"Let's go to the beach."
Frida-sunbae suddenly suggested this out of the blue. We had no particular reason to refuse, so we changed our clothes and headed for the subway station. We transferred directly to the airport railroad from Line 2.
Beep—
"Transfer."
Selma-sunbae grumbled as we walked through an endlessly long transfer corridor for five minutes.
"Why is this place so stretched out? Did they mess up the construction or something?" "Well... It's a notoriously long transfer section. Just think of it as part of your diet... Hehe." "Haha, maybe we should have just taken the bus." "..."
However, I found it hard to sympathize with their complaints.
By Pink's standards, this was an ultra-luxurious facility.
The public transportation, which could be used by simply tapping a card, felt particularly convenient today. There were plenty of things far more inconvenient than this.
'Being able to get on just by tapping a transportation card... isn't that super convenient? It's not like we have to submit an ID or a student certificate to get a season pass...'
A season pass?
For a moment, the cheerful voice of a young girl flashed through my mind.
"Here! Cute secretary, this is the Ether Train season pass issued by the <United Student Council>!" ...
Something...
I felt like something was coming back to me...
"..."
As I stood still, the sunbaes who had gone ahead turned around to look at me.
"Clara?" "Oh, it's nothing—☆"
I quickly followed after them. As we descended further, a train bound for Incheon Airport arrived.
Clank—Clank—
Honestly, when I first heard Frida-sunbae's suggestion, I was quite surprised. Somehow, the idea of the "sea" felt incredibly distant.
But now, just 15 minutes after entering the station, we were already on a train heading to Incheon, and I wondered why it had felt so far away.
'It's not like I live in some landlocked region like Mongolia, where there are only plains... Why was I so surprised at the mention of the sea...?'
The subway heading to Incheon Airport was sparsely populated, given the odd time of day. The only passengers were travelers with their suitcases, busy on their phones.
Clank—Clank—
The hard sensation of the seat beneath me felt unfamiliar. The sudden decision to go to the sea on a weekday afternoon was strange. Everything except the sunbaes felt both natural and unfamiliar at the same time.
It was like entering a traditional Korean restaurant only to have an Italian chef serve you a French-style Hawaiian pizza.
Everything felt disconnected and awkward.
Unfamiliar.
"..."
Yet... somewhere deep inside, I felt like this was enough.
Does it really matter if an Italian chef serves a French-style Hawaiian pizza? As long as it tastes good...
'Maybe... just like this...'
We eventually arrived in Incheon an hour later. After wandering around the airport station for a while, we finally caught a taxi to a nearby beach.
Swoosh—
Even as the waves touched my feet, I felt no particular emotion.
'The Incheon beach... I used to come here too often as a child...'
The sea I saw now was under a gloomy, overcast sky.
The thick clouds spat out a dismal gray, making the horizon hazy. Instead of a refreshing breeze, a heavy, damp wind blew.
It seemed like the weather wasn’t great today. This is why you shouldn't go on impulsive trips without checking the weather forecast.
"..."
Frida-sunbae smiled and spoke.
"...It's gloomy. How strange." "It’s dark... It feels like the last day in Berlin." "Selma, how long are you going to keep talking about that person?" "Until the last day of the Empire..." "Ugh."
Nina-sunbae raised her hand to the sky and remarked.
"Is it going to rain?" "Yeah, it does look a bit dreary...☆"
Even so, we didn't turn back right away. Since we were already here, we decided to take a leisurely walk and pass the time.
Selma and Nina-sunbae walked ahead, chatting quietly. I followed behind with Frida-sunbae.
As Nina-sunbae continued walking, she suddenly spoke up.
"Selma, do you eat bread every time you go to a café to write?" "Huh? Oh... I just order an Americano and sit there for four hours, so I felt guilty... I bought a piece of cake or something... Why?" "It looks like your cheeks are getting a bit chubby." "Hey, it's just a couple of pieces of bread. How much could that possibly add?" "Haha... You know, from my experience in baking, cakes and cookies contain the same amount of butter and sugar as their weight." "...Damn it."
As we continued walking idly along the beach, Frida-sunbae suddenly looked out at the gloomy sea and spoke.
"...Clara." "Yes?"
Under the gray sky, her yellow hair fluttered impressively.
"I always dreamed of opening a studio with a view of the sea." "In Incheon? Wow—☆ That sounds really amazing..." "Because."
But Frida-sunbae, who never interrupted anyone, continued speaking as if she hadn't heard me.
That too felt unfamiliar.
"Because my hometown is far from the sea... It took three days and nights by train to get there." "..." "My family was too poor to afford such luxuries... So the sea only existed as a small image in a children's book for me." "..." "But now that I think about it, maybe it was because it was a cheap children's book? The illustration of the sea... was really crude. It was just a blue color spread carelessly." "..." "But to young me, that blue paper was the sea, and it was my dream. So I always wanted to set up a studio with a view of that scene someday."
It was strange.
The more I listened to that dream, the more my heart ached with guilt.
It was strange.
No matter how far you travel in Korea, there’s nowhere that takes three days and nights by train. And no matter how poor you are, you could at least find a picture of the sea somewhere.
"..."
Her hometown?
Where exactly was Frida-sunbae’s hometown?
"..."
I was sure Frida-sunbae’s hometown was...
And the reason we started living together...
A rainy day.
The day I first arrived at the academy city.
The day everyone shut their doors and chased me away.
"I'm so glad to meet you!" That was the first time someone said they were glad to meet me.
"..."
At that moment.
I felt something wet on one side of my face.
Drip—
"...Huh."
Rain?
The sky had been so overcast, so it finally started raining?
"..."
But when I looked up at the sky, the rain hadn't started yet.
"..."
I stood there, staring up at the sky.
"Clara." "..."
Frida-sunbae spoke to me softly, as if guiding me.
"This isn’t ‘my’ world, is it?" "..."
Rota and Astrid arrived at the Explorers’ Library.
“What a strange place… Why does such a large building have only one small passage as its entrance?” “I still can’t get used to it, even though I’ve been here so many times.”
Rota inserted a key into the firmly closed door and turned it. After frequent visits, she had finally been given a key meant for outsiders.
Creak—
The heavy iron door opened.
As they entered the dim, cave-like building, they found that the inside was just as chaotic as the outside.
Twitch Twitch
Dog ears, made of brown fur, twitched.
A female student with dog ears and glasses was crying, tears streaming down her face. It was because a new book she had been eagerly waiting to read was about to be released.
“W-Wahhh…! E-Everything is falling apart…! What should I do…! If I can’t read the 11th volume of The Love Story of Him and Her that’s coming out next week…! L-Life will have no meaning for me…!”
Students who had already secured the new releases they wanted ignored her cries and focused on their books.
“D-Don’t talk to me… Before the world ends, I need to finish I Am the Prince’s Sex Slave Volume 21 and The Nanny’s Milk Volume 6… If I can’t read them… I’ll die with regrets…”
The Explorers' students were so engrossed in their books that their eyes seemed like they would pop out of their heads.
Sensing the impending end of the world, they were speed-reading their favorite novels and obscene books without hesitation.
The sight of hundreds of shy students with their noses buried in books was almost surreal. The sound of turning pages resembled the fluttering of birds' wings.
Rustle— Rustle— Rustle—
It was truly a pitiful sight, but ironically, because they were so deeply immersed in their own worlds, they could ignore the echoing chaos and the unstable flow of forbidden knowledge.
Unlike other students who had already disappeared into the abyss, many of the Explorers' students had managed to stay in the library.
“...” “...”
Leaving behind the students who were reading furiously, Rota and Astrid ascended to the library's tower, where Freyja and other students were gathered.
“Huh…? Orange ears? W-What brings you here?”
Mila, the rabbit librarian, was shocked to see Astrid.
“[The Mist of Rebellion]…! L-Library Director…! I-I smell a strong extrovert scent from her…!”
Hearing this, Astrid lifted her chin proudly.
“Oh~ Hohoho! To recognize the brilliance of my majestic presence so quickly! You, rabbit girl! I shall grant you the honor of becoming my servant—!”
“Eek…?!”
“Mila, d-don’t compliment her like that, it’ll just draw her attention…”
They asked Rota and Astrid a lot of questions when they suddenly appeared. But soon, they regained their composure and began discussing more constructive matters.
“I-I’ll show you the current state of the academy city.”
Freyja opened an observation window that showed the state of the academy city and lamented.
Through the magic circle, numerous scenes of destruction were visible. Parts of the city were collapsing, shrouded in an opaque veil, and disintegrating.
“The students lost their minds after seeing this… That’s why they’re all in that state…”
Despite the situation, Mila wore a curious expression as she reported the information she had gathered from the echoes and the unstable resonance of the World Tree.
“The nine worlds were once bound together… They were forcibly maintained through perception control… This city is a kind of grand ritual or… a base for pseudo-sacrifices…”
“J-Just a little study of fate reveals… that control is the goal… To think that all the wars and conflicts of the world were concentrated in one place to determine the direction of the world…”
Rota interrupted the conversation between Freyja and Mila.
“Chaos beasts and abyssal forces are pouring out across the academy city. People are struggling everywhere. I want to do whatever I can to stop it.”
“W-Who wouldn’t want to? That’s why we’re all trying to keep our sanity and figure out what’s happening.”
Mila admitted with a sheepish expression.
“I-I haven’t fully grasped it yet, though.” “S-Shut up…” “Hmph…”
Freyja sighed and pointed to the observation window again, emphasizing two specific areas: the World Tree and the southern part of the academy city.
“Two locations are suspected to be the epicenters of these phenomena…”
One was the World Tree. The other was the abyss that had suddenly appeared in the southern part of the academy city.
“The W-World Tree has been acting erratically since earlier… babbling nonsense about forgetting and remembering…”
Mila pointed to the southern part of the academy city.
“A-A massive creature… presumed to be a ‘dragon,’ is awakening in the pit that suddenly appeared in the southern part of the academy city…”
“[The Dragon Crouched in the Abyss]…”
A colossal body. A power that manipulates laws. And a divine beast that transcended even death.
According to the words of the goddess of old, Urd, only the destiny of the [Three Heroes] who once sealed it could stop it.
‘What can I… do?’
Rota clutched the magic tome in her hands tightly and spoke to Freyja.
“The Sage’s Chamber… Could I be of any help?”
What flashed through Rota’s mind was the memory of defeating Othnir.
‘If I could use magic here, maybe I could slay the dragon?’
The Sage’s Chamber was a trump card that could bombard a distant target indiscriminately. If she could just imbue it with the power of the [Golden Witch]…
“Ah… Well.”
Freyja clicked her tongue and said.
“I considered that possibility too… But it’s too far out of range to be effective.”
“I see…”
Droop—
The orange ears that had perked up with anticipation drooped.
Freyja muttered in regret.
“If only we could detach this place and move the tower to where the <United Student Council> building is located, we could at least make some adjustments…”
“...” “...”
It was an unrealistic idea. How could they possibly move such a massive chamber?
Moreover, the academy city was currently blocked by dimensional barriers. Even if they could solve it with brute force, it would require massive support.
That’s why both Mila and Rota wore sullen expressions.
Surprisingly, Astrid, who had been staring at the observation window, responded to Freyja’s mumbling.
“…What if hundreds of giants appeared and carried this chamber with their hands?”
“H-Hey, you crazy girl… This isn’t the time to be talking about plays…”
Freyja responded with irritation, but Astrid pointed to one of the observation windows.
“Isn’t there a giant right there?”
“...”
Freyja looked at it and was stunned.
“W-What is that…”
Countless steel giants were laughing heartily, carrying buildings, and clearing debris as they moved forward. Above them, dozens of airships floated in the sky.