Chapter 90 – Fate Dyed in Black
Countless needles piercing through my head in agonizing pain.
A flock of blades thrashing around in my lungs in agonizing pain.
The meager flames licking at my skin all over in agonizing pain.
Every conceivable suffering in this world seemed crammed into this body of mine, raging like a storm, trampling me.
There was no chance for my consciousness to fade. No, accurately, whenever I lost consciousness, the pain jolted me awake again. If it was just torture, it would have been fine. This single second feeling like an eternity made me want to beg to be killed by God.
“—-Makina!”
And yet, amidst that, this voice alone rang clearly.
“Makina! Makina! Makina!”
Even exposed to the raging brutality, I could hear Al sama’s voice.
……Ah, I didn’t want to realize how much I love Al sama.
“Al sama……”
“Makina……!”
Al sama grasped my hand.
At least for now he was……looking only at me. I’m so happy……I’m already more than satisfied.
“Abandon that body immediately! Return to your original body! After that……don’t worry about anything! No matter what happens, I’ll take care of it! So……!”
“……I can’t seem to……”
“…………huh……!?”
“It seems……my body……is gone……”
I sensed that something connecting me, likely the thread tying this corpse to my original body,
had been completely incinerated by the jet-black flames.
“…………!?”
Al sama seemed to realize too – that my original body had been destroyed by Lucille. His face froze, stained with panic.
……Somehow, I feel a little good. Though I feel bad for Lady Charlotte, for now I have Al sama to myself. I hope I can be forgiven, because this will……likely be the last.
“So what! I’ll still find some way! I’ll definitely save you! So……!”
“It’s……fine……don’t force yourself……”
“Don’t say it’s fine……! You!”
“I……got……lost……even though……deep down……I knew……I was wrong……”
I couldn’t stop. I stubbornly clung to my own ego.
“I couldn’t……let go……of my feelings……for Al sama…………”
This is the punishment, the price to pay.
“I’m……fine with it……now that……I could convey……now that I could tell……I’m……satisfied……”
I knew from the start. I knew from the start that Al sama wasn’t looking at me. But still, I could tell him. I could convey these feelings. If I could do that, it’s enough. Just being able to convey it is enough satisfaction.
“Dear……Al………..”
Let me convey one more thing at the end.
My gratitude. For helping someone like me, for picking me up, for giving me feelings of love.
“Thank……you…………”
—-Ah, I said it. Now, I have no regrets left.
“Good……bye…………Don’t lose……to Lucille……”
I’m fading away. This life of mine. This life’s pulse.
Into the deep, distant darkness.
“I pray……for your……victory and……happiness……”
Strangely, I feel no fear. Because I’m so fulfilled. To be able to embrace this cherished love as I fall asleep, I must be happy.
Farewell. Al sama.
Farewell. I love you.
Even if you don’t look at me. Even if you don’t love me.
Still, I love you—.
“—-Don’t be ridiculous!”
A warmth enveloped me like it was embracing the cold corpse.
“Don’t be ridiculous! Don’t be ridiculous! Don’t be ridiculous! How dare you give up and be satisfied like that!”
“Al……sama……”
It took me a few seconds to realize Al sama’s body was embracing me.
“I won’t allow you to just give up on everything and die on your own terms!”
“…………”
As everything faded away, as everything lost its color……Al sama’s voice and warmth alone remained vivid.
“What part of me have you been watching! From the start, I had given up on everything, and that’s why I failed, right!? You’ve been watching that the whole time, right!? You’ve been by my side, haven’t you!”
Even though my existence should have faded completely into the cold darkness.
“And yet……you’re trying to give up on everything, even your own life? Don’t be ridiculous!”
A warmth is being conveyed. Keeping my pulse tethered.
“If you think you understand everything and want to give up, then struggle! Show me your will to never die!”
……What nonsense. Typical Al sama, really.
“I absolutely won’t give up on your life! So don’t you give up either! This is an order! I won’t allow you to give up, hang your head, and stop moving forward like that!”
Droplets falling on my cheeks. These aren’t rain…..they’re tears.
Al sama is shedding tears…….crying for me.
“Stop……please……”
Stop. Don’t do that. If you say such things…
“I’ll……want to live……won’t I……”
There’s no way to be saved from this.
I knew it when Lucille destroyed my original body.
So I was trying to accept it, trying to meet a clean, beautiful end.
“If I wish……to live……it will only……cause pain……won’t it……”
To keep wishing for an impossible wish is just painful.
“Then wish for it! Voice your wish! No matter what wish it is! I’ll kick God aside and grant it myself!”
That’s ridiculous.
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“…………None……”
But……ah, no…….
“I don’t……want to die…………”
Thanks to Al sama, what I was suppressing is coming out.
“I still……want……to live……”
I want to escape from this cold darkness.
I end up wishing for an impossible wish.
“I don’t……want to give up……anything……”
☆
“To voice such wishes that can never be granted”
Lucille watched the scene of Alfred desperately embracing Makina with a jaded gaze.
Beside her, Charlotte had collapsed to her knees on the ground like a puppet whose strings were cut.
“It would have been kinder to let her pass peacefully. To swiftly put her at ease. How cruel to make her voice impossible wishes and struggle in vain…….Ahah. I’m sure Charlotte would agree, wouldn’t she?”
Charlotte did not answer. The tears on her cheeks had long dried, her open eyes revealing unfocused pupils – her heart already shattered.
All that was left was to burn the sight of Makina’s complete death into her eyes, carving an irreversible sense of loss and helplessness into her heart to devour the last of her brilliance.
“You can do nothing, Alfred.”
Everything was already over. A reversal from this point was impossible. No such leeway existed.
All that remained was to pen the bad ending.
“Ah……behold! Look, Charlotte! Makina is dying!”
The light was fading from Makina’s eyes. The light of life gradually extinguishing.
“Ahahahahaha! Look, Charlotte! Embraced by love, living for love! Makina is dying! How blissful it must be! To die in the arms of one’s beloved, just like a beautiful story ending!”
With her cold body, Makina desperately reached out her hand. One last struggle. A futile resistance.
“Farewell, Makina. You were a good supporting character.”
Lucille bid farewell to the puppet who had fulfilled her role and would breathe her last in a few seconds.
“—-I’ll grant it.”
However, the black-haired youth shouted in defiance.
“Your wish not to die! Your wish to live! Your wish not to give up! I’ll definitely grant them all!”
Denying the plot Lucille had authored.
“Ahah. How pitiful to shout so desperately……when you have no power to stop this tragedy.”
No matter what he did, the ending would not change. The bad ending could not be stopped.
Or so it was supposed to be in the story Lucille wove—-.
“…………Huh?”
She did not miss the anomaly.
“What……?”
Light was leaking from the black-haired villain prince’s body as he embraced the cold corpse.
The light grew brighter, swelling with brilliance and manifesting a sight that seemed to embody the concept of a miracle itself.
“That is…………!”
Lucille knew well what the light enveloping his entire body signified.
“—-[Original Magic]……!”
In ages long past, people yearned for miracles. Thus, staves to control magic power and manifest spells were created to spread miracles more easily to more people, eventually leading to modern magic through rings.
But the magic wielders of antiquity needed neither ring nor staff, freely wielding the magic dwelling within them. That was [Original Magic] – miracles permitted only to the chosen few that commoners craved.
Alfred was invoking Original Magic,
proven by the magical light emanating from his entire body.
This should not be surprising in itself.
The reason lay in the [Sixth Attribute] magic power residing within him.
Whether one could wield [Original Magic] was dictated by the presence of special [particles] within the magic power.
If these [particles] exceeded a certain threshold, [Original Magic] would dwell within the body and awaken through mental factors like heart, emotions, and feelings. The more [particles], the more powerful the [Original Magic], but also requiring stronger heart and emotion to awaken.
The jet-black magic power seldom bestowed on anyone other than the [Children of Six Emotions] like Lucille was the result of the magic power being distorted by containing more than a threshold of those special [particles] that enable [Original Magic].
In other words, those with jet-black magic power were all born harboring powerful [Original Magic].
This was not common knowledge, information slowly erased since antiquity until even the royal family was oblivious to the truth.
That’s precisely why they oppressed those with black magic. They implanted discriminatory consciousness and had humans eliminate that uniqueness.
Alfred would have no way of knowing this. Therefore, this was not intentional.
It was a miracle caused by the heightening of emotions and magical power, along with several coincidences.
“But awakening it now, here? At such a… such a convenient timing!?”
The timing was astonishing. In a situation as if drawn in a picture, she awakened the magic dwelling within her body and created a miracle.
“No… so what! So what!”
Makina would die. This was an unchangeable fate.
No matter how much it was called an [Original Magic] of darkness, magic was still just magic. Even if Alfred’s [Original Magic] was a healing spell, it couldn’t possibly save a corpse.
“A single miracle cannot change this fate!”
Disregarding Lucille’s cry, a radiance from Alfred enveloped Makina’s body.
“…………!”
As if to prove the premonition-like fear—Makina’s body gradually began to take on a reddish hue.
“—Huh?”
A chill ran down her spine. Lucille couldn’t hide her trembling at the miracle before her eyes.
“[Makina-Orchestra]’s body… has revived…!?”
Even Orchestra’s technology had been limited to merely preserving a frozen corpse, creating just a container to insert a soul and operate it. Her heart was simply moving through magic. Therefore, she was just a dead person. She should have been nothing more than a corpse with a soul inserted to make it move.
But the current [Makina-Orchestra] was different.
That body was alive. Her heart was beating, creating its own sound.
The soul was the artificial human [Makina]. The [Makina] who had lived with Alfred and the others. But now, that soul was becoming familiar with the flesh.
The artificial human [Makina] had now truly become a [human].
Not just moving a corpse. Becoming a living human.
Through the power of Alfred’s Original Magic.
“—Impossible! This isn’t even a recovery spell or a resurrection spell! To remake a corpse into a living human and even make the soul adapt—such a miracle cannot exist!”
Yet that miracle was now happening. This impossible miracle was being etched into reality before her eyes.
“Such magic cannot exist! Magic that conveniently twists reality cannot—”
At that moment, a memory crossed Lucille’s mind.
“—No. I remember. Mother knows.”
In a distant past. Those who stood against the [Night Witch]. Among them, one person.
“A ridiculous ability to erase fate and transform a tragedy into a heroic tale.”
What flowed in was the image of that man, carved alongside her mother’s bitter memory of defeat.
“The first king of the Leuville Kingdom—the same power as Berg Leuville! The strongest [Original Magic] that once saved the world!”
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