"However! There is something I wish to ask!"

For the briefest moment, the lieutenant general failed to conceal his impatience and looked up toward the top of the bottomless pit, like someone waiting for something to fall.

Apparently, it was not yet time. The endless darkness of that vast expanse remained unbroken. Ebon lowered his gaze to the undying one.

'Rash the undying one. He said he tore someone apart for insulting his tribe. I thought him a typical barbarian, concerned only with honor and debts of gratitude or vengeance, unbound by laws and rules. Easy to exploit... Yet he is nothing like I expected. Still, he can be used.'

Feigning composure once more, Ebon spoke.

"What is it?"

With a little discomfort and a great deal of curiosity, the undying one asked,

"The lieutenant colonel who served under you. Surely she came here on your orders. Why did you try to kill her?"

Ebon gave a faint, amused smile.

"An easy question to answer. Because she betrayed us."

"Is that reason enough for her to die?"

"Besides, hers was the life best suited to achieving my objective. She happened to be there, chained to the King of Dogs. There were various other reasons as well. From my perspective, there was no reason not to use her."

"I see."

"Why? Were you curious about my reasons? How unexpected. Aren't you an undying one, with little sense of what death means? Did the lieutenant colonel's death leave such an impression on you?"

"A somewhat greater impression than usual. But hers is not the only death that has struck me."

The undying one nodded gravely.

"Death is rare among us. Whether stabbed, scorched, or torn to shreds and scattered over the earth, we return eventually. Ordinary illnesses, those that are not curses, do not afflict us. Even the occasional death is considered a return to Mother Earth's embrace before existence grows any more wretched. At funerals, instead of grieving, we gather to laugh and make merry."

His question bore the marks of deep reflection. In response to that earnestness, Ebon answered with due respect.

"Paradise, then. For us, death comes suddenly. And there is far too much of it. Deaths we are unprepared for are an everyday occurrence, and permanent loss is easy to find all around us. It is common to be promoted without doing a thing because a superior has died. Just as often, the colonel you had coffee with last week is abruptly replaced by someone else. Unlike you, once our bodies are torn apart, that is the end."

His answer contained reflections of his own. But even after hearing it, the undying one did not understand.

"I know that too. That is why I understand it all the less. People like you, who die so easily, know how fragile and precious your lives are, yet you readily die or kill others. As though you do not know the value of life."

"It isn't that we do not know life's value. We simply strive to find something more precious. If we must lose our lives anyway, shouldn't we spend them on something of greater worth?"

Their answers failed to meet. Realizing, however, that this was a difference in perspective, the undying one slowly shook his head.

"We see things differently. I believe a thing is all the more valuable for how easily it can be lost."

"Precisely because life is so easily lost, we cling all the more to things that last forever. We wish to use the lives we must eventually lose to seek an unchanging value."

"The lieutenant colonel yearned to live."

"And that is why we felt betrayed. Her actions broke our promise. I trust you understand the value of a promise as well as you understand the value of life."

Their exchange ended. With a solemn expression, the undying one reflected on the conversation they had just had.

After studying him for a moment, Ebon asked for confirmation.

"Then you will not stop me. My life must be precious too."

The undying one spoke with difficulty.

"... You stabbed my friend in the back, but that was a matter between you and the lieutenant colonel. I do not believe I have the right to interfere."

"Thank you for understanding."

"I will not blame you. I only hope my judgment does not put the lieutenant colonel or anyone else in danger."

"Do not worry. I have already suffered a terrible failure and lost my right arm. There is nothing more I can do. The lieutenant colonel will be in no danger."

Ebon calmly spun his lies, with all the practiced skill one would expect of a secret organization's executive.

The undying one closed his eyes, a silent indication that he would look the other way. Recognizing it, Ebon smiled in satisfaction. The gesture was so natural that one could never imagine he was a man dripping blood from a severed right arm.

But would it really be that simple?

"Lieutenant General, wait a moment!"

"Ah, the convict laborer. You were here too."

As I stepped forward, Ebon smoothly turned his gaze toward me. With an outwardly friendly smile, he replied,

"That ability you showed at the end was impressive. Haha. You truly astonished me. To think you would dismantle the claw weapon instead of the chain. Even I did not see that coming."

'Damn it. That thing ruined my final plan. It was improvised, but that should have made it all the harder to interfere with! If not for the Progenitor, I would have killed him from the outset!!'

Lieutenant General Ebon answered deftly while hiding his true feelings. To a mind reader, it was a rather chilling sight. It wasn't often that someone's outward manner differed so dramatically from what lay inside.

I shrugged and replied,

"Don't you need his dog tag? The colonel is dead. He was killed in action, so you should take his tag to confirm it!"

Dog tags. Something the Military State had introduced to honor its fallen soldiers.

For soldiers who had not reached Level 4, the compensation paid to their families upon their deaths was effectively their one true legacy. A dog tag was required to claim it, and soldiers treasured their tags as much as their own lives.

Enough so that there was a saying: "If you cannot leave an intact body, at least leave an intact dog tag."

Collecting a fallen comrade's tag was therefore a courtesy, a virtue, and a duty for a fellow soldier.

But Ebon, who was waiting for the door to open so he could escape, could not accept the suggestion. Going downstairs and running into someone dangerous, like the Regressor, would be troublesome too.

Ebon smiled.

"What need is there for a dog tag? I am a general. My testimony will suffice."

"Uh, but you need a dog tag... And honestly, Lieutenant Colonel Calpatz Kuris is in critical condition too, even though I saved her on reflex. What if she dies while she's stuck here?"

My words were a pretense of concern.

Growing impatient as the time for his escape drew near, Ebon said whatever came to mind to shake off my persistent attempts at conversation.

"Don't worry. I will mention Lieutenant Colonel Calpatz. I will report that she is focusing on her recovery..."

And he took the bait.

The Lords of Creation operated in isolated cells, conveying information through metaphors as a precaution and referring to one another in secretive terms to conceal their identities.

Even a "patron" knew neither the face nor the name of the person they sponsored.

Callis had been shocked to discover her patron's identity, and the lieutenant general had failed to recognize her immediately even after seeing her face.

That same Ebon had accepted the name Calpatz exactly as I gave it.

And thanks to that, the undying one opened his eyes.

"Listen."

The undying one's voice was a tone lower than before. Gone, too, was the hearty smile with which he had readily forgiven being stabbed.

"Say that again. What did you say the lieutenant colonel's name was?"

All that remained was the anger of a man who had uncovered a lie.

"Lieutenant Colonel Calpatz, isn't it? Her surname, hmm. I cannot recall. We do not place much importance on surnames in the Military State..."

"Wrong. Her name is Callis. Callis Kritz."

For an instant, dismay flickered in Ebon's eyes. At the same time, his hostility toward me swelled. Along with his displeasure at being trapped, he directed murderous intent at me for laying the trap.

A poor decision, Lieutenant General Ebon. Being flustered was fine.

But if you went so far as to show murderous intent, what judgment did you think the undying one would make?

Ebon hastily strung together an explanation to salvage the situation.

"Ah, I must have been mistaken. That convict laborer just gave me the wrong name..."

"She was a fine warrior. Fighting fiercely with life itself to survive, she stood against death to the very end. I respect her."

"As do I."

After saying, "Death to traitors"? Haha. Even the undying one wouldn't believe that.

"I thought what you sought was truly precious. Like honor or pride, something worth suffering to obtain."

"It is. For Humanity's great cherished wish, we..."

"But if it was so important that you ordered someone to die for it..."

The undying one stepped closer and continued,

"Should you not at least honor their name? That is a virtue to uphold before any promise. Even we, for whom death holds no solemn tragedy, do as much. Yet you have no respect for those who died for you."

"I'm sorry. I..."

"Do not apologize. The person who should receive that apology is not here. In any event, I now know you have no right to condemn the lieutenant colonel. In that case..."

His left hand forcefully closed around empty air. Yet a sound like stone being compacted rang out.

CRACK.

Raising his rock-hard fist, Rash spoke without expression.

"Let me hit you three times. You tore my body apart, hurt my friend, and disgraced her honor. That should suffice, wouldn't you agree?"

For Ebon, who would soon need to prepare his escape, the proposal was utterly unacceptable. His face twisted as he took out a military armament packet with his intact left hand.

It was the packet he had removed to lighten his body after losing to the Regressor. Holding it in his mouth, he inserted it into the biometric terminal on his left arm. A flash of alchemical light enveloped his upper body.

"... It is not in perfect condition, but..."

The parts damaged or broken in his previous fight remained that way. Since he had deactivated the damaged military armament and reconstructed it, its joints were uneven, and residual mana streamed from the damaged sections.

Alchemical steel even poured down in directionless streams where his missing right arm should have been. As a result, the right pauldron and breastplate failed to take proper shape.

Still, whatever its condition, to the unarmed Ebon, even the single claw weapon that formed on his left hand was precious.

"The undying rely on regeneration to wage battles of endurance. But do you think you can defeat me here in the bottomless pit, rather than on the surface?"

"Who knows?"

In contrast, the undying one still had nothing but his deathless body and two fists. The only difference from usual was the unmistakable hostility in those fists.

Clenching his fist, he replied,

"I should still be able to hit you three times."

A will to crush his enemy, something rarely seen in the undying one, was now directed at Ebon before him.

"Do not blame me if you are torn apart this time!"

Ebon charged first.

'Do not underestimate him. I am injured. Only one arm remains. I have little strength left, so I must finish this fight as quickly as possible.'

Though his right arm was gone and his body battered, Ebon remained taut with tension. He glided toward the undying one and thrust out his claw weapon.

Instead of dodging or studying his opponent, the undying one opened his right hand and reached toward the blades.

'Does he mean to slip his fingers between the blades and catch them? Fool!'

The undying one did not even raise his other hand. If he wanted to attack, the sensible choice would have been to target Ebon's right side, where his arm ended below the elbow. Yet he insisted on confronting him head-on. Arrogance, or complacency.

In a fair, straightforward clash, the armed Ebon held the advantage. He coated his claw weapon with energy arts and thrust.

'I'll cut off those fingers first! Then I'll split your entire body from the fingertips down!'

Ebon twisted his blades to aim at the undying one's fingers. Infused with blue energy, the blades moved to sever them...

Only to catch against bone with a dull tap.

'What?!'

It was impossible. Had he not coated them in energy arts, perhaps, but blades imbued with both sharpness and repulsive force had no reason to catch on mere bone. Even if they did, they should have cut through it or pushed it aside.

There was only one explanation for why his claw weapon had stopped: the undying one's bones had hardened.

A crunching sound reached the stunned Ebon's ears, as though something was being chewed.

There was a ginkgo leaf in the undying one's mouth.

"O Mother Earth."

Murmuring the words, the undying one tightened his right hand with tremendous force. Veins spread from the sacred ginkgo leaf that had settled within his body.

This was the bottomless pit, a land abandoned by Mother Earth. Yet the undying one's body, dedicated to her, was akin to soil.

A leaf born in spring serves its tree, then settles to the earth and rots when its usefulness is spent. That small cycle around a single tree continues until the tree's life ends.

At last buried in the soil, the ginkgo leaf decayed peacefully, returning to Mother Earth the abundant vital energy it had held as a leaf of the World Tree.

CREEEAK.

Caught in flesh, the claw blades quivered. Ebon hurriedly tried to pull them free, but the firmly fixed weapon would not come out.

Finally recognizing the nature of that power, Ebon gritted his teeth.

'Energy arts...! This is another form of energy arts! One that strengthens the body itself!'

"You bastard, have you grasped Water...!"

Holding the claw weapon, the undying one answered indifferently.

"I have little interest in what the Military State calls it. I merely hardened my body."

Ebon struggled to free his claw weapon. He twisted it, shook it, pushed and pulled.

But it did not budge.

It was not lodged awkwardly in bone or caught in muscle. The energy arts coating its blades could repel most such obstructions.

The weapon simply could not move because the undying one was gripping it.

'This barbarian's energy arts...! They rival my own!'

The overwhelming difference in their remaining strength meant he could not shake him off.

Without his right arm, he could not even remove the claw weapon.

Struggling helplessly with his left arm caught, Ebon had to watch at close range as the undying one clenched and raised his left fist. It was a sight that chilled even him to the bone.

Ebon shouted,

"You... shouldn't be able to wield your strength in the bottomless pit!"

"Indeed. But I have a sacred ginkgo leaf."

The World Tree leaf was so precious that he had saved and treasured it. Originally, the undying one had intended to offer it to Mother Earth as soon as he returned to the surface.

That was, until he decided to hit Ebon.

'Why does he still have that...! Wasn't it used to wake him?!'

Realizing this, Ebon shouted desperately,

"I was the one who gave it to Lieutenant Colonel Calpatz! Me!! Not Calpatz! I am the one who woke you! You must help me!"

He shouted with a sliver of hope, but received only a cold reply.

"Wrong. The World Tree's leaves belong to Mother Earth. Only the names of their temporary keepers change. Ultimately, it is her blessing. I need not thank everyone who briefly held this leaf. I need only accept the feelings it carries."

Then Rash the undying one drew his left fist far back and added,

"And your subordinate's name is Callis. Remember it."

CRUNCH.

The undying one's fist drove straight into Ebon's face, where his helmet had failed to finish forming.