Leave a comment

After we rushed toward the source of the voice, we found ourselves in a giant room. There was a strange and complex magic circle drawn in the center, and so much magic power that even I could tell was flowing into it.

As for where that magic power came from, it seemed like it was being absorbed from the World Tree.

God of Destruction Yuuri stood before it and was interfering with the magic circle for some reason.

“Good grief! I’ll give it to you, you’re a genius when it comes to creating circles! Aaagh, the erosion spell is regenerating again?!”
“Hey!”
“Kh, if I undo this one, that blasting spell will get activated… What should I do?! I really want Hastur’s help here, but he’s doing his best supporting the World Tree!”
“Heey!!”

God of Destruction reacted to my voice and glanced at me for a moment. But her hands didn’t stop what they were doing, which was amazing.

“Oh, Nicole, you came at the perfect time! Please help me.”
“What is this?!”
“It’s a magic circle that erodes the World Tree. A bunch of its suspended functions got reactivated, and it’s gathering the souls of the dead, converting it into explosive power and attempting to destroy the World Tree by releasing it inside.”
“Were you trying to stop it?”
“As much as I’d like to undo it, this spell has a regeneration formula and erosion formula combined into it, so I’ve been stuck in a loop where if I destroy one the other regenerates.”
“Regeneration and erosion?”
“Yes, the regeneration formula automatically regenerates the destroyed magic circle. The erosion formula invades and corrodes the World Tree. Even if the blasting formula doesn’t get activated, this alone will make the World Tree fall. It’s a double-layered trap, with regeneration as a bonus.”
“Is this the trap Kufar laid?”
“Yes. Leaving such a parting gift behind really shows how corrupt his nature was.”

God of Destruction protested while flailing her hands around like a spoiled child, but she didn’t stop doing her work.

At any rate, this was Kufar’s final scheme.

“First, is it possible for us to run?”

I wouldn’t have asked this if it was just me alone. But I had Cortina and Finia with me now. I wanted to avoid danger as much as possible.

If God of Destruction was enough here, I wanted us to get away as far as possible. But her answer easily denied me of it.

“The situation is currently at a standstill. I can gain enough time to have the Berith population escape. However…”
“Even if they run, if the World Tree falls, Berith, no, the Holy Kingdom of Forneus itself will be over, huh?”
“Yes. The dust that goes up will throw the world into winter. People will lose their faith, and the lack of sunlight will bring about food shortages. Once that happens, humans will easily abandon their morals.”
“They will deceive, steal, and devour, huh?”
“That’s basically the end of the kingdom, isn’t it?”
“So we can’t run, after all.”

Her analysis wasn’t much different from my estimations. I never planned to run, but now I really have to resolve myself.

“Plus, Miss Letina and Matisse are in Berith now, you know? Will you run even then?”
“What are they doing here?!”
“Miss Matisse was on a business trip it seems, and Miss Letina came as a guard.”
“Running is out of the question then. Cortina, Finia, sorry but…”
“We’ll stay with you. Letina and Matisse were my students too.”
“M-Me too! I can’t abandon Letina here.”
“There you have it. Is there a way we can help?”

God of Destruction clapped her hands as if she wanted to hear just that.

“I was waiting for those words. There are three of you here, so take charge of each formula and hinder it.”
“But I’ve never seen a magic circle like this.”
“I’ll instruct you what to do. I’m great at multitasking, you see.”

Being told that, we followed her instructions and stood around the magic circle.

Then we took charge of individual parts of the giant magic circle and proceeded to prevent it from activating.

“Okay, I want you to do all you can to hinder the magic circle. I will focus on destroying the formula of the overall linkage. We are going to stop the soul-gathering Víðópnir System and temporarily restrict the power flowing into the World Tree.”
“O-Okay?”

God of Destruction was kind enough to explain what we were doing, but I didn’t understand any of it.

Still, I desperately continued to interfere with the magic circle before me. Cortina and Finia seemed to be having a tough time too.

“As for the magic power that’s already flowed into it, there’s nothing we can do so we’ll have to let it explode here.”
“Hey?!”
“It’s alright. I will use the World Tree’s power to create a barrier and not let the destruction escape outside.”
“Wait, we’re already inside the magic circle, aren’t we?! What’ll happen to Cortina and Finia?”
“You have to resign yourself.”
“I’ll kill you, you s̲h̲i̲t̲t̲y god!”

I might have decided on that if it was just me, but Cortina and Finia were here too. I really couldn’t accept her decision to get those two rolled up into this.

But it seemed that she was just joking, she squinted her eyes and sighed with a shrug.

“If you’ve been that open with your feelings from the get-go, you’d have not needed reincarnating.”
“Shut up!”
“I’m just joking. I’ll share the barrier with everyone. That said, I can’t guarantee safety. We’re trying to suppress the power that the World Tree gathered from all over the continent, after all.”
“…Just do your best.”
“Of course!”

She replied excitedly and focused on dispelling the final magic circle.

The formula characters and figures transformed one after another. Since the regeneration formula was being hindered they remained changed and more parts got changed.

We were also doing our best to hinder the formula for that process to continue smoothly.

I felt like the blood vessels were going to tear in my head due to the sharp decrease in magic power and the precise control I was doing.

This was really hard to do for Cortina, who had little magic power, and me, who wasn’t good at control. Finia might be the most composed out of us in this situation.

I didn’t know how long had passed as I endured my dizziness… But when I came to my senses, we were surrounded by God of Destruction’s barrier.

“Now I shall finish the formula destruction. The loaded magic power will gush out of it at the same time, so make sure you stay inside the barrier. That barrier is specialized in blocking power from one direction, so it’s easy to get out of it.”
“G-Got it.”

Along with my affirmation, Cortina and Finia also returned a small nod. After seeing that, God of Destruction finished the final process.

The magic circle on the floor shone and popped off like a firework. At the same time, my entire field of vision was covered by the vortex of magic-filled light.

I didn’t know what was happening from inside this barrier. I didn’t even know if Cortina and Finia were safe. But I at least understood from the vibrations in the ground that a destructive storm was raging outside the barrier.

That was all I understood.

Since I forced myself to control something beyond my ability, my mind had reached its limit. With the sound of something snapping, I collapsed on the ground.