It all started that day. The day on Eleventh Crossroads, when I found you before anyone else, and I’ve been looking forward to it ever since. …What if I fail the “homecoming” here? What if I betray you now? If I keep shaking Kanami’s heart, how far will he fall? If I’m going to fight Kanami, now is the only time, before the magic stone has settled in. Since that day, I’ve been curious, wanting to know, wanting to confirm… I’ve been thinking about it continuously.
As the question marks piled up, Seldra’s smile deepened. He harbored an unfathomable joy for a future he could barely imagine.
Yet, even as he laughed, he looked as if he might cry. With a smile of self-loathing, Seldra declared, “So, you understand the ‘Ordeal’? From now on, you will be cornered. I will go all out until you can’t protect anything…”
The explanation up to this point was his own sense of duty as one of the eighty Guardians. You could tell from his choice of words. Seldra, with his feet planted on the ground, averted his gaze for a moment. Beyond that, a distorted Magic Circle of “Replace Connection” floated in the air. If the story about the setup was true, that invasion route needed to be dealt with.
The moment he thought this… his vision went black.
“――――ッ!?”
It wasn’t that night had deepened. A great wall had appeared before me, blocking the light of the stars floating in the night sky. That great wall was Seldra’s fist. His hand, swollen by “Dragonization,” was so large that its first joint alone exceeded the size of my upper body. A beat later, an explosion reached my ears. It was the sound of Seldra kicking off the ground.
His speed in dashing and thrusting was simply astonishing. Seldra, who could move swiftly even through the air, likely chose to keep his feet on the ground to add the power of his legs to the propulsion from the wind. His fist also pulsed with magical vibrations. Recognizing it as Snow’s specialty, “Impulse Break,” I knew that a quick “Default” wouldn’t be enough to evade it.
Destroying the “Spell Formation” it touched, the fist continued its direct assault. I had no choice but to meet it with the side of my moving arm. “Kuh–” “Kanami, deflect it—!” I considered moving to grappling or a direct exchange of blows, but just before that, I heard a “wait.” My unease about my footing translated into a “voice.” If I braced myself, the rocky ground beneath me wouldn’t hold. If that happened, the special soldiers I had just put to sleep would be in danger. Worse, the island itself might not hold and could be cast into the sea. My feet lifted. The impact from the front sent my body flying like a batted white ball, out of the arena and from the sandy beach.
I was over the sea in an instant. I brought my feet closer to the water’s surface to land. My right arm was frozen by an unknown “solidification,” but my defensive left arm was unharmed. I had my posture under control, and I had Seldra, who was moving for a rapid follow-up attack, within my field of vision. The surface of the sea where my body had passed instantly froze, as if a thick white stroke of a brush had been painted across it. For me, having overcome the battle with “Thief of the Principles of Water,” turning the sea into a foothold with an unconscious “Freeze” was a simple matter.
I created a thick, icy plain and landed with both feet, slowing down as I skated and crushed the surface. Then, I infused the ice fragments scattered by the braking with magic. “—Magic, ‘Ice, Scatter Blossom’.” I imbued them with magic power, transforming them all into arrow shapes. Then, I aimed the tips of those arrows at Seldra, who was flying in pursuit along the path I had taken, and unleashed them all at once. Each arrow had enough power to blow away the clouds in the sky, but… “They’re soft,” Seldra’s body, as he pursued, touched them and they returned to ice fragments, as if time had reversed. Returning to liquid form due to his high body temperature and dense magic power, they scattered as water droplets.
“That’s why the real attack is this. —Magic, ‘Midwinter of Overcrowded Dimensions’.” Having regained my “Ice Magic” Skill, I chained together the spells that had become familiar to my body. Using the water droplets in the air, I efficiently froze Seldra’s body, slowing him down. A moment of stagnation occurred. During that pause, I unleashed my most confident ice magic. “—Magic, ‘Midgards Freeze’.” The magic of the ice serpent. However, the phenomenon that occurred after the declaration of the magic’s name was the creation of an “ice wall,” bearing little resemblance to it. A white wall shot up rapidly in a circle around Seldra and me. Without “Dimension,” one might not grasp its full scale. I was generating an ice serpent larger than an island beneath the sea at my feet, intending to swallow the entire battlefield with its jaws.
With a loud “Gachin,” the ice serpent closed its mouth, blocking out the starlight and creating darkness. Encased in ice on all four sides, I intended to bind and seal Seldra. However, Seldra, his momentum for charging and flying killed by “Midwinter of Overcrowded Dimensions,” was floating in mid-air—preparing for his next move. It was a clumsy, easy-to-understand charging kick pose, like a child’s game. However, the kicking leg had swollen to a size that was far beyond a child’s game. It was not the five fingers of a human, but the three-fingered, clawed limb of a dragon. “—’Ikus Wind’.” Furthermore, Seldra used his wind magic. It was originally a gust of wind spell, but it wasn’t used according to the manual. “Ikus Wind” became a completely different type of propulsion magic when “Thief of Principles” with his sturdy body used it with a large amount of magic power. Seldra’s wings and back caught an explosive tailwind, accelerating him. From that point on, even with “Dimension” and “Midwinter of Overcrowded Dimensions” deployed, and even with “Shift” and “Parallel Thinking” extending my perceived time, it was instantaneous.
A kick like a black “Meteor Strike” shot diagonally, falling.
By the time I understood, I was already receiving it with one arm again.
I felt the sensation of an ice wall shattering behind me, and I was in the sea.
After taking Seldra’s flying kick, I emerged from the mouth of “Midgard’s Freeze” and fell diagonally through the sea—down, down, down, down.
To escape from there, the constantly vibrating “Dragon’s Wind” and “Impulse” were obstacles.
While being affected by these, it’s as difficult to construct a “Spell Formation” as building a card tower during an earthquake.
On top of that, Seldra’s kick was heavy, fast, and strong.
Unable to deflect the falling, meteor-like kick, my body smashed through numerous sea rocks, scraping the seabed for kilometers as I fell endlessly diagonally downward.
I thought I would pierce through the sea and land, all the way to the mantle at the Earth’s core. However, the kick stopped when I reached the deep sea, darker than night.
For a while, though, my body continued to be blown away by inertia.
The rapidly increasing water pressure was immense. For a normal person, their organs would rupture, but my body, protected by “cells that lack mass,” had no problems. More than that, even breathing, a necessary condition for mammals, was already a sufficient condition for me.
While being blown away, I had the leisure to think.
Seldra, the “Thief of Nothingness,” fights in a manner similar to Titty, the “One who steals the logic of the wind.”
It seems the “King” and “General,” who never had opponents of equal strength, trained together and acquired their “Martial Arts” skills. Of course, specialized techniques like “Gunslinging” were likely tips from Primordial Kanami, the “Foreigner”…
Not only are their combat styles similar, but Seldra’s strength is on par with Titty’s.
If there’s any area where he surpasses her, it would be his wicked personality and the magic power of the floor he’s guarding.
Just as I finished this analysis, the deceleration ended, and as I floated in the sea, I heard Rustiara’s “voice.”
“Kanami! While Kanami was being kicked, I froze the door of that island with the entire “Winter Otherworld” magic. Now, I don’t think new people will be able to invade the Cathedral while we’re fighting.”
I confirmed the results of the remote magic I’d entrusted to her via “Parallel Thinking” through Rustiara’s report.
With gratitude, I nodded back to her as she floated beside me.
My analysis of the “Coagulation” on my left arm was also nearing completion.
Just when I thought I had completely regained the advantage from the surprise attack, Seldra’s voice echoed.
“You really have some leeway, don’t you, Kanami.”
My “Dimension” caught Seldra swimming down from above.
It was a sight difficult to describe as human.
Seldra, further advanced in “Dragonization,” swam with a large, jet-black tail swaying.
The wings he originally had moved like fins, and hard-looking scales were gradually appearing on his skin. On top of that, he spoke leisurely underwater.
“Protecting Rustiara’s words, protecting unknown soldiers, protecting the portal of “Another World,” protecting my body… and even trying to protect me.”
His voice was clear even underwater.
It seemed to be vocalization utilizing vibration magic, not just Draconian traits.
Since Snow had done the same thing during past “Dungeon Exploration,” I imitated her and replied with the “Vibration” magic.
“It still feels like just a preliminary bout… Besides, like I said before, when fighting a “Thief of Principles,” it’s better to talk than to punch.”
“Hah, that’s for sure. The cries of the soul are the only way a “Thief of Principles” can be reached. With kicks like these, I’m just destroying the environment; it’s meaningless.”
In the darkness where starlight couldn’t reach, without even needing air, we conversed.
Despite being in the “Original World,” the feeling of actually being there was nonexistent.
Seldra seemed to have the same impression, looking around and giving a wry smile.
“Not much has changed. The sea over there and the sea here… it’s just dark.”
It was like someone struggling for conversation starting with small talk about the weather.
“Perhaps. But I think the living things are quite different.”
“You think so? I’ve tasted the fish and the sea, and they tasted the same. Just bland flavors, as always. The soil, the sky, night, morning, the sun, the world… nothing felt new. Wasn’t it like that for you?”
We paused our fight and talked idly.
However, this was by no means a sign of holding back or carelessness.
I’m serious.
Because I’m genuinely challenging the “Thief of Principles,” I’m choosing the most effective option: conversation.
“For a thousand years, I’ve vaguely noticed. Even coming to “Another World,” not much changes. There’s nothing I do that changes.”
“”Another World” is fun… It’s like being reborn, with all sorts of enjoyable things happening. Every day is a new discovery, but also a series of challenges… At least, that’s how it was for me.”
“Normally, that would be the case. I too was looking forward to that world where everything is new, as if reborn… The story of “Another World” should definitely be fun… It should have been fun. A new world should have been full of hope, beautiful, bright, and wonderful… But I got bored. I got bored of “Another World” in three days.”
Seldra exposed his soul.
He’s truly throwing caution to the wind.
Just as I did when I clashed with the “Thief of Principles” in the past, Seldra is talking with all his might.
“Nothing’s changed. I… couldn’t think of it as fun. Of course, that’s because of my ‘Curse.’ I myself am a boring person, so the ‘Another World’ isn’t to blame. It’s because my heart couldn’t conquer the ‘Curse’ and was immature. It’s because I’m utterly terrible at living a fun life…!!”
The vibrations gradually grew stronger.
Seldra let his body float in the sea, exposing himself further.
He was no longer in a fighting stance.
He relaxed his entire body, lay spread-eagled, and gazed up at the lightless sea surface.
Then, the ‘sickness of getting bored’ that Titty had mentioned before was explained in his own words. Seldra seemed to possess a critical lack of talent for enjoying stories. This was where he was absolutely different from Tiara or Hidaki, despite seeming similar.
“From birth, I found it difficult to empathize with things others found enjoyable. The troublesome part is that it’s not that I don’t understand them at all… The first time, when it was fresh, I could still empathize with everyone. But I quickly grew bored alone, and lost the ability to empathize. At that moment, I hated myself to death…”
His voice carried the vibrations.
It wasn’t magic. If this were on land, it would be like shattering glass, felling trees, and cracking the earth—a mere sorrowful plea. It traveled through the seawater, striking my entire body.
“A thousand years ago, I couldn’t say it to the ‘Ruling King’s.’ As a companion, I absolutely couldn’t… The only time I could tell someone was while working as a spy in the South. But I really wanted someone in the North to understand, not an enemy. I was suffering because I was never, ever understood. Honestly, I sometimes thought it would have been better if I had been a great villain who couldn’t understand people’s hearts from the start…! But I detested being a bad person with all my heart…! However, I had already become a great villain long ago…! Kuhahaha, it’s laughable! I tried to ‘escape’ properly, and failed! Tried to ‘adapt’ properly, and failed! Tried to ‘atone’ properly, and failed! A cycle of failure, failure, failure! …That’s who I was!!”
His very soul was laid bare.
This was the reason he wasn’t counted as a compatriot of Viais when he fought Titty.
Even while serving Viais, he had wandered as merely a ‘Demon.’
Like Titty and Aid, he simply had no room to spare.
As I watched his screams, for some reason, my eyes began to sting.
It felt like standing in front of a mirror, repeating to myself, ‘It’s okay, it’s okay, it’s okay.’
“But, even for someone like me, there was one thing that was always fun. My taste is truly awful. For some reason, I never get bored of seeing precious things break… I don’t. I loved the ‘Ruling King’! He was the only one close to me, and I always expected him to empathize with me! I felt like if he was as strong as me, he’d eventually understand me… but he was the weakest of them all! He was just, so incredibly weak, and a good person! Ahh, I truly, truly loved the ‘Ruling King’ at first…! At first…!!”
Even as I listened to his sudden confession, the illusion of the mirror didn’t stop.
I kept staring at the blurring mirror.
“I felt like I could watch my beloved siblings break forever without getting bored. Somewhere in my heart, I was enjoying it. Because, from the moment I was born, that’s what I was. I was a scumbag who would be happy seeing my father, my mother, and all the people I cherished break… My cheeks would twitch. My shoulders would shake. I’d laugh. Haha, destroying my birthplace… was fun————!!”
“——!?” “——Dimension Curve Calculation!!”
A loud voice echoed.
Defensive magic was necessary.
The scream, clearly imbued with ‘Price,’ had transformed into an acoustic weapon that could kill marine life.
Avoiding the damage, I skillfully deflected the shock with a barrier of Dimensional Magic.
This lasted for about several minutes.
I maintained it, completely blocking out the echoing vibrations. Seldra, having screamed himself out, looked incredibly bored and panted.
“Hah, hah, hah…”
I understood why he started talking here.
Seldra must have chosen a place with fewer things to break, concerned about the surrounding damage.
Choosing the ‘Another World’ as the battlefield this time was the same as heading from the ‘North’ to the ‘South’ during the thousand-year peace treaty. — In enemy territory, he could do as he pleased.
I also understood Seldra’s main objective.
He wasn’t simply trying to fight me and corner me.
He was desperately seeking the mutual understanding that lay beyond.
It was exactly the same as the former ‘Thief of Principles.’
“Ah… ‘Thief of Principles’ were all lonely… No one understood them, no one noticed them. That’s why they search the world a thousand years later for someone to empathize with—someone to entrust their ‘Affinity’ to. I’m the same. I was waiting for someone.”
Seldra continued speaking, his breath ragged.
As he talked, he looked at me and smiled with genuine joy.
“I was always ‘anxious.’ But Kanami, at the very end, finally started to reflect me… I thought my turn had finally come. Because, with Kanami now, you’ll understand my feelings, right? After all, I’ve never seen anyone who enjoys things less than I do before.”
Seldra exposed himself, seeking my empathy.
I couldn’t simply dismiss his sincere plea. I could neither confirm nor deny it.
“Hey, Kanami. What is fun? I’ve been thinking about it for a thousand years. You, now, a thousand years later, are probably thinking about it the most in your life. How do you have fun? What is fun? How do you become that way? I don’t understand that state. I want a definition. Please tell me. Otherwise, we can’t understand ‘fun’ at all.”
What is fun?
It’s being with Rustiara, without needing to think about it.
How to have fun?
When I’m talking with Rustiara, my heart calms, and it feels pleasant and airy.
I understand both the state and the definition well.
However, Seldra’s words continued to pierce my chest. They shook me physically and psychologically to the point of breaking, making me breathless. I gasped for air, as if in a place with no breathable air, my lungs desperately moving up and down.
“Haa, haa, haa…”
“Because it’s not fun, I’ve had no purpose in life…! It’s painful. Living is so painful, so painful, so painful, and I’m lonely! Because there’s nothing left! Even if I search and search and search for something new and fun, I can’t find it anymore! The world became nothingness before I knew it! Nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing! There’s nothing left! I can’t do anything anymore, I can’t find any enjoyment!”
No purpose in life.
Even while living, it’s painful, painful, painful, and empty.
There is nothing. Nothing, nothing, nothing.
She is nowhere.
…I understand a little.
This was precisely the empathy Seldra was seeking, so I continued.
“Of course, I tried my best!! I’ve put in more effort to have fun than anyone else!! I didn’t lose to unreasonableness, didn’t rot from inequality, and desperately tried to have fun by challenging myself with various things!! I went along with your games, trying and trying and trying to have fun!! Saving countries, saving the world! Destroying countries, destroying the world!? Without being picky, I dabbled in everything! Right, Kanami!! We didn’t complain! We were always positive and affirmative! But, how long has it been since then…? How many years has it been since I desperately kept saying, like an idiot, ‘fun,’ ‘wonderful,’ ‘interesting,’ ‘delicious,’ ‘pleasant’…? Without forgetting to smile, without forgetting companions, without forgetting dreams, how hard have I worked…? I did everything I could. Yet, it’s still boring. Everything is boring. Boring, boring, boring. Not a single thing felt fun. Not even one! Not a single thing is fun!! Whyyyyyyy, whyyyy!?”
…
Ultimately, the trigger for this was a conversation at Eleventh Crossroads a week ago.
After everything ended, Seldra, with nowhere to go and suffering from the Curse, seeking salvation, was told something I shouldn’t have said, even though I knew better.
To Seldra, who was always trying so hard, so hard, so hard, I said, “You haven’t changed.”
To Seldra, who was desperately, desperately, desperately trying to have fun, I said, “It’s tough.”
It’s because I was also seeking salvation.
I sympathized too easily.
“In the end, it’s just that I’m bored. I’m bored with everything. The stories that were fun at first quickly became repetitions of similar things. When I start reading, I already see the end. They’re all just combinations of similar parts! I’m so sick of it! Magic and science are almost the same! What’s the difference!? You want me to be grateful for this sameness and call it ‘fun’ again!? Don’t be ridiculous! It’s all the same! Everything, yesterday, tomorrow, the past, the future, everything is just—, just!!”
Seldra stamped his feet in the deep sea without footing, and the vibrations intensified. They pierced through the Defense Magic 《Dimension Curve Calculation》, reaching flesh, blood, and bone, making me feel like I would shatter at any moment.
And the more he exposed himself, the more Seldra’s body mutated. With every complaint, he lost his human-like form, and black dragon scales spread across him.
Each of Seldra’s words was proof of their meaning.
“It’s ‘boring’!! Life is too boring, too boring, too boring, ‘it’s boring’!! ‘Boring,’ ‘boring,’ ‘boring,’ ‘boring,’ ‘so damn boring’!!!!”
Seldra’s black wings grotesquely hypertrophied. At terrifying speed, what was already massive expanded to fill this vast deep sea.
When they became too large to be recognized as wings, they became the ceiling of the deep sea, further darkening and sealing the abyss where no light reached. This was the Strongest Dragon Person in history. Seldra, born hungry, craving, desiring, unfulfilled, and unable to suppress his destructive impulse, was constantly crying out.
“’Boring,’ ‘boring,’ ‘boring,’ what is this!!!! What is this world!!!!”
The vibrations shaking the deep sea increased further.
This is bad. If these vibrations get any stronger, my body won’t be able to take it.
I judged that, so I used magic.
“—Dimensional Curve Calculation!”
Unlike the magic I use semi-automatically, this was a magic cast with all my conscious effort. Since Seldra’s scream cannot be blocked by half-hearted magic, I completely shut it out with magic packed with dense magic power.
Seldra’s vibration is peculiar, a weapon that “adapts” to any condition. However, since I surpassed even that, I was “Thief of the Principles of Dimensions.” To stand at the pinnacle of all “Thieves of Principles,” I was adjusted by that Hidaki and completed as the ideal older brother, “Aikawa Uzunami.” Now, I am becoming the “Star” itself, embodying numerous magic stones like darkness, earth, wood, wind, light, moon, and water.
However, it is great power that comes with a “curse.” The more I use it, the more it—fits my body.
“Kanami!? Seldra is screaming with all their might! They’re fighting! Then Kanami has to respond with all their might…!”
I hear a “voice.” I understand. I should respond to Seldra’s seriousness with seriousness. But, and yet, even so, almost—
I want to show off. I want to deny my weakness. It’s painful to be alive. It’s painful to die. It’s painful because I’m contradictory. Because it’s painful, I want to run away. But where can I run? There’s nowhere to run. This is my “Summit.” From here on, it’s just a matter of a continuously “happy dream.”
—My breath hitched and wouldn’t stop.
“Haa, haa, haa…”
“Haaっ, haaっ, haaっ…!!”
Seldra was more out of breath than I was. They were screaming so much that I worried if their lungs—no, perhaps gill breathing. In either case, with an inhuman respiration, their torso continued to move up and down.
Seldra’s roar was fitting for a figure who was truly surviving. Only by surviving can one break even “Threads.” It grabs the attention of the “World” itself, riveting it. I could clearly feel them trying to change the great flow of destiny with all their might. Facing such a formidable enemy, Rustiara automatically offered advice.
“Kanami, take a slow deep breath… Calmly, only the magic you need right now—”
“That’s it.”
However, Seldra, while stumbling, pointed at it and glared.
“But, I realized that even someone like me is better off because of that.”
Having screamed himself hoarse, he looked at Rustiara, who was in my line of sight, felt pity, and lowered his eyes.
“It seems you have the余裕 to look elsewhere, Thief of Principles Kanami. But you have no such余裕, do you? Trying to save someone else is because you yourself desperately want to be saved. I know, because I’m the same way. —Still, to live diligently and seriously until death… I swore that too, so I understand.”
I wasn’t the only one empathizing. They were too. That day, at the Eleventh Crossroads, when we said “You haven’t changed,” and “This is painful.” Because of our mutual connection, we had understood each other.
—That was the core of “Thief of Principles Kanami.”
As a prerequisite, I hate myself. Therefore, no matter how bright and kind a place I walk through, my “own World” remains dim, stagnant, and depressed, never changing. It was painful to pour all my effort into that “final battle,” only to be met with emptiness at its end. I truly wanted to be praised. By my sister, by Tiara. More than anyone, by Rustiara. That I was splendid in the “final battle”…. Just one word, just one more time…. I want to hear that “voice”….
—But, no one is here anymore.
As I worked hard for the reconstruction of the Allied Nations for the sake of the world and its people, everyone gradually became “happy.” However, I myself lost many precious people. —Life isn’t fun at all.
I understood his ultimate goal. The reason Seldra was exposing his true feelings like this—
“I’ll make sure you can’t say it’s fun from the bottom of your heart either…! Kanami, suffer properly! So you can share your suffering with me!!”
So that Kanami, the Guardian of the World, “Thief of Principles,” would also expose the same true feelings.
Each time I blocked Seldra’s fierce vibrations, I was compelled to use magic. This also meant that I was losing the余裕 to use the skill “Parallel Thinking.” The vibrations were erasing my precious “voice.”
Therefore, I must resist. I must resist. Don’t empathize. Don’t get caught up and nod. If you do. If you don’t resist. At this rate, I too will break—
“—I won’t let you. Seldra Queenfilion.”
Emotions boiling in my throat were spat out. My eyeballs moved. I had been in “narrow focus” for a long time, seeing only Rustiara Fuziaze. Centered around Rustiara, I had been weaving Rustiara’s story, treating her as the “Protagonist.”
—However, a soul that was too intensely assertive was genuinely clashing with me.
The aspiring blue Dragon Person was different from usual. He was clad in camouflage black suitable for the battlefield. His long black hair, grown as long as mine, swayed in the deep sea. His black eyes were so similar to mine that I could mistake him for myself.
“Finally, you’re looking this way, Kanami. Haaっ, haaっ, haaっ……, kuhahaっ. I had no idea where you were looking all this time, and it was unbelievably creepy.”
Seldra, panting breathlessly, spread his black wings and sneered.
