"My apologies. I still can’t remember much else.”

The albino elf floated in midair, staring straight at me as they spoke.

"Other than the fact that I need your head."

“You’ve already got one.” 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

"Not enough. Not nearly enough.”

They extended their hand, murmuring softly.

It was a gentle tone, almost as if trying to soothe a child.

"If I had your head, I think I could finally be complete.”

"...!"

At that moment, a pillar of light descended from the sky.

My Tide Sense didn’t detect anything. Only through pure instinct, warning me that I couldn't stay there, was I able to move a single step, which saved my life.

-Craaash—!!

"Damn it.”

I fell to the side, staring at the spot I had just been standing, now transformed into a smoking crater, unconsciously letting out a curse.

A literal bolt from the blue.

A 7-star mage. That being smiled faintly, as if this level of magic were nothing for it.

"Yes, I knew it. I need to obtain that."

"...Wait. That spell just now…”

The one who reacted to that wasn’t me. It was Jahan.

He stared at the crater in disbelief, muttering as if possessed.

"A-Agnes? The Tyrant Agnes…?”

"Who is that?”

"...O-one of the worst terrorists in imperial history from hundreds, no, thousands of years ago. B-but for them to be an elf…"

"Isn’t it amusing? Just because of a pair of ears. Just by cutting these off and attaching new ones, people just accept you as a human.”

Agnes tapped their ears mockingly.

"Agnes, so that was my name. It’s been so long since I've come out like this. I had forgotten.”

"If you’re being controlled by Rakshasa, we can resolve this.”

I immediately raised both hands, showing I had no intent to fight.

I knew how dangerous elves were, since I’d seen Dercia.

And this one was an ancient monster. Fighting them would be the worst possible choice.

"If your body’s been taken over, all the more reason. Our goals align, so there’s no need for conflict.”

"Hmm…? Rakshasa…?”

They blinked blankly, then slowly nodded.

"Ah. You mean that. I remember now.”

Then they let out a baffled chuckle.

"Taken over, you say? So that’s what you thought. How interesting.”

"...What?"

Agnes then raised their sword without a single warning and cut off the fingers of his left hand.

-Thuuud

The severed fingers writhed on the ground, then began to grow and expand until they took the shape of humans.

"What in the world is this?”

They were the members of Rakshasa I had just killed moments ago.

Completely naked, they calmly pulled swords from the ground and immediately charged the Knights.

"Tsk, hold them back!”

"How dare these monsters?!”

-Clang! Claaang!

Steel collided, sparks flew. It was so surreal it felt like a dream. As I frowned at the scene, Agnes continued in a languid tone.

"The ones you call Rakshasa are humans who have received transplants of my body parts. In exchange, I take them in and grant them immortality.”

"Immortality, my ass. Looks more like they’ve been reduced to your fingers.”

"No. It is immortality. As you just saw, those who receive my flesh will, even if they die, be revived with their memories intact once I return and attach the part to another corpse. And I live for a near-infinite span of time, so how could that not be immortality?”

"What...?"

"Every member of Rakshasa moves with my fingers, my hands, my arms, and my legs implanted within them. They do not control me. I control them.”

In other words—Agnes had been living in fragments, spread throughout Rakshasa.

It was truly revolting. I instinctively frowned in disgust. But Agnes only looked down at the Rakshasa fighting the Knights with pride.

"That’s not all. Right now, I’ve personally reassembled these bodies, but as long as they keep the parts I’ve given them, the rest can be replaced freely. Defeat a strong opponent, and you gain the body part that gave you the most trouble. Isn’t that a remarkable advantage?”

"You insane bastard. What? Are you trying to become the savior or something?”

The savior.

The one who would one day prove that elves’ madness could be cured and awaken them all from eternal slumber.

Dercia had shown no interest in that idea, but this one seemed to be chasing it. In the worst possible way.

"...How do you know about the savior?”

"I’ve had dealings with elves. But looking at you, I’m starting to think Azrael might’ve been right.”

"Haha. Indeed. Azrael and my kin made the correct choice. Madness cannot be cured.”

"..."

Then why the hell were they doing this? Even though I didn’t actually ask them, it seemed they read it in my gaze and sneered, raising their hand.

"If madness cannot be cured, then there’s no need to cure it.”

Dark clouds gathered across the night sky.

I clenched my teeth, thinking that this was going to get really troublesome. They pointed upwards with a smile.

"Isn’t accepting madness and continuing to live another path as well?”

Exactly the kind of thing a madman would say.

-Craaaaash—!!!!

"Tsk...!"

"Hmm?”

This time, I didn’t dodge the descending pillar of light.

If I had to dodge every one of those, this fight wouldn’t even be possible. If it was truly just lightning—then it could be redirected.

I firmly planted my feet and formed a spear of ice longer than my height in my left hand, driving it into the ground like a lightning rod.

The lightning was drawn in, grazing my body before slamming into the ground. My ears rang, as if my eardrums had burst, but what mattered was that I hadn’t taken a direct hit.

If that was all they got—

"That’s an interesting trick."

Agnes smiled and formed something in their hand.

The sphere, dyed violet and crackling grotesquely, was made of plasma. No matter how I looked at it, it was far from any natural phenomenon I knew.

"Then try blocking this as well. Heavenly Thunder Spear. Was that what you call it?”

The swelling sphere bent into a shape similar to the spear I held, then shot straight at me.

There wasn’t even a hint of guidance. A pure mass of energy, untouchable by my currents or pressure.

Magic.

"Tsk.”

Drawing in a breath, I closed my eyes as I looked upon the vast Abyss before me.

The Abyssal Sea wasn’t merely a space made of water. Water was only a concept that composed the suffering known as the Abyss.

Yet at the same time, it took the form of water. Then it could be frozen. Just as I had done countless times before.

How much?

As far as my Tide Sense could reach.

-Craaaaaash!!

Before I could even blink, a massive wall of ice rose between me and Agnes.

An opaque mass of ice, easily several meters thick.

Feeling my head grow heavy, I pressed a hand to my forehead.

'...As expected, this much at once is pushing it.'

It seemed even this extreme freezing had its limits. Pouring out this much at once made an overwhelming drowsiness crash over me.

It was the kind of dizzying sleepiness that was hard to resist even with sheer willpower, making me all the more wary. If I passed out here, it would be over.

Still, I bought some time—

"Interesting. I didn’t know you could do something like that.”

-Boom!

It didn’t even take a dozen seconds for that massive wall of ice to collapse. Judging by the multiple Heavenly Thunder Spears in their hand, they must have simply kept throwing them until it broke.

The problem was, despite that, they didn’t look tired in the slightest. If anything, they looked around the shattered ice wall with a pleased expression, like I was prey already caught.

"As I thought, I need your head.”

"I told you, that’s not happening.”

The moment they raised their hand, their grip twitched.

Was it finally kicking in?

"Hmm?”

"Round two, you bastard.”

Now that the barrage had stopped, this was my chance.

I immediately spread the water pressure and crushed them.

-Crunch!

"Ah. So this is it.”

Agnes couldn't resist at all and was slowly crushed.

No, this was going far more easily than I expected. They burst apart, scattering in all directions, then rose again as countless assassins.

"What is this…?”

"Haah, what a dreadful creature.”

The Knights who had been pressing the assassins, clicked their tongues at the sight of them multiplying into dozens in an instant but immediately swung their swords again.

The Empire’s Knights were no pushovers. Whether their numbers increased or not, they pierced chests, severed heads, and cut off limbs in the blink of an eye.

The problem was, that didn’t stop them.

"Only the Fallen can complete me.”

One of them was Agnes. The face and body were different, but the way they spoke was exactly the same.

They must have transplanted their brain, more or less. After I made sure to thoroughly crush that one so the head couldn’t regenerate, another one beside it spoke.

"It seems it won’t be easy to settle for anything else.”

-Crunch!

"I tried to make do with something else, but seeing you, Jern, makes me greedy.”

-Crunch, crack!

"Well, I suppose it can’t be helped, even if I’m told I’m not acting my age.”

This time, I crushed all the assassins at once.

For a brief moment, the campsite fell silent. The Knights lowered their bloodstained swords and asked with uncertain expressions.

"Is it over?”

"...I don’t think so.”

But it was meaningless.

My Tide Sense, now capable of easily monitoring something the size of an entire city, detected them slowly approaching from all around.

From the forest. From the ground. From wells. From houses.

Naked revenants, grinning ear to ear, each carrying all kinds of weapons, were walking toward this place.

They were muttering to themselves, as if they knew I could hear them.

[We’ve prepared a great deal for today.]

[We know how much strain it takes for you to maintain that world.]

[How about a battle of endurance? Both you and I seem quite confident in that, don’t we?]

They looked like zombies.

Dozens, hundreds, thousands—Once it went beyond that, I clicked my tongue and shook my head.

"This bastard is seriously insane.”

"Huh?"

So much for a small elite force.

The way they were tearing off fingers in chunks, I thought there’d be at most a few hundred, but that wasn’t even close.

It looked like they’d divided and transplanted even the smallest scraps of skin. And this probably wasn’t even all of it.

On top of that, this was a strategy prepared solely for me. Overwhelm me with sheer numbers, completely block off any escape, and hold out until I was crushed by my burdens—

"Sir Jern.”

As I let out a sigh mixed with disbelief, Jahan spoke, his expression uneasy.

"Is the situation not good?”

"Yes. To be honest, it isn’t."

"In that case, we will carve a path.”

"What?"

That wasn’t what I meant.

Jahan straightened, striking his chest with the bearing of an honorable Knight.

"Sir Jern, you are someone the Empire needs more than anyone here. Trust us. No matter how strong that one is, we will open an escape route for you.”

"No, that’s not necessa…”

I was about to refuse, but seeing Jahan’s resolute expression, something suddenly came to mind.

Something Agnes had said earlier, while looking at the ice wall.

'They said they didn’t know I could do something like that…'

Thinking it over, I slowly nodded and met Jahan’s gaze.

"...There’s actually one thing I’d like to ask.”

"Yes? What is it?”

"Could you betray me?”

"...What?"

Maybe…

There was a chance Agnes didn’t know my world was the Abyssal Sea.

If that was really the case—

"Let’s give that bastard what they want, just once.”