Cloney still wasn’t quite sure.
Whether this world was a dream or not.
She had only made a judgment.
Based on the belief that Duke Yuma couldn’t possibly be dead.
She concluded that the odds of this world being fake were quite high.
“Think outside the box.”
If she stayed within the realm of common sense, she couldn’t break this fake world.
Cloney slowly rose from her chair.
She moved toward the window step by step. Cloney opened the window.
Swoosh—
Rain was pouring down.
“…It’s raining.”
Sruuk—
She grabbed the large dark gray robe hanging on the coat rack and put it on.
The gray robe draped over her long black hair.
Cloney opened the black umbrella in her right hand.
Tap, tap—
Yuma followed her footsteps.
He wanted to say something.
That her judgment was correct.
To not doubt herself.
But even when he opened his mouth to speak, his voice didn’t make it outside.
Yuma’s footsteps didn’t overlap with Cloney’s.
The countless raindrops falling from the sky simply passed through Yuma’s body.
In the dream where Cloney was trapped, Yuma was just a bystander.
Stopping her steps, Cloney bent her right knee and knelt down.
Before her, there stood Yuma’s grave.
Cloney raised the umbrella to shield the gravestone from the rain.
“Duke Yuma, I…”
Cloney spoke softly.
“I believe you’re not dead.”
Cloney denied Yuma’s death in front of his grave.
“So I came to say my final goodbye. Um….”
Cloney smiled sweetly.
“Before we meet again.”
Cloney lightly patted the gravestone a few times before rising.
Yuma looked down at Cloney from behind.
‘I never expected to experience looking at my own grave.’
Cloney chattered away for a while.
“Magic is quite difficult, you know. Duke Yuma.”
Pitter-patter… pitter-patter…
The rain, which had lessened a bit, continued to tap on the umbrella.
“There’s no predetermined end. Even if you try to reach the end.”
Cloney let out a soft sigh.
“The range is just too wide. There’s no answer, and the more you try, the more confused you get.”
Yuma felt like he understood the meaning of her monologue.
“So I’m going to stop worrying now.”
It was a process of gathering her thoughts.
“Duke Yuma is probably not dead.”
Cloney slowly tilted the umbrella behind her.
It was because the rain had stopped.
“Maybe this is a space close to fantasy. It must be under some kind of curse.”
Cloney slowly rose her body.
“I’ve been carried on Lord Yuma’s back until now, so this time I have to overcome it by myself.”
Cloney turned and began to descend the mountain.
Yuma followed her down.
*
Celestial Continent.
It was undoubtedly a land existing in the Intermediate World, yet fewer people knew about its existence.
A place where beings that were literally ‘out of the standard’ gathered, having surpassed the Grand Master level or approached the Half-God level.
On the Celestial Continent, there were five such monsters.
You could say there were only five, but just two of these five could wipe out an entire continent’s empire if they stepped forward.
Join Tribe Half-God Kiryev spoke towards the Elf Half-God next to him.
“What’s that godly guy suddenly showing up and doing his own thing behind all those barriers?”
The female elf Seiavern, who had three swords on her waist and three swords on her back, slowly shook her head in response to Kiryev’s words.
“I don’t know either.”
“Ugh…”
At Seiavern’s firm statement, Kiryev let out a sigh.
‘This elf has no intention of actively doing anything.’
It’s been twenty years since we first met, and there’s been not a single change; I guess her stubbornness is remarkable.
Kiryev opened his mouth again.
“That guy, the one covered in barriers. Should we kill him or not?”
The female elf, Seiavern, finally turned her head towards Kiryev, who hadn’t even been looking at her.
Yet, her eyes remained closed.
Seiavern was a blind elf.
A sweet voice flowed out from Seiavern’s lips.
“Can you kill him?”
Join Tribe Kiryev frowned at her words.
“You and I. And if we wake up that guy over there and join forces, wouldn’t it be possible? At least for a 2nd tier?”
Seiavern let out a deep sigh.
“From that aura, he’s already transcended 2nd tier. Can’t you feel his divine power steadily growing? And even if we managed to team up for 2nd tier, we could only possibly defeat a support or research type god. Do you think we can beat a combat type god?”
The blue-haired elf, Seiavern, narrowed her elegant brows.
Her words continued.
“Gods aren’t that easy to deal with.”
Kiryev had no choice but to accept Seiavern’s explanation.
Someone approached behind Kiryev and Seiavern.
A Lycanthrope, Kesylvia, nearing Half-God level and fiercely skilled in martial arts, stood between the two, her long gray hair fluttering about.
“Right. That’s why that God of War guy is so remarkable.”
Everyone on the Heavenly Craft continent had some out-of-the-ordinary power, but they were pretty clueless about the outside world.
The biggest reason was clearly that, unlike other continents, it floated high in the sky on an island belonging to the Intermediate World. Both the upper and lower layers were caught up in the sky currents.
And the fact that Duke Yuma’s main area of activity was in the Gehergen continent, which was positioned at the extreme opposite of the Intermediate World, played a part too.
It was only after he recently left the Heavenly continent and returned from the Baugalak Kingdom, which he could call his hometown, that he became aware of the God of War Yuma, who was mercilessly trampling the beings widely recognized as “Gods” invading the Intermediate World.
Kiryev opened the beak of a gigantic bird.
“Did you see it with your own eyes, Kesylvia?”
Kesylvia’s bright yellow eyes sparkled.
“I saw it from a distance. The scene of killing two Gods. I tried to see more closely, but… didn’t you hurriedly inform me that one God suddenly appeared on the Heavenly continent, Kiryev? So I couldn’t get a good look at that God of War Yuma and had to rush back.”
Kesylvia’s long wolf tail curled tightly around her waist like a belt.
“Anyway, you’ll all get to see that God of War soon enough.”
Kesylvia’s confident words prompted the elf Seiavern to speak.
“Why do you think so?”
Kesylvia smirked.
“That guy has already taken down every God there is in the Intermediate World.”
She pointed with her chin towards the thick barrier in front of them.
“But the last God remaining in the Intermediate World is right over there. So he’ll definitely come to kill that one too.”
Seiavern felt a doubt creep in.
God of War Yuma.
This wasn’t the first time she had heard about him from Kesylvia.
She had blabbed about it all day when she returned from the Intermediate World.
“To think he became a God from a human… I still find it hard to believe until I see it with my own eyes.”
Seiavern continued.
“Have you heard of any achievements he made before killing Gods?”
Lycanthrope Kesylvia immediately opened her mouth to answer.
“I’ve heard a lot—Dragon Slayer. And they said he also killed the Demon Lord… and he killed a human named Cronos, the former Ten Great Swordsmen. I mean, human deaths are really not your concern, right, Seiavern?”
Contrary to that remark, Seiavern reacted to the name “Swordsman Cronos.”
Her eyebrows twitched.
“…He was still alive until last year? He lived longer than I thought.”
Kesylvia widened her eyes in surprise.
“Really? You know him?”
Seiavern recalled that moment, now a thing of the past.
He witnessed the moment when the middle-aged human, skilled in swordsmanship, wore an expression of horror.
“You don’t need to know.”
Seiavern spoke coldly, turned her body, and walked towards the barracks.
*
Cloney, wielding her magic staff, stepped forward.
Something unusual was happening in the sky.
Chirrup-chirrup—
The being that tore through space was a god with black hair and red eyes.
The [God of War and Struggle], Barbatos, glared at the humans standing on the ground.
No one dared to openly show their teeth at him.
Not even the knights of the Empire. Not even Bell. Everyone was simply unable to take a step forward.
Ku-guh-guh-guh-guh-guh──!!
The haze extending from Barbatos’s entire body transformed into crimson lightning, densely covering the sky.
In a situation where no one was stepping up,
One single girl was moving forward.
Barbatos, who was standing in the sky, slowly descended to the ground.
Thud….
Barbatos’s mouth opened as he planted both feet on the ground.
“Girl, what do you believe is allowing you to come near to me?”
The black-haired sorceress, Cloney, remained silent as she stood directly in front of Barbatos.
She raised her staff in her right hand.
Reverse calculation.
She calculated all the memories existing in her head in reverse.
And there was only one conclusion.
Yuma was dead, but there was no way he could be dead.
“I’m certain.”
Cloney’s entire body glowed white as she held her staff high.
Barbatos’s brows furrowed sharply.
“What… are you so certain of, girl?”
“You didn’t kill Lord Yuma.”
Cloney stepped forward.
As Cloney was trapped in the nightmare of the ‘past,’ the previously restrained circle was naturally released.
The 6th circle that Cloney had built up.
The circle regained its place.
Cloney felt the flow of that circle.
“See?”
The corners of her mouth curled into a smirk.
“Isn’t it right?”
Rumbling!!!
The white lightning covered the sky.
This was both Cloney’s thunder magic and the moment her mental power shattered the nightmare laid out by the [God of the Treacherous Hammer], Morg.
If Morg were alive, he would have reinforced Cloney’s nightmare in real-time, preventing her mental power from having any chance to act, but Morg had already perished, leaving only the nightmare behind.
“Kahhhhhh!”
Barbatos’s scream echoed through the nightmare.
The world of nightmares twisted as if something were pressing down on it.
Cloney stared blankly at the endlessly rumbling sky.
