Fragments of Avalon
Is the plan that I come up with the help of Lady Ava during the three years training with her.
It's the downgrade version of Garden of Avalon that Lady Ava can use. Not like Garden of Avalon that projects and materializes the entire garden from the Inner Sea of the Planet to the real world.
Fragments of Avalon just projects the purification of the Garden of Avalon that I know is gonna be useful against Zouken. Even when I only did that, it's still not stable.
"Hahhh... hahhh... hahhhh..." My eyes turning back into normal and my eyelids turned heavy. I almost lose consciousness a few times after I'm done.
But with my blurry eyes, I can see the bedroom around me starting to change. The bedroom seems to shiver around us. The walls flicker, the ceiling stretching into the pale sky of Avalon, though unstable, like a half-formed dream.
Small, delicate flowers bloom along the floorboards and the corners of the room, their petals glowing faintly, only to vanish a second later, replaced by the familiar bedroom texture.
That keeps happening, where the walls flicker into the Garden of Avalon and turn back to normal walls because of how unstable this Fragments of Avalon are.
And for the worms, I can see them slithering in pain as their bodies are being purified by the Fragments of Avalon.
One worm disappears, and it is replaced by a beautiful flower.
Sakura looks around in amazement, clearly mesmerized by the scenery of Avalon that keeps flickering.
"Arghhh!" Zouken screams in pain as his entire body burns.
I know his body is just worms at this point, so of course he's going to feel the pain of being purified.
"Hehe... take that, old man," I smile in satisfaction, seeing him burn like that.
But I also know that even if the one in front of me dies, he can switch to another worm somewhere in this mansion.
Unfortunately, I don't have some kind of power to destroy the entire mansion in one hit.
So for now, I should be glad I can survive this with Sakura.
Cough
I feel something coming out of my throat, something warm that is definitely not spit.
"Nee-san! You're bleeding!" Sakura's voice beside me trembles in terror.
Wiping my mouth, I can see that it's blood.
Well, it can't be helped. I pushed my body like this - of course I'm going to have internal injuries.
"I'm... fine cough Sakura, let's leave." I try to hold onto her, planning to use reinforcement and run away through the window.
But I can no longer move my legs, and the more time passes, the more my strength disappears.
"Sakura, leave quickly." In the end, I tell her to leave by herself.
"What? Why? What about you, nee-san? Didn't you say we should leave together?"
"I'm sorry... I can't move, and if I try, I'm sure my consciousness will disappear."
If I lose consciousness, Fragments of Avalon will disappear, and I still need it until that old man disappears completely.
He's still burning in pain currently because there are so many worms inside his body, so it takes time.
"Sakura, leave!" I raised my voice louder this time, my throat burning as blood still lingered in my mouth. My vision kept blurring, but I forced myself to stay awake. "Go outside the mansion and don't look back!"
"No! I won't!" Sakura shook her head violently, tears forming in her eyes. She grabbed my sleeve tighter instead of letting go. "You said we leave together! I won't leave you here!"
My legs trembled beneath me, barely holding my weight. The flowers around us kept spreading, covering the floorboards completely now. The flickering slowed for a moment, the walls almost fully turning into the endless garden of Avalon.
Behind us, Zouken staggered backward.
"You foolish child-!" His voice distorted as parts of his body broke apart into worms, trying to scatter.
But they couldn't.
The moment the worms touched the edge of the room, invisible pressure pushed them back. Flowers bloomed instantly wherever they tried to crawl, swallowing them in soft light. The space had been overwritten.
Even if incomplete... this was still my Reality Marble.
"You think this can kill me?!" Zouken screamed, his body burning brighter as more worms were purified. The smell of something foul filled the air before being washed away by the scent of flowers.
I coughed again, blood dripping onto the petals beneath my feet.
"Sakura..." My voice came out weaker now. "Please..."
But she shook her head again, crying openly now. "I'm not leaving you!"
The flickering finally stopped.
For a brief moment, the room stabilized completely.
The ceiling opened into a vast pale sky. The distant tower of Avalon stood silently beyond rolling fields of flowers. The air felt calm. Gentle.
And in the middle of it, Zouken's body began to collapse.
One by one, the worms dissolved into light.
His screams turned into hoarse gasps.
"No... this is impossible..."
The last cluster of worms writhed desperately on the floor.
Then-
A single flower bloomed where he stood.
Silence filled the room.
The sky began to flicker again.
The flowers slowly started fading, turning back into ordinary floorboards. The walls shifted back to wood and wallpaper.
It was over.
I let out a shaky breath.
"Hehe... we won..." I smiled faintly.
The strength left my body all at once.
My knees gave out, and the world tilted sideways.
Darkness crept into the edges of my vision.
I could hear Sakura calling my name, her small hands grabbing my shoulders as I fell.
"Nee-san! Nee-san!"
Her voice sounded distant now.
The last thing I saw was her tear-filled eyes above me before everything went black.
---
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After Rikka fell to the ground, Sakura's small body shook as she cried.
"Nee-san... wake up... Nee-san!"
The moment Rikka went unconscious, the shimmering Avalon scenery around them vanished, the flowers fading, the sky disappearing. The bedroom returned to its ordinary form, walls and floorboards solid and familiar once more.
Sakura didn't know what to do now. She was only six, and everything had happened so fast that she couldn't decide what was right.
She didn't want to leave Rikka alone. The only thing she could think of was one thing.
She planned to pull Rikka along with her, outside the mansion.
Wiping her tears, she murmured to herself, trying to steady her trembling voice. "I... I can do this," she whispered, trying to be strong.
Sakura's first thought was to reduce the weight. She carefully removed Rikka's cloak, letting it fall to the floor.
Then she grabbed both of Rikka's arms, planting her small feet firmly on the floor, and started pulling. "Hmmm!" She struggled, moving Rikka just a few centimeters at a time.
There was no way for a six-year-old to drag someone taller and heavier than her without using magecraft. But Sakura couldn't. All she had was pure strength-and adrenaline.
Before she could even reach the door, a strange, loud noise echoed from the hallway.
"Huh?" Her head snapped toward the sound.
It was a slithering, writhing sound-and there were too many of them.
Recognition hit her. "No!"
Sakura bolted to the door and slammed it shut, forcing the latch to hold. Then she ran back to Rikka, redoubling her effort, pulling her away from the door with everything she had.
Thanks to adrenaline, her strength surged. She moved faster than before, managing to cover more ground despite Rikka's weight.
But the door couldn't hold forever. With a creak and a bang, it swung open, hanging loosely on its hinges.
And then she saw them-more and more worms crawling in. All the ones Zouken had prepared in the basement.
The worms swarmed closer, slithering across the floor like a writhing carpet of black and gray. Their bodies collided, merging together with a wet, sickening sound. Slowly, horrifyingly, they began to take shape.
A form emerged, twisted and grotesque, but unmistakable-the skeletal, cane-wielding figure of Zouken, assembled from the mass of worms.
"Foolish child..." his rasping voice echoed, dripping with malice.
Sakura froze. Her eyes widened as terror gripped her chest. She stared at the worm-formed Zouken, seeing the same cruel intent she'd seen before, magnified in this grotesque monstrosity.
Rikka lay unconscious behind her, still slumped on the floor. She couldn't move. She couldn't protect her.
A shiver ran through Sakura, but she couldn't let fear control her. Her small body trembled, her hands shaking... yet she stepped forward, planting herself between Rikka and the approaching horror.
"No... I won't let you!" she stammered, voice quivering. "I... I won't let you touch her!"
Even as her legs threatened to give way under the weight of panic, her stance remained firm. She remembered how Rikka had protected her, how she had stood by her side no matter the danger. Now it was her turn.
"I'll protect Nee-san... just like she protects me!"
The worms writhed, the air thick with the smell of decay, but Sakura didn't move back. Her hands clenched into fists as she prepared herself, trembling yet resolute, standing as a fragile shield over the girl who had saved her so many times.
Zouken tilted his head, as if amused by the defiance of such a small child. "Hah" he rasped. "One child cannot change anything."
The mass of worms shifted closer, eager, hungry. But Sakura did not flinch. She would not let her onee-chan become food for this monster.
Her resolve burned brighter than her fear.
"Kenaz."
Before the worms could reach them, a girl's voice rang out sharply. Almost instantly, bursts of fire erupted around Sakura and Rikka, forming a protective circle.
"Kyaaa!?" Sakura screamed, thinking she was about to be burned.
But the flames didn't touch them. They circled harmlessly, a blazing barrier that only affected the worms outside.
Outside, the worms screeched and writhed as the fire licked them, burning them to ash.
Zouken's gaze snapped toward the source of the voice, his eyes narrowing. He was finally seeing who dared to attack him.
His eyes widened as he saw her. A girl standing on the window frame, balanced with unnerving grace. Her light blonde hair shimmered faintly in the dim room, and her pale blue eyes… they held no warmth, no light, only the cold emptiness of death itself.
For a heartbeat, he felt it—like the grim reaper had arrived, silently declaring his time was up.
She didn't move, didn't speak, but her presence alone was enough to freeze him in place. Every worm in the room recoiled slightly, as if even they sensed the aura of inevitability radiating from her.
Her gaze flicked toward Sakura and Rikka, the latter slumped and unconscious. But the moment her eyes landed on Rikka… the blood smeared across her clothes, the pale face… something inside her snapped.
A surge of prana burst from her body, bending the air around her. Sparks leapt along the floorboards, shadows jittered violently, and a low, vibrating hum filled the room. The energy radiating from her made the worms hesitate, as if instinctively aware of the threat.
Her eyes burned with raw fury, every muscle coiled to strike.
Without a second thought, she leapt from the window, her light dress flowing behind her. Streams of prana swirled around her like living flames, scorching the space around the worms. Even without intending to, her presence alone forced them to recoil.
Sakura could only stare, frozen in place, wide-eyed and trembling, unsure of what was happening—but she could see that the worms were being pushed back.