"Boom!"
A pillar of light shaped like Ordinary Offensive Magic, yet deep black in color, shot toward the one who had come alone.
"Rushing back from the Northern again is exhausting. Why don't you call off the spell."
The hooded Schlacht merely tilted to the side, dodging the attack that grazed past his head.
As his words fell, the mist obscuring the surroundings began to clear.
"Isn't this Lernen?"
"It's Lord Schlacht!"
Two very different voices spoke at once — one cold, one fervent — and both fell into a brief silence.
Nanoda looked toward Hafleet, who had turned his eyes away, a faint killing intent leaking from her.
Praising him for being obedient had clearly been a mistake.
"Huh?"
Lernen glanced left and right, unable to make sense of the situation.
"What in the world is going on?"
He'd come to investigate the ruins of the Kingdom of Ert, searching for surviving evidence, never expecting to run into Nanoda, representing Gaderia. As one of the few who knew the truth about Gaderia's Demons and had worked alongside them before, he naturally recognized her.
And on the other side — the one who'd so easily dodged his attack — Schlacht? The legendary Omniscient One of the Demon Race? Wasn't he dead? Lady Serie herself had confirmed it.
Which side was the enemy, exactly?
"Human, leave. You're not the one I'm looking for."
Schlacht's tone was calm, as if he barely registered Lernen's existence.
Nanoda recalled the name Hafleet had let slip.
"Schlacht!"
Her first thought was that this might be one of Grausam the Miracle's disguises.
The one before her now was Brother Miracle, posing as Schlacht.
The real Schlacht had already perished together with the Hero of the South — that couldn't be some fringe rumor, could it?
Yet her instincts told her that the Demon before her was giving off some mysterious aura.
"Hey, hey, don't leave me out of this, you two."
Lernen slowly shifted his position, forming a three-way standoff with the other two.
"I'm the genuine article — I've simply come from the past."
From Schlacht's words, Nanoda realized he seemed to have seen through her attitude.
"The past? You have Future Sight — you shouldn't have the ability to travel through time and space."
Beside her, Hafleet edged a few guilty steps away, though Nanoda's attention wasn't fully on him now. The idea of Schlacht abandoning the Hero of the South and deliberately traveling from the past into the future felt a bit too far-fetched.
"So you do know. And what if I told you I'd stolen the Goddess's magic?"
"Is that even possible?"
"I can see a future where it happens — what's impossible about that? Besides, I still have the Demon King."
By this point in the conversation, Nanoda had come to believe a good deal of it. But that wasn't the crux of the matter.
"You've been impersonating Gaderia and stirring up trouble everywhere, all just to lure me here to Ert for a private meeting with you? Or — did you guide this very future into being?"
Schlacht glanced at Lernen standing nearby, then nodded in open acknowledgment.
"That's right. Something has gone wrong with the present future, and I had no choice but to find a way to come here and fix it."
Caught between the two of them, Lernen had never felt this tense before.
Just a few simple exchanges carried an enormous amount of information.
Just then, Schlacht turned his gaze on him.
"You've already gotten the answer you wanted. Leave this place…"
No sooner had he said this than Schlacht changed his mind.
"Actually, having a witness isn't a bad thing. Since you want to stay, go ahead and stay."
Lernen, who had been about to open his mouth to refuse, felt sweat instantly bead on his temple. Either that Demon knew his thoughts, or he had genuinely seen his future.
Nanoda took all of this in as well. Seeing that Schlacht seemed to have no intention of fighting her head-on, she decided to speak plainly with the riddle-speaker.
"What's your goal? A future that's gone wrong?"
Nanoda already suspected the truth: the problem might lie with her herself. She was like a reader who'd wandered by mistake into a storybook, belonging nowhere.
"I just want to tell you — you're as pitiable as Aura. Your futures were fixed long ago. Have you ever thought about breaking free of an unfree future?"
"So my future and Aura's are both destined to be tragedies?"
Without answering Nanoda's question, Schlacht suddenly began explaining his own magic.
"Future Sight — let's just call my magic that for now. My Future Sight lets me see the branching futures, and step by step, according to what the future requires, I guide, intervene, and at the critical turning points, steer things toward the future I've chosen."
He went on.
"The future is fixed, and yet unfixed. Like the veins of a leaf, branches always sprout as it spreads. Crossing over each of those branches, one by one — where I finally arrive is my ideal."
For a moment, this emotionless Demon seemed like some great visionary, endlessly pursuing the path only he could see, speaking of his future.
"So the reason you can't reveal the outcome of that future is because it's the price of your Future Sight?"
Just as magic requires Mana, incantations, even mediums to function — there's virtually no such thing as magic conjured from nothing, entirely without cost. By modern reasoning, a magic like Future Sight, one that transcends the laws of physics, could plausibly carry a steep price.
"Clever, as expected."
"Well, I'm not the type to blindly follow your plans just because I know you can see through the future. Besides, you still haven't paid the price for slandering Gaderia."
Nanoda shifted into a combat-ready stance. Not knowing Schlacht's actual fighting strength, she held back from acting rashly, waiting for a reasonable answer from him.
"My true enemy isn't you…"
Another non-answer. Schlacht seemed to want to say more, then held back.
Hearing this, Nanoda fell into thought.
Lernen, hearing all of this, gripped his staff tightly. The destruction of the Kingdom of Ert had roots far more complicated than he'd imagined. As a First-Class Mage, he had no chance whatsoever to get a word in.
Beside Nanoda, Hafleet's mouth hung open in shock as well. Even with a rough grasp of Schlacht's abilities, he couldn't begin to guess what the man was actually trying to do.
"Don't worry — the matter of slandering Gaderia will be properly resolved. All it takes is you joining forces with me. I can promise you a free future. Join me."
The Omniscient One extended his invitation.
"And the terms?"
"Destroy everything that is Gaderia, and you'll gain true happiness and release. I can accomplish every remaining task myself — this alone is the one thing I need your help with."
"Well, isn't that convenient — once Gaderia's destroyed, there's no point in slandering it anymore, is there?"
Nanoda's tone was ice cold.
She hadn't ruled out the possibility that this was purely a scheme by Schlacht, using her to bring about whatever future he wanted — an offer of alliance made with absolutely no sincerity.
"Can't you see the future? Did the future me end up helping you?"
"Sigh." Schlacht finally let out a sigh.
____
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