"…Leader~?"
Qucell's faintly coy voice reached her ears, and Rotell slowly lifted her head. Qucell stood only a few steps away. For the first time since entering this place, there was a genuine flicker of confusion in her eyes. It wasn't an act. It was real, unfiltered confusion at everything that was happening around her.
Her panic, unease, and inability to focus had all consolidated into one single, indescribable emotion.
Rotell just looked at her for a long time.
Then, after finally finding the words, very slowly, she asked again, "Who… are you people?"
In that instant, everything seemed to stop. For some reason, Rotell's mind seemed to clear up entirely. The violent battle between her companions instantly ceased. Cirsen lowered her fist, and Old Man Roe looked over with dead, emotionless eyes. Even the strange wind that had been constantly blowing seemed to disappear, leaving only an unsettling silence.
Qucell stared…
She stared for a long time…
And after the long silence…
"…Pfft!" She covered her mouth. "Hahaha!"
As if breaking out of a bubble, her light laughter escaped despite her repeated attempts to suppress it. Soon, it became louder and louder, echoing across the desolate terrain. "Hahahahaha!"
She laughed and laughed, she laughed until tears gathered in the corners of her eyes.
Finally, she looked back at Rotell, then sighed. "We're just illusions created by the trial, can't you see that?" She then smiled warmly. "Have you really not figured that out yet?"
Rotell remained silent.
Then, she slowly shook her head. With a tone of absolute certainty, "No, you're not illusions."
Qucell blinked.
Rotell's eyes had completely changed. They were calm, steady, and filled with absolute seriousness.
The laughter stopped abruptly, and Qucell's face seemed to flicker with a wry smile. It was only for a moment, but Rotell had caught it.
Rotell continued, her eyes narrowing, her voice growing stronger. "Since the moment I looked at the Trial Pillar… I've been inside an illusion. I think I've known that—no, I'm certain of it." She slowly looked around, then shook her head. "Cirsen, Mellia, Old Man Roe, and finally, you, Qucell… but you four aren't part of the trial, right?"
There was a heavy pause that seemed to linger for a long time.
"But… when I first saw you, why did it feel as if my heart was being ripped apart? I think this is why I became so confused. Why would I feel so attached to an illusion? Even if I knew, why would I unconsciously jump toward the abyss to save you? Why would I feel so panicked when Cirsen grabbed Mellia by the throat? Since I had already decided that it was an illusion, why does my body seem to believe otherwise?"
Her breathing became slightly heavy, as if she almost didn't want to know the answer.
"I don't know any of you; I'm sure of that! Your personalities and habits are completely different from those of my companions before. At least… I shouldn't know you. But… something deep inside me does. So tell me, who are you?"
She stared at Qucell, who still maintained that leisurely, almost lethargic smile on her face.
She raised her head, and this time, there wasn't the slightest trace of hesitation left in her aura.
"Tell me, just who are you people?"
There was no immediate answer, and Qucell simply stared.
After that—
"Hahahahahaha!"
She burst into even louder laughter, actually bending over and wiping tears from the corners of her eyes. "As expected…! As expected of you! Hahaha! As expected!"
As she laughed, the others—Cirsen, Old Man Roe, and Mellia—all began to fade. Their forms became desaturated, as if something vital were dissipating from their bodies. Soon, like sand statues crumbling in the wind, they simply fell apart. In mere moments, only Qucell remained.
She straightened her back before looking directly into Rotell's eyes, her smile brighter and more radiant than ever. "Even after forgetting everything… you could still tell! Hehe, it always feels the best during the first meeting, ah! Hahaha!" She placed a hand gently over her chest.
Rotell looked at this woman who wore the exact same face of Qucell. She felt as if the woman's incomprehensible words somehow managed to strike a deep chord within her heart, but at the same time, she didn't understand any of it.
After a pause, Qucell just shook her head. She looked at the confused Rotell, then chuckled. She took a step back, leaning even further backward, her body nearly falling as she widened her view of the surroundings. As her eyes narrowed into a playful smile, she chuckled with an expression of pure amusement.
"You want to know who I am? Then, since I'm not the Qucell you know, tell me—who am I~?"
"Since I'm not a part of the trial, yet I can be in your trial, then what does that make me~?"
"I am the same, yet I am different, how can such a thing happen~? Oh leader, please tell me your thoughts~! Hehehe!"
Rotell looked at this woman with the same face of her companion, her brow furrowing. From every angle, the woman seemed to be Qucell, only a slightly different version. It was like the exact same person wearing two entirely different sets of clothes; although it was the same face, the two figures gave off completely different vibes.
Rotell asked, "I'm positive that Qucell doesn't have any siblings, so you can only be a piece of her? Don't tell me you're her main body or something unreasonable like that?"
The second Qucell chuckled. "You want to know if Qucell is a clone? Or perhaps a split consciousness, something like that?"
Rotell nodded, her demeanor turning slightly cold.
"Nope~! You guessed wrong! Hehe, also, you don't need to be so cold. I plan to tell you soon, so don't worry and wait a little longer, there's no rush, at least not yet~!" She snapped her fingers, and the surrounding scenery crumbled into dust, leaving Rotell completely alone with this mysterious Qucell.
She stretched, then walked to the side before taking a seat. She crossed her legs and patted the ground, indicating that Rotell should sit beside her.
Rotell stood still. She frowned, looking down with a distinct sense of strangeness. Her eyes swept past the piles of dust that used to be the others, then looked back at the unusually young woman who seemed completely relaxed. At this moment, the First Princess felt as if she had somehow stepped entirely out of the trial. It was an extremely strange feeling, but it also gave her a sense of fate—the very same sense of fate that made Petra feel disgusted whenever it appeared.
—This was… a prearranged meeting
After taking a deep breath, she took a step forward and sat down beside Qucell.
The two girls looked at each other.
Because of the extreme length of her hair, Qucell had to sit in a slightly awkward posture as her hair spilled across the floor like a small waterfall. Such long hair was a bit inconvenient, but she didn't seem to mind. She simply swept it to the side, tilting her head as she looked at Rotell with a bright smile.
"So, who are you?" Rotell asked, her eyes carrying the heavy weight of seriousness.
Qucell nodded. "First off, I am the one and only Qucell! At least, I am the most original version of her!"
Rotell frowned, not quite understanding.
"Hm~! Ok, I know! Then, lets start from here…"
* * *
Time passed…
"A loop? The world is… looping?" Rotell's voice was filled with disbelief.
"Yes, Leader," Qucell smiled, her fingers tracing a glowing, transparent pattern in the air. "Never underestimate the power of anything with the name of 'primordial'. It is through that pillar that I can maintain a sliver of my soul—one that transcends the force that reset the world. In fact, this is the third 'you' I have met." After what could only be described as a long and inconceivable story—one filled with fantasy and the incomprehensible, a tale from the future and a warning that reached the past, Qucell had finally explained her origins, or at least who she truly was.
This Qucell, unlike the other Qucell, was actually a sliver of soul left from the first loop: Elena's first loop in this world, the very loop where she had met the Dragon of Destruction face-to-face!
Qucell had used some method to sacrifice herself and seal a sliver of her soul into this pillar, thus retaining her original sea of consciousness, and the soul that dwelled within it, albeit in an extremely disheveled state.
Rotell's brow furrowed. "Then why is it only you who remembers? Why was it only you who could do this? Why not the others? Why didn't they follow you?"
Because I am a coward," Qucell chuckled self-deprecatingly. "I always run away. This sliver of soul escaping to this hidden place is just enough to carry my consciousness into the next loop, memories included. When you leave, the real Qucell will appear, and she will choose to die just to fuel me until the next loop can arrive. But the others—little Mellia, Old Man Roe, and our favorite Big Red baby, they will all choose to fight to the bitter end. It's just me who won't…"
She said these words so casually, but Rotell didn't even need to focus to feel the extremely complex karma concealed behind them.
She leaned forward, her playful tone instantly vanishing and turning into something with a deep gravity. "Listen to me carefully. First, you must trust Elena; she can handle almost everything. Second, beware of the Church of Light. Those guys will eventually self-destruct, but to say that all three of the final calamities are inextricably linked to them would be an understatement. Oh, and third—control that damn Big Red baby! That woman possesses the kind of physique that absolutely loves running headfirst into trouble! If not for the strange kind of providence that she carries, I really couldn't be bothered with her! What a pain! You don't even know!"
Rotell memorized the warnings, her heart hammering silently against her chest.
She seemed to be lost in thought…
"If the world is looping," Rotell muttered, looking sideways at her companion one more time, "then can you tell me what's going on with Petra?"
Qucell blinked, tilting her head. "Who?"
"Petra," Rotell repeated, her gaze becoming strange. "The fifth hero, that little girl with green pigtails—Elena's little sister? How can you not…"
Qucell's jaw slackened as she stared blankly. "I really don't know who that is. There has never been a person named Petra in any of the previous loops, so…" She shook her head. "Perhaps she's just a minor character? Mm, but from the look on your face, it doesn't seem like it…"
For a brief moment, Rotell and Qucell felt as if they had swapped roles.
As a strange realization settled between them, Qucell's playful demeanor seemed to slip away. Her eyes widened in genuine confusion, then shock, then worry, before finally settling into a forced calm. She seemed to have come to a conclusion, but she also clearly harbored a few suspicions she was hesitant to speak aloud. In the end, she just muttered, "This loop, it should be different…"
Her tone dropping into a quiet murmur, she asked, "…Lead—Rotell, that little girl, could you tell me about her?"
Rotell blinked. "Petra?"
Qucell nodded. "Yes. Who is Petra?"
Rotell frowned. "What do you mean? What do you want to know?"
She adjusted the way she was sitting, her face filled with the look of someone who felt as if she had suddenly gotten the upper hand.
"I mean exactly that." Qucell leaned forward, her gaze intense, but also mixed with a lazy air. "Who is she? Since you're asking, she must be relatively famous, right? Also, you said that she was the fifth hero?"
Rotell hesitated before answering. After explaining the slightly unbelievable matter surrounding the five heroes, which was unique to this loop, she started to explain, "Her full name should be something like Petra P. Poppy, a small orphan from Evergreen Town in the Green Wind Forest. She's Elena's adopted little sister, perhaps around ten years old, and she seems to have a high level in alchemy." Rotell rubbed her cheek. "She also seems to not be a pure human, but I don't know what the other half is…"
Qucell nodded a few times. She remained silent for a bit, then she asked, "…Where did she come from?"
"I…" Rotell stopped. "…I don't actually know. This has been a relatively hot topic of late. Although that little girl is relatively low-key and difficult to find, her background—at least up until she was discovered in Evergreen Town—should all be known…"
"…When did she appear?" Qucell asked again, her eyes flickering with a strange emotion.
Rotell searched her memories, seemingly finding it difficult. Even she was unaware that the information surrounding Petra was strangely less clear than what it should have been. "…Around the beginning of Elena's journey, a year before the Grand Gathering, I think. Why?"
"Because…" Qucell opened her mouth, then closed it again. "…I don't know." She shook her head. She wanted to tell Rotell that it should be impossible for such a child to just appear, but allowing her to know the information about the looping world was already enough. Any more forbidden knowledge, and it could potentially have devastating consequences.
The phrase "knowledge has weight" was no joke. It was only because that level of knowledge was rarely touched upon that such things were often overlooked. In fact, the concepts surrounding knowledge, information, and taboos were a terrifyingly heavy topic—one that only existences on the sixth and ninth order of life could just barely begin to touch.
As for why Qucell knew a bit, this was related to her soul being sealed within the trial pillar.
The trial pillar was a natural creation of heaven and earth. Because it was disconnected from the main world and grown within a secret realm, it actually possessed the power of primordial energy—the same energy that was used to create a world.