"I’ve died several times already.”

The violet couldn’t take its eyes (or petals) off the flame on my fingertip as it spoke.

It wasn't something that made immediate sense, though.

"...What?"

"Exactly what I said. I’ve been a lily of the valley like those guys before and other things too. It seems like I’ve been here for quite a long time.”

"So you’re saying you’re immortal?”

"As long as you don’t burn this entire garden to the ground.”

That was why the violet hadn’t feared death.

If what it said was true, then when these followers reached the end of their lifespan, they were reborn into other flowers. A process akin to reincarnation.

"I know it’s strange. I don’t remember anything from before becoming a flower, but every time I see the Gardener, I feel fear and terror. These idiots cling to them happily, but no matter how I think about it, this place is abnormal.”

"Are you sure you don’t have any memories? You seem to know a lot.”

"I don’t know either. Flowers that have lived a long time all feel the same sense of déjà vu as I do. We’ve grown up here our whole lives, but sometimes this space feels unbelievably grotesque…Ugh.”

Mid-sentence, the violet trembled as if struck by a headache.

...It doesn’t even have a head, though.

"...Anyway, if you’re planning to use us to threaten the Gardener, it won’t work. The Gardener is something else. They don’t communicate. They don’t love us, and they don’t hate us either.”

"So you’re not under their command?”

"We’ve never even exchanged words, let alone followed orders. Even if they gave one, I’d just stay still and pretend to be a flower. I don’t want to hear it.”

"...”

The more I listened, the more convinced I became that this wasn’t Heavenly Balance’s world.

They moved independently, completely detached, and didn’t seem to suffer any burdens. And the fact that they could come and go whenever they wanted—was nothing like other Fallen.

I extinguished the flame on my finger, and the violet asked in a subdued voice.

"You believe me?”

"Until I confirm it. When did you say the Gardener would show up?”

"Not sure. Roughly two days from now.”

"Good. They better be.”

I pulled a candle from my coat and set it down in the garden.

A high-quality candle that would burn for a full two days.

"Otherwise, things will get difficult for you too."

"...You bastard."

* * *

Fortunately, for both the violet and me, it hadn’t been lying.

Exactly two days later, perhaps a little more by my internal clock—

My Tide Sense picked up someone landing lightly where I had first fallen.

Waiting nearby, I immediately spoke when I saw a woman carrying a corpse over her shoulder.

"Hey..."

"...?"

"This really is a pretty unimpressive world.”

They turned toward me.

—It was Heavenly Balance.

A face identical to Sharmia’s, yet with the single difference of a sharp, cutting expression adorning it. She stared straight at me.

But at the same time, she looked genuinely surprised.

"You’re not someone I expected to see here.”

"You should’ve hidden it better. What were you thinking, leaving something even Sunken Mire knows about?”

"Even if she knew, there would be no reason for her to come.”

Heavenly Balance’s reasoning was sound.

Even if someone had a way to meet her, no one would come alone without knowing whether it was a trap. The risk far outweighed the reward.

It had been nothing more than a gamble because I had no other options. Unaware of that, Heavenly Balance calmly dropped the corpse she had been carrying onto the ground and met my gaze.

"Well, whatever. If that’s what you want, then take it. Kill me.”

"Why would I?”

At my indifferent reply, Heavenly Balance frowned.

"...If you didn’t come here for my life, then what reason could you possibly have?”

"I’ve got something I want to ask.”

I hesitated for a moment, wondering how to phrase it, then decided to go straight for it.

"What’s the prophecy Scarlet Abyss follows?”

"...The prophecy?”

"Yeah. The one Great Void trusts and acts on. I came here for that. I don’t think I can leave without knowing.”

At the same time, I stepped closer and clenched my fist.

Of course, I didn’t expect her to answer willingly.

But I had a means. The moment she appeared in front of me, her escape routes were already gone.

Heavenly Balance calmly felt the water pressure tightening around her neck, then closed her eyes.

"Well, fine."

"?"

"You want to know the prophecy. If that’s all, I can tell you. A mere string of words isn’t worth more than my life.”

I had been preparing for a fight, but her anticlimactic response caught me off guard.

"If you think you can brush this off with some nonsense—”

"Then listen and judge for yourself. If my prophecy sounds like empty rambling, kill me. Do you have anything else to say?”

"..."

Her demeanor was so defiant that it almost made me laugh.

After a moment of thought, I realized that even if I subdued her, I’d get the same answers anyway and nodded.

If it came to it, I could just kidnap her and bring her to Dercia to verify whether it was true.

Seeing my agreement, Heavenly Balance gave a faint, strange smile and began to speak.

"Abyssal Sea. You must already know that the Three Calamities are capable of devouring the world.”

"...Yeah, so what? I told you to give me the prophecy.”

"This is the prophecy. Listen. When Great Void came to me, he had already reached the Heavens. He was honest and pure.”

Heavenly Balance closed her eyes, as if recalling the past.

"He wished to become the guardian of this world. To inherit the seat of the First Mage. The Heavenly Realm opened before him, and all possibilities of every world were laid out before him.”

"What kind of bullshit is that? Can you explain it in a way that actually makes sense?”

"Calm down. Every wizard has the possibility of falling into any world. You yourself fell into the Abyssal Sea for that very reason, and if others encounter the right trigger, they too could fall into the Abyssal Sea.”

"I know that.”

"A wizard who reaches the Heavenly Realm can open all those possibilities and choose among them. They could observe the Abyssal Sea and even select it. Among those possibilities, he was supposed to choose the Heavenly Realm created by the First Mage—that is, the world we live in.”

"…Wait, you can choose which world to fall into?”

"It’s the opposite. You could choose which world to rule. Great Void was in a position to do that.”

...In other words…

Not like me, being crushed by the Abyssal Sea and borrowing only a fragment of its power, but reigning as the true ruler of a world.

And if he had chosen this world with that power, it would have gained a master again and returned to peace. However, the outcome had already been decided.

"Great Void did not choose the Heavenly Realm.”

Heavenly Balance murmured, gazing up at the sky.

"He saw every world. And among them—he discovered a world more comfortable than the cradle the First Mage had created for us.”

"What?"

"That was the primordial world. The world where everything was perfect.”

“...”

"Pain is so natural there that it is not perceived as pain. Life is so close to death that neither state becomes something to grieve or suffer over. Having become a god, he deemed that first world more beautiful than the fragile one created by the previous god.”

“...”

"He came to hate the creator. He cursed them, believing that creating this Heavenly Realm was an irreversible mistake. That it ruined everything.”

Heavenly Balance smiled softly and nudged the corpse she had brought with her foot.

The body sank into the ground in an instant, buried beneath the soil. And in its place, a tiny flower bloomed.

"At that moment, a possibility occurred to Great Void. That perhaps there was a way to restore this fragmented world. That he had to act to achieve it—and the guidelines he created for that is the prophecy you came to ask about.”

"...What is it?”

"Unification."

Heavenly Balance muttered as she looked down at the flower.

"All wizards possess the possibility of coming into contact with worlds in order to gain the chance to become the guardian of the Heavenly Realm. Using that—the first tenet of the prophecy is to make all wizards fall.”

That much, I already knew. Their goal had always been to kill all wizards.

But what came next was something I had never heard before.

"And then, devour them all.”

"?"

"What? You didn’t think you were the only one capable of devouring worlds, did you?”

Heavenly Balance let out a mocking laugh and looked at me again.

"Of course, Great Void could annihilate all of you at any moment. The reason he doesn’t is because it isn’t enough yet. More Fallen must appear, and more Fallen must die.”

"Wh-why? Why do Fallen have to die, not wizards?”

I asked in confusion, to which Heavenly Balance nodded.

"Yes. It doesn’t matter what happens to the wizards. It’s the Fallen who must die.”

"And what’s he planning to do by devouring all those worlds?”

"To do the exact opposite of the creator. If all worlds were to melt into a single one, would that not be the primordial world Great Void desired?”

So…

The reason Great Void had not yet destroyed the Empire wasn’t because he couldn’t or because it was difficult.

...It was because not enough Fallen had appeared yet.

In the end, creating Fallen required wizards. If they were to openly kill every mage, there would be no path left to reach new worlds.

So they gradually pressured the Empire and made more mages fall.

And then, he would devour everything until everything melted together into a single world.

After hearing everything up to that point, I shook my head and refuted Heavenly Balance.

"...Wait. That makes no sense.”

"Why not?”

"There are plenty of Fallen who didn’t die in front of Great Void.”

I knew that myself, being part of the Abyssal Sea.

Devouring a Fallen, or melting them into my world, was only possible for me when I had my Abyssal Sea unfolded.

There was no way Great Void had always been there for every single one.

Heavenly Balance scoffed, as if it were obvious.

"What did you think I said? I told you, he’s trying to increase the number of Fallen.”

"So what? If the numbers go up but they don’t die…”

I trailed off—

Suddenly recalling the Fallen of Scarlet Abyss who had gone missing.

And the fact that no more messages had come through the Gospel.

"...Ah.”

"Looks like you’ve figured it out.”

Heavenly Balance shrugged, turning my suspicion into certainty.

"A short while ago, the first assimilation wave was completed.”

"..."

"350 worlds now belong to Great Void.”

—Great Void.

He was raising them just to devour them all.