I updated another chapter just a little while ago!
—The first one to receive "that" was Katia.
"…What?"
She had been fighting desperately against the Monsters that swarmed toward her when she suddenly noticed it.
…Inside herself. Something was asserting its presence, nestled alongside her inner Magic power.
Normally, a foreign presence inside her would have been unsettling—but for some reason, she felt no revulsion toward it whatsoever. Rather, it was something brimming with kindness, as though warming her from the depths of her heart.
It was glowing brightly now, as though making an appeal, as though reaching out for something.
She grasped the message precisely… and smiled.
"…I see. So that's how it is."
Gently, softly, with a tender warmth.
Having understood it fully, she gave her permission.
"…Of course. Luckily, I have plenty of Magic power to spare. Take as much as you need."
And so she showed her will. She offered a prayer of gratitude to her dearest friend—kinder to her than anyone else.
—He, too, had received the same thing.
"…This is…"
A rest no longer than a moment's pause, amid the fierce battle against the Monster.
While he steadied his ragged breathing, something began to shine within him.
He—Albert—heard that call as well, and came to understand.
"…I see. You're asking for help, aren't you."
No... that's not quite right. The words to express what was inside him were slightly different.
To be precise—
At last—
you've asked for—
help—
from me—
—that's what it is.
He felt genuinely happy about that.
She had done nothing but give to them, all this time. Even though she poured herself out to the point of wearing away her own body, she never asked for a single thing in return. Even when they tried to give her something, she flatly refused, forcing nothing more than a pained smile.
And now, at long last, she finally asked them—for help, for aid.
—Could anything have stirred him this deeply before?
That said, Albert's situation was different from Katia's. He understood perfectly well what was being asked of him—but honestly, having it taken from him right now would be rough.
…But.
"So what?"
He declared it with all his strength, fierce and unyielding.
Besides, what she wanted was far too modest a price for everything she had given them until now. He would not allow that—he would give everything he possibly could.
If that put him in a bind—well, then he'd just have to break through his own limits. If he wanted to repay her devotion, that was the least he had to do.
"Take it. …If that's what you need, do whatever you want with it."
And so, he prayed as well.
When he looked around, the other Class B students still fighting—all of them were offering up the same prayer.
──The same phenomenon was occurring inside the school building as well.
Those who had taken shelter in the school building. Every student among them who met "certain conditions" heard the same declaration from within.
One of them.
An A-class student who had been struck by Sara's magic before she was kidnapped.
The male student who had been confronted with his own helplessness, driven to despair, and yet forgiven by Sara with "it can't be helped" — he, too, listened to the voice inside himself.
"...I understand."
There was not even the slightest need to hesitate.
He had never imagined that fighting could be this terrifying. He was truly ashamed of his own weak will. Even now, he loathed himself for how his legs trembled before the Monsters' onslaught, rendering him unable to move.
......And yet. She had forgiven him, just as he was.
Because he had received that forgiveness, he was able to feel shame. He was able to resolve that next time, he would not be like this.
If she — the one who had given him that — was in trouble now...
Then it would be fine for everything to be taken from him. No — she should take it all. Otherwise, even so, he could never hope to repay this debt of gratitude.
With those feelings in his heart, he prayed from the depths of his soul.
Not just him. Everyone in the school building who had been saved by her prayed as well.
The prayers became light, and flew off in a certain direction.
"...I see."
Inside the school building — Class B, the class Ermes and the others attended.
Standing there, watching over the state of the battle, Niina was experiencing the same phenomenon.
"I had this sense of something being off, this strange feeling. ...But if that's what's going on, then it makes perfect sense."
She had noticed the true identity of what lay inside her in more detail than anyone else.
With that rare perception of magic power, she recognized it—and Niina gazed upon it tenderly, a gentle smile on her lips.
"...Fufu, what a wonderful spell, Sara-chan. I'm almost jealous."
And she, too, naturally had no need to hesitate.
She couldn't fight. Given that every move she made was being monitored, there was no way she could commit an act that would be taken as outright rebellion against them.
...But if it was just this.
If all she was doing was praying, well, there was no way anyone would find out.
"Go ahead. Take it. ...It's nowhere near atonement enough for not being able to fight, but it's everything I have."
And so, spreading both arms wide, she too began to pray.
In her own way, pouring in her heartfelt devotion and her "love."
—And in the end, it became a massive burst of light, heading off in the same direction.
◆
"...What... is this..."
Ermes was in the midst of utter shock.
Sara, who shared his
Primal Inscription,
had reexamined the essence of her own magic through the power of wisdom.
The result was the activation
of the Star corolla's
Magic Inscription
Liberation.
.
Its effect was now unfolding before Ermes's eyes.
—Light.
An impossibly vast light had appeared above her halo.
It continued to swell, fed by new streams of light arriving from every direction.
The light was magic power — vast quantities of it, gathered through her magic as a conduit.
And from that, the true nature of her magic could be discerned.
Even the light that now asserted its presence within her own body — Ermes analyzed it with precision.
"……A magic that accumulates magic power in response to the free will of others.
Its targets are all those within a certain range—
who, in the past,
"
Star corolla
"
—
used—
every human—
all of them.
"
Nina had once said: "Sara's healing — it feels like magic power lingers even afterward."
That must be what she was talking about.
Her healing wasn't just healing. She was leaving behind her magic as a seed. Normally, it only served to gently warm the heart. But when someone was truly in trouble, it functioned as a magic power accumulation device — a plea that said, please, help me if you can.
What was particularly noteworthy was that it wasn't compulsory collection. If it were, there was no way it could have gathered this much magic power.
No, she probably could have made it compulsory collection too. But she didn't. She refused to let her own magic be defined that way.
She left it entirely up to the free will of the target. She made it a function that could receive as much magic power as the willing wished to give.
The result was this — an incomprehensible mass of pure magic power, equivalent to who knew how many Hermesses worth.
It was the undeniable magnitude of what she had gained — a testament to the connections of the heart she had forged.
Each one was humble on its own, but gathered together, they became something incomparably greater.
She had healed more people than anyone. She had saved more hearts than anyone. This was the fruit of her labor.
And it manifested here, exactly as this quantity of magic power.
…No, putting it this way in a roundabout way was tasteless.
He would define it simply. Ermes settled on this.
Her magic — the
Star Corolla
's
Magic Inscription Liberation.
Its effect — a magic that bundled the prayers and feelings of others and turned them into power.
"…Haha."
Ermes laughed bitterly.
I see. How wonderfully convenient — truly like a
fairy tale.
A spell.
The embodiment of her wish — she who believed that everyone has something wonderful, who dreamed of a paradise.
That is precisely why it is such a beautiful spell.
"…Ermes."
There, it absorbed the last and largest burst of light, and the swelling of light came to a halt.
Confirming this, Sarah — she who had become the incarnation of an angel of breathtaking beauty — called out to him.
"Yes."
"This… is my magic."
"Yes. The size of that light is the very magnitude of the feelings directed toward you. …It's a magnificent spell, isn't it?"
Having been told this, Sarah looked up at the light above her head — and a single, transparent droplet slipped from her eyes.
But she quickly wiped it away, then turned her azure eyes toward him, brimming with a light that threatened to draw one in.
"…I am entrusting this to you."
And so she spoke. Transferring a vast amount of magic power, entrusting him with her wish.
"So, in order to protect the place where everyone who poured their feelings into me lives—"
At the same time, the black walls that had been surrounding them shattered, and a black Monster revealed itself.
Without a trace of panic, she pointed at it.
"…Please defeat the one I could not save as I am now."
"Understood."
Without a moment's hesitation, he answered — thinking to himself that it was just like her, to still be troubled by the fact that she "couldn't save" someone, even now.
"…I finally found you. Now, stop your pointless struggling and come quietly—!?"
And Clyde — who had apparently been struggling more than expected with the barrier destruction Ermes had set up — froze as he tried to deliver his usual preamble with a flourish.
"—What… is that?"
Even he must have noticed it. The mass of light Ermes had just received — that it was something terrifyingly dangerous. Something that could kill him.
"What is that? I don't know anything about it — I don't know anything like that! Stop, get rid of that thing right now! And just let me kill you already!"
"I'll have to decline."
Naturally, there was no obligation to listen, and Ermes took a step forward.
…That's right. With this, she no longer needed to worry about how to defeat him. There was no need to target the vulnerability of immortality, no need to think of any means other than outright defeat.
The method she had abandoned due to the absolute limitation of "insufficient magic power" — she could now carry it out.
That is to say—
Keep
killing
him
until
he can't
regenerate
anymore
.
She had already seen through his fighting style. She'd been caught off guard once before — she wouldn't let even a sliver of carelessness remain.
All that was left now was to win.
"Stop, stop! What are you — what are you going to do—!"
Ermes spoke flatly, without a hint of emotion, to Clyde, who was backing away with fear plastered across his face.
"What am I going to do? How surprising — don't you understand? ...Even though it's something you yourself always used to say, like a catchphrase."
Laden with the greatest possible irony, she delivered the words that would mark the beginning of the end.
"
Everyone,
,
combine your
powers,
,
and defeat
the enemy!"
"Ermes—!!"
His scream of fury was already left behind.
She was well aware that even in this form, Clyde still possessed the sense of pain.
...Which meant that what awaited him from here on would be nothing short of hell.
Even thinking that, she had no reason to hesitate.
Ermes slipped through the tendrils, conjured a flame sword, and drove it into Clyde.
Next time, the real thrashing finally begins...! Stay tuned!