Nina remembered in detail when she had first found this place.
Whenever she came here, she remembered it as she walked along the same trail, observing the large trees with orange and white leaves.
In spring, the orange leaves were more yellowish than orange, but, aside from that small rule, those trees remained almost unchanged.
It was as if that place had its own rhythm, separate from the rest of the Great Forest.
Nina found this place three years ago.
She had just given birth to her second child with Jino. At that time, shortly after returning to training, she fought Clint in combat…
And lost.
That was a huge blow to her.
Because, before the pregnancy, she had already been able to defeat him consistently, thus earning the title of Sword Emperor.
Losing to him after all that time only made two things very obvious: her skill had worsened, and Clint had not stood still while she was pregnant.
Worst of all, the greatest rival in her mind, Eris, was at the peak of her growth at that time.
Eris's rise after killing Timothy Britz was unstoppable.
She only became stronger and stronger as time passed, as if a switch had been flipped the moment she became the Sword God.
She had defeated Ghislaine, Ornthorn, and Taes, becoming unquestionably recognized as one of the most powerful people in the Kingdom. The only opponents Eris saw were those above her, Jino and Reida.
All of Eris's training was aimed at surpassing her limits and becoming stronger and stronger.
Three years ago, she had even begun to master the use of the Foresight Eye in combat, which further reinforced her invincible position as the Sword God.
And while Eris kept climbing higher and higher, refusing to take a single step back…
Nina had simply lost to the bland Clint.
Her confidence was at rock bottom.
She did not have very happy thoughts at that time.
She did not want to give up on becoming stronger.
Although she did not regret marrying Jino and having their children, her motivation was undermined from all sides, to the point that she seriously considered the possibility of completely abandoning the path of the sword, convinced that she would never be enough, that her dream had been unattainable from the very beginning.
At that time, Nina thought for a long time. While training, before sleeping, upon waking up.
She would spend sleepless nights thinking, and even used her Dragon to fly randomly across the Kingdom of Gaia while her thoughts flew in every direction.
It was a continuous restlessness, a bitter feeling of being left behind, of not being able to reach what had once been part of herself.
And it was in the midst of that that she found this place.
A place that initially caught her attention because of its beauty.
Now, back there once more, Nina took a deep breath of the pure air that this place always had, and gradually heard the sound of running water, until she found the underground waterfall again.
The crystal-clear water. The constantly flowing stream. The moss on the rocks and walls. The light coming in through the cracks in the cave. Everything was exactly as she remembered. Everything had that same peaceful stillness.
She looked around once more and confirmed that no animal had occupied the cave.
Then she went to her usual spot — a higher rock that faced the waterfall — and began practicing the characteristic movements of the Sword God Style.
Only the sound of water, and the occasional chirping of birds, could be heard beyond the sounds made by the Sword Emperor's blade.
Nina gradually entered a state of extreme concentration.
She could only see the tip of her blade, and her body repeated the movements.
Her arm rose, fell, cut, returned. Her feet adjusted their balance. Her torso turned at the exact angle. Her breathing went in and out at the same steady rhythm.
She continued like that for hours on end.
The only thing that could have alerted her was the magic communicator nearby, if someone called her, but that did not happen. The day passed like any other, and suddenly, the sunlight turned orange because of the sunset.
At a certain point, Nina stopped swinging her sword.
The sweat on her body, her aching muscles, and her stressed mind were the result of the exhausting training.
Even so, she seemed somewhat excited as she removed most of her clothes, remaining only in an improvised bikini.
And then, she slowly walked toward the waterfall.
She stepped beneath the waterfall, until she felt the familiar water falling on her body like blows.
It was a considerable waterfall, but Nina's body was nothing close to what would be considered normal human; to her, those blows were more like an especially rough massage.
She stepped deeper into the small lake formed by the waterfall.
When she was well beneath the waterfall, with water up to her waist, she stopped.
Her ears sharpened.
She heard the water flowing around her. She felt her limbs relaxing. She felt her mind being in tune, as if everything were suddenly clearer, more aligned, simpler.
She smiled as she remembered the pleasant feeling.
That was the reason why this place had become so special. The first time she came here, she trained in the same way.
Whether because her mind was turbulent, or because this scenery was so natural, or simply because she could achieve a supernatural focus in this place… that day, she felt stronger.
She felt that her understanding was deeper, and that her technique was more refined. She felt as if she were in some kind of zone.
That was something she had only experienced in this place.
When she returned the next day… she defeated Clint again.
From then on, she could feel her skill improving by leaps and bounds once more.
Rygar had already mentioned this kind of thing to her and Jino. It was a type of moment in which a practitioner synchronizes perfectly with their body, mind, and the environment around them, experiencing a brief moment of enlightenment.
Nina immediately associated the event in her mind, after all, the description was very similar.
From that day onward, Nina returned to that place from time to time. Sometimes every three or four months, and sometimes she would go six or seven months without going.
Even so, it became a special place in her heart, because it was by coming here that she decided she would never abandon the path of the sword, even if everything was against that idea.
On her later visits, she reached that special state three more times, and in all of them she experienced a significant increase in her martial skill.
At other times, she simply trained normally, but still felt significantly more relaxed.
And this time, she once again felt her mind clouded.
In her mind, she could see a blade.
A skill so refined and complete as she had never seen before.
With her body tired, and her mind exhausted, she allowed that technique to come closer to her. She felt, and internalized that image, with the intention of taking it for herself.
In the midst of her trance, Nina noticed nothing else.
Skyl was nearby as security; Red Dragons had excellent senses.
But in this world, there were as many mysterious powers as stars in the sky…
----
Rotifers.
Rotifers are microscopic aquatic animals very common in freshwater. Although they are almost invisible to the naked eye, they are complete organisms, with organs and simple internal systems.
They are tiny — the largest among them would be around 0.08 millimeters. Small beings very similar to plankton, transparent and almost impossible to notice.
And, because they have basically no adverse effect on practically any living being, they are imperceptible.
Forget the common people of the Six-Faced World, even people with knowledge from another world like Rygar or Nanahoshi would not know what this small organism is; only a trained and specialized marine biologist might have some idea.
But they existed in many freshwater locations.
And in this specific waterfall… there were some of them.
And there was indeed one being in this world who knew of the existence of such organisms — or rather, he had struggled to discover them, to cling to his life.
This was the Man God.
Among the hundreds and thousands of rotifers present there, at least dozens of them had been taken over and controlled by another equally strange organism.
A dark blue, gelatinous organism.
A slime with very specific powers.
The Nether King Vita, the Fifth World Power.
His Miko powers included the ability to read the memories of his enemies, foresee the future that could have happened, and mix them with his opponent's desires, plunging them into an endless illusion.
But of course, something that extreme would alert the cautious Beast God. In fact, any action of that kind would alert the Beast God.
If there were organisms like that clinging to Nina all over the place, they would be sensed immediately by Rygar — if Jino did not catch them first, of course.
It was the strangeness and caution of the Apocalypse Beast that led Hitogami to devise such a random and specific strategy to gather information.
In fact, Nina was not his first attempt to carry out this operation.
He tried similar things with Ornthorn, with Taes, and even with Reida Lia. Always with the greatest caution possible, so as not to be discovered.
But the fact that he could not see the future of Rygar and Aisha frustrated his Future Sight every single time. Failure after failure.
Fortunately, Nina was finally a success.
He had a strong foundation. A moment of vulnerability from the girl. A place to return to. A fortunate coincidence. And, thankfully, zero interference from the problematic Rygar and Aisha.
Hitogami could see the future that would happen if Rygar and Aisha were not involved — in other words, the plan would be an almost guaranteed success until they became involved. His Future Sight was that powerful.
Nina adapted very well to the role. Every time she came, Vita would infiltrate her mind and manipulate her memories in a subtle and constant way, like a trance.
To confuse her, Vita showed her memories of the martial techniques of the Technique God Laplace, whom Vita also controlled.
While Nina was distracted in her "zone," Vita read her recent memories, updating himself on everything Nina might know about the Beast God and his operations.
Sometimes it was nothing much. It was not as if Nina were some kind of mastermind of the Kingdom of Gaia.
But the fact that she was in the trusted circle of the Apocalypse Beast was more than enough to extract critical information sometimes.
Most importantly, however, was that she herself believed that nothing was wrong.
If she somehow knew or suspected that she was a spy, she herself would give herself away — and even if she did not, Rygar would notice immediately. And Jino Britz as well.
But, fortunately, whether because Hitogami had not taken any excessive action in recent years, much less acted on the information he possessed, or for some other reason, Nina continued being an almost perfect spy all this time.
At least… until today.
While Nina was immersed in her perfect trance, two women were watching from the side, hidden.
One of them was Ghislaine, and her Magic Power Eye was glowing green as she observed Nina analytically.
Beside her, with her hand extended toward Nina, was Aisha.
It was then that Ghislaine finally spoke:
"You were right."
Without wasting any more time, Aisha activated the Magic she had prepared for the occasion.
A red light shone throughout Nina's body, spreading through the entire waterfall in an instant.
----
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