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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Simzy
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“And?”
Oz’s question about what I wanted to do was not yet over.
Despite the exhaustion evident on his face, Oz looked pleased.
Yes, come to think of it, I was Oz, and Oz was me.
He also knew that there were still things I wanted to do.
“And…”
Oz and I were the same.
But we were also different.
He and I ultimately aimed for the same goal, but there was a path that only I wished to walk.
Then what about the rest?
“I want to stop the coming crisis.”
Mine and Oz’s goal.
It wasn’t because I had become Oz, but something I purely felt I wanted to do.
What was wrong with sharing a goal?
We were the same person.
“As I thought, I wanted to survive.”
Regardless of what Oz’s fate was, I still wanted to live.
Even while feeling extreme pain after being struck by the Gigantes, even after experiencing undeniable failure, even when I wanted to give up on everything.
The reason I never once thought about wanting to die, even in that situation, was because I wanted to live.
“And.”
Oz was simply listening to my words. My reflection in the tired man’s murky, sky-blue eyes…
That reflection was also Oz.
“I want to carry on the things you couldn’t achieve.”
He and I were the same.
It wasn’t about our appearance, but our disposition, our very humanity, was the same.
That was why I didn’t want to see him fail, to see him give up like this. I was Oz now. His dream had become my dream.
“…Is that so?”
Now that I had said it out loud myself, it was a little embarrassing.
As I averted my gaze, feeling awkward, he spoke again.
“Then do that.”
“What…?”
Oz gave a dry smile.
The face of a man completely exhausted.
As if to prove he was Salem’s own son, he had the exact same face as him.
“You want to survive?”
“Yes.”
“You want to stop the crisis that will befall this world?”
“Yes.”
“Alright. In that case…”
It was different from the gentle smile he had shown until now; it was clearly the smile of an exhausted man. He couldn’t do it.
He had already poured out too much.
He was exhausted now. So, I would do it.
The goal of both Oz and me had now become mine. And…
“Do you want to challenge the gods and get Arietta back?”
“Yes. Right now, all of those things are what I want to do.”
The purpose that only he had held was now mine as well.
Now, all of those things were what I wanted to do.
After I finished speaking, Oz lifted his head again, and with the gentle smile he had shown me earlier, he said,
“Then stop dawdling here and go do what you wanted to do. I’ll be rooting for you.”
With those words, the hand that was patting my shoulder tightened its grip.
“What is the meaning of…!”
I fell.
No, was “fell” the right word?
My vision, which had been on Oz, was becoming too distant for it to be called falling.
Just as he and the room he was in receded until they became a single point, and my surroundings filled with darkness.
[Ultimate Skill – Challenger of the Divine has been unlocked.]
I saw those words.
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Rustle.
Left alone in the room, Oz once again sat in the chair and began to turn the pages of the book.
That was his task right now.
“Hmm…”
After repeating the task of turning pages for a while, Oz stretched as if to take a break and looked up at the empty air.
『Restart?』
In the empty air was a line of text asking whether to retry. Oz let out a chuckle as he looked at the text and said,
“See, Ein? I told you it wouldn’t happen. There will be no restarting.”
『Restart?』
“Yes, nothing has ended yet. Because it will continue.”
『Continue?』
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My consciousness surfaced.
The first thing I felt was extreme pain.
It was enough pain to make me scream, but conversely, it was what told me I was alive.
More than that, even if I wanted to scream, only the sound of escaping air came out.
And just exhaling that air was incredibly painful.
And what I discovered when I opened my eyes was.
“Prince Oz?”
“Olivia… Blue…”
An unexpected person.
It wasn’t Arietta or Eleanor, so I didn’t know why this person was here. Judging by her state, she was just as badly off as I was, so could it be she had been protecting me?
Why on earth would she?
Could it be that she liked me?
“I came here to grant the Saintess’s wish… but seeing that look in your eyes makes me regret it.”
I was in too much pain to say anything. I couldn’t answer because of the pain.
It was definitely not because I was embarrassed.
“Are you able to move?”
“No…”
“You must move nonetheless. I would hate for my death to be in vain. Moreover, the thought of dying with you is horrifying just to imagine.”
Her words were harsh. If you dislike me, just say so.
“I dislike you.”
And she actually says it?
Hearing it for real made me feel intimidated.
“But the Saintess… Arietta likes you.”
“I know…”
“I don’t know what she sees in someone as self-righteous and indecisive as you, but…”
Her words had a sting.
That was a complaint directed at me, for my repeated actions that were neither here nor there.
“I believe in Arietta. Therefore, I think there must be something about you that I cannot see.”
“…That’s some incredible trust.”
Yes, if she didn’t have at least that much trust, there was no way she would have jumped into a deathtrap like this for Arietta’s sake.
“So even if you feel you cannot move, you must move. Survive, and plan for a second chance.”
Olivia said, staggering.
She too must have been near her limit. Her wounds were probably not that different from mine.
And yet, she was saying that if someone had to live, it should be me, not her.
That was quite a heavy expectation. So, in order to live up to that expectation…
“No, not yet.”
I muttered words I had heard somewhere before.
It was too early to give up. Too early to run away. It was not the end yet.
The things that had just happened were hazy, like a dream I had overnight.
But there was just one thing.
If there was one thing I hadn’t forgotten.
『Where no one’s gaze can reach.』
It was the fact that I could clearly remember what my purpose was.
『Since no one pays any attention.』
Olivia’s expression was stained with shock. That was only natural.
『Prayers do not reach.』
Because she had never seen my divine magic before.
『Behold the result wrought by indifference. The world has passed twilight, sunk into night, and the dawn does not break.』
The only incantations she knew would have been the hymns for using divine arts, so she must have been surprised.
『If you have truly turned your eyes from the world and chosen seclusion.』
Olivia, who had been steeped in bewilderment for a while, soon straightened her shield and corrected her posture.
『Then I, though small, will dare to covet that position.』
From her gallant back, I could feel a resolve to buy me time, no matter what happened.
『Therefore, though I may be small, I shall become a lantern for them.』
Had she realized that the magic I was preparing was no ordinary thing?
“Get out of the way!!!”
Gigantes prepared to attack Olivia, who was blocking the space between it and me.
In her current state, Olivia would surely die the moment she was hit by that blow.
Olivia herself probably knew that. Yet she did not retreat. Because she had decided to risk her life.
But it would be alright.
『In this very spot.』
What I wanted to do right now.
Was to become a guide for wandering souls.
To become a lantern.
『I hereby issue a challenge to you.』
Time to get used to a world that conceals, deceives, and covers up.
The choice to understand, to define, to clear away, and to find.
The flame of struggle entrusted by someone.
With this, once again.
Transcendental Divine Magic
[Challenger of the Divine]
Zero-sum. No, this time, it would be a one-sided game in our favor.
I poured out all the mana that had settled within me.
There was no need to save it. If I didn’t use all of it, it wouldn’t be able to reach everyone who needed the light.
“Now, it’s a continuation.”
A dazzling blue ray of light stretched out. It was as blue and brilliant as the sun, like starlight.
Healing using divine power utilizes regeneration centered on purification.
This meant that because the nature of purification was dominant, it was bound to take time.
In that case, what about a power with healing as its main purpose?
The nature of mana is transformation.
This time, I wasn’t just imitating the nature of divine power, but changing it into an original property I had created.
Dwelling within the blue divinity was healing.
Unlike recovery using divine power, aftereffects might remain, but for those on the battlefield now, that much would not be a problem.
The blue-white light began to gradually restore all the wounded and weary allies on this battlefield to their original state.
Olivia, who had been on the verge of death, blocked the Gigantes’s attack.
The weary [Shields of Light] regained their vitality, and the wave of the dead that had been crashing in like a tide began to falter.
“Olivia Blue. There’s something I forgot to say earlier.”
I said to Olivia, who was stunned by the state of her own body after blocking the Gigantes’s attack.
“I dislike you too.”
I pushed aside Olivia, who had been standing firmly in front of me.
As she was focused on the front with her center of gravity shifted forward, she couldn’t block my surprise attack.
“Prince Oz…?”
“So find your place and get lost. I’ll take it from here.”
After confirming that she was veering to the side with a bewildered expression, I looked straight ahead.
Gigantes Dusk was crawling toward me again.
It seemed to have sensed a grave crisis, as it now moved as if it was no longer thinking about its own future.
Using both its tattered arms, the Gigantes threw its body with all its might and closed the distance, as if determined not to miss this time.
“Let’s begin the revenge match.”
[Challenger of the Divine], deployed by pouring out all my mana. This divine magic actually had one drawback.
This magic was a recovery skill, not an attack skill. It could make the horde of the dead falter, but not monsters on the level of the Gigantes.
In the first place, it wasn’t a situation where I could catch two rabbits at once.
Choice and focus were needed, and the choice I made was to breathe vitality into everyone on the battlefield. Truthfully, it was more that I didn’t know much about its other properties.
I still hadn’t fully elucidated the principles of this divine magic.
To begin with, it would be strange to be able to understand it so easily.
Wasn’t this the culmination of the effort Oz had spent his entire life building?
The level of effort and talent it contained was far beyond my reach.
“Guwooooaaaar!!!”
The Gigantes roared at me and threw its body.
Its voice no longer had the same power as before, but its will alone was worthy of acknowledgment.
“Grrrrrrr… I don’t know what scheme you’re plotting, but I will shatter you to pieces before you even have the chance!!!”
“Do you even have the strength for that?”
Gigantes threw its body high above me as if it no longer cared about what happened next. At that height, it probably wouldn’t end well for the beast either.
I had diverted all my mana to [Challenger of the Divine].
Therefore, even though my body recovered instantly, I could not cast any other magic.
But…
“A lantern is something that.”
Gigantes, having risen into the sky, was falling toward me in real-time.
But there was something that was tempering me even more fiercely than the pressure of that situation.
Engraved on the [Starry Sky Robe] was the hot palm of someone who had endured a life of incomplete combustion, unable to abandon countless expectations, a palm that had been stained with blood.
An ember that someone had entrusted to me was burning, starting from my back.
“Looks warm to the eye, but it’s bound to be hot if you actually touch it.”
“Gruk?!”
Even without drawing any special magic formulas, the life of struggle someone had lived was being drawn naturally.
Transcendental Magic
[Prometheus]
Light the ember of struggle with oil that imitates divinity.
Light the ember of [Prometheus] with the light of [Challenger of the Divine].
“Burn.”
The blue-white light that had been stretching out through [Challenger of the Divine] now held the ember and began to burn fiercely.
The incarnation of fire I had once seen.
The red calamity that engulfed its entire body in flames and spewed forth overwhelming heat.
But this time, its color was different.
The burning flame is blue, elegant, and befitting the nickname of fire’s incarnation, it held divinity in its flame.
[Sacred Flame]
The blue flame soon engulfed the falling body of the Gigantes and burned even larger.
Bright enough to be seen from anywhere in the Papal States.
A lantern heralding the dawn.
That light climbed up the sky and reached the gate of the Underworld.
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