A Little Sting
“It might sting a little.”
KRA-KOOSH!
What could this be, I wonder.
“GYAAAAH!”
“Crere!! This wasn't part of the plan—!”
Whuum.
CRUNCH!!!
The Great Races were not 'boss-class' entities like field bosses or world bosses.
If anything, they were NPCs meant to guide quest progression. Being designed as utterly impossible to fight from the start, each one of them boasted stats above level 130—though only within the confines of the altar.
A bit weaker than Sgaredo of the Snowy Mountain, but still a being no one could ever afford to underestimate. After all, even the mighty Lily had only managed to take her down by joining forces with countless others, and barely at that.
'She was exhausted. After exerting herself once, she'd collapse from fatigue.'
If that was the extent of her even in her prime, then in a mindscape where she couldn't properly use her power at all, I'd assumed she could be captured for certain.
“Heheup.”
A golden blow came crashing down on the Great Race in a single stroke.
A strike that didn't even seem to require much effort. The result, however, was gruesome. Lily withdrew her hammer from the Great Race, now flattened into the ground.
Beside it, Luck was trembling like a leaf.
Giving the hammer a playful twirl, she launched straight up into the air and brought it down on another of the Races.
BOOOM!!
Watching the Great Races that had seemed so grand burst apart before his eyes, Crere clutched his head.
“Hell...”
This was hell.
No—how was this even possible?
WHUMP!
“Guess that's all of them?”
“......Lady Lily.”
The golden hammer dropped beside Crere's head. The Races had already been annihilated—all except Luck and Charm—and Lily didn't look tired in the slightest.
Rather, she seemed refreshed, as if liberated from something, and the sight of it sent an involuntary chill down his spine.
'How is the mindscape version stronger? I'm going insane.'
No—calling it 'stronger' was laughable.
'It's simply different.'
A cat and a tiger might belong to the same family, but their combat prowess was separated by heaven and earth. Comparing the Lily of this place to the Lily of reality simply didn't make sense to begin with.
On top of that, two of the Great Races had died outright under that absurd, ceaseless torrent of golden light.
“You were hiding your strength, then.”
“It's less that I hid it and more that I reclaimed what was mine, if only for a moment.”
Haah...
She twirled the hammer once, lightly, and smiled.
“Until just a while ago I was in a bad mood, but loosening up a little has done me some good.”
“...What do you intend to do with me?”
“What I said before, of course?”
With a smooth motion, Lily's snow-white hand pressed down on Crere's head. A gesture she'd performed often in the past.
“It might sting a little.”
“What— GUH-HAAK!!!”
“GAAAAAAAHHH...”
Refreshing.
I'd deliberately held back, worried it might sting my own pride, but I found myself thinking that letting loose like this now and then wasn't so bad after all.
An omnipotence that the me of Deoen couldn't even begin to compare to. Countless techniques and uses of weapons came to mind—things the current me could have done—but I stopped myself there.
After all, this was nothing more than a mindscape.
“Ughrk. Ughuuu...”
Glancing over, I saw Crere collapsed on the ground, frothing at the mouth. Of course, that was my handiwork, but I hadn't really done anything special.
'I just wiped a few of his memories, that's all.'
Erasing memories from the soul by punching through the System's protection. Normally that would demand considerable power, skill, and time—but the mindscape was a different matter. In this place, I could accomplish nearly anything.
I would have applied anesthesia as a matter of course, but as punishment for his insolence, I'd simply kneaded his brain instead.
“...He won't go insane, will he?”
It had been so long since I'd done it that I worried I might have made a mistake.
“Lily.”
“Good work out there, Pharaoh.”
The moment he arrived, Pharaoh had seized two of the Great Races. He looked almost as refreshed as I did.
The hammer containing Pharaoh began to hum with light.
“When, exactly, will I be able to come out?”
“Just wait a little longer. The me out there is still weak.”
“I have waited thousands of years, and now I must wait again?”
“If you've waited thousands of years, you can certainly manage a few more.”
Not that it would actually take years.
I said as much, and Pharaoh clicked his tongue pointlessly.
“You have a silver tongue. Why don't you try it yourself sometime.”
“......”
“...That was discourteous of me.”
“Glad you know.”
Pharaoh hastily changed the subject.
“In any case, hurry and grow strong again, so you may free me. The desert awaits my return.”
“Rasty's been sitting still this whole time, and you came out just for a stroll. You could stand to be a little more patient.”
“That runt has always had that sort of temperament.”
“That runt is probably older than you are, Pharaoh.”
“And what of it? I'm stuck keeping company with a runt, after all.”
My Void Space had once held countless ancient beasts, but most had vanished, leaving only two behind.
One was Pharaoh, Emperor of the Desert. The other was Rasty, Sovereign of Blood.
“Had I not been reduced to a statue, I would have drained that blood of hers for thousands of years.”
“So the reason all the other beasts left—was it that they fled before she drank them dry?”
“That may well be it.”
The hammer rumbled with vibration and burst into loud laughter.
“......”
And yet beneath that laughter, I could feel a faint tremor.
'It can't be helped.'
Rasty was half-demon, after all.
I had gathered all six Blessings of the Great Races.
My own Luck, plus the four Blessings Crere had held. Among those, Hierarchy—once Crere's—was an authority that amplified or restricted power according to one's station.
“So that's why you gave out badges.”
“That's right, darling. They looked like meaningless fruit badges on the surface, but in truth they bore special insignia.”
Cherry, Clover ♧
Peach, Heart ♥
Strawberry, Diamond ◆
Banana, Spade ♤
All of them were fruits symbolizing playing cards, distributed in tiered order according to their suit and rank. KP, likewise, was a currency of finely subdivided tiers—points layered upon points.
“...But how did you know the badges would matter?”
“Hm?”
“I mean, darling, you just went and crushed the badge. They're sturdy things, to be sure—but I was bound by contract and couldn't tell you anything, and you shattered it on the spot.”
Alice's contract with Crere prevented her from revealing anything beyond a certain threshold. Naturally, that applied to the Blessing he carried—Hierarchy—as well.
But I'd crushed the badge as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. The reason being...
“Just because.”
“Huh?”
“I just got angry and crushed it.”
There was no reason.
Alice's face went blank for a moment before she nodded.
“I... I see.”
“Well, I did have a rough idea. And honestly, whether it existed or not wouldn't have made much difference.”
Crere's goal had been to stall for as much time as possible so the altar could open. That was why he'd needed Hierarchy—but I had never intended to stop the altar from opening in the first place, so there wouldn't have been much difference either way.
Besides, I'd already pummeled the Great Races who granted the Blessings into the ground.
“In any case... these are your Charm, darling.”
A translucent fox drifted to Alice's side. It looked at me with its crimson eyes, then scampered straight over to me.
The moment the sixth Blessing was gathered, a cascade of messages rang out as if they'd been waiting all along.
You have gathered all 6 Blessings of the Great Races.
The frozen time of Kiki Island resumes its flow!
The first Blessing you obtained, Luck, will be enhanced.
Luck will always guide you along the best path.
Even beyond Kiki Island, your Luck will remain with you.
The Agent reveals their presence!
A powerful pulse shook the altar within the mindscape. A presence incomparable to the beings called the Great Races set foot into this world.
No—perhaps it had been here from the very beginning.
Shhk.
Alice vanished from the altar as naturally as if that had always been her place.
'A spatial barrier?'
Now only the Agent and I remained at the altar. A figure draped in translucent cloth of every color, as if deliberately concealing their identity, emerged into view.
'Ah.'
But this was absolutely not a human.
“Are you the Agent who grants wishes?”
'...? Why do you ask?'
?
The Agent answered my question with a question. I frowned briefly, then walked toward them.
“What do you mean, why do I ask?”
'...Oh? So that's how it is. How cute.'
Kiki.
The Agent, smiling much like Luck itself, began to laugh, their robes rippling.
That's oddly infuriating.
Kiki? Kiki.
Why are you laughing?
'That's right. I am the Agent. It is said I grant a wish to whoever gathers all the Blessings.'
“......”
'What wish do you desire, Lily Elbrit? Overwhelming power? Boundless wealth?'
A wish, is it.
Once upon a time, I would have chosen 'that' without a moment's hesitation.
But I'd experienced it until I was sick of it, and I'd learned long ago that it was impossible.
“Please grant Alice's wish.”
'...Oh my. Is that all?'
“Yes.”
I'll say it again—I came here on vacation. Not to acquire Mythic-grade gear or lavish rewards.
This only happened because I had to make my abductor pay his dues.
Besides, the things I 'truly' wanted were things no Agent's power could grant. The small stuff wouldn't mean much anyway.
The Agent tilted their head, then rippled with laughter once more—apparently finding this situation utterly delightful.
'Ah... now this is a bit troublesome. I can hardly give nothing at all to the great soul who gathered every Blessing.'
“Then feel free to hand something over.”
'...Just as I thought.'
DING!
'No wish you desire at all, hm? Then this is all I have to give you.'
“This is plenty.”
'Then I am glad you are satisfied.'
The altar crumbled.
And it wasn't just the altar.
⊳ Rewards for your conquest have been distributed.
⊳ The secrets surrounding Kiki Island are being torn apart.
⊳ The dungeon of Kiki Island is dissolving!
I took one last look at the Agent.
Half-hidden by the robes, the Agent wore a strangely unreadable expression. Some questions lingered, but I left them there and walked straight out of the dungeon.
.
.
.
Hehe.
In the space left empty and alone, the Agent shed the multicolored robes that had concealed them.
The moment the cloth fell away, a pair of pink cat ears perked up, and feline-sharp eyes recalled the someone they had briefly hidden themselves from.
“You haven't changed one bit, Unnie.”
No matter how weakened she became.
No matter how she was trampled to the very end of countless deaths.
No matter how she came to realize that salvation alone could not save the world.
Always the same Lily Elbrit.
'My savior.'
“So Mr. Pharaoh and Lady Rasty were still there, after all. Is that loyalty—or did they simply have nowhere else to go?”
'Either way.'
“She's coming back.”
The ancient beast 'Myoshin' smiled faintly as she beheld an old family member. Then—tuk. She tipped her head back and closed her eyes.
“...But that thing.”
In truth, beyond 'that place'—beyond those two and that strange black cloud—there had been one more.
A woman seated amid waves of golden light. Blue hair and blue eyes.
And above all, she looked so terribly like 'Lily' herself...
“What in the world was that?”