Volume 9 Chapter 65 Activation
The voice that echoed was a sorrowful, heart-wrenching, and painful cry that could be summed up in one word: despair.
"――――AAAAAAAH!!!!"
The torn voice was ripped from her throat and spat out. Tears like a flood poured down, dripping onto the desk, and fell.
Lisha screamed.
"Ah, aah――!! Kanami-san!! Why everyone!! Why――!!"
Blood splattered from her torn skin, but her hand didn't stop pounding the round table.
"Move!! Please move!! I, I――!!"
No matter how much she screamed, the result didn't change.
The round table remained cold and gentle, embracing Lisha.
The battles in each space had all ended, and the one-hour limit had passed.
In other words, each space had disappeared.
What happened there, who remained, and what relation did it have? None.
The images projected in the air scattered like sparks and vanished.
Kanami Ländtor Sith Fador.
Hinata Yukari.
Sharla.
Noire Toare.
Sebas.
Jillzack Luiid.
Vice Ornette.
Grimoire.
Everything was gone.
It had all disappeared.
"Uuuuuu!!"
Lisha groaned, her chest twisted in agony, as if her heart was being squeezed.
She could only watch. She couldn't do anything.
Everyone fought, got hurt, and fell, and all she could do was drink in the sight of their blood, powerless.
The only thing she could do was make a futile struggle in this place.
And it was the same for everyone else.
"......Fool."
Mevia covered her face and spat out the words, not in contempt, but in a voice strained by pain and hardship. Sebas had been protecting Saint since Mevia was a child.
Saint was targeted not only by outlaws but also by those who exploited the law and manipulated others.
Sebas had been protecting Mevia, no matter what, from the very beginning.
His final moment was a fitting one for him.
At the same time, they lost their fellow friend Sharla.
The time she traveled with Sharla was short. Among the brave party, she was the last to join them.
Sharla, who always shone brightly in Mevia's eyes, had qualities that made her a Saint, yet she wasn't bound by the church. She had the power to break free from any evil intentions.
And she had the innocence to confess her love to the person she cared about.
Everything about her was something she didn't has.
But Sharla disappeared. Until the very end, she fought for the person she loved.
It was a beautiful, yet fleeting, ending that she could never have.
"――Damn it!"
Why did she have to die?
If only she had lived, she could have healed any wound.
But in the end, even she couldn't move like Lisha, no matter how much magic power she used or how much she wished. The healing sword couldn't reach her.
Among them, only Shurka let out a small sigh.
"What a shame. None of them were remain."
Kushina, who was nearby, couldn't understand the depth of Shurka's words.
Fiona, who was stunned by Vice Ornette's death, didn't even hear Shurka's words.
"I can't grieve anymore. The hero has already started fighting Julius. Our path is also coming to an end."
"......Hey Shurka, teach me one thing."
"What is it?"
Shurka looked at Mevia when she called her name.
As a Saint who had been through countless battles, she was supporting her fragile spirit with her willpower, and her gaze was piercing.
"What happens to the soul when the space disappears?"
In Asteris, death doesn't equal disappearance. The body decays, and the soul is believed to be taken by the god they believe in. Only the pitiful souls that can't reach the god's realm fall into the underworld.
So what happens to those who die in this space? Can they reach the god's realm from here, which is neither Earth nor Asteris?
Shurka answered with a tone that suggested it was pointless.
"They'll disappear."
"Does that mean their souls will disappear along with the space?"
"There's no place to go. Even I can't see the soul itself, so I can't say for sure, but if we think about it normally, that's probably how it'll end up."
Mevia was taken aback by the blunt truth.
The thought of at least saving their soul was crushed by the harsh reality.
"There's no room to spare for sentimental thoughts like that."
"――What do you mean?"
"What's important isn't the dead, but the living. The real battle starts from here. We don't have much time left, so if you have time to cry, then don't look away."
Shurka's words were a harsh reality check, piercing people's hearts like steel.
At the same time, another phrase stuck in her mind.
"We don't have much time left?"
"We're the last piece of this 'Kakehashi (Bridge to the Universe)'. And the magic is already trying to activate."
As if waiting for those words, a light ran through the circular table.
It was a complex magic circle. It wasn't just drawn on the wall; the light illuminated multiple layers of magic circles in the background.
It was pulsing and throbbing like the blood vessels in a human body, with a density and complexity that was impossible to replicate artificially.
The light also drew a circle on the circular table, emitting a faint glow.
Kushina and Fiona looked like they were seeing it for the first time, their eyes wide with surprise.
Among them, Bertina, who had been praying for Nest's safety, noticed something.
"Hey, wait! The light is on our hands!"
"What?"
Mevia and Lisha also noticed it then.
The light from the magic circle was tracing the circular table and rising onto their own hands.
"...Is this what it means to be a piece?"
"Yes, that's right. Now you understand why I said we don't have much time."
"If this light envelops our entire bodies, we'll become part of the magic circle."
"At this rate, we don't have even an hour left."
Then, Shurka looked at each of their faces in turn, singing her words.
The hidden princess of the Sarnold Empire, Fiona.
"The Power of Space, 'My Castle'."
Bertina, a girl protected by a deep forest.
"The Power of Time, 'New Moon'."
Yunea, a spirit medium, was saved by her sister at the church.
"The Power of Intent, 'Spirit Temple'."
Lisha, a Saint, took on the duty of protecting the church.
"The Power of Protection, 'Sanctuary'."
Mevia, a Saint, fought against the demon king alongside the hero.
"The Power of Healing, 'Heaven's Sword'."
Kushina Mikoto, a magician, stole power from Sharla.
"The Power of Gate, 'Open Hell'."
And Shurka, a girl who created the New World (Try Order) with Julius.
"The Power of Insight, 'Distant Gaze'."
Shurka placed her hand on her chest, holding back words that were about to spill out.
Then, she slowly looked up and opened her mouth.
"The fragments of magic left by the first Saint, Lyla, have all gathered here now. It's been 3,000 years since I met Julius. I've been waiting for this moment to come."
Shurka spun a truth that only Julius knew in this world.
"I was born in a different era than all of you. An era where magician was more complicated, and civilization had stagnated in darkness. An era where humans lost to demons."
"――How many years ago was that? Losing to demons is just a story I hear in history books."
"So what? It doesn't matter how long ago it was or how the era changed. I was a test subject for a certain research in that era."
"A test subject, you say...?"
Lisha's eyes turned red and swollen as she asked, unfamiliar with the words.
Shurka narrowed her eyes, as if reminiscing about something far away that she could no longer see, or trying not to forget a fragmented memory.
"The humans oppressed by demons――the Church tainted their hands with taboo to win the war. They used the preserved blood of a Saint to artificially create a Saint out of a girl with aptitude."
"That can't be true!"
It was Yunea who shouted that.
"The Church is the protector of the weak. It's impossible for them to commit such inhumane acts!"
"You're so innocent. It's not bad that you were raised in a beautiful, pure environment. But to create that beautiful water, you need to get your hands dirty. You know that, don't you?"
Mevia, who was asked, remained silent, her mouth shut tight. Her silence was more telling than any words.
As a high-ranking Saint, Mevia had once read the Church's secret documents in an unauthorized manner to lift Yuusuke's curse.
Those documents revealed the Church's dark history, accumulated over the years, which was hidden even within the Church itself.
"I was sent flying to this earth due to an accident during research, and Julius picked me up. I'm not interested in revenge or anything, but I think the world needs to change."
Shurka gently stroked her hand, which was bathed in light.
"Something that's been distorted over a long history needs to be corrected somewhere. I'm sorry, but I need you to be a sacrifice with me for that purpose."
Lisha, who saw her face, naturally thought that she must have died once.
It was impossible to imagine what kind of experiment had been conducted.
But without a doubt, Shurka had died once, and the current Shurka was reborn.
That's why she didn't cling to life.
Her only reason for existence was to change the world.
As Shurka's gaze drew them in, everyone looked up.
The aurora fluttered, and an image was projected.
The final battle.
The fate of the warriors who would gather to decide the outcome was about to begin.
"Yuusuke-san..."
The words that followed were either a prayer or a vow.
But her thoughts seemed to fade away, hidden in the shadow of the aurora.
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