With the strange sensation of floating up from the depths of the water, I rolled over.
Those were the memories of that usual lowest-of-the-low scumbag. Grimacing at the fierce discomfort—as if a mountain of information had been forcefully crammed into my skull all at once—I began taking stock of the situation with a groggy head.
(I was attending the completion ceremony for the new city, and...)
As my hazy recollections sharpened, the blood drained from my face. I shot upright in a panic, only to be met by Char's wide, startled eyes. Looking at her usual innocent, gentle expression—
"Char!"
Overcome by sheer relief, I pulled her into a tight embrace. Well, of course I did. Her being alive meant that horrific reality had merely been a dream.
"G-Gil? What's the matter?"
Paying no heed to the flustered girl, I simply held on to her.
Once the storm inside my chest finally settled, Tama and Kiji demanded an explanation with dead-serious expressions.
"So it's another one of those prophetic dreams..."
Kiji muttered under his breath, scratching his head with a deeply troubled grimace.
"Me, captured by the Demon King Army and beheaded... What a nightmare."
"Agreed. So, Gil, judging from what you saw, do we stand any chance against the Demon King Army?"
"No, I doubt there's any way we can win. Those things were beyond the demon race—they weren't even living beings anymore."
"Even if you use your Mimicry to become your strongest existence?"
"Yeah, I don't think I'd even be a match. On top of that, there's someone far bigger backing Aldebaran."
After all, even when I mimicked the strongest being I could conceive of, I still fell before Aldebaran. What was worse, Aldebaran appeared subservient to that fish-headed monster called Forneus. Those entities undoubtedly possessed power far surpassing his.
It was an undeniable certainty: we could never beat them on our own.
"Are you serious... In that case, those bastards are even stronger than your 'strongest existence'..."
Bū's deduction was a remarkably mistaken conclusion that naturally arose from the conversation.
"No. At the very end of the dream, Aldebaran was killed with a single kick by the person I mimicked, and the masters they served were likely wiped out, too."
Forneus had been utterly shaken upon seeing the severed heads of the three-faced ogres, which appeared to have been slain by the black-haired youth. Given that Forneus addressed them with extreme reverence, they were likely beings of a higher rank than him—the bosses behind Aldebaran and his cohort. Absolute powerhouses we could never hope to overcome. That much was beyond doubt.
Yet the severed faces of those three-faced ogres were all twisted in sheer horror and despair. Nine times out of ten, they had witnessed a literal living hell at the hands of that black-haired youth. That fact alone proved his words were the unvarnished truth.
"With a single kick..."
As Kiji and Tama stood speechless—
"Then why did you, mimicking this 'strongest guy,' lose to Aldebaran?"
Bū asked, his brow furrowing. No doubt Bū still didn't believe a word about my dream. I figured he was merely playing along for Kiji and Tama's sake.
"I think there's probably a limit to my Mimicry ability."
Something had felt off from the very beginning. Even when mimicking that strongest existence, all I could use were my own physical arts and the magic I had known from the start. It wasn't as though I could wield his techniques or spells.
In the first place, my ability is supposed to completely replicate another person. The fact that I had faithfully reproduced the abilities of others when mimicking them made that abundantly clear.
In short, only that strongest existence—the black-haired youth—could not be fully copied by my power. The result was a severely flawed mimicry that merely gave my physical capabilities a dramatic boost.
"Regardless, the question is what we do now. If even Gil couldn't win, none of us stand a chance. Above all, we all ended up beheaded, didn't we?"
Kiji forcefully steered the derailed conversation back on track.
"Yeah. The moment the Demon King Army infiltrates this city, our defeat is sealed."
I couldn't even defeat Aldebaran. If Forneus joined the fray as well, we wouldn't have the slightest means of resistance. Every monster in this city would be slaughtered, and New City of Ket Nya would surely fall.
"If that's the case, our time limit is three days?"
To Tama, who asked with a bitter scowl—
"Yeah. Our time and our options are limited."
We alone could never defeat Aldebaran and the entities backing him. No, this was just my intuition, but the number of beings capable of beating them in the first place had to be scarce.
First was Mr. Lou. A monster like him at least wouldn't fall behind Aldebaran. Perhaps he could even fight on equal terms with Forneus. And if we could track him down, Mr. Lou would surely lend us a hand. But the enemy possessed monsters that surpassed Forneus. Even Mr. Lou wouldn't be guaranteed victory.
There was only a single person in this world who could definitely win: that absolute powerhouse, the black-haired youth. If that dream was truly prophetic, he had dismissed even Forneus's masters as mere small fry. He could effortlessly send them all straight to the grave.
Judging by that sorrowful, regretful expression on his face at the very end, he wouldn't have wanted that outcome either. As long as we negotiated properly, there was a chance he would help us.
If so, our top priority was making contact with him, but that was easily the most daunting task. After all, I had no clue how to even find him.
For now, we had to buy time at the very least.
"So the top priority is evacuating the residents from the city, then."
Kiji crossed his arms, letting out a low grunt.
"Yeah. The only problem is where to run..."
The moment they invaded, our defeat would be guaranteed. We had to get the residents out of here before that happened.
The north was their territory, so fleeing in that direction was practically suicide. In that case, our only option was to flee south, but—
"South is our only choice... but we'll be blocked by those sheer cliffs..."
"Indeed... That's the worst-case scenario."
The words of Kiji and Tama said it all.
They were right. The south of Northground was cut off by sheer cliffs. Even if we ran, we would eventually run out of ground at the precipice. In other words, fleeing would only buy us a little time until the Demon King Army caught up. In the meantime, we had to find that strongest existence, the black-haired youth, and request his help in resolving this crisis. That was the only way New City of Ket Nya could survive.
"Even so, we have to try. If we don't, we'll be wiped out completely."
If that was a prophetic dream, we only had one more chance. We couldn't afford to fail again.
"Gil..."
As Char clung tightly to my right arm, I gently stroked her head to reassure her.
"It's all right. It'll be fine."
I repeated the words again and again, as if trying to convince myself.
That was right. If I failed, I would lose her. I would lose Kiji, Tama, Chato, and Bū. I would lose everyone in New City of Ket Nya. I absolutely refused to experience that agony ever again. I had to see this through to the end—no matter what became of me.