Chapter 208

* * *

The three of them hesitated, then glanced at me and the Director before heading to where Gilbert was.

With this, we were left alone.

“Ah, you have no idea how long I’ve waited for this moment.”

Despite everything, the Director was relaxed.

Oracle.

Was it true that he could see the future?

“Director.”

Martin's voice flowed out through the Black Knight armor.

Even so, the Director remained motionless in his chair at the table with the hologram on.

He just offered a greeting from behind his mask.

“Ah, we haven’t greeted each other yet, have we? How have you been, Sir Martin. It’s been a while.”

“I didn't come here to exchange greetings.”

“How does it feel to glimpse the realm of diamond, beyond platinum?”

Beyond platinum, the realm of diamond.

“It was peaceful for a while after the scales tipped. You gained great and numerous powers, but had no place to use them. Therefore, you did not know that you had gained the power to glimpse diamond, albeit for a fleeting moment… for 10 minutes. Is that right?”

“What are you trying to say. Director, you should know that I… did not come here to play games.”

I don't know how things got to this point.

Outside, the academy teachers and the Peacemakers were fighting the Platinum Knights who had received the Buster Order, and until just now, I was fighting the protagonist, Gilbert.

…No, it was a ‘one-sided violence’ that was a waste of the word ‘fought’.

The suppression of the Buster Order was only possible for 10 minutes.

The fight with Gilbert started in the 7-minute mark and ended in the 5-minute mark.

It took 1 minute to get here.

4 minutes left.

However, I was confident.

Confident that I could beat the Director to a pulp even if only 1 minute was left.

“Principal Lukfels has long suspected the Humanity Preservation Agency, and by extension, me.”

I didn't say anything, but he started talking as if he had heard the whole story.

“I admit it. I admit it and more. It would be incompetence not to be suspicious. It's an agency that even the Emperor of the Imperium Empire respects, but when you look at it, it does nothing.”

His tone of voice… was really annoying.

And yet, it was familiar.

A similar tone of voice, I had heard it somewhere before….

Annoyance slowly crept up on me.

“But I hope you understand. No, even if everyone else doesn't understand, you must.”

“What nonsense are you talking about.”

“It was a damn fate.”

Finally, the Director stood up from his seat.

“Knowing that an ‘ending’ where 99.9% of humanity will be annihilated is coming if things continue as they are, how could I just stand by?”

I flinched for a moment but then remembered.

According to Lukfels’ deduction, the Director of the Humanity Preservation Agency had a machine that could see the future through over-technology science and magitech engineering.

If so, he might have seen such an ending in advance, right.

“The ‘protagonist’ whom the world had chosen as its savior saved the world. But he could not save humanity.”

Yes, that could be.

If the world had chosen him, then he was the protagonist, wasn't he.

“So I thought. This won't do. I have to twist fate. I saw countless fates and found the parts that would become the biggest turning points. But finding them isn't everything. How? In what way? It doesn't change just because you want to change it. Among them, I had to select the fate that would have the biggest impact. And I also had to find a way to achieve that turning point.”

…A turning point, of fate.

Yes, so far, it was a plausible expression.

“So I was able to find it in a world I saw through the time regression project that the Emperor and Pope of Cosmos carried out long ago, blinded by desire. A single soul most similar to that turning point. I brought it over and inserted it into the turning point. It was a success. But the price was so great that I haven't been able to use my proper power since then. Ah, did I tell you? The name of the singularity that changed that turning point is….”

….

“Kim An-hyun.”

I reached out and snatched the Director's neck.

- Know-It-All (Lv 4) is flabbergasted. This, this is unbelievable.

“Kuh, huk!”

“Who are you?”

I squeezed the suffering Director’s neck even harder.

- Wild Instinct (Master) repeats that it can never… forgive.

“How do you know that name.”

Kim An-hyun.

“Who are you? Who! Are you! Director!”

My true name, not Martin’s.

How did he know it!

“Keuh, i-ku, keo, kurrrk…!”

A groaning sound of suffering could be heard from behind the mask.

‘So that’s what it was.’

Oracle.

This person was the Oracle.

Yes, he was the Oracle, damn it!

Damn it!

The Director frantically taps my arm with both hands.

I exerted superhuman patience and loosened my grip.

The Director, freed from my grasp, tumbles ungracefully and coughs several times as if in pain.

“Get up.”

“S-slowly….”

“I said get up.”

“Kugh…!”

I forcibly grabbed the Director, lifted him up, and threw him into a chair.

He let out a groan and righted himself.

“First, stop that Buster Order.”

“…I’ve already given the stop command.”

Even in the worst-case scenario, the Director was relaxed.

“By now, the Star Child, the Principal, and the others should be on their way here with the Platinum Knights who received the Buster Order.”

I heard footsteps from behind.

“More detailed stories, later. Is that okay?”

“How can I trust you.”

“I won’t run away. It will be different from that time.”

I had to admit, even if I didn't want to, when 'that time' the Director was talking about was.

The day I first possessed Martin’s body.

He had left only a note saying to change Martin’s fate and survive in this world, and then contact was cut off.

The Director’s identity was….

Oracle, that is.

“You're asking me to believe that, Recola…?”

Recola.

The mysterious eccentric who had approached me, a perennially failed third-rate novelist, disguised as a fan and handed me the synopsis of the original work of this world, ‘The Fallen Crown Prince of the Cosmos Empire’.

This Director, wearing a mask in front of me, about whom even Know-It-All and Wild Instinct could find out nothing, was Recola.

“Believe me. I must have had my reasons for calling you here, right? The fact that I specifically placed Gilbert to fight you is also part of it. You wanted to fight at least once, right? At full power against Gilbert.”

“….”

“If you wish, shall I recite a meaningless vow? That I will tell you all the truth?”

“….”

The footsteps grew closer.

…It must be too late.

It seemed I would have to hear the more detailed story later.

“Are you alright?! Oh….”

I heard the Star Child’s voice from behind.

His tone was one of great surprise upon seeing me.

He was a diamond, so he would recognize another diamond.

But unlike him… I was on a time limit.

- Know-It-All (Lv 4) releases its state of concentration. A wave of mental fatigue washes over you.

- Wild Instinct (Master) releases its berserk state. Physical fatigue has reached its limit.

- Skill, Star Constellation Advent, has been deactivated. It will take one day to reuse. Your body and soul, which have accepted immense power, are overloaded.

“Ugh….”

I staggered and collapsed.

“Martin!”

“Master!”

“Boss!”

With various names calling out to me, my consciousness gradually faded.

* * *

“…Mmm….”

“Master, are you alright?”

A calm voice.

It was Lilac's voice, soothing my weary soul.

I struggled to lift my eyelids and saw her face.

“Lilac….”

“It's alright, Master. It's all over. The Director has declared his surrender and even given an explanation. Please rest more.”

“Should I, then….”

When I closed my eyes, sleep came creeping in.

But to just surrender my body to slumber, something was bothering me.

“Lilac…. Are you, alright?”

I wasn't the only one who had used Star Constellation Advent.

I had activated all sorts of things, from berserk to concentration, but even Star Constellation Advent alone caused considerable fatigue.

Belying my worries, Lilac smiled brightly and showed me her clenched fists.

“Yes, I’m fine. I’m a sturdy maid.”

“Yeah….”

I chuckled and closed my eyes.

I think I repeated sleeping and waking up like that.

About half the time, Lilac was there.

There were times when she wasn't, and at those times, I felt lonely and immediately closed my eyes.

It was three days after the day of the raid on the agency that I shook off the sticky and gooey fatigue and got up from my seat.

That day, a package from the agency also arrived.

‘An invitation.’

An artifact that allowed one to visit the agency, and an invitation.

I sighed and placed it on the table.

Lilac frowned, displeased.

“It’s not a trap, is it?”

“It probably isn’t.”

My heart felt heavy.

Recola.

Kim An-hyun.

Martin.

The time had finally come for the masterminds of the possession incident to have a three-way meeting.

“Can you bring me my clothes?”

“Yes, shall I get ready too?”

“…No, for now….”

To bring Lilac, to that three-way meeting…?

‘I have to tell her the truth.’

The fact that I was not Martin, but Kim An-hyun.

But….

‘Today is not the day.’

Even I was confused.

To think that I would meet Recola like this.

“I’ll go alone.”

“Yes, I understand.”

Lilac, who brought my uniform while I was contemplating.

When I stood up from the chair, she began to dress me.

It was now natural to accept her touch.

So natural that Lilac’s heart was directed towards me.

‘That’s why, I’m scared.’

Just in case, just in case.

Really, just in case….

If Lilac’s heart would waver when she found out that I wasn’t Martin….

“I’ll be back.”

“Yes, have a safe trip!”

I activated the artifact, leaving behind the brightly greeting Lilac.

Soon, my vision flashed and changed to a cosmic space.

‘Still the same.’

Even after all that commotion.

There wasn't a single scratch on the cosmic space interior.

[Martin von Targon Ulvhadin, confirmed. Welcome. This is the Humanity Preservation Agency.]

The clusters of stars decorating the space gathered and created a path.

I walked along the path.

‘To think this was a maze.’

I remembered the events of a few days ago vividly.

Perhaps because I had only slept, it was even more so.

As I walked straight along the path, a single door soon came into view.

‘Another banquet hall?’

I thought as I entered, and the first things I saw were crystal balls the size of a human head.

One per table, there seemed to be at least several hundred.

‘This is….’

“There’s a saying, Oracle.”

Oracle.

A word meaning prophecy, oracle.

Or a prophet, a priest.

When I turned my head, the Director was entering through the door I had come through.

…I definitely hadn’t felt any presence.

Did he manipulate the maze…?

“About 110 years ago, with the fall of the Cosmos Empire, all of humanity, from the empires of the continent to the kingdoms and duchies, united as the Humanity Alliance. To protect themselves from various disasters, including the Time Chaos Dungeons that were coveting the continent. The highest governing body that oversees the Humanity Alliance is the Humanity Preservation Agency.”

This was a question the Star Child had once posed to me.

Why had the Humanity Preservation Agency, which did nothing, become the strongest agency representing humanity?

“It’s thanks to the Oracle, the being who sees the future. Because I see the future, I could know in which direction the continent should move forward.”

To see the future.

It was certainly amazing.

But, with just that much ability, it wasn't enough.

Look at the masked Director.

He conceals his identity even in front of the Emperor, and all the nations change their policies at his single word.

Furthermore, this world was a world of swords and magic.

“There must have been a lot of opposition.”

“I’m quite a capable person. Since I could even see the future, the rest was a piece of cake.”

He shrugs his shoulders playfully.

I couldn’t even imagine how much intrigue and politics the Director had gone through to become the Director of the Humanity Preservation Agency.

Now that I looked, the tables on which the crystal balls in this room were placed each had a name written on them.

Imperium, Petrak, Guaguar, Hedem… all were the names of nations.

They were communication spheres.

“But that future ends here.”

As the Director waved his hand, I heard the sound of something heavy changing its shape and form and moving its position.

Soon, a new door was created.

The door opened on its own and welcomed the Director, and I followed him.

Behind the door was a long corridor.

“I have seen the future of this world.”