Lazy Salvation

The recipient of Alice's gift only heard the gunshot before feeling her head explode.

But that didn't deter her. A new female head grew from her neck.

"That was close—"

She wanted to mock the futile attempt but stopped herself mid-sentence.

She had realized the bullet's true purpose wasn't to blow her head off.

Alice wasn't that naive. She knew her mana quality would never be high enough to deal any real damage. The only way to compensate for that was with intent and will.

A will strong enough to want your foe dead.

But while she had plenty of that, when it came to a godlike being that defied comprehension, Alice admitted she was outclassed.

So she resorted to something else.

The nine-tailed fox's specialty: Mental Magic.

Aside from the two tails used to make the bullet reach its target, the other seven had a single purpose: to power a mental attack that made the target believe herself to be a woman.

Normally, that would be fairly harmless, especially for a being that could change gender at will and had plenty of experience being a woman.

But Alice had observed this being long enough to realize that, above all else, it cherished the fact that it could become whatever gender it wished, whenever it wished.

The genders themselves didn't seem to matter that much. But to change, to be different, to be unique...

That was what truly appealed to it.

Now what would happen if that freedom were stripped away, even for a few fleeting moments?

"Ah... eh... uh...? This is not me... but this is me...?"

Its Concepts instinctively rebelled whenever it thought of itself as a woman, so it tried to think otherwise.

But the magic forbade it, so a paradoxical crisis erupted in her brain.

And as it stood there in confusion, two things happened.

One, Seraphine reached safety for the time being.

The other...

Lola managed to make her way to Cornelia's side despite Love's persistent attempts to stop her.

"Cornelia, I'm here! Get ready."

"Grrr... my mind is kind of fucked up right now, so don't talk to me. Just do your thing."

"Alright, here goes!"

Lola was about to move her lips and cast her Skill...

But she froze.

Right beneath her arm, a hideous creature no taller than one hundred and fifty centimeters looked up at her with a smug grin.

As she watched the dagger in his hand move toward her heart in slow motion, two thoughts crossed her mind.

‘There were never five... We were fooled.’

And...

‘I'm not able to escape this.’

Her eyes turned bloodshot as she watched death approach, but she couldn't do a thing.

Because while her thoughts raced at full speed, less than a millisecond had passed.

Nowhere near enough time for her body to move.

"Got you!"

PLUNGE

"Ah—Caught—!"

"Lola! No!"

She faintly heard Cornelia's heartbroken voice from somewhere far away and managed a weak smile.

‘So you care for me that much? What a tsundere…’

As she borrowed a word from her self-proclaimed husband's dictionary to describe her newest friend, she found herself involuntarily thinking of him.

‘Will he be sad when he learns of my death...?’

Dorian... I'm sorry...

.

.

"Got you~"

"Huh?"

Huh?

Lola and her assailant both froze at the sudden voice.

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But the Lust Mistress was soon plunged into even deeper despair as she recognized it.

Her adopted son.

"N-no... leave... A-Ashn."

But the moment her blurry eyes found him...

They widened.

Ashen was holding the goblin-like creature in a chokehold from behind. And from the frightened look on the Outer God's face, he looked just like a child held by an adult.

Ashen, on the other hand, wore a vastly different expression.

One that she had never seen on him, not even when he switched to that "crazy" personality of his, as he called it.

It was as though she were looking at someone on the same level as herself.

‘No... the same level?’

‘I feel like an ignorant girl staring into the abyss…’

Those eyes truly seemed to belong to a completely different world.

‘So this is what you were hiding all along? How pitiful.’

Only now did she remember that this son of hers had always carried something that made even her tremble.

And it seemed to have finally crawled to the surface.

But while she felt supreme power from it… she also felt equal desolation.

…like she was looking at the most miserable man on the planet.

"This is going to make our escape much harder, but I don't care."

The man spoke in Ashen's voice, his tone utterly numb.

"You tried to kill her, so you deserve death."

He looked down at the motionless creature in his grip.

“Stop moving.”

Fearless Hiding felt all motion leave his body. A sudden feeling of laziness overcame him, and he relaxed completely.

"Inertia."

That state deepened even further with those words.

His heart stopped.

Then his blood.

Then his muscles.

Then every cell in his being.

His thoughts stopped next.

Followed by his very Concepts.

And when those stopped...

He stopped being a “god”.

"Lethargy of Time."

The voice sounded like a death knell, chilling even Lola, who was dying in a pool of her own blood.

No...

This wasn't merely a chill. It was time itself.

She felt it suddenly slow, and even the life leaving her was brought almost to a halt.

Everything slowed.

Everything except the creature in his hand. And as though to compensate, its time began accelerating… faster and faster.

…Until Fearless Hiding began withering away bit by bit, his skin turning to dust, followed by the rest of his being.

‘Ahh... truly... I should have followed my instincts and stayed hidden forever... How can I be so unlucky as to encounter this thing the moment I reveal myself...?’

‘How could I have been so fearless as not to hide from this?’

The last trace of clarity crumbled away.

Only ashes remained of the Fearless Outer God of Hiding.

"Bleh!"

A sudden mouthful of blood burst from Ashen's lips, followed by internal bleeding that poured from every orifice.

But he didn't care.

He walked toward the dying woman with steady steps before crouching beside her and scooping her into his arms.

"Son... are you alright?"

"I am."

He took another step, and she found herself looking upon another scene.

Injured soldiers and dead Narkals were everywhere.

But the sight of her Saintess stole her attention away.

She suddenly found herself grateful that she would be able to die in the embrace of both her adopted son and daughter.

"Popess!"

Seraphine scrambled to her side the moment she saw the hole torn through her heart.

From the sheer concentration of corrupted mana within it, she recognized at a glance that the wound carried extraordinary power.

But she didn't have time to panic.

Ashen stopped her with two words.

"Heal her."

Lola froze for a second, and when she was about to explain how futile such an attempt would be, his icy gaze stopped her.

Seraphine, on the other hand, obeyed without hesitation.

Unsurprisingly, the effect was negligible.

But then she felt a hand gently rest atop her own.

Right after, a flood of mana surged through it, flowing into hers and intertwining with it.

Due to her affinity with Ashen, their mana did not reject one another. If anything, she found herself able to control his mana as though it were her own.

He allowed it.

And as she recast her healing spell, the intent within his mana devoured the Outer God's lingering will, while her own intent moved to mend the wounded heart.

"Cough... Cough...!"

Lola's face turned even paler as her body became a battlefield between three different mana signatures.

"Resist."

His numb voice echoed in her ears.

"If you make my uncle a widower for the second time, I will not forgive you."

"Cough... H-how... filial..."

"Just keep holding on. If you survive, I won't mind acknowledging you as my second mother."

That seemed to do it.

An intense will to live suddenly erupted from Lola.

The man let out a sigh that sounded almost exasperated beneath his cold exterior as he realized his final remark had done the trick.

Under the continuous explosions of Cornelia holding back four Outer Gods, the Lust Mistress soon recovered enough to control her own mana.

"Togetherness..."

With that soft chant, the last of Fearless Hiding's poisonous intent dissolved as her body knit together in a closed loop that disallowed anything foreign,

Now, her heart was as good as new, but she was out of mana.

And so was Cornelia, who was probably only minutes away from dying. After all, they had been fighting for far longer than just this encounter.

Ashen looked at Seraphine.

"I'm leaving."

"Huh? Where?"

"To save everyone."

"What are you talking about?!"

Seraphine felt that something was terribly wrong and threw herself at him, clinging tightly.

"We may not see each other for a long time.

But know that I will survive, no matter what.

So do not give up.

And believe in me.

I will come back to you."

"No...! Ashen, answer me! What are you planning to do...?! Please..."

He ignored her and looked at Lola.

"You will be responsible for guiding them through the return trip.

Do not let her do anything foolish in my absence."

"..."

She simply looked at him with an unreadable expression.

In the end...

She did not stop him.

Old Ashen didn't wait for a response, he moved. Or rather… He teleported.

When he reappeared, he stood atop an elevated platform. Waiting for him there was none other than Alice.

"You're here... Ashen?"

She lifted her head with difficulty despite her injuries. But the moment she saw his face, she froze.

"...You're about to do something stupid?"

"...You know me well."

Her expression turned sour despite having guessed right. For something like this, she would rather always be wrong.

Silent tears ran down her cheeks, but her lips couldn't utter a single word.

What could she say?

Stop?

Don't leave?

Don't put your life on the line?

As if any of that would work.

If he was risking his life, then it was surely to save theirs. And it was his right and responsibility to do so.

She would never stop him either.

...Even if she could do so with a single order.

But even if she were the one about to die… Even if he was about to die...

She would never give that order as long as he kept moving, as long as it went against his will.

Because she had to live up to the absolute trust he had placed in her hands when he willingly leashed himself.

So now… She had to silently watch him leave and bear the guilt of knowing she could have stopped him… But didn't.

"...Come back to me."

"I will."

"If you don't... I'll kill myself."

"I know."

He reached down and gently caressed her injured cheek.

She leaned into his hand, savoring the last of his warmth, knowing it would be a long while before she could bask in it again.

"Take care of the family...

Including those two."

"...I will," Alice promised.

With that, he gave her a small nod and straightened up.

He turned around and took a step.

Right before he disappeared...

She heard him speak one last time.

"See you."

"..."

'See you,' and not 'goodbye.'

A faint smile found its way onto her lips.

‘Please... come back soon.’