289 286. Born Challenger.txt (2/2)

However, since there is a possibility that they might notice me if I stare at them too long, I don't turn my head and just move my eyes to observe them.

Seeing my condition, Legacy asks me curiously.

'Aren't you going to see Kanami's brother?　I thought it would be interesting to meet you here, so I showed you around.

I can't. To begin with, they wouldn't know me if they met me now. ......

The two kind-hearted people sitting over there do not know me, an amoral being by nature. If I talk to them here, perhaps the Sith and Diprakra will be in great trouble. It might interfere with the 'Banner of Light' project.

'Yes. That's why I've led you to it.

And yet, the third apostle, Legacy, very easily jeopardizes the plan.

This thing I spent half a year cultivating is treated carelessly, and it puts me in a bit of a bad mood. At the same time, I realize that I cared about the plan in its own way.

This is all new to me from earlier.

I can't speak to your father here, but I still think I've gotten enough out of it.

I thought I knew everything, but I'm well aware that this is not true.

I knew that I was not ready to die yet.

I'll think better of it once I get back to ....... At least it seems to be all right now. It's refreshing to know all sorts of new things.

...... I see. Good to know then.

My thanks are accepted by Legacy with open arms.

She didn't try to force me to meet your father, but just quietly accompanied me to the meal.

Not long after, your father and Tiara Fuzzya's left the restaurant.

Following them, we followed them back into town.

Having reached our goal, we parted without much to say.

'So long, Northfield. I'm expecting a few things.

Seemingly convinced that I wasn't going to kill myself anymore, Legacy disappeared into the city.

I return with a ”So long” and head straight back to Hoosiers Castle.

I walk back the way I came and sneak back to my room.

I've really had a lot going on today. I'm even feeling tired for the first time in my life. I immediately sit down on the bed in my room and let out a huge sigh.

This is where Tiara Hoozeyers once recuperated and where I was born. In that room, I continue to stare into the air.

In a daze, I focus not on the outside world, but on what is in my chest.

The Legacy didn't make me feel empty, but it didn't make me feel better.

Rather, I feel worse.

The feeling of something thick and black and sticky keeps coming up from the pit of my stomach.

And then there's a scene that sticks in my mind and won't leave.

The father and son I saw in the hospital ward in town. Two people I saw in a cafeteria in town.

These two scenes occupy my mind in turn.

As I review the scene, I look out the window.

It's the usual dark sky.

As I was thinking this, purple snow (Tear Ray) fell from the sky.

In this world, the ”demonic poison” that corrupts people's lives turns into crystals and dances down.

The crystals come in various shapes. The crystals vary in shape, starting with small and large ones, and sometimes it looks like a piece of purple glass falling down. I know it's a bad poison that eats away at people, but to an unrelated person like me, it feels a little beautiful.

Countless purple snowflakes (tear rays) that fall slowly.

Slower than things falling, faster than feathers falling. The crystals falling at a unique speed are fantastic and if you're not careful, you'll be transfixed by them endlessly.

I continue to stare outside, thinking.

For some reason, a strange fantasy flashed through my head on the way there.

Oh, I wondered.

The 'demonic poison' falling through the sky is like blood dripping on the skin of this world .......

I had such an impression.

In the meantime, the purple snow (Tear Ray) continues to fall from the sky.

It was as if the purple was getting closer to red the moment I recognized that the blood wouldn't stop. The world is turning bright red, coated in blood.

Sloppy red blood spilled out. Blood was flowing from the sky like a waterfall.

A horrible amount of blood that made me feel like I was about to die.

-Oh!

My imagination swelled in my head and I felt goosebumps rise up.

Suddenly my body trembled.

It was as if every hair on my body was standing on end.

I crawled into bed to escape.

”............!

Today I learned about human connection from a parent and a child.

I understood that as long as I had the love of my parents, I could live in this dark world.

It also means that being alone is no longer normal.

The feeling of emptiness that had been there all along was instantly replaced by loneliness.

That loneliness became anxiety, and eventually that anxiety became fear.

I can't explain it logically, but it was a very simple emotional process.

I was really scared.

A room alone with no one in it.

Blood and death swelled in my head, and no one would tell me to live.

No one to hold my hand or listen to me for advice.

For some reason, I am so afraid of dying that I was about to die just a few minutes ago, and I'm afraid I'm going crazy. Like the child in the hospital ward, I feel like I don't want to die.

I'm scared and I can't stand it, but my mind thinks about death on its own.

What happens when a person dies? Is death painful and distressing? Where do we go when we die? Is it a world of nothingness? Does my consciousness exist? If so, how long will it last? Is it just a world like now, where I can only think endlessly in the pitch blackness? In the darkness, I am alone forever. Alone forever--?

There are no end of unanswered questions.

I peeked out of bed for a moment to look at the room.

It seems like the room is darker than usual.

Even now, I feel a sense of anxiety as if the darkness is going to swallow me whole in my bed.

Instinctively, I hug my own chest with both of my hands.

I consoled myself, unable to bear the fear.

But it's not as if it's not enough. It's as if it's not enough to escape the darkness.

''--[Light]!

Light up the light.

I try to light up this dark world with a miracle that the apostle told me to refrain from except in an emergency.

But it's still not enough.

The world was indeed illuminated. The vision in my eyes is clear and I can only describe it as bright.

But it still feels dark. The world is such a bright place, yet it still feels insufficiently bright. I was surprised to see how dark the world was, and I called out a spell over and over again.

”Light!” ”Light!” ”Light!

I need more light. More light.

The light fills every corner of the room, but it's still so dark.

I'm afraid of the dark.

I'm scared and I can't stand it.

Scary, scary, scary.

I can often hear the sound of my heart through the body I hold in my hands.

It sounds so loud.

My heart is beating wildly, and I feel uneasy.

My heart is going to stop beating at any moment.

If my heart stops beating, I will die.

No matter how perfect the Jewelculus is, it will die.

I'm afraid of dying.

I'm afraid of dying and becoming nothing. I am afraid that it will be as if it never happened. I am afraid that I will disappear without anyone wishing me to live. I am afraid that my life will be meaningless. I am afraid that the world will continue after I die. I'm afraid that I won't even know if this me was ever alive.

I don't know what it is, but I'm scared!

No, I'm scared because I don't know what it is!

The fear alone is making it hard to breathe.

My chest feels like it's going to burst. My whole body and soul are convulsing.

I need ...... help.

I need someone to help me now.

I need you to reach out to me.

I can't do this by myself.

I need you to say a word.

......I want you to love me like she does.

I need you to tell me kindly to live.

If you don't, you won't get out of this pain.

You won't be able to get out to the bright lights any time soon.

Before I knew it, the bed was wet with large tears.

My heart was so loud I didn't notice it, but the sobs were leaking out. A series of hiccups matched the spasms. He is crying loudly, pathetically, like a child.

And.

A voice that reaches there, a voice that seems to have seen it coming -.

It's okay. You have me. I'm your mother.

He says the one word I've been hoping for, and I get out of bed.

A lone dark-haired girl stood in the room.

She was smiling like a compassionate mother against the bloody sky outside the window.

I recognized her immediately.

It was my first encounter with her, but I could be sure that she was 'Aikawa Yotaki'.

I didn't judge her by hearing those words. I knew because of the intensity of the 'demonic poison' in her body.

Such an unusual existence could not be any other than the Aikawa Yotaki I've heard about.

She is the one who, according to Legacy, could be called my mother.

Now I got the words I wanted from the person I wanted. ...... I should have gotten it, but I was still trembling with fear.

I'm not sure why I couldn't see her as a mother.

It was too different from what I had seen on the street.

Compared to the woman who held the hand of the suffering child and wailed for her life, I was too different.

The figure of Aikawa Yotaki was so different that my brain refused to understand it.

◆◆◆◆◆

Huh!

-- exhale the breath that had stopped.

The next breath of air is hot enough to scorch your lungs, and it tells you plainly that you are now in a crisis.

At the same time, I open my eyes to assess my surroundings.

I couldn't move my body very well, so I only used my eyes and neck to check.

The world is dimly lit, similar to the dream I just had.

Of course, it's similar but completely different.

The first difference is that it's not a dark cloud blocking the area directly above, but a wall of dirt.

This place is not under the sky, but a great hollow underneath the Great Holy City. If you look closely, you can see that it's not complete darkness, but rather flickering flame lights in the distance. There are also lights here and there from magic tools filled with light attribute magic power.

In that great hollow, there was more than the streets of Hoosier's that I saw in my dream.

The solid brick buildings lined up regularly and the streets paved with magic stones stretched out in a calculated manner. The streetlights are not only luminous magic tools, but also many lamps that use liquid fuel for emergencies are standing. The city is lined with irrigation canals spreading out like a spider's web, ensuring that water is always available.

The ”underground ruins of the settlement of sometime ago” have evolved into a splendid underground town in the present day.

Ah. I am amazed that they have managed to change that large hollow space so much.

While looking at that slightly nostalgic underground scenery, I next checked my condition.

Both my physical and magical powers are on the verge of their limits. I shed an extraordinary amount of sweat, and I'm out of breath.

I can't move at all ...... but now I'm moving at high speed through the underground mall. I stop looking at the ever-changing landscape and turn my attention to the man who is holding me.

He comes out like an aristocrat with an exaggerated cape over his shoulders and a shameful look on his face with his eyebrows always in a C-shape. A man running as fast as he can with his short red-copper hair fluttering and large drops of sweat dripping down his cheeks.

This is Glenn Walker, the knight I was forced to take under my command just recently.

Glenn notices me gazing at his face and calls out to me as he runs.

''Did you notice it, Nosfi-sama!

'Yes ....... Perhaps, but have I been out of my mind ......?

'Yes. ...... But it's not unreasonable. It's this heat, this air.

The situation is beginning to sink in.

Now Glenn is on the run with me, having been knocked unconscious by the hot air of the enemy's fire magic.

And I'm starting to remember a lot of things.

A week ago, I saw off my friends and Apostle Sis and others in Vyasia in the ”Northern League” and came straight to the Great Holy City in the ”Southern League”. There, I began to prepare to intercept Master Uzumi, who would one day come to me.

I needed the pawns more than anything else, so I copied the plan I had made when I was born.

First, I took on the name of a saint in this great holy city of Fuzzy Yards and saved many sick people. In order to further penetrate the interior of the country, I conducted 'enchantment' in the Senate to brainwash the country's important people.

After consolidating the ground, I enforced the country's measures to consolidate the place of interception and used dimensional magic to extract the trump card from the labyrinth and carefully re-seal the familiar faces that had been turned into a world tree.

In just a few days, I had brought down the largest country in the world.

Oh, everything was fine.

No longer would the same 'reason-stealer' or 'apostle' be able to compete with me now.

Just when I thought that, she attacked me.

She. The biggest miscalculation, that is--

''Hmph. But it's like a labyrinthine Arti hierarchy.

Maria, the inheritor of The One Who Stole the Reason of Fire.

When she turns her eyes to the underground mall, she sees some eyeball-shaped flames - eyes of fire - floating in the air.

Glenn also notices this and takes a knife from his pocket and throws it at it.

The knife sticks in the fire, but the eyes of fire do not disappear. It only wavered as if it had pierced the fog, but it did not lose its shape.

The eyes of fire stared at us and kept a constant distance.

'It looks like we won't be able to escape. Glenn, please put me down.''

”But, Master Nosfi!

I pushed past Glenn, who tried to refuse, and forced myself down to the ground.

My momentum nearly made me fall, but I still managed to stand. I quickly leave Glenn behind and start walking in the opposite direction I was now running from.

''Please wait! This me will follow you.

I turn around and look at Glenn's face.

He looks like a good-natured man who cares for me with all his heart.

But I just can't trust him. I can't rely on him now.

It was easy to 'charm' around the 'Celestial Knights' (Celestial Knights) and the custom-built 'Magic Stone Humans' (Jewelculus) that were in this great holy city. However, this guy and Elmirad Siddharth were the only ones that took a strange amount of time.

Furthermore, there was a lot of disagreement about how I managed to 'charm' them.

This guy wasn't captivated by my figure and power.

Nor was he impressed by my aspirations and ideas.

The reason for the success of 'fascination' seemed to be more of a reason for 'stealing the reason of blood' rather than 'stealing the reason of light'.

Without a doubt, the two of them are not me, but rather, a gap has opened up in my heart since I met Fafner Helvilshain, the one that steals the reason for the blood.

I don't know the reason for that gap.

Was there something that men could understand each other? Or--.

Anyway, I can't bring myself to put Glenn on my back, who is now in a state of uncertainty.

'Glenn, I don't need your help. Rather, it's pointless. Your body will melt if you get too close for your own good. It will burn just in sight. Your organs will be scorched just by being on the same battlefield. Even if you follow me, it's rather annoying.

In a battle in a closed space like this underground city, the Stealer of Fire's logic shows unparalleled strength. No matter how many people this side has added, it will have no meaning.

After clearly denying Glenn's will, I tell him my plans for the future.

''--Didn't I say it from the beginning?　I will not go head-to-head with her and I give in.

The plan was actually to use it against Uzurinami-sama, but I'm moving it forward a bit.

I'll surrender, expose my unprotected body and go inside. Right now, I won't waste the pieces I've gathered and consume them. The only time we will consume Glenn and the others is in the moment of packing.

Frankly, I'm in more trouble here than I am with Glenn getting caught.

'You will retreat and go your separate ways. As originally planned. ''I'll ask for the 'Magic of Light'.'''

But once you put your magic in our hands, Master Nosfi--

Yes, there isn't another ten percent of magical power left. Compared to Maria's, it's probably as good as dust.

The power of the one who has inherited the ”Stealer of the Reason of Fire” is now approaching the Alti level of its heyday. If I were to shoot magic at that thing now, it would vaporize in an instant.

''But because it's a dust opponent, Maria-san may be willing to discuss it. Having less magic power is not all negative.

''But Maria is not naive. No matter how many reasons you make up for not being able to kill her, she's strong enough to stop thinking and kill a gray being without hesitation. Maria-chan is really--really strong at heart.

Glenn, who is under the 'curse' of my 'fascination', flippantly reveals the strengths of the girl who was his companion not long ago.

But to have a man who was once the 'strongest' in the world say so much ...... Alty has really found a good girl.

''Yes. Obviously, she's a 'blown-up Alti' herself. She overcomes mental fragility and nullifies any magical interference. She doesn't use magic power or skill, but only the power of 'numeric values that don't appear in numbers (mind)' to forcefully play it. It is truly a joke.

I'm the same sort of person as Reiner, a strong man who can kill a superior.

In contrast, I am the champion of the weak.

I'm extremely strong against lower-ranking opponents, but extremely weak against higher-ranking opponents. I don't think I can overturn this situation. In my experience, when I'm losing, I'm really losing all the time.

But I still have to do it.

With that said, I turned my back to Glenn and wobbled off down the underground street.

I thought Glenn was saying something behind me, but I didn't listen to him and hurried on.

The people of the underground city have finished taking refuge above ground, so it's quiet when I'm alone.

The only sound was the sound of flames burning in the distance in the dimly lit city.

Dropping a great deal of sweat to the ground, I repeat in my mind that I will never lose.

I re-swear to myself that I can't die in this place.

Perhaps it was because of the dream I had during my earlier fainting spell, but the thought was even stronger.

It was a dream I had when I was a newborn. It was a really nostalgic dream.

And I think I've grown up a lot since then. No, maybe it's more accurate to say that I've grown up, but I've worn out. To be honest, I can't believe that I had such a clear period of time.

I feel bad for the apostles that I'm so dark now.

I will never live up to the Apostles' expectations again.

As I walked, memories of the past came flooding back.

I shake my head immediately at ...... thinking that it's like a runabout.

I strain my body to see if I can bear to make this a runner-up.

I can't die yet.

You can't die in this place.

I'm still untried.

I haven't found it yet.

I haven't found it yet.

Uzumi-sama didn't give me this.

It's not enough, it's not enough!

We need to meet Uzumi-sama: .......

I need to meet Uzumi-sama again and let him see this figure: .......

Uzumi-sama: ......!　Dear Uzumami, Uzumami, Uzumami: ......!　Please hurry up and--!

-What?

As I repeated the name of the person I was thinking of in my mind, a blade approached me from directly above as if to stop it. I was walking in the middle of the city's road, and as soon as I could, I generated a magical shining flag in my right hand to block the blade.

My glowing flag and the enemy's black scythe collided with each other, almost blowing us off in one direction only. Immediately I thrust the flag into the ground, killing the momentum and staying in place.

As I manage to prevent the surprise attack, I see the owner of the black scythe - the black-haired girl, Maria.

' ...... We meet again. Maria-san.

'No, you will not see Kanami. It ends here.

Maria assured me at the opening that she couldn't see me, as if she knew what I was thinking.

How could she know what I was thinking right now? Maybe we have a little sympathy for each other, as we both have similar thoughts about the same person.

However, our relative figures are different now. It's hard to say that we are alike.

Unlike me, who has lost the power to the point where I hesitate to call her ”the one who steals the truth of light,” Maria's body shines radiantly.

Black hair and black eyes. Black hair and black eyes. Black clothing and a black scythe.

The girl of darkness, still black even in the darkness, is smiling in front of me.

The girl hides both eyes with a spell cloth, smiles a bewitching smile that does not suit her age, and continues to emit the evil magic power.

Only the color of that magic power is red, not black.

The magical power of the flame attribute framed her outline in red.

The flames erupting from the sleeves and hems of her black clothing are like red flames (prominence) that depict the black sun during an eclipse.

Maria has not only inherited The One Who Steals the Reason of Fire, but she has also taken possession of the power of the Artificial Reaper that Uzurinami-sama created to oppose Lowen Alais.

The result is this. This strength.

Red and black. Fire and darkness. Positive and negative.

Their conflicting powers have fused together to create a perfect wizard with no blind spots.

The wizard is like the Grim Reaper who makes predictions.

It's the guardian of the labyrinth, the one who steals the reason for the light. In the name of my best friend Arti, your death is absolute.

Oh, God. Why is .......

Why are all these dark-haired, dark-eyed women so horrible?

I remember a little bit of the past, and a dry laugh almost leaks out.

And then, they quickly dismissed their wariness and made the light flag that matched their hands disappear as well.

Never again would I fight head-on against these scary guys again.

A thousand years ago I fought the Lords who rule, and in this day and age I learned from fighting the ones who steal the reason for the dimension.

It's only a fool's errand to challenge the strongest enemy with all one's might.

Certainly, it is right to try hard and not give up. It is brave and noble to not back down from a strong opponent. It's only natural to keep opposing them with justice in one's heart. If it is a story, it would be the protagonist's side to move forward, believing that one day their wish will come true.

But it's because you're right, honorable, moral, and a hero.

That doesn't make you a winner.

It doesn't make me happy.

I won't be fooled anymore.

I won't be fooled anymore, no matter how pretty or grating the words are.

If I'm deceived, I lose. If I lose, I'm done. The end is disappearance.

I don't want to disappear yet.

I'm afraid to disappear.

I want to win by any means necessary and make my wish come true.

Then I'll bet not on Zero's chances of winning, but on a sliver of conscience.

''Yes, that's right. As Maria said, I'm losing. I don't feel like winning ...... so I'm going to surrender. I'm surrendering, so can you hear my excuses for a moment at the end?

'Excuses ......?　Do you think I have any reason to listen to that stuff?

Quickly Maria cuts off my begging for my life.

But now we've crossed one of the hurdles.

We got a response without being killed without question.

Now there's no reason to ask her about it, but if we say it on our own, she'll hear it.

I'll hear those words and see if Maria can still kill me ...... and that's where the real battle begins.

'Please, please. Listen to me, Maria. What I have done here at Hoosiers until today. All of my deeds, all of them--

I ignore Maria's sullenness and speak up.

I was born in Hoosiers, and I'm going to decide on a mission that will cost me everything I was born to do.

I will begin my final battle here.