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“Even so, don’t you think capturing Nano, I mean, the World Eater, is a bit much?”
“I couldn’t think of any other way.”
“That’s what I’d expect from an Apostle who’s ruled the world for five hundred years.”
“I hardly think five hundred years is all that much… but I’ll take it as a compliment.”

The ruler of this world, the girl Fini called Viatrix, uttered that line with self-mockery of those 500 years. To her, it must have been both an unfathomable age and an insignificant one. I, too, had long since lost any human sense of time as Fini’s Apostle, but Viatrix had likewise drifted far beyond what could reasonably be called human.

Even so, when she looked at Lulu and me, there was a hint of fear in her eyes. Viatrix, seemingly tense for reasons she couldn’t quite articulate, finally spoke.

“Aren’t you going to do anything?”
“We’re not. Why?”
“You sealed the god you serve, didn’t you?”
“Fini didn’t disappear, so I don’t really mind. What about you, Lulu?”

Now then, Viatrix first toyed with the lifespan of the world as if making it hop back and forth across the border of collapse. And then she lured out and captured the World Eater, Nano. Why was she able to do such a thing? Because Viatrix reincarnated while carrying the energy of her pre-reincarnation world within her soul.

And as an existence within the world itself, she restored the world’s lifespan. It was a reckless feat impossible even for gods like Fini, something only achievable by someone who had existed for a span equal to that of the gods and accumulated vast experience. In a sense, it was a miracle brought about by the involvement of divine will.

After capturing Nano, she deliberately crossed the border into world collapse and waited for Fini to be dispatched.

Having previously heard about Nano from Fini, Viatrix must have known that Nano had absorbed multiple worlds, and she likely judged that she could use that energy to prolong this world’s life.

Then, thanks to the God of Chaos acting on a whim, Fini arrived. Upon realizing this, Viatrix forcibly revived the world. As a result, the conditions for Fini to descend into the world were invalidated, and she was forced into sleep. Until this world’s destruction was confirmed, it would be fair to say she had been sealed.

For a moment, I thought her to be the reincarnation of the King of Terror, but I kept that thought to myself. No one would get the reference anyway.

In short, Viatrix seemed to be wary of us, Fini’s Apostles. But neither Lulu nor I really cared all that much.

“Master Finis sleeping is nothing unusual,” Lulu said calmly. “There’s no need to worry. If anything, she’s probably pleased with the current situation.”
“Right? Once we go home, she’ll only be allowed to sleep for a hundred years. She probably wants to sleep in this world forever.”
“…Are all gods like that?”

Viatrix looked genuinely exasperated. I really didn’t mind Fini sleeping more. She was quite cute like that, after all.

“There might be others, but Fini is a special case.”
“Now that you mention it, she may have told me something along those lines. At the time, I was too focused on extracting the information I needed, so I don’t remember very clearly.”
“Well, that’s understandable.”

I didn’t bother recalling things I wasn’t interested in either. Besides, Viatrix was still, technically, within the category of ‘human,’ so there were limits to what she could do compared to us. After I gave her a simplified explanation of Fini, Viatrix let out a deep sigh.

“Humans and gods alike are all hopeless.”
“There are all kinds of beings. You just happened to get involved with the wrong ones. Fini, me, Lulu, and you too, Viatrix.”
“Among us, I’m the most pitiful one, aren’t I?”

I didn’t deny that. I wasn’t all that pitiable. Fini lived more or less as she pleased, even accounting for the time she was captured. And Lulu was at least permitted to die, to reach an end. Viatrix, on the other hand, had no end. No matter how many times she died, she was reborn. Between me, who became a higher being without dying, and Viatrix, who remained human and experienced countless deaths, even if we existed for the same length of time, what was inside us was completely different.

After all, even Fini herself said she didn’t want to die.

“But right now, you still have some leeway, don’t you?”
“I believe all that remains is to wait. Your god, Finis, didn’t seem very self-aware, but she’s probably a rather important existence to the other gods, wouldn’t you say?”
“She’s more like someone useful to keep around. She’s built up a lot of goodwill with various gods.”
“In that case, I’ll be labeled an enemy of the gods. And if I die normally, I’ll just be reborn. I’ll do the same thing again. I might even go further than I did this time.”

Viatrix’s eyes, though outwardly calm, were twisted with madness.

“Then the gods will have no choice but to erase me, won’t they?”

With a beautifully genuine smile, Viatrix posed the question to me. Honestly, there was no way for me to answer that, so I gave her a vague smile. Considering that this whole situation started with the God of Chaos, things were probably getting very entertaining up above.

In any case, Viatrix crossed worlds, captured Nano, and made all these preparations to kill herself. Strictly speaking, it may not be suicide, since she couldn’t truly die and would be reborn, but she was acting with the intent to die.

“By the way, how long do you think I’ll have to wait?”
“Gods are patient. It could take thousands of years, maybe even hundreds of millions.”
“Then five hundred years truly is nothing.”
“Even so, that’s a long time for the people of this world. Maybe you should start preparing to step out of the spotlight?”
“…That may be true. Will you help me?”
“Fini’s asleep, and I’ve got nothing better to do, so sure. What about you, Lulu?”
“I’ll help if I feel like it.”
“That sounds like you, Lulu, alright.”

She didn’t like people much, after all. Oh, speaking of which…

“Viatrix, do you even have a lifespan?”
“Isn’t that question a bit late to be asking now?”