Only after exhaling did I realize that I’d been holding my breath this whole time.

-Squelch

The foot I stepped forward with transmitted a distinctly unpleasant sensation.

At some point, the ground had turned into thick mud. Blinking slowly, I looked around and gradually frowned.

The entire world was submerged underwater.

...An illusion?

"Glub..."

I only realized it wasn’t after seeing Nightchaser beside me, clutching her throat as bubbles slowly escaped her mouth.

Startled, I hurriedly reached toward her. The surrounding water naturally parted away, creating a space she could breathe in, and only after doing it instinctively did I realize something strange.

This didn’t feel like manipulating pressure or currents anymore.

It was simple—the feeling of the world itself obeying my will.

Even beyond that. It felt as though I was no different from this world itself.

"Haah, haah…”

"What is this?”

I looked up toward the sky.

A pale light filtered through the water above. Probably the sun.

After coughing violently for a while and spitting out water, Nightchaser glared at me murderously.

"This—this is the world as you perceive it.”

"As I perceive it…?”

"Yeah, idiot. You’re the Outer God of the Abyssal Sea. Wherever you exist is the Abyssal Sea.”

I blinked several times before immediately understanding what she meant.

Every step I took in the real world causing water to spill forth and form lakes. Having to suppress that phenomenon with my full concentration. In the end, it all stemmed from the same principle.

Wherever I existed was destined to become the Abyssal Sea.

That was the kind of being I had become.

"I absolutely never had the desire to understand any of you.”

I muttered to myself while looking around.

Even though I never wanted to understand why gods tried so desperately to make every world their own, I felt like I was beginning to.

"What a disgusting feeling.”

To me, the Abyssal Sea was no longer a place of fear and suffering.

The sight of the castle completely submerged beneath seawater was bizarre, yet to me, it looked perfectly natural.

The moment I imagined all of this rising above land again, revulsion immediately crawled up my spine.

The insane thought that all things rightfully belonged submerged in the Abyssal Sea was far from a pleasant sensation. Shaking my head, I started walking toward the gate. Behind me, Nightchaser hurried after me while sneering.

Disgusting? Please. After experiencing the omnipotence of a god, do you really think you’ll be able to return to living as a human?”

"What are you talking about?”

"You’ll never restore the world back to normal by your own will now. You’ll keep trying to drown the entire world beneath the Abyssal Sea until Great Void notices you and ruins all your plans. And then I’ll end up sealed back in the Abyssal Sea too.”

"?"

What kind of nonsense was she talking about?

Tilting my head in confusion, I watched Nightchaser let out a gloomy sigh.

"Your brain melted a long time ago. The sensation of ruling over a part of the world isn’t a pleasure a mere mortal mind could ever endure. No god can resist it. That’s why none of us can willingly let it go. Releasing your divinity should’ve been the absolute last resort…”

"Did you lose your mind?”

The claim was so absurd that I genuinely had no better response.

But Nightchaser seemed strangely convinced of her own words, frowning deeply.

"Hmph. If you think I’m wrong, then seal your divinity again. If you can say, even for a single moment, that this world isn’t the Abyssal Sea—”

"This world is not the Abyssal Sea."

Returning was far easier than releasing it.

I closed my eyes briefly and opened them again. Immediately, harsh sunlight, not the pale, filtered glow, tickled my skin.

"...Huh?"

The world was no longer submerged.

There wasn't even a trace left suggesting it ever had been. The only evidence that the world had just been underwater moments ago was Nightchaser herself, standing there drenched like a soaked rat, water dripping from her body while she stared blankly at me.

She looked utterly unable to believe that I had denied the Abyssal Sea itself.

"Satisfied?”

I didn’t have time to entertain her nonsense for long, so I waved my hand again and submerged the world one more time. This time, carefully making sure Nightchaser didn’t get left behind.

She hurried after me in a panic.

"W-wait, how did you resist the impulse?”

"If beings who can’t even restrain urges at this level are what people call Outer Gods, then honestly, that’s beyond pathetic. Contemptible even.”

"No, you don’t get it! That’s not something a human brain should even be capable of enduring! What…are you…?!”

I ignored her and stepped through the gate. And immediately—

The scenery became far more grotesque than before.

"Glubglubgurgleglub..."

"Gurgle...?"

"Glubglubglub......"

The citizens were still there.

They moved as they did before, interacted how they did before, and acted as though nothing about all this was strange.

But every time they opened their mouths, bubbles escaped. And the sounds coming from them resembled nothing more than the final choking gasps of drowning humans.

Yet despite that, they conversed naturally with one another. That alone proved this wasn’t a properly formed world.

Even my own deep-sea creatures would react if all seawater in existence suddenly vanished. Compared to the Abyssal Sea, this was an incomplete, inferior world.

"Th-there—”

Nightchaser pointed somewhere.

Across the inner city walls enormous scars had been carved.

It wasn’t something created by my Abyssal Sea. They looked like violent wounds gouged out by the claws of a giant.

One, two, three…countless such scars covered the city.

Some buildings had collapsed entirely. There were even flames burning underwater.

'Linmel.'

More likely than not, these were wounds left by Linmel’s sword rather than Elisia.

I followed the trail of destruction—and before long, my Tide Sense revealed where those scars were most heavily concentrated—

As expected, that place was directly in front of the library.

"Think carefully."

Nightchaser warned me once more.

"I don’t know how you resisted your divine impulses, but if you still have a way to retreat, then there’s no reason to stay here..."

"Be quiet. My head’s already a mess right now.”

Strange sensations kept poking at my mind.

I was certain there was more I could do. But I couldn’t understand what. It felt like countless new limbs had sprouted from my body, yet I couldn’t move even one of them properly.

Walking into what was obviously about to become a battle without understanding my own abilities felt idiotic, so I reached toward one of those sensations.

The one most similar to water pressure.

And instantly, the world slowly distorted.

"...What the hell?”

Seeing it, Nightchaser cursed aloud.

"Do that again. Keep doing it.”

Judging from her reaction alone, it was obviously something bad, so I stopped.

Only then did I notice what had changed. The walls of the library looked as though giant scoops had been carved out of them with a spoon through melting ice cream.

Had I melted the wall with heat? Tilting my head, I realized something else. The sea under my dominion had expanded ever so slightly.

"...The difference in power is just too massive. This means the moment something gets submerged into the Abyssal Sea, it’s already over…”

"Don’t tell me this is—”

Seeing Nightchaser look so utterly defeated, I asked cautiously, to which she nodded solemnly.

"Assimilation. You just devoured part of the library.”

"......"

In other words—

Like stomach acid dissolving food inside a stomach, I had almost completely converted the library itself into seawater.

If it worked on buildings, then naturally it would work on humans or any other living creature. What kind of absurd authority was this? Staring blankly for a moment, I slowly frowned.

'So this is what true divinity means.'

Within the world called the Abyssal Sea, all things moved according to my will. Anything could be controlled. That was why it was the Abyssal Sea and I was its god.

"What exactly was the Outer God of the Abyssal Sea doing all this time? If he’d just assimilated and devoured other worlds, then half the universe would’ve belonged to Great Void and the other half to them. So why did they stay still? Why…?”

While Nightchaser spiraled into thought by herself, biting her nails anxiously, I memorized the sensation.

Then slowly began melting and consuming the tightly sealed library doors.

"...Elisia."

My thoughts remained tangled.

What was I supposed to do if Elisia had killed Linmel?

Should I punish her appropriately for murder? Even though she’d fallen because of me? Should I avenge Linmel? Was Linmel even alive?

Sorting through the chaos in my mind, I looked beyond the dissolved doorway and saw…

"S-stop it…stop!!”

"Stop what?! You deserve worse than this—Argh.”

"?"

There stood Linmel, mounted on top of a crying girl in a full ground-and-pound position, punching her directly in the face.

*t*t*

There were three days Elisia could never forget.

The day her mother died.

The day she saw Jern Aspandil atop the crumbling spire.

—And the day she heard that he had disappeared.

"It’s okay."

"E-Elisia…”

She answered her father, who had delivered the terrible news, with surprising composure.

"If it’s Jern, then he’s probably somewhere searching for a way to solve everything. So it’s okay. I’ll just study magic even harder so I can help him when he comes back.”

"...My daughter, since when did you grow up this much…?”

Her father embraced her with moved eyes.

And she deliberately created distance from him.

—So he wouldn’t hear how violently her heart was pounding.

'It’s okay.’

After returning to her room, she repeated those words to herself.

"He’s always been like this.”

Jern always walked dangerous routes. And he always acted recklessly.

But in the end, he always came back. Whenever someone truly needed him, he was there.

So this time would be the same. If anything, doing nothing now would be the truly unforgivable choice.

'This is something only I can do.’

Carefully, she waved her hand.

The lamp atop her desk slowly went dark. When she touched the candle wax, there wasn’t even a trace of warmth left. As though it had never been lit to begin with.

It was a deeply unsettling power, yet Elisia still forced herself to smile.

Because she knew this power existed for the sake of one boy alone.

'I-I just need to like this.’'

Having made her decision, she left the room. She intended to continue testing her abilities against other Fallen.

Recently, the more she used her abilities, the more she felt herself growing stronger.

And so a day passed.

Then a week.

—Then half a year.

'It’s okay.'

She repeated those words to herself again.

'Everything’s going well!'

Jern still hadn’t returned—

But her powers were growing stronger with each passing day.

"M-My lady.”

"Yes? What is it?”

"Well—the Fallen you dealt with personally… They appeared utterly terrified. Completely insane, almost. Several are displaying symptoms like memory loss and mental regression.”

"Hmm."

By now, Elisia had already shed the traces of childhood. Dark circles had faintly appeared beneath her eyes, but she answered casually.

"It’s fine. I think they were just a bit shocked. In the end, it’s a good thing for both them and me. Is there a problem?”

"Ah! No, none at all. The Fallen are scum anyway. They deserve death regardless. Of course. It’s just that Her Highness the Princess expressed some concern, so I thought I should report it properly.”

"Thank you. I’ll try being gentler from now on.”

She had absolutely no intention of doing so, though.

Elisia wrote down the day’s observation into the journal that had already grown to three full volumes.

[Targeted Area: Head]

[Memory loss, confusion, primal fear, incomprehensible screaming.]

[—Confirmed reduction of the world.]

"Not bad.”

-Tap, tap.

Lightly tapping the notebook with her quill pen, she smiled softly.

The Fallen had gotten ‘slightly’ hurt, but she had undeniably succeeded in shrinking their worlds.

Now all she needed to do was refine the method into something safer.

She had plenty of time.

After all, he still hadn’t returned.

'It’s okay.'

Once more, she repeated the words she’d already told herself hundreds of times.

‘If I get this far…would he praise me when he comes back?'

In unusually high spirits, she slid the journal back onto the bookshelf.

It was the day before the world turned upside down.