Chapter: 128. Contract Beast vs. Contract Beast
The words Xia Xi once said to herself echoed in Nagino’s ears.
The parts of her memory that had been sealed away were gradually unraveling, and this truth was like a key, revealing one by one the aspects of her previous life’s memories that had been neglected.
At that very moment.
As Nagino recalled the truth from the past, she once again felt a certain sweeping “gaze,” the “attention” she had experienced in her previous life, the watchful eye and hostility from the “World Will.” Fortunately, she did not fully regain all of her awareness, so she was not locked down by the “World.”
Everything from the past seemed to receive a reasonable explanation at that instant.
Her mother’s fear of her in the previous life was not due to her inability to understand her actions; rather, it stemmed from her awareness of her son’s crazy thoughts that they depended on each other.
The true meaning behind the so-called means-to-an-end approach and obsession with efficiency was that she simply did not care about the lives and deaths of everyone else.
At that time, she was not acting to save the people of the island, nor to save the world.
Summoning Garuda on Nanase Island to save Xia Xi was not out of humanitarianism; the true purpose was to obtain her, to obtain this “primal saint,” because she was the key to unlocking “the first fantasy creature—Alpha,” an essential part of her plan to bring about the world’s destruction.
“Messiah” was a mask she wore in her previous life, a meticulously designed lie.
Establishing the Special Ring SEMA and the three academies was not to enable humanity to combat fantasy creatures, but to redirect all espers’ attention to the fantasy creatures. Only through endless war could she cultivate an environment of unrest in the world, using the establishment of the Special Ring SEMA and the three academies to provide all potential interferers with a “correct target.”
As long as they focused on the “real enemy,” they would not perceive her true intentions.
On this journey filled with lies and hypocrisy, Xia Xi was the only one in the know. She was the primal saint, cursed with immortality, having endured endless torment from humanity, and filled with boundless resentment towards this world.
Thus, upon learning her real plan, she became her true accomplice. The two of them collected powerful fantasy creatures that could impact her plans, burying those potent extraordinary weapons to prevent them from falling into the hands of others and becoming obstacles.
As she said, their relationship was not that of an ambiguous couple.
Rather, it was a mutually beneficial relationship with “aligned objectives.”
As long as she could simultaneously summon the primal fantasy creature “Alpha” and the ultimate fantasy creature “Omega,” the annihilation reaction created by their combination would turn the world into nothingness; past and future, everything would no longer exist.
The primal saint was the key to summoning Alpha.
The key to summoning Omega was—”Fantasy Creature – End.”
In her previous life, after successfully collecting Xia Xi and End and being fully prepared, she, through her apprentice “Alice Astraea,” exploited her hybrid dragon’s rampage to fake her death at her hands, thus disappearing from the eyes of all espers and fantasy creatures.
She then went with Xia Xi to the altar and performed the summoning ritual.
Unfortunately, at the crucial moment, the Special Ring SEMA and the three academies finally recognized her true intentions. They reached an unexpected alliance with the fantasy creatures and arrived at the altar to stop her.
In that blood-soaked battle named “Betrayal,” she only managed to summon “Omega.” The ritual for summoning “Alpha” was interrupted, and the remaining square tower failed to successfully call forth “the first fantasy creature,” leading her to be cornered by the united forces of humanity and fantasy creatures.
However, just as the human and fantasy creature coalition was on the brink of success, End betrayed them, betrayed this world. He took her soul and used the Corruption of the Star Eye to rewrite the essence of her soul and the world’s perception, making everyone, including this world, believe—”It was End who corrupted the Messiah, which is why he attempted to destroy this world.”
Utilizing the Corruption of the Star Eye, End took away her powers and memories, transforming them into countless fragments buried within all the espers involved in the siege against her at that time.
This was a means of preserving the “spark” and also a kind of “marking.” As long as she killed them to retrieve the fragments, she could complete her revenge and once again descend upon this world.
Nagino finally recalled details not belonging to the “original work,” that Omega was sealed and taken away by the people of the Moon Academy after that great battle, placed into a black box to become “Dirette.”
Now, every detail in this world confirmed the memories that awakened within her.
The plots that should have appeared in “Star Draw 2” filled the voids in her missing memories and understanding.
As Nagino reviewed the past once more, she finally realized that this was not the world of “Star Draw 2.”
The world now was her enemy.
She was the greatest threat to this world.
……
……
“…Why now? Why are you only looking for me now?”
Nagino slowly raised her head, the confusion in her eyes completely gone, dark eyes reflecting the figures of Loki and the other fantasy creatures.
“Is it because of the fluctuations of End?” She recalled the moments when the fantasy creatures first contacted her in this life.
Everything happened after the great battle at Ark Academy.
The fluctuations of the fantasy creature-End’s return finally locked the positions of the fantasy creatures onto her.
Thinking back, after the infinite assault on Ark Academy, their first target of attack was not Kanade but herself—
From beginning to end, they never regarded Kanade as a threat and were even surprised by the abilities she displayed; this was not in line with the fantasy creatures’ style.
In battles in which they participated, except for ambushes, they usually had a clear understanding of their targets.
“…In the past, even uniting with humanity did not lead to success; this time, do you think you can kill me relying solely on yourselves?” Nagino swept her gaze over all the fantasy creatures present, a hint of a smile tugging at her lips: “Moreover, you are all pure fantasy creatures; don’t you know my fighting style?”
To Nagino, all fantasy creatures were merely beings that could be forcibly contracted by her.
The fantasy creatures before her, like Loki, were seen by Nagino as gifts delivered to her doorstep.
“Even we have to admit that your fighting style indeed exceeded our expectations—an existence that should not exist as a protagonist.” Loki slowly spoke: “But conversely, I have also learned many things from you.”
“What?”
“Although you can forcibly contract our souls, that is based on the premise that—we are not contract beasts.”
“As long as you become a contract beast, your crooked methods will lose their effect on us.”
“The protagonist who should not exist, this time your opponent is not us, but her—our contractor.”
As soon as Loki finished speaking.
A slender figure descended gracefully from the sky.
“Although this was not in our plan, it is still a great opportunity—”
“End has already left your soul; you can no longer seize the contract beasts within others’ souls.”
“Protagonist vs. heroine, element sovereign vs. primal saint.”
