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2024-10-29 19:42:56A gargantuan scythe blade the size of a mountain manifests from the tip of Tsumugi’s staff while Gleam blazes pure white, light magic seeping out of her very being. With a ponderous sweep of her arm, Tsumugi brings the scythe down, its tip aimed right for the crowd. The Deathless start to disperse but there’s not enough time. Someone trips. She closes her eyes to brace for impact but the impact never comes. Instead, there’s a brutal grinding sound.
Opening her eyes, instead of seeing the tip of the scythe bearing down on her, she sees Gleam’s back as she clashes against Tsumugi’s scythe.
“RUN!” The girl scrambles to her feet and runs away. Now all Gleam has to worry about is the mountain of cursed energy bearing down on her.
“GRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGHHH!!!” Gleam lets out an unearthly cry as she wills herself to go faster, to break through Tsumugi’s attack, to turn the tides of this battle.
“STELLAR!” The speed of light isn’t fast enough to move the scythe more than a few inches. It’s not enough. It’s not even close enough. To overcome Tsumugi, she needs to go much further, run much faster, fly much higher.
“STELLAR STELLAR!!!” Just like the shooting star she has become. The script written in her heart, she will now act out. There were so many things that she wanted to say to Tsumugi. There were so many walls she wanted to climb together. But some things were just not meant to be. Maybe there was something she could have said. Something she could have done. Maybe there was another way.
But that future is no longer within her grasp. And it hurts to know. That everything she had ever dreamed of was in her grasp, and it was all taken away. That hurt she sings it out, like curses onto the cruel day, tears scorching her eyes. But through it all, she shines brighter than ever before, hotter than ever before, more wicked than ever before.
It feels like trying to swim up the waterfall. So she does. It feels like trying to carry the sky on her shoulders. So she does. It feels like trying to fight a hurricane. So she does.
But even so, it’s not enough. She feels the sheer weight of the scythe bearing down on her more and more with every passing second. She’s not going to make it. Her world begins to go black. Then, a miracle happens. She begins to push it back. She feels someone else’s hand on her sword handle.
“Kuroko?!”
“Aye.” Kuroko stands defiantly to her side, lending her as much of her strength as possible to push back against the gargantuan scythe. But it’s still not enough. Little by little, Gleam’s strength begins to wane along with her magic.
“Get out of here! Save yourself!”
“Sorry, Gleam. But just this once, I won’t listen to your orders.” Little tendrils of light begin to seep out of Kuroko and worm their way into Gleam.
“What are you–” She feels a sudden burst of her strength returning. The darkness at the edge of her vision is dispelled entirely. Kuroko’s fingers begin to tremble.
“A dream is something you accomplish no matter what, right?” Kuroko manages a smile. “You shared your dream with me. So let me share with you my strength, just one last time.”
“But Kuroko… You’re…”
“I know.” Kuroko stumbles, her life, her very being starting to fade.
“My name is Kuroko Shindou, and I have a dream. Take the last of my strength and create a world where people like me don’t have to exist. Please, Gleam. Make that dream into reality.” Her eyelids begin to droop and the color leaves her face.
“I–... I will.”
“Good.” Kuroko’s eyes close fully. “My dream… it will be safe with you.”
This world is very cruel. It is sad but it is true. This world is very strange, it is sad but it is true.
“KUROKO!!!”
The last spark of Kuroko’s life leaves her body. Her hand slips from the handle. And the person known as Kuroko Shindou is no more. She falls to the ground, a serene expression on her face. White hot tears begin to burn in Gleam’s eyes.
“STELLAR STELLAR STELLAR STELLARSTELLARSTELLARSTELLARSTELLAR!!!”
The immovable object meets the unstoppable force and the unstoppable force wins. The scythe shatters into inky black shards as numerous as the stars in the night sky. Smoky wisps trail off of their edges as they disintegrate into the wind. And swimming in the sea of black, is a single shooting star. The image lasts only for a moment, then the star’s spark burns out.
She comes bearing down right on top of Tsumugi. And Tsumugi, too exhausted from her gambit to dodge, eats it. The two tumble into the ground, kicking up soil and grass in the process. They stay there, both of them unmoving.
“Gh… That hurt… you… bastard.”
“That was for Jessica.” Gleam manages to prop herself on her elbows. “Shut up.” Tsumugi stands up, groggily stumbles over to Gleam, and delivers a weak kick into her side. She grunts, not from the pain, but more because it feels appropriate to grunt. Tsumugi goes for another kick but Gleam’s ready for it this time. She catches her leg with one leg and drags her down with her. Tsumugi tries to get back up but Gleam plants her arm on her chest.“Get off me!” She isn’t sure why she said that while knowing full well it’s not going to make an inch of difference. Gleam clambers on top of her before battering her with a drunken flurry of punches. There’s no form or poise here, she’s just whaling on her with reckless abandon.
“THIS ONE’S FOR TOMOE!” She feels something fracture as she slams down on Tsumugi’s jaw.
“AND THIS ONE’S FOR KUROKO!” She grabs her sword and is on the verge of plunging it into Tsumugi’s chest when suddenly, something erupts from her stomach. Blood flows freely from where the black ax blade juts out on her abdomen. It takes her a moment to even register that she’s been stabbed.
“Wh–what?”
Gleam turns her head and is suddenly face-to-face with Haru. Her expression is one of absolute nonchalance, as though this was all just a normal day for her. She coughs up more blood before falling to the side. There’s no pain. Only an icy chill that spreads from the wound to the rest of her body. One by one, she feels her body shutting down.
“For…give me… Kuroko… Everyone…”
Gleam doesn’t get an opportunity to close her eyes or face upwards. She simply dies, no different from an insect curling up right at the moment of death.
“That was a close one.”
“...” Tsumugi says nothing. Her eyes transfixed on Gleam’s corpse. Finally, she’s done it. No one can get in her way now. So why does her heart ache so much?
What she’s done, it can never be forgiven. Not by the citizens of Takakumo, and not by herself most of all. But this is the path that she chose.
“Kuhahaha…”
Now that she’s finally climbed to the top of the mountain, she sees everything for what it really is. Nothing more than one humongous joke in the end. The adrenaline in her veins begins to fade away and she slowly slips into unconsciousness.
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“Please, help yourself to some tea.” Nanashi gestures at the chair across from her for Haru to sit down. It hasn’t been that long since they’ve last met but already, she’s made a little home for herself in Takakumo. It’s surprising how much laboratory apparatus she’s managed to cram into such a tiny space. Arcane sigils, test tubes, and strange machines clutter the room in an organizational system that Haru could never decipher even if she had a lifetime to try. And in the center, is a simple table and two stools set up. “No thank you, I have a temperature-sensitive tongue. It burns when I eat even slightly warm food.” “Ah well, that’s a pity.” Nanashi takes the teacup away. It looks comically tiny in her armored grasp. “So, what business do you have with me?” “I believe your terms with Tsumugi stipulated that only half of the Papilio in Takakumo return to their Think-Tanks, correct?” “Yes, that is true.” “By any chance, would you ever consider capturing Takakumo for yourself and
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“Long time no see, Tot.” “It’s literally been a single day.” Kazuko walks along the pristine battlefield and comes to a stop exactly ten paces away from where Haru’s standing. “What do you want?” Haru adjusts her stance, placing herself between Kazuko and the unconscious Tsumugi. “I’ve come to talk.”“That’s it?” “Yep. I realized that after all this time, we never got a chance to properly talk to each other.” “I suppose you’re right.” “I must thank you, Tot.” Kazuko plants her rapier on the ground. “I think you’ve helped me to realize something about myself.” “And what is that?” “That you and I are the same. We’re two sides of the same coin, you and I. We can claim to be soldiers or heroes or avenging angels all we want, but in the end, we both kill.” “You’ve come all this way just to tell me that?” “Not quite. I’ve decided that I won’t tolerate any more excuses. From you or from myself. Regardless of whether we chose our lives or our lives chose us, we’re both killers. Jud
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A gargantuan scythe blade the size of a mountain manifests from the tip of Tsumugi’s staff while Gleam blazes pure white, light magic seeping out of her very being. With a ponderous sweep of her arm, Tsumugi brings the scythe down, its tip aimed right for the crowd. The Deathless start to disperse but there’s not enough time. Someone trips. She closes her eyes to brace for impact but the impact never comes. Instead, there’s a brutal grinding sound. Opening her eyes, instead of seeing the tip of the scythe bearing down on her, she sees Gleam’s back as she clashes against Tsumugi’s scythe. “RUN!” The girl scrambles to her feet and runs away. Now all Gleam has to worry about is the mountain of cursed energy bearing down on her. “GRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGHHH!!!” Gleam lets out an unearthly cry as she wills herself to go faster, to break through Tsumugi’s attack, to turn the tides of this battle. “STELLAR!” The speed of light isn’t fast enough to move the scythe more than a few inches.
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Chapter 67 Motteke! Sailor Fuku!
They come bursting out from the trees. Large metal transports with segmented armor that makes them resemble pillbugs. A far cry from the train-like things the Monarchs used all those years ago. They speed across the landscape, skimming across the flora of these lands. One transport in particular rushes ahead of the others, setting an example that the other transports follow. Atop its roof, stands a green-haired girl shredding her guitar. Heavy rock music, amplified by her sound sorcery, blasts outwards. It’s so loud that the ground almost seems to vibrate as they approach. But they find nothing. No patrols. No Deathless anywhere. It reeks of a trap. Tsumugi sticks her head out of the transport she’s in to yell at Haru.“Stick to the plan!” Haru nods and swaps tracks to the one corresponding to the signal for ‘Stick to the Plan’. The transition is nearly seamless. One by one, the transports climb the walls protecting Takakumo like it’s nothing. In the distance, they see it, Takakumo
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Chapter 66 Aloha
“It seems we’re not welcome here anymore. You’ve been exiled.” Haru relays Gleam’s speech to Tsumugi. “What do we do?” Florence asks. “Nothing has changed. Let’s keep moving.” Haru waves her hand out the car window at the other Elites to follow close behind. They comply, mostly out of fear. They know that their duty is to Lady Kentomi first, Takakumo second, and Haru third, but the thought of going against Haru is just too much. The streets are empty, nearly everyone’s attending Gleam’s speech. What few people are left behind smile and wave at them as they pass, blissfully unaware of what Tsumugi’s become. They know not what she knows. “Where are we going exactly?” “To the forest on the edge of Takakumo’s borders. I’ve arranged for a meeting there.” Ah, to where it all began. The memories of a month or two ago come flooding back to Haru. It felt like a lifetime ago they were on that train and came crashing into Takakumo, completely unwelcome. “This is nostalgic.” Haru rests he
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Chapter 65 Alter Ego Messiah
Letters make words, words make sentences, sentences make paragraphs, paragraphs fill pages, and pages fill up the tome. Number 3344 works dutifully, slowly but surely working through the book she’s been tasked to fill up. That is the purpose of the Papilio after all, to lend their minds as processors to the great Monarchian supercomputer complex, Nivosus. It is a purpose shared by the uncountable Papilio filling up this facility. They do not know better. None of them do. So they toil away, their minds working to the bone in the computational visual matrix.Every paragraph, every sentence, every letter is another crumb of data in the great compendium that the Monarchs seek to fill with all knowledge in existence. Years pass in the blink of an eye for the Papilio. Seasons pass them by without being noticed. They all keep their eyes downwards, scribing everything being fed to them. Number 3344 is no different. Just another drop in the ocean. Just another body being kept in a tube. Then
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Chapter 64 Preparations
As soon as the door closes behind her, Tsumugi immediately breaks down into tears as everything she’s done and everything that happened to her comes crashing down in a terrible wave. She starts to run, as though she might be able to outrun her guilt. “What have I done?!”She keeps running. Further and further away from Gleam. Further and further away from the best friend that she threw away. Further and further away from any chance of going back. More than once, she considers turning around and apologizing, telling Gleam that she was foolish, begging for her forgiveness. But no matter how much she wants to, she knows she can’t. Tsuki believed in Tsumugi to be able to turn her own dream into a reality. This is the only way. Her dream was always incompatible with Gleam’s. From the very beginning, she knew that. It’s only natural that they would both eventually come into conflict with one another. But even then, her heart aches so much she fears it might shrivel up and die. She slowly
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Chapter 63 Preparations
As soon as the door closes behind her, Tsumugi immediately breaks down into tears as everything she’s done and everything that happened to her comes crashing down in a terrible wave. She starts to run, as though she might be able to outrun her guilt. “What have I done?!”She keeps running. Further and further away from Gleam. Further and further away from the best friend that she threw away. Further and further away from any chance of going back. More than once, she considers turning around and apologizing, telling Gleam that she was foolish, begging for her forgiveness. But no matter how much she wants to, she knows she can’t. Tsuki believed in Tsumugi to be able to turn her own dream into a reality. This is the only way. Her dream was always incompatible with Gleam’s. From the very beginning, she knew that. It’s only natural that they would both eventually come into conflict with one another. But even then, her heart aches so much she fears it might shrivel up and die. She slowly
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Chapter 62 Bad to Worse
“Kikimi faltered.” Kazuko takes a deep breath just to check if her lung is still punctured. Surprisingly enough, it seems that the damage Tsuki dealt her just a few hours ago has already healed. Usually, it takes a few more hours.“That’s fine. She’s more useful to us dead.” Florence stares out the window at the full moon hanging in the sky. “Now that she’s out of the picture, Gleam’s a legitimate threat to both Tsumugi and Tomoe. But now that they’ve already severed their alliance, it’s going to be that much more difficult to stop her.” “Yeah, whatever. I don’t care about any of that stuff.” Kazuko slowly lifts herself off the chair she was sitting in. “You’re on your own from now on.” “Wait, hold on, what happened to owing me your life?” “A life for a life. My debt has been paid in full.” Florence saved her, and she killed Kikimi. Fair’s fair.“How do I know you won’t just rat me out?” “You don’t. But you don’t have any other choice.” Florence looks on as Kazuko slings her cape
