Final Day

[Agent of the Star].

Sven Parab obtained this authority through an awakening-type event after risking his life to help people escape from a burning temple.

Having tested it a few times, I concluded that his awakening had granted him the Perfection bonus, which is normally available only to saints.

However, I still hadn’t figured out what kind of skill ‘Agent of the Star’ actually was.

So, what was the activation condition?

It was a skill I had never seen even during my long playtime in the game, and it was a power bestowed directly by a god.

Since it was sure to be an ability that would greatly help us on our journey, I had tried all sorts of things in the city to figure out its activation condition, but failed. I wondered if it could only be used in the labyrinth, but that wasn’t the condition either.

“……It suddenly worked?”

The proof was the brilliant silver light streaming from Sven Parab’s body in real time… along with the fact that he was speaking.

“Hoho. It has been a while, Bjorn Jandel.”

The voice was the same, yet the tone was unmistakably that of a different person.

“I never thought I would see you give up. I have witnessed quite the unexpected sight.”

“Then again, even the greatest hero has moments when they crumble. You have worked hard.”

The way he covered his mouth with one hand, the soft expression on his face, and the subtle way his body shifted and twisted all unconsciously struck me as distinctly feminine.

And then there was the fact that Parab was a paladin…

“Don’t tell me…… Reatlas?” I asked hesitantly.

Hearing my question, Sven Parab covered his mouth and laughed instead of answering. That smile was the answer itself.

I didn’t know how, but Reatlas had entered Sven Parab’s body.

‘Was it a Descent-type skill…?’

But if so, it was strange. In the game, when you promoted a character to a Saint and used ‘Descent,’ you merely borrowed the god’s power; the god didn’t literally inhabit the body like this.

‘……Maybe that isn’t what matters right now.’

I had countless questions, but I confirmed the most pressing one first.

“Can you solve this situation?”

Was there really a way for us to survive?

At that question, Sven Parab…… no, Reatlas, smiled gently and answered.

“Who knows?”

Huh?

“If there wasn’t, I would not have come, would I?”

Argh… my heart.

“I can’t do much. But even so, the situation is quite favorable.”

The moment she finished speaking, Snictura, whose one-minute waiting time had just ended, let out a roar and raised its body.

And then……

“Hah!”

As Reatlas let out a strangely childish battle cry and raised her palm……

Immediately, a thick, translucent barrier of silver light erected itself between us and Snictura.

Boom—!

Snictura slammed its body against it as if asking what this was, but the translucent wall stood firm. Having casually performed a miracle that could imprison even a Level 1 monster, Reatlas (Sven) shrugged and winked at us.

“How long can you hold it?”

“Long enough to save your lives.”

[Kyaaaaaaak!!]

Snictura, trapped inside the barrier, let out a chilling shriek as if furious, but there was no longer any reason to pay attention to it.

For some reason, something even more extraordinary than a rank-one monster had suddenly appeared.

“R-Really…… is that really Lady Reatlas, nya……? N-No, is it?”

“T-This cannot be…… The Twilight Star shall guide us……”

The team members were busy crossing themselves, overwhelmed by the miracle manifested on Earth. However, there was one who showed hostility: Beleg, who had just woken up after receiving treatment.

“Is it really… you, Reatlas?”

Reatlas didn’t answer. But perhaps everything she had shown so far was answer enough. Whether an answer came or not, Beleg continued asking.

“……Why? Why did that child have to die? Was that the fate you decided?”

This time, too, Reatlas did not answer.

She merely looked at him with sorrowful eyes.

But perhaps the emotion in that gaze only provoked his anger even further.

“Tell me……! If you are truly the goddess who governs fate……! Hurry up and tell me!”

Beleg continued speaking in agitation, but sadly, he could not finish.

Because if he had merely been questioning her, that would have been one thing.

Boom!

But he had stretched out his foreleg as if he might charge at her at any moment.

The one who restrained Beleg and slammed him into the floor was not me, but Kaislan.

“Do not act rudely. All of our lives depend on that person’s will right now.”

“I know you must have many questions. I, too, have lost someone before. But you know as well as I do that she is not the one you should be directing this at.”

“I’ll release you assuming you understand. Do not make a mistake, understood?”

Kaislan released his grip, but Beleg didn’t even think about getting up. He just stared blankly into the air. It would be a lie to say he didn’t look pitiful, but…

‘Whether it’s a Descent or whatever, a power of this level won’t last long.’

The moment this situation was resolved, Reatlas would likely leave Sven’s body. I had to confirm things before then. Out of the many things I wanted to ask, this came first:

“What is the activation condition for that authority?”

“B-Bjorn!! H-How can you speak to L-Lady Reatlas like that, nya……?”

What is she saying now?

“You don’t need to mind her. Answer me.”

“……Do you really want to hear it? It may be better not to know.”

If anyone else had said that, it would be one thing, but since it was a god…… and one related to “fate,” it sounded extremely meaningful.

But……

“……I’ll hear it anyway.”

“I still want to hear it.”

If ignorance is bliss, then that bliss is just a painkiller. It only delays the pain; it solves nothing.

“If that is your choice.”

Reatlas opened her mouth.

“My intervention in the physical world through this authority is only possible when Sven Parab is destined for certain death.”

I was speechless. To think that was the condition. No wonder nothing worked in the city.

“But why would it have been better not to know that?”

“Because the moment Sven Parab becomes aware of that condition, using this authority will become dozens of times harder.”

“……What?”

“There is little time, so it will be hard to explain properly…… To put it simply, the moment he clearly recognizes the condition, he will come to rely on this authority. Once that happens, two different fates will coexist, and I cannot interfere with a fate that has not been fixed.”

I didn’t understand a word of that. Perhaps my expression gave it away.

“Hoho, that’s why I said it’s hard to explain.”

“If it’s hard to understand, just memorize this: As I said earlier, the moment Sven Parab becomes aware of the condition, using this power becomes dozens of times more difficult. Got it?”

“I’ve memorized it.”

“Good, good……”

Reatlas smiled as if dealing with a child. Since she was doing that with Sven Parab’s body, it caused some cognitive dissonance…… but anyway.

“More importantly, there is something I must tell you.”

“?”

“Fate is called fate because it is certain to come.”

“What are you trying to say?”

“At this moment, Sven Parab has changed his own fate. Because of that, several others who were destined to die today will also live.”

“……So? It’s fine, so speak plainly.”

“The fate avoided today will inevitably come for you again.”

“……Are you saying we merely survived today, but will all die in the end anyway?”

“Who knows? Why do you think it will be all of you?”

“Bjorn Jandel, even if I had not appeared, you would not have broken here today. You may have crumbled for a moment, but in the end, you would have pulled yourself together and struggled until the very last moment.”

“So…… what are you trying to say?”

Reatlas merely wore an incredibly complicated smile without saying anything.

But instead, a voice rang inside my head.

[Seven people.]

[Remember this, Bjorn Jandel. Seven people avoided the fate of death here today, and whether sooner or later, that fate will one day come for them again.]

[So try to raise him well. Among all humans, he resembles me the most.]

[Who knows? If he grows and grows until he truly reaches a certain ‘level’…]

[He may change not only his own fate, but the fate of others as well.]

With those words, Reatlas opened her mouth again.

“Now then, this is the end.”

“The end?”

“Hoho. Let us meet again next time.”

Immediately after that somewhat sudden farewell, Sven Parab’s body collapsed face-first onto the floor.

‘It hasn’t even been three minutes yet?’

There were still more than two minutes left before Snictura would die.

And then……

Boom—

Unlike before, fine cracks began to spread across the barrier every time Snictura slammed into it.

Boom—

Judging by the speed and size of the cracks, it looked like it would shatter in four or five more hits…

‘She just left like that?’

When I asked how long she could hold it for, Reatlas clearly said it would be long enough for all of us to survive.

Then what was this?

Had what she said earlier been a complete lie?

Right as my thoughts were about to head somewhere unpleasant, the speaker that should have been dead suddenly sparked back on. The door Arta had closed slid open, and a familiar voice echoed out, carrying a faint mechanical distortion.

[Ah, ah…… C-Can you hear me?]

“Auyen……?”

[P-Please come out quickly.]

At those words, I understood everything, and the tension drained from my body.

Right. So this was how it would happen……

We picked up the collapsed Sven Parab and all left the laboratory together.

Boom!

At that exact moment, Snictura finally shattered the barrier and charged toward us.

Boom!

The door closed by a hair’s breadth, barely blocking Snictura.

Boom!

Snictura continued slamming its head into the door, but seeing that the door did not budge, it seemed we could rest easy about this part……

[Hoo……! I am glad I was not too late!]

Hearing the voice, I quickly looked into the air and asked.

“Auyen, what happened?”

How was Auyen speaking through the speakers when I had kept him from entering the boss room with us?

“Don’t tell me you entered the control room?”

[I-I don’t know if it’s a control room…]

“Can you see the inside of the lab through the devices there?”

[Yes! I can see it!]

Then it was definitely the control room. But how had he gotten in there?

As it turned out, the reason was surprisingly simple.

[I was waiting upstairs like you said, but suddenly the doors around me started opening and closing repeatedly. I thought something had gone wrong, so I entered through an open door.]

Apparently, destroying everything in the testing site had caused problems with the machinery above as well.

Well, that made sense. After all, the command room normally became accessible once Arta was defeated.

“But once I went inside, I could see the room you were all in. When I heard you shouting for the door to open, I tried using every device I could find. Then the door opened, and I was able to talk to you through this too!”

In short, it was a chain of events no one could have predicted. Still, I couldn’t call it a simple coincidence either.

So this was meant to happen all along…

Even if the Agent of the Star had not appeared, things would probably have unfolded this way.

We would have continued fighting desperately and, after the seven casualties that Reatlas mentioned occurred, the door would have finally opened, enabling us to escape from that damned laboratory just in time.

BOOOOOOM

I couldn’t help turning my head when another heavy impact made the wall shake. That also made Auyen speak through the speaker again.

[It is still rampaging inside. J-Just in case, perhaps you should come up?]

“No, it should be fine.”

[Yes. Then should I come down?]

“No. Stay there and wait for us.”

“Understood.”

Boom! Bang! Boom!

For a while, the door kept shaking from the impacts on the other side. Eventually, however, the rhythm began to change. The gaps between each blow grew shorter and sharper, until the sounds stopped entirely.

Was it finally dead?

I didn’t need to think about it for long. The sensation of gaining experience from defeating a rank-one monster was impossible to mistake.

「Snictura has been defeated. EXP +9.」]

Snictura was dead.

[…I-It has collapsed, Captain!]

With that confirmation, there was no longer any room for doubt.

In the end, despite everything, we had succeeded in killing a rank-one monster without a single sacrifice……

‘The essence……’

I almost asked whether an essence had appeared, but barely managed to hold myself back.

“Auyen, open the door.”

Yes, something like this had to be confirmed with my own two eyes.

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