episode_0108

000

A chaotic sky where paints of various colors were sprinkled haphazardly on a black sketchbook and then slashed with a thin brush.

A world where heaven and earth are overturned, black and white are reversed, and light and darkness are inverted.

The darker it is, the more clearly one’s own appearance is seen, and one is engulfed in the sensation of being endlessly sucked into the void.

A space of doubting demons where even breathing makes one question whether inhaling and exhaling are the right things to do.

Originally, a trash can where the waste of an unnecessary world that does not even forgive the existence of living things gathers.

The Sword Master could keenly feel with his own body, without exaggeration, that this was the identity of this space.

Alien magic, like a swarm of bugs sticking to his entire body and gnawing at his skin, or digestive juices flowing from the stomach of a giant monster, ceaselessly envelops Cleon’s body.

If it weren’t for the blessing of fire he received from Lyla, he would have continued to lose his own magic power in this unpleasant and perilous space, and been eroded by them.

But Cleon senses that the reason why the dimensional rift is dangerous to humans is not because of the existence of this magic power, but

the rejection of Cleon – a living being – felt throughout this space.

You must not exist here, no, it denies your very existence.

Rejection, refusal, denial, declination, disavowal.

As if the space itself had a will, it constantly whispers ruin to Cleon’s body, soul, and spirit.

It was clear that this rejection was not just happening to him.

Therefore, many beings who entered this place before eventually changed and collapsed to the point of losing their ego, transforming into monsters such as the Absolute Tree or Humbaba.

If he stayed here for a long time, he would become like them.

This place is a swamp of inescapable poison. The poison is a deadly toxin that will someday replace the blood flowing through his veins.

Just when such a despairing vision filled his head, Cleon bites his right index finger hard.

The pain running through the affected area barely brings back his fading mind, clearing away the despairing fantasies that had filled his head.

He was still in human form and had not been devoured by this space and fallen into a monster.

It has not even been five minutes since he stepped into this place, but within this space where even the sense of time becomes strange, it creates the illusion of having spent days.

If this too is the evil of this space, then those who maintain their ego here must be of two kinds.

One is those who stand with indomitable will, possessing truly strong mental fortitude and an unwavering soul and faith.

The other is those who have already succumbed to the space but are unaware of it themselves, mistaking their altered ego for their own and crawling on the ground.

Cleon didn’t even feel like confirming whether he was the former or the latter.

The wisest decision is not to step into this space in the first place, and even if you do, to escape this place with all your might.

But.

Cleon turns around; until just now, there would have been the entrance he had passed through.

Now it had disappeared without a trace and was engulfed in black light like any other place.

He has something to do here. It was not yet possible to move away or retreat from this place.

The fact that something enormous was tearing through the dimensional rift and approaching this place was conveyed to him.

It was not through sight, but literally something like a hunch, but in such a space, judgment based on intuition is more helpful than the five senses.

Quietly gripping his sword, he closes his eyes and focuses on the approaching presence.

Surely Leil had spoken of a serpent that devours the world.

Whether his eyes are closed or open, his vision is covered in black.

Only the pure darkness seen behind the eyelids, the intermittent flickering caused by the stimulation of visual cells, remains.

And between those flickers, two red eyes are visible.

Cleon could also feel the splinter of the world-devourer with venomous fangs.

“Excuse me, but would you mind moving out of the way? I have business in the world beyond.”

A voice suddenly heard from the front.

Cleon is startled and opens his eyes, and in front of him, there is not a giant serpent-

Instead, standing before him was a dashing middle-aged man in a white suit with a polite attitude.

He had a stylish beard and a well-built physique, and on his head was a fedora that he assumed was part of the suit.

With his ash-colored hair tied in a ponytail and a relaxed smile on his face, the man looked like an ordinary human at first glance.

But the golden eyes with vertically slit pupils and the reptilian scale-like patterns on his cheeks told him that he was not human.

“Are you the serpent that devours the world?”

Cleon, realizing that he could communicate with the subject, asked him, hiding his embarrassment as much as possible.

The man nodded and brought his gloved hand to his chest, answering in a polite manner.

“I am sometimes called by that name. I prefer to be called ‘Jormungandr,’ though.”

It was the first time he had heard that name. Perhaps this man was not a being from Cleon’s world.

“I’m sorry, but you can’t go beyond this point.”

When Cleon stood in Jormungandr’s way, the man narrowed his eyes and looked at Cleon.

Then, as if troubled, he let out a sigh.

“I thought I could have a luxurious meal because I received the coordinates of a vibrant world after a long time… This is an unexpected variable.”

Cleon was preparing to draw his sword, thinking that he would immediately resort to force, but Jormungandr’s reaction was unexpected.

“Are you also after the world beyond? If so, of course, it is right for me, who arrived late, to yield. How about this? How about we ‘join’ this time?”

And at the man’s words, Cleon could not help but frown.

This man was thinking of Cleon as an ‘ally.’

In other words, Cleon was mistaken for a being from the dimensional rift who had come to ‘devour’ Cleon’s world, just like this man.

“…I’m sorry, but I’m different from you. I came to protect this world.”

“…Hoo. You weren’t a being from the rift? But even so, you have a quite familiar presence…”

Jormungandr’s slit eyes sent a sharp gaze that seemed to pierce through Cleon’s entire body.

It was as if he was examining and grasping the soul within.

“Hmm? Hmm… This can’t be. You, were you ‘Cleon’! Your appearance and atmosphere… And even that ‘weapon’ you have is different, so I didn’t recognize you.”

Then, he smiles as if he had reunited with a friend he hadn’t seen in a long time.

Cleon is shocked as if he had been hit on the head by Jormungandr’s words, and falls into a brief stun.

“Hmm. Come to think of it, this area seems to have a particularly severe distortion of time… Well, something like this can happen.”

He nods as if he had spoken and understood himself, and pats Cleon’s shoulder with kindness and familiarity.

Thanks to that, Cleon, feeling once again that this situation was real, grabs his hand and asks.

“Why do you know about me…?”

“Well, you are quite a famous figure among the ‘world-devourers’ of the dimensional rift. As a being who has devoured so many worlds that are so beautiful that I am jealous. The fact that you don’t know now means that you are his past self. Or perhaps an existence like a shadow reflected in a mirror.”

What flashes through Cleon’s mind is the content of the dream in which he saw the future Kuon.

He thought that the story of him becoming a human who did not return after jumping into the dimensional rift to find Resia was just a possibility.

But hearing the story of a being who has seen himself in another timeline in front of his eyes suddenly increases the sense of reality.

Jormungandr watches Cleon silently and then shrugs his shoulders and says.

“Hmm. Is it that shocking to become a being like me? It may have been a bit of a stimulating story for you. Don’t worry. Someday you will understand.”

“I’d like to think that day will never come…”

At Cleon’s words, Jormungandr chuckles and taps his forehead two or three times with his index finger.

“Very well. I will leave that world for you. I’ll tell the other comrades as well.”

“What did you say…?”

Cleon widens his eyes as if he can’t believe Jormungandr’s words, but the serpent shrugs and says.

“It seems that leaving that world until your time comes will lead to the birth of our great friend.”

“… …”

Cleon could not follow the favor this mysterious being had for him at all, but he could understand what he was saying.

He was saying that he would stop the act of devouring his world. With the other devourers as well.

Of course, these non-human beings could not be trusted, but he could not feel much falsehood or pretense from him.

No, if he was such a powerful being, he wouldn’t need to lie.

“Then… Is my world safe now?”

“At least from us, you can say that. But that’s only for gourmets like us. The dimensional rift is infinite, and the beings in this rift are also infinite.”

Jormungandr smiles unpleasantly and waves his hand at the void.

Beyond the lightly waved arm, the dimensional rift that he had seen in the sky above the academy occurs.

“Now, look over here.”

When Cleon followed his words and looked down beyond the rift.

He had no choice but to close his mouth at the sight.

A horde of demonic beasts was creating a scene of hellish chaos inside.

Cleon could easily recognize their identities.

All of them were the `Humbaba` that they had been fighting with all their might until just now.

They were similar to it, or the same beings.

“They are the most hideous and filthy beings in this beautiful world, which is like a junkyard. At some point, the magic power of another dimension became attached to the black armor that had entered the dimensional rift on its own and mutated. Once an event occurs, it affects other dimensions, causing the same thing to happen in similar worlds on different timelines and in different dimensions.”

In other words, those are similar to Kuon, whom he saw in his dream.

They are Humbabas from parallel worlds.

“Why are they fighting each other?”

“I’m not the only one who identified the coordinates of your world and approached it. They are the same. Demonic beasts with weak egos instinctively reject beings who are after the same prey, and when they encounter each other, they attack each other.”

Looking closely, the magic beasts whose cores were destroyed collapse on the spot and have their cores eaten by other magic beasts. It is truly the demonic beast’s Gu poison.

The birth of a giant magic beast was wriggling in the surging poison cauldron.

“…When that fight is over-.”

Cleon muttered as if trying to confirm the answer he already knew from someone else’s mouth.

Then Jormungandr answers as if it were nothing.

“The worst magic beast that has eaten all of each other will cross over to your world.”

That magic beast will be dozens of times stronger than Humbaba.

If such a guy breaks out of the dimensional rift and indiscriminately scatters malice, the entire world will burn.

Cleon clenches the sword he was holding tightly.

“That’s right. You have no choice but to go there. If it’s that ‘Cleon’ that I know.”

Jormungandr smiles contentedly as he looks at Cleon.

Cleon bit his lower lip tightly at the sly look, but jumped inside.

It was impossible to say that it was a normal judgment.

Fighting them in a situation where he didn’t have Galatea and couldn’t get help from anyone was a situation with too little chance of winning.

But Cleon wasn’t completely thoughtless.

They were ferocious beasts fighting to take the same prey.

Among such ferocious beasts, Cleon, the hunter, would feel like an infinitely small and unthreatening being.

`If the part surrounding the core is destroyed, if we eliminate it from this side before the internal core is eaten, we can at least prevent them from getting stronger…!`

Cleon, who had made that judgment, was immediately putting his thoughts into action.

He didn’t seem to think about what would happen to himself in the process.

001

Lyla’s mansion, Galatea’s room that does not open.

While everyone had left the mansion to stop Humbaba, a small throbbing sound was constantly echoing in the room.

What kind of changes had occurred in Galatea inside during this week, only she could know.

What was certain was that she was now fervently searching for her partner, Cleon.

And the being that had been conceived in her was trying to reveal its appearance to the world.

Cleon needed strength more desperately than ever before.

And that strength was none other than ‘Galatea’ herself.

That is why, if she does not complete this being as soon as possible and go to Cleon.

The core of the sacred sword ‘Caliburn’ containing the black magic power that Galatea has.

Kuon received it, but the prophecy that he did not reveal to anyone says this.

`This sword will be broken once, and then newly forged to have the golden light that saves the world.`.

And the time of the prophecy was slowly approaching.