As he swam across the sea while carrying Jerin on his back, Verity found himself with little to do but try his best to survive. His mind was just as exhausted as his body, and no matter how long he swam, the coast was never anywhere in sight.

It truly felt hopeless.

Despite the hardship, however, Verity found himself with some time to think. Even though he had been shaken by Jerin's death and even though his mind was focused on keeping him alive by swimming forward, some unrelated thoughts surged in Verity's mind.

The first, of course, pertained to his weakness.

Verity hated how weak he was. If simply going by the level he had reached with the spear in three months, some might have called him a genius, or at least greatly talented, but that was not the case.

The reason Verity had come so far was in part due to his incredibly resilient constitution, but in greater part due to his master, the Spear of Hell.

Verity did not realize, but being the sole disciple of a transcendental master who was willing to teach him at all hours of the day put him far ahead of any other warrior on the continent. In truth, what she had done to him – forcefully opening his Aura paths – was an act that she had made seem simple and trivial, but it was utterly insane.

No one below the transcendental level would have even attempted this, and even then, few of those with the qualifications to try would have succeeded. Evangelina herself was a genius among geniuses, and through this alone, she had saved the untalented Verity years, perhaps even a decade of incessant meditation.

Then, there was the Nine Hells Spearman ship. In terms of spear styles, there was not a single equal for it on the continent, Even in all of the worlds it stood as an exceptional art, and Evangelina had been diligently drilling into Verity's body day and night.

Even his crude mastery made him formidable, thanks to the art's sheer potency.

By all means, the warriors around his age would have found Verity strong.

But Verity felt that he was way too weak.

He was not talented with his weapon like Felicia.

Like Verity, she was under the tutelage of a transcendental, but as a genius herself, she had reached far greater heights than Verity.

Not only was her mastery of her own art much more advanced than Verity's, but in a few months, she had gone from never holding a sword to manifesting Sword Aura, something that Verity had not yet even begun to grasp, and that he perhaps never would.

He felt that the gap between them would only continue to grow.

Then, there was Marco. His battle sense and martial talent were perhaps even poorer than Verity's, but the progress he had made in his master's body tempering technique was unnatural.

It was as if it had been made for him. His body resonated with it, and in a few months, Marco had manifested [Adamantine Body]. It was crude compared to his master's, but it was something that took even the Martial Emperor nearly half of his life to discover and make his own.

Gerard still remembered the day Marco's body took on the color of jadestone. He could not hide his surprise and laughed so loud the mountain peaks themselves trembled.

Verity felt lacking compared to him as well. He felt no special connection to the Nine Hells style, he had no flashy skills, and his skin bled much too easily.

Hoshino too, was incredible in her own right. She was not a warrior like the three of them, but being a mage made her an indispensable addition to any team. If not for her, they would not have even been able to escape. She possessed incredibly powerful and mysterious affinities, and the destruction she could bring forth with a single spell was simply jaw-dropping.

While Verity did not lack confidence if he were to directly confront her, he understood that Hoshino's utility spread far beyond combat, unlike him.

So, considering the strengths of all of his companions, Verity could not help but think that he needed to become stronger.

Of course, he would continue to train the spear and advance toward mastery, however long that may take, but he needed something else, something to bridge the gap between him and the others.

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Thankfully, he had gained a clue thanks to this ordeal with the demons.

Becoming a magic spearman was out of the question. Magic was far too complicated for someone like Verity who did not have either [Mana Sense] or [Mana Brain], so he would never reach sufficient mastery for it to be useful in battle.

That would be true for regular, modern magic, at least.

But when he saw those inscriptions, those of the warp gate, on the ground, Verity wondered.

Runes, as they were called, seemed to be permanent. Unlike modern magic which had to be casted every single time they had to be used, runes seemed… different.

Verity couldn't help but ask himself when he saw these runes 'Couldn't I also use something like that?'

He did not expect runic magic to be simpler than modern magic, but he thought, perhaps naively, that if he could work himself to death into learning only one useful rune, then he could add something else to his arsenal.

He thought that he might not need to strain his brain unnecessarily and waste time drawing the rune, as one would calculate a spell, every time and that he could skip that step entirely straight to activation.

So, when he saw it, and especially now that he really could think about it, Verity set his mind on runic magic. He would learn at least one useful rune. If his assumptions were wrong, and that runic magic was even further out of the realm of possibility, then so be it, but Verity felt that he was on the right path.

In some way, encountering those demons in that dark cave may have been a streak of good fortune for him.

Which brought him to the second, and last thing that he thought about as he swam across the sea.

Wasn't everything that happened that night rather fortunate?

Verity wasn't one to question luck into being more than what it was, but he found it strange.

They just so happened to run into an abandoned dwarven chamber, where there just so happened to be a functioning runic circle, which just so happened to be for a long-distance warp gate.

Perfect to escape the demons which they could not defeat in battle.

Still, he could accept that. Perhaps they had really just been incredibly lucky.

But something made the entire thing much too strange to Verity.

The being which Vera had warned him about.

Verity already understood that it was the same being which had tried to kill him through Jerin… but wasn't it strange?

It was a being of such unfathomable power, yet it could not kill them all before the runic circle activated.

Verity was well aware that he was the one who had told Hoshino to hurry up the process, but really, who was to say that more mana would hasten the process? And most importantly… wasn't Vera's warning itself strange in the first place?

If she had warned him, it must have meant the being was already there, but Verity had no doubt that such a being could have slaughtered them in the time it took him to blink, regardless of if Hoshino hurried or not.

Then, was it that Vera sensed the being would arrive soon?

Could she see the future?

Then why did she not warn Verity of the Cardinal before he reached the gates of Plamodel some months ago if his soul was what she cherished? Why let him run into the Cardinal at all?

Did it have anything to do with what she did to him when she changed his mana signature? Did she do something to him without his knowledge?

No… that also did not make sense. Why trick him? Verity did not feel as though she had needed his permission to do what she did.

It was all so strange.

The perfect runic system, in the perfect place, activated at the perfect time to escape.

No matter which way he flipped it, Verity found it strange.

Was it really just luck... or something else?

—

Somewhere far beyond reach, someone chuckled.

[Ha. Strangely perceptive for a Fool.]

In the eternal dark, a being sat upon what might have been a throne, though its shape was as indiscernible as she was. Listening to the words of one who had drawn her interest, she leaned forward, and she brought a small cup of tea to her lips.

Looking down upon 'that person' from the comfort of her seat, a flicker of amusement flashed across the obscured features of her face.

She seemed to be enjoying herself alone, but then, her eyes shifted to the darkness behind her, and she smirked.

[Well? If you must say something, then say it.]

The darkness stirred. [You are overstepping.]

The being sipped her tea, and she scoffed. [Is that all you came here to say?]

The darkness stirred again. [Do not anger Them any more than you already have, lest you wish for the severity of your punishment to grow.]

This time, the being let out a slow, cold laugh. [Punishment, you say? How comical. Then punish me if you must, my dear ████.]

The darkness seemed to burst, and a silhouette stepped forth from it, enraged. [Your arrogance truly knows no bounds.]

The one who stepped from the darkness snapped his fingers, and chains erupted from the being's throne, coiling around her arms and feet. [Know this, ████, this is mercy. If They hear of your transgressions, it will not end so lightly.]

The being, her smirk still hanging on her face, rested her head against her throne, and closed her eyes. [You have said your piece. Now, be gone.]

Before he could utter another word, the one who had stepped forth from the darkness disappeared, the anger in his face never disappearing.

Now alone once more, the being allowed strange black liquid to flow from her mouth, eyes, and ears. [...This is Mercy, you say...]

—

At last, Verity reached the shore, and he rose to his feet with difficulty.

The morning sun gracing his pale skin, Verity let out a low chuckle. "I've done it… I've crossed the sea..!!"

As he said that, his body finally surrendered. He fell down, his face pressing against the scorching sand of the beach.

He tried to fight it, but there was nothing Verity could do. His entire body had completely shut down, and he lost consciousness then and there. He had pushed himself far past his limits long ago.

A figure soon appeared behind him. "Ah, what an idiot!" The old man exclaimed. "Of course you haven't crossed the sea, you fool! You've merely swam across a river!"

In truth, Verity had been on a small island some distance away from the main coast. He had never been on the other side of the sea. No matter how far he had come, if he could have crossed the sea by swimming at all, it would have taken him weeks, if not months.

The old man clicked his tongue. "If you weren't that snot-nosed-brat's disciple, I would have left you here for dead. Consider yourself lucky!"

He holstered both Jerin and Verity on his shoulder, and through his annoyance, a grin formed. "Still… I must admit that was quite manly." He stroked his clean shaven chin. "Even if you weren't her disciple… Perhaps I would have given helping you a thought at the very least."

Then, the old man disappeared from the beach.

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