In the cruise ship's restaurant, Iris sat upright across from Cid, deftly cutting the steak on her plate with her knife and fork. She brought a piece to her mouth, a smile of pure enjoyment appearing on her face.
Although Cid considered both sisters complete lunatics, they were remarkably good at maintaining appearances. At the very least, their manners were impeccable. Combined with their beautiful faces, anyone who had never seen their true nature might genuinely be fooled.
"Um, Cid, is there something on my face? Staring at me like that is rather embarrassing."
Pulling herself away from the delicious food, Iris noticed Cid studying her face. Apparently embarrassed by how much she had been enjoying herself, she scratched her cheek awkwardly.
"I suppose it's because Iris-sama has changed so much since the last time we met. I couldn't help looking a little longer."
At the sound of her voice, Cid calmly withdrew his gaze without the slightest embarrassment. He naturally turned to look out the window and spoke in an even tone.
Iris, who had been feeling somewhat bashful under his stare, froze at those words and gave an awkward smile.
"Have I really changed that much?"
What do you think?
Cid did not say it aloud, but the look he gave her clearly conveyed exactly that, making Iris even more embarrassed.
Compared to how she had been over a year ago, First Princess Iris had changed tremendously.
Back then, she had struck Cid as a peerless lunatic who would not even acknowledge Alexia, her own younger sister. The current Iris was still a lunatic, but she had at least become somewhat normal and learned how to conceal her true nature.
Still, a lunatic was a lunatic.
With nothing better to do, Cid opened his eyes and glanced into her mind. Iris's emotional state did not resemble the calm of someone who had truly let go of the past. It was closer to the carefree attitude of a fresh university graduate whose clear, innocent eyes had yet to be battered by society.
"So what exactly happened on the World Battlefield? Ever since my sister returned, she's kept saying things I don't understand. You've also changed considerably since going there, Iris-sama. Is it really that dangerous?"
Cid recalled how Claire had deliberately come to see him after returning from the World Battlefield. She had warned him about its dangers, then embarked on a deranged tirade that sounded like a string of final words.
Now Iris had returned from the World Battlefield with a similar transformation.
It did not matter that Iris currently seemed normal. The very fact that she had changed from a deranged, brooding lunatic into a seemingly normal person was itself abnormal.
After witnessing two such cases so close to him, both seemingly caused by psychological trauma, Cid had to admit that he was becoming interested in the World Battlefield.
He had always known of its existence. However, it offered nothing but endless killing, with no stage suited to an Eminence in Shadow. It was also needed as an external conflict to suppress the world's internal tensions. Then there was its absurd and disgusting "Balance Rule."
For all those reasons, although Cid knew where the World Battlefield was, he had never once visited it.
"As for whether it's dangerous... not particularly. Those monsters from the Otherworld are certainly vicious, but since they have no intelligence, they're fairly easy to defeat as long as you remain cautious."
When discussing her experiences, Iris had no intention of joking around.
Cid had never been there before. If she treated such a serious subject lightly, he might one day enter the battlefield and die because he mistook one of her jokes for genuine advice.
Carefully recalling her time there, Iris continued in a solemn voice.
"I have no idea what kind of world the invading Otherworld is. Every enemy appearing on the battlefield is a strange beast without reason or fear of death. They were terrifying at first, but after the initial period of trial and error, we gradually developed ways to deal with them."
Hmm... I'm not actually interested in this.
As Iris eagerly explained the World Battlefield, Cid's thoughts began to wander in boredom.
He already knew those details.
In a sense, this world's first clash with the Otherworld's forces had occurred in the Dimensional Gap immediately after the worlds merged, when he and Great Red fought two Evil Dragons at the Dragon God level.
Dragon God-level life forms, yet they had not even developed Wisdom. It was almost unbelievable.
That battle had thoroughly demonstrated the importance of Wisdom.
In terms of raw ability, the two Evil Dragons were comparable to Great Red. A two-against-one battle should have been an easy victory. Instead, once they lost control, the two-on-one became two separate one-on-one battles, and Great Red had spent more than a year hunting them down.
"We haven't been forced into a constant retreat for a long time. In fact, after discovering the Peerage Member Banners, which aren't counted under the Balance Rules, the only reason we haven't pushed the enemy front back is that the Otherworld has too many soldiers. Whenever one is killed, a new enemy emerges from their world to fill the vacant position in the Balance."
"Precisely because of that, preserving the lives of our warriors is more important to the allied forces than killing an enemy. Forget trading one life for one. Even exchanging one of ours for a hundred of theirs would be a terrible loss, because no one knows how many troops the Otherworld possesses."
Indeed, the World Battlefield's "Balance Rule" ensured that regardless of the true difference in strength between the two sides, every position would be matched. On paper, their combat power would appear balanced.
However, that only worked while there were relatively few positions to fill.
Once one side no longer had enough powerful fighters to occupy every corresponding position, the other side could end the war at any moment through an overwhelming numerical advantage.
The major factions already enjoyed both visible and hidden advantages to their numbers. Yet despite that, the Otherworld still held its ground with an absolute advantage in available troops, never retreating a single step. This showed that it simply did not care how many powerful individuals died.
The Otherworld could even afford the extravagant act of sacrificing a Transcender-level fighter through Demon Possession solely to add another Transcender-level position to the World Battlefield.
The Transcenders were currently the strongest combatants on the World Battlefield.
Compared to the Otherworld's habit of treating them as disposable pieces, if this world's Transcender count ever fell below ten, it would no longer be able to maintain the cycle and would inevitably collapse.
As Iris continued, one tightly guarded detail after another about the World Battlefield was revealed, genuinely broadening Cid's horizons.
Amid his surprise, however, he noticed something strange.
"That doesn't seem right. According to what you've said, Iris-sama, even with occasional accidents, the death rate should be fairly low. But I remember the officially announced casualty figures being quite substantial."
As Cid recalled, the number of deaths on the World Battlefield was certainly lower than the casualties of World War II, but it was not nearly as low as Iris had described. At the very least, it fell within what most people would consider a normal wartime range.
"Ah... well..."
When Cid raised the subject, Iris faltered.
She was surprised by his sharpness, but also embarrassed by the truth.
After hesitating for a moment and considering the value of the information, Iris glanced around to ensure no one was listening before speaking.
"This may sound absurd, but a considerable number of those deaths were caused by deliberate sabotage from our own side."
"?"
Seeing the confusion written across Cid's face, Iris lowered her head in shame, her cheeks turning red.
"Weren't you curious about why Claire and I changed so much after going there? That's the reason."
Through Iris's explanation, Cid gradually understood what had happened.
To put it simply, the World Battlefield was meant to use external pressure to redirect internal conflict. The problem was that this external pressure was not strong enough.
That made the World Battlefield the perfect place for long-lived beings capable of surviving for thousands of years to settle old scores.
Crimes committed there could not be investigated because the battles concealed all traces. They could not be divined because even the most powerful diviners would die on the spot. Responsibility could also be openly denied through excuses such as delayed reinforcements, accidental mistakes, or simply failing to notice something.
For beings who had most likely survived the wars of mythology before being subdued by the God of the Bible, the World Battlefield was the ideal place to repay blood debts and avenge old grudges.
As for the Otherworld, its forces possessed no reason, but no one could afford to fight them with everything they had.
Each day, combatants simply found enemies matching their own strength, held them at bay for a while, then withdrew and let someone else take over.
Very few people were killed directly by Otherworld enemies. Once someone felt they could no longer endure, they simply left the battlefield and were replaced.
Most deaths came from allies secretly taking revenge through sabotage and underhanded tricks.
Everyone understood that losing the war meant the destruction of the world.
But understanding that principle was one thing. Watching someone who had killed your children, wife, father, or even killed you once in a previous war continue living happily made it extremely difficult to resist the urge to sabotage them.
Besides, the largest share of the cycle rested on the Transcenders, and the battlefield had not yet reached its limit. A minor figure from an opposing faction accounted for less than one-millionth of the cycle.
Weakening another faction now also strengthened your own position when the two sides inevitably became enemies again.
Such thinking was extremely common.
No one knew who had done it first, but once the precedent was set, it became impossible to stop. The hatred people on the World Battlefield felt toward their own allies was already close to surpassing their hatred for the Otherworld.
That was also why every major faction insisted that its descendants interact amicably.
If this behavior continued, they could forget defeating the Otherworld and ending the endless war. A single civil war would destroy them first.
"That's completely absurd."
After listening to Iris's explanation, even Cid, who considered himself extremely well informed, could not help expressing genuine astonishment.
This was not the sort of information he could uncover by casually wandering into some secret records room.
Damn it. Isn't it supposed to be a classified archive? Why wasn't any of this recorded there?!
"Yes, who could have imagined it? But after seeing all that, I suddenly realized that Shadow isn't particularly significant. He's merely a terrorist using his power to invent the Cult of Diablos, satisfy his own desires, and conceal whatever crimes he commits in the shadows."
???
Cid stopped midway through eating.
He raised his head and looked at Iris. After a brief silence, he said nothing and simply lowered his gaze, taking another bite of steak.
"What is it? Don't tell me you also believe the Cult of Diablos exists, just like Alexia. I haven't found a single trace of the Cult of Diablos, which means it's merely a lie Shadow created to conceal his crimes. Sooner or later, I'll kill Shadow with my own hands and expose the truth!"
Iris had been acting so normally that Cid had nearly begun to question his own judgment.
The facts proved his eyes were perfectly fine.
A lunatic remained a lunatic. Once her confidence swelled, reason ceased to matter.
"No. I support you, Iris-sama. The Cult of Diablos doesn't exist."
But that won't stop me from dropping you to your knees with a single punch.
Without waiting to see Iris's delighted expression at finally receiving someone's support, Cid continued eating his steak.
Does this world not have enough pressure?
The thought arose naturally.
In Cid's opinion, the situation Iris had described was simply the result of people having too little to do.
If the cycle were filled to its limit all at once, who would still dare cause trouble?
For the first time, Cid considered taking the initiative and increasing the pressure on the world.
But he quickly realized that the world might not need his help.
Ever since he fought Kojou Akatsuki, the Fourth Primogenitor who barely qualified as SS-class, a month ago, events had continued spiraling beyond control.
Sigh... Back then, it all seemed so ordinary.
Even so, Cid had made his decision.
He would take responsibility for increasing the pressure on the world. It would provide him with a stage to achieve great feats as an Eminence in Shadow while also forcing everyone else to unite.
I'll become this world's ultimate villain!!!
The instant the thought appeared, Cid felt his entire body ignite with excitement.
A story in which he appeared to commit every imaginable evil while secretly saving the world appealed perfectly to his tastes.
It was the very essence of an Eminence in Shadow!
Damn it, I'm fired up!
"By the way, Cid, everything I just told you is classified. You're the only one who should know, so don't tell anyone else."
As Cid's excitement reached its peak, Iris's warning made him glance strangely beside her.
Millia had returned to retrieve something she had dropped earlier and had overheard the entire conversation.
"What's wrong, Cid?"
Noticing his gaze, Iris looked beside herself. Seeing nothing, she turned back toward him.
"Nothing. I just suddenly remembered the terrorists we searched for last night."
Cid watched Millia hurry away while maintaining a smile toward Iris.
"Don't remind me. Just thinking about it makes me angry. They were women wearing black bodysuits, an obvious mark of Shadow Garden, yet no one saw them. Unfortunately, we failed to catch them."
It would be stranger if you could see them.
It was most likely another presence-erasing device created by Eta.
Come to think of it, this ship clearly belongs to the Mitsugoshi Company. Why did Gamma make Millia and the others sneak aboard like stowaways? Was it just to earn the price of another two tickets?
That would be incredibly pathetic.
Cid mocked the situation inwardly but did not think too deeply about it.
It seemed like a minor matter.
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