The sky is cloudy.
Layers and layers of leaden clouds formed a thick canopy. It was as if no soul was going to escape from this prison of a world.
The breeze, which had begun to take on the heat of summer, was light and flowed as if it were enveloping everything. But that was no consolation.
In front of us, the endless land lay before us as if to show us its inexhaustible expanse, and behind us, the magnificent and opulent gates of the castle, despite their splendid beauty, were tightly closed as if afraid of even the slightest intrusion of foreign enemies.
Of course, it was the proper function of a castle gate. There was nothing to complain about. There was nothing wrong with it.
He looked up at the gate that stood behind him. The gates were made of vajra stone, and were believed to be strong enough to withstand the onslaught of any siege weapon, despite their elegant and ornate appearance.
Indeed, no matter what physical impact it received, it would not falter. This must have been an absolute promise made from the beginning - the intimidation of the gate was so overwhelming that it convinced those who saw it.
(Only the gate, you know.)
He smiled slightly and turned to look forward again.
No matter how fierce the war, no matter how the fire, no matter how the walls are breached, no matter how the citadel is shattered, no matter how the mountains of corpses are built, no matter how the rivers of blood flow, this gate will be safe.
And it will be proven right now.
A symphony of noise, fierce and grave, but also nerve-wracking and rhythmic, was approaching from far ahead.
The melody of war, punctuated by tens of thousands of military boots.
The speed of it was frightening, and even he rolled his eyes.
(That was fast!)
However, no matter how surprised he was, the reality in front of him would not change.
At the edge of the wilderness, a black cloud of dust was billowing out. A huge number of people were approaching us at an unimaginable speed.
They were undoubtedly the enemy's troops, but they were marching at a speed that was impossible on foot. Even if they were cavalry, how would they be able to prepare that many horses?
"Well, whatever.
He mumbled out loud, and smiled grimly at them as they rapidly closed the distance between them and us.
As usual.
Arrogant and irreverent.
That was the word that defined him, and that was exactly what he was.
He started to run. Towards the front. The enemy army had come close enough that he could visually confirm the shape of the crimson armor of the soldier leading the charge. The crimson armor is said to be called a unicorn head because of the unicorn-like protrusions on the helmet. Anyway, the soldier who was leading the charge with such speed that it was hard to believe he was heavily armed was holding a beautifully decorated long spear in his hand.
He had a smile etched on the corner of his mouth. He raised his right hand above his head and announced.
"Armed summoning!
His whole body was enveloped in a dazzling light, and the next moment, a jet-black spear appeared in his right hand, which he held out as if offering it to the heavens. The distorted and hideous contraption emitted a dull glow as if it was seeking blood.
Without any hesitation, he grasped it and plunged into the crimson enemy soldiers, who were now five meters away. The distance between them was gone in the blink of an eye. The distance between the two was gone in the blink of an eye, and the blade of the pike was within reach.
"Goodbye!
With his right arm alone, he flashed the pike. It was a big but fast slash that gave the enemy soldiers no chance to fight back or even regret it. The armor was easily cut in half. The response was outstanding. Without giving a second glance to the blood spurting out of his armor, which had fallen and turned into a mere lump of flesh, he smiled fiercely.
A haze of enemy soldiers filled his vision. Most of them were clad in hornless green armor, different from the soldiers ahead of them. Most of them wore green armor with no horns, different from the soldiers in front of them, and their weapons seemed to be different from each other, but it didn't matter to him. It didn't matter who was carrying what kind of weapon.
All he wanted to do was dance.
Kicking the ground, he began his invasion. Yes, this is not an interception. This was an invasion.
With a single cleave of his pike, he casually breaks through the leading group with his long spear in hand. Just one flash. And with only one hand. There was no doubt that it was the power hidden in the pike in his hand.
Of course, he understands this. In fact, it could be said that he was wielding the pike because he understood it.
(Ten people?)
What he muttered in his heart was the number of soldiers who had been turned into corpses by the previous cleave. He did not confirm it with his own eyes. He only judged that based on his response. There was no doubt about it, but that did not mean that I was sure. Nevertheless, I immediately switched my thoughts. We are in the middle of an enemy army that is rushing towards us.
No, what would be the point of a single person wielding a pike in the midst of a raging army of tens of thousands? The extraordinary power of him and his pike killed ten enemy soldiers with just one swing. But what does that matter?
The opponent is tens of thousands, and we are alone.
It's not even a drop in the bucket.
(You're absolutely right.)
He chuckled to himself. He didn't wait for the corpse in front of him to collapse. Without any hesitation, he leaps. His tremendous leg strength carried his body into the air. Into the light air. Below him, an unimaginably large army was regrouping and surging towards the city gate in a green tsunami.
But he had neither the means nor the calculations to block the invasion of the enemy forces. The tightly closed gates would not allow the enemy forces to enter, but what about the walls? Of course, the walls of the city are more solid than anything else. However, the enemy army must know that. They knew it, and they attacked us. They must have a way. I'm sure.
He was still in the air. In the midst of the enemy army, jumping up into the air was, if you think about it calmly, insane. There was no way he could move around freely in the air. It must have been a good target for the enemy. It was easy to predict where it would fall.
Normally.
"Flash of--
He raised the pike above his head and turned it around. A faint glow lit up the tip of the pike as it spun at high speed. The glow became stronger and more intense as the speed of the rotation increased. By the time his body began to fall to the ground, the glow was so intense that it dazzled the eyes of the enemy soldiers below.
In the midst of his descent, he noticed a soldier in the middle of his field of vision looking right at him. He was holding a long sword at the point where he was supposed to fall. For some reason, his blindness didn't seem to work. He smiled a vicious smile in his chest.
What's wrong with that?
He shouted.
"Lightbringer!
Faster than he could land - before the enemy could even have time to react - the pure white tip of his pike had pierced the enemy's green helmet. It broke through the skull, destroying the brain marrow and spraying brain plasma and blood. At that moment, the light on the tip of the spear expanded rapidly.
The light diffused with explosive force, causing the body of the soldier, armor and all, to explode and scatter. In the blindingly bright explosion, a piece of armor sliced through his right cheek, but that was the only visible damage to himself.
As he landed, he noticed that there was a certain space around him. A certain area around him was a kind of blank zone in the green tsunami. That area, of course, must have been within the reach of the pike, and no one had entered the area where the pike would have managed to reach.
However, I couldn't see the ground.
The corpses of dozens of soldiers who had been caught in the earlier explosion were lying on the ground as if they had been painted over. Red from blood and green from armor.
It might have been a quick and accurate decision for the enemy soldiers to set up a siege formation outside his attack range. It would have been the height of folly not to take any action after seeing that explosion.
Nevertheless, he did not lose his smile.
He took a step forward.
"!
And the encirclers also took a step forward. But they were in the middle of a tsunami-like offensive. But in the midst of a tsunami-like offensive, it took a lot of effort just to take one step forward without breaking formation. The sight of him was about to ignite his torment, but he shook his head and shook off his worries.
For now, he should concentrate on the enemy lines in front of him.
Then, he kicked the ground.
What?
The eyes of the enemy soldiers in front of him widened in astonishment, and it was burned into his retina. He was surprised to see the enemy soldiers' eyes widen in surprise. Even he was surprised by the marching speed of the enemy army.
"The blink of an eye...
He whispered in front of the enemy soldiers.
"Deathbringer.
He was aware of the response as the outstretched pike pierced through the body of the enemy soldier and then into the stomach of the soldier behind him. I'm not sure what to make of it, but I'm sure it's a good idea. He thought he heard screams and curses, but he chalked it up to an auditory hallucination.
Once again, he set out to invade.
The small void created in front of him was quickly filled with green armor, but he didn't pay any attention to it. He whirled the pike around and raised it above his head, increasing its rotation speed even more. The surrounding enemy soldiers must have gasped because it reminded them of the earlier explosion.
He smiled.
He laughed, because the enemy soldiers were jumping at him. No doubt, it was to stop the rotation of the pike. A power that could kill or wound a wide range of soldiers. What kind of fool would watch over the completion of such a thing? But I wonder how many of them realized that he had no intention of completing such a thing.
He dodged the spear thrust of the soldier from behind with a masterful body movement, and swung his pike down without a second thought. The body of the enemy soldier was cut in two, armor and all. While being bathed in blood, he thrusts the pike out to meet another charge from the right front, crushing the soldier's head. He immediately pulls the tip of the spear out of the head and looks up above him. There were three enemy soldiers with spears in their hands, all jumping at me at once. This is reckless.
I throw back only a smile.
He jumped backwards and reacted to the killing intent that was coming from behind him. He turned around and reared his spear, slicing through the bodies of the five enemy soldiers. A large man with a two-handed sword in his hand jumped over the corpses from behind the five men who fell down with fresh blood. A large man with a two-handed sword in his hand jumped over the corpse from behind the five who had fallen down with fresh blood, and came at them with what sounded like the roar of a wild animal.
(Zweihander, huh?)
You can't help but have a certain admiration for the huge sword that the big man wielded, with a blade as tall as he was. He could not help but admire the two-handed, well-honed sword's resolute and wild stance.
"Ohhhhhhhhhhh!
A cry like the roar of a wild animal brought him back to himself. The large sword in his hands was swung down with all his might. The blow had tremendous destructive power, but it did not turn his body into a lump of flesh. Compared to the big man, his body, which was like a child's, was already in the air.
Even though he was fascinated by the two-handed sword, his body was dominated by the memories of his past battles. A powerful force swirled around the tip of the pike that he had been spinning for some time.
"The storm strike--
He looked at the large man. The two-handed sword he had swung had made a huge hole in the ground in front of him. That wasn't all. Apparently, several soldiers had been involved. I could see three dead bodies. All of them were holding spears in their hands. They must have been the ones who had leapt at him from the air a moment ago.
He stopped turning his pike and threw it downward.
"Stormbringer!
The contraption plunged into the feet of the large man who was about to raise his two-handed sword.
Instantly, a storm was born. The power stored in the tip of the spear was released. The power of the storm. The tyrannical power of the wind expanded in multiple spirals, excavating the earth, blowing away corpses, chopping and reaping down the big man, and growing even more as it engulfed hundreds of enemy soldiers around him.
What the runaway whirlwind brings is destruction. The overwhelming power of destruction slammed the surrounding area into utter ruin. In the face of the storm, the armor of the enemy soldiers was meaningless, and they were blown away, colliding with their comrades who had flown in from somewhere and losing their lives.
Many deaths were born in the storm.
As he landed in the center of the storm, he pulled his pike, now a shell with all its power unleashed, out of the ground. The storm of destruction would soon cease. If anything, the fact that there was no wind around the contraption was proof of that.
The storm stopped and the rain began to fall.
The storm stopped, and the rain began to fall in torrents.
Hundreds of soldiers, swallowed by the storm and carried high into the sky, fell as dead bodies. It was the rain of death. And then there were those who lost their lives in the rain of death. These were the soldiers who were outside the storm zone.
I wonder how many enemy soldiers were killed by his power. It must have been no less than five hundred. But that would not be enough. It was not enough to break through the army of tens of thousands. At this rate, the walls will be breached and the fortress will fall.
(That's what I'm talking about. ...)
He swung the pike lightly and rushed forward. It doesn't matter if the fortress has fallen or not. It might be a good thing to be refreshed. But something didn't feel right.
(In short, you don't like it?)
As I asked myself the question, I cut the enemy soldiers in front of me in half. Pushing aside the dead bodies, I pushed forward, slaughtering one enemy soldier after another. He destroys the arrows that come out of nowhere with the stone thrust of his pike, and then turns the pike to reap all the soldiers around him. Again, an arrow.
"!
He held his left hand out in front of him. A moment later, he felt a sharp pain in his palm. The arrow had pierced his palm, and the arrowhead had gone through the back of his hand. Blood flowed in front of his eyes.
"That's enough, Setsuna.
The familiar boy's voice rang out high in the air, what a joke.
He withdrew his left hand from sight, his face contorted in intense pain. Ahead, the green tsunami was split in half. Yes, just like the path of the saints.
The tens of thousands of soldiers formed an orderly formation, and seemed to be waiting for the arrival of the saint, without even a flinch.
He was on the verge of despair. He didn't know why, but an overwhelming feeling of defeat had come over him.
It was a holy glow. Ahead of him, from beyond the green tidal wave, stepped a divine glow.
"Your dream ends here...
"Moriya Kuon, ...!
The waking words of Kamiya Setsuna could be taken as a scream or a wail. I'm not sure what to make of it. It's not that he's fat, it's that he's not fat. He was neither fat nor skinny. He was neither fat nor thin, but of average build.
He stared at the grain of the ceiling. It was a terrible nightmare. A dream in which his friend, who had disappeared six months ago, was blocking his progress. It couldn't possibly be a good dream.
He jumped out of bed with a sigh. It was a weekday. This was not the time to be distracted by nightmares. He had to get ready quickly and go to school. It was a sobering thought, but it was one of the few things a child had to do. It was one of the few duties a child has to fulfill.
Stretching slowly, Setsuna looked at the clock on the wall. The digital clock read 8 a.m.
What?
He was astonished. He let out a scream.
"I'm late!
It was akin to despair.
I wonder how long it's been since Setsuna started having nightmares. At least, she had never had such stupid dreams before Quon's disappearance. Rather, reality was more like a nightmare, and dreams were like paradise. Whatever the nightmare was, it was better than the reality at that time.
For Setsuna, that is. For others, it must be unimportant. He knew that, and that's why he didn't tell anyone. It was just a small obsession. But that's it, that's all. He felt that this was the only reason why Setsuna could be a Setsuna.
Anyway, the nightmare.
The first time I had a nightmare, it must have been some time after the disappearance of Quon Moriya.
The plot of the nightmare was pretty much set in stone. Setsuna is fighting a large number of enemies in an unknown place. The battle against so many enemies is exhilarating, and if he could only see it in isolation, he might sob with joy.
But the end of the dream was always the worst.
But the end of the dream was always the worst, for he was awakened by the interference of the guardian, Quon.
(Quon ..., why you?)
I'm not sure if this is a good idea or not. It's not possible for an answer to come to mind when you ask yourself that question, but it's the only way to get it out of your head. I keep having the same dream over and over again.
It was becoming painful indeed.
And.
What?
That's when he stopped at a red light and looked up.
The sky was clear. The sky was clear, the sky was clear, there was not a cloud in the sky, and the fresh morning sunlight was irresistibly beautiful.
The problem was.
"Gate ...?
Floating in the blue sky, it looked much like the castle gate I had seen in my dream. It was a gorgeous, solid, and strong gate with a vaulted stone portal.
And then it came swooping down.
"What the hell?
As expected, he had no choice but to raise his voice in an absurd manner. It was an intersection on the way to the high school. Fortunately, there were no students on their way to school, but that didn't mean that there were no passersby. He blushed as the white gaze poured out of him.
But he couldn't help but be astonished.
A huge castle gate was falling from the sky.
It landed in front of him while Setsuna was frozen in surprise. The gates were much larger than the surrounding buildings, but they landed noiselessly, showing off their beautifully ornate gates.
He almost stopped thinking about the unimaginable. For a moment, his mind went blank. But he quickly regained himself. At the same time, he realized with his senses that there was a strange atmosphere around him. No wonder, he thought.
The gate had come down.
I'd be crazy not to go into a panic.
(In other words, I'm crazy, aren't I?)
I admit to myself with a sneer. (I mean, I'm crazy, aren't I?) She admits to herself with a sneer, "It's probably because I'm crazy that I concluded that dream was a nightmare.
Setsuna looked around and was startled once again.
What?
There was no one there.
There was not a single person in sight. Until a moment ago, there had been someone there. There must have been someone who had given him a white stare.
The strange feeling that had suddenly appeared in the familiar scenery of his way to school must have been caused by the castle gate that had fallen from the sky.
He looked up at the gate again. It was the very gate he had seen in his dream, the one that had made the fortress impregnable, and he could not find any difference. That is, if my memory is correct.
Setsuna left her bicycle there and walked up to the gate. It had landed in the middle of the roadway, in the crosswalk of the intersection.
(This is a dream, isn't it?)
It's not uncommon to wake up from a dream and find that you are still dreaming.
Determined, Setsuna touched the solemn and elegant gate. A cool sensation spread from her palm to her entire body. It was an intense stimulus. It was a sensation that she had never felt before.
Setsuna narrowed her eyes.
Maybe this wasn't a dream.
Vaguely, she changed her mind.
But dream or not, she knew what she had to do.
Setsuna pushed on the gate. The gate, despite its massive appearance, was extremely light and opened with very little effort on Setsuna's part.
"What?
At that moment, a flood of light painted Setsuna's retinas, dyed her consciousness, and cut off her senses.