A third presence had infiltrated the room, one that even his "All-Seeing Eyes" had failed to detect.
Schlacht, his magic temporarily sealed by the golden bullets, tried to turn his head toward the sound of the footsteps.
But he was too slow.
A small, cold hand placed itself gently on top of his head. Then, with the force of a hydraulic press, it slammed him face-first into the stone floor.
CRASH!
"Guh!"
He didn't even have time to ask who it was. The voice from above answered the question before it was asked.
"Inference: You are not 'Omniscient'."
Schlacht's eyes bulged. He didn't need to look. He knew that voice. It was the monster he thought he had banished.
Stell didn't give him a chance to speak. She pushed down harder, burying his face deeper into the crater her initial blow had created.
Even as a Great Demon, his body was reaching its limit. The anti-magic energy coursing through his veins weakened him, but Stell was also holding back just enough to keep him alive.
She wasn't showing mercy. She just hates waste.
"Initiating data extraction."
Schlacht felt a cold, invasive pressure in his mind. She was ripping through his memories, tearing down his mental defenses. He tried to resist, to protect the secrets of the Demon King, but it was futile.
Between the golden corruption in his body and the physical strength pinning him down, he was helpless.
Stell mined his mind for everything it was worth. His plans, his knowledge of the future, the Demon King's secrets, she took it all.
...
A few moments later.
"Data acquisition complete."
Having taken what she needed, Stell ended it. A pulse of energy destroyed Schlacht's brain, instantly extinguishing the life of the demon who had sacrificed everything for his race.
The Omniscient Schlacht, the hero of the demons, died in the dirt, his grand sacrifice rendered meaningless.
Stell stood over the corpse, running a final scan of the room. Then, she opened a golden portal and stepped through, leaving the silent tomb behind.
How had she returned so quickly?
The answer was simple: the "Stell" that Schlacht had banished to the future was never the real one. It was a clone.
From the moment she located the trap, Stell had calculated the possibilities. Schlacht was a seer; he would have a plan to deal with an unwinnable fight. Banishment was a high-probability outcome.
So, she had sent a clone ahead. It was the clone that walked into the magic circle. It was the clone that broke the seals. And it was the clone that was sent three hundred years into the future.
The real Stell had been hiding in the shadows just outside the spell's range, watching the entire performance.
Even separated by centuries, the link between the main unit and the clone remained intact via the system's quantum connection.
"Command: Clone Unit 01. Begin exploration of the future timeline."
She had planned for this, too. Having an agent in the future was a strategic advantage.
With the threat of Schlacht removed and the data secured, she had no reason to stay.
….
The clone stepped out of the ruins of the underground chamber and into the open air.
The landscape had changed drastically. The dark, ominous aura of the demon lands was gone. The jagged rocks had been smoothed by wind and rain.
This clone had been granted higher authority and processing power by the main unit, allowing it to use a wider array of armaments. It was built for exploration.
It walked for a while, its sensors mapping the new world.
Eventually, it arrived at a wide, green plain. White sheep grazed peacefully on the grass, watched over by a distant shepherd. The sky was blue and clear.
The clone stopped. It cross-referenced its location with the map from three hundred years ago.
"Analysis: This location matches the coordinates of the town 'Riverfall.'"
Centuries ago, this had been the town square of a bustling merchant city. Takson had loved this place.
He used to say the roasted pork here was worth the journey alone. We had even bought a stockpile of emergency rations from the local market.
Now, there was nothing. The city had been erased, reclaimed by nature. The only inhabitants were the sheep grazing on the wildflowers.
"Scanning..."
My golden eyes glowed, piercing the layer of soil and grass.
"Target located."
I walked to a specific spot in the field and knelt before an unassuming, oval-shaped rock. To the naked eye, it was just a stone. But to me, it was a beacon.
I placed my hand on its surface.
[Identity confirmed. Disengaging lock.]
With a mechanical whir that seemed out of place in the pastoral silence, the rock shifted. It unfolded, segments sliding back to reveal a thin, metallic wafer.
This was a "History Log," a device I, the Main Unit, had planted in every major settlement we visited. It was designed to passively record the events of the area, creating a time capsule readable only by me.
"Initiating download."
Data streamed into my mind. In seconds, I processed a thousand years of history.
The city hadn't fallen to a natural disaster. It had been destroyed centuries ago by a horde of demons. But they hadn't been an invading army. They were refugees.
A massive swarm of demons had fled south from the Demon King's Castle, fleeing in absolute terror. In their panic, they had trampled this city into dust.
"Analysis complete," I murmured. "So, the Main Unit was successful."
The demons were running from her. It confirmed that my original self had engaged the Demon King and caused a catastrophe large enough to scatter his armies.
"Satisfactory."
I retracted the device, storing it in my internal inventory. I turned to leave, intending to continue my exploration of this future era.
But I stopped.
"Ah. It's you."
A familiar, airy voice drifted across the field.
I looked up. Standing a few meters away was an elf with silver hair tied in twin tails. She looked exactly the same as the day we had met in the forest centuries ago. Her expression was calm, but her eyes held a flicker of genuine delight, like seeing an old friend after a long absence.
Frieren.
But she wasn't alone. Two humans stood behind her a girl with long purple hair and a boy with striking red hair.
"..."
I didn't respond. I simply observed.
Frieren didn't seem to mind my silence. She turned to her companions, gesturing towards me with a look of smug satisfaction.
"Lady Frieren," the purple-haired girl asked, her voice polite but wary, "who is this?"
The red-headed boy said nothing, but he looked confused. They had sensed Frieren's sudden shift in mood, her excitement.
"Well," Frieren said, clearing her throat as if preparing to make a grand announcement. "Let me introduce you."
She pointed at me.
"This is Stell."
I ran a quick diagnostic on Frieren's social modules. Her introduction skills were lacking.
However, the reaction from the two humans was immediate and extreme.
"Ehhhhhh?!?!"
The boy let out a scream that cracked his voice, his eyes bulging out of his head.
The girl, usually composed, froze. Her mouth fell open, and she looked at me as if she were seeing a ghost or a god.
"?"
My processors whirred. Query: Why this extreme reaction? My appearance is that of a standard human female.
The purple-haired girl answered my unspoken question. Her voice trembled as she pointed a shaking finger at me.
"S-she... she's the one? The 'Angel of Judgment' from the legends?"
Angel of Judgment?
"The one who descended from the heavens a thousand years ago?" the girl continued, her voice rising in pitch. "The one who single-handedly annihilated half of the demon race and destroyed one-third of the Demon King's Castle in a single night?!"
One-third of the castle? Half the race?
I logged the data. Title: 'Angel of Judgment'. Status: Historical Myth. Accuracy: Highly probable.
It seemed my Main Unit had been quite busy after I was banished.
Beside the terrified humans, Frieren stood with her hands on her hips, her chest puffed out. She looked incredibly proud. Her expression clearly said: See? I told you I had cool friends.
The peaceful silence of the plains was broken by the red-headed boy's panicked stammering.
….
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