Book 1 Chapter 1008

After talking to Kyle about a contingency, Leo immediately relayed the situation to Melina.

"Is it precognition?" Melina asked cautiously.

Predicting the future.

As far as Melina knew, only Arion's precognition could do such a thing.

But Leo shook his head.

"Precognition can foresee the future, but I can't predict to that extent."

Precognition is a sense that Arion was born with.

During Kyle's era, he learned Arion's precognition and passed it down to future generations, but ultimately, the precognition used by people other than Arion was merely an imitation.

"Then the sense of unease that Leo-nim felt…"

"It's my intuition."

A sense in a different realm than precognition.

If Arion's precognition was an innate sense, Leo's crisis detection ability was an acquired one.

"Well, compared to Arion's precognition, it's an unfounded feeling. His precognition is practically a cheat ability anyway."

Even with a lifetime of training, it would be impossible to reach Arion's level.

"Does that intuition tend to be correct often?"

"No. It's often wrong." Leo shrugged.

Seeing Leo like that, Melina's expression showed slight confusion.

"However, there are few good memories of ignoring this warning."

"……"

Leo's other epithet: the surviving hero.

The only hero who survived until the end after spending his life on the front lines of the chaotic disaster era.

Such a feeling from Leo could not be ignored.

Melina, who had been lost in thought with a serious expression, looked at Leo's face for a moment and wore a puzzled expression.

"Leo-nim. You seem a little confused."

Leo nodded at Melina's cautious question.

"It's a bit alien, even for the feelings I've had until now."

"Alien?"

"Yes." Leo paused after answering.

Then, after organizing his thoughts, he spoke.

"My intuition is closer to feeling anxiety about what might happen in the future."

It was different from Arion's precognition, which recognized what would definitely happen.

"But this time is different."

"How so?"

"It feels like the event has already happened."

Leo's intuition was saying that.

But there were no signs of any major event having occurred.

'Let alone an event, it doesn't even feel like Tartarus has moved.'

That's why Leo felt confused.

Melina's face grew serious at Leo's words.

"Should we stop the Luce Battle?"

"Well, I don't think that's a good choice."

"If a crisis arises or there's any suspicious movement, the people and students who came to watch the Luce Battle could become hostages."

If an event occurs in a situation where many people are gathered, casualties are unavoidable.

"Yes. But the Luce Battle might be suppressing the incident by being in progress."

"What?"

"I have a feeling that evacuating the audience rashly will lead to uncontrollable consequences."

Leo clicked his tongue.

"……"

"For now, the priority is to maintain the current situation and find the enemy."

Melina couldn't figure out what to do at Leo's words.

But soon, she decided to believe Leo.

"I will have the dragons covertly protect the audience."

"Please do." Leo nodded.

Then he paused.

"…? What's wrong?"

"No. It's like déjà vu again."

Seeing Leo's annoyed expression, Melina bowed her head and left the room.

Alone in the room, Leo looked out the window.

'Who is this guy?'

Beyond the déjà vu.

Feeling murderous intent towards the unknown enemy, Leo clenched and unclenched his fist.

***

Luna's eyes, which had lost consciousness, suddenly opened.

"Luna-nim! Are you okay?"

"You said you were strangling yourself! What on earth happened?" Seyrun and Lunia asked with bewildered expressions.

But Luna's gaze was fixed on the empty space.

[This must be Seyrun. She looks cute?]

She could see her future self smiling brightly next to Seyrun.

Luna sat up and rubbed her eyes several times, but her future self showed no signs of disappearing.

Seeing that, Luna said, "I'm seeing things…"

The moment she said that.

Her future self smiled faintly and brought her index finger to her lips.

[Shh.]

Seeing that, Luna involuntarily fell silent.

"You're seeing things?" Seyrun asked with a puzzled expression.

After a moment of thought, looking at Seyrun, Luna said, "I saw Leo Flove cross-dressing."

"What?"

"What did you say?" Seyrun and Lunia wore stunned expressions.

"I thought I was seeing things, but it seems he's actually cross-dressing. He's going to a beauty pageant."

"Ah! Seriously! What is that idiot doing!" Lunia exclaimed in shock.

"Seriously! It's so embarrassing! Seyrun-nim! I'll go stop that rascal!"

"Uh, yeah, go ahead." Seyrun nodded with a reluctant expression.

After Lunia left the room, only Luna and Seyrun remained.

"Where's the elf who was with me?"

"She left immediately after leaving you in my care. She said she was going to meet Leo-nim."

"I see." Nodding, Luna looked at her future self, who only she could see.

Her future self smiled faintly at that gaze.

[If you talk about me, Seyrun will probably notice something.]

Luna shrugged.

[It seems a rule like that is in effect.]

"Seyrun, I'm a little thirsty…"

"Shall I get you some water?"

"Um… I want to drink a beverage."

Luna decided to act a little spoiled towards Seyrun.

At Luna's words, Seyrun told her to wait a moment and left the room.

Luna, left alone in the room, asked, 'A rule? Before you knocked me out, Rena said she was looping, right? Is that related?'

[Yes, it's related.] Her future self smiled faintly.

[Currently, this place called Seyrun is a completely separated space. It's a very interesting magic that interferes with the dimension through magic.]

Luna paused at her future self's words.

'Does that mean the separated space is repeating the same time?'

[Probably.]

'How do you know that? Have you escaped the loop?'

[Of course not. It's just…]

'Just?'

[I noticed that Lena's time zone is constantly changing.]

'What?'

[You said you found a red color in the mana waves of your past self and Seyrun, and conversely, a blue wave from Lena, who is a future being.]

'Right. But there's no change in color, is there? If you were me, you'd see it too, wouldn't you?'

[Unfortunately, my eyes aren't as good as yours were when you were young.]

'You're old, then. Auntie.'

Whoosh-!

Luna looked at her hands, which were out of her control, with a bewildered expression.

'Wait! You're me too! If you harm my body, you'll be harmed too…'

[It's not me who's in pain, it's the past me who's in pain.]

'I'm sorry.' Luna declared defeat with a tearful face.

It seemed her future self had no intention of giving in to her younger self.

As Luna, who grew into an adult unlike an adult, wore a gloomy expression.

[It's better to reveal your true nature like this than to pretend to be innocent while being rotten inside.]

Her future self smiled faintly and returned control of her body to her younger self.

Then, she crossed her legs in the air and said,

[Color is a type of wave.] Her future self smiled faintly.

[And waves have vibrations. You can't observe color, but you can observe vibrations.]

Her future self pointed at her past self with her finger.

[You, the being of the past, have a large wave. And when the wave gets larger, the frequency decreases. Conversely, that child, the being of the future, has a large wave. Accordingly, the frequency increases.]

Her future self shrugged.

[But the frequency she has is getting smaller and smaller. Conversely, yours is getting bigger and bigger. This means that the mana held by people from different time zones is increasingly assimilating into the current time zone.]

Hearing that, Luna asked, 'So, that frequency didn't change gradually, but suddenly and drastically?'

[Right. That's me. Smart.]

The change in mana was not gradual but sudden.

This meant that the flow of time was skewed.

And although memories and time might be reset, 'mana' was not bound by the loop.

This was the hypothesis her future self had formed, and it was indeed close to the truth.

[Usually, magic that dominates space has powerful laws at play, right? One of the laws of this loop magic seems to be that the magic is activated when you mention the fact that you are looping.]

'What's your basis for that judgment?'

[Lena didn't mention the fact of the loop. She seemed to retain her memories even when looping. And I am a mage capable of inferring this magic simply by my existence. Isn't mentioning my existence equivalent to uttering about the loop magic itself?]

In fact, Luna easily figured out the loop with just a few facts.

'Aren't you being overconfident?'

[I'm right. In fact, when I was strangling you. Lena, although her words were surprised, didn't show much surprise on her face? She had already experienced it. Moreover, she seemed to be aware of my existence.]

Her future self recalled when her past self fainted.

Lena looked at the empty space without any sign of surprise.

As if she were looking for someone.

Seeing that, Luna was convinced that Lena knew of her existence.

[Even though she knew about me, she didn't say anything else. This suggests that mentioning my existence is the condition for activating the loop.]

Luna shrugged.

[Fortunately, it seems they can't impose restrictions on self-discovery. Well, if they could interfere with free will itself, it wouldn't be magic, it would be cheating.]

At her future self's words, Luna wore an indignant expression.

She felt an overwhelming difference in class as a mage.

Seeing her past self like that, Luna laughed heartily.

[There's no need to be upset. You'll become like me someday.]

'…… What's the point? The world is on the verge of destruction, right? And even though you go through all sorts of hardships to save that world, you yourself… you die in the process.'

[……]

'That's a useless death.'

Crooked words.

Luna denied the outcome of her future self's all-out effort.

She thought she might get hit like a moment ago after saying this.

But the Progenitor of the Nebula just laughed.

'Aren't you angry?'

[Why would I be angry? I'm not that ill-tempered an elf.]

'Auntie.'

Thwack-!

"Oof!"

Luna, who had punched herself in the face, rolled on the floor.

"My! My nose is bleeding!"

[Oh dear. Are you okay?]

'You did it!' She shouted inwardly, but her future self just wore a shamelessly worried expression.

A moment later.

Her future self smiled faintly at her past self, who wore a disgruntled expression.

[As you said, looking at the result… yes. My death is a useless death.]

That fact wouldn't change.

Luna saved the world and was revered as the Progenitor of the Nebula for 5,000 years.

She became the greatest archmage in history, something she had always dreamed of… a being who shone like a star.

But what was the meaning of fame she couldn't enjoy?

Some say fame has immortality.

But if you can't enjoy anything while you're alive, it's ultimately futile.

To people, Luna is like a star in the night sky… but Luna's life was nothing but a series of terrible suffering.

She couldn't enjoy anything.

A life spent scrambling just to not lose the few things she had.

Terrible days spent in despair.

Her future self silently watched her younger self.

Although there was endless dissatisfaction in her eyes, endless fear was hidden beneath it.

'Looking back… this was the darkest period of my life.'

She entered Barharun but was subjected to endless contempt.

It was unavoidable pain even for the great Luna.

Until she met Arkit, her magic teacher, benefactor… and like a father.

Luna was merely an isolated being.

'Well, I became conceited right after meeting Teacher Arkit.' Luna smiled bitterly as she recalled the past.

Her younger self, who still didn't know how to shine on her own.

And the despairing future that awaited her.

'It's natural to be afraid.'

Nothing is as frightening as a predetermined future.

Especially if that future is a despairing one.

Her younger self, who felt fear at the predetermined future.

The Progenitor of the Nebula, looking at her young and immature self, who hadn't even realized she was a star, let alone shining brightly, spoke.

[Luna Rubinence.]

Making eye contact, she said with all sincerity,

[It's true that your life won't be smooth. But.] The Progenitor of the Nebula smiled with all her heart.

[That doesn't mean your life wasn't happy.]

Luna's eyes widened.

[You'll gain family more precious than your life. Among them will be a man you truly love.]

"……"

[Looking back, your life… no, my life…]

Luna reached out and caressed her younger self's cheek.

She couldn't feel the touch.

But young Luna felt a sense of relief.

[It was truly happy.]

From another person's perspective, it might have been an unhappy and tragic life.

But what mattered was that Luna's memories, looking back, contained many happy ones.

For Luna, that fact was the most important thing.

Seeing her future self smiling with all her heart, Luna clasped her hands tightly.

[So, will you help me? I want to help the people who will become your precious people… the children who will carry on my will.]

"…… Yes."

Young Luna nodded, pondered for a moment, and asked,

"Why is that person good?"

[Huh? Ahh. Kyle?]

"Yeah. He's a pervert who just cross-dresses."

[You don't like that?]

"Yeah. I don't like it."

[Wow. I was so naive when I was young. That has its own good points.]

"……"

[Besides, if I tease him, that shameless bastard will feel shame, right? Hehehe. What kind of expression will he make?]

"…… Wipe your drool."

[Huh? Slurp. Hehehehe.]

'So I'm going to become this kind of pervert.' Young Luna felt miserable looking at her future self, who was smiling sinisterly after wiping her mouth.

'I don't want to become an adult.'

Luna sincerely thought so and asked,

"So, how should I help?"

[Defeat an enemy whose identity is unknown.]

"Who do you think they are?"

[Well, I can't tell right now. But what's certain is…]

Her future self smiled coldly with a sinister expression.

[It's someone from the same time zone as that Lena child.]

It was certain that they preserved their memories in the loop.

Luna looked anxious.

"A mage who can manipulate time must be strong, right?"

[Hee. What does that matter?]

"……?"

[Listen carefully, we are,] Her future self laughed genuinely as if finding it pathetic.

[The strongest archmages in magic history. That fact will never change, neither in the past nor in the future.]

Seeing her future self display absolute confidence, Luna felt her heart pounding.