There had only been a few times in my life when I had thought I did not want to lose someone.
Growing up, my older brother had been one of them, and recently, the only ones I had thought of that way were my people who had joined the expedition.
Even when I met my father again, all that happened was that my misplaced anger was erased; I did not feel that I had to save him no matter what.
It was partly because, once that anger was gone, no affection remained, but more than that, it was because there was someone else I thought of in his place.
That was the great mage Shamekh, the ego contained within the spear called Soph.
The time I had spent with him had not been long, but I thought of him as my teacher, my family, and my father.
And now, he was casting magic while burning away the spear that was his own body.
At the center of the magic circle taking form.
Beneath the black sky, a magic circle formed by hundreds of connected black stones spread out, and at its center floated a brilliantly shining spear.
It shone, but more than that, it was cracked and split.
Soph’s spear was only holding together by magic; it was already broken.
The moment the magic stopped, the spear would shatter.
I had tried to retreat at once to prevent that from happening, but Soph’s thoughts were different from mine.
I had known it, but he intended to announce his end here.
The magic Soph unfolded shook the earth.
Ruuuumble.
The ground, ruined by the nuclear explosion, split apart and surged upward.
All the land except the area where the magic circle was began to move.
Crack!
Several monsters lost their lives in the sudden earthquake, like those that fell into the split earth or were pierced through by the surging stone.
However, the monsters that died numbered only a few dozen.
The other Akzar monsters smashed the protruding rocks and leaped over the opened fissures.
I had known it, but a natural disaster of this level could not wipe out the Akzar monsters.
Soph knew that as well.
The magic Soph had cast was not all there was to it.
This earthquake was only the prelude to Soph’s magic.
His magic was only beginning now.
Ruuuuumble.
The earth split, surged upward, gathered together, and separated.
Stones and boulders clung to one another, becoming hands and arms.
The protruding rocks became heads, and the earth divided by fissures became bodies and legs.
Thud.
The enormous rock golems Soph had created rose to their feet.
Rock golems as tall as five- and ten-story buildings stood up and attacked the monsters around them.
Crack!
A scout was smashed apart by a golem’s fist.
If it had been an ordinary punch, the scout would have been unharmed, but an immense amount of dark energy was carried in the golem’s fist.
It was all energy flowing from the black stones that formed the magic circle.
[Ten thousand years ago, there wasn’t enough dark energy, so I couldn’t make many of them. But with this many black stones, I should be able to make them properly this time.]
Soph’s delighted voice came from the cracked spear.
It was a bright voice, with no trace of regret.
As he said, the enormous rock golems showed remarkable results.
They smashed the monsters charging toward the magic circle and blocked the spells being fired with their bodies.
A shield also spread out again around the magic circle.
It was not a proper magic circle made over a long period of time like before, but it was a magic circle sufficient to block simple magic.
The golems were destroyed, but as many monsters as pushed into the plain, more golems continued to be created.
Each time the golems were shattered and the shield blocked magic, the black stones forming the magic circle lost their light. Even so, there were still many black stones left.
It looked as if the golems could hold them off well enough even without me, but I had no intention of simply watching.
As I watched the golems fight, I absorbed dark energy while holding the black stone I had set aside in my hand.
Just as I had obtained dark energy from the black stone embedded in the spear, I could now obtain the energy I lacked from the modified black stone.
Dark energy filled me rapidly.
If I filled it just a little more, I could move again.
While replenishing my energy, I checked the black stones floating in the sky.
There were still many black stones that had not lost their light.
Seeing the black stones, I understood.
Soph had deceived me.
“It didn’t take this many black stones to repair the magic circle, did it?”
Even while Soph fought the monsters with the golems, the magic circle continued to move.
The magic circle repaired itself and continued to activate.
The black stones floating in the sky now were providing no help at all in moving the magic circle.
[Since it stopped while it was operating, all it needed was the right key and enough energy to start it.]
The right key meant Soph, who had created the magic circle.
The spear that contained Soph’s ego.
Right now, the magic circle was being activated with the spear as its center, without the help of the black stones.
Then why had he gathered so many black stones?
As I looked at the black stones losing their light one by one and the cracked spear, I recalled when I first met Soph.
The memory of when I first grasped the staff containing Soph’s ego beneath the ruins.
In my memory, Soph had collapsed the surface of the ruins with magic, then left his ego in the staff and lost his life.
But thinking about it now, the magic Soph had used then had not been all that extraordinary compared to the abilities of the great mage Soph.
A great mage who could kill a control object in a single blow and had even sealed the Demon King had died merely by collapsing the surface.
It made no sense.
But now, I felt I understood.
Why Soph had died from magic of that degree.
At the time, Soph had no choice.
“You were injured here before.”
The words were abrupt, with the beginning and end cut off, but Soph understood what I meant.
[……The human body is frail.]
I stared at the spear that was forcibly maintaining its form.
Ten thousand years ago, when Soph had been human, Soph had protected the magic circle here with the other mages, just as he was doing now.
Back then, there had been no weapons like nuclear warheads, so Soph and the mages had to block the monsters with magic.
If he had used the same magic as now, Soph’s body would not have endured it, just like that spear.
“Don’t tell me… you deliberately became the ego of the staff? For a moment like this?”
The illusion above the staff looked at me.
The illusion of the great mage, seeming to smile, seeming exhausted.
Soph said to me,
[It would have been better if we had overcome the prophecy, but even after Shamara sealed the Demon King, everything flowed according to her prophecy. So I made a choice.]
The choice of a great mage who had failed to properly destroy the moon and had failed to hold back the monsters.
[Shamara wished to save the humans who would come to this star in the distant future, and I wished to protect the people escaping from the star, as well as the home they would one day return to.]
Injured as he was, he had decided to place his ego into the staff.
[And I wanted to finish things properly.]
The things he had failed to bring to an end.
Killing the Demon King and clearing away the monsters of the moon.
Now was the last task left to him.
Flash. Flash. Flash.
While I spoke with Soph, the black stones rapidly lost their light.
The shield weakened, and the golems that had pushed the monsters far away were once again forced back to the vicinity of the magic circle.
There were far more monsters than before.
It seemed that all the monsters who had realized the magic circle was activating had rushed here.
It looked dangerous, but I did not move.
Because the magic circle had activated in time.
Wooooong!
The magic circle from ten thousand years ago, every line pouring out light.
Across ten thousand years, the magic was finally completed.
At that moment, I threw away the black stone I had been holding and leaped into the sky.
I shot up to where the spear was, grabbed the cracked spear, and said to Soph,
“Get ready! The moment the magic activates, we’re crossing space!”
Since it was the key to the magic circle, I could not move the spear right now, but the moment the magic activated, I could pull it out.
If I teleported through space as far as possible with the spear, we would be able to escape the range of the magic before it was too late.
And I could prevent the spear from shattering with my energy and magic.
In the end, we could leave this place together.
That was why I had been filling myself with energy until now.
But Soph did not obey my command.
Instead of activating the magic, he said to me,
[Maintaining this spear while teleporting through space at the same time is impossible, is it not?]
At Soph’s words, I shook my head.
“No. It’s possible.”
I had never tried it before, and even to me the chance of success did not look high, but I could do it.
[Escaping alone will not be easy, either. Besides, you cannot continue maintaining this spear forever.]
“I just have to find another staff. I can hold out until then.”
I had no idea how much energy I would have to pour in to maintain the spear, but even so, I was confident I could endure.
I had overcome times more dangerous and more difficult than this.
I could overcome this time as well.
I did not care if it was stubbornness.
I had to return with Soph.
Then I heard Soph sigh.
The voice of an exhausted mage reached me.
[Let me go. I erased my memories, but ten thousand years was far too long.]
The voice of a mage worn down by time.
Soph’s illusion stood before me.
He placed his hand on my shoulder.
[You have been completed as a mage. You are now a great mage greater than I. So help your teacher rest. It is time for me to go to Shamara and my comrades, who are waiting.]
At Soph’s sincere words, I could say nothing.
I knew. I knew he had waited only for this moment.
He had endured until now in order to keep his promise to Shamara, and in order to protect and help me.
Wanting him to live was nothing but my own obstinacy and childishness.
The arm holding the spear trembled.
I knew, but I could not let go of the spear.
Then Soph said,
[There is no time.]
Bang! Bang! Bang!
There was no need to confirm it with my senses.
All those many black stones were losing their light.
Every golem Soph had created had been destroyed, and the shield he had spread again was on the verge of breaking.
Just as Soph said, there was no time.
I did not want to part with him, but this was his final wish.
The strength left the arm holding the spear.
Biting my lip, I forced myself to let go of the spear.
I turned my head and spoke words I did not mean.
I grumbled at Soph’s illusion.
“You said an ego has no choice but to obey its master. Was that all a lie?”
At my words, Soph grinned broadly.
[It was not a lie. An ordinary ego cannot refuse its master’s orders. It is simply…… that I was not an ordinary ego.]
An ego that was not ordinary?
I was puzzled by the unexpected words, but I could not ask Soph again.
Shatter!
The shield had broken again.
The black stones had all lost their light, and now there was nothing to stop the charging monsters.
Tens of thousands of monsters rushed toward the magic circle.
Against the backdrop of pouring spells, the great mage was smiling brightly.
Looking at him, I teleported through space.
[Blink.]
After moving as far as I could, toward the planet, I looked down below.
Tens of kilometers beneath me.
It was a distance where the magic circle looked like a dot, but it felt as if I could see the magic circle, the monsters, and Soph’s illusion all clearly.
Flash!
At that moment, light burst out from the magic circle.
The light that began at the magic circle passed through the plain and spread across the entire moon.
The final magic of the magic kingdom, a spell that destroyed the planet itself with the dark energy the planet possessed, had unfolded.
Kwa-gwa-gwa-gwang!
The shattered moon began to pour out brilliant light for the first time in ten thousand years.
Bright enough to be seen not only from the parent planet, but even from the ice star.
The moon continued to break apart, shedding an immense radiance.
After the moon disappeared (1)