The Final Volume: A Little World in the Dust - Old Friends

"Then I'm off. May fortune favor you in battle."

"Cut the crap and get lost."

He shrugged, then vanished.

It wasn't teleportation or spatial displacement. Rather, when our attention wavered for a moment and our eyes happened not to be on him, he slipped away without a sound. None of us saw how he left.

I was used to it by now, so I didn't bother with him. Instead, I began carefully considering the information he'd just given us.

"I see. So that's the key..."

Time restoration.

Even among all the time-related abilities one could imagine, it was an exceptionally powerful one.

Almost omnipotent.

And it perfectly made up for the weakness shared by ordinary time abilities such as stopping or reversing time: their low offensive power.

But it wasn't without flaws.

There was no such thing as a perfect ability. Everything had a loophole, and the more powerful the ability, the more fatal its flaw.

That was why Jili needed an external object to help him use his ability.

Was this a kind of suggestion effect? When a person was down and out, they lacked a sense of security, grew far more psychologically dependent, and became more susceptible to suggestion. In that state, even a little comfort or a glimmer of hope could offer powerful emotional reassurance, making them believe in it completely.

It was only a faint hope, but I still felt a little reassured.

"So..."

I turned to the two of them.

"Back to the question: what should I choose? Should I surrender obediently and have a 100% chance of surviving, or fight to the end for that 0.01% chance of a perfect ending? Tell me what you think."

They looked at each other, then smiled ruefully in unison.

"We've been together this long, and you still