Unnamed Memory

“I’d like to know that myself,” Oscar said, pulling the witch into his arms as he swam the rest of the way across the cold spring. When they reached the shore, he hoisted her up first before getting out of the water himself.
Muttering complaints all the while, Tinasha dried their clothes. As she did, she froze. “Oscar… Where’s Akashia?”
“I threw it. I saw it fall into a different fissure.”
“I—I see…,” she said, most likely well aware that scolding him for something that reckless wasn’t going to help their current situation.
Tinasha sighed as she finished magically drying her and Oscar’s clothes.
“What happened back there? You were acting odd. So were Elze and that Ito mage,” Oscar pressed.
“Right… It’s strange that you were the only one unaffected by what happened,” Tinasha replied as she took in their surroundings. A lichen on the walls was emitting a faint glow that illuminated the place. The witch pointed to a singular rift in the wall. “Let’s walk and talk. I want to get Akashia back.”
“Got it. Sorry about this,” Oscar apologized, ruffling her hair, and her eyes narrowed happily. They set out along the path the rift had carved for them.
“Some sort of external magical interference was making me feel sick. A strange power from underground was coming up toward our internal magic. For people like me and the Ito mage who’ve undergone magic control training, it felt like something shut up inside us was forcibly churning us up. I felt so bad I couldn’t cast any spells. I don’t know what it was like for Elze, but I can only imagine…”
“Mine is uncontrolled, but I was fine,” Oscar interjected.
“You’re a bit of a special case… You also had Akashia. That Javi guy might’ve managed to avoid the feeling, too.”
“Javi, huh? You didn’t like that place from the start, and I guess with good reason.”
Regardless of what’d happened, Tinasha and Oscar were now underground. Oscar looked down at the witch next to him. “If you want, you can wait back at the fortress. I’ll look for Akashia.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. I’m your protector. I’m actually very glad I came with you. I shudder to think of you off getting yourself drawn into trouble without my knowledge,” Tinasha stated pertly. She then grabbed hold of Oscar’s sleeve. The witch may have meant her words to be a sign of her dedication, but it betrayed her compassion more than anything else. Oscar smiled and continued the march forward.
Beyond the rift in the rock lay a narrow, crooked path. Oscar ran his fingers along the surface of the wall. “This is man-made. Is this part of the Ito holy ground, too?”
“Most likely. I think the aboveground part is just a lid. The battle on that seal is what broke it,” Tinasha hypothesized.
“A seal… What of that white mist that was inside? Do you know what that was?” Oscar inquired.
“I don’t. There’s not enough evidence for me to hazard a guess. All I can sense is that it’s something bad for mages,” Tinasha replied.
An end to their path was nearing now, and they could see that it led into an open space. Tinasha was about to advance into it, but Oscar held her back. “Someone’s there,” he hissed, pulling out his dagger. Tinasha obediently followed behind him.
Concealing his footsteps as best he could, Oscar crept out into the round, empty chamber of rock. A man was crouched in the middle of it, and Oscar gaped at the sight of him.
“Did you fall down, too? Are you okay?”
It was Javi. He looked up at them with empty eyes. “You… How did you get here?”
“We fell. If you’ve got any fatal wounds, she can heal them,” Oscar replied.
“Hey, don’t speak for me. I plan to kill all of them as soon as I can,” the witch retorted, sounding truly enraged. Oscar grimaced.
He’d learned over the course of their time together that she was indifferent toward people who were hostile to her but merciless to those who treated him that way. She was much crueler than him, particularly to people who struck back even after their defeat was clear.
Both of them were confident in their own abilities. Oscar was content to let his enemies escape, but Tinasha beat them down thoroughly to nip any future revenge plots in the bud. It was not easy at all to rein her in when she was full of wrath.
“Leave it. You don’t have to handle everything. Besides, right now I have something to ask him.” Oscar turned to Javi. “What is this place?”
Murals and written characters were carved into the faintly glowing walls. Javi glared at Oscar and Tinasha as if they were something unpleasant. “This is the Ito’s sacred place. Only the leader and his closest associates know about it. Carved into the walls is the history of our clan… I’ve only been here once before as a kid.”
“Your history, huh? Interesting,” Oscar remarked. He walked up to the right edge of one wall, where the carvings looked the newest. Inscribed there was small, tightly packed text detailing the events of two years prior, with no pictures. In some places, it was too smudged to read, but here and there, Oscar could pick out words like two of the same sword, the past, magic crystal ball, and memories of a clan.
When he brought his face closer to get a better look, Tinasha called to him. “Don’t wander around. This is more annoying than I thought.”
“Hmm? What’s up?”
Tinasha was looking at an even older carving on the opposite wall. It was composed almost entirely of pictures, and she pointed to a drawing of a white human-shaped being. It had no face or clothing, and little balls were depicted at its feet. The other humans around it were reverently bowing down to it. “This is probably their visiting god. It’s the thing that just attacked us.”
“Oh, because it’s white? Is it okay to decide that’s what it is just based on color?”
“There’s more written here that makes it obvious. ‘The god who came from another place found the devil fiends mixed in among the humans and killed them. Everyone gave thanks to the god and feared it. They made a resting place for their deity.’ In the early Dark Age, devil fiend was an insult for mages. Mages weren’t treated as people back then. This ‘god’ can provoke reactions in people with magic, revealing them to be mages. That’s why the Ito revered it.”
“I see. So they turned their sacred land into its resting place. But what is it really? It looked like mist. Is it a demon?”
“No. A demon would have its own magic. This thing was different…”
Tinasha traced a part of the wall. Oscar squinted and saw that it was what must have been the god’s name, judging by context. But it had been scraped off at a later date, and only some of it was legible.
“…ity…di…? I can’t make it out,” Oscar finally admitted, brooding over it.
Tinasha whirled around to look at Javi, a grim look on her face. “The god that came from another place. Have you heard where that place is?”
Javi’s face was pale, but he glared at Tinasha and refused to answer. She let out a huge sigh. “The fact that you’re here but largely uninjured must mean that you followed the path down here yourself. You didn’t fall like us. You came in search of Elze, right? You better start talking before it’s too late. She had magic.”
“Wha—? That can’t be…” Javi gasped. He struggled to get to his feet, but he fell to his knees in agony. After a brief moment of indecision, he finally decided to give Tinasha the answer that she wanted. “Th-they said it came from the north.”
“I knew it…,” the witch whispered to herself.
“Tinasha, what do you know?” Oscar inquired.
“I can’t be certain, but there’s another country with similar stories of an entity that can badly affect the mind and body of those with magic. Its mere presence was said to be enough to cause their magic to run wild and hurt those around them…”
“It can’t be…” Oscar had heard the same story. Just two months ago, he’d needed to review an account of it.
Before sending out Farsasian troops to aid in a foreign country’s religious war, he’d thought to study up on that nation’s cultural history. It was in that research that he’d learned of the entity known as the World-Splitting Blade or Sleeping Paleface.
A huge country in the north worshipped that fearsome creature as a god.
“…Tayiri’s one true god, Irityrdia,” Oscar muttered, completely stunned.
“Most likely, yes… That giant thing was what they deified,” Tinasha affirmed.
Tayiri, which had long expelled and oppressed mages, was where Irityrdia had come from.
It was what led mages to run amok and hurt people. That in turn had caused those without magic to demonize spell casters.
This Irityrdia had drifted in from the north and come to rest here.
Tinasha uncrossed her arms and asked Javi, “So what does this room connect to? You must have an idea of where Elze is.”
“…I couldn’t get in. It connects to a chamber just below the center of the holy place. But there’s an invisible wall, and I can’t get past.”
“I’ll do something about that. Elze and Akashia probably ended up close to each other,” the witch declared, looking around the chamber. She spied a door across from the passage Javi must have come in through.
“Oscar, will you wait here?” Tinasha requested.
“I will not,” he stated flatly.
“I thought so! I expected this! I want to forcibly teleport you home!” Tinasha shouted at him, just the same as she always did.
Oscar didn’t answer, instead offering a thought. “Won’t a mage be at a disadvantage against that creature? Won’t it just be a repeat of what happened earlier?”
“I’ll put up a defensive wall. Besides, I’m not a cat anymore. If it tries to send out more magical interference, I just have to push back against it. I’m actually the most worried about you without Akashia.”
“Hmm. Perfect timing—I’ll just borrow this,” Oscar said, picking up Javi’s broadsword. He handled it as if it weighed no more than a feather, and Tinasha felt some of the tension leave her shoulders. With no fanfare, the duo headed for the far side of the chamber.
Oscar pushed past the door that barred the way to a piece of mythological history.
Beyond it, a winding narrow path extended outward. The surrounding stone made the trail just wide enough for Oscar and Tinasha to pass through.
The witch walked two steps behind the king so as not to get in the way of any sword attacks. Along with a long incantation, Oscar could see a finely wrought defensive wall taking shape around them.
The air changed degree by degree. As he made his way forward, Oscar asked, “If Irityrdia is up ahead, do you think you can kill it?”
“I’m not sure… As we saw earlier, an attack with Akashia appears to be effective, but we’re up against mist.”
“A mist creature, huh? Guess we’d have to burn it.”
“I don’t know if I’d call it a creature… Judging by the interference I suffered, it was probably closer to a phenomenon. One that reacts to magic and rejects it.”
“Rejects magic? So it’s something like Akashia?”
“No, not quite that. Akashia dismantles and scatters magic here within the hierarchy where we live, but this phenomenon seems to try to push magic back to the plane in the hierarchy where magic primarily exists. The name World-Splitting Blade refers to how Irityrdia tries to cut through the gaps between planes in the hierarchy. Originally, we mages are born with power that’s on the magic plane. It feels like someone trying to make off with our very organs.”
“It definitely doesn’t sound pleasant.”
“It’s not. But that’s only true for someone who’s undergone control training and can store magic in their body.”
“And for someone like Elze?”
“…Their magic wouldn’t be so easily cut out. It could mean they’d be blotted out, soul and all.”
“We’ll need to hurry, then,” Oscar declared, quickening his pace. Finally, the path began to widen and led into a chamber that looked like the carved-out inside of a mountain.
Instead of glowing moss, darkness and white mist clung to the place. Oscar scowled as he peered at the way forward. “Isn’t there some sort of invisible shell up ahead?”
“There is. That was probably what blocked that Ito man back there from entering. Someone cast a spell to prevent Irityrdia from escaping. Magic wouldn’t have been enough, of course—that’s why I believe they transmuted their soul into a spell. The seal must be very old, though; it shouldn’t have held for this long,” Tinasha mused. She sidled up next to Oscar and stroked the empty air.
Then they heard a soft shattering noise. The mist was stirring. The white shroud blanketing the room surged forward toward them. But a few steps before it could reach Oscar, Tinasha’s barrier blocked it. Glaring at the strange anomaly, the witch waved a hand.
“…Move aside.”
The witch’s power pushed back the pale fog that threatened to swallow the two. Sweat gathered on Tinasha’s brow as she forced the vapor aside.
Once Oscar realized that Tinasha probably couldn’t endure this for long, he patted her shoulder. “I’ll be back. Don’t overexert yourself.”
“Be careful,” she whispered and nodded to him. Oscar took off at a run. He meant to look for Elze and Akashia, but he couldn’t see anything with the mist pressing in on him. Tinasha expanded her defense to encompass Oscar for a time, but once he got too far for it to follow, he dived into the mist alone.
That was when everything shook and warped.
It felt just like up and down were all out of order, yet Oscar’s feet remained firm on the ground. The persistent mist was trying to interfere with his magic—attempting to overwhelm him and the barrier Tinasha had placed on him.
It wanted to crush his body to a pulp, but Oscar marched onward, undaunted. “Elze! Can you hear me?!”
Judging by how the woman had been acting aboveground, Oscar had to concede that it was possible she’d been pushed off this plane of existence. Even so, he called out in search of her. An instinct suddenly commanded that he draw his sword.
Something came whooshing down at Oscar from overhead, making a high-pitched sound when it clashed against his blade. Oscar tried to push away the other weapon, but his sword was suddenly confronted with nothing but empty air.
Tinasha’s efforts forced the mist back farther, compressing it tightly.
From within the alabaster vapors, Oscar saw a person emerge. The sight of her caused his handsome features to twist. “You…”
It was Elze. Her blank eyes were darting all over, and she held something white and swordlike in her hand. It looked like she’d lost her mind, as if she was a marionette controlled by strings.
She lifted one slender arm—and threw the pale sword at Oscar.
“Ngh!” he grunted. While he repelled the attack easily enough, the hurled weapon dissolved and turned to white mist.
“It’s possessed her. Not good.”
A corporeal opponent was a far easier target, but there was no way Oscar could attack Elze. As he hesitated, she swooped down upon him again. He parried another slash of a fog-formed blade, but he was at a loss for how to proceed. Elze was innocent in all this. Oscar found himself trapped in a stalemate. Seeing that her attacks weren’t landing, Elze leaped far back.
Then she opened both arms and threw out her chest.
Oscar didn’t know what she planned to do, but then he saw mist start to move toward her open mouth. A steady stream of it flowed into her petite frame.
“Oh, come on… That’s where this is going?”
There was little to do but watch the strange sight. Oscar had to wonder how such a slender body could house such a vast quantity of the strange miasma. He was granted precious little time to think, as Elze began to emanate a gentle light.
Oscar deliberated for a moment, and then he kicked off the ground and closed in on her. He slashed down from overhead to put an end to the mist influx.
An ivory hand stopped his sword, however.
“What?”
Clutched in Elze’s hand was the blade of a broadsword powerful enough to cleave bone. While Oscar was surprised, his body moved reflexively. He let go of the sword and leaped back.
Swinging from the blade, Elze brought the weapon to bear down at the exact spot where Oscar had been standing just a moment before. The huge sword she’d appropriated twisted like flimsy wire. As Oscar watched the weapon shatter to slivers in her grip, he wanted to burst out laughing.
“If this is what a god is, Aetea’s downright docile.”
“Come on now. You’re the king. Watch what you say,” came Tinasha’s exhausted voice. Oscar whirled around. The witch had stopped trying to push back the mist, as there was no need now that it was contained inside Elze.
Tinasha wiped the sweat from her forehead as she came over to Oscar. “That was pretty heavy labor… Any mages who faced that thing in the past definitely fell into endless despair.”
“You okay? You’re really pale.”
“I just feel extremely seasick. It’s like something’s churning up my insides… I can’t walk straight.”
“I don’t feel it that bad,” Oscar admitted in reply. His surroundings grew hazy in the mist, but it was nothing like what Tinasha was describing.
The witch shook her head feebly. “Half of my magic came to me later in life, so it’s easier for me to feel the effects, I think… As for you, it’s because your magic is sealed.”
“Sealed? This is the first I’ve heard of it,” Oscar said.
Tinasha’s eyes grew wide for a moment, but she immediately smiled as if nothing was wrong. “Oh, really? Then it must be my imagination. Let’s focus on what we’re going to do here.”
“I want to hear more about that later. Anyway, is there anything we can do about Irityrdia without killing Elze?”
“It’ll be very hard… Magic has almost no effect on it, so I can’t draw it out in the usual way. Having said that, it’s impossible to destroy whatever’s inside her without harming her body. The humanlike figure depicted in that mural may have also been a human who was possessed,” Tinasha explained without taking her eyes off Elze. “A physical form to attack makes things easier for us.”
The vapor that had once filled the room was now nowhere to be found. All that was left was a glowing woman in a dark chamber.
When she opened her eyes, they were completely white. From her slightly parted lips came a trail of fine mist. She appeared human but was something else.
The witch frowned. “For now, we need to get Akashia. It seemed to be capable of dispersing Irityrdia.”
Oscar scanned the gloom. Now that the fog had cleared, he could see something glinting in the distance. Its occasional shine had been calling to him for a while now.
“But if I cut Elze down with Akashia, she’ll die,” Oscar protested.
“She will. But if that thing gets out in the open, something far worse will happen. So as a last resort—” Tinasha cut herself off. Oscar sensed someone approaching and spun around.
A man had emerged from the passage into the chamber.
“I won’t let you kill her,” he swore. He glanced at what remained of his right arm and declared with even greater determination, “I will not let you kill her.”
He was so weak he looked like he could collapse any minute. Still, Oscar and Tinasha knew his words were no bluff.
Oscar started to say something, but the witch held up a hand to stop him. She turned to Javi and said, “I understand how you feel, but something bigger is at stake here. Irityrdia has possessed her. If she’s turned loose on the world, it will be nothing short of catastrophic. Once anyone with magic gets near her, they’ll either self-destruct or go mad. A berserk mage is a threat to everyone. Things like that are the reason Tayiri has spent over a thousand years ostracizing mages.”
Tinasha’s dark eyes mirrored a dark abyss. Her gaze was the sort one could only acquire after watching bloody conflicts repeat themselves throughout history.
One look from those dim orbs was enough to paralyze someone. It was unmistakably the glare of a witch. How bottomless her eyes could be was something she didn’t regularly reveal; Oscar squinted at her. Javi stiffened, and the witch went on in a voice as cold as ice. “What she is now is nothing but a vessel that will propagate more innocent deaths. Do you want the same mistakes of the past to repeat themselves? If you fail to understand, then I’ll start by killing you.”
Tinasha’s tone was enough to snuff the life from those who heard it.
Normal people would’ve cowered and begged forgiveness after one look into those ebony eyes.
The witch was only speaking the truth, however.
Javi cleared his dry throat. He looked at the stump of his arm…but then glared back defiantly at the witch. “I don’t care who she kills or how many.”
“That’s enough nonsense. You’ve got guts, laying down your own life.”
“Even so…I won’t let you kill her. She’s the one I want,” Javi insisted, stubborn to the last.
Tinasha stared at the Ito man. Her eyes told him nothing, and Javi shrank back a little under the weight of her gaze. He held his breath and cleared his throat.
“…Please save her,” he begged.
Tinasha frowned, appalled. She rubbed her temple with a finger. “I suppose I have to. But you’re going to help.”
She looked over at Elze. The woman was in a state of total possession, standing stock-still in the open space as if waiting for her next moment of opportunity. Tinasha gave Oscar and Javi brief instructions. Javi looked unsure but obeyed and took his position.
“Do you think we have a chance now?” Oscar asked.
“Mmm… I wish I had some sort of medium to ensure it’ll work. But I was a cat, so I didn’t bring any equipment.”
“What kind of medium?”
“Normally, I’d use crystals. You know, like the ones we saw at the foot of the humanlike thing in that mural?”
Evidently, those ancient carvings were what Tinasha was basing her plan off. Without a conduit like the ones that had been depicted, all she could do was take over the job herself.
Oscar suddenly straightened up in surprise and responded, “Oh, I’ve got something that might work. Here.”
He pulled a small bag containing a crystal ball from his breast pocket, and Tinasha’s eyes grew wide. “Why do you have something like this? You’re not a mage.”
“Because it’s your favorite toy. I brought the one from my desk.”
“I’m human! I only made myself look like a cat!” Tinasha squawked, her cheeks puffing up. Despite her protestations, she received the palm-sized sphere and inspected it. “Urgh… It’s a little too big… Won’t fit in my mouth…”
“What are you talking about? It’s a cat toy.”
“It’s not a toy!” Tinasha insisted loudly. She squeezed the ball, and it shrank to the size of a small pearl.
“What was that? How’d you do that?” Oscar inquired.
“Shrinking magic is a real thing, you know. Now watch—the crucial part is what comes next,” Tinasha instructed, popping the reduced crystal ball into her mouth. Oscar’s eyes bugged out. Suddenly, Tinasha asked, “If I became a threat to the entire world, would you kill me?”
It was reminiscent of something she asked before.
Was that the same situation Javi was facing at that very moment, or was it different somehow?
The witch’s question sounded like that of a little girl trying to probe into something she didn’t quite understand. Without any hesitation, Oscar responded, “Only if it were beyond a shadow of a doubt that you couldn’t be saved.”
No matter the situation, no matter the circumstances, if there was even a sliver of a possibility, he would reach out to help her.
He’d set her forward and get her on her feet. They’d move on, even if she were smeared in blood and mud—even if she’d garnered hatred from every side.
If she’d truly closed off every option and it was all over already, however…
In such a situation, Oscar knew he would be the one to bring Tinasha to her end. When he took the throne, he accepted the position knowing he needed to be prepared for that.
His words may have sounded callous, but they’d showed that he was more devoted to the witch than anyone.
Tinasha was left breathless at Oscar’s reply.
And then…she gave a heartfelt, blissful smile.
Her eyes were soft with feelings she couldn’t hold back as she gazed at him. “That’s why I can fight. Because I know you’d do that.”
She floated a few centimeters into the air and took Oscar’s face in her hands.
Tinasha’s dark eyes bore right into his. Then she closed hers, eyelashes fluttering, and pressed a kiss to Oscar’s forehead. After pulling back, she whispered in his ear, “Let’s go.”
The witch gave a solid pat to Oscar’s chest. At the same time, he saw the crystal ball go down her throat as she swallowed it.
Before he could think about what that meant, he broke into a run.
There was no more mist. Oscar was heading for Akashia, not Elze. The possessed woman reacted to his magic, taking no notice at all of Javi. Her eyes followed Oscar as he ran. A dozen arrows of that white fog formed around Elze before speeding after Oscar.
“Guess you’re so predictable because you’re not really alive,” commented Oscar. Keeping an eye on the arrows closing in, he made a huge leap. The vaporous projectiles all missed, crashing harmlessly into the ground. With no change in expression, Elze motioned to summon up new arrows to chase him.
That was when Tinasha called out, “Hey, Irityrdia. Shouldn’t I be the one you’re aiming for?”
Her voice cut through the dark, and Elze’s eyes swiveled to Tinasha. Clad all in black, the witch appeared not unlike a moon hanging in the night sky. “You were laid to rest here in this sacred place. I wonder how many sacrifices were needed to seal you away.”
The question carried across the cavern. It filled Oscar’s ears as he charged through the black. The closer he got, the more certain he was that it was Akashia sticking out of the ground. He picked up his beloved sword and was about to turn back when he noticed something scattered on the ground a short distance away.
“Are those…human bones?”
Scattered skeletons lay faded on the dark earth. Piles of dust had accumulated on them, and in their midst glittered freshly shattered crystal shards.
The witch’s voice boomed. “You were held by an ancient seal but awakened in response to my magic. That is why you surfaced and reached for me…but I rejected you. So you took that woman instead.”
Tinasha reached out a hand. Her eyes curved beautifully with her smile and then flashed with irrepressible rage. “So come to me, O god who has killed many and driven more to madness, who has left its claw marks on history. As a mage of this land, I—the Witch of the Azure Moon—shall face you.”
Blue flames sparked from her hands. A colossal magic bonfire powerful enough to burn anything to a crisp at a single touch sprouted to life.
The flame was so different from anything found on this plane of the hierarchy that Irityrdia froze for a moment.
Then it let out a terrifying roar. “Aaaaaaaaaahhhhhh!”
The taut scream emerging from the woman’s mouth rang double and triple in everyone’s ears.
Elze kicked off the ground and attempted to spring an attack on Tinasha. Javi had gotten behind her, however, and held her back. As he restrained her with only his left arm, his face twisted at her inhuman might.
“Stay here… Do not go!”
Elze struggled in his arms like a broken doll. Javi gritted his teeth and dug in his heels firmly.
She fought and writhed, striking out at him with supernatural strength. There came the dull sound of bones breaking, and Javi doubled over, anguish writ clear on his face. He refused to let her go, however, and she let out a beastly howl.
They were entangled like that for a while, until Elze gave a jolt. “Ah…aaahhh…”
From her immobile body, a stream of white mist began to flow out, drawn toward the witch’s flame. The sentient white mist pressed in. As it came nearer, Tinasha flashed it a dauntless grin. “Come.”
The witch closed her eyes…and let out a little sigh.
Then…something winked out of sight.
“Tinasha!”
What she erased was the solid wall that was otherwise always in place around her magic. The first thing mages were taught was how to establish one’s individuality in the world, but she was a witch. Her distinctiveness wasn’t ordinary and neither was how she held her magic in check.
She had undone it entirely.
An almighty bundle of magical power was utterly defenseless.
The god turned into mist and surged toward it.
Tinasha extinguished her blue flame as the stream of vapor closed in but did nothing else.
The mist flowed right in between her red lips, entwining around her arms and legs and her waist. The phenomenon descended on her, trying to remove her magic from every pore of her body.
The sight was bizarrely beautiful and yet completely sickening.
Javi stared in shock, assaulted by nausea. In his arms, Elze fell limp.
“Dammit!” cried Oscar, running toward the witch. He realized what the piles of bones were. The mural had depicted smashed crystal balls and human remains.
Long ago, someone must have used the same method to seal away Irityrdia.
The process entailed using oneself as a vessel for a god—but humans were short-lived. So in order to prevent a god lacking a conscious will from going free after its human vessel died, a crystal ball swallowed internally acted as a medium to store the god. Double vessels kept Irityrdia tied to this holy ground. The old crystal balls—the god’s resting place—had shattered into pieces under the pull of the witch’s power.
Tinasha had noticed the mist was sealed using two vessels…and resolved to do the same thing others had in the past.
“Tinasha! Stop it!” Oscar insisted.
If she became a phenomenon that only existed to kill…
Oscar would be the one to bring an end to it. He didn’t plan on burdening anyone else with that responsibility.
Undoubtedly, that’s the sort of role the witch wanted him to take. Oscar had always chosen paths that prevented the possibility from becoming an inevitability, however.
A beautiful witch. The symbol of the strongest, most abominable power in the entire land.
A queen with no throne from an empire that fell long ago. Oscar knew if he let go of her even once, he’d never get her back. She’d glide away as easily as water. Ordinarily, the two should never have met. The slip in time that had allowed it would carry her off.
That’s precisely why Oscar knew he couldn’t give up.
“Tinasha!”
Oscar grabbed her shoulders. By now, there was no mist remaining. A wisp of white breath escaped her slightly parted lips.
She looked up at him with empty, dark eyes. In a thin, weak voice, she said, “Not…yet…”
“What’s not yet?” he demanded, but he was relieved to see she was still conscious. She wasn’t lost. He could still get her back. Glancing down at her stomach, Oscar said, “I’m going to make you throw up that crystal. It’ll be painful but bear with it.”
If he separated it from her, they should be able to take another tack. He also wouldn’t mind just going back to square one. The two of them could battle the likes of a god. He was convinced of that.
Eyes still vacant, Tinasha immediately responded, “But then it might get away…”
Her face was pallid as she looked down at herself. Slowly, she pressed a few fingers down on a spot in the center of her body, just under her rib cage. Then she slid her fingers lower. The black fabric of her formfitting costume opened up smoothly like a knife through butter. Skin as soft as virgin snow peeked out from under the gap.
Then her fingers stopped right over her navel. “It’s here. You can do it, right?”
“Listen…,” Oscar said in exasperation, having gleaned her meaning.
Irityrdia was inside the crystal ball she’d swallowed. There was only one way to keep it from ever truly escaping.
“Are you planning to make me disembowel you?”
Tinasha’s plan was to have Oscar cleave her through and smash the crystal with Akashia. By using her own body as a decoy, the god could be slain. That was the only way.
The graceful lines of Oscar’s face were all twisted in bitterness, which made the witch laugh. “Disembowel? You’re the one most capable of finishing the job with minimal injuries. I’ll heal right away, so I’ll be fine. Besides, I’m used to getting holes cut in my belly.”
“Can you be a little less ridiculous…?” Oscar muttered through gritted teeth.
It was true that Tinasha had experience with atrocious injuries, but that didn’t make the decision any easier for Oscar.
Yet here the witch was, asking him to do just that, entirely naturally. “Take up your sword and win.”
Tinasha gazed at Oscar’s sullen face and tilted her head. “Do you not think you can do it?”
“Don’t try to get me riled up, idiot. I’m just in shock at how shameless you are. Are you a cat?”
“I’m not a cat,” the witch insisted. Complete trust shone in her eyes.
No—it wasn’t even trust. Her gaze was saying, You can do it. To her, it was just a fact, not a matter of trust.
She was handing her body, her life, over to Oscar without a single doubt.
This woman was nothing but trouble, and that was precisely what he loved about her.
“Fine, I’ll do it. You do your best to dull the pain.”
Oscar wiped Akashia with a cloth.
This was the royal sword. It was meant for war. Its blade was not slender at all. But where he would be cutting bled out copiously even under the best of circumstances. He didn’t want to nick any other organs. Taking off his left glove, he touched her skin to make sure of his aim. He traced upward on her soft belly, and she shuddered. “Th-that tickles… Don’t touch it too much.”
“Don’t move around. Just try and bear it. If you don’t stay perfectly still, I’ll touch you more later,” he warned her, and she screwed her eyes shut.
Tinasha used magic to anesthetize the area, and while she could stanch bleeding and heal herself, it wouldn’t be possible to do so as long as Akashia was touching her. He needed to be as swift and sure as possible. There was little time left to wait.
Oscar looked down at the witch. Her breathing had grown very shallow. While Irityrdia was sealed in the crystal ball inside her, it was taking a heavy toll.
Oscar collected himself and grabbed Tinasha around the waist using his left hand.
“You’re my one and only,” he said, voicing a simple truth, the same way she’d done. “Concentrate. We’ll beat this without any close calls.”
“Yes, of course,” she said, grinning up at him just like a challenger in her tower. “Oscar, I’ve always, always wanted to beat a so-called god to a pulp.”
Her desire to fight was clear and honest.
The witch lifted her chin and closed her eyes. “Go on. Do it.”
Oscar nodded in acquiescence. Then he focused his strength into his grip on Akashia’s hilt—
And crushed the thing once called a god.


Unnamed Memory

 12. The Same Dream for a Time
After doing much more than he had planned, the first thing Oscar saw when he returned to the fortress was his old playmate on the verge of tears.
Lazar was at the front gate to welcome his king back, and his knees almost gave out under him when he saw Oscar.
“Y-Your Majesty… I’m so glad you’re safe…”
“What are you doing here?” Oscar inquired very matter-of-factly.
“What am I doing here?! I came running once I heard you’d gone missing! I was told there was some commotion over a duel with the Ito, but everyone was teleported to safety except you and Miss Tinasha!”
“Oh yeah…”
Oscar and Tinasha had managed to sort things out and teleported back. Apparently, Minnedart had been thrown into chaos during their absence. Cries of “His Majesty’s back!” echoed throughout the fort. Granfort and the others hurried over, then looked down at the witch lying in Oscar’s arms. She was half-asleep but opened her eyes blearily at him. “Is it time to explain…?” she asked.
“I’ll do the explaining. You just get some sleep. I’m taking you back to the room.”
“Sorry… I’ll go back myself…,” she murmured, vanishing away with a silent transportation spell.
Lazar had gotten an eyeful of her all covered in blood and ventured fearfully, “What happened…? Did the Ito do that…?”
“No, I did. I stabbed her.”
“Excuse me, Your Majesty?!”
“I’ll explain while we clean things up. Give me a hand.”
He was exhausted and desperately wanted sleep, but there was currently no one else around who understood the entire situation. Oscar gave orders to the people who had gathered around him and retreated to the makeshift study in the fortress.
He gave Lazar a brief rundown of everything. By the end of it, his attendant was left in shock. “I’m sorry, I don’t think I heard you right…”
“No, you did. You just don’t want to believe it. Accept the facts.”
“Why did you end up killing another country’s god when you just went out on a short observation mission?!” Lazar cried. The story about the battle with Irityrdia had left Lazar looking like he could fall to his hands and knees at any moment.
No work would get done if he wasted time doing that, though. The most pressing matter at the moment was the banning of future Ito raids. Oscar rested his elbows on the desk and placed his chin in his hands. “Well, all that stuff about Irityrdia is just between us. Maybe it was something else with a similar name.”
“No matter what it was, I’m just so very glad you’re safe… Oh, that’s right, there was a woman who didn’t come back, either. What happened to her?”
“Yes, Elze. After healing her, we dropped her off at the former site of her village. If she wants to, she’ll come back on her own,” Oscar explained.
He didn’t know exactly what answer Elze would decide on or how she’d face herself. If she chose to go back to her old life, the man who’d followed after her would surely escort her to the fortress.
Javi had begged the witch to spare Elze’s life, even in exchange for his own. Oscar trusted that Javi and Elze would work things out with each other.
After drafting the agreement that Javi had agreed to, Oscar passed the document to Lazar. Lazar read it over twice and asked, “This says that there will be a formal signing of an accord at a later date, but will the Ito really respect something like this?”
“Good question. If they don’t, we’ll just have to deal with them in a different way when that time comes.”
If the Ito didn’t accept, Tinasha would fly into a rage and possibly annihilate their entire clan. For their sake, Oscar truly hoped this matter had come to an end. He looked out the window; it was completely dark outside. “There’s still a lot to sort out, but can I go back to my chamber? I’m worried about Tinasha.”
“Go right ahead. I’ll take care of the rest,” Lazar replied.
“Thanks,” Oscar said, gathering up the bare minimum of paperwork and heading back to the room he and Tinasha were sharing.
He thought she’d immediately pass out after teleporting, but she’d had the strength to take a bath and wash off the blood. She was laying on the bed in a nightgown and looked up at the sound of the door opening. “Welcome back…,” she managed weakly.
“Are you doing okay? There’s no more fragments inside you, right?”
“If there were, I’d definitely know. I’m fine. I don’t have a scar, either,” she informed him. After giving a little yawn, the witch turned to lie facedown.
Oscar sat down next to her, tugging on a strand of damp black hair. “You’ve really gotta take better care of your belly. That’s gonna bite you when you’re giving birth to our child.”
“I won’t… I’m definitely not doing that… Anyway, you should get to sleep. It’ll be rough when the recoil from your magic getting shaken up kicks in later.”
“I still don’t feel anything, though.”
Oscar did have to admit that he was feeling exhausted, however. He stood to head for the bathroom, but then something occurred to him. Tinasha was already dozing, but he asked anyway.
“Are you going to sleep in human form? Did you forget you’re sharing a room with me?”
“I trust that you have a firm grasp on your self-control…”
“You’re gonna get yourself in trouble one of these days.”
“When I’m a cat, I curl up in a ball… But I want to stretch my legs… Just let me sleep like this for an hour.”
“…Go to sleep, then.”
Evidently relieved by that, Tinasha closed her eyes immediately. Her breathing turned deep.
Oscar couldn’t help but frown in exasperation as he looked at her. The witch was so defenseless in sleep. She’d cozied up to him considerably compared with when they’d first met, but he didn’t think it was in quite the right way. He stroked her hair and covered her with the blankets. “So typical… You’ve gotta stop trusting me so much.”
The weight of Tinasha’s trust in him felt like a comfortable load to Oscar, though.
He wished that he would always be the one she asked for help and that he would always be able to pull her out of distress.
“No matter what happens, I’ll protect you.”
The next day, he would take her hand again and they’d start their march forward. They’d journey to prevent themselves from reaching an end they couldn’t come back from. Even if that took a lifetime, nothing would make Oscar happier. He gazed down at his rare and precious guardian.
They carried the legacy of the Magic Empire of Tuldarr into a new era and destroyed the mindless god.
The story of the king and the witch still had many more pages to go.

“I want to kill them…,” growled a voice in a dark room.
The speaker was a slender woman, and the fury in her voice seethed like lava sleeping underground.
Her red-hot hatred scorched her spirit as she awaited the time to unleash her boiling rage upon the world.
“I want to kill those two…”
“…You can’t. Not only is she the most powerful witch but the bearer of Akashia is her guardian. Make no mistake, those two are the strongest duo in all the land,” the owner of the room said in reply to the first speaker’s litany of curses. She sounded bored, but lying below the surface of that was a placidity tainted with poison.
Her matter-of-fact statement caused the incensed woman to bite her lip. “Even so, I want to kill them,” she insisted.
“Weren’t you in the wrong? You’re the one who toyed with people’s lives.”
“I want to kill them…”
Her resentment ran deep. Her anger had deafened her to what the other woman was saying.
The owner of the room listened to the other whisper for a while before she suddenly gave a little snort. In an amused tone, the witch said…
“Then let me teach you how.”