Creak, creak. The chair rocked with a steady rhythm.
Sitting atop it and surrendering his body to the movement, the whole world felt at peace.
A life of doing nothing, simply swaying along as the world swayed.
However, such a life was an impossibility for him.
The reason lay in the single book resting upon his lap.
A worn book without even a title.
He carefully brushed his fingertips over the cover, which had turned pitch-black from being read so many times.
The texture was as rough as an old man looking down at the twilight of his life.
It held the quiet dignity of one who had weathered the harsh storms of time.
A calm wave.
A lack of strangeness.
A solid silence.
But if one were to turn just a single page, the contents within were of an entirely different nature than the cover suggested.
The sparkling joy of one seeing the world for the first time.
An ocean of rushing currents where all sorts of emotions swirled together.
A familiar curiosity.
A delicate stir.
Unlike the cover, which was blackened by the grime of hands, the pages of the book were stark white and untainted.
Contained within the crooked handwriting was a pure heart regarding each new day.
It was a diary, where such things continued day after day.
April 13
Today, I went to see the flowers with Mom and Dad!
Mom said she didn’t hurt today, so I felt happy.
But then she coughed a lot, so I felt bad again.
Because of that, we couldn’t look at the flowers for long.
But it was still fun!
I hope Mom gets better soon so we can go one more time!
May 17
Today, for the first time in a really long while, I talked with Mom for a long time!
Dad said I could even hold Mom’s hand today!
Mom didn’t cough and she laughed a lot, so I laughed with her!
I wish every day was like today!
I’m going to talk with Mom tomorrow too!
May 20
Until yesterday, I held Mom’s hand and we read storybooks together in her bed, but today, Dad told me not to go into Mom’s room.
So I told him that yesterday Mom said she was almost all better, but Dad got angry.
Then he told me to go to my room, so I went and cried.
I hate Dad.
I won’t talk to Dad anymore.
I’m only going to talk to Mom!
May 27
I couldn’t go into Mom’s room today either.
But Dad’s expression in front of her room looked bad, so I asked him what was wrong, but he didn’t say anything.
I asked if I could go into Mom’s room, but he didn’t say anything.
So I cried and said I missed Mom, and told him not to keep me from seeing her, and that I hated him.
But then Dad hugged me and said he was sorry.
So I cried and told him I was sorry for saying mean things too.
Dad cried with me.
I’m sorry, Dad.
I won’t say mean things anymore.
June 8
A lot of people wearing black clothes came to our house.
I was scared and wanted to see Mom, but they said I couldn’t see her anymore.
So I hid behind Dad.
Those people said Mom has gone to heaven now.
I missed Mom so much, but if I said that, Dad would be too sad.
So I didn’t cry and just stayed right next to Dad.
In the storybook I read with Mom, it said heaven is a very beautiful and good place.
Since Mom is so pretty and so kind, she must have gone to the very best heaven.
Still, just in case, I read the storybook one more time.
As I thought, Mom must have gone to the best heaven.
But Dad didn’t seem to think so.
So tomorrow, I’m going to read the storybook to Dad.
Then Dad will know Mom went to the best heaven and be happy!
……
December 2
I wanted to go out and play, but Dad said I shouldn’t.
So I tried to hold back my cough for a long time to show him I wasn’t sick, but in the end, I couldn’t hold it and coughed a lot.
But bright red blood came out too.
Dad’s expression looked really bad, so I was scared.
February 23
I couldn’t write in my diary much because I was hurting.
Today, a different doctor visited, and a different Healing Priest came by.
I like the Healing Priest.
He makes light with his hands, and he always talks with a smile like Mom did, so I end up smiling too.
Dad, who had been talking with the two of them outside, came in with a big smile as well.
He smiled and said if I work a little harder, I can get better.
But I know now.
When Mom said she was almost all better, Dad smiled just like he is now.
But if I say that, Dad will be sad, so I smiled along with him.
Will I go to heaven like Mom then?
Seeing Mom would be nice, but what about Dad?
What about my poor Dad, who was secretly crying in his room yesterday?
I’m sorry to Mom, but can’t I stay by Dad’s side just a little longer before I go?
February 28
It hurts.
My body hurts so, so much.
So the tears kept coming, but I tried hard not to cry.
Dad said when spring comes, we should go see the flowers together like last time.
I asked if it was the same place we went with Mom, and Dad said yes.
I was so happy because Dad talked about Mom for the first time in a long while!
I was so happy I almost forgot the pain!
So I talked about Mom a lot with Dad.
Dad looked happy while we talked together too.
So I was even happier!
……
March 4
The time I spend with the Healing Priest has gotten longer.
It was fun watching the light the priest made, but when it ended, it started hurting again.
I have to get better quickly so I can go see the flowers, but I shouldn’t be hurting like this.
So I told the priest, and he smiled and told me it would be okay.
It was a smile similar to Dad’s.
March 10
I’m sorry for secretly eating the sweet cookies at night that you told me not to eat.
I’m sorry for saying mean things and saying I hated you, Dad.
I’m sorry for throwing a tantrum to play together when I didn’t even know Mom was so sick.
But still, Goddess.
Goddess of Peace.
Goddess of Love.
My dad is a very kind person.
Mom said he’s a very great and high-ranking person.
So, Goddess.
Even if I go to heaven, please make Dad happy.
Please make it so he doesn’t have to cry sadly every night.
My dad.
My kind and gentle dad.
Please make it so he can walk around with a big smile even if I’m not there.
Please, Goddess.
March 13
I love you, Dad.
I’m sorry, Dad.
Please don’t cry, Dad.
He closes the final page.
When he does, the world is submerged in darkness once more.
The rocking chair, which had been creaking, also holds its breath.
Even the lights that had been asserting their presence as if the world belonged to them hide behind the shadows, trembling in fear.
This is the Abyssal Depths.
The End of the World, where not a trace of humanity can be found.
Yet, even that would be nothing more than a twilight sunset compared to the darkness he harbors within his own mind.
His life had already been a hell more than a thousand years ago, and where he stood was no different from the Abyss.
He rises from the frozen rocking chair.
Kreutzvalt.
The founder of black magic.
The strongest Magician in the long history of the Continent.
……
The being for whom the owner of the diary had so desperately wished happiness rises to his feet.
Unfortunately, nothing happened the way the diary’s owner wanted.
There is no Goddess of Peace, nor a Goddess of Love.
The gods are dead, and the Kreutzvalt who rose was neither smiling broadly nor happy.
For within those pitch-black eyes, there existed only a shockingly empty void.
Much like the Abyss itself.
However, a change soon arrived.
With one step, a faint smile touches his lips.
With two steps, fine wrinkles form here and there.
With three steps, he places his hands behind his back, and the staff leaning against the wall flies into his grasp of its own accord.
And so, by the fourth step, what he puts on is —
“Heh heh…”
A perfect mask.
The mask of a master who is moderately eccentric, moderately caring toward his disciple, and moderately goal-oriented.
“Not much time left now.”
Behind the walking Kreutzvalt, a candle flares to life, and the frozen rocking chair finally begins to fulfill its original purpose once more.
The day this terrible Abyss —
The day his own horrific hell would end.
“It really won’t be long now.”
— Gegegegek!
— Gegegegegege!
— Gekgegek!
“Yes, I know, you Gegegis.
I’m going to eat you up, so just wait a little bit.”
Strange Entities that closely resemble giant crabs, otherwise known as Gegegis.
Around Kreutzvalt’s Safe Zone, there are four different types of Strange Entities, including the Gegegis.
The Gegegis, the Reongreongis, the Ululyis, the Pingpingis, and the Ttuntmunis.
Among them, the Reongreongis, Ululyis, and Pingpingis are now hard to find.
It was because Hio’s hands had nearly driven them to extinction.
Of course, it hadn’t been an easy task.
One year and a few months ago, when he first arrived here, hadn’t he gallantly stepped outside the Safe Zone only to flee back because he couldn’t handle even a single Pingpingi?
But after learning magic transformation and simultaneous magic manifestation from Kreutzvalt, he reached a level where defeating one was no longer difficult.
After he began to control and store the energy of the Abyss, mixing it into his magic, dealing with at least four at once became manageable.
And now, he had reached a point where even dozens of them attacking at once posed no problem at all.
“Theodore.”
At Hio’s call, Theodore turns his head and looks down.
Hio wasn’t particularly short, but the reinforced Theodore’s height had reached nearly two meters, making it unavoidable.
Theodore had been reinforced using Abyssal energy instead of Death Aura.
Since his soul wasn’t tainted, he maintained his human form while naturally and gradually transforming into a shape most suitable for destruction, reaching his current state.
Instead of consuming Death Aura, he consumed the Abyss, pulling out several times his original destructive power.
His hardened body would not break even in a head-on collision with a Strange Entity.
On top of that, his swordsmanship and strength from his human days remained intact, and he was a monster among monsters who would rise again as long as he had Abyssal energy, even if his head was cut off or his body destroyed.
Such was the power the reinforced Theodore now possessed.
“It’s a crab meat party today.”
Theodore, understanding Hio’s words, nods his head.
After hearing the explanation of the situation from Hio and grasping the circumstances, Theodore had been at the forefront of subjugating the Strange Entities more than anyone else.
He was working just as hard as Hio to get back to the Continent.
To the Continent that likely thought Hio was dead.
He couldn’t even guess what Sylvia’s state of mind would be beyond her worrying, so he wanted to escape this place as soon as possible.
“You have to be careful when cutting so the meat doesn’t spill out, okay?
Especially the torso!
Don’t just hack through the shell.
You get it, right?”
Theodore, who had been staring at Hio with a blunt expression at his detailed request, gives a curt nod.
It was because he was no longer at a level where he had to personally swing his sword for such trivial matters.
“You’re reliable as always.”
Turning away from the grinning Hio, one could see a legion radiating a menacing aura.
Exactly 255 undead.
From the Knight of Flames tainted by the Abyss to the corrupted Elemental of Lightning.
It was Hio’s own Undead Legion, reborn by infusing souls worthy of their powerful physical forms.
Of course, the number wasn’t large enough to be called a legion in the traditional sense.
However, as their bodies had originally been steeped in the Abyss, the strength they gained through reinforcement was such that each individual unit possessed combat power equivalent to an entire legion on the Continent.
The Knight of Flames unleashed Abyss Fire from its four arms.
The Elemental of Lightning emitted streaks of Abyssal lightning from its pitch-black body.
“Now, it’s a crab meat party.”
As soon as Hio’s command falls, they scatter in all directions and begin to show off the power they had been suppressing without any filtration.
The ground thumps and the Abyss trembles under that massive power and momentum.
With the sounds of impact and explosions echoing everywhere, the number of Gegegis could be seen visibly dwindling.
Hio feels all 255 movements being transmitted to him.
Feeling that overwhelming power they created — power that was no different from his own — through his entire body, he thinks:
Once a city of Magicians, but now swallowed by darkness and tainted by the Abyss.
The most dangerous city of Strange Entities.
The day he would head to Tetradia, where the Wizard’s Tower is located.
‘It really won’t be long now.’
It truly wasn’t long now.