As if possessed, I tried to take a step forward, but Dersia stopped me.
"Jern, from that point on is a 'different' place."
"... Pardon?"
I looked down at the plains where I was about to step. There was no difference from before. No line to distinguish anything, no different atmosphere.
Of course, Dersia wouldn't have said such a thing without reason, so I carefully stepped back. However, Dersia herself walked in as if it were nothing and looked back at me.
"Are you not coming?"
"... You made it sound like I would die if I entered."
"That could happen. But that doesn't mean we can't go in. I simply told you the truth."
She was right. I shrugged and followed her.
"What's so different about it?"
"The world is different."
"... The world?"
"Yes. Although I'm not certain."
At those words, my anxiety surged. I never thought there was anything in this world Dersia didn't know, besides myself.
"I'll spread my Tide Sense as well."
"There's no need for that."
Dersia took out a rather long, thin stick from the pocket of her robe. At first, I mistook it for something like a magic wand. But seeing that it had a nib, though it was hard to tell, and a scratched and dirty pen body, I realized it was a fountain pen.
But it was so filthy you could barely tell without looking very closely. It was hard to find the pointed part of the nib due to the residue of caked ink, and the overflowing ink from the pen shaft constantly stained her pure white hand and dripped onto the ground. In an instant, Dersia's hand became messy.
Of course, she paid it no mind and continued walking, letting the ink drop.
"Let's go."
"Yes."
The city gate was wide open. However, I clicked my tongue as I looked at the moat that had turned red. Horribly dismembered horses, arms, legs.
Not a single part was intact. The butchered pieces floated about, attracting flies with the coppery scent of blood. They were all floating at the edge of the moat. ...
They died while trying to escape. Dersia gently raised her left hand to cover my eyes.
"You don't have to worry. I won't be shaken by something like this."
"Yes, I know you would be fine, Jern. That's what worries me."
"?"
"You shouldn't be fine after seeing this sight. It seems you've forgotten, but my disciple is ten years old."
"... That's true."
I'm not exactly a good person. But it was hard not to feel anger boiling up at a sight like this. It was even more so because they and I were similar.
Killing others to live. I cannot affirm it, but I cannot deny it either. In the end, what's most important is one's own life.
If you put the life of a complete stranger on the other side of the scale, even those who feign righteousness on the surface might make an unexpected choice after some deliberation. Still, was this scene truly the result of weighing options on a scale? Did they really have to fill this moat with the bodies of children too?
I took Dersia's left hand and lowered it, taking in the entire scene with my eyes to solve the mystery when we met them.
"Then I shall remember it."
"You might fall even further."
"That's a funny joke."
I laughed it off. I was probably the one who had reached the deepest bottom of anyone in this world. As soon as we entered the city, a similar scene unfolded with small screams.
Dersia immediately scanned the surroundings, then frowned and headed towards a very high spire.
"I've found her. Your disciple is in that tower."
"... No, how did you know?"
I was a little surprised. I knew Dersia was incredible, of course, but I didn't think she'd know the moment we set foot inside. However, Dersia's expression was not good.
"The mana I've spread is being rejected."
"Ah, so that's how you found her. Can you also tell if she's alright?"
"She is... not alright."
Dersia sighed as she said something utterly shocking.
"It's rejecting my mana. I suppose I should be glad she hasn't fallen yet, but I think even that is only a matter of time."
"... Let's go for now."
"Yes."
As long as she's alive, something can be done. After all, I'm alive too. Just as I steeled my heart and was about to run toward the spire, someone suddenly came running, shouting.
"N-no! That place is dangerous!"
Turning around, I saw a knight in blood-soaked armor. The emblem engraved on the armor was a white swan. A fairly famous knightly order.
But both Dersia and I immediately drew our hands.
"Keok?!"
At the same moment I pushed the knight away with my currents, a red line was drawn across his neck. His head flew off as it was and fell into the nearby moat. His staggering body knelt down before collapsing to the ground, blood streaming out.
Dersia asked, surprised.
"How did you know?"
"I thought it was unlikely for a knight to come and give advice to suspicious people like us in this situation. What about you, Master?"
"Remember this. It is extremely rude for a knight to close the distance to a mage with a drawn sword."
"A knight who has mastered body-reinforcement techniques can kill a mage who enters their range in an instant."
"At the very least, they must sheathe their sword and take their hand off it to prove they have no hostile intent."
"—Ah, right. There was that, too."
The last words were not spoken by me. The knight's body began to squirm, then swelled up sickeningly. It became a grotesque mass with bluish skin, where arms and legs were barely distinguishable, and the face was nothing but a lump of flesh.
It was the most grotesque thing I had ever seen in my life. No, I wasn't even sure if I should call it a living creature. On the fleshy part of its stomach, a hole that had to be called a mouth appeared.
It had no lips, no teeth, no tongue, but words came out of it.
"How'd you kill me? That knight just now was a master of body-reinforcement techniques. He wasn't some guy who'd die to some mediocre magic."
The mass raised what must have been its hand and grinned. To be precise, it spoke as if it were grinning. Goosebumps rose on my skin.
Dersia stroked her chin as if it were nothing, then nodded her head.
"You."
"Call me mass, everyone around here does. Khaha!"
"You are already living in hell."
"... What?"
The mass asked back, puzzled. Dersia, with a rare look of pity, scanned the mass and replied.
"You are the second most gruesome burden I have seen in my life. Especially the fact that you cannot die by your own will in a situation where death would be better."
"Ha, lady. Isn't that a bit rude for a first meeting? What do you know about me?"
The mass retorted, holding its stomach and laughing, but Dersia didn't stop and let out a sigh.
"You're told to be called mass, and you seem to take it quite cheerfully. Please answer one question."
"Huh? What is it? Why we attacked this place?"
"No. Who are you, really?"
The smile on the mass vanished. Or so it seemed.
"Let me ask more specifically. Who were you at the beginning?"
"You've already forgotten everything, so it's no different from being dead."
"Then who are you, who calls yourself mass. Where did you come from, and who did you become... though I'm sure you've forgotten that as well."
At Dersia's words, the mass stood there for a moment, dumbfounded, then...
"... Ha, ahaha! This is surprising!"
It began to laugh, its large body trembling.
"No, this is seriously giving me the creeps. Who are you?"
"You will find out soon enough."
"I really want to. But there's one thing I'd like to correct, you know? I'm satisfied with my state."
"At first, well, I thought it was pretty painful to have forgotten myself like you said. But, when I think about it... that guy, he's not me anymore, is he?"
The mass gradually compressed. It soon became a naked man. It was the body of a warrior, covered in immense muscles and scars.
His voice also changed to a low and serious tone, but the content of his speech was still as frivolous as ever.
"When you think of it that way, didn't that guy shoulder all the burdens? I just got this power! Because that guy died foolishly, I was born!"
"One day you will realize that the one you despise as foolish was your true lost self, and your current mind is nothing more than a parasite. I wonder what choice you will make on that day."
"Can't deny that! Well then, until that day comes, I'll have to struggle as much as I can, won't I?" -Thump!
The large figure disappeared. And the sun went out. Or so it seemed.
It was because the man's shadow, who had flown into the sky in an instant, had covered the sun.
"Master-!"
It's too late. Even while thinking so, I tried to grab him with water pressure, but Dersia looked at me with a composed face.
"Jern."
In the slowed time, she let out a small smile.
"Do you think the sky reached by wings is the same as the sky reached by piling up buildings?"
Along with words completely unsuited for the situation— Rain began to fall.
"...?"
Pitter-patter...
As I watched the hot, red rain pour down, I barely managed to understand what had happened. To say he was torn to pieces would be an understatement. Literally, no solid matter remained.
Not a fingernail's worth of flesh, not a shard of bone, only pure blood flowed. As a result, the mass was disintegrated in mid-air. Dersia, untouched by a single drop of blood, walked elegantly and began a lecture unbefitting the moment.
"The heart-realm and the Heavenly Realm are clearly the same domain. If they could use their entire world, I, who have not yet reached the Heavenly Realm, would have no way to resist."
Splish, at the same moment Dersia took a step, a hand reached out from the pool of blood. It was a more slender man. But before he could do anything, red lines were drawn all over his body.
"?"
The moment the mass saw the lines drawn on its body, it exploded. Pop, with a sound too small and weak for a human to have exploded, the puddle grew a little larger.
"However, can those who are antagonized by the world borrow its power? They cannot."
"They merely wield the power they gained as residents. It's just that this power is strong in this world. Imagine a tiger dropped in a desert."
Dozens of hands shot out from the puddle at once. And this time, they were not even allowed to gain a human form. The hands that shot out were immediately marked with red lines and exploded.
"In the end, they were not created, but banished. How could they run wild without knowing their place?"
"Hey, hold on-" A face emerged from the puddle.
It exploded.
"They are not the same."
Dersia looked down at the puddle with cold eyes. Nothing else came out again.
"A position gained through shortcuts cannot even reach my feet."
"... Ah, right."
The mass formed on a roof several dozen meters away. It seems a drop of blood had splattered that far. However, it was of little use.
The mass looked at the lines still wrapped around its body and spat out with a face far more grimaced than before.
"Death Lines... Dersia, you're Dersia Aspandil. Ahh~ No wonder you pinpointed my heart-realm in one go."
"It is an honor that the Red Lotus knows my name."
"... I should be the one saying that. What, how did you know and get here in two hours? This is absurd."
Hearing Dersia's completely unfazed tone, the mass let out a sigh.
"There's no chance of winning this. What am I supposed to do?"
It was true. The opponent was a monster in his own right. He transformed into all sorts of knights, and no matter how many times he was killed, he wouldn't die.
Seeing him resurrect even after being disintegrated into a pool of blood, I couldn't even guess what kind of world he lived in. He was probably an executive of Red Lotus. But, Dersia was simply a bigger monster.
I knew she was strong, but I didn't know she would show such overwhelming power in combat as well. The basics, she didn't even use that. That was it.
That decided the match. The mass raised its hands with a look of complete surrender.
"Alright, I'm out."
"Do you think I will let you go?"
Drip, drip...
The speed at which ink fell from Dersia's pen began to accelerate, staining the surroundings. The mass shrugged and replied.
"I wasn't talking to you." '—!'
In that moment, I felt an incredibly unsettling sensation enveloping my entire body. My face turned pale as I shouted.
"Master!"
"Jern?"
"You must kill him right now!"
Bang~!
Dersia didn't answer, but showed her action. The lines moved as if they were alive, tightly constricting the mass and making it explode. Dersia asked with a placid expression.
"Is it done?"
"... No." I clenched my teeth.
It was the first time I had ever seen it. The waters of the Deep Sea freezing over.
Crack...!
I stepped back, avoiding contact with the ice. Of course, it was a sight I'd never seen before. It was an impossibly bad matchup for me.
If the Deep Sea froze, I would die. However, contrary to my perception, the mass's blood began to boil. It was different from before when he had resurrected without any warning.
Before long, a man in proper clothes slowly crawled up, head first. There were no lines drawn on his body. Aside from the fact that he was wearing a mask, he was an ordinary-looking man.
He didn't even glance at me, but looked at Dersia and murmured.
"Dersia, is it. That mass fellow brought a troublesome opponent."
"Jern."
Dersia replied in her still calm tone.
"Go and do what you need to do."
"Will you be alright?"
"It won't be much of a problem. However," She narrowed her brow slightly.
"He doesn't seem to be an opponent I can fight while protecting you."
"Yes."
If she was saying I was in the way, it was right to retreat quickly. The man sat perched on the roof and muttered in a drained tone.
"This world is a snowfield of absolute frost. Don't you think so?"
"I've heard of it in literature. Is it the process of declaring one's heart-realm..."
Dersia shook her head, returning an answer that was close to a sneer.
"I would appreciate it if you did not force your delusions upon me."
"You do not understand. A pity."
With those words as the last I heard, I hurriedly closed the tower door and went inside. Only then did the frozen shards of glacier disappear.
"Haa..."
After taking several deep breaths, I stood up from my spot. As long as those two monsters were outside, the tower would be safe. I need to find Elysia quickly and escape.
"Seventy-one, seventy-four."
"?"
Ugh.
The tower, filled with only blood, fire, and silence, was being walked by corpses with black eyes. They were indeed corpses. Their intestines were spilling out.
Before I could understand the situation, I judged it best not to provoke them and took a slow step. As slowly as possible, -Clang!
"No." I didn't do it.
I looked resentfully at the chandelier that had been on fire and couldn't hold on any longer, just as I entered. But, what was done was done.
"Keok, keok."
"K-kill."
"T-tear apart."
It seemed the corpses had been given a simple and clear command.