"……Agh, gah……!"
The moment the battle with Beria ended, an agonizing heat surged through my entire body. It felt as if I were being incinerated from the inside out—an unbearable torment.
Letting out a voiceless scream, I immediately deactivated Magic Sword Integration: Alteration and invoked Time Rewind.
"……Phew! Haa…… haa…… haa……. I don't think I’ll ever get used to that pain……"
I waited for the disintegration of my body to subside, then caught my breath and surveyed the area.
I had fought Beria with every ounce of my strength, but the Royal Capital had been spared the brunt of the devastation. Shion’s ice had acted as a perfect shield against the aftermath of our clash.
Beria himself was sprawled across the ice, his strength clearly spent, though he was still breathing.
"No time to rest. This is where the real performance begins."
I wanted nothing more than to collapse and sleep right there on the spot, but I spurred myself on, refusing to allow such a luxury.
I made my way to the front of the Royal Castle and reached out, manipulating the ambient mana to begin melting the ice that entombed the city. In less than five minutes, the massive glaciers vanished, and the Royal Capital’s familiar scenery was restored.
(Now then. Where is Princess Lucila……?)
I scanned the city, and once I was certain the immediate danger had passed, I began searching for her. However, before I could find her, a crowd of citizens began to swarm around me.
Their eyes were hollow—unsettlingly devoid of life.
—"How could you do this to us……!"
An angry voice cut through the air. It came from one of the townspeople, and as I looked around, I saw that everyone else shared that same look of vitriolic rage.
—"Say something, damn you!"
—"Aren't you the Hero of the Kingdom!? Why would you do such a thing?!"
One after another, the residents hurled whatever insults and vitriol came to mind, using me as a lightning rod for their emotions.
(What is the meaning of this……?)
This reaction was exactly what I had been aiming for. And yet……
(It’s as if they’re being incited by someone else—! Wait, don't tell me!)
A realization struck me. I immediately activated Bird's-eye Vision to check the spot where Beria had fallen.
Beria was gone.
I had dealt him enough damage that it should have been physically impossible for him to stand on his own. Yet, he had vanished into thin air.
If he was gone, it meant……
Next, I used Past Sight—a combination of Bird's-eye Vision and Time Rewind—to play back the events of that location in fast-forward. I saw two women appear just before Beria disappeared.
I switched to normal playback to see exactly what had transpired.
The figures who had appeared before the exhausted Beria were Philly Carpenter and a red-haired girl who was dragging an unconscious Felix behind her.
Suddenly, Philly looked up at the sky as if she had sensed something. It was as if she were looking directly at the current me. I felt our eyes meet across the boundaries of time and space.
As if to confirm she knew I was watching, Philly gave a provocative smirk. Then, she pulled down her lower eyelid and stuck out her tongue in a mocking gesture.
"——!"
(Philly outmaneuvered me……! I was so focused on Beria that I didn't have the luxury of monitoring the surroundings at the end, even though I knew she might be nearby……. Dammit!)
I cut off the Past Sight and snapped my consciousness back to the present, grinding my teeth in frustration. Then, a sharp voice pierced the air.
"Answer me! Why have you done this, Orun……!"
It was the Princess. I turned toward her and saw her looking at me with an expression of profound sorrow, her left hand carefully covering her left eye.
That was the signal we had pre-arranged in Daluane.
It meant she was still on my side.
Given Philly’s intervention, there had been a very real possibility that she would have succumbed to Perception Alteration and turned against me. I was relieved to see that the ward had done its job.
"To lay hands on the Grandmaster of the Guild…… how could you commit such a reckless atrocity!?"
Princess Lucila pressed me for answers, her voice cracking with emotion. Her acting was so realistic that no third party would ever suspect we were in league with one another.
(I see. So that’s how it’s going to be.)
The people surrounding me had almost certainly been hit with Perception Alteration. To their eyes, I was likely the one who had killed Beria.
Things had veered off script in several ways, but this situation was actually close to the outcome I desired.
"Why? Isn't it obvious? The Grandmaster was in my way."
I mimicked her gesture, running my hand through my hair as I covered my left eye with my left hand. I dropped the honorifics and spoke to her with cold detachment. Having grasped the situation, I fully committed to playing the villain to draw the crowd’s hatred.
"……In your way?" Lucila prompted, perfectly in sync with my performance.
It was a complete farce, but I needed the people to hear these words coming from my own mouth.
"That's right. It’s all well and good that I triggered the Stampede, but it would be a nuisance if the Explorer Guild stepped in to resolve it immediately."
"You triggered the Stampede……? You mean this disaster is your doing……?"
"Yeah. I caused it."
"No…… how could you……"
Lucila’s reaction was one of genuine heartbreak. She’s incredibly good at this, I thought. She really is multi-talented.
While a part of my mind admired her acting, I continued to frame the narrative, making sure the onlookers believed I was the architect of the crisis.
"This world does not belong to humanity alone. And yet, humans confine magic beasts in prisons called Labyrinths, hogging the world’s blessings for themselves. It’s unfair. I simply leveled the playing field. The weak will be weeded out—that is the law of nature, isn't it?"
"For such a reason……? And to think, I believed in you……"
"……You simply projected your own excessive expectations onto me. Don't push your ideals on me."
"I see. In that case, Orun Doura, I will have you detained right here!"
The moment the Princess made her declaration, Loretta-san charged at me, sword in hand. As our eyes met for a fraction of a second, she gave a nod so infinitesimal that no one else could have caught it.
(I’m sorry, Loretta-san.)
I apologized to her in my head as I swung Schwarzhase toward her, having already imbued it with Sharpness Zero.
At the same moment, I cast Perception Alteration on the surrounding crowd. To their eyes, it would look as though the Loretta-san I had just slashed was bleeding profusely.
Loretta-san collapsed on cue.
"How dare you! Not Loretta too!"
Seeing her fall, the other soldiers charged forward in a frenzy.
"I’ve already achieved my goal of killing the Grandmaster. There’s no reason for me to linger here."
I made the announcement with deliberate arrogance, lightly blowing the approaching soldiers away with a gust of wind magic before turning my gaze back to the Princess.
"Well, do your best to keep my pawns from destroying your little kingdom."
"I don't need you to tell me that! I will never forgive you! Never, for what you've done to the world!"
Princess Lucila’s voice rang out, her eyes fixed on me with a piercing glare. With those words as my send-off, I invoked Shift and vanished from the Royal Capital.
Meanwhile, around the same time——.
"Luary, what’s the verdict?"
Philly spoke to the red-haired girl once they had teleported to a deserted location far from the city. Luary knelt down, eyes closed, and placed a hand over the chest of the fallen Beria.
"…………Yeah. It’s gotten quite small, but I can still feel Oberon’s mana."
"I see. That will do."
"……Ugh…… Philly…… is that…… you……?"
Beria groaned, his consciousness flickering back to life.
"Oh, you’re still alive? How persistent."
Philly looked down at him, her voice colder than ice.
"Wh-what are you…… talking about……?" Beria stammered, sensing the chilling shift in her demeanor.
"What? Hasn't the Cyclamen Cult always disposed of those who have outlived their usefulness? It’s simply your turn to be discarded, Beria."
"Discarded……?! Don't you dare…… mess with me……!"
"I'm not. We no longer have any use for the personality known as 'Beria Sans.' All we require now is your physical shell. Luary, begin."
"Understood."
The red-haired girl—The Incinerator Luary Welt—nodded. A madder-colored mana began to seep from her right hand into Beria’s body.
"Wh-what are you doing?! St-stop it……!"
Beria tried to struggle, but his body had been too thoroughly broken by his fight with Orun to offer any meaningful resistance.
"——Guaaaah?!"
He let out a harrowing shriek of agony as the pitch-black mana of the Evil God began to pour out of him.
"Hehehe. You’re at death’s door, aren't you? If you don't use the power of your Ability to sustain your life, you'll die. I wonder if you have any strength left to resist my Ability? Still, you should be pleased. You are about to become the vessel for our King. You wanted to be the 'King of the World,' didn't you? Congratulations. Your dream is coming true."
"Philly!! You…… you betrayed me?!"
The Evil God’s mana began to consume him.
"How hurtful. I was never on your side to begin with. Didn't I tell you once? Human beings are nothing more than convenient puppets to act as my hands and feet. Hehehe, I really do wonder why you were so convinced that you were the exception?"
Philly’s face was twisted into a dark, mocking smile.
"Puppets……. Perception Alteration……. Don't tell me…… I was……"
"Yes. From the moment the Cyclamen Cult was founded, you were a very hardworking puppet. Thank you for your service. ——You may die now."
"You bastaaaaaard!!"
Beria’s scream of rage was cut short as his entire body was swallowed by the jet-black mana. The dark energy condensed, taking the shape of a black, egg-like cocoon roughly two meters tall.
"……It’s finally starting, Philly."
Luary, who usually looked perpetually bored, stared up at the black egg with shimmering eyes.
"Yes. It will still take a little more time, but soon, Lord Oberon will be able to manifest in this world, using Beria’s body as his vessel."
Through the machinations of Philly and her cohorts, the world was drifting steadily toward its end.
And that end was synonymous with the extinction of all mankind——.