My Measurement: The Villain Desires a Satisfying Payback

-- Kkrrrrrriiiiiiieeeeeeeekkkkhhh...!!!

The Harbinger of the End―that is, the endless sea of Nightmares―shrieked in celebration.

As if they knew their time had finally come, they all turned their heads to the black sky in a single, synchronous action, and beckoned a harsh wave of silence.

"...It's time."

Watching over them all, I couldn't help but wonder.

These Nightmares.

Were they self-aware of their fate?

The way they chaotically cried, fumbled about and acted; it was as if they had been waiting.

As if they knew their role, and as their time had finally come, they were ready.

To summon their king.

The End of Worlds

It was the same scene I had witnessed in the Magic Tower, but that was just an illusion, no? The surrounding scenery is similar, but different to where the trial took place, but even without that, the fact that the Ancient Sage reproduced something that hadn't even happened yet to such an accurate degree...

I suppose his clairvoyance was real.

Infinitely more impressive than Avon Laura.

[Cee? I have made contact with the elves. Like I thought, they don't believe me and have told me to turn away. I managed to find an excuse to stick around for a little bit, but they still doubt me.]

Suddenly, Kolo Tjahn's undulating voice spoke to me as if from underwater. Turning my head slightly to the side, I saw a floating ball of magic in the shape of an inhuman eye.

I hadn't a clue it was even there until it spoke.

How long has it been silently watching for?

"...What's this?"

Upon my ask, the eye's pupil snapped towards me.

[The spell? It's a seventh-tier spell called 'Eye of Transmission'; I created it myself as an upgraded version of the sixth-tier spell, 'Observation Eye'.]

"...Right."

The eye snapped back to viewing the 'praying' Nightmares before us. It was an undoubtedly creepy spell to look at, but one couldn't deny its utility in a world without modern technology.

I briefly wondered just what was so difficult about it that made it seventh-tier, but quickly remembered that it wasn't important as the eye called me again.

[Cee.]

"What?"

[Is this... truly the right thing to do?]

"..."

What nonsense is this guy talking about all of a sudden?

[I know we need to gain access to the World Tree, but looking at this... It just screams 'evil', doesn't it...?]

"Are you a kid? This isn't evil. I'm going to get rid of them, not let them devour the World Tree."

[Well, I get that, but... I don't know, it just makes me uneasy...]

[This is actually my first time seeing Nightmares with my own two eyes since I entered the Magic Tower before they began to appear.]

[I was shocked the first time I saw them in the 10th Floor Trial, but now that I'm seeing them in person, I can sense something terribly sinister.]

[I really don't think this is a good idea to go through with.]

The tone of his rippling voice seemed to gain confidence as he spoke, but I cared none for it.

If I wanted to listen to what he thought was the right thing to do, I would have asked.

I know what I'm doing, and I know how things will turn out.

Because, if they turn out any other way.

I will simply change it.

"So? Is it evil to summon a monster if the purpose of summoning the monster is to kill it?"

"Even if we assume the answer is 'yes' because the act of summoning the monster alone is evil."

"Then, is the act of killing the monster not meaningless?"

"If you summon a monster, then kill it, what harm is done? Whether the action is classed as evil or not, does it even matter once the monster is dead?"

"And if it does, then what is even the point in killing the monster in the first place?"

"Once you kill the monster, the sin of summoning it is erased."

"If it worked any other way, it would not make sense."

"Because that would mean the act of killing the monster is less than the act of summoning it."

"And if the act of good is lesser than the act of evil, then what are you even trying to act good for?"

"It's utterly pointless. Unless, tell me; does it somehow make sense to you?"

[You're thinking about it in the wrong way. Actually, I--]

"Never mind, shut it."

It's beginning to get irritating.

"Just follow what I say and don't argue. I didn't bring you with me to complain."

Crack-!

Just as I closed my mouth, my attention was immediately drawn to the sky.

Finally, it was beginning―or rather, ending.

Craaacckkkkk...!!

Rumble...!

The sky cracked and fissured, creating an unfathomable rift in the middle of space and sending unprecedented tremors all throughout the land as the rupture widened.

Just like during the 10th Floor Trial, it was pure cataclysm and chaos.

Black ooze, even stickier and more unsettling than the Nightmares themselves, emerged from the rift and trickled slowly down from the sky, and just as it did in the trial, washed away the countless Nightmares in a tarry flood.

The sable goo absorbed the Nightmares as sustenance to maintain its continuous growth, blowing up like a balloon to reach the blackened, corrupted clouds above, and soaring even further beyond.

It was truly an incredible sight to see.

The intense pressure, and immense scope of the event.

The sensation of rumbling beneath my feet and the wind gracing my face.

The echoing cries of Nightmares as they got swallowed up by the end.

The sheer scale of it all.

Frankly, it was an experience that couldn't even be compared with the illusion of the 10th Floor Trial.

Everything about it was so plainly massive―cosmic, even―that it was almost unbelievable.

And then.

"...Wait."

As the coalescing darkness continued to do nothing but ceaselessly grow, I felt something unsavoury within my chest.

"Why isn't it stopping...?"

The black mess that consumed the Nightmares―having become a sea of Stygian ooze itself, as if straight from hell―it only ate more and more and more.

Its already too-big-to-be-called-huge size swelled even further, far surpassing the height of the rift it came from and the clouds themselves.

During the 10th Floor Trial, the Nightmare King's emergence would have ended by now.

Things should have been the same here, so why was this happening all of a sudden?

Why hadn't it ended...?

"..."

Alas, there was no answer to be received.

The mass grew taller and taller, then expanded outwards, spilling onto the inky sky.

Overtaking the space where the sun overlooked all just a few minutes ago, it crept until it dominated all the sky itself.

The scale was bigger than I ever imagined it would be, and it was only when the entire sky had turned into part of its body that it seemed to slow down.

With no adorning sun, stars, or moon, the world had turned pitch-black, cast in the inescapable shadow of its presence.

Finally, as if to symbolise the ultimate arrival of the end, two masses materialised in the "sky".

Twin blobs of crimson red, emitting sharp light like LEDs, each bigger than the old sun and completed with a small black dot in the centre.

With its newfound bone-chilling eyes, it stared down at the world it had intruded.

Watching each and every person who looked back, individually yet simultaneously.

It was like a devil had taken the world into its palm and was peering into the tiny bubble humans call home.

I could easily imagine that every single being under this sky, person and creature alike, was begging for mercy at this very moment.

"..."

I did not realise.

I did not realise it would become so extreme.

I thought it would be as it was in the 10th Floor Trial, but perhaps I had underestimated it.

To put it another way, the 'End' was more impactful than I expected.

The Nightmare King.

Who was the one to call it that in the first place?

Was it the Ancient Sage who first showed it in the trial?

'Nightmare' was an apt name for what it made one experience, but I couldn't help but feel that it was severely lacking in punch.

The 'king' part was lame as well.

Of course, I wasn't going to do something like come up with a better name, because at the end of the day, it doesn't matter what it's called.

In fact, maybe no name would be grand enough to capture the scope of what it truly is.

'The Lord of Dreaded Purgatory and Eternal Torment, Nightmare King'.

For whatever reason, the Ancient Sage was far understating the true nature of this monster.

Rather than something poetic like that, a simple name would be more fitting.

Something like what I had called it before; the End of Worlds.

Anyway.

"..."

...Is it even possible for Reality to get rid of that thing?

Initially, I thought I would have no problem with it because I assumed it to be identical to how it was in the 10th Floor Trial, but now...

Like this, it appeared a true devourer of worlds.

After all, how can something be expected to eat an entire world if it is so small? It needs to be the size of the sky at the very least to accomplish something like that.

Although a form like this is much more appropriate than what it looked like during the trial, it doesn't help me in any way.

The more I think about it, the more vexing it is.

Just as I began to contemplate how to go about it, however, I felt a familiar, warm energy.

Oh...?

Turning around to face the elven forest, I was surprised to find a large group of people kneeling.

Are they... Elves?

Their objectively attractive features, long hair and ears, and naturalistic clothing clued me in. In any case, it appeared that, from their kneeling, they collectively shared their nature's energy with me.

I was puzzled as to what this abrupt event was about when Kolo Tjahn appeared in the flesh. Only then did I notice the creepy eye had disappeared at some point.

"Cee. After they saw what happened to the sky, they decided to help us. They're sharing the World Tree's energy with you, as well as all of their trust out of fear. Please, do whatever you can to get rid of that thing."

I stared at his face for a moment, admiring the commitment to the goal even after he voiced his doubt about what we were doing.

To be honest, I don't know if Reality influenced his decisions in any way since I wasn't really paying attention, but I suppose it doesn't matter.

"...Well, that was the plan, yes."

Accepting the energy from the elves that filled my body with a strange, cosy feeling, I recalled it being similar to the energy of the World Tree I felt back in the Magic Tower.

Just as with the Nightmare King, however, the Transcendent's energy in the illusion couldn't possibly compare with the real deal.

At that moment, I heard a voice in my head.

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