Translator: Alpha0210

When his torso was pierced through.

Residue realized, separate from the physical wound and the total damage to his body, that the judgment he'd made on his own had been correct.

The bluish hand that had appeared by tearing through space had sliced through his skin with absurd ease, shattered his bones, and destroyed his heart. Until that steadily thumping heart came to a complete stop. Unexpectedly, he felt no pain whatsoever.

What he felt instead was a sense of loss.

As if the components that made up his very being were being ripped away in great chunks...

'If Half King had taken that hit, she might've been crippled beyond recovery.'

It was an attack Residue could endure only because he had lives to spare. No. Calling it endurance was generous; the bleeding on his end was severe too...

...Exile.

No, how much time had Destruction spent preparing to land this attack? How long had it been watching, waiting, biding its time for the perfect opening? It was hard to believe Destruction had shown that kind of patience, yet on reflection, it wasn't surprising at all.

Simple, really.

Just as Residue recognized Half King as the Unified World's greatest fighting force, Destruction likewise regarded Half King as the single greatest obstacle to conquering the Unified World.

While turning over such idle thoughts, he kicked away the corpse-pale hand with his foot.

It didn't feel like the strike had landed cleanly, but the forearm was at least knocked back and vanished in much the same manner it had appeared.

It had hidden itself beyond the gap in space.

"The rest is..."

Blood in his throat made his voice come out poorly, but even that much seemed to get the point across.

Half King, having come to her senses belatedly, assumed an attack stance, clasped both hands together, and struck the body of Destruction that had once been The Sinking One.

BANG!

The sound was as crisp as compressed air bursting all at once, but the visible result was gruesome.

The Sinking One's body was crushed entirely by Half King's blow. Ruined inside and out, utterly demolished. In that state it fluttered through the air and slammed into the wall, looking less like something that had been wounded and more like something that had been shattered to pieces.

"Heh, hee, hee..."

Even in that state, it let out a laugh and tried to rise, whereupon God's Envoy closed the distance in an instant and began stomping. His thick, oversized heel came crashing down on Destruction's body as if to grind it to dust.

WHAM, CRASH, WHAM... After about three stomps, the laughter could no longer be heard.

"Your Majesty! Are you alright?"

It was the moment Futurix cried out and rushed toward Half King.

Residue, who had been focusing on treating his wounds after witnessing the scene, raised an open hand and spoke.

"..."

Correction.

His voice still wouldn't come out. Damn it all. He could probably force the words if he tried, but doing so might cost him his life.

It might have been his imagination, but his regeneration wasn't going smoothly. Was this also the power of Exile?

In any case, the restraining intent behind Residue's gesture should have been clear enough. Futurix hesitated for a moment, but soon her face flushed with anger.

"Who are you to..."

"Do not come closer."

That was what Residue had been thinking, but he wasn't the one who said it.

Futurix's expression changed.

Because the one who had spoken those words was Half King.

"Your Majesty?"

Futurix looked deeply shaken.

Half King sent a sunken gaze her way, her lips moving slightly several times, but in the end she couldn't bring herself to say anything.

Watching this pathetic display, Residue had no choice but to speak up himself.

"You imbeciles..."

He tried to force himself upright, but his legs refused to cooperate.

With no other option, he extended Thunder Current toward the ceiling, adhering it to the metal there like a magnet. In other words, he'd used the power of Magnetism, which afforded him the peculiar experience of moving his own body as if by puppet strings.

"Your brains seem to have petrified, so allow me to spell it out. None of you three should approach Half King any further."

"Why would you say such a thing?"

"It's obvious. How do you think Exile managed to infiltrate this place? Even if he's a being who can swim freely Between Spaces, without an anchor to the outside he can't pinpoint exact coordinates. The fact that he completely evaded detection by someone with Ki Sense as sharp as Half King's means he must have been holed up Between Spaces, not even glancing outward, staying utterly silent."

"..."

God's Envoy stood there with a blank expression, and Golden Eye, being nothing but an eyeball, made it impossible to tell what he was thinking.

Only Futurix, her face slightly hardened, opened her mouth.

"You mean there was a Hide cooperating with Exile? But that Hide just died a moment ago."

"You dense fool. There's no way it was just one."

"...You're saying there's another?"

"Burning through that hopeful thinking of yours, I see."

Typical of an artificial intelligence.

Residue spat a mouthful of blood-tinged saliva and spoke.

"Any one of you could be a Hide."

Beniyang Argento had also said that at least three among the Twelve Void Lords were Hides. Meaning it wouldn't be strange if there were more than three.

In any case, from Residue's perspective this was far from good news, and to make matters worse, the more he ran his mouth the hazier his consciousness became.

Tap, tap.

He knocked on his own chest once.

A faint pulse was returning.

Proof that his heart had completed roughly half its regeneration. How many lives had just been consumed? Even Residue could sense enough of a crisis to feel the counter had been shaved down considerably... This was a situation far beyond the plan, and the thought sent a genuine chill down his spine.

In any case, what truly mattered started now... One Step Through Time and Space was an extraordinary power, but if not used when his body was in peak condition, its potency dropped dramatically and the burden it placed on him was immense.

Using it in this weakened state might let him take down an enemy, but it would carve away massive chunks of Residue's remaining lifespan. In the absolute worst case, he might simply die right here.

'Hmm.'

Thinking it through, he realized that, contrary to the casual attitude he'd arrived with, he was now facing a crisis of staggering proportions.

And the key to breaking through this situation lay not with Residue, but with Half King.

He finished organizing his rough thoughts and looked at Half King's face. She was forcing herself to maintain a blank expression. If one looked closely, the tension in her clenched jaw was visible.

Commendable that she wasn't making a scene, but...

Just then, Half King whipped her head around and glared at him. Their eyes met for a moment before she slowly lowered her gaze, taking in the wound on Residue's chest.

"Why did you protect me?"

"You want me to say why? Self-praise is tacky, and I'm not inclined."

"If you had just left it alone..."

"You would have been gravely injured. And then the largest gear in my plan would have been lost."

At that, Half King blinked both eyes.

"You're saying I am a gear in your plan?"

"That's right. Anyway. Now isn't the time for that kind of talk..."

In that instant, Residue felt his vision blur and cloud over.

...Worse than I thought? His body was recovering, but his consciousness was teetering on the edge, dangerously close to blacking out.

Residue lowered his voice.

"Your Majesty, the situation is far more serious than expected, so listen carefully. First, I could lose consciousness at any moment. When that happens, it means you'll have to make the calls on your own."

"..."

"First, it's certain that there's a Hide among the ones remaining here. At minimum one of those three, at worst all three of them."

The one least likely to be a Hide was Futurix.

That one had obediently transported Half King to Future City and devoted herself to treatment even when Half King was at her worst. There must have been multiple opportunities to finish Half King off. Of course, it was possible she'd been exercising extreme caution and patience, so it wasn't something he could say with certainty.

"But there's no need to worry too much. I prepared a secret weapon for exactly this kind of situation."

"What is it?"

"A means to identify the Hides. This very necklace..."

Residue drew the necklace from inside his clothes, but it felt far lighter than expected.

Patter.

No. It wasn't just a feeling. It actually was.

All that came out was the chain. The core, the Red Gem, crumbled away like a broken sugar confection, scattering to the ground.

"Ah..."

Residue's expression went blank with disbelief.

Could it have been pierced along with him during Exile's attack just now? Come to think of it, he had been keeping it near his heart...

He hadn't imagined the necklace that had survived successive battles against the Four Knights would break so anticlimactically. Of course, it wasn't something to bemoan as unfair. To be honest, Residue hadn't treated the necklace with much care either.

When things go wrong, they really go wrong without end. Residue let out a hollow laugh.

"Can't be helped. For now, we should..."

He couldn't finish saying that they should flee.

'Ugh.'

Residue's vision went black, and he lost consciousness.

Damn it.

Blacking out here, of all places?

*

Residue felt an irresistible drowsiness in the sensation of sinking endlessly.

It was nothing like when he'd been caught in The Sinking One's illusion and dragged beneath the surface. The darkness enveloping his entire body now was perfectly warm, even soft.

Yet instead of closing his eyes and letting himself sink to the very bottom of that darkness, Residue scrunched his face into a scowl.

"I don't have the luxury for this."

Drip.

Whether it was falling or sinking.

Whatever it was, the downward motion stopped.

In the pitch-black darkness, a flame flickered.

It was a flame so feeble it could be mistaken for a candle or a matchstick.

Residue fixed his gaze on the flame and spoke.

"You must have seen what's happening outside. I don't have time to sit here chatting idly with you. If it's small talk, I'll listen to as much as you want later."

"And if it's not idle talk?"

The reply came back.

The voice was different from before. The oppressive weight was gone, and the buzzing static that used to hum beneath it was absent.

Far easier on the ears, but at the same time, he could sense that the day this being's Remnant Will would disappear was not far off.

The entire presence felt dimmer, somehow.

The Sun God's Remnant Will spoke.

"You're pushing your body too hard, Residue. Why did you take the blow that was aimed at Half King?"

"It was the rational choice. Half King is a card that can't afford to be damaged yet."

"Even though the result was losing more than half your lives?"

Residue frowned.

"...That many were lost?"

"No. I was exaggerating a bit."

"..."

"But it's an undeniable fact that thousands of lives were shaved away. The attack you took in her place was a trump card Destruction had been preparing for a very long time, honing its power all the while. To exaggerate once more, it was likely the First Destruction's Final Strike."

So there was a reason his insides ached far more than expected.

He'd known it wasn't an ordinary blow, but the amount of effort poured into that attack exceeded even what Residue had imagined.

"...I don't know how grand the plan you're drawing is. But if you keep pushing your body that recklessly, it won't be long before you die. Remember this well. Only one Destruction has passed so far."

"There's no reason to avoid death at this point."

Residue spoke in an even voice.

"I'm done deliberating over how to live. Now it's time to deliberate over how to die. And I've already reached a rough conclusion on that. Surely you, of all people, who chose death after donating your heart to the Top Universe, can understand."

"..."

The Sun God fell silent for a moment, then asked.

"Does your plan end with your own death?"

"Who knows... My plan is the furthest thing from precise. It changes shape on the fly. If something starts to bother me, I'll cut it out on a whim. If a decent idea comes along, I'll force it in even if it's a stretch. In a word, it's a mess."

"But the ending, at least, you won't change. Residue. The most important parts of a plan are the beginning and the end. Those two, at least, don't change. If they did, it could no longer be called a plan."

More persistent than expected with his questioning.

Since Residue wasn't particularly trying to hide it, he nodded.

"It's simply that the one who should be here comes back."

"Is Lukas Trowman that important to you?"

"It has nothing to do with him. I was influenced to some degree, but that's all. I'm the one who conceived this plan, and I'm the one carrying it out. I have no intention of hearing anyone's opinion on this. Not even yours, squatting in a corner of my mind."

He felt Sun God let out a sigh.

Residue found it slightly irritating but didn't press the matter and continued.

"If you're done with the lectures, let me go already. I'm worried that Half King, that naive fool, might botch things."

"The situation outside is not something you need to worry about."

"What?"

"...Go see for yourself."

He felt his consciousness slowly rising out of the darkness.

"Residue."

"What."

"From now on, I'll let you use my power. It won't be much help, but it should be better than nothing."

"Appreciate it."

"Brother."

At the sudden word, he looked downward. The flame had dimmed to the point of nearly guttering out. Or perhaps it was the darkness lifting, making it gradually harder to see.

Before the light fully enveloped his body, Residue heard Sun God's voice.

"I shall pray you find a better ending."

*

When he opened his eyes, a composed face filled his vision.

Jet-black hair and golden eyes. He felt he'd seen those eyes somewhere before... Ah. Right. They were remarkably similar in hue to Golden Eye's.

Had his data been referenced in the creation process?

"What were you, here...?"

Half King asked, her phrasing halting.

It seemed barely an instant had passed since he'd lost consciousness.

Still, his head did feel somewhat clearer. His heartbeat was a touch more distinct, and much of the external damage had healed. Was this the Sun God's power?

"...Right. For now, we should temporarily retreat from..."

Before he could even finish.

Squelch. The wet sound of footsteps reached his ears.

Every pair of eyes in the room turned toward the source of the sound.

A man was walking slowly from the entrance.

He was cloaked in radiance bright enough to dazzle, a man whose light was vivid enough to transform the previously dim interior into something brilliantly lit.

The one who had revealed himself was the White Knight, Agolet. Perhaps he'd decided there was no longer any reason to conceal his identity. In his right hand he held a sword, in his left a shield, and he wore full armor.

The complete image of the White Knight.

Agolet spoke with a faint smile.

"I'm glad to see you're safe, Your Majesty."

The sight of that unruffled face made it impossible to summon anything kind to say, but Residue swallowed his curses and replied.

"Sure. My skin was torn open, my ribs were shattered, my heart was destroyed, and I coughed up a good few liters of blood, but safe enough. But you didn't come all the way here just to ask after my wellbeing, did you? The situation is more serious than you think."

"Is that so?"

Agolet surveyed his surroundings with a motion so elegant it bordered on regal, then gave a slight nod.

"It seems the situation needs sorting out. First, is it beyond doubt that these individuals are the villains who put Your Majesty in danger?"

"What?"

"I will execute them."

"Agolet, wait..."

Residue tried to stop him, but what followed happened in the blink of an eye.

Agolet closed the distance to God's Envoy in an instant.

God's Envoy belatedly registered the killing intent and crossed both arms to block. But the radiance-wreathed sword cleaved through those thick arms with absurd ease before piercing straight through God's Envoy's throat.

"...Gkh."

God's Envoy stared at Agolet with eyes full of disbelief. Eyes that comprehended nothing of what had just occurred. Agolet did not bother meeting that gaze, withdrawing his blade with a businesslike motion. Blood gushed out like a fountain, and then God's Envoy's massive body sank beneath the water.

Agolet's entire body was drenched in blood, yet rather than wiping his face, he flicked the blood from his sword and spoke.

"That's one."

*****

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