I woke up feeling wonderful. I felt refreshed, as if I had finally managed to get a truly deep, restful sleep. For whatever reason, I was in an invigorated mood from the moment I sat up.
Bathed in the morning light, I felt like today was going to be a good day. I reached for the curtains and pulled them wide...
"..."
The sight was so staggering that I was left speechless. Looming right outside my window was a tree, easily ten meters tall, dominating the garden.
Based on its position, it was undoubtedly the World Tree I had planted, but it had been barely two or three meters high yesterday. Could a tree really grow that much in a single night?
Was it a growth spurt? No, there was no way that was possible.
"...What on earth is that?"
"...What even is that, ssu?"
"Alice? Even you don't know?"
"It's not that I don't know, it's just that it literally just grew that large a second ago..."
Alice, who had appeared out of thin air, seemed just as bewildered as I was. Her reaction alone confirmed that this was a full-blown anomaly.
Deciding I needed to investigate, I threw a jacket over my pajamas and headed out. Alice stayed in her visible form, trailing slightly behind me with a grim expression, clearly on high alert for whatever might happen next.
When I reached the base of the massive tree, another surreal sight met my eyes. Looking up from below, the undersides of the leaves were a deep, midnight blue, shimmering with a brilliance that made the canopy look like a star-filled sky—even though it was broad daylight.
It was completely different from the World Tree I had seen in Yugfressia. As I stood captivated by the mysterious display, the tree suddenly surged with light. The radiance coalesced into a single point, shifting and molding itself into a human shape.
What emerged was a girl. She was small—larger than a fairy, maybe about a meter tall, but definitely tiny. She hovered in midair, and when she noticed me, she slowly turned her gaze in my direction.
Her hair was a long, lustrous black that reached her feet, fading into a vibrant blue at the tips that sparkled like the cosmos.
Her golden eyes were marked with black, cross-shaped patterns, lending her an otherworldly air. Even her black dress shimmered with starlight. She looked like the personification of the night sky itself, or perhaps the universe personified.
...Who was she? Was she some kind of Spirit of the World Tree?
No, Lilliwood-san was supposed to have made sure no spirits could dwell within this tree. And even if one had by some freak accident, I didn't think it would make Alice look this tense.
That meant this was an irregular event. However, I didn't sense any hostility from her, so I decided to try speaking first.
The girl who had manifested before Kaito—the Ultimate God Nebula, now transformed into a spirit—was internally screaming with rage at Shallow Vernal.
(C-Curse you... Shallow Vernal! To think you would not only strip me, the Absolute One, of my rank, but rewrite my very existence into that of an inferior creature like a spirit! I will never forget this humiliation!)
Her overwhelming power had been downgraded to the Quasi-Almighty Class. Furthermore, her ultimate power, which once encompassed all of existence, had been shackled with a restriction: it was now only effective against those who held hostile intent.
In terms of raw combat, she remained practically invincible, but she was now weakened to the point where she could only exert limited power against those who didn't view her as an enemy. To a being who defined herself as the Absolute One, this was a degradation beyond words.
(...Fine. No matter my form, the fact that I am the Absolute One remains unchanged. Even if I must serve a lowly inferior being like a human... a lowly human...)
Even as she burned with resentment toward Shallow Vernal, she regained a sliver of composure and looked toward the human she was destined to serve... and her mind went completely blank.
(...Wait. He's... incredibly handsome. H-Huh?! Why is my heart racing? Shallow Vernal! You did something else, didn't you?! You must have rigged my mind to favor this human! G-Gunu... D-Damn you! Do you really think I'll be so easily tamed by some inferior creature?!)
As Nebula fumed silently, Kaito called out to her, his voice cautious.
"...Um, who are you?"
To Kaito, the Absolute One who once ruled over countless worlds and was known as the Ultimate God—Nebula—responded.
"It is a pleasure to meet you, Master! I am Nebula!"
She gave him a brilliant, energetic smile and greeted him with absolute cheer.
Serious-senpai: "Oh, come on! She fell for him faster than anyone in the history of this series!"
???: "Now, now, calm down. We don't technically know what she's actually thinking deep down yet."
Serious-senpai: "...I mean, sure, but... I have a very bad feeling about this."