The days passed by quickly.

Exactly a few minutes before the end of the month, Liam sat down on the floor and readied himself for what was to come. He now knew that the entities would contact him for 30 seconds every month. This time, he couldn’t be caught unaware by the pain. The minutes crawled by as Liam’s anxiety grew. Then, it came. Like a raging flood, the pain filled him from head to toe, almost completely crippling his will. Compared to before, it was far more intense. However, this time he was prepared, even if only a little. He didn’t collapse.

[The damage to you grows.]

As expected, the voices reached out to him. Their first words were worrisome.

[We must tell you.]

[At this rate, you have ten years before complete annihilation.]

[You must be able to wield Chaos and Order before then, even if only minimally.]

[You will be destroyed otherwise.]

Liam shook. Gritting his teeth as he struggled to think, he processed their words slowly. As he thought, his soul or something else was damaged. The damage was so great that in spite of his abilities, his lifespan had decreased to ten more years. If he didn’t manage to grasp Chaos and Order before that time was up, he would die. It would be the end. As his thoughts reached this point, Liam’s eyes trembled dangerously.

“How long… Would it take s-someone… To do it?”

Fighting through the pain, he spoke through clenched teeth.

[If by “someone” you mean anyone other than yourself, then never.]

[An infinite amount of time wouldn’t bring them any closer to achieving it.]

[They would forever remain infinitesimal before Chaos and Order, rulers and progenitors of all possible and impossible concepts.]

It was over. No matter what the voices thought of him, Liam knew he was a mere human. He couldn’t even escape the Drakkhan Empire, how could he possibly comprehend something beyond infinity in less than ten years?

[Do not despair, Last Star.]

[We will assist you.]

[This is what you were created for.]

[This is why we brought you into being.]

Important information came from the voices as if it were seemingly irrelevant.

“…What?”

[Our time is running out.]

[You must understand, however.]

[You are our greatest creation.]

[A being born under the so-called Creator’s influence, yet one we could reach.]

[The Last Star of Order, birthed by Chaos.]

[Created to fulfill the role of the one who abandoned their place.]

What? Liam listened to their words but felt like he couldn’t understand any of them. It was too much for him to comprehend in his current state. He was created by the voices? The Last Star of Order? He had a role to fulfill? What the hell were they talking about? Liam’s entire body trembled.

[Our time has come to an end.]

[Remember that we are here.]

As if telling him not to forget about them, the voices left those parting words as they vanished from his mind, sinking back into wherever they hid. Liam gradually came to himself, shaking. He endlessly replayed the voices’ words over and over in his head. Belatedly, he noticed a System notification floated in front of him.

[One of your Titles’ information has been updated.]

Of course, he didn’t need to consider which Title it was. He immediately opened its contents.

----------------------------------------Title------------------------------------------

Last Star of Order

* You are the Last Star of Order, created by Chaos and the remainders of Order to take your place in their eternal cycle. The First Star has abandoned their duty, taking refuge in an infinitesimal creation of their own. As the Last Star, you are the only Star comparable to the First Star in status and potential. All of existence bows to you.

* Allows for mastery of Chaos and Order.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Liam frowned. He wasn’t sure what any of this meant, but maybe he was in denial, after all. He put his head between his hands, closing his eyes.

‘I’m still me.’

He was Liam Allister, born in a terrible family. Friend to Arthur and many others, lover to Cassandra, and someone whose dream was to make reality a better place. Last Star of Order or not, these facts wouldn’t change. Just like before, Liam leaned on his sense of self.

‘That’s right.’

Even if he became a god, he couldn’t let go of his humanity. More than ever before, Liam missed his friends, especially Arthur and Cassandra. He missed having people around him to remind him of who he was. He felt like the stronger he became and the more he learned, the further he distanced himself from them. What kind of human could raze kilometers to the ground? What kind of human could he be, when he was the Last Star of Order at the end of the day?

Liam felt lonely.

‘I miss them.’

Taking a deep breath, he tried to focus. In order to see the people that made him human, he first needed to get out of here. To do so, he would need to conquer Cinzolia Fortress. As if on cue, a sound emerged.

“Liam Allister, sir! Forgive my rudeness! Are you awake? The Commander calls you to the field!”

A human voice reached out to him from his Communicator. It was the same young man who had first reached out to him when he arrived from his first battle against Cinzolia, many months ago. It seemed like he had been designated as the one responsible for contacting Liam, likely due to him also being human.

“Alright, thanks. I’ll be out shortly.”

“Yes, sir! Show everyone how powerful you’ve become!”

The young man’s voice was so agitated that Liam felt like he could almost see his shining eyes and excited expression. Laughing, he cut off the connection. Before leaving, he started to think. His expression gradually turned serious.

‘I have ten years at most. I can’t keep wasting too much time here.’

The situation had changed. Spending more time here didn’t just mean spending more time away from Cassandra and his friends, but also a longer period of being unable to help them personally. That was why, from the beginning, Liam had tried to improve and break down Cinzolia’s forcefield as fast as possible. Now, there was an additional piece of crucial information. His lifespan had been reduced to ten more years unless he succeeded in the impossible task of wielding Chaos and Order. Every second that passed by was one that would never return. The clock was ticking and he couldn’t be of use to anyone if he were dead.

He steeled his determination. He had no time to slowly grind away at Cinzolia Fortress’ forcefield anymore. The time limit to this siege was five years, as One had told him. Liam had sworn to complete it in two years. Now, he needed to make it happen even faster. Decisively, he activated his Communicator once more, this time reaching out to Arimiar directly. The Commander picked up in mere moments.

“May the Empire’s Sun forever shine upon you, Liam Allister. I take it you’re already on your way to the field right now? May I know why you have contacted me?”

“Yes, Commander. Actually, I still haven’t left the training room. The reason why is that I have decided to try something quite risky, but in order to do so, I’ll need the entirety of our forces’ cooperation.”

Arimiar was silent for a few seconds.

“It sounds like you’ve thought of something interesting. Before I agree to it, I naturally have to know what it is. Explain.”

“I will personally destroy the forcefield right now. As long as all of our forces protect me, I should be able to get out alive.”

This time, the Drakkhan’s silence lasted for much longer. When he spoke once more, his voice was heavy.

“…I have heard that you managed to crack the forcefield. However, destroying it is another matter altogether. According to our predictions, we would need to follow this pattern of attacks for one or two more years in order to break it down. Yet, you say you can do it today? Right now?”

Liam’s expression was dead-serious.

“I might not manage to destroy it completely, but I’m certain of making its energy expenditure so large that it will drastically shorten the duration of our siege.”

“What makes you so confident? What has changed?”

Liam narrowed his eyes. Arimiar was probing him, trying to figure out how he had improved compared to last time. After all, even to the Liam of two months ago, such words would have sounded shocking, and he hadn’t done much except work on his technique for this training cycle. Naturally, there wouldn’t be a reason for him to be confident in this.

Nevertheless, Liam’s thought process was simple.

‘I have spoken to the voices two more times.’

It wasn’t related to the creation of his Inner World or even to the discovery that he was an entity created by the voices, and not what he thought he was. The reason was rather simple, in fact.

'Every time I talk to the voices, my understanding of Chaos and Order increases a bit more.’

30 seconds a month. It was the amount of time Liam had to improve upon his control of Chaos and Order. By now, he had already noticed that every time the voices sought him out, his understanding of the two fundamentals increased minimally. The improvement was so small that it couldn’t be considered noteworthy or even relevant at all. However, Chaos and Order were still the origins of all there was and wasn’t. As a mortal, increasing his understanding of them by even a trillionth of a percent made his power surge.

‘As long as I try to employ either Chaos or Order while attacking the forcefield, I’m certain I’ll be able to do it.’

It was an unprecedented gamble that he couldn’t predict the results of at all. He had no idea what would happen if he succeeded or even if he failed. That was how little he understood his new powers. The only thing he knew was that he could do it. As such, he raised his voice again, speaking to the Commander.

“I have grown stronger. I can do it, but I’ll be close to useless once I’m done. Unless I’m protected, I will die.”

Arimiar responded.

“What if we don’t rescue you? What if we decide that you should die here?”

“Then that will be that.”

“…”

“…”

“Very well. Break down their walls. Once you do, I’ll immediately make a move.”

With these words, the two broke off the connection simultaneously.

Liam focused. Slowly, he pushed the doors of the training room open.