The First Mystery
After Poara and I exchanged a smile of ambiguous meaning, I brought up the main point. "Poara, could you guide me toward the trees that have turned to steel?"
"Yes, I'll lead the way right now."
Perhaps because it was her duty as a student council member, Poara began to march forward into the forest with energetic steps. It seemed she wanted to complete this mission successfully and transition from a temporary member to an official one. Though, personally, I'd rather prevent that.
It was best to resolve the matter of the Great Spirit Forest as quickly as possible. Even for the sake of the upcoming mock battle, I needed a trick up my sleeve. So, I kept up with Poara as we made our way deep into the forest.
By the time we had traveled quite a distance into the forest, I realized what a spirit contractor truly meant in the Great Spirit Forest. Originally, when I first arrived, the trees had been densely packed. But as Poara began to walk, the trees parted to make a path, and the grass split open. It was as if the entire forest was welcoming her.
So that's why Nikita sent a spirit contractor. The Great Spirit Forest was extremely hostile to outsiders. But spirit contractors were different. They were those beloved by spirits. Naturally, the trees inhabited by spirits vied with one another to welcome her.
Especially Poara—her sensitivity seems to be much higher than other spirit contractors. I had visited the Great Spirit Forest frequently while playing the game. Since Lucas possessed spirit sensitivity, he could also take on a spirit contractor class. Thus, visiting the Great Spirit Forest as a spirit contractor was starkly different from visiting as any other class. Yet, even then, it hadn't been to this extent.
She only exited early due to the boycott incident in Act 4, but... Poara was a talented spirit contractor, easily gifted enough to enter Jerion Academy. There was a good reason why the student council had snatched her up as a temporary member so quickly.
I'm glad I brought her along. Every time Poara took a stride forward, the forest parted to clear a path. Thanks to her, we were able to traverse the Great Spirit Forest with incredible ease.
Soon after, I began to feel a chill. Normally, the Great Spirit Forest was filled with warmth due to the presence of the spirits. A chill in such a place? It wasn't even winter; it made no sense. "U-Ugh, it's so c-cold." But now, a palpable cold swept over both of us, intense enough to make even Poara shiver.
Before long, a sight that should never have existed came into view. A spirit tree stood frozen, hardened like solid steel. As if even the spirit residing within had been turned to iron along with it, the tree had completely lost all signs of life.
"W-What on earth is this..." This was the first time Poara had ever witnessed such a sight. Her face was pale with shock. Although the rumor of spirit trees turning to iron was already famous among the spirit contractor students, Poara, being only a first-year, had likely never ventured this deep before.
I approached the steel-hardened tree and reached out to touch it. A biting chill seeped through the bark and dug deep into my hand. It was freezing. It felt exactly like touching the ice on a frozen lake in the dead of winter.
It has progressed much further than I thought. Normally, this was an event meant to be resolved in the latter half of Act 2, right after winter break. However, due to Lucas's absence and certain unforeseen circumstances, it had dragged on until now. My red eyes quietly scanned our surroundings.
"Poara, can you feel the spirits?"
"N-No. Nothing... I can't feel anything at all! It's completely empty here!" Poara's face turned utterly pale as she answered. Spirits were synonymous with nature. Where nature existed, spirits naturally followed. Furthermore, the Great Spirit Forest was a place with a far higher concentration of spirits than anywhere else. For there to be no spirits in such a place pointed to an irreversible catastrophe.
Of course. I pulled my hand away from the steel tree. The spirits were currently trapped inside this steel. It was only natural that their presence couldn't be felt.
"I'm going further in. You wait here."
"What? S-Senior, won't it be too dangerous on your own?!"
"It's fine. If things get dangerous, I'll send a signal, so just wait here."
As a spirit contractor, Poara was of no further help here. Only one thing was needed in this place. A fierce flame capable of melting even steel.Demon Palace Academy Slayer. The reason the third installment was titled the Flame Butterfly Chapter was entirely because the Flame of Fighting Spirit possessed by Lucas was the key to resolving every single incident.
But now, with Lucas's death, the Flame of Fighting Spirit had been completely extinguished. The world had lost its blazing fire. All that remained was spent firewood. And yet, even spent firewood had to burn. To sustain a world that had lost its flame, I had to become the kindling to spark a new ember.
I opened my bag. Then, I casually set down one of the bottles inside next to a tree. This was my insurance. I looked at my slightly trembling hands. Had I grown nervous about what was to come now that I was finally here? I patted my hands and stood up. Instead, I reached into my bag and pulled out something else.
As I pulled out an object wrapped carefully in a special cloth, a heat intense enough to scorch my hands radiated outward. I placed it on the steel-hardened ground and unwrapped the cloth. Whoosh— A hot wind burst through the fabric, flushing my face with heat. The biting chill of the steel surrounding us was instantly swallowed by the warmth.
Where the cloth fell away lay a crudely shaped red crystal. Inside the crystal, a single flame flickered and burned fiercely. This was known as the Essence of Fire. It was the remains left behind after a fire spirit reached the end of its lifespan and died. Yet, the heat it radiated was a testament to the sheer destructive power the fire spirit had possessed in life.
If any spirit contractors saw this, they'd probably foam at the mouth. Carrying around the corpse of a spirit was an absolute taboo for them. But it didn't matter to me. It wasn't like I was a spirit contractor anyway.
I must guide this world toward its proper history. Therefore, even if it meant using an Apostle, I would utilize anything to keep the timeline on track. I had lit a fire in this freezing, steel forest. Quite apart from the blazing Essence of Fire, a cold, desolate light settled in my eyes.
It's coming. The moment I lifted my head, a violent chill blasted from that direction. Darkness began to swallow our surroundings. A bizarre, scraping sound of metal dragging against the steel ground echoed in my ears. *Shiver—* A cold dread washed over my entire body as I drew in a sharp breath. And then, emerging from the darkness, a certain entity revealed itself.
It was a being made of freezing steel. She evoked the image of a sharp sword, yet also resembled a woman with long, flowing hair. A being that should have originally become the deity of a land. However, having failed to ascend to godhood for some reason, she had fallen endlessly until she became a corrupted entity. The world called such existences a Mystery. This was the very first moment, since possessing a character in the Flame Butterfly Chapter, that I stood face-to-face with the first of the many Mysteries I would encounter in this world.
In the Great Spirit Forest, located in the northern Ancient Dragon Mountains. Here, in the forest I had visited to resolve the anomaly, I was now facing a Mystery. Standing before me was a woman made of freezing steel. The chill radiating from her was what had turned the spirit trees into iron. I cautiously adjusted my stance. The Mystery, the Empress of Steel.
The corrupted being that had failed to become a god had wandered aimlessly before settling here, in the Great Spirit Forest. Normally, the spiritual power dwelling within the Great Spirit Forest would be a delicious prey for a Mystery. However, the forest had originally been protected by the Spirit Sovereign, a being on the verge of godhood. Thus, Mysteries could not easily trespass into the Great Spirit Forest.
But the Spirit Sovereign who resided in the Great Spirit Forest eventually completed its term and ascended to a divine existence. As a result, the seat of the Spirit Sovereign became vacant. With this sudden vacancy, the Great Spirit Forest lost the protection of its sovereign. Consequently, the Empress of Steel slipped into the forest. That was the sequence of events. That was the reason the Empress of Steel had entered the Great Spirit Forest.
The protagonist, Lucas, defeats the Empress of Steel by melting her with his Flame of Fighting Spirit. The Empress of Steel desperately wished to rid herself of the chill trapped inside her body. This was because the cold was not something she had originally possessed, but rather a power she had acquired upon becoming a Mystery. A Mystery that failed to become a god harbored a deep self-loathing. Thus, they constantly sought to discard the powers they had gained through their corruption.
Because of this, the Empress of Steel senses the Flame of Fighting Spirit dwelling within Lucas and becomes like a moth to a flame, rushing forward to steal it from him. After defeating her, Lucas receives the gratitude of the spirits. In the process, the newly elected Spirit Sovereign offers Lucas a contract, which marks the beginning of Lucas's spirit contractor route.
But Lucas isn't here right now. The Flame of Fighting Spirit capable of melting her does not exist. All I have is the Essence of Fire. But even so, the Essence of Fire is more than enough to lure her out. She desires warmth more than anyone else. She will throw herself at anything that holds heat.
"Ugh... Ahhh..."
Sure enough, the Empress of Steel began to charge in this direction. She was heading straight for the Essence of Fire I had thrown down. Desperate for warmth, she threw her body toward the crystal.
Sssssss! However, the intense cold radiating from the Empress of Steel quickly extinguished the Essence of Fire. The power of the Essence of Fire was, at best, the strength of a single spirit. There was no way it could withstand her, a being who turned even spirit-inhabited trees into solid steel.
"Ugh... Uuugh..."
*Crack! Shatter!* The Empress of Steel crushed the extinguished Essence of Fire. *Creak!* Simultaneously, the ground beneath her feet transformed into solid steel. She was furious that her desire for warmth had not been satisfied. A wind laden with frost began to howl. Perhaps terrified, the spirit trees trembled like aspens.
The Empress of Steel slowly turned her head toward me. The light faded, and darkness began to consume our surroundings. *Shiver—* Goosebumps broke out across my body once more. Mysteries were beings that should have been gods but failed. Naturally, their power was incomparable to that of humans. My body screamed at me to run away right this instant.
No matter how many times I had played the Flame Butterfly Chapter, that was just a game. Confronted with an existence so far removed from reality, I couldn't help but feel a sudden wave of fear. My body trembled instinctively. It couldn't be helped. No matter how much I knew about this world, I was still human. Now that it had become my reality, facing such an incomprehensible danger was terrifying.
But there was something I feared even more. Now that I'm standing before a monster like this, I finally understand. One day, I was suddenly dropped into a game instead of reality. I was an incomplete, half-baked existence—someone who knew this world better than anyone else, yet knew nothing of actually living in it. That was who I was.
I was terrified. Terrified of what would happen when this world became something I no longer fully understood, and of not knowing what I could possibly do then. That was why I struggled so desperately to plug the holes left by the missing protagonist. If I didn't, I would become an utterly useless existence in this world.
A cog. They say humans are social creatures. The more a cog is out of alignment, the more fear consumes them. I had already experienced this once before. Back when I was making a name for myself as a promising prospect. When an unexpected injury shattered my dreams and threw me naked into society, I felt like an utterly worthless human being.
That was why I knew that fear so well. That was why I had immersed myself so deeply in the Flame Butterfly Chapter. I had blindly fled from my broken life, using the game as my escape. But now, even my sanctuary was warping and collapsing. My only refuge was trying to kick me out.
Before I knew it, my hands clenched into fists. Forcing my way through a world after its bad ending was nothing but my own obsession and stubbornness. But even if it was just my obsession, I wanted to protect this world. This place had been my only refuge, my only source of happiness. So, I would do whatever it took—now and in the future.
I lifted my head. I stared at the incomprehensible existence that was the Empress of Steel. She would serve as the foundation and the power for everything I had to do from here on out. The trials that Lucas was originally meant to endure—I would be the one to face the first of them.
My red eyes blazed fiercely. I was no longer afraid of the Empress of Steel. I already knew of something far more terrifying than her. Though I lacked the Flame of Fighting Spirit, I raised both of my fists, kindling a different kind of fire within me. "Come at me." I will keep this world going—for my own sake.