How to survive in the Romance Fantasy Game Chapter 713: Inheritance 5.5

Within an infinite stretch of blackness—

Something observed.

A colossal shadow, without form but distinctly womanly, lounged on a throne apparently hewn from the abyss. Her figure undulated gently, akin to molten darkness, perpetually in flux, never completely solid.

Nevertheless—

She grinned.

A shattered pane of luminescence hovered before her, its face undulating as it revealed a far-off view.

Riley.

Positioned inside the dungeon.

Employing his divinity.

A faint laugh escaped her mouth.

"...How cute."

The noise reverberated faintly, devoured swiftly by the perpetual gloom.

The malevolent goddess—Erebil—tilted forward a bit, her essence compressing the surrounding void as though even emptiness resisted holding her.

Regardless of it all...

Regardless of the strength he displayed—

He continued to restrain himself.

"He’s resisting," she whispered to herself, delight threading her tone. "Even now..."

Her grin expanded slightly.

Not derisive.

Not vicious.

Merely... intrigued.

Riley remained wary of her.

She sensed it through his movements, through his partial deployment of power.

Particularly regarding causality.

He grasped the price.

And that rendered it all the more diverting.

Eribel emitted a gentle hum, propping her cheek softly on her palm.

"Relax, little light..." she breathed, despite her words unable to reach him. "I did promise, didn’t I?"

Non-interference.

At minimum—

Inside the academy.

And she fully planned to honor that vow.

For the moment.

Meddling right here, right then, would merely derail the current she had meticulously initiated. It would spoil the pattern of events... and even worse—

The rebound from causality would prove irritating.

Even to her.

No.

Waiting patiently offered greater rewards.

After all—

The most radiant lights always proved the most gratifying to behold...

Just prior to their shattering.

Her smile grew tender, nearly affectionate.

"...I can wait."

Quietude resumed.

Yet her eyes stayed fixed on the screen.

...

Returning to the dungeon—

The Frost Queen confronted Riley, her face unaltered.

But she remained fully aware.

Far from oblivious.

Right from the start—

She had realized.

Riley wasn’t normal.

The instant he disrupted the cultists—those fleeting partners she had permitted in her territory—truth dawned.

They bore shards of divinity.

Yet—

Riley had seized it from them.

He had drained it.

As though it was inherently his.

That revelation alone revealed all essentials.

Thus, as she regarded him currently—

At the warp encircling his frame, at the fractured, indecipherable essence of his being—

She displayed no astonishment.

Just calm recognition.

"...A being that holds divinity," she uttered quietly, nearly to herself.

Her stare intensified a touch.

"...and yet, you’re still standing here as a human."

Something in that—

Captivated her.

Rules governed this world.

Invisible.

Unwritten.

Yet ironclad.

The higher one ascended—the more they transcended mortality—the more constricting those rules grew.

Power required control.

Existence required equilibrium.

And for those who exceeded their innate limits...

Those rules weren’t elective.

They bound inescapably.

The Frost Queen comprehended this more deeply than many.

As an elevated entity, her might wasn’t wholly hers to wield unbound. Beyond her domain—her dungeon—she faced limits, shackled by the principles ruling existence.

Within it?

She reigned supreme.

But even that carried stipulations.

Everything did.

Thus, one like Riley—

One who commanded divinity...

One who might already have entered godhood—

He ought to face even tighter bonds.

Severer restrictions.

Graver repercussions.

That was the expected order.

And yet—

"...Strange."

Her eyes narrowed faintly.

Something felt off.

The stream of causality near him... warped.

Not fractured.

Not demolished.

But gently twisted, as if reality accommodated his being instead of repelling it.

That shouldn’t have been feasible.

Even supreme entities incurred costs for challenging natural law.

But Riley—

He lingered there as though those rules merely partially affected him.

As though the world struggled to classify him fully.

The Frost Queen examined him intently.

Her insight wasn’t infallible. She lacked the omniscient vision of heavenly magic or the dominant command of true reality-warpers.

But such wasn’t required.

Her faculties sufficed.

Suffixed to pierce beyond appearances.

"...You’re hiding it."

She perceived it.

Entombed profoundly.

Stratified meticulously under his being, like an intentionally shrouded element.

His authentic divinity.

And yet—

Even that failed to disturb her most.

"...An unknown divinity..."

Her tone dipped lower.

Earlier, when he'd drained the power from those cultists, she'd already reached her own conclusion.

Their divinity was tainted.

By something sinister.

Thus, it stood to reason—

She anticipated his would mirror that corruption.

Something defiled.

Yet what she perceived at this moment—

Proved different entirely.

It lacked purity.

Yet it escaped corruption as well.

No light infused it.

Nor did darkness claim it.

It resembled both—

While embodying...Neither.

A true aberration.

The Frost Queen’s eyes fixed upon him, her face betraying no emotion.

"...What in the world are you?"

Riley offered no answer.

He merely regarded her.

His eyes—

No longer appeared ordinary.

Faint lights danced inside them, starting dim, growing vivid... akin to far-off stars strewn across a midnight expanse. The luminescence wavered endlessly, chaotic, as if a vast galaxy strained to fit within confines far too narrow.

And still—

His face stayed serene.

Intrigued.

'She remains unharmed...' he mused inwardly.

That fact revealed all he required.

The instant his authority leaked out—even just a trickle—this realm ought to have warped.

It invariably did.

[Passive Authority: Unreality Field]

[Effect: Within a certain radius, reality becomes unstable. Names are forgotten. Gravity falters. Even gods hesitate to speak, fearing their words may twist into something else.]

He exerted no deliberate command over it.

It merely...manifested.

A side effect of his very nature.

Nevertheless—

The Frost Queen remained there.

Untouched.

Observing him steadily.

...Tch.

Riley let out a soft breath.

'As expected, it wouldn't prove so simple...'

The restraint was evident.

He held back deliberately.

What emanated from him now amounted to mere sliver of his authority's potential. A subtle seepage. A measured unveiling.

Nothing beyond that.

Even so—

This level should have sufficed.

Implying...

"...Her stability runs that deep."

Beyond mere power.

Her being resisted disturbance effortlessly. Her thoughts, her sense of self—every facet rooted too firmly to yield to such an influence lightly.

Or perhaps—

A different explanation.

They lingered within her dungeon still.

Her territory.

That factor alone altered the dynamics.

Riley’s stare drifted faintly, the subtle stellar gleam in his eyes fading slightly as his mind clarified.

At present—

Superiority lay with him.

The dungeon core throbbed gently in his grasp, its rhythm aligning with his hold. While he clutched it, leverage was his. Dominion, in some measure.

Yet dominion offered no assurances.

Should tensions erupt here—

Should combat truly ignite—

Victory remained uncertain.

Not entirely predictable.

Naturally...

Another path existed.

His authority.

He might impose it.

Supplant the circumstances.

Deceive reality outright, rendering the deception fact.

Alter results.

Revise origins and conclusions.

Ensure that—

Snow had escaped unscathed.

The Frost Queen lay vanquished.

The dungeon lay in ruins.

Such feats lay within his grasp.

However—

"...Not in this manner."

A superficial invocation of his divinity couldn't circumvent all barriers here.

This domain enforced its laws.

And half-hearted overrides would only complicate matters further.

For true certainty—

To extract Snow without risk—

Total commitment was essential.

And that...

Posed the true dilemma.

Riley’s fingers clenched firmer around the dungeon core.

For unleashing full force didn't merely resolve crises.

It birthed new ones.

The greater his exertion—

The more scrutiny he invited.

And one entity demanded avoidance.

Erebil.

Even absent interference now...

No certainty endured.

Beyond that—

Liyana approached the academy shortly.

Events already stirred.

Poised on a knife's edge.

A misstep here—

Wouldn't confine impact to this dungeon.

Repercussions would spread.

Beyond his reach.

Riley shut his eyes momentarily.

Reflecting.

Balancing.

Assessing.

Then—

His lids lifted once more.

The ethereal starlight reemerged, keener now.

Icier.

His eyes pierced toward the Frost Queen.

Firm.

Resolute.

"If Snow’s life truly hangs in the balance..."

The air encircling him hushed subtly.

As if anticipation built.

"...All else fades to irrelevance."

The Frost Queen observed him intently.

Every minor variance in his clutch on the dungeon core.

Hesitation marked him.

If only slightly.

Yet for his caliber—

That sufficed.

"I believe," she stated evenly, her tone slicing the quiet, "there has been a misunderstanding between us... oh great anomaly."

Riley stayed silent.

Though his stare intensified.

"I grasp your worry," she pressed on, unperturbed. "You fear for your... beloved human."

A brief hesitation.

"But rest assured—my intentions never included harming her."

Riley’s features remained stoic.

"If wiping out her existence isn't harm," he replied tonelessly, "then wiping you out stands equally justified."

Silence descended.

For an instant—

The Frost Queen merely regarded him.

Then—

"...You truly misunderstand my purpose."

Her tone grew gentler, yet it held onto its gravity.

"I only wish to pass on what I am... to a successor. That much is true."

Her eyes shifted.

Not toward Riley—

But toward the dungeon core clutched in his grasp.

More accurately—

Toward what lay within it.

"I believe she will succeed," she murmured softly.

Confidence filled her words.

"What you are witnessing now..." she went on, "is merely part of the trial."

Her gaze sharpened just a bit.

"Whether she loses herself... or not..."

A subtle chill permeated the atmosphere.

"...is simply the consequence she must face."

Riley clenched his fist tighter.

Yet before he could reply—

A shift occurred.

The Frost Queen advanced one step.

And with that—

Her aura swelled outward.

Icy.

Pristine.

Utter.

Frost bloomed from her feet, not chaotic ice, but meticulously controlled—mastered to the utmost. A pale, ethereal glow enveloped her form, deceptively gentle, yet oppressively heavy.

The area surrounding her started to solidify.

Not merely in body—

But in essence.

Motions decelerated.

Noises muted.

Even breathing grew burdensome.

Her dominion.

Wholly unleashed.

She moved toward him deliberately.

Step by measured step.

Yet the nearer she came—

The more unnatural it seemed.

"...?"

A slight furrow appeared on her face.

Her mind—

Wasn't entirely sharp.

The haze was faint.

Like pondering amid a morphing dream.

Instinct urged her to halt.

Reason pushed her onward.

And for the first time—

They clashed.

"...So this is it..."

Her voice lowered a touch.

Even nearing him—

Posed a risk.

"The trial should be nearing its end," the Frost Queen stated evenly. "Why don’t we avoid unnecessary vio—"

VOOOOSHHH—!!

Her sentence broke off.

After millennia—

For the first time—

Contact was made.

No—

By someone.

A hand.

Clamped firmly on her throat.

Her form stiffened.

Not due to her own might—

But sheer surprise.

Fine fissures appeared on her crystalline skin as Riley's hold intensified, the force bizarre and crushing.

He loomed before her.

Motionless.

Unshaken.

"...Why are you lying?"

His tone stayed deep.

Even.

She hadn't caught his motion.

No hint of it.

One instant he stood opposite—

The next—

Right there.

Her reflexes kicked in at once.

Her dominion flared.

An icy blast exploded around them as her strength ignited, seeking to encase him utterly—flesh, spirit, godhood—all of it.

And it succeeded.

Gradually—

The arm gripping her throat iced over.

Frost raced across it, sheathing it completely.

Then—

It crumbled.

Not as fracturing ice—

But as evaporating essence.

His limb dissolved into vapor, divine shards fading into void.

Riley’s gaze twitched briefly.

Only an instant.

But his face remained impassive.

CRACKLE—!!

The atmosphere tore.

FOOOOOSH—!!

Might erupted.

Her frost.

His divinity.

Opposing powers grinding together, the fabric of reality buckling beneath the strain—

And suddenly—

An outsider intervened.

A third force.

Crimson.

It wove between them as if from another realm entirely.

No collision.

No opposition.

It merely... evaded.

Their dominions wavered for a heartbeat.

Disrupted.

"Now~ now~..."

A teasing voice resounded.

Breezy.

Taunting.

Far too relaxed for the moment.

"...don’t be so hasty, everyone."

Gray mist erupted in the gap between them.

And from within—

A broad, smirking visage appeared.

Eyes arched in delight.

A Cheshire grin spanning impossibly wide.

"...it’s not like we’re all enemies here~"

Cheshire hovered idly amid them, utterly ignoring the colossal powers encircling him.

"And besides..." he continued, smile broadening, "you might regret fighting here right now~"

The scarlet energy hovered subtly near him, elusive and indefinable.

"Why don’t we all just get along, hm~?"

He tilted his head a fraction—

Glancing at Riley initially.

"Don’t worry, Riley~" he assured, nearly soothingly. "She means no harm to Snow~ I can vouch for her."

Then—

Seamlessly—

He pivoted to the Frost Queen.

His voice altered.

"...And you..."

Grin intact.

Yet edged beneath.

"For someone who’s about to die anyway... why are you making things so complicated?"

Silence hung.

"I believe I did advise you, didn’t I?" he pressed mildly. "No unnecessary moves that might upset him~"

His eyes tightened faintly.

"Especially no use of Authority."

Followed by—

A soft laugh.

"After all..."

He looked back toward Riley.

"...he’s quite sensitive when it comes to his lovers~"

The smile lingered on his features.