As a Fifth Sequence Esper.
And at the same time a professor of considerable weight within Imperial Capital University.
Tsukiyomi Fuya had, of course, studied that prophecy.
[A thousand years hence——]
[The Eighth Throne.]
[The sun stands overhead, the day at its very zenith.]
[And then, at the end of all things, one shall see the sky gradually fill with black clouds, as though the long night were drawing near.]
[When the Ninth Throne is unsealed——]
[Eternal Night shall come.]
[From that moment on the sun shall never rise again, there shall be no more dawn, and the world shall meet its end.]
[...]
The instant she heard Soga Yura mention that those Beasts actually possessed language, Tsukiyomi Fuya felt, almost by pure instinct, a chill creep up her spine.
Tsukiyomi Fuya was not a professor who specialized in linguistics.
But... she understood the meaning that 'language' represented——
Civilization.
So long as it was not mere parroting, the simple mimicry of sounds.
So long as they could comprehend the meaning behind the language, then... it meant that this race had acquired the ability to accumulate knowledge, to accumulate experience.
Those Beasts would gradually come to understand just how insignificant a thing humanity was to them.
They would draw conclusions from their failures, would grasp how to break through the seemingly ingenious defensive lines of humankind.
They might even... learn how to stir up fear among ordinary people, to harvest the negative emotions that were, to them, like food.
Tsukiyomi Fuya had once imagined, from afar, just what sort of state the 'Eternal Night' in the prophecy might be.
For Tsukiyomi Fuya, who studied the celestial bodies, she understood better than anyone how, before the vast planet beneath her feet, the humans upon it, the Aberrants upon it, were nothing but the most negligible motes of dust.
And yet, compared to the sun, the planet beneath her feet was more negligible still.
Tsukiyomi Fuya did not know how the Eternal Night of the prophecy would descend.
Would it be a volcanic eruption so magnificent it seemed it would tear the very earth apart?
Thick, heavy volcanic ash blotting out the sky and sun, blocking out all sunlight under the influence of atmospheric circulation.
If that were the case, it would truly be a misfortune.
By then... even if she herself managed to survive, she probably would not be able to see the stars anymore.
For Tsukiyomi Fuya, who studied the stars, that would truly be a misfortune.
Or perhaps... it would be the descent of the 'Eighth Sequence' Catastrophe Beasts that existed only in legend?
A colossal erosion domain blanketing the entire planet?
That seemed a touch too exaggerated as well.
At times, Tsukiyomi Fuya had let her imagination wander.
Just what kind of life form was humanity to the planet——
Felling trees, hunting living creatures.
From the moment humanity's footsteps had gradually spread across every patch of land upon the planet, the traces of those colossal living creatures had begun, slowly, to vanish.
If one regarded humanity as a kind of harmful creature, then might the Beasts be some sort of immune mechanism produced by this very planet beneath their feet?
A swarm almost entirely harmless to other living creatures.
Terrifying life forms that fed upon humanity's despair and pain.
But... Tsukiyomi Fuya had never once considered what it would mean if the 'Beasts' possessed thought, possessed language.
She suddenly became aware of her own arrogance.
She had completely... treated those terrifying life forms as nothing more than savage, brutish wild animals.
Yet she had forgotten... the very first Beast to appear at the beginning.
That Nightmare Deer Spirit which emerged from the white fog, silently hunting humans within their dreams, leaving countless people so terrified and so weary that their eyes filled with bloodshot veins and yet they dared not sleep in peace. It took the form of something half-human, half-deer.
She seemed to see it——[The age of humanity passes.']
[A brand-new age... one belonging to Aberrants and Catastrophe Beasts, arrives.]
Countless erosion domains belonging to Aberrants and Beasts blanketing the earth, even blotting out the sun and moon in the heavens.
Perhaps... that was the so-called Eternal Night of the prophecy.
With a grave expression, Tsukiyomi Fuya questioned Soga Yura about the details of that mermaid-shaped Beast the two of them had encountered.
And then recorded it down at a furious pace.
After concealing every detail concerning Su Yuzu's awakening, Soga Yura painted that conflict as a battle between a 'Beast' and an 'Aberrant girl.'
"There are disputes between 'Beasts' and Aberrants too?"
"How truly inconceivable."
"In the past, academic circles all believed there was a clearly defined hierarchical division between 'Beasts' and Aberrants."
"When a free-roaming Aberrant encounters a wild Catastrophe Beast, it displays an almost absolute Obedience."
Having hurriedly finished recording the information.
Tsukiyomi Fuya sent that information back to Imperial Capital University; the specific contents would be combined with the results of the subsequent investigation and, once compiled, published in a journal.
Even... if she herself were to die.
The other professors within Imperial Capital University would still compile and publish this information, as a warning to all Espers.
Tsukiyomi Fuya had even prepared herself for death.
There was no need to tell ordinary people.
In an age as beset by hardship as this, yet one that had only barely managed to settle into stability, such a warning would only throw the world into turmoil.
Looking at the visibly graver expressions of Soga Yura, Su Yuzu, and the girls before her, Tsukiyomi Fuya broke into a gentle smile.
"All right——"
"There's no need to think so much about it."
"Once you've finished eating, review your lessons, train your abilities a bit, and then get some good rest."
She soothed the girls. "For a civilization to be born requires a very long stretch of time."
"For humanity to go from using stones as tools to being able to craft fine, refined stone implements took a span of time measured in tens of millions of years."
"What's more... the number of 'Beasts' is far too few, and each individual is far too powerful."
"Perhaps..."
"It's merely a special case."
Tsukiyomi Fuya said with a smile, "We must maintain our vigilance, but we cannot let that make us fearful and lose our will to fight."
"Out in the wild... fear is the finest beacon for drawing in Catastrophe Beasts and Aberrants."
She hesitated for a moment, and did not use that girl as her example.
Nearly twenty years ago... there had been a girl who, fearless and undaunted, charged into the wilderness, madly hunting those renowned Aberrants and Catastrophe Beasts.
She had even sailed a wind-driven ship into the open ocean, and returned successfully.
It was just that... her teacher came to discover that her aura was growing more and more abnormal.
As though... she were an Aberrant.
In the end——
She still fell into the Abyss, and brought about the greatest Aberrant catastrophe in modern history.
"It's still better to carry out the investigation activities during the daytime first."
"Step by step, in proper order..."
"Once we've gotten a clear grasp of the surrounding situation, and the situation of the nearby waters... then we'll begin the nighttime investigation."
"Before that——"
"You must all rest well."
Su Yuzu grasped Soga Yura's small hand, its palm already beaded with a faint sweat, and gave a light nod to signal that she understood.
She gazed at the mission panel before her that only she could see.
[Part.5 - The Flowers of Evil.]
[...]
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