Volume 2 – The World Sneered
The night forest was closed by the darkness, denying any entries.
Mary walked ahead with a lamp in hand, but her field of vision was still narrow.
Her footsteps.
The trees swaying in the wind.
The insects chirping.
The animals shaking the brushwood.
Among all this, Mary felt that something was looking at her with curious eyes.
Star
did not react, so it was probably not an enemy.
No, she could sense that even without relying on arcana.
She felt nostalgia for some reason.
The animals were also calm, as if they were happy about the return of their owner.
But a different sense of ‘unease’ similar to a cold feeling mixed in the chilly night heightened Mary’s tension.
She moved ahead while staying wary of a possible attack by Ox.
Then, she saw a faint light on the other side of the forest.
This scenery gave her a sense of deja vu.
She pushed aside the foliage to move forward and saw a ragged cabin.
The only new thing was a lamp hung on the wall, everything else was left as it was
back then
.
“Uuh…… Uuh……!”
A pain suddenly ran through Mary’s head.
She dropped her lamp and pushed on her head as she crouched down.
Her field of vision distorted.
Everything suddenly changed into a sepia color.
“Come in, Luno!”
A child with black hair held ‘her’ hand.
But the child’s voice was blurred.
Perhaps it was because of the ‘distance’ of this memory.
There was a nameplate hung on the cabin’s door.
Applix.
Luno’s family name.
In other words, this memory’s ‘owner’ was Luno.
Mary let the child guide her into the cabin after she picked up her lamp again.
The door was badly fitted.
It did not open as easily as it did in the ‘memories’, but it opened after some force.
“Y’know, I’m really happy that I can be with you, Luno!”
“I could finally become somewhat human thanks to you, Luno!”
Happy memories flowed like a flood when Mary saw inside the cabin.
She knew.
It was not Mary.
Someone inside Mary, Luno, was reactivating this memory.
(The cabin in the woods…… I thought it was really new, but it looks like that was fake.)
Mary did not know if they were trying to hide this, or built that one just for the tourists.
But ‘this’ was definitely the real thing.
Luno was living with a young girl in the middle of this forest normally not stepped into by anyone else.
In all likelihood, for all that time until 16 years ago.
Who was this girl?
Why was her face blurred, why did she not say her name?
It almost felt as if
Death God
itself was refusing to see her.
“I can’t believe…… that I found this place…… thanks to Ox……”
Mary walked alongside the wall inside the cabin while frowning from the headache.
Then, she looked at a broken photo frame on top of a shelf.
She took the photo and held her lamp over it.
It seemed to be a photo of her and the young girl.
She thought she could finally see her face, but half of the photo was burned by the sunlight.
However, Luno Applix’s face was clearly visible in the photo.
“……Haha, I don’t even know who to believe any more.”
Mary instinctively laughed and looked upwards.
This was surprising.
Luno’s face was just a slightly grown up version of Mary’s.
They resembled each other so much that one could say Mary was looking at her future version.
“I suppose the things Yueri said were correct, after all.”
Mary did not resemble Henry and Francis.
She was probably affected somehow by the arcana of the
Death God
, Luno, and was dropped into this world as a vessel to receive
World
.
Luno seemingly had a human form, but she was also a God.
She could definitely cause an event like this.
“
World
should hate me too. I look exactly like Luno, but I’m someone created by
World
’s precious close friend to kill him. For Mytis, I am nothing but a curse……”
Why me?
This question had to be extremely unpleasant for Mytis.
Mary could not do anything about that, however.
There were no more choosers.
She did not want this either.
But she was chosen.
If the spectacle she watched at the ruins was real, then it was the same for the arcana as well.
No one wanted a future like this.
That was precisely why the people who did not want this had to end up hating each other.
“Such…… a helpless world. But I also have to hate
World
for taking my sister away, staining my father’s name, and killing Mr. Noted. His reasons don’t matter, the only way to finish this is to kill him.”
Even if she understood everyone’s circumstances, the results were still the same.
She hated what she hated.
Killing each other was the only choice now.
In other words, one side’s dearest wish had to be denied.
Someone’s tragedy was going to end as that, a tragedy.
Unless a miracle that even a God cannot produce happened somehow.
“Nuooooh!”
Then, she heard a man’s war cry.
Mary reflexively leaped backwards.
A sword flash split the wall immediately afterwards and cut the spot where she was standing just a moment ago.
The man glared at Mary through the gap.
“Mary! I thought I told you to wait near the cabin. Why did you go inside? Aren’t you going to leave?”
“I don’t have to make things convenient for you.”
“How do you think it feels to have to wait for someone like yooooou!?”
Ox’s arm enlarged because of the arcana of
Power
.
He swung down at Mary with all his strength.
Mary broke a window and jumped outside.
The slash smashed the brittle wooden wall and the shock shook the house itself.
She felt a sharp pain in her chest as she watched this ‘memory’ cruelly losing its shape.
(Luno, was this place really that precious to you……?)
She was probably crying.
She had lost her one and only kind memory in this world filled with pain.
“Maaaaary…… I missed you, Maaaary!”
Outside the house, there was a battlefield lit up with multiple torches.
This was the venue for Ox’s final match.
In its corner, Erini was completely unconscious with her back against a tree trunk.
“Look over here, Mary. I’m burning with rage! Lady Francis died protecting a worthless life like yours. So! That means you killed Lady Francis!”
At least Mary realized that he did not plan on killing the hostage.
However, his dignity as a human being went down the toilet the moment he used such a cowardly tactic.
“I told you to look, Mary! I always hated you. You received Lady Francis’s affection despite your incompetence! You were showered in unconditional love just because of your blood connection!”
Mary felt completely fed up and looked at him with cold eyes.
“You finally looked, Mary.”
“Stop saying my name, I hate hearing you say it.”
“It’s a luxury for someone like you who was born a sinner to even be granted a name.”
How much could he look down on someone?
Mary realized something.
It was obvious and easy to understand why Francis had not taken this man’s hand.
“Listen, Mary, if you feel even a little bit of responsibility for Francis’s death, pierce your own heart with my sword here and now. If not, die as you realize your own foolishness. That’s all you get. I’m the one who will survive and mourn Lady Francis!”
“Is that what my sister wanted?”
“We don’t even have to ask her to know!”
“Why?”
“Because I love Lady Francis!”
Ox shouted loudly and Mary could not help but scornfully laugh.
“Trifling.”
“What?”
Then, she insulted him from the heart.
Without any argument or justification.
This man was simply the embodiment of ugliness and selfishness.
“I’m saying that you’re the most worthless person I’ve fought so far.”
“How dare you……? Do not underestimate General Ox, and his arcana of
Poweeeeer
!”
“I’m going to crush your delusions. Come at me!”
Ox’s body swelled up along with his intent to kill.
Mary held her arms aloft facing the mass of muscle in her way and clenched her sinister bone fists.