“I feared you, but I feared harming him more… and, now, he is gone… my Zoemi… there is no trace of him in any timeline Not a single one. As if he never existed outside the memories. He was just like me, the only one through all of time. Even the current you only remember him because your avatar merged with his remains.”

“…”

Finally, the presence, Miriette Aperaete Bellcephora, looked up, revealing her tear-stained face to the speechless and terrified mass who was has become the original Cherro.

“H-hold on…! My princess…! W-wait…! If the me back on the surface consumed him, doesn’t that mean that he lives in me and…”

The darkness melting seamlessly with the void of space started panicking and fluctuated in a hurry, attempting to get away from the so-called closest being to god that the world that Zoemi lived in had, but the being’s sheer planet-like mass made it unable to reach the satisfying speed.

“No, it doesn’t. He is truly gone. Perish.”

Presence raised her thin hand and pointed a single tiny finger at the terror that had haunted her for countless lifetimes, far longer than anyone else would be willing to brave through…

“N-noooooooooOOOOOOOOOOOOO…!”

The existence cry out as its message changed from a normal voice to a high-pitched squeal as a continent-sized hole was punched straight through its entirety due to the little girl’s power.

Without letting the original Cherro have even one more word in, the murdered second princess moved her finger in a counterclockwise motion, causing the gaping hole in the existence’s smoke-like body to twist…

No, it wasn’t the wound that was twisting – it was the entirety of the original Cherro being ripped out from the inside.

Before the platinum-haired girl blinked, the entire planet-sized mass of darkness was gone without a trace, leaving her all alone up on the outer layers of the atmosphere of the planet she was born at.

“…is this a part of me growing up that you wanted to achieve…? You stupid toy… Haven’t you realized that I wasn’t just running? I wanted to save you too…”

The little girl’s shoulders slumped down as she looked back down on towards the planet’s surface.

It looked similar enough to the world that she found Zoemi’s soul in – of course, it had its fair share of differences…

…the main one being around two-fifths of the world has been cut off from the rest by a mana barrier that gathered superstorms on both sides…

The line of death.

Only a handful of people ever crossed it and lived long enough to tell the tale… just to die within a few years after anyways.

The presence was the being that spawned that barrier into existence.

The rest of the world didn’t have mana – the truth was that mana originated as a bacteria that infected both the organic and inorganic tissue causing it to mutate.

There was no line of death to contain it in the timeline that the presence originated from, but molding the planet to her whims was easy after she had eons to perfect the method – much to the dismay of the actual god in charge of that world.

“Umm… oh great primordial? I see that you’ve dealt with the pest troubling you…”

And speaking off, as the platinum-haired girl was staring blankly towards the surface of the world, another being showed within her line of sight and communicated with her timidly.

“As you can see.”

The platinum-haired girl nodded and blessed the being with her attention.

Funnily enough – the gray-haired necromancer, Aspaekony, was completely right in calling the presence the closest being to god their world had.

Although it was only about the part of the world separated by the line of death – and that the presence was something more than just a mere god.

In the timeline she currently occupied in her physical form, she was the very power that spawned the concept of time into existence. She was the origin of everything. The great primordial.

…who knew what kind of insane feats were possible to be achieved as long as one fully mastered their talents…

The creature in question didn’t look like much, it was actually similar in shape and size to the presence herself – a form that the creature chose and molded itself after attaining godhood in a completely different world, far, far away.

The only major difference between the two beings was that the creature completely lacked a face of any sort.

“…if I am allowed to ask… what are your intentions from now on…?”

The faceless deity asked anxiously rubbing its hands together.

“I already told you before that I am not interested in the energy coming from this place.”

“Then…?”

Presence wiped her teary face and shrugged her shoulders, causing the faceless being to perk up with cautious excitement.

“I don’t feel like have any connection left there. I will erase myself from this timeline. Don’t bully my people or I will come back to punish you.”

The platinum-haired girl sighed and reached out her hand.

“O-of course not…! I would not dare…! Oh, great primordial!”

The faceless being flinched and backed off – despite having no eyes, it was clear that its attention was focused solely on the movement of the little girl…

*click*

“!!!”

The presence snapped her fingers and the being raised its hands defensively, unable to hold back its fear.

“…?”

But as it felt no damage being done to it, the faceless being began looking around in search of changes.

When it finally looked over at the planet at its feet…

“The line of death…?!”

The being gasped, seeing that there was no trace of the barrier that was blocking the world of mana

from the world that it was ruling over as a benevolent god.

” I almost forgot – that world is in the middle of its catastrophic event, so if you want to prevent it from becoming a barren world instead of a mine, you might want to aid the mana users.”

The presence added dismissively as if it wasn’t that important and went silent…

“Wait…! Oh great primordial, are you… eh…?”

The faceless deity wanted to make sure that the presence was serious, but when it moved its head up, it found the space empty.

The great primordial, the presence, of the murdered second princess, Miriette Aperaete Bellcephora, was already gone, with no word or sign to signal her departure.

But she was indeed gone, taking all of her powers with her…

“EH?! EEEEHHHHH?! HOLD ON, SHE WAS ACTUALLY SERIOUS ABOUT THE CATASTROPHIC EVENT?! NOOOO! SHE WAS! THERE’S A DEMON-LORD-LEVEL THREAT RAMPAGING IN THE MANA USER’S TERRITORY?! HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO GET A HERO FROM ANOTHER WORLD IN TIME TO BATTLE THAT?!”

The faceless god stared at the empty space where the presence should be and then back at the world that they were ruling over and panicked as the information that was held back from them, flooded their brain…

“Eh…? There already are two candidates there?”

The faceless god flinched and gasped, as it turned out that things weren’t as bad as they looked at the first glance.

“AH! ONE OF THEM IS A CHILD OF MY STAR POWER USER TOO?! YES! THAT’S IT~, YOU WILL BECOME MY CHAMPION! WAKE UP CHOSEN HERO! IT’S NO TIME TO BE DEAD! YOU GOT THE DEMON LORD TO KILL!”

———-

“…eh…?”

*thump*

Miriette’s eyes widened and she suddenly dropped to her knees as her hair and eyes turned so dark green they looked almost black.

“What the hell? What happened, you cunning fox?”

Horeo looked away from Ehmi and the incapacitated Cherro, staring at Miriette with a worried expression.

“…the.. the time attribute…! It… it is gone…!”𝞸𝗏𝓛xt.𝚌𝓞𝑚

‘IT’S WHAT?!”

Miriette gasped, breathing heavily, staring in disbelief at her trembling hands, causing the gold-haired king to shout, taken aback.

“Odd… why does it feel like something gone missing inside of me…? That certainly is intriguing, but expected nonetheless – fate always favors heroes.”

“!!!”

Although it was an obvious outcome considering the dark-haired girl wasn’t joking, Cherro speaking as he landed safely on the crystalized ground made Horeo tens up and slowly turn back to face the self-proclaimed hero.

“…ghhh…!”

Before becoming ghastly-pale and swaying on his feet too.

“Eh…? And why are you looking like that?!”

Miriette gulped down her saliva and summoned back her noble-lady high and mighty attitude, scoffing in disbelief at the gold-haired king.

“…I… don’t know… most of my mana suddenly disappeared… uuu… uuuuuuuh…! Zoemi…! You cannot be dead…!”

,m Horeo shrugged his shoulders before his chin started to tremble and he… began to cry…

“What in the world…?! Wait… no… are, are you suffering from mana depletion?! NOW?!”

“S-sorry… It’s just.. Zoemi… our Zoemi…!”

The dark-haired girl went wide-eyed and shouted, causing the mana-depleted Horeo to apologize and start sobbing uncontrollably.

“That’s something I was not expecting… both of your shadows suddenly shrunk… and I haven’t done anything for that to happen…”

Cherro raised his brow and looked between the dark-haired girl and the gold-haired boy.

“…h-hey… hubby… since the fight… seem to be on hold… could you, you know… heal your lovely wife…?”

Ehmi whose wounds were already getting better of her breathed out and asked, trying her best to smile despite the damage that Roiso’s acid has done to her.

“Ah, right, I almost forgot about you, old hag.”

“…hubby… I asked you to not call me that. Arent you over a month older than me…?”

Cherro scoffed, rolling his eyes at the crimson-haired girl, visibly upsetting her, which at that point was like kicking a person when they were down.

“Do not talk over me.”

The self-proclaimed her o groaned in actual disgust in his voice and shook his head.

“I was actually thinking about what to do with you though.”

He said unexpectedly, making Ehmi perk up just a little bit.

“…hubby~! I knew that you wouldn’t just leave me like…”

The crimson-haired girl let out a relieved voice and breathed out in relief…

“I am ending this relationship.”

“…that…”

Cherro declared, causing Ehmi to stumble back and still finish her sentence despite receiving mental damage that she was not expecting in the least.

“You… you want a divorce? Now? After all, I’ve done for you?”

Ehmi asked in a broken voice, half-hoping that it was some poorly-timed joke… which it was most definitely not…

“Divorce? Goodness, no! Of course not! A divorced hero doesn’t sound like a hero to me. A widowed hero, though – that sounds like solid character development.”

*STAB* *STAB* *STAB*

Cherro scoffed waving his hand dismissively as if he thought his wife’s statement was outright silly – the thing was, that as his arm moved, three chained jet-black daggers shot out embedding themselves in Ehmi’s forehead, throat, and heart consecutively.

*thump*

“Don’t worry – you will forever be a part of me, your magic will, at least.”

Although the crimson-haired girl’s body has hit the crystalized ground already, the self-proclaimed hero still spoke as if Ehmi was alive.

“…I better be reunited with Zoemi after I die…”

Miriette who was the closest one to have a sound mind in that situation straightened her back and breathed out, closing her eyes prepared for what had to be coming next…