Like Sword Art Online, Ark allowed players to use a mouse to control their characters and activate skills, but this feature was usually set aside.
Not only was this method time-consuming and exhausting, it also offered no advantage in intense combat.
At best, it was useful for beginners, though even then, after a week or two, most players would become familiar enough with the controls to abandon it.
And yet, at this very moment, Felix was using this clumsy method, even though he could no longer properly sense his own body.
He had lost his normal perception, but the system notifications were still there, and he could still direct his consciousness to tap the system interface.
To use the skill.
The instant he clicked it, Felix felt a warmth he had almost forgotten, as gentle and hot as a quiet flame.
In the next moment, he realized that his senses were slowly returning to him.
First came touch.
Then hearing.
Then taste.
And finally, sight.
When he opened his eyes, the entire void had already been filled with blue-gold flames.
To counter a law did not necessarily mean becoming a law. It could also mean making that law ineffective. Felix's purifying flames were constantly influencing the void, making the void itself no longer truly void.
"It really is... a breathtaking sight."
Felix looked at the Stargate floating at the center of the world. Before it stood a bottomless shadow. That black substance seemed alive, gradually spreading outward and taking on the shape of a dragon with fangs and claws. Then it shifted again, evolving into the terrifying form of a deep-sea octopus, its pair of black eyes staring at Felix in a profoundly strange way.
Its appearance caused the surrounding space to begin collapsing again, dragging everything back toward the pitch-black shadows.
This might be the essence of the Observer.
What it reflected was whatever Felix himself regarded as most terrifying. It could even be said that those two transformations just now were identical to the scenes preserved in Felix's memories from the pre-civilization era, memories he had seen through Priestess.
Was this some form of memory-reading?
The Observer had no true form and was not a living being. It merely acted according to laws. In that case, transformation itself was likely nothing more than a law written into its "program."
Flames ignited once more in Felix's hands, and Ifrit suddenly spread a pair of savage wings, rising behind him. The surging fire from his palms gathered and condensed into a long, broad greatsword.
"Let's go, Ifrit!"
"Roar!"
Man and beast, wrapped in blue-gold fire, became like a streak of light piercing through the night. The sword-light collided with the black substance, and Felix felt as if he had sliced through a slab of cream. After the slash, he turned calmly and saw that a small wound and a crack had appeared on the terrifying body of the Observer.
The purifying flames were burning fiercely.
Felix did not hesitate. He charged forward again with sword in hand. Darkness swallowed everything around him, but Felix activated his skill without the slightest pause. Just in case, he had already prepared himself for the possibility that he might lose his senses once more and be forced to manually operate the system again.
To his surprise, the Observer was not skilled at fighting.
Rather than a warrior, it was more like an existence that simply radiated itself outward at all times.
It was like a perfectly calculated program, while the Terrans were hackers who would one day break into those so-called laws and restore order to the chaos.
Flames struggled against the black substance, but Felix did not stop. He stepped forward, tightening the muscles in his arm and driving his longsword deeper into the endless darkness.
Then, in a daze, he heard someone speaking.
It sounded as though someone was reporting to him.
"Your Highness, several of our tracking stations have received unusual subspace echoes from somewhere in interstellar space. The echoes are extremely weak, but they are gradually increasing in strength. They seem to be approaching our star system..."
"What is this?" Felix frowned. Logically speaking, nothing should exist inside the void space, so why could he still hear voices? Were these voices from the past? No, judging by the title "Your Highness," they sounded more like they came from the future.
"Your Highness! A massive spatial rift has appeared within the galaxy! Although we still do not know the cause, it appears to be a one-way portal to another dimension. Strange ships are pouring out of the rift, attacking everything in their path. This seems to signal a large-scale assault, a declaration of war. We have intercepted signals from these ships directed toward the other side of the portal."
It sounded...
like a horn.
What exactly was this...?
Felix did not stop swinging his sword. Again and again, he drove the purifying flames into the void.
"Your Highness! We have detected an extremely faint tachyon signal being transmitted throughout the galaxy. The signal has been specially processed and is hopping through multiple concealed relay stations, so our technicians are unable to trace its source."
"..."
Felix let out a cold snort, and Ifrit roared. In the next instant, the black substance was split in two, and a sliver of white light slowly seeped through it like cracked glass.
Snowflakes drifted inward and struck Felix's face, only to melt instantly in the flames.
The void gradually began to dissipate. Under the Sea's devouring force, it was no longer as dense and oppressive as before.
That crushing heaviness faded. Once the laws of darkness were broken, everything returned to normal.
To order.
The power in his hands might not be merely a simple purifying flame.
Order.
If the Observer represented disorder, then the power in his hands represented order.
He found himself standing in a wondrous world, a place that seemed to lie at the very end of the universe.
Ordinary beings would have been surrounded by dazzling stars, yet beneath his feet...
there was only the sea.
Standing upon its surface, Felix looked toward the distant horizon, where the line between sky and earth was dyed in a gentle twilight of mingled blue and orange.
Ahead of him stood a Stargate.
At this moment, however, the Stargate that had once been shrouded in black matter had returned to its original form, and the spherical object at its center floated slowly up and down.
Felix stepped forward. Ripples spread beneath his feet across the surface of the sea as he slowly approached the Stargate and raised a hand to touch it.
A strange wave of dizziness passed through him.
When Felix looked around again, following the shifting scenery around him, he realized he must have used the Stargate's power to travel somewhere else.
From the very beginning of the war, Rhine Lab had investigated the Stargate from multiple angles. Calling it a Stargate truly was appropriate. It was a gate capable of transporting someone to another world.
Felix felt the wind brush against his face and looked up at the strange starry sky above him.
The stars here were... unusual.
The twin moons were unfamiliar to any Terran, but the pattern of the stars was not. Felix narrowed his eyes and looked more closely.
It seemed to be the Big Dipper.
Why was the Big Dipper here?
Felix froze for a moment.
Could it be that this Stargate was not merely a portal between locations, but one capable of traversing entirely different dimensions?
No.
The technical team would have to investigate this in person.
Felix exhaled slowly, then turned and headed back toward the Stargate.
When he opened his eyes again, he found himself standing once more in the snowfields of the Northern Frontier.
Not far away, the armies of the Terra Alliance stood rooted in place, all of them staring intently toward the Stargate.
And then they saw him.
The moment they saw Felix, deafening cheers erupted across the battlefield.
The Knights of Kazimierz slammed their lances against their shields. The Emperor of Ursus struck his blade against his chest. The towering Sankta warriors raised their Gatling guns into the air and pulled the triggers, sending streams of celebratory fire roaring upward.
Terra had won a great victory in this battle.
When Felix returned to the Venus, exhaustion swept over his body. Yet instead of resting, he immediately opened a long-distance communication with Kristen, ordering her to send a small team to study the Stargate at close range. At the same time, he described everything he had seen beyond the gate, which made Kristen realize that the purpose and value of the Stargate were likely far greater than they had originally imagined.
Although the Observer had been eliminated, this particular plane of the universe was clearly unsuitable for life from Terra. That was a conclusion Felix came to very quickly during their discussion.
With the complete disappearance of the "greenhouse" that had once sheltered Terra, the entire planet now stood exposed to a lifeless universe. In the short term, Terra's resources might not become a problem.
But what about ten years from now?
A hundred years?
A thousand?
Felix did not want the descendants of Terra to face a future in which their planet's resources were exhausted and they were left trapped there, waiting only for death.
Not only for the future, but also for the present, he had to do something.
The Terra Alliance gradually dispersed, each side returning to its own affairs. Only part of the problem had been eliminated. As for Terra's future landscape... it had already begun to shift in subtle ways. Some of those in power already understood what Terra's future would look like. Before withdrawing from the North, the kings and rulers of dozens of smaller nations came to meet Felix and formally expressed their submission. They were willing to follow Kazdel closely and accept Kazdel as their core, much like vassal states pledging themselves to a suzerain power.
This outcome did not surprise Felix.
Still, when he received a communication from Lady Sicily, he was curious what the ruler of Siracusa wanted to say to him.
"Let us speak plainly, Your Highness. After this battle, Kazdel's strength is known across all of Terra." Lady Sicily spoke with complete sincerity. Though she was much older than Felix, her methods had always been both fair and ruthless. The equality she had once shown Felix, back when she regarded him as a business partner and allowed him to invest in the new mobile city, was now gone.
She had already placed herself beneath him.
"Lady Sicily, you are too polite. We are comrades-in-arms, and Kazdel's strength exists to protect Terra, not to be used for internal strife."
"It is an honor to hear the words 'comrade-in-arms' from Your Highness." Lady Sicily gave Felix a slight bow. "In the future, Siracusa may continue to develop in a distant corner of Terra, but on diplomatic matters and on issues of great importance to Terra, it will stand with Kazdel."
After the communication ended, Felix looked toward Theresa, who had been standing quietly at the side. Theresa's expression was calm, and the way she looked at Felix held only tenderness and undisguised affection.
"So the purpose behind Lady Sicily's call is the same as that of the smaller countries?" Theresa's tone was somewhat complicated. Although Siracusa had broken away from Leithanien, it was still a nation with a history spanning more than a hundred years. And yet after this war, it had still chosen to submit?
"They only want us to preserve their autonomy. Requests like this will only become more common, especially after this war." Felix's tone remained even. "Siracusa's position is understandable. They do not possess advanced military strength, and their submission is only a matter of time. As for the other countries, it is still too early to say."
"And on Leithanien's side... Even if the Twin Empresses were to learn of this, what could they actually do?"
"Yes..."
Theresa smiled faintly. Now, even if all of Terra were to rise against Kazdel, she was certain that the man before her would ensure none of them ever returned.
"Let's go back to Kazdel." Felix turned to look at Ines. "As for the adventurers, those who wish to remain may stay, and those who wish to leave may go. Arrange several transport planes for them. They came all the way here from Victoria, New Tara, and the Kingdom of Tara. We should at least send them home properly."
"Yes!"
Felix looked at the high-ranking officers still on the bridge then laughed openly. "The war that could have reshaped Terra is over. We have won a great victory! Celebrate! Rejoice! Victory belongs to us!"
A joyful atmosphere spread across Terra. Everyone knew that the war was over.
Death would no longer linger in the shadows around them, and Terra could finally breathe in peace once more.
Except...
beneath the deep sea.
"The war was won without any aid from Aegir. The Seaborn chose to stand with the Terrans. Gentlemen, is there anything else you still wish to say?" The blonde, golden-eyed woman, Horatia, bowed slightly toward the assembled governors of science and technology. Her expression did not change. "Any possibility that Aegir might continue to hold some supreme and mysterious position in Terra's future has already vanished because of the choices you made."
Bang!
"To fight alongside the Seaborn is exactly what makes the Terrans disgusting. Those creatures are clearly their enemies, and yet they still chose to join forces with them. They are as revolting as uncivilized monkeys," one science governor shouted, slamming his fist onto the table.
"We are different from the Terrans. We are proud Aegirians, not Terrans."
"Aegir now possesses the technology of the previous civilization, so why should we not still hold the highest place? Horatia, you are merely sensationalizing the matter."
Horatia did not continue speaking. At the other end of the table, Clementia, the beautiful woman with short blue hair, let out a soft sigh. With the support of many governors, Aegir had chosen to oppose the Terrans. They had offered no assistance during the war.
To be honest, she could understand Aegir's choice.
They had been waiting for the Terrans to be battered and broken, so that Aegir could make a grand entrance as the savior.
But now Terra had won.
And that made things awkward.
Aegir no longer had any external enemy to point to, and its diplomacy had fallen silent. Iberia had sent back no new information, and even the smaller neighboring nations that once regularly traded weapons with them had all gone quiet.
They had made the wrong choice.
And now, it was time to swallow the bitter fruit of that mistake.