The [Pink Lemon Sorbet].
A massive pink spiral was unleashed, aimed at killing the [Apostle of Corrosion] once again.
Boom—!!
Black waves exploded, turning the surroundings pink for an instant. Panic flashed in the black eyes of the [Apostle of Corrosion].
"No...! That’s...!"
Grafvolrud, perhaps remembering the last time I struck him, hurriedly twisted his body to dodge. In his frantic efforts, several of the legs fixed by the tree were torn off.
Crack—!
With the sound of his carapace being forcefully twisted and broken, Grafvolrud's angry voice growled.
"Grk...?! Did you think I'd fall for the same trick twice—!!"
With a frantic flap of his wings, the centipede elder took to the skies. It seemed the pain made it impossible for him to crawl as before.
Screech—!!
The pink spiral narrowly missed him as he dodged.
‘As expected… a creature that evades, summons minions, pressures with status effects, and wears down the enemy with endless ambushes and encirclements.’
But such a crafty creature had a fatal flaw.
‘Jumping to evade is a double-edged sword.’
A place out of reach from ground-based attacks.
It may seem like a safe haven, but...
“There’s no cover, and your ability to change direction is limited... It’s a more vulnerable spot than any other—☆”
"What?!"
Hilde and I had already positioned ourselves to the right and left of the flying creature. Each of us clenched our fists as we ascended.
Hilde was surrounded by blue-white lightning,
while I was wrapped in pink hearts as we faced each other.
"Lara—!"
"Hilde—!"
We called out to each other and grinned.
Clear ether gathered in our fists.
‘Indeed… Girls’ talk is done with fists.’
The centipede elder screamed as he saw the flashing [Unique Ether] on both sides.
"Fools—!! Do you think I’ll just let this happen—!!"
Grafvolrud, floating in the air, desperately flapped his wings, trying to escape upwards. That was the only direction left to flee, given the encirclement Hilde and I had set.
Right.
When your escape route becomes that obvious—♪
The centipede elder, fleeing upwards, was horrified.
"What?!"
From above, a wave of purple weapons surged like a net meant to catch a bird, tightly sealing off Grafvolrud's retreat.
From afar, Freyja muttered in disbelief.
"Did he really think he could escape upwards...?"
"You fool?!"
"No, it's not 'fool,' it’s 'woman'..."
"You wretched—!!"
“Seriously, what an annoying guy…”
As Grafvolrud's wings slowed, Hilde and I greeted him as he returned to the area we controlled.
The place he entered was not merely within the range of our fists.
Pink and blue-white.
Ether flashed brightly in this space.
This would be your grave.
With our fists clenched tightly,
our arms locked firmly in position.
I felt the flow of ether from my perineum up to my abdomen. The energy flowing through the pathways of my body returned to my heart.
What transmitted through my veins
was the determination rooted deep in my chest.
The hotly flowing blood carried the spirit of fate passed down from ancient times. The battlefield where we arrived, guided by the World Tree, was eternal.
The girls of this land gathered here to fight.
Yes.
Reborn, I am a Valkyrie.
A warrior fighting on this earth.
“Remember me!! And die—!!”
I unleashed my burning pink fist toward my first and worst nightmare. The pink glow lingered on his black carapace, then vanished, replaced by a spray of red blood.
Boom—!!
A vibration that shook the heavens and the earth.
The shock and pain that resonated through my fist.
Unlike before,
his black eyes were much closer.
I could see the panic in them.
‘Now it’s not me who fears—it's you.’
Perish within the veil of nightmares that even death could not obscure.
“I am Clara of the Academy City—!!”
The brightly shining pink was made up of countless hearts. They radiated the strength of a power that had finally reached its peak.
As I rained down punches,
I traced the countless paths my fists had taken before.
The thousands and tens of thousands of intertwined paths became a domain of destruction.
Rat-a-tat-a-tat—!!
On the opposite side, Hilde also threw her punches. Wrapped in the once-invincible lightning, she unleashed her fists endlessly, roaring.
“Aaaaaah—!!”
“Haaaaah—!!”
Two pairs of fists pummeled the dragon that had emerged from the darkness. Lightning and hearts raged, becoming a massive storm.
Rat-a-tat-a-tat—!!
Between the countless trajectories of punches,
pure physical power was exploding.
The fighting spirit that transcended the destiny of weapons was bursting forth.
Rat-a-tat-a-tat—!!
Grafvolrud stubbornly resisted, his eyes filled with resolve to make up for his mistakes, even as his carapace was shattered by my punches.
“Corrosion—!!”
Shhh—!!
The abyss that rose from the depths split into hundreds of strands, extending like tentacles towards us. Hundreds of chaos insects rose from the dark wings’ shadow.
An area that seemed to span hundreds of meters was filled with the energy of corrosion. This was likely his full power.
Grafvolrud, bleeding, shouted.
"In this cruel twist of fate!! Rise to save my children!! My people, now turned to insects—!!"
The centipede elder,
my nightmare,
the [Apostle of Corrosion], Grafvolrud.
At this moment, he was making his last, desperate stand.
"Haha..."
I couldn’t help but laugh at the absurdity of it.
Perhaps...
In <Ratatoskr>, the one I fought the most wasn’t the Prophet, but the [Apostle of Corrosion], Grafvolrud.
A nightmare.
And a vision.
The first time I faced an ‘original pattern’ enemy.
The worst enemy I had prepared for even after becoming ‘Clara.’
That’s why I could still remember.
Before the Prophet appeared.
I decided that while I could leave the ‘dragon’ to my juniors, [Corrosion] was my responsibility.
“Hahaha…!”
“…”
I laughed leisurely and looked at Hilde. She met my gaze with unwavering eyes, filled with endless faith in me.
‘I wanted to take this down by myself… but my ether recovery isn’t what it used to be.’
So, I asked Hilde.
“Will you lend me your strength?”
“Hmph.”
Hilde extended her hand without asking any questions.
“All that I have already belongs to you, Lara!”
“…"
…That was kind of cool.
I should use that line sometime.
I even had the presence of mind to joke inwardly.
Grafvolrud, seeing us join hands, poured everything his power of corrosion allowed into his approach. Thousands and tens of thousands of forces stretched the vast darkness as they came toward us.
"My enemy!! Sleep here forever—!!"
It’s too late for that.
My happy dream has already ended.
-Move forward.
“I’ve slept enough.”
I pointed the hand I clasped with Hilde towards the army of corrosion.
The power of [Bifrost] fused with Hilde’s ether.
Crackle!
Crackle!
Lightning, imbued with the destiny of transcendence, flared up.
And with my other hand, I clenched my fist.
I clenched it tightly.
So tight that my nails dug into my palm.
Creak…!
Countless hearts burst forth on that fist. Hearts filled with tingling lightning began to prepare for one final secret technique.
‘No… this isn’t the [Pink Lemon Sorbet]...’
The new technique created by the current me.
If I had to name it,
it would be…
“…"
What would be a good name?
Now that I’m fully Clara…
Pretty Filter has already become one with me.
So maybe I should name it in Jinsoo’s style?
“…"
For a moment, I recalled Senior Frida’s words.
-My dream was to set up a studio by the seaside.
“…"
-A story about a man showing a girl the colors of the sea and sky. It’s an old tale passed down for generations… I’ve always loved it.
A place to go.
A seaside reflecting the blue sky.
The place you wanted to go.
A place you couldn’t reach, even in dreams…
“Azure Sky.”
The blue sky.
"The only path to the blue sky."
The only way to the azure sky.
I activated the final secret technique.
Countless hearts sparkling with lightning gathered, overlapping like a shining galaxy made of spirals. A disaster beyond any storm, a dream-like flow of starlight began to take shape.
Clench—
Before throwing my punch,
I added a word before calling it my ultimate move.
“…True Ultimate Technique.”
Azure Sky Path
And so,
I threw my punch.
A blinding flash of light so bright it turned my vision white.
Was it pink,
or blue-white?
I couldn’t even tell…
The one and only light.
Boom—!!
The white flash filled the darkness, shattering everything.
The spiral column twisted into spirals,
birthing new spirals as they split.
The infinitely multiplying spirals joined and separated repeatedly.
A spiral.
A spiral of spirals.
A universe encompassing all.
There was only light.
Eir collapsed onto the darkness, panting.
“That was exhausting!”
It seemed the rest of my friends were just as worn out.
Freyja fainted where she fell,
Astrid let out a weak, ladylike laugh,
and Anna sat down, exhaling a long sigh.
“…”
“…Hohoho.”
“Phew.”
Hilde and I also sighed and leaned on each other.
“…”
“…”
We had suddenly raided the two strongest Apostles.
Even though the centipede elder had become stronger with the power of the abyss.
Still… well… we won.
…
‘So, what now?’
We had desperately defeated the two Apostles,
but surprisingly, nothing happened.
We rested, feeling a strange sense of unease.
Even Hilde, who had been on alert, eventually lay down completely.
“…”
“…”
“…”
“…”
“…”
“…”
You know that thing in youth comics☆
Where they all lie down in a row like crayons?
It was kind of like that as we lay there, staring up at the dark sky.
The abyss inside the World Tree clung to everything, blocking the light like a ceiling.
“…”
“…”
“…”
“…”
“…”
“…”
Ah.
This game really is a mess☆
If we’ve beaten the boss, they should bring out the next boss quickly—♪
Anyway.
Before that.
What was it…
Um…
I decided to thank my friends who had come to help.
“Th-thank you all for coming to save me—☆”
“Helping you is what I’m meant to do, Lara.”
“Huh? Well… I guess it’s time to repay all the help I’ve received.”
“Ohhoho, helping a friend is only natural.”
“Haha, well… I actually came because the Sword Spirit told me to…”
“…”
To my surprise, Freyja, who I thought would quip as usual, remained quiet.
She silently pointed upward with her finger and said.
“Up there…”
“Up?”
Uh.
What’s this?
I feel like a joke is about to come to mind—☆
But since it didn’t,
it was probably one of Jinsoo-kun’s Three Kingdoms jokes.
‘Oh Jinsoo-kun! I told you to read the room before making jokes—☆’
Regardless of my thoughts, Freyja suddenly stood up and said.
“C-couldn’t this be the World Tree’s roots?”
“Huh? The roots?”
“The ether, the energy of life, flows upwards… So, conversely, what we see here might be the deceased… And sleep is closely linked to the energy of death… Dreams are said to be a gateway for souls…”
Her words were disjointed.
Hearing them, Hilde got up and spoke.
“In other words, this is the earth, the opposite direction of the sky. And since it’s deeply buried within the World Tree’s roots, it’s a place where the energy of death and dreams gathers?”
“Y-yes… something like that.”
Anna and Astrid also stood up simultaneously.
“The center of the World Tree must be…”
“Up above?”
“Then how do we get there?”
Eir stretched as she slowly rose to her feet.
“Can’t we just use that weird [Spiral] teleportation?”
“It doesn’t work near the World Tree…☆”
“Then why don’t we burn the roots from the inside? If the outside is tough, the inside might be softer. If we burn just this part of the roots, maybe we can get through.”
“…”
“…”
“…”
“…”
“…”
“What? Why are you all looking at me like that? You know it’s just my habit of speaking.”
Hilde placed a hand on Eir’s shoulder.
“You have permission.”
“For what?”
“To burn it.”
“…"
Eir’s eyes widened.
“R-really?!”
“Alright, let’s do this…!”
“We only have one chance. Aim carefully.”
“Heehee…! Hahaha! A graduate of <Scarlet Academy> never fails at a firecracker show!!”
Behind Eir, Hilde, Freyja, Anna, and Astrid placed their hands on her.
The five of them, except for me, were channeling ether to Eir using [Bifrost]. To burn one of the giant roots of the World Tree, they were pouring all of their ether, each of them a wielder of [Unique Ether].
All of it was to send me, using [Bifrost], to where the Prophet was.
Rumble—!!
As the ether of five people surged through her body, Eir began to laugh maniacally, even as blood dripped from her nose.
“Ahaha…! Hahahaha!! I never thought I’d actually get to burn the World Tree!!!”
“Are you ready?”
“Yaaah—!! I’ve been ready since the entrance ceremony three years ago!!!”
Eir’s eyes rolled wildly, glittering in five colors as she laughed. Even though the side effects were mitigated by the power of [Bifrost], they were still significant.
But setting everything else aside,
she stomped down hard and raised [Laevateinn].
The wheel of white flames flickered brighter than ever.
Boom!
“Burn it all, burn it all, burn it all—!!!”
Eir threw the spinning Laevateinn with all her might.
“Burn it to ashes—!!!”
Laevateinn, spinning powerfully, crossed the air and grew larger.
It grew from the size of a body to the size of a wind turbine blade, cutting through the abyss and setting everything on fire.
Rumble—!!
The white flames spread everywhere,
igniting everything according to the destiny of fire and abyss.
The flames spread as if oil had been poured over them.
Zap—!
“…!”
The power of the World Tree trembled,
and the path for [Bifrost] became ‘visible.’
A faint path of light, once obscured by the abyss, now appeared.
Crrack…
And a path leading outside the World Tree also emerged.
“This… this is?!”
“It looks like a door leading outside…”
“If we follow it backward… it leads up to the center.”
It was a very familiar power of a goddess.
The small ring of light that had passed through from the roots extended upward to the top.
‘Is this… a path left by Urd…?’
When had she sent a ring of light from the center to the outside?
Eir, blood streaming from her nose, shouted. Her hair had started to burn white in places.
“Go—!! Clara—!!”
“Then…”
I turned around confidently and shouted.
“I’ll be back—☆”
“You absolutely… have to win…”
“Ohhoho!! We await the good news!!”
“Yes! See you soon!”
Hilde didn’t say anything, only mouthing the words.
-Whenever it takes.
I’ll wait for you.
“Yes!”
Flash—!!
I wrapped myself in the rainbow spiral.
Through the burning roots and the abyss,
toward the very top of the World Tree… to its center.
Feeling the presence of every soul that has ever existed.
I advanced.
And then…
Thoom—!
“…”
“…Hey there, Jinsoo-kun☆ It’s been a while.”
“…”
In a space illuminated by bright starlight,
there stood a shadowy figure, alone.
He was sitting with a glass orb placed on a small sapling.
The Prophet looked at me with pupils split vertically down the middle.
Colors flickered across his eyes.
It seemed he had inherited various abilities from the World Tree.
He murmured in astonishment.
“…Another me.”
“…Yes.”
“I see. So it wasn’t Brynhildr or Clara… but ‘me’ in Clara’s body…”
“No, I’m just Clara now.”
“…Is that so.”
Finally, we stood face to face.