What Lies Within
Lydia smiled without a word, but that was answer enough.
What are you doing here? Why did you leave the battle?
You must have known that if you disappeared, the Western Liberators would get wiped out...!
Mmm, that's a bit of a misunderstanding. It makes it sound like I'm the reason they lose.
To be precise, whether I slip out midway like this or fight to the end...
The outcome doesn't change.
We lose in the end.
What...?
Hm? Kuku, are you done eating? Good boy.
Lydia closed the book and locked it.
Was it my imagination, or did I hear a burp as the book closed?
Hmm... Let's see. If I had to say...
My faithful subordinate? A friend? Or... a cute pet?
He may look strange at first, but if you watch him long enough, you'll see all the adorable things he does—
I'm being serious!
Oh, you startled me... Well, I am being serious too, you know?
...My faithful subordinate. That's all.
...So you don't really know either, do you?
To put it simply... let's just say I happened to "catch" this little one and have been keeping him safely inside this book.
I've done all kinds of research into where he came from and what kind of power he wields, but...
One thing is certain. He's no ordinary being of the Void.
If anything, he loves feeding on Void Force.
His nature is unlike any power or form of energy found anywhere in Lavistar.
Perhaps that's why Kuku isn't affected by this time loop.
Right. He told me after the reset.
Even what happened in the last loop.
You're saying you can communicate... with that book?
Hehe, of course.
Rather than ordinary communication through speaking and listening...
It's more like storing my memories through a mental link with him, then imprinting them back onto me.
I-isn't that dangerous?! Linking your mind with that thing...!
Don't worry. He is perfectly under my control. Besides...
...To explore unknown truths, one must always accept a little risk, wouldn't you say?
As if answering Lydia, the book rattled.
I get that you learned about the time loop from Kuku.
Then... tell me why you're deliberately sabotaging the operation.
...
Lydia had been smiling playfully, but her expression hardened in an instant.
...Hmm.
Are you saying that's not your goal?
Don't tell me... you're trying to absorb the power of the Voidborns...?
Pfft, ahaha! Come on, don't look at me like that. You're scaring me.
To answer your question... yes, that's right.
I'm not obsessed with destroying the Void Core like the other Westerners are... especially Commander Ceres.
They're all such fools.
...Why won't they abandon a land where a single blade of grass can't survive?
A West with rivers, lakes, and lush green trees... that's ancient history.
No one in the West is really fighting because they want to reclaim that kind of land.
Maybe that really was the goal at first... but they've died for that hollow dream for far too long. Dying, dying again, and collapsing atop the dead...
Family, friends, mentors, students, lovers... the deaths of everyone they cared about kept piling up in the West. Again and again. And again...
To prove those sacrifices weren't in vain, they need some noble cause to dress them up with. That's why they go on about reclaiming territory.
To prove they didn't all die for nothing, everyone clings to the goal of destroying the Void Core like an article of faith.
...Yes, that's why I hate it. I hate the West, where death keeps piling up, and I hate the Westerners who can't move on from it.
Lydia...
...Ah. Look at me, going on like this.
How strange. Why am I telling all this to people I barely know?
But that can't be why you're deliberately sabotaging the operation.
Why not? I hate everything, so maybe I want us all wiped out together. Isn't that how it goes?
That's a lie.
...
...What makes you think that?
If Lydia truly wanted that, she wouldn't keep repeating the same action while knowing it would never lead to [the Western Liberators' annihilation].
Hmm? And who told you I was smart?
Ceres.
...Good grief.
And you also knew we'd come here.
Weren't you the one who unlocked that door for us?
...Yes, that's right.
I wanted to see what you would do.
...You want to break this loop too, don't you?
Then tell me what you know.
Hmm.
Well, fine. I was planning to tell you after I learned a little more about you, Captain, but...
...It looks like [this loop] doesn't have much time left either, so I'll tell you.
...Should I call it [the first loop]?
When the Western Liberators first launched their operation to destroy the Void Core, and Olberos appeared before us...
I tried to absorb just a tiny bit of Olberos's power through Kuku.
Try to absorb too much power, and it may devour you instead. But if Kuku could interpret even a fragment of it, that would be enough.
The moment Kuku made [contact] with Olberos...
Olberos [showed] me something.
Showed you what?
...
...[The end of Lavistar], beginning with the destruction of the Void Core.
As the Void Core is destroyed... a black tree emerges from within it.
Massive branches spread out from the tree and cover the entire night sky.
And as those branches split apart, the night sky itself is torn to shreds.
Beyond the torn sky, there's nothing. Countless stars, all their starlight, gone...
All that's left is deep, black space.
Lavistar is left floating there alone.
And slowly... it loses all color, until at last it becomes a vast, lifeless gray stone...
And Lavistar, too, vanishes into the black depths of space.
...You're saying destroying the Void Core causes that...?
I don't know if that's really true, though.
You believe that? It's a vision from a Voidborn. It has to be a lie!
Yes, it could be.
Or it could be real.
Either way, I hope you know I didn't take it at face value when I first saw it.
The first operation cost us countless lives... but even so, I thought we had nearly cornered Olberos.
But... for some reason, Commander Ceres's sword had no effect on Olberos.
You mean her attacks didn't work?
Yes. To be precise, one of Commander Ceres's two swords, [Daystar]...
It couldn't leave even a scratch on Olberos.
In the end, she had to keep fighting with only her other sword, but it wasn't enough.
We lost... and after that, it played out just like what you experienced, Captain.
Before Olberos's attack reached the Commander, a bright light flashed, and the time loop began.
I was lucky to be linked with Kuku at the time, analyzing Olberos's power.
That's how I learned I could retain my memories while linked with Kuku.
So when I came to...
You'd gone back a week?
Huh? How did you know that?
It was a guess... but it seems I was right.
Hmm? Well, well...
You actually surprised me. Impressive.
My apologies. I'll move you up one notch in my mental ranking, Captain.
...I hope I wasn't at idiot level.
So once I realized time was looping, I tried all sorts of things to break out of it, too.
I tried to win. I even tried losing on purpose as quickly as possible to see what would happen...
...Not that I've tried the more extreme ideas yet, of course.
You think I haven't tried?
She'd never believe me if I just told her time was looping, so I argued for postponement with all kinds of logical reasons.
But there's stubborn, and then there's her. It really felt like talking to a brick wall.
I think I know exactly what you mean...
And one thing I did learn for sure is that the [trigger] for the time loop is [Commander Ceres's defeat].
No matter what happens, the loop begins the moment the Commander's defeat becomes certain.
...So, to circle back to earlier...
We were talking about whether I believe the vision Olberos showed me, right?
Of course I didn't believe it at first... but now, how should I put it...
...I've come to think it probably isn't some Voidborn deception.
You mean what you saw in that vision could be real?
...Yes.
Lydia spread her arms with a theatrical flourish.
This is definitely where the Void Core originally lay dormant.
I don't need to tell you how dense the Void energy has become after accumulating here for so long.
Then where is the Void Core now?
Well... you've all seen it, haven't you?
Don't tell me...
[Olberos]...?
Yes. I don't know whether it awoke when the Western Liberators began their advance, or earlier for some other reason, but...
It is both the guardian of the Void Core and, in a sense, the Void Core itself.
That is [Olberos].
So for a while now, I've been feeding Kuku the Void energy here, trying to find new information.
...Though I needed the Liberators' help to get this far safely before slipping off on my own.
And... after making that trip several times, I finally became certain just now.
The sheer amount and density of Void energy the Void Core must have held here, enough to contaminate the entire West...
Compared to that, the amount of energy I've observed from Olberos is far too small.
It would make sense if Olberos isn't the Void Core itself, but more like a vessel that holds it.
You mean if we destroy Olberos, the greater power inside could burst out...?
...It's possible.
Hmm...
And... another reason the warning I saw in the vision could be real is...
This is... hmm. It's not exactly logical, so it's a little hard to bring up.
It's fine. Tell me.
Across the loops, I saw the vision over and over. And once, I heard someone's voice in it.
A voice? What did it say?
...It was calling Commander Ceres. It said her name exactly. [Ceres].
It sounded familiar... and then I remembered whose voice it was.
Whose voice?
...The former commander of the Western Liberators, and Ceres's older sister.
It was [Venera]'s voice.