Man of Men, God of Gods, The–

I guess this is the afterlife. It has to be, Rufus thought. A white void surrounded the party as he looked himself over. He and the others were completely uninjured – no bruises, cuts, or missing body pots. They were simply laying against the gravel-covered ground, accepting their fate.

“Wait… what? Why is the ground gray?” Rufus’s instincts weren’t acting up, but a sinking feeling filled his stomach: a juxtaposition of fear and relief. He frantically walked over to Aster, trying to shake her awake. It took a moment, but she slowly stirred, as if awakening from a dream.

“Huh? Emma? What?” Aster’s eyes flitted around as she sat up from Emma’s lap. She stretched her legs, before being confused by why she could stretch her legs. The toes on her feets wiggled back and forth as her mind played catch up.

“Rufus…” Emma called out, waking up herself, just as confused as Aster. She wasn’t petrified in fear, but her gaze was exceedingly cautious.

“There’s no mana…” Aster said, adopting a concerned expression. She had slowly begun to panic; her expressionless facade completely crumbled.

“Ugh, what the hell…” Ai picked herself up with vines, moving into a sitting position. Her eyes widened as she stared down at her vines, noticing the disconnect from what should’ve been a moment ago. The mana in her body felt foreign and yet her own at the same time.

“Ai, do you have any idea what’s going on?” Rufus prompted Ai. He would normally ask Aster, but with the sudden change in personality, he couldn’t rely on her.

“Already putting me to work, wolf? Fine…” Ai complained, but there was no sharpness in her tone. Her eyes quickly darted around the area, trying to find the answer that they could not see or feel. “There’s no mana at all, but that shouldn’t be possible, unless…”

“A barrier of mana.” Aster completed Ai’s sentence, her expression still in shock.

“Hey, that was supposed to be my reveal!”

“But that doesn’t make any sense, I should be able to sense it then, or at least see it. But there’s nothing outside the area but a white void! I can’t sense anything past it!!”

“Are we sure the white void isn’t the disintegration beam? Or maybe the wall is so dense that it doesn’t let anything pass through, including your mana. It could be what you’re sensing is the rest of the room instead of what’s past the border.”

“Wow! Your perception is greater than I gave you credit for.” The party froze from the sound of a new voice. A recognizable voice. But that can’t be… they all thought. It should be impossible to hear him. The man was dead, vaporized, yet his voice still echoed clearly with that same annoying nonchalance. The party turned around, shocked silent at the sight in front of them.

A man in his mid-twenties stood where there was no one before. His hair looked black, but the surrounding light revealed it was actually a dark purple. He wore a black tuxedo accented by a white-collared button-up and a bow tie. He had no presence, as if he would disappear if you looked away for a second. Meanwhile, his body was rotated towards the light, obscuring his right hand.

“You know, I’m quite impressed by all of you. I didn’t expect you to last so long against an echido. Even if she was just playing around, you did quite well. Using the increased mana density to raise the attack power of your fire crystal-infused punch, amazing! Reckless, but amazing. That attack would’ve hurt a dragon.” Rufus visibly began the panic. He couldn’t fathom why he was here, as an exam proctor no less.

“S-stu?” Emma spoke hoarsely, vocalizing what they all thought but couldn’t say. The party had met this man many times before at the guild, but he was an E-rank. He seemed as weak as they come, someone not worth recruiting, so they usually ignored him. But not now. An impossible situation appeared from nowhere, one still made no sense.

He looked back at us, cocking his head as though it was obvious. “Yeah? Who else would I be? Oh right, I should probably get rid of this.” He swung his arm, gripping the top rail on his weapon, swinging four wooden legs to the side, immediately dispelling the white light surrounding us. The remaining specks gently descended to the ground before dispersing. Then, with a flick of his wrist, he flourished the object around before slamming it onto the ground. His body dropped, sitting comfortably while leaning back against the rail. Putting his hands behind his head, he stretched out his legs, leaning the object slightly backwards.

The first time Rufus met the man, he had recognized it as his weapon, but he didn’t want to admit how close his savior was all this time. However, the almost ridiculous sight gave him no other choice but to accept it. His wariness, relief, fear, and confusion all morphed into reverence.

To some, he was the ender of the Eternal War. To others, he was a God of Destruction. Few ever saw his face, and yet everyone knew his name. The man who never changes. The man who wielded nothing but a chair.

Stu Isu, the Chairman.