"It was hard to believe even after seeing it myself.”

Elisia slowly stepped out of the library and looked up at the sky.

"The Great Void I saw was…probably a little different from the one you saw. I already knew, at least theoretically, that he could be killed, but the moment I actually saw him, it felt ridiculous for even thinking that.”

"He probably didn’t spend those 5 years doing nothing.”

"Still, one thing’s certain. He was wounded.”

"And the one who did that was Master..."

I stopped mid-sentence and shook my head in disbelief.

That Dercia? She chose to fight against the only god remaining here just to save the world?

The last time I saw her, she’d already fallen into despair after learning someone had reached the Heavenly Realm first. I’d honestly thought it wouldn’t have been strange if she’d fallen herself.

"...How? Why?”

"I don’t know either.”

Elisia shrugged, looking just as unable to understand her actions.

"But one thing’s certain. The fountain pen your master used to carry was carved into Great Void’s body. And he looked to be in excruciating pain.”

"So that’s why his plans have been delayed for the past 5 years.”

Only then did I finally understand why the world hadn’t completely ended during my absence.

I’d thought Great Void was slowly weaving some massive conspiracy, but in reality, he had taken a devastating hit from Dercia.

'And the reason he didn’t personally come to kill me, even knowing I’d escaped the Abyssal Sea and prepared Elisia as a trap instead—’

Because he couldn’t move right now.

Even though I’d openly unfolded the Abyssal Sea in broad daylight, that being that was equivalent to the “Sky” still hadn’t noticed.

The realization sent chills through me.

'What the hell did she do to him?’

Dercia was human…well, not human, but an elf.

And probably the greatest wizard in the Empire.

But even accounting for that, the opponent was still an Outer God that had devoured countless worlds. How could she possibly inflict injuries severe enough to leave him unable to move?

Something about the whole thing still felt deeply unsettling. But Elisia had no reason to lie at a time like this, so I nodded and accepted it for now.

"Alright. Then let’s leave first. You said it’s dangerous to stay here too long.”

"Ah, right."

She hurriedly nodded, then suddenly seemed to realize something, shrinking in on herself with a troubled expression.

"...But I can’t leave this city anymore.”

"What? Why?”

"It’s been a while since I became this city itself. If I leave now, then everywhere I touch will become dangerous instead.”

"...No, wait. You said you traveled around a lot while you were the Witch.”

"That’s how I figured it out…Also, who even came up with the title 'Witch'? Isn’t that kind of harsh?”

"Then what exactly are we supposed to call someone who runs around stealing Knights’ memories?”

Linmel crossed her arms and shot back without hesitation.

"There are 19 Knights who became farmers because of you. Do you have any idea how valuable those people are? And all because you were busy playing with these stupid dolls…”

"Playing with dolls?”

"I-I can return the memories. I don’t need them anymore anyway, and I’m sorry about that. I think I started acting too recklessly after convincing myself everything was already over.”

Surprisingly, Elisia didn’t argue with Linmel at all. Instead, she hurriedly admitted her fault, showing an unusually weak side of her.

But even then, her inability to leave hadn’t changed. She looked up at me with tearful eyes.

"But I really can’t leave. Especially now that you’ve returned, Jern… My existence itself is a flaw that contaminates the world. If I leave this place and stay beside you, that’d be exactly what Great Void wants.”

"..."

"I’m okay. Just tell Father for me that I’m doing fine. But we can’t meet again, so…he should think of me as someone who no longer exists.”

—That was a genuinely heartbreaking thing to hear.

Especially because Elisia herself spoke of it as if it were nothing.

She’d probably accepted that separation in her heart long ago.

And that was my fault. After a moment of thought, I shook my head.

"...No, Elisia. You can leave.”

"H-Huh?”

"When everything’s over, I’ll come kill you.”

"?"

Elisia blinked at the sudden murder declaration with utter confusion.

Of course, I didn’t literally mean I’d kill her.

"Inside me, the worlds I’ve devoured still exist. If you really are a world—if you’re something I can directly absorb, then instead of contaminating reality, you’d just contaminate the Abyssal Sea while moving around.”

"B-but then your world would be ruined..."

"It doesn’t matter."

I genuinely didn’t care about the Abyssal Sea.

From what Nightchaser had said, gods supposedly felt obsessive pleasure from expanding their world, but I didn’t. Whether Elisia erased every last drop of seawater or not meant absolutely nothing to me.

"Not now, though. My world’s still useful.”

"..."

"But once everything’s over, I’ll give the Abyssal Sea to you. So until then, just endure it a little longer and…”

Wait.

That was what I’d been about to say when Elisia suddenly threw herself at me.

"Sniff, hic…Even if it’s only words, thank you…”

Practically sobbing, she wrapped her small frame around my waist.

That was the second time now. I patted her back and calmed her down for several minutes before she finally looked up at me with faint tear marks still lingering on her face. Then she asked shyly,

"Th-then if that day really comes, I’ll always be the only one beside you, right?”

"No. There’ll probably be several others…”

There was almost no chance my world would remain a pure, unadulterated Abyssal Sea by the time I defeated Great Void. Several other worlds had already melted into it.

But Elisia either didn’t hear me or chose not to. She simply smiled softly and held my hand.

"I’ll keep waiting here. If you ever need me again, come back anytime. I’ll always leave the door open for you.”

"Keep it closed. Some random traveler might wander in.”

"Okay!"

I gently stroked Elisia’s head, feeling emotions too complicated to describe.

Apparently, Elisia had forgotten that I could detect almost anything at any place with my Tide Sense.

Right, even inside the library whose doors were already wide open.

[Hmpf, this mage is garbage. Making a shoddy magic circle like this…]

'Did I really act like that while reading books?’

...Apparently, the childhood version of me that Elisia remembered was kind of a weird brat.

Still, correcting her now, when she was smiling so brightly, felt like it might make her decide to end everything herself before I could come to kill her. So I held my tongue.

Some things were simply better left unknown.

*t*t*

After leaving the former capital.

I looked up at the sky with lingering unease. Compared to before, it was slightly gloomier, as if it was about to rain, but I couldn’t see the face of Great Void staring down at me or anything like that.

At the very least, it seemed true that he couldn’t immediately come after me. As I let out a quiet sigh of relief, Linmel glared back toward the capital with a deeply dissatisfied expression.

"I beat her up nice and thoroughly, but I still don't feel satisfied. Do you think I’ll get another chance later?”

"If you want to hit someone, hit me. This whole debacle happened because I disappeared for 5 years.”

"No, you didn't do anything wrong, Jern! You said you were tricked, right?”

"I was...But well, if I’d known the truth, I probably wouldn’t have gone in.”

Not probably. Definitely.

Maybe that was one of the reasons Heavenly Balance hadn't told me the truth. Of course, no matter what reasons there were, I still absolutely couldn’t forgive her. As I clenched my trembling fist, Linmel cautiously spoke up.

"Now that the Witch subjugation’s over, do you want to go see everyone? The director and the kids probably all miss you.”

"I should. But there’s something I want to confirm first.”

Dercia had wounded Great Void.

If that was really true, then I needed to know how she had done it and how severe the wound actually was.

"My plan has a way to stop Great Void from escaping, but I still don’t have a method to actually defeat him. I need to find Master first.”

"You can just beat him up and win! I’ll help!”

"What if we lose?”

"I won’t let us lose!”

Linmel grinned confidently. It was still the smile of someone who hadn’t lost her childlike innocence.

If only everything could be solved that simply. I smiled bitterly and patted her head.

"Thanks. But we need a slightly more precise plan. This battle will probably be the very last strength I can squeeze out of myself. Let’s head to the forest Master supposedly returned to first.”

"Okay. Got it. Want a piggyback ride?”

"...It’s not that far, so I’ll be fine.”

Making one final stand for my pride against the innocent-looking Linmel already preparing to crouch down for me, I started walking toward the forest I remembered with my own two feet.

In reality it was actually pretty far away, but now that I knew I could at least reveal some of my power without immediate consequences, I wanted to test something.

"Let’s see..."

-Drip.

I poured some water from the bottle I was holding, creating a tiny puddle on the ground.

Then using my Tide Sense, whose range had become absurdly vast by now—

I focused on the entrance of the Elven Forest.

'Concentrate.'

Slowly, I drew up my power. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

If my senses could reach something, then I could use my abilities there. I clenched my fist in empty air—

-Drip...

Dozens of kilometers away, somewhere in empty space, a stream of water suddenly fell.

There, too, a small puddle formed. With the two puddles connected, I recalled the gate magic Dercia often used.

A miraculous spell that could open a doorway to any place one had already visited.

And now that I was already a demigod, there was no reason I couldn’t imitate it.

"What are you doing?”

In front of the curiously watching Linmel, I lightly dipped a finger into the puddle. The finger slowly, but surely, sank deeper—far deeper than the puddle’s actual depth should have allowed.

And in the piddle near the entrance to the Elven Forest, the finger emerged from the water.

"So it works."

"Huh?"

As Linmel tilted her head in confusion, I grabbed her by the shoulders, lifted her up, and shoved her directly into the puddle.

Surprisingly, she entered without much resistance. A moment later, her legs emerged first through the puddle at the Elven Forest’s entrance.

After looking around, she realized she’d arrived somewhere completely different and stared at the puddle in astonishment.

"Woooah...! What is this?”

"Something like magic.”

I threw myself into the puddle as well and traveled through it the same way.

I moved my body around a few times after, checking for abnormalities, but there were none. I had just causally reproduced a spell that Dercia had spent decades developing. Yet my expression twisted into a frown.

'Which means that guy can probably do this too.’

That only made me more curious about how exactly Dercia had managed to wound Great Void.

......Maybe.

'She didn’t actually fall, right?’

Well, if she had fallen, there’d be no reason for her to fight Great Void in the first place. And a grand wizard on Dercia’s level probably wouldn’t fall unless she herself chose to do so.

Convincing myself of that, I turned toward the forest. Linmel was already admiring the scenery with shining eyes.

"Waah, the colors of the trees in this forest are so pretty!”

"..."

And then—

Seeing the black forest before us, appearing as if it had been completely drenched in ink, I clenched my teeth.

......She didn’t fall, right?