……Gilteon's heart was burning like embers.
He was the patriarch who had devoted everything he possessed to the house of 'Ellaid.' A torch of ambition who had willingly burned himself to achieve a long-cherished wish.
In his youth, when he had challenged for the position of archmage by any means necessary—when desire and tenacity had erupted like a volcano and he had been unable to control himself—though he had ultimately retreated without even grasping the tail end of that wish, he had possessed such a past.
Gilteon still remembered that day.
The day a child named Silvia came into this world.
The day the final spark sprouted in his fully ripened heart.
Soft cheeks and snow-white skin. Dazzling golden hair and squirming little hands and feet.
As he watched that child who had inherited the bloodline of Ellaid more distinctly than anyone else, as he watched the 'light' crying while wrapped in swaddling clothes, Gilteon had an intuition.
That this child could fulfill the house's long-cherished wish.
That his child could reign like the sun, atop the heads of all other mages, from the pinnacle of the floating island.
——No.
She must.
Silvia, because you are a descendant of Ellaid.
Because you are Gilteon's daughter…….
* * *
—No!
A clear, sharp cry echoed through the gallery filled with paintings, and soon Lia's body crashed into Gilteon.
"Kuk!"
Gilteon groaned and tumbled backward. Sirio hastily drew his sword but hesitated.
The two were completely tangled together, making it awkward to cut down only one of them.
"Stop!"
In that moment, Lia had already wrapped her arms tightly around Gilteon's entire body.
Yet a thick smile hung on Gilteon's lips.
"It is already too late."
True to his words, Gilteon's golden hair was already blazing like flames, and white spots bloomed across his body like burns.
"……Hmm."
Sirio also nodded in satisfaction.
The grand magic was taking place within Gilteon's flesh.
That mad spellwork would emit the heat of a supernova, releasing that massive source of light beyond the caster's skin.
It was already over.
"Yes. You have worked hard, Gilteon. We shall grant your wish."
Sirio sheathed his sword. Then he gestured toward Jeilreon with his eyes.
"Jeilreon. Let's go to the priests."
"Hm? Why?"
Jeilreon seemed slightly disappointed that they wouldn't be fighting, but Sirio fluttered the bound volume Gilteon had handed over.
"We must deliver this. And we agreed not to get involved in family matters."
"……Family matters?"
Jeilreon narrowed his eyes blearily and looked at Gilteon.
His body was already swelling with immense mana. Beams of light shone through his shriveled, twisted skin.
Whether it was family matters or whatever else, he looked ready to explode completely. If they stayed here, they would get caught up in it and die for nothing.
"……Right. Let's not get caught up in it."
Having agreed, Jeilreon left the gallery with Sirio.
Leaving Leo, Karlos, Lia, and Gilteon inside.
Bang——!
They locked the door from the outside.
"Lia!"
Immediately, Leo and Karlos rushed to Lia.
Lia embraced Gilteon's entire body.
"Krrrk……"
The intense heat felt as though it were burning her alive, but she neutralized it with "Elementalization."
Sizzle— Szzzzzzt—
Nevertheless, Lia's skin began to sear from Gilteon's heat.
Karlos flinched in horror at the gruesome sound of roasting flesh, but Leo moved instinctively. Like Lia, he clung to Gilteon's body.
"……Ha. Who are you two, to be so foolish?"
With the two of them stuck fast to his front and back like cicadas, Gilteon was dumbfounded.
But it hardly mattered.
He would simply burn everything to ash.
"Do you think Silvia would want this?!"
Lia snapped at him, but Gilteon merely snorted.
It was far too cliché a line.
"……The problem is that she does not wish for it. My child's ambition has grown too faint. She has been infected by the plague called Deculein."
With each murmur, his magic grew denser. Emotion and mana surged more violently.
Already, Gilteon was no longer in human form.
A monster spewing white heat from its eyes and vomiting sulfurous mana from its mouth…… no.
He was becoming 'magic itself.'
———!
The ceiling and floor shook with a thud.
The reverberation of the caster's organs oxidizing into mana.
A body becoming a supernova.
"Damn it……!"
Lia clenched her teeth. She squeezed every last drop of mana from her dantian and manifested "Elementalization."
Her goal was to decompose all the mana Gilteon was releasing, the grand magic being destructively realized, into simple elements.
Fzzzzzzzzt……!
Mana and magic collided, throwing off sparks.
But the difference in magnitude was stark.
Gilteon's magic swallowed Lia's mana whole and churned, blazing up instead as an even greater heat source.
"You two, run!"
At that moment, Lia worried for Leo and Karlos.
This was a grand magic unleashed by the mage Gilteon sacrificing his own lifespan. Then it was only right that she, too, wager her lifespan.
Lia poured all her mana and talent into……
the moment she tried to activate her own trump card.
……Pssssssht!
A somehow strange sound seeped into her ears.
A reverberation like fire and water meeting, one side dying down.
"……?"
Had her "Elementalization" worked after all?
Lia opened her eyes wide. She looked at Gilteon, whom she held tightly.
Pssssssht……
Gilteon's mana was being neutralized.
The body that had been burning with ultra-high heat was gradually losing its temperature. Cooling powerlessly.
Gilteon's grand magic was being subdued.
"Wow!"
Leo exclaimed in admiration. Lia nearly felt a little proud, but quickly pushed her "Elementalization" harder.
She poured all the mana from her dantian into Gilteon, not leaving a single drop.
Kwaaaaaaah———
Then Gilteon's heat gradually lost its strength. As if the spellwork had been dismantled, his body crumbled like a frail skeleton.
Still, Lia didn't let her guard down, but it was Gilteon who was strange.
Specifically, his eyes.
Pupils sunken deep, emitting hot steam.
That gaze was not on Lia, nor on Leo and Karlos, but on someone behind them.
"……You."
A single word: 'you.'
Thud—
The heavy sound of a footstep sinking down.
"You are……"
Gilteon gritted his teeth. Trembling with the most violent rage, contempt, and resentment, he glared at 'you.'
With that, Lia realized.
That it was not she who had dismantled and suppressed Gilteon's spellwork, who had stopped his explosion.
"……To the very end, me."
Then, who was the one toward whom Gilteon directed such immense resentment?
Who was the one who had instantly dismantled the magic Gilteon had manifested through his own body, and calmly stepped forward in dress shoes?
"……"
Gulp.
Swallowing her saliva, Lia turned around.
At the same time, Gilteon's throat tore open.
"How dare a mere plebeian like you——!"
It was a shriek bordering on a curse. Gilteon swung his already burned-out arm and reached toward 'her.'
But she showed no emotion whatsoever. She merely looked at the three children and spoke.
"……The Professor is waiting for you above."
Then she removed her robe. Long, ash-colored hair flowed down softly.
Seeing that appearance, so drastically changed from before, Lia smiled blankly.
"You children, go on up."
First came the unfathomable depth of her mana, and next, a cozy and gentle nature.
"Just trust me. Right here, as for Gilteon."
She had become an adult before anyone knew it, so reliable like this, thumping her own chest telling me to trust her—she had become an archmage who had finally fully bloomed her potential.
"Leave this to Ifrin."
Child of the Moon, Ifrin Luna.
* * *
[47:26:38]
47 hours, 26 minutes, and 38 seconds.
The time remaining for Lia.
In just two days, a planet would crash down and some end—whether it was game over or whatever—would arrive, yet this lighthouse was like a maze, making it difficult to find the way.
There were too many 'chambers'—research rooms, chapels, record rooms, and such.
"Where is Deculein?"
Karlos furrowed his brow. They had left Gilteon to Ifrin for now, but they didn't know where Deculein actually was.
"We'll find him as we…… Shh!"
Then, they sensed someone's presence. Lia hastily placed a hand over her mouth.
"Hide."
They quickly hid behind a wall.
Tadadada——
Immediately after, priests of the altar ran down the hallway.
Judging by their hurried footsteps, something was wrong.
—How is the situation on your end?
The sudden communication from a crystal orb. The voice of Emperor Sopien.
Lia's body trembled, then she quickly clutched the orb.
"We have entered the lighthouse for now."
Tadadadada———!
Then, numerous footsteps vibrated once more.
The three children looked back.
—The situation?
"……The priests of the altar are moving."
The priests' movements were urgent. Lia could guess the reason from what had just happened.
Specifically, Gilteon and Sirio.
Gilteon had analyzed Deculein's lighthouse, and Sirio had relayed that information to the priests of the altar.
She didn't yet know the contents of that analysis but……
"It seems the altar is attempting to turn hostile against Deculein once more."
At the very least, it was clear that Deculein was not 'exclusively on the altar's side.'
Thud—
At that moment while she was reporting, a certain footstep landed right beside them.
The trio's hair stood on end. Goosebumps rose across their bodies, and cold sweat formed.
"……"
They turned their heads without a word. Creak— Like wooden puppets, stiffly, a robed figure looking at them……
Lia's eyes widened.
"Wait. You, Silvi-"
"Quiet."
She spoke softly. Her golden eyes and golden hair swayed carelessly.
Lia swallowed and asked again.
"H-How did you get out?"
"I'm not out yet."
"……?"
"This body is a doll. I am controlling the doll."
She didn't know what that meant, but anyway, it seemed she had succeeded in connecting the Picture Prison to this place.
"Gilteon……"
"I know. That comes later."
Silvia cut her off, seeming somewhat uncomfortable. Then she reached toward an empty wall.
"Go up."
"……It's a wall though?"
Leo tilted his head.
But in the very next moment, stairs were drawn on that wall. A passage leading somewhere formed.
"……Go."
Tadadadadada———!
The footsteps of the priests inside the lighthouse grew more intense. As if knowing their concern, Silvia shook her head.
"You will not run into them. These are stairs I drew separately. Go up and meet Deculein. Go and……"
Silvia fell silent for a moment. As if carefully choosing what words to relay, or as if she had too much she wanted to say and was troubled.
After thinking alone like that, she spoke in a low voice.
"……Tell him I'll be there soon."
* * *
At the top floor of the lighthouse, I looked up at the sky.
The comet being guided toward the continent was now as clear as the moon, and the spellwork of my magic encircling the lighthouse was coming together smoothly.
There were no variables.
Everything was going exactly as I had 'understood.'
"Professor. The altar is coming up."
Suddenly, Yulri's whisper.
I smiled faintly and nodded.
"Yes."
And I looked at the single blue flower on my desk.
A forget-me-not.
A gift from Lia.
"Lia will be up soon as well."
"Yes."
Yulri answered and armed herself. She donned the snowflower-stone light armor I had made for her and heated up her mana.
"……Professor."
Yulri said.
The doll's flesh had already exhausted its life and was merely waiting to break apart, but her expression held confidence. It was a happy face.
"I will protect you."
"……"
I nodded quietly. No further words were needed.
Words of love, words of gratitude, words of apology.
Now, with the end already before us, they were nothing but luxuries.
I simply placed a kiss on her forehead. At that moment, Yulri let out a trembling breath.
"……I shall go."
She bowed her waist slightly and stepped backward. Without showing me her back, she left me.
Thud.
The sound of the door opening and closing.
"Now……"
Alone, I sat in the chair. I took something out from the desk drawer.
It was an ordinary wooden board.
Go—a board with fifty lines carved into a grid, upon which black and white stones were placed to vie for supremacy.
“It is time to keep your promise, Your Majesty.”
I took a handkerchief from the pocket of my suit.
Squeak… squeak…
With it, I wiped the surface of the wood myself.
For His Majesty the Emperor alone, with all my sincerity.
* * *
…The priests of the Altar climbed the stairs. Without exchanging a single word, maintaining only their ranks and files, their entire bodies preheated with magic, they ascended to the highest floor of Deculein.
At the head of their mechanical procession, like soldiers, stood Sirio.
He had informed the priests of Deculein’s betrayal, and now this was a march to confirm the truth of it.
“…Hm?”
But the moment they finally arrived at the top floor of the lighthouse…
A knight stood there, as if blocking the door.
She was a woman of sculpted beauty, clad in light armor made of snowflake stone.
Sirio let out a hollow laugh as he looked at her.
“…Julie.”
Julie. Cloaked head to toe in the mana of bitter cold, she opened her closed eyes. She glared at Sirio and the Altar’s company, then raised her sword.
“What are you trying to do?”
Sirio asked. Jaylon drew his sword. The priests of the Altar prepared their magic.
Their number easily reached three hundred.
Before a force utterly impossible to handle alone, Julie was instead composed. She calmly glared at them and tempered her own mana.
“You cannot pass through here.”
Craaaaack…
With those words, the mana spreading from Julie froze the air around them. It stilled the currents of mana.
Indeed, Julie now was of an entirely different “grade.”
She was no longer the incomplete knight she had once been.
The same bitter cold once felt from the head of Phairelden, similar to what Zeit had emanated, now resided in Julie.
“…Well, now.”
Jaylon exclaimed in admiration, his eyes wide, while Sirio gave a low smile.
“Yeah. Interesting. This should be interesting.”
Immediately after, Sirio kicked off the ground. Jaylon followed behind him.
Thus, there would be no need for conversation between them.
As former comrades and knights, knowing that the lords they served were different.
They need only cross swords, and share their convictions violently.
“…”
Julie calmly gripped her sword.
The Swift Sword and the Great Mountain.
Facing two knights, each of whom she would once have struggled to face alone—
────Kwaaaaaa!
She swung her sword aura.
* * *
In the Land of Extinction, still some distance from the lighthouse, Sophien looked up at the highest floor of the tower. Unlike herself, she was anxious, thinking of Deculein, who waited for her there.
“Your Majesty. There is no time left.”
Gawain said.
Gathered here, the knights and Jeokgwe, including Ganesha and Gawain, were looking up at the sky in tension. The comet was already clear enough to seem as if it had arrived right before their eyes.
“Are you all prepared?”
─We have long been prepared. Since long ago.
That voice belonged to Elessol.
As if she wished to march out this very instant, she stared straight at Sophien together with the Jeokgwe she led.
“…”
However, for Sophien, that preparation was difficult.
Sophien’s sortie meant killing Deculein.
It meant driving her sword into his heart.
Even though she had already steeled herself for it, the reason she still hesitated was, after all, because she loved that man.
─Soon, Deculein’s lighthouse will ruin the continent. Your Majesty. Please make your decision at once.
Those words from Elessol.
The words of a Jeokgwe who knew nothing—no, who was dancing exactly “as Deculein intended”—slightly grated on Sophien’s temper.
“…Then.”
Sophien had already made a promise with him.
Therefore, this was something she would do as Emperor for a loyal subject, and a task to bring peace to the continent.
Deculein’s death would sever the chain of hatred that had always existed on this continent, and Deculein’s magic would save them from destruction.
If only one person—
If only Deculein were sacrificed.
If the name, life, and existence of Deculein were smeared with filth, if the being called Deculein were transformed into the worst villain this world had never seen before and would never see again…
Then the continent would be able to become healthy once more.
Deculein’s death would, at the very least, bring a hundred years of peace to this continent.
“…All of you.”
Sophien looked around at those beside her.
A dozen or so carefully chosen mages, knights, and Jeokgwe. As she cast her gaze over them, Sophien’s heart settled calmly.
“Advance.”
A low voice announcing the beginning.
Everyone solemnly nodded, placed a hand over their chest, and paid their respects to the Emperor.
“I shall go.”
Thus, the Emperor moved forward at the very front. Toward the lighthouse where Deculein waited, forcing her endlessly heavy footsteps onward.