Chapter 198. That, I Agree
Was it because the barrier had thinned, enriching the natural energy?
The spirits could peer into the future in greater detail.
Not as much as in Baharmut’s peak days, but there was little difficulty in looking into the near future they sought.
A scene unfolding within the spirits’ Mental Image.
The Savior was running.
After smashing the fourth barrier stone, he sprinted through Baharmut with four Infernals on his tail.
- Damn it, what do I do?
Even as he muttered, the Savior looked back. His expression was thoroughly troubled.
Breaking the barrier stones was all well and good, but the Infernals chasing him were not dealt with.
He had hoped that if he smashed all the barrier stones, the Infernals—losing their purpose—might stop functioning, but it was a vain hope.
Here, the Savior had to choose.
Fight, or keep running.
In truth, there was no choice.
No matter how vast Baharmut was, it was still a limited space, and if he kept wandering around destroying ruins like this, the ruins themselves might collapse.
So fighting was the only answer…
But what the Savior chose was neither.
- You should go now.
- Go? Me go?
- Yeah. You found your freedom, so go already. Don’t hang around.
After saying that to the spirit following him, the Savior sharply changed direction as if he didn’t need an answer.
But the spirit couldn’t easily leave the Savior’s side.
Unable to do this or that, the spirit hesitated, then spoke.
- I, I curious.
- Yeah. Ask quick and go.
- Why I wyvern?
- What kind of bullshit is that?
- I saw. Future I saw before. Friend, contract with me. But my name, wyvern.
In the future it had seen before, it and the Savior had made a contract. So why, then, had the Savior chosen the name “Wyvern” for it?
It was a statement that didn’t fit the situation.
And it was a question the Savior couldn’t answer cleanly.
What the spirit had seen was only the future, and the one who gave it the name “Wyvern” was not the present Savior, but the future Savior.
Previously, when the spirit had approached the Savior readily, saying it had “personal curiosities,” the intention to satisfy that curiosity had also been part of it.
But.
The reason the spirit asked the Savior this question now wasn’t merely personal curiosity.
It was because… the Savior’s eyes looked strangely uneasy.
As if he’d made some kind of decision.
Not knowing what that thought was, it was an attempt to buy even a little time.
…Of course, nothing would change just because time was bought, but it was the best an innocent spirit could do.
The Savior spoke not long after.
- Did I?
- You did.
- I see. Then there probably wasn’t any special reason. I just hate wyverns.
- …You hated me?
The Savior snorted and shook his head, as if that wasn’t it. Then he opened his mouth as if to say something…
Bang!
The moment they broke through a massive wall and entered a new space, the spirit that had been waiting for an answer realized the time had come.
The newly entered space was a massive hollow.
A battlefield littered with traces of combat.
In that space stood one familiar Infernal, a boy, and an old mage.
The boy was dodging the Infernal’s attacks with half-lidded eyes, and it was then that the boy noticed the Savior.
- Friend.
A powerless voice. But color returned to his face.
Then, as if strength surged from nowhere, he raised a massive ice barrier wall to knock the Infernal back and greeted the Savior—but the Savior only flicked his eyes at the boy and lifted his hand.
As if saying goodbye.
- Fr…iend?
It was right then that the Savior threw a punch toward the Infernal that had been fighting the boy.
…Boom!
A thunderous sound echoed. It wasn’t that strong. It was as if there was no impact at all.
But it didn’t matter.
From the start, the goal was to draw the Infernal’s attention.
In the end, the Savior’s intention worked.
Grrrr—!
The Infernal twisted its body toward the Savior.
- Demian, see you later.
- What are you doing?
- Wait. I found a way to sweep them all at once.
It was a lie.
There was no method.
But the boy, not knowing that, nodded with an “Ah-ha!” as if he’d never been anxious at all. Anyone would have no choice but to believe it.
The Savior’s face was the face of someone who had truly found a way.
- Then stay out of it.
- No! I’ll help—
- Tsk. You’re in the way.
The Savior drew the Infernal’s attention and bought time, facing the four Infernals that had followed.
And then, after the boy fully escaped the main battle—
The Savior ran.
As far as possible.
Away from his companions.
…The Savior had decided to face five Infernals alone.
And when he had gotten far enough away from the group—
The Savior stopped and smiled.
- Hey, aren’t you leaving?
- I, I…
- Do what you want. But you know this? How you kill bastards who don’t die.
- I, I don’t know.
The Savior looked at the approaching Infernals and grinned. Then he rolled his neck and said this.
- If they don’t die…
- If they don’t die?
- You beat them until they die.
A primitive method that didn’t use the brain.
It was right then that the Savior kicked off the ground and leapt.
A body soaring high into the air. When his view rose high enough to look down on the Infernals below, a sphere at the Savior’s fingertips flashed as if it had condensed lightning.
- First, one hit.
KWA-A-A-AANG—!
A massive shock spread with a deafening boom, announcing the start of battle.
…And through future sight, the spirits missed none of the fight, capturing every moment.
How much time it took didn’t matter.
After all, everything was a scene unfolding in their Mental Image. No matter how much time passed within the Mental Image, the time passing in reality would be no more than an instant.
And when the battle finally ended—
[…Ah.]
The spirits let out an exclamation.
A battle that lasted a full day.
The Savior faced the Infernals with strength that even the spirits found hard to believe.
Each time light flared from his hands, the Infernals’ heavy bodies shuddered, and lightning storms raged. His figure vanished and reappeared again and again.
- F-friend. Me wyvern.
The spirit insisted on becoming Wyvern.
And through the contract, it lent the Savior what little strength it could.
It was astonishing courage—overcoming instinctive fear.
Something only an old spirit could do, one that had lived for thousands of years with awareness.
But there was no miracle.
- Wyvern… go.
In the end, the spirit reached dissolution.
And then, as one Infernal, then two… and at last the final five came to a halt—
- …Cough.
Amid the ruins, the Savior closed his eyes.
That was… all.
Having witnessed all of it, the spirits did not release their future sight.
They were impressed by the Savior’s overwhelming might, yes, but there still wasn’t a real solution.
It was a cruel reality they didn’t want to see anymore, but until they found an answer, they needed to maintain the future sight.
- …Friend?
Not long after the Savior collapsed, the boy approached. Behind him came an old spiritist and a brown-haired boy.
Seeing the fallen Savior, they couldn’t accept reality, and their eyes trembled finely.
And as the future continued to flow—
[…Method. None?]
The spirits began a discussion.
[Method… exists. Hit. Break.]
[That method?]
[Method yes. But Savior dies.]
Their opinions wouldn’t come together.
And of course—because what the Savior had used to bring down the Infernals was, frankly, hardly something you could call a “method.”
So then, what should be done?
Should they let the foretold future flow forward as it was? Should they do nothing but watch the Savior die?
The spirits fell into confusion.
Like ripples spreading across a calm Mental Image, agitation rose.
And as the Mental Image shook and future sight was about to fracture—
One spirit, the oldest among them, who had been silently watching, opened its mouth.
[Strange.]
[Strange? What?]
The spirits voiced their doubt at the oldest spirit’s words.
This spirit was generally quiet, but once, it had been the mental pillar that supported all spirits.
A being that had followed the first master of Baharmut, and once possessed a lofty rank that encompassed the spirits.
It had lost that rank now, but among the spirits gathered here, none was wiser than this one.
And as the spirits listened to that being’s doubt, the oldest spirit spoke.
[What we doing?]
[…We?]
[In this future, we not here.]
[…?]
It was still a baffling statement.
They weren’t here in this future?
But at the oldest spirit’s next words, the spirits began to sense the oddity.
[We decided. Help. But we do nothing. Strange.]
Meaning… if this were a proper future, it should show them moving for the Savior and his party, but there was no sign of that.
[Right. Strange.]
[Why strange?]
[Stupid you, out.]
[Me smart.]
Confusion spread even deeper among the spirits.
They couldn’t understand it.
Why did their future selves do nothing? Had they all run away once they got their freedom?
But then—
[Possibility, one.]
[…Possibility?]
At the oldest spirit’s words, the spirits calmed their turmoil and listened.
But this time, perhaps even the oldest spirit found the topic difficult to voice, because a longer silence followed.
How much time passed like that?
The oldest spirit finally spoke.
[Future, may be inaccurate.]
[…?]
A brief silence.
Then an uproar.
[Impossible!]
[Never wrong.]
[Future accurate.]
They couldn’t believe it.
And that was understandable—Baharmut’s future sight had never been wrong even once until now. But now, suddenly, Baharmut’s future sight was showing a wrong future?
However, the oldest spirit denied them.
[No. Wrong many times.]
[…?]
[Hard explain. Just many.]
It said it was hard to explain, but the oldest spirit remembered.
In the long history, the old masters of Baharmut, raging because Baharmut’s future sight didn’t match properly.
And the sight of dozens, hundreds of spiritists clinging to it, researching to supplement that inaccurate future sight.
Spirits who had little interest in humans might not have noticed, but the oldest spirit had watched it all, and it had kept in its mind moments the other spirits had simply let flow past.
And more than anything—
“This isn’t the only time something was strange.”
That’s right.
Even the first future they saw of the Savior, thinking back, was strange.
Originally, the Savior should have come to Baharmut alone—yet didn’t he arrive with three companions?
Of course, something might have changed as they “observed” that future and drew in the Savior according to it…
But even so, it still felt unresolved.
Then—
[But that conjecture. Not certain.]
A voice raised doubt at the oldest spirit.
The oldest spirit accepted it calmly.
[Right. Conjecture.]
Yes. This was only conjecture.
But—
[Method exists.]
[Method?]
At the voice thick with curiosity, the oldest spirit paused briefly, then spoke.
[Future, see again. Then can know.]
[…Ah.]
In other words.
If the future they had just seen was truly accurate… then even if they peered into the future again, the frame wouldn’t change much.
The moment they “observe,” the future inevitably changes, but the scope of that change isn’t that large.
So—
[We, see again.]
…The spirits decided to look into the future once more.
For the Savior.
