Ever since he was young, he had enjoyed reading other people’s thoughts.
And so, as he grew older, their actions and words naturally became obvious to him.
What thoughts they harbored before him.
What words they were preparing, and how they would act upon them.
He could see it all as clear as day, and perhaps that was because he had always stood in an overwhelmingly superior position.
Some might complain that such a thing was tedious and stale, but Antiphus was not one of them.
He had always liked standing above others.
He liked reading their thoughts, grasping their emotions, and predicting their actions.
He enjoyed contests, gave his all to the process, and many victories followed.
Of course, he could not always win, but when he reached the end and looked back, the victor was always him.
So it could be said that he had always won.
Those victories piled up and piled up, until he reached the highest place.
Antiphus had been so certain of that.
‘But when did it start?’
When had an unwelcome guest intruded upon that certainty?
When had a life in which victory was only natural slowly begun to be stained with defeat?
The day he first met the Supreme Heavenly Demon in this world.
Perhaps it had been from that day.
The sense of defeat had now become natural, and the feeling that he could not win crept up within him.
Far from being able to read the Supreme Heavenly Demon’s thoughts, he felt as though his own actions and thoughts must have been laid bare before him.
Because, before he knew it, he was behaving much like the defeated had behaved before him.
- Kulkul. Once we make it to the continent, everything will change.
Listening to Kreutzwald’s voice, he continued walking onward.
No one paid any attention to Antiphus.
They were merely drunk on the joy of victory, rushing forward, while Antiphus alone walked in the opposite direction.
In the distance, he could see a strange passage surrounded by all manner of magic circles.
Even that was the work of the Supreme Heavenly Demon.
On every path he wished to take, the Supreme Heavenly Demon had always been a wall and an obstacle.
Wasn’t even that name sickening by now?
It was time to shake it off.
Thinking so, he asked,
“Can I obtain this power of the Abyss?”
As if it had been waiting, an answer rang out inside his head.
- Of course.
“Why?”
Why him?
There was no way an ordinary human could obtain such power, was there?
Of course, Antiphus was no ordinary human, but beings like that were everywhere in an era such as this.
He was, in fact, someone who had not even been worthy of joining the expeditionary force.
- Because you were born that way.
“……Born.”
- Kulkulkul. Yes. That is your fate. There must have been a few signs. Did you not notice them?
Signs.
Thinking back on it, it was not as though there had been none.
Hadn’t the fact that he alone had peered into the memories of the Abyss at the Door of Memory been one of them?
Perhaps choosing Ruler as his trait, and the fact that he had enjoyed reigning above others from the moment he was born, were also influences of such a fate.
- What a blessed fate it is. A fate to reign at the peak of all life, countless beyond measure, across several dimensions.
“But the lord of the Abyss is you, is it not?”
- A lord and a ruler are entirely different. Even in the previous generation, and for thousands of years, no ruler has been born. Perhaps you may obtain power even greater than mine.
“I see.”
The passage drew closer.
There were not many troops nearby, and even those were either laughing and chatting among themselves or watching the allied forces rushing far into the distance.
“There are a few things I’m curious about.”
- What are they?
Antiphus drew his sword before the passage.
The knights before him would not simply stand by and watch him use the passage, so he had to eliminate them first.
It was, therefore, an entirely natural action.
“Is the Supreme Heavenly Demon dead?”
- He is alive.
Truth.
“Are you parasitizing me from within?”
- One does not usually call a temporary alliance for the sake of reaching the continent parasitism.
Lie.
“If I don’t go, what happens to you?”
- It would be regrettable. I would have to eliminate with my own hands the ruler who appeared after thousands of years.
Lie.
Strangely, he could tell.
Truth from lies.
“One last question.”
Kreutzwald’s presence was vividly felt within him.
The strands tangled so intricately between Kreutzwald’s soul and his own.
Strangely, he could feel them.
“If I die, do you die as well?”
And the answer to that final question was—
- How could that possibly be?
A lie.
“I see.”
And so he held the sword in his hand in a reverse grip.
When he raised it to shoulder height, Kreutzwald’s voice rang out once again inside his head.
- Tsk. How can you think something so foolish?
There was no hesitation.
As stated before, he had already made up his mind long ago.
And so, just as he was about to put strength into his hand—
- It cannot be helped.
The Abyss spread through his body once more.
It restrained his movements, and the body that had moved according to his will no longer obeyed him.
- I have no choice but to take you by force.
Resistance was impossible.
Though he had lost most of his power, was Kreutzwald not the one who had once directly wielded the Abyss?
And so, when he unfolded the Abyss directly from within Antiphus’s body, that body should have followed not Antiphus’s will, but his.
Originally, that would have been natural.
- ……What……?
Yet for some reason, his body moved not according to Kreutzwald’s will, but his own.
It struck away the Abyss trying to seize his body—no, it did not even give it an opening to enter, instead gathering firmly together and forming power.
- You awakened your intent, now? At this very moment?
A flustered and urgent voice rang out.
So that bastard was capable of making such a voice too.
Unmoved by the desperate voice, his hand moved.
- S-stop!
He had wanted to become a ruler.
He had liked the way others looked up to him.
He had liked the way they chanted his name and rejoiced for him.
Perhaps that was why he had been jealous.
- You were born with the fate of a ruler!
Like Hio Pavlenko, whom everyone acknowledged.
A person who threw away his life for others without hesitation.
- If you die here, you will be remembered forever as someone lesser than Hio Pavlenko……!
He had wanted to become a hero.
But fate whispered to him to become the Abyss.
Then what could he do?
- N-no!
At the very least, he should not become a villain.
* * *
“…….”
He opened his eyes to the sound of restless movement.
“……Ugh.”
The moment he opened his eyes, a violent headache struck him.
A wave of nausea rose, as though his insides would overturn.
Even so, he forced himself upright.
What was the situation?
What had happened to Kreutzwald?
It was his first time using two main Authorities at once, and he had maintained them beyond his limit, so even his senses were not intact.
That meant he had no choice but to rely on what he could see with his eyes, and judging by what was immediately visible, it did not seem as though they were in the middle of battle.
“Hio, are you all right?”
A familiar voice reached his ears through the ringing.
When he turned his head, Airaitz was standing there, supporting Hio before he knew it.
“The situation. Kreutzwald?”
At his urgent question, Airaitz nodded.
“He’s dead. The power of the Abyss has visibly weakened, and it seems the monstrosities are disappearing too.”
“……Ha.”
At those words, the tension left him all at once.
But he sensed the strangeness immediately.
It was undoubtedly something to be overjoyed about, yet Airaitz’s expression was not.
And so, when he looked around again with his vision somewhat steadier, he saw it.
“More…… Pour in more healing divine power!”
A great number of priests gathered in one place.
“It’s no use. At this point, more divine power is meaningless……”
“I said keep going as long as you can!”
At the center of them, one person lay on the ground.
When he looked more closely, something was strange.
It was certainly a familiar face, but his condition was not familiar at all.
“……We were just a little short. We almost reached complete annihilation, but we were exactly one step short.”
Listening to Airaitz’s explanation, he walked toward that place.
“As Hio knows, to reach the depths of the Abyss required power several times greater than ordinary intent, but Vitalianus did that alone……”
At a glance, Vitalianus looked peaceful.
His two eyes were closed comfortably, as though he were merely sleeping.
In contrast, his entire body was terribly faint.
From head to toe, he had grown transparent, as if he were not a person but a ghost.
Along with that, his presence was gradually fading as well.
“This is no longer a condition divine power can do anything about……”
“No. I can save him.”
At Hio’s voice, the priests flinched in surprise and moved aside.
“……I can save him.”
There had to be a way.
As long as he could buy time, there would surely be a method in the Authority window.
It would take time to gather divine points and find the right Authority, but there had to be a way to save him somehow.
His body and soul looked as though they might vanish at any moment.
The problem was maintaining this state without letting it worsen any further……
“……If I use necromancy to maintain his current state and then find a method afterward……”
He could save him somehow.
Just as Hio was about to say that—
“…….”
Vitalianus’s wrinkled hand grasped Hio’s wrist.
“……Vitalianus.”
He opened his mouth as if he wished to say something, but no voice came out.
And so, smiling, he only slowly shook his head.
It meant not to do that.
It meant he wanted Hio to let him go now.
As Hio fell silent for a moment, Vitalianus’s body grew so faint and transparent that nothing more could be done.
What words was he supposed to say, and how?
In this moment that was surely the last, he resented his own painfully ordinary way with words more than anything.
And so.
“You worked hard.”
Before Vitalianus, who was about to depart, those were the only words he could offer.
That he had been a great hero.
That they had been able to win thanks to him.
Rather than words like that, only something utterly ordinary came to mind.
Still, it seemed those words had not been so bad.
“It was fun being with you.”
Because on Vitalianus’s final face, there was a smile brighter than any other.
Thus, one of the greatest stars of the continent set.
It was likely no mere coincidence that the black mist lingering for a moment in the sky vanished with him.
* * *
Through the deeds of the continental allied forces, unprecedented and never to be repeated, the Abyss that had cast its shadow over the world was completely extinguished.
From now on, no Abyss Gates, no monstrosities, and no abyssal power born of them would appear.
The allied forces became the heroes of the continent, and among them, the expeditionary force that had directly faced the lord of the Abyss was praised as the greatest of heroes. Each of their achievements and honors would surely be recorded in history for ages to come.
However, there is a fact unknown to most people.
The six heroes called the greatest, who received the praise of countless people.
The Hero of the Continent, Hio Pavlenko.
The New God of Pieria, Airaitz.
The Ancient Dragon, Freyja.
The Dragon Knight, Regarda Ovierre.
The Ruler, Antiphus Framan.
The Sword Saint, Vitalianus Mahel.
After the war ended, no one ever saw them again.
Not at the welcoming ceremony immediately afterward, nor anywhere else.
The same remained true after months passed, and then years.
Rumors occasionally spread that they had quietly visited the memorial services for the two heroes, but those too were only rumors.
They soon faded away.
……So then. What happened, you ask?