Palinkron sneered as he saw me off.
“Heh. Looks like we got here first, Kanami’s older brother.” As he spoke, the fortress was struck by a tremor, as if an earthquake had occurred. The Magic Stone Lines began to glow purple, and a curtain of light descended from the ground into the sky. The garden’s colors transformed under its illumination.
Everyone tensed at the fantastical change, expecting some phenomenon to occur as the Magic Circle activated.
But nothing happened other than the continuous light. My companions were unaffected.
The only one affected was me.
The light seared itself onto my retinas. Simultaneously, purple magic seeped into my mind.
“Hey, do you remember, Kanami’s older brother?”
As Palinkron spoke, the aurora of the Magic Stone Lines also entered me. Suspecting it to be a Curse Technique of the Thief of the Principles of Darkness, I immediately tried to reject it. However, I couldn’t prevent its intrusion.
This was because the magic was too warm, and I didn’t feel the slightest ill intent. It permeated me as naturally as my own magic.
Soft yet warm. A magical light that aided everything it touched. Touching it, I was healed once more. The magic healed me, mended me. But this was nothing less than drawing me closer to the masked man I had seen in my dreams.
Just as before, an unknown emotion welled up within me. However, this was a situation I had anticipated.
“Something like this—!”
As I declared to Hairi, I would resist this unknown emotion.
“Kanami-san! Just a little more!!”
Maria noticed my abnormality immediately and called out, urging for Sis to be apprehended first. This wasn’t the first time I’d been swayed by such emotions. This time, I resolved to control them completely.
Nevertheless, Palinkron continued to speak, spitting blood with a detached air. He was right beside me.
“Before parting ways at Laura Via, I asked you something, didn’t I, Kanami’s older brother? ‘Kanami and Maria’s wishes have been granted. Even so, will you still search for the truth?’ At that time, Kanami’s older brother was truly ‘happy.’ Still, Kanami’s older brother shook his head. ‘Even so, the lies must be exposed,’ he said, ‘No one can be saved by lies,’ and ‘I want to know everything.’ And, just as he said, he escaped that prison and came this far.”
His voice held a strange sense of composure. A chill ran down my spine.
“I understand it perfectly. In other words, ‘lies told with kindness’ don’t work on Kanami’s older brother. Neither ‘happiness’ nor ‘peace’ have any meaning. Is that it? In that case… this time, I’ll show you the exact opposite: ‘unhappiness’ and ‘anxiety.'”
Palinkron muttered, and a shiver ran down my spine. Of course, I hadn’t touched any of Palinkron’s blood, so this wasn’t the mental magic of the Thief of the Principles of Darkness. It was something entirely different. Independent of magic power, I was simply overcome with a pure sense of dread. My grip began to loosen.
“K-Kanami-san—!?”
Maria, who was restraining Sis with me, sensed my abnormality and cried out.
Palinkron grinned from an unreachable distance. I felt a phantom pressure as if my heart had been grasped.
“This is the truth that awaited us in the deepest part of the labyrinth. Keep yourself together, okay?”
A disturbing concern, as if he were teasing me or genuinely worried. With those words, the aurora in the garden intensified. It filled the sky with light and my vision with the brilliance of the Magic Stone Lines. My very senses were swallowed and rewritten by the light. It was as if the world itself was changing, and I was consumed by the spectacle—
And there, I was shown a memory.
It was raining again.
The large castle, now a familiar sight, stood as rain pounded against its walls, creating a sound like static. Inside, four young boys and girls were in the grand hall. It was the same situation as the dream I had before. But this memory was clearly different from the one I had previously seen. The cheerful atmosphere was entirely gone. The air was tense, as if it could shatter at any moment.
Upon closer inspection, Tiara’s body was noticeably larger. While the other three had not aged, Tiara had grown taller. It was difficult to tell if time had passed from the previous memory or not. Unusually, the man was not wearing a mask. And, as expected, he had a face identical to mine. A man who could only be called Aikawa Uzunami sat on the stone floor.
The man cradled the body of a girl. That girl should have been Aikawa Hidaki… but her body was abnormal. She was covered in ice crystals, frozen like an ice statue. Most alarmingly, her limbs were wrong. Her skin was not flesh-colored but had turned black. Hard, dark scales grew along them. Furthermore, her fingers numbered three, not five. Their length was disproportionate for a human. Only her head retained a human appearance. She was hardly human; she had become monstrous.
And in Hidaki’s chest, a crystal longsword was impaled. The man embraced Hidaki, her heart pierced, tears streaming down his face. Holding Hidaki’s body, the man screamed.
“—Ah, Aaaah!! How could you, how could you betray me like this!! Sis!!” It was a heart-wrenching wail, as if his throat were being torn apart.
Seeing that scene, I understood. “Ah, just as I thought.” While the kind Hairi couldn’t, Palinkron would certainly exploit this. I realized I was being shown exactly that.
Apostle Sis responded to the man’s anguished cry. “Your vessel couldn’t contain the Principles of Water, could it… It’s sad, but it can’t be helped. Ally, stop crying. There’s a replacement…”
“A-replacement…? A replacement?” The man gently laid Hidaki’s body on the floor and stood up like a ghost. The face that looked exactly like mine contorted into an expression I had never seen before.
“Is this the ‘ending’ from a thousand years ago?” I immediately found the answer. Or rather, I was confirming my answer. I realized I was confirming a prediction I had long vaguely suspected. The situation was simple. The man must have continued to fight. Believing the Apostle’s words, he fought and fought and fought. But he was unrewarded. His beloved sister’s illness wasn’t cured. She had become a monster as a ‘price’ for treatment and eventually died— That’s why he’s crying. That’s the ‘ending.’
This meant that whether I was a Magic Stone Human or Aikawa Uzunami, Aikawa Hidaki was already dead and no longer in this world. I was engulfed by a sense of emptiness, as if my heart had been ripped out. But unlike me, the man raged. He shouted and drew a sword from the empty air.
“There is no replacement for Hidaki! She was my only family! My only family! You killed her! Ah, it’s all your fault! I’ll kill you too! I’ll kill you, Sis!!” His abilities were no different from what I called my Inventory. It seemed to be one of the magic spells he had developed. I calmly analyzed and watched the man’s fate unfold.
“W-wait, my Ally. Calm down. It was all for the sake of the world…”
“For the sake of the world? I don’t care about that! Hidaki was all that mattered to me! She was everything!!”
“Don’t lose sight of the greater good, my Ally! If this isn’t accomplished, all living things will be wiped out! It was something someone had to attempt to save the world! And Hidaki was the most suitable for it! Yes, she became the cornerstone of world salvation—”
“—Ah, what a grand tale! How marvelous! Amazing, isn’t it! But it has nothing to do with us! Nothing at all, Sis!!” The man continued to shout, his face contorted, swinging his sword. Interrupted by Sis’s words, he took a step forward. “You said she would be cured! I believed you! Hidaki believed what you said!!”
“Theoretically, yes! I intended to cure her too! But things don’t always go as planned! We wouldn’t know unless we tried!!” Sis also shouted back in desperation. She feared that the man before her would cut her down. So, she tried to persuade him. Sis too shouted with all her might. “My Ally, understand me too! Understand me! Yes, if we just meet halfway, anyone can understand each other—”
“—Ah, I understand you perfectly! I know you’ll resort to any means to achieve your goals! I’m saying this knowing all of that!!” But it didn’t reach him. He cut her off. “You used us! You used Hidaki for an experiment! I’ll never forgive you!!” The man pointed his sword at Sis. A killing intent that seemed to cut through the air flew towards her.
Realizing reconciliation was impossible, Sis began to construct magic as she retreated. “…Why don’t you understand?” she murmured softly, tears welling up. Whether the man heard her voice was unclear. The man approached Sis, sword ready. Sensing the danger to her life, Sis activated her magic, a white glow and spreading wings of light. Then, with the blinding flash, she ran towards the grand hall’s window.
“You won’t escape!” The man tried to pursue her. However, a hand from behind stopped him. It was the hand of Tiara, who had been watching the scene. Unlike before, her childishness was gone, and she resembled Rustiara. Her beauty was marred as she desperately grabbed the man’s sleeve and shouted. “Master, wait! If you continue like this, you’ll lose yourself! If you continue this ‘transformation,’ your body will become the same!”
Restrained, the man stopped. In that time, Sis flew out the window into the sky. The man cursed under his breath and yelled at Tiara, the cause of his escape. “So what! Shut up, Tiara! What do you know? What does it matter to you!!” Tiara flinched, tears welling in her eyes. But she didn’t back down, retorting, “It matters! We created this together! I am Master’s top disciple—!!” Tiara gripped the man’s arm tightly and pleaded with the feelings from the bottom of her heart. But it didn’t reach him. The man sneered.
“Heh, hahahaha, that’s right! We created it together! Hahahahaha!! What is ‘Level Up’! What are ‘Status’! What a joke! You egged me on to create ‘Curse Techniques,’ and in the end, this is it! This is the outcome for us! It’s ridiculous! It was all according to your plans, right in the palm of your hand! Just as I thought, ‘Curse Techniques’ are ‘Curse Techniques,’ and curses are curses!” The man shook off Tiara’s arm. Still, Tiara didn’t give up her plea.
“But! Thanks to Master’s ‘Transformation’ spell, many people were saved! Master became a hero, no, the savior of the world!? That’s not a curse! I believe it’s something far more sacred!!”
“Ha, savior? Sacred? Ah, that’s right, I am the savior! All according to the Apostle’s plan! Now we can gather all the magic in the sky in one place! Good for you! Now you can save the world! Hahaha! So what?! What then?! Ah, good, good! You all did well! I didn’t! This world is saved, so what do I gain?! I came this far hearing that Hidaki’s illness would be cured! I’ve done things I didn’t want to do, killed others by killing myself! And this is my reward! I helped those I didn’t want to help, and I couldn’t help the one I wanted to help!! Damn you! Damn you!!” The torrent of abuse flowed from the mouth identical to mine. Overwhelmed by those harsh words, Tiara finally shed a tear.
“Master, get a hold of yourself… You’re a much kinder person…”
“A kind person!? Ha, I’m not even human anymore! Of course! Right now, I have the highest level in this world! I’m the one who devised this magic formula!” The man’s sneering face was distorted by despair, and his face was a mess from tears. Uncontrolled magic erupted due to his emotional outburst. Tiara distanced herself to avoid being caught in the outpouring of magic. The magic was a monstrous blackish-purple. It corroded everything it touched, distorted its dimensional existence, and broke it down. It was abnormal magic. And I knew magic similar to it. It was the same phenomenon as when the Guardian showed their full power. It was the stirring of magic that encroached upon the world itself. The walls turned blackish-purple and shifted diagonally. Although the walls were not broken, the other side became visible. The floor was the same. As if cut with a knife, the strata of the earth beyond the floor were exposed. I recalled that in this era, ‘magic power’ was called ‘poison.’ As the name suggested, it looked as if poison were corroding the world. If I were to give this man a name, it would be ‘Thief of the Principles of Dimensions.’ There could be no other.
“Sis… I definitely won’t let you escape…” The man started to walk. But behind him, a shadow stirred. Tiara, though caught in the magical rampage, had not given up. “Master, please wait…” “…Wait? Wait for what?” The man’s expression was stern. I could tell he was irritated by Tiara’s persistent attempts to stop him. “I’ll change everything from now on… I will unravel all the ‘Principles’ and create a new law of magic… The ‘magic’ we aimed for, where everyone could be happy, I will create it… So, please wait a little longer… Surely Hidaki Sister too…”
“Shut up! I don’t need ‘magic’ where everyone can be happy anymore! That’s all lies! You believed such hypocrisy! What I said was ‘magic’ that would make Hidaki happy! It was all for Hidaki!!” The man responded with heartless words to stop Tiara’s rebuttal. Shaking off the girl who clung to him, the man started walking. Then, he shouted his answer to everything.
“It’s too late! Everything is too late!!”
“Don’t go… You are all I have, Master…” It was clear to me, observing objectively, that this girl, Tiara, needed the man. For her, perhaps, the man was her entire world. However, I understood the man’s perspective as well. For him, Hidaki was his entire world. Therefore, no matter how much Tiara cried, he would not stop.
“I will catch up… I will catch up, so please wait for me, Master…” Tiara did not try to chase after his retreating figure. She probably knew that she, as a disciple, could not surpass her Master. Even a cursory glance revealed a difference of more than double in their magical power. Nevertheless, she had not given up. Tiara shouted at the departing man. A crude ‘Contract’ copied from an ‘Apostle.’ Yet, words with no magical power. A verbal promise.
“Wait for me! Wherever Master goes, I will go too! Not by Contract or anything else, but by my will, with my strength, I will share a soul with Master! I swear too!!” Tiara declared to her own soul. There was no spell. No magic power was activated. The world and the ‘Principles’ remained unmoving. Yet, it was undeniably a ‘Contract.’ Choked by such pure words, the man gritted his teeth. And he shouted back.
“—! …Why don’t you understand me! Tiara! Being a pawn of Fuziaze means being a pawn of the Apostle! Never show your face again! If this continues, I’ll even want to kill you!!” His words were brittle and dirty compared to Tiara’s. Therefore, she remained unshaken. Staring at the departing man, she continued to swear. “I won’t let Master be alone… never…! Just as Master saved me from being alone, I will save Master…! I will catch up, no matter how many years it takes, even thousands of years…!!”
“Hmph! W-why are you—!” Overwhelmed by her pure feelings, it was now the man who could not retort. Unable to find words, he shouted like a child. “Ah, shut up! Shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up—!” Then, picking up Hidaki’s body, he fled the grand hall. He walked through the magnificent entrance, opened the door, and stepped outside. Struck by the pouring rain, the man glared at the sky where Sis had flown.
“I’ll get revenge! On the entire country that deceived me, on the Apostle who took Hidaki, on the thieves of Principles who sided with the Apostle, on the world itself! I’ll kill them all! I’ll settle everything!” The man advanced into the dark forest surrounding the castle. Having lost his family and companions, he wandered alone in another world.
“Don’t think you can escape, Sis! With my current Dimension, I can even cover the entire continent!!” He embraced Hidaki’s body lovingly, expanding his own magic. Dimensional magic enveloped the forest, soared over the castle, and encompassed the continent. “It wasn’t the world I wanted to save! It was Hidaki!!” His voice was hoarse, making it difficult to discern individual words. His eyes were red and swollen, his face twisted in despair, yet the corners of his mouth were upturned. Anyone looking at him would think he had gone mad. Indeed, the man was mad. The madman disappeared into the forest— At that point, the playback of his memory began to distort.
As if the video were being fast-forwarded, the world accelerated. As if to say it was irrelevant from here on, the memories became vague. I agreed. What was important was only Hidaki’s story. So, I passively watched the fast-forwarded movie. The story that followed was simple. It was simply the story of a madman seeking revenge. He deceived and killed the Thieves of Principles. He gathered ‘poison’ thoughtlessly, leveled up, and became a monster. A comical tale. And at the end of that story—
Gathering vast amounts of magic, the man became stronger than anyone. But as a consequence, he had become a monster, just like his sister, Hidaki. His skin was grotesquely decaying, the number of his arms had increased, and scales grew along them. Dark red flesh, like internal organs, was exposed, and bulging veins pulsed. It was a grotesque form, a patchwork of creatures like fish and birds. And this body was on the verge of collapse. On a certain battlefield. In the center of a Magic Circle, the man embraced the body of his dead sister. Under the black sky, the man muttered. “This is the Shaka Hōkan Jin… With this, everything can end…” He was not the only one present. Humans faced the man who had become a monster. It was like a painting depicting a myth. Like the legends Rustiara had told me, it was a scene that strongly suggested that Saints would defeat the monster. At the forefront of the humans stood a woman. Tiara, now grown into an adult, stood before the man.
My vision went black.
“—This is the end. The story from a thousand years ago must be over now. Honestly, it has nothing to do with me. In the end, this memory wants to convey only one thing. Just one thing. Aikawa Hidaki is dead. That’s all. Only that fact pierces my heart, and I can’t even pull it out—”
