If you saw a bird’s wing broken and falling to the ground, you could certainly anticipate the pitiful and certain death of that small creature.

Knowing that the fall is fatal.

In this way, foresight is not something grand. With sufficient experience and insight, even a child can naturally achieve foresight.

So, you, who are well-versed in battle.

You may not be able to foresee whether a stage performance on a fine day will go successfully.

The mace flying towards you is a deep crimson, its contained magical power compressed to the extreme, giving it a texture that almost appears solid.

Such compressed magical power possesses enough force to effortlessly blow away a building or two. It is an amount of shock that no human fabric can withstand.

There is but a second left until the impact.

You have means to block the attack, but it is no different from severing your last lifeline.

Based on this wisdom── you sensed death.

The end of all stories is approaching. The grim reaper stands waiting at your small door, and soon, it will drag you from the good old days and cast you into a cruel void.

That void consists of nothing but a single period.

Fear grips you. The word “end” harbors infinite obscurity. What happens to a person after death? Will it truly all come to an end like this⋯⋯?

You do not know. No one knows about death, so no one can foresee what lies beyond.

What you know is only your own life. What you can foresee is only the extension of life. In the last moment, the only thing you can think about is life itself. So.

Before the curtain call.

We wish to speak about your cowardly life.

——–

You are a strong person.

You might think of yourself as weak. But that is not true. Because striving while chipping away at oneself is an incredibly arduous and difficult task.

The daily efforts to follow your mother’s wishes, to study, to wield the sword, to fill the wall of glory—all of these processes prove your strength.

You have endured.

Having withstood that burdensome monotony, how can you be called weak and soft?

However.

You have not used your strength for yourself, you have given up thinking about your future, you have stopped to face yourself when weary, and you have continuously run away⋯⋯ you are a coward.

That facade is cowardly to everyone.

You have had hundreds, even thousands of opportunities to live for yourself.

You were not confined by your lineage; you could freely explore the world and find your own answers. From small happiness to the possibility of pursuing your own life, you had ample chances.

Did you not even have a good lord who cared for you? Yet the result of obsessively ignoring your own desires is this very moment. It is a posture that looks toward the opposite side of life.

Yet you are still gazing at the period.

Life should not be a constant fall from above to below. The place where a person must pour all their energy is not there.

The place to look is slightly to the left. The sentence that has continued thus far, and the space between the sentence and the period. This is your “wall of glory” and the testament of your future.

Cicel Yurensto.

Even if you followed your family’s wishes, has your life up until now been meaningless?

‘No.’

Have you ever been as afraid of death as you were of life, and of life as you were of death?

‘Yes.’

Do you like the phrase about living the future with dreams in your heart?

‘Yes.’

Did you enjoy the splendid performance with Karen?

‘Yes.’

──Then, do you know this story? That some branches can be cut and planted in the ground, allowing them to grow just as they are. That branches can become seedlings in abundance.

You have only seen the leaves hanging at the end of the branch. But if you shift your gaze slightly to the side, in that moment.

That branch would have been a seedling.

⋯⋯Do you still want to see the curtain call, Cissel?

.

No, Karen.

I want to fill in the many things that I cannot even imagine now, between the sentences and the periods.

I will sing, if only vaguely, and I will dance. And if possible, I hope your name appears often in that paragraph.

I am still afraid. It is still difficult to muster courage, and I doubt whether I can truly do so. Please forgive my weakness. However.

As Karen said, if the choice in this moment is not the last leaf but the first seedling.

I will.

——–

Cissel raised her emotions as she watched the mace flying towards her. Emotions are swifter than objects and thoughts. In a world that seems to have come to a standstill, fables bloom.

Whooosh──.

She starts the engine. Dyes the soul⋯⋯.

The emotions still carry a gray hue, yet a green that had not been seen before mixes in. The soul seemed bewildered by the torrent of distinctly different emotions. Because the pain that should have been felt was absent.

-You shall become a knight worthy of the family.

When the curse binds the soul.

-Would you like to sing together?

Dreams release the soul.

As intertwined emotions grasp and release repeatedly, the soul throbs like a beating heart, and from its surface, a special magical power flows downward. The magic spreads throughout the body like paint.

What is manifested is ‘heaviness’.

And at the same time, the faceless mace fell towards the crown of her head.

Thud.

Kwaaang──!!

A wave of concentric circles rippled across the ground, and the walls of the abandoned warehouse screamed, beginning to crumble in places. The shock resonated through the very earth, reaching even those far away.

Where Mace had landed, the ground was completely upturned, as if it had been bombed. Clods of earth and stones shot up high into the sky, only to rain down like a delayed storm.

Hoodududduk.

As the rain fell from the ground, Faceless muttered.

“…Super acceleration? From what I’ve investigated, there shouldn’t have been such a capability. I’ve never heard of any related artifacts. I couldn’t even detect any signs of activation.”

“…”

Mace couldn’t align with Siscel.

All that remained was the twisted blade of a Zweihänder, now in two pieces.

Siscel appeared at the far end of the abandoned warehouse. She lifted Karen and urged her to flee outside. It was a high-speed movement, almost akin to teleportation.

She aimed the now half-length Zweihänder at Mace and said,

“The weight has taken on a direction.”

Metamorphosis, *‘Living Grasp’*.

The extreme power that had once been wielded by sacrificing her soul was no longer present, but with the reduction in power, she could now impose gravity upon herself.

As if an invisible hand had lifted her, that instantaneous high-speed movement was achieved.

Kaang! Degurururu.

Faceless kicked the broken Zweihänder blade away and said,

“Why was it necessary to do that…? If you had manifested the gravity sword you originally used, at least half of this body could have been erased.”

“Because I found a way.”

“Aha! I see, you’ve weakened, haven’t you? You thought you couldn’t withstand my attack… to the point of deciding to move your own body instead. Truly, you’re in deep trouble.”

“…It’s only natural that you wouldn’t understand.”

Siscel lightly closed her eyes and opened them again.

The distortion of metamorphosis. She never expected to experience such a rare event, which she had only heard of through rumors. It felt strange.

She wouldn’t be able to perform as she once did. But the loss didn’t weigh heavily on her. While it had greatly contributed to Siscel Yurensto’s reputation, ultimately, it was a harmful affliction that gnawed at her life.

That judgment was correct.

Now, with the new metamorphosis she had acquired… she would overcome the calamity. That was all.

Spot.

Siscel’s new form flickered. Then, a scratch appeared on Faceless’s cheek, and hot blood began to flow down in streams. It was fast.

Faceless rubbed her now slick cheek and complained.

“…This feels unpleasant.”

Spot, pah.

With every fleeting trace of Sisel, the wounds multiply. My calf is sliced, and a chunk of hair is torn away. Faceless calmly thought while spinning the mace.

He’s losing control.

If he could perfectly manage speed and direction, he would have severed my neck by now. There’s no reason to graze a part of me that doesn’t threaten my life.

That’s just an attack, aiming with a broken zweihänder, recklessly shooting himself out like a bullet. Hoping to hit a vital spot by chance.

Kuuuk.

Swoosh, swoosh.

I channel all my strength into the hand gripping the mace. Though it’s bent halfway from the previous strike, I can still take one more full swing. Ignoring the minor wounds, I wait.

Magic gathers. The dark red energy rises, coiling around the bent mace.

The opportunity comes. The lantern still sways, so misfortune will eventually find Sisel. The moment he charges at a suitable angle for me to strike…

I’ll send his head soaring high into the sky, creating stars.

Skaak-!

It’s a body I’m controlling anyway. It’s fine if my skin is shredded. Ears are severed, fingers are lost. The precision is increasing. Now, my left arm, which isn’t holding the mace, has been cleanly severed at the elbow.

But the precision of the guiding lantern is also improving. Due to the unexpected distortion of the fable, the lantern’s progress has significantly decreased… but it can be rebuilt.

“…Come.”

The afterimages are becoming familiar. The speed of the charge is consistent. If I calculate it well, I might be able to counter without misfortune.

Come. Quickly. The opportunity.

And.

Shake.

The invisible lantern swayed.

The flight path that perfectly aligned with the trajectory of the mace arrived. Faceless gathered all his strength and swung that vicious magic.

“Annoying fly, now dieee!!”

Zzzt-zzzt-zzzt──!!

The impact was so powerful that the wooden planks scattered on the ground were lifted into the air—yet again, it didn’t connect. Just a hair’s breadth of difference.

Sisel, who had been flying in at high speed, suddenly stopped mid-air as if nailed in place.

“…Now I know how to stop. A skill you lack.”

“Father, why hasn’t the lantern activated—”

“Die and disappear. Forever-!”

Swaak.

The sound of the cut was astonishingly quiet, executed with refined skill.

“Ugh, kaaak⋯⋯!”

The half Zweihander sliced diagonally through the Faceless’s doll. And from that strike, a force was generated, pulling everything inward.

Even if it was a diminished ‘heaviness’, if unleashed within the body, it would result in an irreversible fatal injury. With such an attack, recovery would be impossible. In a few seconds, it would turn into something like a meat cube.

The dying doll grinned. She was filled with rage and had not achieved what she wanted, but she still had many lives left.

“⋯⋯Next, e. bo, jago.”

Faceless severed the connection with the doll while promising for the next.

Siselle concluded the battle by throwing the Zweihander into its face.

——–

I’m alive, I am.

“⋯⋯⋯⋯.”

The last leaf did not fall. Karen was saved, and she was alive. Siselle was dazed by the surreal luck she felt.

From noble mtl dot come

For a fleeting moment, it seemed as if Karen was speaking to her.

No⋯⋯ it felt like she was burrowing into her heart and whispering directly. And as a result, she was able to erase the deadly penalty of the fable.

It’s a miracle. Did the goddess watch over us?

Siselle kicked aside the debris at her feet and trudged out of the warehouse. In the distance, she could see the tournament arena of ‘Courage’.

Since she had not participated in the finals, it was only natural that the mysterious magician X had won.

Duplicate participation in the tournament was impossible. The opportunity given to Siselle had come to an end. The plan to become a hero and find a means of survival was⋯⋯ over. It was fine. She wouldn’t die immediately, and she had prevented the deterioration caused by the fable’s corruption.

Although she could not return her soul, which had already left deep scars⋯⋯.

It’s okay. Even if she lives a short life, let’s be grateful for having made it through today. And let’s think about what to do in the future. There’s still plenty of space left between the periods.

I will sing, share friendships, and live my life.

A life so abundant that I won’t even glance at the emptiness of the periods.

“⋯⋯Uh, Siselle? What are you doing here?”

Amidst such resolutions, a voice suddenly interrupted. Turning around, it was the crazy magician.

She had received help from him. He had intervened during the clash with the Northern Champion and had provided various conveniences for her ascent in the tournament.

With black hair and red eyes. If he were the same benefactor who tracked Karen’s location, she would be even more grateful, but he didn’t feel like the same person at all.

“Ah, Magician⋯⋯ sir. I met you in the carriage with the prince. Do you, by any chance, have a twin brother⋯⋯ no, have you seen a red-haired girl nearby?”

“I don’t think this is the right time to be asking that. From the looks of it, you seem to have gotten into some trouble⋯⋯ but people are waiting right now.”

“Excuse me?”

“The finals. X is throwing a fit to bring you over, so it’s still delayed. The reason I collaborated with the prince is that you need to take a spot for the plan to work⋯⋯ are you not going soon?”

Siselle’s eyes widened in surprise, blinking rapidly.

The tournament finals have not yet concluded.

Perhaps there is still a chance to heal my very soul. It remains in my hands.

“⋯⋯⋯⋯!!”

Transformation, “The Living Grasp”⋯⋯!!

Whoosh, the knight soared into the sky. Perhaps due to urgency, the trajectory was quite rough, and at times it drew a dizzying straight line for the onlookers. Yet, it was fast.

Somehow, it seems he will arrive safely.

Mima, watching the scene with her hands forming a human shield, gracefully turned her back and departed. Now it was time to prepare for the epilogue.