Watching the sincere-eyed girl beneath the moonlight, Anvis let out a soft sigh.
He slowly rose and walked to Claire's side, gazing out over the vast land beneath the towering terrace of the Silver Palace, shrouded in the darkness of night.
"Then what about my family? My friends? The people I cherish?"
"...They will die."
The girl's voice remained ethereal, but its meaning was exceptionally cold and merciless.
"Not only them. Everyone—Human Civilization as a whole—will perish amid Darkness and Despair."
"Perhaps you want to bring one or several people important to you into the future, but the power contained within the Time Orb is limited. The more beings you carry, and the stronger they are, the shorter the span of time you will be able to traverse.
Take your sister as an example. If you bring only her with you into the future, the maximum time you can cross will be reduced by at least forty percent. If that happens, I cannot guarantee that you will reach a point after the end of the Dark Age.
Oh, and you needn't consider me. My form of existence is rather special, and I have my own way of reaching the future."
"..."
Listening to Claire's words, Anvis once again fell silent.
Then, facing the endless darkness ahead, the black-haired, black-eyed youth suddenly smiled.
In truth, he had never had any choice from the beginning.
All he could do was observe and record how the people of this world struggled and resisted in the face of the Darkness Apocalypse, then summarize the experience and return to the original timeline to prepare a more thorough and complete resistance.
Claire's suggestion merely gave him an additional safeguard in the event of total failure.
"It seems I have no choice after all..."
The youth's voice