The opposing force steadily dwindled amid screams. For all the thunderous noise and fire they spewed, the Black Knights were suffering only minor losses.

Indeed, it was Tyrkanzyaka who found herself puzzled by how little damage their onslaught was doing.

“... Hm? What is going on?”

Rather than have them rashly swing their swords, she had ordered them to throw themselves at the enemy and at least seize their ankles.

Yet the soldiers rolled about on the ground, unable even to shake them off. A soldier who had been unleashing one threatening attack after another moments before went tumbling the instant a Knight closed in.

“They cannot withstand even a single dirt min—no, Black Knight...?”

How was Tyrkanzyaka to know? Even in the Military State, rank-and-file troops were no different from ordinary soldiers. They, too, were given opportunities to learn, but only officers could wield energy arts to any meaningful degree.

In any case, Tyrkanzyaka repeatedly clenched and unclenched her fists, then gave an order.

“... Overwhelm them.”

Now, unimpeded, the Black Knights sprinted straight at the soldiers and pounced. A few were shredded by the web of gunfire, but Black Knights were the Progenitor’s most basic power. She could summon them endlessly.

Sheer numbers pressed against the front line. The space left to the soldiers steadily shrank.

At this rate, they would be overrun. Assessing the battle, the commander stepped forward in his military armament, a huge battle-axe in hand.

“Cover me! I will take out the source!”

The commander charged fearlessly toward Tyrkanzyaka. Black Knights rushed to stop him, only to fall before a brief burst of concentrated gunfire and his axe.

A few stray bullets struck the commander in the back. But enduring such things was precisely what his energy arts and military armament were for. He charged on without even sparing them a thought.

A hulking man of steel bore down on her. His momentum, at least, was impressive.

Tyrkanzyaka started to raise her fist to meet him...then, struck by a sudden thought, simply held it up without swinging.

“Taste my axe!”

The commander’s enormous axe came crashing down on it. Tyrkanzyaka caught it with her fist, and—

THUP

It stopped after barely breaking her skin.

“...”

“...”

An awkward silence fell.

The axe was lodged neatly between her fingers. Sinking about half an inch between her index and middle fingers was the sum of the commander’s achievement. He hastily mustered his energy arts and tried to pull it free, but—

“Hm. I wondered what gave you the confidence to challenge me. Was it merely a common fool’s reckless courage?”

SNAP

Tyrkanzyaka twisted her fist, crumpling the axe blade, then reached for his throat. The huge man, military armament and all, was hoisted into the air by the girl’s hand.

“... You, at least, are somewhat useful. But elite... No. Let us say you were not.”

Tyrkanzyaka flung her hand outward, sending the commander’s steel-armored bulk sailing through the air. He landed on an automobile, caving in its roof.

“Guh...!”

“Major! Aaaah!”

The legion of shadows swept in behind him. Countless Black Knights folded the soldiers up neatly and tossed them aside.

Before long, a small mountain of soldiers had formed—a groaning miniature of the mountain within the bottomless pit.

Her work finished, Tyrkanzyaka dusted off her hands.

“... Nothing particularly remarkable about them.”

“Oh! You have cleared them all out!”

Rash, who had just emerged from the pit with Callis, looked around and exclaimed. Behind them came Ralion, carrying Shei on his back and snorting wearily.

Everyone who had been inside was now present, save for the Earth Sage. Tyrkanzyaka surveyed their surroundings again.

The longer she looked, the darker her expression grew.

“What of Hugh? Have you not seen him?”

“I have not! You mean he was not up here?”

“He is nowhere in sight... Where in the world has he gone? Surely not.”

At this point, she could hardly fail to realize it. A very, very ominous possibility crossed Tyrkanzyaka’s mind.

Could he have left of his own accord?

While everyone else had been strangely elated, he alone had remained his usual self.

When Tyrkanzyaka suggested they travel together, he had given an indirect answer instead of nodding.

Had his question about whether she could protect him not been a tacit acceptance?

Seeing her expression cloud over, Rash glanced at Callis. Callis gave a firm nod, and Rash opened his mouth wide, waving his hands as he cried out.

“Oh, surely not! He must be on the run somewhere!”

“... That must be it, yes? But where?”

“Let us make a circuit of the area first! If all else fails, we can light a fire to call the teacher over! He will be much easier to find once daylight comes!”

Tyrkanzyaka looked back. An enormous pit lay there, with Tantalus sprawled across the earth as though the pit itself had been scooped out and set beside it. The structure was so immense that it scarcely seemed real.

If he was hiding behind that concrete structure, or within it, that would be a relief.

But if he had left...

Clutching her chest as it ached at the ominous thought, Tyrkanzyaka turned her gaze forward.

“... A farce indeed.”

Finishing her remark, the Earth Sage scattered liquor around the Grand Master’s corpse. The potent Hundred-Flower Red flew straight toward where I was.

Oops. Up my nose. Cough, cough.

“Why did you seek to give them the slip?”

Licking the liquor from my lips, I rose from beneath the pile of corpses. I gave my clothes a few cursory pats to dust them off, then settled down near the Grand Master.

“Because if things kept going the way they were, I thought I would end up following them.”

“And what is wrong with that?”

“I’m no cowardly prophet, but I can still draw perfectly ordinary conclusions.”

I could feel their thoughts receding.

Sensing their presences dispersing into the distance, I murmured,

“If I follow them, I’m definitely going to die.”

This was nothing less than a fight to prevent the end of the world.

Take the fight against the Earth Sage. Honestly, what if she had come at me with the sole intention of killing me?

I would have died. In a moment when neither Tyr nor the Regressor could protect me, I could have died even with Earth’s Ripple in hand.

The ability to read thoughts might help considerably in combat, but it could not erase the absolute gulf that existed between us.

I could not knock aside charging steel. Even if I dodged, my opponent only had to keep after me. If they managed to grab my clothes and fling me away, or filled the area with blasts of energy, I would not survive.

Mind reading could only let me do what was within my capabilities. True superhumans lived in a different world from mine.

I spoke as I twirled the card in my hand.

“I was born in the back alleys. Blending into a crowd and quietly going about my business—that’s what suits me. Facing powerful enemies head-on like this...isn’t my role.”

If the Earth Sage had not been aiming to seize Earth’s Ripple.

If she had attacked me with enough hostility.

That alone would have killed me.

“Hah. And yet such a man stood in my way?”

TRICKLE

After sprinkling liquor all around as I had done, the Earth Sage refilled the cup in three pours.

“You did not appear so afraid of dying.”

“Who in the world isn’t? Humans are animals too. We’re afraid of death.”

“And yet such a man would stand before me, even with Earth’s Ripple in his hands?”

I gave a faint chuckle.

“It rubbed off on me. From other people, yourself included.”

I should have huddled in a corner and kept my head down, like Azi and Nabi, like the undying one and Callis. That was the duty of any living thing that wished to survive, and what I should have done for my own sake.

But how was I supposed to resist?

All those wishes people would stake their lives on were colliding and swirling around me.

It was worse than someone trying to kill me.

It made me bring about my own death.

Feelings that mattered more than life. Missions people would spend their lives to fulfill. Even beings whose very lives were bound in shackles.

They were far too numb to death, and they were changing me along with them.

“Maybe it would have been different if we hadn’t been in the bottomless pit, if we’d only run into each other now and then. But I’ve fallen under a terrible influence. For far too long.”

I had finished my calculations.

In a good light, Tyr was utterly devoted. In a bad light, she was rigid. If I showed her that I wanted distance, she would respect that wish, however sad it made her.

The Regressor would be curious about me. But she still had work more important than my identity, and that alone would keep her from pursuing me. She would leave her questions for the next regression and press on in this one.

Azi? Nabi? The Beast Kings would go their own ways, as beasts did.

The undying one was not the sort to get hung up on trifles, and Callis would follow him out of the Military State.

The Regressor was suspicious of my identity and might interrogate me in the next regression, but that was all. The me of that regression would just have to handle it.

Besides, she was soft on her allies. Her attitude toward Tyr, an ally from a previous regression, made that obvious. Since we had become friendly in this regression, she might even let things pass amicably.

“They’ll do just fine without me. It’s a reasonably beautiful farewell.”

“Hah. Are you a prophet as well, Hughes?”

“Of course not. If I were, I wouldn’t have been dragged here in the first place.”

I was no prophet. I could not resist a fate that suddenly appeared before me. Like my arrest back then.

But I was a mind reader. I had an exceptional ability to read people’s minds and deduce what drove their actions.

“I just understand people’s hearts a little better than most.”

There would be regret, but it would be a definite parting.

Time to get my life back on its original course.

“It’s a perfect calculation.”