The Sword That Sliced the Sun

Enri couldn’t believe what she had just witnessed. Was it truly possible for a single person to achieve something like that using nothing but their own skill? Could a human being really cut the sun itself with a sword?

Curious whether the viewers felt the same disbelief, she glanced at the chat window. The messages were slow to appear. Everyone seemed just as busy trying to process what they had seen. The few comments that did trickle in were all variations of “I have no idea what I just watched.”

Meanwhile, the one who had actually accomplished this feat—Ara—was frowning at her broken arms, barely able to endure the aftershock of the power she had unleashed.

There was no pride in her voice, no boast about the monumental deed she had performed. Only disappointment in her own frail vessel.

If I had done something like that, I’d probably be standing there stunned, unable to believe my own eyes. Is this kind of thing just everyday life for Miss Ara? I’m dying to know what she was doing before she met me. She definitely doesn’t seem like an ordinary person. Will there ever come a day when she tells me her story?

*

With her creaking body protesting the backlash from the sword strike, she approached the lizard that had fallen to the ground.

The lizard cried out in an incomprehensible tongue before lowering its head. Then its body suddenly exploded in a burst of white light, crumbling into dust that scattered on the wind. From within that light, something white wriggled upward into the sky, and the lizard vanished completely.

Quite a grand end for something so strong. If only it had spent its time growing stronger instead of worrying about death, how much further could it have gone?

After watching its final moments, she turned back to the chat window, but for some reason the messages were still crawling in slowly. She had expected the chat to be flooded with frenzied comments like when Enri had achieved something impressive, yet it remained strangely quiet.

Only after she asked the question did the chat finally begin to stir.

I suppose what I just did was pretty impressive. After all, I unfolded the form without any wager. It wasn’t purely through will alone, though. I could do that too, but this body would never endure such a realm.

What I had done was a clever trick I had been pondering for a while. I discovered it while teaching Ara. Mana is a power that allows one to inscribe rules onto the world through sheer will. But just because it is the power to write rules doesn’t mean you always have to create new ones from scratch, does it?

If I set a path with my will and let mana follow that path, even a small amount of mana could produce a miracle. My theory had been correct. The mana that traced the path according to the rules had materialized my will into a single result.

It was both a martial technique and a spell at the same time.

Hmm. This thing called mana is quite interesting. When I have some free time later, it might be worth taking a leisurely look into it.

She had entered the game with high expectations, but the fight just now had been far too anticlimactic. Compared to that lizard, the Eastern dragons she remembered were far superior. At least those creatures had displayed a dignity worthy of being called dragons. This lizard had felt… sloppy.

Thanks to that, her hands were still itching. She wanted to test out all the countless things she had thought of using mana. She couldn’t calm down. She needed to vent this urge somehow. Was there anything else in this game that could serve as her opponent?

If not, she would have no choice but to head to Apis.

Just as she was about to ask the viewers, a text message arrived from Enri.

In the end, Enri gave in to the invitation and called.

Enri explained there were two main ones. One was the Lord of Vampires, a being specialized in magic rather than martial combat. The other was known as the First Dragon ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Slayer, someone who could freely wield both martial arts and magic.

Neither particularly interested her. If there had been someone who used only martial techniques, she would have gone to see them immediately. Since it didn’t matter which she chose, Enri suggested they go in order.

Walking around with broken arms would look rather strange, after all.

*

No matter how close virtual reality came to the real world, it was still a game, so there were many convenient aspects. The moment she paid the healer, her two broken arms were completely restored. Even the damage her body had suffered during battle was fully repaired.

It was surprising, but when she thought about it, it made sense. If you actually had to spend months recovering from a broken arm in a game, people would complain that it was unrealistic rather than immersive.

After her body was fully healed, she examined herself and discovered that the game’s avatar had grown stronger than when she first started. Her stamina and physical strength had increased, and even the mana flowing through her veins had become far clearer and more vivid than before.

According to Enri’s explanation, Sky’s End was a game where the protagonist naturally grew stronger through combat. In her case, defeating soldiers and slaying the lizard had caused her to grow.

This too was part of the game’s convenience. For her, it was a welcome thing. The stronger her body and mana became, the more she would be able to do.

After leaving the healer’s building, she followed Enri’s directions and approached a man named Dioric. When she spoke to him, Dioric mentioned that Dawn’s Fortress was being rebuilt and asked if she would be interested in going there to fight vampires.

It was suspicious that he would recruit a complete stranger without any test, but since Enri told her to accept the offer, she nodded.

She held the marker on the map, and soon the surroundings darkened for a moment before a new landscape unfolded. Just moments ago she had been in the middle of a city, yet now she stood in the middle of a forest.

When she let out an impressed sound, a small laugh escaped Enri. What was that? Why was she laughing? Had she done something strange?

She glanced at the chat window to check, but the reactions there weren’t much different.

Don’t you people find this surprising? Even if it’s just one of the game’s features, instantly moving a person from one place to another without any process at all deserves at least a little admiration, doesn’t it?

Enri still couldn’t seem to stop laughing, which made her frown, but since Enri was currently in the position of teacher, she decided to let it slide this once.

True to her word, Enri knew the path to the fortress by heart. The forest and rocky mountains all looked similar enough to be confusing, yet she didn’t hesitate even once.

After passing through caves and forests, a fortress finally came into view. Its scale was comparable to a small castle, but strangely, the place was completely silent. It felt as if it had been abandoned long ago.

A normal fortress should be bustling with soldiers carrying out their duties. There was no smell of blood, so it didn’t seem like it had been attacked either.

Though still doubtful, she decided to trust Enri and stepped inside. As she approached the entrance, she could hear voices from within. The two voices sounded heated, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠as if they were in the middle of an argument.

She opened the massive iron door and entered, but the two people inside didn’t even spare her a glance.

Despite their loud voices, their eyes weren’t truly fierce. They were angry, but the affection between them remained.

The man who had been speaking suddenly noticed her presence and paused.

Lind forced a smile and offered a handshake. He explained that they had only just begun reconstruction and were in desperate need of people, so he welcomed her warmly.

Lind turned his gaze to the other man. After a moment, the other man nodded. At this point, even someone like her who hadn’t played many games could tell how this was going to unfold.

How transparent. They plan to use me, who looks clueless and new to this place, as a tool for reconnaissance.

She didn’t like it, but for now she would play along. It seemed necessary for progressing through the game.