They walked aimlessly through the pure white space.
Residue was starting to get confused about whether this place was another world, the interior of the tree, or inside the mind of Destruction.
“Hoo.”
Sytra let out a sigh with a tired expression.
“It’s endless. How long have we been walking?”
“How would I count that?”
“…It seems like we’ve been walking for a full hour.”
“Hmm.”
“You don’t think we’re already trapped, do you?”
She cautiously voiced her opinion.
It would have been fine if she had stopped there, but she then shot Residue a glare as if blaming him, which was rather insolent.
Without a word, he snapped his fingers.
Crackle-
“Kyahhh!”
A sharp scream rang out.
Residue nodded in satisfaction, using it as background music.
“It seems we’re trapped after all.”
“Huu… What?”
“This is a place that’s difficult to escape from by ourselves. I don’t know exactly how such a space exists inside Destruction’s body, but either way, it must belong to a realm that cannot be understood through the common sense and knowledge of our world.”
“What do you an…?”
“It’s simple. Understand what you can, and don’t bother trying to understand what you can’t.”
That suited him just fine.
Residue had no desire to seek the source of knowledge or an obsessive need to uncover every unknown mystery. He lacked the tenacity and perseverance for such things, nor did he want to have them.
When he snapped his fingers again, crackling lightning streaked outward in all directions.
“Kyah…”
Sytra, who had instinctively opened her mouth to scream, quickly shut it. She realized that the electricity wasn’t directed at her.
Residue cast her a cold look.
“Did you, by any chance, learn how to fake pain?”
“N-no, I did not.”
"Not true my foot. I just saw it with my own two eyes."
“…It was just a reflex.”
“……”
A reflex, my ass. He hadn’t even done it that many tis.
Ignoring Sytra’s flustered excuse, Residue turned his gaze to the direction the lightning had flowed. He closed his eyes and listened carefully, even placing his hand on the ground or whatever it should be called.
Then, he nodded.
“As I thought. This space has no end.”
“What do you an?”
“The lightning I sent to map the terrain hasn’t returned. In fact, it has even gone beyond my sensing range. Hmm. Perhaps…”
Residue muttered in a low voice.
“We might have entered that infamous ‘Outside’.”
*
They continued walking for an entire day.
It was more than enough ti for Sytra’s heart to grow unbearably heavy. Could they really afford to waste ti like this? It wasn’t as if they were unaware of what was happening outside.
Unable to suppress her frustration, she voiced her thoughts, to which Residue grinned and said,
“You’re wrong.”
“…What?”
“From an objective perspective, this place is actually the ‘Outside’, and the place we ca from is the ‘Inside’. That is, of course, assuming this really is Destruction’s holand. Hahaha.”
Residue corrected such an ultimately trivial fact and laughed cheerfully.
“This isn’t the ti for nonsense like that.”
“You seem impatient.”
“The situation calls for it.”
“There’s no need. Based on my analysis, ti must flow differently in this place as well.”
“…Are you saying that a day or even a year here could be just a fleeting mont outside…?”
“Or it could be the opposite. Kukukuk.”
Then when they get out, everything will already be over!
Sytra wanted to grab Residue by the collar and shout that, but she held back. Unfortunately, the man before her was the type who would punish such rudeness with a beaming smile.
Unlike her, whose insides were boiling with frustration, Residue remained relaxed.
In a way, he almost seed enlightened.
One day, two days, four days…
By the ti about a week had passed, even Sytra had adopted a similar attitude to Residue though not by choice.
And then, after another three days had passed…
“Are we really just going to be okay like this?”
Sytra’s voice had taken on a deeply serious tone.
Residue still wasn’t impatient, but his expression no longer showed any composure.
“It seems I was mistaken. We’re dood. We’ll be trapped here for the rest of our lives, wandering endlessly until we’re eventually absorbed by Destruction. It was a life full of regrets. Hoo…”
As Sytra’s expression hardened, Residue casually added,
“I was joking.”
“…This isn’t the ti for that.”
“True enough.”
Nodding, he suddenly plopped down on the spot.
Then, he crossed his legs into a ditation posture and even closed his eyes.
“……”
There was an oddly sacred aura in his sudden ditative stance, making him look entirely different from when he was just teasing monts ago.
However, Sytra did not find the sight moving in the least.
“What are you doing?”
“I still haven’t fully mastered my own power. And now, we’ve arrived in a space where ti flows independently. I see this as an opportunity.”
“You’re not seriously planning to train here, are you?”
“I am.”
It was such nonsense that not even a sigh could escape.
Sytra looked at Residue in disbelief.
“But you said there’s no guarantee that ti flows slower here than outside. In fact, it could be the opposite…”
“That’s right.”
“Then how can you afford to act so relaxed?”
Residue opened one eye and spoke in an annoyed tone.
“You still think like a lowly fool. The title ‘Lord of the Hunt’ would be crying. If ti really flows faster here, then from the mont we entered, it was already too late. There’s no point in rushing or anything else.”
“There are other possibilities, aren’t there? Like, what if ti flows the sa here as it does outside?”
“…Hmm.”
Residue fell silent for a mont before standing up.
“I didn’t think of that. Quite sharp.”
“……”
“I suppose we should hurry a bit.”
“…Hoo.”
This ti, Sytra couldn’t hold back a sigh.
*
But even if they hurried, nothing changed.
Residue and Sytra continued walking through the white space.
That was all they did, just walked. They couldn’t even say they were wandering or searching. No matter where they went, the scenery remained the sa.
“……”
“……”
Gradually, their conversations grew less frequent. Now, neither Sytra nor even Residue spoke first.
The silence was so heavy and suffocating that it almost felt like they could hear ringing in their ears.
It was around that ti that Sytra began acting strangely.
“…What if we’re wrong about all of this?”
“What do you an?”
“What if this place isn’t connected to Destruction? What if there’s no path or clue leading to it, and this is just a trap? While we waste ti here, what if everything outside has already been turned to ruins… or.”
“……”
“What if we didn’t enter Destruction but were instead absorbed into it? What if we’ve already begun the process of becoming one with Destruction, and this is just its way of digesting us, erasing our individuality and consciousness…?”
At so point, Sytra’s words had turned into murmurs to herself. Staggering as she walked, she continued muttering ominously.
Residue watched her blankly for a mont before turning his gaze away.
Ti passed.
Residue continued walking in silence. The first to break the quiet again was Sytra.
“…It feels like it’s been about a month.”
“Has it been that long already?”
“Yes. And we still haven’t found a single clue.”
“……”
“Do you think there’s anything to gain from staying here? Shouldn’t we be trying to leave as soon as possible…?”
“Do you have a way out?”
“…That necklace.”
Sytra pointed at the necklace around Residue’s neck.
“That item can detect Destruction, can’t it? If we use it well, maybe we can find a way out…”
“Hmm. That’s possible.”
“Right?”
“But I’m not planning to leave yet.”
Sytra closed her mouth.
Then, she gave him a slightly irritated glare.
“…So you intend to keep wandering here?”
“Yes.”
“For how long?”
“……”
Residue paused briefly before answering.
“Until I’m satisfied.”
-Ti passed once again.
Another month might have gone by.
However, just as Sytra had predicted, they gained nothing. No matter how desperately they struggled, there was no progress. Nothing changed.
And such an extre state of stagnation inevitably gave rise to madness.
Even an Absolute was no exception.
Around that ti, they began to feel an illusion that the white space was shifting in color.
Black, blue, yellow, or red.
Was this the process of going insane?
“…Isn’t this enough?”
Sytra spoke once more.
Her voice was cracked and rough, like an old, withered tree.
“Months… perhaps even longer have passed. And yet, nothing has changed since we first arrived here.”
“……”
“You said you wanted to converse with Destruction. You must be well aware of how reckless that is. Yet even after all this ti, after wandering so long, you haven’t even found a way to stand at the starting point.”
Residue stopped walking.
Sytra spoke in a tired voice.
“It was an impossible plan from the beginning. The only reason Father and the Black Witch accepted it was because they bore no risk themselves.”
“……”
“If you give up now, sure, you might feel ashad. But that’s all. No one will bla you.”
That was undoubtedly true.
From the start, no one had expected Residue to stop Destruction alone.
“This level of Destruction was never sothing we could handle in the first place.”
So please,
Just give up already.
“……”
Residue remained silent. He was silent for quite a long ti.
Then, slowly, he lifted his head.
As if admiring the stars in the night sky, he gazed upward.
He stared at the empty white space for a long ti.
“Then who will stop it?”
Residue finally spoke, posing a question in return.
Though it was his first ti speaking in a long while, his voice was not even slightly cracked. Instead, it was crystal clear.
“…If we wait for the Half King-”
“That one will not co.”
“…It’s not just the Half King. Do you really think there aren’t others stronger than you right now? The Thunderous Lightning God and the other Rulers, the Four Knights, the Twelve Void Lords who might still be hiding their strength, and possibly other powerful beings we haven’t yet identified, they could all be waiting for their chance.”
“……”
“Or are you worried about the casualties that will occur until then? Considering who you are now, that’s understandable. But even if Destruction expands its domain to the scale of an entire planet, the damage can be minimized. The Black Witch is here. Who knows? If she uses her power fully and we support her, perhaps no one will die.”
“No. People will die. Soone will definitely die.”
“And who exactly would that be?”
“You.”
Sytra froze.
“You will die.”
“……”
“Do you understand? I am not the sa as I was ‘back then’. My perspective has changed, my view of the world has shifted. My body feels lighter than ever, my mind is clearer than it has ever been. Every mont, I feel truly free… Yes.”
Residue, who had been looking at her, suddenly smiled faintly.
“It ‘feels like’ I’m free. But deep inside, there is still sothing that weighs on .”
“……”
“I no longer run away. I do not avoid things anymore. Even if you ask ten tis, test a hundred tis, tempt a thousand tis, or if I have to wander this place for a ti longer than all of those combined, I will not leave first.”
“…Why?”
“Because back then, I made a promise.”
Residue’s gaze was calm.
“That no matter what, I would grant one single request.”
Not to Sytra.
“To you, at the mont you need it the most, I will grant the thing you desire the most.”
For all this ti, perhaps ever since they had entered this white world.
Residue had been looking at sothing that had only been imitating her.
Crack-
Cracks began to spread across the white world.
This place was not the "Outside", nor was it Destruction's holand.
It was rely an illusionary world, nearly indistinguishable from reality, designed to appear that way.
"So tell ."
Crack-!
The fissures accelerated, quickly turning into complete collapse. Shards, like fragnts of glass, began falling like scattered gold dust.
Residue stood calmly within the fractured world, watching.
At the end of the First Destruction,
And at the girl who had once borne the na Luca.
“The words you couldn’t say back then.”
Shatter!
And with that, the white world shattered completely.
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