Chapter 528 – Mind and Overcoming

000

The barracks for the Highlanders, who arrived with Cleon, Mew, and Del (Caliburn), were more like a large warehouse for storing supplies, rather than being called a space for people to live in.

All you see are old beds crammed into places with poor ventilation, and the boys and girls living there endlessly repeating training in uniforms and holding swords.

Even though most of them were less than 15 years old and had a youthful appearance, the intensity of training far exceeded that of adults.

Besides, the ones he uses during training are his own core his-that is, the holy swords that can be called the main body.

The place cut by that holy sword, even if it is a temporary body, will feel pain and will be damaged as it bleeds.

“…It’s like the hideout of a mercenary without money.”

Cleon uttered the pure sentiment he felt while looking at this scene, and Mew shrugged her shoulders after hearing the story.

“It’s nice to see it that way. We’re treated like fixtures, not human beings, right Dell?”

“Yeah. It can’t be helped. We are beings created by being separated again by a holy sword made by humans.”

Del-no, when Caliburn, her del’s skin her, said so, Cleon looked down at her without saying a word.

She is, obviously, the Caliburn she knows herself.

In her own time, she was her persona her, Caliburn, who had been on her adventures her so far with him.

If so, all Cleon had to do was wake her up and get her out of this space.

It was Caliburn’s behavior of her that made her come to this barracks while acting as ‘Del’ that prevented her from getting the timing to say it now.

Is it something you want to show yourself?

Perhaps feeling Cleon’s gaze her, Caliburn quietly looked back at her Cleon her, then hid her index finger her to her own mouth with a hiss.

Her attitude her towards Mew was no different from ‘Del’, but when she met Cleon, she changed into Caliburn, as if the two of them were sharing one body.

Looking at Caliburn like that, Cleon shook her head in difficulty and put her hand on her, she answered with a smile as she narrowed her eyes.

After through the training ground, they arrived at a small ward built in the corner of the barracks.

Even in this warehouse-like space, it seemed relatively inhabited.

The hospital room was clean, and the bed was a little softer than the general bed in the barracks, and in the space inside the curtains, magic spells were placed to increase healing power, so the environment was configured to recover the injured more quickly.

It is, so to speak, a repair depot and maintenance site for weapons.

It’s probably the most important place to use weapons, people recognize.

However, there were no doctors there.

Walking around the barracks is a can-shaped machine that seems to have entrusted Ram.

Instead of a cat on the lid, there was a nurse’s cap on it, and a mechanical arm was sticking out to do something.

The tin can nurse busily moved her arm next to the bed on which Ram was lying, then turned only the cap and looked at Cleon, perhaps sensing the group’s presence in her.

“Is this a new injury?”

When human words sprang out naturally from the tin nurse, Mew shook her head.

“No, a visit from Lambda 10 over there.”

When the tin nurse’s lid turned half a turn and looked at Ram again, a suspicious light came out from the position corresponding to his eyes on her and scanned Ram’s body on his.

Then, he brought his busy arms into himself and turned around completely to look back at the party.

“Confirmed. The measures I can take are almost complete. Until Lambda 10’s core and stamina are restored, about 3 hours of rest have been granted.”

“Okay. Let’s go.”

At Mew’s words, the canned nurse slides through the ward and goes outside.

And, seeing Mew and Del approach Ram who is lying down, he slowly walks towards her and sits down on the empty bed next to her.

“Ram. Are you awake?”

And, when Del said that, Ram opened her eyes softly and looked at the three of them.

“Ahaha… I got caught. How did you know?”

“You think we’ve been together for years.”

When Del smiled, Ram smiled as well, but soon after realizing that Del’s appearance her had changed, she turned into a surprised face and stood up.

“D-Del has turned into a girl!”

“Ah. This, yes. The gender data was missing when restoring with the core. I like this one better. In our squad, I was the only one.”

Del nodded her head as if there was no problem, and Myu let out a sigh as she looked at Del.

“I’m glad my memory didn’t deteriorate. Otherwise, I’d have to introduce myself again.”

“But in the end, it was fine. There’s no problem, right?”

Del laughs and talks to the two of them.

While having a conversation like that of childhood friends who have been together for years, Caliburn looks back at Cleon and points at him.

“Ah, that’s right. More than anything about me, I have to thank him. Ram.”

“Huh? Ah. That’s right. I was distracted… Thanks again, mister.”

As Ram lowered his head while saying that, Cleon shook his head as if he was okay.

“It’s okay. More than that, I’d like to ask you a few questions… Is that okay?”

“Yes. Of course! If you have any questions, I’ll try my best to answer them.”

Both Ram and Myu nodded, but del-no, Caliburn just smiled at Cleon.

“…Then first. I’d like to ask a question about the device and tank I saw earlier… The ‘sword’ in it.”

“Oh, is it not where the old man used to live? Mother.”

Ram asked Cleon’s question while tilting his head as if he was rather curious.

“Ram. Mr. Cleon’s situation seems a little unusual. I’ll answer you.”

“Hmm. That’s right. That sword is our parent body called ‘Mother’. Literally, it’s a sword like a mother. We Highlanders are clones of Mother, created based on a core separated from that mother.”

Cleon listened to her and shut her mouth for a moment.

If that sword-sword called Mother is called ‘Caliburn’, then these girls are Caliburn’s replicas.

“For something like that, the shape is different…”

“Ah, I heard that it was intentional. I heard that our purpose, in addition to defending this bunker, was to accumulate various battle data in Mother to strengthen its power her.”

When Ram answers Cleon’s question once again, Caliburn adds to it.

“The experience and growth we gain through battles are all going to go back to Mother. In other words, even if we die, if the core is retrieved, the sword becomes stronger.”

“…Are there other places like this other than here?”

“Should we say that each bunker has one mother? Mothers also play a role as a power source for bunkers that produce magic. The purpose of any bunker is to strengthen its own mother. That way, you can gain an advantage in war.”

In the process, how many Highlanders were born, disappeared, and were absorbed?

It didn’t feel too good for Cleon, but he couldn’t say anything about the past.

“Then how long do the Highlanders have to fight?”

“Until Mother is completed. When 10 Highlanders of the highest class gather… That’s what happens.”

“Is the number specifically set? It’s like a ceremony.”

As Cleon muttered while shaking his head, Caliburn added more.

“That’s right. ‘The Rite of the Selective Sacred Sword’. We call it that when 10 Highlanders gather to decide who will ultimately decide who will become Mother’s nucleus.”

“…!”

This wasn’t the first time I’d heard the word “Ceremony of the selection holy sword”.

Before, just before returning from the rift in another dimension with Cassius, Adam’s plan he had heard from him.

According to him, he heard that Adam’s ultimate goal was to make the ultimate holy sword using 10 holy swords on the royal road.

For him, it was necessary for 10 heroes to kill each other in a lonely act.

“Highlanders of the highest class possess powerful magical powers, combat experience, and blooming abilities, and they kill each other and hold a ceremony to merge into one. As a result, a true holy sword paired with the surviving Highlanders is finally born. And Mother Highlanders who deserve to be captured are called ‘heroes’ by the people.”

“…Was it something like that?”

To some extent, the puzzle is put together in Cleon’s head.

The ritual of selecting the holy sword had already taken place even before the arrival of the golden comet.

Or perhaps, the human desire to grow power by any means in this way may have brought a golden comet to the world.

A ‘sacred sword’ created through countless sacrifices.

Not satisfied with that power, he uses 10 holy swords again to create the ultimate holy sword.

To the extent that the name Holy Sword felt ironic, it could only be called a sword stained with blood.

“…Then you guys finally-“

“That’s right. If you survive, you can participate in the holy sword selection ritual and be used to complete Mother!”

“Of course. If the core is taken away from another bunker, it will be amnesticized and absorbed there.”

Ram talks about it as if it were a dream, and Mew talks about realistic obstacles.

As if it was a natural story for them.

“…So it’s like… It’s really a part. Are you guys okay with that?”

When Cleon spoke in a somewhat sad voice, the next moment Caliburn opened her mouth.

“…? Are you okay?”

Ram tilts her head, as if not sure what Cleon is talking about, and Mew looks at his short sword his in silence.

And, Caliburn.

“That’s why we were born. A powerful destructive weapon built according to the design of Tris Megistos. And slaves to complete and handle it. The last thing we can be recognized as a human being is the last. Only when.”

The eyes of Caliburn, who said that, were slightly different from the ones she saw in the real world, with dull blue eyes.

Seeing her expression her as if she was being pulled into the deep sea rather than the surface of the sea, Cleon shut her mouth for a moment.

She took her hand her back and opened her mouth.

“…Is this what you wanted me to know? Caliburn.”

“──”

In the next moment, leaving Caliburn and Cleon behind, everything around them shattered like glass and scattered into thin air.

It is hard to imagine that what surrounds it is the inside of the holy sword, an endless black darkness.

Like- no, literally fantasy.

This is Caliburn’s image space of her, and everything is a world created based on her memories of her.

Caliburn nodded her head silently as she looked at Cleon with a smile.

“It’s a fact I’ve forgotten too. The oldest memory for me is the moment when I was captured by Albein and pulled out of her ruins. The memories of her before that time disappeared as she was sealed away. “

“…Why did that memory come back?”

“As I became one with Galatea, I think the act of ‘absorbing someone’s memories and power’ was the trigger. It’s not a very good memory, but I wanted to tell Cleon everything about me. This dirty, ugly, blood-stained birth The truth of birth.”

Wings made of light slowly appeared from her back her, as if mana was pouring out.

That figure was Caliburn, who always rubbed her sleepy eyes in front of Cleon with a relaxed smile, but-

The eyes of her were n’t smiling at all.

Even if she puts on a bewitching eye smile, she raises the corners of her mouth, and laughs hohuhu.

The inside of those eyes didn’t look happy at all.

“Caliburn, you-“

As if chasing Caliburn’s slowly falling hand, Cleon takes a step forward to grab her hand her-

Caliburn rather takes a step back, as if moving away from Cleon.

“Cleon. We’re not worthy of being called holy swords. It’s a sword used for the last sacred war, a name given by our creators. —Actually, even war itself is far from sacred.”

“…”

“It wasn’t made to save people, it wasn’t made for hope. It’s just like any other sword. It’s made to kill people efficiently and then destroy everything beyond that.”

“That…”

At Caliburn’s words, Cleon shut her mouth.

“We fought. With the expectation that this fight would restore the devastated world to its original state. Wilderness to grassland. Pit to sea. Mountain to forest. Stars in the sky. Deceived by it. Destroyed many things. Would you?”

When Caliburn recalled her own past her, she seemed to loathe herself.

“And now, I’m trying to absorb Galatea. …No, it’s better to say that they mix with each other. As a result, both Galatea and I disappear, the worst ending…”

Saying so, Caliburn looked down at her own hand her, and she powerlessly lowered her arm her.

“…But I think it’s Galatea who should be by Cleon’s side.”

“…What?”

“Galatea is different from me. From the beginning, she was born only for you. She is your first ally, and a sword to open your way. Unlike me, a ‘dirty sword’.”

The floor where Caliburn was standing cracked.

Cleon sees it and puts his foot forward.

“It’s not like that. Caliburn. You’re nothing like a dirty sword!”

“As expected, he’s kind. Cleon. But I… I forgot everything… I can’t be proud of myself as a ‘sword for people’.”

With a wry smile, Caliburn took one more step back. Then, the foothold between Caliburn and Cleon split.

“There is no place for such a holy sword. My power… I will be absorbed by Galatea. Then, I will continue to protect Cleon by my side. However, my personality will disappear here.”

“Wait, Caliburn! Stop!”

As Cleon tries to take another step forward.

Her feet her are crumbling.

The wings of light that stretched out behind her disappear.

And, the expression of Caliburn falling below it was too gentle.

“…Goodbye, Cleon.”

As she said that, she closed her eyes. It was disappearing into an endless darkness.

…

…

…

“That’s right, there’s no way!”

In the next moment, Caliburn felt her own hand grasped by something of hers.

And at the sound of her voice her, Caliburn opened her eyes.

What she sees there is Cleon, who threw her body into the darkness from which she fell.

“Don’t decide on your own! No matter what kind of sword you are, it’s the ‘Holy Sword’ Caliburn to me!”

He grabbed Caliburn’s shoulder and shouted as if he didn’t care about falling.

“Caliburn…! If you can’t be proud of yourself ‘as a holy sword’ – take pride as my comrade!”

“Close, Leon…”

Caliburn opened her eyes wide as she listened to Cleon’s words to her.

“How heavy are you going to make Galatea carry! Are you going to engrave the pain of not being able to protect you on me!”

Every time Cleon’s cry resounded, the resolution that Caliburn had pledged herself was slowly weakening.

At the bottom of the image space, there was a deeper darkness that swallowed everything it touched.

When you get there, the end, Caliburn and Cleon will disappear together.

Seeing this, Cleon took her hand her and held her in her arms her.

He hugged her tightly and shouted in her ear with a painfully loud voice.

“Let’s go back… The three of us! Still, I need you! Not as a sword, but as a teammate, as a family!

“──…Suddenly!”

And, just before the two hit the swamp—

“Please, Caliburn…! Fly up!”

At the same time as Cleon’s voice resounded, the wings of light flew from Caliburn’s back her once more-

Three pairs of splendid wings, larger than before, rose and lifted her fallen body back into the sky.

“Haha…!”

Caliburn was amazed at the warmth of her own body and the magic output of her own her, but somehow she grabbed her Cleon and flew to a high place.

It wasn’t the floor of the black space, but it flew up to the top of the ceiling.

“…!”

What Cleon and Caliburn could see after breaking through the invisible wall and rising up.

Wherever you go, the vast expanse of the meadow-

It was different from the Wilderness of Harmageddon that we had seen before.

It was a green meadow full of warmth and life.

“—Cleon.”

The two people who looked at the scene as if they were fascinated, soon, Caliburn called Cleon’s name her.

“—Is it okay for me to stay by Cleon’s side? Really…”

“Ah. Of course. As long as you want to be…”

While saying that, the wings suddenly disappeared from Caliburn’s back his.

“──Ugh!?”

“OMG!”

Thud!

Both Cleon and Caliburn were started by the phenomenon and fell, but the soft grass cushioned them.

As he rolled across the ground, the rising grass fell on his head and Cleon groaned beneath him, only to realize that he had n’t hurt himself.

“…Are you alright? Caliburn.”

“——Yes, I think it’s because my mana has run out.”

As Caliburn said that, she looked down at Cleon from above.

The appearance of such a Caliburn was a little more mature than the usual girl – it was that she had grown up to the appearance of a girl of the same age as Lyla and Quon.

“…Caliburn, that figure is-“

“Ah. This is… I guess, it’s proof that I’ve grown…”

Besides, in some parts of her hair her, black bridges were seen.

As if holding the color of Cleon.

Then Caliburn took her Cleon’s hand her and placed it on her own chest her, she spoke softly.

“… I will be by Cleon’s side. Until always. Until Cleon says, ‘Enough’.”

“——I’ll take care of you, Caliburn.”

“Whoops…”

Caliburn smiled at her as she blushed at Cleon’s words her.

“Yes~ Then… I have to get out of here… Can I receive magic?”

“…”

Saying so, Caliburn put her Cleon’s hand on her own chest her and extinguished her own clothes her.

“It’s the first time, right?”