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CHAPTER 3 – PRAYER AND BETRAYAL
PART 04
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It seemed that Leviathan had suddenly regained its strength, and was rampaging behind the door. At this rate, the seal could be destroyed any minute… Seeing everyone, who had gathered due to the commotion, present, Baa-kun spoke out.
“It’ll be bad for all of you if Leviathan escapes to your world, right? So the best strategy is for us to move in right now.”
“I see. Guess we don’t have a choice.”
I gulped at the sudden change in circumstances and steeled myself.
“…But Rekka hadn’t slept a wink. Will you be alright?” Satsuki asked with narrowed eyes.
“…I was waiting for you in bed,” Harissa huffed.
It was a weirdly tense situation. I hurriedly changed the topic.
“Well! Anyway, are you two really coming along?”
“Of course.”
“I’ll support Rekka-sama all the way.”
Yes, I’d expected just that answer from the two of them…but there was still one more person.
“Why are you here, Tetra?”
“Tetra was the one who dragged you into this in the first place, so she has the duty to see you through it till the very end.”
“Well, but-”
“She means to come along no matter what you say,” Harissa explained.
Tetra smiled.
“Yes. Tetra will not allow you to head into dangerous territory alone. You were the one who said that you would be with her all the way, after all.”
“…..!”
Unable to meet her intense gaze, I swallowed my protests.
Why were all the “heroines” this time round so stubborn?
“Rekka…I’d like to hear more about your story with her once we get back, alright?”
“……”
Satsuki and Harissa were both glaring at me angrily for some reason. What was going on!?
“By the way, how are we supposed to get to the other side of the seal, Baa-kun?”
As a last resort, I turned to Baa-kun in hopes of changing the topic. I hoped the spell to teleport us there would be so difficult that the girls would have to stay behind. They’d surely kick up a fuss, but it was infinitely better than putting them in harm’s way.
“Since we’re on the outside of the ‘sealed space’, we just have to cast a simple spell to open the door. The spell helps to keep normal humans out of the ‘space’.”
…Wait, did that mean that the door would be left open once we entered?
It was too dangerous, and I briefly wondered if I could get the girls to wait for us outside… Nahh, even if I could lock them up somewhere, they would probably use magic to escape and come after me anyway. I gave up.
“Alright. But I expect the three of you to stay out of harm’s way.”
“Alright.”
“Yes, Rekka-sama!”
“Tetra understands.”
I hoped they would keep their word…
“Are we done chatting? Let’s go.”
With that, Baa-kun started up a complicated chant.
~~~~~
As the door opened and we finally entered the “sealed space”,
“……Huh?”
We found ourselves still standing inside the temple.
“Baa-kun, what’s going on?”
“The gods created a fake Earth inside this ‘sealed space’. I guess you can call it a man-made, or god-made parallel universe? But it’s not a perfect copy, so no life can grow here. Besides, the temple is now located aboveground.”
So we were in a fake world that resembled the real one?
As we exited the (fake) temple, the scenery which greeted us was not of Ziz village, but of an area on the surface, just as Baa-kun had said. In fact, the place looked awfully familiar.
“Isn’t this where our city is built? It looks different because there are no buildings.”
“Oh, you’re right!”
Hearing Satsuki’s reasoning, I finally recognized the area.
No life… Which meant that there were no humans, so there were no homes and shops and roads. I could almost recognize the landscape and rivers, but the surrounding forest made it hard to see too far. Light was pouring down from the sky, but it didn’t feel like real sunlight.
“Well, it’s a place that resembles our world, but it’s actually quite different in many aspects, the most important being that time passes extremely slowly here.”
“Ohh~. A world that’s like ours, but not… What a strange place.”
Come to mention it, I couldn’t hear a single sound.
Was a world without life this silent…? Now I finally understood the meaning of the phrase “silent as the grave”.
“I think I’ll go crazy if I had to spend three days in this place.”
“Me too.”
“Me three.”
“Tetra thinks so too.”
Yet this world, which all of us found uninhabitable, was where Leviathan had been trapped for eras.
“By the way, where’s Leviathan? This is strange. If it was rampaging right against the seal, we should have encountered it the moment we entered this world.”
“Maybe the opening of the door made it wary, and it’s now hiding somewhere, watching us… Rekka, you should transform now.”
“Urgh…alright.”
Heeding Baa-kun’s advice, I lifted up the arm with the bracelet… I totally didn’t want to do this.
But now was not the time to grumble, as I got ready to transform.
“Erm… Why did I have to do this chant again?……… Twirly twirly twirling jump! Transform me into a twirly destructive magical girl!”
Chanting the horrible spell Baa-kun had taught me, I drew a circle with the bracelet on my arm, then formed a V-sign with my fingers, with tongue out.
‘I want to die…’
I thought as light surrounded my body.
“Pfft!”
“…P-pfft!”
“R-Rekka-sama? What is- pfft!!”
Unable to control themselves, the three girls were defeated by my transformation.
I’ll say it again.
I just wanted to die.
Well, at least transforming into the magical girl gave me extreme physical strength, so I didn’t need to rely on Baa-kun as much.
The main bulk of the fighting would probably be left to Bahamut, the “perfect creature”. I mean, he was probably the only one strong enough to face Leviathan, the “most powerful creature”. I would most likely play a supporting role.
“Alright, it’s up to you now, Baa-kun…… Eh?”
Baa-kun was gone.
“Hey, wait! Where did Baa-kun go!?”
“Huh? I-I don’t know.”
The three girls were so amused by my transformation pose that no one had seen Baa-kun leave.
In a panic, we started calling out to Baa-kun, but were only answered with silence.
“R… Where’s Baa-kun?”
I whispered.
“I was watching Rekka-san’s lovely transformation too, so I don’t know.”
“Hey hey…”
Without Baa-kun in this “story”, the chances of winning against Leviathan were almost zero.
We split up and started searching for Baa-kun amidst the nearby rocks, but with no success.
“Rekka-san, what should we do?”
“……”
I had no answer to Tetra’s anxious question.
I had just cast my eyes to the ground in frustration…when suddenly, the sky darkened.
As a huge shadow loomed over us.
“Satsuki! Harrisa! Run!”
“!!”
“Huh? What? Wahh!”
Satsuki responded immediately to my warning, grabbing Harissa and leaping away. She had probably used some flotation magic, and the two of them cleared out of the way with a single bound.
“Ah! Rekka-sa-”
“Watch out!”
Grabbing a confused Tetra, I leapt out of the way as well. Still unable to fully control my strength, I ended up leaping a considerable distance in the opposite direction of where Satsuki went.
As I was still suspended in the air, “it” descended from the sky.
It was enormous… I could just imagine it easily smashing a skyscraper to bits. No, it was even larger than that. A humongous white serpent landed onto the ground, instantly creating a crater underneath itself.
“Leviathan!”
Rather than a serpent, I guess it was more accurate to call it a dragon, but it wasn’t like those dragons from fairytales. It had horns on its head, as well as wings and a huge fan-like tail. Its body was covered with wavy lines, and floating above its head was a weird contraption which resembled golden headphones. It was definitely a fantastic creature; a true “monster” created by the gods.
Shit! Were we really supposed to take on this creature alone?
Why wasn’t Baa-kun here with us at this critical moment? With no answer, I had no choice but to face the situation head-on.
“Tetra, you stay here.”
“Rekka-san!”
Hiding the weeping Tetra behind a distant rock, I ran back towards Leviathan.
“Hm? What?”
Just then, R let out a gasp as she tilted her head to the side, as if surprised by something.
“R, what’s up?”
“I don’t know. Maybe it’s just me.”
“What’s wrong with you!”
Why did this future being choose to speak in riddles at such a time!?
“Satsuki! Harrisa!”
I yelled for the other two girls.
“Rekka!”
“Rekka-sama!”
I soon heard their replies, which meant that they were searching for me as well.
The two girls were caked in dirt, but didn’t look to be injured in any way. It was a great relief.
“Rekka, what should we do?”
“I’d like to know too…but let’s just wing it.”
I was actually just acting tough, but there was nothing I could do but hold out now.
“If I lose, you two grab Tetra and head back to Earth via the temple!”
“Definitely not. I’ll stay to support you.”
“Me too!”
Why couldn’t these girls just listen to me for once!?
“Argh! Dammit! Then at least promise that you won’t go anywhere near the ‘monster’, alright!?” I demanded desperately, before dashing off towards Leviathan.
And this stupid skirt was just getting in my way!
Cursing the magical girl costume, I lifted up my stick.
Just then, the creature turned its enormous head and looked down at me.
“You bastards… You came in with ‘him’, didn’t you? Are you ‘his’ comrades?”
“Him”? Who was this “him”?
But I had no time to ponder that.
The power Baa-kun had given to me was destructive indeed, but how effective would it actually be against this humongous “monster”?
In desperation, I swung my stick out towards the creature.
Just then, I suddenly de-transformed.