Sauls cried out in shock. "It can't be."
The rest of the villagers came running closer. Hakama shouted, "Grandma, over here, faster!"
Then everyone froze, stunned by the spectacle in front of them. What is going on? the grandmother thought. Is he holding that enormous creature back with one hand?
She turned her gaze to Cedo, who said quietly, "It's getting heavy."
"What?" Sauls asked in confusion.
"We need to retreat," Cedo said curtly.
With a sharp jerk he grabbed Sauls and flew with him to the side, then set him carefully down on the ground. Sauls stared at him.
"Who are you?"
"These creatures regenerate immediately after taking damage," Cedo explained calmly. "To destroy them you have to use nanomachines. That blocks the recovery."
"Nanomachines?"
"What you call sacred power. Your attack was excellent, but wounds like that don't stop regeneration."
Sauls froze, processing what he had heard. Then he asked, "Are you really our guardian god?"
Cedo shook his head slightly. He did not remember anyone appointing him a god. But there was something else he wanted to say.
"This is your village's problem, right?"
"Yeah." Sauls clenched his fist and began, "That's why I—"
But before he could finish, Cedo told him he was mistaken. He turned his gaze to the monster and said firmly, "It's my problem."
At that very moment several tentacles shot towards him. He dodged them without a sound, flowing from side to side, and noted to himself: first I need to lead them away from the village.
Jumping back sharply, he said, "These creatures are monsters born of our stupidity. And as someone who has lived for millions of years, it's my responsibility to put an end to this."
With those words he concentrated the energy in his palms and aimed it at the distorted one.
"I have no idea what he's talking about," Sauls muttered in confusion. "But can he really do it?"
"I can," Cedo answered. "I am what humanity created. The embodiment of a long and bloody history full of unimaginable tragedies. I am its last man."
The next moment a powerful beam of energy erupted from a glowing symbol that had formed in the air before him, and the distorted one was literally incinerated.
The others froze with their mouths open, unable to believe what they had seen. Hakama pressed her hands happily to her chest and clutched the key hanging around her neck. A stream of energy soared up out of the atmosphere and rushed high into space. All that remained of the monster was a molten heap.
Sauls stared at Cedo, dumbfounded. Cedo looked down at his own hands and said quietly, "The last weapon of science."
At that moment a girl appeared from behind the bushes. She had come to investigate rumours that a new distorted one had appeared near the village of Kodama, and now she was seeing something completely incredible. Adjusting her glasses, she wondered: what was that? Even the paladin captain in the capital couldn't do that. I have to return to the capital immediately and report everything to the guild master.
After some time Cedo stood in the forest, holding the cube in his hands. Kagura's projection appeared above it.
"Cedo, can you hear me? If you're seeing this, then I'm most likely no longer alive. I always wanted to say that."
The projection paused.
"Well, what about the future? The environment is probably in much better shape than I could have hoped for. But there's a problem."
Cedo frowned. "Problem?"
"You'd want me to get straight to the point," Kagura said. "Even if nature has recovered, the distorted ones most likely haven't died out. About a thousand years after you were frozen, I began to feel that something was wrong. I went into cryosleep from time to time and observed the changes in the world. With the improvement of the environment the number of distorted ones did indeed decrease. That was how it was at first. But then everything changed. Along with the evolution of nature, the distorted ones began to change as well."
The projection folded its hands.
"I don't know what exactly changed in them. But now they are a real threat. All I could do was make adjustments to future intelligent life, so that people would at least have a chance against them. And I also left a little power for you."
"Power?" Cedo asked in surprise.
He took a syringe from the drawer and picked it up. "Is this what you meant?"
"If you use it," Kagura said, "the nanomachines themselves will tell you everything."
Cedo gave himself the injection, and the energy spread through his body. It was as Kagura had said — only he could use this power. After all the experiments, his body had become one hundred per cent compatible with nanomachines.
He looked at his hands and murmured, "So now I can create objects by changing the shape of the nanomachines. Very convenient."
At that moment blades extended silently from his palms.
The projection bowed its head slightly, folding its arms across its chest.
"I hid similar amplifiers in various laboratories scattered around the world. I didn't keep everything in one place. If the distorted ones ever found one, they wouldn't be able to destroy it all in a single blow. I also want you to go on a journey. I don't know how great the threat from the distorted ones will be in the distant future. But compared to the old world, the situation should still be better. So for now, just try to enjoy this new world. I won't get to see how it all turned out."
At that moment the projection's features began to age rapidly, as if time that had never been in the recording had suddenly overtaken him. Cedo froze, unable to look away.
"I'm counting on you, Cedo," Kagura added quietly. "You have to save this world."
The image faded.
"Understood," Cedo whispered.