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Chapter 15: Aurora
NERIM took a step forward. It was a step she wanted to take and mustered all her courage for. This was the first step she took because she wanted to, not because someone wished it or asked it of her.
“Inquisitor Imlerith. I have received many things from you.” Her trembling voice betrayed her nervousness and displayed her burning resolve. “I knew that…you have always looked out for me. But I have been so preoccupied with my own issues, so busy trying to save whoever I was ordered to save, I forgot to even thank you.” She spoke slowly.
Krähe quietly shook her head, trying to convey she was wrong. But she was too frightened of what Nerim’s resolve was about to bring about, only tears spilled down her cheeks as the words caught in her throat.
“The truth is, I actually wanted to call you by name, but I even forgot that desire,” Nerim said sadly. “I’m forever a child, so I’m always being protected like one. Always the one being helped. But you… You were suffering too.”
When Nerim went to visit Krähe’s room to say goodbye for good, she saw its wrecked state and realized for the first time just how much the person crying in front of her was thinking about her. Suffering for her. To the point she forsook her holy beliefs and fell into evil just to save Nerim.
Е_n um а
Nerim hugged her journal so tightly to her chest, it hurt. As if the pain would help her reflect on all the memories contained within. As if that were the driving force pushing her to act. She hugged it to receive courage from all the people erased from her memories.
“But…I won’t make the same mistake again,” Nerim declared. “I can finally say it with confidence: my power, my memories, exist for this moment. I would rather save you than anyone else. Not because it’s a good deed, but because it is what I want. So I am going to return everything I have received from you now. Don’t worry. My heart is forever with you.”
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“D-Don’t…” Krähe wrenched out. “That’s wrong. You’ve got it all wrong, Nerim.”
Krähe wept, realizing Nerim couldn’t—wouldn’t—be stopped.
Krähe had made a do-or-die decision, hoping for the best, but it yielded the worst possible result for everyone. It wasn’t anyone in particular’s fault. There was no evil scheming or malice behind what had happened. Sometimes tragedies occur when everyone is just a little too kind.
“So don’t cry,” Nerim said. “Don’t lose to evil.”
Ѐnú m а̊ .і d
“Wait, Nerim!” Krähe cried.
“I’ll save you.”
An invisible shockwave blew Krähe back when she ran toward Nerim screaming. A pulsing white, shining holy forcefield surrounded Nerim, repelling all obstacles and guiding her pious prayers to fulfillment.
“O Lord, I grant you every memory of the ones I hold most dear…”
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Quietly, yet clearly, her declaration reached all present. Her prayers to Arlos wrought miracles. Nerim’s sincere prayer, which she poured her very being into, was eventually heard by the Holy God Arlos.
“…So please, grant me the power to save Miss Krähe.”
Е̊n̄ um̂а
An aurora’s arch of light, bright enough to illuminate the world, warmly enveloped the young girl.
◇◇◇
THE holy light illuminated the area so brightly that it banished the night. What was the state of the girl standing at the center of that light? It was too bright and powerful to approach. All Krähe could do was fall to her knees and mourn her loss.
“Aaaah, Nerim… Why? All your humble servant—all I—ever wanted was for you to be happy…” she whispered, her voice full of regret.
Where did she go wrong? What could she have done better? And who in Arlos’s name would appear once that burst of brilliant light faded?
“What an unamusing farce. Hopeless child, going out of your way to become unhappy, to play the part of the tragic heroine for no damn good reason,” Vittorio spat, bristling with contempt. A rare display of emotion for him. His irritation seemed less directed at any one person and more a case of pure revulsion over this turn of events. “Buuut…we’re in for a ride to see what happens next.”
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The brief glimpse of his true persona was hidden behind the trickster’s mask once more as he decided to watch over the outcome with an air of frivolity.
Nervous tension filled the air.
Yona’Yona and the Elfuur Sisters were already in battle positions. They were up against someone who’d declared she would save Krähe before calling on her holy god. It didn’t take a genius to guess what was coming next.
The blinding light receded…leaving the girl, unchanged, in its wake. However, there was one thing that had changed…
“Hmm? Huh? What am I doing here?”
…the damning reality that something irrevocable had been done.
Ẃ е bn o̊v̀ еl̃ Èn ǔm а.
“Booo! I don’t get it! Where am I?”
An all-too-innocent voice rang out from the girl despite the serious situation. The innocence suited her age, but anyone who had heard Nerim speak before would’ve sensed something was terribly off. Watching her act completely confused about the situation made the others wonder how to proceed.
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Nerim had obtained immeasurable power in return for offering up all her memories. At the cost of her everything. In other words, she’d even lost her purpose. Nerim had nothing now. The empty, innocent shell of a girl who didn’t know anything could only stand there confused. Until…
“Oh? What’s this?”
The girl opened the journal in her hands. She seemed to just be reading it page by page before she suddenly started flipping through the pages at an alarming speed. Before long, she snapped the large journal shut and held it under her arm.
“Oh, I see…” She slowly lifted her head. “I have to defeat the bad guys.”
Е n̈ u̇m̆a
She set her sights on the Mynoghrans, her eyes wide and dead.
Holy power raged like a storm around her. This torrent of power, surpassing even the aurora from before, was the Miracle Arte Arlos granted her after she sacrificed all her memories. You could see how precious those memories were by looking at the raging light enveloping the entire city.
Arlos had indeed granted this pitiful girl power commensurate with her sacrifice. Her Miracle increased in brilliance and called upon even more Miracles.
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“God! Gimme the power to beat up the bad guys!”
The already overpowered holy aura emanating from Nerim increased in size and scale. How? She’d already sacrificed all she had and received Arlos’s miracle. Nerim should already have the power to save Krähe. Yet the phenomenon they just witnessed seemed to grant Nerim even more power on top of that.
W̊ е ḃ nov̄ е l Е́ n u̇m а
“I see. So that’s how it works?” Vittorio observed. “This is game breaking. Everyone, watch yourselves.”
Sweat trickled down Vittorio’s forehead. Only he realized how her ability worked. By sacrificing all of her memories, she could gain immeasurable power. But that was a double-edged sword. Or rather, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call it a one-way trip to self-destruction. Because losing all memories was the same as losing all purpose.
She retained her ability to speak, move, and understand things, making her seem like any other human at first glance. But on the inside, she was devoid of memories, and therefore, had no aspirations or desires based on those memories.
Memories are what make a person who they are. That was why Nerim had suffered so much until now. Losing all of one’s memories will just turn them into a living doll that can speak.
And that was the intended ending all along. Arlos’s punishment was meted out to those who selfishly gave up everything in pursuit of an unlawful, outrageous Miracle. Damned to a fate as an empty doll with overwhelming power.
But…the journal she carried everywhere changed everything. Memories were irrelevant when her daily habit of reading her journal had been so engraved in her mind and muscle memory it now gave her purpose and indicated a direction for the empty doll to take.
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
She had become the exception to the rule that not even Arlos had expected. It all resulted in Lytrain Nerim Quartz being reborn as a perfect Saint who could justly save everyone.
And left behind a hell of a ticking timebomb at the same time.
They had no way of knowing this, but the ability given to the Scribe Saint had a slightly irregular design in which it first delivered a Miracle and then erased the appropriate memory in return. As far as Arlos was concerned when he designed this ability, he never considered the possibility of someone praying for more miracles after they had already dedicated all their memories. He didn’t consider the possibility of an empty doll seeking Miracles by reading her journal.
He didn’t create any countermeasures for it either.
An error in Arlos’s design… This was the conclusion Vittorio instantly came to based on the circumstances in which mysterious phenomena were often pushed through by this world’s system and game mechanics.
What it all came down to was that Arlos’s Miracles could be performed infinitely. As much as the Scribe Saint prayed for them.
Е̇ nu̇ m̄a
“Is this for real…? This is a seriously bonkers screwup.” Vittorio wanted to unleash a slew of swears over this so-called holy god’s crappy ability design. Unfortunately, his thoughts were interrupted by a burst of light announcing the start of battle.
The overflowing light of justice drove away evil. The lone member of the forces of good attacked the people of Mynoghra with overwhelming power.
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
“Everybody, get out of here!” Caria, already in an attack stance and powered by the moonlight, ordered all noncombatants to evacuate. She brandished her weapon, sharply watching for any holes in her enemy’s defense so she could strike.
The Elfuur Sisters’ gaze piqued Nerim’s curiosity as she turned to look at them without any malice or ill will on her innocent face. “Oh! Who are you girls? Um…um… I know! You’re those Cult of Ira people! Bad people! I’m gonna get you!”
The ground exploded and before Caria knew it, Scribe Saint Nerim was right in front of her. Caria hastily raised her halberd and defended against the journal swinging down at her with Arlos’s divine protection wrapped around it. She glanced at her sister and shouted, “Big Sista!”
They were twins. It was easy for them to convey what they wanted without words. Maria slashed at Nerim with her dual blades while she was focused on Caria.
Wë_b n о̃ v_еl̂ En um а
“Whoa! Whew! That was scary!” Nerim exclaimed. “But that’s not enough to get me!” Contrary to her frazzled words, Nerim deflected Maria’s attack as if she knew it was coming and jumped back far enough to start paging through her journal again.
“My ability doesn’t work…” Maria said. “Does that mean she’s really forgotten everything there is to forget?”
“Tch! She should’ve just obediently come to our side!” Yona’Yona shouted.
Both Maria’s Addle and Caria’s Plague did not affect Nerim. Nerim’s overwhelming holy aura blocked their skills. The twins’ abilities weren’t perfect. They were without equal but could still be resisted by those of a certain level or power threshold. At the very least, they understood the Saint before them was at a level that even Witches enhanced to their near strongest by the moonlit night couldn’t overcome.
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And the situation rapidly spiraled from there.
“God! Gimme power! Gimme more power! The power to defeat the baddies!”
Wе ḃ nȯv̇ӗ l̇ Еn ü m a
“Aaaaah!”
Arlos’s Miracle came down and blew the twins away. It illuminated the world, shining brightly like the middle of the day and driving the darkness away.
The stronger fighter was made clear.
The polar lights that threatened to illuminate the whole world obliterated the moon. With the twins weakened by the loss of the moonlight, the source of their enhanced strength, they would have a difficult time suppressing Nerim.
Yona’Yona, who’d remained to orchestrate the followers of Ira’s retreat, couldn’t stop the quiver in her voice when she commented on Nerim’s overwhelming strength. “Th-That’s an insane ability… Is this what happens when a Saint gets serious?”
“Non, non. Not even close,” Vittorio said, leisurely launching into an explanation beside her. “The power of the Scribe Saint is normally limited and requires sacrifice to use. Even if she gains tremendous power for her memories, losing all of her memories means losing herself. Her very essence as a person. Normally, that is! If all was normal, she was destined to become nothing more than a doll with strong powers!”
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
It seemed so out of place for him to be giving this explanation during such dire circumstances, even if he couldn’t fight. But at least his explanation helped Yona’Yona understand what was going on.
“It’s that damn journal!” she realized. “She’s decidin’ what to do every time she reads it, right?!”
“Most likely. Reading the journal probably became a habit imprinted on her subconscious,” Vittorio deduced. “That’s why she hasn’t forgotten everything even after losing her memories. And she knows what to do once she rereads it.”
As if to prove his theory, Nerim began rereading her journal. She seemed so defenseless like that, as if she were just begging to be attacked as she pored over the pages, but it was obvious to everyone present that it was a trap Nerim had obliviously set for them. The eternal light encapsulating her protected her from all harm—as if protecting her in place of the memories of her loved ones.
“Still, you gotta admire the earthshattering power she obtained for sacrificing all her memories with her dear father! Alack, how fleeting! Alas, how beautiful! How tragic! I could watch this all day!” Vittorio cackled.
Vittorio took no further action once things had gone south. There was nothing for the Gleeful Spin Doctor to do when his forte was stirring up things with subterfuge and words. None of his skills could do anything here, either. The holy aura protecting Nerim would resist them all. So Vittorio stayed on the sidelines as a member of the peanut gallery, but…
Ẽ n̊.ûm a .і d̀
“You there! Shut up! This journal says to never let the baddies talk too much!”
Nerim appeared right in front of Vittorio. She tried to slam her journal down into his cranium at a speed too fast for eyes to follow.
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“Gooooooooooo! Emergency evasioooooooon!”
He dodged at the last second. But her attack didn’t end there. Nerim stumbled a step when her swing missed, but she immediately pivoted and used the momentum to swing the journal toward the schemester’s torso. He couldn’t avoid that one. Vittorio thought his life was up. But then Caria and Maria cut in at the speed of a falcon and blocked Nerim’s attack with their weapons.
“Merci! You seriously saved me, mon petit monstre!”
“Shut it!” Caria snapped. “If you’ve got time to squawk, do something! Why else do you still have that crafty head of yours?!”
E nu_m̂ а̀
“Do something now, Mr. Perv,” Maria demanded. “We’ll all go down at this rate.”
Even though the twins were insulting and making demands of him, he could see the situation flustered them. They could only deflect that last attack because they worked together. It was obvious things would go south fast if Nerim got even a little more serious about her attacks.
“Hrm-dee-hrm-hrmm. Good point…”
Vittorio glanced at Nerim. She was staring off into space then suddenly looked at her journal as if she just remembered to. Mynoghra was able to hold her off because she was this unstable. It was an unspoken request from the twins for him to devise a plan during this moment of weakness.
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But was there even a way to reverse the situation? Or was this not even a situation that troubled Vittorio in the first place? Even as things became dire, the Gleeful Spin Doctor held his tongue and did nothing.
“Nerim! Nerim! Stop! Please stop this!”
Е̊ñuḿа́.ї d
“Umm, who are you, miss? Hold on a sec, okay…?”
There was yet another person who was flustered and panicked by the rapidly deteriorating situation—Inquisitor Krähe Imlerith. She had been stupefied by the drastic turn of events and the exchange of blows that seemed to happen in the blink of an eye. Though she fell into despair over her dear friend’s transformation, she still called out to Nerim, hoping beyond hope to reach her.
Perhaps her words had some effect because Nerim studied her journal a little longer than she had thus far.
“Oooh! Miss Krähe! It says you took good care of me! The person who always looked after me! The person who was kind to me! My favorite person! It says to save you! It says I’ll save you no matter the cost! Huh. This page is soaked with tears.”
The journal undeniably contained a record of the unspoken feelings of a lost, kind girl. Did Nerim anticipate this outcome? Did she know she would lose herself? Her desperate wish for her future self gave the guileless girl a direction called hope. Or it should have…
“But I wonder why?” Nerim pondered. “You are dyed in evil. Umm, lemme see, I’m supposed to defeat the bad guys, but I’m also supposed to save Miss Krähe? Huh. Then what should I do?”
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The worst-case scenario reared its head.
Nerim’s recorded wish to save Krähe and her wish to defeat evil conflicted with each other. Two contradictory paths were presented to the directionless girl. Nerim pored over the pages, confused over how to handle the discrepancy.
“I guess…I’ll start by defeating everybody but Miss Krähe?” she concluded.
“Nerim!” Krähe cried out to her. “Please listen to me! Your father will be saddened by what you are doing!”
“My father? I have a daddy?! How wonderful! Where is he? Um, um…” Nerim speed-read through the journal. “Huh. It doesn’t say anything about a daddy.”
Krähe made a fatal mistake. Nerim’s journal didn’t contain a single entry on her father. She didn’t write about him because she held out hope that she would never, ever give up her memories of him. She had the horrible feeling that if she did write about him, she’d lose those memories. That fear made her hesitate to ever record it within the journal. And that was precisely why…Nerim would never know about her father now, no matter how they tried to convince her otherwise.
Е n u̇m̀а.і̇d̊
It was pointless to utter her father’s name now, for “The Scribe Saint doesn’t have a father.” Ironically enough, those were the same words she heard every day from the heartless clergy who tried to eliminate Verdel’s influence from Nerim’s life when she became a Saint…
“N-No, it can’t be…” Krähe gasped.
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
“You tricked me. I knew you were evil. Die.”
Nerim ruthlessly tried to smash Krähe’s face as she froze in despair.
“You’re as badest as him! I keep telling you people not to run your mouths!”
“GHH!”
En̆û m а̇
Caria Elfuur saved her life. She predicted an attack would come and covered for Krähe at the last second. But she couldn’t fully block it like she did the last attack on Vittorio. She did the best she could by kicking Krähe’s torso, sending the Inquisitor flying backward. Krähe took considerable damage from the hit, but it was better than having her face pulverized.
“Huh. Why do you hurt your friends?” Nerim asked. “Isn’t Inquisitor Imlerith one of you bad guys?”
Caria answered her with silence. Maria was searching for an opening from behind her but wasn’t going to take action until she could land a decisive blow. Far behind Caria, Krähe staggered to her feet, clutching her stomach and moaning.
“Hm? …Oh! I get it!” Nerim exclaimed. “Baddies just can’t get along! Hehehe. Meanies!”
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Nerim stepped forward. Caria clicked her tongue in frustration at her cowardice for taking an instinctive step back from her.
Nerim took another step closer, closing the distance.
Èn̄um̄а̀
“Huh? What was I doing? Weird. Who are you people?”
Nerim lost her memory again, forgetting all about the prior exchange. Did she seek out another Miracle? Or were abnormalities forming in the Miracle system? Whatever the case, the girl who lost her memories as often as she blinked evoked more sympathy than disgust from those who watched her.
“Oh, but before that, I gotta save people!” Nerim declared. “It says saving people is a good deed! What do I get for good deeds, I wonder? Well, whatever. If the journal says so, it must be so!”
The twins slowly backed away from Nerim. Her timely bout of amnesia saved their lives. Nerim’s attention had shifted elsewhere this time. If they were to believe her muttering, then “this” Nerim prioritized saving people.
The curse of Plague and Forget no longer existed in this land with the propagation of faith in Ira. Mynoghra had removed the curse it placed like an arsonist returning to the scene of the crime to put out his own fire. So Nerim claiming she needed to “save” people seemed odd.
“God! O God! Gimme power! Gimme more power! Gimme the power to save people!”
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
Another aurora enveloped the area. Its light was too bright for the forces of evil. This was true both in the literal sense and in its holy nature that tried to burn the darkness out of them.
The Elfuur Sisters stared at the blinding scene, grimacing. They never took their eyes off Nerim, keeping close watch over what was coming next. Yona’Yona crept up behind them and whispered, “Caria, Maria, we’re losing followers of Ira by the second in this city.”
They were losing believers in the Cult of Ira. As Lector of the cult, Yona’Yona had a general grasp of the movement and number of followers. Her unique skill informed Yona’Yona that the number of believers in this area was rapidly decreasing.
“Is that her god’s Miracle?” Caria asked. “It’s too powerful. Cary’s Plague has no effect, either. Things don’t look good. How do we proceed?”
Caria couldn’t know for sure, but she assumed Arlos’s Miracle removed the people’s belief in Ira and replaced it with his holy teachings again. Caria had seen Vittorio’s skills indoctrinate the masses in a similar way. She acknowledged such a thing could happen in any number of ways. That didn’t make the situation any more acceptable for Mynoghra’s camp.
“Hehehe. This is too much for us to handle. If you don’t do something quick, there’ll be losses, Mr. Perv. That would be a failure. His Majesty will be disappointed,” Maria urged Vittorio to act again. It was her warning for him to do something soon or else. Bringing up their king—bringing up Takuto—was her declaration that they couldn’t wait any longer.
E ṅ u̇ ḿа̄
It was well-known that Vittorio was a fanatical believer in Takuto Ira. The twins were fully aware that bringing up the king would stop him from acting with as much abandon as he usually did. They had saved this trump card as a countermeasure for when Vittorio went too far. And it seemed to work.
“Well, the time is right, I suppose. Not even moi thought things would get this messy. I’d love to take this chance to up and flee, buuuut…” Vittorio glanced at Nerim. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately—it was hard to say—she met his eyes, her expression blank.
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
“Huh? Who are you people?”
Her attention shifted to them. She’d lost her memories once again, forgetting all about her desire to save the people a moment ago. Without a purpose, she focused on taking out what was right in front of her.
She snapped the journal shut.
“Umm. Are you the bad guys? Then I gotta defeat you!”
Е num а.і̂d
“I’ll take her on so you can escape,” Vittorio declared, a nervous edge to his voice.
◇◇◇
AT the former headquarters of the Cult of Ira in Amrita, everyone had evacuated, leaving behind only two figures. One spawn of evil was about to meet his end beneath a giant pillar of light.
“Ueegh…”
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
Covered from head to toe in injuries, Vittorio no longer had any strength left. His limbs were crushed, his body battered and bruised. But his pitch-black eyes gleamed with a fiery blaze as they fixed upon Nerim, his unsettling sneer curling up to cover even more of his face in his pride.
“Phew… I’m tired. This person runs around like a wild rabbit. I was taken by surprise. But it’s bye-bye time for you!”
En̈ u mа. і̃ď
Nerim lifted the journal—the embodiment of the precious records that made her, her—above her head.
Vittorio opened his eyes as wide as they’d go to burn the image into his mind and shouted his final words to the heavens. “O my master, Takuto Ira… I shall die as you ordered me to! Ooh, hear me, great and true God! My GOD!”
“Goodbye, mister.”
A dull thud echoed through the empty churchyard.
That was it. That was where it ended.
All that remained was silence. An eerie silence and nothingness.
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After a short while, the young girl looked around her in surprise and began poring over the pages of her mysteriously blood-soaked journal.
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