No, My Paddak…!

The Ark is governed by the central administration, which in turn is ruled by multiple administrators.

This is a commonly known fact within the Ark.

This was to prevent power from concentrating in one place, and because the Ark was so vast and populous, it was simply too difficult for a single entity like a king to govern alone.

Therefore, the administrators, the highest authorities in the Ark, were generally understood to be equal to each other, with each checking the others to prevent abuse of power.

However, there are exceptions to every rule, and this also applied to the administrators, the supreme commanders.

“Thus, the eight administrators in charge of our Negotiation Roundtable have sentenced Second-Class Overseer Alice to execution.”

“Mm-hmm, I see! I see!”

Rilstia wiggled her feet, clad in bear-print slippers, and listened to their words.

However, Rilstia was currently in a deeply unpleasant and angry state.

Alice, her diligent Second-Class Overseer who regularly reported, had suddenly ceased all contact one day, and her location couldn’t be tracked; she had simply disappeared.

Rilstia managed to find CCTV footage of Alice heading towards the Enchantment of the Fallen layer using her abilities, but she was greatly shocked as she had never imagined Alice would vanish without her permission.

There must be a reason.

I didn’t give her any missions, so why would Alice go to the Enchantment of the Fallen layer…

Especially the one where hell is located.

There’s no reason for her to be in a place she shouldn’t be yet.

But it turned out that there was another administrator who had ordered Alice.

“So, you’re saying you tried to kill my direct slave, no, my Second-Class Overseer, without my permission?”

“We apologize if we have offended you.”

“However, Administrator Rilstia Frostia, isn’t this an overreach of authority, no matter how you look at it?”

“Indeed. It is deeply unpleasant.”

Rilstia frowned at the words of the eight administrators.

The eight administrators.

They were the leaders of the ‘Negotiation Roundtable’ in charge of negotiations with calamities, including True Ancestors.

“Our decision to execute Overseer Alice was not made lightly.”

“That’s right. A True Ancestor, one even called a Primordial Calamity, was targeting Alice for some reason.”

“According to the contract, we had to pay a certain price to the True Ancestor, and isn’t one Second-Class Overseer a cheap price to pay for maintaining a peaceful agreement with the True Ancestors?”

“Administrator Rilstia, I trust you will understand. It is better to protect the peace and order of the Ark. Surely a mere Second-Class Overseer is not more important than that, is she?”

What the other administrators said sounded reasonable.

If a True Ancestor started rampaging, it was certain that millions would be sacrificed immediately, and if it could be resolved with just Alice, anyone would have done the same.

“Administrator Rilstia, we did not disregard Overseer Alice’s dignity in the first place.”

“Isn’t it much better for her to die as a human, as an Overseer of the Ark, than to be captured by a True Ancestor?”

“Rather, we should be thanked by Overseer Alice. Instead of becoming a toy for a True Ancestor, we allowed her to die as a human in a humane way…”

“Besides, that red ideology? She was wandering around the layers, spreading strange and impure ideas all the time. We let it slide because her mission success rate was high, but you know that just spreading those impure ideas is enough to put her on trial, right?”

“We made the best decision for the Ark. Countless lives versus one Second-Class Overseer. Surely we don’t need to discuss which is more important, do we?”

Rilstia, who had been listening to each of the eight administrators’ words, gave a cold smile.

“Ha, you guys are a joke.”

“Huh.”

“How rude, Rilstia.”

At Rilstia’s words, one middle-aged administrator couldn’t hide his displeasure.

Even though Rilstia was basically treated as a senior among the other administrators, she was still an administrator with equal status.

No one would feel good about being openly ignored and having their nerves frayed like this.

“Putting everything else aside, do you know that my Second-Class Overseer, Alice, can completely annihilate True Ancestors?”

“Hmm, was that so?”

“Ahem, True Ancestors are viral life forms. Their ecology hasn’t been fully revealed yet, so such rash conclusions are forbidden.”

“Indeed.”

“This is all for the peace and order of the Ark. Isn’t our position itself meant to protect that peace and order?”

“Administrator Rilstia, it seems you’ve gotten a bit heated. You should go get some fresh air and cool down. You’re being too emotional.”

Ah, I see.

Rilstia had to desperately prevent her mouth from twisting with anger and annoyance at the sound of them making conclusions among themselves.

“Ha, even if you’re administrators and you say that something is impossible… is that a thought an administrator should have? Are you going to keep giving in to the calamity and keep giving them whatever they ask for?”

“Look here. What if the Primordial Calamity starts rampaging? We have no choice but to listen to the calamity’s demands.”

“Today it’s one Overseer. Tomorrow it’s two, three, four Overseers. The day after that, it’s one village, one city. Are you going to keep giving them things, saying that one layer is okay compared to the entire Ark? Why don’t you just create a True Ancestor’s party hall in the central administration?”

“Administrator Rilstia, don’t cross the line.”

“Hahaha! You’re the ones who crossed the line! Alice has the ability to completely annihilate True Ancestors, who are said to be immortal, and the True Ancestor specifically demands Alice, and you openly grant it? Does that sound like it makes any sense to you? Doesn’t that already smell incredibly fishy?”

“….”

A document appeared in Rilstia’s hand, containing all sorts of records, including the administrators’ activities over the past decade, logistics movements, related assets, and the transaction progress of their families and insiders.

Rilstia had already completed her investigation.

“Tell me. Since when? Since when did you become blinded by the scraps of mosquito bastards and start selling off the Ark’s humans and assets? Don’t try any petty tricks. Do you think I came here without investigating your activities?”

The administrators in charge of this Negotiation Roundtable had long been puppets of the calamity.

“Hoo.”

“This is quite something.”

The eight administrators wore awkward expressions as they looked at Rilstia’s records.

How did she find out?

They thought they had been hiding it well for a long time.

“I’m sorry, Rilstia.”

-Thwack!

“…!”

In that instant, Rilstia’s head flew into the air.

Someone hidden in the shadows had silently severed Rilstia’s head.

“You are not the only one with valuable personnel, Rilstia.”

“We had a much larger pool of First-Class Overseers in the first place.”

“What a pity. To have to send off the longest-serving administrator, who has been around since the founding of the Ark, so easily.”

First-Class Overseers possessed extraordinary abilities.

Naturally, there were First-Class Overseers who moved in the shadows of certain administrators, willing to do anything for them.

“We regret to inform you that Administrator Rilstia Frostia has passed away in an unfortunate accident and is unable to perform her duties as an administrator.”

“I’ll take care of the reality accident adjustment.”

“I will take over her assigned area within this month.”

“I will be in charge of adjusting the phenomenon contingency.”

“Then that’s settled. Now, everyone, let’s dismiss…”

-Creak!

However, Rilstia’s body, with its severed head, did not fall.

“….”

Rather, it stood upright, seemingly looking directly at the eight administrators as if it still had its head.

‘She’s not dead yet…!’

‘Her head was cut off, but?!’

The eight administrators simultaneously felt a chill at the sight.

“…Arise.”

“Guards! To my location immediately!”

“You, uphold the contract.”

At that, the eight administrators immediately summoned their respective guard forces and First-Class Overseers to ensure their own safety.

“In the 289 years since I founded the Ark and sat in the position of administrator…”

Rilstia’s severed head said as it watched the scene.

Blood was gushing from the head, which was fixed in the air, yet it spoke as if nothing was wrong.

“I have never. The number of times I have witnessed things like you. The number of times I have been killed by things like you.”

The child’s smile was eerie.

What made her eerie wasn’t fear.

It was lamentation and anger.

This wasn’t the first or second time this had happened, and it seemed like the disappointment and pent-up anger that had accumulated each time were subtly flowing out.

“Do you think it was only once or twice?”

“Do you think?”

And someone appeared behind Rilstia.

Oriana.

The woman known as Rilstia’s direct First-Class Overseer and the creator of artificial spirits.

And the materials for artificial spirits do not discriminate between organic and inorganic matter, humans and souls.

At that, some of the administrators who had come to a realization were horrified.

“No, could it be. Have you been dead all along?!”

“No. That woman. Rilstia’s true identity is that woman, Oriana! She has been controlling Rilstia!”

But Rilstia laughed at those words.

Oriana behind her also laughed.

“You’re incredibly dim-witted. You’ve become puppets of mosquito bastards.”

“It seems your thinking has become as limited as mosquito bastards.”

“Wind, protect me!”

“Legion, defend me!”

“Create a plague barrier!”

“Kill them immediately! We absolutely cannot let them live!”

Some administrators tried to protect themselves using their abilities or equipment, while others tried to kill Rilstia and Oriana with the Overseers or guard forces they had secretly brought along.

“Do you know what?”

“I intended to kill all of you from the start.”

Oriana and Rilstia spoke in turn.

They seemed to be one and the same, yet also different.

“We intended to kill all of you from the beginning.”

“And we finished all the preparations a long time ago.”

Oriana snapped her fingers.

Then, artificial spirits appeared.

Artificial spirits of blood.

Artificial spirits of fire.

Lightning, steel, copper, plastic, human flesh, monster spinal cords, venom, pus, disease, lava, electricity.

Spirits of all kinds of things rose onto the Roundtable.

“…!”

The administrators’ faces instantly froze.

No, not just the administrators, but the guard forces, including the First-Class Overseers who had bravely stepped forward to protect them, couldn’t help but be filled with terror.

Oriana had received the title of First-Class Overseer just for handling one artificial spirit.

But the number of artificial spirits visible before their eyes now was beyond counting.

The meaning of this was clear.

That thing.

Rilstia.

No, Oriana.

That thing, whether it was two or one, was an incomprehensible existence.

“The Negotiation Roundtable.”

“Is hereby erased from the history of the Ark.”

“Direct your complaints, understandings, and objections to the afterlife.”

“If you’ve given your liver and gallbladder to the mosquito bastards, then please spare your heart for me.”

With those words, the space where the Negotiation Roundtable was located collapsed.

The process of collapse happened in an instant, faster than the blink of an eye.

All the artificial spirits that Oriana had summoned began to forcibly rampage.

All sorts of attributes.

Elements with different kinds of mana and repulsive forces.

When they all emitted light at once, the space itself endlessly repeated ignition and extinction, cooling and thawing, collapse and reconstruction in an instant.

Then, everything except Rilstia and Oriana began to undergo molecular collapse, repeating expansion and contraction.

A mortal death ceremony aimed at life.

Nothing survived the widespread and irreversible molecular collapse.

This wasn’t even a realm that could be resisted with mana.

-Snap!

When Oriana snapped her fingers, the Negotiation Roundtable fully reappeared.

But the eight administrators who had been there, and the guard forces who had protected them, would not even have their corpses found in any world.

“I’m being controlled by Oriana.”

“I’m controlling Rilstia.”

In that silent Roundtable, Oriana and Rilstia looked at each other and let out hollow laughs.

“Which came first, the chicken or the egg.”

“Am I controlling her? Is she controlling me?”

“No, is ‘controlling’ even the right word?”

“Is being controlled the right word?”

They both laughed the same way.

They were one and the same, yet also separate beings.

They couldn’t even remember who came first.

They didn’t care.

What was important to them wasn’t that.

“My precious Second-Class Overseer.”

“My precious Demon King.”

“I’ll go to you right now.”

“Wait for me. I’ll be right there.”

Although their bodies and personalities had become two, what was precious to them was the same.

“We can’t protect everything.”

“But we can try to.”

“And we rightfully will.”