Chapter Sixty-Nine: The Guiding Starlight
In the game “Star Pull 2.”
The two protagonists, “Tsukimi Kanade” and “Hoshimiya Nagi,” have significant differences in their character positioning.
Although the initial promotional artwork and settings for the female protagonist “Hoshimiya Nagi” caused a backlash among players.
After a renowned artist re-illustrated “Hoshimiya Nagi,”
there were substantial changes made to her character background, personal storyline, and ability settings.
These adjustments aimed to create a distinction between the two protagonists in terms of character and narrative.
The male protagonist “Tsukimi Kanade,” who was abandoned by his parents as a child, has a main theme of “growth” in his story.
His character design emphasizes one-on-one combat, making him an invincible presence in a duel until he exhausts his attempts.
In contrast, the female protagonist “Hoshimiya Nagi,” born in paradise but falling into the abyss, is driven by the theme of “revenge” throughout the story.
She focuses on one versus many, growing stronger the more enemies she faces…
….
From DD-chan’s perspective.
Kanade, wielding a blade, faced off against the white spirit’s priestess in their first direct confrontation.
Kanade was able to evade the priestess’s attacks at the very last moment.
These were strikes so precise that even DD-chan couldn’t fully comprehend them.
At first, DD-chan thought Kanade had finally awakened his special abilities, but quickly realized this was not the case.
He had not activated a fantasy weapon.
Upon their first awakening, special abilities manifest as a personal fantasy—”fantasy weapons.”
These are incarnations of their obsessions with the world, the physical manifestation of their soul’s hollowness.
So Kanade didn’t seem to have awakened a special ability; it was more like—
something was temporarily borrowing power from him.
A black card in Kanade’s pocket emitted a faint starlight.
Kanade was a genius in fighting games.
As a child, he was clumsy at almost everything, but displayed remarkable talent only in one-on-one fighting games.
Fighting games essentially revolve around “rock-paper-scissors.”
His clashes with the priestess were built on repeated rounds of this game.
It was a life-and-death gamble; a single wrong guess could lead to death, a “rock-paper-scissors” with deadly stakes.
Yet Kanade won each time.
In order to keep winning at this game,
excluding any divine luck,
the only remaining answer is:
cheating—
“Backhanded rock-paper-scissors.”
Each time knowing what the opponent would throw before making his own move…
After evading the white spirit priestess’s claws by mere millimeters, Kanade raised his blade for the first time.
This weapon from Alice was not the first he had wielded.
During the summer break, he had learned a certain level of combat skills under Alice’s guidance.
It was a simple and unadorned knife.
The silver blade bore no extravagant decorations; its edge was straight and sharp, gleaming like cold silver light.
The handle seamlessly connected to the blade, the entire weapon resembling a perfect steel bar.
Made from a special material, it felt incredibly light in his hand, almost weightless.
Yet, the sound it made when swung, slicing through the air, rendered the weapon immensely heavy—heavy with the weight of life.
This was a weapon capable of taking lives.
One must have a resolute understanding that there is no turning back to wield it.
Kanade longed for a peaceful daily life with Nagi.
To achieve that daily life, he must bring Mana back.
At the same time, he must also survive to return to Nagi’s side.
So—
“I’m sorry…”
Kanade swung his blade towards the white spirit priestess for the first time—
In that very instant.
The image flashed in Kanade’s mind:
“His own blade was evaded by the white spirit priestess, who then launched a deadly sneak attack towards his heart” —
The opponent had chosen “scissors.”
He needed to—
“Attack to the right side”
“Attack to the left side”☆
From a third-person overhead perspective.
Kanade controlled his body, switching to a reverse grip at the last moment of his strike.
Predicting the path of the white spirit priestess’s attack, he evaded her strike while effectively targeting her left arm.
The glimmering blade sliced through the pure white sacred garment she wore.
Blood gushed from her arm, staining the sleeve of her white attire with a deep red hue.
The white spirit priestess attempted to create distance, but was pursued by the actively attacking Kanade—
“Thrust at her chest”
“Feign an attack on her right arm”☆
The blade aimed at the priestess’s right arm; she quickly extended her claws on her right hand to counterattack—
“Create distance to avoid the attack”☆
—
“Swing the blade from above”☆
—
“Bend down to dodge the wind blade”☆
—
….
In every round of rock-paper-scissors,
Kanade seemed to be guided by some force, guessing correctly each time.
The white spirit priestess was completely unable to withstand Kanade’s onslaught.
Even though her physical abilities surpassed his.
As Kanade’s blade cut through the mask on the white spirit priestess’s face,
it proclaimed the outcome of the battle.
….
….
Inside the SEMA headquarters.
Motonari, with curiosity, brandished a giant sword to fend off Alice’s fierce attacks.
He wasn’t in a hurry to attack Alice.
Because he had a hidden trump card.
That was—he wouldn’t die.
Having already experienced death, Motonari, under the power of dusk, had become an undead presence.
This perfectly complemented his special ability, “Growth Correction.”
So he now felt like a cat with victory assured, toying with the mouse named Alice.
When she exerted herself, believing she would finally defeat him, he would then restore himself using the power of the dusk.
What kind of despair would she display at that moment?
Just thinking about it made Motonari tremble with excitement.
This is what a hero is.
No matter what happens, at the last moment, they will rise up and achieve victory—!
Come on, Alice Astrea, fully transform into a dragon—!
Let this battle conclude with a hero vanquishing the evil dragon!
As an ACE, Motonari naturally understood what the true trump card of the “ACE hybrid dragon princess” was.
“Full Dragon Transformation.”
It is a powerful ability gained at the irreversible cost of burning one’s life.
Only those of the dragon bloodline, a half-fantasy beast like Alice, can wield this power.
As a trade-off, she cannot awaken a “fantasy weapon” like other special ability users, nor can she manifest “fantasy spirit equipment” like beast tamers.
She can only compensate for this deficiency through custom-made gear crafted by “The Academy,” one of the three major organizations of special ability users.
If Alice dons that set of fantasy spirit equipment and transforms into a dragon, she might even easily slay a Grand Class—
Suddenly, a blinding white light interrupted Motonari’s thoughts.
That was the dragon’s power—Dragon Breath, a force only those with dragon heritage can wield.
“Hmph~” Motonari smiled, feeling that his performance moment was about to arrive.
A hero caught off guard and struck directly by dragon breath, who then stood up in his last moments to counterattack the approaching evil dragon.
—How he looked forward to Alice’s expression at that time~
With this thought, Motonari gave up dodging.
Although now, with Growth Correction, he could instantaneously kill a mere half-transformed Alice.
But this desire was etched into his decaying bones.
A searing dragon breath struck Motonari from below, piercing both his body and the roof of the SEMA building.
A dazzling beam of light pierced the pitch-black sky.
At that same moment,
Alice, without looking back, sprinted toward the basement below.
She had no intention of confirming Motonari’s life or death.
For she understood more than anyone the terror of the dusk’s power combined with Motonari’s special ability.
So she merely hoped to use the opportunity provided by the dragon breath to swiftly pass through the room behind the archive and enter another world.
If the pseudo-goddess white spirit truly was as Motonari described, she needed to quickly reach Kanade and the others.
There was no time to play along with Motonari in his hero game.
As Alice turned her head,
a single drop of rain fell from the hole in the rooftop pierced by the dragon breath.
It landed on her golden hair.
…..
Rain.
Unbeknownst to her,
it had begun to pour outside the SEMA building.
The small city of Kawano was now engulfed in darkness.
Heavy clouds hovered above the city like a black curtain, seemingly ready to consume everything.
Torrential rain poured down like countless white threads from the heavens.
Connecting the city and the clouds into one entity.
Lightning tore through the clouds, briefly illuminating the vast darkness with its bright flashes.
Motonari, who had been propelled into the air by the dragon breath,
was now soaked in the cold rain.
His slightly reddened eyes trembled with fear.
“It can’t be…..”
Lightning split the darkness with brilliant fissures, momentarily revealing a massive silhouette hidden in the thunderclouds.
That gigantic figure appeared hazy, like a colossal beast awakened from ancient legends, displaying its might and power amid the thunder and lightning.
In that moment, heaven and earth seemed to merge as one.
“Why are you still….”
Motonari’s final words remained unspoken as his body was torn apart and crushed by the raging storm.
His remnants were swept into violet-black starlight.
Even his soul could not escape.
