— — — — — —
Ryo glanced at Shizuri Kasugaya, who was gripping his arm with one hand and clutching her head with the other, clearly in pain. "Looks like your memories fully woke up after the shock."
Kato Magatoki let out a sigh. "You really are extreme. Bringing her straight here just to force her memory awake."
Ryo smiled and looked at her with faint contempt. "You say that like you care. Weren't you the one who altered her memories in the first place?"
Kato smiled, a sharp and openly malicious curve of her lips. "This is a fictional world you can mess up as many times as you want. As an experimental base, it's ideal. Besides, I just sealed the painful memories. That sounds like a kindness to me."
"Delusional nonsense." Ryo snorted and patted Shizuri on the shoulder.
She flinched, but the pain on her face eased. The memories that were flooding in slowed to a steady trickle.
Her breathing evened out. Then she opened her eyes and stared at the two coffins with a complicated expression.
"Do you remember who that is?" Kato asked casually.
"Yeah…"
Shizuri's voice shook as she gripped her head. "She's Shinako Kasugaya. The last nun knight of the Holy Order. My foster mother."
"Four years ago, when Iroise collapsed, she tried to create a pocket dimension using the Prison Barrier technique to shelter refugees. She pushed too far and died."
The Iroise Collapse. A massive terror attack. Iroise was destroyed, over a hundred thousand residents were displaced, and tens of thousands vanished.
Among those missing were the six thousand people now living on Onrai Island.
Shizuri, or rather all of Onrai Island, came from that event.
Kato narrowed her eyes, speaking more seriously now.
"Four years ago, Shinako wanted to protect the six thousand residents who couldn't escape Iroise. She planned to use the Prison Barrier technique and tap into the region's fūsui to create an incomplete Prison Barrier and transfer the refugees away."
"Normally, this would have been impossible."
"The Prison Barrier technique is classified knowledge known to only a few groups. Tools for manipulating fūsui are even rarer. Combining both made success practically zero."
"But somehow, she succeeded. At the cost of her own life."
(A/N: Fūsui, or Feng Shui, was mentioned as being mainly used for large-scale magic. The most famous user of it in the anime is Takehito Senga.)
"..."
Shizuri spoke in a tight, trembling voice. "As a half-witch, I was taken in by Shinako. The Iroise authorities considered me a reserve candidate for maintaining the barrier, so they granted me the Prison Barrier technique."
"And the terrorists who attacked the district used strange methods, making it easy to steal the fūsui energy around."
"So…"
She touched the sword at her hip.
"Shinako used this magic sword, Hauras, to consume the fūsui's power in our region and complete the Prison Barrier."
"I see."
Kato nodded, suddenly understanding. "No wonder she succeeded… and no wonder she died. Any normal human trying to steal that much power directly would have died instantly."
Shizuri clenched her teeth, bitterness written across her face.
Ryo, who had been scanning Onrai Island's structure with his power, finally spoke with mild astonishment:
"So that's how it is. She knew she was dying and handed core control of the technique over to you, Shizuri. That allowed this fictional world to continue running."
His gaze turned odd.
"And the price was that you became something like Natsuki. Your true body has been asleep in this cave, while the version of you on the island was just a thought-projection."
"Likewise, the residents of Onrai Island were placed into deep sleep in the underground caves. The people on the surface only look alive. They're dream phantoms."
"And since you're not the true creator of this fictional world, you can't leave to seek help. You're stuck here, waiting for the fūsui power that Shinako stole—the power keeping the world alive—to slowly run out, until everyone is erased in a dimensional collapse."
Shizuri listened and nodded bitterly, "That's right."
"Before meeting you, I tried countless times to send distress signals outside and evacuate the island residents. Nothing ever worked."
"A few months ago, I saw the Vampire King and the Instructor enter from outside. I was planning to cooperate with him, but…"
"But she didn't even speak to me. She knocked me out, sealed my memories, and crushed my last hope."
Ryo's eyes slid toward Kato with amusement.
Truly worthy of an LCO witch. Destroying other people's hopes came to her very naturally.
Kato just smiled back, stepping away slightly yet looking neither apologetic nor regretful.
She glanced at Shizuri and said with a bright, mocking smile. "So? Seeking revenge?"
"No. I don't have time for that right now."
Shizuri swallowed her anger, turned to Ryo, and spoke through clenched teeth. "Fourth Primogenitor, Your Majesty, I ask that you allow us refugees to join your empire."
"Oh?" Ryo raised an eyebrow, smiling. "Placing your hopes on me?"
"Everyone left on Onrai Island are elites from Iroise. Mages, researchers, Deva descendants."
Shizuri dropped to her knees and bowed, forehead touching the ground.
"They have value. Please lend us your aid."
Ryo lowered his head slightly, studying her. After a brief pause he smiled. "Not enough."
"What else do you want?"
Shizuri was silent for a beat, then asked quietly.
Ryo replied with a single word, "You."
Shizuri froze for half a second, then answered without hesitation, "Deal."
Her foster mother sacrificed herself to save Iroise's last six thousand survivors. If one more sacrifice was needed now, she would make it.
If she wanted to keep her foster mother's final hope intact, she had no choice but to rely on Ryo Yagami. He was the only one with enough power and more conscience than Kato.
It was a choice without a choice.
And… Shizuri lifted her head and looked at Ryo's face.
'Honestly, I'm not losing that much…' she thought, cheeks reddening.
Ryo accepted her answer without further comment. He simply lifted his head and looked toward the spellwork woven into the cave walls.
"Get out."
Static crackled through the cave like a TV losing signal.
A moment later, amidst the brief distortion, a young boy with short golden hair and rainbow-colored eyes appeared, his face faintly resembling Avrora's.
"Pleasure to meet you, new Fourth Primogenitor."
.
.
.