Watching the Baleful Shadows fall one after another before Lucian, Celes's two fingers twitched restlessly.
Even without a Finger Reader to interpret its movements, the frantic rhythm of its gestures revealed its panic far more clearly than words ever could.
If this had merely been Ranni's revenge, Celes would not have been surprised.
After all, if given the opportunity, it would never have spared Ranni, who had rejected the fate of becoming a god.
The opposite was equally true. Ranni's reckoning had always been inevitable.
The only difference was that Ranni had found the crucial weapon needed to break the deadlock before the Shadows found her.
The Two Fingers possessed a unique form of existence. They were emissaries of the Greater Will itself.
Few beings in the Lands Between could rival them in status or authority.
Because of that extraordinary nature, ordinary weapons were fundamentally incapable of harming them.
Not merely ineffective, but incapable on a conceptual level.
In the Lands Between, only two kinds of weapons could truly wound the Fingers.
One was a god-slaying armament tempered to the absolute limit, powerful enough to distort space and time itself.
The other was a weapon created specifically to kill them: the Fingerslayer Blade.
It was precisely because the Fingers had personally experienced the threat posed by the Fingerslayer Blade that their "Mother" had summoned the Fallingstar Beast and brought ruin upon the rebellious Nox civilization.
And now, the Fingerslayer Blade had fallen into the hands of their enemy, Ranni.
Yet in Celes's eyes, even that situation had not been hopeless.
Ranni had long since discarded her original body in order to escape the predetermined destiny of an Empyrean.
That body had been the true demigod vessel, inheriting the power of both Rennala and Radagon.
With only a puppet body remaining, Ranni's strength was limited.
Even armed with the Fingerslayer Blade, she could only do so much.
She still had to lure Baleful Shadows into traps using her own presence.
If merely possessing the Fingerslayer Blade were enough, why would she resort to such methods?
Ranni herself was weak.
And her most capable subordinate, Blaidd, had originally been a shadow gifted to her by Celes personally.
Unfortunately, Blaidd was somehow using an unknown method to block its control.
Otherwise, Celes would have long since seized control of him and forced Ranni into despair as punishment for abandoning her Empyrean fate.
After two failed attempts, Celes had come to a simple conclusion:
Ranni was vulnerable.
The next time, it would simply send enough Baleful Shadows to overwhelm her completely.
After all, bait only worked if the fisherman had the strength to reel in the catch.
A puppet-bodied Ranni had no such strength.
Not even the Fingerslayer Blade could change that.
Thus, when Ranni exposed her presence once more, Celes decisively dispatched every Baleful Shadow in the vicinity.
But Lucian's sudden appearance shattered all of its confidence.
One after another, the Baleful Shadows that had carried its hopes were casually slaughtered.
Only now did Celes realize something horrifying.
Its previous calmness had not been confidence.
It had been the ignorance of someone already standing on the edge of a cliff without realizing it.
The realization made it feel like a complete fool.
Celes had no idea where Ranni had found a person like Lucian.
Someone so monstrously powerful that even it felt despair.
For the first time, panic consumed the Two Fingers.
Even if it deployed every remaining Baleful Shadow...
Even if it sent every Black Knife Assassin under its control...
None of them would be Lucian's match.
Without even realizing it, Celes raised both fingers toward the sky and instinctively offered a prayer to its long-silent Mother.
Even though it knew perfectly well that the act was meaningless.
Mother...
What am I supposed to do?
The Baleful Shadows in front of Lucian no longer resembled terrifying hunters.
They looked more like huskies lining up to receive dragon fruit and a kick to the chest.
In the blink of an eye, only two remained.
Fortunately, they felt no fear.
Otherwise, despair would have consumed them long ago.
They were supposed to be the nearly immortal Baleful Shadows.
The strongest weapons under the command of the Two Fingers.
No matter what injuries they suffered, they were meant to rise again and again until their prey finally died.
Yet before Lucian, they were no different from ordinary beasts.
A casual lift of his hand.
A single swing of his blade.
That was all it took to erase them.
Lucian lazily slashed once more.
A Baleful Shadow was cleaved cleanly in half without the slightest ability to resist.
Blood sprayed across the ground.
Only one remained.
But this time, Lucian did not immediately kill it.
Instead, he advanced slowly toward the final survivor.
He was curious.
Curious about the source of the Fingers' power hidden behind these creatures.
With a single strike, he severed the Shadow's arms and legs, leaving it incapable of fighting back.
Then Lucian focused his mind.
Pushing his Sense attribute to its absolute limit, he carefully examined the source of its power.
What he saw was not a manifestation of divine authority.
Instead—
A phantom finger appeared before his eyes.
It resembled a massive stone finger.
At the center of the fingerprint on its fingertip sat a tiny eye resembling a wart.
The eye stared vacantly into the distance, as if gazing toward something far beyond the world itself.
As Lucian's perception reached toward it, the eye noticed him.
The moment their gazes met, a pinkish-purple force instantly wrapped around his body.
A warning.
Or perhaps a threat.
Lucian found himself completely immobilized for a brief instant.
The next moment, his concentration shifted.
The strange vision vanished.
The grotesque finger disappeared.
The Baleful Shadow immediately seized the opportunity.
Seeing Lucian frozen in place, it clamped its jaws around its weapon, which burned with Destined Death.
A slash erupted forth.
Red-and-black flames surged toward Lucian.
Even an incomplete fragment of Destined Death was enough to cause serious harm.
Ranni's expression changed immediately.
Having personally experienced the power of Destined Death, she knew exactly how dangerous it was.
She had no idea why such a force had suddenly appeared around Lucian, but she knew the situation was bad.
Without hesitation, she forcibly drew more magical power from her true body.
The power of the Dark Moon began gathering before Lucian.
Cracks spread across the tiny doll's body as the strain intensified.
Ranni focused completely on forming the spell as quickly as possible.
But the doll body was too inefficient.
The flow of magical power was simply too slow.
The Dark Moon would not be completed in time.
The slash of Destined Death had already reached Lucian.
Fortunately, Ranni never needed to cast it.
The pinkish-purple restraints suddenly dissolved into darkness and vanished.
Lucian had unleashed the power of the Shadow of the Stars once more.
Its anti-Finger properties immediately took effect.
The restraining force was shattered and dispersed in an instant.
Freed from the bind, Lucian calmly stepped aside.
The blade of Destined Death swept harmlessly past him.
Then he thrust forward.
The Shadow of the Stars pierced straight through the Baleful Shadow's skull.
The bizarre incident left Lucian deeply shaken.
Just what kind of existence could accomplish something like that from such a distance?
That power absolutely did not originate from the Two Fingers themselves.
It had to belong to something far stronger. Something far more fundamental.
Lucian had seen the Two Fingers before. They simply did not possess that level of power, nor did they resemble the creature he had just witnessed.
The magic itself had been a pinkish-purple color, slightly different from gravitational magic, yet clearly derived from the stars.
Among everything Lucian had encountered in the Lands Between, only one thing possessed a similar hue.
The Fingercreepers lurking throughout Caria Manor.
Their sorceries carried almost exactly the same coloration.
And coincidentally, their effects were similar as well.
Restraint.
Immobilization.
Could it be that the being hidden behind the Two Fingers, the one secretly manipulating everything from the shadows, was also some kind of finger-like creature?
The mastermind behind the curtain...
A finger?
Still, having perception that was too sharp really wasn't always a good thing.
At this point, every Baleful Shadow sent by the Two Fingers to hunt Ranni had been completely exterminated.
Seeing Lucian break free and evade the attack imbued with Destined Death, Miniature Ranni finally let out a sigh of relief.
The Dark Moon she had been desperately gathering slowly dispersed, dissolving back into pure magical energy.
Thankfully, Lucian had freed himself.
Otherwise, with the limitations of this doll body, she might not have managed to complete the spell in time.
She still had no idea why Lucian had suddenly been restrained.
But the outcome was what mattered.
The Baleful Shadows here had been eradicated once and for all.
Ranni's mood improved considerably.
As a result, she did not hesitate to praise him.
"A magnificent battle."
"In the face of true strength, the powers those Shadows so prized amounted to little."
But Lucian had no interest in accepting compliments right now.
He raised his head and looked at Miniature Ranni with unusual seriousness.
"Ranni."
"I think I may have seen the thing behind the Fingers."
"I saw it just now."
"It looked like a finger. Similar to the Two Fingers, but completely different at the same time."
Ranni's expression immediately changed.
His words genuinely startled her.
"What…?"
"That which suddenly restrained thee… was that its power?"
"From such a distance, it was able to bind even one such as thee?"
Lucian frowned and nodded heavily.
"Yes."
"It only projected a fragment of its awareness, and it was enough to bind me in place."
"Its strength is terrifying."
"Outer Gods... no, even ordinary Outer Gods wouldn't be its match."
If he had to compare it to something, only the Sun itself felt truly superior.
As for entities like the God of Rot or the Formless Mother...
Lucian silently glanced toward the distant Lake of Rot.
The answer practically spoke for itself.
After thinking for a moment, he continued.
"Regardless, it's definitely the source of the Two Fingers' power."
"Otherwise it wouldn't have appeared when I traced the Shadows' origins."
Ranni lowered her head and fell into thought.
Several moments later, she suddenly looked up.
"A Finger…"
"And the very origin of the Two Fingers…"
A look of realization appeared on her face.
"Could it be…"
"The false Greater Will of which Brother Radahn once spoke?"
Both Lucian and Ranni froze.
If that thing truly was the false Greater Will manipulating the fates of living beings throughout the Lands Between from behind the scenes...
Then both its identity and its overwhelming power suddenly made perfect sense.
The Two Fingers were servants of the Greater Will.
Servants of the Greater Will.
And servants of the "Greater Will."
Moreover, judging from its actions, the being seemed to have remained active all this time.
It had never left the Lands Between.
The thought of such a terrifying existence silently watching the world sent a chill crawling down Lucian's spine.
Before that kind of power, gods and kings alike were little more than insects to be toyed with at will.
Even Lucian couldn't help feeling unsettled.
Still, there was an old saying.
The best way to deal with a problem was to face it directly.
As long as he continued growing stronger, there would eventually be a solution.
Thus Lucian made a solemn vow to himself.
The next time he confronted that thing, he would make absolutely sure to bring all five charges of his "cheat" uses with him.
Just to be safe.
Letting out a sigh, he pushed the thought aside.
Life had to go on.
After a moment, he spoke again.
"Let's not dwell on it too much for now."
"Simply knowing it exists is already valuable information."
"We don't know its true nature yet."
"The good news is that it didn't directly attack us."
"It doesn't seem particularly hostile."
"Though it's also possible it simply doesn't care."
His expression hardened.
"But things probably won't stay this smooth forever."
"If that thing is backing the Two Fingers, then your revenge won't be as straightforward as we thought."
After a brief pause, he added in a tone that left little room for argument:
"When the time comes to confront the Two Fingers, wait for me."
"Do not act alone."
"If we're dealing with something like that, I'm probably the only one who can handle it, even partially."
"If I'm not beside you and you encounter that so-called Greater Will..."
"There's no telling what might happen."
"I'll also keep searching for information about it along the way."
Ranni nodded and sighed softly.
"At the very least, we now know that it existeth."
"That is preferable to remaining wholly ignorant."
Honestly...
The issue with the Two Fingers wasn't even resolved yet, and now the Land of Shadow and this mysterious "Greater Will" were piling on one problem after another.
None of them could be ignored.
Especially this false Greater Will hiding behind the Fingers.
If it truly chose to intervene, their hopes for revenge could be extinguished in an instant.
Miniature Ranni rose to her feet.
Gathering her skirt gracefully, she offered Lucian a farewell curtsy before quietly withdrawing her consciousness.
The doll immediately fell still once more.
Only after she left did Lucian notice the cracks covering the tiny body.
His finger gently brushed across the thin fractures.
Shaking his head, he smiled wryly.
The situation earlier had not actually been that dangerous.
With his current strength, even taking a hit from Destined Death wouldn't have been a major problem.
Besides, it wasn't the true Destined Death wielded by Maliketh, the Black Blade.
It was merely a remnant of that power.
The real issue was that Lucian simply hadn't taken the Baleful Shadows seriously.
Who would have expected that probing too deeply would suddenly reveal the hidden mastermind?
Still...
The fact that Ranni had worried about him was undeniable.
He would try not to make her worry like that again.
Then again, looking at it from another angle...
Didn't it mean Ranni cared about him?
That wasn't exactly a bad thing.
After putting Miniature Ranni away, Lucian continued deeper into the Nokstella Waterfall Basin.
Beyond the cavern stretched another passageway.
A long, narrow tunnel leading into the darkness.
Of course, Lucian already knew what lay ahead.
Beyond it was the Lake of Rot, where the Outer God of Rot had been sealed away.
One of the Lands Between's most famous tourist attractions.
Since he was already here, he might as well go take a dip.
Besides, he still intended to bring the Dragonkin Soldier waiting outside with him.
And while he was at it, he could see whether the Dragonkin Soldier inside the lake wanted to come along too.