Once again, the arrows are fired.

They ascend in their droves, rising to the sky before they make their eventual descent towards us.

Despite the mounting pressure, I remain still.

I inhale deeply.

Then… softly exhale.

Turning on my Existential Resonance, I instantly became aware of the layers of existence of everything and everyone, as well as the Aego that connects them all.

I then notice that only the purple threads shine brightly when I reach out to them, which means I can only access the Leaper Pathway.

Among the different kinds of purple threads, only the wobbly and distorted ones react positively to me.

It means I can only use Tracing.

Good.

Everything is normal thus far.

I quickly access the threads and connect with my own Layers of Existence.

There are other vague ones beyond my comprehension, but only four are evident to me: Second, Minute, Hour, and Day.

Very good!

I use the purple threads, weaving them to connect my Layers with that of the world.

… Tracing.

It has a simple function of translocating the user to a place they have been. Among higher-ranked Leviathan, it can even allow one to instantaneously appear in a place that they will be.

I have yet to obtain that power.

But I have reached something close to it.

A place I have been.

But not in this turn—in my previous turn.

'Will it work?'

I have no idea.

I haven't tried this before because I don't have the Jumping Conception.

But—

'Theoretically, it should.' I conclude, choosing to take the risk, connecting the threads and resonating my layers with that of the world.

The arrows descend.

I go through the frames of existence, quickly deciphering the exact point I would like to appear in.

It doesn't take long before it appears.

Then—

I shift my Minute Layer with the Hour Layer of the world.

A place I have been in the past hour?

Where else would it be if not the wall of trees?!

Hehe… hehehe…

… Muahahahahahahahaha!

It actually works!

I appear right amidst the horde of soldiers who are laying in ambush, with none of them even suspecting my presence right until I appear in their midst.

"H-huh? Who are you?"

"Why are you here?"

"H-he's an Imperial Knight! He must have snuck here with a Potion!"

"But… no Trace Elements!"

While they are still panicking, drawing their weapons, I locate the one who had the bow with him earlier.

He has it with him this time as well.

Fortunately, none of the warriors who were protecting him before are doing so now.

I suppose they didn't feel the need to do so prematurely since our entourage hadn't reached their vicinity yet.

How could they have foreseen my sudden appearance?

They couldn't!

"Good… very good!"

I grin, disappearing from my position yet again until I appear right in front of him.

'I made sure to explore the grounds here properly because I wanted to nab you in the past round. Who would have thought it would be so useful this time as well?'

I dig my blade into the flustered man's head, piercing upward from his jaw until my blade appears right on top of his bleeding head.

He dies immediately, and I grab the bow in an instant.

'Now that it's mine, let's test it out!'

I pull the bowstring, and light immediately appears around my drawn hand.

The balance is perfect.

I can clearly feel its destructive power just from this first impression. Unfortunately, I don't have the luxury of exploring its complex mechanics.

I have to fight now.

Many of the warriors charge at me, but I vanish once more and appear a great distance from them.

Once a proper distance has been established, I begin to shoot them down as fast as I can.

'There's too many of them…' I sigh deeply, wondering if my decision was indeed the right one.

Now that I think about it, I was too impulsive.

Too excited.

'I should have gone with the previous strategy and switched with this halfway.'

Even if I can take them all down, it would simply take too much time. At that point, the captain would have noticed my absence and I won't be able to rejoin the entourage.

Of course, Enryndal could vouch for me, and with the abilities I have already displayed, I believe my position could even be elevated.

But—

'I'll be too exhausted once I take these guys down on my own. The captain could use that chance of weakness to eliminate me as a spy before I can even defend myself.'

In the previous round, I had to hold my own for quite some time before Enryndal helped.

If I can't buy that time, things could be bad.

Also… I truly do not want to reveal all my cards unless I truly have no other option. But now that I've done all this, my strength will pretty much become exposed.

'I might need to restart this round…' I continue firing the shots, not stopping my movements for even a moment.

Although I have recognized many of my mistakes and I believe restarting is for the best, I am hesitant to let myself be killed.

For one, I don't know if I'll regress this time around.

There's also the fact that even if I do regress, I wish to gain as much information as I can from these people before I do.

I want to see just how many I can kill on my own. I want to see if I can interrogate them and what kind of information I can gain from their ranks.

I could use that to my benefit moving forward.

'The reason I've been caught off guard for so long is my lack of information. Learning from this experience will give me an insight into the true nature of this world and what to watch out for.' After settling on this thought, I resolutely make my decision.

'Even if it takes me everything I have, I must find out all I can about this Trial Scenario!'

*******

"Haaa… haaa…"

Exhaustion courses through me as I drag my feet and walk to the very edge of the border and finally make it to the other side.

No Man's Land.

I see nothing but a desert wasteland for miles.

A wilderness with no promise.

It is dark, infertile, and famed to be crawling with all kinds of dangers. It is a place that no one will dare to visit.

Even now, I have no idea why the Imperial Family has chosen to flee to this place.

But—

'I now know other things.'

It took me a few hours to kill everyone, even with Tracing and my Armament. There were nearly a thousand men, and I had to constantly keep my guard up.

It was a difficult venture, especially with this annoying body of mine. But after whittling down the numbers to about a dozen, I began to interrogate them.

They wouldn't betray their leader easily, so I resorted to torture.

I will admit… These are very strong-willed people. I am quite confident in my torture techniques, but most of them lasted longer than I expected.

But their resistance was futile.

I got the information I wanted from them.

'So this world was actually like this…' I laugh to myself, almost deliriously.

There are 5 Continents.

But I use the term 'Continent' very loosely since each one is only as large as a Large-sized Kingdom.

The Northern Empire.

The Southern Kingdom.

The Eastern Sect.

The Western Alliance.

The Central Plains.

'These five rule the known world, but they're at conflict with each other.' I sigh, my gaze turning slightly blurry.

'The leader of those barbarians is a rogue called Kalakuta, and although he is a known terrorist, he sees himself as a liberator.'

I cough loudly, feeling the searing pain within me grow in intensity. The bow I held so tightly leaves my weak grip.

"Haaa… haaa…" I look at myself for the first time since the battle ended.

I am bleeding.

I've lost too much blood.

I'll likely die very soon, but I'm not scared.

'It was a worthwhile venture.' I smile to myself and nod lightly, sitting on the dirty ground while casting my gaze on the dark night sky.

I don't regret this choice.

'If I am to regress once again, I will make the most optimal choice and ensure a perfect victory this time around.'

That is certain.

The world blurs once again, and my pain is drowned in the sea of time.

Everything reverts, and I am once again at the start of the Trial Scenario. How many times does this make now?

I will have to count.

But before that, I need to plan this round perfectly.

No mistakes allowed.

'I'll follow the script of the round before my last one. I'll throw my blade to the side and use Tracing to evade the arrows. I'll tell everyone of my vision and have Enryndal save me. Then, I'll simply follow the script until we trigger the ambush. I'll use Tracing to disappear to the rear of the enemy's army, kill one of the warriors and disguise myself as one of them. I'll use my new identity to get close to the archer and kill him. Then, I'll use my new identity as the archer to take a better position and kill the Captain before returning to the group.' My eyes shine in brilliance as I go over the plan.

It's flawless!

Everything will be completed very quickly, and I will ensure the threat of the captain is extinguished without giving him the opportunity to enact his scheme.

'Once I return to the group with the bow, I'll have the most skilled and least exhausted Knight among us wield the Captain's sword. We should be able to take down the rest of the Kalakuta warriors together.'

Ah, yes… they have a name.

They call themselves the Freedom Fighters.

How strange.

'Alright!' With a broad grin on my face, I brace myself for the very exciting future that awaits.

The only major flaw with this plan is that I won't be able to interrogate the captain and extract what he knows.

But I can't be too greedy.

I already confirmed that there is indeed a spy among us from the tortured Freedom Fighters. Although they don't know the person's identity, they were ordered by Kalakuta himself to kill everyone but bring the Tyrrion and Enryndal to him alive since they will be valuable to the cause.

As for the Imperial Family, their corpse was acceptable to bring back.

It's clear why the captain killed Tyrrion and nearly killed Enryndal back then. It is as I suspected… He wanted to spite Kalakuta for the betrayal.

But that won't happen this time.

Although questioning the captain is important, it will be too risky to have him travel with us, even if I stop his initial plan.

Besides, there is no legitimate way to expose him as a spy.

Killing him is most effective.

'Now that all the pieces have been sorted and I've figured out all the variables, all I have to do now is watch as everything falls into place!'

********

Several hours later, I witnessed No Man's Land once again.

This time, however, I'm not alone.

I'm not wounded either.

The carriage comes to a grinding halt as everyone stops to experience the cool night for a moment.

The surviving Imperial Knights stare at me.

I notice but don't look at them.

Instead, I remain motionless on my horse and blankly stare at the vast land before us.

'With the Captain dead, and the circumstances that everyone has experienced, it is safe to say that I am now the leader of this entourage.'

Not only do I have the supernatural gift to see the future, but I am also in possession of a precious C Grade Armament.

I also contributed the most in the just concluded battle.

No matter how suspicious these people are of me and my abilities, they can't deny my importance.

Enryndal is also my backer, so I have further coverage.

Right now, everyone is likely looking at me for orders. They wish to know if it is safe to continue marching forward.

We are only about thirty Knights left.

Not enough to withstand another heavy assault from the enemy.

But… there are no more enemies.

At least, from what I know.

"We keep marching forward!" I declare to the troops, my eyes now flashing with more understanding and purpose

"Do not cease your march until we find refuge in the Sanctuary!"

Indeed!

The reason we fled to No Man's Land can be traced to a hidden structure buried in the endless sands of this dark world.

A place made by the previous Emperors as a last-ditch option to protect their bloodline. A haven meant to serve as a symbol of hope and everlasting protection for the generations to come.

… A Sanctuary.

There's no telling what will happen once we arrive, and it doesn't seem like there is a plan involving the revival of the Empire.

That's why I have a feeling.

'Once we arrive there… could that mark the end of my Apotheosis?'

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