The instant that tiny black dot appeared, the world fell silent again.
An incomparable gravitational force erupted from its center, swallowing everything nearby.
Not even light could escape.
Naturally, under such overwhelming gravity, Shiro's voice could not travel either.
From far away, Emilia and the others merely saw him open his mouth and shout something at them.
Then—
Their bodies seemed to break free from gravity.
Against their will, everyone began flying toward the tiny black point.
Among them, only Natsuki Subaru, who had come from the modern world, recognized what that greedy black dot devouring everything around it truly was.
It was something born when a dying star exploded, its core collapsing into an unimaginably dense state and distorting the space and time around it.
Asteroids.
Star systems.
Stars.
Light.
Even spacetime itself.
Anything that approached would be mercilessly dragged into its abyss.
Something like this only needed to be the size of a fist to destroy the entire Earth.
Even though Subaru had dropped out of high school and become a shut-in, he had still seen the famous image released by the EHT collaboration several years earlier.
"An artificial black hole?!!"
Subaru screamed its name just before being dragged inside.
Unfortunately—No one would ever hear his final words.
The next second, his body stretched like a strand of noodles.
Then it broke apart into countless particles and became trapped around the black hole.
His consciousness sank into darkness.
Natsuki Subaru—Died.
...
Had one second passed?
Or perhaps an entire year?
After Subaru was swallowed by the black hole, the whole world descended into endless darkness, like humanity's final despairing sigh before death.
Time had lost all meaning here.
The world—Was frozen.
Dead silence spread in every direction.
There were no mountains.
No water.
No sky above.
No earth beneath his feet.
Perhaps even the fundamental substances required for human survival no longer existed here.
Within this endless darkness, there was only one thing Shiro could confirm.
He was still alive.
Even in this empty environment, he could still feel his magic continuing to function.
If he wished, he could even summon the Transmigration Gate and leave immediately.
Shiro had never imagined that the collision between his full-power magic and Reinhard's would somehow create something this absurd.
Especially when Reinhard's ability had not even been able to cut through the outer shell of his Device!
Whether it was an incredible coincidence or simply terrible luck—This disaster was ultimately something Shiro had caused.
The reason he remained here was to investigate what exactly had happened to this world.
And whether there was any chance of restoring it.
At that moment—Black mist suddenly began spreading around him.
Shiro raised one hand.
Pure-white magic gathered at his fingertip and became a small lamp, illuminating the dark fog.
Then—He saw her.
At the center of the mist-covered world stood a silver-white figure.
Long silver hair cascaded down to her waist.
Pointed ears.
And brilliant blue-violet eyes that shone like gemstones.
Looking at that familiar face, Shiro cautiously asked—
"Emilia?"
No.
The instant the name left his mouth, he immediately rejected his own answer.
Although the woman looked almost identical to Emilia, the atmosphere surrounding her was subtly different.
A silver-haired half-elf.
In this world, there was another person besides Emilia who possessed those characteristics.
"Satella?"
The silver-haired girl's body trembled.
Then she looked toward him with eyes filled with hope.
Clearly—Shiro had guessed correctly.
She was the Witch of Envy feared throughout the Kingdom of Lugunica.
Satella.
But—Shiro tilted his head.
'Have I ever met her?'
If the Transmigration Gate possessed the ability to send him into the past, he might have suspected that the two of them had met before.
But whenever the gate transported him between worlds, its minimum displayed number was always seven.
There had never been any negative number.
'Could there be some function I haven't unlocked yet?'
Shiro could hardly be blamed for thinking that.
The emotions contained within Satella's eyes were simply too intense.
With feelings that powerful, the chance that she had merely mistaken him for someone else was extremely low.
Could they have met at some point he knew nothing about?
While Shiro was still thinking, Satella saw that he showed no further reaction.
The hope in her eyes quickly dimmed into loneliness.
Shiro was just about to ask whether they had met before when—The endless black fog suddenly surged.
It climbed rapidly from his feet and engulfed his entire body.
...
"Edel-chan? Is she the teacher who taught you swordsmanship?"
"What astonishing talent."
"If possible, I would very much like to meet her someday."
Reinhard's voice rang beside Shiro's ears once more.
Only—Those words sounded suspiciously familiar.
Reinhard stood before him, covered in blood and overflowing with fighting spirit.
"We're back?"
Shiro looked around.
The surrounding landscape could hardly be called intact—But compared to that apocalyptic emptiness, it was practically beautiful.
And Reinhard's words confirmed something else.
Shiro had returned to the exact moment shortly after injuring Reinhard.
Then his gaze shifted toward Subaru, who was watching from the distance.
The strange phenomenon just now—Had happened after Subaru died.
Yet Subaru's reaction puzzled Shiro.
Despite apparently being the trigger, Subaru himself seemed completely unaware of anything.
He was still hiding awkwardly behind the ice wall Emilia had created, staring toward Reinhard.
'Could something else have caused the time reversal?'
The thought appeared for only a moment before Shiro rejected it.
The timing was simply too perfect.
Subaru died—And immediately afterward, Shiro was dragged into that world filled with black mist.
No matter how he looked at it, Subaru had to be connected.
Still, Shiro would need more observations before determining the exact activation condition.
He sighed.
The Device in his hand dissolved into motes of light and vanished into the air.
Then he looked at Reinhard, who was still overflowing with fighting spirit.
"Let's stop here, Reinhard."
"I lost this match."
…