I Am Serne
The dazzling radiance slowly began to fade.
The ice melted away, and a pale chill spread across the surroundings.
Saaaah—
Snow-white feathers fluttered down all around, filling the air like snowfall. One drifted gently onto Simon's shoulder. Another stuck briefly at the corner of his eye before slipping lifelessly to the floor.
Simon stared at the fallen feather for a long moment, then lifted his trembling gaze ahead.
The Dungeon Master who had driven the Ivory Tower to its ruin — the Frozen Clock's ice was melting away even as Serne's body went limp and crumpled to the ground.
And then, the light was gone.
"……"
Only silence remained.
The fluttering white feathers vanished like a spring snowfall, the binding circle that had held Simon's arms dissolved, and the channel of will reopened — Pier's voice flickering faintly back into his mind.
Thud.
Simon's legs gave out and he collapsed where he stood.
"……No."
His lips trembled violently.
"No! No! No!"
He ran like a man who had lost his mind and gathered Serne's fallen shoulders into his arms.
Her once-proud ivory hair had drained of color, her lips had turned blue, and her skin had shriveled dry and brittle like a mummy's.
Sliik—
Serne's hand rose and cupped his cheek. A faint voice slipped from her cracked lips.
"……Please."
With that wistful smile as her last,
her arm fell to the floor.
Simon bit his lip until it bled, a silent scream tearing through him.
You……!
That girl who had always seemed to care about no one but herself.
Why did it have to be you……!
She had sacrificed everything for all of it. And "everything" had included Mayrin's life — and Simon's own. Holding her in suffocating silence, the bloodshot eyes of the young man tightened with fury.
Even for her sake, this was no time to break down. Simon turned his gaze to the Frozen Clock.
The ice had almost entirely melted, its body two-thirds exposed — but it wasn't moving yet, as if the seal hadn't fully unraveled.
"I understand how you feel, but we must hurry! Someone is coming up to the 100th floor!"
The Ghost of Time's voice reached him, belatedly.
'!'
Simon quickly hid behind the Frozen Clock. The Ghost of Time waved its hand and wove a spell, peeling the empty air away like a blanket and draping it over him.
Thud. Thud.
A slow, heavy footfall echoed through the 100th floor.
Scraaape. Screeeech—
And with it came the sound of something being dragged along the floor.
Concealed beneath the Ghost of Time's concealment spell, Simon secretly watched ahead.
'……Bermude Eindark.'
The Master of the Ivory Tower's face was still splattered with fresh, crimson blood. And dragging along the floor by one hand, in place of the woman — a blood-soaked man.
It was Girdon.
Bermude stopped walking and looked at the Frozen Clock, its seal moments from breaking, and at Serne, collapsed and cold.
"I told you to wait. Yet you didn't want anyone to see your final moments, it seems."
A heavy sigh escaped his lips.
"Impossible to control until the very end. Still, as you wished — I will spare Mayrin's life."
Crash!
Bermude flung the bloodied Girdon down in front of the Frozen Clock and raised a communication crystal.
"This is Bermude. What's the status of the Kizen students?"
Kzzt!
— Th-this is the Guard Captain! We've cornered Student Council President Simon Polentia on the 41st floor! He's still running even with a leg blown clean off—
"Pathetic."
Bermude snapped in irritation.
"This is what it takes to handle a single student? Blow off his other leg if you must — just keep him breathing and pin him down. Have him captured within ten minutes."
-Understood! We've also located Merida Hugh Ikel! She's fleeing on the 20th floor!
"Capture that girl unharmed. In a new age without Kizen, making an enemy of 'Phantasus Hugh Ikel' is the one thing we must avoid. She is the only means of moving him."
-We will keep that in mind!
Kzzt.
Bermude ended the transmission and raised a fresh communication crystal.
"Bermude here. Report on the Relocation Magic."
-Relocation Center Director Hession here! All preparations will be complete within ten minutes. We can send the Tower of Time to Roke Island at any moment.
"And the odds of the teleport failing against Kizen's coordinate-disruption barrier?"
-It is ancient archmage technology. The probability of it being caught by a modern barrier formula is zero percent.
"Good. The moment I give my next order—"
Hack! Hack!
Bermude's eyes shifted. Girdon, slumped against the Frozen Clock, was retching up bloody foam. Bermude looked down at him with eyes as cold as an inanimate object's.
"Astonishingly stubborn. You're still alive, are you?"
A sound like scraping iron came from the trembling, foam-flecked mouth.
"Hack! Hack! Kizen……! You Kizen bastards……!"
"You've finally lost your mind entirely, have you? Still spouting that nonsense, Girdon?"
As Bermude extended his hand, a magic circle bloomed open in the blink of an eye.
"Your infamy will echo down the pages of the continent's history. Didn't I promise you? That I would make your dream of toppling Kizen a reality."
"Kizen……! Kizen……!"
"Farewell."
FWOOOOSH!
A lance of lava erupted from the magic circle, spearing through Girdon's abdomen and driving deep into the Frozen Clock itself.
From what had looked like a mere machine, blue blood began to trickle out in streams.
"If I want it to rampage in time with the tower's relocation, I'll need to start warming it up."
Bermude's eyes flashed.
"Awaken. Dungeon Master."
Just as he moved to unfold the next offensive magic circle—
Tick tock tick tock tick tock!
Two eyes opened at the center of the Frozen Clock.
Empty, emotionless eyes that sent a chill crawling down the spine of anyone who met them.
Tick tock tick tock tick tock!
Three clock hands began spinning in a frenzy. The Dungeon Master's seal had finally been broken.
"It activated from wounds this minor? Frailer than it looks."
Murmuring in surprise, Bermude dismissed the magic circle and raised his communication crystal.
"This is Bermude. The Frozen Clock has been awakened as planned. It will enter full rampage in three hours. Report your statuses."
Kzzt!
-Relocation Magic Restoration Center, 10th floor! All preparations for the tower's relocation are complete!
Kzzt!
-20th floor! We've captured Merida Hugh Ikel!
Kzzt!
-Th-the 41st floor! Simon Polentia has……! H-he's vanished!
Bermude's brow furrowed.
"Vanished? You said you had him cornered."
-We absolutely did! But he suddenly disappeared, leaving only his uniform behind! All that remains is one motionless zombie!
"Idiots. Never mind. The plan begins shortly anyway. Extract with Merida Hugh Ikel and—"
At that moment, Bermude's eyes went wide.
'What—?'
Tick tock tick tock tick tock!
Tick tock tick tock tick tock tick tock tick tock!
The clock hands were spinning like mad. He had expected full rampage in three hours — yet from only a light strike, the rampage response had already begun.
Bermude scrambled to weave the formulas of a containment spell—
Suuuuuuum—
—but the rampaging body of the Frozen Clock was already growing hazy, fading from view.
"A pleasure to properly make your acquaintance, Master of the Ivory Tower."
Bermude's pupils dilated to the point of bursting.
The Frozen Clock's body was being sucked into a greatsword of emerald light. And from behind it, a blue-haired boy who had been concealing himself revealed his figure.
"You……!"
"Sorry, but."
The Frozen Clock was drawn completely into Simon's greatsword and vanished. Golden light swirled in his eyes.
"This dungeon belongs to me now."
Simon clenched his fist.
CHAAAAAARARARARARUNG!
The dungeon's walls surged inward from both sides like a tidal wave — and before Bermude could do anything, swallowed him whole.
"You……! How——!"
Even the fingertips of Bermude's outstretched hand vanished beneath the bricks of the Ivory Tower. Simon wrenched his fist violently to the side.
BOOOOOM—!
Bermude's body was forcibly ejected from the Ivory Tower, and in the blink of an eye, the 100th floor returned to its original state.
Simon, breathing hard, pressed his hand once more against the hilt of the Greatsword of Ruin, still planted in the floor.
'The 20th floor, wasn't it.'
He squeezed his eyes shut and drew up every ounce of concentration.
"Let go of me!"
Merida thrashed wildly, both arms bound in dark-magic shackles. The guard holding her grimaced and shouted.
"Walk quietly if you don't want to get hurt!"
The guards were hauling her away by her arms. One of them glanced back.
'……Astonishing.'
Nearly twenty guards of the Tower of Time lay sprawled across the floor, snoring away.
He had dismissed it — Kizen or not, they were still just kids. Never had he imagined they'd be this formidable.
"I said let go!"
Merida jerked her head back and slammed it full force into the guard's nose. He collapsed with a strangled khak!, and she bolted.
"You little brat!"
Swiiish!
A rope of mana lashed out from his staff and coiled around her legs. Unable to resist, Merida crashed to the floor.
"This little punk's really winding me up. Fine — let's see who wins."
The guard, eyes rolling with fury, approached with blood streaming from his nose.
"Now, what'll make you behave, hmm?"
Just as he seized her by the hair to haul her upright—
BOOOOOM!
A section of wall suddenly jutted out like a pillar and slammed into the guard's body.
"?!"
Crash!
BOOOM!
Wall after wall erupted from above and below in succession, striking down every guard standing in the room. They were flung against the far wall all at once, knocked cold.
"…Huh?"
Merida blinked, dumbfounded.
With their casters unconscious, the dark-magic shackles and mana ropes binding her arms all dissolved as well.
Suuuum—
The protruding walls were sinking back into place. She had no idea what was happening — but it was her chance to run.
Merida shook herself off and started running again.
Thud!
Simon slumped to the ground.
Channeling a Dungeon Master's power exacted a heavy toll on his mind.
'……Well, that should have put out the immediate fire, right?'
The Ghost of Time drifted closer.
"Well done."
"Yes — thank you for keeping me hidden."
Even as he said it, Simon's expression hardened, and he bowed his head.
"But Serne she…… huh?"
Simon's eyes blew wide open.
Serne's body, lying collapsed on the floor, had vanished as if it had never been there at all.
She should have been right here. All that remained was the corpse of the murdered Girdon. Which meant—
"Looking for someone?"
Simon felt goosebumps erupt down his spine.
Then, like a creaking marionette, he wrenched his head around with great effort.
A girl with faded hair was waving at him, perfectly composed. Simon, too stunned to speak, scrambled backward on the floor in a panic.
"What's with that reaction? You look like you've seen a ghost."
She pouted and pushed out her lips. The finger Simon pointed at her was shaking.
"Y-you—you're—how are you alive?!"
"How dramatic of you."
She squeezed her eyes shut and plucked a single feather that had clung to her clothes.
The shriveled skin restored itself, and the color-drained gray hair flooded back to its rich ivory sheen — a luxuriant field of wheat come to life — and swayed around her.
"I'm Serne. Do I look like the kind of woman who dies that easily?"
Simon turned his head with a blank expression. The Ghost of Time was chuckling too — clearly, it had known all along.
'How? To undo the Absolute Seal, her own life should have been——'
"The Absolute Seal. A three-hundred-year-old relic of a technique, cast by an ordinary mage — not even a necromancer."
She waved her finger back and forth.
"The age has advanced this far. Did I really need to cast the same old Absolute Seal all over again? I reverse-engineered the formula with my own original jet-black ice magic and undid it. The Ghost of Time over there lent a hand, too."
"Mm, that's right!"
The Ghost of Time nodded along enthusiastically.
"You reverse-engineered and dispelled the Absolute Seal? Wait — is that even…… possible?"
Serne stopped walking, folded her arms behind her back, turned to look at Simon, and smiled.
"Do you think my skill falls short of a dusty spell from three hundred years ago?"
"……Ha. Haha."
Simon let out a hollow laugh and flopped flat onto the floor.
She must have been researching this spell from the very moment she learned the Absolute Seal existed — all to save Mayrin. She had strung him along, up and down, right to the very end.
"Still, it was touching."
Serne dabbed at the corner of her eye in a theatrical gesture.
"I never imagined you'd cry for me, Simon."
"I did not cry!!"
Simon shouted, face burning red. Serne burst out laughing at the reaction.
"I knew teasing you would be worth it."
"……Why did you deceive me?"
"There's a saying, isn't there? To deceive your enemies, first deceive your own allies. Bermude got fooled as a bonus. Besides — it certainly motivated you, didn't it?"
Simon shook his head slowly.
"You really are the strangest person I know, you kno—— wait."
At that moment, thick dark blood began dripping from Serne's nose. Simon rushed to her in alarm.
"Wh-what's wrong?!"
"I never said it would be free, did I?"
She smiled weakly.
Serne's body had gone limp, strength draining from her as if by magic.
"There was a fifty percent chance the spell would fail and I'd die from jet-black backflow. What I told you then was the truth. That's why I said my goodbyes too — just in case I died."
"……You."
She swayed and leaned her weight against him.
"Hehe. This is the first time I've ever shown anyone my weak side."
"……Don't say weird things."
Simon eased her into a sitting position. She didn't resist, letting his hands guide her.
"All right. So what do we do now?"
"We've stopped Bermude's plan — but now Bermude will do everything in his power to kill us and keep us quiet."
Serne winked one eye.
"Congratulations — you and I are now being hunted side by side by one of the strongest beings on the continent. He's probably climbing back up from the 1st floor as we speak."
"……!"
"If we want to live, we have to run to where Nephthys is."
Suddenly, the pressure closed around his throat like a vice.
What happened before had only worked because it was a surprise attack. Bermude would now come here at full strength, and the next time they met, he would not go down so easily.
Simon deliberated for a moment, then spoke.
"Then let's adopt the Master of the Ivory Tower's plan as our own."
"What do you mean?"
"I hold the Dungeon Master's power now, so the Frozen Clock is no longer a threat. We activate the tower's Relocation Magic — and move the entire Tower of Time to that empty field on Roke Island."
The situation had reversed.
Now it was their turn — for the sake of survival, it was they who had to move the tower to Roke Island.