The End of the Century is Coming

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"It is done..."

I am overwhelmed with emotion. Gideon had finally achieved his goal.
Gideon forced himself to restrain the dark joy that began to fill his chest. Yes—this was not revenge. Revenge had no meaning. He had done it because it was necessary.
The forest would perish. Along with its dull and cold-hearted will.

—Sharon, you surely would not be pleased. But it is necessary.

The Forest of the Holy Tree was far too inadequate as a guardian for the elves.
Its rule might have been perfectly fair, but it was completely incapable of responding to sudden changes.
The fact that I, who have already abandoned faith in the Holy Tree, was able to open a transfer gate is proof enough of the dullness of the forest's will.
It lacks any wit whatsoever. It simply repeats what was decided beforehand, over and over again.
Of course, after several hundred years, the forest's will might learn and forbid Gideon from using the transfer gate.
That would be absurdly slow.
The elves had to be liberated from the forest. Otherwise, in a few hundred years—

"...Gideon. It might be a little too early to indulge in the satisfaction of victory."

The Jester's stern voice sounded. The leisurely humor was gone. He must be deeply offended by what Gideon did to the child from the other world.

"What is it?"
"Look outside. Something impossible is happening."

●

In an instant—the royal capital, filled with deep red and black colors, quite abruptly, vanished from this world.
It was a sight that seemed like some kind of joke.

"Wh—!?"

Sojuro, who was heading to the shore to entrust Finn to the elves, looked up at the sky.
A clear blue sky.
The sky, which had been dyed deep red and black until just a moment ago, had for some reason returned to normal.
No, even before that, the royal capital that had occupied the space directly above was gone.
It had completely and utterly vanished.

"...What on earth is happening...?"

Too many unexpected situations were occurring.
Regardless, should he hurry to join up with the elves?
He wanted a clue as to what he should do.

●

"What is this...!?"

Gideon was flustered. The scenery visible from the royal castle was far too unexpected.
The forest no longer existed there. It was a wasteland dotted with massive, artificial objects that looked like stone pillars. A strange, murderous wind and sand were blowing.
Where did the forest go?
Of course, by expanding the Demon King's Numinose, the landscape should have transformed into a nightmarish, ominous, and jagged sight. But is it possible for a forest to vanish rather than just change? Was Voldagadda's enlightenment of a kind that did not permit the existence of others?
That cannot be. He values mutual slaughter. If others do not exist, mutual slaughter cannot occur. The enlightenment of such a guy could not possibly become a small world that rejects the very existence of other life.

"Be careful."

Beside him, the Jester had a grim expression.

"It's probably due to some power of the hero from the other world. It seems that before Voldagadda's law could fully spread, we were pulled into a different space along with the royal castle."
"A different space, you say?"
"Unlike the Numinose, which overwrites the outside world with its own law, it seems to be a power that constructs a different place from the ground up. Still, concrete buildings, huh?"

With a faint smile, the boy slid his gaze to the side.

"Given the era of the story, is this your doing? Mr. Rekka Kurogami."

When Gideon looked in the same direction—sure enough, a young man with a bizarre physique was standing there.
An otherworldly hero who possessed such spectacular combat ability that even with Vordagadda and himself working together, they could not take him down.
He instinctively reached for the hilt of his <Curse Singer> and prepared for battle.
The young man sighed deeply and rubbed his brow.
Then, he glared sharply at them and spoke.

"...My junk is misaligned. I'm suing."

Gideon felt like leaving the scene and setting off on a journey into the eternal wilderness.

"You have quite a lot of confidence to show yourself before me so nonchalantly. Do you have some secret plan?"
"Don't ignore me, you bastard!!!! The alignment of one's junk is a man's most important concern, isn't it, dammit!!!!!!!!"
"No, I don't know, and I don't care about your junk situation. If it bothers you, why don't you just fix it already?"

The <Jester> replied in a weary, rapid-fire tone.

[To be continued]

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