Again, Reunion (1)
Again, Reunion (1)
Olivia fell silent.
Laughter. Of all things.
While she was dying, the last thing she left behind was laughter.
"..."
Melina's head had fallen forward, and her back was bent.
- Lift your head. Straighten your shoulders. And your face, smiling would be...
But the smile remained exactly where it was.
Melina had remembered.
The promise she'd made to her. No.
Those trivial few words that hadn't even been a promise.
Seeing Melina with that serene smile sent a pang through one side of her heart.
The feeling was complicated.
[Clue use has been forcibly terminated.]
Olivia couldn't tear her eyes from her hands. She had returned to reality, but Melina's weight was still there.
It hadn't disappeared.
It remained, engraved deep in her memory.
For a long while, Olivia couldn't rise from where she sat. Even she didn't know why. She rationalized it to herself, insisting her legs had simply given out.
Her stomach burned. Something boiled up from deep inside her organs.
-Cough.
Olivia spat blood. Fragments that might have been part of her internal organs mixed with the blood, staining the snowfield red.
'...?'
As if it had been waiting, tremendous pain surged through her. Eyes wide, Olivia scrutinized the notification window.
[Currently suffering the aftereffects of forced termination.]
There it was. The notification window she had seen before.
'...Why?'
Olivia couldn't understand the current situation. That notification shouldn't have appeared now. That was definitely something that only happened when meeting two regressors at the same time...
"...Ah."
Olivia's face stiffened.
There was one thing that had been bothering her.
What would happen if the memory ended before the time limit was up?
'...Damn it.'
The answer was this forced termination happening right then.
And then Olivia shed blood from her entire body. The only thing she could do was curl up as much as possible to lessen the pain even a little.
The pain was several times worse than it had been with Kiel. Her heart pounded as if about to burst. Her breath choked off as if someone were strangling her. Her airway only opened when she vomited blood.
At some point, her mana began to flow backward. Every blood vessel twisted, producing hideous agony.
Olivia couldn't hold out any longer and collapsed. Unlike Melina, there was no one anywhere to catch her.
Olivia was alone.
Ah, ah...
In a snowfield of pure white, Olivia writhed alone.
Even as her internal organs were torn to shreds and every vein in her body lost its shape and burst, Olivia did not let go of consciousness.
Ending like this was simply too unjust.
If she had a sin, it was only committing genocide without knowing the game would become reality.
That was the thought she had held in her head from the moment she possessed this world.
It was still the same now.
The reward for saving the world hundreds of times was nowhere to be found, yet she was forced to pay the price for destroying it once.
How irrational. How absurd.
It was just...
Olivia looked toward where Melina was. She looked toward where Kiel had once been.
It was just...
Olivia's thoughts couldn't continue any further. As if all the pain so far had only been a prelude, an even more horrific agony swept over her.
It was a struggle just to form the word 'pain' in her mind. Her brain refused to think.
Ah, aaaah...
Reaching a hand toward her subspace was impossible. Even the act of recalling it was too much.
'Potion, a potion...'
The moment her consciousness grew distant, the sound of something breaking rang out.
In her field of vision, now entirely red, brilliant golden hair scattered in the wind.
*****
Melina's golden eyes surveyed the snowfield. At the end of her gaze, a red dot was visible. Like dye spreading, the red dot was gradually expanding its size.
- Master!
As if spellbound, Melina walked toward the red dot.
- What should I do here?
Melina had seen Olivia's countless pasts. Even if regression had robbed her of realization, she had not forgotten the memories.
- Please take me as your disciple!
When she first opened her eyes, Melina had felt relief.
Because she hadn't forgotten.
She was glad she hadn't forgotten how lonely Olivia must have been, how much pain she was in, how arduous it had been.
Truth or anything like it held no importance at all.
Melina drew closer and closer to the red dot.
"...!"
The closer she got, the faster Melina's pace became.
Where she had been walking at first, she now ran.
Melina's face, once full of laughter, now resembled how it had looked on that first day of regression.
In the very center of the red dot, a person lay collapsed.
It was someone Melina knew well.
No. It was the person Melina treasured more than anything else in the world.
Shifting emotions flickered through Melina's eyes as she bit her lip hard enough to draw blood.
It was despair, and rage, and grief, and resentment at the same time.
Two opposing emotions churned wildly inside her heart.
Melina's pace slowed a little from before. The fury and resentment surging from deep within her heart were the cause.
Olivia's deception, her betrayal...
It was as if someone whispered that Olivia was the source of all this pain, that it was all her fault.
- I'll absolutely promise. When the time comes...
"...No."
Melina had seen.
She had seen Olivia's countless pasts.
That child was someone who had saved the world well over thousands of times.
A child who had fought alone for an eternity without any reward.
Melina looked up at the sky with a face full of fury.
'For a child like that...'
She could not forgive whoever made her feel fury toward such a child, whoever sought to inflict terrible wounds upon such a child yet again.
The reason she herself had regressed was probably to wound Olivia too.
Melina picked up her speed again. The closer she got to Olivia, the more her rage boiled up, but Melina endured it.
She recalled memories from happy times. She recalled the moment she received a grace she could never repay.
She recalled a past where, to a disciple who would repeat life all over again, she had been able to offer nothing but a smile.
Like that, with every step forward, she recalled one more thing.
At last, Melina stood before Olivia.
Melina learned for the first time that so much blood could pour from such a frail body.
-Thump.
Faint as it was, her heart was still beating. She was still alive.
[KillKillKillKillKillKillKillKillKillKill.]
Amidst the fury that sought to devour her mind, Melina extended both hands toward Olivia.
"...Libi."
The next moment, Melina gently gathered Olivia into her arms.
Shwooooooo!
The world was dyed in a beautiful golden light. Healing energy coalesced in one place, then began to be drawn into Olivia's body.
Her wounds closed at a rapid pace. Color returned to skin that had gone deathly pale. The face seized by pain shifted to one of peace.
Soon, the sound of ragged breathing could be heard.
With a serene smile, Melina spoke.
"Libi. Everything will be alright. Everything will be alright..."
Melina stroked Olivia's hair. The harder she bit her lip, the softer her touch became in equal measure.
Lightening the burden.
That was her role.
*
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*
*
*
Strangely, it was warm.
For some reason, Olivia felt the air grow warm, like a spring day.
Had someone lit a campfire or something?
Perhaps because she wasn't fully conscious yet, her body didn't move as she willed. Right then, even lifting her eyelids was too much for Olivia.
"------."
The surroundings were slightly noisy. She couldn't make out what was being said, but it was definitely a voice that felt familiar.
-Thump.
Olivia focused her mind on her heartbeat. Fortunately, it seemed she was still alive.
"Is...Master...alright?"
"We were...worried...just do it."
"Quota...how many...left?"
A little more time passed. She still couldn't understand, but at least it sounded clearer than a moment ago. It was proof that her body was slowly recovering.
Her senses were gradually returning as well.
She could feel magical power moving nearby. One was lightning, another was light, and the last was ice.
Only then did Olivia realize where she was.
'Glacia's lair.'
It appeared someone had brought her here.
'...But who?'
It wouldn't have been her disciples. Not only had she not told them the location, but the place where she had frozen Melina was far from the lair in the first place.
There was no way hunters or adventurers had come all the way to the barren north either.
'Unless Melina had brought me here herself...'
That was the moment.
"You're awake?"
At that infinitely affectionate voice, Olivia opened her eyes without realizing it. Melina was there.
"Ah, you're awake?"
"Are you alright!"
The disciples who had been watching warily from a distance rushed over in a flurry. Olivia learned for the first time that her disciples could make faces like these.
"...I knew you would be fine."
It was Aramis, for once showing proper courtesy.
"Olivia."
A low voice reached her.
Only then did Olivia look directly at Melina.
"Could we speak for a moment?"