Chapter 396: The Master (5)

For you.

“Kyaaaaaaahhh!”

Even if only in a monologue, I convey my heart to you. This is not a farewell, nor a final goodbye.

I, who in this generation received the title of Heavenly Archer.

Even if I look like a bookworm, I am not the type to die so easily.

I admit it. I am a woman with an arid sensitivity.

That in a situation like this, I write a heartfelt letter—the older I grow, the more I feel it’s not maturity I gain, but clumsiness in expression.

I obsess over the tangible, I want to prove myself only through results.

It’s complicated. I don’t even know why I am like this. And in moments like this, I realize, yes, I am that man’s daughter.

That man I hate so much.

Saki Kojima.

But, you know something?

Our secret.

No, not really—as this is a monologue, I guess it’s only my secret.

But they say the truth, sooner or later, reaches its destination. So I confess it to you.

“Shit, cast the spell already! I said cast it…!”

Did you know that every year I lay flowers on his grave?

Absurd, right? After all the contempt I showed, going to pay tribute. There is no hypocrisy greater than mine.

And yet… you once told me that his end was that of a hero, a glorious death in battle. Maybe that phrase was the spark.

“What the hell is that dragon?”

“That’s Horntail, one of the dragons that follow the Heavenly Sword!”

“Then why the hell is the Heavenly Sword’s pet appearing next to the Heavenly Archer…!”

Since then, the resentment I held toward my father, the Absolute Archer Saki Kojima, began to fade little by little. What seemed like perpetual snow, an eternal grudge, began to melt. And I even began to feel proud of being his daughter.

Stockholm syndrome? No, I don’t think so. Maybe it was the spirit of sacrifice.

Of all the men I knew, Saki Kojima was the one furthest from that word “sacrifice.” And yet, paradoxically, he was the one who embodied it in the Second Great War against the Demons.

“A dragon is still a living being! Quickly, change the strategy, cancel the binding spells!”

KWARRRRRGHHH!

“We hit it! Confirmed impact, sink it!”

“The Heavenly Archer is going down with him! Aim, shoot them all down! Let’s go, you bunch of idiots obsessed with your concept!”

“You what…!”

I asked Mom.

She told me Saki Kojima was a coward.

That he lacked the courage to risk his life for his convictions.

That he was a coward who let Alice Louise, my aunt, die without being able to save her.

A coward who could never forgive himself for allowing his wife’s death.

Of course, that was Mom’s view.

I believe he already knew that Alice Louise would insist on going into battle.

If he lived only by intellect, how could he not grasp the feelings of the woman he loved most?

Surely my father wavered between duty and his wife the night before his duel with the Sixth Corps Commander, Basmon.

He spent the night awake, listening to their argument.

And even so, he didn’t stop her. Only after her death did he blame her, piling on her the rage that was his own self-destruction.

That, I think, was the true face of Saki Kojima.

And apparently, I inherited that blood.

I am a coward. Much more than you imagine.

“Separate the dragon from the Heavenly Archer!”

I don’t care if I fall from the clouds. After all, who am I? I live floating in the sky with you every day.

What I am truly afraid of is something else.

“Now, take advantage of the gap!”

I am terrified that, in the name of “preserving humanity,” I might let you go.

That I might justify myself with that. That is my dread. One that makes me tremble.

“Direct hit!”

That’s why I am here. With Horntail.

Call me reckless, I accept it.

Yes, this is suicidal.

As soon as I got the information, I rushed in. Because if I told you, I know you would carry it all on your shoulders again.

And how would that make me any different from my father then?

I’ll tell you later how I located the base of the Villains’ Union.

Ah, and as you might suspect, I got the information by bribing Horntail with meat.

Better to be discreet—with a piece of meat, he was capable of selling his own mother.

“Mobilize—!”

And Abel…

Even if I come out hurt, it won’t be your fault.

I’m here by my own will. Because I wanted to break the shell that imprisoned me.

My father, Saki Kojima, whom I despise, was also my best teacher.

He taught me, consuming his life, what the spirit of a hero means.

A detestable man, but a great teacher nonetheless.

“I hit her, I hit her squarely!”

In the end, Saki Kojima, your last lesson was an example.

And the only thing that still allows me to feel a flicker of pride in you as a father.

***

I gathered everyone I could contact. Rachel, the dragons, the angels. Without distinction of race, I summoned them all.

Almost all responded and came running.

Rachel and the agents sent to Korea, the strategists of the unofficial line led by Ho-in, the butler Karon, who even canceled his return to Castle Sigurd to come.

It was as if everything had been foreseen.

Thanks to many villains of the Villains’ Union being deployed in Korea, there was a large number of heroes stationed there.

Bringing them all by normal means would have been a waste of time.

So I sent my Dragons of Light, engendered by myself.

They soared across the skies at the speed of light, picked up those summoned, and returned instantly.

“We’re all here now, Geom-Ma.”

Rachel cracked her stiff neck from side to side and said.

“Thank you all for coming so quickly.”

“Explanations, better after it’s all over. What’s urgent now isn’t that, right?”

Rachel replied coldly.

As she said, I hadn’t been able to give them any prior briefing.

There was no time for reports when the situation was bleeding me dry inside.

Even so, more than a dozen heroes accepted without questions and came, literally, at the speed of light.

“Thank you for understanding the situation.”

“Please. Among us, there’s no need for formalities. Let’s go already.”

In haste, we prepared as best we could and departed immediately for Avalon Island, mounted on thunder dragons.

The wind whipped our hair and our cheeks burned.

Even for heroes, flying at such speed was like swimming under the sea.

The esophagus suffered, nausea was no surprise.

“It’s all my fault…”

At my side, Abel kept muttering nonstop. She had fallen into a state of absolute panic, paralyzed by guilt.

“It’s not your fault.”

I embraced her by the shoulders.

I pulled her close, rested my chin on her forehead, and whispered in her ear.

“Ryozo is not someone ordinary. And nothing has happened yet. So don’t worry.”

“…Yes.”

She answered, but her expression remained somber.

“If I keep giving you words of comfort, it will only increase your guilt.”

A long, empty consolation was useless.

To heal, Abel needed to face the outcome and convince herself that Ryozo was safe.

Only then could she calm down.

Although, in reality, I was only pretending composure myself. Inside, I was rotting.

Damn it.

Please, Ryozo, please, be safe.

You went to risk your life because I am a mediocre husband, because I am a damned insensitive fool who pushed you to take the initiative.

While I tormented myself with such thoughts, we arrived at the skies above Avalon.

I waved my hand. The dragons descended, and all the heroes managed to land without issue.

After confirming we were all together, I spoke.

“We must find Ryozo.”

My heart pounded up to my throat.

“But searching calmly will take too much time…”

Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

A crash made us all turn our heads at once. A flock of birds took flight in panic.

“There.”

Rachel extended her arm.

On the other side, in the direction where the birds vanished, a column of smoke rose in a spiral.

The epicenter—the surroundings of Yggdrasil, the World Tree.

“Let’s go immediately.”

From the shoulders of the dragons, wings unfurled.

The angel Metatron and the Nephilim Leon also spread their feathers.

“No!”

I stopped them with a tilt of my head. I spoke sharply.

“We don’t have confirmation that Ryozo is safe.”

“What the president means…”

Speedweapon backed my point, carefully dodging the word “hostage.”

“…Is that if Ryozo is free and suddenly sees dragons and angels swooping down on the base, he might feel threatened and react unpredictably.”

“Exactly. It could be a risk factor.”

I could barely hold myself together.

The taste of blood rose in my mouth as I continued.

“This is a human life. I will not gamble with that.”

I looked at Abel, pale as a corpse. I squeezed her hand and declared.

“We’ll all go in together at once. A psychological blow to paralyze them. If we go in waves, the villains might do something insane. We need to strike in one blow.”

“But…”

Rachel hesitated, biting her lip.

The forest of Avalon was denser than any.

The trees reached the height of a five-story building.

It had been a natural labyrinth for years, perfect terrain for ambushes.

“Speedweapon.”

I drew Murasame.

“Yes…?”

“The association holds a reforestation festival every year, doesn’t it?”

“Eh… all of a sudden?”

He blinked, bewildered, but finally nodded.

“It was postponed because of the catastrophe in Paris. Maybe in a week or two. But why do you ask…?”

Swing.

I raised the sword.

“Tell the president that this year they’ll hold it here, on Avalon Island.”

The blade gleamed. There was no crash, only a clean diagonal slash.

The entire forest shook a moment later.

Booooom! Boooom!

The trees fell en masse, clearing the view all the way to Yggdrasil itself.

An open road of toppled trunks stretched before us.

I narrowed my eyes.

There, in the distance, several villains appeared, their faces full of surprise.

“Let’s go.”

I charged straight ahead, at the speed of light.

In a blink, I was in front of one of them, so close our eyelashes nearly brushed.

Crack!

Murasame sliced through his ribs and pierced his heart.

He barely tried to let out a whimper before my blade shredded him.

He didn’t even have time to scream.

Leaving the dead villain behind, I lifted my gaze to the others.

Then, everything shook like an earthquake.

I saw it. My trembling retina fixed on it. Sky-blue hair, sprawled on the ground.

Injured.

Severely.

No—critically.

Ah.

A deafening ringing exploded in my head.

BEEEEEEEEEP!

“President!”

Speedweapon’s voice boomed in my eardrums, but soon it distorted and vanished completely.

I felt a white frost blanket cover my forehead and eyebrows.

++++++++++++++++++

《Oh, Omnipotent One who became a youth.》

++++++++++++++++++

I sank into murderous intent.

Arms from the abyss pulled me down into my unconscious.

Downward.

Further down.

Fwoooosh.

Yggdrasil, which had been withered for ten years, was dyed golden.

It captured the scene of new green shoots sprouting.

Leaves scattered into pieces.

Seeing that, I half-opened my eyes.

‘Red.’

A deep red.

The entire world is riddled with red lines.

Everything is something that must be cut.

From the beginning, this whole world is nothing but an object to cut.

++++++++++++++++++

《May He grant you freedom.》

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