Thwack!

The sound of a sword piercing flesh echoed once more.

No, echoing might not be the right word.

The sound was there, but it wasn't that loud.

So, to say that the sound was loud enough to be noticeable was more accurate as I was intensely focused.

It felt similar to when I cut through Annie earlier.

But the sensation in my hand felt much more vivid, making it tremble.

The sensation of pulling out the heart of the one you love was that horrifying.

Even knowing this was for Arte's sake.

Even knowing she wouldn't die, cold sweat trickled down my face.

"What are you doing...?"

"Just wait a bit. I'll explain everything later."

I wanted to explain to Dorothy, who didn't understand what was happening, but there was no time.

I had to finish this quickly before the writer realized and took action.

"...Alright, but you have to explain everything to me later!"

"Yeah. I'm sorry."

My apology wasn't meant for Dorothy.

Despite the pain contorting her face.

Despite it being unbearable, she was smiling at me, trusting me.

Arte was weak to pain.

She couldn't even move when she had two large bruises on her side.

Yet, she was enduring the pain of having her chest cut open by a sword and was smiling at me.

Her face was scrunched up, but she smiled as if to say she believed in me.

"...This is it."

Thump, thump.

In my right hand, I held Arte's still-beating heart.

No, should I call it something that looked like a heart?

Something that was functioning as her heart was in my hand.

That would be more accurate.

"..."

I timed it right.

Amelia would be here in 3... 2... 1.

"I'm here! Are you guys still alive...? Yu Siwoo?! What are you doing...?!"

"Heal Arte first. Quickly."

As Amelia arrived, I swiftly cut the heart and placed the crucible in its place.

Amelia was shocked, but the healer she brought would prioritize saving lives and start the surgery.

They'd think it was impossible to save someone with just a crystal instead of a heart.

But they'd soon realize that the crystal could function as a heart.

With another injured person, Amelia would fetch someone else.

Everything was proceeding as I knew it would.

"Dorothy."

"Yes...?"

"Release the enhancement in thirty minutes. I need to pass out for a bit."

"...What?"

"Even if I pass out, keep the enhancement active. Thirty minutes, okay?"

After giving Dorothy all the instructions, I swallowed the heart I took from Arte's chest.

The metallic taste filled my mouth, making me want to spit it out immediately.

Sometimes, having heightened senses was a curse.

But I forced it down. Arte had trusted me and given me her heart.

She believed in me and went that far, so I couldn't just spit it out because it tasted bad.

Arte's heart was a bit too large to swallow in one gulp.

As I swallowed it all, I heard a voice.

[W-What is this...? W-What should I do? How do I...?!]

And then my vision went black.

"Uwaaah! What is happening...?!"

The girl was flustered.

She thought she was about to witness the heartwarming love story of the protagonist and the reader.

But suddenly, the protagonist raised a sword and pulled out the reader's heart, then swallowed it!

This wasn't a slasher movie with blood everywhere.

Eating the heart of the one you love, what kind of madness was this?

No, there was something more important.

If this continues, I'll be expelled...!

"W-What should I do...? How can I go back?!"

"There is a way to go back."

"Really?! ...Wait a minute."

The girl was confused.

No one else should be able to enter this place.

If another transcendent forcibly entered, the space would collapse immediately.

The girl looked in the direction of the voice and was shocked.

The boy she set as the protagonist.

That boy was standing in front of her.

"You can go back outside this world."

"...How are you here?"

The boy definitely swallowed the reader's heart.

That should have cut off his connection with the reader and connected him to the boy.

But how?

How did he come here?

"Who knows? I don't."

"W-What?! That's impossible...!"

"I just knew that if I did this, I could come here. I won't be able to come here again."

The boy spoke to the dumbfounded girl.

"...Well, that's not important. I'm sorry, but you need to leave. Think of it as the owner's tyranny."

"Haha...! I don't know how you got in here...! Do you think I'll leave?! Do you know how hard it was for me to get here?!"

"I know."

"...What?"

The girl regained her composure.

While it was surprising that the boy came here, that was all.

Even if he was the protagonist, she could kill him instantly.

No matter what he did, the boy wouldn't be able to attack her and would just die there.

Regaining her confidence, the girl was once again bewildered by the boy's words.

"I know you found this world intriguing and invaded it."

"I know you forced a hole through and could only send your eye to avoid detection."

"I know you needed a person to hide that eye since it would eventually be detected."

"I know you crafted Arte's body for that purpose and hid your eye in her heart."

"How...how do you know that?!"

She hadn't told anyone.

Not even other transcendent beings knew this.

Yet this mortal before her was reciting all of it.

"It’s not right to intrude into someone else’s home and mess around."

"..."

"Remember when you told Arte that she was like your eye? I didn't expect your eye to literally be inside her. It was a bit of a surprise."

The girl felt fear creeping in as the boy continued to reveal secrets he had no way of knowing.

What was this?

Was this really the protagonist she had seen until now?

His ability was supposed to be intuition.

There was no way I set such an inexplicable ability...

"It's not intuition. You set it, didn’t you? That something extraordinary would emerge if it grew to its full potential. Well, here it is."

"?!"

"Don’t worry, I’m not a mind reader. You’re just too predictable."

Mind readers exist elsewhere.

The boy muttered, leaving the girl seething in anger.

"Stop lying! That can't be true!"

"Why?"

"To fully develop that, it would take at least two more years...!"

Yes, that couldn’t be possible.

When she could still influence the boy's settings.

She planned to have a major event around the third year to resolve the loose ends.

She calculated that with the boy’s protagonist-like rapid growth and the events he would encounter, it would take about two years.

There’s no way he could have become this strong already.

There were no enhancement events...

"...You really are dumb. No wonder Arte kept complaining."

"What?!"

"Did you really forget?"

Tap, tap.

The boy lightly tapped his head and spoke to the girl.

"You set it up. That in life-threatening situations, I grow."

"...?!"

"Man, I can’t even remember how many times I almost died today. How many was it?"

I lost count after fifty.

The boy mumbled, smiling brightly.

In contrast, the girl’s face turned pale.

"Also, there’s Dorothy’s enhancement. That’s a big factor."

"Then... so what?!"

"Huh?"

"No matter how strong you get, you can't kill me!"

But the girl regained her confidence once again.

A mere mortal couldn't hurt her.

No matter how strong he became, he was just a mortal strengthened by her settings.

Ultimately, he was beneath her.

The girl thought so, and the boy agreed.

"You're right. I can't kill you. I probably can't even attack you."

"Haha...! Exactly! Just a mere mortal..."

"But I can make you leave."

"What?"

"Did you ever explain your ability to Arte? About Schrödinger’s cat? It was a pretty novel explanation."

"...What are you trying to say?"

"Just wanted to share a similar story."

The girl couldn’t understand what the boy was saying.

She didn’t want to understand.

"Some scientist once said. If there’s a being that knows everything about the universe, it could explain every phenomenon and predict the future."

"What does that..."

"You are worthy of being called a god. Though you have a bit of a childish side. So, what should you call someone trying to expel a god?"

"...A demon?"

"Right. Someone opposing a god is a demon. And coincidentally, there's a demon with such an ability."

A demon that knows the present.

Laplace's demon.

That’s what his ability was.

The boy smiled as he spoke.

"And you think that can send me out? How?"

"It's not difficult. Why do you think I swallowed your eye?"

"To get here..."

"No. It’s unrelated."

The boy didn't lose his smile.

Was it a mocking smile or a pure smile of accomplishment?

"You’re watching the world through my eyes now, aren’t you?"

"..."

The boy wasn’t wrong.

The girl’s eye was now inside the boy.

So, she could see what he saw.

Even if he lost consciousness, she could keep observing his surroundings.

"Your ability is to manipulate the world as you see fit when you can't observe it."

"...What are you trying to say?"

"It's simple."

The boy finally laughed out loud.

As if he couldn’t hold back his laughter anymore.

"If you see the beginning to the end of this world, what can you do?"