"'God' is about to reappear in the world. Humanity faces a future of enslavement by a god, and the disastrous scenes of the past will be unleashed once again!"
Sure enough, the moment Meredith heard that, she stood up. The compass-orb hovering at her side suddenly flared with intense purple light, drifting slowly into the space between us and spinning rapidly in place. Only when Meredith casually drew a card from the deck orbiting the orb—and handed it straight to us—did it finally settle down.
Of course, this wasn't the kind of playing card I was familiar with. The illustration showed an angel standing amid clouds, blowing a horn. Beneath the angel, a crowd of humans raised their hands with devout eyes fixed upward, as if yearning for divine favor and salvation.
Unfortunately, Adrian and I had no idea what the astrology card signified. Elara, however, seemed to recognize it—she only glanced at it before a word slipped out of her mouth:
"Judgment?"
"That's right. The trumpet sounds—judgment is about to begin. The descent of the god has entered a decisive moment!"
Meredith nodded, calmly voicing the meaning she had interpreted from the card, then walked up to Adrian and placed it in his hand.
"Now is the time for you, as a Fate Breaker, to fulfill your responsibility and duty—stop the god from manifesting! The humans of the entire continent can only rely on you to resolve this crisis!"
"God… like the disasters of the past…"
Looking across Eldoria Continent's history, the only catastrophe that could truly match that description was the "Flood of Light" from ten thousand years ago. Elara fell silent for a moment, her expression shifting. Then, still uncertain, she ventured a guess:
"Do you mean… the 'God of Light,' Beluto, is about to revive? That can't be possible. It makes no sense…"
Since the very beginning of their existence, the angel race's mission had been to prevent the God of Light from reviving. Even now, most light-element energy was still sealed within Edenmere and within angels' own bodies. In theory, the primary world's environment simply didn't meet the conditions for Beluto's return—no wonder Elara couldn't accept it.
"It shouldn't be the 'God of Light,'" Meredith said, shaking her head. "The future I foresaw this time isn't clear enough, so I didn't see any concrete information about the 'god' itself. Even so, I can vaguely sense that its power will be far stronger than the legendary 'God of Light.' Humans alone will have no way to cope with it!"
"Really? That seems a bit much, doesn't it?"
Humans, as a whole, were generally weaker than angels—but a rare few with battle-qi could rival even the highest-ranking angels. Hearing Meredith state it so absolutely, Elara couldn't hide her surprise and doubt.
Adrian and I, however, felt differently. We had already received a warning from a "Saint," and both mentions involved a "god" appearing in the world—so we couldn't help but take it more seriously.
"So," Adrian said after thinking for a moment, "since you've seen a future through foresight, is there any way to show it to us more directly—so we can see it with our own eyes?"
If we could witness the future imagery firsthand, we would surely gain more useful information.
Besides, it wasn't an unreasonable request. We weren't unfamiliar with what foresight could look like. Most information, however, had to be relayed through the seer's own retelling, and that inevitably reduced accuracy. Meredith was the Sage Alliance's highest-ranking astrologer—famed for her skill—far beyond ordinary prophets. Maybe she really could do it.
"If it were only my astrology," Meredith said at first, "then perhaps there truly would be no way for you to directly see the future…"
For a moment, her refusal made me think it was hopeless. But then her tone shifted—and she agreed without hesitation.
"However, given the gravity of the matter, I came to Astralrealm Kingdom fully prepared. Come with me to the rooftop—right now."
"The rooftop?"
I'd guessed something like this might happen, but I was still confused. Why the rooftop? Did it have to be outdoors?
Elara, on the other hand, seemed to know what Meredith had arranged up there; she didn't look surprised at all. With the two of them leading, we didn't waste time. We left the office and took the magical lift straight to the highest level of the royal castle.
Since I'd been there last night, the rooftop was familiar. The space was neither huge nor tiny. Besides a domed grand hall used for councils and official deliberations, and the small garden where Cyrae and I had encountered Gisphrael, the only other major structure was an observation platform—built specifically for looking out over the distance.
Over the course of one night, an enormous magic circle had been drawn with the observation platform as its center. And we weren't the only ones there. Two other groups had arrived ahead of us.
One group consisted of more than ten mages cloaked in gray. The moment they saw Meredith, they came up to greet her—clearly her subordinates. The other group was Astralrealm Kingdom's supreme ruler, King Galahad himself—the same damn fat man I'd seen before—seated with several attendants on open ground outside the circle.
"Hallelujah! Lady Elara, I finally see you again!" Galahad's eyes lit up the instant Elara appeared. Even with his layers of fat wobbling, he hurried over, grabbed her arm, and pleaded nonstop. "You're staying in my castle, and yet I barely get any chance to see you—why is that? Is the Lord still angry with me? I already clarified that the pope's death wasn't my doing! I admit I was at fault for not issuing orders in time to stop my army from clashing with His Holiness, but surely you understand the truth of what happened—so please, when you return, put in a few good words for me before the Lord!"
Even Elara, who had lived for thousands of years, seemed to frown at the spectacle—like she could hardly stand it. But because of the alliance between nations, she couldn't bluntly reject him outright. She could only step back subtly.
At that moment, Meredith stepped in with perfect timing, blocking Galahad from Elara and reminding him:
"Your Majesty, thank you for granting special permission and making an exception to lend me this rooftop space. The time is nearly upon us. If you wish to observe, please move to a safe position—so that no accident occurs during the procedure."
"Meredith from Crescent City, is it?" Galahad snorted, his expression collapsing into a scowl as if he'd become a different person. "If Lady Elara hadn't specifically asked—and if this weren't possibly the Lord's will—I would never have allowed you and your people into my city, much less lent you my rooftop!"
Because of Parristol, Astralrealm Kingdom's relationship with the Sage Alliance had never been good. The fact that Meredith was being treated like this at all was already an exception.
"I heard you're going to cast a rare time spell here," Galahad said impatiently, waving his hand. "Then hurry up and begin. When you're done, leave immediately!"
In any case, he'd already agreed in advance, and as king he couldn't casually break his word. With a sour face, he turned and went back to his throne.
"That's… a mirror?"
Meredith had said she would let us see the future directly, and her mention of time magic wasn't itself surprising. Still, when I saw that a huge mirror had been set up on the observation platform at the center of the circle, I couldn't understand what it was for. Shouldn't tools for foreseeing the future involve a crystal ball?
"Time magic is an extremely profound branch of magic," Meredith explained. "Casting it usually requires an immense supply of mana and mental reinforcement. We humans can only manage it with the aid of a magic circle. This mirror is merely a medium—through it, you will be able to glimpse the future directly."
As she spoke, she signaled her gray-robed subordinates to take their places.
Unlike Nicola—who, after reincarnating, practically held authority like a cheat from the start—human time magic was inevitably far more complicated. Those dozen-plus gray-robed mages were elite veteran wind mages. Once instructed, they moved with disciplined efficiency into the circle and stood on the intersecting nodes of the runic pathways.
As a low, noisy chorus of chanting rose around us, the lines of the magic circle on the ground began to glow with an unnaturally bright light. I could tell at a glance that the array had activated successfully.
Meredith then stepped in as the final participant, taking the central position reserved for her, and began chanting an extremely long incantation along with the others.
Several minutes later, as the incantation reached completion, nearly all the gathered light converged onto the observation platform. The purple compass-orb that usually hovered beside Meredith suddenly rose on its own, spinning as it floated above the massive mirror at the circle's heart, and then scattered a hazy, dull-gray radiance downward.
At the same time, the image reflected in the mirror shifted dramatically—like a screen changing input. Countless streaks of light crisscrossed and flickered across its surface, and only after several full minutes did the image gradually stabilize.