Beyond the Curtain (Continued)

The Twilight Flame engulfed this era.

She killed not a single person, but all the gods. The information of the dead gods was extracted and copied, filling the pillar of fire that rose from the underworld. Finally, the pillar of fire collapsed and was completely contained in the blood-fire box at the girl's fingertips.

Miss Surtr hovered quietly above the cleansed continent—she spent a few extra seconds meeting Persephone of this era and received a predictable and unsurprising result.

—It's just a god with the same name; there's no need to pay much attention to it.

—But... there's one missing? No, this one is destined not to be here.

—Pandora.

The girl closed her eyes, raised her hand, and shot the Bloodfire Box from the ground, sending it to the moon.

Pierce through the Lunar Sea, penetrate to the Lunar Core. Bury it within to ensure that any variables in history are minimized. Then...

Miss Surtr opened her eyes 'now'.

Everything had changed completely, far more so than she had anticipated.

A new memory appeared in Surtr's mind—unlike any of the previous ones. In this memory, she wasn't even the Seventh queen.

Because there are no more God Slayer.

In this timeline, Pandora did not activate the God Slayer's Ritual. And all the Unwilling God were engulfed by the Twilight Flame the moment they descended.

Without a first king, there would naturally be no Seventh King.

This new era is an age of mortals, sorcerers, and knights—myth is simply myth in this age. The Twilight Flame, which always appears suddenly and then blankets the sky for a time, is seen as some unknown and complex supernatural phenomenon.

In this corrected timeline, I arrived nine days ago, silently and without a trace. Without triggering any battle, I simply raised my combat power to its original limit during a period of peace. Then, the Genesis journey to Japan began anew.

Different in nature, but the same in result. The journey of correcting the world line begins again, and somewhat unexpectedly, those myths that she had not interfered with also suffer the same fate of being burned by the Twilight Flame.

Something's strange.

But it's not actually that strange.

Miss Surtr tilted her head slightly. Her public image remained that of an ordinary Milan citizen, a sickly high school girl—she walked unhurriedly to the nearest café. Then she paid with just the right amount of change from her pocket.

"Two cups of coffee, one plain and one with the maximum amount of sugar and milk."

"As you wish, madam."

The waiter greeted her naturally and led her to a seat by the window.

"—Are there two of you?"

"Two of you," she replied, then sat down in the guest seat.

The waiter then left and prepared her coffee five minutes later—she chose the one with excessive sugar, practically ice cream. She drew out over ninety percent of the heat from the cup as she held it by the handle, then took a small sip.

"Ah... not bad." She squinted her eyes comfortably.

When their gazes converged again, a strangely dressed young girl appeared across the coffee table.

It was beautiful, and strange. It looked very young, but it exuded a strange maternal instinct—not just for a specific group, but for all living things on the earth.

"Pandora..." Miss Surtr put down her coffee cup. "...Perhaps I should call you Gaia?"

"Anything is fine. After all, I am your mother, the mother of all living things on this planet except you." The young girl picked up her coffee but didn't drink it—perhaps she was allergic to the powdered embryonic material? —If coffee beans could be considered her offspring.

"Before you came, I tried many times—to correct the timeline, to change the past. But no matter how I changed the past, the final result remained the same—I would have been fatally wounded fifty years ago, and my original body would have died completely eight days ago. And from the corpse of my original body, an evil creature that would make the entire Milky Way tremble would be born. And that is the end of my vision; beyond that, it is beyond my ability."

"I had already resigned myself to death...after all, my original body is already dead." The young girl sighed helplessly. "But I never expected to encounter another visitor from another world like you before I die. And thanks to you, we children who were originally doomed have a way to live."

"Again?" Miss Surtr asked, making sure she hadn't missed the point.

"Hmm. Again. Because you are the second... no, perhaps the third." Pandora shrugged. "The power that killed my original body fifty years ago, causing my stillbirth, was perhaps the interference of the second outsider—I'm pretty sure it wasn't a power from within this world, but that's all I know. And before that, a long, long time ago, the reason I was able to have consciousness was thanks to the first outsider."

"Is that so..." Miss Surtr took another sip of her overly sweet coffee. "So I was the last one to arrive... Are you planning to tell me this story?"

"Yes, but I think this story might be a form of payment... After all, you see, I have something I want to ask of you. And I don't have anything of value to you. It's this story, this information, that might be of some use to you. So..."

Pandora tilted her head slightly, mimicking Miss Surtr.

"... I feel I should make the best use of it?"

Miss Surtr put down her coffee cup.

"I am indeed very interested in this story. But are you sure they come from another world like me, and not from your world just originating from outer space?"

"I'm not sure. But..." Pandora's lips curled up slightly, her form melting and deforming like an ice sculpture under the sun.

The slender, young girl body was replaced by a graceful, full-figured physique. The dress was replaced by a red plaid skirt and a vest-style shirt, and the purple pigtails were transformed into long, green hair.

Her eyes were emerald green, like the pupils of a giant beast. And when a parasol landed in her hands and opened, Miss Surtr instinctively grasped Laevateinn.

The young girl's voice also changed from gentle to authoritative and suppressed.

"I think you drew your conclusion when you saw this image."

Miss Surtr's gaze sharpened.

Ah... of course she knew her. How could she not? A famous character from the Touhou Project. The mysterious and powerful great yokai, Kazami Yuuka—no, not Kazami Yuuka. Because long hair and green eyes were the characteristics of Yuka from the older works—how could she, as a die-hard otaku in her past life, not know her?

—In the world of God Slayer, there's no reason for Yuka to appear. And regardless of where Pandora obtained the information about Yuka, it proves that this world did indeed have contact with another dimension.

—So... I'm not the only traveler like myself who can traverse so many worlds.

"I'll accept this commission. What do you want me to do for you?"

"It's simple," Pandora replied with a smile. "Kill me. Kill me completely, and kill my original self that is about to be resurrected."

"Reason?"

"Based on my observations, there are over a thousand planets in the entire Milky Way that harbor civilizations. But the only Star Soul in the entire Milky Way is me—in other words, even if I die, this planet will not suddenly explode. However, the evil entity born from the power that killed and transformed me is a vortex that will devour everything."

"Therefore, I need you to take action and kill me completely before my remains transform. Only in this way can the life on this planet have a chance to continue. And only the otherworldly power you possess can resist the pure starlight that changes my essence."

"So you care about your offspring?" Miss Surtr, slightly puzzled. "But as far as I know, if you don't die, but are successfully born in the future, your size will expand dramatically the moment you are born, and all your offspring will be squeezed and wiped out by your powerful existence... I thought you didn't care about them."

She saw Pandora give her a very surprised look.

"That's a strange question, Surtr —please allow me to address you that way. As a long-lived being who should have an infinite lifespan, you shouldn't be troubled by such questions."

"The purpose of the existence of all living things is the continuation of life. Civilization exists to perpetuate life as a whole. Offspring exist to perpetuate life as individuals. When I exist as an immortal being, these things that exist because of me are equivalent to parasites or living environments to me—because I don't need them to perpetuate my own life. I don't need them to perpetuate my will or my thoughts. Because even if they were replaced hundreds of times, I would not die, and they are of no use or value to me."