Chapter 407
Chapter 407
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 407
Chapter Title: 2-30. Calamity from the Future (3)
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Akasha was slammed into the sea.
A ferocious pillar of water shot up, blotting out the sky.
The fight seemed over already, but Navardoje showed no sign of letting up her fury.
【Huuuuh...!】
The air around her was sucked violently into her mouth.
Her already ferocious chest swelled as if it might burst.
Just as a red glow flickered through the fabric of her dress...
【My child!】
Navardoje opened her maw.
Flames reminiscent of molten iron poured toward the sea.
Siiiiizzz!
The sound of liquid evaporating tore through the atmosphere.
Steam erupted violently, shrouding the bay.
"Ugh!"
For a brief moment, daylight returned to the world.
I shielded my eyes, my sword jammed into the cliffside to hold on.
Looking straight at it would've melted my corneas.
Soon, the light faded.
When the scene revealed itself again, a hollow laugh escaped me.
"Ha."
I could hardly believe my eyes.
The sea in front of headquarters had become a massive crater.
The water had completely evaporated, exposing a grayish-brown seabed.
Embers licked here and there.
Naturally, there was no sign of Akasha.
Only a single crack—presumably where he'd been smashed—remained etched into the ground.
Roooaaar...
The seawater hovering in the air began cascading down.
Billions of droplets reflected the sunset, sparkling like jewels.
"...I'll kill him."
I muttered unconsciously.
I'd even forgotten what I meant to do next.
Navardoje's battle was pure art.
From her entrance to the somersault kick that smashed into Akasha's face, there wasn't a wasted motion.
And then the scorching coup de grâce.
She was a completely different person from the sister who clung to me giggling.
'Orse would've lost sleep for nights if he'd seen this.'
She utterly dominated even in flight, Orse's specialty.
This proved that praising Orse as a flight prodigy had been Navardoje's pure kindness.
Anyone would wilt knowing they fell short of her.
Rumble rumble!
Headquarters, floating in the air, was settling back into place.
Unburnt seawater surged in from afar.
No sign of Akasha.
No presence at all.
Damn right.
If he survived that, I'd question if he was even alive first.
Navardoje, who'd been anxiously scanning around, spotted me.
【Ronan, in the world!】
"Sister."
She flew over, trailing her red tail, and stopped before me.
In quarter-dragon form, Navardoje was much larger than me.
She scooped me up from the cliff like a princess.
It felt weird.
This position was always me carrying her.
【A-Are you okay? I came out because it was so noisy outside... I never imagined something like this...!】
Navardoje thrust her face close.
Tears welled in her thick, red eyelashes like hair.
Only then did I check my condition.
My back was a bit stiff, but nothing serious.
"I'm fine."
【Ahh... Thank goodness. Really, thank goodness...】
Sniffling, Navardoje hugged me tight.
As always, I could barely breathe.
Her furnace-hot embrace smelled of flames.
"Eurp."
Suffocating yet comforting.
I always thought this: the perfect place for a happy death.
I finally pulled my face free just as asphyxiation loomed.
"Pha...! I'm really okay. What about everyone else?"
【They're all safe. The building's sturdy, so inside damage was minimal. Fantasion and Orse are handling cleanup.】
"Good."
Felt like ten years shaved off my life.
When Akasha uprooted headquarters, I thought we were done for.
Thank god for Navardoje showing up when she did.
Suddenly, my fight with Akasha flashed through my mind.
'What the hell was that?'
The unpleasant feel of it lingered.
His magic didn't cut.
If Navardoje hadn't crushed him with raw power, I'd have been helpless.
Felt like I'd encountered something similar before.
'Damn. Can't remember.'
My head wasn't working right.
It was fundamentally different from any mana I'd sliced through.
Maybe that's why—even after completing my biggest mission by killing Akasha—I didn't feel great.
Of course, I had to do what needed doing.
I swept back my bangs and spoke.
"Sister. Retansie is dead."
【...That child?】
"Yeah. Wanted to at least give her a grave, but not now. If you find her body, bury it in a sunny spot. Even villains fought for the public good in the end."
Left a bitter taste.
I recalled my last talk with Retansie.
Redeemed after centuries, yet no second chance for her.
Her remaining legs vanished when headquarters was torn up.
"You're heavy—put me down. Gotta see everyone one last time."
【Mm. Yes... But you sound like you're about to leave.】
"It's about time to go back."
I nodded.
Navardoje's face hardened.
Akasha dead meant the mission was essentially done.
No more new rifts, and future me could close them, so peace would return soon.
Nothing left for me to do.
'...Wanted to handle the rest now too.'
If I could, I'd save the other two parallel worlds.
Didn't want to leave guilt to myself or the Grand General in heaven.
But with Akasha vanished without a trace, no way to get there.
Only his blood vial to return to my world.
"Adeshan's waiting. The telekinetic dwarf too. They all need me."
【...Same for me.】
"Hm? What'd you say?"
Her voice was too soft.
As I tilted my head, Navardoje shot up to the cliff top.
"Whoa!"
It was instant.
At Winter's Horn peak, she set me down.
She'd returned to normal size.
Her eyes, brimming with moisture, looked up at me.
"Sister."
"I... I can't accept this."
Her mumbling voice trembled.
Stroking my cheek, she bowed her head.
Transparent tears began plopping onto my shoes.
"Child. Can't you just stay and live here?"
"Pardon?"
【I know. I know you have a place to return to. I know I shouldn't... but I can't bear it anymore.】
I was utterly flustered.
Wanted to say something, but words failed me.
Navardoje continued, holding me.
"You're already part of my life. Tending the garden, giving orders—every time, I clutch my heart fearing something happened to you... Child. While you were off invading that world and back, I couldn't even catch my breath."
Her hot forehead thumped against my chest.
She clenched her fists in agony.
"It hurts. After my children all became stars, I never felt this again. Or is it different... I don't know what to call it."
"Navardoje."
"Don't go. I'll give you anything you want. Imagining a world without you drives me mad... Don't you think it's unfair? The me in your world already has everything...!"
Her voice rose sharply.
Suddenly, she looked up at me.
Her flushed face was a mess of tears.
My stunned reflection shone in her crimson eyes.
It stabbed my heart like a wedge.
The strongest being on this star.
Yet robbed of everything by absurdity.
Maybe I'd grown too attached to this world.
"Sister. I..."
I couldn't meet her eyes.
As I hesitated to speak...
Suddenly, a chilling magical presence erupted far away.
"Huh?"
I whipped my head around.
Navardoje's face went pale.
【What...!】
She looked too, eyebrows shooting up.
Toward headquarters.
Amid rising dust over headquarters, a long shadow hovered.
"Akasha!"
I spat the lament like vomit.
The shadow was Akasha.
He looked vastly different from when we'd faced him.
His limbs were broken, twisted grotesquely.
His charred mantle was worse than rags.
"...How?"
Yet he lived.
Impossible.
Not just surviving Navardoje and me unnoticed.
How did he survive? How'd he slip away?
And what shocked us wasn't just survival.
A grayish-white mass slowly rose above the ruined headquarters.
It looked like ordinary rock, but its contents were anything but.
Navardoje screamed.
"Se-Seniel?!"
Goosebumps exploded across my skin.
Rising unmistakably was Seniel.
The stone holding life force and the world's future glowed faintly under the darkening sky.
The moment I saw it, I kicked off the cliff.
"Sister!"
No orders needed.
Winged Navardoje snatched me.
Wanted to use spatial magic, but Seniel's mana interference blocked it.
Rooooar!
We became twin comets hurtling toward headquarters.
Each burst of Navardoje's flames blinked us closer rapidly.
"Put that down right now!!"
My bellow echoed.
No clue what Akasha planned with it.
But the ominous vortex around him screamed to stop him.
Suddenly, headquarters' ceiling shattered as two shadows shot up.
"Muik!"
【What are you, you worm?!】
Fantasion and quarter-dragon Orse.
Closer, they reached faster.
In a blink, they were on Akasha, weapons drawn.
Orse's spear thrust.
Fantasion's new axe arced like a crescent moon.
"..."
But he wasn't easy prey.
Akasha casually raised his index finger.
Splat!
A white rift slashed the sky.
Fantasion's left arm severed from his body.
【Deer...!】
"Ugh."
Orse's eyes widened.
Red blood painted the sky.
But Fantasion didn't stop despite the lost arm.
Switching axe to his remaining hand, he swung again.
Akasha raised his middle finger next.
Kabooooom!!
Invisible force hammered down from above.
"Muik!"
【Krahk!】
Unlike Navardoje, they couldn't dodge.
They crashed into headquarters, triggering a massive explosion.
But we couldn't look away.
Cracks spiderwebbed across Seniel's surface.
Each finger Akasha raised deepened them.
"No!"
We closed in fast even now.
Five seconds max.
One option left.
Close enough.
Fwoooosh!
Gripping my hilt, sunset aura surged along the blade.
"Get down here, you bastard!"
I thrust.
Straight-shot aura enveloped Akasha.
But he didn't budge.
Calm as sunbathing, basking in the glow.
"What."
My mind blanked.
Akasha ignored me, continuing.
As his right hand's five fingers fully extended...
Kabooooom!
Seniel, rift-covered, exploded, unleashing life energy.