Chapter 87

The Protagonist that Once Again Realizes the Importance of the Heroine in Mortal Danger (author: that's the good stuff…) (overslept and m

The Protagonist that Once Again Realizes the Importance of the Heroine in Mortal Danger

(author: that's the good stuff…)

(overslept and missed one of my exams, but fortunately, since there were mistakes in the questionnaire, everyone had to retake it. On a side note, break finally started three days ago, and together with it, a certain very embarrassing problem appeared.)

At that moment, Akatsuki En was undergoing a strange experience.

The woman he had encountered at the time of rescuing of Mea──the beauty in white who had called herself Charon──had said something to him, who had been blown away by Keter: “It’s still not enough.”

En had grown strong during this journey to master the power of Fairy Burst, and by now could even match the Ten Archangels of Sefirot. Yet she told him he didn’t have enough strength to challenge the "King" Keter.

En himself understood that fact all too painfully well.

When he stood face-to-face with Keter, he understood with his body. The moment he was struck by the bloodlust radiating from Keter’s piercing gaze, he touched the tip of the bottomless power hidden within him.

It was only when he tried to place the unconscious Eight on Chesed’s back that he felt it, because until then, Keter hadn’t recognized them as enemies.

As Keter himself had said, until that point, he had merely come to retrieve Mea’s power and couldn’t care less about En and the others of the Savers. That apathy was the indifference of the Absolute. (tl note: look up Absolute in philosophy)

He was a king, the Absolute. If he felt like it back then, every one of them would have been wiped out on the spot.

En now understood that the only reason that didn’t happen was because T.P. Eight Olishua──the archangel called Daat──had been there with them.

Upon realizing that, Akatsuki En felt frustration.

Yes… he had been saved by her again.

Both he and Mea.

And because he now knew her true identity as an archangel of Fairy World, more than gratitude, he felt deeply apologetic.

『You humans truly are incorrigible beings. Even after all the guidance you’ve received, you still want to rely on Daat?』

Those words, spoken by Keter in a voice filled with sincere disappointment, passed through his mind.

From the bloodlust that had pierced through him at that moment, En could roughly sense just how special the archangel called “Daat” was to Keter.

En was sensitive to the subtleties of others who said such things. He didn’t like Keter, but it was a fact that he himself was conscious of those words.

We’ve come to depend on that woman so much in this short time…

She had guided them through Fairy World, which they had walk in on without a clue.

She had taught them about the Abyss, the holy beasts, and the state of affairs of this world that they had no way of knowing back in the human world.

When their friends or towns were in danger, she helped them without a hint of dislike.

She saved Chesed and served as a bridge between them and the Ten Archangels of Sefirot.

When Chouta, Tsubasa, and Mea were suffering, she gently nestled close to them and guided them so they wouldn’t go down the wrong path.

Yes… this journey had already become something that could no longer keep going without her.

And now, En was being made to realize that fact once again.

──Because in this moment, now matter how much he struggled with his own power, he had no chance of winning… he had been pushed down by overwhelming power.

“Is thAt All…? For sOmeonE who hAs DaAt’s powEr, yOu’re tOo weAk.”

An indecipherable language, accompanied by noise, heavily echoed through the devastated land.

The monster towering before him was no longer just 100 or 200 meters in size.

It was an endlessly huge monster, so much so that from the ground, one couldn’t even grasp its full form.

…No, perhaps it was an existence that shouldn’t be grasped in the first place. The defensive instinct within En’s brain rejected the recognition of its indescribable entirety.

A demon or a god…? The monster before Akatsuki En felt like its very existence belonged to an entirely different dimension.

It seemed presumptuous to even take up his sword and to fight.

“Guh… Damn monster…!”

Standing up with a body covered in wounds, he spat out the blood pooled in his mouth along with some gravel.

Only a few minutes had passed since he came into contact with the enemy, and he was now in this state, but his eyes had yet to give up.

It was a battle against such an absurd opponent that it was like facing not just the mountains or the sea but the entire sky itself, but a sword forged from blue flames still remained gripped in his hand, and the fighting spirit in his eyes hadn’t died out.

Because this sword of blue flames was created from his own supernatural ability, it could not physically break.

That’s why he could fight. As long as his spirit didn’t yield, Akatsuki En could keep fighting endlessly.

──Even if the enemy was a monster, it was his duty to fight to the end… as a Savior [Saver]!

“Oooooooohhhhhh!!”

With wings of blue flames spread wide, En stepped firmly on the desolate earth and, for the umpteenth time, leapt to challenge it once again.

Even if each time ended with him being crushed.

This was, since that moment──since he had been transported to this bizarre world by the enigmatic woman named Charon──the one-sided onslaught that had been unfolding.

Back then, the moment she pointed out his lack of strength, she had said, 『You have yet to become a true Liberator.』

The next instant, as he tried to question the meaning of those words, En found himself in a place completely different from where he had just been.

He had been forcibly transported. To some unknown, distant location far from that place.

And then… at the place he had been sent to, he immediately saw a bizarre scene.

──First of all, there was no sunlight.

The entire sky was covered in darkness, and the only source of light that could maintain visibility were the flames he himself released.

What he could confirm of the ground under that faint light was terrible desolation. Except for him, there was no life, not even a single building or plant.

…No, there was one large tree in the distance.

It was too far to see clearly from here, but illuminated by the glow of his flame, like the World Tree Sefira, there was a giant tree stretching up toward the sky. But from its form, he felt none of the vitality he had sensed from the World Tree. It was like haze.

That was why he hadn’t noticed its presence until he soared high into the sky like this.

Up in the sky, wrapped in a oppressive atmosphere, En knit his brows suspiciously.

──What… is this world…!?

He had been transported to this place by the mysterious woman Charon without even a chance to protest, but the misfortune that came for him was that he wasn’t even granted the time to curse.

As he was illuminating the area with the light of the fire he was emitting from his hand to grasp the situation, it happened.

From within the immense darkness that blanketed the sky, something massive revealed itself and launched an attack at En.

And now we come to the present.

Akatsuki En was already driven into a corner.

“You’re not just strong… Are you a Qlippoth too…!?”

From the pulsation of the ominous power emanating from the jet-black figure, En deduced that the indescribable monster before him was an Abyss──and what’s more, a Qlippoth of the abyss.

However, it was fundamentally on a completely different level of strength compared to any of the Qlippoth he had faced before.

...To use a baseless metaphor──it was like the “Demon Lord” often seen as the final boss in fantasy works such as games or manga.

Its appearance could be described as the very embodiment of great darkness itself, and the power of Fairy Burst, which had effective against all the previous previous Abyss, was completely ineffective.

No matter what kind of attack En unleashed, against an enemy of such overwhelming scale, it was like a sugar cube dissolving in the ocean.

In other words, there was no chance of victory.

...To be honest, En could not make sense of the situation.

He didn’t even properly understand who that woman named Charon was, nor does he know whether she was an enemy or an ally, having suddenly appeared before them.

However, the meaningful words she muttered as she transferred him to this place remained in En’s ears.

『The child of man called T.P. Eight Olishua demonstrated their potential and became a true Tuner. Now is your turn, Akatsuki En… I hope for your awakening.』

...Was he to interpret that those words mean that he, too, was to reveal his own potential and acquire even greater power?

He was curious about the relationship between her and Eight, but supposing that this might be something like a "trial"... In the past, when he was training in martial arts under Mitsui Akihiro, he remembered that when his progress had plateaued, he would be thrown into the arena, constantly being matched against opponents a level above him.

The spartan-style training with Akihiro, and this situation of Charon tossing him into a scene of carnage without a word──feeling that they were somewhat similar, En tried to understand her intentions in his own way.

Of course, that was assuming that she was on their side, but... perhaps that was the most important point of all.

She was a suspicious being at a glance, but it was a fact that she had saved Mea from Keter, and she seemed to have some deep connection with Eight.

Judging from her goddess-like appearance, it might not be such a leap to guess she was a divine existence in this world.

At any rate, he could find out the details later──either from Eight or Charon herself.

…But until then, the question was whether he would even be alive to do so. It was so powerful that En thought it was hopeless.

He still couldn’t understand the peculiar language the Qlippoth of the abyss was speaking, and it was not an opponent that would back down through a conversation.

Even without understanding the words, En could clearly sense that its killing intent was immense due to his line of work.

"BegonE, rEpugnAnt lIght."

“! Oh, shi──!”

The moment the great darkness, whose full form he couldn’t even comprehend, squirmed like a swarm of bats──the sky fell.

The darkness that had covered the sky itself transformed into overwhelming violence and came to swoop down on En.

Rather than saying it was an attack, it might be better to call it a law, precept, or phenomenon of this world.

En's body, without any resistance, was swallowed by the darkness in an instant.

“Gwaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!”

The darkness blanketing his entire body inflicted intense pain like torture.

It felt as if he were being crushed by a giant fist. Or perhaps all of this darkness was something like its arms.

Within the heavy pressure of the darkness steadily leading his life toward death, En barely managed to hold out and tried to find a way to break the deadlock.

“Awakening, huh… Aah… If that’s what it takes to protect Akari, Mea, and everyone else, then I’ll surpass my limits as many times as I need to…!”

While resisting with a barrier of blue flames unleashed from his entire body like an aura, En declared to Charon, who might be listening in from somewhere.

If this was a trial for his so-called "awakening," then he had no intention of complaining to her for hurling him into somewhere with such a monster. After all, En himself had done reckless things countless times in order to grow stronger.

In order to overcome hardship, he had always pushed this life of his past its limits, and each time, Akatsuki En had grown stronger──and made the one who loved him cry.

Yes… he thought again.

More than the joy of becoming stronger, it was the sorrow of making her cry that felt greater, he remembered and gave a wry smile.

Even now, when his body was about to be swallowed by the darkness of the “Demon Lord,” what he felt was the image of the one who loved him──Mitsui Akari, grieving.

Before the fear of death or the flashing of his life before his eyes, the one thing that always came to mind was her.

──In the end, this is the kind of man I am…

Perhaps Akatsuki En was the kind of man who could only be honest about his true feelings when he was standing at death’s doorstep.

But even so, the him right now──the one who was carrying too much on his back──could not give up here and utter her name in his dying moments.

Don’t give up. You can still fight. Don’t die until the day you bring Mea back and reunite with Akari! Show that you can still hold out! ──he roused himself, and each time he did, the power of the flames gradually grew stronger.

There was nothing more efficient that pushing oneself to the brink of death to surpass one’s own limits.

He said he would save the world. Mea, too, was giving it her all. Having seen the determination his little sister had shown, there was no way he, as her big brother, could run away.

“Not yet… I’m still alive… As long as I’m alive, I can still fight…!”

“…? ThIs is… So thAt’s whAt it Is…”

With his fighting spirit burning and bloodshot eyes wide open, En unleashed the power of Fairy Burst.

Against the great darkness that sought to crush him, he pushed back by throwing everything──surpassing everything he had.

It was a technique no different than a suicidal attack, but he couldn’t see any other way to break the deadlock. If it was for the sake of those he loved, he would even use his own life as kindling. As a warrior, he had always been prepared for that.

──If there was power to be gained beyond this…

And then, blue flames overflowed from his body, swallowing the darkness as it burst and and faded.

It was the savior’s brilliant yet unsatisfying final moment.

“...!?”

The moment he opened his eyes, En's consciousness returned from the darkness.

Cold sweat clung to his clothes from his back, and when he looked at the back of his hand, his pores were open. It was a feeling of despondency, like waking up from a nightmare.

"What… what the hell… was that…?"

Opening and closing his trembling hands in front of him, En let out a sigh of relief as he confirmed he was alive. The voice that flowed reflected his confusion over the strange event he had just experienced.

Within the turmoil that stirred within his heart, En stood up and looked around him to assess his current situation.

Unlike the place he had been in earlier, the dazzling sunlight the poured down from the blue sky illuminated his surroundings.

There was no dark figure that seemed to be the Qlippoth of the abyss, and the place, where plants were thriving and an abundant field of flowers surrounded a perfectly clear spring, was a vibrant, beautiful, warm, and calming scenery, as if the elements in the previous world had been entirely reversed.

──It was then that a gentle sound of a stringed instrument reached En’s ears as he stared at the scene in a daze.

This sound… a harp? No way…!

Recognizing the familiar tone of the instrument, En searched around for a black-haired girl and found──a woman in white sitting on the verdant grass, playing the harp.

It… was not T.P. Eight Orishua.

It was the mysterious woman who was responsible for bringing about all this strange phenomenon, Charon.

『…I cannot play like that girl.』

Perhaps she was unhappy with how it sounded, but Charon stopped her performance, lowered the harp to the ground with a somewhat sorrowful expression, and turned her gaze toward En.

『Akatsuki En… You have failed the trial.』

“…”

Her golden eyes were more beautiful than any jewel, and seemed to have an endless depth of color.

En was overawed by the gaze that felt as though it could see straight into his heart, the words he had originally meant to ask her clogged in his throat.

But with his characteristic force of will, he recovered right away and took a step forward and asked.

"Who… are you? What did you do to me earlier? What the hell was that world…? And what was that monster!?"

Frankly speaking, he was completely lost.

He had been suddenly thrown into a mysterious world covered in darkness, then he fought a monster unlike anything he had ever seen──no, it wasn’t even a fight.

He had been one-sidedly trampled down on, and after releasing his power, prepared to commit a suicide attack, the next moment, he found himself in this flower field.

The bizarre, dizzying, changing situation was driving his mind close to the edge, and there was simply not enough information.

First of all, who was she…? To understand her true intentions, En fired off all the questions he had at once.

Charon, as if having predicted how he would act ahead of time, looked him in the eyes and answered back from start to end.

『I am Charon… the Will of the World Tree Sefira, and once a comrade of Daat.』

“...”

『I have imposed a trial upon you. It was a trial for you to correctly use your power and reach the sacred domain. I sent you into a future of ruin and wondered if there was a chance if you confronted the Demon King of that world… but you were defeated. Just before you vanished, I brought you back. I’m glad you’re safe.』

“…?” (tl note: on top of En having no idea what she’s talking about, her archaic way of speaking doesn’t help.)

『That was one possibility… A possibility where two worlds are destroyed, and only those who have forgotten even their own reason for existence wander the surface… A pitiful end──one that the Abyss may one day pursue.』

“Sorry. I don’t understand a single thing you’re saying.”

『？？』

En responded honestly to Charon, who had explained with a serious look.

A few beats of silence ruled the place the two were in.

Charon tilted her head to the side with a strange expression, and En knit his brows, unable to grasp understand reaction. There was no tension between the laconic two, but there was always a peculiar pause.

──Eh? Was that an explanation? Could it be that she was just carefully explaining in her own way?

If that were the case, he felt sorry for saying something rude.

Ah… Her explanation just now was, to put it mildly, very difficult to understand, but if he ruminated it over and over again, it wasn’t entirely incomprehensible. Cutting her off without listening was his lack of virtue.

“…Sorry.”

『Why do you apologize?』

“?”

『?』

…That said, what he just barely managed to understand was that the strange experience just now was something she had caused, and that it was, as he had guessed, a “trial.”

As for the most crucial part, the explanation of who she actually was… He didn’t really understand much from the fact that she was a companion of Daat──or rather, Eight.

“…What should I do?”

Given the number of things he still didn’t understand, he definitely wanted to question her, someone who’s obviously very knowledgeable about the situation.

However, En had never been particularly fair-spoken, even if he had improved compared to the past, and whenever interrogations were needed during missions, it had been always been Tsubasa who was in charge of it. And besides… since she was Eight’s companion, he was sentimentally opposed to hounding her for answers.

『What is it you want to do?』

“What do I want to do…”

What should he do…? How was he supposed to press her for answers? Earnestly troubled, En searched his mind for the most suitable conversational pattern for this situation.

It was then, during that tension-inducing situation, that his salvation arrived.

“I’ll explain the rest from here, Nee-san.”

“…!”

A refreshing voice of a young girl came from beside En and Charon, who were facing each other.

Turning around in surprise, there she was.

Standing on the flower field, a smile on her face.

Wearing a black dress, a black-winged angel was there.

『Daat… Eight.』

Charon, wearing a surprised expression for a moment, muttered the name as the girl appeared.

En was also surprised. Her outfit, emphasizing feminine beauty rather than the image of an enigmatic phantom thief, and the shape of her wings, identical to an angel’s, were both different from what she had before, yet there was no mistaking that the one standing there was T.P. Eight Olishua.

How was she, who should’ve been taken away by Keter back then──?

“…Please don’t stare at me so much.”

“…Sorry.”

──Aah, this is the real Eight.

For now, knowing that she was safe made En feel relieved.

Before him, Eight glanced briefly at Charon and made a signalled with her eyes. Then, holding down her short skirt, she sat down hugging her knees, picked up the harp Charon had just used, and began to sing and play in a practiced manner.

“Once upon a time, in a certain world, there was lone tree. From the time this planet was born, that tree that stood at the center of the world, as the great tree of abundance that birthed life into the Heavenly Realm, was indispensable to all living beings.

The holy beasts called this tree of life ‘Sefira’ and revered it as the World Tree──”

And so, she began to gently speak, starting from the origin of Fairy World and leading into the supernatural society of the human world──the events of a certain myth.

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