Whenever I saw that nightmare, I’d always wake up and go running around in a panic. I had to make sure I wasn’t standing on a mountain of corpses or in a huge puddle of blood.
Phew. This is my room. Everything’s normal.
I looked at myself in the mirror. I had to make sure that it was me.
It’s okay. I’m scared. I’m not some monster, I’m just my usual cowardly self.
Once I calmed down, I left my room and went to my big brother’s. He had gotten up much earlier than I, and was already in his school uniform. I could tell he knew what was wrong just by the sight of me, but he didn’t give any of his usual weird remarks.
Silently, I hugged him. He gently hugged me back without saying anything. When I felt his big, bulky body embrace me, I was finally able to convince myself once and for all. Yes. I’m really me right now. I’m a coward, so there’s a lot I’m afraid of... But now isn’t the time to worry about nightmares. People are about to start a war over me. My big brother, Yukihime, and other people might get hurt. I might get taken away to another world and be turned into a tool of war... But feeling my big brother so close puts me at ease. I know that he’ll be able to protect me from everything I’m afraid of.
“...It’s okay, right?” I asked.
“Yeah. You don’t need to worry one bit.” Despite how vague the question was, my big brother still managed to put me at ease.
On December 24th – Christmas Eve – it began.
Star Gate Academy stood right at the front of Otherworld City’s southernmost district, which contained a barren wasteland as far as the eye could see. That’s where our enemies had invaded from during the First and Second Otherworld Wars, and it had become the battlefield for both.
Apparently, it was very easy for two worlds to connect in this area. Normally, one would have to go to the gates underneath the academy in order to travel to another world, but there existed a star sorcery capable of creating shortcuts, and certain Khaos Schwartz star sorcerers knew how to cast it.
Star sorcerers from our academy were stationed at predicted enemy entry points within the southernmost district, while Yukihime and I waited in the academy’s underground monitor room. In this room, a map of the southernmost district was visible on a movie theater-sized screen. The map was filled with red dots, which were detailed in a separate pop-up window.
Yukihime muttered as she stared at the screen. “Gross...”
I had to agree with her. Visible in the pop-up window were grotesque monsters with stark white bodies and smooth faces. They had mouths, but no eyes, and staggered on two shaky legs. Their hands and legs were thin, while their skin looked shriveled up and wrinkly. There were others who looked similar, yet smaller, and walked on four legs. I saw many more of these.
Behind these smaller monsters stood an even more grotesque horror. Basically, it looked like a giant earthworm. As thick and long as a school hallway, it came squirming toward us. Aside from that, there were other dragon-like creatures with worms for heads.
These monsters came pouring out of star circles that had appeared in the southernmost district. Suddenly, we saw a huge blip on the screen that looked bigger than all the others. The size of each red dot was determined by star power density rather than physical size, and it wasn’t long before we got details on this new intruder – the woman with the bewitching smile, Elemia.
“There she is.” Yukihime glared at the screen.
Then, we saw another red dot just as big as Elemia’s, right next to one of the underground gates. Grom had appeared.
“He’s heading straight for us?!”
“Since they obviously had ways to get to us without using the gates, I didn’t station many star sorcerers down here... Take care of him, Kokuya.”
“Roger that.”
“...You know what to do if things get rough, right?”
“Yeah.”
I didn’t want to use Towa, especially since she was so scared, but I had to be prepared for the worst, regardless of the risks.
“Be careful, you two,” Towa said.
Yukihime and I nodded.
“Bye for now.”
“See you soon.”
With that, we both headed off to our separate battlefields.
Sakito Nagisaki locked eyes with the monsters. After listening to the adults’ stories about the war and the grotesque monsters they had fought, he’d known this day would come eventually.
He had read books about them and studied pictures, yet the terror of seeing one in real life still surpassed all his collected data.
But so what, thought Sakito. What else have we been training ourselves for all this time?
A sea breeze passed over his cheeks. He was afraid, but he wasn’t about to run. “Liberation – Tempestas Falx.”
Sakito gripped his great scythe and swung its jade blade horizontally, sweeping down all that was in front of him. A massive wind blade burst out and instantly cleaved dozens – no, over a hundred monsters that were marching ahead. Still more of the pale creatures poured out from behind, paying no heed as they stomped over the mound of corpses in front of them.
While the other star sorcerers around him also began fighting, Sakito trudged forward, slicing, dicing, and knocking back the sluggish, zombie-like creatures and their four-legged counterparts. A gigantic dragon-shaped monster lumbered in, baring sharp fangs and claws as it shook the ground with its trunk-like legs. White wings extended out from its white body, while its tail split into multiple points at the end. Just like all the other small monsters, its face was as smooth as a worm’s.
Gnashing a gaggle of sharp teeth, the dragon opened its massive mouth and extended its stretchable neck. With the help of his wind, Sakito dodged backwards, while the dragon’s fangs dug into the asphalt and sent pieces of rubble flying. This area had originally been scheduled for redevelopment, but all the construction had been mercilessly pulverized in the previous war.
Aiming for the dragon’s neck, Sakito swung his scythe. A wind blade shot out and expertly severed the creature’s neck from its body, but things didn’t end there. In the next instant, the dragon’s severed stump bubbled up and regenerated its neck and head at a lightning-fast speed. Even its teeth had all returned to pristine condition.
“...Fine, try this!”
Sakito swung his scythe frantically, cutting off the dragon’s neck, wings, and legs all at once. Still, the monster was somehow able to regenerate them the blink of an eye.
“This is never going to end...” Sakito tightened his grip and thought about what to do next.
Suddenly, a bipedal creature’s fists came flying at him from the side. Sakito noticed just in time and quickly severed the creature’s legs, but it was too late. Simultaneously, a four-legged creature leapt onto his back and sunk its fangs into his shoulder.
“Gwah!” Sakito cried out in pain and chopped at the beast with his hand. Laced with star power, his hand easily cut off the creature’s head. While he had been fighting the dragon, the two- and four-legged creatures had surrounded him. Two four-legged creatures leapt at him at the same time. The dragon’s tail was also drawing close to him. Sakito released a whirlwind to blow all the monsters away, but the dragon’s tail cut through the wind and allowed it to keep pressing forward.
This is bad!
The moment Sakito resigned himself to his fate, huge icicles rained down from the sky and skewered all the monsters around him.
“You okay, Nagisaki?”
“...Yukigane?”
Standing behind Sakito was the girl he had a crush on, the headmistress of Star Gate Academy, and the strongest star sorcerer in the world, Yukihime Yukigane. She’d severed the dragon’s tail. Each of her icicles had also accurately skewered every small monster in the area and killed it, without accidentally stabbing any of her allies. The dragon’s body was now pinned to the ground, pierced from head to toe.
“Be careful, Yukigane, that big one regenerates at a frightening speed!”
Despite the icicles that had skewered it, the dragon continued to move. The icicles ripped through its body, but it simply regenerated the holes and forcibly escaped from its bonds.
“Well, that’s certainly a pain.” Yukihime snapped her fingers, and in the next instant, the dragon’s body was frozen solid.
Following this, Yukihime created a huge star circle high above the dragon’s head. Soon, an ice block as big as the dragon’s body materialized and came sailing down, shattering the frozen dragon’s body into pieces.
“Guess it can’t regenerate that fast.”
Thanks, captain obvious.
The dragon’s body now lay in scattered, frozen pieces along the ground. Regardless of what sort of abilities the dragon had, there was no way it could recover from that. There was no telling what would happen when the ice melted, but the area appeared to be safe for the time being.
Yukihime tried crushing one of the ice pieces. The white flesh inside it didn’t budge an inch. It seemed that dicing up the creature did indeed prevent it from regenerating.
“Nagisaki, can I leave the rest of the little ones to you?”
“...Sure. What are you going to do?”
“There’s someone I need to defeat. I’m counting on you, okay?” With that, Yukihime was off.
Even though Sakito had intended to keep fighting from the start, hearing that request instantly filled him with more power than even before. And so, Sakito swung his great scythe and continued cleaning up the small fries.
Razing the monsters that stood in her way, Yukihime blazed through the battlefield. At the southernmost point in the southernmost area, where only the sea was visible as far as the eye could see, Elemia awaited, surrounded by star circles overflowing with monsters.
Yukihime launched some icicles. They went flying straight into each of the star circles, dissipating them on the spot.
“Do you regret making the wrong decision now?” Elemia asked.