“I’m in a situation without a family, just like the three of us, aren’t we? So we can only call the relationship in which we rely on each other a family… though it might just be wordplay.”
I kept silent, unsure of how to respond.
It had been a long time since the Great Witch had said something so embarrassing. After pondering her intentions, one thought eventually crossed my mind.
The Great Witch was concerned about reprimanding Senior Elsi.
So she must have resorted to this shy remark in an attempt to comfort me. Even if I could see her slightly flushed cheeks, it was clear that the Great Witch was feeling somewhat embarrassed.
It seemed that Senior Elsi wasn’t entirely unaware of this either.
Maintaining a curt expression but intentionally avoiding eye contact to hide her embarrassment was a clear sign.
In the end, her only words were an anxious mutter disguised as a self-commentary.
“… Hmph, you say nice things. But won’t you forget again after hundreds of years?”
“How could I ever forget you?”
The Great Witch said this with a faint smile.
The girl’s smile, illuminated by the moonlight, was lovely. I couldn’t help but think that the two priests bore a striking resemblance.
Both in their unspoken nature and in the fact that their smiling faces were exceptionally beautiful.
The Great Witch and Senior Elsi were undoubtedly akin to each other as priests.
“By nature, family should always recognize each other, no matter when or where… and you two are my direct disciples. How could a master not recognize their own students?”
“… Really?”
Even so, the tone of voice still couldn’t shake off the remnants of anxiety.
Having gone through an unhappy upbringing, Senior Elsi often displayed an intense obsession with relationships that felt like family. While she might have laughed inwardly, she might also have been secretly yearning for it.
A relationship that supports each other without concealment.
Never betraying one another, saviors of each other.
Thus, the Great Witch confidently declared.
“Of course! When has this master ever lied?”
I couldn’t hide a bittersweet smile at her words.
In truth, there had been many times I had lied.
For instance, secretly eating the pudding meant for Senior Elsi that I bought in town and feigning ignorance.
But I couldn’t casually say that kind of thing now.
I merely hoped.
That the bond we three created as a new family would last forever.
It was truly a futile dream.
Such a commonplace wish was about to become an excessive desire, as the times were progressing towards hell.
Love was the most extravagant emotion on the battlefield.
“Elsi” opened her eyes, accompanied by a splitting headache.
It felt like a dream from long ago. Not from this era, but memories from a world filled with her past.
And it seemed she also caught a glimpse of a girl huddled in the corner.
Before long, the boundaries of the world were collapsing.
Mixed-up spaces created avant-garde artworks. The landscape, tangled with time, space, and murky recollections, produced a mysterious yet terrifying atmosphere.
It was truly the end of the world.
The small world maintained by the barrier was crumbling. No matter how small, a single world collapsing was a shock no mere human could endure.
Look at Elsi now.
Her body was already in tatters. She had only been caught in the crevice of the collapsing space for a moment, and yet she ended up like this.
At this rate, she would die.
Death was something she had already experienced once. Nevertheless, she had no desire to go through it again.
In fact, it was quite frightening.
This body did not belong to “Elsi.” It was the flesh of a girl who had been living well in this world.
Logically, there was no way she could take a dangerous path in this situation.
Yet why did Elsi throw herself into the danger of death?
It was instinct.
A primal desire to protect her precious ones.
Days of self-harm through regrets and self-blame came rushing back, a continuation of a past where she had vowed never to make such a mistake again.
So she clung to strength and had not lived while hiding her weak inner self.
Breathless, Elsi staggered to her feet. Her gaze scanned the broken world with intensity.
Where is it?
The answer was not far away. A faint groan caught the girl’s ear.
“Guh, ugh… h-huh…”
It was the sound of someone barely suppressing their pain.
Elsi could immediately pinpoint its source: despite the chaos and distortion of space, she couldn’t mistake that dark blue hair.
It was the Great Witch.
As she hurriedly moved, she spotted the Great Witch collapsed on the ground.
Her body bore numerous small scars. Additionally, the way she clutched her head and moaned revealed the size of her headache.
“Me, memory… Guh… memories…!”
There was no time to interpret that mutter.
Elsi squeezed her last ounce of strength to support the Great Witch’s body. The girl’s voice, desperately trying to calm her raspy breaths, was filled with urgency.
“Hey, old lady! Ar-are you okay? I’ll do whatever I can…!”
“A stupid girl…!”
But the response to her kindness was cold ridicule.
Elsi was left stunned.
Regardless, the Great Witch glared at Elsi with blazing eyes.
“If you get swept away by the collapse of spatial warp, you can’t ensure your life; you might become a lost child of the dimensional realm…! Do you think you can escape from there with your skills? Did I teach you to throw your life away without knowing your own abilities?!”
“What do you mean…?”
“Leave immediately, even if you have to go alone!”
Although Elsi felt confused, the Great Witch was resolute.
The Great Witch seemed completely oblivious to her own ideals. Given her headache, it was understandable.
In her growling voice, there was not a hint of a lie.
“It might already be too late, but if you find a good exit, you might still be able to escape. Fortunately, this barrier is based on the five elements, so as long as the sorcerist remains in this space…!”
Just then.
A cracking sound rang out as a pillar collapsed.
The noise of the pillar maintaining the barrier was shattered.
Cracks began to form in the space supporting the sky all at once. Their scale grew so uncontrollable that the thought of intervening was inconceivable.
The Great Witch’s complexion drained of color as she witnessed this.
“… It’s too late.”
Elsi didn’t add any remarks to that.
She was entirely in agreement.
With a thunderous roar, the sky continued to collapse.
Every fragment that broke off crashed into the ground, causing unimaginable explosions that sent waves through the ground. The giant tree swayed like a feather and was uprooted.
It was the end.
Swallowing a dry gulp, Elsi sensed it.
No one could overturn this situation. Even the legendary masters capable of crushing mountains or slicing the sky would find it impossible to do anything in a collapsing world.
The only hope was the Great Witch.
An emotion ill-suited for an absolute being who had lived for hundreds of years surfaced like shards. Agony, hesitation, and eventually resolve.
With a grimace, blood welled from the Great Witch’s lips. If there hadn’t been an anomaly, she might have come to some decision.
Yes, had it not been for an anomaly.
“Milky Way.”
Suddenly, the Milky Way emerged in the sky.
In that moment, silver waves surged like a tsunami engulfing the world.
“Ah…”
It was a breathtaking sight that involuntarily drew out a gasp.
The silver mist divided the sky in half. The countless starlights contained within created a dreamy landscape, carving long trajectories in the center of the crumbling world.
Wooooo!
The world screamed as it twisted its body. As if sensing some danger, the trembling space let out a rough scream, desperately trying to make a final resistance.
It was a futile struggle.
Crack!
The cracks in the barrier widened even further. No, this could no longer be simply called cracks.
Cross-section.
Countless black patches were disassembling the world as a whole. The fragments of the barrier, now tiny powder, scattered like starlight without causing any harm even as they collapsed.
It was over in an instant without time to even express admiration.
The tangled scenery around began to erase itself one by one. What filled the void was the familiar landscape of the forest.
The forest of the Academy, located outside the barrier.
Elsi felt as though she was possessed by a ghost. As mentioned, a world was collapsing.
And yet, in mere seconds, the world shattered into pieces.
The idea of turning a collapsing space into powder was so innovative that it bordered on madness. Just how much skill was required to implement such a simple-minded solution?
Could it be the Master?
Elsi’s eyes, vacant, turned towards the Great Witch. However, the Great Witch’s expression mirrored her own astonishment.
At the very least, it meant that the candidate she knew did not include this individual.
Then, who could it possibly be?
In the gaze filled with such questions, Elsi spotted a familiar figure in the distance.
A man standing silently, gazing at the sky.
Why?
Upon seeing that lonely silhouette, Elsi felt a jolt in her heart.
“… I-an.”
After that, she couldn’t remember anything.
Elsi flung the Great Witch back down and hurriedly ran after the man. He was just about to leap off the ground.
The urgency in the girl’s voice heightened.
“I-an, I-an, I-an…!”
Her precarious, faltering body seemed like it would roll onto the ground any moment. It was a sign that she was pushing herself too hard, yet Elsi was unaware that her body was screaming.
The man’s golden eyes flicked back briefly. No emotion could be read from his dry gaze.
A demeanor so cold it felt distant.
Regardless of Elsi running towards him, the man appeared intent on leaving. His stance bending to jump spoke of his plans to take off.
But just then.
A sudden crack echoed from the ground.
It was not powerful enough to create more than a small gap, yet it startled the man. The tactics barely extracted by her oxygen-deprived brain were this ineffective.
Nothing would change.
The man tried to leap away.
Had it not been for the sound of a crash.
The surprise in the man’s eyes darted back again. Elsi’s body, having stumbled and rolled, finally reached near him.
Still crawling, she took a couple of steps.
Covered in dirt, the girl’s hand clutched at the man’s pant leg.
“Haah, haah… It’s you, I-an…”
With breaths coming in staggered gasps.
The gazes of the two finally intertwined in the void.
