Long ago, Frieren had accidentally triggered the magic carved upon the Goddess's Monument during her research, which hurled her eighty years into the past—back to the time when she journeyed alongside Himmel and the others.
To help Frieren return to her rightful timeline, Himmel resolved that once their journey was complete, he would collaborate with Heiter, and Aesc to decipher the monument's magic. In the end, it was Aesc who carved the return spell into the stone.
The moment Himmel made that decision, time completed its loop. Frieren remembered the words etched on the monument and returned to the future.
And because she had come to understand the mechanics behind "the spell that returns one to the past," Aesc was eventually kicked out of that world by the Goddess herself—cast into another, where she would later become known as Melusine.
Through her research on this spell, Melusine came to understand why Frieren had been sent back to the precise moment she first touched the monument.
Although this spell could indeed transport a person to the past, it required an anchor point. When Frieren touched the stone for the first time eighty years ago, she unknowingly created such an anchor.
And that was why Melusine couldn't simply go back five years herself—she had no anchor point from that time.
After all, she'd only arrived in this world a few months ago. If she had been here five years prior, she could have used her past self as the anchor.
But then again… if she had been here five years ago, she'd have surely saved Tobiichi Origami's parents already. There would have been no need for time travel, no need for any of this.
Still—lacking an anchor wasn't a problem for someone like Melusine.
If no anchor existed, she would simply create one.
The moment Origami was shot back to the past by Tokisaki Kurumi's Twelfth Bullet, she became Melusine's anchor.
By hitching a ride along the "path" carved by Origami's temporal transit, Melusine effectively caught a lift—and arrived in the past alongside her.
But when she arrived… something unexpected was waiting for her.
Heat.
Hot winds roared around her, as if she'd stepped into a furnace.
August 3rd, five years ago. The summer holidays were only half over, the height of the sweltering season.
But even so… this heat wasn't natural.
The sudden jump from a cool, dark night to the blinding blaze of summer daylight would usually overwhelm human eyes—but dragon eyes were different.
Which was why Melusine saw clearly what lay before her—
A city consumed by fire.
A landscape drenched in red destruction.
"What the…?"
Melusine narrowed her eyes.
This blaze engulfing all of Tengu City… she recognized it.
It was the same fire ignited by Kotori Itsuka—transformed into a Spirit by Mio Takamiya's Sephira Crystal.
It was on this day that Origami's parents died—hence her long-held belief that Kotori was the one who killed them.
From afar, she could hear screaming—shrieks of agony and cries for help. If sorrow could manifest as a visible aura, then despair would have long since blanketed the sky like choking storm clouds.
All of these deaths… this future was already set in stone. Even if I saved them now, the laws of historical correction would take them one way or another. It's not worth the cost.
Right now, finding Origami is the priority.
Melusine knew this. She knew it with painful clarity.
"Come forth—Mandala."
A sudden square magic array formed in front of her. Melusine reached into it and pulled out a coiled mass of glowing thread.
Across various mythologies—Greek, Norse—there exist three goddesses of fate, responsible for spinning the thread of life and weaving destiny's web. They represent the past, present, and future.
In Greek lore, even Zeus could not overrule them. Clotho spun the thread of life and controlled the future; Lachesis measured the length; and Atropos severed it, bringing death.
And what Melusine held now—was the thread of life.
"This world may only have myths without gods… and I can't maintain this spell indefinitely alone… but at the very least, I can help the living survive this fire."
She didn't seek justice—only peace.
She cast the glowing thread forward, and invisible strands shot toward the dying across the burning city—quietly extending the lives that were fated to end in this calamity.
But the spell could only save the living.
It could not raise the dead.
"If Origami's parents are still alive… this should be enough to save them too."
Murmuring to herself, Melusine moved through the burning streets.
Flames surged and snapped toward her, but not a single ember could even touch her.
Suddenly, her eyes caught something.
A familiar sight.
She squinted.
"That's…"
"My tears—I'm entrusting them to you. My smile—I'm giving it to you. My joy, my happiness… take them all."
"Huh—?"
The young Itsuka Shidou blinked, startled by the unexpected words.
"This will be the last time I cry. And the last time I smile."
The child version of Tobiichi Origami turned toward him for just a moment.
Tears streamed down her face. Shidou found himself at a loss for words.
Then she turned away.
"But this rage belongs to me. This ugly emotion is mine alone. No matter how long it takes, no matter what I must do—I will kill her. I will kill… that Angel."
"…"
Angel…
That word sent a tremor through Shidou's fingers.
But he couldn't speak. He couldn't tell her that the Spirit she hated—that "Angel"—was her own future self.
"So until then… please hold onto those emotions for me. Until the day I kill that Angel."
Her back to him, Origami spoke as if making a vow.
"Origa—mi…"
Shidou could only whisper her name.
And just like that, the child bent on revenge turned and walked away, leaving him behind.
"I…"
Still on his knees, Shidou could only watch her retreating figure. His heart was a heavy pit of helplessness.
He'd come here to change things—and all he could do was watch history repeat.
And then, as if some illusion had shattered, the child version of Shidou began rapidly aging—no, reverting—returning to his true self: high school student Itsuka Shidou.
In that moment, Kurumi's annoyed voice echoed in his mind.
"Honestly… it's hard to watch."
"Sorry… You used the Twelfth Bullet for my sake and—"
"That's not what I mean."
Kurumi's tone was laced with sighs.
"So the one who killed Origami's parents… was Origami herself? I see. That would explain her despair. But clearly—it was my use of Zafkiel that created the conditions for that outcome."
Shidou thought he could hear her gritting her teeth. For someone as enigmatic as Kurumi, such a reaction was rare.
"This is just… revolting. Depressing. Infuriating."
"Kurumi…?"
"Her hatred of Spirits. Your meeting with her. Everything that shaped the world you two came from… it all traces back to my power. If I hadn't sent you both here, this world wouldn't exist as it is."
Her voice was scathing. The bitter irony of trying to "change the world," only to realize she had built it in the first place—that irony crushed her.
Shidou couldn't help but wince at the venom in her tone.
And then—an idea flickered in his mind.
"Kurumi… don't tell me—you too—"
"Quiet, Shidou. Someone's coming."
The voice in his mind snapped him back to reality.
He looked up—just in time to see a breathtaking girl slowly walking toward him.
Her flawless features, her commanding grace… the kind of beauty that transcended gender.
Even Shidou, who had met many stunning girls, was briefly left speechless.
And yet…
Who is she? Why is she coming toward me?
His thoughts were interrupted when she stopped before him—and said something that made his eyes widen.
"Shidou. Why are you here?"
She knows me?
The realization struck hard.
He clamped his mouth shut instantly. The chaos surrounding them made it dangerous to say the wrong thing.
"Kurumi, do you know who this is?"
Shidou turned to the only person he could communicate with—Kurumi.
"My, my… she looks like someone you know, but you're asking me if I recognize her? Sorry to disappoint—I don't. All I can say is… she's a Spirit."
A Spirit?!
Shidou stiffened.
This timeline should only contain three Spirits—Kotori, transformed by Phantom; Origami, sent back to save her parents; and Phantom herself.
"Could she be Phantom?!"
"I doubt it. At this time, you're still just a grade-schooler. Even if someone knew the future you, they'd mistake you for a relative. But she recognized you instantly."
Shidou felt a chill.
Then she knows… the me from five years in the future?
"Could be five years, six, seven—who knows? Personally, I think even a few years from now, you'll still look this adorably short~"
"Wha—are you saying I'm never gonna grow taller?!"
Melusine, of course, heard none of this.
She simply stood quietly, gazing in the direction the young Origami had disappeared.
Her expression was grim.
I used Origami as an anchor to arrive at this point in time. But why… can't I sense her presence?
And why… are her parents still dead? Origami hasn't become a Spirit… so who killed them?
In theory, wherever Origami arrived via the Twelfth Bullet, Melusine should've arrived seconds later at most. She'd worked to minimize the time drift—ten seconds at most.
But even when spreading her magical perception across the entire city, she couldn't find any trace of Origami's aura.
Not far away was a massive crater. It was impossible to miss.
The lingering mana and intense heat radiating from it testified to the overwhelming power behind the attack that had created it.
But more than that—Melusine could sense it.
The stench of death.
She raised her gaze, golden eyes unflinching even beneath the merciless summer sun.
Those eyes seemed to stare directly at the one who had unleashed that monstrous attack moments earlier.
"Shidou."
"!!!"
His whole body tensed at the call. He stared straight at the "Spirit he would one day meet in the future."
"I'd like to ask why you ignored my warning and came here… but there's something more urgent. You arrived before I did. Can you explain what's happened here?"
Melusine's golden gaze narrowed, her very presence suffused with quiet power.
"Are Origami's parents still dead? Who killed them?"
Kurumi, listening in via her connection to Shidou through Zafkiel's bullet, tilted her head.
So she came for Origami's parents. Then why… doesn't she know who killed them? Did Shidou and I keep that from her?
"Yes. Right in front of me… A white light fell… and it swallowed Origami's parents."
Shidou answered her simply, explaining the scene he had witnessed.
But then, he faltered. His face slowly shifted to shock, then confusion, then doubt.
"…As for the Spirit who did it… I'm sorry. I didn't see their face."
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T/N: ohhh shes in the og timeline