We live at the foot of Dragon Peak.
Everyone’s power is for someone.
Yung and Rin, who had taken distance and glared at each other, dissolved into the night like phantoms. Immediately after, they manifested to the world in non-human forms.
“Older Sister, disappear!”
“I will disappear, with Rin.”
Rin, who had become an embodiment of darkness darker than night, crossed the shadows.
Yung swept away the night and shadows that covered the forest with a brilliance exceeding the midsummer sun.
Even closing my eyes due to the overwhelming brightness, the light reached my pupils through my eyelids.
“Kya,” Priscilla-chan, who was holding hands with Ares-san, let out a small scream.
My vision was stolen, but I could grasp Yung and Rin’s movements by their presence.
Their presences expanded to cover the eastern part of the Great Forest.
Light and darkness clashed, swallowing each other as they tried to nullify each other’s existence.
Light diffusing. Darkness encroaching.
The battle spread beyond the campsite, covering the scorched earth and deeply into the forest.
However, strangely, the light and darkness only harmed each other’s existence, and the world, though engulfed by their overwhelming presence, suffered no damage at all.
Was it Yung’s will to protect the forest that was at work? Or was it Rin’s malice, targeting only Yung? Or was it both, and neither?
That was something only Yung and Rin knew.
There was only one thing we could understand.
That an unprecedented sisterly quarrel beyond human comprehension was happening right beside us.
“Rin, there is nothing beyond revenge.”
“You’re wrong, Older Sister! For some people, there is no future except at the end of revenge!”
“And will that create new avengers!”
“I don’t know about that. They were the ones who did something bad first!”
Yung and Rin’s conversation of wills, having lost their physical forms, spread through the forest as waves of light and darkness.
“The lifespan of the Giant Tribe is less than a hundred years. The objects of Rin’s revenge have long since burned out the lights of their lives.”
“I will hate their descendants. I will hate their companions. I will hate their race!”
“So you will hate all of the Giant Tribe and deny those who live now.”
“Disappear, everyone, everything, just disappear!”
The dark presence became sharp blades, slicing through the light.
The light burned like flames, incinerating the darkness.
The light, bisected by the dark blades, wandered through space like fireflies and weakly disappeared.
The darkness, scorched by the fierce light, danced like sparks and scattered.
Yung and Rin, without hesitation, extinguished each other’s existence. And for each extinguished existence, they erased their presence from this world.
Nevertheless, these were two who had obtained powers beyond human comprehension. The light and darkness covering the forest still clashed and mixed countless times with their overwhelming presence.
“The Mimicho Race who framed and abandoned my family and companions are still living carefree lives. I will absolutely not forgive them!”
“They have their own precious things. Furthermore, will you also burden those born after that era with the same sin?”
“You should know. The hatred of losing companions. The despair of losing family. After suffering the same pain as me, I will eradicate everything and erase all sorrow!”
“Then why are you trying to leave only Ran!”
“!”
At Yung’s accusation, the darkness that was encroaching on the flames of light solidified.
The survivors of the Sky Forest, who endured the tragedy 350 years ago, were only three sisters.
The eldest, Yung. The second, Rin. And the youngest, Ran.
However, Ran was not present here.
And that was only natural.
Ran had been sealed at the bottom of a lake deep within the Great Forest by Rin.
“You just want to save Ran. Only your youngest sister. Is that not your wish?”
“…No!”
“While proclaiming to eradicate everything and cut off all grudges, you leave Ran. Will Ran be left alone and not grieve over us? Will she not hate us?”
“No, no!”
“Rin, you are truly a kind child. That’s why you distanced Ran from this revenge drama, without making her bear any sin, and tried to let her survive. Is that not so!?”
“Ran… I just sent her away from the start because she was useless from the beginning!”
It was a lie.
At the root of Rin’s burning desire for revenge was a kind heart that deeply cherished her family and companions. A person with such kindness could not possibly lay hands on their own beloved sister.
As if to support my prediction, Rin, who had turned into darkness, faltered in her encroaching hand due to her agitation.
“Rin. Turn that kindness towards others. The heart that loves family, the feeling for companions, it is a benevolent soul that everyone possesses. As Sages, we must nurture benevolent souls and protect abundant life.”
“I didn’t become a Sage to protect anyone! I trained as a Sage to gain power. For this revenge!”
Revenge was everything. For Rin, these past 350 years might have been an era of darkness itself.
Carrying sorrow and hatred, she lived only for the opportunity for revenge that would eventually come.
What a hollow life it must have been.
What a painful and arduous journey it must have been.
Thinking of Rin’s feelings, an unbearable emotion welled up within me.
But still, revenge is no good.
From hatred and resentment, only a negative future is born.
Therefore, we…
“It’s a big problem! An army of Giants is approaching from the east, and warriors of the Mimicho Race are coming from the west!”
Amidst the fierce sisterly quarrel where they were extinguishing each other’s existence, further commotion arrived.
Apparently, the Giant Tribe and the Mimicho Race had sniffed out our presence and were heading our way.
Of course, if we made such a large-scale and flashy disturbance, we would be found.
Surely the Giants must have thought the Mimicho Race, the traitors and informants, were useless and came to defeat them. The Mimicho Race must have gathered to judge those who violated taboos.
“Let’s kick them away.”
Lily, who had guided Mistral and the others, was within my shadow.
Revalia, who had carried everyone, was flying in the sky far above, so high that even the clash of light and darkness couldn’t reach it.
If we wished, it would be easy to drive away both Giants and Mimicho Race. But I didn’t want any more sacrifices.
Holding each other’s hands, we refused Lily’s offer.
The targets of the Giants and Mimicho Race were Yung. And Rin, who was acting covertly disguised as Yung, would also be targeted.
We had to hurry, or we would be caught off guard by focusing only on the overall situation.
Yung and Rin, who had momentarily expanded their presences over a wide area to fight, gradually began to converge their power to a single point.
The darkness condensed, and the light converged.
However, their presences, which had been so overwhelming, had been eroded too much by each other’s encroachment, and the gathered presence was so weak it seemed on the verge of dissolving and disappearing from the world.
“Rin, I’m taking you.”
“Don’t underestimate me, Older Sister. I’m still going to…”
Losing the power to transform into non-human forms, Yung and Rin returned to human form, as if grappling with each other.
We stared at the ruined forms of the two sisters, and gasped.
Rin’s once pure white hair had become translucent. Not only that. Her hands and feet were also starting to become transparent, her entire body turning white instead of hair. And it was the same for Yung; the tips of their bodies were also starting to become transparent.
“Are they already starting to disappear from the world?”
Carly-san, who separated from our circle and braced herself to face the approaching Giants and Mimicho Race, muttered.
Is this the price for breaking taboos and continuously using power – disappearing from the world? Are their existences and presences truly dissolving into the world?
The reason Yung had dyed her hair might have been because, like Rin, it was losing its color and starting to become transparent. She might have dyed it so that Gorigal-san and the people of the Dawn Treacherous Forest wouldn’t notice or worry.
Yung and Rin grappled weakly.
If they used just a little more power, they would disappear from this world.
There was no more time.
“Everyone?”
“Um, we’re all ready!”
Priscilla-chan, enveloped in the radiance of new leaves, nodded confidently.
“Guhahaha! Woman, you are weakened! Now, strike her down!!”
“Traitor!”
“Condemn those who have broken taboos!”
“Sage Rin…!?”
Just as Priscilla-chan was about to unleash her power.
Finally, the Giant Tribe and the Mimicho Race had reached the battling sisters.
“I won’t let you interfere!”
The army of Giants, pushing aside the trees and charging forward. At their forefront, a man of exceptional size and filled with aura, a reddish-brown man, roared as he was blocked by an invisible wall.
The Mimicho Race tried to cross Carly-san’s barrier with Spatial Jump. However, they were also unable to approach, blocked by the Spirit Tree technique I had used beforehand.
The sisters grappling. We, in a circle, holding hands nearby. And Carly-san, standing beside us.
The Giants and Mimicho Race confronted us from outside the barrier. However, their focus was directed towards Yung and Rin, who were at the center of everything.
“Why are races other than the Mimicho Race in a place like this?”
“Unfamiliar Mimicho Race… Why are you interfering with us?”
“I am Carly, a warrior of the Dragon Forest. I am assisting these people for the sake of bringing an end to the conflict in this forest.”
“Humans… and Dragon Race?”
The Mimicho Race warriors looked at us. Then, they were astonished by the power concentrated in me, Priscilla-chan, and Ares-san.
“Wha- what are you all trying to do…!?”
“Isn’t it obvious? We’re trying to end this sad sisterly quarrel and quell this pointless conflict!”
Not just Priscilla-chan. Ares-san and I were also enveloped in power that shone with the color of new leaves.
Going back a little.
When the unprecedented quarrel began.
I hardened my resolve and urged everyone on.
Ares-chan, who had retreated within me out of caution, also manifested, reading my will. In her adult form.
“When chanting great magic, shrine maidens hold hands to allow their powers to flow through each other and amplify their magic power. I will control everyone’s power.”
“I will assist Ruiseine. I will unleash the Meteor Dragon’s Jewel.”
“I’m good at flowing powers together.”
“I’m good at forging power.”
“I will also unleash all my power! Ares-san, please!”
“Let’s gather the power of the Spirit Tree and everyone and send it to Priscilla.”
“Um, it’s the last resort!”
“I will assist the Spirit Tree!”
Holding hands, we formed a circle, and everyone’s power circulated within us.
A pure and clear power flowed out from Mistral. Yung’s Dragon Power and Magic Power were cleanly mixed by Ruiseine, turning into a well-synchronized flow.
The flow, directed towards one direction, went to Nina. Nina, adept at delicate forging, meticulously wove the flowing power. It then flowed to Yufilia, transforming into an even stronger current.
The power that flowed from Yufilia mingled with the King of Dragons’ power within me. Power also flowed from the Spirit Tree Wooden Sword, and the great river’s current transformed into a turbulent vortex here, circulating countless times within our circle.
And so, after being mixed, amplified, and flowing to greater heights many times, the power was reborn into its proper form by Ares-san, and gently poured onto Priscilla-chan.
I don’t want to see a chain of sorrow anymore.
I don’t want anyone to become a sacrifice.
Sin, punishment, and atonement should not be eternal.
However, the world is not that kind.
There are always those who commit sins, and those who bear grudges as long as they live. There are things that cannot be forgiven no matter how much one atones.
But I will not give up.
Of course, punishment is necessary for those who commit sins, and I am not saying to try to forget sorrow and hatred. However, I believe there is more than one way to atone and forget sorrow and hatred.
Therefore, I will create the future in my own way.
The power unleashed from me, Priscilla-chan, and Ares-san enveloped Yung and Rin.
