The reason we triggered the labyrinth stampedes across the world was simple: Orun Doura had regained his power.
He was bound to become a troublesome opponent for us.
In hindsight, we should have killed him ten years ago during the raid on the Village of Dawn. The reason we had refrained from doing so—settling for memory alteration instead—was partly because he would have been a struggle to kill, but primarily because he served as a catalyst to thicken the mana concentration of this world.
As an explorer, he had exercised his special ability countless times over the past decade. Nearly every instance involved [Mana Convergence]. That power accelerated the thickening of the world’s mana at an incredible rate.
According to our original projections, it should have taken nearly another century for the mana concentration to reach the required threshold. Yet, thanks to Orun and Oliver repeatedly utilizing [Mana Convergence] throughout their labyrinth explorations, we reached that value in only ten years.
Until now, we had focused all our efforts on increasing the mana concentration so that the Evil God—Lord Oberon—could manifest and act in this world without hindrance. Now that we had achieved that goal, Orun Doura no longer had any utility; he was nothing more than an obstacle.
Our plan had been to break his spirit in Tsutrail and then eliminate him. Afterward, we intended to conquer the Great Labyrinth—the device sealing Lord Oberon—at our leisure.
Our strongest assets, The Incinerator and the Thunder Emperor, were—much like Rasetsu—actually Seirei known as "demons" inhabiting human vessels. Their power was such that they wouldn't falter even against a Great Labyrinth Floor Boss. Reaching the 100th floor, the deepest level, would have been a simple task for them.
However, the 100th Floor Boss stood in our way.
Comparing raw combat ability alone, The Incinerator and the others were superior to that boss. But the 100th Floor Boss possessed the [Mana-eater] ability. For Seirei, the compatibility with such a power was catastrophic. It made the boss their natural predator.
Consequently, only a human stood a chance of defeating it. This was precisely why we planned to dismantle Amunzaas after killing Orun, and then force the remaining humans to conquer the Great Labyrinth for us.
And yet, Orun chose the exact moment we intended to kill him to regain his strength—and he had already grown powerful enough to slay Rasetsu.
The cult’s ultimate goal was the resurrection of Lord Oberon. I was certain that not even Orun could defeat him. There was no doubt about that.
However, now that he was aware of his [All Creation] ability, his rate of growth would only accelerate as time passed. In fact, August, the "Fairy Tale Hero," had been no different from an amateur in combat until he manifested [All Creation]; afterward, he climbed to the position of the strongest man in history in the blink of an eye.
If we allowed such an opponent more time, even the "impossible" might occur.
Therefore, our new strategy was to threaten the very survival of the populace to incite a sense of crisis, forcing humanity to take the Great Labyrinth conquest seriously. Furthermore, rather than concentrating our forces, we would unleash magic beasts on a global scale to restrict Orun’s movements. Given his personality, he wouldn't stand by and watch people be sacrificed.
By fabricating a cause for the worldwide stampedes and pinning the blame on him, we would bind Orun not just physically, but socially. With chaos unfolding and countless people suffering, we would redirect that hatred toward him. Creating a situation where it was difficult for him to act would be our immediate objective.
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(...Even so, it still doesn't add up.)
Though I had reset my short-term goals in response to Orun Doura’s actions, a lingering sense of incongruity refused to fade.
He had regained his power and struck down Stieg. While surprising, that result in itself wasn't incomprehensible. If he had truly recovered his strength, such a feat was possible.
However, I couldn't wrap my head around the process.
Neither Orun nor the members of Amunzaas should have known about the existence of the Second Farm. How had he discovered it? No, more importantly, how did he know that Stieg would be there today?
"—Lord Beria."
To resolve the doubts swirling within me, I called out to Beria as he prepared to depart.
"What is it, Philly?"
"When you touched the Principles of Magic to trigger the stampedes, did you notice anything unusual? An oddity, perhaps?"
"An oddity?"
"Yes. No matter how trivial it might seem."
"I didn't feel anything in particular... Wait. Come to think of it, the dates didn't match."
"The dates?"
"Today should be April 21st, Year 629 of the Four Holy Era. But the date engraved within the Principles of Magic was May 12th."
"...A discrepancy of about a month? Twenty-two days, to be precise?"
"So it would seem."
"......Twenty-two days ago would have been... March 30th. ...! Lord Beria, wasn't that the day you gathered the cult executives and declared the start of the second stage of the plan?"
Beria searched his memory for a moment before nodding.
"Yeah. It matches exactly."
Did something happen on that day? No, it was the opposite.
The time recorded by the Principles of Magic should be based on the state of the outside world. If so, did something happen on April 21st—today—that caused the time within the Principles of Magic to rewind back to March 30th?
Originally, we intended to raid Tsutrail today and kill Orun. Assuming our plan had been mostly successful, could a cornered Orun have regained his strength at the moment of his death and rewound the time of the entire world?
If he had recovered his special ability, then as someone with a connection to the White Demon, he could certainly exercise [Time Rewind]. No matter how powerful such an ability might be, one surely couldn't rewind the world's time without an immense risk—but if he had cleared that hurdle, my hypothesis gained significant weight.
If he already knew what was supposed to happen during these twenty-two days, it would explain why he targeted Rasetsu today. He might have discovered the location of the Second Farm using the same method Beria just used to check the records of long-distance teleportation within the Principles of Magic.
If this deduction was correct, then he likely already knew that the Hero was about to attack the Royal Capital.
(Hehe, this is getting interesting.)
Regardless of whether my theory was right or wrong, the raid on the Royal Capital had to proceed. If I wanted to bind Orun socially, I needed to apply [Perception Alteration] to Lucila N. Edelweiss—the princess of the Nohitant Kingdom and his primary employer—to make her my pawn.
"...You've got a wicked smile on your face, Philly."
It seemed my internal amusement had leaked into my expression, as Beria pointed it out.
"Oh, my apologies."
"I don't mind, but are you plotting more mischief?"
"Yes, something like that. On that note, I have one favor to ask of you, Lord Beria."
"You've been a great help to me. I'm not averse to granting a wish."
"Thank you, Lord Beria."
"So, what is it you want?"
I exercised [Perception Alteration] on Beria as I made my request.
"Could you go and kill the Princess of the Nohitant Kingdom, Lucila N. Edelweiss, for me?"
If Lucila died, then so be it. I could simply have Nagisa use her extracted memories to create a puppet. If Orun Doura tried to stop it, I could pit Beria against him. In that scenario, I could dispose of Beria simultaneously.
No matter which way the coin landed, I stood only to profit.
Now, Orun Doura, the real performance begins. In this world where the tides have turned, I wonder who will be the last one laughing.