For a moment, Alon stared ahead blankly.
The world had not stopped.
It was merely moving very, very slowly.
Kkamangi, startled out of its wits.
Evan and Penia, running from far away.
In that sluggish world that felt like slow motion, Alon blankly lifted his eyes to the sky.
Unlike when time had completely stopped, he could move comfortably enough to raise his head, and there—
there was a gaping abyss.
In the middle of a sky full of ashen clouds, an abyss that looked as though it could swallow anything.
Only then did Alon realize it.
That this situation had absolutely nothing to do with what had happened when time stopped a moment ago.
That realization left him somewhat confused, but he soon had no choice but to stop thinking about it.
Because he could see the black hole chewing through the gray sky slowly closing.
He was flustered for only a moment.
Then Alon instinctively understood.
The moment that black hole closed, he would lose his chance.
Of course, no one had explained that to him, nor did Alon know anything about that gaping black abyss.
And yet, just as humans are born with the instinct to survive, Alon understood it, and soon thought:
‘...A law.’
In truth, Alon had already prepared a few laws in advance on his way to the eastern edge.
He had not been given much time, but at least there had been enough time to think.
Even so, however, he could not easily open his mouth.
Simply because he had realized it.
That the laws he had thought of would not mean much in the battles ahead.
Of course, the laws he had prepared beforehand would not be completely useless.
No—they would surely be useful in some sense.
But he had realized that they fell only within the realm of “useful,” and would not be able to dramatically change a battle against Bringing-In Night.
So he erased the laws he had prepared in advance from his mind.
The abyssal hole in the sky had already grown significantly smaller, and even now it was continuing to shrink.
The time was far too short to think up a new law.
Even so, Alon forced his mind—still not functioning properly because of Reverse Heavens—to work somehow.
And then he remembered.
[Hmm—I think a law that works like a hidden trump card would be nice, Teacher.]
Yutia’s voice, smiling as she gave him that advice.
And with that, Alon recalled the battles he had fought up to now.
Battles where not a single one had been easy.
Yet among those many battles, what Alon seized on was the very first one.
The battle against the outer god Ultutus.
Back then, when he had nothing at all, and still managed to defeat Ultutus.
And with that, one law came to mind.
A law that could create a hidden card
at any moment,
even in any disadvantageous situation.
‘But—’
Was this right?
Was this choice really the right one?
But of course, there was no one to answer the question in Alon’s mind.
This was a world where, apart from Alon, everything had slowed to an endless crawl.
Still, Alon remembered.
No—he did not even need to remember.
It had happened only moments ago.
The voice of someone who had stroked his head with a hand full of strange longing.
[...Whatever it may be, whatever you choose will be the right answer.]
For some reason, it carried a faint sense of yearning.
But the voice, so full of noise that he could not identify its owner, swept through Alon’s mind.
“I—”
At last, Alon opened his mouth.
And then—
[Granted.]
Along with that solemn murmur, he felt as if something were filling within him.
And with that, Alon lost consciousness.
How much time had passed after that?
Waking with the feeling that his consciousness, which had sunk beneath sleep, was slowly rising back to the surface, Alon—
“Alon!”
“Are you conscious?!”
—blanked out at the worried voices of Penia and Evan, then soon recalled the memories from before he had lost consciousness as though a panorama were sweeping past his mind.
Everything.
From arriving at the temple and fighting Bringing-In Night, to the unknown figure who had appeared after the world stopped, to the fact that he had obtained a law.
As Alon sorted through the many thoughts in his head, he looked up at the darkened sky.
“...How long was I unconscious?”
“It’s been about three hours now.”
“...Were there any unusual developments during that time?”
“Nothing major, but—”
At Alon’s question, Evan hesitated for a moment, then continued.
“If there was one unusual thing... the jewel that was glowing up until we reached you shattered.”
He handed over the jewel that had shone brilliantly in Alon’s hand only three hours ago, but now gave off no light at all.
Silently staring at the jewel, which had split apart as though it had spent all of its power, Alon suddenly widened his eyes, as though something had occurred to him.
“Where is Yutia?”
He had not seen her even right after defeating Bringing-In Night, so the question came out somewhat urgently. This time, Penia answered.
“Please don’t worry. Cardinal Yutia is outside right now. Although—”
As Penia looked off to one side, Alon naturally turned his gaze as well.
Yutia was there.
Looking north, wearing a serious expression with even her usual smile gone.
It was then, as Alon looked at her—
“Ah.”
As though only now noticing that Alon had awakened, she turned her head naturally and walked over to him.
“Are you alright, Teacher?”
The serious expression from just moments ago looked like a lie, with a smile already resting at the corners of her mouth.
Alon nodded.
“...I’m alright for now, but are you alright?”
Perhaps pleased by Alon’s concern, Yutia’s smile deepened a little more than usual.
“Yes, you don’t need to worry too much. It more or less went as I expected.”
“As you expected?”
“Yes.”
Yutia told Alon what had happened inside, and after listening quietly, he asked:
“...So the place that existed here was something like the temple of space in the similar domain beneath Rosario?”
“Yes.”
“And that’s how you were able to recognize it?”
“That’s right. More precisely, the red sphere floating in the middle was exactly the same as the one I saw during the Descent Rite held once every ten years in Rosario.”
Only then did Alon understand how she had been able to grasp so quickly what was happening in the temple.
“And inside that space, a Stage 4 Divine blood had already descended in advance?”
“More precisely, I think it had deliberately weakened itself before descending.”
“Weakened itself?”
“Yes. It spoke as though it had given up power in order to descend into that space. I think that even if the restrictions there weren’t as absolute as on the continent, there were still some limits. And—”
“...It tried to resolve that by using sacrifices.”
As Alon recalled the red eggs, Yutia nodded.
“That’s right. Unlike the other Divine bloods, it said all it had to do was fill an empty vessel.”
“...Then did you fight the Divine blood?”
Yutia shook her head.
“No. When I entered the space, the Divine blood was still in the state of a core. More precisely, just as it said, it had already descended and was right on the verge of coming out.”
“...On the verge?”
“Mm, maybe the simplest way to put it is that all I needed to do was destroy the core?”
“So you were able to deal with it without a battle?”
“Yes.”
“That’s fortunate.”
Alon nodded, then asked another question.
“By the way, has something started worrying you?”
“Hm?”
“You were looking somewhere else seriously earlier.”
At that, Yutia laughed quietly for a moment before answering.
“It’s nothing much, Teacher. Something I left behind just came to mind, that’s all.”
“Something you left behind?”
“Yes. More importantly, did you obtain what you wanted?”
At Yutia’s question, Alon paused for a moment and thought.
‘What I wanted...’
Alon had obtained a law.
But naturally, he had no way of knowing whether choosing that law had been right or wrong.
He had not even tried using the law yet, and while he instinctively understood its restrictions, he had not properly experienced them himself.
Still—
“...I think I made a choice I won’t regret.”
At least he had no regrets, so that was how Alon answered.
“Then that’s a relief.”
Yutia gave a small nod, looked north once more—the direction she had been staring at earlier—and then quietly concluded the conversation.
“Then let’s rest here for today and move tomorrow.”
Around that same time, in some ruined territory in the northeast.
In the darkness, where the place had already been so thoroughly devastated by the Divine bloods that it seemed no living thing could possibly remain—
[Khaak—!]
Staring Void suddenly appeared.
Crawling out of the abyss while gasping like mad, it looked no different from how it had inside the temple of space.
But as it panted, drenched in cold sweat from head to toe—
[You damned—!!]
—its expression twisted, and it swung a fist toward the ground.
────────────KWA-A-A-A-A—!!!
Half of the ruined territory vanished just like that.
Power that could only be called overwhelming.
And yet the Void that had unleashed that power was—
‘I really almost died...!’
—thinking of Yutia’s face.
That monster who had stolen everything it had gathered until now as though it were nothing.
[...Hoo.]
After breathing harshly for a while, Void steadied its breath and slowly calmed itself.
It needed to organize the current situation.
‘...First of all, I succeeded in deceiving her and escaping.’
The instant it burst apart under Yutia without even being able to properly use its law, Staring Void had escaped that space just before its head was completely obliterated, and saved its life first.
But the problem was—
all of the sacrifices it had gathered so far were gone, and because of that, it had ended up descending in a state close to an incomplete Stage 3.
Still, as long as it had survived, there would be another chance.
‘It can’t be helped. First, before Stage 2 descends, I’ll recover as much as possible by devouring Divine bloods as sacrifices. And next time, I’ll definitely kill them...! The Star Eater, and that monster bitch too—!’
After quickly arranging its plans, Void tried to move.
At that moment—
“Well now—I came because I thought something seemed a little suspicious anyway... but I didn’t expect we’d meet like this.”
At the sound of the voice, Void turned around.
A man was standing there.
A man with golden hair swaying softly, wearing a gentle, smiling expression.
“...A human?”
Void asked with a puzzled face.
But only for a moment—
Void’s two eyes widened uncontrollably.
Because it had realized it.
“...Don’t tell me you’re...!”
That was a human.
But at the same time, that was not human.
...That was—
“Oh, did you figure it out?”
At the indifferent voice of the man—no, Nataman—Void stopped its train of thought.
And looked at him.
No.
It looked at his eyes.
Unlike a moment ago.
“They say neither the Seeker nor the Monstrous Blood seems to have clearly noticed yet. Anyway—”
eyes so black they were nauseatingly close to the abyss—
“—that won’t do, will it? Trying to kill Alon.”
Black eyes that reflected nothing at all.
“Hm?”
Him.

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