Chapter 285 |
TL: TangSanFan
ED/PR: Tanthus
『Side Story』 Pursuing the Butterfly (12)
– ‘Lucy’
– ‘If you ever want to leave the mansion, you can tell me honestly.’
Lucy recalled the side profile of the man who sat beside her on the roof of the mansion, gazing up at the star-filled sky together.
It was the day he had come to find her personally as she fled from the maids and lay gasping for breath on the roof.
It’s such cruel timing.
Why does she think back to those times now, of all moments? Lucy felt an odd sensation stirring within her.
Lucy and Yenika understood each other’s styles of combat all too well.
Yenika must not be engaged in a war of attrition. Especially not now, when there’s a limit to the magic power Lucy can use.
Even more so because the forces of spirits pouring out are specialized in such simple wars of attrition, and Yenika has obtained the Heart of Bellbrook as well. It would all be meaningless unless she subdued Yenika’s true form, which summoned these spirits.
Lucy knew that very well.
And Yenika also knew that Lucy was aware of that fact.
– ‘Sometimes, I have such thoughts.’
– ‘Under the pretext of protecting you who have lost your magic, I wonder if I’ve confined you too much to this mansion.’
– ‘Think about it, you were more like a creature that wandered here and there under a sky for a roof, rather than being tied down to one place.’
A high-level explosion spell, ‘Destruction’, burst forth from Lucy’s hands and spread out centering around Yenika.
The explosion filled the surroundings, and smoke billowed. Yet, with a flick of her wand, Yenika whisked away all the smoke.
Luks, an intermediate wind spirit grotesquely twisted, spread its wings. Standing straight atop a giant dragon-shaped spirit, Yenika looked like a proud queen.
Ed’s wand was created using a millennium tree wand that had been struck by lightning, just like Yenika’s.
However, the minor modifications and the types of spirit enchantments bestowed on it were completely different. Ed’s spirit magic and Yenika’s spirit magic have very different textures.
Yet, if it’s power within the category of spirit magic, then it’s as good as in Yenika’s grasp.
A natural-born spirit mage does not distinguish between the types of spirit magic.
Even if the wand is specialized for Ed’s spirit magic, handling it poses little difficulty.
As Lucy gathered energy for her next spell, a ruddy mass of magic power bloomed over Yenika’s head, then another pair of wings unfolded.
They were vast bat wings, blightingly burned and rotting away in places.
Spirit Formula – Explosive Birth.
This spell caused an explosion centered on a pre-engraved spirit formula.
The problem lays in its strength. The explosion, amplified by Yenika’s power, wielded almost the potency of high-level explosion magic.
The point of origin of the explosion was right under Lucy’s feet.
A blast of heat and the ensuing roar sent Lucy’s petite body hurling through the air.
– ‘Just lately, I’ve been thinking that maybe I’ve been a bit too self-centered.’
– ‘Sometimes I reminisce about the past. I don’t know if you were aware, but you just never seemed… tied down by life, Lucy.’
– ‘I even thought it wouldn’t be strange if one day you just disappeared.’
She succeeded in materializing defensive magic, but it required an excessive amount of magic power.
Using too much magic would leave her short of power to return to her original world.
Even as the pressure weighed relentlessly on Lucy’s chest, Yenika’s assault showed no sign of abating.
The moment she leaned against the wall of the altar, a different sense of unease assaulted Lucy’s mind.
There was water.
It was up to her ankles. Even though they were at the peak of a mountain.
Lucy Mayrill seemed to barely hold herself together, having allowed Yenika’s counterattacks multiple times. Despite this… with a single-minded determination to stop Yenika, Lucy somehow managed to keep moving.
“Why won’t you finish it?”
Yenika, head bowed for a brief moment, raised it to question Lucy.
Even though Lucy was battered and bruised, she couldn’t bring herself to finish Yenika off. She had come to understand Yenika’s feelings all too well. But what good would persuasion do now? What could Lucy Mayrill, who hadn’t lost Ed, possibly say to affect Yenika Faelover, who had lost everything? It was possible to spout clichés – that the man who died wouldn’t have wished for this, that rampaging about would have no meaning.
Sure, she could speak these truths… but to what end? When she thought Ed had died, didn’t Lucy herself rampage through the academy? She could fully understand that pain, that grief. And didn’t Yenika know, just as well, where she stood?
How could Lucy Mayrill expect to persuade Yenika Faelover? In the end, if she were to stop Yenika, it would have to be through force. And yet, Lucy couldn’t bring herself to deliver the final blow.
“… I can still fight,” Yenika murmured, as if reading Lucy’s troubled heart.
Yenika softly revealed her determination.
“The heart of Bellbrook seems to have an endless supply of magic. If I can resonate with it just once, if I can bear the toll it takes on my body, I could summon high spirits over and over again.”
“…”
“Now that my staff has dropped from my hand, this means it’s your final chance. You’re almost out of magic, aren’t you?”
Why would she disclose such things to Lucy? The obvious question surfaced, but it dissipated the moment their eyes met. Tears welled and streamed down Yenika’s cheeks. To Yenika now, every moment acknowledging Lucy’s presence was a continuum of agony.
“I want to see Ed… so badly…” her words trailed off.
Even if she could halt her descent into despair and madness, Yenika had no will to carry on. What would be left for her if someone told her it was all meaningless, to stop now? To halt this relentless rush, it seemed necessary for someone to suppress it by force, even if it meant Yenika’s own death.
Biting her lower lip hard, Lucy gathered her divine magical power with closed eyes.
“Still…”
She couldn’t quite find her voice, but she forced herself to speak.
“Still, we must live.”
To cling to life, no matter how meaningless or worthless it seemed—that was the conviction Lucy had inherited from the boy.
Lucy’s divine magic enveloped Yenika slowly. Looking up at the sky with her eyes closed, Yenika felt the magic surrounding her. Divine Magic ‘Time Prison’—perhaps it was nothing but a postponement of death. For Lucy, it was the best choice she could make, allowing her to give Yenika some years of reprieve.
As she watched Yenika’s time come to a standstill, Lucy poured out all her remaining magic. Slowly, Yenika closed her eyes.
-Thump. Lucy collapsed to the ground, utterly exhausted. Alone in the quiet dormitory plaza, she gazed up at the moon, the sadness evident on her face standing before the slumbering Yenika.
“When you open your eyes…”
Lucy whispered to Yenika.
“… I hope that the world will have become a place where there’s some reason for you to live.”
With that final, futile wish, she stood amidst her broken body. Depleted of magic, the world around her seemed ashen.
Now, all that remained for Lucy was an enduring wait. Until the backlash of her Phoenix Ring ended, until her magic was restored, until she could send a distress call to Ed once again… She hoped that across distant worlds, Ed wouldn’t give up looking for her. Praying was all that Lucy could do.
Just then, another flow of magic began to spread across the plaza floor. Over the moss-covered fountain, under the weeping moonlight, a small silhouette emerged. Poised atop the fountain like a swift cat, the figure was all too familiar.
Lucy’s eyes widened as she looked up from the plaza at the top of the fountain. The softly blowing night wind fluttered the skirt of the small girl who wore an oversized witch’s hat firmly on her head, gazing up at the moon behind her.
Gazing up at the stars as if marveling at a dearly missed scenery, the girl then turned her head and looked down at Lucy. The resemblance was uncanny. Frayed school uniform, large witch hat, silver-white hair shimmering in the starlight, blue-green eyes. The somewhat vacant expression was too similar to her own.
Lucy found herself speechless.
– ‘Magic is fundamentally about interaction. Cast magic in this world for a hundred years, but without a medium to receive it on the other side, it’s just one-way communication.’ Zellan had said.
Bridging the gap between severed worlds was theoretically impossible, for magic depended upon interaction. To cross between worlds, someone on the other side needed to observe and manifest the magic. It would require not just vast amounts of magical energy but a foundational understanding of divine magic. There weren’t many who could.
The person who pulled Lucy into this world had become clear. The girl at the fountain turned, bathed in moonlight, and spoke.
“It’s over, then.”
It was a voice too familiar.
Unable to determine anything, Lucy from this side couldn’t fathom why she had been summoned here, where this would all lead. Helpless, drained of magic and strength, she couldn’t resist anything the girl would do. Nevertheless, the girl was her—Lucy—and thus, she could guess her intentions to some extent.
Even trying to envision it, Lucy couldn’t comprehend. In her life, Ed was essential—she couldn’t imagine a life without him. She didn’t understand why she, having lost Ed, had to hide her own survival in Acken Island, why she had to fake her death, why she beckoned herself from the far world. What purpose would it serve? Nothing came to mind.
The girl jumped down from the fountain—Lucy kept pondering. Uncertain whether to be wary. In the end, what difference did it make? She could do nothing more than watch as the girl steadily approached her.
The girl, now within arm’s reach, regarded Lucy with an expressionless gaze for a long while. The two Lucy were different, though the same: Lucy had not lost Ed but was determined to live on, despite being battered and out of magic. The vitality in that gaze, even to the other-worldly Lucy, was palpable.
Then, the girl who looked like Lucy began to speak.
“Right. I see.”
It was only after meeting those eyes once more that Lucy understood. They reminded her of someone she had seen before crossing into this world, someone with empty, hollow eyes—a magician who had not wished to exterminate the Ain tribe, Zellan.
Even if it was as unreachable as a butterfly in the sky, just the recognition of such a world’s existence felt like salvation. Just the notion that somewhere in the streams of time, a version of herself could be smiling was enough to find solace and to live through the present reality.
As the realization sank in, Lucy was left speechless. The girl from this side didn’t say anything more. Merely observing the vibrant desire to live in Lucy was enough; no further explanation seemed necessary.
The girl moved into Lucy’s embrace, and began to sob softly, crying out as if to testify to the solitude and trials she faced. All Lucy could do was wrap her arms around the girl’s back.