Anna waved them goodbye with a cheerful smile, her black robes a stark contrast to the verdant fields they were leaving behind. Ysoria walked with a somber expression.
"I lost," she said.
"Cheer up, Ysoria," Rin said. "It was a good fight. You were able to get the five-day workweek changed to six. That's a victory in its own way."
"It seems I'm unable to reunify the Holy Church with force," Ysoria continued, not listening. "Thus, I need to become stronger and use more force."
"Was that the lesson you learned from all of this?" Kaito asked, a skeptical look on his face. He shook his head. "Well, let's head to the Republic next and deal with the Severer of Memory."
"You know, during our short journey, aside from the threat of the Sculptor of Mind and the Empire, along with the numerous demon generals, the world still seems relatively stable. It's not the devastated ruin I was warned about by the Goddess."
"That's true," Rin agreed, her gaze distant. "This world runs in a cycle. The Demon King would be defeated by a Hero, then an era of peace would arrive, only for it to become unstable due to humanity's internal conflicts. The only force that seems to unite humanity again is the revival of the Demon King or the arrival of a new, unknown threat." She sighed softly. "My father believes this cycle was manufactured by the Goddess to drive the development of humanity and to entertain herself with the world she created."
"The Goddess would never do such a thing!" Ysoria protested, her faith instantly reasserted. "She's a force of good, and the Demon King is a force of evil. She's merely assisting humanity in triumphing over evil. It's simply another trial we must surpass to protect our world."
"Was it the Goddess of Light who created the world?" Kaito asked, a new thought occurring to him.
"Of course," Ysoria replied without hesitation. "It's documented within our scripture."
"Well, I could have sworn she mentioned a God of Creation when I was summoned," Kaito said, his brow furrowed in thought. "So she might only be managing this world instead of its creator."
"I'm in agreement with the Hero," Rin said. "If she truly was the creator of this world, why wouldn't she be able to permanently banish the Demon King?"
Ysoria stumbled over her words. "I-I don't know. But I still believe in the Goddess. She's the guiding hand that has led humanity on its current path, and we must do what we can to maintain the brilliance that was gifted to us."
"Well, that's true," Kaito conceded. "The Goddess clearly isn't omnipotent. She seems to be as flawed as any other person. But perhaps that aspect of her is what allows her to connect with humanity."
A look of dawning comprehension washed over Ysoria's face. "I'm glad you see it that way, Hero."
Kaito nodded, turning his attention back to the matter at hand. "So... about the Severer of Memory. He seems to possess the ability to manipulate time. What exactly has he done so far in the Republic?"
Ysoria's expression turned grim. "We're not entirely sure. The capital of the Republic is stuck in some kind of time-based anomaly. No one who has entered has ever returned, and no one from within has been able to escape. From a distance, we're able to see the Severer messing around within the city. Even a very powerful archmage went to investigate but never returned. We hypothesize that the Severer has killed them all and is using the city as his personal sandbox."
Kaito's face grew serious. "He might be problematic to deal with. If I'm not careful, I might die." He then turned to Nysera, who was walking silently beside them. "Nysera, are you able to use time magic?"
"I can to a limited degree," she replied, her expression as blank as ever.
"For the duration of our journey, can you cast your strongest form of time magic on me?" Kaito asked. "I'll adapt to it, and hopefully, that will mitigate the Severer's effects to a certain extent."
"No problem."
_____
As they drew closer to the capital of the Republic, they immediately noticed a jarring anomaly. The world looked as if it hadn't fully loaded, with a visible cut in space where the sky's color was a different shade.
"Nysera, you're an expert with magic. What do you think?" Kaito asked.
Without a word, Nysera fired a beam of concentrated magic at the strange space. It passed right through it as expected. She then levitated a nearby rock and tossed it toward the anomaly. Again, it passed through normally and fell to the ground on the other side.
Nysera's eyes scanned the sky, her gaze settling on a bird floating lazily in the opposite direction. With a quick zap of lightning, the bird fell from the sky. She caught it with her levitation magic, and after tying a magic chain to it, she tossed the still-alive bird through the space. Unlike before, the bird vanished upon entering the anomaly, and the magic chain was cut off instantly.
"It reacts to life," Nysera stated flatly. "The image we see is not reality; there seems to be another layer on top of it. It's a one-way trip."
"Should we enter it?" Kaito asked.
"No," Nysera replied immediately. "The Republic is a lost cause. Since it's isolated to this location, we shouldn't endanger ourselves to mess with it."
"I can see your point," Kaito agreed, a hint of resignation in his voice. "I'm not sure how we would save them, even if they're still alive in there. It has been a long time, has it not?"
"I'm in agreement," Ysoria said with a grim expression. "We need to defeat the Demon King, and this unknown matter may be too dangerous."
"Looks like our trip was wasted," Rin sighed, shrugging her shoulders. "Well, let's go and challenge the Demon King then!"
Suddenly, Nysera stopped all her movement. Her head slowly turned, her eyes scanning the space behind them. Kaito also turned back.
"What is it, Nysera?" he asked.
He then noticed the space behind them was of a different shade. Upon looking around, there was a slightly charred but alive bird on the ground.