Freya wasn't looking at me.
She probably knew I was there, but her gaze was fixed on the Void.
To me, it looked like she was staring intently at a whole lot of nothing.
But I was wrong.
When Freya reached her hand out into that Void, it simply vanished. Or rather, it looked like it was being sucked in. Her hand disappeared right into the empty air.
There was definitely something there, something invisible to the naked eye.
Freya turned to look at me.
She whispered something. I couldn't hear the sound, but I could read her lips.
"Come."
That was definitely what she said.
Her body began to be sucked into the empty space, starting with her fingertips. All the while, she kept her eyes locked on me and Violet-san.
Then, just like that, Freya was gone.
"She’s disappeared, it seems," I said, mostly just for the sake of hearing myself talk.
Violet-san tapped my leg repeatedly, as if telling me that any idiot could see that just by looking.
Still, something was bothering me.
What is this sensation? It feels a lot like what I experienced in the Sanctuary.
Back then, my magic power was being drained. Here, however, nothing was being siphoned away. In fact, I could barely sense any magic power at all.
And yet, I had the distinct feeling that something was being pulled in.
I spent a moment observing the Void where Freya had vanished, but I couldn't make heads or tails of it. So, I decided to just dive right in.
"Yah!"
I executed a stylish leap using my Competitive Swimmer's Diving Style. Naturally, I didn't forget to swap into Shadow Mode first. Presentation is everything, after all.
Violet-san clung to my leg as I went.
Then, a blinding light enveloped me.
◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇
The space I found myself in was a sterile corridor of White Walls, a White Floor, and a White Ceiling.
Pods were lined up on both sides at regular intervals.
It looked exactly like a Research Facility.
Freya was standing in front of one of the pods. I walked over and peered inside a nearby one.
"This is..."
The pod contained something that used to be human. It was some kind of Failure—a grotesque blend of a person and Possession.
It was a White-haired Woman, but the spark of life was long gone.
The contents of the next pod didn't even look human anymore. It was just a Mass of Organs.
The next one was the same, and the one after that.
Every single one was a Failure, and not a single one was breathing. It was like a gallery of discarded samples.
As I scanned the countless pods, I noticed a pattern.
They’re probably all female, and they all look remarkably similar.
One pod held a woman who resembled Olivier, the hero I’d fought back in the Sanctuary.
Another looked like a strange fusion of Violet-san and someone else.
Then there was the Beastkin Girl in the next pod...
Finally, I looked into the pod Freya was standing over. Inside was a being who was her literal spitting image.
Freya just stood there, frozen, staring at her double.
"Everything has connected..." I muttered, my voice dripping with manufactured depth.
I’d clearly stumbled onto some kind of incredible facility, but since I had no idea what was actually going on, I figured I’d at least pretend like I did. That was the most important part of the job.
"It began with Diabolos... and thus, a grand tale spanning over a millennium was set in motion... yet, this is but a simple conclusion reached by unraveling the threads of history."
Violet-san’s leg twitched in response. She's totally into the performance, I thought.
"The point where the present, past, and future converge... it appears everything was well within the scope of assumptions."
I was really leaning into the Sense of Knowing Everything. For the Eminence in Shadow, the entire world is just a chessboard where nothing is ever truly a surprise.
Just as I gave my coat a dramatic flourish, the space around us distorted, flickering like static on a screen.
"I thought we had an Uninvited Visitor... I see. So you’re Shadow."
A voice rang out from the warped space.
"To think someone would reach this place so soon... though it seems you already knew everything."
Then, a man stepped out from the distortion.