Chapter 412

Chapter 412

“Hey, hey—!
Your eyes!”
“What’s wrong with your eyes?”
“The crushed eyeball has regenerated! Wipe up some of the blood. My God, what a miracle!”
There was a lot of hustle and bustle around me.
The particles of life that spread out in all directions heal all sorts of wounds.
People were just marveling at the miracle.
Forgetting, very briefly, that Navarrozze had even woken up.
I turned to face her and shook my head.
“Of course I’m going to go, but—why?”
“Yeah. That’s pretty bad.”
Navarordze’s eyes were wavering.
His stiff expression was filled with wonder.
Muttering to herself, she began to describe the situation.
“I don’t understand it, he only attacked me when the battle had just begun.”
“Excuse me?”
“The whole time he was in the sphere, he just warped space to get away. Akasha–she didn’t seem to want to fight in the first place.”
I narrowed my eyes.
I thought, what kind of nonsense is this?
You two made such a scene, and you didn’t even fight?
“That’s ridiculous. Then what was that flashing thing inside the sphere, and why did your sister suddenly crash?”
“Most of them were my attacks. I was trying to kill him at all costs. But Akasha didn’t even fight back, except for the first few times. I was knocked unconscious—from the shock of the recovery.”
“Recovery?”
“Yeah. It was instantaneous. The wave that erupted from the center of the sphere healed the accumulated injuries on my body in one fell swoop. Even the scars from the distant past, the ones I thought would stay with me forever—.”
Navarordze glanced around.
People with healed wounds were cheering.
Drained of all his strength, Orsay slumped beside him.
She was about to go on a tangent.
PhageJigsaw!
High overhead, lightning crackled like a bolt of electricity.
“What is it?”
“—It looks like we don’t have much time.”
We looked up at about the same time.
Navarordze frowned.
A red crack gaped open in the middle of the slowly brightening dawn sky.
It was the rift through which Akasha had escaped.
Unlike the cracks that remained until I cut them, they were quickly healing and disappearing.
“What’s wrong with him?”
“—I think this is our last chance, let’s go!”
“Uh oh.”
Suddenly, Navarrozze wrapped his arms around my waist.
Red wings spread out behind her back.
The ground fell away with the sensation of my body floating.
“Ro, Ronan?!”
“Mr. Navarordze, go, where are you going all of a sudden?”
The people gathered downstairs let out an exclamation of bewilderment.
I wanted to say something, but I didn’t have time.
We were in front of the crack in no time.
The red gills were shrinking in real time, even now.
Navarordze snapped his fingers.
Koo-koo-koo—!
A reef that tore through the ocean served as a stepping stone into the fissure.
Navarrozze, who landed with me, squeezed my shoulder and warned me.
“Be careful, Ronan. That mage’s power is beyond imagination. I honestly don’t know if my attack even made a dent.”
“Don’t worry. Don’t you trust me?”
“I trust you more than anyone in the world, of course, but that’s a separate matter, and–Pete!”
“Ew, what the hell?!”
Suddenly, Navarordze spat something out of his mouth.
My eyes narrowed.
A single shiny shard of ore rested in her palm.
“Whoa—get it.”
“—is this?”
The shards were covered in sticky saliva.
I picked it up as if mesmerized by something.
The shards, which were probably originally part of a giant jewel, glittered with colors I’d seen before.
Yes, this was something I had noticed in Ceniel just before I met Akasha.
Navardozé continued.
“I swallowed it while fighting him. It was a shard of what made up Ceniel. I think it will be more useful to you than to me.”
“This?”
“Yes. You need to keep chasing Akasha—wouldn’t this be useful if the next parallel world is as broken as ours? I’m not sure, of course.”
Navarrozadeh’s mouth watered.
He was a little unsure.
It didn’t feel like an incredibly powerful force, like the particles that are spreading out now.
It’s probably the dregs left over from a life drain.
“Thanks, I’ll put it to good use.”
Still, I picked up the pieces.
It’s only relatively weak, but it seems to have a lot of life in it.
In a parallel world without theta, there was room for it to be useful.
“I’m sorry to leave you so suddenly, but you deserve a proper goodbye.”
“It’s okay, it was going to happen eventually.”
“—I hate to send it again, even though I know I can’t help it.”
The only sound in the empty sky was the wind.
The crown of the sun was rising over the dim horizon.
Suddenly, Navarordze, who had been staring at me, spoke up.
“Child, can you come closer for a moment?”
“Huh? What’s wrong?”
It was one of those moments when you approach without thinking.
Page.
Suddenly, a magpie-footed Navarordje kissed me on the cheek.
“Uh.”
I didn’t even have time to react.
She lowered her heels and smirked.
“Hoo-hoo, thanks for saving our world. Goodbye.”
“—Navardoze.”
“Adeshan, I’m jealous of that kid, you’re going to make a great spouse.”
Navarro patted me on the head.
The spot where my lips touched was hot.
It was her way of saying hello.
It was a pretty cool goodbye, judging by the twitching of my nose.
But somehow, I had actually prepared myself for this moment.
I rubbed my cheek and leaned back.
“Go, what’s wrong with you all of a sudden—?”
“It’s no big deal, just a word before I go.”
Navarordze winced.
Up close, his crimson eyes were already watery.
I don’t have a hobby for making women cry, but it didn’t matter.
I just had to say this.
Gently pulling her into my arms, I whispered in her ear.
“Take care. Mother.”
“——!”
“It was just a passing rain. As long as the spark of life is not extinguished, the world will return to normal, just as even the harshest winter will eventually become spring.”
After a short hug, I pulled away.
Navarordze froze, unable to say anything.
The first light of day was breaking over the horizon.
It’s similar to a sunset, but it gives a very different impression.
The scales dancing in the wind, scattering light to the world, were beautiful.
“Thank you for believing in me until the end, and for being a real son, I won’t forget that.”
“I, I—.”
“And how dare you touch my child, because honestly, when I was a kid, I was jealous of kids with moms.”
Navarordze bit his lip.
Eventually, a tear slid down my cheek.
Her head was down for a long moment, then she looked up at me again.
Through lips bruised from biting down too hard, the main voice came through.
“——I will think of you every time I see the sunrise.”
I smirked instead of answering.
The overhead light was so bright that my eyes turned red.
I turned my head.
The crack, which had been getting smaller and smaller, was now barely big enough for one person to fit through.
With one last wave of my hand, I stepped into the crack.
****
The morning was in full swing.
The sky was unblemished with the cracks gone.
A flock of seabirds swam in the fresh air.
Suddenly, a strange sound caught the ears of a Resistance man repairing the wreckage.
“Waaaaah… Waaaaah…”
“Huh?”
It sounded like a child crying.
I looked around and didn’t see anything.
I was about to walk away when I realized I had heard wrong.
“Hmph, is anyone there? My legs–my legs!”
“Oh, my God!”
This time it was clear.
The man’s eyes widened as he turned in the direction of the sound.
A woman lay in the middle of a beach in disarray.
Sobbing like a child, both her legs disappeared below her knees.
The man in the office urgently asked for help.
Soon, a dozen people were rushing in.
People who recognized Letancier were stunned.
“My God, Meiji Rtanshi!”
“I thought I was dead! How did I end up here—!”
“I, hmmmm, I don’t know—all of a sudden the landscape changed and the bridge—!”
Letancier explained that he lost consciousness while talking to Ronan.
By the time I woke up, the fight was over.
It was really only a moment ago that she woke up and saw that her leg had been cut off.
“Uh, does that mean I’ll never walk again? Hmph—hmph—hmph.”
“Don’t cry, let me see.”
Just then, a nearby medic approached.
He examined the wound carefully, then slapped his forehead in admiration.
“Huh, that’s a nice clean cut—! I should be able to glue it back together with no problem.”
“Gee, are you sure?”
“Well. It’s a miracle.”
The vitalizing particles kept the cells alive and not necrotic.
The original bridge is still there, and with the high-tech equipment at the headquarters, it’s not beyond the realm of possibility that it could be seamlessly joined.
The excited medic’s hands shook.
“Ouch, that hurts! Ouch!”
“Ike, come on. Hang in there.”
“I’ll never do anything bad again, hehehe, please help me!”
Letancier shrieked and flailed about.
They carefully picked her up and carried her to the infirmary.
“Hmm.”
Fantasia watched the farce with a faint smile.
It was he who found Letancier’s bridge in the ruins.
Suddenly, a familiar voice came from behind me.
“I’ll attach your arm, too, but. Fantasia.”
“—Not needed.”
Glancing back, Fantasia shook her head.
Abel, now a beggar, was sitting on a rock.
I’m not mad at him anymore because we’ve been through this together.
It was the first time he’d been seen since his fall to Akasha.
“I suppose I have paid for my sins. And so it must be with R’thansi–that Akasha, I believe, is the messenger who has come to collect our punishment.”
“Ohhh, that’s an interesting argument.”
“Why did you help Ronan by throwing yourself at him, when you were only looking for a chance to kill him?”
“I was just frustrated. I tried to ignore it, of course, but it kept coming back to me.”
“Old school?”
“Yeah–you weren’t even born yet.”
Abel smiled bitterly.
There are some things that stay with you after an unfathomable amount of time.
He still had occasional dreams of walking hand in hand with Cain through the snowy fields.
The child’s hand, which he had touched as he scattered the ashes, felt very much like his brother’s.
“I’m going to disappear as I am. There is no place for villains in the new age—will you come with me?”
“Go fuck yourself.”
“I knew it. In that case, let me give you some advice as your old boss. If you really want to do penance, you’d better use your arms and work like a cow, rather than pontificating about bullshit philosophy.”
It was a sneering voice.
Blood rushed to Fantasia’s forehead.
“You.”
Every syllable made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.
He wasn’t exactly wrong, but that was the problem.
But by the time Fantasia turned around, Abel was gone.
Instead, his severed left arm lay in a heap where Abel had been sitting.
Hold your middle finger straight up.
“——billabilly.”
Fantasia growled.
I looked around and couldn’t see him.
He fumbled around and grabbed his left arm.
He started walking, following the screams of Letancier.
Watching them, Navarordze shifted his gaze to the sea.
“Hoo-hoo. That’s a good idea.”
Fantasia was a good choice.
Because suffering doesn’t make the wrong go away.
She was walking on the beach.
The crashing waves lapped at the tops of my feet, then receded.
[Come out, Ronan, you bastard! You ran away without saying goodbye!
“That kid.”
Suddenly, a voice from the sea made me turn my head.
Orse, unable to say goodbye to Ronan, circled the area of the rift and breathed fire.
It’s because you’re not being honest, my dear child.
“Ronan.”
Navarordze said to himself.
As Ronan left her, she alternated between looking at the land and the sea.
The sunrise was at its peak.
The morning sun had fully emerged, casting light on the world.
Once again, my eyes watered at the sight of a landscape that reminded me of my youngest son.
“—Ronan.”
Our months together were flying by.
It was only a moment for her, but one that she would not forget until the end of her life.
It was a short but beautiful time, like a dawn.
She tore her gaze away from the sun and turned.
The landscape was full of life.
People were scurrying about the mess, fixing what was broken.
Reality.
It was a world to live in, except at sunset, where you would spend most of your life.
“A passing vira—.”
Ronan’s words echoed in my head.
Even the harshest downpours eventually stop.
Winter will always turn into spring.
Everything in my eyes right now was proof of that.
She rubbed the corners of her eyes and smiled.
“Okay, let’s try again.”