"Stop all your nonsense! What's going to happen to him, huh?" Flynn asked Takechi again, who had been grinning.
Takechi chuckled after hearing this; he clearly knew what was going on. However, Lilith and Iris, who had been keeping quiet, finally spoke.
"You trapped Mr. Infori into your Core-created dimension, the Dark Chimera, so you could kill him instantly without even bothering to kill him yourself," Lilith said. "How cruel."
Flynn's eyes widened; he had received crucial information this time. Flynn was clearly shocked to hear it from Lilith.
"Core?! A legendary creature that can only be summoned by sacrificing one's life and soul... And a Nephilim can summon one...?"
"Exactly!" Takechi replied, his voice filled with joy after he finished speaking. Flynn stared at Takechi's face, but his mind still couldn't accept the reality. "You don't know what great power is, Flynn Deschain. You won't even be able to attain it."
"Tch…!"
However, his amusement continued when Takechi continued. "But, with the Gauntlet of Rebirth, Cores can be summoned without a single sacrifice!"
"What did you say?! Without a sacrifice?!" Flynn exclaimed, unable to believe what he was hearing.
Because beings like Cores were merely legends that lived in everyone's minds, but never became reality.
Therefore, it was truly surprising that Takechi could summon them by sacrificing all his comrades to summon the Dark Chimera, which was clearly the Core.
Lilith and Iris, who were Seraphim, naturally knew all this, so they weren't surprised at all. However, Lilith's silence was due to her talking and wondering to herself.
(Generally speaking, ordinary Nephilim would never be able to grant their wishes to the Core. Even summoning one…)
Lilith remembered the device Takechi had used to sacrifice all his comrades to summon the Dark Chimera, a device Flynn had said was similar to Knightley Road.
(But, that device… could summon the Core with just a sacrifice from its Nephilim companion. That was quite terrifying.)
Lilith then imagined the worst possible scenario.
(Tch... And if only he had the Gauntlet of Rebirth, this would be so dangerous...!)
⟨⟩ ⟨⟩ ⟨⟩
Infori, who had lost consciousness, now lay there—floating without gravity to pull him down. His eyes were closed, while his body continued to drift in a dimension with a dark sky that was now nothing but emptiness.
Initium Bahamut, who had just finished using all his power to destroy the Dark Chimera, now turned and stared at Infori.
"..."
The sound of his breathing could be heard throughout the area, even echoing.
However, Initium Bahamut's body was slowly turning into red particles. Starting from his wings, then his legs, and finally his entire body. Once Bahamut's entire body had turned into particles, all the particles began to move in the same direction.
His massive figure now disappeared from the world's view.
As if reabsorbed, the tiny particles moved and reabsorbed into the Gauntlet of Rebirth completely—making the gauntlet on Infori's left hand glow bright red.
The warm light finally made Infori open his eyes again.
"...!"
He quickly moved his body and realized he was floating in a dimension with an empty sky devoid of any particles. Infori realized that his gauntlet was now glowing amidst the darkness.
"..."
However, his attention was also drawn to his sword, which was swaying nearby. He quickly retrieved it.
Infori also realized that Initium Bahamut had disappeared from his sight, but he still thanked Initium Bahamut.
"Thank you… Initium Bahamut," Infori said with a faint smile. "You saved my life."
The gauntlet then glowed briefly, before finally dimming.
"Next…"
Infori looked around, only to find endless emptiness. This emptiness even disturbed his thoughts, making his entire mind empty.
He wondered. (Why does this emptiness seem to be destroying my mind? …If that's true, then I have to get out of this dimension?)
In the midst of his thoughts, something shining caught his attention. He looked up slightly, until he saw a glimmer of hope. A blue-white circle that contrasted sharply with this dimension, with spiraling energies continuously leading to the center of the circle.
The circle was some kind of dimensional portal that had appeared out of nowhere.
"...?"
Infori immediately used all his strength to move his entire body toward the circle he believed was the portal. His body continued to move forward, slowly but surely.
Until he was almost there, Infori looked back at the circle.
"....?"
(The circle was like...)
The circle grew longer, then thinned—as if slowly being swallowed by the void.
(...Shrinking?!)
Aware of this, Infori used all his strength to reach the portal before he completely shrank. He reached forward with one hand, trying to grab the circle.
".....!"
His body continued to move forward, while his jaw clenched and his entire body tensed.
Until, his hand almost touched the circle, and—