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“Gyaaaaaaah-!”

The Beast, feeling the aroma of burning flesh and sensing an incredible vitality that couldn’t possibly belong to an ordinary organism, let out a roar and charged straight at Steil. After all, the most delectable presence in this spot was Steil, even with the World Tree growing right behind him.

Of course, it wasn’t that Steil’s vitality exceeded that of the World Tree. Whether physical or supernatural, that was impossible. The scale of the vessel that could contain life energy was astronomically different, wasn’t it?

However, unlike the World Tree, which was just a massive tree that had no chance of running away, Steil was unpredictable — he could flee at any moment. In metaphorical terms, the World Tree was like a fruit-bearing tree that endlessly produced fruit, while Steil resembled a rare and exotic animal. One could be absolutely certain that his taste would be out of this world.

“Come on, come at me-.”

With speed that couldn’t be chased with the eyes, it was hard to believe that the body of Flower, who had just been playing around with an ordinary human man not long ago, could be capable of such agility.

But it didn’t matter. No matter how fast the opponent was, he was slower than his natural enemy. Quicker than any being in the world — light itself.

“Whoa-!”

Having spent a lifetime running from the light, Steil effortlessly dodged the Beast’s attack. His condition was better than ever, thanks to the boundless vitality gifted to him by the Scientist. He had received a gift that transcended everything he was born with, saving him from the struggle of regenerating his skin that was burning under sunlight.

With that transcendent vitality, Steil launched himself forward. His body rushed like a beam of light, and he ended up grappling with the Beast, rolling across the ground. In fact, it was all a result of him losing control over his own body during the rush.

Like lovers, or perhaps like wrestlers, Steil found himself embracing Flower on the ground. Memories from days prior flashed back, clouding his vision.

The Beast did not miss that opening. Seeing his two arms caught, Steil couldn’t help but snicker inwardly. With his rough amateur knowledge, it looked like he was trying to perform a submission hold. However, considering that her legs were beyond his back, it was impossible. Such techniques only worked when the legs were in front of the waist…

Yet surprisingly, what the Beast was trying to do wasn’t a submission hold. It was something far more dangerous. In an instant, the arms that were grabbed turned to dust, transitioning from his arms to his shoulders. Steil, panicking, abandoned his advantageous position and immediately broke free from her grasp.

“Gah, Gah-!?”

Just as he distanced himself too late, the Beast’s power, which had been climbing up his shoulder, dissipated. Only then did Steil realize what the Beast had done.

The Beast, dominating Flower’s body as if it were its own, had begun using her abilities as if they were its own. That artificial power excluding every other thing…

Of course, Steil knew Flower had never used her abilities like that before. At most, she had turned swords and guns aimed at herself to dust. Thus, this situation was quite shocking and surprising.

‘The reason why it hasn’t all disappeared at once might be due to my regeneration ability intersecting… Assuming my regeneration ability has elevated to a nonsensical extent, I should be able to kill anyone by just making eye contact…’

Steil, who had ancestors that were vampires, considered himself to have been weakened to the point where he couldn’t believe he was the same species. Still, he possessed exceptional physical abilities, regeneration skills, and a variety of abilities that could be classified as supernatural abilities that were incomparable to humans.

Now that his abilities were vast like he was returning to his original form? Even if he sustained injuries that turned his entire body to dust, he believed he could recover in mere seconds. If he could do that to himself, there was no need to talk about what would happen to others.

“Grroooowl…!”

While Steil was startled by the Beast’s power, it seemed the Beast was also astonished that its power didn’t work. It began to glance around, observing the situation.

While they were both shocked by each other’s abilities, the first to move was the Beast. It realized that to subdue Steil, it had to act first.

At this point, one could expect it to give up, but the Beast seemed unwilling to relax until it took Steil down or drove him away from scene. Perhaps it didn’t want to risk losing Steil, a rather powerful predator who was meant to single-handedly consume the World Tree.

For either side, this was not bad at all. From Steil’s perspective, it was even more important to stall for time…

‘Are you watching this? You must be seeing this, right? Please hurry up and come….’

Steil prayed to the Scientist who would be observing this scene. Hadn’t he mentioned that he would analyze the Beast’s characteristics from their battle and create countermeasures?

It would take considerable time for mass-produced tools churned out from a factory, not to mention how he could create specialized tools applicable only to a specific target so quickly — he deliberately didn’t ask. That wasn’t the important part.

What mattered was whether he could hold out against this beast until then. Just because his wounds were regenerating didn’t mean he felt no pain, and having his arms and shoulders turned to dust was a pain that words couldn’t describe.

“Gyaaaaaah-!”

The Beast charged.

It seemed like it wouldn’t wait even a moment.

Steil sighed and launched himself once more.

*

“I figured it out.”

“I’ve roughly grasped things on my end too.”

Aushilion and I analyzed the Beast using various observational tools. The Beast, analyzed through scientific and magical means, quickly discarded its shrouded mysteries.

What we produced after combining that analyzed information? A weapon that could fight the Beast. Remarkably swift. Even tools I hadn’t dared to create for fear of causing large-scale damage were easily made with Aushilion’s help.

“From the looks of it, the main body seems to exist in the spiritual realm rather than the physical world. If that’s the case, then there’s no need to extend the damage into the material world like this—.”

“Oh, can we do that? Magic is truly overpowered.”

“I think you’re more overpowered for creating things like this without magic though…?”

Thanks to Aushilion’s magical assistance, we were able to create eco-friendly weapons alarmingly quickly. They would inflict massive damage on beings such as the Beast but wouldn’t significantly impact the real world at all.

With preparations to capture the Beast complete, I checked back on the bait I had set before. It was indeed completely shredded but still put up a fight against Flower.

With preparations well underway, I manipulated the microphone to contact him.

“Ah, Steil? We’re nearly done, so clear the way.”

[…It’s late. Thought I was going to die.]

“Then die, will you? What have we been doing?”

[No, that’s not what I meant… No, I was wrong.]

When I checked via satellite, I saw Steil quickly pushing Flower away and moving in a hurry. Flower, not wanting to lose sight of Steil, who had been exerting energy all along to fight, quickly tried to chase after him, but the weapon we had created moved through space faster.

As Flower ran ahead, she suddenly stumbled. After falling once, she seemed to try to get up, but repeatedly failed and kept collapsing.

Figuring out why wasn’t hard. An invisible black hole, which had no physical influence at all, was coiling within the World Tree, affecting only entities like the Beast.

“Success.”

“Really? That’s amazing. Honestly, I never thought this would work while casting magic…”

As Aushilion said that, she glanced at me from the corner of her eye. The meaning in that gaze seemed to suggest that this time she adjusted the magic so that it wouldn’t inflict particular damage on the real world, but if she hadn’t, wouldn’t that eco-friendly weapon have been able to devour the entire planet?

In other words, she cast a suspicious glance, as if aimed at something like a Demon King or a World-Eater. Rather than saying that wouldn’t happen, I just shrugged casually.

“If it weren’t for you, Aushilion, I probably wouldn’t have been able to make it. I’ve received quite a bit of assistance from magic in many ways.”

“…Is that so? I understand. I’ll trust you on that.”

“It’s not a joke. It’s true.”

A short while later, whether the Beast that had inhabited Flower was completely sucked into the black hole or not, Flower finally collapsed, completely losing her consciousness. Seeing that, I let out a sigh of relief.

Now, even if someone thinks of the Beast or satisfies a particular trigger to summon it, it wouldn’t appear. It would fall forever into the black hole, and no information could reach it. In the black hole that swallows all, nothing comes or goes. Not even light.

“By the way, it’s almost fully grown now. The World Tree.”

“Hm- It looks satisfying.”

“What abilities does it have?”

I asked while gazing at the World Tree, proudly displaying its form even in space. A tree of that size. A plant requiring not just physical means but also magical means to maintain. There had to be a significant reason for it to grow so large.

There must be incredible features to it that I couldn’t even imagine. I looked at Aushilion with expectation.

“It has no abilities. It’s merely a symbol of conquest.”

“…Pardon?”

“When our Elf tribe dominated any race or nation in our world— we planted the World Tree as a proof of that. So that those we conquered would always remember us.”

I stared at Aushilion with a face as if I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.

So, according to her words, the World Tree is—

“The World Tree is just a big tree.”

…What kind of psychopathic race is this?