Chapter 198

Chapter 198. That, I Agree

Was it due to the weakening of the barrier, which caused the natural energy to surge with greater density?

The spirits were now capable of peering into the timeline with far greater precision.

While it did not quite match the clarity experienced during the golden age of Baharmut, they faced little trouble visualizing the immediate days ahead.

A vivid projection began to materialize within the spirits’ Mental Image.

The Savior was sprinting.

Having completely demolished the fourth barrier stone, he was now racing across the terrain of Baharmut with four Infernals hot on his heels.

Damn it, what’s the play here?

Even as the complaint left his lips, the Savior glanced over his shoulder, his features twisted in genuine irritation.

Demolishing the barrier stones had gone smoothly, but the problem of the pursuing Infernals remained entirely unresolved. He had harbored a faint hope that breaking every single stone would strip the Infernals of their directive and shut them down, but that expectation proved completely empty.

At this juncture, the Savior was forced to make a call.

To turn and fight, or to keep running.

In reality, there wasn’t much of a choice at all. No matter how expansive Baharmut might be, it remained a confined territory. If he continued to lead a chase through the ancient structures, the entire ruins might come crashing down around them.

Thus, standing his ground was the sole logical conclusion…

Yet, the Savior chose a different path entirely.

You need to leave now.

Leave? Me?

Yeah. You’ve gained your freedom, so clear out. Stop lingering around.

Directing those words to the spirit keeping pace beside him, the Savior pivoted sharply in a new direction, not even bothering to wait for a reply.

However, the spirit couldn’t bring itself to simply abandon the Savior. Caught in a wave of indecision, it wavered back and forth before finally speaking up.

I… I am curious.

Fine. Ask quickly and then get moving.

Why am I called wyvern?

What kind of nonsense is that?

I saw it. In a future I witnessed before. Friend, we formed a contract. But my name was wyvern.

In the timeline it had previously envisioned, a bond had been forged between itself and the Savior. Given that destiny, why would the Savior choose a name like “Wyvern” for it?

It was an inquiry completely disconnected from the immediate peril surrounding them. It was also a riddle the Savior could not easily untangle.

What the spirit had perceived was merely a glimpse of what was to come; the one responsible for bestowing the name “Wyvern” was not the Savior standing here right now, but the Savior of that future.

When the spirit had initially approached him without hesitation, claiming to possess “personal curiosities,” the desire to resolve this specific riddle had been a driving factor.

However.

The reason the spirit pressed the Savior for an answer now was not driven by mere personal intrigue.

It was because… the Savior’s gaze carried a bizarre, unsettling stillness.

It looked as though he had resolved himself to a specific outcome.

Though the spirit could not fathom what he was planning, it threw out the question in a desperate bid to stretch out the passing seconds. Of course, delaying things wouldn’t alter the ultimate outcome, but it was the only contribution the innocent entity could manage.

The Savior answered after a brief pause.

Did I really?

You did.

I see. Well, there probably wasn’t a profound reason behind it. I just happen to despise wyverns.

…You despised me?

The Savior let out a dry chuckle and waved his hand, indicating that wasn’t the case. He parted his lips to explain further—

Bang!

The instant they shattered through a colossal partition and breached an entirely new chamber, the spirit waiting for an explanation understood that their time had run out.

The newly uncovered area was a massive subterranean hollow. It was a war zone, heavily scarred by the remnants of intense combat.

Occupying that space were a familiar Infernal, a young boy, and an elderly mage.

The boy was barely evading the Infernal’s onslaught, his eyes heavy with exhaustion, which was precisely when he caught sight of the Savior.

Friend.

His voice carried no strength. Yet, a spark of vitality returned to his expression.

As if a sudden reservoir of energy had opened up within him, the boy conjured a massive wall of solid ice to force the Infernal backward, turning to offer a greeting—but the Savior merely cast a brief glance toward him and raised a hand.

It was a gesture of farewell.

Fr…iend?

In that exact instant, the Savior drove a heavy strike directly toward the Infernal that had been engaging the boy.

…Boom!

A resonant explosion rang out. The strike lacked true devastating power, conveying almost no physical momentum.

But devastation wasn’t the objective. From the very beginning, the intent was solely to draw the creature’s aggression.

Ultimately, the Savior’s gambit succeeded perfectly.

Grrrr—!

The Infernal shifted its entire mass, locking its focus onto the Savior.

Demian, I’ll catch up with you later.

What are you planning?

Hold on. I’ve figured out a method to wipe them all out in one go.

It was a complete fabrication.

There was no secret strategy.

Yet the boy, entirely unaware of the deception, nodded with a look of sudden understanding, his previous anxiety vanishing instantly. Anyone in his position would have believed it without a second thought. The expression on the Savior’s face was indistinguishable from someone who had genuinely unlocked a path to victory.

Then step back.

No! I can assist—

Tsk. You’re only blocking my way.

Having successfully drawn the initial Infernal’s gaze, the Savior secured precious seconds to position himself against the four additional Infernals that had pursued him.

Once the boy had completely retreated from the epicenter of the conflict—

The Savior took off running.

He fled as far as his legs could carry him.

Directly away from his allies.

…The Savior had resolved to take on all five Infernals completely by himself.

When he had created sufficient distance between himself and the rest of the group—

The Savior came to a halt, a grin spreading across his face.

Hey, aren’t you going to run along?

I… I…

Suit yourself. But tell me, do you know how to deal with monsters that refuse to stay dead?

I… I do not know.

The Savior watched the closing distance of the Infernals, his smirk widening. He rolled his shoulders, cracking his neck as he uttered his conclusion.

If they won’t die…

If they won’t die?

You just keep hitting them until they do.

It was a crude, simplistic approach that abandoned all sophisticated strategy.

Right then, the Savior dug his heels into the earth and propelled himself upward.

His form soared into the heavens. Once he reached an elevation high enough to look down upon the gathered Infernals, a localized mass of energy gathered at his fingertips, erupting with the brilliance of compressed lightning.

First, one down.

KWA-A-A-AANG—!

A cataclysmic shockwave erupted alongside a deafening roar, signaling the violent opening of the conflict.

…And utilizing their temporal vision, the spirits observed every single exchange, missing not a solitary fraction of the engagement.

The actual duration of the fight was irrelevant. Ultimately, the entire event was a sequence displaying itself inside their Mental Image. Regardless of how many hours elapsed within the projection, the time ticking away in the physical world amounted to nothing more than a heartbeat.

When the dust of the conflict finally settled—

[…Ah.]

A collective sigh escaped the spirits.

It was a grueling battle that spanned an entire day.

The Savior had fought the Infernals using a level of raw might that left even the spirits utterly dumbfounded. Every single time radiance burst from his palms, the massive frames of the Infernals reeled, giving rise to violent tempests of lightning. His silhouette flickered out of existence, reappearing in rapid succession across the battlefield.

F-friend. Call me wyvern.

The spirit stubbornly held onto the identity of Wyvern. Through their mystical bond, it channeled whatever remaining energy it possessed to support the Savior. It was an act of incredible bravery—completely suppressing its primal terrors. Such a feat could only be achieved by an ancient spirit, one that had retained its consciousness across millennia.

Yet, no miraculous salvation occurred.

Wyvern… go.

In the end, the spirit dissolved into nothingness.

And then, as one Infernal collapsed, followed by a second… until finally all five monsters ground to a absolute halt—

…Cough.

Surrounded by the fractured landscape, the Savior closed his eyes.

That was the conclusion.

Despite seeing the end, the spirits did not sever their connection to the future timeline.

While they were deeply moved by the Savior’s incredible display of power, a genuine resolution to the crisis remained absent. It was an agonizing truth they wished to turn away from, but until a proper path forward revealed itself, they had to maintain their vision.

…Friend?

Not long after the Savior collapsed to the ground, the boy drew near. Following closely behind him were an elder spiritist and a youth with brown hair.

Beholding the motionless Savior, they were entirely unable to process the scene, their eyes trembling with profound shock.

As the timeline continued to progress—

[…Is there truly no other way?]

The spirits initiated a frantic debate among themselves.

[A way… exists. Strike them. Destroy them.]

[And that is the solution?]

[A solution, yes. But the Savior perishes.]

Their perspectives refused to align.

And naturally so—because the brutal approach the Savior had utilized to bring down the Infernals could scarcely be categorized as an actual “strategy.”

Given that, what was the correct course of action?

Should they simply permit the witnessed timeline to occur exactly as shown? Were they to remain passive observers while the Savior met his demise?

Deep uncertainty gripped the spirits. Like waves fracturing the surface of a placid Mental Image, a profound restlessness swept through them.

Just as the Mental Image began to distort and their temporal vision threatened to shatter entirely—

A single spirit, the most ancient among the gathering, who had observed the events in absolute silence, finally spoke.

[Something is wrong.]

[Wrong? In what way?]

The spirits projected their collective doubt toward the words of the ancient entity.

This particular spirit was normally reserved, yet in ages past, it had served as the foundational pillar that anchored their entire race. It was a being that had walked alongside the very first master of Baharmut, once holding an elevated status that governed all spirits. Though it no longer retained that formal authority, none among the gathered entities possessed greater wisdom.

As the collective focused on its skepticism, the ancient spirit elaborated.

[What are we doing?]

[…Us?]

[In this vision of the future, we are completely missing.]

[…?]

The assertion remained thoroughly perplexing. They were absent from this future?

However, following the ancient spirit’s next clarification, the entities began to perceive the inconsistency.

[We made a choice. To assist. Yet we perform no actions here. Inexplicable.]

In short… if this were the genuine, unalterable path ahead, it should depict them intervening on behalf of the Savior and his companions, yet there was absolutely no evidence of their involvement.

[Indeed. Inexplicable.]

[Why is it inexplicable?]

[Quiet, fool. Step aside.]

[I speak with reason.]

The confusion intensified across the assembly of spirits. They were entirely at a loss. Why would their future selves remain totally passive? Had they simply scattered to the winds the moment they obtained their liberation?

Then—

[There is one explanation.]

[…An explanation?]

Prompted by the ancient spirit’s assertion, the gathered entities quieted their frantic discussions to pay close attention.

This time, however, the concept seemed challenging even for the ancient being to articulate, as an extended pause followed.

After a considerable period of silence, the ancient spirit finally broke the quiet.

[The future… can be flawed.]

[…?]

A momentary stillness gripped the chamber. Then, chaos erupted.

[Preposterous!]

[It has never faltered.]

[The vision is absolute.]

They rejected the notion entirely. Their disbelief was understandable—the prophetic sight of Baharmut had never recorded a single error throughout its history. Yet now, without warning, they were being told that Baharmut’s vision was displaying an incorrect outcome?

Nevertheless, the ancient spirit stood firm against their objections.

[No. It has failed frequently.]

[…?]

[It is complex to articulate. Simply put, it has happened often.]

Though it claimed the mechanics were difficult to put into words, the ancient being held clear memories. Throughout the long march of history, the former masters of Baharmut would fly into rages whenever the precognitive visions failed to align with reality. It remembered the sight of countless spiritists dedicating their entire existences to researching methods to patch those flawed visions.

Spirits who maintained little care for the affairs of mortals might easily have overlooked it, but the ancient one had cataloged every instance, retaining memories of discrepancies that the others had simply ignored.

And above all else—

This isn’t the first instance where the timeline appeared fractured.

That was the truth.

Even the initial glimpse they had caught of the Savior, upon deeper reflection, contained inconsistencies.

By all accounts, the Savior was meant to set foot in Baharmut entirely unaccompanied—yet had he not arrived flanked by three distinct companions?

Granted, one could argue the timeline shifted the precise moment they “observed” it, subsequently drawing the Savior to this location in accordance with that vision…

Even so, a sense of unresolved contradiction lingered.

Then—

[But that remains a mere hypothesis. It lacks certainty.]

A voice emerged, challenging the ancient spirit’s theory.

The elder entity received the doubt with absolute composure.

[Correct. It is a hypothesis.]

Indeed, it was nothing more than an educated guess.

However—

[A method exists to verify it.]

[A method?]

Responding to the voice laced with profound intrigue, the ancient spirit hesitated for a fraction of a second before delivering its answer.

[Observe the future once more. Then the truth will clarify.]

[…Ah.]

In other words, if the sequence they had just scrutinized was genuinely set in stone… then peering into the timeline a second time would yield an identical framework. The very act of “observation” inherently introduces minor variances, but the core path remains largely consistent.

Therefore—

[We shall look again.]

…The spirits resolved to peer into the shifting tides of time once more.

For the sake of the Savior.