The newborn Counter Force floated above the azure planet in a form like a speck of light.
"Everything looks as though nothing ever happened, doesn't it?"
"It's just a different person now."
It seemed to be talking to itself.
That azure planet was, naturally, Earth.
This was the first time the new Counter Force had seen "itself."
He could not help but feel an absurd, strange sensation.
Gaia and Alaya had both existed just a moment ago, yet less than a second later, the Counter Forces of the planet and primates had become him.
He said nothing more, and his form vanished as he silently began reviewing all manner of records.
He was a newborn Counter Force. Though he had inherited all of Gaia and Alaya's authorities, he was ultimately newly born, rather than having been born alongside the planet and primates.
In a sense, he was an unreasonable "usurper," though he had been helpless in the matter by nature.
He was still only a newborn child.
"Hmm?"
He noticed something strange.
"That is..."
The speck of light brightened once more. The new Counter Force condensed a physical form—a human silhouette whose features could not be made out—and approached the strange object.
Then he grew solemn.
He could sense it.
It was something like himself, something that had been "cast out" from the Root.
In other words, it was something accumulated over the seven lifetimes of the "annos."
Inert waste.
The newborn Counter Force instantly understood the nature of the object.
He needed to handle it carefully.
Though in a sense, it was practically his "younger brother."
"I'm sorry. Your existence will only plunge this world into crisis."
There would be no problem with the Root. Once the Thread of the Root entered the Root, the Root would absolutely never