"Raise your leg."
Pardo tremblingly raised her right leg onto the stretching bar, but Lin shook his head. He stepped forward, grabbed her waist with one hand and her ankle with the other, and applied pressure—
"Gaaaaaah!"
Pardo nearly slumped into Lin arms. She looked at him with teary eyes: "Li-Lin-ge... I beg you, be gentler, it hurts so much..."
Lin said nothing, but the pressure in his hands increased slightly.
He could tell Pardo's flexibility was excellent. Even after a year of neglect, she still had a good foundation. This level of stretching was just helping her rehabilitate.
The important thing was that Pardo came from Sundown Alley. She should be able to endure hardship... not just endure eating.
"Push-ups, twenty per set. Ten sets, then rest."
"I can't... Lin-ge, I can't do it... it's too much..." Pardo sat on the mat, drenched in sweat, attempting to win Lin sympathy with her expression. All she received was Lin terrifying glare.
"Don't you feel you're too fat?" Lin said sharply. "Even researchers who sit in offices all day care about their figures and flab. Can you really feel at peace with an extra pound of meat on your waist?"
"If I said... yes..." Pardo tested cautiously.
"...Then I won't be at peace."
"Uwaaaaaah!"
...
Through multiple experiences, Lin had become completely accustomed to the feeling of his consciousness leaving his body and his original world. What he cared about was not this uncomfortable sense of displacement, but the potential attack that followed.
He landed on the ground, cautiously half-crouching behind a ruined wall to observe his surroundings.
Though it might be futile, Lin was still willing to try.
Of course, this became a moot point when "that person" appeared above him and swung her blade downward.
Clang!
Lin dodged the strike and drove a flying knee toward the woman's abdomen, but she anticipated it, catching his knee with one hand and tossing him aside like a fired cannonball.
Lin felt the world spinning. He became like a skipping stone, flying over the sea surface for over a hundred meters before coming to a stop.
As he fell into the water, Lin had only one thought.
Run.
His conscious entity had no equipment; there was no way he could contend with a Herrscher. He could only hide from this woman until his observation time in the parallel world ended and he returned to his body.
He had estimated the time last time—about ten minutes total. Seven minutes had passed, which meant he only needed to wait three more.
Crackle.
Suddenly, he seemed to hear faint noises rolling through the waves from far away.
No, he saw it beneath the water—purple lightning surging through the sea.
Lin abruptly poked his head above the water. He saw the woman floating in mid-air, her long silver hair moving without wind. An armored arm made of lightning extended from behind her—a massive Divine Arm over a kilometer long, reaching toward him.
The Third... Herrscher?
This was undoubtedly the Authority of the Herrscher of Thunder to manipulate electromagnetic fields, but this woman used it far more exquisitely than the Third Herrscher—far more... like a deity.
"Why on earth are you attacking me?"
Whether Lin subconscious murmur was captured or it was the woman's own issue, the armored giant arm behind her suddenly dissipated.
She looked silently at her hands, closed her eyes, and exhaled.
After a moment's thought, the woman descended to a distance of about ten meters from Lin, facing him as he remained in the sea.
"...Temporary truce," the woman said succinctly, stating her intent.
Lin was stunned, but given the situation, he couldn't call the shots. He could only nod in agreement.
Of course, even if he didn't agree, the woman likely wouldn't care.
"Who are you..." Lin asked that question again.
He was 100% certain he had never met this person. Her appearance, voice, and even her hair color—which was even whiter and purer than Kevin—were completely foreign. If so, why was this person constantly hunting him?
If it was because she was a Herrscher, she was clearly capable of communication, and she didn't seem like a typical parallel world Herrscher.
"Abaddon Yama-Rakshasa." The woman gave that cryptic title again. "If it's too much trouble, you can just call me Yama."
A sheet of floating ice appeared on the sea surface beneath Yama feet. She stepped onto it to rest. Lin received no such treatment; Yama showed no intention of making ice for him.
The Fifth Herrscher...
Lin gaze grew increasingly solemn. Yama seemed to display more than one type of Herrscher Authority. What was going on?
"Why must you attack me? If it's because I came here, it wasn't intentional. I can't control—"
"You can't control it."
Yama interrupted Lin. Her gaze was cold, seemingly indifferent to what Lin said. "After the Project Soldier surgery, your consciousness frequently enters an observation state, entering parallel worlds from time to time. It's not something you can control."
She... knew?
"My intent to kill you is somewhat related to that, but primarily, I plan to save people."
...What was she talking about?
"Save... who?"
"Many, many people. Some important, some unimportant."
Yama glared at Lin with a look of utter disgust, as if he were the filthiest, lowliest thing imaginable.
"Your existence itself is a mistake. And I am here to correct that mistake."
Lin thoughts were momentarily derailed. He was about to ask more, but a wave of dizziness forced him to shut his mouth. His conscious entity vanished from this world.
After Lin disappeared, Yama knelt on the floating ice, clutching her chest and gasping for breath.
The consciousness hasn't recovered since the mutual defeat with the Herrscher of Sentience, so the conscious entity is reaching its limit... I need to rest for a while...
Then, Yama conscious entity also vanished from this world.
...
"Lin-ge, you're awake? I'm training seriously! Really!"
Opening his eyes, he saw Pardo pacing slowly on the treadmill. She quickly ran a few steps, pretending to be diligent.
However, from her face, which didn't have a single drop of sweat, it was clear whether she had been working hard during that time.
Lin shook his head, too lazy to continue lecturing her. He walked out of the gym, closed the door, and leaned against the wall.
『Your existence itself is a mistake. And I am here to correct that mistake.』
If the world Yama lived in was a parallel world further down the timeline, had he done something in the future that caused many deaths, leading to Yama hunt?
But why was Yama a Herrscher? And what did that "mistake" refer to?