That Day, at the Imperial Palace (3)
That Day, at the Imperial Palace (3)
Craaaaash!
Space detonated, and glacial cold erupted in every direction. In that single instant, hundreds of spells collided.
Rumble...
The Imperial Palace, which had boasted an ancient and enduring history, came crumbling down. Pale dust and smoke hung between the two of them.
"..."
Melina found herself glancing around. Olivia's domain was expanding with every passing moment. The surroundings were filled with the screams of those freezing solid.
Spring.
That spring could be this cold was something Melina had never known before.
"...My disciple."
Instead of answering, Olivia responded with magic. The killing intent within it was unmistakable, and Melina swallowed back her tears once more.
Melina's golden hair drifted through a world dyed pure white.
- Crack!
The ice that had once been human burst apart.
Around Melina, time flowed with unending slowness. The spikes that came hurtling at high speed never reached her, and fell to the ground for the same reason.
"..."
At that sight, Olivia's brow furrowed. But as though it meant nothing to her, she immediately launched an even fiercer attack than before.
Olivia was the spear, and Melina was the shield.
Three minutes passed that way.
'...'
The temperature kept dropping. The moment breath left her lips, it crystallized and fell to the ground.
Most of all, it was a struggle to stir up mana. Because Olivia had painted over all the surrounding mana with her own color, Melina had to refine it every single time she tried to raise mana.
'...If this keeps up, defeat is certain.'
Winning had never been her intention. Melina had only been trying to buy time from the very start. If even one more person could survive as a result, then Olivia's original sin would be lessened by that much.
But at this rate, it seemed she could not even accomplish that.
Melina's gaze stopped somewhere. A greatsword, split in half, lay discarded haphazardly.
'...'
The owner of that greatsword was the same.
Kiel had been the greatest knight on the continent. If only he had not hesitated to attack, he would not have met such an empty end.
Yes, if only he had not hesitated to attack.
Melina saw her own end in Kiel.
But...
At least, not yet.
Melina pushed her ability to its limit. With her Foresight driven to the extreme, Melina's magic grew even more fluid and graceful.
KWAAAAAANG!
She could not push forward, but she was not being pushed back either.
"..."
Olivia's brow furrowed a little more. She had not expected Melina to fight this well.
Olivia kept her left hand where it was and raised only her right hand toward the sky.
- Rumble.
It began as a small noise. Had she been paying attention, she could have heard it clearly, but Melina had no energy left to spare for anything else.
- KWAAAAAANG!
Hundreds of attacks and counters were exchanged every second. Before long, blood burst from Melina's nose. Her vision blurred, and the speed of her incantations began to slow.
'Mana is...'
Her limit had already been reached long ago. She had simply been enduring through willpower alone.
A coppery taste of blood filled her mouth. It was because she had been biting her tongue furiously, trying to stay conscious. At that very instant, the black storm clouds spat out a lightning strike.
- CRAAAAAASH!
For a moment, Melina did not know what had happened. The world before her eyes flashed pure white. It was a sensation of every blood vessel in her body catching fire and her entire body being torn to shreds.
A distant, immense pain swept over her.
"------!"
Just as Melina's body was about to topple backward, a single memory flickered through her mind.
- No matter what, the promise...
The promise.
'Yes, the promise.'
Melina forced strength into both legs. Though the lightning strike had charred her entire body black, the light in her eyes had not yet gone out.
She could not collapse. Not yet.
Melina spoke as though vomiting blood.
"...Do you remember? The promise you made to me years ago."
In a flat, blunt voice, Melina said,
"I am sorry I could not wait until you told me yourself."
The sky darkened. Pitch-black clouds vomited forth lightning. The ground beneath Melina's feet froze over in an instant and seized her ankles. The air was still freezing, and at the same time it crackled with sharp Lightning Energy.
Amid scenery that looked ready to annihilate everything at any moment, Melina simply gripped her staff.
"O mana, I shall offer all that I am."
A golden light bloomed from Melina's body.
"In return, grant me the Truth."
Like a candle burning its most brilliant final flame.
*****
Truth.
The final destination of all mages. The ultimate end that only those who have awakened to all things in the universe can reach.
The Melina of the past had been unable to pay the price for even a single fragment of the Truth. But now, it was different.
Only a single step remained to her. If she offered everything as the price, it was not impossible.
- WHOOOSH!
The world that had been dyed white split apart. Thousands of golden branches spread outward with Melina at their center.
"...!"
For the first time, Olivia's eyes flew wide open.
Rumble, rumble, rumble.
Golden mana flooded in every direction. The pure-white world, the glacial cold, Olivia's world—all of it was being devoured.
"How...!"
Olivia belatedly drew up her mana as well. In talent, in experience...she surpassed Melina in every field, but she could not hold back the surging golden waves.
It was a difference in resolve.
Melina had wagered everything. Olivia had not.
That small difference turned the tide of the battle.
'...Just a little more!'
Melina was not unscathed either. Her body was, to put it generously, barely more than a rag. She was, quite literally, burning up her very last flame.
She pushed forward.
She devoured.
Her eyelids grew maddeningly heavy. Her head felt as though it was about to burst. Her internal organs seemed to be on fire.
'Endure. Endure it through.'
Melina's purpose was now singular.
To read Olivia's 'time'.
KWAAAAANG!
The moment the world was covered entirely in gold, everything came to a halt.
*****
- Step.
In a world where time had stopped, Melina staggered toward Olivia. She fell twice and vomited blood three times.
But she did not stop.
"..."
Melina stood leaning against Olivia's shoulder as though she needed the support—Olivia, frozen upright in place.
The next moment, Olivia's past unfolded in reverse order before Melina's eyes.
From the massacre at the Imperial Palace, all the way back to entering the Academy.
'...'
The 'past' that Melina had expected was nowhere to be seen.
"...It was not you."
Melina felt relief.
"...It was not you."
She even read the future, just in case, but nothing changed.
This child had never crossed a Timeline.
It felt like the pieces of a puzzle that had been shrouded in mystery were at last falling into place.
"There is no way my disciple, no way Livi, would ever do something like this."
The strength drained from her legs. Her eyes closed. The sound of her breathing grew fainter.
"...Yes. There is no way she would."
Relieved, Melina sank down as though collapsing. The time remaining to her was, at most, a few more minutes.
Melina's head dropped weakly.
And then.
Thud!
Olivia caught her teacher's body.
"T-Master."
"..."
An urgent voice.
A touch utterly gentle in contrast.
At the voice she had longed to hear for so long, Melina slowly lifted her eyelids.
There, Olivia stood.
"...Ah."
"..."
"It seems I am dreaming."
"The promise, the promise..."
Melina brought a finger to Olivia's lips. Her golden eyes turned to Olivia.
'...'
Once again, the past unfolded in reverse order.
The difference this time was that saving the world was the starting point.
- If you take me as your disciple, I shall reach the Truth in your stead.
In that life, Olivia became Melina's disciple.
- Master.
In the next life, Olivia became Melina's disciple as well.
- Master.
In the life after that, and the one after that.
And the next, and the next.
Again, again, again...
Over a span of years that approached Eternity, Olivia had become Melina's disciple, and had also saved the world.
'...So this was your secret.'
Melina understood.
Why she had hidden this truth.
"...How gentle of you."
Even while enduring such suffering, she had been worried that her teacher would be concerned.
"Livi."
"..."
Melina's finger brushed the corners of Olivia's eyes.
"I am sorry that I was so insufficient. I have still done nothing for you... From beginning to end, I have only ever received from you."
"..."
Melina's heart ached for her disciple, who was shedding tears. She must have faced countless deaths, and the thought that she had grieved like this every time made a part of Melina's chest sting.
How much must she have suffered?
How much must it have hurt?
How hard must it have been?
How...lonely must she have been?
'Am I unable to do anything for her this time as well?'
There was not much time left.
Regrettably, there was not even time left to share a quiet conversation.
'...Ah.'
One thing.
There was still one thing.
Melina mustered the last of her strength and raised her upper body upright. Olivia tried desperately to stop her, but Melina had no intention of yielding.
Melina lifted her head.
And she squared her shoulders.
"...!"
To Olivia, who was biting her lip, Melina gave a bright, radiant smile.
From somewhere, a warm breeze blew.
It was spring.
[The party maintaining the memory has died.]
[Clue use has been forcibly terminated.]