The runic engravings hovering in the air let out a pulse at the same time. A heavy crack sound followed right after. Then, everything in his eyes became hazy.
Ludwig guided a few mana threads to his eyes to reinforce it. At the same time, his hands parted from each other. His left hand moved to the table while his right hand lowered to the hilt of his sword. Just as the familiar texture of the handle brushed against his palm, the sword let out a hum.
Back when he let Rimuru, Claire, Cless, and Kurobe into his Storage Dimension, he had told them about this sword of his. A sword that connects to many other versions of itself in the infinite timelines.
However, that's not all it could do.
This sword wouldn't just pull a random other persona of it from the infinite timeline. Instead, it would first connect to his current state before pulling whatever persona it thought matched his current mood.
As the hum went louder and louder, the blade finally appeared on the sword. Its colour was not different from before; deep blue and indigo were tangled like a vein in a metallic background.
But that colour only lasted for a second.
Those Indigo lines quickly darkened. It kept getting darker and darker before settling on black. At the same time, the sword also let out a pulse. It was sharp and full of bloodlust. By the fourth pulse, Ludwig finally realized. The timing of the pulse shooting out matched his own heartbeat.
Then, just like always, the world around him stopped. The room was also gone the next moment, replaced by a silence he had come to be familiar with.
The sword didn't waste time. The first thing it showed him was small hands. It was his own, just smaller. They were caked with dirt up to the wrist while the rest of his arms had both fresh scars and blood all over them. Whose, though, he didn't even dare to guess.
After all, through the gap of his arms, he could see a patch of freshly turned earth that was still dark from being disturbed. Just a glance was enough to make him realize what its identity was: A grave.
The scene blurred right after.
He was older now. His gaze was looking at the horizon far away. But before he could even check his hand, a familiar fishy and iron smell wafted into his nose. When he moved his head to look around, his eyes couldn't help but open wide.
What he saw was mound after mound after mound of corpses. All died while looking at him with faces so distorted that they looked grotesque. But what bothered him more was what they wore. From the red insignia of the Valtherion Empire, Golden Sun sigil of the Sanctora Theocracy, to the World Tree insignia of the Sylvaris Dominion. In other words, he was the only one who was still alive after killing all those people who had banded together to kill him.
But before he could do anything else, the scene blurred again.
Now he was standing in a huge room with a tall ceiling. On the wall beside him was a banner of Arcanoth Empire. However, the throne that was placed on the last level of the dais was empty. On the floor in front of it, a woman in ceremonial dress was lying face down, one arm extended forward as if she had been reaching for something in her final moment and had not found it.
Even without seeing her face, he knew who she was.
Finally, he returned to reality. He was back in the room where mana or magicules were fighting against each other.
As if waiting for his consciousness to return, a suffocating and heavy pressure fell upon the entire room right after. The various mana around the room subsided in an instant. Some people who were not strong enough also fell to the ground hard as if gravity had decided to multiply itself on them.
Ludwig proceeded to stand up. With his gaze landing squarely on the Dwarven King, he pointed the tip of his blade to him. The magicules inside him stirred. It was supplying more and more power to his body.
But just before he unleashed the full power of his void and space attributes, a sound reached his ears.
"LUD! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!"
The voice was raspy and desperate. Even though it didn't have any power behind it, the feminine voice cut through the distorted and enticing voice that had been filling his mind with their own idea.
Ludwig let the hilt of his sword go before sending it back to the Storage Dimension. The pressure and the pulse full of bloodlust were also gone at the same time. Then it dawned on him.
He had let his guard down. The whisper was one thing, but letting his guard down while holding that sword was never a good idea. The fight against the Demon King couldn't even make him do so.
Yet, here he was. Standing in a room with so many people down on the floor. He just hoped the pressure and the pulse from the sword were contained enough so it wouldn't affect anyone else outside.
Right after he thought so, he moved quickly towards Claire before bending his knees. "You okay?"
Claire was on one knee with her palm flat against the floor. Her breathing was controlled, the kind that was deliberately controlled rather than naturally so.
"I'm fine." She said it clearly, without hesitation.
But when she looked up to answer his question, her appearance screamed anything but okay. Her eyes took a half second longer than usual to find his face. The color on her face was also gone. At the same time, her hair, which had been neat when they left Checkpoint this morning, had come partially loose on one side.
She moved to stand, and he offered his arm. She took it with the same matter-of-fact quality she did most things, though her grip was slightly tighter than it needed to be for someone who was fine.
Once she was upright, she exhaled once through her nose and straightened her collar. Then she looked at him properly for the first time since he had let go of the sword. She didn't say anything about what had just happened. She just held his gaze for a moment, long enough to make her point, and then turned her attention to the rest of the room.
After sweeping through the room once with her eyes, she started. "You ask about what he will do to prevent whatever horror you had in mind, right?"
She paused to let her words settle.
"You have experienced it firsthand now. Any more questions?"
The room keep their silent. The only movement inside the room was either people trying to correct their posture or eyes looking towards the highest authority in their group.
Since he knew what Claire was doing, Ludwig kept his mouth shut. If he apologized here—which in a normal situation he should have—he would just undo all the shows he had shown them from the very first moment he arrived in the room.
The burst was unintentional. No, it was an accident born from carelessness. But that didn't mean it couldn't be used for his goal.
Finally, a voice cut through the silence. "I will take care from here, Claire. You should take Ludwig back."
Rimuru stepped closer to where he and Claire stood. A smile could be seen on his face, while in his eyes, there was no terror or confusion at all. The first thing he thought after seeing him was that Great Sage had told him what to do and the risk.
Knowing he could trust Rimuru, he put his hand on Claire's shoulder. But just before he teleported, he remembered he had something for Rimuru and his subordinates.
Opening his Storage Dimension with his free hand, he pulled the still hot deep-fried pork belly from earlier. Then with his magicules, he moved it to the table in front of Rimuru. "Someone in your city made that. It's not perfect yet, but I gave them some pointers. Souei should know where their shop is."
Rimuru's eyes were glued onto the dish. Yes, that was the magical thing about fried food. Even though it just looked golden outside, its smell was a killer.
Before he said anything, Ludwig channeled his mana toward the area around him anc Claire and moved away from the room. Once they were outside, he couldn't help but sigh. His worst nightmare had come true. There were so many people fainting on the street.
Thankfully, Tempest was still Tempest. He could see some denizens already moving about to help those who fainted. The one who spearheaded the effort was precisely the female dragonewt that came to him with Soeui earlier.
Noting he had to give Rimuru and the people from Tempest his apology later, he moved around the city. Before going back to Checkpoint, he had to look for Cless and the other first.
When he finally saw the three girls and three companions, he quickly slipped back to reality. All three of the girls were still standing. But what made him more relieved was their position. Arcanine was standing in a ready stance in front of them. Meanwhile, Gastly was hovering around, eyes looking from corner to corner.
Kokobu looked terrified. She had become a shadow of her earlier sunny self. But funnily enough, she was in a better condition than the other two. Cless's hair now resembled an unmaintained broom while her expression was full of worry. In the meantime, Latina's face was as white as paper, and he could see her clothes were quite wet.
The moment Cless saw the two of them, she ran. Before she arrived, Claire went to her knees and opened her hands wide.
"Aunt Claire!"
Cless dived into Claire's embrace, and the older one quickly put her arms all over her. She let her cry on her shoulder for a few seconds before looking up. Ludwig followed her gaze and saw both Kokobu and Latina also crying, although they tried their best to not make any sound.
Without sound, Claire lifted Cless's body before tugging his sleeve. Even without her telling him what to do, she received Cless' body and let the little girl cry on his shoulder. A moment later, Claire was already hugging the two little girls. Now their cries were louder than before.
Seeing the three of them crying like this, he felt like his heart had been pierced by a burning sword. He had let his guard down. He had let the glimpse of his self in another timeline take control of the current him.
Thanks to that, a lot of people fainted. But what made him feel more guilty was, of course, the three girls crying in front of him.