"I’ve died several tis already.”
The violet couldn’t take its eyes (or petals) off the fla on my fingertip as it spoke.
It wasn't sothing that made imdiate sense, though.
"...What?"
"Exactly what I said. I’ve been a lily of the valley like those guys before and other things too. It seems like I’ve been here for quite a long ti.”
"So you’re saying you’re immortal?”
"As long as you don’t burn this entire garden to the ground.”
That was why the violet hadn’t feared death.
If what it said was true, then when these followers reached the end of their lifespan, they were reborn into other flowers. A process akin to reincarnation.
"I know it’s strange. I don’t rember anything from before becoming a flower, but every ti I see the Gardener, I feel fear and terror. These idiots cling to them happily, but no matter how I think about it, this place is abnormal.”
"Are you sure you don’t have any mories? You seem to know a lot.”
"I don’t know either. Flowers that have lived a long ti all feel the sa sense of déjà vu as I do. We’ve grown up here our whole lives, but sotis this space feels unbelievably grotesque…Ugh.”
Mid-sentence, the violet trembled as if struck by a headache.
...It doesn’t even have a head, though.
"...Anyway, if you’re planning to use us to threaten the Gardener, it won’t work. The Gardener is sothing else. They don’t communicate. They don’t love us, and they don’t hate us either.”
"So you’re not under their command?”
"We’ve never even exchanged words, let alone followed orders. Even if they gave one, I’d just stay still and pretend to be a flower. I don’t want to hear it.”
"...”
The more I listened, the more convinced I beca that this wasn’t Heavenly Balance’s world.
They moved independently, completely detached, and didn’t seem to suffer any burdens. And the fact that they could co and go whenever they wanted—was nothing like other Fallen.
I extinguished the fla on my finger, and the violet asked in a subdued voice.
"You believe ?”
"Until I confirm it. When did you say the Gardener would show up?”
"Not sure. Roughly two days from now.”
"Good. They better be.”
I pulled a candle from my coat and set it down in the garden.
A high-quality candle that would burn for a full two days.
"Otherwise, things will get difficult for you too."
"...You bastard."
* * *
Fortunately, for both the violet and , it hadn’t been lying.
Exactly two days later, perhaps a little more by my internal clock—
My Tide Sense picked up soone landing lightly where I had first fallen.
Waiting nearby, I imdiately spoke when I saw a woman carrying a corpse over her shoulder.
"Hey..."
"...?"
"This really is a pretty unimpressive world.”
They turned toward .
—It was Heavenly Balance.
A face identical to Sharmia’s, yet with the single difference of a sharp, cutting expression adorning it. She stared straight at .
But at the sa ti, she looked genuinely surprised.
"You’re not soone I expected to see here.”
"You should’ve hidden it better. What were you thinking, leaving sothing even Sunken Mire knows about?”
"Even if she knew, there would be no reason for her to co.”
Heavenly Balance’s reasoning was sound.
Even if soone had a way to et her, no one would co alone without knowing whether it was a trap. The risk far outweighed the reward.
It had been nothing more than a gamble because I had no other options. Unaware of that, Heavenly Balance calmly dropped the corpse she had been carrying onto the ground and t my gaze.
"Well, whatever. If that’s what you want, then take it. Kill .”
"Why would I?”
At my indifferent reply, Heavenly Balance frowned.
"...If you didn’t co here for my life, then what reason could you possibly have?”
"I’ve got sothing I want to ask.”
I hesitated for a mont, wondering how to phrase it, then decided to go straight for it.
"What’s the prophecy Scarlet Abyss follows?”
"...The prophecy?”
"Yeah. The one Great Void trusts and acts on. I ca here for that. I don’t think I can leave without knowing.”
At the sa ti, I stepped closer and clenched my fist.
Of course, I didn’t expect her to answer willingly.
But I had a ans. The mont she appeared in front of , her escape routes were already gone.
Heavenly Balance calmly felt the water pressure tightening around her neck, then closed her eyes.
"Well, fine."
"?"
"You want to know the prophecy. If that’s all, I can tell you. A re string of words isn’t worth more than my life.”
I had been preparing for a fight, but her anticlimactic response caught off guard.
"If you think you can brush this off with so nonsense—”
"Then listen and judge for yourself. If my prophecy sounds like empty rambling, kill . Do you have anything else to say?”
"..."
Her deanor was so defiant that it almost made laugh.
After a mont of thought, I realized that even if I subdued her, I’d get the sa answers anyway and nodded.
If it ca to it, I could just kidnap her and bring her to Dercia to verify whether it was true.
Seeing my agreent, Heavenly Balance gave a faint, strange smile and began to speak.
"Abyssal Sea. You must already know that the Three Calamities are capable of devouring the world.”
"...Yeah, so what? I told you to give the prophecy.”
"This is the prophecy. Listen. When Great Void ca to , he had already reached the Heavens. He was honest and pure.”
Heavenly Balance closed her eyes, as if recalling the past.
"He wished to beco the guardian of this world. To inherit the seat of the First Mage. The Heavenly Realm opened before him, and all possibilities of every world were laid out before him.”
"What kind of bullshit is that? Can you explain it in a way that actually makes sense?”
"Calm down. Every wizard has the possibility of falling into any world. You yourself fell into the Abyssal Sea for that very reason, and if others encounter the right trigger, they too could fall into the Abyssal Sea.”
"I know that.”
"A wizard who reaches the Heavenly Realm can open all those possibilities and choose among them. They could observe the Abyssal Sea and even select it. Among those possibilities, he was supposed to choose the Heavenly Realm created by the First Mage—that is, the world we live in.”
"…Wait, you can choose which world to fall into?”
"It’s the opposite. You could choose which world to rule. Great Void was in a position to do that.”
...In other words…
Not like , being crushed by the Abyssal Sea and borrowing only a fragnt of its power, but reigning as the true ruler of a world.
And if he had chosen this world with that power, it would have gained a master again and returned to peace. However, the outco had already been decided.
"Great Void did not choose the Heavenly Realm.”
Heavenly Balance murmured, gazing up at the sky.
"He saw every world. And among them—he discovered a world more comfortable than the cradle the First Mage had created for us.”
"What?"
"That was the primordial world. The world where everything was perfect.”
“...”
"Pain is so natural there that it is not perceived as pain. Life is so close to death that neither state becos sothing to grieve or suffer over. Having beco a god, he deed that first world more beautiful than the fragile one created by the previous god.”
“...”
"He ca to hate the creator. He cursed them, believing that creating this Heavenly Realm was an irreversible mistake. That it ruined everything.”
Heavenly Balance smiled softly and nudged the corpse she had brought with her foot.
The body sank into the ground in an instant, buried beneath the soil. And in its place, a tiny flower blood.
"At that mont, a possibility occurred to Great Void. That perhaps there was a way to restore this fragnted world. That he had to act to achieve it—and the guidelines he created for that is the prophecy you ca to ask about.”
"...What is it?”
"Unification."
Heavenly Balance muttered as she looked down at the flower.
"All wizards possess the possibility of coming into contact with worlds in order to gain the chance to beco the guardian of the Heavenly Realm. Using that—the first tenet of the prophecy is to make all wizards fall.”
That much, I already knew. Their goal had always been to kill all wizards.
But what ca next was sothing I had never heard before.
"And then, devour them all.”
"?"
"What? You didn’t think you were the only one capable of devouring worlds, did you?”
Heavenly Balance let out a mocking laugh and looked at again.
"Of course, Great Void could annihilate all of you at any mont. The reason he doesn’t is because it isn’t enough yet. More Fallen must appear, and more Fallen must die.”
"Wh-why? Why do Fallen have to die, not wizards?”
I asked in confusion, to which Heavenly Balance nodded.
"Yes. It doesn’t matter what happens to the wizards. It’s the Fallen who must die.”
"And what’s he planning to do by devouring all those worlds?”
"To do the exact opposite of the creator. If all worlds were to lt into a single one, would that not be the primordial world Great Void desired?”
So…
The reason Great Void had not yet destroyed the Empire wasn’t because he couldn’t or because it was difficult.
...It was because not enough Fallen had appeared yet.
In the end, creating Fallen required wizards. If they were to openly kill every mage, there would be no path left to reach new worlds.
So they gradually pressured the Empire and made more mages fall.
And then, he would devour everything until everything lted together into a single world.
After hearing everything up to that point, I shook my head and refuted Heavenly Balance.
"...Wait. That makes no sense.”
"Why not?”
"There are plenty of Fallen who didn’t die in front of Great Void.”
I knew that myself, being part of the Abyssal Sea.
Devouring a Fallen, or lting them into my world, was only possible for when I had my Abyssal Sea unfolded.
There was no way Great Void had always been there for every single one.
Heavenly Balance scoffed, as if it were obvious.
"What did you think I said? I told you, he’s trying to increase the number of Fallen.”
"So what? If the numbers go up but they don’t die…”
I trailed off—
Suddenly recalling the Fallen of Scarlet Abyss who had gone missing.
And the fact that no more ssages had co through the Gospel.
"...Ah.”
"Looks like you’ve figured it out.”
Heavenly Balance shrugged, turning my suspicion into certainty.
"A short while ago, the first assimilation wave was completed.”
"..."
"350 worlds now belong to Great Void.”
—Great Void.
He was raising them just to devour them all.
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