I spoke to Trail.

‘Use the Eye of Omniscience right now.’

[Hoo. Whose secret was it again? Adin-whatever and someone?]

‘Agril.’

Trail was silent for a moment before replying.

[Well, if we have already peeked at the secrets of spirits, then I guess there’s no reason we can’t look at Agril too.]

‘Right. Show me a secret related to the weakness of the Celestial God.’

[Not sure if there will be one… but, wait a moment.]

Tap.

A screen soon floated up before me.

< The Eye of Omniscience has been used. >

< Current Eye of Omniscience level: 4. Accessible secret grade: A. >

< Search condition: “The secret between Adin Press and Agril.” >

< Secret rank: A. Accessing now. >

Fortunately, it was a secret I could view.

The image of Agril appeared on the screen, and I ground my teeth.

Agril was bound tightly in golden chains.

It wasn’t simply to restrain him.

This was torture.

Clank. Clank.

The chains dug into Agril’s thick skin, tearing it open as they sank into his flesh.

“Groooaaar!”

Agril let out a howl of agony.

And then.

“Have you reflected enough now?”

The Celestial God!

No, that despicable human, Adin Press.

Adin appeared in the same pure-white human form I had seen at the Starting Point before.

But there was one difference.

‘…He looks smaller?’

[Smaller? That’s not just small. He looks about three, maybe four meters tall.]

‘Yeah. Back then, he looked like a mountain.’

What was this? Had he shed some of his mass?

Then Adin spoke.

“Your eyes are still defiant. It’s troubling to see such rebellion toward your master.”

“Grrrhh…”

“No matter that I have weakened, I still have more than enough strength to handle an insolent beast like you. Do not test my patience further.”

What?

Weakened?

Why? What had he done to weaken himself?

A sudden chill ran down the back of my neck.

‘I think I know. Why the Celestial God grew weaker.’

[Huh?]

‘He kidnapped Agril and keeps him at his side. That’s why.’

[That doesn’t make sense.]

‘Don’t you get it? For us, locked in a battle of speed against Idria, Agril is an irreplaceable asset. Kidnapping him is way beyond the “passive cooperation” Adin spoke of.’

The Celestial God had sided with Idria’s plan.

If he wanted to, he could have directly rolled up his sleeves and helped.

But no, he only ever offered passive cooperation.

There must have been a reason for that.

A law.

A law that if the Celestial God meddled too deeply in the workings of the human world, he would lose his power.

[You’re saying that’s really the case?]

‘Do you see another explanation?’

[…No.]

‘Let’s keep watching.’

And then.

Craaaack… CLANG!

Suddenly Agril thrashed violently.

It was like watching a dying man burning his last breath of life, and it made my heart sink.

“GROOOOAAARR!”

“…Hm? Ohh.”

Agril finally broke the chains.

At the same time, he opened his massive jaws wide.

Wiiiiiing.

Something immense began gathering in Agril’s mouth.

And then, in the next moment.

—KAAAAA!—

A blast of light erupted forth.

No, not mere light.

It was a physical attack.

Agril’s ultimate weapon.

‘The Breath of God!’

[Huh?]

‘It’s Agril’s ability, he showed it only once in the 2nd Generation. He even tried to use it on Iori back in Raynus Territory.’

Then the Celestial God snapped:

“Insolent beast!”

He pointed his finger.

From his index finger, a blinding beam of light shot out in a straight line.

Agril’s Breath and the Celestial God’s Light.

They collided in midair.

BOOOOM BOOOOM!

From a distance, it might have looked like nothing more than two beams of light colliding.

But the shockwave was enough to tear the ground of the Starting Point apart.

Reeds caught fire. Trees toppled.

“You dare bare your fangs at your master? Do you truly wish to die?!”

For a moment, I had hope.

But Agril’s Breath was quickly overwhelmed by the Celestial God’s Light.

Five seconds.

In just five seconds, the battle was decided.

“Groooaaar!”

I nearly closed my eyes.

Agril was blasted away, flung far into the distance by the Celestial God’s Light.

Smoke billowed from his battered body.

His tongue lolled out as he coughed up blood again and again.

Seeing my comrade in such a state filled me with rage.

‘You bastard. One day, you will end up like that too.’

Then.

“Haaah… haaah…”

Thud.

The Celestial God suddenly staggered.

He leaned against the armrest of his golden throne.

“I got… too carried away. I shouldn’t have overexerted myself now…”

What?

Fssshhh.

The radiance around him faded.

The pure white glow vanished, and human skin was revealed beneath.

But before I could even blink, the divine glow wrapped around him again, hiding it.

‘That face I just saw…’

[Th-that was Adin Press, wasn’t it?]

‘It must have been. The pure-white form vanished, and his true body was revealed.’

[Looks like your guess was right. Holding Agril captive was against the law. So…]

‘Yeah. In his already weakened state, he overused his power. This could be a chance for us.’

But Trail disagreed.

[Not at all. He returned to his original state in less than a second.]

That was true.

But that was only because his opponent was already a weakened Agril.

What if we drained him even further?

If we timed it right… maybe. Just maybe.

It was then.

The Celestial God, seated upon the golden throne, muttered:

“I suppose I should rest a little. That beast will be quiet for a while now.”

Snap.

The screen cut off there.

Time flowed back to normal.

I spoke to my party.

“Let’s go to the Starting Point.”

“…What?”

“Our comrade is being held there. You all know this already.”

“But there was a reason we couldn’t go to the Starting Point until now.”

“The Celestial God is weakened now. This is our chance.”

Everyone tilted their heads in doubt.

I gave a quick summary of what I had just seen through the Eye of Omniscience.

The one who reacted the most, unexpectedly, was Mime.

“How do you know all of that?”

“…? Why are you the one asking me that?”

“What?”

“This is the Celestial God’s ability. In other words, Adin Press’s ability. Don’t tell me you have forgotten even that?”

“No. Adin never had such an ability.”

My eyes went wide.

That couldn’t be.

“That’s impossible. I heard it from the Celestial God himself that he transferred the Eye of Omniscience to my companion.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, but I’m not lying.”

“…”

“Well, judging by the looks on your comrades’ faces, it doesn’t seem like you’re lying either. So, you’re saying Adin Press is weakened?”

Mime looked lost in thought.

I quickly pulled myself together and spoke again.

“Exactly. Which is why we are going to rescue Agril.”

“And after rescuing Agril, you intend to kill Adin?”

“I can’t promise that much. He may be weakened, but he is still someone who sat in the seat of a god..”

“…”

“Besides, our top priority is reclaiming Agril. Your revenge will have to wait. If we have time to spare, I will lend you a hand.”

Mime let out a dry laugh.

“Heh. Bold of you to say, when it’s my strength you’re relying on.”

“Failing to kill him this time doesn’t mean it will never be possible. There are priorities to everything.”

“…”

“Once I have killed the Demon King, I will take down the Celestial God too. Trust me.”

“I don’t trust you.”

“Then just watch this time.”

I deliberately spoke in a calm, relaxed tone.

“See for yourself whether I can kill the Celestial God or not while watching Agril’s rescue operation.”

“…”

“Then, after seeing the result, decide. With your own judgment.”

“With my judgment… you mean?”

“Yeah. I don’t force people. If you don’t trust me, you’re free to walk away. Even without your help, I will find another way.”

For some reason, my comrades were smiling warmly.

Their faces said: That’s exactly the kind of guy he is.

After a long silence, Mime spoke.

His voice carried a tone of resolution.

“…Fine. I will watch.”

“No. I refuse.”

“…What? But just now, you…”

“I changed my mind.”

“In three seconds?”

“You won’t just watch. You will help.”

I looked around at everyone and said:

“Listen carefully. I have a plan.”

We flew toward the Starting Point.

At tremendous speed.

Faster than Neril’s flying magic and the support of ordinary spirits could ever provide.

No, even compared to Agril’s top speed, this was several times faster.

To allow smooth communication while in transit, Adwin linked our soul.

[Ahhhh. Can everyone hear me clearly?]

[You okay?]

[Heh. You think I would die from something like this?]

[You look like you might.]

Maybe it was because of the extreme speed.

Even though Adwin was clinging to Offense’s back like a cicada, he was trembling all over.

Neril chuckled and said:

[Now he finally looks his age. He is always pretending to be an adult.]

[Unlike you, Neril, who looks as relaxed as ever.]

[Shut it.]

[Anyway, the difference of a duke-class spirit is clear. I didn’t think we would reach this kind of speed.]

Exactly.

Since we were borrowing Mime’s help for this operation, I had decided to use him thoroughly from the start.

Lisel spoke up.

[I never imagined Mime or rather, the spirits would have such circumstances.]

[And to think, the Celestial God was a human all along.]

[How could a nature mage become a god?]

Good question.

But in truth, I had an even bigger one.

Mime had once said Adin Press fought someone with that horn as a weapon.

I couldn’t help but wonder, who was that someone?

If I had to name the most secretive figures I knew…

‘Velosian. And Impelium.’

Could it have been one of them?

Regardless, with Mime’s help, our speed was now many times greater than Agril’s.

How much time passed like that?

Eventually, the Starting Point came into view.

Neril landed us in the same reed field we had seen last time.

Offense spoke first, his face tense.

“Adin isn’t here.”

“Should we blow the horn again?”

“Most likely. Even if we call it the ‘Starting Point,’ the land here is vast.”

Indeed, the Starting Point was almost the size of a whole territory.

The horn was, in effect, a knock at the door.

Without knocking, Adin wouldn’t answer us.

“Alright. Everyone remembers the plan?”

“Yeah… if you can even call it a plan.”

“What? Are you saying my perfect plan has a flaw?”

“Perfect? You just threw it together.”

I shrugged.

“Has there ever been a time when we didn’t improvise?”

“…Fair point.”

“Let’s start. Xenia, Serein.”

The two nodded and clasped each other’s hands.

Neril handed them the Gem of Desolation.

They placed their hands together over it and began to pray.

“Shield.”

“Hand it over if you don’t want to die.”

That could hardly be called a prayer anymore.

And yet, even with such threats, power was granted.

Truly, the laws of the world are terrifying.

Wooooom.

A divine shield began forming around us.

Not just one or two layers, but dozens, no, hundreds.

They were drawing out every last drop of energy from the Gem of Desolation, raising a massive wall of shields in mere minutes.

“Haaah… haaah…”

“This is our limit, even with our divine power and the Gem’s energy.”

“It’s enough. Feels like hiding behind a fortress wall.”

I inhaled deeply into my lungs.

Then I looked at each of my party members in turn.

The message in my eyes was clear:

‘Stick to the plan.’

Everyone nodded in understanding.

I took the horn from Lisel.

Alright. Good.

Let’s begin.

I blew with all my strength.

BWAAAAAAAA!

Flap-flap.

Birds hidden in the reeds burst into the sky.

And then.

The Celestial God appeared.

But he looked very different from when we had seen him at the Starting Point before.

Offense sneered.

“…Pathetic.”

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The Celestial God’s figure had shrunken.

The towering majesty that once looked down from the heavens was gone. So were the endless stairs that stretched down to meet us.

Now he simply sat on his golden throne, hovering faintly above the reed field.

‘Roughly a hundred meters away?’

Neril whispered:

“You were right. He really does look weakened.”

“Yes. But don’t let your guard down.”

“I won’t… huh? Oh!”

Neril pointed a finger at Adin.

Or rather, toward the one collapsed unconscious beside him.

Xenia screamed:

“Agril!”

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