Peran’s talent. But he is too young.”
“That’s why I’m looking forward to it even more. Aren’t you curious about where Peran could reach in 10 years?”
“…”
The Great dium didn’t know what to say.
For the first ti, she felt greatly conflicted.
She wondered if it was really a good idea. To remain silent after witnessing all of those tragedies.
“…if it’s Peran, he might be able to replace .”
In the end, the Great dium had no choice but to leave the room without responding to those words.
Click.
The door was closed and Lukas was once again left alone in the room.
Now then. What should he do?
Should he write a note for the future? A note that would give Peran hope if he lost his way or beca frustrated.
No. When Diablo died, everything he wrote would disappear with him.
It would certainly be different from a normal death.
It would probably be so lonely, to die without leaving any trace of his existence.
It was at that mont.
[When I first saw you.]
A voice sounded without warning.
Who was it? Lukas looked around but he couldn’t see or feel the presence of another person.
Nevertheless, the voice felt like a whisper in his ears.
After a while, Lukas was finally able to identify the source of the voice.
—The Box.
The faint voice had co from the black box.
Of course, it no longer had the shape of a box. Instead, it looked like the abandoned shell of an insect. The smooth lustre had beco dry and the straight sides had beco wrinkled.
[I saw a possibility.]
“…”
Lukas knew who this voice belonged to.
[You have lost everything. Lukas Trowman.]
God’s voice was weak and light as if it would fade away at any mont.
Lukas looked around.
In the past, whenever God appeared, he would completely freeze ti and space. It was a power that only he had, sothing that Absolutes were not capable of. (TL: Didn’t the Lightning God do it too?)
But that wasn’t the case now.
He could still feel the flow of air. He could still hear the sound of footsteps outside the door. And he could still see dust particles floating in the moonlight.
Ti wasn’t frozen.
“Not everything. But it’s accurate to say most things.”
[Kuku.]
It was a pleasant laugh.
Lukas couldn’t help but ask.
“What’s your condition now?”
[…]
“I heard it from the Great dium. She said your presence was faint. And just a mont ago, a spatial tremor strong enough to shake the entire world occurred.”
[Indeed, Lukas Trowman, your senses, and eyes have not deteriorated in the slightest.]
“Don’t dodge my question, give a straight answer. What the hell happened to you? What is happening in the multiverse?”
God didn’t answer and there was silence for a long ti.
The room was quiet.
Just when Lukas was beginning to wonder if the connection had been broken.
[Do you not resent ?]
God asked a question out of nowhere.
[So ti has passed since your return. You must have felt bitter this entire ti. All of your achievents, all of your experiences, everything you’ve built, all of them disappeared.]
“I did feel it.”
[Despair?]
“Yes. Enough that I felt like I was drowning.”
And he’d struggled with pain and sorrow.
An unprecedented pain that he had never felt in his entire life had gnawed at his entire body.
“I resented you. I hated you and cursed you.”
Ironically, there was no sign of resentnt in Lukas’ voice.
“But the Great dium explained it to . You weren’t being malicious, it was just a law you had created.”
[So you accepted it?]
“I complied. Because I no longer have the ability to change anything.”
God chuckled.
[I don’t feel any agitation in your voice. Whatever it is you experienced, you have once again overco it and found your answer.]
“…”
[I don’t have any feeling of guilt. However, when I look at you… Right. I feel a bit sad.]
“You shouldn’t be sympathetic. It’s worse than your sarcasm.”
[This isn’t sympathy. It’s atonent.]
At that mont, Lukas felt an eerie sensation like his entire body was sinking. Like he was sinking in the sea with a heavyweight attached to his body, and he didn’t have the strength to swim up. He couldn’t even make a sound.
God’s voice sounded in his ears once again.
[As I expected, you need to disappear completely, Lukas Trowman.]
Imdiately after those words, Lukas vision flipped.
* * *
“Spatial vibration.”
The mont everyone entered the room, Iris opened her mouth.
“It’s my first ti hearing about that.”
“That’s right. It’s a term I just made up.”
Iris spoke in her characteristic, calm voice.
“I just received reports from my subordinates scattered across the continent. Approximately 2 hours ago, they all felt an earthquake that lasted for 5 minutes.”
“That is a geological impossibility.”
Anastasia spoke up.
“If an earthquake were to occur on a continental scale, the effects would be catastrophic. The ground would split open and the ocean would overflow…”
“…are you saying compared to the magnitude of the earthquake, the damage is too small?”
“It wasn’t small, it was nonexistent.”
When they heard Iris’ words, everyone’s expressions beca serious.
“That’s why I called it a ‘space vibration’.”
“That makes it sound like it wasn’t the ground, but space itself that was shaking. But clearly… Lady Iris is an expert in this field so I won’t question it more.”
Peran ekly nodded at her opinion.
“The spatial vibration might have sothing to do with Diablo.”
“On what basis?”
“There is none. To put it simply, I’m assuming because of the timing and my gut feeling.”
He wasn’t sure about the feeling part, but Peran could agree with the timing.
The earthquake had occurred about a day after Diablo had disappeared. No, the space vibration.
It was too coincidental to dismiss as pure coincidence.
“Ah. There is another thing. Imdiately after the spatial vibration occurred, I could sense Diablo’s presence once again. I’m certain that he wasn’t in our world before the spatial vibration ended.”
Of course, they weren’t entirely sure where Diablo had been hiding.
The most likely option was the Demon World, but… they couldn’t be entirely sure about that either. In truth, there had been several cases where Diablo’s presence had disappeared from the continent. Iris had gone to the Demon World during one of those incidents, but she couldn’t find him there either.
In other words, it was possible that Diablo knew about a world that Iris didn’t, and he also had the ans to enter it.
“Sothing is obviously going on. I think that things will only get worse for us as ti goes on, so I intend to fight him as soon as Snow wakes up.”
“When do you think Lady Snow will wake up?”
“I can’t be sure, but it would at least take a week. Perhaps even two or three weeks.”
“I see. How is her condition?”
“…”
Iris and Anastasia fell silent at the sa ti.
“Lady Anastasia?”
“There will be so aftereffects.”
“By aftereffects…”
“She won’t be able to hold a sword properly.”
Peran shuddered.
“That… is rehabilitation… impossible?”
“It is possible, but it will take a long ti. However, you should know better than anyone else. What Snow will be like when she wakes up.”
“…”
She would probably grab a sword regardless of her physical condition.
Peran had a complicated expression.
He had the desire to stop her, but would Snow listen to him? And what if he did manage to stop her?
If they fought Diablo without Snow, their chances of winning were less than half. Even if she was weakened, she was still the greatest Swordsman on the continent.
“Firstly, we’ll need to convince Ivan. And Jekid, even though he’s retired. If we can get his cooperation, we wouldn’t have to overwork Snow.”
“…I… see.”
Peran nodded his head reluctantly. He understood. Of course, he still wasn’t alright with Snow joining them, but he understood.
It was then.
The Great dium, who had been silent this entire ti, finally opened her mouth.
“I have sothing to tell you.”
There was a hint of determination in her voice.
“Is it about Diablo?”
“No.”
“If it’s not important, we can put it off till later. For now, we are too pressed for ti to discuss the future.”
“It is important.”
…She didn’t know if it was right to talk about it here. Or what the consequences of doing that would be.
She also didn’t know if it would help Lukas or not. After all, he seed to have already accepted his fate.
So this might just be for her own self satisfaction.
‘Even so…’
Even if it was just an act of self satisfaction, she felt that it would be wrong to keep her mouth shut when she knew everything.
It was like telling Lukas about his own disappearance upon Diablo’s death.
Peran, Nix, Anastasia, and Iris.
Those who were here deserved to know.
At least by knowing the truth, they would be able to make their own decisions.
“…to believe or not is up to you. But I would like to tell you about that man nad Lukas Trowman.”
Iris and Anastasia made puzzled expressions at that mont.
This was an expected response. After all, those two had completely forgotten everything.
On the other hand, Peran and Nix’s expressions beca strange.
Looking at all of them, the Great dium thought.
“From now on, I’ll tell you everything I know.”
Perhaps this was also her role.
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