Chapter 82

CHAPTER 2 Those Left Behind Aaall right, Minnalis, Shuria. It’s time to wake up; we don’t have much time.” “Hmm…hmm?” “Ah…uh?” From far off, I heard someone calling our names. Then we felt the splash of cold water on our faces, like ice running down our nerves. “…Wh…where am I?” I muttered, opening my eyes and coming face-to-face with Shuria. We were both laid out on the floor, facing each other. I sat up and looked around, but the place we were in defied explanation. It was like a dream. The four walls, ceiling, and floor were all a spotless, milky white. I was fully awake by now, but my mind still felt hazy. Before me was a woman in her mid-twenties, everything about her white: her hair, her skin, and even the nun’s habit she wore. The very tips of her shoulder-length hair were tightly coiled, like wool. The first thing I did was look down at myself to ensure I still had my equipment. “Ha-ha, you’re both trapped!” the woman said. “There’s only one way out of here, you see, and that’s— Wait, wait, wait, what are you doing?!” White chains came out of nowhere, catching my sword mid-swing and knocking Shuria’s knife out of her hands. “What do you mean?” I asked, indignant. “We wake up captured and come face-to-face with someone who seems to know what’s going on. Why wouldn’t we attack?” “I’m not your enemy…! Hey!” “You just said we were trapped,” said Shuria. “Well, release us, please. I’m afraid we’re in a hurry.” Yes. We were in a hurry. We needed to save Master!! We needed to save him before… “It was just a joke! I’m sorry! Look, I won’t do it again, I promise!” “Just let us out of here already!” “We need to help Kaito!! Stay out of our way!!” I poured all my mana into a spear-like projectile of ice, while Shuria used her magical threads to snatch her knife back from off the floor. But the woman flitted to and fro as though she were made of air, effortlessly dodging our attacks. “Whoa, whoa, whoa. These girls are crazy! Is this what being around the hero does to a lady?! Time out, time out! You two are no fun at all! You’re scary! Towa, help me!” Suddenly, there was a sound like clunking gears, and the pure white ceiling slowly turned a bright shade of green. “For crying out loud. This is why I wanted to do the talking. I knew you were too happy-go-lucky to handle the exposition.” “Huh?! What is it now?!” Shuria cried, as the woman’s hair and skin turned the same shade of green as the roof, and she began shedding little motes of viridian light like snow. Her kitten-like, frivolous personality completely disappeared and was replaced by a cool, calm voice like flowing water. It was as if a completely different person had taken over her body. “Now, then. Having said that, it seems they must be restrained for the sake of a decent conversation… A mooring bind for the boring mind: Link Spillwind.” “Wh-what’s happening?!” “Hrgh! Wh…what…grh!!” I readied myself for anything, but the spell the woman cast was nothing I could defend against. It was like someone had driven invisible wedges into my joints one after the other, forcibly manipulating my body. Shuria and I fell to our knees in a position called seiza that Master often had us adopt for his lessons. I tried to resist, but I found I could not control my mana at all, much less cast a spell. “Grh… Why…can’t I…?” I tried to break free of the mysterious sorcery by force, but then I discovered I could barely even move. “Ah, that’s a technique called Aiki, written into the very laws of this world’s magic. It dampens any fluctuation of power, magical or physical. It’s not something you two possess the strength to deny, so why don’t we all just calm down and have a nice chat, hmm?” The woman’s flowery smile was accompanied by an aura of intimidation. She had evaluated our skill level and found us wanting. And as painful as it was to admit, she was correct. Still, that was no reason to give up. We couldn’t back down. “Rr…raaaaaaaaghh!!” “Grrrrrrrrrrrrghh!!” “H-hey! Stop it, you’ll hurt yourself if you try to force it!” I felt my joints cry out in pain, but that was okay. I didn’t care what happened to me. Because the bond I had forged with Master was nowhere to be found. I had to help him. I had to help him. I had to help him. I had to help him!! “A…little…pain…!!” “…Won’t…stop…us!!” “Hmm. That’s strange. The current hero shouldn’t have enough power to influence his followers across worlds. Ah, perhaps you think that your life is still linked to his through the bond? Perhaps I underestimated you two after all.” ““Gwah!”” Suddenly, the mysterious restraints snapped, and we collapsed to the floor in blinding agony. Still, we lifted ourselves up as best we could. I felt ready to lose consciousness when I suddenly recalled the image of Master bleeding out on the floor. “Well, bravo, I must say, for breaking free of that spell. Still, it was rather a shortsighted effort at best. What exactly did you plan to do next, hmm?” “We can’t give up… If you’re able to somehow negate Master’s abilities…we need to stop you…and quickly…” “Kaito’s gone. I can’t feel him anymore… We need to see him!” We had yet to give anything back. All we’d done was take, take, take. He pulled us out of the darkness, granted us strength, walked along the blood-soaked path with us, ate of the fruit of vengeance together with us. He’d allowed us to kill those who wronged us, but Master’s vengeance was yet incomplete. For him to die before getting a chance to experience what he gave us… “Hmm? Hold on, you two. Would you happen to be under the impression that your bond with him is gone? If that’s the case, it implies your deaths and his are not linked anymore, so what reason do you have to fight me? Hmm…? Not now, Luna. the grown-ups are talking. And you, Metelia, are unsuited to this as well. Your soul is damaged, and you are too quick to get emotional. And don’t get me started on— Hey, I said cut it out!” There was the sound of shifting gears again, and this time the roof turned pink. Again, the woman in front of us changed color, with her hair, her clothes, and the light particles all transforming to match the ceiling. She took on a third personality this time, shaking her arms and legs in anger. “Shut uuup!! God, Towako! How can you be so smart and so dense at the same time? You’re almost as bad as Luna! Aren’t you both girls?! You should understand!!” Almost immediately after that, however, there was another clunk, and this time the right-hand wall turned a jade green. Then a second girl, possibly five years old, split from the first woman and appeared by her side. She looked like a younger version of the same person, with hair and clothes that matched the verdant wall. “Nn…nnrrgh! See, Metelia?” the little one said. “There’s your irrational side again. Besides, I don’t see how my gender is relevant. I always consider things logically…” “But a girl’s mind isn’t logical! That’s why you’ll never understand! You’re just an idiot! A big, fat dummy!” “Wh-what did you just call me…?” “Well, it’s true! What idiot tries to use logic on someone acting emotionally? You go stand in the corner over there, Towako! Go on! Off you go!” “H-hey! I object to this treatment, I’ll have you know!” The pink-haired woman gave the little girl a push, shooing her away into the corner of the room. Then, turning to us, she said, “First things first. Let’s heal those wounds of yours… Smiling waters, Angel Ring: Blue Healing.” She raised her arm to chant a spell, and two rings of light appeared above our heads. From out of the rings came a stream of light-blue particles that soaked into our skin and gradually restored our health. “The damage to your flesh will heal quickly, but the scars on your souls will take a while longer. Shall we have a little chat until then? There’s nothing to fear, for we are not your enemies. Won’t you hear us out? We all just want to help Kaito.” “But we have to hurry!” cried Shuria. “Kaito’s about to be killed! In fact, he might already be…no, no, no! I don’t even want to think about it!” She pressed her hands over her ears and shook her head, screaming. “Like I said,” muttered the girl in the corner, “You two are still alive, so that means he is as well.” “What could you know?!” I yelled. “I can’t feel the bond anymore! Aah, a world without Master… I would sooner perish…” But the green-haired girl only laughed as though something were funny. “Ha-ha-ha, don’t be silly. It’s nothing to kill yourselves over. I wouldn’t be here offering my help if your bond was so weak as to be nullified by a mere crossing of worlds. You just have to look deep inside.” “Deep…” “…inside?” We did as she suggested, but all we could see and feel was a dark hole where blue-black flames had once burned, and a bitter cold that would sooner freeze the approaching hand than consume it. “There’s nothing there…,” I said. “Nothing at all…” “It’s empty. Completely empty. It’s cold and dark, and Kaito’s gone…” Darkness. Pitch-black. I was all alone again. Just like I’d been in that cage in the capital. It was exactly the same. …The same? But wasn’t that after I first kindled my flame of vengeance? “Gone? Don’t be silly. The power of heaven is far stronger than that.” I heard a faint, almost imperceptible pulse. However, try as I might, I couldn’t locate the source. I couldn’t see it, but I could feel the heat radiating from it. “Ah! It is there! It really is!” “Yes! It’s faint, and I can’t see where it’s coming from, but I can feel it!” I clutched my fists to my chest and wept, while Shuria wrapped her arms around herself and cried. Kaito was still there, with us. He hadn’t gone away. “Towako’s right. Your bond is still there. Now, let me ask you something? Is that bond something Kaito made all by himself?” “No!” “It’s not!” “Then think. What is it you have to do to save him?” “B-but…if we don’t hurry, then that woman will…” “It’s okay. He’s safe, back in his own world. Nobody on this side can touch him.” “His own…world?” “You both need to work hard to support Kaito when he gets back. Prove the naysayers wrong.” “What do you mean…?” “But first, you need to learn the truth of this realm. The true nature of the princess, the priestess, the demon lord, and the hero. Why it is that these roles exist.” The pink-haired woman cast her eyes downward with a hint of sadness. But when she looked up again, her vacant eyes were full of righteous fury, like something had snapped inside her, and she began muttering maledictions under her breath. “Then we must kill God. Excise the cancer infesting this world… Yes, that’s right. Kill her. We mustn’t let Kaito sully his hands on her! We’ll drown that bitch in a vat of goblin shit!” “Aah, this is why I said to leave the explaining to me. Sorry about her; she’s a little disturbed and gets like this sometimes. I’ll take over the exposition, if you don’t mind.”