Fortunately, it didn’t seem like the Outer Gods were on particularly good terms with each other.

[I should get as far away from them as possible.]

"You don’t need to tell me twice."

I brushed away the intrusive thoughts that kept surfacing and fled the ominous abyss as fast as I could.

The problem was, I still had no idea how to escape from the Abyssal Sea itself.

[An exit will naturally open once I leave the domain of the Outer God.]

[Because I myself am an anomaly in this world.]

Agnes, parasitizing my mind, responded precisely to my concern.

From the way answers came before I even asked, it seemed they were reading my thoughts.

The problem was I couldn’t do the same.

I tried to recall what kind of being they were and what they knew, but it was impossible. At this point, did I even need to have eaten them?

'...A trap?'

The moment that thought crossed my mind, they refuted.

[If I am an anomaly in the Abyssal Sea, then Agnes is an anomaly mixed within that anomaly.]

[Normally, I remain hidden. The Outer Gods are always searching for me, but they can never find me. However, Agnes’ presence has given color to a transparent droplet. That is why they were able to detect me.]

[Agnes cannot exist alongside me. They merely borrowed my body to escape.]

"You bastard—are you trying to confuse me on purpose?”

These were clearly Agnes’ thoughts, yet they were so seamless I almost mistook them for my own.

If they weren’t telling me things I didn’t already know, I might’ve fully believed they were my own ideas. Rubbing my temples, I suddenly felt something wriggling in my palm.

“...Ah."

In this Abyssal Sea, a small air bubble, radiating light bright enough to dazzle one’s eyes, had suddenly formed.

It was familiar. Without hesitation, I focused on it and began to expand it.

The growing bubble enveloped me. Surrounded by an increasingly intense glow, I forced my eyes to stay open—

Then sunlight started to pour down.

"Haah..."

It seemed I had emerged somewhere in a forest, a fair distance from the Knights, but I let out a sigh of relief.

[I am not safe yet.]

[Until the anomaly is removed, the Outer Gods can find me at any time.]

[I must separate Agnes from my mind immediately.]

"That’s the best thing I’ve heard all day. How do we do that?”

[I must feed my blood to another corpse.]

"...What?"

[We have become one through consumption. I must now divide us through transfer.]

"..."

There were no corpses nearby.

And I didn’t exactly feel like killing someone either.

After a brief moment of thought, I used pressure to grab a bird perched on a nearby branch and brought it over.

Then for some reason, an urgent thought surfaced.

[If it isn’t a proper body. incarnation may fail.]

"That doesn’t sound like my problem. Get out.”

I pricked my finger, drew a single drop of blood, forced the bird’s beak open, and made it swallow it.

The blue skylark trembled in confusion but swallowed the blood all the same. Soon it began foaming at the beak, flapping its wings wildly.

It was meaningless resistance. As something seemed to leave my head, intelligence began to appear in the bird’s eyes.

"Peep, peep. Chirp."

When I released it from the water pressure, it immediately tried to fly into the sky.

"Where the hell do you think you’re going?”

-Crunch.

Grinning, I tightened the pressure just enough that it wouldn’t die, then dragged it back in front of me.

At that, its tongue, far too small to speak a human language, writhed and swelled grotesquely.

Then, from its opened beak, a voice barely intelligible began to emerge.

"W-we no longer…need you.”

"So?”

"Let…me go…and we won’t interfere.”

The gradually more human pronunciation was quite peculiar.

But I tightened the pressure further and pressed it harder.

"That’s not the answer I wanted. Just how much do you know, exactly?”

"..."

"How did someone who didn’t even know my world was the Abyssal Sea—know about Outer Gods and anomalies and all that stuff? Until I know that, you’re not going anywhere."

The bird stayed silent. As if it had no intention of speaking.

"Well, look at you.”

I let out a short laugh and shoved it into my pocket.

"If you hate talking that much, then don’t. I can just take you to my master.”

"Y-your master?”

"Yeah. Didn’t you investigate me that deeply? Dercia.”

“...”

"Maybe she’ll take pity on a fellow elf turned bird and show you mercy. She’s actually very soft-hearted and sentimental. If you don’t want to talk to me, it can’t be helped.”

"Let’s make a deal."

The moment I casually started walking again, it spoke first, chirping urgently.

"I’ll answer what I knew. Whether you’re satisfied or not, when this is over, release me.”

"Fine. That much I can do.”

Still gripping it with water pressure, I sat down on a nearby stump.

"First of all, why are you being this cooperative? That threat was just a bluff.”

"..."

"Can’t you just die and revive somewhere else like before?”

"They all burst."

"What?"

"All my parts paid the price for setting foot in your world.”

Aha.

It seemed every spare body Agnes had prepared burst apart the moment they stepped into the Abyssal Sea.

Of course, given their ability, they could probably revive again as many times as they wanted, but that was only if they survived the present.

For now, this tiny bird was Agnes’ true body and their lifeline. Confirming that I held the overwhelming advantage, I relaxed a little and asked again.

"Now explain in as much detail as possible what those things were.”

"That isn’t something that can be clearly defined.”

Agnes closed their beak, sounding displeased.

"The Outer Gods of the Abyssal Sea are simply the bottom of the world. Its deepest point. If you were to reach where they reside, you too would be an Outer God of the Abyssal Sea.”

"That’s it?”

"Yes. Though, do you think you could ever reach the very bottom where they reside?”

"Absolutely not.”

I answered without hesitation. There was no way I could descend to the depths where those things lived.

As if expecting that answer, Agnes sneered and continued.

"Exactly. Imagine reaching a domain where even a mountain of steel would be reduced to something smaller than a fingernail in the blink of an eye and still live. That realm is a hell beyond description, and any being that descends into it and survives could rightly be called a god.”

"How did you know about the Abyssal Sea?”

"I only learned of the Abyssal Sea after entering your mind. What I had recognized wasn’t the Abyssal Sea, but the primordial world.”

"...What?"

With a look that clearly said ‘You don’t even know this?’ Agnes let out a sigh and explained.

"How foolish humans are. The three worlds that existed at the beginning—the sky, land, and sea. You have been assigned the world of the sea.”

“...”

"I didn’t know that someone had been assigned the sea. The land is where we currently live, and the sky is held by the leader of Scarlet Abyss. So when I first confirmed it was a primordial world, I naturally assumed you were their leader.”

So that was why, when they first fell into my Abyssal Sea, they asked if I were Great Void.

"Then does that guy’s world have Outer Gods too…?”

"You know Great Void?”

"I’ve fought him before.”

"I see. Then just as Outer Gods dwell in the deepest part of your Abyssal Sea, in his case, they would dwell at the highest point.”

I looked up at the sky.

"But the sky doesn’t have an end.”

"Neither does your Abyssal Sea. You don’t seem to understand. The place where Outer Gods exist is the end of that world.”

The end of the Three Calamities.

As I turned that meaning over in my mind, something struck me as odd, and I frowned.

"Then…Great Void’s world is one of the Three Calamities as well? There are living beings there, too?”

"Yes."

"Then why do they need me?”

If what’s needed to destroy the world is one of the Three Calamities, then why couldn’t he just unleash his own world instead of chasing me?

He already possessed a world containing a never-ending sky, so why was he so fixated on me?

Agnes’ answer was simple.

"I don’t know."

"Are you serious?”

"I truly don’t know. I haven’t encountered the leader of Scarlet Abyss in a long time. Even if I came across him, I wouldn’t be confident in defeating him. More importantly, I likely know less than you about these so-called ‘Fallen.’”

"Bullshit. You clearly know plenty about these primordial worlds—”

"It is you who is strange for not knowing.”

"My master didn’t know either.”

"That child was not in their right mind. When I was still connected with the elves, she wasn’t even 20 yet, but she was already trying to escape. There's no way she received a proper education.”

That…was such a Dercia-like thing to do that I couldn’t even argue.

"Then what about this ‘real world?’ Is this the world of land? Where are its Outer Gods?”

"They’re dead. They don’t exist.”

"What?"

"Did I not say these were primordial worlds? Of the three, two have already been assigned to being like you humans. Doesn’t that tell you enough? The god of the real world severed the remaining two worlds and left only their own behind. That is the world we now live in…”

"...The Heavenly Realm.”

What Great Void had said, and what Agens just told me, aligned perfectly.

The Heavenly Realm created by the First Mage.

The magical world we live in—

was the result of cutting away all the other hellish worlds.

Great Void wanted to return this world to its primordial state.

And that was what led me to a realization.

"Was the First Mage the Outer God of this world…?”

"You could see it that way.”

If one reached the extreme of a world and became a god, then even if the form differed, what the First Mage desired was a seed for the next generation of an Outer God to protect the world after them.

Whether it should really be called an ‘Outer’ God or not…

As I mulled over that thought, Agnes chirped.

"That’s everything I knew. Now release me.”

"Hm..."

The Outer God of the real world. The First Mage.

Feeling like something was just on the verge of clicking, I released the pressure and let Agnes go.

They hurriedly flew up into the vast sky.

"Where do you think you’re going?”

Before they could get far, I grabbed them again.

They clenched their beak and looked back at me.

"What else do you want to know?”

"No, I’m just not sure if what you said is actually true.”

“...”

"I’m going to Dercia to confirm it. That’s fine, right?”

"Did we not make a deal for you to release me?"

"We did."

I shrugged.

"And I did release you once.”

I never said I wouldn’t grab them again.

J