Jahan wore a conflicted expression even as he tightly bound me with rope.

"Sir Jern. I’m not sure this is the right thing to do.”

"It’s fine. Honestly, I’m closer to a pufferfish than a human anyway.”

"If you’re trying to sacrifice yourself like this, you should remember, we are stronger than you think. If we fight together, we can surely overcome this.”

"No, I have no intention of sacrificing myself.”

It seemed the Knights thought I was throwing my life away to save them.

It wasn't entirely impossible. One option was to stake everything here, test how far Agnes could go, and fight to the death alongside the Knights.

If that bastard weren’t an elf.

I still hadn't seen the full extent of Dercia’s power. She was definitely hiding a lot of things. Thousands of hidden daggers meant for the moment their life was in danger.

No matter how insane they were, if that elf had been recorded in history for so long, then they must possess a similar level of means.

And I had no desire whatsoever to deal with those one by one.

"In the end, that thing won’t be able to digest me.”

"Digest...?"

"Well, if they try to absorb my Abyssal Sea like they did with other Fallen, it won’t work the same. Just do as I say. Things should end quickly enough. Trust me.”

"U-Understood.”

Perhaps seeing that my eyes didn’t belong to someone prepared to die. The Knights accepted it. They left me tied to a tree stump and withdrew.

It didn’t even take 5 minutes for one of Agnes’ copies to arrive.

"...?"

The moment they saw me, they tilted their head, those dead-fish eyes flickering.

"Where are the Knights?"

"They tied me up here and ran off. Not very loyal, are they?”

"Seeing you bound by something as trivial as rope, this can only be your own doing.”

"I’m not confident I can beat an elf alone. Even if I forced them to fight, I’d probably get stabbed in the back halfway through.”

I shrugged as I spoke, still tied up.

"I was wrong. Let’s just cooperate.”

"That’s an interesting idea."

"Huh?"

"You think I cannot handle it.”

Agnes hit the mark.

"Do not think you alone know of those whose worlds have inverted. We have known of their existence since a past far older than you can imagine.”

"Yeah? That’s impressive.”

"The reason I did not bother using them as my pieces was because they were nothing more than the final state of broken wizards. The losses far outweighed the gains. That, too, was something learned through experience…until I saw Scarlet Abyss and realized that belief was mistaken.”

Agnes stepped forward and stabbed a dagger into my thigh.

"...Ugh."

Blood flowed, soaking into my robe. As I frowned from the sharp pain, they grabbed the wrist holding the dagger with their other hand and tore it off.

It almost seemed as if they were regarding their own body as made of clay. Blood began flowing instantly from the torn wrist, seeping into my thigh.

"A mistaken judgment, but in the end, the result is correct. I welcome you. Your pain…”

"You’ll experience it for me. Yeah, I know.”

I forced a smile, pulling up the corners of my lips.

"Since we’re here, I’ll tell you something I’ve been hiding.”

"What are you talking about?”

"When Scarlet Abyss first appeared, the first thing they did was look for me.”

"...?”

"The world they feared the most and the one they wanted above all was my Abyssal Sea, you idiot.”

At the same moment, Agnes tilted their head in confusion—

-Crack!

They dropped to their knees.

As they watched their body begin to compress, Agnes clenched and unclenched their hand a few times.

"Hm."

Their eyes bulged outward, wounds sealing themselves shut.

Instead, their entire skin turned red. Watching the raw state of a human thrown into the Abyssal Sea without any protection, I frowned, yet they still spoke calmly.

"So this is it. I can see why one would think it unbearable. By human standards.”

Surprisingly—Agnes continued speaking, far calmer than expected under this crushing pressure.

"Breathing is impossible, but that’s fine. Even my organs being crushed does not hinder my life activity. Is this the world you were so proud of?”

"Impressive.”

Their speech had slowed, their firm grotesquely distorted, but they were holding out far better than expected. I nodded in genuine admiration as they stood up against the pressure, frowning.

"But, this is, certainly, far too, dark. My vision…”

Muttering to themselves, Agnes suddenly turned their head to the side.

"...What was that?”

"Ah. Did I not mention that?”

I shrugged before replying.

"I’m not the only one living here.”

"What do you—?”

Before they could finish their question, their head vanished.

Their neck was literally left cleanly severed, blood spilling out and staining the ground.

The other bodies I saw through my Tide Sense were no different.

[Bam!]

[-Crunch!]

[-Crack!]

Agnes’ bodies were being devoured one by one.

Bloodstains began spreading through the forest one after another until finally only a single headless corpse remained beside.

Was it over?

Letting out a breath, I watched the end of this foolish elf who had dared to covet a world they couldn’t swallow when they suddenly raised a hand and tapped their severed neck.

In an instant, a white face regenerated from it.

There was only a single difference. Unlike before, their expression was full of shock.

Agnes spoke, dumbfounded.

"Are you…the leader of Scarlet Abyss?”

"...What?”

"No, that can’t be. There’s no way…”

After a moment of thought, they pulled the dagger out of my thigh.

At the same time, the blood that had entered my body began to flow back out.

That likely meant they had given up on devouring me.

'Wait, they could just let me go like this?'

It would’ve been better if it had ended with them being crushed to death in the Abyssal Sea.

Now the plan was falling apart. I’d have to settle for wiping out the other bodies.

As I slowly loosened the rope and moved into a combat stance, Agnes frowned and took a step back.

"Then I am prey, damn it…! Did I pick the wrong target?”

"What have you been going on about this whole time…”

As I tilted my head, rain suddenly began to fall from the sky.

"...?"

"...Too late."

At the same moment they lowered their head in frustration…

-Shaaaaaa...

Rain began pouring down at an impossible speed from a clear sky, gradually filling the ground.

This shouldn’t have been possible. As I stepped back to avoid the water rapidly rising to my waist, I realized the sensation felt strangely familiar.

'The Abyssal Sea?'

The Abyssal Sea was raining from the sky?

No—this was just how I was perceiving it.

Realizing the situation, I drew in as much pressure as I could, eyes widening.

"...Someone declared it?"

Someone had declared this entire area as the Abyssal Sea.

Just as seawater froze near Decay’s world, or Puppet appeared as threads, the declaration of the Abyssal Sea was being perceived as rain pouring down to fill the world.

It wasn’t me.

Then who?

"Was it you?”

I turned to Agnes and asked, wondering if they had somehow become a Fallen by taking in my Abyssal Sea.

But they clenched their teeth and shook their head.

"Shut up and prepare yourself. Because you deceived me, we’ve drawn the wrong kind of attention.”

"What? From who?”

"From the residents of your world. And you’re no different.”

What was that supposed to mean?

Frowning, I activated my Tide Sense within the world that had instantly become the Abyssal Sea.

'...?’

First, I saw Agnes swimming freely within the Abyssal Sea.

Then, I felt something was off.

There wasn’t a single deep-sea creature in sight. There should have been countless before.

And finally, I felt a sense of déjà vu.

A scene devoid of deep-sea creatures. It somehow felt familiar to me.

Actually—I had seen this exact thing before…

"...Right. The Slow Fish."

When I fought the ruler of that depth.

Not a single creature dared to approach us. If anything, they all tried to flee.

As the memory surfaced, my expression hardened on its own.

No way.

"It’s coming."

—My bad feelings had never once been wrong.

With Agnes’ despair-laced warning, something began to register within my Tide Sense.

It was a leg of something massive.

A limb so enormous that even I, capable of surveying an entire city’s range, couldn’t fully grasp its size.

—An octopus’ leg.

"Ah, fuck.”

The moment I realized what it was, a curse slipped out.

[Found…you…]

"Cooperate."

"Otherwise, neither of us will survive.”

[[You’ve…come…down…]]

Along with Anges’ urgent voice, the massive octopus limb brushed against my cheek.

The one I had seen in the canyon. The one that wanted to kill me but couldn’t reach me because I was too high up.

...It seemed that thing had invited me down to its depth.

[[[...Finally!]]]