Volume 17 Chapter 7 Lost, Yet Still Weaving
"Re... lics...?"
"I don't really understand either. Is it the power the stars gave me...? There were too many explanations, and they were all fragmented... I can't sort it out in my head."
Jig shook his head repeatedly.
Lisa doesn't know the details, but she understood that he gained some kind of power, and because of that, she was saved.
"Thanks to you, I'm still alive... I appreciate it."
"Well, it's nothing."
Jig said bluntly.
"If you were saved, then... that's good, right?"
He said that and looked away.
His face was bright red.
"...Are you maybe embarrassed?"
"I'm not embarrassed!"
"You're such a kid..."
"Don't call me a kid! Just because you're a little older!"
"I think it's more than just a little──."
Just as Lisa was about to smile wryly, it happened.
Thump!
She felt her heart racing unusually fast.
Something hot spread throughout her body.
Thump thump thump thump...!
With that, her heartbeat quickened even more──
Change began to happen to her body.
It felt like her body was melting away.
There was a strange feeling like she was becoming someone else.
"U... uuu...!?"
The world in front of her shook violently, and Lisa groaned at the discomfort.
She couldn't keep her eyes open.
"Lisa...!?"
"Uugugu... gugu..."
She didn't have the energy to respond to Jig's voice.
She tightly closed her eyes, waiting for the unpleasant sensation and discomfort to go away.
What felt like an eternity passed, but in reality, it was probably just a few minutes.
The uncomfortable feeling finally disappeared.
Lisa slowly opened her eyes.
"Eh..."
That's when she realized her body was changing.
The length of her hair has changed.
Her skin seems to be firmer than before.
"No way..."
Lisa took out a hand mirror from her lab coat and checked my face.
"This is a lie, I look younger...!?"
Reflected in the mirror was a beautiful woman around 20 years old.
Clearly younger than her previous self, who is currently 33.
And her hairstyle is the same as when she was about 20, plus she's wearing the hair accessory she used to love.
It's the same phenomenon as when her junior researcher was pierced by the tentacle earlier...
"──No, it's not just getting younger."
She muttered while trying to sort out her thoughts.
"If my body simply got younger──my hairstyle wouldn't have changed, and I wouldn't be wearing this hair accessory."
As she thought, a bad feeling started to rise.
Considering many possibilities, she formed a hypothesis and tested it in her mind──
She quickly arrived at the most likely hypothesis.
"I've been... invaded by the [future]..."
That was──an understanding of the situation that was pure despair.
"Invaded by the future...?"
Jig asked while staring at me.
"Did you get younger because of the [curse] of the [Invader], Lisa...?"
"I told you it's not just getting younger. The [curse]... is probably still ongoing. Maybe your [Stop] couldn't completely stop it..."
"Huh?"
Lisa turned to Jig with a dark expression as he looked puzzled.
"From now on, I will gradually lose my life. I think I will eventually become a smaller child."
She swallowed hard.
"And eventually──return to nothingness."
"Nothingness...?"
"It means exactly that. I will keep getting younger, and in the end, I'll go back to being a fetus... no, even further back... and then I will disappear... for sure..."
"N-No way!"
Finally understanding the situation, Jig looked shocked.
"Then I'll stop it with my power. I'll make it stop...!"
Jig pointed both hands towards her.
It seemed that he couldn't use the [Stop] ability without striking a pose with both hands.
"...It looks like it won't work."
After a while, Lisa looked down.
"The 'Relic Holder' has the power of the stars... but against the [Invader] power that counters it, it can't fully show its effect... probably."
"Does that mean you can't be saved...?"
Jig frowned in frustration and then swayed on his feet.
WHOOSH!
From behind, something like black tentacles surged forward.
A new type of [Invader].
"Ugh... Stop!"
Jig thrust his hands out, trying to [Stop] the mass of tentacles.
But there were too many.
"I can't stop them...?!"
Grrr...!
Jig struggled, but the tentacles kept getting closer.
At this rate, they would be overwhelmed──!?
And both of them would be swallowed up.
Lisa and Jig would be [Invaded] and disappear.
Helplessly, unfairly.
Their lives, dignity, and very existence would be erased──.
They thought, this is ridiculous.
No matter how powerful the [Invader] is, they couldn't accept an ending where they were just trampled and vanished──.
"...I will."
Lisa glared at the rushing tentacles.
So many things were happening, it felt like her insides were boiling over.
The destroyed research facility.
The murdered researchers.
And the [curse] she had received.
She wanted to blow away all that unfairness.
"I... I can do this too..."
In research, she can't resist.
With what she has built up until now, she can't fight.
What she need now is──'power' to fight.
"I can do it tooooooo!"
Lisa shouted.
It was a scream that seemed to release all her emotions.
BANG!
In that moment, a huge black sphere appeared in front of her and charged forward.
"Huh...?"
Lisa stared at it in shock.
"What is this...!?"
A massive flow of energy shot out like a bullet, piercing through the tentacles.
Roooooar...
With a sound like a groan, the pierced tentacles crumbled to pieces.
"Did I defeat it...?"
What just happened──wasn't magic.
She instinctively released it like a magic power bullet, but it was something 'similar yet different.'
"Could it be... this is..."
Lisa murmured.
'"You have completed the inheritance of the "Relic Holder."'
'Lisa Takamagahara has been recognized as a user of [Magic Bullet].'
'Currently, only the 1st spell can be used. In the future, new spells will be unlocked according to your mastery of the relic.'"
She hear a voice in her head──it's the same phenomenon that Jig mentioned.
"Lisa...?"
Jig looked surprised as Lisa smirked.
"It seems like I've awakened a 'power' like yours. Yeah, just now... I heard a 'voice' in my head. This 'power' is called──[Magic Bullet]."
It shoots everything, pierces everything, crushes everything, and erases everything──a power that fires the strongest bullet.
Even though Lisa isn't good at practical magic, with this power, she should be able to show her full combat ability.
"To think that I, a researcher, would develop such combat-oriented powers, right?"
It's ironic.
But maybe this is the 'star's' revelation.
Her future life awaits not in 'research' but in 'combat'──.
Just then, the surroundings were enveloped in a golden glow.
"What the...?"
Whirr, whirr, whirr...!
With a scream like a dying cry, the tentacles disappeared.
That wasn't the power of Lisa's [Magic Bullet].
It shouldn't be the effect of Jig's [Stop] either.
Could it be──?
"The power of the... star!?"
Could it be that the star has unleashed its power to counter the [Invader]?
She won't know for sure until she investigate further, but the [Invader] that likely appeared in the Clishe Kingdom and probably in neighboring countries has── been erased by this light.
Still, she can't believe that everything has been resolved.
It's very possible that what appeared this time was only a small part of the [Invader].
In the future, a more powerful [Invader] might emerge and this time truly ravage the stars.
However, even if she wanted to conduct research to counter it, the research facility has already been destroyed.
Just then.
"Ugh... ugh...!?"
Hearing a groan, Lisa turned around to see Jig crouched on the ground.
"My strength... is fading..."
"Jig...?"
Lisa stared at him in shock.
His whole body was surrounded by a black mist.
Could it be that part of the [Invader] still remained?
The mist was gradually seeping into him──.
"This...!"
Lisa fired her [Magic Bullet].
When it hit part of the mist,
Fwoosh...!
With a scream-like voice, the mist scattered.
The [Invader], who was almost dead, seemed to have finally been finished off.
"Hah, hah, hah..."
Jig was breathing heavily.
"Are you okay, Jig?"
"──I'm saved."
Jig lifted his face.
The color had drained from his face.
"But, that took a lot of my magic power..."
Lisa's expression stiffened in shock.
"...Could it be that you were affected by the [curse] of the [Invader] too...?"
As a magician, Jig had a much larger magic power compared to regular ones.
But now, there was hardly any magic power coming from him.
"It seems I only have the minimum magic power needed to stay alive... I can't use magic like before anymore."
Jig groaned.
"No, even staying alive... I don't know how long I can last..."
On that day──both of them lost their future.
Jig had his 'magic power' invaded.
If Jig, being a magician, completely lost his magic power, all his functions would stop.
Lisa had her 'life' invaded.
Eventually, she would regress to a baby, and if she got any younger, she would completely disappear.
To regain the future they lost, Lisa and Jig joined hands and began to move.
Afterward, they met others who also had 'Relic Holders,' and the two gained a new purpose.
If they could reach [The Heart of the Stars] and gain power, they would be able to reclaim the future they lost.
The magic power and life that were invaded can be regained.
So──
"I'm teaming up with Jig──."
Lisa glance at Jig next to me.
A magical human created as a tool.
The benefactor who helped her.
And a victim who received a curse to help her.
"We're just using each other. It's no different from the other holders."
"...Hmph."
Jig slightly lifts the corner of his mouth.
"Our intentions are different. That's fine. I will go to [The Heart of the Stars] by my own will. And I will make my wish come true──."
"My [Exploration] is the power to 'see' everything. A normal person can see everything from their background to their abilities. Even the future, to some extent..."
Mary Anne stares at the two of us through her eye patch.
"But, I can't see anything about the holders. Is it because the powers of the 'heritage' are interfering?"
"Even if I could see it, the future is ultimately uncertain."
Saying this, Lisa looks down at her own body.
Since that day, she has 'youthened' quite a bit, and now her body is equivalent to that of a 13-year-old.
How much longer does she has left in her future?
The anxiety and fear never completely disappear, but still, Lisa hasn't given up hope.
As long as she walks alongside the boy next to her.
"I will──we will, win our future with our own power."
"That's so cool. Hehe."
Mary Anne laughs eerily.
"Since I can't see anything, I'll at least pray. I hope a happy future comes for both of you."
──The 3 of them listened to 'Voice of the Stars,' and soon after, they moved to [The Heart of the Stars].
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