Chapter 96
Fight
Translator : PolterGlast
It had been a long
time since Lotus had actually seen Vejasha.
Since I was still
being carried on Lotus's back, I couldn't see his expression. But I noticed
Lotus had inhaled sharply. It was only natural. Thirteen years was an excessively
long time. No matter how much I tried to imagine his feelings, it wasn't
enough, and I simply gripped his shoulder tightly.
Even so, Lotus was
probably calm.
"...El, do you
know which branch we need to cut off?"
That was the first
thing he confirmed. Even though, with Marc being there, he must have known
Vejasha was at the top of the World Tree, I had forgotten to breathe for a
moment until Lotus spoke to me. "Eh, ah," I hurriedly looked around.
I concentrated on the bracelet on my right hand to check. I slowly closed my
eyes. I pictured the map I kept in my bag in my mind.
"...Over
there."
A single branch was
slowly stretching towards the sky. It had soft leaves. Strangely, it was a mix
of green leaves, slightly withered leaves, and leaves that had turned brown and
looked like they would crumble and fall off at any moment, reminding me of
Soleil, the country where so many people gathered. "That's it," Lotus
nodded.
Even as we were
talking, Vejasha didn't even glance our way. But even Ichi and the others were
showing clear signs of caution, and after a quick look at them, I slowly
exhaled and told Lotus to put me down.
I slowly placed my
feet on the tree.
Even through my shoes,
I felt a gentle warmth. It was a sensation that made me want to take a deep
breath, and something warm seemed to seep into my body.
(So, this is really
the center of the world...)
It felt like so many
things were flowing in. I involuntarily looked down at my feet. But I
immediately shook my head. Cut off the branch and drop the land of Soleil. That
was the goal, after all, and if Vejasha didn't care about us, that was a
blessing. I moved forward slowly, cautiously.
Since Vejasha was in
the center of the flat tree trunk, no matter which way we tried to go, we would
definitely be seen. No, he must have already noticed us, and it felt strange to
be walking around trying to be stealthy on the premise that he was pretending
not to notice.
(I mean, now that
we're here, don't we not need to worry about it anymore?)
We should just run
over, cut the branch with a "heave-ho," and then escape. Or rather,
"Lo, Lotus, what should we do? I haven't thought about how to get
back...!" I tugged on his clothes and leaned in so I could whisper. When I
softly told him, he replied, "We'll figure something out." Actually,
he was better at making decisions than me. He probably worried less than other
people.
So, with that in mind,
just as I was about to run off, Vejasha looked at us.
Pee-hyorororo...
Even though no birds
should have been flying, I heard a fleeting auditory hallucination.
"W-what do we do,
Lotus...?"
"What do you
mean, 'what do we do'?"
Lotus, squatting in a
yankee-style pose to face us, looked so perfectly awkward that it was scary.
While feeling fear towards Vejasha, who was staring intently at us without
moving a muscle, Lotus was the first to react. "Yo." "Lotus,
your brow is furrowed...!!" It was his long-lost childhood friend's reunion,
so I wanted him to have a slightly cheerful face. Otherwise, I and Ichi and the
others wouldn't be able to bear the heavy atmosphere.
"You've changed a
lot."
We were still some
distance away, but if we raised our voices a little, we could hear each other.
Lotus was slightly taller than Vejasha. And he had a solid build, having gotten
more tanned than before since coming to Soleil. In contrast, Vejasha's skin was
as white as his hair, making me almost worry about him. Yet, even though his
eyes were a striking red, they were a different color from Marc's, Pia's, or
any of the demons we had met so far, a muddy, heavy gaze.
He was looking, but
not seeing.
He had always been
like that. When we met in the town of Velvect, and when we met in the capital of
Kasei, under the swaying many lanterns in the night. Quietly, Lotus clenched
his fist. He was probably terribly surprised.
"...Who was the
guy who lectured me, saying that facial expressions are important?"
Those words sounded
vaguely familiar. Where was it? That's right, he had said it was something a
close friend had told him. He always had a frown between his eyebrows, and
depending on how you looked at it, he had an intimidating aura that made you
want to run away, yet he smiled incredibly brightly. Surely, those were words
that had quietly sunk into Lotus's heart.
Lotus, sighing and
turning away, might not have noticed, but at Lotus's words, Vejasha finally
twitched, reacting just a little. It was a truly slow movement, but his eyes
gradually moved and blinked. I realized now, terrifyingly, that until just this
moment, Vejasha hadn't even blinked, just standing there silently.
"Lo, Lotus."
"El, let's
go."
I got scared and
pulled on Lotus's hand. But Lotus just turned his face away and tried to head
towards our destination. "Don't go." The word resonated deeply. It
was Vejasha. "Don't do anything, it'll be over soon." What would be
over?
--Everything will be
ended by us.
Marc had said that
before.
Lotus completely
ignored him. That's right, our target wasn't Vejasha, but the World Tree. I
thought it was the right course of action. We moved forward. At the same time,
Vejasha slowly moved his right arm and snapped one finger, snap. Lotus
disappeared.
"Eh..."
Feeling uneasy, I
realized that even though I should have been gripping the hem of Lotus's
clothes, I was grasping at empty air. I turned around. No one was there. Ichi
and the others were also confused, hopping around. "Lo..." I looked
around the large, stump-like area. "Lo...tus...?"
Vejasha, still in the
position with his finger snapped, tilted his head slightly and looked at me.
A wave of unpleasant
sweat broke out. My heart was pounding. I couldn't breathe. Vejasha slowly
tried to snap his fingers again. "Wait!!!" At my shout, he froze.
A unique skill.
Like my illusion
skill, every demon had one special ability. Marc had a superior tamer skill,
Pia had Howling. Vejasha had—future sight. (No...) That alone couldn't explain
the current situation.
"Where's
Lotus...?"
"Who knows?"
he replied. "Is he alive?" He tilted his head at this question too.
My lips trembled.
This was a foul play.
I didn't know the opponent's ability. I didn't know their goal. If Vejasha
snapped his fingers just one more time, I would be finished.
The fact that he was
just waiting for my words was a sign of his composure. If he was the Demon
King, he must have an incredibly powerful unique skill, more powerful than
anyone else's. Rough breaths escaped my mouth involuntarily. It hadn't been a
long time. But the sound of my own heart was so loud that I couldn't even think
straight. I didn't understand.
Uuuu, I heard someone
groaning at my feet. It was San. San was trembling all over, glaring fiercely
at Vejasha with his whole body.
--You bastard, how
dare you do that to Lotus!
And he jumped straight
towards Vejasha.
"San,
no!!!!"
My outstretched hand
passed through him easily. Ichi and Nii couldn't make it in time. Snap, Vejasha
snapped his fingers. Time felt incredibly slow. Slowly, the water in San's body
rippled. He screamed. But—bump, with a soft sound, San's body collided with
Vejasha, bounced off, and the slender Vejasha fell on his butt. I didn't
understand what had happened.
"You bastard, you
bastard," San continued to attack with his head and butt, looking more
like the villain. "San, come back!!!!" "But, but," San
seemed to say. "Come back, I said!!!" Ichi and Nii were shouting the
same thing, so San reluctantly returned.
I hurriedly scooped
him up and hugged him tightly. "El, that guy sent Lotus somewhere!"
he shouted angrily. This was unforgivable! I hugged him tightly, nuzzled him,
and let out a long breath. It was a sigh of relief. "I know how you feel,
I really do. But you can't be alone." I was scared at the thought of even
San disappearing.
If San disappeared,
then Ichi would disappear, and Nii would disappear. The thought made me shudder.
Seeing my state, San nodded sadly. I was glad he understood. I put San down and
looked at Vejasha, who was still sitting down. He was human.
I felt like I
understood something. That's right, Vejasha was human. Before being a demon, he
was human. That was the thing I understood the most. No matter how powerful his
abilities were, he was just a human, so there must be a way to deal with him,
and he wasn't a being beyond human comprehension.
I had always thought
his unique skill was future sight, so I hadn't thought deeply about it, but it
was already clear that his ability was different. Then, he must have another
ability. It was just that simple. There must be a hint somewhere in what had
happened so far.
In an instant, my mind
raced. There had been slight inconsistencies from the beginning. I started to
connect them one by one.
(First, we met in the
chapel in Velvect, and before I knew it, I was there...)
I remembered being
terribly surprised. Next was after the battle with the sand scorpions. These sand
scorpions were controlled by Marc. I had thought that I called monsters
controlled by demons "demonic beasts." That wasn't wrong, but the
ability to transform monsters into demonic beasts was also a unique skill. In
other words, there was a reason for every strange phenomenon. The explanation
of "because they're demons" wasn't enough.
When Vejasha suddenly
appeared before us, what had Ichi and the others said?
The scattered pieces
were gradually falling into place.
"Vejasha, your
unique skill is..."
There was no mistake.
This explained everything. Otherwise, it would be strange.
"Teleportation."
His one eyebrow
twitched. So it was true.
When Vejasha had
suddenly appeared, Ichi and the others had called him a teleportation
specialist, and as it turned out, they had unwittingly hit the nail on the
head. He always appeared and disappeared without us noticing. And then there
was the thing I didn't want to remember, the demonic beast that had destroyed
the town of Velvect had appeared from the sky. Demonic beast couldn't possibly
be born from nothing, Vejasha must have moved it.
Lotus hadn't been
erased, he had just been moved to some other place.
(Then, Lotus will
definitely be alright...!)
He had a flying skill.
I didn't know where he had been sent, but he had the ability to cope. If he had
literally been "erased," I would have been in despair, but if it was
just a physical displacement, there was no problem.
--The night we fought
the sand scorpions, even though there was plenty of dry mud at our feet, the
footprints of those two who had disappeared weren't there. I had thought it was
strange. It explained why Marc was meeting Elma regularly.
His ability was to
move himself and others somewhere else.
If that was the case,
the reason why that power hadn't worked on San was probably because there was a
restriction on his ability when it came to water. The majority of a slime's
body was water, and since they were messengers of the gods, they couldn't
forcibly use their abilities. The approval of the slimes themselves was
necessary.
(I see...!)
It was then that
Vejasha's expression twisted. He clicked his tongue and snapped his fingers. A
warning sound went off in my head. The status screen.
【Do you approve of the ability? YES・NO】
Of course, the only
choice was NO.
"Of course I'm
refusing...!"
I operated the status
screen at the edge of my vision and tapped the button. Snap, something burst
and flew away. So it was true.
Vejasha had been able
to see Ichi and the others. That meant my unique skill hadn't worked on him.
But Vejasha had moved Marc with him. It wasn't simply that unique skills
couldn't be used between demons, the approval of the one being affected was
necessary.
Lotus didn't have a
unique skill as a demon. He was an existence between human and demon. That's
why he had no way to resist. But I was different. If I hadn't realized this
fact, I might have unknowingly accepted it, but I had the status screen. Since
there was a clear display, it was easy to reject it.
"Everyone, unique
skills can be rejected! Don't accept it!"
San, who had charged
forward with too much momentum, might have just gone with the flow, but I had
to tell Ichi and Nii too. They both looked startled and braced their whole bodies.
Their jelly-like bodies trembled. They had probably rejected the skill just
like me.
(We can do this.)
After a breath, my
vision suddenly rose. Vejasha blinked slightly and looked at me. It wasn't that
my illusion skill had stopped working. I could cast it on myself as much as I
wanted. My limbs and hair lengthened. My hair was a bit of a nuisance, but this
form allowed me to move much faster.
"Alright
then—let's go!"
Wah!, Ichi and the
other two jumped out.
How much time had
passed? Ichi and the others charged at Vejasha, bumping into him on the right
and left, trying to obstruct him. Each time, Vejasha snapped his fingers. A
wall that had been moved from somewhere appeared in front of him, and as he
tumbled backwards, a cage fell on my head.
"Unyah!"
I sensed it, listened
carefully, reacted with combined skills, and immediately changed to the fishing
skill. I pulled on Ichi's hand, Ichi held Nii's hand, and the last one, San,
gripped the edge of the cage, fishing for three slimes.
"Eiyaah!"
Even when I deflected
the cage that had fallen straight towards me and threw it at Vejasha, it
disappeared when he snapped his fingers. Facing him, I understood. Vejasha's
unique skill was simple yet powerful. Mass limit: unknown, distance: unknown.
The action was just snapping his fingers. Maybe even that was a bluff.
I couldn't move
forward. Even if I did, I would be pushed back. Why was Vejasha hostile towards
us? Even his goal was unknown. No, in a way, he was protecting the World Tree.
Cutting off even one branch was something he wouldn't allow.
"...Why?"
It's just cutting off
one little branch, isn't it!? I couldn't say something like that. I knew that
even that little bit could potentially anger the gods. From the word
"demon," the image of something hostile to the gods was probably just
my own imagination. Besides, the alias "demon" was just a
"derogatory term" that other people had arbitrarily given them.
Suddenly, I wanted to
talk to Vejasha.
I was just imagining
things, I knew nothing about him. There was a long thirteen-year gap, so even
Lotus didn't know him.
"Are you on the
side of the gods? Are you protecting the World Tree?"
Vejasha, in the middle
of making a snapping motion, froze. His eyes, which I had thought were like
mud, slowly changed and looked at me.
"No."
He was irritated. Even
in his short tone, I could tell. But I didn't understand anything beyond that.
What was different? Wasn't he protecting the World Tree? Then why was he
hindering us?
--Everything will be
ended by us.
"...What exactly
are you trying to end?"
Vejasha rubbed his
thumb and index finger together strongly. His right arm, in contrast to his
bland tone, twitched slightly as if showing anger, and the sound he finally
made was a little different from before. Snap, it had a heavy resonance.
"This...
repetition."
Those were words I had
heard somewhere before. But I couldn't remember where. My vision disappeared. I
was robbed of my sight. No, that couldn't be right. I hadn't approved it.
Then—the light source had moved. "Ichi... Nii, San!?" They were
nearby, I could sense their presence. Yet, I couldn't hear their voices. There
was no sound. Vejasha's ability wasn't just to move objects or people, it was
something simpler. My illusion skill turned my beliefs into power. There was
also the inconvenient aspect that it wasn't very user-friendly for combining
skills, but it wasn't just for changing my appearance as an illusion.
The essence of
Vejasha's ability was to move everything he didn't recognize. If he couldn't
move me, he just had to move everything else. "No way," even my own
voice that I spat out was inaudible.
All I could see was my
own body. I walked cautiously. But I wasn't moving forward at all. After all,
there was no ground. I braced myself and ran. Of course, nothing happened. I
collapsed.
(...Repetition...?)
I shook my head,
trying to escape the reality that there was no way out, but aimless thoughts
kept coming, even though this wasn't the time for such things. In the
pitch-black darkness, I felt like I would lose consciousness if I didn't
deceive myself.
(Why did Vejasha know
the future...?)
If his unique skill
wasn't future sight, I couldn't understand why he knew what was going to
happen. He wasn't a reincarnated person like me, nor a transferred person like
Yuko. I stood up. Then, I walked straight ahead again. But there was no end to
it. I sank down again.
No matter how far I
went, no matter how far, there was nothing. Only pure fear welled up. Scary.
Vejasha might have even erased time somewhere. In a place with no sound, and no
light, I had the feeling that even I myself was gradually disappearing. I
mustn't "approve." I myself was trying to accept Vejasha's ability. I
bit my lip. I raised my face and screamed that I didn't want to. But I couldn't
hear anything. I was probably crying. It was dark. I didn't know. Scary. I
wanted to disappear. Scary.
"...You keep
whining and whining. It's irritating to watch."
Clack, clack, I heard
footsteps. I raised my face. A beautiful woman I recognized was looking down at
me. Golden hair, bright red eyes, and sharp, upturned features that I should
have seen often, yet they were completely different from my memories.
"Eldorado, no,
was it El now? You're such a weakling, really, someone I can't even imagine
being me."
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