Lilia woke before dawn.
There was no crowing of roosters, no rustling leaves. Even on a windless dawn, at least one insect ought to be chirping, yet today it was as though every sound beyond the house had vanished.
She first checked Aisha, sleeping beside her.
The blanket covered her to the chest. Her breathing was steady, and there was nothing wrong with her face.
Norn had fallen asleep in Eugene's room the night before. Lilia quietly opened the door and stepped into the hall.
Light leaked from beneath Eugene's door.
He had said he would be working through the night, so the lamp being lit was not itself unusual.
Lilia knocked.
"Eugene."
"Come in."
Silver thread and small crystals lay scattered throughout the room.
Eugene sat at his desk, carving the final circuit into a crystal no larger than a finger joint. Norn slept on the bed, clutching a blanket.
Six bracelets rested on one side of the desk.
Each bracelet consisted of several layers of thin silver thread woven together, with small crystals and metal pieces set into it at regular intervals. Their construction was too intricate for jewelry, and they looked unlike any magical tool Lilia knew.
"Are they all finished?"
"Yes."
Eugene set down the crystal he had been working on.
"I intended to hand them out at sunrise."
"I'll wake the family now."
As Lilia immediately turned to leave, Eugene looked out the window.
"Not yet. We're still all right."
No. They probably were not all right. More likely, he meant only that the devices he had installed the previous night had not reacted yet.
There were six bracelets on the desk.
For Paul Greyrat and Zenith Greyrat.
For herself and her two children.
The last one was probably Sylphiette's.
Another crystal lay some distance away, unwound with silver thread. Only a faint glow remained within it.
"Is that for Rudeus Greyrat?"
"It isn't a tool for determining his location. I've only recorded the characteristics of his mana."
"It will still help us find him."
"If we discover the same response, we will be able to identify it."
A ring rested on Eugene's right hand, one that had not been there the previous evening.
It was a simple ring made from a metal close to silver. It bore neither gemstone nor elaborate ornamentation. Three shooting stars with long tails were engraved upon its surface.
For something Eugene possessed, it was exceedingly ordinary.
"What is that ring?"
"Something that may become necessary."
Eugene offered no further explanation.
Lilia did not ask again.
The window trembled slightly, though there was no sign of wind.
Almost at the same moment Eugene rose from his seat, the bracelets on the desk began to emit a faint light.
Norn, lying on the bed, opened her eyes as well.
"Sister...?"
"I'm here," Eugene answered.
Norn started to sit up, then froze.
The shadows in the room had shifted out of place.
Light entered from a single direction outside the window. Yet the desk and chair cast elongated shadows in different directions. The edge of the bed remained where it was, but seemed to overlap with another image of itself a finger joint away.
Lilia picked Norn up in her arms.
"I'll wake everyone."
"Gather them in the living room. They need to stay away from the windows and walls as well."
Carrying Norn, Lilia went out into the hallway.
After waking Zenith Greyrat and Paul Greyrat, she brought Aisha out of her room. Sylphiette had also come downstairs after hearing the commotion.
Paul had thrown an outer garment over his nightclothes and fastened his sword at his waist.
He surely knew this was not something a sword could solve. Even so, it seemed he could not stand before his family empty-handed.
Eugene tied the prepared bracelets around their wrists one by one.
First, Norn.
Aisha.
Zenith Greyrat and Lilia.
Paul Greyrat.
And finally, Sylphiette.
"Do not take them off."
Aisha examined the crystal on her wrist.
"Are these for tracking our locations?"
"They record your location and life signs."
Aisha immediately checked Norn's wrist.
"I'll keep watch over Norn's."
"Do that."
Lilia placed a hand on Aisha's shoulder.
She was frightened, but her expression showed that she had already found the task she needed to perform.
Norn clutched the hem of Eugene's clothes.
"Are you going outside?"
"I need to check."
"Stay with me."
Eugene did not answer at once.
In that moment, the house shook again.
The floor had not moved.
Rather, the table appeared both in its original place and shifted to the left. The plate hanging on the wall seemed split in two, though it had not fallen.
Lilia pulled Aisha close.
Eugene extended a hand into the empty air.
[Remote Viewing].
The moment he finished the spell's name, a screen appeared. There was no sign of mana gathering, no alteration in fire, water, earth, or wind.
A thin screen, like the surface of water, opened in the center of the living room.
Beyond it lay a hill on the outskirts of Roa.
Rudeus Greyrat stood with staff in hand, looking up at the sky. Eris Boreas Greyrat and Ghislaine Dedoldia were beside him.
The screen distorted once.
Red bedrock overlapped beneath Rudeus Greyrat and Eris Boreas Greyrat's feet. Dark red trees and an unfamiliar horizon appeared and vanished beyond the hill. Behind Ghislaine Dedoldia, black cliffs that did not exist in Roa swept past.
Eugene's expression changed.
"That is not an effect of the viewing magic itself."
"Then what is it?" Sylphiette asked.
"They have not moved yet, but the terrain of their connected destination is overlapping their current location."
Eugene immediately dispelled the magic.
"Was that Rudeus?"
"Yes."
"Is he all right?"
"He was not injured when I saw him."
Some of the tension left Sylphiette's shoulders.
Eugene took out the crystal containing Rudeus Greyrat's recorded mana.
[Discern Location].
The light inside the crystal tilted in one direction.
Then it lost its center and began wavering in several directions. Eugene's gaze shifted from the southwest, where Roa lay, far out toward the sea, then northward again.
After a moment, he stopped the spell.
"What's happening?" Paul Greyrat asked.
"Rudeus is still in Roa."
"But?"
"The coordinates of other locations are continuously overlapping his."
"Teleportation magic?"
"The structure is similar."
Eugene opened the front door.
The sky outside was stained purple and black.
A red sphere floated high above the Fittoa Region.
The center of the red sphere was hollow, as though all color had drained from it. Purple-and-black light flowed in from every direction toward its center.
"The mana of the entire Fittoa Region is gathering there," Eugene said.
[Widen Magic: Dimensional Lock].
No magic circle unfolded beneath Eugene's feet, nor did any massive light surge upward.
Yet in the next instant, every phenomenon twisting the village stopped at once.
The houses that had appeared doubled returned to one. The shadows stretching in different directions returned beneath their owners' feet. The disaster that, moments ago, seemed beyond human power to touch had apparently stopped in an instant.
Even Norn's crying ceased for a moment.
But the sky around the village's outskirts began to discolor at a rapid pace.
The mana converging on Buena Village split at the boundary of the Dimensional Lock and spread toward Roa and the neighboring areas.
Eugene immediately released the spell.
"Why did you undo it?" Paul Greyrat asked.
"If I seal Buena Village, another region will become the passage instead."
"Then we can't stop it?"
Eugene did not answer.
If it was Eugene, he likely had methods stronger than the one he had just used. Holding on to Buena Village alone did not seem impossible for him.
But even Lilia could see the mana splitting around the village and spreading toward Roa.
While they protected Buena Village, somewhere else could collapse in its place.
[Fly].
Eugene's body rose from the ground.
He gained altitude without wind or wings, and before three breaths had passed, he had climbed high enough to look down over the Fittoa Region.
Then a low rumbling began beneath the earth.
The observation stakes he had installed the previous night and the protective barrier around the house activated simultaneously. Light covered the walls and floor, holding the house's shape in place.
The lights in the bracelets' crystals stretched in different directions.
Lilia's and Aisha's pointed east.
Paul Greyrat's and Norn's pointed north.
Zenith Greyrat's pointed southwest.
Sylphiette's trembled upward, as though trying to rise from the ground.
"Don't let go," Zenith Greyrat said.
It was unclear whom she was speaking to.
Paul Greyrat lifted Norn into his arms.
Lilia pulled Aisha against her chest. Zenith Greyrat reached out toward them, and Sylphiette clutched Lilia's sleeve.
White light seeped into the house.
It was neither hot nor blinding.
Yet the sensation in Lilia's fingertips began to fade.
Zenith Greyrat's hand was right before her. But the more Lilia reached for it, the farther apart they became.
"Mother."
Aisha's voice was close.
Her slender arms were around Lilia's waist, and the child's breath touched the base of her neck.
High in the sky, Eugene raised his right hand.
The three shooting stars engraved on his plain ring shone.
The distance had already passed beyond the reach of voices, and no one but Eugene himself could hear what he said.
"[Wish Upon a Star]."
"Ensure that the seven beings connected to the marks do not lose the continuity of their bodies and souls, memories and selves due to teleportation."
The crystal tied to Lilia's wrist grew warm.
The light wrapping Aisha's body also ceased its trembling.
"Let each arrive as a single, whole being at coordinates where they can survive, and do not entirely sever the causal connection between them and me."
One shooting star engraved upon the ring lost its light.
Lilia's vision was consumed by white.
Zenith Greyrat's hand receded.
The sleeve Sylphiette had been holding slipped between Lilia's fingers.
Paul Greyrat and Norn also vanished beyond the light.
Only Aisha remained in Lilia's arms.
Lilia did not let go of her child until the end.
The last thing she saw was Eugene floating in the sky.
His white hair streamed wildly amid the raging mana.
Behind him, the red sphere was opening as though it had a mouth.
Lilia's vision went completely dark.
---
On Eugene's right hand was the [Shooting Star Ring].
It was a rare cash item obtainable from a random box in YGGDRASIL, which cost 500 yen per attempt, at an exceedingly low probability.
The three shooting stars engraved upon the ring each represented one use of the super-tier spell [Wish Upon a Star].
Ordinarily, [Wish Upon a Star] required experience points as its price.
In its original form, [Wish Upon a Star] was a super-tier spell that consumed experience points and allowed its caster to select one of several randomly presented effects. The desired effect was not guaranteed to appear.
The [Shooting Star Ring] removed the experience cost and casting time, suppressed options that would not help in the current situation, and presented up to ten useful effects.
It was not an item that could be judged by simple numerical stats. Depending on the circumstances, it was a cash item of greater strategic value than several pieces of divine-class equipment.
That did not mean every limitation of super-tier magic itself had vanished.
Ordinary super-tier magic was vastly more powerful than tier magic, but required lengthy casting times. During its preparation, the caster could not move and their defenses were weakened. Since the spell would be canceled if they suffered sufficient damage, defeating a caster preparing super-tier magic first was a basic tactic in group battles.
The Shooting Star Ring removed the experience cost and casting time.
It could not remove the shared cooldown applied to all super-tier magic. Once a super-tier spell had been used, no cash item or class ability could immediately follow it with another activation.
Eugene had not used another super-tier spell beforehand.
The instant he spoke the spell's name, the ring responded without delay.
And in that instant, Eugene learned for the first time how [Wish Upon a Star] had changed in this other world.
The options that had appeared in YGGDRASIL did not exist.
Instead, an empty space connected to his consciousness, allowing Eugene to define the outcome he desired directly.
It was similar to the change that had occurred with the super-tier spell [The Creation].
The spell, which had once selected one predetermined environmental effect, now manifested terrain and structures designated by Eugene as real matter in this world. Its freedom had expanded enough for him to directly design city walls and bedrock, buildings and passageways.
However, freedom did not mean omnipotence.
[The Creation] made the structures Eugene commanded, but it could not fill them with functions or information he did not know. It could make a dining table, but it could not restore the memories and time of those who had once sat around it.
[Wish Upon a Star] operated on the same principle.
In this world, [Wish Upon a Star] provided the power to impose upon reality the outcome Eugene defined.
But it did not tell him which choice would be the right one.
Eugene had not completely recorded the bodies and souls, memories and existential data of the tens of thousands of residents of the Fittoa Region. Nor did he know safe coordinates where they could all survive together.
He could have destroyed the teleportation passage by force.
But he did not know what lay on the far side of it, or what form the causality of present and future would take once the passage had been cut.
He could not say for certain that a perfect solution did not exist.
With the information Eugene currently possessed, however, he could not choose it.
He limited the targets to the seven people recorded in the six bracelets and Rudeus Greyrat's crystal.
The wish worked exactly as commanded.
Paul Greyrat and Zenith Greyrat, Lilia and her two children, Sylphiette and Rudeus Greyrat were teleported to separate coordinates.
They could not remain in their original locations.
Nor did they arrive together in one place.
Instead, separation of body and soul was excluded. The continuity of memory and self was preserved. Each reached coordinates where they could survive as a single, complete being.
The causal ties connecting Eugene to the seven of them had not entirely vanished, either.
But the wish's protection did not apply to Eugene in the same way.
The information of the World Item [Cor Proteus] had completely fused with Eugene's body and soul, his existential coordinates.
To redefine not merely Eugene's recovery or enhancement, but the structure of his existence and his temporal coordinates, the World Item fused within him would have to be altered as well.
[Wish Upon a Star] could not surpass the authority of a World Item.
Even after the wish's power had been enhanced in this other world, that priority had not changed.
The phenomenon engulfing the Fittoa Region was not ordinary teleportation magic, either.
At the far end of the passage lay a peculiar absence.
Within that era's history remained results that only Eugene could have left behind.
Traces of magic.
Destruction left by battle.
The memories and records of people who had met Eugene.
Countless results proved that Eugene had existed in that age.
Yet Eugene himself, who should have created those results, had vanished from the flow of causality.
Only the effects remained, their cause cut away.
The teleportation passage in the Fittoa Region connected that absence to the Eugene of the present.
The World Item did not allow the teleportation phenomenon to proceed unchanged.
[Cor Proteus] rejected every outcome that transferred only a portion of what constituted Eugene. It did not permit the separation of body and soul, the loss of equipment, or the duplication of existential data.
Only one method remained for the passage.
To preserve the entirety of Eugene's existence intact while connecting the present to the absence in the future.
It was not copying the present Eugene into a separate existence.
It was a process that skipped over the intervening years Eugene ought to have lived, leading to the future absence where only his results remained.
Eugene could have severed that connection by force.
But entangled in the passage were the causal ties of the seven people he had just preserved through the wish.
He did not know how the connections binding his family and Rudeus Greyrat would change if he destroyed the passage. Nor could he predict which region the mana driven beyond the Fittoa Region's boundaries would use as a new passage.
Eugene had time to calculate.
He simply lacked the information necessary to calculate a perfect answer.
The family's signals were drawing farther apart in different directions.
They were all alive.
Rudeus Greyrat's signal had not vanished either.
The wish was functioning exactly as Eugene had specified.
Until the very end, Eugene held the flow of mana in place so that the teleportation phenomenon would not spread beyond the Fittoa Region's borders.
The night of a distant future overlapped the morning of the Fittoa Region.
Eugene had not crossed space.
The time he was meant to live between the present and that future was cut away all at once.
The house in Buena Village remained below.
The front door and dining table held by the protective barrier, the empty chairs, and Norn's drawing did not collapse.
Only the people inside were disappearing to their separate destinations.
Eugene clenched the ring on his right hand.
Two engraved shooting stars remained.
In the next moment, Eugene vanished from the sky over the Fittoa Region.
Not a trace of his body, soul, equipment, or World Item remained.
The entirety of Eugene's existence leaped over decades of time.
In the era he arrived in, the results Eugene had left behind existed.
Only Eugene himself, who should have created those results, was absent.
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