On a continent already destroyed, at the end of the world, there were two rules that absolutely had to be obeyed.
Do not act during the “night.”
Never be caught in the Watcher’s eye.
Hio was breaking both of them.
When night fell, far from avoiding the Watcher, he openly revealed himself before it.
Then every aberration that appeared would confirm Hio’s presence and charge at him all at once, half-mad.
He had no idea how many aberrations existed at the end of the world, but from the standpoint of the one facing them, it felt like fighting against infinity itself.
In that situation, the one fortunate thing was that when a new night came, the aberrations did not appear in the exact same positions and circumstances as the night before.
The circumstances of the previous night had been a situation where powerful aberrations he could not quickly deal with had piled up, packed densely around Hio.
All manner of bizarre aberrations, including super-giant ones, filling every direction, and him resuming the battle again at their center—that would have been the worst possible situation. Thankfully, the positions of the aberrations that appeared each night changed.
Well, even so, it was still the same as the previous night: he quickly disposed of the weaker aberrations, leaving only stronger and stronger ones behind, forcing his way through the gaps as he fled, counterattacked, rolled through the ashes, and barely greeted the dawn at the edge of night, half-dead.
Enlightenment remained as elusive as clouds in the sky, and nights continued to repeat where a single second of carelessness led directly to death.
In such a situation, there was no way he could move around even when day came.
Though his body had been reconstructed upon reaching the Sixth Circle and he had stepped into the realm of superhumans, after abusing his body this much, rest was essential.
“……Haa!”
Hio suddenly snapped his eyes open and raised himself, at the same time using his staff to guard every direction.
“…….”
But there was nothing.
Only the pitch-black abyss and a quiet stillness.
And Teordo, standing right beside him, silently looking down at Hio.
“……It’s daytime.”
Only then did he remember.
The previous day, as always, he had struggled desperately while being surrounded by aberrations to the very limit, then collapsed into sleep the moment day came.
Before falling asleep, he seemed to have squeezed out the last of his remaining strength to resummon Teordo, who had long since been destroyed.
As Hio sank back down where he was, Teordo conveyed his will.
Roughly interpreted, it was an opinion suggesting that he rest today.
Of course, Hio shook his head.
“I have to push myself even further.”
Kreutzwald, who even now must be watching him through this viscous abyss. Just thinking of that made his breath catch.
If what he wanted was for Hio to head to Tetradia as soon as possible, he would have appeared before Hio long ago.
Telling him to stop wasting time and just move.
Yet even after three cycles of night and day, Kreutzwald had not appeared.
It meant this was what that monster wanted.
Rather than Hio heading to Tetradia, he wanted Hio to grow more.
It could not possibly be the admirable heart of a master wishing for his disciple’s growth.
He must have something else he was aiming for.
Hio could not know exactly what that was, but in order to break through this stifling situation, he had to draw Kreutzwald out in the end.
For the time being, Hio and Kreutzwald’s goals aligned.
Drive his body and mind to the limit, then grow at death’s door.
“Night will come soon. Let’s prepare, Teordo.”
Thus, the fourth night arrived.
* * *
The beginning of the fourth night was no different from any other.
The moment he sensed the Watcher’s presence, he detonated three Explosions in its eyeball, and the Watcher immediately recognized Hio.
Then every aberration that existed also perceived Hio and pinpointed his location, charging at him madly according to instinct.
If there was an anomaly, it appeared around the middle.
—Chirrk— chirrrk!
An appearance reminiscent of a cockroach, and a cry resembling that of a cricket.
That aberration, nearly the size of a human, was a type he had never seen before.
In that case, he had to be most cautious.
When aberrations imitated the creatures of the outside world, it was only in outward form.
Their abilities were mostly grotesque things with no relation whatsoever to their appearance, utterly impossible to guess.
This was an abyss where the common sense of the world did not apply.
He had to be wary of everything he encountered for the first time.
And so, even while dealing with the others, Hio was paying attention to the man-sized cockroach some distance away.
He certainly was.
However, it was not the kind of aberration one could handle simply by paying attention.
—Chirrk! Chirrrrk!
The creature raised its insect-like legs high. While dealing with other aberrations, Hio put up a Barrier and prepared Blink, making every possible preparation.
“……Huh?”
But when the world suddenly flipped upside down, no amount of preparation could stop him from being flustered.
His head was pointed toward the ground, and his startled legs flailed in the air.
He had sensed no sign whatsoever, yet in the time it took to blink once, heaven and earth had been reversed.
But even if heaven and earth had turned upside down, this place was a sea of aberrations that allowed not the slightest panic.
—Kieeeek!
In that brief instant when his confusion escaped him, three attacks poured in.
The first blow cracked his Barrier, the second shattered it, and just before the third reached Hio’s chest—
He barely used Blink and escaped his position.
However, it was a Blink cast without designating an exact location while his sense of direction was a mess. The feeling of being in a handstand did not disappear even after using Blink, and wherever he moved in this world, it was obvious that aberrations would be on every side anyway.
To grasp the situation, he used Blink in succession.
He had to conserve every speck of mana to the utmost in order to endure the night, but what could he do?
He had no choice but to buy time with Blink while locating the cockroach aberration.
Fortunately, the moment he cast his fourth Blink, he was able to find it, and with the fifth Blink, he arrived beside it.
At the same time, he controlled the area with the Sixth Circle magic “Gravity,” and detonated two Abyss-enhanced Explosions on its head.
—Chirrk!
The creature burst apart with a pathetic scream.
At the same time, the world that had been turned upside down returned to normal.
Thud—still inverted, he fell headfirst to the ground.
It had not been some ability that confused cognition. It had truly flipped Hio upside down.
And it had done so while leaving the other aberrations untouched, continuing even when he used Blink.
How could such a thing be possible when it was not magic?
Because this was a place where the laws of the world were a mess?
Or simply because it was an aberration?
Curiosity surged within him, but there was no time to think.
Aberrations came rushing in like a tidal wave.
Among them, there were still plenty that Hio had never experienced before.
But without encountering another one as shocking as that cockroach, he managed to survive the fourth night as well.
* * *
The fifth night.
Whether it should be called good fortune or not, that cockroach appeared again.
Even as it chirrked away like the previous night and raised its forelegs, Hio took no particular measure.
He merely prepared for the world to be overturned and calmly examined the energy around it.
—Chirrrk!
As expected, just like before, his body was instantly flipped upside down, and a fairly satisfied smile appeared at the corner of Hio’s mouth.
Kwaaaaang—!
Of course, that smile soon vanished, and he had to sweat profusely under attacks surging in from every direction, but in any case, he had obtained results.
How the creature had flipped him over.
The answer was the abyss.
Even at this very moment, the abyss existed like air not only within Hio’s body, but throughout all space. Without touching Hio’s body, the creature had used only that to overturn Hio’s space.
That must have been the ability the aberration possessed from the moment it was born.
And.
‘……Couldn’t I do it too?’
He did not see any reason why he could not do the same.
Hio could also handle the abyss. And not in such a primitive way, but through the advanced method he had learned from Kreutzwald.
Of course, doing it as skillfully and quickly as the creature would be difficult, but even the applications that immediately came to mind numbered several.
‘I could use it on empty space too, and even if I don’t flip the body, binding it in place should be……’
Kwaaaang—!
Whatever the case, first he would have to safely get through the fifth night and research it afterward.
* * *
The sixth night was somewhat special.
The cockroach’s ability he had practiced during the day.
He had named it “Reverse Contact,” and he used it immediately in real combat.
By directly manipulating the abyss that existed in space, he controlled the space itself.
What he had completed as a technique by approaching that creature’s ability magically was Reverse Contact.
It was an opportunity that completely overturned his existing common sense.
Originally, was mana not something one accumulated within the body, made one’s own, and then, with the help of the power of patterns, turned into magic?
In other words, directly moving and using mana that existed in the atmosphere was an absurd and impossible thing.
But the abyss was different.
Even now, the energy of the abyss was stored inside Hio’s body, but that was literally only storage.
It had not become a part of his body like mana. He merely stored it, then slipped it in and sent it out right before the completion of a spell.
In that case, how was it different from the abyss scattered outside? Was there any reason he could not handle the abyss in the atmosphere?
It was research and experimentation that began from that thought, and the result was success.
Even if he could not go as far as flipping an opponent upside down like the cockroach aberration, he had succeeded in controlling the energy scattered in every direction and stopping an aberration’s movement.
Of course, the range was not yet wide, and its applications were extremely limited, but if he had achieved this much on his first attempt, he thought that the things he could accomplish in the future were boundless.
* * *
The eighth night.
Yet another new one appeared.
Well, after seeing all kinds of new aberrations every night, it was nothing particularly surprising, but the reason it was worth mentioning was because this one was an aberration that handled the abyss.
Like the cockroach aberration that had appeared in succession on the fifth and sixth nights, it handled the abyss and manifested it as an ability.
It looked somewhat like a snail three or four meters tall with only its shell removed, and it also gave off a feeling similar to an earthworm. What was certain was that its movements were noticeably sluggish.
Looking closely, small explosions were continuously occurring across the soft-looking skin of its huge body.
At a glance, it looked strong, and perhaps that was true, because even the other aberrations moved while keeping well away from it. Still, Hio thought it would not be a major problem.
No matter how strong it was, if it was that slow—
He thought it could not possibly be a match for a mage.
But the moment his eyes met the creature’s, which were far too small for its body, he had no choice but to abandon that thought.
The “Reverse Contact” technique he had learned from the cockroach aberration.
He strongly sensed signs that it was about to use that technique, directly handling the abyss. In an instant, he had no choice but to raise his guard to the utmost and prepare.
And sure enough.
Kwaaaaaang—!
A massive explosion capable of blowing away the entire area erupted right in front of his eyes.
It was not a concept like the slug aberration causing an explosion from a distance.
It had moved its sluggish body to arrive right in front of Hio’s nose, then caused the explosion directly.
And at a speed that made one mistake it for spatial movement.
If he had not seen that blurred afterimage and learned “Reverse Contact,” he would have thought the creature had teleported and been horrified.
But it was not spatial movement.
To be precise, it was closer to Ground Shrinking.
A technique that pulled on the abyss beneath its feet, as though running on a moving walkway.
Of course, the speed and ability were incomparable to that. Its huge body, immense strength, and tremendous speed added together made the slug one of the strongest aberrations he had encountered.
“……Not bad.”
But in Hio’s eyes, it was nothing more than a fine teaching material for using Reverse Contact in another way—a slightly too violent teacher.
Kwaaaaaaaang—!
The eighth night could only be survived after enduring for hours amid gigantic explosions moving at teleportation-level speed.
* * *
The tenth night.
He was able to complete one of the Reverse Contact techniques: Ground Shrinking.
An aberration’s ability was intuitive and simple, making it relatively easy to learn.
Of course, it was only easy because Hio had experience directly seeing and handling mana with his eyes, and because he could perform Kreutzwald-style magical alteration as naturally as breathing.
In any case, the important fact was that he had learned Ground Shrinking.
What made this different from spatial-type magic such as Blink was, first of all, that it was not magic.
That meant there was no need to draw out the power of a sigil, and he could move while using the remaining sigils to cast other spells.
For example, what would happen if he used Chukji while casting the ultra-low-temperature frost beam, “Ray of Frost”—and one infused with the Abyss at that?
Every path he passed through would be frozen solid or left looking as if it had been pierced through by the beam.
However, adapting to such speed was not easy, and the destructive energy of the Abyss had a strong tendency to resist control, so using it together with magic would require considerable effort.
Besides, he did not even know whether he would be able to use it once he went out onto the continent.
Even so, the encouraging fact was that Hio was becoming accustomed to the energy called the Abyss.
He was beginning to awaken to how to handle and make use of that power.
* * *
The thirteenth night.
He had encountered all manner of aberrations, and the variety and proficiency of his Reverse Fold had risen sharply.
He had grown used to directly controlling and restraining the rampaging energy of the Abyss.
He still could not govern a large amount of the Abyss, but he had become able to handle a small amount more smoothly and naturally.
And yet, even so, each day was unbearable.
He feared the coming of night, and every time before he stepped out before the Watcher, hesitation welled up in his heart.
Should I rest today?
Wouldn’t it be all right to rest for just one day?
What if I go out in this state, lacking rest, and die because my concentration slips for an instant?
What if everything ends meaninglessly?
Even when such thoughts came to him, it was always the same.
He still welcomed the night, willingly throwing himself into hell, and barely survived to greet the day, gasping for breath.
How much longer could he endure?
When would this hell come to an end?
He had no way of knowing.
* * *
The sixteenth night.
Several days had already passed since the rate at which his stamina and mana recovered had fallen behind the rate at which he consumed them.
Even though the situation had improved somewhat after he learned the technique of Reverse Fold and began handling the Abyss, the overall framework had not changed.
The aberrations could not be infinite, but from Hio’s perspective as the one facing them, they were as good as infinite, and the true aberrations hidden among them still could not be brought down.
For example, the supergiant aberration he had encountered on the first night and the fourteenth night.
A giant aberration that rose all the way to the far end of the sky.
No matter what he did, no matter how desperately he struggled, he could not deal any damage to its body, nor could he block the fists it thrust out.
All he could do was use Chukji or Blink to flee far away.
Even when he fled like that, he was always within its range, and the shockwaves that erupted would send him flying into the distance.
Moreover, after surviving in such a battered state, he had to move locations the next day with hardly any rest.
Spending the next night on ground that the supergiant aberration had practically pounded flat was no different from simply choosing to die.
* * *
The twenty-first night.
His mind was hazy.
There was no longer any type of aberration he had not encountered.
Fighting had become familiar, struggling had become routine, and magic moved as if it were part of his own body.
It was all to survive.
No—perhaps it was only possible because he had survived.
The previous night, he had finally brought down the slug aberration.
That dreadful calamity that folded the Abyss at extreme speed to move, causing explosions by the second.
He blocked it with the technique of Reverse Fold, moved the same way with Chukji, defended himself with similar explosions, and in the end, he all but shoved Teordo into it, cutting halfway through its neck.
In the process, Teordo was shattered to pieces, his mana was nearly depleted, and his head throbbed as though it would split apart from forcing the Abyss under control, but in the end, he did it.
He controlled the path before the creature as it tried to fold the Abyss, crushing it for an instant with the 6th Circle spell Gravity, and while the explosions still erupted, he met them with Explosion and severed its dangling neck with Flare.
Even though he had finally brought down one of the creatures he had always been forced to flee from the moment he encountered it, like the supergiant aberration, he did not feel particularly happy.
He was only dazed.
* * *
The twenty-seventh day.
The previous night, two supergiant aberrations had appeared at the same time.
It was not as if things had ever been otherwise, but he could truly say he had stood at death’s door the night before.
Was that why?
Why, even though day had come, he could not easily fall asleep.
Why he merely stared blankly into empty air.
A very faint presence suddenly brushed against him from behind.
A rustling sound.
Before thought could even pass through his mind, Hio’s staff turned toward it.
Mana violently raised itself within his body, and the Abyss surged like a wave.
Kwaaaaang!
After Explosion poured out, pillars of fire burned the surrounding area.
At the same time, the energy of the Abyss hardened and sealed off the vicinity.
All of that happened almost the instant the rustling sound reached him.
“……”
But it was daytime now.
There could not possibly be any aberrations. It had merely been the sound of dust or something of the sort brushing past in the blowing wind.
After confirming that, Hio slowly turned his head forward again.
Blankly, like someone who had lost his mind.
He did not feel embarrassed by such an overreaction, nor did he think that he ought to rest a little. He simply stared blankly into the Abyss.
Even though day had come, he could not fall asleep and merely sat there like that.
“……”
It was quiet.
Teordo, standing beside him, also only looked down at Hio without conveying even the slightest will.
It had already been a week.
A week of spending the days in silence, without a single word.
A week since he had stopped hearing anything from Hio, even when day came.
Hio, who had always tried to move toward the future with confident expressions and actions.
It had already been a week since endless hell had worn down his mind and emotions so thoroughly that he had lost even his words.
And yet there was nothing Teordo could do.
What could he do?
All Teordo could do was simply watch over him like this.
He could only watch, hoping that this terrible stillness, this silence, would end even one day sooner.
And so the twenty-seventh day passed.
Night bore down.
The twenty-seventh hell was approaching.