“Look, a nice and serious talk about romance is good and all, but...”

    Fire Spinning Wheel said so to the Prophet, who was pressing her temple as if she got a headache or something.

    “It’s coming! We gotta move away first!”

    As soon as he finished his words, a Brown Aura surrounded us and advanced towards us.

    -!

    “Dodge it!”

    “No need to say it! Everyone knows we have to dodge it!”

    “...”

    Upon being told off by the Prophet beside me, I pouted before swinging my body.

    EX-Grade Desperation had been active since a while ago, so it wasn’t hard for me to avoid this.

    My body was launched so high in the air after a single jump, which wasn’t a surprising spectacle anymore, but... The Prophet moved exactly in the same way I did, which was quite fascinating if I may say so.

    “...”

    I stared at her, who was currently reaching the same height as me in the air.

    Seriously, though...

    Was this punk affected by Desperation like me or what?

    “-What?”

    As she asked so with a smirk, I could only let out a sigh.

    “...Nothing.”

    Seeing how she was using the exact same ability as me, I couldn’t help but notice...

    That this punk was definitely related to me in some way.

    Everything just fell into place after I retraced what had happened so far just a little bit.

    -The world has been stuck in a loop...

    Starting from the hint that I got from the chancellor’s words...

    I got to know this timeline I was going through wasn’t the ‘first’.

    Because the world had been rewound to the past over and over again. As for the trigger to that, it was probably...

    “Can I ask you something?”

    “Can’t you see what’s going on?! Why do you keep—”

    I pushed my fingers against the ceiling, twisting my whole body to change the direction it was about to go in.

    That was how I avoided the Brown Aura that was about to come rushing towards me again. The Prophet also did it in the same way as me, except that she swung her body in the opposite direction as me. Anyway, this didn’t stop me from continuing what I wanted to say to her. RΑ??o??BE?s?

    “So, I assume that I’m supposed to die here. Am I right?”

    “...”

    Seeing the Prophet shut her mouth at that question, I let out a smirk.

    See? I knew it.

    We’re facing the Brown Devil after all.

    Now, it would get quite complicated if I were to retrace the source of that particular conjecture, but basically, the Brown Devil was...uh, how should I put this...?

    She had been eyeing me for a while now, trying to look for the perfect chance to kill me. That was why she took over the empress’ body at this moment and pulled all this stunt.

    [...But why though?]

    Such a question came from the Soul Linker.

    ...Hm?

    [I mean, she’s a Devil, no? She should be trying to fuck you, why is she trying to kill you instead?]

    ‘...’

    Mister.

    Watch what you’re saying.

    ...Anyway, it’s a little hard to explain, it’s complicated...

    I replied, letting out a deep sigh inwardly.

    So, uh, let’s say that...she hates popular guys.

    [...]

    Hearing my answer, Caliban stayed silent for a while.

    That silence went on even until after me and the Prophet maneuvering around a few more Demonic Aura attacks that came towards us.

    [...What did you say she hates you for?]

    She hates popular guys.

    [...]

    Once again, the silence fell.

    [...Why?]

    Caliban barely managed to ask that. To that, I awkwardly scratched my head.

    Uh, just because...?

    [...Are you telling me that Devils could hate someone for such a trivial reason? I thought they’re the most powerful beings in all dimension—]

    To clarify, she’s the only one who’s like that!

    The Brown Devil was, uh... Let’s say that she was one of the most important milestones that would lead me to the ‘Astral Realm’ later on in the Final Chapter.

    After all, she was an illegitimate child of an Angel and a Devil, the half-blood who had each of her feet in the two worlds.

    But...

    At the same time, that also meant she was someone who had the perfect reason to be ostracized by both worlds.

    She didn’t belong to the Pandemonium, nor did she belong to the Astral Realm. If she was sociable enough to be welcomed by both worlds, her life would probably be better but she wasn’t born with such a nature.

    Instead, she was introverted, sensitive, temperamental—you know, she was one of those people.

    Because of that, she was stuck being a loner for the longest time.

    Riru and Yuria—who were holding his legs—also screamed as their bodies were flying here and there.

    “You guys! Are! In charge of! The best! Parts! Only I—! Whoaaaak—!”

    “M-M-Miss Ri-Ri-Riru! If you can’t hold on, I’ll also—! A-Aaaaargh—!”

    “...”

    Saying that this was a mess would be an understatement.

    It was crazy how he was able to contest the strength of several Devil’s Vessels + the Hero at once. Well, at the very least, it seemed like he was occupied with them for the moment.

    “I’ll promise you, Sword Saint.”

    And for now, that was enough.

    Unlike with the Predator, I had a surefire solution here. There was no reason for me to drag this on for too long.

    “I will save Her Imperial Majesty.”

    “Dowd Campbell—!”

    The Sword Saint shouted with his chest voice that could make people tremble in fear while trying to approach me.

    “...”

    But, before that shout could scare me off, I already started racking my brain.

    What I needed to do now was to overpower the Brown Devil and to make Her Imperial Majesty come to her senses ‘completely’.

    “To do that—”

    “-You’d have to come upon contact with her.”

    The Prophet cut my words while sighing deeply.

    “That was the solution you used the most when it comes to handling the Devils. The success rate was also quite high.”

    “...”

    Seeing how she talked as if she knew me so well, I chuckled before I knew it.

    Yeah, she was right.

    While the difficulty level was completely different, the way I had in mind to approach the Brown Devil wasn’t so different from what I did to the Red Devil.

    Face her, run towards her directly and overpower her.

    “However...”

    The Prophet interrupted my thoughts.

    “You know that you’re going to die if you fail, right?”

    “...That’s why I asked you to help me.”

    I said, letting out a bitter smile.

    If she really was who I thought she was, she’d definitely be able to give me the biggest help in this situation.

    Hearing what I said, the Prophet replied with a smirk.

    “...You will give me my reward. No matter what.”

    “Yeah, sure.”

    “Also, I don’t want the reward you offered. It’s not your ‘first’ time anyway, why would I bother?”

    “...”

    What?

    “I mean...”

    The Prophet said brusquely.

    “You’ve already done it with the Gray Devil.”

    “...”

    The moment the Prophet dropped that explosive statement so shamelessly, a wave of dizziness struck my head.

    She really just said that out loud in front of everyone—?!

    “...What?”

    “...He did what?”

    Hearing the cold voices from the direction where the fierce battle with the Sword Saint was going on, my spine instantly tingled in fear.

    “You guys, just focus on that guy—!”

    Seriously, how could they divide their attention like that?! That was the fucking Sword Saint you were fighting against, you know?! He was the most powerful human in this fucking world!

    However, as if dismissing my concerns...

    “And besides...”

    The Prophet continued with a smirk.

    Well, she was wearing that mask, so I couldn’t tell exactly if she was smirking or not, but from her way of talking, she definitely was smirking under that mask.

    “...My body has been ‘conditioned’ by you. Multiple times. Here, and here. Everywhere.”

    “...”

    “I can mention everything that you’re going to do to me in the future. One by one.”

    “...Please be quiet...!”

    Prophet—!

    What the fuck are you on about—?!?

    “...”

    “...”

    The terrifying pressure I felt from behind my back had doubled compared to earlier.

    [...You know, I think you need to worry about the Brown Devil less, and worry about what’s going to happen to you next more.]

    “...”

    ...At this rate, that might be true.