Unlimited Fafnir Vol 13 Chapter 3 (Patreon)

Chapter 3 – Heavy Tremors Nova

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Part 1

I got a bad feeling.

It felt like there was something, that the situation had become one that was impossible to recover from──I felt such vague uneasiness.

『Don’t resist if possible. Because it’s too late even if you fight back at this point.』

The words that Shinomiya Miyako’s fake said incited a bad imagination in my mind.

──Did we get caught in a trap? Or else did something happen to Lisa’s group……and everyone else…….

I couldn’t simply discard her words as mere bluff.

Shinomiya showed herself in front of us. That meant, it was a proof that something was moving following her expectation.

And then there was one more factor that bewildered me.

The expression of Shinomiya who was glaring at me──was filled with fierce anger and deep sorrow. That expression looked very human.

It was to a degree that I couldn’t believe at all that she was actually a false image created by End Matter(Remnant of Demise).

「Guh……」

I fell on my knee from the invisible weight weighing on my whole body while glaring at Shinomiya.

The location was near the center of the ruins that caved in round shape.

A rainbow colored circle was floating above Shinomiya’s head. The unseen power was putting pressure on the bodies of Ariella and me. She told us to not resist, but we couldn’t even move in the first place.

『The terminal is breaking! Do something quickly!』

Atla was clamoring in my chest pocket, but there was nothing I could do right now.

「Are you……the real──Shinomiya?」

I questioned Shinomiya while on my knee.

Because the emotion that was conveyed from her expression, her gaze was very close to being genuine.

「Real? There is no way that’s the case. I’m someone who has died a long time ago. No matter how similar I am, I’m just a fake. Firill understand such thing properly you know?」

However she denied my words with a mocking smile. In addition her words included a name that I couldn’t ignore.

「Firill……? Don’t tell me, you met with Firill?」

Firill should be on standby outside the mist, so where in the world could she──.

「Yes, I have met her just now. I met Firill and──the girls in Brunhilde class who wasn’t there yet when I was still alive.」

The faces of Iris, Tia, Ren, and the others crossed my mind. A chill ran on my back.

What she said that it was too late even if we fought back now, they rang out loudly in my chest.

「You……what did you do to everyone──」

I put strength into my legs and forcefully raised my body. I threw my question at Shinomiya Miyako with a slanted posture.

*Thump, thump* I could hear the pounding of my own heart. My forehead felt strangely hot. Had I gotten used to the pressure? It felt like my body had gotten slightly lighter.

However beside me Ariell was still lying face down and couldn’t move from there.

Shinomiya smiled thinly seeing us like that.

「The holders of Neun’s authority outside has been absorbed by End Matter. Yes──everyone, is already inside here.」

She turned her gaze to her pitch black naginata. She then changed it into a sphere. And then she urged me to look into the mass of darkness.

「There are faint lights blinking in there right? I think they will vanish soon after this, but they are still inside here.」

Certainly there were many small blue lights blinking inside the darkness.

Those were the light of──Neun’s authority. Then, everyone had really been──.

The inside of my head turned pure white. Scorching hot anger flowed into my blank mind.

My forehead felt hot, painful.

It wasn’t just my heart, something else that was different──my instinct was screaming at me to defeat the enemy before my eyes. The heat and intense pain were telling me, that the power to do that was right here.

──Forehead. The power that was dwelling in there, the authority was awakening when faced with its original enemy.

「AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH──!」

I roared and kicked on the ground. I bared my fang toward the enemy, Shinomiya Miyako who imprisoned everyone in the darkness.

The pressure that stole my body’s freedom vanished like it had never existed.

The arm I stretched out was enveloped in white light. My field of vision was also awfully bright. But I set aside my doubts for later.

I formed a steel short sword using Dark Matter(Superior Element) while running, and aimed at Shinomiya’s vital spot with its blade.

「So it become like this just as I thought──」

However Shinomiya had jumped back a step earlier as though she had anticipated my action.

「──!」

I judged that my slash wouldn’t hit with this distance and threw the short sword toward her heart.

However a rainbow circle was deployed to get in its way. The short sword was flattened midair into a lump of steel that fell toward the ground.

「So close. Even though I was only planning to check the situation, I almost got killed just now. Just as I thought, it looks like my affinity with you is bad. It was “Anti Gravity(Repulsion of All Creation)” that destroyed Heavy Tremors Nova──as the possessor of that authority, you are without a doubt my natural enemy.」

Even though she was saying that, Shinomiya still smiled confidently and returned the darkness back into the shape of naginata again.

Hearing that I too understood what was going on with my body. And also the true identity of the power Shinomiya used──.

──The authority that I succeeded from Leviathan, “Anti Gravity” was residing in the forehead.

Each of the authorities was sleeping somewhere in the body. Perhaps it was thanks to Neun’s special quality, the dragonification our body was being controlled. Because of that unless we consciously liberated the power, we couldn’t draw out the original strength of the authority.

Ether Wind(Spirit Materialization Particle) was located in the heart, Catastrophe(End Time) was located in the right eye, and Antimatter was in the left eye. Thinking back, Leviathan had a giant horn on its forehead. It must be its core for using its authority.

And then my instinct as Counter Dragon that possessed Anti Gravity was telling me.

「”Heavy Tremors” Nova……so that’s your true identity.」

I was focusing on the enemy before my eyes as one of the “real dragon”. But as expected there was still question remaining. Why she was taking the form of Shinomiya Miyako……and why was she acting so similarly to human like this. I didn’t understand.

「Yep, that understanding isn’t wrong. My power to control gravity is erased by your anti gravity force field. But at the same time I’m the avatar of End Matter. It’s another matter if it’s Mitsuki, but I don’t intend to lose again you guys who are unable to use Neun’s authority skillfully.」

Shinomiya smiled fearlessly. Then she vigilantly looked around.

When I looked at my side, Ariella was also getting on her feet. It seemed the pressure that was pushing us down was vanishing.

「M-Mononobe-kun……that’s a flashy horn you have there……but well, it’s really cool.」

Ariella stood side by side with me and smiled wryly.

……Horn?

I got a bad premonition and tried to touch my forehead. There my fingertip touched a hard and big protruding object.

Furthermore it seemed to be shining for some reason. My field of vision had been strangely bright since some time ago, and it seemed to be the fault of this horn.

This must be the result of the dragonification as the successor of Leviathan. I felt a great sense of discomfort, but looking at the past examples from Iris and others, my forehead should return back to normal soon.

「──Don’t mind it for now. First we’re going to defeat her and save everyone.」

「Yep. I have made my resolve, so I’m fine.」

I created a short sword from Dark Matter once more. Ariella also created two thin knives and took a stance with both of them in her hands.

「Long range attack will be repelled, but Shinomiya Miyako’s power can be neutralized if I get near. In addition the opponent is humanoid. If we close the distance and stab her vital spot, we can destroy her together with the End Matter using the power of Code Lost(Scrapped Authority).」

I was Shinomiya Miyako’s natural enemy in double meaning. We had a chance to win even if we couldn’t use Neun’s authority well.

I intentionally held back from saying “kill”. I also stopped asking myself if perhaps she was the real Shinomiya Miyako.

Hesitation would dull my blade. In order to protect Ariella, in order to save everyone, I had to kill her no matter what.

「──Scary eyes. Let me just say this first, you won’t be able to save Mitsuki even if you defeat me. I’m the only one who can save Mitsuki. Be aware that what you are doing is going to remove that possibility.」

Shinomiya Miyako was using her words to hold us back, perhaps she was trying to agitate us. Something like the enemy’s words could just be ignored. I understood that, but this was the only time where I couldn’t just pretend to not hear those words.

「You talk like……you are trying to save Mitsuki huh.」

I said with a frown.

「Because that’s exactly what I’m doing. I just want to save Mitsuki. If it’s necessary to achieve that, then I don’t really mind even if I get killed. But right now is no good. After all there is only one way remaining to save Mitsuki.」

「……One?」

When I asked her back, Shinomiya Miyako’s face twisted cynically.

「Everything is your fault. In order to protect you……in order to not look at the completely changed you, Mitsuki is trying to sacrifice herself. Because that’s the most convenient way for Mitsuki, she won’t listen to any other suggestion.」

「So that’s why you come to kill me huh……」

Shinomiya Miyako sighed seeing me muttering that.

「Wrong. Mitsuki won’t be able to live on if you die won’t she? You don’t even understand something like that?」

Her voice had anger and irritation mixed in it. It made me even more unable to understand her objective.

「Then, what are you──」

「You see, I want to accomplish the duty of the thing born from the End Matter. I noticed that doing that will also save Mitsuki.」

Shinomiya Miyako replied with an insinuating tone and observed my reaction. I felt something was out of place because there wasn’t any sign at all that she was going to attack, but I opened my mouth anyway because this was a chance to obtain information.

「Duty?」

「Yes──the objective of End Matter is simply to “live”. For that it will absorb all the people who are living right now, every energy there is, and all possibility in order for it to obtain a new life. But it also doesn’t want to die again, so it chose the toughest existence──true dragons like Bahamut as candidates to be its vessel. I too only obtained this temporary life as a part of that “framework”.」

She smiled wryly there and continued speaking with a voice that contained irony.

「But──of course we are just candidates, so at the end there will be only one remaining. We won’t be able to obtain true life unless we kill each other and survive till the end.」

Ariella frowned hearing those words and muttered.

「That’s like a kodoku. But Bahamut and Nyarlathotep looked like they were fighting together though……」

「That was because they were facing their respective natural enemy. In fact, Ragnarok seriously came to kill me. Well, it seemed Mitsuki thought that it was her who was targeted though.」

Shinomiya Miyako smiled wryly while looking around at the collapsed cityscape. Most likely this city condition was the result of the battle between Shinomiya Miyako and Ragnarok.

「In short, the duty you are saying here is──becoming the last one standing and obtaining life huh. But, how will that save Mitsuki?」

I couldn’t understand that part and asked it.

「If I survive to the end, the whole End Matter will be reborn with me as the core. In other words I’ll be able to create the ideal environment for myself. In a manner of speaking, I’ll become the god of the new world and can create the world as I please.」

「……In exchange of the sacrifice of the current world, right?」

I asked with a low voice. But Shinomiya Miyako only nodded without any hesitation.

「Yep, that’s what will happen. But that’s their just deserts right? A world that manipulated Mitsuki with authority and instinct──and cornered her to a dead end without any escape in the end, a world like that can just perish. I’ll destroy it and remake it into a world that grant Mitsuki’s wish.」

「Remake? You really speak like a god. But even supposing that you really can do something like that──do you think that Mitsuki will be able to accept that kind of fake world?」

I questioned her pointedly. However she didn’t lose her composure.

「It won’t be a fake world. After you and Firill and the others are melted into the darkness, I’ll specially reconstruct you all. But I’ll fiddle a little with your inside at that time though.」

Shinomiya Miyako pointed at my head with a mad glint lit up in her eyes.

「Mitsuki’s Onii-san──you are also suffering right? You are scared that your feeling that is thinking of Mitsuki as the most important might have gone already aren’t you? But don’t worry. I’ll make it so that you can only love Mitsuki. Don’t worry about the other girls. I’ll properly present them with a life where they can be happy even without you.」

I noticed how beside me Ariella’s face stiffened.

I must be making the same expression like her. What Shinomiya Miyako said was just that repulsive and awful.

「──Something like that is even worse, far worse than a fake.」

I lowered my stance and gathered strength in my foot that was at the front. I couldn’t bear to listen to her words anymore. Ariella also erased her expression and gazed at the prey silently.

Certainly I felt confusion and worry about my own feeling.

But I didn’t want other to toy with my feeling for Iris and others inside my chest──and with the heart of those girls. I absolutely couldn’t forgive something like that.

Shinomiya Miyako seemed to sense the change in our atmosphere. She raised her naginata shaped End Matter and smiled.

「That might be. But, I’ll still do it.」

「……Mitsuki should be sealing the majority of End Matter inside her own body. Can you become the god of the new world with the situation like that?」

I exchanged gaze with Ariella beside me and questioned Shinomiya Miyako.

It was also a sign to Ariella that we were doing this. Perhaps because there was a connection between us as the same kind, Ariella nodded at me without any hesitation.

「I’m planning to have Mitsuki transfer her End Matter to me. In the first place it’s already an outrageous idea trying to seal all that in just one person, so the chance of Mitsuki failing to keep sealing it is high. That’s why I intend to persuade her before that, with you as my hostage that is.」

「Hostage──?」

I decided to commence our attack after her next reply and asked her that.

「I’ll take you into the End Matter and melt you completely. If you become unable to maintain your sense of self, then even Neun’s authority won’t be able to illuminate you. I’ll be the only one who can reconstruct you. If Mitsuki learn that, she will surely listen to me.」

「Tsu──!」

I kicked on the ground at that instant.

It sounded like Shinomiya Miyako knew about Neun’s authority even better tha me, but it didn’t matter anymore. This girl was someone that had to be defeated immediately, both for my sake and Mitsuki’s sake too.

Ariella also leaped forward at the same time with knives in both hands.

The rainbow circle appeared to get in our way, but it was erased simply from me swinging my arm that was enveloped in white light. My forehead felt hot once more. Most likely the horn there was shining brightly.

Shinomiya Miyako leaped backward, but her timing was slightly slow. I could reach her right now──.

But, I suddenly realized. Shinomiya Miyako wasn’t looking at me. Her gaze was slightly out of line, staring at behind me──she smiled.

「Thank you for going along with my talk forever. Thanks to that it looks like it finally come out.」

Shinomiya Miyako’s delighted voice reached my ears. At the same time an explosive sound thundered from behind.

「Wha──」

I staggered from the shockwave that hit my back. I stopped my legs and looked back. My distance with Shinomiya Miyako was widened during that time, but I couldn’t possibly ignore just what was going on behind me.

We turned our gaze toward a point that was almost at the center of the depression. The rubbles that were piled up there got blown away and a large hole was opened.

And then something with the shape of human, with a height that reached three meter appeared from that hole.

I didn’t describe it as human wasn’t only because of its inhuman physique, but because it also had four arms and red third eye on its forehead. It was wearing an ancient looking armor all over its body and multiple weapons like sword and spear on its back.

「A humanoid……astral life form?」

Ariella murmured with a hoarse voice. Shinomiya Miyako told us the answer.

「Yes──a divine spirit that possess outstanding power even within Ragnarok. It targeted me, but I had no way to deal with it decisively, so I sank it until the bottom of the earth with gravity. But, if it’s you two than you can defeat it right?」

Shinomiya Miyako smiled provocatively. She then floated lightly to the air.

「Don’t tell me, you are planning to make us deal with that──」

I noticed her intend of prolonging the conversation with us, but I couldn’t chase after her. The four armed divine spirit took the weapons on its back and unleashed a murderous intent toward us.

We were forced to raise our guard against the divine spirit. Shinomiya Miyako replied to us then.

「It’s taking initiative to fight on its own, so I think that thing isn’t the core but──if a high ranked divine spirit is destroyed, then Ragnarok should become unstable. If that happen then perhaps it will be possible to scatter the mist with brute force. Ragnarok is an opponent that has to be defeated in order for me to become god. That’s why work hard for Mitsuki and my sake──Onii-san.」

「Kuh……where are you going!?」

I yelled at her receding figure.

「It’s fine, I won’t do something like running away. Just like I said before, you are a hostage for persuading Mitsuki. I’ll come back again after you defeat that divine spirit. During that time……I’’ll take care of Liza and others first.」

Shinomiya Miyako flew away after leaving those words behind. I looked up at the sky where a faint trail of rainbow image remained before turning my gaze toward the raging divine spirit.

「Mononobe-kun, let’s defeat this guy quickly and chase her! Liza and Kili are in danger.」

Ariella threw away the metal knives in her hands and changed the shape of Ether Wind into knives before retaking her stance.

Normal physical weapon didn’t have any effect against astral life form. I also discarded my short sword and gathered golden particles on my right hand and created the shape of gun.

「Yeah. We’ll finish it off quick.」

No matter how powerful of an existence it was, the opponent was an astral life form. Furthermore it had humanoid shape. Ariella and me who possessed Ether Wind and Code Lost should be able to do this──.

However it was the divine spirit who took the initiative from us.

UOOOOOOO──!

The divine spirit roared a war cry and brandished its spear at the same time. Then red spark surged from its tip and it mowed to all directions.

「Guh……」

The red lightning hit my arm that I used to guard. Pain and numbness spread in it.

The damage was light. However──.

「Ether Wind can’t neutralize it, that means it’s not just a normal lightning attack. Don’t tell me it’s a godly power or……some kind of psychic phenomenon?」

I was bewildered, but beside me Ariella shook her head.

「No──perhaps that’s not it. Surely this lightning attack is also something that use Ragnarok’s mist as intermediary. That’s why this isn’t any psychic phenomenon at all. It’s not a ghost so──I’m not scared!」

Ariella muttered to persuade herself and charged to the middle of the raging lightning.

『There is also no effect to the terminal. That’s why it’s certainly not electricity. It’s only something similar.』

Atla’s voice came from my pocket. I listened to it while immediately following behind Ariella.

I gave up dodging the lightning and used my arm to guard while rushing forward.

The divine spirit also fired lightning from its sword. The electricity with increased density struck our body.

However the pain and numbness didn’t reach an intolerable degree for us. Most likely our spirit that was materialized by Ether Wind was tougher.

From how normal attack slipped through them, I could guess that the astral life form within Ragnarok was physically close to vapor. However our spirit that was materialized by Ether Wind changed into a solid matter that could repel physical interference. There was no doubt the difference there was the cause of Ragnarok’s defeat in the past.

「Tsu──!」

I ran while firing a bullet of Ether Wind. My target was the divine spirit’s forehead and heart.

However the divine spirit swung the weapons in its hands, brushing away the golden bullet.

I gulped seeing the terrific reflexes and the toughness of the weapons it had. As expected this thing was completely different from all the others astral life forms we encountered until now. Perhaps it was a divine spirit that took the form of a war god.

「──Mononobe-kun」

Ariella made eye contact with me for an instant.

Ariella was also thinking what I was thinking. We could communicate with each other with just a glance because I was sure of that. There wasn’t even any need to rely on our connection as the same kind for that.

She jumped to the right while I changed direction to the left at the same time. We sandwiched the divine spirit from left and right.

The reason Ariella who was running ahead took the right side was obvious. The divine spirit had four arms, but for some reason one of its left arms had been severed at the wrist.

Therefore Ariella would first attract its attention by attacking from the right, then I’d finish it off from the left. That was the strategy.

「Yaah!!」

Ariella intentionally yelled loudly to stand out and swung a golden knife at the divine spirit. The divine spirit intercepted Ariella with the sword and spear that its arms wielded.

Sound of weapons clashing reverberated. A moment later I fired my gun from the left side of the divine spirit.

However the divine spirit’s sword deflected it once more. If this was a divine spirit that was born from the concept of martial art, it might be impossible to surpass it in technique.

But I didn’t lose my composure and targeted the divine spirit’s forehead with Ether Wind gun. And then I also held up my other hand and focused to it.

White light converged on my palm. I fired it together with a bullet.

Golden and white──those two lights approached the divine spirit. The divine spirit swung its sword to intercept them. However the white light that was slightly ahead burst midair.

──Anti Gravity.

The force field that interfered with space itself pushed back the divine spirit’s sword. Then the golden bullet gouged a hole into the side of its head that became undefended.

In that instant, the divine spirit’s body lost strength with a jerk. The weapons in its hands fell on the ground and dispersed. The four arms hung down limply and its figure was fading while still standing.

But, we had no time to wait until the divine spirit completely vanished to confirm its defeat.

「Ariella!」

I called out. Then Ariella who was running toward me grabbed my arm and flew to the sky.

「We did it Mononobe-kun! Let’s hurry to where Liza and Kili are!」

Ariella flew toward the direction where Shinomiya Miyako headed to.

Lisa and Kili said that they would investigate the surrounding of the caved in city, so I didn’t know where they were at right now.

「Atla, can’t you detect the signal from their personal phone?」

I called to the phone that was inside my pocket.

『That’s impossible. It’s not just at the outside, the reception signal is blocked inside the mist too.』

「Then……we can only try flying around the hole.」

I said that and looked up at Ariella. She responded with a nod and a thumb up.

「Roger. For now I’ll try making a lap around the hole.」

Like that we started to search for Lisa and Kili.

I sent a glance at the caved-in area. The divine spirit’s figure wasn’t there anymore.

「……That divine spirit, it was tougher than expected. If it had all its four arms, it might take longer to kill it.」

I looked down on the city from the sky while calming down my disordered breathing.

「Perhaps that was the wound from fighting Mitsuki’s group……ah, but they can’t use Ether Wind, so I guess they wouldn’t be able to wound it.」

Ariella also commented back while searching for Lisa and Kili.

「Certainly that’s true but──it’s also unnatural if it had been like that from the start. It’s a bit……puzzling.」

I felt uneasy because it felt like I was overlooking something important but, right now we didn’t have the time to think too deeply about that.

「Look, over there!」

Ariella pointed to the front. It was hard to see thanks to the mist, but there was a small cloud of dust there.

The battle was already starting.

I prayed that we would make it in time while staring at the approaching battlefield.

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Part 2

There was a round depression being formed there although it was in a smaller scale than the previous one.

At the center of the hole that was shaped like a mortar, there was black object that looked like coal tar──it must be the darkness of End Matter──accumulated. Shinomiya Miyako’s figure could be seen on top of it.

Shinomiya Miyako was calmly standing on the darkness, but Kili and Lisa who were lying down in front of her were just about to get dragged into the End Matter. Their bodies were restrained by a black belt that stretched out from the darkness and their movement was sealed. The two’s bodies were enveloped in blue light──Neun’s authority, and yet the darkness wasn’t erased and swallowed their body gradually.

「Liza-! Kili-!」

I raised my voice while swooping down toward their location with Ariella.

However the two of them lifted their face and yelled in panic when they heard my voice.

「Don’t come over here! You’ll get captured by the darkness too!」

「Yuu! You can just leave us for later, defeat her first!」

Liza warned us to not come, while Kili was directing her gaze toward Shinomiya Miyako.

「Kuh……Mononobe-kun, I’ll get down at the edge of the hole first.」

Ariella hesitated in making decision and landed down at the outside of the depressed area.

Shinomiya Miyako smiled provocatively seeing that.

「Fufu, you are faster than I expected. Thanks for your hard work in exterminating the divine spirit. But──is it alright that you are only watching from there after hurriedly coming here to save them? Right now they are resisting with Neun’s authority, but it’s only a matter of time until they’re swallowed by End Matter you know?」

Shinomiya Miyako turned her gaze at Lisa and Kili and asked us as though to test our reaction. Nearly half of their body was already swallowed by the darkness.

「Dammit──!」

「Wait, Mononobe-kun! It’s dangerous to approach them! It might be a trap!」

I reflexively broke into a run, but Ariella caught my arm.

「Kuh……then, let’s blow away the End Matter from here!」

I lifted up my left hand and focused to the dragon crest on the back of my hand.

Then blue light overflowed from the dragon crest and illuminated the surrounding brightly.

This was the light to erase the End Matter. The blue radiance to redraw the outline of what got melted into the darkness.

I was able to save Mitsuki with this light when she was about to get swallowed by End Matter. Even if I was in a state of unable to use the authority skillfully, the End Matter could be pressed back if I worked together with the two. That was why if I lent my power to Lisa and Kili who were resisting with Neun’s authority──.

「Hey, that’s too bright, can you stop it?」

However Shinomiya Miyako tilted her head with a composed expression.

The blue light slightly made the pool of darkness at the center of the hole to retreat slightly, but that was all. The black belt binding Lisa and Kili didn’t slacken and dragged the two into End Matter.

「Lend me your strength too Ariella! You might be able to activate it if you focus your mind on your dragon mark!」

The enemy we should defeat was right before our eyes. I yelled that she should understand the method using the instinct of Counter Dragon.

「G-got it.」

Ariella had never used Neun’s authority until now. She touched her abdomen and closed her eyes.

Her dragon mark was located there.

Blue light immediately overflowed from there. It could be seen even from over her clothes. It enveloped Ariella’s body.

With this──four people’s worth of light was produced. If the authority of Iris and others who were already swallowed also worked together with ours, it might be possible to blow away even this End Matter.

That was my hope, but Lisa and Kili’s sinking didn’t stop.

「Mononobe Yuu──you can stop already. More importantly……please listen. You might be unable to believe it but……she might be the real──」

Lisa sunk into the darkness in the middle of her talk. However what Lisa wanted to say was properly conveyed to me. Most likely Lisa also felt dubious about Shinomiya Miyako being a fake.

「Lisa-!」

I tried to illuminate Lisa’s figure with the blue light, but the light couldn’t reach the bottom of the endlessly deep darkness.

「You-……blow up-!!」

Kili glared at Shinomiya Miyako just before she got swallowed by the darkness. Then large explosion occurred around Shinomiya Miyako. It was an attack from Muspelheim──however when the flame blast and smoke was carried away by the wind, the figure of Shinomiya Miyako who had deployed the rainbow colored circle to all directions could be seen there.

Kili smiled bitterly seeing her unharmed figure.

「It’s vexing but……well, it’s alright──even though I can’t win, if it’s Yuu then he will manage somehow.」

Kili left those words behind and she also got swallowed into the darkness.

No matter how much light Ariella and I sent out, their figure didn’t come out to the surface.

I clenched my fist from being unable to save them. I let slip of my frustration.

「Kili……dammit-……why──」

The authority was invoked. But the End Matter was just too thick.

It was just like when getting swallowed by the darkness of unknown territory that flowed out from Bahamut’s shadow. However Mitsuki should have sealed the majority of the End Matter into herself. And yet why──.

「Your feeble light simply isn’t enough at all to illuminate my End Matter.」

Shinomiya Miyako spoke pityingly. I asked her.

「……Not enough? Why do you possess that much End Matter? Mitsuki should have sealed all the unknown territory until here into herself right?」

Shinomiya Miyako chuckled at my question.

「The third unknown territory──Mitsuki thought that she had sealed that one into herself, but I actually took in the majority of it. In other words you are facing a vast amount of End Matter that can fill a dome that reach until 300 km in diameter right now. A small light will naturally be immediately erased by such deep darkness.」

My knees almost bent when I learned the completely hopeless situation but──I braced my legs and held out.

──Not yet. Even then Mitsuki had easily sealed the End Matter for two unknown territories into herself. I could save everyone from inside the darkness if I could use Neun’s authority skillfully.

「We’re going to finish her off first, and then we will rescue everyone. Ariella, I’m counting on you for support.」

When I called out at Ariella who was standing in a daze, she returned to herself and took a stance.

「R-right──it’s still too early to give up isn’t it?」

Shinomiya Miyako raised her eyebrows in surprise seeing us taking a fighting stance.

「Hee……so you still haven’t given up hope. But, I have no time to go along with your useless effort. I have to return to Mitsuki’s side quickly so──I’ll end this quickly.」

Right after she declared that, black belt stretched out from the End Matter that pooled up at the center of the hole with a terrifying speed.

That darkness couldn’t be erased using Ariella and my blue light. We would end up like Lisa and Kili if it caught us. Then──.

「──Haah!」

I activated another authority with all my strength.

A sphere of blue light was formed in front of the hand that I lifted up.

Anti Gravity──”the power to repel all creation” that was wielded by Leviathan the “white”.

Until now I could only create it through the intermediary of Dark Matter, but the current me who had a shining horn grew on my forehead through the dragonification was able to directly form the anti-gravity substance.

A white ripple spread through the air. The approaching black belt had its direction diverted by the repulsive force. It couldn’t reach Ariella and me.

Our body became as light as feather. When I realized it, my feet had left the ground. Come to think of it, Leviathan was also floating by deploying repulsive force field.

Because the amount of Dark Matter that I could produce was small, I couldn’t fly by producing air but──right now I felt like I could fly freely.

「Mononobe-kun-! Not yet──we will still get swallowed at this rate!」

Ariella yelled while pointing at above.

The black belt that was diverted from its track was stretching greatly to wrap around the repulsive force field. It was trying to swallow us together with the force field into the darkness.

「Ariella!」

I grabbed Ariella’s arm and flew toward the black belt’s gap.

Just go in full speed──perhaps because of that single-minded focus, I moved too fast that even I myself couldn’t immediately perceive that I had moved.

When I came back to my senses, we were already outside the encirclement of the black belt.

I gulped at my speed that was almost like teleportation.

──If I had this mobility and the defense using repulsive force field……!

I brought Ariella and moved along the edge of the hole where the End Matter was pooled. The black belt rushed forward to capture us, but it was unable to keep up with our speed.

The black belt that circled around toward us also got scattered using the repulsive force field. I slipped through that gap.

「──You won’t be able to kill me just by running around you know?」

However at the center of the hole──above the spring that was filled with End Matter, Shinomiya Miyako was smiling.

She hadn’t changed her position at all until now. She must be waiting for us to step into the territory that was filled with End Matter. She was also giving off an air of using Lisa and others as bait to lure us in, so it made me hesitated to close in.

But, it was just as she said. My objective wasn’t to run around.

We had to defeat her──to kill her.

In order to save everyone who was absorbed into the darkness, in order to save Mitsuki for real.

It didn’t matter……even if she might be the real thing.

「Then──I’ll kill you.」

I focused my mind to the power to kill human that was sleeping inside me. I woke up the authority of the Counter Dragon that was called Fafnir.

All unnecessary emotions vanished and my mind single-mindedly formed a way to kill the human before me.

First I attempted the safe method. Just like when we defeated the divine spirit before this, I fired Ether Wind’s bullet and Anti-Gravity matter simultaneously.

If the power of “Heavy Tremors” Nova was offset by Anti-Gravity, Ether Wind’s bullet that couldn’t interfere with physical matter would shot Shinomiya Miyako──that was my plan with this attack, but it didn’t go as planned.

「Ouch……!?」

Shinomiya Miyako’s expression stiffened when the bullet grazed her cheek and scattered her hair.

Although I was able to take away her composure, it didn’t hit. The rainbow colored ring protecting her shook due to the interference of Anti-Gravity, but it didn’t vanish completely. Because of that the golden bullet’s trajectory was diverted.

However the current me didn’t have the emotion to regret the failure. I analyzed the data of the failure to fuel the next plan.

──The cause of failure was the insufficient strength of the Anti-Gravity matter. Come to think of it Leviathan deployed Anti-Gravity field with itself as the center. If that was the proper way to use this power, then as expected me directly doing it was──.

My accelerated thought finished the consideration instantly and brought up the next killing method.

「We can only get close. We’re rushing in, Ariella.」

「Right, I’m ready anytime.」

She replied without hesitation. The Code Lost that Ariella had was as thick as mine. It seemed that she had reached the same conclusion like me.

To completely neutralize the rainbow circle that seemed to be controlling gravity, I myself had to get close to Shinomiya Miyak──that was the final conclusion in my mind.

I dodged the black belt while measuring the timing.

I dropped my flying speed slightly to lure as much black belt as possible. And then Ariella and I slipped through the small opening when it tried to envelop us──and charged at Shinomiya Miyako in full speed.

「Welcome, into the end.」

Shinomiya Miyako had a thin smile on her lips while spreading open her arms to welcome us.

Then the next moment, the End Matter that filled the hole burst up to swallow us who were above it.

「No matter how much you can push back the End Matter using the repulsive force field, the moment you are enveloped, the inside will be filled with darkness. You won’t be able to escape from darkness using that authority.」

Shinomiya Miyako’s pitying voice came from the other side of the End Matter.

However the corner of my lips twisted and I replied──while flying to right above.

「We could predict that there is a trap waiting. That’s why……-!」

The End Matter was trying to envelop us from below. There was a slight opening above us.

It would be too late if I only reacted after the End Matter burst up. But I already changed my flight direction the moment the darkness filling the hole rippled slightly.

I strongly held on Ariella’s hand and ascended with the repulsive force field enveloping me.

──Make it!

I flew toward the shrinking light with my fastest speed.

The darkness rushed to behind us and the scene of the surrounding that was covered by mist rushed into my sight.

「Yosh──」

We managed to slip out of the dome of darkness just an instant before it completely closed. Next I turned direction to right below.

I swooped down to above the head of Shinomiya Miyako who thought that she had us captured.

「Tsu──!?」

Naturally she immediately noticed and lifted her face.

However, she was slightly late. I already entered the range where I could neutralize her power.

Using Ether Wind’s gun──while Ariella was using a knife that she created from material conversion──we aimed at Shinomiya Miyako’s vital spots simultaneously.

It was a sure kill attack. The evil dragon(Fafnir) inside me was convinced that we could kill her.

Shinomiya Miyako moved her mouth in a daze when death was right before her eyes.

Of course I had no intention to sympathize with her no matter what she wanted to say. I had decided in my heart that she was someone who I had to kill right here.

But──the faint two sounds that flew into my hearing……were just too unexpected.

.

「──Papa?」

.

「-!?」

My finger that reflexively moved to pull the trigger stopped. Ariella also stopped her attacking hand.

And then that became a lethal mistake for us.

The stretching black belt wrapped around our limbs and sealed our movement midair. Because the repulsive force field was neutralizing the rainbow ring, I was unable to use it to block the End Matter.

Shinomiya Miyako looked at the restrained us and erased the trace of “her” that she showed in that brief moment. She smiled.

「So naive. To think that you two would be that shaken just by switching to that girl a little……hm.」

Shinomiya Miyako muttered with a voice that was mixed with pity. She raised her arm──and slowly lowered it.

Then the black belt was dragging us into the darkness of End Matter.

「Mononobe, kun──!」

Ariella’s figure vanished instantly. She wasn’t given any time to try anything.

「Kuh……Ariella……」

I resisted with the authority of Anti-Gravity, even so the black surface of End Matter was gradually approaching.

First my leg touched the darkness and sunk. I was feeling a chill that the sensation from my toes was vanishing while asking Shinomiya Miyako.

「Shinomiya, Miyako……what was that just now──what did you do to Shion-!?」

Yes, her expression and voice before this were exactly like Shion. We didn’t just imagine it because they had similar feature. At that time, we stopped attacking because we completely believed that it was Shion in front of us.

「Who knows? But, do you really don’t understand? Where did we first meet──won’t you find the answer if you recall that?」

I was questioned back instead. I was at a loss for words.

It felt like all the puzzle pieces had been gathered. Various things connected to each other inside my head. All the small doubts that had piled up until now was forming an answer──.

「In the lab of Asgard, I──saw Shinomiya Miyako’s soul. The soul that was materialized with Ether Wind……I learned what kind of face Shinomiya Miyako had for the first time there.」

I answered while enduring the pain of being restrained and the disgusting feeling of melting into darkness. Then Shinomiya Miyako tilted her head and urged me further.

「Yes. And where was my soul at that time?」

「Kraken’s corpse……no, wrong. Inside there was──Kraken Zwei──Shion……!」

My whole skin shuddered.

Before Mitsuki flew out of Marduk, she was together with Shion. And then Shion had been sleeping all the time since then. If these two things were actually related…….

「Don’t tell me, Shinomiya Miyako’s soul……had been together with Shion all that time? Or perhaps, could it be that you yourself is Shion──but, there is no way that……right now you are clearly not Shion. Just who in the world are you!?」

I yelled while sinking into darkness. Shinomiya Miyako let out a long sigh while looking at me.

「Well──good job for learning that much. I’ll specially teach you the right answer. It’s just like I said at the beginning, I’m the fake of Shinomiya Miyako who was born from the End Matter. My true identity is the core of “Heavy Tremors” Nova──I took this form because it was convenient to agitate Mitsuki’s heart with this.」

Shinomiya Miyako spoke triumphantly, perhaps because she was feeling composed and convinced of her victory.

「But you see, even if this body is fake──the inside is real.」

「The inside──by that you mean……the souk?」

She nodded at my question.

「Yes, something like that, what you call soul or heart. My soul you see, it had been together with Shion all that time. No……to be more accurate, perhaps I should say that it’s mixed together with Shion I guess. I think the dead me wanted to have that body. But the awakened Shion had her own ego……I who was only a dreg got swallowed and vanished.」

She smiled self-depreciatingly. She placed her hand on her chest.

「But, after I became a part of Shion like that, this vessel──the body of Shinomiya Miyako appeared. When I noticed that, I wanted to save the suffering Mitsuki……and desperately reached out my hand from inside Shion’s dream……when I realized it I had moved into this body. I think that perhaps Shion’s heart also got dragged together with me at that time.」

「Then……Shion is really there inside you……」

As I thought, the vestige of Shion that we saw before this wasn’t just my misunderstanding.

「Yep, she is here. It’s just that our position has been reversed from before. With us staying inside the body of Shinomiya Miyako, it makes me the master. Shion’s consciousness is starting fade inside me.」

「Kuh……are you planning to erase Shion’s heart? Stop……return her to her own body right away! That girl hasn’t done anything bad right?」

I finally had sunk until my neck. I desperately pleaded like that.

「That’s not something that I can possibly do. My soul and Shion are connected. They can’t be severed. But just now──if you were able to kill only me, then perhaps Shion’s soul might be liberated from me.」

A faint sadness showed in Shinomiya Miyako’s face and she shook her head.

「Shinomiya Miyako……! With this are you really──」

My mouth was swallowed into the End Matter while I was in the middle of talking. I couldn’t feel my lower body at all anymore. My left hand that was stretching toward Shinomiya Miyako could still move a little but, my right arm that was submerged into the darkness was losing strength.

The darkness that was flowing in from the mouth was robbing warmth from inside my body. I even felt pain from how cold it was, but even that sensation was starting to fade immediately.

「──Of course, I’m fine with this. I have decided to save Mitsuki no matter what I have to sacrifice for that.」

Shinomiya Miyako stared down at me fixedly while answering.

However a small wry smile formed on her lips.

「Perhaps the true Shinomiya Miyako wasn’t this kind of person. Even if it’s for Mitsuki’s sake, doing something like discarding Lisa and Firill……and Onee-chan and others might not be something that she could do. But I am……the remnant of “Miyako in the moment when she tried to protect Mitsuki with her life”. Rather than a complete soul, I’m more like a fragment of a feeling. That’s why I can do anything──sorry.」

Even my nose sank into the darkness and I couldn’t even breathe. Shinomiya Miyako apologized to me.

And then finally even my sight was covered in darkness. I couldn’t even hear any sound now. I couldn’t even feel which was up or down, left or right. I was falling in a black world.

Floating up in the darkness was faint blue light. That was the dragon crest on the back of my left hand. Neun’s power that was leaking from there was still maintain the outline of “Mononobe Yuu” just barely.

But the End Matter was too vast for a small light like this to oppose.

If I believed Shinomiya Miyako’s words──I would melt into the darkness soon and got reconstructed into a “Mononobe Yuu who only loved Mitsuki” in the new world that she would create. I also wouldn’t be responsible anymore for Iris and others who became my mates, and they would be given a happy life for each of them.

Perhaps that was a conclusion where nobody would become unhappy. That might be the correct way of life.

However, even so──I didn’t want someone else to decide what was happiness for me.

──AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-!

I yelled inside my heart. I roused up myself, to struggle desperately. I reached out to the other side of the darkness.

There was only one way to breakthrough this situation. It was by using Neun’s authority skillfully.

However even now I didn’t know anything──of where Neun’s authority was residing, or what kind of power it was specififically.

Think, remember. What happened at that day when I obtained this power.

Of course I remembered. It was burned into my brain. I couldn’t forget it even if I wanted.

The trigger was──the traffic accident where Mitsuki’s parents became victim.

That day I was together with Mitsuki’s family. We were going to camping place by car. But it suddenly became pitch black outside even though we weren’t even inside a tunnel. Then the sound of brake could be heard──and when I came to myself my whole body felt painful, with the smell of blood and gasoline piercing my nose.

I couldn’t see anything. I didn’t understand what just happened. I desperately called for Mitsuki’s name. I searched for uncle and aunt.

I groped for the seat with my hand and cut my fingers from glass fragments. Even so I thought that I managed to somehow grab Mitsuki’s arm──the car creaked right after that. My senses were receding while I was waiting for the shaking to calm down, I lost sensation where Mitsuki was located even though I should be holding her arm. From my heart I wanted a light to illuminate the darkness at that time.

And then──I felt pulse in my left hand, and heat that felt like it was burning me from under the skin, and light cleaved through the darkness.

When I came back to my senses, I found Mitsuki and myself on the back seat of the totaled car──thing was still really hellish even from there, but thanks to me manifesting the power of “D”, we managed to escape from the distorted car frame.

Thinking back now, the light at that time was definitely the authority of Neun.

Then, was the authority dwelling in my left hand as I expected? My hand that touched Mitsuki inside the darkness and the dragon crest’s location were also my left hand.

──Please!

But no change occurred even after I focused my mind to my left hand. I also tried with my right hand but the result was the same.

Why? What I did inside the darkness at that time was only groping around with my hand to search for Mitsuki. Was it a mistake thinking that the authority’s location was in the hand and fingers to touch other people?

The blue light was fading even while I was confused and bewildered. The sensation in my body was vanishing.

I had no intention of giving up. However my limit and the end were steadily approaching.

──Neun’s authority existed to repel this darkness right? Then show me your true power! When are you going to activate if not now!!

I yelled inside my chest, but the power didn’t respond. Even though Neun’s instinct had hurt Mitsuki so much like that, it wouldn’t teach me anything when it really mattered. Even though the enemy who I should fight was right here, I didn’t understand at all what I should do and how to do it.

Finally all the sensation of my body except of my left hand was mostly gone. My consciousness was receding. It felt like I would even forget just what I was thinking just now.

──No, rather……who am I?

I couldn’t recall my name. I also became unable to recall how I look.

Even the determination in my chest, the fighting spirit that pushed my body were melting into the darkness and turning hazy.

Just what was I trying to do? What was I struggling for?

The darkness was pervading until the deepest part of me, taking away everything there.

First I felt a strong terror at this feeling of vanishing into nothing, but even that terror immediately vanished.

Why I must not vanish, why do I have to stay as myself──I didn’t know the reason for that.

But, it felt painful for unknown reason. I wanted to quickly let go of the pain that stabbed into my chest.

However, even so the one last remaining thing──something that was like a stubbornness was refusing to yield itself to the darkness.

──No, no, no, no……don’t, don’t, I don’t want to vanish, who the hell is going to accept such fate──something……there is something that I have to do no matter what-!!

But, resisting would just prolong the suffering.

My heart was worn down inside the darkness, my feeling was whittled down.

And then when even that last stubbornness was about to vanish……I heard a faint voice.

.

「Mononobe──」

.

──Whose voice was that? And whose name was that?

Such question floated inside my hollow heart. At the same time I recalled.

──Mononobe……Mononobe, Yuu……my name…….

When I regained the name that I almost forgot, the other memories were also resurrected one after another.

The thing that I had to do no matter what, what I had to protect, the enemy standing in my way──a lot of faces crossed my mind.

──That’s right. I’m going to where Mitsuki is. I’ll save everyone who was swallowed by End Matter……I’ll defeat Shinomiya Miyako who is on my way……absolutely-!!

Resolve and determination lit a fire inside my chest. However that fire wasn’t something that was born inside me. It came from outside──it was brought to me by the voice that called for me.

──Where did that voice come from…….

When I looked around inside the darkness for the voice’s owner, I found several blue lights blinking.

They were like──stars.

They were like dazzling stars that still sent their light to the ground even when thin cloud was covering the dark sky.

Those lights, there were seven of them.

The light was pulsing with the same cycle like heartbeat. I reached out with my left hand that was lit with a light of the same color.

──Is someone, there? Are you, calling for me?

When I turned my consciousness to there, the darkness was shaken by familiar voices.

「Mononobe-kun.」

I knew. This was Firill’s voice.

「Onii-chan.」

It was Ren next.

「Yuu-」

Tia was also calling me.

「──Mononobe Yuu!」

Next Lisa’s voice reached my ear.

「Yuu-!」

The one who called me with a slightly angry voice was Kili.

「Mononobe-kun-!」

Ariella was also desperately calling for my name.

The sensation of my body was returning each time my name got called. Before I realized it I became able to see my own body. Blue light enveloped my body and prevented the darkness’s encroachment.

──Why so suddenly…….

.

「Mononobe」

.

The first voice reached my ear again.

I couldn’t remember before this because I almost lost myself, but I knew now. Her voice, her radiant smile, they were resurrected clearly inside my mind.

That smile that was etched deeply inside my heart was something more beautiful and valuable than any gem.

I gently, muttered……her precious name.

「──Iris」

Then one of the lights that was blinking inside the darkness became bigger. It illuminated a human silhouette to the forefront.

That was the silhouette of the girl who remained behind in Naglfar, who I heard got swallowed into Shinomiya Miyako’s End Matter──Iris Freya.

「Thank goddd……Mononobe, you finally replied.」

Iris wiped her eyes with her finger and smiled in front of me.

That expression, it was even more radiant than the smiling face that I etched inside my chest.

Iris was this near to me. It made me felt really strange, and unbearably happy.

The light that I thought was in  a place beyond my reach like a star in the night sky, was apparently in a distance that was within my reach.

「Have you……called for me all this time?」

「No──it wasn’t just Mononobe, but everyone else too……all this time. Because the lights were gradually growing smaller, as though they were going to vanish anytime now. But see, the light got a bit brighter, just for a little when I called out to them. And then everyone also imitated that──we kept calling at each other while doing our best to not vanish.」

Iris answered like that and grasped my hand. The definite contact and warmth that were transmitted to me felt very reassuring.

「You were calling their name……」

Some kind of a hunch flashed in my mind from what she said.

Perhaps I was misunderstanding something about Neun’s authority. What was the first thing that I did inside the darkness when I was small?

「But, as I thought Mononobe is amazing. My body returned to normal just from you calling my name.」

Iris spoke while staring at her own hands and feet.

「That’s……no, I’m not the amazing one. It was because iris called out to everyone at the beginning──that light got reflected on each other, converged, and illuminated me.」

If I had to make an example, Iris was the sun and everyone else was the moon, and I was the earth that only got illuminated──I didn’t do anything.

The first word, the light, it came from Iris.

──Aa, so it was like that.

It felt like I finally found the answer and touched my throat.

「What’s wrong Mononobe?」

Iris asked me with a puzzled look. I replied to her with a wry smile.

「I finally understand. What kind of thing Neun’s authority is──where is it residing and how to use it……everything.」

「I-is that so? Then can you save everyone else and get out from this pitch black darkness?」

Iris asked me enthusiastically. I nodded deeply.

「Yeah, that’s why you help me too iris. Neun’s authority──it’s surely dwelling in our voice.」

I stared at her blue eyes and told her about my realization.

──Yes, the voice. The first thing that the childish me did inside the darkness was calling for Mitsuki’s name. I tried to illuminate the darkness where nothing could be seen with my words. Just like what Iris did right now.

「Voice?」

「Yeah. First let’s focus to our voice and call out to everyone. If my thinking is correct, Neun’s authority should display an incomparable power from before.」

I urged Iris and looked around at the blue lights that were scattered in the darkness.

「──Got it. I’ll try.」

Iris clenched her fists and nodded. She put her hand on her throat and took a deep breath.

「Call out after me. First is ──Firill-!」

The members who remained behind in Naglfar should be absorbed first, so I started from their name.

「Firill-chan-!」

Iris also yelled after me.

Then it was as though our voice became light. Radiant flash cleaved the darkness and entered one of the blue stars.

Right after that, the blue light swelled up and traced Firill’s figure.

「Wah……I’m back.」

Firill blinked in surprise. Seeing that Iris and I turned toward the blue stardust that were scattered about in the darkness of End matter and yelled as loudly as we could.

「Tia!」「Tia-chan!」

「Ren!」「Ren-chan!」

「Lisa!」「Lisa-chan!」

「Ariella!」「Ariella-chan!」

「Kili!」「Kili-chan!」

The stars changed form into our comrades one after another. We looked at each other inside the darkness.

「Yuu, Iris, thank you-!」

「I felt energetic when Onii-chan and Iris called my name……thank you.」

Tia and Ren hugged my arms with smile on their face.

「……You really saved us there. I never knew that it would be this scary to feel your existence fading like that.」

「Yep, I don’t want to go through something like that ever again. Perhaps I’d give up right away if I was alone there.」

Lisa and Ariella patted down their chest with a heartfelt relief.

Amidst that, for some reason Kili was looking at me with a bit of dissatisfaction in her gaze.

「Yuu……why didn’t you call my name first?」

「Eh? No, I thought that Firill and others who got swallowed into the darkness earlier would be in more risk──」

I called Kili last also because she seemed to be the one who was the most tenacious──or perhaps the gutsiest──amidst everyone, but let’s refrain from saying that. I somehow got the feeling that Kili wouldn’t be happy even if I praised her like that.

「Hmph……well, fine then if that’s the case. And, what are we going to do now?」

Kili shrugged her shoulders reluctantly before she turned her gaze to the darkness that surrounded us from every direction. We were able to regain our form, but we still hadn’t escaped from the End Matter.

Firill who was checking her own limbs also turned her gaze toward me and asked a question.

「Mononobe-kun, I heard your conversation with Iris……is it true that Neun’s authority is residing in the voice?」

「──Yeah. I’m convinced now after trying to call out at everyone. Until now Neun’s authority has helped maintaining our body when the darkness tried to swallow us, or maintain the human form of those who almost turned into dragon──all this time it’s manifested as “light” that fixed the shape of something unstable with ambiguous form. But, human cannot produce light on their own right?」

Firill smiled wryly when I asked her that in return.

「Yes. We aren’t firefly after all.」

「Right──that was why we should thing what is the equivalent of “light” for human. I finally arrived at the answer when everyone called my name just now. What human is using to identify and define other people and object──is the words that we put into our voice.」

Lisa put her hand over her mouth and muttered after hearing my reply.

「In other words, how we called each other’s name before this helped us define each other so that we could regain our form……is that it?」

I nodded deeply at that question.

「That’s what I think. For human, words are like the light that illuminate the darkness──that’s why I’m convinced that Neun’s authority……the blue light that oppose the End Matter is residing in our voice.」

「Tia think what Yuu said is correct! The instant Yuu called Tia, Tia recalled that I’m Yuu’s bride! That voice was really like a radiant light.」

Tia agreed with me. Ren also nodded her head.

「……Me too. I have no objection with Onii-chan’s opinion.」

「I guess──I’m also in agreement. But, what are we going to do now? Can we erase this End Matter using our voice and word?」

Ariella looked around uneasily. I said this to her.

「No, most likely Neun’s power isn’t something to annihilate the End Matter. Surely it’s just something to grant shape in the end. When I was swallowed by End Matter at my childhood──I think I defined all the darkness there as “Mitsuki” to save her. Because of that the End Matter got sealed inside Mitsuki. Most likely that’s also how Mitsuki sealed the unknown territories.」

「……By that you mean, that girl defined the unknown territory’s dome and the End Matter filling Bahamut’s shadow as “herself”?」

Kili frowned and spoke in disbelief.

「Mitsuki-chan, she is……holding in that much End Matter inside herself?」

Iris also spoke in worry.

「I don’t know whether she can completely hold them all in. I think that perhaps she is forcing herself.」

Darkness would be hemmed into narrow shadow when it was illuminated by light. However if the light was cut off even just for an instant, it would flood out everywhere. There was no doubt that Mitsuki was in such a dangerous state.

「Then, we need to hurry even more. If someone has to seal this darkness for us to escape from here, I’ll take up that role.」

Lisa volunteered herself with resolve in her voice.

But I shook my head and turned my gaze above.

「No, there is no need for someone to take in this darkness. We will return this darkness to its owner──our enemy.」

「Enemy……you mean, her aren’t you?」

Lisa muttered with an expression that was enduring pain. Firill also pressed her chest with a look of suffering.

「Yeah──but she is the real one while at the same time she isn’t. We have to defeat her no matter what in order to save Shion too.」

「For Shion-san? Why?」

Lisa and others looked confused. I told them about her true identity and objective, and the situation that Shion was placed in right now.

Then even the hesitating Lisa and Firill nodded with determination.

「──I understand. We have to save Shion-san no matter what, and I can’t allow her to decide my life as she pleases. After all I have decided to follow what my heart is telling me.」

「Me too, I’ll fight. Perhaps that’s……the only thing that I can do as her friend. If she is unable to stop herself, then someone has to stop her no matter what.」

Everyone else also nodded without any objection. We exchanged gazes.

And then we shared the “name” that we should say after this and then spoke at the same timing.

We put Neun’s authority──the light of defining into our voice to cram the infinite darkness into a shadow with shape.

.

「──Shinomiya Miyako.」

.

The moment the darkness was given name──the darkness was cleaved apart by a blue light.

We were thrown from the pitch black space into a world with shape.

For a moment we couldn’t see anything because of how bright it was, but the texture of ground could be felt from the back of our feet.

I reflexively opened my closed eyes and saw a hazy human shadow in front of us.

My eyes were gaining clarity after blinking several times. The figure of the black haired girl who was looking this way──Shinomiya Miyako was coming into view.

「All of you……how did ──」

Shinomiya Miyako looked around with a shocked expression.

I also looked at my left and right. The figures of my comrades were there.

Iris, Tia, Lisa, Firill, Ariella, Ren, Kili──everyone had gone out from the darkness of End Matter safely.

『……What happened? I had been in a state where it was impossible to observe anything all this time……』

The bewildered voice of Atla came from my pocket.

It seemed that she couldn’t obtain information from outside while she was inside the End Matter. However the explanation should be put off for later. Because in front of us was the enemy that we should defeat.

It seemed that Shinomiya Miyako had moved while we were captured inside the darkness. The ground wasn’t depressed here. Round buildings that still retained their shape were lined up at the sides of the road.

「Shinomiya Miyako, we came to stop you. I──we will be the one to save Mitsuki.」

I met Shinomiya Miyako’s eyes and sharply told her.

「Aa……so that’s how. All of you has also become able to use Neun’s authority well.」

Confusion vanished from Shinomiya Miyako’s expression. She smiled wryly and looked down at her own hands.

「……I can’t bring out the End Matter outside anymore. So you pushed in all that darkness into me──but, it’s still too early to believe that you have won. Even if you now can perfectly control your authority, you will only arrive at the same fate like Apocalypse in the end.」

「Apocalypse? Why are you mentioning the name of the seventh calamity now?」

The seventh dragon──”Disasterification” Apocalypse. I turned a questioning gaze at Shinomiya Miyako who mentioned that name.

「Eh……aa, I see. All of you──are using that light without even understanding that. Then, perhaps even I still have a chance to win. If there is a light that cannot be melted even by that darkness……that’s surely must be the “light source”──」

Shinomiya Miyako muttered that. Then a rainbow colored ring floated above her head.

It seemed that she had resolved herself to fight us as the “Heavy Tremors” Nova. I was bothered about the matter of Apocalypse, but it seemed she had no intention to explain any further than that.

Then the only thing left to do was to fight.

The horn on my forehead had vanished without me realizing it. Most likely my dragonified body was returned to normal when we illuminated each other with Neun’s authority.

However, when I focused my mind, a throbbing heat was born inside my forehead.

──It’s fine. I also hadn’t forgotten the way to use Anti-Gravity.

I tried to draw out the original power of the authority like before but──I felt a slight tremor at that time.

「What──?」

I felt a vague apprehension and raised my guard toward the surrounding.

Shinomiya Miyako also gasped and looked around.

GOUUUUUUUUUU────…….

A low sound that sounded like a tremor reached my ear. It wasn’t just the ground, even the air was shaking.

The mist that was drifting in the area was thinning down and then thickening again. Such thing kept repeating before a wind that suddenly started to blow cleared the mist away.

The wind whirled at far away like a tornado. It blew up the building rubbles to the sky.

「Ragnarok is getting this unstable──don’t tell me……has Mitsuki found the core──!」

Shinomiya Miyako whispered without hiding her bewilderment. She turned her back toward us and floated up to the sky.

「──Where are you going!?」

When I raised my voice, she turned back this way just for a moment and spoke in irritation.

「Both you and me don’t make it in time. Regardless of how things goes, Mitsuki is already──」

Shinomiya Miyako bit her lips and then flew away immediately.

「I don’t really understand the situation, but it seems that it will be better to chase after her.」

Lisa urged us to move. Iris spoke uneasily.

「Did something happen to Mitsuki-chan? Then, we have to hurry!」

「──Yeah, let’s go before we lose sight of her.」

I nodded deeply and used the authority of Anti-Gravity to float in the air. Everyone also formed their fictitious armament and followed after me. Iris who couldn’t fly was carried by Lisa.

『Both you and me don’t make it in time.』

The words that Shinomiya Miyako left behind were stuck into my ears and wouldn’t go away.

I flew with everyone toward the sky of raging mist while harboring extremely unpleasant premonition in my chest.

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