By the time I became capable of controlling an area nearly the size of a city, trying to fill the Abyssal Sea with sheer numbers became meaningless.

Compared to that, it would be easier to pour sugar into the ocean to make it sweeter.

And yet—

Right now, Heavenly Balance was trying to fill the sea with sugar.

[Uh. Uuuh…]

"...What the hell is this?”

-Craaaack!

I crushed another newly forming vine giant and watched its sap seep into the ground.

It was easy. Simple enough to keep going for hours if I wanted.

But after actually doing this for hours, the burdens of the Abyssal Sea were starting to weigh down on my body.

Frowning, I crushed the thousands of vines crawling back up from the ground again. Just what kind of burden was she under to be able to handle such absurd numbers?

"If you wish to leave, I will open the way.”

"?!”

At the sudden voice, I turned sharply and saw Heavenly Balance, her body formed of vines, opening a small hole in the ground.

"If you give up now and stop, I won’t report this to Great Void.”

"You think I’m stupid enough to believe that?”

"Believe it. This situation itself is a loss for me.”

I crushed that form of Heavenly Balance with pressure, but another mass of vines immediately rose beside it.

"What you are destroying are the lives I have gathered. You are rendering everything I’ve done meaningless. And even with all this, I still cannot kill you, so I am merely buying time. All I want is for you to leave this place now and never return.”

"Thanks for the helpful info. Knowing there’s an end makes this a lot easier.”

"No. You will never see the end.”

Heavenly Balance shook her head firmly.”

"You have not even consumed 1% of all life I possess.”

"..."

I frowned deeply and clenched my fist.

I had crushed tens of thousands of these giants over the past few hours. And that wasn’t even 1%?

If it were a bluff, there’d be no reason for her to reveal it.

But—if it were true, that would piss me off in more ways than one.

"...Just how many did you kill?”

Even if I accepted the insane assumption that Heavenly Balance had transferred every life Great Void had killed into this graveyard, that would still mean at least hundreds of thousands, if not millions.

I knew Scarlet Abyss had existed for a long time, but even so, it was a number I couldn’t even begin to grasp.

Heavenly Balance closed her eyes, looking up at the sky as she murmured.

"I told you, didn’t I? That you are merely being raised.”

"Yeah."

"There was a time in the past when Great Void considered the Empire his enemy.”

"..."

"That era has passed. The Sacred Relics have all been destroyed, broken, or lost their function. The sages killed themselves. The primordial beings fell into Great Void’s grasp. There was a process. One that tore everything apart without leaving behind even a single possibility.”

Heavenly Balance, who had been watching the vine giants endlessly rising without pause, looked back at me.

"I remember that era of war. Because all of their lives are sleeping here.”

"Judging by the number of giants, you really went around committing all kinds of atrocities, huh?”

"We were, at times, a nation. At times, an organization. At times, rebels. At times, defenders. Countless people died. No matter how many die from now on, it won’t even reach half of those who died in that era.”

The giants that had risen again stared at me blankly.

I had wondered what would happen if I didn’t kill them.

[Ah…]

But of course, they didn’t just stand still.

-Boom!!

The giants slammed down their spiked fists, trying to crush me flat. I barely managed to block and evade. I had assumed bodies made of plants wouldn’t be that strong, but their force was enough to pulverize even stone.

In the end, I had no choice but to keep crushing them with pressure.

"Do you think you are resisting?”

-Bang!

"That you are challenging something and that your challenge has value, that it could change anything?”

-...Crunch!!

"Everything you have done has already been attempted. Every possible idea has already been conceived. What you see now is simply the result and it being carried out.”

-Crack!

"Nothing will change."

"Tsk..."

By the time nearly half a day had passed, I had no choice but to admit it.

I was still bound to the Abyssal Sea.

'My head…’

Continuing to exert this pressure nonstop, the burdens pressing down on me slowly reached my limit.

The crushing sensation on my body wouldn’t fade, and even my control was screaming in protest.

If I kept fighting like this, only one outcome would await me.

"Leave now.”

Heavenly Balance opened the ground again, as if my decision were already obvious.

From the hole that opened right in front of me, sunlight poured in. I could see the forest I came from.

My Tide Sense told me it wasn’t a trap. If I threw myself in, I could leave this world.

I swallowed the bitter, blood-tinged taste rising in my throat and steadied my legs so I wouldn’t collapse, and then I shook my head.

"Why would I?”

"Such pointless stubbornness…”

Heavenly Balance sighed, like she was dealing with a disobedient child, and widened the opening further.

"You got what you wanted. Didn’t you come here to learn the prophecy, right? I told you. And now, you should have realized that you have no solution for this situation, right? Leave. Come back later with a more refined plan to kill me. If that time comes, I will accept death.”

"What a load of crap. You’re basically saying everything we do is meaningless, so just live like this and die.”

"That is the prophecy. The one you wanted to know. If you wish to change it, then struggle however you like. Just don’t waste your life here meaninglessly.”

"...Yeah?”

I glanced at the opening, then glared back at Heavenly Balance.

"Then let me ask you one last thing.”

"What is it?”

"Are you the one who rebelled against Great Void?”

"...What?”

Heavenly Balance frowned, clearly not expecting that question.

"What kind of nonsense is that? Great Void is the one who created me. Why would I rebel against my creator?”

"I’ve never seen a kid who listens to their parents their whole life. Great Void rebelled against the First Mage too, didn’t he? More importantly, your way of talking is just annoying as hell.”

Heavenly Balance spoke with absolute certainty that everything I was trying to do was meaningless.

Of course, whether that was true or not didn’t matter. Even if there was no chance of winning, I had no intention of giving up.

But I could more or less guess where that certainty came from.

"Let’s get this straight. You did rebel. You did challenge him. And you’re the one who failed.”

“...!”

"Why don't you seem affected by burdens at all, while I’m in this state…Cough!”

I couldn’t hold it back anymore and spat blood onto the ground. Wiping my mouth with my robe, I continued.

"I’ve got a rough idea now. This isn’t your world, is it?”

"..."

"This is a world governed by Great Void, isn’t it?”

The picture came together.

She was a fake shrine maiden created for the sake of the prophecy.

But once Heavenly Balance learned the prophecy, she refused to speak it. If all that was required was a nod to affirm that Great Void’s path was correct—then she didn’t nod.

She didn’t give him certainty. That story about her affirming his plan the moment she met him was a complete lie.

And—she must have been the first one, before me, to stand against Scarlet Abyss.

To appease this shrine maiden, Great Void simply continued his plan without wavering.

He carried out massacres in the shadows, killing tens of millions without a shred of guilt.

—Until the shrine maiden would give up first and attempt to negotiate.

"...Nothing changed."

Heavenly Balance still shook her head, her tone unwavering.

"All I could do was accept this small world. This mockery of the dead, which can’t even be called a sanctuary, is the reward I received for my resistance.”

"That’s pretty tragic."

"---But you won’t even get that much.”

Heavenly Balance tapped the ground with her foot.

-Ruuuuumble...

As if everything until now had just been a game, countless giants began rising from the ground.

Vines covered the world. Instead of thorns, flower buds swelled, releasing a faint scent as they rose.

"I’ll give you an ultimatum.”

"..."

"If I kill you here, it will disrupt Great Void’s plan. It would only delay things, but it seems you want even that much.”

"I’m not planning on dying, though."

"That’s why I won’t kill you. I’ll turn you into something that is neither alive nor dead and bury you beneath this world forever.”

The giants no longer resembled humans.

Perhaps that had only been unnecessary decoration.

Now they had become grotesque beings with no clear form, writhing vines extending toward me.

I let out a sigh and once again drew up my pressure.

"Or crawl out of this world.”

"No."

"...Stubborn to the end.”

I smirked as I watched hatred surface on Heavenly Balance’s otherwise calm face.

"What? Does it disgust you because I remind you of your past self?”

"..."

"Then let me say one thing, from someone in a similar position. Thinking you’ve done everything you could, and that it’s all over just because you decided it is, is nothing but pathetic.”

"Say whatever you like.”

As if she had no need to continue the conversation, Heavenly Balance vanished once more.

Now, only the vines remained. Still, she was probably listening from somewhere.

So I kept speaking in the most infuriating tone I could manage.

"If you don’t get it, then watch and learn.”

I felt like I couldn’t breathe.

Even though I had stopped breathing long ago.

"I'll show you what it means to never give up until the very end.”

The next moment—

The entire ground was swallowed by pressure.