Chapter 119 - The Color of the Star in Your Heart★ (1)
Vision mixing chaotically.
I’m colliding with Jinsu-kun at full speed.
To be precise, right before colliding…
Boom—!!
“Ugh?!”
“Gah?!”
Ah.
It really hurts.
…
…
…
“…?!”
Soon I feel an impact on my back.
I’ve hit a World Tree branch like a skyscraper.
Fainting from pain, I woke up again from pain.
Woong—!
“Ugh?!”
My vision spins.
Another impact to the back of my head.
If only I could faint…
Thud—!
“Gak…!”
…that would be nice!
My head rings with a ding—.
Strength instantly leaves my hands and I fall forward.
Before I knew it, I was far apart from the prophet.
“Hii— nngh?!”
I was falling while making moans like an eroge heroine, like a pathetically shabby pink airhead. Blood flowed from the wounds on my limbs that burst open from inside the wolf’s mouth.
‘It’s, it’s okay… I’m a strong pink airhead…!’
I tried to achieve mental victory, but it really fucking hurt.
More than any enemy I’ve faced so far, pure physical force rushing at hundreds of kilometers per hour in midair was causing me pain.
‘Earth is… the worst enemy…!’
Will I ever become a pink airhead who can defeat even Earth?
Ah, right.
This isn’t Earth☆
I’m confused because it hurts.
‘Please let that bastard be hurting too, not just me.’
As I prayed like that, I heard a scream like air deflating from far away.
“Gah…?!”
I barely turned my head that way.
I could see the prophet falling like a boomerang.
Boom—!
As the prophet spun round and round and hit his head, his face instantly flew off as if ground on a steel plate. It regenerated again, but the pain seemed to remain.
‘Ah, that’s a relief.’
The world was quite fair.
In fact, falling from an altitude as high as a light aircraft, it was incredibly intact to be just this much. But it was enough to be in a state of panic.
Eventually we were able to physically arrive at the base of the World Tree. The faintly glowing white roots grew closer.
‘I might actually die—☆’
Splat—!
…
…
…
I fainted again.
“…”
“…”
Looking with pink airhead vision, that bastard seems to have fainted for a while too.
He was spread out on the huge roots like laundry.
“…”
“…”
I need to get up.
But I can’t get up.
It felt like I had become one with the ground.
We were lying there like unemployed bums erasing our presence while holding our breath during the time our parents leave for work. My whole body felt like it had become a liquid monster.
“…”
“…”
I clearly protected my body with ether from halfway, but it felt like tenderized meat that had been pounded with a bat.
I wanted to live a life of oneness with the ground like this.
‘But I’ll take the initiative first…!’
I barely raised ether and got up.
“Nngh…!”
Rainbow-colored sparks burst from my body and hot energy welled up. They were forcibly moving my creaking joints.
Woong—!
My uniform had been torn to shreds, revealing the stigma on my nape. Perhaps from overdoing it, blood flowed out, making it look like a plum blossom tree.
Drip—
It’s dizzying to bleed when it’s not that day.
Was the stigma a magic day DLC that appears on Saintesses?
“…”
Along with the pain, my consciousness was fading far away.
“…”
Right now, I felt like I could choose the latter between a kick in the balls VS the pain of that day. But I decided to endure.
‘Because I’m a pink airhead with a sense of equality…!’
This is why you should eat iron-rich foods normally. And as a healthy lady, I didn’t neglect eating meat.
So I was able to endure.
“Phew…!”
Anyway, I bit my lip hard and endured the pain.
“Nngh…”
I barely got up like a baby taking its first steps.
Okay.
Catch my breath.
‘I’ll kill him…!’
And when I raised my head I saw that guy pointing a finger from far away.
He had long since recovered with his regenerative power.
He seemed surprised to see me pursuing so tenaciously.
“No way, you… not Brunhilde, but you…?!”
“…?!”
Ah, busted.
The prophet muttered with black ether flowing from his face, while placing one hand on the World Tree’s roots.
「Law creation: Exclude the one before me if they don’t belong to this universe.」
“Oh no…?!”
And the surrounding air shook and rushed at me.
Ah come on.
Stop using cheat keys you bastard—☆
Woong—!!
“…”
“…”
But nothing happened.
I, who was judged female by the World Tree, was already Clara.
The prophet muttered with a somewhat relieved expression.
“I see… So that’s how it is… This will do…”
“…?”
I couldn’t understand what he meant, but I approached one step at a time.
Now, that [Bifrost] won’t activate, I have no choice but to move my feet that feel like they weigh tons.
Even during that, the prophet muttered obsessively. He was now ignoring me as if I were just an NPC.
One step.
Another step.
I approach as fast as possible.
“Even if it becomes a hindrance, I swore to save everyone belonging to this universe. Brunhilde probably can’t be saved since she belongs to another universe and isn’t subject to the laws, but with this I can do it…”
I extend my fist and run towards him.
“Not a chance—!”
“…”
Right before my fist touches him, the prophet smiled at me like that.
“…Live happily forever, Clara. The World Tree’s oppression ends now.”
「Law creation: Everyone living on this land returns to where they originally belonged. …To where ether’s power weakens.」
At that moment.
The ground collapsed.
[Nameless Hawk] was flying, flapping its fluffy wings. But it shook unsteadily due to the energy surging from below.
“Oh no…!”
It turned back and shouted.
“[Rider], hold on tight. The wind is not good!”
But Kara and Helina riding on its back didn’t answer.
“…”
“…”
Helina because she was calm. Kara because she was utterly confused.
Though they were two people with opposite emotions, they both had no choice but to decide to keep their mouths shut.
“…”
“…”
Kara was assessing the situation with shaking eyes.
‘How did it come to this…’
While mindlessly clashing with chaos insects and advancing. Kara, who was trying to head towards the Golden Street with Helina’s help, fell from the suddenly collapsing ground.
The ground she believed would undoubtedly be there had caved in.
It was Helina who grabbed Kara as she fell in confusion, and [Nameless Hawk] who carried those two and rose up again.
Kara was looking at the land that was the academy city… while riding on [Nameless Hawk]’s back. It was still shattering even now.
“Th-This is…”
The World Tree that had risen high above the flat circular land. The white buildings surrounding it. And the numerous students… everything that made up the academy city was collapsing.
It looked as if the academy city was sinking into a swamp full of black bubbles.
No…
To be precise, it was ‘splitting’.
Instinctively, she could tell that the world was returning to its ‘original form’.
Crack—
Crack—
Black energy and the ether within all things collided endlessly. And everything that had been on one land until now was turning into translucent forms.
The circular academy city was splitting into nine unreachable parts.
‘To think such a chaotic appearance is the ‘original form’…’
The 4 chairs in the room.
Things I thought would always exist naturally.
It felt like realizing they were all shadows reflected from one chair.
“…Uh.”
Words wouldn’t come out because of the too unrealistic scenery. But what first came to mind in the dazed head was the faces of friends.
‘Senior comrade…? Rota and Alvit…?’
Things that could be naturally touched and felt until now were disappearing to the dimensions they originally belonged to. She was worried about what situation they were in.
Some voices were heard from far away.
Echoes wandering through them.
Those who once existed in this land, but became unable to exist.
The voices of ghosts in the form of girls whispering in midair are heard.
-This is bad. Everyone is being trapped in ‘the dimension they belong to’.
‘The dimension I… belonged to?’
Kara suddenly recalled that the country she lived in was called the
A land of iron where hot liquor flows in everyone’s cups and cold snow falls.
Father’s village of dwarf craftsmen was in the Black Mountains.
“Uh…”
Why did she only recall this now?
It’s a giant industrial nation where the sound of hammering iron always echoes. And she lost her parents in the Republican civil war and was adopted by lower-class dwarf craftsmen…
Huh.
What does this have to do with ‘school life’?
‘I’m not particularly nobility or a warlord…’
But why am I remembering this?
“Uhh…”
Helina’s voice in black armor rumbled.
“Get a grip. Don’t listen to the voices of those who don’t exist. You’ll receive the hatred of the World Tree. You’ll be banished from the realm of ether.”
“…”
“Have you already heard?”
Kara was still blankly gripping the flagpole tightly.
Because she had a more important role than others among the fates set by the World Tree, she was recalling more ‘things she shouldn’t know’.
She recalls the contents of the fairy tale her father used to read.
‘[Rider of Rebellion]… Thrud, the Rider of Rebellion. A girl who led the now vanished mountain giants and brought down false beast gods and the evil emperor…’
Oh.
‘Am I… allowed to recall this…?’
Uh.
This is.
Not permitted…
Her mouth opens wide.
At the same time, a voice echoed in her head.
Different from before… a more familiar voice.
『It is knowledge you need not know.』
『It is still the age of order.』
『Einherjar of the academy city, forget.』
Forget.
Forget.
Forget.
I bear the duty of Valhalla.
A Valkyrie singing endless fate.
Cut off from the outside world, heading to the world beyond ether.
Receiving ether’s blessing,
‘Enjoyable school life’ in Valhalla…
School life…?
‘Why, school life…? We’re supposed to fight eternally before the World Tree…?’
That’s because…
The previous generation [Saintess] dared to change the law.
Changing [War] to [School Life]?
“Rider? Get a grip?!”
“Stop thinking. Hiss… Focus on breathing.”
Because of that, she received the punishment of even records disappearing?
“Uhh…”
Kara’s pupils shake uncontrollably.
This is bad.
I shouldn’t know this.
Urgent voices are heard around.
“Rider?! Get a grip—!! You must not disappear!!”
“Hiss… You must not lose your mind. Even with a great fate, you lose your existence.”
Nevertheless, knowledge that shouldn’t be recalled enters her head.
The sensation of the flagpole is vivid, recalling things from long ago.
‘Dwarves and giants are actually…’
Kara blankly bleeding from her nose.
Drip—
“…”
Helina watching her tossed out advice.
“You could bite your tongue, so be careful.”
“Uh… What?”
Helina swung a fist with her gauntleted hand.
Thud—!
“Gah…?!”
Kara frowned, tears streaming down.
And along with an unfamiliar sensation all those voices disappeared.
“Have you come to your senses, Rider!”
“…Peepeep comrade?”
“Peep! Since you seem to have come to your senses, I’ll tell you! We are in a precarious situation flying in a place where dimensions are collapsing!”
Including the Golden Street, only places blocked off translucently by black energy were visible.
After circling around to get here like that, [Nameless Hawk] was desperately flapping its wings and advancing towards some place.
Kara spoke while clutching her still ringing head.
“…
Avoiding the black energy undulating below the hill.
Students and dwarves were climbing up the hill.