Sanctuary of Memory (2)
Ser reeled at the sudden upheaval, but she forced her reason back into place and began to take stock of the battlefield.
Everything the spirits saw, felt, and heard poured into her mind. Blood burst from every orifice of her face amid searing pain, yet she accepted every scrap of information without flinching.
Once the process was complete, she set the spirits in motion, reinforcing the faltering troops, attaching a high-ranking spirit to Bishur who teetered on the brink of death, and scattering Rin’s finished meteor shower across the earth.
Confirming that the battlefield was gradually stabilizing, Hermila drew up the ominous rank of annihilation and drove her fist once more into the face of Roy, who lay sprawled on the ground.
“Hah! That feels better already.”
Hearing Hermila’s refreshed voice, Ser opened her eyes and roughly wiped the blood from her face. Then she laid her hand upon Ablon’s back once more and began chanting the interrupted spell at breakneck speed.
Clack— Seeing this, Karok rose at once, letting his longsword hang behind his waist as he stamped a true step. Roy, still groping at his caved-in face, half-raised his upper body and gathered mana at the tip of his staff.
Ser paid them no mind, pouring every ounce of focus into the chant alone. Hermila stood at her side, after all.
When the swinging blade and the manifested magic finally flared to life, Hermila’s fist shot forward.
Thooom—!
The violet embers she had kindled by burning her own lifespan roared to life, greedily chewing and swallowing their ranks and mana.
At the same instant, Ser’s spell reached completion.
Gooong— The earth stirred with Ablon’s body as its origin. The ground shuddered, screamed, and heaved itself upright. A mound of soil rose high enough to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with a great mountain, then surged and poured toward a single point.
Its destination was the Sanctuary of Memory.
At last the earthen mass laid itself fully flat, forming a colossal barrier centered on the Sanctuary—taller even than the walls that encircled Cartia. A wall forged from the power of a highest-ranking spirit and the rank of the Spirit King itself.
Certain that nothing short of a Beast of the End could bring it down, Ser lifted her hand from Ablon’s back. Ablon bowed deeply to her, then dissolved into particles of light and slipped through the gate to the spirit realm.
It was not death. The spirit had simply exhausted its strength and entered rest. With the highest-ranking spirit reverse-summoned, their fighting power had weakened, yet the result was far from bad.
Erden’s true target had been the Sanctuary of Memory from the start. Once Noah and Rubia arrived here without incident, the battle would end—in their victory.
Having considered countless variables and found her answers, Ser smiled in satisfaction and poured the Spirit King’s rank into Rin’s magic. Rough curses from the Spirit King echoed inside her skull; she ignored them lightly.
Ever since the Spirit King had fallen into slumber—ever since those shitty days when she had been forced to hole up in the Magic Tower, pretending to be Erden’s dog and playing nice with filth—she had been owed compensation.
If it were up to her she would have granted the same boon to every one of the hundreds of millions of spirits scattered across the battlefield. But doing so would truly annihilate the Spirit King, so she clenched her teeth and held back. Still, she thought, the chance might come someday.
All the while Hermila was taking the Masters’ attacks with her entire body, radiating a fierce killing intent. Protecting Ser was secondary. Her foremost priority was cutting the throats of the bastards who had thrown in with Erden.
Yet with no way to land her own fists while weathering both of their assaults, she had no choice but to wait for Ser’s spell to finish.
Unaware of that fact, Ser simply smiled contentedly at the word “friend” and joined Hermila’s fight. With the power of high-ranking spirits she heaved and collapsed the ground beneath the Masters’ feet, breaking their stances. At the same time she gathered the mid-ranking spirit power that had been wrapping her body into a single point and released it.
Crrrack— A tendril warped space as it shot out and latched onto Karok’s longsword. Instantly Hermila’s body rocketed forward and drove another fist into Roy’s face.
Kwaaang—! The sound that rang out was hard to believe came from a human face struck by a fist. Writhing in agony, Roy flung himself backward with a hastily cast spell. Hermila never lost track of him; she clung like a leech and punched again.
“You fucking bitch!”
Confirming that his crumpled cheekbone had already healed, Roy discarded his staff and manifested two spells in each hand—four in total. Wind howled; holes punched through the earth Ser had overturned. From the bottomless depths of those pits rose a savage firestorm that looked ready to burn the world. At the same moment chains dropped from the sky and bound Hermila’s body.
Suspended in midair, Hermila burned still more of her lifespan to pour strength into the rank of annihilation. Crrrk— The sound of chains being gnawed away rose, and then—shrrrk—even more chains pierced her body and pinned her down.
Just as the firestorm surging from the ground was about to engulf her, the magic of the highest-ranking spirit Rin that Ser had been preparing finally completed.
A magic circle unfolded with Hermila at its center. From that point every one of Roy’s spells scattered. Then the circle began to swell, radiating a brilliant radiance. At last it grew vast enough to blanket the entire battlefield and “forbade” every magic cast within it.
The unique barrier Ser had possessed in her days as a great mage—one that forbade all magic within a designated space, seized the flow of mana across an entire region, and bent it solely toward herself. The spell that had elevated her to the pinnacle of mages.
Arrogance.
Reinterpreted through the power of spirits, it revealed itself to the world once more.
Freed from the chains, Hermila stomped across the spirits drifting in the air and charged toward Roy, whose eyes had flown wide.
“Don’t you fucking dare!!!!”
Roy loosed a mad roar, yanked the dagger from his side, and drove it into his own shoulder, tearing the arm free. He gulped the blood that poured from the stump, chewed and swallowed the flesh, and bellowed again.
“I demand power! The price is the loss of my left arm and half my lifespan!”
At that voice an indescribable rank erupted from Roy’s body. The medium was the arm clutched in his right hand. What it created was a new magic written into the very foundation of the world, beyond all reason.
“Full Bloom!”
A crimson flower unfurled. In a space where even the wind had stopped, the blossom reached full bloom and began to scatter blood-red petals. Those petals wrapped around Hermila’s left arm and started to unravel the rank of annihilation she had kindled by burning her lifespan.
Beneath the crumbling rank, skin split. Exposed muscle tore. Exposed vessels ripped; bone shattered. Feeling the unknown force climb from forearm to shoulder, Hermila immediately tore off her left arm the same way Roy had.
Shhhk—! Spurting blood mingled with the red petals and bloomed into new flowers. Hundreds of blossoms opened. Petals whirled. Spreading far enough to smother Ser’s barrier, the petals began to devour Cartia’s forces.
Blood sprayed. Flowers bloomed from the blood. They scattered. The petals that had dyed the entire world crimson began to gather in one place.
With a savage battle cry, Karok swung his longsword; the sword aura that burst forth swept the earth without distinguishing friend from foe. Inevitable death was about to claim Hermila—
when the distant crimson curtain shattered.
The sky flipped.
Every petal vanished.
The sword aura scattered.
The shadow cast by the Black Sun split apart.
“Fuuuuck!! What the hell is th—”
And then—
Kwa-jak—
The rank of annihilation Hermila had kindled by burning half her own lifespan burst Roy’s head.
The moment I confirmed every enemy in the area had been annihilated, I recalled Frey and slipped the Bracelet of Verdure onto my wrist.
“Huuuh…”
A bottomless, endless exhaustion crushed my entire body and stole my strength.
“Noah…!”
Limping, Rubia struggled toward me and caught my body as it toppled, sinking to the ground with me in her arms.
A damp sensation. A metallic scent. A voice strained past its limit. A body trembling violently. And still, the gentle hand that stroked my face and poured divine power into me.
“Are you all right? Where… where are you hurt…?”
“I’m fiiine… Rubia… Rubia’s hurt a lot more…”
“I-I’m… hng… fine… as long as you’re okay, hhic… Noah…”
Plip— Slightly cool droplets fell onto Rubia’s hand.
“I missed you. I really… really missed you.”
“M-me too… I missed you… so much…”
I lifted my hand, brushed her cheek, and wrapped my arms around her neck. For a while we shared each other’s warmth, felt each other’s heartbeat, mixed our breath, and soothed our emotions.
Sensing Rubia’s feelings gradually settle, I gently loosened her arms. As if she had read my mind, she swallowed hard and forced her mouth open.
“The Sanctuary of Memory… is under attack. Hermila-nim and Ser-nim are holding it for now, but…”
Guilt colored the trailing end of her voice.
“You rest, Noah. I’ll… I’ll go buy time myself.”
The Sanctuary of Memory. The Trial of Memory Valoran had spoken of. The content of the trial: the redefinition of the past. My past. Everything I had endured before coming to this world. The thing I had to overcome if I was to save Rubia.
“So… just rest well… no, you can even go somewhere else. A peaceful frontier where you can live easy— mmph?!”
I pulled her face straight to mine and kissed her. I licked the blood from the corner of her mouth and moistened her cracked lips.
“Pwah…! N-Noah?!”
“We’ll… finish this after everything’s over. Right now… right now isn’t the time.”
“…What?”
“I like you. A lot, Rubia.”
“Uh… I-I like you too, Noah.”
“I… I like you a little more than you like me.”
Peck—
The instant the words left my mouth I kissed her once more, then rose to my feet.
I had to go now. To the Sanctuary of Memory. To the place where unforgettable nightmares of the past slept. To the place where everything ended and began.
“Shall we go…?”
To the place that held the answer to a lifelong mystery. Toward the final story that would save you.
“Let’s go together, Rubia.”
To the final chapter.