Chapter 193

“How surprising… I never knew you could step forward directly like this.”

[Thanks to this, the Outer God’s surveillance has weakened, and because of this, the world recalls its former glory. Now it’s possible. Now…]

Tris—no, Gaia’s green eyes darkened. With just that small change in her gaze, the world’s atmosphere seemed to grow heavy. I desperately tried to etch that profound realm into my memory.

[But we still don’t have much time to talk. I’ll only convey what’s necessary.]

Gaia hurried the conversation along.

She snapped her fingers.

Snap—

In that instant, I understood everything. Gaia and my will were briefly connected as one.

Endless questions and answers exchanged before that single ‘snap’ sound could finish. Communication between souls. It was more experience than words, more fundamental empathy than experience.

Ah, so the gods’ extinction was ultimately…

[The scattering of will. That was a curse engraved upon all beings in the past.]

The reason spirits and ancient egos couldn’t properly remember the past was also…

[That too was part of the curse.]

The Shadow Library and the Holy Grail were…

[Traces of the gods’ resistance.]

And you are…

[To put it kindly, the final arrangement. To put it harshly, lingering attachment…]

So there was an arrangement after all. The god’s fragment within me claimed there was no such arrangement left by the gods… but I thought there would be. He couldn’t even know about the Shadow Library’s existence, after all.

[He was the first among us to fall. One who bore such a heavy burden. That damn fool who left without even knowing my lingering attachment…]

It felt as if I conversed with countless versions of myself and countless versions of Gaia simultaneously, as if we had spent tens of thousands of years together.

I realized what Gaia desired and what she could do for me.

Drip—

The tears that flowed weren’t mine.

[I’m sorry. It seems my emotions spilled over.]

Behind that composed explanation, I sensed the sorrow of hundreds of thousands of years.

My emotions wavered. Should I resent her, or thank her, or perhaps stand proudly?

How should I and the god who destroyed the world, and I who was born into that world and came to bear their final hope, look upon each other?

That’s when I felt another consciousness rising from within me.

Ah, so you’re coming out too?

[That being. Is it? A mortal wasn’t… part of the plan. Even so? Lady Gaia?]

Wow, look at this guy.

A being naturally speaking through my magical exoskeleton <Samantha>’s mouth.

He was none other than another god’s fragment who had granted me the gift of [Time Stop]—the Watcher Grim Reaper.

The guy had taken control of <Samantha>’s mouth before I even noticed.

Even as just a fragment, was his skill at manipulating magical power far beyond mine?

[Indeed. Watcher. When the time comes, I plan to use the final ‘evolution’ on him.]

[I will… prepare. I’ll inform… myself and all the fragments… that were once me.]

Unlike Gaia, the Grim Reaper gasped out each word before immediately sinking back into the dimensional rift. Now only Gaia’s mysteriously glowing green eyes remained.

She looked at me.

[I’ve conveyed everything that needed to be conveyed. What you must do, you will know.]

“…Gather god’s fragments, right? The substantial ones with enough consciousness.”

[As many as possible. And show them to me. That will be the final weapon against the Outer God… Now it’s time to leave… The path you must take ahead, hear it from ‘her’…]

“Huh? Her? What do you mean by that? Wait! Hey, Lady Gaia! Hold on!”

But paying no heed to my calls, Gaia’s eyes slowly began to blink more frequently, like falling asleep, before gently closing. The mysteriously glowing green eyes gradually dimmed, and when Tris opened her eyes again, they had returned to their ordinary pretty light green.

“Mmm… Ah? Huh, incredible! Jun-woo! I just had an incredible experience!”

“Ah… did she leave? Right. Tris. It must have been incredible.”

Of course it was incredible. A god had temporarily taken over your body, so naturally it would be.

But what did those last words mean? The path ahead? Why not tell me directly and instead…

Wait, could ‘her’ possibly refer to Tris?

As I looked at Tris with suspicion, Tris said with sparkling eyes,

“I… I glimpsed memories from my past life!”

Huh?

What’s this about now?

“Past life memories were stored in the Holy Grail! I haven’t fully absorbed them yet, but… I think I can temporarily synchronize with them.”

And Tris’s eyes changed again.

This time her pupils turned gray and cloudy. What flowed from her lips was a mature woman’s voice.

What the hell. Are you a priestess or what? Why do you keep getting possessed?

* * *

After all the commotion passed, people found reality awkward.

“Sob… sniff… sob…”

Water Wizard Hwi Someong sat down and wept loudly. Her heart, which had thrilled at the overwhelming majesty of magical exoskeleton <Samantha>, had stiffened rigid with Terra Madre GAIA’s appearance and finally crumbled sadly before the 20,000-year voice that flowed from Tris’s lips.

The atmosphere was chaotic, and Divine Wizard Baek Jun-woo announced the final deployment with a deeply contemplative face before leaving.

“Sob… Your Majesty… only after Your Majesty passed away could I finally see Your Majesty clearly. The Saint remembered Your Majesty. Please… sniff… rest in peace.”

Hwi Someong cried loudly while Truth Tower’s wizards surrounded her like guardians.

Lytol couldn’t contain his restless heart and followed Erina out of the plaza.

The two crossed the Sky Bridge and climbed onto Floating Island Sion. They walked the edge of Sion in silence for a while. This place overlooking the 59th floor Great Labyrinth somehow made their hearts race, and their troubled minds only grew more turbulent instead of calming.

“Wow… I never expected Beatrice to pull out 20,000 years of memories there.”

It was Lytol who first broke the silence.

“It was incredible…”

Erina’s voice was heavily subdued, whether from being overwhelmed or feeling depressed.

“Just Lady Gaia’s appearance was shocking enough… but to think the Saint lived for 20,000 years… Does that mean there are no secrets before those memories? She casually revealed even Academy secrets that Pan-Dalus didn’t know about, saying the Magic Emperor was involved. Honestly, I even felt betrayed. Having lived my whole life at the Academy, I never knew they were hiding such treasures…!”

“The Academy has memorial tablets for the gods… the druids have the World Tree… we really heard unbelievable secrets.”

Lytol seemed excited about learning the world’s secrets, while Erina continued to look troubled.

“The deployment is in a week?”

“That’s right. Once we distribute the magical exoskeletons, we’ll deploy immediately. The Academy… it’s been so long. I’d prefer not to fight my own people if possible.”

Memorial tablets said to contain the gods’ power and wisdom. The World Tree, the final weapon left behind when the last gods belatedly noticed the Outer God’s existence. Both were important, but they had concluded to first take the memorial tablets containing divine power and wisdom.

They would start with negotiation, but if that didn’t work, they would take them by force. The war against the Outer God was total war. There was no time for mercy.

“…Sigh.”

Erina said nothing more as Lytol nodded to himself, merely casting her gaze down to the Great Labyrinth below and letting out a deep sigh.

“What’s wrong? Are you feeling unwell?”

“No. Just. My body feels off.”

“Well yeah. The mental pressure was intense. It was a triple combo, wasn’t it? Shock after shock after shock!”

Erina looked plainly at the childishly excited Lytol. Lytol asked cautiously with an embarrassed expression.

“Uh… are you very tired? Want to go in first and rest?”

Erina slowly nodded.

“Yes. I’ll rest first.”

“R-right.”

Lytol awkwardly smiled and stretched out his five fingers toward Erina.

A high-five to build intimacy. But seeing this, Erina sighed softly again. She seemed about to turn away but then looked directly at Lytol with determination and asked,

“That’s it?”

“Huh?”

“Is that all? Shaking hands. Touching palms.”

“Uh, huh?”

Before the confused Lytol, Erina, who had been gloomy all along, straightened her back. Graceful and proud like a cat.

“The deployment is in a week. You’re on the assault team. I’m on the defense team.”

“Uh, r-right?”

Lytol’s pupils shook with confusion. But Erina caught and held his wavering gaze until the very end. She gently placed her hand on Lytol’s awkwardly extended palm.

The slight chill remaining on her skin, but soon the warmth rising gently beneath. Fingers and joints. The feeling of each other’s existence beyond that. Lytol tensed his shoulders.

“Are you really satisfied with just this?”

At those words, Lytol recalled the past like a panorama.

As if under a spell, he couldn’t resist.

Long, long ago,

They had first met as Academy prodigies.

When Lytol became Pan-Dalus’s direct disciple and wandered foreign lands for several years before forming Pathfinder, they met again.

Studying together, working together, eating together, taking walks and chatting.

Comfortable like friends, affectionate like siblings…

Those had been happy times.

Right. Was this enough?

“No.”

Lytol answered as if entranced.

Only then did a smile finally cross Erina’s lips. A smile he’d known her for quite some time but had never seen before. Eyes melting with affection.

Lytol thought to himself.

The timing isn’t good. In the middle of this war, love is a luxury. When we don’t know when we might die, now isn’t the time. Later, after we overcome all this destruction… then I should look back at my heart.

But now, that thought was nowhere to be found.

He couldn’t think of anything.

“Me too.”

Strength slowly entered Erina’s hand. Finger by finger, they slipped and interlocked.

Face to face.

Only their breathing could be heard.

* * *

Human affairs… always full of things that exceed expectations, but… this is quite surprising.

“…So you two are getting married?”

Lytol hung his head in embarrassment while Erina, seemingly not embarrassed at all, looked at me with sparkling innocent eyes. They came to find me holding hands.

‘Marriage?’

Why does this word feel so unfamiliar?

People live by marrying, having children, those children attending School Nomads, and if they’re lucky enough to gain citizenship, bringing glory to their family… I grew up knowing this, so why do these everyday celebrations feel so strange?

“Yes. We’re getting married. We really wanted to receive your congratulations, Senior Elder. We came to you before even going to Pan-Dalus. That’s a secret.”

“T-to me?”

I’m only seventeen now? Isn’t this normally something you tell adults first? But seeing Erina’s sparkling eyes…

‘This doesn’t feel bad.’

Somehow, it feels like previewing what kind of future awaits after this war ends. What peaceful daily life might taste like.

Good. This seems good. These small yet grand celebrations. It’s also amusing to see the usually slippery Lytol nervous and flustered.

With less than a week until deployment, what are they planning to do by getting married now… but they’ll figure it out. Right. Let’s all just not die.

I took off my necklace and attached it to the handbag I always carry now.

<Samantha>

Rising pure white to embrace me, the divine form. I blessed the two in that sacred appearance.

“You two will be happy every time you think of this day. You two will never forget today.”

My words became ‘word-spirit’ and permeated the world. Common mana patterns were created representing Lytol and Erina. Thanks to my single phrase, even the Akashic Record recorded their connection.

Feeling this, Erina looked back at Lytol.

Lytol leaned his face down as if bewitched…

Ah, damn it.

What are you doing! This?

Ugh, gross.

Anyway, that night.

The two held their wedding ceremony, followed by weddings of young mages.

Officiating numerous wedding ceremonies, Pan-Dalus said,

“These wedding ceremonies are proof that we’re still preparing for the future. We are certain of our victory.”

It was such a wedding ceremony that even the magical powers joyfully blessed.

And so,

With fear and excitement, and above all, strong resolve,

Finally,

Leaving the defense team at the 59th floor sanctuary, we rode Floating Island Sion toward the Academy.

“The next time you see Erina again will be… either after victory or after defeat. One of the two?”

Looking at the 59th floor growing distant, Yuria said this to Lytol.

“Obviously after victory.”

Lytol answered without a moment’s hesitation.