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Hyouketsu Kyoukai no Eden - Volume 7 - Chapter Epilogue

Published at 2nd of July 2018 07:41:41 AM


Chapter Epilogue

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Part 1


It was time for the clouds drifting overhead to be dyed madder red.

The edge of the sky that could be seen from a cliff face in Lagoon was coloring black and the swirling wind slowly became cooler.

"Horn-chaaan, you'll die if you sleep right now, okay?"

"The setting sun was just too bright."

Two of the rear seats in the airship's passenger room were connected to form a simple bed. Horn was laying down face up on that. ......Has it been......five minutes since I closed my eyes?

"At any rate, it didn't hit any vital organs. It should be fine to sleep."

As long as it wasn't stitched, even if the bleeding stopped, there was a limit. She was dizzy from the slight amount of blood seeping out. She didn't want to have her eyes open very much.

"Ishtar will stitch you up. I'm really good at sewing, you know?"

"......I'll pass."

Horn stopped Ishtar who merrily brought out a sewing machine and looked at her own left shoulder. Her shoulder was wrapped in multiple layers of bandages. The shoulder shot by Beltoma ── When she considered that her fingertips could move, she would be able to escape having her left hand paralyzed.

......Beltoma.

......I need to come up with a counter for him.

"Yoooo. You got rekt."

Suddenly the sunny voice of a man broke the silence.

The electronic door with a keycode opened and a man with a cowboy hat sluggishly entered the passenger room. Following behind him was his female subordinate.

"......I should have given you a damage report."

"Yupper. Reports are important. Thanks to that, I know more or less what our situation is. Right, Kuro?"

"We're in a similar circumstances."

The woman who answered as such was not in the suit from when they set off but instead wore a single light brown shirt. Huick who was the original owner of that shirt was wearing his jacket over his bare skin.

"......It went up in flames. I just bought that suit and it cost three months of my wages."

"Just consider yourself fortunate to have returned with all your limbs intact. Wheeew, it was close for us too. We almost got swallowed up in a wave of flames."

Now then ── Huick sighed and gave the room a look-over.

"So this is everybody that's heading home."

"That's right. Sheltis and Leon seem to have already left Lagoon."

The cockpit door opened and Eyriey the pilot suddenly showed her face.

"Yooo, cap'n. Good to see you're all right."

"......You'll be shocked."

"Mm?"

Looking up at Huick who was waving at Eyriey, Horn slowly spat out her words.

"Most likely......out of all of us, she is the one who got the furthest in the base."

"Hah? What are you talking about?"

"I'll tell you about it when we're on auto-pilot. For now, let's get a-flying. C'mon, Yuto, sit over there and do up your seatbelt."

Eyriey nodded with a carefree expression on her face and closed the cockpit door again.
 

Part 2


"Leon got done in one-sidedly. The number one great sword user on Orbie Clar."

The evening sun's light poured in through the passenger room window.

Lounging on the seats dyed bright red, Huick spat out in displeasure.

"Horn sis, you heard that from the Priestesses, right?"

"It was a telepathic communication from Ymy. There's a possibility it would leak to the enemy's shinryoku practitioners so she cut the link after giving fragmentary information."

"He fell into a waterfall basin and is MIA. ......How 'bout the other bro?"

He should be talking about Sheltis. Eyriey who was sitting in a corner of the passenger room reacted first and her eyes closed slightly in an expression of loneliness.

"From what Ishtar and Horn-chan heard, it seems bad for a different reason."

"A different reason. You mean other than combat-wise?"

"Yeah, yeah. Ymy-sama was repeatedly going 'Stop Sheltis!'."

"......Did he fall into a trap?"

He crossed his legs the opposite way and put what came to mind to mouth.

"I dun really geddit, ya know. Those Lords of Unusual Books setting traps."

The number two, Natraja, and the number four, Beltoma.

The Lords of Unusual Books that had awaited them in the base were full of absolute confidence and came at them head-on. Even if they were to use a clever scheme, setting a trap should be beyond their personalities.

......Does that mean it was just that bro's opponent that was special?

"There might have been some purpose to it."

"Well, hold on a sec, Kuro. Something to do with that bro? He's a Cadet Guard, not a Sennenshi or Priestess. He shouldn't have some kind of crazy information like that."

"He does."

Ishtar's words echoed through the passenger room.

"This is just what I think but......putting aside whether he himself remembers, he probably holds two sets of information. The first concerns Ymy-sama and the other concerns Eden."

"Whazzat mean?"

"You'll find out if you just sniff around a little but he's Ymy-sama's childhood friend. As for Eden, this is his personal information so Ishtar can't speak about it all willy-nilly. If you want to know, you'll have to ask Meimel-sama."

"Knowing just that much is enough. So that bro has information that would be enough for the Lords of Unusual Books to fixate on him."

"Not that there's any point to thinking about it right now."

Kuro said that as she gazed out at the clouds as they flowed into different shapes.

"The Sennenshi Leon is MIA and we're in this state. I can't say this is the final conclusion but......everybody was beaten back. This first battle is our complete and utter loss."

"It's fine. That's how first battles go."

Touching the charred rim of his hat, Huick showed a smile that was neither self-deprecating nor bitter.

"We've found out that the Lords of Unusual Books are a complete gathering of problematic people. Right now, we focus on information. We've more-or-less gotten info on each of the members so we'll leave figuring out their plans for the future. We have plenty of time."

"......Ah."


Suddenly, the girl who had only been listening until now lifted her head.

"What is it, cap'n?"

"What you said just now. I actually went into the Lords of Unusual Books' base and was told a bunch of different things."

"You mean what Horn-sama said. You were worried and went after us."

Kuro was half in admiration, half speechless.

"Yeah, yeah. Tsali-san acted as my escort and by just walking together, we ended up getting to Neue and Noisis' room."

"......I'm surprised you're okay. Rather, who is this Tsali and who are Neue and Noisis ── Ahh, no, we'll save the details for later. All that matters is what you saw, missy."

He urged her on with his eyes and she absentmindedly stared at the ceiling.

"'Kay then, I'm not really savvy on shinryoku or Sophia. That's why I didn't really understand like half of what they said but it was something important...... Umm, Neue and Noisis said something about a project near the end."


"──'Layered World Project'."


That was not Eyriey.

The source of the voice came from behind her. It was the young girl seated there with a smile on her face.

"In place of the Queen and the five Priestesses, they would separate Orbie Clar from Eden via a new barrier. The Lords of Unusual Books would put it into action but the details of who exactly would be casting it are unknown."

The young girl stated it without so much as hesitating.

"──Is what Eyri-nee told me just before this."

"Oyo? Izzat so?"

Eyriey turned around still with a carefree expression.

"Yeah, yeah, Eyri-nee told me."

"I see. Well, that's how it is so it looks like that's their plan."

"......The problem is their motive."

Speaking for everybody present, Huick spoke so he could hear himself.

"Putting up a barrier as a goal is fine. But what's their reason? I can't see them as a group looking to replace the Queen as Orbie Clar's protectors. In the first place, talking about barriers, it's normal to consider that Hyouketsu Kyoukai is still up and running."

"About that......they said something a little scary."

There was a slight hesitance mixed into the liveliness of the girl's eyes.

Hesitation and wavering, fear and anxiety were mixed into her eyes which were looking at him fixedly.

"What is it? Run it past me."

"'Kay then──"

And then Eyriey's words once again spread a frozen silence throughout the passenger room.

"The Queen's Hyouketsu Kyoukai.....is already at its limit. Because the Forbidden Crystal's power is all dried up."
 

Part 3

 

That night.

The entirety of the floating continent Orbie Clar was being assaulted by an unusually torrential downpour.


──That rain was chilling.

Getting soaked just once by the rain made one feel a freezing pain right to the marrow. As if ice crystals were raining down in droplet form......that was the kind of rain it was.

The tears of the heavens knocked leaves off in the sea of trees. The roar of water in the surroundings had surpassed being that of rain and was fitting for even a waterfall.

Just how much has continued to fall?

The pitch black overcast heavens showed no signs of abating despite having started several hours prior.

Plop.

The curtain of night fell over the grasslands and tiny little droplets had been born.

Beneath the roaring world, something was illuminated by starlight. A shadow crawled across the hills beneath the dim lighting.

──It was a single boy.

He was probably in his latter teens. His reddish brown hair which was close to purple reflected the light.

"............Uu.................."

Leaking out an anguished groan that wasn't quite a voice, the boy continued to crawl ahead in the chilling rain.

"......Hah..................haha......"

......Come to think of it, this same thing happened a few years ago.

Forgotten memories.

It was the time he had returned from Eden. Amidst rain that fell like it was composed of earth and sand, with wounds all over his body such that he could not walk, he had crawled along the road.

......It's the same as then.

Instead of wounds throughout his body, he was afflicted with a deadly venom that was sealing his body's freedom.

"............Kuhhh......"

Despite being unable to even breathe because of the venom, the boy continued with some place as his destination.

He continued ahead in increments of a few centimeters at a time in his half-dead state.

"──!"

Just before his outstretched hand could grab hold of grass, the boy's head finally sunk into a puddle.

He couldn't move. His body heat was being sapped by the chilling rain and his body's freedom was stolen away by the venom eating away at his body.

......Plop.

Another small ripple was formed in that dark field.

Within the faint starlight, the vague shadow of a person came into view.

"............"

The fallen boy slightly raised his head at the sound of those footsteps.

In this frozen night, the figure wore form-fitting vestments such that her body's figure could be seen.

The feeble city lights were not enough for him to make out her face. However, the voluptuous and seductive lines of her body made it so even a child could figure out she was a woman.

"Sheltis."

Her cherry lips smiled gently and the woman looked up at the sky.

A young woman. She sounded to be in her early twenties or possibly middle-aged.

"Sheltis Magna Yehle, you...... How much of the truth have you learned?"

──A mysterious sight.

The chilling rain bounced off with a glitter just before it hit the woman's body.

It was as if an invisible wall of light stood between the rain and the woman.

"............"

The boy looked up at the woman before him with unfocused eyes.

"Fu, so you don't even have the strength left to speak."

The woman held out a hand to the boy.


"──I don't need it."


The hand that was being held out came to a stop with those words.

"You don't need it?"

"......I don't want to take your help. Right now......I want to......walk by myself."

If somebody were to see this, they would probably be shocked.

The boy who had his body heat sapped by the rain and was afflicted with poison should not have been able to move but, though shakily, he managed to get to his feet.

"......Tsali-san.....was it?"

"Hou?"

"I remember. ......For this alone, I will thank Igun-I."

The boy's face was downcast and his expression unreadable.

"......Thank you very much. You saved me that day."

One step.

Another step and the boy began to walk with firm steps.

"But I'm fine already. I.....already......have found where I must go."

"Is it different from two years ago?"

"......It is."

"In this rain? With that body?"

"I am......fine."

"I see."

Within the darkness, the woman called Tsali eased the corners of her lips.

"I get it, it looks like I was a bit uncouth just now. That's right. You have already met her again."

Her smile.

She had a gentle expression like a smile as if she was a mother welcoming her child back home.

"And that is why you aim for the tower."

"Yes."

......I lost to Igun-I.

......I was just a normal person that wasn't even supposed to fall into Eden.

He had been rejected by shinryoku, the power people held as a fact of the world.

He was even shunned from the destiny of succeeding the Forbidden Crystal's power.

..................That's who I am.

............

"But even so......there is somewhere I wish to return."


'I'd like you to join the squad I form.'

'Ahh, what a relief. You've answered my question. With this, I can now promise on the pride of the Nells to respond to your trust.'

'Ain't no helpin' it...... So, yeah............ If I feel like it, I'll look after ya.'


The squad that had formed after he met Monica. He had been acknowledged by Kagura after the battle with Maha and become acquainted with Vaiel through participating in the mission to the Governmental Sector.

Three years ago, he had advanced all by his lonesome and lacked 'friends'.


'Oh, it really is. Sheltis, it's been a while!'

'Shel-nii, do you hate that tower? Yuto likes it. It's all shiny and pretty.'


His friends he had met after being expelled from the tower which still followed him even now that he had gone back. It had been none other than Eyriey and Yuto who had supported him through the harshest of times.


'I told you, you and I aim for different peaks.'

'Hurry up and climb up here. I've got no competition without you.'


His old friends from before he fell to Eden.

Ishtar who did not choose the expected path of becoming a Sennenshi and his irreplaceable friend who had become a Sennenshi, Leon.

And......


──This time for sure, I'm waiting for you to become my partner.


The Priestess who continues to offer prayers from the summit of the tower.

She...... She alone is the only person I don't want to leave alone. I don't want to have her experience the sadness of being kept waiting.

"Boy, that is a change you have brought upon yourself."

Covered with her transparent film of light, Tsali spread both arms.

"Before, you climbed the tower solely to become a Sennenshi. Now you climb the tower while thinking of your friends and to protect your promise with Ymy."

A reason to aim for the tower.

Not to gain, but to protect.

"It's difficult, you know? It's like a baby chick: catching it is easy but raising it is far more challenging."

"......I still......have things left to do."

Eden's mateki and Eden Code.

Within the truth of three years ago he had learned of from Igun-I, there was not a single thing connected to those.

......There are still secrets remaining.

......'Something' that nobody has touched yet which is related to me. That will surely become the final hope against Eden and Igun-I.

It will become the key to fulfilling my promise with Ymy.
 



"As long as......I don't give up, nothing will have ended."


Denied by destiny and the natural order of the world, the boy still continued to aim for the tower.


"This time for certain, I don't want to lose everything."

"──Two years."

Tsali suddenly turned to face the sky.

"I have been waiting for those words of yours for two years. As your observer. And as the one who watches over you who was powerless that day."

Her breath mixed white mist into the night air.

"But......that too ends today. It's time for the chick to leave the nest."

Her breath was swept away by the wind.

She watched her white, glistening breath disperse into the night and──

"You don't have shinryoku like the Queen or Ymy. But, boy, shinryoku and the blessing of the Forbidden Crystal have no bearing on this. The strength of a person is that of the 'will' residing within you. A true paradise is not a place, it is the succession of that will."

"......A true paradise."

"Right. That possibility was entrusted to you by Shasa and then by Iris a thousand years ago. You will now succeed that by your own will."

Then.

Her eyes housed a glitter as Tsali watched Sheltis from behind.


"Three years ago. You fell into Eden instead of Ymy and that was no ending ── prove to me that it will bring about a future where the Forbidden Crystal is liberated from Eden and 'The Promised Land <Tsalabel>' is brought about on Orbie Clar.





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