Fled Without Realizing I Had Prevented the Apocalypse

“Truly a curious thing.”

A voice quietly echoed through the room.

One might argue that this isn’t a mountain, so how could there be an echo, but seeing the blue barrier of light rippling on the room’s surface, such words couldn’t be uttered.

A device previously created by the Imperial Intelligence Department to prevent eavesdropping on superhumans’ exceptional senses.
The woman before me had single-handedly created the barrier that device used to produce.

“To commit such acts and then leave my side.”
Moreover, it was far more intricate and sturdy than what a mere machine could create.
Beyond simply controlling sound with magic power, it completely regulates entering and exiting this room.

Crackle-!

I tried to grab the doorknob as carefully as possible, but couldn’t even touch it due to the static electricity that jumped from the barrier.

“Are you just giving tutoring in a place like this?”

The Emperor said this while gently placing her hand on my shoulder.
Then, from the Emperor’s hand on my shoulder, I felt intense magic power.

The Emperor’s magic power naturally burrowed into my body as if it had been mine from the start.

Familiar with the Emperor’s tactics, I immediately distanced myself from her hand.
“…Isn’t it time you gave up?”

The Emperor before me is a manipulation-type magician like Beatrice.

However, unlike Beatrice, the Emperor is a transcendent who has built up eight ranks.

The difference between 5th and 6th rank was already enormous, but going beyond that to 8th rank, the difference is so vast it’s beyond words.

I could easily repel the magic threads Beatrice deployed without needing to resist, but the manipulation ability the Emperor just infused through her touch is dangerous even for me if I don’t immediately break contact.

“Now as before, you’re a subordinate without a shred of consideration for your lord.”
“Why am I your subordinate when I’m not even part of the Special Forces anymore? No, before that. What kind of lord tries to control their subordinate’s body by implanting magic threads at will?”
I made an incredulous expression while looking at the Emperor, who was brushing it off as if it were nothing.

It’s not the first or second time the Emperor has tried to control me through her magic formula like this.

Even when I was in the Special Forces, the Emperor often checked her magic formula on me.

Especially, what she mainly checked was the magic formula for manipulating objects, which she just used on me.

With inexplicable confidence that if her magic formula worked on me, it would naturally work on other superhumans, the Emperor deployed her magic formula on me, and of course, I never succumbed to the Emperor’s magic formula even once.

After all, at that time, the Emperor had just reached 7th rank, and basically, I could see the magic threads used by manipulation magicians.

“Control at will, you say. It was just a simple jest. You’ve always been too fussy since long ago.”
“No one would call magic threads deployed by an 8th rank manipulation magician a jest. No, when did you reach 8th rank in the first place?”
I looked at the Emperor as if seeing a monster.

Confidentially, information about the Emperor’s level is a secret.

While basically everything about the imperial family is shrouded in secrecy, the Emperor’s rank is even more carefully managed, so only a select few in the imperial family know about it.

That’s why I didn’t know that the Emperor had reached 8th rank.

After all, the last time I saw her, she was 7th rank.

Moreover, in the game, she didn’t even reach 7th rank before the ending.

To my gaze, the Emperor opened her mouth as if it were no big deal.

“It hasn’t been long since I ascended. Indeed, advancing to the next rank opened my eyes to many things. Thanks to that, I could even confirm you using magic formulas.”

I felt chills down my spine at the Emperor’s words.

The magic formula she’s talking about probably refers to the manipulation magic formula I deployed to tutor Beatrice.

‘She detected that?’

It’s meaningless to discuss common sense with 8th rank transcendents.

After all, those who have reached the realm of transcendence are beyond the very concept of common sense.

Nevertheless, I made an incredulous expression.

Given the distance from here to the imperial palace, according to her words, she immediately noticed what kind of magic formula I deployed as soon as I used it.

She can discern what magic formula is being used from a distance that would take two days even at a superhuman’s pace.

No matter what magic formulas and artifacts have been passed down in the imperial family, this is absurd.

At that level, isn’t it really like looking down on them from the heavens?

“Your reaction is curious. Didn’t you always go around saying you could see the future? I thought you would have seen this future too.”
“……”

Able to see the future.

It’s the words I used most often to justify my actions.

It wasn’t a lie at the time, as I really did know the future.

A world where destruction occurs, and the organizations that bring about such destruction. All of those future events were in my head.

In some ways it was a lie, and in some ways it was the truth.

Of course, by now, most of it has become a lie.

“Pfft.”

The Emperor bursts into laughter at my stiff expression.

“There’s no need to be so stiff. It was just a joke.”

Unlike before, she touched my shoulder with a hand completely devoid of magic power.
It was something the Emperor used to do to loosen me up when my expression became stiff.

“…Have you come to kill me?”

Of course, my expression had never loosened.

I looked down at the Emperor, still with a stiff expression.

The Emperor of the Empire. The person who put a bounty of billions on me and issued a wanted order throughout the imperial territory.
Considering that the highest bounty in imperial history is on my head, you can tell how much effort she’s putting into capturing me.

That’s why I’ve been running away, avoiding the Empire’s gaze all this time.

“Well.”

To my question, the Emperor rested her chin on her hand and looked at me.

Her aura, which has become even more powerful after reaching 8th rank, is still present in her eyes.

The direct gaze, said to be passed down only to some direct descendants of the imperial family, reduces the opponent’s power just by looking at them.
With her eyes glowing red, the Emperor asked me.

“If I say I came to kill you, will you die for me?”
“No.”

And I answered her question without a moment’s hesitation.

A question not even worth considering.

What was the reason I prevented the destruction while being chased by the Emperor to this extent?

Wasn’t it to avoid dying?

If I die now when the destruction hasn’t even come, it would be meaningless.

And I didn’t want to die meaninglessly.

“Look at your condition. No matter who you are, in your current state, you absolutely cannot defeat yourself?”
“I know.”

One must acknowledge what needs to be acknowledged.
No matter how much manipulation magic isn’t specialized for combat, the woman before me is 8th rank.

As long as I couldn’t even defeat 7th rank Scarlet, she wasn’t an opponent I could face.

“What you did is a serious crime tantamount to treason under imperial law, so naturally, it’s punishable by death. And you are standing before the one who makes the laws of the Empire. Despite this, you say you don’t want to die?”

The Emperor’s gaze changes.

The direct gaze. The authority given to those who stand above others directly gazes at me.

Ruling and reigning. The gaze of those who speak of the world other than themselves, born with the fate of an emperor. The eyes created by the inheritance of their will.

Unlike succumbing to the killing intent unleashed by Scarlet or other superhumans, those eyes scan the opponent’s inner self.

Eyes that, although not perfect, allow one to discern that quality and make others submit.

Of course, they can also distinguish the truth of words.

Before such eyes, I slowly opened my mouth.

“Who in the world would want death?”

A topic I’ve discussed many times.
There is no one in the world who wants death.
As much as I’ve said this, of course, I too am adhering to this principle.
I don’t want to die.

Even if death approaches me, I will struggle by any means necessary.
That has been the goal I’ve consistently maintained since before I fell into this world.

“Pfft.”

At my answer, the Emperor burst into laughter.

“Hahahahaha-!”

The Emperor’s demeanor from just a moment ago, even the direct gaze, all disappeared, replaced by a purely mirthful smile.

The Emperor laughed for quite a while, then wiped the tears from her eyes and said,

“Indeed, from the first time I saw you, you were an interesting human. Truly worth possessing.”
“…?”
“Why are you so perplexed? Did you really think I would kill you?”

Considering what I had done, I thought it was entirely possible.

But I didn’t particularly express that in my actions.

The Emperor looked at me standing still for a moment, then continued speaking.

“Since the Empire was established on the continent, it would be impossible to find talent like yours. It would be a shame to kill such talent over a mere crime. Wouldn’t it be more proper to bind you to the Empire forever?”
“…Ugh.”

That’s a terribly dreadful thing to say.

Although I worked under the Emperor for quite a long time, regardless of the crimes I committed, I never want to go back.

The Emperor was certainly a good ruler, but that applies to the common people.

If you listen to the voices of the ministers wandering the imperial palace every day, it’s practically like hearing ghosts.

“If that’s what you thought, why did you come to find me?”
“Didn’t I say? We cannot afford not to utilize talent like yours in the Empire.”
“So, you came to me because you have something you want me to do?”

At my question, the Emperor’s expression changed once again.

I heard that the first thing royals living in the imperial palace learn is how to act out changes in expression, and seeing this, I really believe it.

“Cheonroe.”
“……”

Cheonroe.

The alias I had when I was active in the Special Forces.
Only the Emperor knows about this alias within the imperial family.

It was a confidential mission she personally assigned to me.

But for her to mention that name…

“The barbarians in the North have started to move again.”