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Crunch…!!

“Gigege…”

“I think it’s all tidied up now.”

After shattering and immobilizing all of Acrane’s legs, I gracefully sat on top of it.

As Acrane fell, the little spiders under its control also collapsed.

It wasn’t exactly hive mind, but most of the strength of those little spiders came from Acrane.

Yena crawled out from among the corpses of thousands of little spiders, gasping for breath.

“I-I almost died, nya…”

“Don’t be so dramatic. You weren’t that strong.”

“It’s Lily’s fault, nya…”

Yena, moaning, barely managed to drag herself over to me, but she wasn’t wrong.

Acrane had indeed gotten stronger, but that was only a slight increase in its main body’s power.

Yena could easily handle the little spiders roaming around.

There were just so many, after all, but with Yena’s abilities, it should have been a piece of cake.

‘Was she already a bit worn out?’

Holy Healing restores the body and strength, but it can do nothing about mental fatigue.

Since we had already fought once, she might be a bit tired.

I healed Yena’s wounds and got off Acrane’s body.

“For now, just rest. I’ll take care of the finale.”

“Got it, nya…”

“Gigigigi…”

Acrane.

If I leave it like this, it will surely cause indiscriminate slaughter and destruction.

From its perspective, it might feel wronged for being blamed for something that hasn’t even started yet, but that’s the way history works.

Enraged, Acrane will invade human villages, killing recklessly, while I will try to stop it by circling the planet and delaying time…

…?

“Lily?”

I flew up for a moment towards the empty sky.

This place was quite far from my village.

Feeling something unusual, I slowly descended back down and approached Acrane.

If my suspicion was correct…

“……”

“Gigegek… save me, angel…”

“I have one question.”

“I’ll say anything, anything!”

“Which way were you headed?”

“Gigegek. That’s…”

Kuhung!

I placed the hammer on its back.

As the holy power of destruction imbued in the hammer crushed its thick exoskeleton, Acrane began to thrash about in panic.

“Keek!”

“Answer the question. Which way were you headed?”

“I was going to kill the humans! The human bastards!”

“Which village?”

“Gigegek… I-I….”

Acrane trembled and pointed with its severed leg.

A brightly lit village, despite the early dawn.

That place…

‘It’s a place that must not fall right now.’

At least it needs to stay intact for another two years.

“Are you sure?”

“I-I’m not lying…!”

“……”

Clang!

I lifted the hammer off Acrane’s body.

Thinking it had escaped the brink of death, Acrane let out a sigh of relief.

I looked up at the starry night sky, where stars were still shimmering even at this moment.

If this is the time…

“Why are you acting like that, nya?”

“…The timing is different. The time Acrane attacks and now are not the same.”

Acrane won’t destroy nearby villages for at least another two years.

If it was a village I didn’t know, I could let it slide, but that place is far too familiar to me.

‘A village that influenced ‘that day.’’

It was one of the very reasons that kept me busy back then.

And that was after the war had fully begun.

Yena tilted her head in confusion.

“But didn’t Lily say this place feels like a dream and things might get mixed up?”

“Right.”

“So why are you worried about it being changed, nya?”

“I’m not worried about the change.”

“What then, nya?”

“……”

This place has all kinds of time, people, and places jumbled together, but the overall structure is likely to remain intact.

For instance, some important events always come with preceding warnings and smaller incidents.

This is something that, no matter how many simulations I ran, always yielded similar results.

And to put it the other way around…

‘If appropriate warnings and incidents are fulfilled, what is supposed to happen will “definitely” happen.’

“I’m only worried about what comes with the changes.”

“?”

The Eight Pillars of the Celestial Race.

A being that greatly changed me when I had given up everything and rare among the Celestial Race for rejecting my kind—the ‘Falling Star.’

‘God of Spear.’

‘He’ is about to drop to this land.

■

The Celestial Race cherishes its kin, but that’s only when it’s their own ‘side.’

They don’t hesitate to slay or destroy those outside their power, be it clans, groups, or families, while raising honorable and righteous justifications.

And naturally, even the leaders of the Celestial Race, the ‘Eight Pillars,’ kept each other in check.

“There are eight powerful beings in the Celestial Race. Regardless of clan or faction, those on the top are overwhelmingly strong.”

“Stronger than Lily?”

“Not even close.”

Even at my prime, I couldn’t touch the Eight Pillars.

They are not just ‘strong’; they are beings akin to specific ‘concepts’ or ‘worlds’—entities that cannot even be dared to be rivaled.

Yena tilted her head, not understanding.

“Uh… so they’re just super strong, nya?”

“To put it simply, can you defeat the sun, Yena?”

“The sun? What are you talking about?”

“Yes.”

“…? It’s a star; you can’t defeat it, right?”

A star that endlessly emits heat and energy in the universe beyond Earth.

Could you really defeat such a star?

It’s ridiculous to even discuss the notion of ‘winning’ from the onset.

It would be nearly impossible to even stand before it or even lay eyes on it; why argue about winning or anything?

The sun likely wouldn’t even care if someone passed by.

I nodded.

“That’s how it is. The Eight Pillars are beings where even the notion of confronting them doesn’t exist.”

“Hmm…”

“Entities that live eternally and possess power close to infinity. By the way, the Demon Race also has similar entities called the ‘Six Demon Kings.’ Their level of strength is almost equivalent.”

“…Are we able to defeat them?”

Yena asked, looking worried.

This wasn’t just about the situation of this place.

What about the Celestial and Demon Race that appeared as a disaster this time?

Can users really face such beings, no matter how much they struggle?

I answered very plainly and clearly.

“Nope.”

“Eh?”

“You absolutely can’t win. Even if Yena trains for a million years, she can’t win.”

“That’s a bit harsh, isn’t it?!”

“But it’s the truth.”

Sadly, reality is reality.

Even if an earthworm writhes in the ground and exerts all its effort, it could turn into a dragon drifting through the cosmos, but it can never become a star born and raised.

Perhaps that’ll never come to pass.

“Even those magnificent angels and demons can’t hope to rival the Eight Pillars and Six Demon Kings. Only those with unfathomable powers, innate strength, and endless effort can get to that position.”

“……”

“Of course, that position isn’t maintained without change. Sometimes they die or get replaced—”

“Is it possible for Lily?”

“…Me?”

“If Lily trains, can she grow to that level?”

If I trained?

To reach a level I once couldn’t achieve.

It was a goal I had pursued at one point, almost impossibly so.

Given that I’ve been granted enough time, if I trained for a long time…

“…I’m not sure.”

“Lily can’t?”

“If it means acquiring a power on that level, it might be possible. It would take an incredibly long time, though.”

Whether it takes ten thousand years or a hundred thousand years, I can just keep going.

Based on my infinitely given lifespan, I could endlessly refine myself.

Then I could obtain strong power.

But gaining that kind of ‘level’ is a different story.

“I don’t know how to ascend to the Pillar. It’s not something someone can teach you. I might never reach it.”

“Hmmm….”

“And I don’t particularly want to.”

“Why not?”

“Well…”

If it were the past, I might’ve needed that kind of power, but at this current point, it’s unnecessary.

I don’t particularly crave for that kind of strength.

I think it’s not bad as I am now.

“I think this much is already excessive. Destroying planets with a punch is only fun at first; later, it’ll get boring.”

“I think it’d be fun though, nya.”

“Anyway, I need to bring this to an end quickly before ‘he’ arrives.”

If I run into him, surely bad things would happen to me.

I need to wrap this up fast and get out of here.

 

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