“R-Rouge?!” I could never mistake her for anyone else. And then I saw her arm transforming into red mollusks.
She had undergone the Sorcerification she despised, pushing beyond her limits to breach the Anti-Founder Magic Seal and make it all the way here. Looking closely, her face was covered in wounds. She must have fought her way through dangerous plants along a treacherous path. Not just her limbs, but her entire torso was drenched in blood.
Even against someone like me, the weakest Essence Thief, this was a duel recreating a thousand-year-old myth. For her, merely one of the mass-produced Jewelculi, the flame of life would be extinguished easily. And yet she came.
Outside, Hitaki’s ice barrier should be active. It was magic Rouge could never withstand. Why hadn’t she fled? Had she been exposed to the ice barrier yet still managed to breach the moving Viaysia Castle and enter it? Had she pushed through the plants that siphoned magic, gnawed minerals, and devoured human flesh?
“Rouge, why are you here?! You mustn’t come over here!” Seeing her horribly transformed state, a cold dread crawled up my spine. I tried to continue, telling her to flee immediately, but she cut me off.
“Of course I’m coming! Because I can’t bear to see you like this any longer! Look at your own face, Professor! That face on the verge of tears! Isn’t a wish coming true supposed to make you happier?! Aren’t regrets supposed to be laughed away?! Weren’t we all supposed to laugh and go to paradise together?! That’s what you told me, Professor! I don’t need anything else, just keep that promise!” Rouge’s angry voice, so unlike her usual understanding self, made me tremble, stumble, and feel utterly confused.
“P-Paradise...? No, now isn’t the time for that—”
Naturally, everything in me slackened. My duel opponent wasn’t about to let that opening slip. As if anticipating this moment, Kanami the Founder, without hesitation, shook off the loosened restraints. With his freed right arm, he swung his sword, slicing through the entangling vines.
“Ide! This moment, this place, this distance—I desired it too!” Having escaped the bindings, Kanami concentrated magic power into his now-free left arm. Instead of fleeing, he advanced toward me. Then, he reached out with that left arm, channeling all his magic power, toward my now-defenseless body.
I knew what that meant. If pierced by that magic, it would attack my soul directly. Defense was impossible; defeat was certain. That arm alone must never strike me.
“This is the end!”
“Not yet! I’m still faster than you! I’ll reseal it immediately—” The Anti-Founder Magic Seal was already complete. I glared at the enemy before me, intent on resealing Kanami at once—our gazes locked. Black eyes met white eyes, and I saw it. My own reflection in Kanami the Founder’s eyes. I saw my own expression.
Rouge’s words, that she couldn’t bear to watch me, echoed in my head at the same time. Kanami had said something similar. In that sense, I knew. I finally knew.
“Huh?” My voice slipped out involuntarily. In the midst of battle, fighting for every second, every instant, I was stunned. My expression must have been terrible. Feeling like I was suffocating, I gritted my teeth, and from the corners of my eyes...tears were spilling.
“Why...?” Why was I crying? I was about to fulfill my lifelong dream. Defeating Kanami the Founder and proving I was the chancellor—nothing could be more joyful. Finally, the moment had come when I could laugh from the depths of my being. So why was I biting my lip, holding my breath, contorting my face, and fighting while crying?
Wasn’t being the chancellor supposed to be wonderful? Wasn’t it supposed to give my life worth, meaning, and peace of mind? This felt exactly like back then. Not when I’d been a persecuted sorcerer but a failure at being a slave.
✦ ✦ ✦
Here stood the Nameless Child who’d somehow escaped hell, plunged into an unseen world and walked alone toward paradise. The child dryad, who’d wept endlessly in the depths of the abyss, wandering and wandering. That child was still crying here. All this time, crying, eyes downcast, searching for something. Why? Why?!
“Ah...aaah... Why... Aaah... Why, ahhhhhh, ahhhhh!” How long had I been searching for something precious in a place like this? Where did I lose it? Where did I come from? How long would I keep searching?
“Ahh, why... Why did this...? Why did this happen...?”
Why had this happened? I already knew the answer to that question. It had been pointed out to me just now. Because I was averting my eyes from that regret, I hadn’t been able to take a single step forward. It was truly only a momentary hesitation. But I had definitely let my awareness slip away from the magic. I could only moan in a daze.
Seizing that opening, Kanami the Founder reached out a hand. Like grabbing a whining lost child by the collar, that hand entered my chest.
“Ide!!!”
My body could no longer generate magic. Furthermore, the active Anti-Founder Magic Seal dissolved. I could no longer grant magic to the surrounding plants, and the plant cocoons enveloping us withered and collapsed. The wooden weapons I wore became nothing more than heavy pieces of wood.
The body that had become a Half Monster also began to revert. The hardened skin softened, branches snapped off at the base, and leaves scattered. Simultaneously, I collapsed backward.
I hit the floor of the throne room hard with my back, landing spread-eagled and unable to move. I tried desperately to get up, to continue fighting. But my physical and magical strength were completely depleted. Perhaps having given everything I had, I couldn’t even stand.
All I could do now was let my throat tremble as I acknowledged my situation.
“I...lost? I, the chancellor...lost?”
It was an undeniable defeat. I could analyze it calmly. At the very end of the duel, I’d lost my focus. But Kanami the Founder had remained focused until the very last moment. Without looking away, he’d kept fighting me, his duel opponent. That was the difference.
As a result, now Kanami stood while I lay collapsed, my face a mess of tears. If this wasn’t defeat, what was? Now, it had been proven beyond any doubt. I was not the chancellor. Far from it, I was a child who didn’t even understand what a chancellor truly was. Just a child who’d admired the role.
I’d known the answer from the very beginning. But I’d refused to believe it until it was proven. Instead, I’d wanted to prove that the me who’d tormented my sister had never existed. The result of that stubbornness was this mess. I lay sprawled out, staring up at the ceiling blown open by the magic seal. My vision was filled with tears, the blue sky and white clouds smudged and blurred.
The sunlight pierced my eyes like needles, making me want to shut my eyelids immediately. But I kept staring up at the sky. Even as tears welled up and spilled from my stinging eyes, I kept gazing at the pure white light filling my entire field of vision. It was blinding. Ever since I was a child, I had kept running toward this light illuminating the throne room. I’d kept striving, striving endlessly, seeking this blinding light.
“Ah, defeat... My defeat, I suppose...” But now, I was nothing. My entire life up to this day had become meaningless.
I acknowledged that I was the Nameless Child and let the tears I’d held back for a thousand years spill into this throne room. That was the end of the battle for the child who fancied himself a chancellor.