"Ugh... my head hurts like hell."

Muen opened his eyes. The first thing that came into view was still Mera’s youthful, flawless pretty face.

Out of the corner of his eye, the terrifying skylight and that wound had already completely dispersed. All that remained were fragrant tulip petals drifting on the wind. The lingering shadows of the past were gone—he had returned once again to the real flower sea.

"Awake?"

Mera lowered her head to look at Muen. Her white hair fell with the motion, brushing lightly across his face and making him feel itchy.

"Can I ask a question?"

"Ask."

"Right now... that kind of magical beast called Tack isn’t going to pop out again, is it?"

Muen slowly twisted his neck, fully savoring that exquisite sensation of the back of his head rubbing against the loli’s thigh. Even the stabbing pain in his spirit eased quite a bit because of it.

"..."

Mera’s eyebrow twitched. Not only did she not move his head away for the moment—she suddenly smiled.

"You brat. Your guts got bigger all of a sudden, huh."

"Not that big. Just treat it as compensation for you almost setting me up to get pitifully killed, how about it?"

"That’s your reason for molesting your teacher?"

"What do you mean molesting? This is me sincerely yearning for your care, Teacher."

"Is that so?"

Mera leaned even closer to Muen. In the depths of her crimson eyes, an indescribable faint light flickered. "Since I really did almost play too hard just now, I’ll take good care of you, then."

She swept her fallen hair aside, and in the same motion pressed her slender fingers to Muen’s temple.

Before he even had time to properly savor that soft, delicate touch, Muen felt a scorching stream of air surge into his head through Mera’s fingertips.

In an instant, the aftereffects left behind by directly looking at an existence he shouldn’t have looked at rapidly dissipated within that hot current. In his daze, Muen actually felt like he was inside a warm embrace, being carefully looked after.

"Can I ask one more question?"

After letting out a long, relieved breath, Muen continued.

"Ask."

"That Demon God... does It also control the Authority of time?"

"Oh?"

Mera tilted her head, smiling but not quite smiling.

"Are you asking that because you’re scared the Demon God will directly cross a thousand years of time to kill you?"

"I’m a little scared... of that kind of thing."

Muen reached out, chasing the petals, and grabbed one into his palm.

Up to now, he had faced quite a few Evil Gods. He had even had situations like the Withering King, where he had once faced Its true body. But...

He had never been as shaken afterward as he was this time.

That Demon God’s terror far exceeded his imagination. And this was only a distant glance across a thousand years of time and endless distance, and it had almost crushed his soul outright with boundless fear and trembling. No ability to resist at all—more helpless than even an ant.

The First Evil God...

For the first time, Muen understood what “First Evil God” meant. He could finally imagine what kind of existence that terrifying Evil God was—the one that had broken an entire era and left it unrestored even to this day.

It was the so-called apocalypse itself.

"Don’t worry. The Demon God doesn’t have the Authority of time."

Mera kept helping Muen press his temples, answering in a cranky, old-fashioned tone like she was coaxing a child.

"I should’ve told you before, right? Only the two Authorities—time and space—aren’t held by any gods. Naturally, It can’t possibly control time. Besides, if It really had the Authority of time, ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) who could seal It? Using an Evil God’s body to drive time—something that can’t be limited—this world would’ve been destroyed a long time ago. Would you still be enjoying my lap pillow right now?"

"Then why can It..."

"Simple. It’s too strong."

Mera said softly, "The Demon God is so strong It can shake the world’s foundation. That’s why, to a certain extent, It can forcibly break through the constraints of the laws and cast Its gaze over from a thousand years ago... but it’s still only a single gaze. Even for It, it can’t do anything extra beyond that."

"I see..."

Muen let out a breath.

Then his peripheral vision couldn’t help drifting to Mera’s baby-fat side profile. The old loli looked like a smug, trashy little shit right now, but she was also one of the people who had faced the Demon God a thousand years ago and completely dismembered and sealed It.

"No wonder you’re the strongest grand magus in history."

"Are you praising me?"

"Is there a third person here?"

"Mmph... you brat, when you’re not talking like an asshole, you’re pretty cute."

Mera rubbed her chin and accepted the praise without hesitation. But then her tone shifted, and the corner of her mouth tugged into a strangely profound curve.

"However... even though I really am the strongest grand magus of this era, unfortunately, you’re wrong. I’m not the strongest in all of history."

"What?" Muen froze.

"If we’re talking from ancient times to the present, and I put it in a slightly more modest way, I should be able to rank... second."

"No. Saying ‘second in all history’ doesn’t have anything to do with the word modest in the first place."

Muen’s mouth twitched as he complained, speechless.

"Is that so? But it’s the truth."

Mera shook her head. "As humble as I am, I still have to admit this truth."

"That’s only for now, right? Once you completely perfect the Eternal Bell, that kind of artificial Authority... no matter what, you should at least—"

After all, it was something on the level of an artificial divine Authority...

"Nope."

"Huh?" 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

"Even if you count making the Eternal Bell too, I can only... call myself second."

Mera suddenly lifted her head and looked up at that artificial canopy with an extremely complicated gaze.

Muen followed her line of sight. He quickly understood that what she was looking at wasn’t above the flower sea, but even higher.

But above that high heaven, aside from boundless emptiness, what else could there be?

"If even the Eternal Bell can only be second, then what the hell is first—"

"You’ll find out about that kind of thing later."

Mera drilled hard into Muen’s temple, cutting him off mid-sentence with pain. "Knowing that much right now isn’t good."

"That sounds like some huge secret about world destruction and humanity’s survival again—like the moment you know it, some terrifying existence will lock onto you."

"Basically."

"Then can I ask one more question?"

"Today you’re especially chatty. Is this some cat-like stress response from getting scared? How pathetic."

Mera curled her lip disdainfully.

"I hope you’ll call it cute."

"Please don’t use a word like cute that makes people want to puke, Mister Muen—one-eighty tall, with pecs about to match a gorilla’s."

Mera slapped Muen on the forehead again, signaling him to behave and stop playing dumb while rubbing her thigh to take advantage.

"Talk."

"You suddenly made me see that... was it really just for so-called tempering my mental power?"

Muen stared into Mera’s eyes.

"I admit this method really is effective, but for me, you should have better options, right? There was no need to make me risk staring at that kind of thing."

Using slaps to train thicker skin really was effective, but if you were a normal person, there probably wasn’t anyone who would use that method.

Not to mention, the danger level of this wasn’t just “getting slapped a few times.”

This was the kind of thing where if you weren’t careful, your whole forehead would get peeled off.

"Sharp. Men who are too suspicious don’t attract girls."

Mera lowered her lids.

"Good. I think I’ve already got more than enough romantic disasters on me."

"...Hah."

Mera sighed again.

"It’s not as complicated as you think. I made you stare at that... it was just to rehearse in advance for the future."

"Rehearse?"

Muen lifted an eyebrow, suddenly realizing. "So you really don’t trust that so-called seal on the Demon God’s remnant body, and you think one day I’ll really face the Demon God?"

"Who knows?"

Mera was still ambiguous.

"But being prepared is always better. In fact, besides us, there are many people in this world preparing for that moment that might come. Including me telling you about the demonic race—that was also preparation for what you’re about to do next."

"Nobody wants to just sit around and wait to die... wait, you said next?"

Muen caught the key point and jolted.

"What do you mean? Am I going to have contact with the demonic race next?"

"Who knows?"

"Say it clearly, you bastard old loli! Something this important, are you really going to—"

"Sigh. It’s not that I won’t tell you. It’s just that there’s nothing to say about something like this. When the time comes, you’ll naturally know."

Mera curled her lips into a bad smile, then lightly flicked her finger.

Before Muen could even finish speaking, he had already turned into a super spinning wheel, rolling all the way out of the flower sea.

"Alright, alright. You look pretty much recovered. Hurry up and get lost. Take this chance and enjoy your hard-won academy life. Don’t think about those annoying worries for now—because no matter how much you think, they’re still going to come in the end."

Mera waved, bidding him farewell gently. "As for your teacher, me, I’ve still got very important things to keep working on next. Bye-bye."

"You bastard! You—gluglugluglug...!"

Muen cursed furiously, but he was still powerless to resist. He could only swallow this bitterness, and at the same time make yet another mark in the little notebook in his heart.

Just you wait, you dead loli. One day I’m going to get my revenge and beat your damned loli ass until—

"Gluglugluglug..."

...

...

"Ugh... my old waist."

After he got out of the flower sea, Muen supported his waist and staggered along.

The time had already reached sunset. It was very quiet all around. Muen found a nearby bench. After sitting down, what had just happened inevitably resurfaced in his head.

"That bastard old loli... who knows how much she’s hiding again."

Muen leaned back and looked at the crimson sky.

"But I don’t have the right to talk about her, either, since... I’m hiding a little something too."

About that Demon God.

In fact, when that Demon God was about to cast Its gaze over from a thousand years ago, what Muen felt wasn’t only fear and trembling.

In that sea of despair that was about to drown him, he faintly sensed something else.

That was that drifting shadow... it felt familiar.

It was an extremely absurd feeling, because if Muen looked back over his previous life or this life, he absolutely shouldn’t have had any chance or qualification to have had contact with that Demon God.

Maybe, just like Mera said, he was too sensitive.

But...

Muen closed his eyes.

"Black Book."

Deep within the space of consciousness, as a faint dark glow trembled, a black book once again floated out.