At first, I couldn’t immediately tell who the child being beaten actually was.

Partly because her face was covered in blood, but mostly because the scene itself made no sense. Rather than pain or suffering, the girl looked overwhelmingly humiliated while being pummeled.

Normally, someone getting beaten that badly should at least look hurt—

"Huh, Jern!”

"...Jern?”

While I stared in confusion, Linmel looked even more shocked and sprang to her feet. She ceased her relentless ground-and-pound attack on the girl’s face.

"Why did you come in here? I said I’d handle it myself!”

"Your sword came flying outside, bent out of shape.”

I used seawater to drag the broken blade fragments over and showed them to her. Linmel glanced down at the child with a startled expression.

"You sent that out?”

"...It was a request for help. Whoever was outside would come in and drag you back out.”

As the girl lazily wiped blood from her face…

I was finally able to properly see what she looked like.

"Elisia?”

"..."

It really was Elisa. Exactly as she had looked when she was younger.

After blinking several times, she looked up at me as well.

Then she immediately frowned.

"...What? So you are fake after all.”

"What’s wrong with her? She still doesn’t believe it even after seeing you in person.”

Linmel clenched her fist again as though ready to resume punching her, but I raised a hand to stop her.

Something felt off.

"Wait. Elisia. You really can’t recognize me?”

"I can tell you were made to resemble him. But you aren’t Jern.”

Elisia glared at me coldly, absolute certainty in her voice.

"You aren’t even human, right?”

"Hm.”

Elisia was looking at me a lot more intensely now.

"You may have fooled Linmel, but you can’t fool me. You think I can’t see those things floating around you? You’re the will of a world, a moving world itself.”

"...A lot happened. But I can prove it.”

In the end, all I needed to do was bring up something only Elisia and I knew.

Just as I slowly opened my mouth, she stopped me.

"I don’t want to hear it."

"...What?”

"You think that trick will work on me again? This time you even dragged out an Outer God out of the Abyssal Sea to imitate his memories and deceive me?”

"What are you talking about?”

"I won’t be fooled twice."

-Crunch

Elisia bit down on her lip hard.

"No matter how perfect a fake you bring me, I already have one. I don’t need another anymore.”

"Hmm. What is this…?”

Confused by how bizarre Elisia’s reaction was, something suddenly crossed my mind.

Elisia had taken refuge within Scarlet Abyss. And her world was Emptiness—A terrifying poison capable of affecting any world. Even Outer Gods.

Would Great Void really leave something like that alone? Of course not. He would have tried to recruit and use her somehow.

And the most effective method of swaying Elisia…

Would be me—as self-important as that sounded.

"That crazy bastard, Great Void..."

I wiped my face dry and looked back at Elisia, who still regarded me with undisguised hostility.

Everything fit together perfectly. Great Void had already created a fake version of me once to manipulate her.

'Maybe even that itself was part of his plan.'

By showing her a fake Jern once already, she would refuse to believe that I was real even after I truly returned and clash with me instead.

If Great Void really schemed that deeply. then he had gone far beyond anything that could still be called human.

However, this raised two more questions. Why would he go through Elisia to deal with me at all? Wouldn’t it be simpler for Great Void to come himself?

For now, I decided to speak calmly.

"There’s a misunderstanding. I’m not some fake sent by Great Void. Listen to what I…”

"Don’t speak to me with that face ever again.”

-Grind.

The world slowly began turning white.

The library. The world itself. Everything started disappearing.

"...Shit."

This answered the second question I had.

Why hadn’t Great Void simply imprisoned Elisia by force?

Because her very existence was dangerous to Outer Gods.

As Elisia erased the space around her, I could feel my Abyssal Sea being slowly gnawed away. The loss wasn’t significant yet, but simply making contact with her caused my power to diminish. Even if someone overpowered her by force, the result would be pure loss with no gain.

Left with no other choice, I fully unleashed the Abyssal Sea.

"Sorry. But you need to calm down first.”

"Are you stupid? Even if you spread your world, against me it won’t…”

Eliusia scoffed, then blinked and looked around.

"...What?”

"It’s over."

Elisia instantly lost all control over the surrounding space.

Because everything around us was now the Abyssal Sea. The deepest point beneath the ocean.

"W-wait…”

-Blub, blub

Elisia clutched at her throat as bubbles rose from her mouth.

If I hadn’t hurriedly pushed the seawater away from around her, she would have drowned immediately. Even after I gave her space to breathe, she still stared around herself in a daze.

"...Impossible. This place…is the Abyssal Sea.”

"That’s right. Because I am the one who governs it."

"When? When did you take control of the surroundings? This capital is completely my domain. I built this entire place, so this should be impossible…”

Wearing an expression of utter disbelief, she eventually seemed to reach her own conclusion and glared at me.

"You—you really are the Abyssal Sea.”

"I told you before, didn’t I?”

"That’s not what I mean. Just by existing, everything around you becomes the Abyssal Sea. That means…”

Elisia’s eyes slowly filled with terror.

"...The Outer God of the Abyssal Sea?”

"..."

"So it really existed. Something like that…”

She slowly staggered backward, her body trembling.

"Yeah, but there’s a reason for all this. And honestly, compared to the other Outer Gods, I’m not even that big a deal…”

"What? How can you say that?”

When I spoke while thinking about entities like Mimicry and Great Void, Elisia frowned and immediately shot my words down.

"You— You're an Outer God that should never exist. If merely existing turns everything around you into the Abyssal Sea, then what Outer God could even fight you? The moment they meet you, the entire region becomes the Abyssal Sea. Whatever world exists benteth that pressure…How could it possibly endure?”

"...It’s not that overwhelming.”

"It is! Endless deserts, mountains reaching the heavens, lava that never cools, none of it means anything in the Abyssal Sea. Deserts become wet dirt, mountains can never rise above the surface, and lava turns into ordinary stone…”

It seemed Elisia had studied Outer Gods thoroughly while she was with Scarlet Abyssal.

How was I supposed to explain this? I let out a sigh, and as though reaching some kind of decision, Elisia drew a dagger.

At first I thought she meant to point it at me, but the blade moved toward her own throat instead.

"What are you doing?”

"I still have a way to resist. If I die in this world, you’ll shoulder the burdens of Emptiness.”

-Prick.

The dagger pierced lightly into her pale neck, drawing blood.

"Maybe I can’t defeat you. But ruining your world forever is very much possible for me.”

"...Elisia.”

"I told you not to call me that..."

"I heard from Master that you were the one who saved me at the spire, right before I dissolved into the Abyssal Sea.”

"......?"

"And I still never thanked you for that. Thank you. If you hadn’t helped me back then, I probably wouldn’t even exist as an Outer God now.”

Elisia’s eyes widened.

So wide, in fact, that I wondered if they could physically get any larger.

"...Th-that… Even if you copied my memories, you wouldn’t know that…”

"And I'm sorry too. I should’ve at least told you before I left. Everything happened too fast—and honestly, I got tricked. How was I supposed to know it’d take that long? I thought it’d be over in maybe a week. Anyway, it’s my fault. From now on, before I disappear anywhere, I’ll contact you every two days at the minimum.”

-Slide.

Elisia lowered the dagger.

She still didn't look fully convinced. But at least she’d reached a state where she was willing to listen. So I slowly began explaining.

"Well, this is what happened. First, I went to find Heavenly Balance..."

For nearly 2 hours.

I told her everything I experienced in the Abyssal Sea.

Elisia looked like she was using ever ounce of concentration she had to determine whether I was telling the truth or was lying. Meanwhile, Linmel listened with sparkling curiosity, like a child listening to a fairy tale.

"So that’s how I ended up here. I really wasn’t trying to deceive you.”

"...Jern?”

"Yeah."

"You really are the real Jern?”

"Yeah, it’s really me…How many times do I have to say it?”

I was starting to get irritated after answering basically the same question a hundred times, even if I had been at fault to some degree—

"It really is you, Jern..."

At last, her face showed genuine certainty. To the point, it made me seriously question what she thought of me.

Tears began flowing from Elisia’s eyes, though her face was completely expressionless. I had no idea how I was supposed to react to that when suddenly she looked around frantically and shouted.

"Th-the Abyssal Sea! Put it away! Hurry!”

"Huh? Uh, okay.”

I figured maybe she just wasn’t used to the Abyssal Sea, so I hurriedly suppressed it. Only after it vanished did Elisia let out a relieved sigh.

"Sorry. I can’t stay inside your world. My very existence tears holes into things…”

"A few holes aren’t enough to destroy my world. It’s fine.”

"Ugh...!"

Suddenly, Elisia’s face turned bright red as she strode directly toward me.

Because of the height difference, she had to crane her head up to look at me. Her eyes brimmed with tears as she spoke in a trembling voice.

"Why did you come back so late? I’m not even human anymore…”

"Sorry. But neither am I.”

"Th-that’s true..."

Like a barnacle attaching itself to a ship, Elisia latched onto me and showed absolutely no intention of letting go.

"Sniff, I'm sorry. For not recognizing you…I-I really thought you were fake. I’d already been tricked once before…Sniff!"

"It’s okay. Seriously, it’s okay. Just don’t wipe your nose on my robe—Ah, right. That guy’s asleep, so I guess it doesn’t matter. It’s been really hard for you, huh?”

"Yeah…really, really hard. I was lonely…”

"I wonder about that…”

Watching Elisia cling to my stomach without moving, Linmel let out a faintly annoyed laugh and made a rather cryptic comment.

"She seemed to be having fun on her own, though? Didn’t look lonely at all actually."

"What? What’s that supposed to mean?”

Still hugging me, Elisia suddenly twitched in alarm as though realizing something. Then she hurriedly changed the subject.

"J-Jern, right. It’s dangerous to stay here. Great Void will notice you.”

"Ah, right. I forgot about that. But considering that I had the Abyssal Sea manifested for this long, haven't I been discovered by now?”

I’d unfolded the Abyssal Sea beneath this sky for quite a while.

I’d had no choice because I thought Linmel was in danger, but I already prepared myself for the consequences. As I frowned, Elisia shook her head.

"No, right now, Great Void is extremely busy. Just having the Abyssal Sea out isn’t enough for him to notice you easily. The real problem is being together with me.”

"...Not enough to notice? Why?”

I narrowed my eyes.

The way Elisia said it sounded like something was wrong with Great Void himself.

Yeah.”

She nodded.

"That guy's in the middle of a fight right now.”

"Great Void? Against who…?”

"A certain person—no, an elf you know…"

An impossible answer fell from her lips

"Your master, Derica, is holding Great Void back to some extent.”