NOVEL NEXT Chapter 181
181. How Boring
The future is something that constantly changes and fluctuates.
Moreover, those fluctuations only continue to accelerate.
To avoid a future where she meets her demise, Electra performed future divinations every few hours, day after day.
While seeing a few seconds or minutes ahead was manageable, peering further into the future consumed vast amounts of energy.
Even for Electra, this frequency was her limit.
“What’s going on… She’s going to be killed…!?”
Electra stared blankly down at Vanessa, collapsed at her feet.
The moment she stepped into the mansion’s courtyard, she had stumbled upon her.
Now, Vanessa lay motionless, her body reduced to a silent, lifeless husk.
“But… this scene wasn’t in my most recent divination…”
She furrowed her brows and groaned.
The future must have shifted drastically within just a few hours.
Who—or what—could have killed Vanessa, the wielder of the divine spatial manipulation skill, Teleportation?
And what was their goal?
Above all else—
“Whoever killed her… might come for me next…”
Electra’s first priority was her own survival.
“[Maneuver: Nightmare Vision Reverse].”
She activated her skill.
Electra’s divinations came in two forms: [Maneuver: Fortune Bell], which allowed her to see further into the future at the cost of accuracy, and [Maneuver: Nightmare Vision], which provided precise glimpses of the immediate future.
What she used now was a variation of the former—retrocognition, the ability to peer into the past.
Ever since her skills had evolved through her encounters with Vanessa and Sephiria, she had gained the ability to see past events to some extent, in addition to the future.
However, this skill was taxing.
And lately, she had been using it more frequently than ever.
Though they were supposed to be allies, Vanessa was inscrutable, and Sephiria’s motives were equally unclear.
Her wariness of the two had driven her to push her mental limits, spamming divinations despite the strain.
“Right now… I need to gather information…”
She gritted her teeth.
“Who… Who killed Vanessa…?”
She delved into the past.
Five minutes ago.
Ten minutes ago.
Fifteen minutes ago—
Rewinding the images flashing through her mind, she searched for the truth.
And soon, she arrived at the scene.
“No way… This is…!”
Electra let out a pained groan.
It was the goddess who had granted Vanessa her skill—Zegalia herself—who had struck her down.
A divine punishment in the truest sense.
“So this is the retribution for daring to defy the gods…!?”
Cold sweat dripped from her forehead.
“Does that mean… I’m next…?”
Killed… by a god.
A crushing sense of impending doom wracked Vanessa’s body with tremors.
No.
No…!
I’ll survive—no matter what.
Even if I have to defy the gods and side with demons—
“[Maneuver: Nightmare Vision].”
She switched her skill from retrocognition to future divination.
“…!?”
She saw it—her own figure, obliterated in a burst of rainbow light.
“Th-This is… my demise…!?”
A future she had seen countless times before.
One she had struggled desperately to avoid.
Whether it would happen in ten minutes, twenty, thirty… it didn’t matter. It was coming soon.
“What’s going to happen to me…?”
She tried to peer even further into the immediate future.
Starting with one minute from now—
“Huh? Vanessa’s not moving…?”
“…!”
A voice rang out from behind her, interrupting the divination.
When she turned, she saw a girl with black hair tied into a braid standing there.
“Sephiria…”
Electra recounted what she had seen in her divination.
“Hey, what’s wrong?”
“We went too far.”
She sighed in response to Sephiria’s question.
“The gods don’t interfere with human affairs. They merely watch—and until now, my divinations confirmed that. But suddenly, that’s changed.”
“Hmm~ I guess even gods have their limits, huh?”
Sephiria giggled, as if amused by something.
“…Do you even understand the situation? We could be killed at any moment.”
“Divine punishment, huh? Scary scary~”
“I’m being serious here! Cut it out!”
Her flippant attitude finally ignited Electra’s anger.
Here she was, on the brink of disaster, and this girl was grating on her nerves like it was nothing.
“Aw, don’t be mad~ Oh, but you’re cute when you’re angry, neesan.”
Sephiria blew a teasing kiss.
Her attitude only stoked Electra’s irritation further.
“Besides, neesan, you can see the future with your divinations, right? If you keep predicting ahead, even a god shouldn’t be able to kill you, no?”
“My divinations have limits. I can’t use them continuously, and the future itself is always changing.”
With that, Electra turned her back.
The earlier divination weighed on her mind.
She needed to leave—now.
She had to confirm the details of what she’d seen—
“Where are you going, neesan?”
“Away from here. I only allied with Vanessa to change my own future. The plan seemed to be working. But now, it’s fallen apart.”
Electra scoffed.
“I’ll just find another path. I’ll survive—no matter what it takes. I’ll never give up.”
“Running away?”
“I’m choosing a different path.”
Sephiria’s mocking tone earned another scoff from Electra.