I immediately drew my sword.
I didn't know who it was. Even now, right before my eyes, I couldn't perceive its actual appearance.
But one thing I could say for certain was that this bastard was directly related to the reason I was here.
"We finally meet."
An unpleasant voice, like scraping metal, grated in my ears.
I tightened my grip on the sword in my right hand. My knuckles turned white.
'...I want to kill it.'
The blood and sweat I'd shed. The hellish battlefields I'd endured. It was all because of this thing.
Although I couldn't see its form, that voice remained vividly etched in my mind.
I took out my shield and fitted it onto my left arm.
I slowly steadied my breath.
Within the limits of my current power.
I desperately tried to figure out a tactic to kill it. Comparing my level and skills against the opponent's abilities. A sudden, sharp headache pierced my mind.
'Damn it...'
I couldn't see any way forward.
Right now, I was just a 1-star Hero at level 10, with only five or six low-grade skills. On the other hand, that bastard's power couldn't even be measured. I clearly remembered its ability to annihilate Diora's party, composed of max-level 6-star and 5-star Heroes, in less than 10 seconds.
I forced my blurring vision back into focus.
The entity was close, but shrouded in a strange mist, its form wasn't visible. A part that seemed to be its mouth writhed.
"Aren't you going to attack me? You must resent me."
"If you're just going to spout nonsense, send me back."
"Huhu, good, good. Indeed, without that much self-control, you would have died long ago."
Its vaguely shaped arms seemed to ripple as it clapped.
The headache worsened. I took a step back, taking a stance ready to swing my sword at any moment.
"Is Hero Promotion always like this?"
"Of course not. You are special. This place is a gift for you. It's my stage, prepared for you, who was a glorious Ranker in Pick Me Up."
The mist covering the field dispersed.
Beyond the mist, the entity revealed its form.
'...A woman.' No, closer to a girl.
Her near-perfect features and figure resembled a doll. Wearing a flowing black one-piece dress, the girl slowly walked towards me. The fairy that brought me here flew around her.
"I'm not sure how I should introduce myself."
"Should I just understand you as a damn bitch?"
"That's rather inconvenient."
The girl gave a picture-perfect smile and snapped her fingers.
A luxurious chair covered in leather appeared. The girl sat on it and turned her gaze to me.
Looking closely, she greatly resembled Isel. I had a feeling that if Isel grew larger and aged a few years, she would look exactly like that.
Noticing my gaze, the girl chuckled softly.
"It's not that I resemble Isel; Isel resembles me. That child is merely one of my replicas. The 100,000,479th one. My, isn't that number coincidentally similar to the download count for Pick Me Up?"
"...What are you?"
"Finally, that question."
The girl chuckled again and took a business card seemingly from within her dress.
The business card, thrown lightly by the girl, spun rapidly and landed in my hand.
<010-6666-5555>
The name field was obscured by special characters.
"Are you trying to screw with me?"
"It's just that I have more than one or two names. I use them appropriately depending on the situation."
I crumpled the business card, threw it on the floor, and stomped on it with my foot.
"How rude."
I etched her true form into my eyes so I wouldn't forget. Then I continued speaking.
"Did you bring me here?"
"Probably so."
For a moment, I almost lunged forward without thinking.
As if knowing my state, the girl narrowed her eyes and smiled.
"Don't hate me too much. Your summoning to Mobius was unexpected for me too. It was unforeseen. A kind of accident, you see."
"I don't give a damn about your circumstances. Send me back if you don't want to die."
"Trying to kill me when you're merely a 1-star? Isn't your dream a bit too big?"
"Things will change with time."
"In that case, killing you now would be the solution."
A red light flashed in the girl's eyes.
Simultaneously, a spear made of black shadow erupted from beneath the girl's feet and shot towards my chest. I didn't dodge.
"Your nerve is impressive."
The spear had stopped right in front of my heart.
When the girl waved her hand, the spear retreated back into her shadow.
'She has no intention of killing me yet.' I could tell that much from the situation.
I couldn't know the exact upper limit of her abilities, but it was clear she was extraordinary. She had directly interfered in mission stages surrounded by transparent walls and even infiltrated the promotion process.
She must have had several chances to eliminate me. But the girl passed them up and summoned me here instead. Meaning she had some other purpose. I desperately suppressed the boiling rage in my head.
"What do you want?"
"Nothing much. I simply wanted to talk with you."
"Talk?"
"Yes, Loki. World Rank 5, the indomitable, undefeated Master. I'm your fan. You wouldn't believe how many times I was impressed watching your gameplay while monitoring. The mighty Niflheim is the number one target of observation at headquarters too. How could I possibly treat someone like you poorly?"
The girl grinned and stood up from the chair. The chair vanished like magic.
"I came to tell you the truth of this world."
"..."
"Loki, what do you think about the stories in mobile games? In gacha games, the story is one part users often don't pay much attention to. They focus more on the content. Me too. Honestly, Pick Me Up's story is, well, pretty outdated, isn't it? The worldbuilding is nothing special either. Most Masters progress a little and then forget such a thing even exists."
The girl snapped her fingers. As if a stage set in a play were changing, the field shrouded in darkness transformed into a different place.
A familiar place. It was the isolated city that was the main stage for Floors 5 and 10.
But there were differences. I looked around. The eastern river was completely dried up, and the lush northern forest was reduced to roots and branches. The plain, without a single blade of grass, revealed cracked, red earth. The city, needless to say, was nothing but ruins.
And above all, the sky was pitch black. It wasn't dark because it was night—if it were, nothing should have been visible like this.
It was an utterly alien sight.
"Do you know where this is?"
"I don't particularly want to know."
"Sorry about that. I have a talkative personality. This is the city of Nelsa, on the Heim Peninsula, Taonier continent. As you can see, it's shattered."
It wasn't just shattered.
The girl snapped her fingers again. The scene changed again.
"This is Silkia. Kaia. Edora."
Each time she snapped her fingers, the stage changed.
The backgrounds were different, but they had one thing in common. Not a single human, not even an animal or an insect, could be seen.
Every place was in ruins.
"Pionia. Madian. Icardia. Rilgia. Halsea. Arantia. Cisnia. All the way to Bardia. That concludes the current state of all regions in Taonier."
The girl gave a meaningful smile and continued.
"Do you think Niflheim is any different? They're all like this. Every continent belonging to Mobius ended up this way. Over 100 million worlds perished at the same time."
The field returned to the initial darkness.
"Here, there is a book with a predetermined ending. The ending is a bad end. Everything finishes. The characters inside the book hope to change the ending. What must be done? The answer is simple. You bring in someone from outside the book. You have them rewrite the story. Even if the setting and plausibility become a mess, even if the spatial and temporal axes get tangled and ruined."
"..."
"Beings from higher dimensions can twist causality just by observing. That's precisely why Pick Me Up was created. Master Loki."
So that was the grand story she was telling.
"So."
"So?"
"What's the reason you're telling me all this?"
"I require your cooperation."
"Cooperation?"
"Join me and save the wor—"
I pulled the dagger from behind my belt and threw it.
Thwuck.
The dagger cleanly pierced the girl's head.
Black blood spurted from the split forehead.
"I was curious what you were going to say, but you were just spouting utter bullshit."
"Think carefully, Loki. Is your answer yes or no?"
Her forehead split open, the girl smiled leisurely.
I answered.
"Fuck off."
Summoning me out of the blue to this shitty place, making me suffer like hell, and then asking for cooperation?
I'd never seen such a fucking crazy lunatic before.
I took a fighting stance and muttered.
"I won't cooperate with the likes of you, you piece of trash. Go ahead and kill me. I still managed to put a knife in your head."
"Such harsh words. I'm hurt. Huhu, huhuhu..."
Plink.
The dagger embedded in the girl's forehead extracted itself.
The wound, which had been bleeding black blood, healed in an instant. The blood that flowed onto the floor seeped into the girl's shadow. I suppressed the urge to rush at her and tear her limb from limb.
'Haaah.' I slowly released the boiling heat overflowing in my head.
I have the skill Calmness. The initial anger had subsided somewhat, allowing me to view the situation coolly.
'Right now, I can't kill this bitch.'
I am 1-star. Only level 10. My skills are insignificant, and my Imprints haven't been unlocked.
'Not yet.' If I'm going to kill her, it'll be after I gain more power.
No matter how strong she is, if she's a boss monster, there must be a strategy.
I closed my eyes, then opened them. My head felt much clearer.
I said.
"I have no desire to converse with you. Send me back."
"How disappointing. Especially since I used up a lot of 'interference power' to bring you to this place."
The girl continued, her expression showing no disappointment whatsoever.
"Loki, I rate you highly. More highly than any other Master in Pick Me Up, truly. Even the Rankers ahead of you are mere fireflies before the moon compared to you. Do you know why? It's because you, as a Master, achieved a unique, unparalleled feat."
The girl snapped her fingers. Holographic text appeared in the center of the field.
[Master, believe in the bond with your Heroes.]
"You know where this sentence comes from, right?"
I knew. It was part of the guide message that appears upon clearing the tutorial.
"You were the only one who truly embodied the meaning of this sentence. Only you, out of 100 million Masters."
"What do you mean?"
The girl snapped her fingers once more.
The scenery changed completely once again. Amidst an unfamiliar background, holographic text slowly materialized.
[Floor 80.]
[Mission Type - Complex]
[Objective - Unknown.]
"Recognize it, Loki?" The girl grinned broadly.
"This is Niflheim's 80th Floor Stage, six months ago."