“Tch—!”
Clicking my tongue, I readied my sword and deflected the bayonet pressing in. However, my balance was off with only one arm.
My left arm, which had already been broken, ached as the bayonet struck it repeatedly. My defense was gradually breaking down, and eventually, I created a considerable opening. Seizing this chance, Rowen grabbed my broken arm—and then threw me with a throw similar to a Koshi-nage.
Since Rowen was upside down, I wasn’t slammed into the ground but instead thrown upwards towards the sky.
Along with the pain that felt like my arm was about to be ripped off, my sense of up and down inverted. The speed at which I was thrown was so fast that the wind rushing against my entire body became a weapon. My body felt like it was burning from the friction with the wind. Then, just as the momentum of the throw finally stopped, and my body was enveloped in a sense of weightlessness, Rowen’s eyes met mine.
Rowen, with wings spread and a relaxed expression, had already positioned herself 100 meters above me in the sky. She pointed a palm, not holding a bayonet, towards me and shouted.
“—Zehr Winde!!”
“Kugh!!”
As if a giant, invisible hammer had been brought down, my body was now blown downwards. A height that was equivalent to 30 stories of a skyscraper vanished in an instant.
The place I was dropped was a river near Viaisia Castle. The impact shot through my entire body, and my vision was filled with water.
Although I adjusted my posture upon hitting the water, it was a futile defense. Rowen, not wanting to kill me, likely thought the water would be softer, but at this speed, the water’s surface could be harder than the ground. Every bone in my body creaked with an unpleasant sound. Even though my body had become stronger with Level Ups, there were limits. As the Human Body Structure remained the same, it wasn’t strange to suffer a concussion.
Despite all this, Rowen in the sky relentlessly pursued her attack. Using her wings, she fell like a bullet. And then, she intended to bring her fist crashing down into the river. Her original immense strength, combined with the energy of her fall, elevated mere ‘Martial Arts’ to another phenomenon.
“—!”
Unable to pronounce it underwater, I activated ‘Default’ and escaped the river. Then, on the riverbank beside it, I witnessed the power of Rowen’s fist with my own eyes. After a sound like countless water balloons bursting simultaneously, the entire river exploded into the sky. Furthermore, the riverbed, now devoid of water, was pulverized by her fist, creating a chasm like a ground fissure. The depths of the fissure were pitch black, like a vast hole in the sky.
Rowen had shattered the ‘Barrier’ here with purely physical attacks. While clutching my aching left arm, I complained to Rowen, who stood on the riverbed after unleashing such a reckless attack.
“Rowen! You’re really going to break ‘here’! Are you okay with that!? What do you think you’ve spent a thousand years here for!? Do you intend to reduce everything to nothing?!”
The ground began to crumble, and Viaisia Castle started to tilt. If this continued, the castle would collapse, taking the surrounding castle town with it.
“Silence! If Uzunami dodges, there’s no problem! Hurry up and give up and take this, then the battle will be over!!”
Shifting the blame to me, Rowen leaped from the riverbed. Then, with the black hole in the sky behind her, she made her green magic power shine. It was as if Rowen’s magic power wasn’t depleted at all. Her inexhaustible magic power was proof of her guardianship and the depth of her lingering desire.
Infinite magic power—therefore, Rowen was strong. But it was an utterly hollow strength. Knowing that her magic power never decreasing was proof that she was still clinging to her lingering desire, the glow of her magic power looked painful.
—However, depending on the viewer, that glow could also appear divine. If one didn’t know the circumstances, and if she were an ally, it would be a god-like power. Seeing Rowen’s radiant form, cheers rose from afar.
“Ah, as expected, ‘Ruling King’! Please capture the Knight Commander immediately!!”
“As expected, Lord Rowen has returned! And with her own hands, she will apprehend the traitorous Commander! As expected, the Commander was the root of everything, and Lord Rowen was the ‘Savior’ of the ‘North’!!”
“Everyone here, we are cheering for our King—!!”
Knights began to gather around the river. Upon closer inspection, I saw citizens who had been confined to their homes. Old people and children alike had come to see the ‘Ruling King’. It was only natural, given how spectacularly the battle had unfolded. The residents of Viaisia knew people capable of such combat better than the people of any other country. They loved their Savior, the ‘Ruling King,’ more than anything.
However, Rowen trembled under the cheers. She appeared on the verge of falling, her body showing signs of distress.
“N-No… I’m not trying to capture Uzunami for your sake… I’m trying to… trying to—! Haa, haa, haa…!”
I could hear her faint murmurs through ‘Dimension’. But the citizens, making a racket on the ground, could not. Thus, the cheers continued.
“We all believed in the King!!”
“That you would return like this and save Viaisia—! We’ve always, always believed in you!!”
“From this day forth, our counterattack begins! As long as the ‘Ruling King’ is here, Viaisia is invincible!”
Before I knew it, nearly a hundred citizens had their hands raised. They continued to send cheers, expecting the righteous King to condemn me, the villain who had betrayed them. Yes. They were expecting it. Burdened by their expectations, Rowen’s mouth turned down to its limit, and she gritted her teeth. Then, from her slightly opened mouth, she let out a guttural sound.
“Even like this, you still expect something from me…? I am the one destroying this country now, not Uzunami… Even so…!”
Naturally, the Ruling King’s groans were drowned out by the cheers.
The Ruling King’s condition only worsened. She did not even falter in her breathing during our battle, yet now she was gasping for air while receiving their cheers.
“My, my… This expectation is too heavy! Too heavy, so heavy! Ahhh—! I must lighten myself— and the world— or I won’t be able to bear it—!!”
Suffering from the same hyperventilation as before, she began to frantically weave magic in the sky.
It was the first time I had seen Magic Construction.
It was different from the wind attribute.
“You broken doll that only moves automatically! Stay quietly in the sky and wait! —Curse Technique: Oblivion Diffusion!!”
The Ruling King spread her wings and conjured a whirlwind around the castle.
And those who touched the wind were instantly pulverized. They turned into particles of light, like a sandcastle buffeted by a strong gust of wind.
The chanting cheers—
“—’Ruling King’!”
“—’Ruling King’!”
“—’Ruling King’!”
“—’Ruling King’!”
“—’Rulin—……”
It stopped.
Without even time to suffer, the people around them turned to light and vanished.
I widened my eyes in surprise at the sight.
“Wh—!?”
They had not completely disappeared. The magic stones left behind were proof of that.
As long as there were magic stones, the residents of ‘here’ could be recreated. We had confirmed this during our lives these past few days.
However, the remaining magic stones floated gently, gently back to the sky. I suspect they were trying to return to the stars I once saw.
It might be safer than being watched continuously, but I didn’t think this was something the Ruling King, who was receiving cheers, should be doing.
“Ruling King! Everyone was calling your name with you in their thoughts! Do you not want even those feelings!?”
“With me in their thoughts? Don’t lie! If you thought of me, why did you leave me behind!? Everyone left me behind and were content on their own! You just kept expecting things from me! If you expect things from me, it’s unfair if you don’t respond to my expectations!!”
She seemed extremely displeased to be reprimanded for her current actions.
The Ruling King opened her mouth wide and shouted.
However, at this point, a new aspect of the Ruling King began to emerge.
This was the first time the word ‘unfair’ had come out of her mouth.
“Ah, everyone is a nuisance! Get lost, get lost! Don’t look at me! Your gazes weigh down my body, making it heavy! I’ll lose to Uzunami if it’s heavy—!!”
With that, the whirlwind she created spread across the entire country.
Then, pillars of light began to rise in various places.
Even without checking the Dimension, I could tell from the particles of light filling the town. The excited and deranged Ruling King was making all the citizens of ‘here’ leave.
“Hoo, hoo… Ha! Ha, ha! With this, the world has become a little lighter! Now there are only four people left in ‘here’! It’s just me, Nosfy, Uzunami, and Rainer!!”
The Ruling King, who had returned all the characters of Viais to magic stones, looked satisfied.
The magic stones falling into the sky resembled snowflakes flying upwards, possessing a fantastical beauty. However, knowing the reality of the situation, it looked like souls floating.
“Ruling King! Don’t have a childish tantrum!!”
Ideally, I wanted the Ruling King to confront these citizens from a thousand years ago. But she was trying to reduce even this ‘convenient past’ to nothing.
“What’s wrong with having a childish tantrum! I am a child, more than anyone!!”
“Are you an idiot? Look at your body. With that enormous form, how can you possibly be allowed to wail like a child!”
“My body is large— are you trying to say I’m an adult because of that!? Ha, hahaha! Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha—!!”
Laughing, the Ruling King became angry and charged at me menacingly.
And with that passion, she violently slammed her bayonet down.
“You’ve been fulfilling the role of king for decades on the ground, you are a respectable adult, aren’t you!? Furthermore, you have lived for a thousand years here! Count your years!!”
“Are you telling me to mind my own weight because I’m old!? How can I do that! No matter how much time I experience, it means nothing if my inner self doesn’t match! Don’t you know that an adult who has merely aged senselessly is more troublesome than any child!? That’s exactly me! I’ve always been empty! A hollow king who just lived up to expectations!!”
In response to my rebuttal, the Ruling King became enraged and swung her bayonet.
She slammed it down again and again, shouting so fiercely she barely had time to breathe.
“—But that’s not my fault!? I’m not wrong!! Time just accelerated on its own! I thought a second had passed, but it was a minute, and when I thought a minute had passed, it was an hour! And an hour became a day, a day became a month, a month became a year! In just a little bit of time, I somehow ended my life as king! Ah, it truly was a life devoid of anything substantial! Therefore, I couldn’t learn anything, and there was no way I could grow, I remained a child!! —Right, Uzunami!! You should understand this!! That day, you were the only one who said you understood! You said the time without your sister felt like it had stopped, didn’t you!? Me too! That’s when I became the ‘Thief of Principles of the Wind’! When I lost my younger brother, my life’s clock broke and has stopped ever since!! That’s why neither you nor I can ever become adults!!”
Lord confessed his past.
His life had no meaning.
It had no value.
And then, he died unreasonably and it was over—that’s why he’s sulking, pouting, and throwing tantrums.
Just like a child…
I understood that feeling a little.
Come to think of it, I, too, was shouting the same thing on the ground not too long ago.
Both Lord and I are children.
That might be an undeniable fact.
Envious of us, Nosfy even started to imitate us.
So, I answered, ignoring my own circumstances.
“—That might be true! But that doesn’t mean you should give up on becoming an adult from the start! Not everyone becomes an adult with the feeling of having become one and is acting as one! You just tell yourself you’ve become an adult and live desperately! Surely!!”
“So, you’re telling me to do that too!? To live pretending to be an adult, having wasted someone’s life!? Are you telling me to live pretending to be an adult again and waste the next Guardian’s life too!?”
“I’m not telling you to waste it! I’m not telling you to go back to being an adult right now! I’m just saying, stop using the fact that you’re a child as an excuse and doing whatever you want!!”
“If I had that much self-control, I wouldn’t be calling myself a child! Time accelerated and accelerated, it accelerated too much! My memories have been shaved away, shaved away, and weathered away! My subjective experience of time in my life is only a few years! Ahh, I’ve only lived for a few years! Therefore, my age is still in the single digits! I’m a child, a child—barely even a young girl, let alone a child!”
“How can that be! Look at your large body in the mirror and stop talking nonsense—!!”
Although I knew it, convincing her would require something more than just the right words.
Mere correct words would only make her angry—I reconfirmed this while deflecting Lord’s fierce onslaught.
“Tch, you dodged it again—!?”
Lord expressed confusion at being unable to attack a wounded person.
Sparks flew, but the sharp strike of the bayonet couldn’t catch me at all.
Lord’s bayonet was still impossibly fast to follow with my eyes, and swung with a destructive force that could even break barriers.
To face that with one arm unusable was a disadvantage that made my stomach churn.
However, Lord’s vision is narrow right now.
Perhaps due to her intense anger, her consecutive attacks have become monotonous.
Thanks to that, I’m barely managing to deflect them.
There’s still another reason.
Above all, she’s showing me too much of her wind swordsmanship.
Although I sacrificed one arm, it allowed me to observe Lord’s combat closely. And I’ve already understood the characteristics of her unique wind ‘Swordsmanship’. I’m no longer surprised by the mere fact that her body is upside down. I remember every technique and form that has been used even once in meticulous detail. Not only will the same technique not work, but I’ve already prepared to deliver a counter-attack.
It’s because I can do that that I could inherit the sword from Aleis as a ‘Sword Saint’.
The most troublesome aspect of Aleis-style swordsmanship is its flexibility. It anticipates every possible situation, allowing the user to devise countermeasures on the spot and grow stronger every second. And by inheriting it, I, who grow stronger the more time I spend, have further enhanced that characteristic.
Thanks to fighting a powerful enemy like the Demon King, I can feel the ‘Swordsmanship’ skill level increasing rapidly in this short amount of time. Against a child who fights relying solely on brute strength without thinking, the disadvantage of having only one functional arm can be quickly overcome.
“Ah, why!? Why won’t it hit!? I’m so much faster and stronger, so why! Kuuuh, T-, H-, E-N—!!”
Lord created distance and aimed the muzzle of her bayonet at me.
The bullets are problematic. While I can deal with close-range attacks with ‘Swordsmanship’ indefinitely, I have few countermeasures against long-range attacks.
So, while Lord was creating distance, I deliberately entered the precarious castle that was on the verge of collapse.
“What!? Ah, aah! Don’t hide!!”
Lord fired several shots at me as I fled. But they hit the castle walls and bounced off.
As expected, her carelessly fired bullets have the same characteristic as the first one fired. Although they explode, their penetrating power is not significant.
If she were to switch to penetrating bullets, it would be the end for me, but even so, there’s a big difference between facing a projectile weapon with or without cover. Lord probably understands that too.
She shouted, exploding with frustration.
“Aaaahhh, this castle is also in the way!! Ah, it’s in the way, it’s in the way! Everything—I don’t need it, don’t need it, don’t need it!!”
Wondering what she would do next, I looked at Lord outside from the castle using 《Dimension》.
There, Lord had released her bayonet, raised her dominant right arm, and was concentrating all her magic power into a single point.
A chill ran down my spine at the sight of that magic power.
I know something similar to this.
It’s not just magic power concentrated in one place. Like with Rowen’s 《Phantom Flash》, I felt the terror of the world’s principles being eroded.
“Winds of Freedom that I have stolen! Principles of Wind! Decompose everythinggggg—!!”
Shouting, Lord’s fist swung out with great force.
The scene appeared subdued compared to the previous magic bullet.
And in the end, Rowen’s fist failed to connect with the castle, or anything at all.
A spectacular miss—yet, my vision, from within the castle, swayed violently.
*Bikii—* a crack appeared in the space before my eyes.
Like a shattering mirror, irregular lines ran across nothingness.
The crack was most prominent in the air where Rowen’s fist had swung through.
—Rowen’s fist had fractured the world.
A scene that conjured such a ludicrous thought in my mind.
The crack spread out from nothingness to everything, permeating all.
The castle’s pillars, the surrounding walls, the ground beneath my feet, even the air—all began to crack.
The castle, already at its limit, groaned with an unpleasant sound.
From that inauspicious noise, I could tell the castle was being destroyed from its roots, both physically and existentially.
At this rate, the castle would collapse at any moment.
“I need to get out quickly…! But—!!”
I couldn’t leave the castle.
Because outside, Rowen was waiting with the fist opposite of the one he’d just used—preparing his second strike.
With Rowen waiting, cloaked in wind condensed over and over, I couldn’t step out.
And, impatient with me refusing to leave the castle, Rowen swung his fist again.
He wouldn’t be destroying just the castle next.
His expression conveyed a resolve to destroy any escape routes I might have!
“If you won’t come out, then have another! Kūūu, Da, Ke, RooOooooOOOOOOO!!!!”
It was a shout that seemed it could echo throughout all of Viais.
Simultaneously, Rowen’s fist swung down, aimed at the world, the very ground.
An impact that was far beyond a mere earthquake transmitted from beneath my feet. At the same time, the cracked floor of the castle completely shattered, and I was flung into the air. As the footing broke apart like shattered biscuits, I somehow managed to grab hold of a piece of rubble.
“Kuh—!!”
The castle had now completely collapsed.
But I knew that wasn’t the biggest problem.
Because I could survey countries within the Dimension, I understood.
Rowen’s second blow had delivered the final blow to the already ravaged world.
The world split in two, like a breaking tile.
The territory of Viais, recreated within the barrier, was broken.
Naturally, the barrier could no longer hold.
The black holes in the sky spread endlessly, and the blackness beneath the earth fissures also expanded. Originally, “here” had been created in a void space behind the Labyrinth. With “Viais” above it destroyed, the world was attempting to return to that void of nothingness.
The world was collapsing.
In tandem, the various laws that had been set to recreate “here” as the ground began to go mad. Cracks appeared even in the natural laws necessary for people to live.
The most obviously deranged was “gravity.”
The ground that had supported the castle had shattered and vanished. And yet, despite the black sky spreading out below, the rubble of the collapsed castle didn’t fall downwards. The debris floated about gently, as if it had become outer space.
Thus, I lost the guise of Viaisia Castle and was pushed out, still standing on rubble.
And then, with my own eyes, I saw the drastically changed “Viais.”
It was a landscape that could be called the end of the world.
All the houses in the country had scattered, and countless remnants floated. Among them were pieces of shattered land, making it impossible to tell what had originally been a building.
The magnificent nature was no more; the great trees that had reached for the sky were broken, their massive roots exposed to the open air after losing their earthy beds.
And plants, grass, and flower petals, adorned with the lingering embers of war, floated in a wretched state.
With a single fist from Rowen—rivers, bridges, towns, and castles were all shattered, and the country of Viais perished. And it returned to the void space of “the back of the Labyrinth.”
The aftermath of the great destruction—reverberated in my ears as a low, rumbling sound.
All that remained were countless remnants floating in the black world.
It was reminiscent of a cosmos filled with drifting fragments.
“…Th-this is the power of an ‘One who steals the logic of the wind’?”
With my foot on a piece of rubble, I trembled at the transformed world.
The perpetrator of this collapse responded to my shock.
“—Ah, indeed! Using the [Logic of the Wind], I struck the thousand-year-old Uzunami magic deployed in this space!! This is the magic I am most skilled at! [Wind of Freedom]! This unfettered violence that doesn’t even choose what to strike is my essence! It is a power that is the exact opposite of dominion and order!”
A little further away.
Behind a piece of floating rubble, Rowen stood upside down.
His green hair, freed from the shackles of gravity, spread out like a lion’s mane.
In time with his voice, the green mane danced wildly.
“I’ve always thought! I wanted to smash and erase everything like this! And I wanted to disappear myself, becoming a free wind! Because I never wanted a world like this!! That’s why everything, break into pieces, into pieces, into pieces! Shatter! Like this sickening picture!!”
Near Rowen, a painting, one I had seen in a storage room before, floated.
It depicted the perfect valor of a king—a torn canvas. She struck it with all her might, landing the final blow.
A wind, disproportionate to breaking a single canvas, swirled, and the painting was utterly obliterated.
“Uzunami! I admit I underestimated you! Therefore, from here on, I will get serious!! This is my true power, known as the ‘Demon King’ by allies and the ‘Mad King’ by enemies! Now, behold this world! Talking about ‘Swordsmanship’ is a thing of the past!!”
That’s right.
Frighteningly, despite everything she’s done, Rowen isn’t serious yet.
The path to victory I see is still far off. I need to enrage her much more to create an opening for my ultimate attack. But even thinking about pushing her further sends shivers down my spine.
Shattered pieces of canvas and a fierce wind spread across this black sky—no, let’s call it space now—this inky black space.
I pursue them with Dimension, organizing the spatial information—
Everything is truly gone.
Physically, Viais has been annihilated.
This place is likely no one’s domain anymore.
Naturally. There are no citizens.
Because there’s no one, it belongs to no one.
It’s a void of space, as if to claim so.
—Looking left and right, there’s nothing.
All that had form has been lost.
Only dust, rubble, and the distant stars of deceased souls are permitted to exist.
—Looking forward and backward, up and down, there is nothing.
It has ceased to be a space where people can live.
This is the underside of the labyrinth, as it originally was.
It doesn’t belong to my world, or even another world. It is a space that belongs nowhere.
Thanks to Dimension, I’ve grasped the essence of this space.
Perhaps…
In a moment, the air I’m breathing will be lost. This faint gravity will also be lost. The laws of motion and thermodynamics. Even the intangible will be lost without exception.
That is the place called “the underside.”
And there, Rowen said she would unleash her full power.
Because there is nothing “here,” it has no weight.
Because there is nothing “here,” there is nothing to bind her.
Because there is nothing “here,” there is nothing to expect from her.
Nothing.
That is precisely the field where the person known as the girl, Rowen, can exert her greatest power.
Not on the ground where people live—this world where no one exists is her sole domain.
“Hah, hah hah, hyuk, hah hah, hyuu!! ‘Accelerating’ ‘Accelerating, accelerating CAccelerating CAccelerating’ ‘CAcslerating CAccelerating KAsoku su ru KAso Ku su ru KAsoKu su ru’—! With this, I can unleash my true power without reservation! The battle until now was just an amuse-bouche! From here on is the true power of the Thief of Principles! Hah, Uzunami! If you intend to bow your head, now is the time!!”
To stop her hiccuping breaths, Rowen chants while laughing.
And, in accordance with the words of her incantation, this universe also begins to accelerate.
The law of time has already been broken “here.”
The world accelerates—
and accelerates, and accelerates, and accelerates.
accelerates accelerates accelerates accelerates accelerates—
—The brakes are broken, and the wheels of time spin wildly.
As a result, the distant stars of souls inexplicably begin to revolve like celestial bodies.
Speed, through addition and multiplication, is added to acceleration upon acceleration, and multiplied by acceleration upon acceleration. The result is that over a thousand points of stars draw over a thousand soft lines.
“Wh-what… is this…!”
It’s an incredibly strange sight.
So surreal that the premonition in my chest doesn’t stop.
The curvature of those stars are ripples of time and light tracing through the black world.
When the end of a curve reaches its beginning, it becomes an illusory halo of light that can only be perceived in a world accelerated by trillions of speeds.
Over a thousand halos were born.
The history of countless stars is drawing circles, leaving behind faint scars.
The circles that form infinity continue to turn. Like wheels, they revolve and revolve.
In the center of those thousand-layered halos, Rowen, with her two wings and long hair spread wide, stands upside down with composure.
Her magic power is so dense that it appears as a shining emerald sun.
Bathed in this demonic sun, the world, which was once pitch black, is faintly colored with azure and blue.
This sight has surpassed the very word “universe.”
If one were to name the fabricated celestial bodies woven by these false stars and this false universe—
—”This is the Fiftieth Floor! The floor of the Thief of Principles! It suits this empty me, doesn’t it!? Of course, I have nothing! This ‘here,’ where I can neither hastily create nor borrow, is my everything!! Come, though there is nothing here, relax and take your time! What begins now is the ‘Fiftieth Ordeal’! I will achieve victory over you and lead ‘this place’ to true peace!!”
—This is the “Floor” of the “Thief of Principles.”
Finally, I understand that I have reached Rowen’s “Floor” in its true sense.
And so, of course, the “Fiftieth Ordeal” is about to begin.
I knew the nature of this “Ordeal” without being told.
Rowen speaks of peace and such, but the matter is much simpler.
The “Fiftieth Ordeal” is merely a small child tugging at the hem of a friend’s clothes who is about to leave the playground—that’s all.
Just that.
Then I have only one thing to do.
Just one.
My spine still frozen with fear… but as if to shake off the accompanying chill, I exhale a hot breath from the depths of my being and shout.
“Rowen! I’m ready! Stop posing and start already—!!”
“You dare speak such nonsense, Uzunami—!!”
From now on, I will grab that small child by the scruff of its neck and burst out into the outside world together. That’s all there is to it.
I can’t leave her alone in a place like this any longer. For her sake and for my own, I will absolutely grasp that victory.
Fixing my gaze only on that future, I kick off from the rubble underfoot.
