"Huh. So I didn't die after all?"
Kou touched his hair, then stared blankly at the blue sky and white clouds.
"You would have disappeared because of the temporal paradox, but I brought you back."
A youthful voice, emotionless yet gentle, sounded beside him.
Kou turned his head and saw a gray-haired young man sitting on the grass nearby.
"You are... Oh, I remember now. You're the one who transformed the original me into who I am now."
"Yes. My name is Caelus, a Traveler who wanders between worlds."
"That sounds incredible. Can you even resolve contradictions in time?"
"Time, causality, fate, and even the flowers and grass beside the road are all parts of how a world functions. Together, they form the world as a whole. In a sense, I can embody the unity behind all things. Since every individual law is merely a part separated from that whole, I can naturally adjust or even rewrite it."
As Caelus spoke, the air in front of Kou rippled slightly.
Kou then saw his tattered clothes transform back into the brown trench coat he had been wearing when he first appeared in the city.
This was not an illusion or a simple alteration of physical matter. Caelus had directly rewritten the state of Kou's clothes, making them exist in their current form.
"That is an incredible ability. Are you a god?"
"No. Someone once asked me the same question, and my answer remains unchanged. I am still far from being a god."
"Why did you transform Carnage Kabuto into me?"
"Because I wanted to see whether someone could grow into a true hero after having their memories erased and their ideals given to them by someone else, especially when that person had originally been a monster driven by slaughter and destruction."
"I see. Then did I pass?"
"Of course. You are a hero. There is no doubt about that."
"Was the man I saw at the end you? And what about the power of Hyper Kabuto?"
"That was the original owner of the power, a man named Souji Tendo. However, neither he nor his power belongs to this world."
"Then how did he appear here and give that power to me?"
"Think of it as a miracle born from the humanity you have always believed in."
"All right."
"What do you plan to do now?"
"Continue being a hero, of course. In my spare time, I might try becoming a chef. I want to make delicious food with my own hands, including all kinds of desserts."
"As I said before, creation is one of humanity's greatest strengths. I want to develop that ability for myself."
"Have you considered giving yourself a proper name?"
"Kou is already a good name. It sounds friendly. Besides, many people call me that now, and I've grown used to it."
Kou smiled and continued lying on the grass as he looked up at the sky.
"Mr. Caelus, why is this world filled with so many disasters?"
"Because there is an entity that calls itself God and believes humanity is a disease. It wants to wipe out the human race, but for certain reasons, it cannot act directly. Instead, it creates monsters and disasters in an attempt to destroy humanity."
"Then if we defeat that being, will humanity finally be able to live in peace?"
"Once that external threat is removed, humanity will indeed enjoy peace for a time. Afterward, however, its internal conflicts will intensify. Humans will likely begin fighting among themselves, and the current cities may eventually divide into separate nations."
"War. A lot of people will die."
Kou sighed.
"That is part of human nature, or perhaps the nature of most intelligent life. Humanity is full of contradictions."
"Some people are willing to sacrifice their lives to save others, while others take lives for their own benefit. Some value life, while others treat it as meaningless. Some are so noble that even gods would bless them, while others are so despicable that even demons would be disgusted."
"Knowing that, are you still willing to remain a hero who protects humanity?"
"I didn't become a hero merely to defeat monsters. I became one because I want to protect other people's happiness and ordinary lives."
"Even without monsters, people would still need heroes."
"For example, when a car accident is about to happen, a hero might arrive in time to prevent a tragedy."
"When a fire breaks out, a hero can rescue those trapped inside."
"It could even be something as simple as someone forgetting toilet paper and a hero happening to pass them some."
"As you said, humanity has many flaws. There are plenty of people so terrible that they barely deserve to be called human."
"But heroes also truly exist."
"So when tragedy appears before you, you cannot simply look away."
Kou finished speaking with a smile.
When he turned to look at Caelus, however, the young man had already disappeared from the grass.
Only a sheet of paper and a strange object remained where he had been sitting.
Kou picked them up and first read the message written on the paper.
"I have received the answer I wanted and witnessed your story. As a reward, I have rewritten certain rules to give you a legitimate identity in this world. I have also given you a house that can serve as both a home and a shop."
"As for the item I left behind, it will prove useful on the day you need a miracle."
After reading the message, Kou turned his attention to the object.
It resembled the black plastic face of a wristwatch.
...
["I thought I'd caught a big fish, but it turned out to be an impostor."]
The System's dissatisfied voice sounded in Caelus's mind.
["The System attached to Ren Kanzaki was only a subsidiary unit, a detached fragment of something larger. In other words, Ren was merely one of many individuals selected by the true System. His fragment did not even possess an intelligence module."]
["It seems he was never one of the hosts that System truly valued, most likely because he focused entirely on accumulating power while neglecting his mental growth."]
["Furthermore, based on my analysis of the fragment's structure, the main System appears to be raising its hosts through a brutal survival-of-the-fittest process."]
["No wonder Ren grew so quickly. The main System divided itself into countless smaller Systems, sent them into different worlds to plunder resources, and then forced their hosts to kill one another until only the strongest remained."]
["Damn it! I clearly caught something, so why am I still this annoyed?"]
Caelus answered after listening to the System's complaint.
"Perhaps because you caught a fake fish."
(To be continued.)