Book 1 Chapter 1008
1008.
After telling Kyle about a potential emergency, Leo immediately informed Melina of the situation.
“Is it a prediction by supersense?”
Melina asked cautiously.
A prediction of the future.
As far as Melina knew, only Arion’s supersense could do such a thing.
But Leo shook his head.
“Supersense can foresee the future, but I can’t predict to that extent.”
Supersense is a sense Arion was born with.
During his Kyle days, he learned Arion's supersense and passed it on to later generations, but ultimately, the supersense used by people other than Arion was merely an imitation.
“Then the strange feeling you sensed, Leo….”
“It’s my gut feeling.”
A sense in a different realm from supersense.
If Arion’s supersense was an innate ability, Leo’s ability to detect crises was an acquired one.
“Well, compared to Arion’s supersense, it’s a feeling without basis. From the start, his supersense is an ability close to cheating.”
Even if one trained for a lifetime, it would be impossible to enter the same realm as Arion.
“Is that gut feeling often right?”
“No. It’s often wrong.”
Leo shrugged.
Watching Leo, Melina looked slightly flustered.
“But I’ve rarely had good memories from ignoring this warning.”
“…”
Leo’s other epithet, The Surviving Hero.
The sole hero who spent his life on the front lines of the Age of Catastrophe, filled with only chaos, and survived until the very end.
Such a gut feeling from Leo could not be ignored.
Melina, deep in thought with a serious face, suddenly looked at Leo’s face and showed a puzzled expression.
“Leo, you seem a little confused.”
At Melina’s cautious question, Leo nodded.
“It’s a little alien compared to the gut feelings I’ve had until now.”
“Alien?”
“Yes.”
Leo replied, then fell silent for a moment.
And after organizing his thoughts, he opened his mouth.
“My gut feeling is closer to feeling anxiety about something that *might* happen in the future.”
It was different from Arion’s supersense, which clearly perceived what *would* happen.
“But this time it’s different.”
“In what way?”
“It feels like the event has *already happened*.”
Leo’s gut feeling was telling him that.
But nowhere was there any sign of a major event having occurred.
‘Let alone an event, it doesn’t even seem like Tartarus has moved.’
That’s why Leo felt confused.
At Leo’s words, Melina’s face grew serious.
“Should we stop the Luceon?”
“Well. I don’t think that’s a particularly good option.”
“If a crisis occurs or there’s an unsettling movement, the people and students who came to watch the Luceon could become hostages, couldn’t they?”
If an incident occurs in a situation where many people are gathered, damage is inevitable.
“Yes. But the Luceon might be suppressing the incident because it’s ongoing.”
“Pardon?”
“I have a feeling that if we hastily evacuate the spectators, something uncontrollable will happen.”
Leo clicked his tongue.
“…”
“For now, maintaining the status quo and finding the enemy is the priority.”
At Leo’s words, Melina was at a loss for what to do.
But she soon decided to trust Leo’s words.
“I will have the dragons secretly protect the spectators.”
“Please do.”
Leo nodded.
Then he paused.
“…? What’s wrong?”
“No. It just feels like deja vu again.”
Watching Leo make an annoyed expression, Melina bowed deeply and left the room.
Left alone in the room, Leo looked out the window.
‘Who is this guy?’
Beyond the deja vu.
Feeling a murderous intent toward the unknown enemy, Leo clenched and unclenched his hands.
***
Luna, who had lost consciousness, suddenly opened her eyes.
“Lady Luna! Are you alright?”
“They said you choked yourself! What in the world happened?”
Seirun and Lunia asked with flustered expressions.
But Luna’s gaze was fixed on thin air.
[So this is Seirun. She looks cute, doesn’t she?]
Because she saw her future self smiling brightly next to Seirun.
Luna sat up and rubbed her eyes several times, but the future Luna showed no sign of disappearing.
Seeing that, Luna said.
“I’m seeing things….”
The moment she said those words.
Future Luna smiled faintly and brought her index finger to her lips.
[Shh.]
Seeing that, Luna involuntarily fell silent.
“You’re seeing things?”
Seirun made a puzzled expression.
Looking at Seirun, Luna pondered for a moment, then said.
“I saw Leo Flob cross-dressing.”
“What?”
“What did you say?”
Seirun and Lunia looked dumbfounded.
“I thought I was seeing things, but it seems he really cross-dressed. He’s entering a beauty pageant.”
“Ah! Seriously! What in the world is that idiot doing!”
Lunia shrieked in horror.
“Seriously! It’s humiliating! Lady Seirun! I’m going to go stop that bastard!”
“Oh, yes. Okay.”
Seirun nodded with a reluctant expression.
As Lunia left the room, only Luna and Seirun remained.
“Where’s the elf who was with me?”
“She left right after leaving you with me. She said she was going to see Leo.”
“I see.”
Nodding, Luna still looked at her future self, visible only to her.
At her gaze, Future Luna smiled faintly.
[If you talk about me, that child Seirun will probably notice something.]
Luna shrugged.
[It seems such a rule is being applied.]
“Seirun, I’m a little thirsty….”
“Shall I bring you water?”
“Hmm…. I want a drink.”
Luna decided to act a little spoiled with Seirun.
At Luna’s words, Seirun said to wait a moment and left the room.
Luna, left alone in the room, asked.
‘A rule? Before you made me faint, Lena said she was looping, right? Is it connected to that?’
[Yes. It’s connected.]
Future Luna smiled faintly.
[Currently, this place called Seirun has its entire space separated. It’s a very interesting magic that intervened in the realm of dimensions with magic.]
Luna flinched at her future self’s words.
‘You don’t mean that the separated space is repeating the same time, do you?’
[Probably.]
‘How do you know that? Did you escape from the loop’s domain?’
[No way. It’s just….]
‘Just?’
[I found that child Lena’s timeline changing moment by moment.]
‘What?’
[You said that you, a past existence, and Seirun had red wavelengths in your mana, and conversely, you found blue wavelengths in that child Lena, a future existence, right?]
‘That’s right. But there’s no particular change in color? If you were me, you’d be able to see it, wouldn’t you?’
[Unfortunately, my eyesight isn’t as good as yours when you were young.]
‘So you’re old. Auntie.’
*Whoosh-!*
Luna looked at her uncontrollable hands with a flustered expression.
‘Wait! I’m you! If you harm my body, you’ll also suffer….’
[I’m not the one hurting. My past self is hurting.]
‘I was wrong.’
Luna declared surrender with a tearful expression.
It seemed her future self had no intention of being lenient with her younger self.
As Luna made a gloomy face, thinking she had grown into an un-adult adult.
[It’s better to reveal your true nature like this than to put on a clumsy pretense and fester with a dark heart.]
Future Luna smiled faintly and returned control of the body to her younger self.
And then she sat cross-legged in the air and said.
[Color is a type of wavelength.]
Future Luna smiled subtly.
[And wavelengths always have vibrations. Although color can’t be observed, vibrations can.]
Future Luna pointed at her past self with a finger.
[You, a past existence, have a large wavelength. And when the wavelength gets larger, the frequency gets smaller. Conversely, that child, a future existence, has a large wavelength. Accordingly, the frequency gets larger.]
Future Luna shrugged.
[But that child’s vibration frequency is gradually getting smaller. Conversely, yours is gradually getting larger. That means the mana of those from different timelines is gradually assimilating with the current timeline.]
Having heard that far, Luna asked.
‘But that vibration frequency didn’t change gradually, but suddenly changed significantly?’
[Exactly. It’s me after all. So smart.]
The change in mana was not gradual but sudden.
That meant the flow of time was going awry.
And while memories and time might reset, 'mana' was not bound by the loop.
That was Future Luna’s hypothesis, and it was actually very close to the correct answer.
[Usually, magic that controls space is governed by powerful laws, right? One of the laws of this loop magic seems to be that the magic is activated if the fact of being in a loop is mentioned.]
‘What’s the basis for that judgment?’
[Because that kid named Lena didn’t mention the loop. She seemed to retain her memories even when looping. And I’m a mage capable of inferring this magic just by my existence, so isn't the mere mention of my existence equivalent to revealing the loop magic?]
In fact, Luna easily figured out the loop simply from a few facts.
‘Aren’t you being too overconfident?’
[My words are correct. In fact, when I choked you, that kid Lena spoke as if surprised, but her face didn’t show much surprise, did it? It means she had already experienced it. Moreover, she seemed to have noticed my existence.]
Future Luna recalled when her past self fainted.
Lena stared into thin air without any sign of panic.
As if searching for someone.
Seeing that, Luna was certain that Lena knew of her existence.
[She knew about me but didn’t say anything. That means mentioning my existence is the condition for activating the loop.]
Luna shrugged.
[Fortunately, it doesn’t seem to be able to penalize self-realization. Well, if it could even interfere with free will, it wouldn’t be magic, it’d be a scam.]
At her future self’s words, Luna made an indignant expression.
As a mage, she felt an overwhelming difference in class.
Watching her past self, Future Luna burst into laughter.
[No need to be indignant. Someday you’ll be like me.]
‘…Then what’s the point? The world is almost on the brink of destruction, isn’t it? And you go through all sorts of hardships trying to save that world, but in the end, you… I die in the process, you said.’
“…”
‘That’s a dog’s death, isn’t it?’
Twisted words.
Luna denied the results her future self had achieved by risking everything.
She thought she might get hit again, just like a moment ago, after saying this.
But the Progenitor of the Nebula merely smiled.
‘You’re not angry?’
[Why would I be angry? I’m not such a bad-tempered elf.]
‘Auntie.’
*Thwack-!*
“Ugh!”
Luna, hit in the face by her own fist, rolled on the floor.
“Blood! My nose is bleeding!”
[Oh dear. Are you alright?]
‘You did it!’
She shouted internally, but Future Luna only put on a shameless, worried expression.
After a moment.
Future Luna smiled subtly at her past self, who was glaring at her with a face full of complaints.
[As you said, if we look at the results… Yes. My death was a dog’s death.]
That fact doesn’t change.
Luna saved the world and was revered as the Progenitor of the Nebula for 5000 years.
She became the greatest archmage in history, a shining existence like a star, just as she had dreamed.
But what meaning did fame have if she couldn't enjoy it while alive?
Some say.
Fame possesses immortality.
But if you enjoy nothing during your lifetime, it is ultimately futile.
To people, Luna was like a star in the night sky… but Luna’s life during her lifetime could only be a continuous series of terrible suffering.
She enjoyed nothing.
A life spent desperately trying not to lose even the few things she had.
Terrible days she had to spend in despair, day after day.
Future Luna silently watched her younger self.
Her eyes were full of complaints, but beneath them, endless fear was hidden.
‘Looking back… it was the darkest period of my life.’
She entered Varharrun but received endless contempt.
It couldn't have been anything but pain, even for Luna of all people.
Until she met Akint, her magic teacher and benefactor… and like a father to her.
Luna was simply an isolated existence.
‘Well, I did become overconfident right after meeting Teacher Akint, though.’
Recalling the past, Luna gave a bitter smile.
Her younger self, who didn’t yet know how to shine on her own.
And the despairing future awaiting such a self.
‘It’s only natural to be afraid.’
There is nothing more frightening than a predetermined future.
Especially if that future is a despairing one.
Young Luna’s fear was perfectly natural.
Luna, looking pityingly at her young, immature self who was afraid of her predetermined future, and who hadn't even realized she was a star, let alone shining brightly, opened her mouth.
[Luna Rubinence.]
She met her eyes and spoke with sincerity.
[It’s true that your life won’t be easy. 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 also gain a family more precious than your own life. Among them will be a man you truly love.]
“…”
[Looking back, your life… no, my life….]
Luna reached out her hand and stroked her younger self’s cheek.
No sensation was felt.
But young Luna felt a sense of relief.
[It was truly happy.]
From an outsider’s perspective, it might have been an unhappy and tragic life.
But what was important was that in Luna’s memories, looking back at her past, there were many happy ones.
For Luna, that fact was the most important.
Luna tightly clenched her hands, looking at her future self smiling with all her heart.
[So, will you help me? I want to help the person who will become precious to you… the children who inherited my will.]
“…Yes.”
The young Luna nodded, then pondered for a moment before asking.
“But why is that person good?”
[Hm? Ah. Kyle?]
“Yes. He’s a pervert who cross-dresses.”
[You don’t like that?]
“Yes. I don’t like it.”
[Wow. I was so innocent when I was young. That’s good in its own way.]
“…”
[Besides, if I tease him, even that shameless bastard will feel some shame, right? Hehehe. What kind of expression will he make?]
“…Wipe your drool.”
[Hm? *Slurp*. Hehehehehe.]
‘So I become this kind of pervert.’
Watching her future self wipe her drool and laugh obscenely, the young Luna felt utterly dismayed.
‘I don’t want to grow up.’
Luna sincerely thought that and asked.
“So, how can I help?”
[By defeating the unknown enemy.]
“What kind of person could it be?”
[Well. I can’t know right now. But what’s certain is….]
Luna, with an insidious expression, smiled chillingly.
[It must be someone from the same timeline as that kid Lena.]
Given that they preserved memories in the loop, it was certain.
Luna made an uneasy expression.
“A mage capable of manipulating time must be strong, right?”
[Tsk. What does that matter?]
“…”
[Listen carefully, we are.]
Future Luna laughed with genuine disdain.
[The strongest archmages in the history of magic. That fact will never change, past or future.]
Luna felt her heart pound, looking at her future self, who displayed absolute confidence.