Chapter 130

"Don't make me laugh. What’s this about 'a hundred points'?"

Harold spat the words with as much loathing as he could summon. He was well aware that such defiance was ultimately futile, but it wasn't as though adopting a meek attitude would make his situation any better.

Despite his opponent's appearance as a lovely young girl, Harold felt that if he didn't consciously stoke his own rebellion, he would be swallowed whole by Justus’s madness. Whether or not Justus noticed that internal struggle, his smile didn't falter for a second.

"Still running that mouth, even in this position. Or perhaps your Future Foresight predicts a way out of this?"

"Hah. Who knows."

"You won't deny it, then? Well, it makes no difference to me."

The chair groaned as Justus sat, facing the kneeling Harold. Unlike the dungeon cell they had occupied before, there were no bars between them now. Yet, Justus sat with his legs crossed, completely unguarded right before Harold’s eyes.

The movements were refined and practiced—unbecoming of a young girl—which only heightened the sense of dissonance. The smile he had worn a moment ago vanished, replaced by a mask of indifference as he looked down at Harold.

Harold had no idea what went on in Justus’s head.

He knew the man’s goals, methods, and motives from the game, but that was just data he had been provided. He had never once managed to grasp the logic—or the twisted emotions—that actually drove the man.

"Harold, I find you fascinating as an entity. Do you understand why?"

"None of my business. And I’ve no desire to find out."

"...Hm. That doesn't sound like a lie. Then again, you’ve never told me a direct lie, have you?"

Harold’s face twisted with a hint of bitterness. The observation was accurate, and the fact that Justus had seen through him so completely was terrifying.

"You assumed that if you lied to my face, I would see right through it. That was your reasoning, wasn't it?"

"..."

"Conversely, that means you have a secret you're desperate to keep from me. Your Future Foresight is one such secret."

The man's tone wasn't even inquisitive; he spoke with the flat certainty of someone proving a mathematical formula. Justus had already reached his own conclusion.

"I’d say Future Foresight is nothing but absurd nonsense."

"To claim that now... well, there were simply too many suspicious discrepancies in your behavior to ignore."

I suppose he’s right, Harold thought.

Justus had clearly been tracking his movements for a long time, especially recently. To put it simply, he had been using Harold while fully aware that Harold would eventually betray him. If that were the case, he undoubtedly had countermeasures prepared for this exact moment.

"Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains—however improbable—must be the truth. It is a self-evident principle."

"So that's your conclusion? Future Foresight. And what do you intend to do with that knowledge?"

"Nothing. Even if there were a way to seize that power for myself, it doesn't interest me."

Justus stated flatly that he didn't care about something as significant as predicting the future. Harold could tell he wasn't lying or bluffing. That was what made him so unfathomably eerie.

Future Foresight was a devastatingly powerful tool, one Harold had relied on just to survive this long. Normally, if a hostile opponent possessed such an ability, one would be on maximum alert.

"I know you're indifferent toward others, but if even the power to see the future doesn't move you, then I see even less reason for you to be interested in me."

"True. To put it simply, it is your existence itself that I find compelling."

Harold’s existence itself. He couldn't grasp the finer nuances of the statement, but a foul premonition flickered through his mind. That feeling sharpened into near-certainty as Justus continued.

"You harbor several abnormalities. We can include Future Foresight among them. When taken together, they suggest that you are an entity that falls outside the laws of this world."

"...What are you getting at?"

"It is still merely a hypothesis, but if I were to venture a question, it would be this: Harold Stokes, who are you?"

On the surface, the question sounded philosophical, but its intent was chillingly literal. Justus was looking at Harold and seeing someone other than Harold Stokes. He didn't understand the mechanics or the identity yet, but he was catching a faint scent of Kazuki Hirasawa.

Facing that inorganic voice and the cold, piercing gaze, Harold felt he had no choice but to accept that reality.

"...I don't follow. I am me."

"You really are a poor liar. Though, whether my hypothesis was right or wrong, I suppose I would have received a similar answer regardless."

"Hmph. Disappointed that your guess was off?"

"Not at all. The very fact that you are holding a conversation with me right now serves as a minor proof of my theory."

Harold couldn't begin to parse the man's logic. How did a simple conversation provide proof?

Now that the world had diverged so drastically from the original story, there were more and more instances where his game knowledge failed him. It was terrifying to realize that every word or reaction he gave might be providing Justus with hints he didn't even notice he was giving.

Looking at this man, the fear of death he had worked so hard to suppress threatened to claw its way back to the surface.

"I'm glad you're satisfied... So, what do you intend to do with me?"

"If the success of my plan were my only priority, you would be the most dangerous obstacle in my path. There is no question that killing you would be the safest course of action. However..."

Justus’s eyes usually looked like those of a dead fish, entirely devoid of light. But now, perhaps because he was inhabiting Sarah’s body, they burned with a feverish glow. Those eyes, clouded with madness, seemed to be looking at Harold while simultaneously staring at something far beyond him.

"Harold, you represent a new possibility for both her and me."

"A possibility...?"

"Yes. You harbor a potential so profound it might render my current plans obsolete."

Harold had no idea what he was talking about.

Justus’s life's work revolved around Ester, his lost love. His plan was to bring her back—or more accurately, to recover her Astral Body and anchor it into the Vessel of a Star Child to achieve a pseudo-resurrection. To do so, he needed to expose the Planet's Core and perform the suicidal act of synchronizing with it, an act that would likely cause the core to collapse and the entire continent to sink.

Harold was trying to stop that plan, certainly. But he wouldn't describe himself as someone who made the plan "worthless." If Justus called him a "possibility," it meant Harold possessed something that offered an alternative to Justus’s current methods.

But no matter how hard he thought, Harold couldn't imagine what kind of trump card he could possibly be holding.

"Have you finally lost your mind?"

"Shall we find out? Whether it's me who is mad, or this world."

No, it's definitely you, Harold thought, swallowing the retort. There was no point in wasting insults on a man like Justus.

Instead, he needed to glean whatever information he could from this baffling situation and find a way to escape. He stared intently at the girl who was currently a puppet for a madman.

"Ultimately, it's a trivial distinction. As long as I can achieve my one true goal, it matters not if everything in this world is insane."

Those words were spoken with absolute, terrifying sincerity. The only thing that mattered to Justus was Ester; he was perfectly willing to break himself and the world if it meant getting her back. It was a love defined by madness.

"Let's return to the point. Harold, I believe that within your body, you harbor an existence distinct from yourself."

Without any fanfare, Justus dropped a bombshell that cut straight to the heart of the matter.

Harold didn't know how the man had reached that conclusion, but he had lived with a constant, gnawing certainty that he would be found out eventually. That was why he had always been so guarded.

"I don't believe your abnormality is the result of multiple personalities or a dissociative disorder. It isn't that a single self has fractured; rather, two distinct selves coexist within a single physical frame."

The "self"—Kazuki—who was currently controlling Harold’s body and thinking these thoughts was indeed a separate entity from the Original Harold sleeping within. From Kazuki's perspective, they had originated from entirely different dimensions.

If even Justus called it an event "outside the laws of this world," then it was undoubtedly unique—likely a phenomenon occurring only to Harold. And Justus saw some kind of potential in that.

"I took the liberty of investigating a few things while you were unconscious."

While I was asleep... Did that mean several days had already passed since the battle in Burston? To Harold, it felt like only a few hours—or at most a day—since he had blacked out. He might be in much deeper trouble than he realized.

"You're a bit late for that, aren't you?"

"I was simply being cautious. I had no way of knowing what traps you might have laid, so I had to take every precaution before proceeding."

It was unlikely he had orchestrated the entire Burston incident just for this, but he had clearly utilized the chaos to exhaust Harold and capture him safely. If that were the case, Harold had walked right into the snare.

The irony was that Harold hadn't set any traps at all. At most, he’d thought, If I get jumped, I’ll just kick everyone's ass and bolt. If that simplicity had looked like a trap to Justus, then the man wasn't as omniscient as he seemed.

"The results, however, confirmed my theory: your body plays host to two Astral Bodies. Two distinct Astral Bodies in a single human frame... Theoretically, such a thing is impossible."

"...Just like Future Foresight?"

"Indeed. That is another hallmark of your abnormality. To be blunt, I have yet to determine the principle that allows this phenomenon to exist."

"It's not like you to admit defeat so easily."

"I am only unable to determine it for now. Given enough time, that will change."

The idea of someone from the real world possessing a game character was something that felt like the work of a god, but Harold had a sinking feeling that if anyone could bridge that gap through science, it was Justus.

"So, you may rest easy. I have no intention of killing you until I have unraveled this mystery."

"Why...? Why go to such lengths—"

"Why am I so fixated on you? On this phenomenon?"

Justus’s smile widened, and the madness in his eyes intensified.

"Because if I can solve this riddle, then she and I can exist within the same body! We can share the same world, closer than anyone or anything else! Literally becoming one would no longer be a mere dream!"

To share a body. To be together forever. To eventually merge into one. Justus spoke of it as if it were a beautiful dream. To a man willing to let the world burn to see Ester again, this was the ultimate prize.

But...

"How laughable."

The words Harold spat were colder than ever, fueled by a searing rage rising from deep within. Justus had called Harold's situation "wonderful"—a "dream." He said it without knowing the agony, the fear, and the grief Harold had endured for the past eight years.

Kazuki Hirasawa had lost his home, his friends, and his own body. He didn't even know if he could ever go back. Every day had been a struggle for survival, a desperate crawl through misery just to stay alive.

All of it—every drop of sweat and blood—had been to reach the end of the story and stop this man's insane plan.

"Pathetic. If that's what you're after, then I will make sure your wish never comes true."

"You speak as though you understand exactly what's happening to you."

"Even if I do, I’m not telling you a damn thing."

"I thought as much. It seems the truth serum has no effect on you."

So they had drugged him before he woke up. The fact that he could hold a coherent conversation was apparently further proof for Justus—likely because the presence of two Astral Bodies interfered with the drug's ability to cloud his mind. As always, the man was thorough.

Justus snapped his fingers.

The door flew open, and ten men filed in. Among them were several familiar faces—the most prominent being Cody. Every one of them shared a chilling trait: despite their different features, their eyes were the same sky-blue as Justus’s.

"Did you foresee this future, Harold?"

The Justus inhabiting Cody's body drew a sword. The other knights followed suit, each of them wearing a faint, hollow smile.

It was hard to believe, but it wasn't just Sarah and Cody. Every person in the room was likely a fragment of Justus’s divided ego.

"Now, let us begin the next experiment."

Justus spoke through the girl's voice.

It was a room that, without a doubt, embodied the pinnacle of madness.