The anonymous “Lighthouse Analysis” published by Luina was sending the continent into upheaval.
A comet that would destroy the continent.
From the nobles of the Empire and the kingdoms to commoners of lowly birth, and even prisoners locked away in cells, all were speaking of it.
It was not especially surprising.
Even if they could not understand Luina’s theory, even if they could not read letters at all, they needed only look up at the sky to know.
The vivid “fall of the comet” in the blue expanse.
—The continent will collapse! Divine punishment will bring mankind low!
All those voices speaking of ruin shook the continent.
Social chaos was inevitable. Riots broke out across the continent, and crimes such as murder and pillaging spread like a plague.
“There is no need for haste. The march has already been decided.”
Yet, in the deepest inner chamber of the Imperial Palace, Sophien, who was no different from the master of the continent, remained calm.
She was merely practicing Go as she received the ministers of some nation who had come to see her.
Tok—
She placed a black stone first, then placed a white stone with her other hand.
Tok—
Once again, she placed a black stone, then a white.
Tok—
Thus, after her solitary match had continued for quite some time.
“Your Majesty.”
Maho of the duchy opened her mouth. Sophien raised her head and glared at her.
“When I stayed at the Imperial Palace, there were times when we conversed together.”
Maho, Chancellor of Yuren, continued softly. She did not cower even before the Emperor.
“But now Your Majesty has become Emperor, and I have become Chancellor of the duchy.”
“And?”
Sophien asked back. Maho’s expression hardened gravely.
“……That very continent is facing the crisis of destruction.”
A roundabout way of saying that this was no time to be playing something like Go.
Yet to Sophien, this game was more important than anything else, even more important than the continent’s destruction.
“Wait until it is over.”
Her final match with Deculein.
For that.
So that she might defeat that bastard she had never once beaten, even if only then.
“However, Your Majesty……”
To Maho, who was about to prattle on as she pleased and interfere, Sophien merely held out a letter.
“Take it.”
“……?”
“They are those We have personally selected. The faces to be sent to the Land of Extinction.”
Maho read it.
Beginning with the Red Garnet Adventurers, there were Gawain, Delric, Yeriel, and……
“……Your Majesty. What are these names?”
Maho’s eyes fixed on one paragraph.
──Ellie of the Desert, Elesol, Karixel.
They were the names of the Red Coffin. Among them, Elesol was a wanted criminal. She was the Grand Elder of the Red Coffin.
Sophien toyed with a Go stone as she spoke.
“With the comet before us, they say the continent will be destroyed. When the greatest enemy and evil stand before our eyes, there is no need to burn with hatred among humans.”
A declaration in a languid voice.
Yet Maho swallowed, more tense than ever.
“Your Majesty……”
Right now, this Emperor seemed so extraordinary and great to her.
This woman, who cut off a chain of hatred that had lasted hundreds of years while swaggering as if it were nothing at all……
“Yes. You are truly correct.”
Tok—
Sophien placed a black stone. Maho quietly looked at that Emperor.
“By the way, Your Majesty. This anonymous Lighthouse Analysis.”
She carefully set down the anonymous theoretical text she had taken from within her robe.
Sophien looked at it and smirked.
“……We know of it. It is a theoretical text analyzing the Altar’s lighthouse. We have read it.”
“Ah. Is that so?”
Maho gave a dry cough.
Now, facing the Emperor as the head of Yuren, there were several matters she absolutely wished to inform her of.
“Also, Your Majesty. We have investigated in our own way.”
“Investigated?”
Tok—
Sophien placed a white stone. Maho continued as she watched the Go board slowly fill.
“Yes. Within the Empire, throughout the Magic Tower and the Knight Orders, there are enemies of Your Majesty. First, we must seek them out……”
“We already know.”
“……?”
Maho tilted her head. For a moment, forgetting even her dignity, her eyes went round.
“We know the enemies scattered within the Empire, and We also know who created the formula of this lighthouse.”
“Ah! Is that truly so?!”
The lighthouse’s formula. The world still did not know who had created the lighthouse now seeking to destroy the continent. There was not even any way to know for what purpose they were doing this.
“Yes.”
Then Sophien nodded as if speaking of some trivial matter of everyday life.
As expected, even in her indolence, the Emperor knew everything.
“As expected.”
Just as Maho’s admiration was flowing from her mouth like an exclamation.
“It is Deculein.”
“……?”
In that instant, Maho’s face hardened stiffly.
Tak—!
Sophien’s black stone split a corner of the wooden board.
A brilliant move in which black devoured white. A divine move that no master could have conceived.
As if satisfied with it, Sophien twisted the corner of her mouth and shifted her gaze to Maho.
“I speak of Deculein.”
“That can’t…… No, surely not……”
“Hmph. Surely, you say. That man who saved your life and saved your Yuren.”
Sophien propped her chin on both hands.
With eyes that seemed to blaze, she scorched Maho, who was breaking into a cold sweat.
“He is trying to destroy the continent.”
“!”
Maho swallowed her breath. She gripped the hem of her skirt tightly.
“The evidence is scattered everywhere. Above all, the professors who served that man sent anonymous letters.”
Sophien slipped a sheet of paper between her fingers.
An internal accusation sent by the professors of the Imperial University, including Relin. A handwritten letter from those cowards, saying that the mad deed of the continent’s destruction was Deculein’s doing.
“You should read it as well.”
“…….”
Maho received it with trembling hands.
“And join the expedition. We will kill Deculein……”
* * *
I climbed the lighthouse of the Land of Extinction.
The most perfect structure, designed first by Quay and completed with my reinforcements. Its interior was pleasant, imbued with the qualities of my Snowflake Stone, and beautiful, with my aesthetic sense permeating it like art.
At the top of that lighthouse, I look up at the sky. I watch the movement of the celestial body descending upon the continent.
Then, suddenly, I become worried about the condition of the knight standing behind me.
“Yuli. Is this place all right?”
“Yes. Of course.”
Yuli, who answered so, truly had an excellent complexion and color.
“Isn’t this a space made of Snowflake Stone?”
“……True.”
So to speak, this place is now the space most harmonious with Yuli, or more precisely, with “Yuli’s soul” contained within the body of a doll.
Snowflake Stone will embrace her in the cold most optimal for Yuli.
“By the way, Professor, how are you?”
Yuli asked, taking one step closer. I looked up at the sky again.
In the dark and murky firmament of the Land of Extinction, the light of the stars and moon that occasionally sparkled was beautiful.
“……It feels as if a pendulum is moving inside my body.”
Tick— tock—.
Tick— tock—.
My heart had long since lost its function, but something else within my body—perhaps something that could be called a “soul”—was moving me.
“It’s fascinating.”
I closed my eyes for a moment.
I could feel the air of the Land of Extinction, the mana of the sky, the dust of the earth, their vibrations and resonance.
All those trivial things were becoming “understood.”
“They say that a person gains the greatest enlightenment upon reaching death. Perhaps I am experiencing something similar.”
Of course, Rohakan had possessed a Trait called “Dying Flash.”
Yet perhaps becoming most free at the moment of death was something all humans had in common.
Liberated from all things that bound oneself, from the earth beneath one’s feet and the sky stretched beyond, from that heaven and earth which had been an inescapable “boundary.”
Unobstructed, unfettered by the world.
Thought breaks free from its fetters, insight pierces through to essence, and the heart becomes unique.
“I feel as though I can now ‘understand’ this world.”
I quietly closed my eyes.
“It feels as though that moment of transcendence is not far off.”
Then Yuli moved one step. She came close and embraced my body. With both arms, she gripped my waist tightly.
“Mm?”
“……Professor, you promised. That you would not go before me.”
At those words, a smile I did not know I had flows forth.
With a faint, small laugh, I nod.
“……Yes.”
I place my hand over hers and slowly drive my mana.
There is no need for so much power. The mana contained in my demonwood staff alone is enough.
Now, I feel I understand the principles of this world.
There is no need to waste mana needlessly.
Goooooo……
The mana arising from the staff seeps into the lighthouse, and that mana resonates throughout the entire lighthouse. Blue-white light bursting forth like a waterfall drenches the lighthouse. Within the trembling of that inclination, the lighthouse gently emits the “path of the light source.”
The place that path will reach is the distant outer realm.
The comet rushing toward this place.
“……Yuli.”
I looked back at Yuli.
“For just three days, can you protect me?”
The mana will circle the lighthouse dozens of times, and three days later, it will realize the magic I desire.
The conclusion of that magic is not simply the collision of a planet.
Rather, it is a “miracle” that will be realized using the mana generated from the collision as energy.
“Of course.”
Yuli smiled deeply. As if she were truly happy, she gripped her sword and knelt on one knee.
“I, Yuli, as the Professor’s eternal sword, will certainly.”
Looking at her, I smiled as well.
In the end, Deculein would not be joined with Yuli, nor would he reach the terminus called love, but……
“I will protect you, Professor.”
Since she is happy to protect me, her happiness will be my joy.
* * *
Goooooo……
At the same time, when the resonance of the lighthouse spread across the entire continent.
A mountainside near the Land of Extinction.
“!”
Lia’s eyes widened. She quickly looked around.
The members of the Masal team who had been sleeping out in the same place were also waking one by one.
“Did you feel that?!”
Lia asked first. Ganesha nodded, and Gawain already had a hand on his scabbard.
“What was it?”
Gawain asked. Lia rose and looked toward the distance.
“……Ah.”
There was no particular reason they were camping here.
Because life could not exist in the Land of Extinction, and therefore weeds, grass, or any other life could not grow there, the lighthouse could be seen at a glance from this mountainside.
“Look at that.”
Lia pointed toward the Land of Extinction. The Masal team members also looked that way.
“……It’s shining~?”
Ganesha said.
Kuuuuuuung——!
At that moment, a tremendous roar shook the earth’s axis.
At the same time, a certain sentence formed on Lia’s retina.
[Lighthouse Activation — 72:00]
A clock announcing a time attack.
The remaining time was a mere three days.
Lia’s eyes widened. Through clairvoyance by means of “Elementalization,” she peered into the interior of the faraway lighthouse.
“!”
In that instant, her heart trembled violently.
“Why?”
“……Deculein.”
Deculein.
He was looking at her.
Staring straight at the place where she stood, he gave a low smile when their eyes met.
“It’s all right.”
Ganesha placed a hand on her shoulder.
“Support will come soon. From all over the world.”
Support that would arrive from all over the world.
Yes.
Just as she said, everyone on the continent who sought to stop the continent’s destruction would come here and try to stop him.
They would try to kill Deculein and destroy the lighthouse.
“We will win.”
Gawain spoke with certainty.
As he looked at the lighthouse shining white and blue, at that structure which was the most beautiful among those that brought about destruction, his expression was somewhat captivated.
“But it really is the Professor’s taste. It’s pretty.”
“……Yes.”
The lighthouse was exceedingly beautiful. Not only its exterior form, but even the “path of light” it was now emitting.
“Leo. Carlos?”
Lia called the two children. The two of them, who had been admiring it in a daze, belatedly came to their senses.
“Huh? Why?”
“Can you go in first? You two won’t be suspected by the people of the Altar.”
Thanks to the innocence unique to children, Leo and Carlos were fairly close with the Altar as well.
“Yeah!”
“Sure.”
She felt a little uneasy using children as scouts, but they were not weak enough to be called children in the first place.
“But, Lia. Say. If I meet Deculein first.”
When Leo was about to run off at once, Carlos turned back to Lia with a somewhat troubled face.
“Can I kill him?”
“…….”
Lia hesitated, but the answer came from elsewhere.
—No.
A voice laced even with anger.
The tone of the red-furred munchkin that had been sleeping in one corner of a sleeping bag.
—Killing Deculein, killing that heinous traitor who betrayed Us, is a role that belongs only to Us……
At her words, more serious than ever, everyone could only agree without saying a word.