Battle of Bellbroke (14)
A neatly decorated laboratory on Aken Island late at night.
Sylvania Robester opens a book.
A book that compiles records on aspect magic that he has studied throughout his life. He had just finished writing the grimoire that would later be called the ‘Sage’s Seal’ and became the subject of research.
We will soon be locked in a time prison and go to see with our own eyes the future of darkness.
It will be a long fight against the darkness, but I can only encourage myself that I will be able to endure it somehow.
I tried to summon a being who would open up a future in which all possibilities were closed in some way.
I lived in pursuit of that possibility with the feeling of grasping at straws. I spent my whole life studying aspect magic to summon a man who was living in loneliness in a world beyond the light of a distant star.
I couldn’t even confirm the results of that effort.
How the man will arrive in this world, when he will arrive, whether it will lead to meaningful results… nothing is certain.
Just do what you can in your current position.
I could only know fragmentary information about the man who observed and looked at the world beyond the distant stars.
The man who lived surrounded by mechanical devices in a world filled with countless buildings rising toward the sky was always in danger of his life.
Even in the midst of the deaths of numerous colleagues, he did not let go of his own life. Even though I experienced several setbacks and was immersed in grief and sadness, I tried to live the life I was given to the end.
He is a person who tried to survive until the end no matter what frustration and despair he faced.
So even if Sylvania cannot be observed now.
If it comes to this world one day, it will survive to the end in some way and open up new possibilities.
So, I’m writing with a quill towards a man who might show up someday.
The story is told out of respect for the man who will definitely survive and stand at the end of the stage.
Preface to the Wise Man’s Seal.
At the beginning of the book, which contained entirely his life, he slowly wrote down words to him.
– ‘You who survived.’
Ed Rosstaylor stands up from the rubble and cheers. I had to do something to raise my body, which was already covered in blood.
Even in the midst of despair, the will burns. Against the backdrop of an army of spirits filling the sky, a third-rate extra, neither a protagonist nor anything else, stands up.
– ‘The end of that long journey where you had to risk your life at every moment may be very different from what you thought.’
Ed Rosstaylor gathers magical power to the bottom and makes Merilda, the high-ranking wind spirit, appear once again. Blood poured out of the mouth and a trickle of blood flowed from the ear.
Even while glaring straight at Sylvania through blurred eyes, the giant wind wolf stands up.
Sylvania held her breath as she realized that the wolf’s shape looked vaguely familiar.
– ‘But what doesn’t change is that you went through a long and difficult journey and were able to survive and stand proudly at the end.’
Embarrassed, Sylvania stuttered her movements. Normally, I would have pulled out my magical power in an instant, but the embarrassing feelings shaking my brain prevented me from thinking.
Ed Rosstaylor manifests elemental magic as is. The wind blade, which is just basic elemental magic, hits Sylvania’s right arm. A drop of blood fluttered in the air.
Sylvania clutches the wound on her right arm, unable to believe that such basic magic was allowed.
Even the waves of high-level magic that covered the sky couldn’t hurt her.
However, just looking at the man standing upright… Sylvania could not stop her pupils from shaking.
Perhaps the person standing in the middle of this future trend where everything has changed is… that man, Ed Rothtaylor.
– ‘Are you happy that you survived?’
I remember the preface I wrote in the laboratory on Aken Island, my place of exile, occasionally looking at the starry sky outside the window.
– ‘Or are you afraid that you will have to continue living a life filled with pain and suffering?’
Memories of the days when I went to sleep believing that one day, a man who would somehow break through the future where everything was blocked would arrive.
– ‘Have you found your reason for living?’
– ‘Was it a life worth living?’
– ‘What have you gained and what have you lost?’
– ‘What succeeded and what failed?’
– ‘What did the joy when you were happy and the despair when you were frustrated make you?’
The contents of the letter I sent to the man from the distant future, thinking that he would survive until the end and arrive, are engraved in my mind.
The man survived.
He survived and reached the end of the stage.
The journey was long, arduous and difficult.
Nevertheless, I have never once accepted death.
– ‘Why on earth do we continue to cling to this life, which will only end in vain when it ends?’
Tailley and Ayla Ziggs leave Ofilis Hall with Elvira.
Friede flies up, looks toward the square where Glaskan is rampaging, and runs out.
Supporting actress Belle Maia thinks as she sends them away. I hope they are safe. I hope you endure until the end, survive, and put an end to that disaster.
– ‘What is the reason for trying to change the journey in a life with a fixed end?’
Sword Demon Clevius breaks through the crowd of monsters and reaches the square. After cutting down hundreds of monsters by himself, he rushes into the square, driven by blood-drenched madness.
Dyke, who was following him, runs out with his fists clenched. The combat club students also run towards the battlefield, subduing the monsters that Clevius was unable to deal with.
– ‘Why do we struggle so futilely to survive?’
Lortel Kecheln leads a group of merchants and mercenaries into the battlefield. I advance towards the plaza with my magic power, fighting through the flocks of flying monsters.
When they encounter a group of knights from the Cathedral of Saint Clarice approaching from the opposite direction, they end communication by nodding their heads, then join forces and run toward the square.
– ‘This book is a record of the agony over the answer.’
Princess Fenia and Princess Selaha separate.
Fenia is looking at Belbroke and Selaha is supporting the Emperor.
Those who want to end the situation and those who want to protect the emperor’s well-being.
Although the two people’s values were clearly different, they could not single out one answer and say it was the wrong answer.
That’s how people get mixed up.
Some were lead roles and some were supporting roles.
While there are those who parade brilliantly under the spotlight on stage, there are also those who live their lives to the best of their ability below the surface.
Even if it doesn’t receive the light of the light, it’s definitely there. It’s like everyone’s life.
Tanya Rosstaylor, who has entered the plaza, Professor Kalide, who is clearing the way to protect the students by subduing the monsters, Obel Forsia, who is chained to the Altar of Replacement and holding the last remaining piece of the seal, and Tracyana, who is guarding a group of students from the Ministry of Magic. Bloom River also looks up at the sky, which is full of spirits and aspect magic.
Since when did I stop feeling fear from Belbroke’s roar?
They were resisting. Just with the determination to survive.
– Quang!
Sylvania quickly responded to Merilda’s wind magic.
I ended up allowing the attack for a moment out of embarrassment for no apparent reason, but I wasn’t so absorbed that I even allowed a follow-up hit.
He raised his staff and gathered more star power, but Lucy, who jumped down from the spire, landed on the floor and used the high-ranking lightning magic ‘Never’s Punishment’.
– Huuuk kwaang!
Even before the aftereffects of the lightning disappeared, a spirit-style ‘dark blade’ rose from the ground and attempted to pierce Sylvania.
However, Sylvania unleashes a defensive attack with a reaction speed that exceeds human limits and throws them all away.
Yenika, looking haggard, stands up. He was staring into space with empty eyes, as if he had already lost his eyesight, but he could clearly feel the flow of magical energy.
We have already figured out where Sylvania is.
Sylvania tries to fly into the sky to escape Ed’s spirit range. It was a moment to gather the magic power of the Aspect and leap through space itself.
I tried to raise the magic power of the Aspect, but once again the magic power raised by Lucy was suppressed.
“Where.”
Lucy’s voice was so calm that it gave me goosebumps even as the blood flowed so hard that it covered my vision.
She is barely able to raise her body with her back bent, and although she appears to be barely conscious, she is clearly showing hostility.
He is on the verge of losing his mind because he has gathered all of his future magic power. Nevertheless, they are united in their determination to firmly subdue Sylvania.
Sylvania took a deep breath and raised her wand again.
First of all, in order to use aspect magic, Lucy had to be subdued first. This is because Lucy was the only person who could actually suppress Sylvania’s magic power.
Lucy is dying. Just one direct hit with proper elemental magic can completely overpower it.
It was a moment to bring out general magic power.
– Huaaaaaah,
that brief moment when Yenica blocked the monsters and Lucy blocked Sylvania’s magic power.
At this moment, there was only one person who could draw out the magic power of each aspect.
Ed Rosstaylor activates ‘Force Gathering’ using the magical power of the Aspect that he forcibly drew.
Aspect magic can only be countered by Aspect magic. However, Sylvania’s magic power… Lucy, who was already on the verge of losing consciousness, was forcibly suppressing it.
Sylvania’s body is sucked back into Ed Rosstaylor. He plunges the dagger into Sylvania’s shoulder once again, as she is forced into range.
“Keuaaah…!”
Without even giving himself a chance to scream in pain, Ed placed his weight on the dagger.
Now, my body’s strength was all gone, so it was difficult to deliver an effective blow unless I had to apply weight.
“Uh huh…”
The pain rising from the shoulder where the dagger was embedded invades Sylvania’s mind.
Before he can draw out his magic again while looking at his shoulder with blood flowing out, Ed throws Sylvania over and gets on top of her.
“Ker kahak…!”
Rolling on the floor while being stabbed by a dagger. As the wound heals, a moan of pain comes out of Sylvania’s mouth.
After plucking the dagger from Sylvania’s shoulder, he once again summoned all his body’s strength to strike down the dagger he was holding with both hands.
At that moment…
– Kaang!
Ed’s dagger was blocked by the staff that Sylvania barely raised.
Sylvania was trembling because of the stab wound from the dagger, and Ed had already strained his body to its limit, so he could not exert any more strength.
Because of the strangely balanced balance of power, Ed’s dagger cannot go any further. The dagger aimed between Sylvania’s eyes was trembling, going up and down repeatedly.
Ed’s blood drips down on Sylvania’s face.
Ed’s eyes, visible beneath the shadow of his flowing bangs, are still full of the will to survive.
The two fought for a long time with the trembling dagger between them.
It was clear that if his arms relaxed even a little, the dagger would come out in an instant, as he was trying to gather magical power.
Sylvania was pushing the balance of power to the side while suppressing the pain rising from her shoulder in order to somehow get rid of this dagger.
However, Ed was already completely exhausted, so he gritted his teeth and pushed the dagger towards Sylvania with barely any strength.
Sylvania also knows those eyes.
The records of the man Sylvania saw long ago… slowly… It begins to seep into my memories.
The man was a soldier wandering around the battlefield.
I met many people on the front line where bullets came and went.
Meeting people of different nationalities and with different purposes for entering the battlefield, we sometimes laughed, fought, and made up again. I even thought that he was more than just a comrade in arms, he was like family.
And all those relationships met death.
In the middle of a battlefield where blood flows like a river, a man clutches his head and trembles amid gunshots.
The friend I was sharing bread with was rolling on the floor with his head pierced. The amulet containing his family photos, which he considered a treasure, is buried in the mud.
A female military officer, who had quite a crush on the man, was killed by a grenade fragment while hiding him in the grass.
Thanks to the officer’s sacrifice, the man and his colleague survive by hiding together in the forest. However, the seriously injured colleague has difficulty moving and cannot move. The man carries his colleague across the midnight forest on his back in an attempt to somehow save his life, but in the end, the colleague dies from excessive bleeding on the man’s back.
Now the man doesn’t even have any colleagues left. There was no family to begin with.
In an empty life, a man holds a gun to his head. Continuing to live a meaningless life is only going to be difficult.
However, the man shakes his head, grits his teeth, and lowers the gun. He somehow survives the battlefield and returns to his unit.
So we are sent to another battlefield, meet new colleagues, build friendships, and watch them die.
Sometimes you save your comrades, sometimes you can’t. Some people die and some people live.
In the boundary between life and death, the man somehow continues his life.
That’s how the man ultimately survived the waves of war.
Although he achieved a remarkable record and was praised for his achievements, he never regained feeling in his thigh where he had been hit by a bullet.
Returning to society as a wounded soldier, he is ordered to spend the rest of his life in the peaceful arms of his native country.
Having lived his entire life surrounded by gunfire, he was unfamiliar with the city centers of his home country, filled with tall buildings and peaceful people.
When I try to fall asleep in my peaceful city home, the faces of my dead colleagues appear beyond my eyelids.
I open my eyes wide at dawn, go out to the living room, drink cold water, and fight off the nausea that is rising for no reason.
Although he suffers from hallucinations and is in pain for a long time, he somehow survives the long, dark night.
If you hold on like that, the morning sun will rise.
The light of dawn shines even beyond the windows of a small officetel building.
Even though the dark night is long, morning always comes.
The man reads a book.
Sit by the window and listen to music.
Drink coffee.
I happily chat on the phone with my surviving comrades.
Do rehabilitation exercises.
Clean the room.
play games
Open the window to ventilate.
Provide food to your puppy.
Take a shower.
Change your clothes.
Assemble new furniture.
Repair a broken vacuum cleaner.
Check your mail.
Eat roughly prepared rice.
Sometimes I think of the time I held a gun to my head in a rainy forest.
The man falls into contemplation as he thinks about the muzzle of the gun he managed to lower. I don’t know why he did that, but he didn’t end his life even though he didn’t see any reason to live.
After that, my life didn’t change much.
My life was not turned upside down, and all the worries I was living with like a chronic disease were not resolved.
Life just went on like that.
So I just lived my life as it went on.
Only then did the man realize.
Even though it felt uncomfortable, like wearing clothes that don’t fit, I have gradually become accustomed to it and am enjoying it naturally.
I was able to get a good night’s sleep even in a place where I couldn’t hear gunshots all day long.
The images of my dead comrades, who had shimmered when I closed my eyes, were suddenly recalled as smiling comfortably.
It doesn’t change that much overnight, but when you come to your senses at some point, it becomes that way.
That’s what living is like.
– Kaang!
– Phew!
Ed Rosstaylor’s dagger digs into Sylvania’s opposite shoulder.
Even if Ed Rosstaylor is in a near-death state, it is not easy for the diminutive Sylvania to block a dagger that is thrust forward with all its weight.
As she pushes away the blade of the dagger that is slowly sinking into the wound… Sylvania slowly opens her mouth.
“Hey.”
Ed’s eyes widen at the surprisingly refreshing voice and he looks at Sylvania.
Since when did it start?
The light of reason shines in those crazy eyes. Ed’s blood was dripping down his pure white cheek and was heading to the floor.
A question you must have asked yourself countless times while sailing on a long journey, trapped in the dark.
I was afraid to hear the answer, so I said those words to Ed.
“Did I live a life worth living?”
A life lived with one’s head held high until the end among people who bowed their heads and said it was nothing more than a meaningless struggle. Was it worth it?
Ed Rosstaylor tried to say something to Sylvania with his eyes downcast.
Whatever it is, I feel like the moment I say it out loud, it will just become lip service.
Ed Rosstaylor didn’t laugh or cry, but
just nodded slowly, with an expressionless face as always.
Just that small affirmation made Sylvania Robester close her eyes and shed tears.
Ed’s hand holding the dagger loses strength.
Ed was slowly losing consciousness.
Velbroke’s roar filled the sky once more, and magic cannons swept across Aken Island.
The power that extended from the western coastal area across the island with the power to devastate the island… its effects even reached the entrance plaza where the battle was in full swing.
Ed also almost got caught up in the aftermath, but magical power instantly bloomed around Sylvania and Ed.
The two people, who were covered by the high-level magic ‘Space Curtain’, were able to escape the impact safely.
