1.
Blood gushed violently from my mouth.
The duration of the fragment bait had ended.
Dust billowed up, and blood splattered down in a sticky mess.
"Fuuuck..."
I couldn’t get through.
It felt like I was staring at a shield that could never be pierced.
Truly a vicious ability.
Shockwaves and spatial manipulation.
The shockwaves were even more refined than Hanabi’s, making it hard to block even a few of them.
I had the advantage in close combat, but the problem was that I couldn’t even get close, and I had no other way to break through.
It wasn’t overwhelmingly strong, so if I played it right, maybe I could find a way through... but right now, I had none.
But who did they think I was?
I was, in name at least, a regression possessor.
Meaning it wasn’t over until it was over.
If I was going to lose anyway.
I’d burn everything to the ground.
The one and only principle I had set for myself since regressing.
If I was going to the afterlife, I’d better have at least one companion so the road wouldn’t be boring.
"...Your regeneration is impressive. Even for someone walking a Path, this should be beyond what you can endure."
"Thanks for the compliment. I used to make a living off this."
Adrian’s body was absurdly sturdy.
Even injuries that would leave an ordinary person groaning and bedridden would heal right up if he got some sleep and ate well.
Of course, it didn’t regenerate like some super-regeneration ability in the middle of a fight.
But still, wasn’t it better than nothing?
One had to live gratefully for what they were given.
It was better than having nothing at all.
"So, how long do you plan to keep fighting like that?"
"Until one of us dies."
"Impossible. I do not die. Therefore, your actions are meaningless."
The troupe leader spread his arms wide as he looked at me.
The staff pointed straight at me.
"Adrian Servet, take my hand. I am but a trivial human being... but I can take you to the pinnacle."
"...What?"
"The pinnacle. The pinnacle of Elation. I will create for you the path of an apostle who goes beyond being chosen by a god and transcends providence itself."
The pinnacle of Elation?
Apostle?
What kind of nonsense setting was this now?
"You have talent. A flower not yet in full bloom, but one that will soon burst open. Come, take my hand...!"
"Go to hell, you bitch."
Stop using words only you people understand.
Is it really that hard to keep your setting-chasing under control?
[Acrobatics] — Sky Slash
The sword strike flew, cutting across the ground.
The troupe leader casually lifted a hand, and the earth surged upward.
"Still haven’t figured it out? You can’t beat me."
After the sword strike was blocked, a bullet of earth condensed into a sphere.
A terrifying light, carrying blades within it.
"Shiro."
It fired.
A cannonball driven by a monstrous shockwave.
If it hit head-on, I’d be flattened like a crushed can.
[Acrobatics] — Sky Leap
The stamina drain was brutal.
I dodged with footwork so godlike even a football star would be impressed, but it was still a technique-based dodge.
Even a kid in the neighborhood could tell I was burning through more than the other side.
"Huff, huff, hrr..."
"You won’t be able to keep taking that risk much longer."
The earth rippled as it advanced toward me.
I blocked, then slashed out with my sword.
"How much longer are you going to keep struggling?"
"Until I die."
"Ah... then there’s no helping it."
As if he’d expected that answer, he spread his hand.
The troupe leader smiled grotesquely at me.
"If I take away something precious, you’ll have no choice but to listen to me, won’t you?"
Something dropped from the sky.
A body stained with blood.
It was still breathing.
At the same time, someone leaped into the subspace.
Black hair fluttered beside the troupe leader.
What had fallen was Silver Wolf.
"S-sorry. I tr-ied to do something, but..."
"..."
The girl I had seen as the protagonist in that first play.
Hanabi’s benefactor.
In the end, that girl had done this to Silver Wolf.
I was so furious I felt like my head would split open, but I couldn’t speak. I had to grit my teeth and grip my sword again. Standing in front of Silver Wolf, who had fallen before me, I pointed my blade at the troupe leader.
The earth surged upward, and a masked girl who resembled Hanabi swung her sword.
Our blades clashed as they met head-on.
The ground churned, then caved in.
Using Sky Leap, I hauled Silver Wolf out like baggage.
"Now, come on and take my hand."
"..."
"This is no time to be stubborn."
His movements changed in an obvious way.
After swinging her sword a few times, the girl no longer moved from the troupe leader’s side.
The troupe leader kept extending earth toward me from a distance, as if playing with me.
It was decided.
I had lost.
"Silver Wolf."
"...Adrian."
"Run."
That was all I could say.
2.
The fear of death.
I was scared.
I was terrified.
I had steeled myself, but I couldn’t move.
Silver Wolf, who had been clearing out the puppets one by one, couldn’t hold out once an asymmetric force dropped in on her.
Burned by fire, pierced by a sword, and thrown into subspace.
I collapsed in front of Adrian and couldn’t move.
My body jolted for a moment and shifted. My vision kept flipping. In the wildly shaking space, with no time to gather my thoughts, Silver Wolf closed and opened her eyes.
Through the blur of pain, what I saw again was—
Puhwak!
The sound of something bursting, followed by a flash of red.
A human body draped itself over Silver Wolf.
Adrian was shielding Silver Wolf.
Something was pounding against Adrian’s back.
Blood spread from his chest and poured out.
It splattered across Silver Wolf’s clothes.
He endured the merciless violence in silence, his face twisted in pain.
Bam! Crack! Crrrk...
Sounds no human body should ever make.
The sound of a bomb going off and flames spreading.
And yet Adrian did not collapse.
His clear amber eyes were fixed on Silver Wolf.
"A-Adrian..."
Silver Wolf tried to ask.
Why on earth was he going that far to protect me—
Before she could say anything.
"Sil-ver Wolf."
Adrian cut her off and said,
"S-sorry. I got every-thing wrong. It’s my m-mistake. You don’t have to c-carry this."
Blood spilled from Adrian’s mouth as he spoke in broken fragments.
It dripped onto Silver Wolf’s face, leaving a metallic, fishy taste in the air.
"I’m... going to keep fighting. I have to... take responsibility."
With his abdomen pierced through, one arm bruised blue-black, and barely able to stand.
"I’ll... draw their attention. So you, run..."
"No."
She reached out and touched his face.
His face was twisted by pain.
"I can fight too. I can do it. I’m done just taking things——!"
Run.
Those words could have been Silver Wolf’s absolution.
Because winning was impossible.
Adrian had told her to run too.
She could just run away here.
But she couldn’t.
The moment she tried to shove Adrian away and stand up—
Adrian rose and kicked Silver Wolf away.
The ground beneath her feet caved in and collapsed.
From far away, she could hear the troupe leader speaking to Adrian.
The kick wasn’t very strong.
With the world flashing in and out, Silver Wolf, kicked away by Adrian, stared blankly at the battlefield.
Spitting out blood, Adrian glanced at Silver Wolf, then looked back at the troupe leader.
"You’re still just a kid. So you can run."
I hated this.
She got up, summoned her sword, and looked at Adrian.
The moment she was about to act the same way, insisting she could keep fighting—
She heard one sound.
A light vibration, like a string being plucked.
[Causal Manipulation]—
—Result Fixed.
Right now, the door leading outside the subspace opens.
Blood poured from Adrian’s eyes, ears, and nose.
The sound of droplets pattering down could be heard.
"Go."
Silver Wolf’s throat was seized.
Before she could say anything, Adrian used his strength to throw her.
"You can go."
That voice, as if soothing a child.
The final spray of blood glittering in the air.
Adrian’s figure, using his whole body to block the earth mass.
That was the Adrian she saw.
3.
Space was flung outward.
The moment Silver Wolf left, the door to subspace closed.
The vanished door left her at the front of the apartment.
"...Open."
I muttered it.
The door to subspace did not open.
"Open it——!"
I screamed as if I were tearing the sky apart.
It did not open.
I had been given absolution.
I could run.
Going back would only mean dying in vain anyway.
I beat the ground and howled.
Again. Again.
It was the first love I had ever received.
And I couldn’t protect a single thing.
"Please, open..."
Only at the end did I beg.
I tried to manipulate it with the little ether I had left, but it wouldn’t work.
"Why not? You can just run away. Wait for another chance and get your revenge."
Then what about Adrian?
"It can’t be helped. Weren’t the ones who attacked the troupe Adrian’s own stubbornness?"
No. I had received too much from Adrian.
And him, I—
"If it weren’t for Adrian, you’d be standing at the pinnacle of Elation."
Shut up with that bullshit.
"From the start, Adrian only saved you out of some ridiculous pity."
Silver Wolf, I grabbed at my own hair and tore at it, suppressing the hallucination.
My path was moving in a form I did not want.
"If you go back, you’ll die. You’ll accomplish nothing and die in vain. And the world will forget you. Wasn’t it your dream to become a legend in this world?"
Ether moved.
The dark world rose up.
An abyss dyed in darkness.
"Adrian told you to run too, didn’t he? It’s okay to run."
Self-justification.
Selfishness, for the sake of survival.
"Just forget it and move on. You’ll get more companions. Look, these are such wonderful companions..."
"Shut, up."
"Firefly, the one who lives because she can’t die, Spider, Seer..."
"I said shut up——!"
I broke into sobs.
I hated the thoughts chattering in my head, trying to rationalize this moment when I couldn’t help.
"If you die, you can’t do anything."
"I can."
"If you die, you can’t do anything."
Reflected in the mirror was me.
Different from my younger self now.
The fully grown me.
"You must not die."
I shattered the me in the mirror, who spoke as if declaring truth itself.
Inside the broken shards, I could see the same figure chattering like a parrot.
The world turned upside down.
I couldn’t tell whether I was seeing an illusion.
I saw myself smiling lightly in front of me.
A woman with a green light like Firefly.
A woman with sunglasses perched on her head and a coat draped over her shoulders.
A man in an apron telling me to eat.
A girl with a bat slung over her shoulder.
"If you go, you’ll die. Right now you’re making the wrong decision because of a fleeting emotion. Romantic heroism? That won’t last a year. As time passes, memories erode and change. ‘Ah, that happened once.’ That’s how you’ll end up treating it."
No.
"Or what? Does the world look like a comic book to you? You think if you go fight, you’ll awaken and win?"
No.
"No one in this world walks willingly into death. You’re just layering your own admiration over the story of a legend. Zero, Sage, Stone Blade... you’re just looking at stories about heroes like that."
I’m not going to die.
"No, that’s right. You’re not a hero. Going back there now means death."
The voice that sounded like a hallucination.
It kept coming.
Was I trying to die? Was I going there to die? Was I so drunk on illusion and emotion that I couldn’t make a rational decision?
It spoke as if brainwashing me.
If I were a normal human being, I would have rationalized it as unavoidable and run.
Survival instinct is one of humanity’s strongest desires, after all.
You will die if you go there.
A simple, clear sentence.
Then it was time to answer that sentence.
"If you go, you’ll die."
"Then I’ll die."
"...What?"
Are you going toward death?
Yes. I’m going to die.
"I don’t care if I die. I’m going to stay by the side of the person I love. I’m not going to become someone like my mother, who abandoned me and left."
A declaration of unwavering resolve.
I recalled the conversation we had that night.
The night breeze filled my heart.
"I can’t answer that for you."
"...What?"
"It’s not good to demand things from others when you don’t even have confidence in yourself."
Adrian’s eyes had shone brightly.
You, who had been stroking my hair.
"Be certain. I can absolutely do it. Even if I’m dismissed now as a LV.0 illegal orphan, someday that illegal orphan can grab all of you by the throat and kill you."
"..."
"Believe it. That’s the kind of life you have to live."
A faith in self-confidence.
"I can do it."
"Yes, I’m sure you can."
Not can, but must.
Even if it’s impossible, I overcome that impossibility.
So I do it.
There is no such option as "I won’t."
Adrian’s figure, protecting me.
His figure, refusing to run.
The way he loved me—
Was so precious I couldn’t bear it.
So, I’m going.
I’m going to die, and I won’t die.
I’ll overcome it and come back alive.
Then we’ll laugh together over some trivial story.
"You..."
"Shut your mouth. I’m not listening to you anymore. I’m going. I’m going to save Adrian. Just like Adrian took my hand that day. I will save Adrian, no matter what."
Legend, future, past, dream.
I don’t need any of it.
What matters to me now is only the present.
The adult me looked at me.
After staring at me for a while, she said quietly,
"You’re better than me."
Those who walk a Path are not like ordinary people.
And when even the gaze of a god is upon them, that specialness only deepens.
As there is light, there is shadow; those who walk a Path do not only possess light. Horrific lack and unforgettable trauma. Twisted desires and selfish, ugly hearts—because even those are answered by the gods.
The future me smiled.
"Go on, hurry. There’s nothing I can do for you. The shackles binding you have already been broken by your own hands. Pull the trigger, and you can reach it. For just a moment, you’ll be able to see the same scenery I saw."
"..."
"[Ether Editing] is the rewriting and alteration of reality. The heart that overlays your reality onto the world."
"..."
"If it’s now, you can do it."
She gently pushed me from behind.
A blue window rose up with something written on it, but I didn’t read it.
The world fell silent.
.
.
.
.
.
Reality collapsed.
A small circle formed.
Desperately, desperately, I opened the entrance to subspace.
The other me no longer spoke, but my senses had clearly returned.
I slipped through the opening and poked my face out.
An empty void no one was looking at.
Adrian, battered beyond recognition, barely standing with his sword as a cane.
I reached out my hand.
The world changed.
What both I and the other me wanted was the troupe leader’s death.
I gathered ether and imaginary energy.
And formed it above my right hand.
Then I fired. The blue energy, launched without anyone noticing, quickly took the shape of a fist larger than a person and crushed the woman beside the troupe leader like a bug.
A strike with no chance to react.
Blood splashed as a cracking sound rang out.
The gaze shifted.
The troupe leader, Adrian. Everyone looked at me.
"...Sil-ver Wolf?"
The hologram distorted, and the shape of my clothes changed.
Heavy boots gleamed with a metallic sheen as I descended from the sky.
A gauntlet covering my entire right hand shimmered with jewel-like light.
"Adrian."
I spoke to you.
You looked at me in shock.
"Fight."
Blood flowed from my nose and eyes. My body was straining under the excessive use of power.
"If you fight, you can win."
What I dream of is victory.
I won’t leave you alone anymore.
I will fight beside you, and I will win.
[System confirmed, temporary level adjustment]
[Silver Wolf LV.48]
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