Magnus clenched his fist. Veins bulged on his forehead as he flared up.

“The best compliment that gorilla knows how to give is that I’m like a pig! A pig?! I don’t understand what’s cute about a pig at all! Not even a rabbit, why a pig? Do you understand, Nyx?”

[Huh? I’m a rabbit so I don’t really…]

“What do you mean you don’t know, are you saying you wouldn’t have minded being a pig?”

[No, I didn’t imagine that far…]

“Do you want to be a pig? Why did you appear as a rabbit and not a piglet? If you were a pig, would you feel like this now?”

[……]

“No, you’d just look ridiculous! Can you imagine a pig with a notebook and pencil strapped to its back?!”

The space began to shake, as if even the darkness was momentarily flustered by Serena’s tirade.

Drukan infused his sword with power. The power received from the World Tree is a power of purification.

The minimum power necessary to eradicate the source of evil threatening the world.

People usually called it light.

Pure white light began to seep into Drukan’s sword. Whoosh, the light shattered.

“I understand if the gorilla’s taste is pigs. But gorillas and pigs are completely different species.”

“…Who.”

Magnus’s lips trembled.

Along with the bulging veins, Magnus’s eyes grew fierce.

Drukan, who was about to thr*st his sword, looked at Magnus with a bewildered face.

“Y-Your Grace?”

“Thinking about it makes me angry. Calling people a pigsty or whatever when bored and saying pigs are cute. It doesn’t sound like a compliment at all. I might as well swap that gorilla Magnus with the Magnus you showed me.”

[…Serena, why don’t you calm down a bit? Besides, that’s just your speculation. All of that is real…]

“Who are you calling a gorilla!!! Serena, you woman living in a pigsty!!”

A roar finally burst from Magnus’s mouth.

Living in a pigsty–!

A pigsty–!

Sty–!

Simultaneously, those words began to echo all around. The crack sizzled and popped.

“…Magnus?”

Realizing that the voice was heard on the other side as well, Drukan quickly thr*st his sword into it.

Crunch, crunch.

The sword, which had clearly been thr*st into empty space, began to push back his sword, sparking as if it had hit something.

Drukan applied a bit more force and shoved the sword in deeper.

Then crack, the space began to split, and eventually started to slowly crumble.

The long corridor that was before their eyes disappeared, revealing the dark underground prison.

Serena was sitting on a soft bed with a gun in her hand, and the white sheets were soaked with blood.

“Serena…!”

Magnus approached, turning deathly pale.

“Are you hurt? What on earth happened…!”

Seeing Magnus shaking the iron bars as if about to break them, Serena blinked and shook her head.

“No, this is rabbit blood…”

Serena pointed to the rabbit while holding the gun. There was a hole in the middle of the black rabbit’s belly.

However, the rabbit didn’t seem to be in pain.

The rabbit gazed blankly at Magnus and Drukan.

[The World Tree’s contractor, I see.]

The rabbit tilted its head.

[Why are you here? Did the World Tree send you?]

“No.”

The bright red eyes were inorganic and devoid of any emotion.

[This is troublesome, I didn’t expect interference at every turn like this. I put in quite a lot of effort for a long time.]

The darkness spoke as if perplexed, but its voice was dry and emotionless.

Serena took a deep breath after glancing at Magnus and Drukan once, then looking back at the rabbit with the hole in its belly.

“Serena, that Darkness intends to force you to kill yourself. Because its heart is connected to yours, if you die, it can die too.”

[……]

“If the Darkness dies, night will literally disappear from the world. As you saw in the book before, a world filled only with an eternally unextinguished sun will descend.”

“Ah…”

Serena looked at Magnus once and then back at Nyx.

Nyx still showed no reaction and looked at Magnus.

“Why on earth?”

“It’s as the book said. To eradicate ‘evil’ from the world. Darkness not only governs the night, but also works closely with the dark emotions of humans. Since this world originally belonged to Darkness, everything that exists in this world has darkness dwelling in it.”

[You figured it out well, human.]

Nyx, who had quietly listened to Magnus’s long explanation, spoke in a monotone voice.

He quietly tilted his head.

[That’s right, in the world where only I existed, life was just creatures in the night. They only slept. My disappearance means the night disappears, and at the same time, the darkness that falls on hearts disappears, sleep disappears, and death disappears.]

“…No way.”

Serena blurted out with a pale face. Nyx’s head turned to Serena.

Nyx tilted his head as if confused.

[No way? What’s that?]

“If sleep disappears… can’t you sleep? Do you have to stay awake all the time?”

Serena chewed on Nyx’s question and asked back what she was curious about instead.

At Serena’s question, Nyx’s red eyes glinted again.

[Sleep is the time when humans look into their own abyss. Many things are asleep in the abyss. Things you want to forget, things you want to erase, bad memories buried long ago.]

Serena frowned at Nyx’s words.

How on earth can people live if they can’t sleep?

Is there any guarantee that people living a life without proper rest won’t go crazy?

Just imagining it for a moment was so horrible that she was about to become somewhat depressed.

[There were several misfortunes in this world. For example, Magnus von Kelahinum’s rampage. Or the Crown Prince’s descent into darkness after losing the Emperor. Or the corruption of the World Tree’s contractor who lost his daughter. Or… the rebellion of a Marquis who lost his wife to his daughter.]

Nyx spoke leisurely. However, the content was quite brutal.

No, this is the first time hearing such stories. There was no such content in the novel, what does this mean?

As Serena made a confused expression, the small rabbit spread its short arms wide on both sides.

[I stopped all of that. I gathered it all and pushed it into one person.]

Thump, the rabbit’s stubby hand lightly struck Serena’s knee.

Serena’s heart sank.

[Thanks to that, the world became quiet. Only one person is blamed, only one person is hated, only one person is hated…]

The rabbit spoke meaningfully.

The small rabbit grinned, its red eyes flashing. Perhaps because of the black fur and red eyes, it sent chills down the spine with its creepiness.

[Think about it, Serena. Isn’t something strange? You were just walking down the street and just picked up an object, but everyone blamed you, Serena.]

The small black rabbit spoke very leisurely, its red eyes twinkling.

As if, until now, her misfortune had been solely…

Yes, solely in the palm of this small, seemingly powerless rabbit.

Magnus’s face was instantly clouded with anger as he belatedly understood those words.

“……”

“You…!”

When Magnus revealed his blatant killing intent, the rabbit’s eyes curved round for the first time.

The way it tilted its head as if asking what’s wrong looked even more bizarre.

The way it seemed to ask what was strange about this situation, that is.

[Human emotions are simple. If you just touch them lightly, they inflate their size on their own.]

“How dare you, how dare you…!”

[Magnus von Kelahinum. In fact, you too… hated Serena until very recently. Apart from the accidents Serena caused, just seeing her made you shudder and feel unpleasant.]

The rabbit lightly wiggled its toes.

Those words, continuing so casually, sounded so cruel that Magnus stopped moving altogether.

[You treated young Serena coldly because something felt off, and you ignored the changed Serena because something felt off.]

The small rabbit seemed to be singing.

It was a song that stuck in the ear, but it certainly couldn’t be called a pleasant song.

[But I’m curious, your uneasiness should still be there, so why did you give your heart to Serena again? I didn’t erase the uneasiness you feel towards her.]

“…You’re playing with people, you d*mn rabbit!”

Magnus snarled, gritting his teeth.