NOVEL NEXT Chapter 69
Extra Case File 69 No One Can Bring Glory Here
Darkness more profound than dusk, darker than night, pure darkness power came crashing down. Ash held his hand out in front of him, the plaster wrapped around his arm exploded into a cloud of dust swirling behind him.
Even for someone like Ash, devoted to absorbing darkness, this was beyond overwhelming, threatening to blow him away.
Would he watch helplessly, or retreat out of fear, considering their next move? In the past, perhaps. But now, with his mind reaching a certain stage recently, that chance was zero.
“If you ignore me now, I’ll be in trouble!” A “DV Guardian — Guardian Sword Mode” sparkled with cold light in his palm, cutting through the occasional tentacle attacking him cleanly.
“Who wouldn’t react to something like this?”
Catching up… Catching up…
Without hesitation, Ash rushed into the dark array, enduring unimaginable corruption and impact, approaching the girl carried by tentacles, being drawn further towards the darkness in the sky.
Wait for me. I’m stopping all of this right now.
“Don’t give up yourself, don’t give up thinking, don’t give up happiness!”
Regardless of whether she could hear it, he shouted at her:
“You’re not just Wild Flower, not Cure Yellow either. You’re never a weak girl! So—”
He leaped, but it wasn’t enough; he was pulled by the impact and gravity down towards the ground.
He released the sword, threw it below, then twisted his body in a ghostly motion, leaping twice with a boost from the sword he landed on. Ash reached out with his right hand to the girl with empty eyes.
“Grab my hand!”
Her face covered with stone-like substance had two fixed tears carved on it. Slowly, she turned in his direction, a piece of her cheek breaking off.
The expression of horror on her face reflected endlessly in the eyes devoid of highlights.
Friends once.
Laughed together once.
Relied on each other once.
Once, now, also loved.
Why…
Ash…
What did I do to you…
She spoke faintly, her left hand trapped by mechanical tentacles, revealing only her palm as she stretched toward Ash’s hand from the pitch-black darkness, trembling and swaying.
Almost… almost there—
Finally, their fingers lightly touched.
The next moment, a massive dark whirlwind swept up Ash, separating them. The man’s body was thrown far into the distance.
“Wa… Flower!!”
Feeling the sound of rushing water and the refreshing air around him, the severe impact finally made Ash realize where he had been taken—to the river where she saved him before.
The place where they first met.
In the last moments with his fading consciousness, in the world still engulfed by darkness, the direction he reached out was further and further from her.
I lived, survived, walked, and fought countless times in darkness.
But now, darkness came before me and took away the one I loved.
Now,
Flower… to you…
In the pitch-black world, overwhelmed by the collision to the head, Ash lost consciousness, his soul sinking into the sea of darkness, walking into another shadow from the darkness.
Soaked.
Wandered.
Hovered.
Lost.
Dissipated.
Burned.
Awakened!
“!!!”
Ash sat up abruptly, the posture of reaching forward as if he would grab something, while his sleeping will woke up. Yet the motion caught nothing in his hands.
“Haa… Haa…”
Ash gasped heavily, his powerful lungs taking in breaths filled with the scent of disinfectant. He understood where he was—he recognized the smell.
It was the central hospital of Boshitsu City.
He woke up three days later. All the beds were full with patients, and some lay on long chairs in the corridors. Doctors worked tirelessly, running about with sweat dripping down. Clearly, the hospital was at its limits.
What was Ash doing?
Watching TV.
“The ultimate phenomenon of Final Monster devouring cities and people has appeared three days ago!”
The news anchor, distressed, reported the dire situation. Gazing out the window, Ash saw that the sky was perpetually shrouded with clouds, blocking any sunlight—like the end of days had come.
“From three days ago, the emergence of Final Monster was observed from Boshitsu City suburbs, growing and expanding until it reached a staggering 3,000 meters!”
“The violent energy emitted by the angelic yet destructive Final Monster has now enveloped the entire Earth. According to satellite observations, two-thirds of the planet are fully enveloped!”
The people around him watched the TV too, but unlike Ash, their expressions were blank and desperate.
“Experts have calculated… there’s no way.”
“UN actions… have proven ineffective.”
“Precure and Time Fire…” the reporter choked up, “…they haven’t appeared. Perhaps they… failed.”
Ash didn’t need to look further to sense the despair in the air. The escalating anger was seeping into every breath.
“Seems we’re destined for destruction.”
“Farewell, everyone.”
As these words fell, the TV flickered into static.
No light appeared.
“Guess that’s it.”
“Why must humanity perish here?”
“Precure isn’t appearing again. She probably can’t handle such circumstances anymore.”
“Please… Precure, show us a divine miracle, regardless!”
With a single crutch, Ash limped quickly through the uncomfortable hospital corridors. He saw many faces of those facing the end-of-days despair.
But everyone in this world expressed one unified sentiment.
They didn’t blame the heroine for her absence.
They merely prayed to Precure and begged for her assistance.
“Precure—please help!”
“Time Fire, I won’t speak ill of you. Please—”
“Precure!”
“Precure!!”
“Precure!!!”
Ash clenched his fists and teeth, grinding them audibly.
“Enough… is enough!?”
When Ash roared sharply, silencing the surroundings, everyone’s gaze converged on him.
The man, with twitching lips, tore off the bandages concealing his face, revealing his pale black hair standing straight up like a hedgehog, freely blowing in the wind.
He rarely let emotions control him.
But that doesn’t mean he had none.
“Precure—Flower has done so much for you!”
“Isn’t that enough!?”