The Lone SF Transmigrator in the Otherworld Forum

Karlstein had appeared without Yui noticing, scattering golden light. Seeing the platinum-colored egg floating behind Karlstein's back, she figured out what had happened.

She had not seen this coming as Karlstein had not taken it from her in previous regressions.

He must have come using the stolen heart as a medium….

The platinum egg was the egg of a spatial divine beast obtained from 《Three Thousand》. It was one of the powerful divine beasts close to a singularity.

Considering how it had already hatched, it seemed to have consumed quite a bit of Ether.

More importantly….

"Huh?"

The whispers of madness that had always weighed heavily in a corner of her mind gradually faded, and her mind cleared. The madness that had been eroding her was slowly draining away.

With her mind clear for the first time in a very long time, she realized something was wrong.

"Uh-huh, it can be."

Karlstein's voice was playful. But contrary to his tone, he was frowning and sweating. Meaning, he was absorbing her madness.

He was reversing her attempt to absorb all the latent madness in him using his heart. It was the exact opposite of her intention to absorb all his madness to give him a peaceful everyday life.

Knowing what his power was, she could not afford to overlook this.

"It's not too late! Stop!"

Her inhuman voice was filled with desperation.

But Karlstein's bizarre actions showed no signs of stopping.

"All this time… You…"

As Karlstein absorbed her madness, he could clearly understand what state she had been in. How hard it must have been.

A solemn look crossed his sweating face.

"Leave it to me this time."

The golden light enveloping him intensified, and he hurriedly had the platinum egg send her to a safe place.

The madness he was absorbing was no trivial matter. That much he could tell with ease.

What concerned him most was the shift in his Mental Invariability. His defining trait faltering, its balance unraveling and beginning to crack. This was no ordinary problem.

Nevertheless, he could not give up in fear.

"This is the least I gotta be able to handle, I guess."

As someone who intended to deal with those Outer Gods from the outside world that she was worried about, he could not cry over this much.

"It might take some time, but…."

Facing this madness properly was not a bad idea considering the future. In other words, it was the minimum qualification to open a new era.

The intensifying golden light began to crystallize and envelop his body. This was to isolate him from the outside and focus entirely on the inside.

It was uncertain whether the madness would win or his mental barrier would be victorious.

"This is tougher than I thought."

He started by isolating himself from the outside for good reason.

Suddenly, a worried look crossed his face, as he felt it was going to take much longer than expected.

"Hmm. Aria's going to be mad at me."

Even so, he managed to keep the worry off his face. After all, there was no reason to doubt Aria, Maxien, or the others.

Finally, the golden crystal enveloped him completely, sealing even his face.

Inside the shimmering crystal, Karlstein remained utterly still, as if time itself had ceased.

***

Bang!

"Chancellor! Is the rumor true? Has His Majesty really returned?!"

"…"

"If you know anything, please tell me! It's been 20 years since His Majesty secluded himself, hasn't it?!"

Before the silver-haired woman dressed in a Galactic Commander's uniform stood a man in his sixties, visibly trembling with excitement.

"Count Albatross, please calm yourself."

Her voice was as cold as ice, flat and emotionless. Yet its frigidity did nothing to ease the old man's frantic state.

"How can I calm down? There are even rumors that we should enthrone a new emperor!"

In another context, such words might have been considered dangerous—if not outright treasonous—to say in front of the Galactic Empire's Chancellor. But Aria did not reprimand him. She knew Count Albatross was a loyal subject, one who would gladly lay down his life for Karlstein.

Aria let out a small sigh, her gaze fixed on the unrelenting count, who showed no intention of backing down.

"Count."

"…Yes ma'am."

Perhaps it was the rarity of her sigh, or perhaps he sensed he might finally receive an answer. Either way, Count Albatross managed to steady his breathing, though his fiery gaze remained unyielding, as if refusing to leave without an explanation.

"If you're going to be evasive to—"

"Count, His Majesty Karlstein will make an appearance in the near future."

"!!"

The count's eyes widened in astonishment.

"Is-is that true?"

Make an appearance… Did this not mean His Majesty had already returned but had not revealed himself yet?

It was a bold assumption, but still—

"Ha, haha! Haha!"

The tension in the Count's chest released all at once, replaced by a sense of overwhelming relief.

"It, it's true! So it must be true! Hahaha!"

This was the news he'd been waiting for—the kind that would crush the ambitions of those wolves who had dared to bare their fangs during His Majesty's absence.

"So please, return home and wait quietly."

"Haha! Hahaha! But of course! If the Empire's top chancellor commands it, I should only rightly obey!"

"…"

Though the count's sudden change in attitude might have bewildered anyone else, Aria remained composed as she calmly dismissed him.

"Then please inform me immediately if there's any other news! I plan to teach those wolves a lesson and—"

"That will be all."

Thud.

As the door closed, silence descended upon the office.

But Aria did not mind and continued speaking.

"All preparations are complete. Are you really going to do this, Master?"

Behind her, a faint golden mist gathered and formed a human shape.

A man's voice came from the mist—one she had been waiting for desperately.

"Mhm. That's enough."

"Haah."

Aria's sigh deepened.

What Karlstein had requested was unreasonable.

"If we reconstruct your personality with the ACC (Akashic Causality Calculator), you might lose your sense of self. Please reconsider."

Despite Aria's earnest plea, the misty figure showed no sign of wavering.

"Master, are you truly certain about this?"

Only then did the misty form of Karlstein respond to her concerned voice.

"Yeah. If I want to say a proper goodbye, there's no other way."

"Master…"

Karlstein needed time to suppress the madness that surged every time he tried to speak.

It's not easy.

There was a good reason it had taken him 20 years to return to the Galactic Empire. It truly was not as simple as he had once thought.

The madness had first manifested when he reversed and absorbed the madness that had eroded Yui. Negative emotions, like a collection of everything abhorrent, rose from his very bones, tormenting him.

As his sister had said, the mental barrier he relied on ultimately failed to block the madness.

So Yui lived all that time enduring something like this…

The madness constantly provoked dark emotions inside him, relentlessly trying to destroy everything. It felt as if it were urging him to tear apart the world and embrace the true outside universe.

He had barely managed to escape by sealing himself away for 20 years, suppressing his boiling desire for destruction. It was just enough to prevent the madness from overtaking his body.

But it was not all bad news.

Karlstein had come to realize something about Yui's misunderstanding of the nature of madness.

These whispers don't have any specific purpose.

Yui had believed it was part of an intentional plot by beings called Outer Gods, but Karlstein understood that this was different from the truth.

For some reason, he could now see through the truth behind the madness. It was closer to a phenomenon that occurs when one reaches a singularity, exceeding the limits the world can handle.

Of course, this was not completely unrelated to those Outer Gods, but it was clearly different from an Outer God directly watching him and Yui.

The full details would only become clear in time, but it felt like a scream from a world nearing its limit—an expulsion order, an invitation from the outside world.

Yui's infinite regression ability is probably the same.

The difference was that Yui had gradually exceeded her limits from the moment she awakened.

The world's expulsion order did not judge based on the present alone. If one of the achievable futures—the result of causality—exceeded the singularities, it was affected in the same way.

"I could probably reject it by force if I tried, but then…"

But that would destroy the world, so Karlstein had no choice but to make a decision.

Before being devoured by madness, I'll kill Single Number No.1 and depart for the outside world.

If he was going to cross over, he might as well collect as many singularities as possible while enduring the madness before leaving.

The starting point in the new era would depend on how much he could endure.

"Besides, with the ACC, there's enough time for final goodbyes."

Fortunately, there was time to say farewell to everyone he had formed connections with.

"I will follow you, Master."

"…?"

Aria seemed to have sensed Karlstein's resolve as she made the first move.

"I can't let you go alone. I'd be too worried. If you refuse my request, I'll refuse yours as well."

Her voice was firm.

"Hmm."

To suppress the madness and live a normal life for final goodbyes, Aria would need to run the ACC at full power.

Karlstein slowly surveyed her from head to toe. She had been with him longer than family. No, longer than anyone else.

It was why he could only give one answer.

"…If that's your wish."

***

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