A short time passed.
I stood up.
I had injected mana into the three goddesses exactly nine times.
"......They’re dead."
Selena, who had been watching, spoke.
The three goddesses lay collapsed without the slightest movement. Their eyes had already rolled back by the time I’d injected mana for the fifth time, and there’d been no particular change after that.
"I don’t know."
I said.
"These things said I couldn’t kill them, remember. Even if they look dead, they might still be alive."
"......Lord Frondier, you have a childish side too, don’t you."
What?
When I looked at Selena at those words, she said,
"Inside, you were already thinking there was no way they could survive, weren’t you. You put in mana from the Nine Worlds."
"......Ahem."
I lost anything to say and scratched my cheek.
"Anyway, let’s go. We’ve been delayed way too long."
"Yes. I’m worried about Mr. Atjie’s soul...... ugh."
Selena suddenly let out a pained sound.
Startled, I looked and saw her mana flickering unsteadily.
I walked up to her.
"Selena. Calm your breathing. You need to cool down the amplified mana."
Selena had swallowed my mana crystal.
What she’d taken wasn’t one of the fake Dragon Hearts I’d made up until now. It was a crystal that actually contained mana.
While Selena took a series of deep breaths, Penelope’s cloth that I’d given her continued to shine around her.
"You used Penelope’s cloth to handle the mana."
"Yes....... I took advantage of its trait of being pure mana."
Penelope’s cloth has the trait of always returning to its original state, and the trait that pure mana is always flowing through the cloth itself.
Using that, she had channeled the exploding mana into Penelope’s cloth and turned it into something she could control. Her way of using the cloth was different from mine.
"Even so, it was reckless. It’s not like you had ever practiced it. What would you have done if you couldn’t handle it."
"I told you. I can do anything."
She really talks a big game.
I watched Selena for a moment as she regulated her breathing.
The effects of swallowing the mana crystal would still be lingering in her.
"I’m fine now."
Selena said.
She was probably still in an unstable state. I knew, having used both a Dragon Heart and a mana crystal. It would feel like a hot water balloon was rolling around inside her body. A balloon that, if mishandled even a little, would pop and injure her from the inside.
But I couldn’t afford any more delay.
"Mr. Atjie’s soul might already have reached Tartarus."
"......Yeah, let’s go."
Just as she’d said, I had to move.
"But even so, this situation really is strange."
Selena looked around.
"It’s too quiet."
This was the passage leading to Tartarus. Yet my intuition didn’t catch anything at all.
Normally, countless souls should have been heading for Tartarus through this passage.
But there was no one.
However, I knew the reason.
More precisely, I had just learned it.
"This place, it looks like the Moirai temporarily forbade souls from approaching it."
"Excuse me? Really?"
"Yeah. It’d be because of us. There’s going to be an uproar."
"How did you find that out, Lord Frondier?"
"Mm. The truth is, when I meet a god’s eyes, I can see their past. It’s not something I can do anytime I want, though."
I’d learned this when I injected the first mana into the Moirai on the left.
At the moment I met the Moirai’s eyes, I saw her past.
The Moirai had never been war gods to begin with, nor did they have any artifact that would be of help to me. The looms they possessed weren’t something I could put to use, either.
What I saw was the Moirai giving orders to something like a chimera, directing it so that souls would not pass along this road.
That chimera was the problem; it was a monster I was seeing for the first time, but given that this was Tartarus, it was probably highly likely that it was “Campe.”
It seemed that for the Moirai, souls failing to follow the proper route and getting hurt or destroyed was an unacceptable issue. Fitting enough for goddesses of fate.
Selena muttered in surprise.
"To see a god’s past, Lord Frondier, you really......."
"Impressive, right?"
"You have every single thing a god would hate."
"......Yeah. That’s why I ended up like this."
A sigh slipped out of me naturally. Starting from Weaving, I really was like a total collection of every element a god would hate.
‘Maybe when I was summoned, it wasn’t just my soul that mattered, but the fact that the body I’d possess was “Frondier de Roach” was important too.’
The Weaving skill I’d gained upon being summoned. My ego as someone who didn’t believe in gods. On top of that, the original Frondier’s talent for deciphering the ancient tongue, the body inherited from House Roach, and probably the power, transformed from bloodline ability, to see a god’s past.
‘Whether I admit it or not, the current me is a kind of weapon where the hopes humanity once had of toppling the gods have been gathered together.’
It was true the wording was a bit excessive. It wasn’t as if they had manufactured me.
But it was a fact that they had combined multiple conditions and, among them, found me.
Strictly speaking, I wasn’t the weapon itself; I was part of it.
I was neither the me from the previous world, nor “Frondier de Roach.” I was something that combined all of that, and one part of it.
"Lord Frondier."
Whoops. I’d frozen up in thought for a moment.
I thought Selena was speaking to snap me out of it.
"Lord Frondier, your wrist......."
But her face was more serious.
I followed the finger Selena pointed with and raised my wrist.
‘The smartwatch.......’
The smartwatch had begun to glow.
It wasn’t a sudden flash. If it had been, even I would’ve noticed right away.
The smartwatch slowly brightened, as if awakening from a long sleep, as if it were the first firefly ever born.
But there was no sign of that brightening stopping.
"......Oh."
"Ugh, it’s blinding."
Selena turned her gaze away. It was that bright. There was no other change or process, it was just growing brighter.
Right around when I thought, Is it seriously going to get brighter than this?
Beeeep─!
The smartwatch sounded.
A noise that felt like it was either for the first time in ages, or for the very first time.
Beep─! Beep─! Beep─!
It began emitting extremely loud sounds.
As if it were spitting out all the quiet it had held until now in one go.
Like the loudest alarm clock that rings right before you oversleep.
***
"Your Majesty."
At that time, in the city of Palma in Agoris.
Inside the royal palace, the King of Palma stood with a deeply troubled expression.
A retainer bowed his head deeply before him.
"Was it truly the right thing to let that woman go?"
"......It wasn’t Cybel who harmed me. However incompetent I may be, it’s not as if I don’t know that."
"Your Majesty. Such words are......."
A king calling himself incompetent.
This was more dangerous than it might seem. For a king to reveal his weaknesses to someone was proof that he trusted them, but belittling himself served no purpose at all.
Words manifest as attitude and action. The reign of a king who considers himself incompetent is nothing but unstable.
The retainer thought for a moment, then spoke again.
"That woman named Cybel is said to be rampaging at the coast right now. Rumor has it that she is even spouting absurd claims about opposing Poseidon."
"......."
The King of Palma did not answer. Instead, he looked at the retainer.
He observed his most trusted retainer as the man, head bowed low, spoke.
"......That woman once told me. That it was time for me to become emperor."
"......! Y-your Majesty. Such nonsense!"
"You think it nonsense too?"
"I did not mean to say that Your Majesty lacks the qualifications to become emperor,"
"I know that."
The King of Palma, face calm, asked again.
"Do you think it nonsense? I simply wish to hear your opinion."
"......."
The retainer fell silent for a moment.
What he finally said after deep thought was this:
"It is not something I can judge."
"......."
"Your Majesty and His Majesty your predecessor both placed great importance on calling this land an ‘empire’ and assuming the title of ‘emperor.’ You encouraged your retainers, saying that one day it should certainly be so, and at times you appeared before the citizens to speak of it. We know that the weight of that name is not like any other. However, in the end, Your Majesty’s predecessor never styled himself emperor."
The city of Palma in the Kingdom of Palma, and the King of Palma.
The one and only nation of humans on this continent.
Why is it that the one and only nation on the continent cannot claim to be an empire?
No, to begin with, what great meaning is there in claiming or not claiming such a thing?
"It is something we cannot understand."
"Of course. Because it was never spoken of."
When the King of Palma said that, the retainer started and quickly raised his head.
"......So there really is something we still do not know."
"There is. This is a tale passed down only to the one who sits on the throne. Only from king to the next king. Something like a fairytale that is handed down only in that way."
At those words, the retainer blinked his eyes a few times, then hurriedly bowed his head again.
He did not butt into the conversation any further.
The mood now made it feel as if the King of Palma might tell him that tale.
A story told only from king to next king. What could be more secret than that?
The retainer did his best to hide his pounding heart and waited for the king’s next words.
A brief silence filled the time between.
The King of Palma’s slight hesitation, the time he needed to choose his words, all blended together to steep the moment just right.
"......Long ago, there was a continent called Aetius."
The King of Palma’s story began with those words.
"Aetius was a different continent from ours. A continent across the sea, to the east."
"......Another continent, separate from here."
The retainer concealed the pounding of his heart. Already, this alone was astonishing.
"People of that time knew of each other’s existence. Aetius knew of Agoris, and Agoris knew of Aetius. Trade was active, and amusingly enough, there were even conflicts. Despite the vast sea lying between them, there were times when they quarreled. Human enough, you could say."
The King of Palma’s words truly were like a fairytale.
The retainer had never heard such a story in his life. That in the past, people already knew there was another continent and even had interactions with it? How could it be that people now knew none of this?
At that point, the King of Palma said,
"But then there was a calamity."
"......It must have been hard on Aetius."
The King of Palma shook his head there.
"That calamity was not limited to Aetius. It happened in Agoris as well. It was a terrible calamity that threatened all of humanity in this world."
"H-how could such a thing......! Surely not!"
"Yes, it was an act carried out by the gods."
The King of Palma’s eyes sank.
"I told you, didn’t I. This is a story like a fairytale. A tale from a distant past. My predecessor desperately passed this story down to me, but so much time has passed that even that emotion no longer resonates with me."
"......It truly is a story hard to believe."
"After that calamity, Aetius and Agoris began to walk different paths. The breaking of our exchanges probably happened around that time as well."
"Different paths, meaning?"
"Aetius declared that it would resist the gods."
"......!"
The retainer swallowed. The gulping sound felt like it would be heard even by the King of Palma.
To resist the gods. Even without fully understanding what that meant, he felt fear.
"Aetius was originally named in honor of the gods. Zeus in particular. The way its name was made was the same as the gods’. The same goes for Agoris."
"......Then the current Aetius is......."
"Yes, the name has changed. I hear they call it Palind. Agoris, on the other hand, chose to follow the gods. Or rather, it was closer to submitting to their power than truly following them."
The retainer blinked.
Even after doing something like that, is Aetius—no, Palind—really all right? With not a single clue about the situation on that continent, he couldn’t even begin to guess. Is it a continent that no longer exists?
The retainer cautiously asked,
"......That calamity, what was it specifically?"
"It was─"
THUD!
At that moment, a single heavy sound struck.
It wasn’t so much loud as it was weighty and massive.
Rumble, rumble, rumble......
What followed was the sound of the earth weeping.
"An earthquake?"
"Y-your Majesty! You must get to safety!"
The retainer quickly grasped the situation and shouted.
But instead of moving his body to safety, the King of Palma went to the window to look outside.
What he saw was,
Caaaw! Caaaw!
Flutter-flutter-flap!
Shaaashhh─
Birds crying out, the sound of them taking flight. Flocks of birds taking to the sky, tearing through the wind of forest and trees as they rose.
And it wasn’t only the sound.
"......Good heavens."
The view outside the window was hazy with all manner of things.
Birds and insects filled the sky in disorder on every side,
And on the ground, rats and wild beasts that had been hiding burst out and shot between people’s feet as they streaked past.
All of them, in every direction, each going wherever they pleased.
Where were they heading?
No—neither the birds that had taken flight nor the rats knew that.
Flight has no destination.
"Surely not, surely not......!"
The King of Palma’s eyes trembled.
The time long feared by his predecessors was coming.
The time long awaited was coming.
***
Poseidon and Jormungandr’s battle dragged on.
Poseidon was a chief god of Olympus, but Jormungandr was a monster that threatened even the chief god of Asgard. Their powers clashed evenly.
At that point, Poseidon already had the disadvantage.
Because Cybel Forte, something like a mass of gathered irregularities, was on top of Jormungandr’s head.
"You wretch!"
Poseidon’s spear soared up into the sky, and the waves followed. No, their scale was such that it would be fair to say the sea itself followed.
A spear and sea bombardment that sought to swallow the colossal serpent whole.
And then,
Rumble, rumble, rumble─
Whoosh!
From deep beneath the sea to the very edge of the sky, a long shadow carved straight upward.
WHOOOOMP!!
With sheer volume alone, Jormungandr’s tail shattered the waves.
Through the parted sea,
Cybel Forte Original
Aura, mana combination.
Petal
White
A single bursting beam of light.
The pink-haired girl overturned lightning, and the electric cable that stretched out like a whip lashed toward Poseidon.
"An impudent human!"
Crackle-crackle!
Shattering all of it, Poseidon’s hand lunged toward Cybel.
She couldn’t evade forever.
Fate would not watch over Cybel’s back forever either.
However.
Cybel slipped through the gaps between those fingers that sought to close around her and swallow her whole.
She surpassed Poseidon’s reaction speed, in midair where there was not a single foothold.
This was—
‘Shadow Step!’
Poseidon, shocked. In the meantime, Jormungandr menaced Poseidon, and Cybel once more climbed onto Jormungandr’s back.
"Don’t do anything reckless, Cybel."
Jormungandr spoke.
It wasn’t as if he was particularly worried about Cybel, but in facing Poseidon, Cybel was proving extremely helpful.
At this rate, they might truly devour that god from head to toe.
"It’s not reckless."
Cybel spoke. A faint smiling curve. Eyes that shone with light.
She was in a strangely excited state.
"Cybel. You’re too worked up. Your opponent is a chief god. The god of the sea they say is the strongest."
"I know. But I wonder why."
Cybel’s smile did not fade.
She was feeling a euphoria she had not once felt in her entire life.
"Balance is breaking."
"Balance?"
"Yes. There were three balances. One of them is starting to tilt."
Cybel lifted her head and looked at the sky.
No matter how much you looked at the sky from here, there was nothing to see.
Yet Cybel’s eyes held a precise focus and drifted slowly, lazily, toward somewhere.
As if she truly saw something.
As if she had found someone who was there.
"It’s Frondier."
"What?"
"You don’t get it?"
Cybel pointed at her own ear.
"I no longer hear the sound of gears inside me."
"......Cybel?"
Jormungandr couldn’t see Cybel’s face. She was riding on top of his head.
But even without seeing it, he could guess what expression she wore.
To Jormungandr, she seemed out of her mind. They were already in a dangerous standoff with Poseidon, and suddenly Cybel started spouting incomprehensible things.
"Listen carefully. You’ll hear it too."
"Cybel, more than that, focus on the enemy in front of us first—"
Jormungandr got that far, and,
Ironically, he himself was the first to feel it.
‘......? The sea.......’
Jormungandr’s gigantic body. His tail reached all the way to the seabed.
That was why he knew clearly.
Rumble, rumble, rumble─!
The earth was quaking. The tremors only grew larger.
"......No......."
Unlike the astonished Jormungandr, Poseidon’s face was grave.
"This isn’t it. This is impossible."
Poseidon shook his head, as if he could not accept this situation.
Poseidon knew what this earthquake meant.
The sounds of wild beasts and birds and insects fleeing could be heard.
Flocks of birds flew past beside them.
Cries and wingbeats jangled their ears, and the earthquake grew even more massive.
Jormungandr, puzzled by Poseidon’s demeanor, then,
‘......This is!’
Jormungandr understood as well.
That this wasn’t a matter of just an earthquake.
The earthquake was only one small result.
Jormungandr knew clearly.
His long, massive body gave him a definite sensation.
‘The ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) depth!’
Jormungandr unconsciously looked down.
The level of water that filled his body was gradually, very slowly but unmistakably, beginning to drop.
But if that was true, the problem became extremely serious.
This wasn’t a lake or a river.
It was the sea.
The sea’s water level was sinking.
"Yes, the time really has come at last!"
Realizing this, Jormungandr cried out.
"Poseidon! You know it too! You know what this means!"
"......Be silent......."
"That long-ago calamity has finally ended!"
The sea’s depth continued to fall.
At first it was only noticeable to Jormungandr, but now, anyone at a glance could see it.
And before they knew it—
"Dammit......!"
Poseidon spat out a curse.
He was—
Standing on solid ground.
The sea’s descent stopped right around the time Poseidon’s feet were fully exposed.
The sea had become that small.
And something else was growing just as vast.
"......At last."
The King of Palma saw that sight.
Thud.
He leaned his head against the window before his eyes.
His breathing turned rough, his eyes trembling with anxiety and anticipation.
For the sea to sink meant that the continent was widening.
This was the original Agoris.
Agoris before the calamity.
Agoris before the gods’ calamity, the “Flood.”
"The time has come to choose."
Long ago, Palma had been an empire.
To call for an emperor here in Agoris.
Meant to declare that they would reclaim the kingdoms lost by the gods’ hand.
