That evening, in the headmistress's office on the top floor of the central school building, Mushiki received a report from Erulka on Ruri's condition.
"…That's the situation. She lost a lot of blood, but fortunately, it isn't life-threatening. Of course, there's no telling what might have happened if you had brought her to us any later," she concluded, tapping the clipboard in her free hand.
Mushiki, listening from the table at the far end of the office, let out a sigh of relief.
After the attack, he had immediately reached out to the Garden to have Ruri transported to the medical building for emergency care. To be perfectly honest, he had been unable to relax all day until hearing this report.
Nonetheless, his situation was such that he couldn't rest easy for long. He clenched his jaw, his expression grim.
Erulka must have sensed his unease, as she folded her arms in front of her and said, "What the hell happened, Saika? It's unthinkable that Ruri could end up so badly injured."
"…" Mushiki, however, had no answer to offer.
He couldn't answer her.
At long last, Erulka let out a resigned sigh. "So you won't tell me…? Very well. I know you. You wouldn't keep your mouth shut without good reason."
"…Sorry."
"I said it's fine. Fill me in when you're ready." With that, she turned to leave the room.
"Erulka," Mushiki called out after her.
"Hmm?"
"My attendant…Kuroe. Did you know about her?" he asked.
Erulka tilted her head in suspicion. "Attendant… That girl in black? The first time I saw her was during the last general meeting. Is that what you mean?"
"…I see." Mushiki fell silent for a few seconds, then shook his head slightly. "Look after Ruri for me, Erulka," he said in a soft voice.
"Hmm. Leave her in my care," she said with a nod before leaving the office.
As the door closed behind her, the room was doused in cold silence.
"…"
Mushiki rose slowly to his feet and approached the mirror at the back of the chamber, staring at the figure reflected before him.
There, illuminated by the moonlight streaming in through the window, stood a young woman of immeasurable beauty.
Saika Kuozaki. The most powerful mage in the world and the head of the Garden. Mushiki's first great love.
And now—Mushiki himself.
She had met him, entrusted him with her body and strength, and given him this surreal double life.
All to defeat the mysterious figure who had attacked her.
To find a way to restore Saika's own mind and will.
Not once had he forgotten his purpose, nor neglected it. He had done everything within his power.
Yet this had been the result.
He had known from the beginning how reckless this was, had understood right from the get-go how unreasonable.
Perhaps he had let a little blind optimism take root in the corner of his mind. It would have been a lie to say he felt no surge of elation at the realization that he now possessed a previously unknown power of magic that continued to grow in potency by the day. There had been an unfounded confidence deep inside him that the body of his beloved Saika, with all its strength and ability, would be able to find a way to break through this predicament.
Now, however, he found himself overcome by an impossible sense of helplessness and self-loathing.
There was nothing he could do about it. He was clearly, conclusively, lacking.
He was possessed by a delusional compulsion to avenge Saika's death.
"…Ah…"
But not right now.
For the first time, he had faced his enemy directly, only for Ruri to get hurt. A flame of determination and resolve had been lit in his heart.
How dare she harm Ruri, his sweet little sister.
How dare she hurt Saika, the target of his affections.
"I'll never forgive you," he murmured softly, forcefully.
He then stepped forward and placed his hands on the mirror.
"Saika, I'm sorry about this. I'm about to do something reckless again," he said, his voice ringing with resolve. "Please lend me your strength."
With that, he gently placed his lips against it.
◇ ◇ ◇
Outside the door at the back of the headmistress's room was an expansive garden.
Paved paths ran the length and breadth of the space, filled with well-maintained flower beds and copses of trees. It was late, with most of the illumination coming from the lampposts spread at even intervals.
Mushiki was on the top floor of the central school building. There was no way this scene could be literally beyond his door. Yet through magic, various doors in the Garden were mysteriously interconnected.
He hadn't known how to use the door at first and had ended up barging into several unintended destinations. Now, however, he was gradually getting used to it. Having confirmed that the passage did indeed lead where he wanted to go, he stepped inside and closed the door behind him.
It was the front yard outside Saika's mansion, in the northern precinct of the Garden. With that grand structure looming in the background, he slowly made his way forward.
"…"
As he reached the center of the grounds, the girl standing there waiting for him turned toward him.
"Mushiki, how is Knight Ruri's condition?" asked the girl—Kuroe Karasuma—with her usual expressionless countenance.
It should have been strange to find her standing by herself in a place like this, but Mushiki wasn't the least surprised.
After all, it was none other than he himself who had summoned her here.
Yes, he had something he had to make sure of, something to confirm.
"…Yes. It sounds like she'll make it," Mushiki answered, a slight numbness building in the pit of his stomach.
"I see. I'm glad to hear that… I was surprised to see them attack so boldly and in such numbers. There's no time to spare. We'll have to confront them directly. Please ready yourself, Mushiki," Kuroe said in a matter-of-fact tone.
Mushiki fixed her with a long stare before letting out a thin breath. "I…," he began.
"Yes?" Kuroe tilted her head quizzically.
"I'm grateful to you, Kuroe…," he continued, without averting his gaze. "After I was attacked by this enemy and merged with Saika, I didn't know up from down, but you were always there to give me a helping hand. If not for you, I'm sure I would have encountered a lot more problems than I did."
"There's no need to let that trouble you. I'm Lady Saika's attendant, after all," Kuroe said, standing up straight.
Even now, she was still playing her role to perfection.
Mushiki caught his breath. "So I want you to answer me honestly. Please."
"…? What are you talking—?"
"Kuroe. Who are you really?"
The moment those words left his lips, Kuroe snapped silent.
With that unreadable expression, she peered deep into Mushiki's face.
"…Saika never had an attendant," he continued slowly. He could feel his heart beating faster, but he fought to keep his panic under wraps. "Kuroe. You appeared here in the Garden at the same time I did… So I'll ask you again. Who are you? What were you trying to accomplish, taking on the name of Saika's attendant and deceiving me?"
Given the information he currently possessed, he had no intention of directly accusing her of being the assailant. A part of him still hoped she wasn't.
However, it was clear she was hiding something from him. That much was certain.
He needed answers.
"…" Kuroe remained silent for a long moment after this declaration.
Finally, a faint exhale seemed to rasp from her throat—
"Huh. So you figured it out?"
Her lips twisted into a ferocious grin.
"…!"
Her expression and tone were unrecognizable, causing every hair on Mushiki's body to stand on end.
She hadn't changed, exactly. There was no monster that had emerged from her back. It was just that her voice and mannerisms were vaguely off.
Yet he couldn't help but feel that the girl standing before him was now a completely different person.
"Who…who are you…?!" Mushiki tensed, bracing himself as he adopted a fighting posture.
Kuroe, watching, let out an amused laugh. "Yep, not a bad reaction there. Well, it's far from perfect, but still…"
At that moment, her figure seemed to blur, a different form appearing before him.
"Wha—?"
She practically teleported his way—no, she must have simply dashed toward him faster than the eye could see. There was no way he could match her speed and movements.
He hurried to activate his magical abilities, but he was too slow. She had already appeared closer even than his outstretched hands.
With that same momentum, she slammed her body into him, throwing him backward.
"Gah…!"
He was knocked flat onto his back on the hard pavement. Flustered, he glanced back up—only for a new question to spark inside his mind.
He might have been caught off guard, but he seemed to have sustained surprisingly little damage.
Yes, he had received a hard blow, and his back hurt where he had hit the ground, but that was about it. If Kuroe had been meaning to truly harm him, then this wouldn't be nearly enough.
At that moment—
"…?!"
His thoughts were interrupted.
Because behind Kuroe, right where he had been standing a moment ago, a huge upside-down spire now stretched out from high up in the sky.
"Huh…? What…?!"
The spire pierced the ground, scattering chunks of earth and sending shock waves coursing through the surrounding area. Mushiki looked over Kuroe's shoulder with a sense of surreality at the scene unfolding before him.
"…Good grief… Always with the flashy theatrics…" She let out a deep breath as she looked over her shoulder and took in the towering edifice.
Then, as though having been waiting for that very moment, the upside-down spire piercing the center of the courtyard flashed with light, a dazzling burst of brilliance flooding Mushiki's vision.
By the time it subsided, the landscape around him, the world in which he and Kuroe now found themselves, had become unrecognizable.
"No…"
Once more, he found himself in an inorganic urban labyrinth comprised of innumerable towering structures.
As he took in the eerie view for the third time, his breath caught in his throat.
"What's the meaning of this? Aren't you the enemy, Kuroe…?"
"…Hah? Well… I thought a little surprise might prove interesting…," she said with a thin smile. Her expression, however, remained deathly pale.
Only then did Mushiki notice it. Her back was wet with blood.
She had done more than just push him to safety. She had sensed an oncoming projectile falling from the sky and had thrown herself before him to act as a human shield.
"…! Kuroe! You're bleeding!"
"…A poor shot, huh…? But you had better focus on keeping your eyes sharp. She's here… The worst reaper of them all…" With those words, Kuroe lost all strength.
She fainted and was still breathing, but she was losing a lot of blood. She needed medical treatment immediately.
Mushiki soon realized just how impossible that would prove to be.
Seemingly in response to her final words, a figure appeared, slowly seeping out from the darkness.
A robe shrouded their entire body, the hood allowing a glimpse of only the figure's mouth.
Whoever they were, the figure was clearly reluctant to reveal their identity, with only four brilliant crests shining radiantly above their head.
"…"
There could be no doubt about it. This was the same detestable mage who had mortally wounded Saika, pierced Mushiki's chest, and attacked Ruri earlier today.
"A-ahhhhhhhhh!"
No sooner did he recognize the figure than Mushiki clenched his right hand high up in front of him.
Above his head, his own crest expanded, an angelic halo in the shape of a witch's hat.
His first substantiation. A technique designed to extract and express only phenomena from his present waking world.
He had been unable to properly control it in class a few days ago, but he had activated it now with ease.
Around him, several spheres of light came into being.
With a sweeping motion, he sent those orbs careering toward the mage at tremendous speed.
"…"
Just before he could land the hit, they veered sharply away, changing trajectory as if repulsed, before exploding behind the mage with a rain of fireworks.
"How…?"
Mushiki stared wide-eyed as he took in the absurd scene.
That was only natural. The mage had neither blocked the attack nor deflected it. Rather, his projectiles seemed to change course entirely on their own, as though refusing to inflict harm on their target.
Mushiki was left stunned by this inexplicable phenomenon.
"It's useless," the mage muttered, the lower half of their face visible beneath the hem of their hood curling in a grin. "In this dimension, none can defeat me."
"…Eh…?"
Mushiki swallowed his words.
He recognized that voice.
But it was impossible—inconceivable. He stared back at the figure, his eyebrows raised in shock.
The mage's shoulders trembled slightly, as though amused by his reaction—then without warning, they lowered the hood shrouding their face.
It revealed a plume of long radiant hair, glistening in the light shining from their four-layered crest.
"…"
As he took in the now-exposed figure, this time Mushiki was brought to a complete halt.
That was only natural. After all, the face staring back at him was that of—
"Saika…?"
Standing before him was Saika Kuozaki, the same figure as Mushiki himself.
"Greetings, Me. It's been a while… Ha. Truly an odd thing to say. I never imagined you might pull through after how I left you. But I suppose I do have a strong hold on life." In a relaxed tone, the mage—Saika—waved her outstretched hand.
"What…?"
Mushiki couldn't believe what he was witnessing and reached out unconsciously to touch his face, to confirm that he was still who he thought he was.
"But…how…?"
"Ha-ha-ha. Why are you so surprised? Hmm… Here comes your dear Saika—is that it? As unbelievable as this may be, don't you think you're acting a little too aloof there…? Ah, perhaps…" Saika's eyes narrowed in mirth as she looked Mushiki over. "Perhaps you are not, in fact, me?"
"…!" Mushiki was caught off guard, recoiling in surprise.
Saika let out a low chuckle. "Looks like I hit the nail on the head. I thought there was something odd about your reactions…but it all makes sense now. I suppose you managed to survive by merging your own life force with someone else's using a coalescence technique? Well, well, well, aren't we a dirty little creature. You would have done better to breathe your last back then," Saika said with a shrug.
Strictly speaking, Mushiki and the newly appeared Saika weren't entirely identical.
Not only were their clothes different, the other Saika's hair was tied back loosely, and the crest circling above her head had a slightly thorny shape. There were faint dark circles around her iridescent eyes, tinged, it seemed, with haggard exhaustion.
Even subtracting all those factors, it was clear from her appearance, from her bearing, that she was unmistakably Saika Kuozaki.
"Are you…really Saika…?"
"Ah. I am. And you are…?"
"…Mushiki Kuga."
"Mushiki. I see you've met with a stroke of misfortune. On behalf of my other self, I apologize. It looks like little old me has caused you a fair amount of trouble."
"…What do you mean? Does Saika have a twin or something? Or are you using some kind of magical technique to imitate her…?"
"Ha-ha-ha. You do have a vivid imagination. It's quite true that it wouldn't be impossible to copy someone's features with the right techniques, down to the smallest detail. But it would take a god to reproduce my fourth substantiation." She laughed, pointing to her chest with an outstretched thumb. "I am without a doubt Saika Kuozaki… Just from a little further along in time than you are now."
"What…?" Mushiki stood aghast at her outlandish claim. "Further along…in time…? Like, from the future…?"
Her off-the-cuff confession made no sense.
The situation was beyond imaginable, leaving him unable to process his thoughts.
However, he quickly snapped back to attention.
Kuroe's words the very first day he had arrived at the Garden resounded in his ears. "There is the fruit of wisdom with the power to create star- or planet-destroying weapons, psychic anomalies that bring about endless natural cataclysms, swarms of golden locusts that devour everything in their path, deadly pandemics with massive fatality rates, emissaries from the future hoping to change the course of history, and a gigantic conflagration that would encompass the entire planet with its mere existence… These entities, each of them with the power to destroy the earth as we know it, we call annihilationfactors."
Right. He had heard about this sort of thing before.
How people from the future might appear hoping to change the past.
That being the case, this was an annihilation factor…
But there was a difference—in precisely who that emissary from the future was.
When you break it down, it was a remarkably simple explanation.
It would take the most powerful mage in the world to kill Saika Kuozaki, the most powerful in the world.
Even so, there were still several points that remained unclear.
"…Why would a future Saika want to kill the current one?" he asked with a grim look.
Indeed. Assuming that what she said was true, it was utterly incomprehensible that she would travel back in time with the intention of killing herself.
Future Saika gave him a brief nod before answering. "I have only one objective, and it hasn't changed for eons—to save the world and the people who call it home."
"…What do you mean?" Mushiki asked, his brow furrowed.
Future Saika stared down at the ground before continuing. "Soon, not too long from now, my world met with its destruction."
"…?!" Mushiki's heart skipped a beat at this shocking declaration.
Future Saika, however, ignored him as she proceeded with her story. "I, as the World King, must do everything in my power to avert it. I have to make it as though it never happened. The only way to achieve that was to take the place of my past self with my supervisory authority over the world—and to take the necessary countermeasures before the seeds of destruction could sprout… Of course, it would be necessary to disrupt the laws of cause and effect to ensure that I wouldn't cease to be even if my past self perished."
"World King…? Supervisory authority over the world…?" Mushiki repeated, further thrown off by the unfamiliar terms.
"I see that you haven't acquired my memories." Future Saika gave him a nonplussed shrug. "That's unfortunate… Or should I say, a stroke of good fortune, perhaps? There's so much information in that mind of mine that you're better off not knowing," she said, sticking her index finger to the side of her skull self-deprecatingly.
Mushiki's face contorted in confusion. "Hold on a minute. The world…is going to be destroyed? How can you say that so easily?"
"The world isn't as stable as you might think. To begin with…the real world was already destroyed long ago."
"…Huh…?" Unable to comprehend what Future Saika was saying, Mushiki's eyes all but spun around in circles. "What are you saying…? Then, where are we now?" he asked as he dug his foot into the ground.
Future Saika shrugged, her cheeks dimpling as she responded. "Here? The area produced by my substantiation technique, no?" She spread her hands wide as though asking him to take in the urban labyrinth that stretched out around them.
"This is no time for jokes. I meant—"
"I know what you meant. And I'm not joking. That was a genuine answer."
"Huh…?" Mushiki stared back, his mind flooding with yet more questions.
Future Saika's gaze was downcast. "Four substantiations. The first, phenomena; the second, matter; the third, assimilation; and the fourth, domain. Those are the four ranks that substantiation techniques are divided into. You're following me this far, I hope?" she asked with an exaggerated gesture.
"…" Mushiki continued to watch her in silence.
Future Saika, however, seemingly having read his thoughts, nodded. "But what lies next? Fourth substantiations are touted as supreme domains, but if a power could exist beyond them, what form would it take?"
"That's…" Mushiki stopped to consider her question.
With one's second substantiation, they created matter. With their third, they shrouded it around their body. Then with their fourth, they manifested a new domain centered around their own existence. Depending on the power of the mage responsible, such domains could encompass tremendously vast areas.
Though, to imagine something else beyond even those abilities…
"It can't be," he said.
"That's right." Future Saika's lips twisted in a smile. "One's fifth substantiation, world. This planet that you call Earth is nothing more than a substantiation forged by a lone mage when the real Earth was destroyed."
"…"
This revelation was so far beyond the realm of belief that it left Mushiki utterly speechless.
"Around five hundred years ago, the planet known as Earth ceased to be. At the time, I created a new identical world within my fifth substantiation and evacuated the survivors… But I wasn't able to save everyone… I told you, didn't I? This world is much more fragile than you could possibly imagine."
"…"
She puckered her lips in response to his silence. "Hmph. No response. I take it you still don't believe me?"
"Huh? Oh. No." Mushiki shook his head. "I'm not surprised to hear Saika would do something like that. I mean, that's who she is. If anything, I was just thinking how I've lived seventeen years of my life in a world she created. The air tastes beautiful here."
Future Saika's eyes rounded in surprise as she burst out laughing. "Ha-ha-ha. What are you saying? My other self chose an odd partner, I see."
Watching her carefully, Mushiki cleared his throat as if to catch his breath.
It wasn't that he understood everything she had just said. In fact, it would be no exaggeration to say that there were a great many points he still didn't fully grasp. However, he did recognize that the person across from him had somehow come back from the future to prevent the destruction of this world that he called home.
All the same, there were still several things that remained unclear. "But why do you want to kill our Saika?" he asked, staring deep into her eyes. "If you want to fix your mistakes, you could have avoided that future by advising your past self. You didn't have to—"
"That wouldn't work," Future Saika interrupted him, her voice tinged with resignation. "My past self would never have accepted my plan as it is now. My proposal may be able to save the world from destruction, but it isn't without considerable sacrifice."
"Sacrifice…?"
"That's right. At the very least, the lives of more than thirty percent of the people presently residing in my world will be required to build the foundations of a future in which it survives."
Mushiki's words stuck in his throat. "You…you would kill Saika, harm Ruri and Kuroe, and even sacrifice hundreds of millions of innocent people?"
"I, too, cannot do this without a sense of anguish. But if I don't, my entire world will be destroyed, all life wiped out… If I have to choose—"
"No," Mushiki interrupted her before she could finish.
"…Hah?"
"Saika would never say anything like that."
Future Saika was visibly taken aback by Mushiki's strong declaration. "Do you realize what you're saying?"
"Saika would never make a choice like that. She would find a way to save everyone, no matter the level of despair she was confronted with."
Future Saika's face contorted with indignation. "Do you think I haven't? I've tried everything, tested every possible avenue. This is our only hope…"
"Still, Saika would never do that. She loves this world more than anyone else."
"…" Future Saika's expression changed at once to astonishment, transcending discomfort—raw, unmistakable anger. "I didn't say it was easy… What do you understand?"
"I wasn't suggesting it was easy. It's just…you didn't sound like Saika just now. That's all."
Mushiki was fully aware that he was spouting nonsense.
After all, the person standing in front of him clearly was Saika Kuozaki, albeit from the future.
On top of that, he had only just merged with her and had yet to even get a good grasp of her personality and character.
Everything he knew about her was gleaned from images and recordings he saw. He had only spoken to her for the briefest of moments before his death.
To be perfectly blunt, the Saika whom he had fallen in love with at first sight might be nothing more than his own imagining, an abstract ideal. Above all, it was dangerous in the extreme to proclaim all this in front of the person herself.
Yet he felt no hesitation—only an intense conviction in his heart.
There was no way that someone so strong and powerful, someone who had altered the very course of his life, would make such a choice.
"Huh… Another odd outburst. If not me, then who is the true Saika Kuozaki?"
Love was blind.
Love was fanatical.
Mushiki raised his hand in front him, stretched out his thumb, and pointed to his own chest. "Right now, in this reality—me," he declared. "I am Saika Kuozaki."
"Hah…? Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!" Unable to contain herself, the future Saika burst into laughter. "What are you saying…? But I suppose they do say that fools shine brightest."
After raising her hands to her face as she let out another chuckle, she shot him a sharp look through her interlaced fingers. "But you seem to have misunderstood. I don't need to answer your questions. I don't need your approval or permission. My goal now is to usurp the title of World King from you, the me of this time and place. In other words, the only road ahead of you now is death…!"
With that, Future Saika spread her hands wide—and the crests of her second and third substantiations, already hovering above her head, radiated brilliant light.
"—!"
Mushiki squinted as he watched the light spread to her hands and body as it slowly enveloped her.
Before long, those rays of light contracted into two distinct objects—a huge mage's staff with an orb at its tip and a dress of scintillating luminescence.
Along with the crests floating above her head, these new additions truly transformed her into the very image of a witch.
The second and third substantiations of the Witch of Resplendent Color, Saika Kuozaki.
For a moment, her beauty and magnificence all but blinded Mushiki.
Even so, there was no time to spare.
"Hmm." Future Saika raised her staff, taller than she was, and then struck the ground with its tip.
In an instant, the urban labyrinth stretching out around them suddenly morphed.
"What…?!"
In its place was a raging, stormy sea.
No, not just a sea. The water's surface swelled, rising into the shape of a monster imbued with a will of its own, ensnaring Mushiki with its hands as it dragged him under.
Mushiki was snatched up by the water, caught in a whirlpool like a helpless piece of flotsam. Unable to so much as breathe, pulled under by a tremendous force latching on to his hands, legs, and torso, he felt as if his entire body was about to be twisted and ripped apart.
"…!"
Almost losing consciousness, he managed to focus his mind just long enough to leap out from the water's surface, using light-based orbs he had fashioned from his first substantiation as footholds.
"Hah… Hah…"
"Oh-ho-ho. What an impressive display of dexterity." Floating above him, Future Saika let out an amused laugh as she lifted her staff toward the heavens. "But can't you see this is the end? My fourth substantiation can paint every possible scene that might exist in this world. I will show you why people call me the Witch of Resplendent Color!"
No sooner did she finish speaking than a brilliant light radiated from her staff, and the raging ocean stretching out around her changed once again.
Plumes of smoke rose into the sky above fields of roiling lava.
In the blink of an eye, the area around Mushiki had been transformed into the mouth of an enormous volcano.
"Ngh…?!"
The scorching air nipped at his skin and nose, making it hard for him to even keep his eyes open.
Through the narrowed field of vision of his squinting eyes, he caught sight of a wave of lava—and within it, flames like a rearing dragon.
"What…?" His breath stuck in his throat.
The dragon swelled as if to show off its immense size, its huge jaw widening as it approached to consume him whole.
The word death flashed through his mind. The approaching dragon was a monster of pure fire. Not only would it tear through him, it would burn him to ash with a single touch.
"—"
Despite being faced with this desperate situation, Mushiki was dominated by something other than thoughts of pain and death.
At this rate, within a few seconds, his—or rather, Saika's—beautiful skin would be reduced to blackened ash.
The body of the most beautiful woman in the world.
Saika Kuozaki, whose supreme figure was beloved by the gods.
Mushiki would never tolerate such a thing.
"I won't…let you harm Saika anymore…!" he cried, raising his right hand toward the oncoming dragon.
There was no basis for his certainty, yet he was resolute.
His body, like the enemy whom he was now facing, was that of the most powerful mage ever to live, Saika Kuozaki.
There was no way that she—that this body—wouldn't know what to do.
"Aaarrrggghhh!"
The dragon engulfed him, tremendous heat in the air.
Except—
"…Oh?" Future Saika breathed in astonishment.
It was little wonder. After all, Mushiki, who by all rights should have just been swallowed by the dragon, was still there, floating before her.
"You're good, pulling out a new miracle at the last second." Future Saika's eyes narrowed in amusement as she glared at him.
"…" Faced with the intensity of that blinding light, Mushiki caught his breath, his shoulders heaving up and down.
Just a short moment ago, his throat and lungs had been exposed to so much burning air that it had hurt to breathe, but now he couldn't feel the intense heat around him.
That was as it should be. Above his head, his own three-layered crest was now bursting with light, a staff appearing in his own hand as a dazzling dress took form around him.
Yes, Saika Kuozaki's second and third substantiations.
Mushiki was now a mirror image of the Saika from the future floating before him.
"…An interesting application. I might build on it myself. Aren't you showing your hand a little too much, though?" Mushiki said, imitating Saika's tone of voice.
Her lips curled in a smile. "Interesting. But can a fake possibly keep up with the real thing?"
"Keep up, you say? What a strange expression. You talk like you're winning here."
"Heh…" Future Saika's smile twisted in amusement as she raised her staff into the air once more.
Mushiki, likewise, imitated her movements.
Above his head, the crest of his fourth substantiation began to unfold.
"The creation of all things."
"Heaven and earth alike reside in the palm of my hand."
"Pledge obedience."
"For I—"
"—will make of you my bride."
The moment their voices overlapped, the space surrounding them both shifted once more.
An endless horizon. A vast desert.
An eerie confluence of two separate fourth substantiations.
"Rage—"
"Ugh…!"
As though responding to both sets of commands, the wind began to roil, tearing through the sand as it wove two gigantic tornadoes.
Those sand-filled whirlpools flailed like two violent snakes, intertwining between the two figures, raging wildly, scattering them with endless sand and dirt.
"Heh, so you're not just a bigmouth! I'm impressed! I wouldn't have thought you would be able to master my techniques so well in such a short span of time! You'll have to tell me how you did it!" Future Saika burst out laughing as she twirled her staff in a circle. "But all the same… Did you really think you would be able to defeat me alone?"
As though responding to her words, the area around them shifted again, no doubt about to manifest into yet another domain.
"…"
Mushiki concentrated, paying special attention to Future Saika's every move and the flow of her magical energy.
An eerie sensation washed over him. Robed now in the dress of his third substantiation, he was able to read, somehow, the composition of the domain his opponent had begun to fashion.
"Fourth substantiation…"
Only half aware of what he was doing, Mushiki spun his own staff in a mirror image of Future Saika's movements.
Centering first around his foe, then him, the scenery was overwritten…pulling away to reveal an urban labyrinth comprised of innumerable towering structures.
Yes. Saika's next domain was none other than the very first he had witnessed.
"Yes. This is the most familiar choice. You could even call it the landscape of my heart." Future Saika nodded with satisfaction as she showed Mushiki a soft grin. "I would love to play with you a little longer, but I'm afraid I don't have much time myself. Let's settle this."
With that, she leaped into action, flying into the sky as if gravity had somehow reversed.
"…! Wait!"
He had no idea what she was trying to achieve, but he knew that inaction would be disastrous and so, likewise, flew up into the air to meet her.
He slid up by the side of one of the towering structures surrounding them, its end far out of sight, continuing higher and higher.
Finally, Mushiki broke through the thick layer of clouds and reached the vastness of the deep-blue sky.
"This…"
As he looked out at the scene before him, his eyes widened in realization.
Towering mountains like razor-sharp swords stretched out before him.
In the distance above—the same scene, turned upside down, expanded in all directions.
He remembered this sight—he had seen it once before, after merging with Saika. It was the fourth substantiation he had used against Anviet.
Amid that landscape like the fangs of a huge beast closing in, Future Saika danced calmly through the sky as she turned her staff toward him.
"…It's over."
In response to those words, the two metropolises, above and below, began to close in to crush him.
"Ngh…!"
Mushiki in turn raised his own staff, channeled his magical energy, and commanded the world.
…But this place, half of which was supposed to have been generated by his own fourth substantiation, failed to react in any discernible way.
Future Saika gave a victorious smirk. "I told you, Mushiki. It's over."
She emphasized his name as she spoke, as though claiming that of Saika Kuozaki exclusively for herself.
"You've imitated me well. Whatever your reasons, your talent is commendable… But looked at from another perspective, that's all it is. To think that an imitation could ever defeat the real thing."
"Ugh…"
As Future Saika's beautiful voice penetrated his ears, his whole consciousness was submerged in darkness.
◇ ◇ ◇
"…Huh?"
When he came to, Mushiki was sitting at a desk in what looked like a classroom.
It wasn't his room in the central school building at the Garden, but instead, it looked like a normal classroom at an ordinary school.
But was ordinary really the right word? There was nothing outside the window, just a pure-white void. As though this classroom existed in a dimension entirely by itself.
"This place… No, more importantly…"
A moment later, he remembered what had happened just before losing consciousness and glanced down at his hands.
"Right, Future Saika killed me…," he murmured before falling silent.
The reason was simple—those weren't Saika's hands, but his own.
It wasn't just his hands that had reverted in form. His entire body, so far as he could feel with his fingertips, had changed back to its original form. Had something prompted another state conversion?
No, maybe this was supposed to be a world beyond death? If he had breathed his last, it stood to reason that he would have regained his own body.
"Am I…dead…?" he uttered.
Strangely, he felt neither sorrow nor regret. It was like he was listening to his own voice with the composure of someone else.
"…Ugh."
Then another possibility took hold in the back of his mind, his heart tightening in alarm.
If he had died, that also meant Saika's body had died—and that Future Saika had chosen the worst possible outcome.
"I… I…"
He clenched his fists and slammed them down on his desk, ruing his inability to do anything about it all.
When—
"It isn't time yet for mourning. There is still more for you to do."
"…!"
A voice resounded through the air, and Mushiki looked up with a start.
His heart skipped a beat—not because of the sudden sound of the voice calling out to him nor even because of what exactly it had said.
Rather, what had startled him was that it had sounded so familiar.
"Um…"
Taken by surprise, he cast his gaze to the front of the room.
Before him was the blackboard, the teacher's lectern, and a table—and atop that table sat a girl, cool and unfazed.
"You…" He stared at her face, his words failing him.
"Even I couldn't beat her. No one in this world as it is now can. And yet…" She rose slowly to her feet. "I'll say it again. I'm glad it was you who found me."
◇ ◇ ◇
"…"
Saika Kuozaki from the future let out a shallow breath, then deactivated her fourth substantiation.
Just as the fourth component of her crest faded away above her head, the fangs of the city that had just engulfed Mushiki dissipated, the nighttime scenery of the forecourt in the Garden reappearing in their place.
The other three layers of her crest remained activated. There may have been a clear difference between her overall strength and that of her opponent, but she was, after all, facing her former self. Until she could confirm her death, she couldn't afford to let down her guard.
Still, that was ultimately just a precaution.
She had felt a solid response upon making impact. There could be little doubt that her past self, and Mushiki Kuga along with her, had perished.
Left alone, the realm created by the former World King would begin to collapse. She had to take her former self's place before that could happen.
"…So he was all talk after all," she murmured with a touch of disappointment.
She didn't waste a second before rescinding that thought. Disappointment was an emotion that arose from having expectations. It was hardly appropriate for her to use such an expression now.
Nonetheless, she would have been lying if she had said that no pain pricked her heart. Mushiki had also been a part of Saika's beloved world. He was one of the people whom she had hoped to save.
The same was true for Ruri. She adored Saika and had always been by her side back then—so while she had no choice but to eliminate her, she had kept the damage to a level that could be addressed with adequate medical treatment. If she hadn't gone that far, Ruri would no doubt have fought to the end.
…It was all meaningless now. With a sneer of self-derision, Future Saika shook her head.
"…Now, then…"
At that moment, as she glanced around for the corpse of her past self, which should now have been freed from her fourth substantiation…
"…"
In the forecourt in front of the mansion, a solitary figure appeared, a gust of wind coursing around it.
For a moment, she thought she had seen her past self—but she was wrong.
Standing there before her was a young man, his powerless face turned downward.
His hair was light in color, his arms and legs too thin to describe as muscular. There were no distinguishing features about his silhouette.
"What…?"
As she took in his figure, her brow furrowed.
Naturally, the only individuals here were her, her past self, and the attendant who had passed out at the edge of the Garden.
"…No, it can't be…"
The moment she realized the possibility, she watched him on high alert.
"A state conversion. So the death of the outside body caused the original hidden form to manifest?"
"…"
Had the boy—Mushiki—reacted to those words, or was it just coincidence? In any event, he was now staring back at her.
His eyes were somewhat vacant as they scanned her face, causing her to wonder whether he was truly aware.
Future Saika, however, remained nonplussed, focusing her strength into the staff in her hand.
Yes. If Mushiki was still alive, that meant her past self wasn't entirely dead, either. She could perhaps have been in a state of suspended animation from the damage she had sustained, but so long as Mushiki, with whom her life force was intertwined, remained breathing, she would slowly heal behind the scenes.
"I'm sorry. I bear you no enmity, but I can't allow my past self to live." So saying, she raised her staff into the air once more—the crest of her fourth substantiation unfolding above her head. "I'll offer you a tribute—by giving you the same death as my past self."
All at once, the world changed form with Future Saika at its center.
A cerulean sky unfurled, towering fang-like pinnacles appearing above and below.
Among the endless landscapes made possible by her fourth substantiation, this was the closest to her original home—the distorted modern cityscape.
However, this ability, this realm, was ultimately just a by-product—the true essence of her magic lay in measuring possibilities and selecting them.
The power to manipulate fate and draw forth a desired future.
In this domain, she had no peers.
"Fourth Substantiation: Void's Garden."
As she spoke, a cluster of towering structures closed in on Mushiki like the jaw of a mighty beast.
He didn't move. Or was it more correct to say he couldn't move? He simply stood there in quiet acceptance of the oncoming death.
Soon, fangs touched fangs, overlapping each other as they fell to crush Mushiki between them.
Only—
"…Huh?"
The next moment, Future Saika's eyebrows quivered in surprise.
Those twin rows of monoliths were entwined together—when a small crack ruptured through the middle, that solid outer wall collapsing like a sandcastle.
"What…?"
She had never before witnessed such a phenomenon and, for a long moment, doubted her own eyes.
Then, from amid that collapsing rubble…
"…"
…Mushiki emerged without a scratch.
"No…" Words failed Future Saika as she watched from a distance.
This was to be expected.
After all, above Mushiki's head now hovered a transparent crest forged from what could have been horns or barbs.
"…"
Thinner, thinner again.
He felt like his essence was being honed, polished.
Broader, much broader.
A sense as of melting into the wider world.
Mushiki, having reverted from Saika's form back to his own, was staring straight ahead at Future Saika through the crumbling debris.
It was a strange feeling.
An eerie sense of omnipotence, just as when he had first wielded magic in the guise of Saika's body.
However, now he was himself. There was no way he could be wielding Saika's magic here.
Yes, the only abilities available to him as he was now…
…were his own.
"Ah…"
Of course, he had never used these powers before, not even once.
What form did they take? What were their abilities? How was he supposed to train them, develop them? He didn't have the faintest clue.
But even so.
Yes, even so.
Mushiki, a novice mage, had accumulated experiences that by all means should have been impossible.
Now feelings that should not have existed did.
The strongest mage. Saika Kuozaki.
These hands now knew what it felt like to have wielded the powers of the World King, the pride of Saika Kuozaki.
All that remained was to carefully re-create them.
If he could do that…
If he could do that, Mushiki Kuga's own innate magic, powers that shouldn't have existed anywhere in the world, would come to life.
"So you're a mage, too? That's an odd technique you're weaving," Future Saika, floating in the air before him, said with narrowed eyes. "But so what? What can you possibly hope to achieve with a fragile first substantiation like that?"
That was exactly what Mushiki himself wanted to know. His own new techniques had just come into being. Not even he had a clear grasp on them.
Yet be that as it may, he had already decided on his response to Future Saika's jeer. "I'll save you."
"…Tch." Future Saika looked furious at this direct remark. "Did I mishear you just now? You mean to save me?"
She stared down at him, her eyes burning with contempt, indignation, and agitation.
Mushiki slowly looked up. "Saika, your goal isn't to take the place of your present-day self but to save the world from destruction… Right?"
"…What of it?"
Mushiki pointed to his chest with his thumb. "If we can prevent that future, that would mean you don't have to kill our Saika."
"Enough with these games. How can you possibly overturn a wave of destruction that I couldn't even escape?!"
"…Yeah, I know it won't be easy. But at the very least…there's one crucial difference between you and the present-day Saika."
"…And what would that be?"
Mushiki stared straight into her eyes as he answered her. "Me. I'll save you… It's thanks to you that I got to meet my Saika… It's thanks to you that my destiny was changed… So I'll never let you choose a course of action that will ruin you like this…!"
"…!"
Future Saika's breath caught in her throat for a moment—but her countenance soon twisted in anger. "Don't get carried away. You're just an ordinary person who happened to stumble on my deathbed… You know nothing of the end of the world, of the heavens cracking and the earth splitting open… You know nothing of despair, of the screams of countless innocents… You haven't watched as your world and everyone you love dies before your very eyes…!"
Then, looking as if she might burst into tears, she screamed. "I won't say that what I'm doing is right. I don't care if you denounce me as a villain. But I…I will kill you to save this world…!" she cried, giving him a murderous glare.
Mushiki met her gaze head-on. "In that case, to save you, I will defeat you."
"What utter nonsense…!" Future Saika shouted—and as her voice echoed, fresh spires manifested behind her.
All at once, their tips turned toward Mushiki and unleashed a tremendous blast of magical energy.
Each one of those barrages was a lethal blow, brilliant bursts of light in every color imaginable.
They coursed toward him, too many to possibly count.
Yet Mushiki, even faced with this desperate situation, was filled with a strange sense of calm.
"I couldn't use my Saika's magic to beat you. That's only natural. After all, you're the real thing. But," he said, still staring at her through the blinding light, "there's one part of me that could never lose to you."
As his vision flooded with rainbow-colored light, his thoughts grew sharper, more finely honed.
If he died here, Future Saika would, as she had already declared, take whatever measures she thought necessary to save the world.
Even knowing that so many lives would be lost by her doing so.
To save a greater number, she would discard those whom she loved more than anything else.
Mushiki couldn't allow her to do that.
"Second Substantiation…"
From deep in the emptiness of his consciousness, a soft voice emitted—and above his head, his crest unfolded with a second layer.
"…Hollow Edge."
As though answering his call, magical energy converged around his arm to forge a sword, a transparent blade like glass.
A fleeting weapon, so ephemeral that light itself might break it.
"The one thing that you will never defeat…" Mushiki spoke with deep conviction as he brought the only thing capable of stopping the strongest witch in the world swooping down. "…is my love for Saika!"
He directed the tip of his narrow blade her way—toward the oncoming, raging, murderous force coursing toward him.
"Descend, my illusion…!" Future Saika cried out, wielding the staff of her second substantiation.
Answering her call, a plume of magic-infused light, too enormous to simply call a ray, slammed hard into Mushiki.
It was a devastating attack, the Witch of Resplendent Color's magic all focused into one shot. If it had hit any ordinary person, it wouldn't have left so much as bone remaining.
Indeed, if not for his fourth substantiation, the deadly blow would have ended not only his own life but would have devastated the surrounding landscape far into the distance.
And yet—
"…?!"
The next moment, Future Saika recoiled in alarm.
The light filling her field of vision split open—and Mushiki was closing in on her.
"Impossible…"
In his right hand, he held a transparent sword, and above his head hovered two new crests, rippling like the surface of a lake.
Both of those crests seemed to be comprised of horn- or thorn-like pieces.
As the two overlapped, the impression they gave was that of a royal crown.
"…"
There was no sound, and nothing vocalized.
Mushiki's sword plunged deep into her chest.
A magical barrier shielded her body, as did the dress created by her third substantiation.
Yet the blade passed through both without any resistance.
"Ah…" A faint gasp escaped her lips.
There was no pain. Not even a drop of blood flowed down her chest.
Instead, the staff in her hand, the dress covering her body, and the crests radiating above her head shattered like broken pieces of glasswork.
In a haze of sparkling light, her substantiations faded into the air around her.
"…"
Taking in this fantastic scene, she was struck by a mysterious sensation.
It wasn't quite humiliation, nor regret, nor despair at having failed to save the world.
It was the essence of her magic, the power to manipulate fate and draw forth a desired future.
So long as her fourth substantiation had been activated, none could escape its intrinsic laws.
That being the case, was this outcome the end result…?
"…Ha." She gave a weak laugh.
"…"
Below a sky dyed a myriad of colors, Mushiki, having wielded his blade half in a daze, somehow managed to calm his breathing and keep his consciousness from flickering out.
He couldn't afford to slip into darkness here, not now. Or to let his life force slip away.
This was the first time he had ever used his own innate magic, and his body had let out a tremendous wail of anguish in response. But through that, he had managed to keep his eyes open by focusing on one thing—his feelings for Saika.
So it wasn't until he felt something soft stroking his head that he realized where he was.
"Huh…?"
Saika was patting his head.
His mind finally processing the present scene, he looked up.
Before him was Saika in the flesh, surrounded by light and smiling fondly at him.
"So you aren't just a bigmouth. You won't let the other me choose the same path I did, will you?"
As she spoke, cracks began to emanate through the sky around her, spreading out in all directions as the space surrounding them crumbled.
"Saika…" Mushiki tried calling out her name, but his voice failed him.
His awareness, having long passed its limits, was already sinking into the darkness.
The only sound to reach his ears was Saika's voice. "Look after the other me, Mushiki."