Inside the private plane heading to England.

The members of Team Daphne were seated in their respective seats.

Peace and Saint started a game of chess, while Elaine rummaged through her device to check if there was anything that needed inspection, and Nature closed her eyes while listening to music, perhaps feeling exhausted.

Seated at the very front, Suji looked around at her teammates before straightening up and turning her gaze towards the window.

It had been just over 30 minutes since takeoff. Even the soft, cloud-like objects were no longer visible, and only a piercingly blue void filled the space outside the window.

As she stared at the blue emptiness for a long time, the upper part of the ‘Tower of the Wise’ from some unknown country seemed to flit past.

‘…… It’s like hell.’

She hated everything about this situation of becoming a game piece, clinging to her single life and moving towards the game’s ending.

Suji covered her forehead with both hands, then pressed deeply on her eyelids and swept her hands down as if washing her face.

When the body is still, the mind naturally becomes noisy.

That was not a good thing.

It felt less suffocating to face off with a sword in front of death.

As if wanting to escape from this situation, she raised her hand and habitually reached for her device. Then, entering the bulletin board, she clicked on posts she wasn’t particularly curious about one by one and scrolled down.

It had become a daily routine for public opinion towards her and the team to flip like the back of a hand.

She didn’t really care about either the good or bad words.

Nevertheless, the reason she initially looked at the bulletin board was to see if there were any rumors about those who had obtained hints about the ‘Laurel Wreath’, including Ageha. And now it had just become a habit.

Putting herself and her teammates aside, what were the other people who knew about the impending end of the world thinking……

‘If we are to inform people. We need to decide the extent and timing of when it would be best to do so.’

She let out a deep sigh and sank into the backrest.

Was it right for a mere 19-year-old to make such decisions?

Wasn’t this a critical matter that should be decided by the president or the higher-ups at headquarters?

As she blankly stopped thinking, the Messiah came to mind.

The monster that arrogantly proclaimed the end while covering the sky.

Every time she recalled that sight, it took her breath away.

If they worked hard following the current steps, was there really a way to defeat the Messiah?

Was such a thing possible?

− Calm down. I told you I’ll save you, right? You, even if the Second Wave comes, I’ll keep you alive. Me.

Suddenly, the words the owner of the ring had whispered to her when she was trembling in fear after seeing the prophecy about the Messiah came to mind.

‘Ridiculously hilarious, really.’

What was the point of surviving alone?

While pressing her eyes with both hands, she seemed to have dozed off for a moment.

The boundary between reality and illusion collapsed.

Distorted visions passed before her eyes.

Scenes of Elaine standing, calling her ‘Daphne’, and crying to the point of wetting his cheeks.

They were scenes she had seen at the top of the ‘Laurel Wreath’, which she had replayed countless times.

It had become a habit to try to obtain even one more clue by recollecting.

‘Tower of the Wise…… This is the Tower of the Wise. And it’s the top floor.’

“Just this once, truly, don’t worry and close your eyes. I don’t know if there will be a good result…… I don’t have much attachment to life either, but I’m thinking I want to find a good result.”

“Because, I think Daphne is……”

Once again, the voice passed by. Just like when she heard it in the ‘Laurel Wreath’, the latter part faded and was hard to hear clearly.

Suji reached out as if wanting to wipe away the tears that had filled Elaine’s cheeks, then suddenly woke up from her sleep.

She didn’t really need that much sleep, so it was quite rare for her to doze off like this.

‘…… Will it really be a future event for Elaine to cry and say such things to me?’

Suddenly, such a thought occurred to her.

Since the video of the Messiah she saw in the ‘Laurel Wreath’ was also a future event, she had naturally thought that Elaine’s video would also be something that would happen.

And if she thought it was a past event, there were many things that didn’t make sense.

Elaine had never grown his hair out so shaggy, nor had he ever called her Daphne.

Suji wet her lips with her tongue.

Nothing was being resolved clearly.

The destruction. The premonition about Elaine. And the rifts.

Her thoughts naturally shifted to the monster in the form of a reaper that had squeezed through the rifts.

‘…… Under what conditions do the rifts occur?’

Since the Waves and the ‘Tower of the Wise’ were created by the esteemed ones who oversaw the bet, could the rifts be the same? Or were they created due to the patterns possessed by that reaper-like monster?

This suspicion arose because she had witnessed space being torn wherever the tip of the reaper’s blade touched.

If that was the case, perhaps something was stimulating that reaper to create the rifts. Like a cat reacting to the scent of a mouse.

Chewing on her lips and fiddling with the ring on her finger, Suji eventually couldn’t resist asking.

“Hey, can you hear me?”

[Your actions make Νύμφη laugh.] [Your actions make Μουσα laugh.] [Your actions amuse Πολυδεύκης.] [Your actions intrigue σκιά.] [Your actions draw the attention of Τύχη.] [Your actions draw a protest from νόμος.]

− Hey, you say. Humans are reverently calling us the ‘Great Beings’. Since when did we start being treated like this?

Leaning against the window and looking at the clouds passing by below, Suji made a leaky sound.

You should be thankful I’m not throwing you away right now. Complaining about your situation despite being in no position to do so.

“There’s an English proverb about that. If you want to be treated well by others, treat others that way first.”

− I’ve done enough for you. Honestly, I’ve given too much. To the point where I feel like the bet itself might become invalid at this rate.

If the bet itself becomes invalid, what could be better than that?

Of course, she wouldn’t just let things go the way Suji wanted. It was uncertain whether she would dump the world that had become useless into the trash can as is, or plunge it into a fiery hell.

Telling herself to not get angry for the sake of extracting information, Suji spoke.

“The rifts, I mean.”

− The rifts. Right.

“I thought they weren’t appearing much these days, but suddenly there were two in a row. Is there some condition for this too?”

− Wasn’t it the same for the ‘Laurel Wreath’?

In response to Suji’s question, νόμος answered with the same question.

Suji disliked such question-and-answer type conversations. She especially didn’t want to have such joke-filled conversations with this guy.

She asked again with emphasis.

“Is it that you can’t answer properly? Or are you trying to play with me right now?”

− I did answer properly. I said it was the same for the ‘Laurel Wreath’.

Suji narrowed her eyes.

The owner of the ‘Laurel Wreath’ was νόμος, who was currently conversing with her.

The sudden appearance of the ‘Laurel Wreath’, which had not appeared for a long time, meant that the guy wanted to make contact with her in some way. It was as good as openly designating her as the owner of the ‘Laurel Wreath’.

If that was the case, what about the rifts?

‘Are the rifts also being deliberately shown to give a hint about something?’

Suji frowned.

“You mean the ‘Great Beings’ are in charge of it?”

− There are areas that cannot be spoken of.

“Here we go again. If it’s going to be like this, wouldn’t it be better to just keep your mouth shut all along?”

− The ‘Laurel Wreath’, the rifts, the ‘Tower of the Wise’, the Waves. The names humans call them may all be different, but their essence is not much different. They are beings created by borrowing someone’s power. Up to here. This is the limit of what I can tell you.

As if mindful of someone’s gaze, the guy hurriedly spilled out his words and then fell silent.

Suji tapped the table with her fingertips.

She understood that the ‘Laurel Wreath’ and the ‘Tower of the Wise’ were under the jurisdiction of the ‘Great Beings’.

The Waves were under the jurisdiction of the ‘Messiah’.

And in that way, the two sides of the bet would balance each other’s power.

Then whose jurisdiction were the rifts under?

And if they were under the jurisdiction of the ‘Messiah’, did it mean they also began with humans as the medium, like the Waves?

The moment Suji tried to immerse herself in thought, she heard a presence.

She could identify the owner of the footsteps just by the sound of the slippers on the plane.

“Who were you talking to?”

“Oh, Nature. I thought you were asleep.”

“I wasn’t. You were talking to someone, right? I thought I heard voices.”

Brushing back his blond hair, Nature smiled softly.

Suji reflexively tried to answer, then hesitated and stopped.

She hadn’t yet confided in Nature about the ‘Great Beings’.

Now that she had accepted him as a teammate, it wouldn’t be good to differentiate the information at this point. It could cause him to feel alienated as a teammate.

But perhaps because of the conversation she had with Elaine, it somehow felt uncomfortable to disclose everything right away.

Without realizing it, Suji held out her device.

“With the dedicated handler. Why?”

Feeling awkward due to the clumsy lie, she fiddled with her hair for no reason.

“No, just. Being on a plane for a long time makes me bored. I thought we could talk a bit.”

“We’ll arrive soon. We just need to go to where the dungeon entrance is connected.”

“I know that. Just…… I like talking with Daphne.”

Smiling, Nature lightly covered her hand with his own, then removed it.