The remaining guards stared at their fallen comrade.
Nobody moved.
The knight who had threatened Nostradamus earlier slowly lowered his spear.
"Everyone... retreat."
One of the younger guards swallowed nervously.
"Sir, what about the prisoner?"
"FORGET THE PRISONER! DO YOU WANT TO DIE HERE?!"
The guards began backing toward the motel door.
Nixon watched them, his heart pounding.
"Good. Just let them leave," he whispered. "Please, just let them leave."
Nostradamus stood motionless, his injured hand hanging beside him.
Then he sighed.
"How disappointing."
Sukishi turned toward him.
"What are you talking about?"
Nostradamus looked at the retreating guards.
"They entered our room with weapons drawn. They threatened us, and now they intend to leave without resolving anything."
Nixon stared at him.
"Resolving WHAT?! They want to leave because you killed their friend!"
Nostradamus smiled faintly.
"Precisely, my dear fellow. Their emotional state is preventing them from thinking rationally."
The guards reached the doorway.
"RUN!" their leader shouted.
Before they could escape, Nostradamus moved.
There was no grand announcement, no elaborate spell, and no dramatic display of strength.
One moment, he was standing beside the table.
The next, he was among the guards.
Nixon couldn't follow his movements.
A series of brief sounds echoed through the room.
THUD!
THUD!
THUD!
Within moments, every remaining guard lay motionless.
Silence returned to the motel.
Nixon stood frozen.
His eyes moved from the fallen guards to Nostradamus, who was calmly straightening his clothes.
"W-What...?"
Nostradamus examined his palm.
"That is considerably better."
Nixon's voice finally returned.
"YOU KILLED ALL OF THEM!"
"Yes."
"THEY WERE TRYING TO RUN AWAY!"
"Indeed."
"WHY?!"
Nostradamus looked at him with mild curiosity.
"My dear fellow, you seem to be under the impression that allowing people to leave is always the most beneficial outcome."
Nixon backed away.
"This guy is insane..."
Sukishi slowly sheathed her katana.
She wasn't surprised by Nostradamus's ruthlessness, but even she watched him with a more serious expression.
Then Nostradamus raised one finger.
"Now, let us correct this unfortunate sequence of events."
Nixon blinked.
"Correct it?"
Nostradamus snapped his fingers.
The world seemed to pause.
A strange ripple spread across the room. The fallen guards disappeared. The blood vanished from the floor. The broken silence of the confrontation was replaced by the ordinary sounds of the motel.
Even Nostradamus's injured hand returned to normal.
Nixon stared at him.
"What did you just do?"
Nostradamus adjusted his collar.
"I changed the outcome."
He snapped his fingers a second time.
The effects spread beyond the motel room.
The merchant's memory of being threatened changed. The guards' investigation ceased to have a cause. The confrontation never became part of the city's history.
The events that had led to the guards entering the motel were rewritten, one after another.
The theft never happened.
The guards never came.
The confrontation never took place.
And the deaths never occurred.
At least, that was how the world now remembered it.
Nostradamus looked around the room with satisfaction.
"There. Much more convenient."
Nixon's status screen flickered.
SYSTEM NOTIFICATION
CITY SURVIVAL: DAY 1
CRITICAL INCIDENT: NONE.
City condition: Peaceful.
Relationship with city authorities: Neutral.
No unresolved security incident detected.
Nixon stared at the notification.
His hands began trembling.
"That... that's impossible."
He looked toward the door, then at the table full of food.
"Wait. The merchant... the guards... I remember everything!"
Nostradamus turned toward him.
"An interesting observation."
"You changed everything! You made it so none of it ever happened!"
"Correct."
"But I still remember!"
Nostradamus studied Nixon for a moment.
"Apparently, your circumstances differ from those of the people affected by the altered outcome."
Nixon backed away another step.
For the first time since meeting Nostradamus, he wasn't merely intimidated by the difference in their abilities.
He was afraid of the man himself.
Who the hell is this guy?
Nixon had entered Fantasy Game expecting monsters, quests, dangerous environments, and powerful enemies.
He had never imagined that one of his own teammates could kill an entire group of people and then alter reality so thoroughly that the world behaved as though the incident had never occurred.
Lightning Bolt suddenly seemed laughably insignificant.
Mystic Armor felt like a child's toy.
And his Level 2 status seemed meaningless.
Nostradamus could apparently accomplish things that Nixon couldn't even begin to understand.
Nixon swallowed.
"Nostradamus... if you can do that, what else can you do?"
Nostradamus smiled.
"My dear fellow, that is a rather broad question."
"That's not an answer!"
"Nor was it intended to be."
Sukishi walked over to Nixon.
He immediately stepped away from Nostradamus, still watching the pink-haired man with unease.
Sukishi noticed his expression.
"What's wrong?"
Nixon stared at her.
"What's wrong?! You saw what he did! He killed them all, then changed everything! How can you stand there like it's normal?"
Sukishi glanced at Nostradamus.
Then she looked back at Nixon.
"Because he's our savior."
Nixon's mouth fell open.
"OUR WHAT?!"
"Our savior," Sukishi repeated calmly.
"HE JUST KILLED EVERY GUARD IN THE ROOM!"
"And then he changed the outcome so the incident never happened."
"THAT DOESN'T MAKE IT NORMAL!"
Sukishi shrugged.
"Did I say it was normal?"
Nixon struggled to find words.
Sukishi continued.
"Look at our situation. You're Level 2. I'm a swordswoman, and Nostradamus possesses abilities far beyond anything ordinary players can achieve. We have been thrown into a game where we must survive fifty days, and we don't know what dangers await us."
She folded her arms.
"If Nostradamus can protect us from consequences that would otherwise destroy our chances of survival, I'm not going to complain about having him on our team."
Nixon looked at her in disbelief.
"You're not even a little scared of him?"
Sukishi paused.
"...I didn't say that."
For a brief moment, her expression became more serious.
Then she turned toward Nostradamus.
"But I do know one thing. If he decides we're worth protecting, few people in this world will be able to threaten us."
Nostradamus chuckled.
"How flattering, Sukishi."
She glared at him.
"Don't let it go to your head."
"My dear woman, I assure you that my head is already quite adequately occupied."
Nixon slowly sat down.
He looked at his hands, then at the status screen that continued to display his Level 2 statistics.
He was still the same weak player he had been a few minutes ago.
But now he understood something terrifying.
The greatest danger in their team might not be that Nostradamus was too weak to protect them.
It might be that his power was so extraordinary that he no longer felt bound by the same rules as everyone else.
And Nixon had no idea what would happen if he ever became the target of Nostradamus's attention.
Nostradamus picked up a piece of bread from the table.
"Now, then. Shall we eat? We have a city to investigate tomorrow."
Nixon stared at him.
Sukishi sat down beside the table.
"Finally. Something sensible."
Nostradamus took a bite of bread, entirely at ease.
Outside, the city remained beautiful and peaceful.
The people continued their ordinary lives, unaware of the events that had supposedly never happened.
But Nixon remembered.
And he couldn't stop thinking about one question.
What kind of human being can change reality so casually... and still act as though nothing happened?
END OF CHAPTER 8, PART 2.