Chapter 455

Chapter 455

It was raining heavily.
Hundreds of millions of raindrops, each one a sideways slash through the world. My vision was so mangled by the rain that I could barely see the rocks five steps ahead of me. The overcast sky provided just enough light to realize it was daytime.
“That’s one hell of a weather, Sarante.”
I looked outside and muttered.
An umbrella made of twisted space was shading my head. Magic is definitely a good thing. Without it, every fiber of my underwear would have been as damp as a freshly washed rag upon arrival.
It’s hard to see, but outside the umbrella was a majestic valley.
The cliffs, with their exposed strata, seemed to smell of time. The sound of rushing rainwater, the howling of storms, could be heard from everywhere.
This is Da Conga, the holy land of the continent’s fringes.
It was where the mana tracker that detected Ceniel’s presence had led me.
A cracked voice erupted next to me.
“What? What did you just say?!”
“Kratyr.”
“I didn’t hear you right, are you sure you’re better than that!”
Kratyr cried out.
I had to use a vice to keep my voice from being drowned out by the pounding rain. His face was like that of a toad in copulation. It was a look I’d never seen before in this world.
I blurted out, realizing what he meant.
“Yes! You owe me! Go back before something happens!”
“I don’t even owe you a favor, but I’m worried!”
“Excuse me?”
“I told you I’m worried—crack!”
Kratyr’s body shook.
It was still too much volume for a nearly a hundred-year-old inspiration. Kratyr, who had been humming softly to himself, suddenly snapped his fingers.
Voila!
A transparent hemisphere surrounded us. The sound of rain disappeared.
Kratyr gave an awkward gasp.
“Hmmmmm–now that I think about it, I could have just used some silent magic.”
“Ah.”
I wasn’t thinking about it at all. I was so engrossed in Akasha that I felt like a monkey for a moment. I nervously scratched the back of my head.
“Really, don’t worry, it’s no big deal and I’ll be back soon.”
“But it’s not just the weather that’s bad here, there’s a strange feeling that hangs over the whole valley. Da Conya is a place that even the Master has never heard of,” he said, concerned.
“That old man has a nice touch.”
“Yes?”
“No, that’s nice of you to say.”
I chuckled. I guess there really is such a thing as a wizard’s intuition.
I owe a lot to Lorhon, along with Kratyr, for getting me to this point.
This morning. Running out of time and tired of traveling without a plan, I decided to use my spatial magic and asked Lorhon for help. I had every reason to, after all, he had just handed over the criminals of Nebula Clasier without spilling a drop of blood.
“I wonder if the handover went well.
Less than ten minutes after I sent the wizard mail, I received a reply. To my surprise, it was Kravah Kratyr, the headmaster of Pileon Academy.
Under the Master’s direction, he willingly served as a carriage for me. We traveled through dozens of short and long spatial spells and arrived at Da Konya. We arrived in less than an hour, even though we were far outside of Imperial territory.
“Well, if that’s what you say, Ronan, I can’t help it, so I’ll leave you to it.”
“Yes. I owe you one.”
“No problem. For your information, most of the prisoners you handed over the other day are being held in Rodolan for interrogation and indoctrination. Master Abel is in the dungeons of the imperial palace to facilitate communication. I’m told he’s learned to answer everything you ask, so there aren’t many questions left.”
“It would have been heartbreaking.”
The last we saw of Abel, he was being chastised with Cain on his back. I don’t think I need to worry too much. If I remember correctly, there was an odd look of amusement on his face as he smashed his head into the gravel.
“By the way, did you find any wearables called Fantasion?”
“Alas–you mean the one that rivals Mr. Jaifa. I was going to tell you anyway. I broke into the palace at dawn the day after Abel was imprisoned.”
“What, was that a rescue attempt?”
“Surprisingly, it was to turn himself in, much to the dismay of the assembled Imperial Knights, and through my own impassioned petition and the mercy of the Emperor, I was placed in a cell next to Abel’s.”
“Whoa, thank goodness, I would have seen some blood if we had a fight.”
I breathed a sigh of relief.
I don’t know if Abel was persuaded or if he realized something himself, but it was a good thing Fantasia didn’t go on a rampage, for the stag was the strongest of the flying and crawling archbishops.
“Now I can fight with confidence.
I was relieved to hear the news of Abel and the archbishops.
Honestly, I was nervous before the final.
If the emperor commuted his death sentence, so be it, but my hope was that he would come to his senses and contribute to the world as much as possible.
It’s time to say goodbye.
They shook hands, and Kratyr stroked his beard and smiled.
“Good luck, Ronan, and may you fulfill your purpose, whatever it may be.”
“Take care of Pileon, because we’re going to have a monster freshman next spring.”
The portal opened and closed. With Kratyr gone, the umbrella and silent magic created by spatial magic naturally dissipated.
Kaaaaaaaah!
The stagnant rain rumbled like thunder. A torrential downpour of rain so thick it could have been hail poured overhead. As expected, it took less than two seconds for all my clothes to get soaked.
I said, flicking my bangs out of my face.
“Let’s find it then.”
I immediately set out to search for Seniel. The destination was in the valley where the needle pointed.
Ugly boulders crunched underfoot as we walked. The rock formations, some much larger than a man, were so weathered that it was impossible to tell what they once looked like.
“You’ve come full circle. You carried that thing all the way to the Baidian Mountains?”
I couldn’t help but chuckle. These were the candidates for Xeniel’s statue that Sarante had mentioned. Only a stone that could survive thousands of years of being left alone could become a god.
When I first heard Sarante’s story, I honestly thought her ears had grown inward as long as they were elongated and that her brain was broken. Now that I know she’s real, I respect her.
How long did you walk that far.
“—Hmm.”
I stopped in front of a terribly ugly boulder.
It stood on an open plain, soaking up all the rain. It looked different from the last parallel world, but the needle was unmistakably pointing to this stone. In his pocket, the shard of Ceniel glowed with a resonant afterglow.
I placed my palm on the surface and smiled with confidence.
“Found.”
Senniel was sure. He could feel a tremendous life force pulsating inside him. Even if he wanted to tell himself otherwise, the tufts of grass around him were proof enough.
The location was very different from the last two parallel worlds, but I let it go. He’s the closest thing to a god, and he can move around.
“Did you come out to close your mouth?”
I swung the knife with those words.
A white line has been drawn across the top of Ceniel’s top, and the top has slipped along the cut.
A heavy thud echoed through the room, and a gem mine was revealed.
“I’m a stellar soul, I can take it, right?”
No answer came back.
No wonder. If you can’t tolerate that, how are you supposed to be a stellar soul?
It was a moment of leaden sword-swinging.
Kurrrrrr—!
Life burst out of Ceniel with a roaring sound. It was like blood gushing from a severed neck. The gurgling, spewing five-colored energy flowed down the rocks like beer foam, then turned gaseous and began to rise into the sky.
“Okay. So far so good.”
I muttered to myself as I watched the five-color smoke.
Senniel’s life force was rising like a beacon. It was uncanny how his form didn’t crumble in the midst of the storm.
Anyone who wasn’t blind could see it. Not to mention the mage, who searched for Ceniel with an obsession that bordered on madness.
“You’re ready to go.
The shard in his pocket was absorbing the life force that had flowed through it.
I don’t know if you’ll ever use it, but it’s a good thing. Because it’s bad to leave food behind.
The smoke was now rising through the clouds.
“A lot has happened since then.”
I closed my eyes. It was impossible to see with the naked eye when and where an enemy that could move through space would jump out at me.
In fact, it’s better to close your eyes at times like this. When your vision is blocked, your other senses are heightened.
The sound of water droplets breaking on your skin is clear. The sound of the wind tapping against your eardrums.
The smell of wet stones and rainwater, which had turned into an irritating odor that rivaled the smell of alcohol, assaulted my nose.
“Let’s get this over with.”
I’ve done everything I can do here.
You have dispelled the darkness of Acalusia. He straightened the limbs of his uncle. Reunited a scattered family and fulfilled Cain’s desire, unrealized even in his original world.
As always, this parallel world will be led by the redeemed.
There are only two people who disrupt the order of the world. Strangers from other worlds.
“Come. Akasha.”
Like a shark that smells blood. Like an eagle swooping down on its prey.
Like you, always thirsting for life.
The whip-like rain no longer hurt.
As I counted to a hundred and fifty in my head, I slowly opened my eyes.
Akasha stood in front of me.
『——.』
He looked down at me without saying a word.
It was so close. It was no more than three steps away at the longest.
We didn’t attack as if we had made a promise. It was a game of numbers and exploration. It’s funny to say this, but it was a sign of mutual recognition. Maybe he was convinced that it would be a quick fight.
I wish it would.
As expected, the right arm and left leg were severed.
“You, that?”
However, we did notice a significant change.
His cloak and mask were back to normal.
No, it had been restored to its former glory.
The mask he was wearing was covered in pictures, just like when he first met Akasha. I had seen them all before. It was like a thunderbolt had struck my brain.
Your gaze is fixed on one of the pictures.
“Marja.”
The golden cartwheel was unmistakably the coat of arms of Marja, Countess of Armalen. She remembered it clearly because she bragged to me that she had invented it. It was unlikely that Marja would have changed her family crest over time.
Her robe was pinned with four or five sparkling jewelry pieces. One in particular caught my eye: a modest emerald and golden shard. I knew where it had originally hung.
“Nabiroze’s sister—Zaifa?”
The emerald was an ornament embedded in the pommel of the great sword Urusa. The golden shard was clearly from the head of Jaifa’s Unwaldo.
The sound of the world was getting quieter.
Akasha waved her left arm in greeting.
Something fell out of a loose sleeve.
“This is—.”
Naturally, my gaze dropped. Two flat metal ingots lay at my feet. They were wrought from platinum and gold, respectively, and engraved with the emblems of a knight trampling a dragon and an inquisitor howling at the moon-the symbols of Grancia and Acalusia.
“Bill of Exchange.”
I couldn’t hear the rain anymore. It was quieter than it had been when he’d cast the Silent spell. The only sound was the steady thumping of his heart, deep in his chest.
Why do those things, things that belong to the world, belong to Akasha.
The answer was self-evident.
It was one of those moments where I kept telling myself not to falter.
『■■. ■■.』
Akasha said.
I don’t know what he was saying.
Couldn’t it have been ‘Dare Ronan’?
The content didn’t really matter.
My impulse overtook my reason.
“You son of a bitch.”
A hand rested on the hilt of the sword.
Everything slowed down except me. The wind died down, and hundreds of millions of raindrops came to a standstill.
I tugged on the hilt of my sword in slowed time. It was the fastest footwork of his life. A white line drew across Akasha’s mask. The creature’s left hand came up and blocked the blow.
“You.”
There was no sound of metal. The sound would catch up with us long afterward.
It was a moment that shattered the bigi, but I didn’t panic and drew my sword. The blade snapped back into place. The hairs on the nape of my neck stood up.
“——!”
It was her body’s warning. Almost simultaneously, darkness burst from Akasha’s hand. The ground crumbled beneath her feet as she was engulfed in darkness. The Abyss, Akasha’s world, opened up.
『■.』
Akasha laughed. She didn’t care if she did or not. This was to be expected.
I swung my sword at Akasha, who was dispersing like a mist.
Clouds of shards floated in the scarlet hilt of his sword. It was a world he’d been building since his first attack had missed.
『■■?!』
Akasha’s eyes widened. A second strike streaked across the darkness like a comet.
In an explosion of sunset colors, my world opened up.