A familiar landscape was visible within the crack that looked like a book torn through the middle to reveal the pages behind. It wasn't a city she knew, but beyond it was certainly the world they had lived in.
She was being dragged in.
She convulsively shook off Cyrus who gripped her shoulder, but the crack had gravitational pull. Her feet were dragged along by a force like soone pulling her hair. With her body half-bound, magic power that seed to tear limbs apart rushed in. Her sleeves beca tattered. She could hesitate no longer. Esperanza threw her body to the ground with all her weight.
"Ahhh!"
The first scream that burst out. Her shoulder that hit the ground felt like it was shattering. The mont she staggered to her feet, gunfire poured toward her legs and side. She barely dodged but several shots grazed past. Blood dripped heavily onto the carpet.
She couldn't rest at all. Though weaker than in front of the crack, she still felt the pulling force. If she relaxed even for a mont, she would be dragged away. She had to maintain balance while avoiding all the rain of attacks. However, it was impossible in this physical condition.
She really might die like this.
Esperanza, who had been breathing heavily with a face darkened by defeat, burst into hollow laughter. If she died here, it would truly be a dog's death. Daria prepared her next attack. Could she dodge it?
Bang!
"Two steps back!"
Responding to that voice was truly in the realm of instinct. When Cider pulled the lever, a high wall appeared right where Esperanza had been standing. It quickly crumpled under the powerful gravitational pull and pouring magic bullets, but it was enough to catch her breath.
The anxiety that had co right up to her nose seed to fade a little. Her breathing, which had been ragged until just before, slowed down a bit. Esperanza briefly turned her head and smiled toward Cider.
"If I die, would you take my corpse? It seems like it would be good for research."
Cider's face contorted. His face, so distorted when he usually maintained a smile at all tis—she felt like she had seen it only once before. The day Esperanza's lie was revealed.
However, unlike then, he soon regained his smile. It was a smile that looked extrely displeased.
"If you die, the place your corpse will go is my grave. I'll lock you away forever in this family cetery, so know that."
That wouldn't be bad either. Esperanza thought while re-gripping her gun. Her muddled head cleared a little. When she let out a light laugh, Cider frowned and added:
"And you won't die."
It had better turn out that way.
As if he didn't doubt it, Cider returned to the machine without even looking back.
Esperanza, who had taken a big breath, looked at the wall. It seed like it could hold for about two shots. There was no need to wait for it to break.
She kicked off the wall and leaped up. As if he had been waiting, young Cyrus approached right up to her nose. Unlike him, who seed familiar with this pressure, Esperanza found it difficult even to maintain her balance.
After several exchanges, Cyrus gripped Esperanza's shoulder and pushed her back. She barely struck his stomach to shake him off, but this ti Daria's hand gripped her forearm.
"Co here!"
Eyes half out of focus pulled Esperanza toward them. She pushed Esperanza into the crack that looked like a book torn through the middle. Rough hands that almost threw her dug into her forearm.
'I absolutely can't go in.'
She must not be dragged into their world. Esperanza shook off the force clinging to her limbs. However, the gravitational pull of the hole was overwhelming. Slowly, as if wind was pushing her back, she was being pushed inward.
Going against the wind required twice the force. Esperanza wrapped pure white magic power around her feet and held a rifle with a gun barrel that sparkled golden. While using magic power to crush and refuse the force pulling her toward the familiar world, she aid the muzzle.
Daria, thinking she hadn't torn this world apart enough yet, was holding the Golden Claw to widen the air. The larger the crack grew, the stronger the gravitational pull beca. Just standing was exhausting.
"Why don't you just give up and go in?"
Cyrus in front, Daria behind. She was caught between a rock and a hard place. No exit was visible. Moreover, there was a more important problem.
'The deeper I go inside, the less magic power moves.'
Their original world had no magic power. There might be so, but at least it couldn't be used. So even if she crossed over with this body intact, fighting freely in a 2-against-1 situation like now would be impossible.
She was confident she could hold out quite a while with her bare body. She might even be able to subdue one person, but in the end she would lose. After that, whether she died at their hands or not, no one would know.
'I can't end it that way.'
She didn't know if she feared death. But she would never end it that way. She had promised not to leave without saying goodbye.
She had received so many things she couldn't give back. So she would definitely keep at least that one promise.
Esperanza looked behind her. She t eyes with Cider at the inner door of the laboratory, which seed to have grown distant. He was saying sothing. But she couldn't hear well because of the wind sound pushing her back. Esperanza only smiled as if to reassure him.
And at the sa ti, she whirled around and shot at the thigh of Cyrus who was charging at her. One shot was enough.
"Ahhhhh!"
The thigh, dulled by repeated injuries, burst open again. The screaming boy was dragged into the deep hole while crouched.
"Cyrus! Damn it, hey!"
Daria, who had been blankly staring at her retreating younger brother, burst into a sigh. No. This couldn't be helped. In that state, even if he stayed here, he wouldn't be of full strength anyway. In this case, it was better to make the hole a bit bigger. If she couldn't gain nurical superiority, she had no choice but to use gravitational pull.
However, Esperanza didn't just watch Daria move either. She had no intention of saving magic power. This was the last. Not that today was the end. This battle would be their final battle.
'I have no intention of leaving future troubles.'
Sending them back would be best, but even if she killed them, she wouldn't regret it. She had no affection for this country, nor was it for any great cause. She would take the most personal and private revenge.
Pure blue magic power burst from the gun muzzle. Because of the oppositely pouring flow of magic power, the movent of magic bullets slowed and most missed. But it didn't matter.
Magic power poured down like torrential rain. Daria quickly rolled to dodge. She couldn't even open her eyes properly in the blue light that filled her vision. It was the sa for Esperanza, but she didn't care. Rather, she poured more magic power into the gun. There was only one thing to aim for. Daria's wrist holding the Golden Claw.
Her legs were dragged inward. Esperanza poured more magic power into her feet. Magic power was gradually beginning to be depleted.
As if she had been waiting, Daria began her counterattack. While moving the Golden Claw to her left hand, she gripped a pistol with her right hand and poured magic power into it.
Force enough to move a city collided head-on. The sound of wind and machinery was no different from a lullaby before this massive collision of magic power.
And for a mont, when the magic power vanished with a roar. From behind Daria, Esperanza once again t eyes with Cider.
Ah.
This ti she could definitely read it. A smile crossed her lips. The feeling of finding a puzzle piece she hadn't found for a long ti and completing the picture. The clarity of replacing a wrongly fitted gear.
The irreplaceable fullness of a mont when hearts communicate.
Like instinct, she could know what to do.
Esperanza pushed her body into the center where the aftermath of the magic explosion remained. Because she hadn't properly equipped herself, the skin of her limbs was torn and burst wildly. Ignoring the dull pain spreading through her entire body, she instantly approached right up to Daria's nose.
A face that still showed youthful traces, though not as much as Cyrus. And eyes as blue as poison with magic power. Those eyes widened. Daria's magic power, startled by the surprise attack, was montarily cut off, and bang!
This ti it wasn't a sound they made. Two more gunshots followed. Bang, bang!
Cider, who had shot his own hand toward his life's greatest masterpiece, twisted his lips. The parts of the interpretation system that had been spinning busily for the enemy made a blocked sound sowhere and stopped. Slowly, the vibration that had been shaking the entire body also disappeared.
"No!"
As the machine that had been doing calculations for her until just before stopped, the black hole that had been gradually widening began to contract.
The mont the force pulling her body deep into that crack weakened, Esperanza leaped again and sprang forward, swinging her gun toward the panicked Daria's wrist.
Crack, the sound and the wrist that was jerked back. The golden blade fell below the empty palm. Just like over the vast sea of Sterling Harbor.
But she wouldn't miss it twice.
Everything seed to slow down. Her palm wrapped around the blade. The mont she t eyes with the horrified Daria, Esperanza raised her gun and pushed Daria into the hole. The crack sucked in Daria's body.
"Can't go, I absolutely, why, only , ...no!"
The skyscrapers decorating the skyline, cars filling the roads, people passing by wearing shorts with straws stuck in disposable cups—Daria's body fell through the low clouds. Esperanza heard Cyrus shouting sothing behind her.
Wind sound. Broken machine sound. Daria's scream, Cyrus's shout. Her mind beca confused. However, the next mont, Esperanza quickly rolled out of the crack that was rapidly contracting as if it had never covered the entire ceiling.
Thud. Her body fell onto the carpet.
Belatedly, fireworks exploded before her eyes. Bright colors that didn't match the 'Golden Claw' system window colored her vision.
[Quest Complete!]
[Quest: Find the Golden Claw!
Calculating rewards.]
Cyrus, they said he liked this kind of thing so he deliberately made it into a quest, and he really seems to like it. The effects were exceptionally flashy. Actually, it was quite dizzying. Esperanza chuckled while resting her cheek on the carpet.
Was this the end?
'...It's over.'
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