"Huh?! What? You know my name?"

I wasn't as if I'd said my name out loud when I'd fought his dungeon self. Rather, we hadn't talked at all. I'd just attacked him straight away.

"Ah… Sorry," the demon said, scratching the back of his head. "It's been a while for me. You haven't met me yet."

Say what?!

"You're from the future?!" I blurted out.

The demon winced.

"Ah… No… Technically… you are in the future right now… Um, actually, we should probably stop this conversation before the Fate Weaver gets mad."

My mind was spinning at the sheer amount of implications that sentence had.

Yes, I had known that the world I'd gotten isekai'd into must have gone through some kind of civilization-ending event, but to say that that was the future...?

But more importantly, that sentence implied that the Fate Weaver was watching right now… and that the demon guy worked for him.

I grit my teeth and tightened my hold on my gun.

Seeing this, he gave me an awkward smile.

"Already hating the Fate Weaver, even this early, huh…?"

I narrowed my eyes at him.

It was weird to be meeting someone who supposedly knew me, but I didn't know him. Especially since my gut told me that I would probably have to fight him to beat this trial.

Also…

"How come you speak English...?"

It was something I had also thought about after the fight with Echo. Sure, she hadn't spoken it, but she understood me speaking it. At the time, I had been too busy grappling with what we were talking about to care, but later on, it had definitely felt strange that she understood English, despite the city's inhabitants clearly using a different language as well.

Or maybe not, considering this guy also spoke it.

The demon looked confused for a moment, muttering "English…?", but then seemed to realize something.

He gave an amused chuckle.

"Ah, right… Well–" He seemed to stop himself from saying something, thought about it for a brief moment, and then continued. "The demon queen's son taught me."

What was up with that pause? Were we not speaking English? Or did he call it something else, maybe? Or maybe he was lying? Or hiding something?

Well, if he wasn't, then…

"So… where did the demon queen and her son learn how to speak it?"

"Hmm… she taught her son when he was growing up… and I assume she also learned it when she was a child."

I frowned deeper.

"So is English the normal language of the demons…?"

He shook his head.

"Not in the slightest. Our queen was–" His smile turned a bit pained as his eyes met mine. "–a bit of an outlier. Came out of nowhere and quickly established herself… Kind of like you, I suppose."

What? Like me? Wait…

"And how did we meet anyway? You know me but I don't know you. Did I live in the demon city? Was I one of the generals or something?"

His expression went blank, clearing trying to prevent me from reading anything off of it. He sighed.

"Sorry, I can't talk about that. Spoilers."

Seriously?

"Can't talk about a lot of things, really… It's a shame."

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"...Yeah."

"We should probably get started soon, before the Fate Weaver gets impatient."

I tensed up again, anticipating the worst.

"So… Here we go." He straightened up and school his expression. "Congratulations on making it to the final trial, Aoto Nana." Wait, what? "You have persevered while most others would have given up and now are on the cusp of breaking your limits."

The grip on my gun self tightened as I remembered all the shit I'd gone through in the previous two trials.

"The last trial of every Limit Break is very simple." He gestured to himself. "Face an important person from your past or future and then defeat them in battle."

Of course we would have to fight…

But, seriously? He'd just outright called himself someone important to me… from the future. Wasn't that also a spoiler? And also…

"...Isn't that unfair? You probably know everything about me, but I barely know you."

A sardonic smile was his response.

I scowled.

Of course.

None of these trials had felt very fair so far, after all.

"...Fine. At least you're being polite about it, unlike the stupid centipede or the sentient needles," I grumbled.

His look turned bewildered as he mouthed 'sentient needles' to himself.

"So, would I have to… Kill you…?" I asked hesitantly.

Another sardonic smile.

"Ah… Yes…"

I sighed and grit my teeth.

"Also, there was a message from the Fate Weaver I was supposed to tell you."

"Message?"

What could that fucker possibly want after telling me to fuck off and then ghosting me?

The demon – whose name I still hadn't asked, I just realized – nodded.

"It says: 'Thank you for fixing my blunder' and… they also said that you were supposed to do the same now to pass the trial. Not sure what that means, though."

"Blunder…?" I muttered, wondering just what–

And then it hit me.

Echo.

Her having remnants of a soul as a dungeon monster hadn't supposed to happen.

I grit my teeth as pure rage overtook me.

"Blunder?! Blunder?! That's what he calls it?!"

That was all that amounted to?! That eight-eyed fucker trapped someone to be a dungeon monster for who knows how long, couldn't even be bothered to fix his mistake – wasn't he supposed to be omnipotent?! – handed off that responsibility to me, and then called it a mere blunder?!

My free hand was bleeding from how hard I clenched it in fury.

AotoNana: I'm going to kill him. AotoNana: No matter what, I'm going to KILL the Fate Weaver.

The demon seemed taken aback by my reaction.

"Ah… I didn't mean to upset you." He sighed. "I guess this is where your hatred for the Fate Weaver really started, huh? Wow, that was so cruel… To trick me into doing that…" He rubbed his head.

Fucking hell, man! He'd been tricked into saying the exactly correct thing to infuriate me? To push me over the edge? To…

…Break me?

"Fuck these trials!" I howled before screaming out incomprehensibly.

The demon was about to say something as I finished screaming, but I immediately cut him off.

"What's your name?"

He blinked.

"Um… I think that's also a spoiler," he murmured apologetically.

I let out another noise of frustration.

"Where is the Fate Weaver, right now?"

He winced.

"Umm… I think the answer to that question is very complicated. Everywhere and nowhere at once, I guess?"

Fucking time-travelling omnipresent piece of shit! I couldn't even go and punch him right now!

Then I forced myself to close my eyes, take a deep breath, and slowly exhale.

When I opened them again, I saw the winged demon guy patiently watching me with some concern painting his expression.

"Okay…" I didn't really want to fight him… Especially since we must have been friends, from how he was acting…

"Can I ask one more question before we start…?" I asked, wanting to stall just a little bit more.

"Hmm…? Go ahead, but I don't promise to answer."

"Right…" I paused for a second, thinking about what I wanted to ask. What he likely would answer.

"Do you… Do you know what that was back there?"

He blinked.

"Back there...?"

"There was… a faceless person who resembled someone I used to know. She kinda looked like she was listening to me talk, but then disappeared."

He frowned for a moment, then he looked into the distance.

"Hmm… That was probably… the Fate Weaver."

I stiffened.

"What," I asked, my tone flat.

"I heard that the Fate Weaver personally visits every trial of every Limit Break undertaken by every person in history, so it's possible."

He what now?!

Wait a minute! So he'd been in the bug cave and the mist towers too? What was– Was he the Millenipede and the needle creature?!

No fucking way, right?!

That would just be…

…

But it would fit. The Fate Weaver was supposed to be a shapeshifter.

Ugh, but that was the Fate Weaver I had come up with. I didn't know if the real one was also a shapeshifter.

But it would make too much sense!

Gah, but if that was true, I'd had a peaceful chat with the freaking Fate Weaver without even realizing it?!

Argh!

What the fuck?!

Or rather, that fucked had been pretending to be someone I'd known?! Someone who had died?!

I glowered at that thought.

I wanted to kill that fucker so bad right now.

Fuck.

…

Was that a bad thing?

He didn't count as a person, did he? No, he was some kind of god thing, and killing gods was completely different from killing people. If JRPGs had taught me anything, it was that killing a god was a favor to all of humanity.

I sighed.

"Okay… Okay, fine. When can I meet the fucker again?"

I could see the dude holding in a snort.

"After this trial. He usually appears to people who finish their Limit Break and tells them something."

My expression grew dark.

"I see."

In other words, I had to be ready to stab a bitch after I won this fight.

"Is that all you wanted to ask?"

No, it wasn't. But I was starting to feel like I shouldn't delay any more.

"Yeah…"

"Then let's do this." He got into a combat stance and unfurled his wings wide. "Fair warning: The imitations in dungeons are only a pale mirror of the real thing."

I grimaced.

In other words, this was going to be a lot more difficult than fighting his dungeon version.

Well, not that I'd expected anything else…

"En guarde!"

His wings stretched a bit further back and a moment later flapped forward–

I suddenly found myself being flung back as my surroundings turned into a hurricane.

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