Lynn gazed deeply at him, remaining silent for a long time.
But at last, he asked.
"You actually knew the truth from the start, didn't you? There was never any way to escape Hell. Your era failed. There was no so-called hope at all. Every last bit of this was something you made up, wasn't it?"
He felt no sympathy for the Flesh Dominator.
Because they were mortal enemies through and through.
Yet at that moment, he could not help feeling a hateful desolation.
Because their goals were the same.
The enormous Vertical Pupil remained silent for a long time.
But finally.
"And perhaps that is what it means to have no choice before fate. Just as I need to guide him, step by step, toward his ordained fate, many people in this Hell have experienced, or are experiencing, that same guidance. Step by step, we make them do these things, and call it fate."
Lynn said heavily, "A fate controlled by someone else?"
The enormous Vertical Pupil said:
"Yes."
Silence fell over their surroundings.
At that moment.
It was as though a wall without a single opening loomed before him, leaving him no way forward or back, suffocating him beyond words.
But he knew the other seemed to be trying to tell him something, and had been steering the conversation all along.
Lynn's gaze flickered as he said, deeply moved:
"You said many people have experienced this. Is someone who's experienced it standing before you right now?"
The enormous Vertical Pupil did not answer.
Silence.
But sometimes silence was itself an answer.
Lynn raised his head and gazed deeply at him, saying:
"What's the purpose? There has to be a reason. Why do this?"
The enormous Vertical Pupil said:
"No reason is needed. Everyone handles one link in the