Of course, that couldn’t possibly be Linmel.

Linmel wouldn’t talk like that, nor would she wear such a wicked smile. If something like that were happening, then either I’d gone insane or the world had.

Since I was perfectly sane, it had to be the world that was wrong. As I slowly stepped back, the fake Linkel tilted her head and approached.

"What’s wrong? Are you scared of me?”

"...”

"That can’t be right, though?”

Even her voice was disturbingly identical to Linmel’s.

While she looked puzzled, I calmly assessed the situation.

'Is this perception manipulation?"

Making something nonexistent appear, turning an impossible world into reality.

In other words, it was likely not altering the world itself, but only what I perceived. In reality, she was probably some grotesque monster, and this place was just the dark depths, but only I was seeing it like this.

Either way, one thing hadn’t changed. Provoking her would be dangerous. I slowly opened my mouth to respond—

'That was close.’

And then stopped myself.

Speaking out loud was something humans did. If I wanted to deceive the Outer God, I couldn't communicate that way.

Instead, I stirred the seawater and imbued my intent into the surrounding wind, letting the sound carry my words.

"Where is this?”

"I told you. Your grave.”

Fortunately, the Outer God didn’t seem to notice anything strange.

She smiled even more gently and gestured around.

"I’m Nightchaser. I govern the surface of water. And you are?”

"...The surface of water?"

"Ah, right, my mistake. You wouldn’t have me outside.”

The Outer God that called herself Nightchaser smiled innocently and explained.

"I show illusions. Still water, flowing streams, the water’s surface at night, anything. If someone thirsty leans in, I show them water. If someone hungry looks, I show them food, if someone greedy gazes, I show them gold. If someone grieving looks, I show them the one they lost… always just close enough to reach. Close enough to touch, if they lean in."

There was nothing innocent about that explanation.

If something like her existed in the real world, hundreds of people would be dying every morning, drowning face-first in bowls of water while washing up.

The absurdity made me ask,

"Why would you do something like that?”

"Hm? I just told you.” 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

Nightchaser titled her head, as if she genuinely didn’t understand the question.

"I govern the surface of water. If something touches my domain without permission, it has to pay a price.”

Her way of thinking was fundamentally different.

To her, there wasn’t even the slightest sense that she was doing anything wrong. To her, lifeforms were simply trespassers intruding into her domain.

"Still, I was merciful. If they made offerings before touching, I let them go…though it seems like the Abyssal Sea didn’t like that.”

She shrugged and sighed.

"I shouldn't have reached out to the ocean. I didn’t realize it was something so terrifying. When I came to my senses, I was already here.”

"Well, that’s…”

Unfortunate? Sad?

I was about to choose my words, thinking she might want some kind of sympathy when she smiled brightly again as if nothing had happened and took a step forward.

"Ah, I’ve been talking about the past too much. It’s just been so long since something new fell into this place. Anyway—who are you?”

"...Who am I?”

"Yeah. I mean, I’m curious. How does a newcomer end up in a place like this…Ah.”

Mid-sentence, Nightchaser blinked while staring into empty space.

"This doesn’t seem like a good place for conversation. Shall we move?”

"Where to?”

I answered cautiously. Just because she said we should go somewhere didn’t mean I was about to obediently follow.

But that thought changed instantly when I saw what happened around me.

-Ssssss...

"?!"

Something dropped from the tree right next to me.

It was a melting apple. In just 3 seconds, it shriveled like it had been left out for 3 months, mold blooming across its surface.

Moments later, it lost its shape entirely, turning into a viscous sludge that seeped into the ground. At the same time, everything around us, fruit, plants, and everything else, began to rot and turn brown.

As the paradise transformed into something like hell before my eyes, I stood there in shock. Nightchaser rolled her eyes, as if asking what I had expected.

"You seem to be mistaken. This isn’t a world I’m showing you. This is an artificial garden made by Corrosion.”

"...Corrosion?"

"Yeah. It wasn’t originally an Outer God, but then Corrosion went too far, ran wild, and ended up creating this naturally. Now the two of them are stuck here together.”

So Outer Gods could form naturally, as well?

Well, unless there was a single absolute god, spontaneous emergence was probably the most reasonable answer.

"You’ll melt too, you know. Do you want that? Or do you want to come with me?”

"Yeah. Anywhere’s better than here.”

Feeling the air grow foul, I had no choice but to nod—

Nightchaser smiled and stepped closer, taking my hand.

"Good, you’re the one who answered and the one who agreed.”

"...”

Feeling the warmth of her small hand, I slowly felt chills crawl up my spine.

That sentence ‘You answered and agreed’ seemed to carry far more meaning than what I could interpret.

Even this touch only felt like physical contact to me. In reality, something far deeper than simple bodily contact had connected us.

'So we're fundamentally different species.'

Like a monkey wearing human clothes and a mask.

I might fool her for now, but something so fundamentally different couldn’t stay hidden forever.

As I wondered whether I could even escape from her when the time came, the world changed completely when I took a single step.

"Ah, wrong place.”

"...What is this?”

A massive mountain of snow appeared before me.

But every single inch of it was burning.

Nightchaser gazed at it and smiled as if reminiscing.

"This era was pretty fun. Snow used to catch fire, you know?”

"?”

"Not anymore, I guess, but when it snowed back then, I’d get visitors who were freezing to death and others burning to death at the same time. All I had to do was show them warm-looking streams or freezing thin ice. It was really easy.”

"..."

Nightchaser passed through countless worlds.

Worlds that had once existed and were perfectly ordinary parts of reality.

"So what? Mountains don’t collapse just because it rains anymore?”

"Herbivores…? Wait, there are creatures that live by eating plants?”

"That’s fascinating. Night only lasts 2 hours.”

As she wandered through all those worlds, one thing became clear.

The First Mage had been incredibly capable.

Absurdly so.

'They must have worked unbelievably hard to maintain balance…'

Even now, people still froze to death in winter, but that was only a minimal leftover danger.

If snow caught fire, like what I’d seen?

A single blaze in winter would completely devastate an entire region.

Sure, it was Great Void who sank these things into the Abyssal Sea, but there must have been countless other hells as well. The fact that the First Mage removed all of them and turned the world into something livable was a far greater achievement than I’d imagined.

As I walked, lost in thought, Nightchaser suddenly spoke in one of those worlds.

"We’re here. This is my world.”

-Whooosh...

-Splash...

Cold water brushed against my ankles. I blinked, slightly taken aback. It was far more normal than I expected.

A quiet night sea, with nothing but the sound of waves. It was so still that even a small voice felt like it would echo.

There was just one problem. The waves were moving unnaturally. The wind and the waves didn't match directions. It was as if—

"It’s fake though."

"Fake?"

"Yeah, of course. All those worlds you saw earlier were fake as well. It’s like playing house. Just licking old wounds because we can’t let go of past glory.”

Nightchaser chuckled to herself, staring at the endless horizon.

"Gods, supposedly omnipotent beings, locked in a prison, doing nothing but this kind of nonsense. Isn’t that hilarious?”

"...I think it’s understandable.”

"Really? Why?”

"It’s better than doing nothing and rotting away.”

Whether it was pathetic self-comfort or some grand attempt to escape.

As long as they were satisfied, wasn’t that enough?

Though honestly, I hoped they’d kept doing the former. The longer they did, the more peaceful things would be up above.

"Hmm."

Nightchaser hummed, then spun around to face me again.

"Come to think of it, you never answered. Who are you?”

"...I’d rather not say.”

"Really?"

Right now, I didn’t even know who I was supposed to impersonate.

Since I tried to brush past it vaguely, Nightchaser’s smile deepened.

"You know something? To enter this place, the very first thing you have to encounter is me.”

"...?"

"There’s a very clear boundary between that hateful ocean and our like playground. Where do you think that line is?”

I stayed silent and looked up, trying to locate where I had fallen from.

"Ahahaha! No, no, you’re standing on it right now, you know?”

"What?"

"It’s this surface. Everything that falls into the deep layer has to pass through my surface. Of course, they’d have to.”

"..."

The atmosphere around Nightchaser changed.

More precisely, the quiet sea began to stir with waves.

"If the sky of the old world was Great Void, then the sky now is me. I know everything that falls from above. I know every little trick the other Outer Gods try to pull. That’s why I was the first to find you.”

"Why were you looking for me?”

"No more Outer Gods can fall into this palace anymore.”

My Tide Sense detected something expanding.

"I know it. Great Void has been destroyed one way or another. It’s been hundreds of years since any god has fallen. And that won’t change. And then…something like you falls in. Of course, I’d be interested.”

"...”

With a tone showing that this being had already reached her conclusion, Nightchaser spoke again.

"Let me ask you one last time."

[Who— are y o u?]

The voice that came from her throat was no longer Linmel’s.

No matter what answer I gave, the outcome was already decided.

Escape seemed unlikely.

I could declare myself a being of the Abyssal Sea and try to fight her on equal footing, but that would only confirm her suspicions.

Seeing my lips tightly sealed, Nightchaser’s smile twisted into something grotesque.

"Fine, don't answer. I’ll just find out myself."

"You put quite a bit of effort into this.”

"...Huh?”

Just as Nightchaser was about to act, I casually swept my gaze over the shallow sea and spoke.

"You called it playing house, a game—but that was self-deprecation, wasn’t it? It looks like you’re the one who put the most effort into it. The other worlds weren’t crafted this carefully. You’re probably the one who misses the outside world the most.”

"...Uh…”

For the first time, Nightchaser showed a hint of surprise.

"Is that supposed to be an insult? Sorry, I don’t really get it, but you’re not very good at putting others down.”

"That’s not it. I’m saying I can help you if you want.”

Fortunately, this was something I could help with.

I released my seawater and adjusted the unnatural currents, twisting the waves.

This was something I was intimately familiar with. I had spent every day in the Abyssal Sea recently, and I now possessed extremely precise control over currents.

In an instant, the ocean became natural.

"Oh…that’s actually not bad.”

Nightchaser nodded, seemingly satisfied. Then she looked at me again, curiosity returning.

"So, are you begging for mercy with something like that? Hmm, I’ll admit, it does sway me a little…But you know it’s still far from enough, right?”

"What’s lacking isn’t me, but your judgment."

"...What?"

"You still don’t get it after seeing this? You’re the one who should be begging for mercy.”

"..."

Her eyes narrowed slightly.

It was a subtle threat, but I continued speaking without the slightest hesitation.

She might not realize it, but I already had enough information.

Information Nightchaser herself had given me.

"The others have probably given up. They’re satisfied living forever in fake worlds they created. But you haven’t. You couldn’t. Even now, you’re dying to get out, aren’t you?”

"And why would you think that? Just because I made my world a bit more detailed?”

"You’re the only Outer God here who reacted to me.”

It made sense that she checked me first, since I passed through her surface.

But I had passed through countless worlds in the meantime.

Whether that was to pressure me or not, not a single other Outer God had reacted.

It was impossible not to notice another Outer God inside a world you created. That simply meant they didn’t care whether a new Outer God arrived or not.

And that was the natural reaction. With so many of their kind already imprisoned, what would they feel if another prisoner arrived? Nothing.

"You’re the only one who tried to gather information about me. The only one who tried to bring me here. You wanted to judge me on whether I’m a threat, whether I should be eliminated, whether interacting with me could be dangerous, or whether your plans might go wrong."

"..."

Nightchaser just stared at me blankly.

Neither denying nor confirming anything.

I pressed further, driving the point home.

"You still want to escape this place, don’t you?”

"Hmmmmm..."

"If that’s the case, you can’t treat me like this.”

Once again, I stirred the seawater, activating the authority of creation.

"You asked what kind of Outer God I am, right? That’s for you to figure out.”

"What?"

"I’m the Outer God that governs the deep-sea creatures. That’s me.”

-Splash!

Right beside the stunned Nightchaser, an anglerfish dropped into existence.

*t*t*

I controlled the Abyssal Sea. That meant the moment I used my abilities, it would become painfully obvious that I was tied to it.

At the same time, I didn’t know nearly enough. If the conversation went on too long, I’d be exposed as something merely imitating an Outer God.

Given these two disadvantages, there was only one way to maintain the act.

"So—you’re saying you're a newly born Outer God?”

"Yes."

Not knowing things was natural.

Because I was just born.

"And you came into existence because of all the deep-sea creatures we created recklessly?”

"That’s right."

The reason I could use the power of the Abyssal Sea was because I was the Outer God that governs deep-sea creatures.

And creating deep-sea creatures was the thing I was best at.

The decisive clue came from how an Outer God like Corrosion was formed. If a new Outer God could emerge from what they themselves had done, then an Outer God born from the biological relay system they spread through the Abyssal Sea wasn’t strange at all.

"...Hard to believe. An Outer God of deep-sea creatures? Can something like that even exist? Deep-sea creatures already existed, didn’t they?”

Since my lie was improvised, Nightchaser made an uncertain expression.

Half-believing, half-doubting, no, more like three parts belief, seven parts doubt.

But that was enough. I had already gathered plenty of information from the mid-layer.

"The creatures you spread throughout the Abyssal Sea are grotesque hybrids. And you call those something that originally existed?”

"Well, that’s true, but…”

That offhand response gave me confirmation once again.

'So this one really did spread the deep-sea creatures throughout the Abyssal Sea.’

To obtain control over the Abyssal Sea.

If she went that far, she must be quite desperate to escape.

Which meant I just had to push further in that direction.

"If you don’t believe me, then look.”

I used the authority of creation and produced several deep-sea creatures.

I reproduced everything I had seen so far as detailed as possible.

Creatures of such high quality that it almost felt like the test in the mid-layer had been training me for this. As they poured out, Nightchaser’s expression, still tinged with suspicion, softened slightly.

"Ugh, they evolved like this? Disgusting.”

"..."

"But fine, I get it. You did seem too weak to be a proper Outer God. But you can create life, so you didn’t seem human either…Haah.”

"Why the sigh?”

"I was just hoping, just maybe, that you were an Outer God of the Abyssal Sea itself. But, well, there’s no way something like that would be this weak.”

A chill ran down my spine.

So that was why she’d been probing me this whole time. And worse, her guess wasn’t too far off.

"Like I said, if you want to escape, you need me.”

"...That remains to be seen.”

Nightchaser rested her chin on her hand, thinking.

"We already have our own plan in motion over here.”

"And you think that’ll work?”

"About 80%."

...?

They had a plan with that high a success rate?

Even if she was miserable, she was still an Outer God. She wouldn’t delude herself with false hope on something like this.

As I hesitated slightly, she smirked at me.

"But if that 20% comes to be, it’s good to have a backdoor. An Outer God that governs deep-sea creatures? That sounds like a plan with about a 70% success rate.”

"...Appreciate the high evaluation.”

I gave a slight nod and reorganized my thoughts.

An Outer God who looked stable but was actually desperate to escape the deep layer.

I knew her goal. I’ve even managed to deceive her.

From here on, this was my stage.

"So then, what exactly can you do?”

"Nothing."

"...What?"

"What I just showed you is everything I can do."

Of course it was. To me, the power of an Outer God was something I had only just acquired.

Nightchaser blinked for a moment at my bold answer, then her eyebrows twisted into a fierce scowl.

"Wait, what kind of nonsense are you spouting with that low level of power—”

"So what? I was literally just born. What exactly were you expecting?”

I answered flatly and showed her my seawater.

"This is the only authority I can use."

"...That’s seriously pathetic. Way worse than I imagined. No, even the weakest Outer Gods that govern tiny domains are stronger than this…”

"Then raise me.”

"What...?"

"You said it yourself. A plan with a success rate of 70%."

Originally, I was planning to just observe and imitate whatever she was doing.

But with such a perfect idiot sitting right in front of me, there was no way I’d just let that opportunity pass.

I stepped closer to the flustered Nightchaser and held out my hand.

"Go on. Try and make me into that.”

I might as well squeeze her dry down to the bone.