The Sanctuary was already blanketed in snow.
To Emilia, the creature before her looked like a rabbit, but it was absurdly small, about the size of a human fist, similar in stature to a small animal like a rat.
Their ears were much shorter than a normal rabbit's, and paired with their round, fluffy tails, they looked tiny and cute.
"Is this... a rabbit?"
Emilia subconsciously asked in a soft voice.
Thump!
Garfiel stomped down without a moment's hesitation. The cute, rabbit-like creature was instantly crushed, its crimson blood spattering across the pure white snow, a particularly jarring sight.
"Huh?" Emilia's eyes widened, startled by Garfiel's sudden action, and she looked at him strangely.
"Garfiel, why... why would you hurt a cute little animal?"
"Cute? When they're tearing you to shreds, you'll see just how cute they are!" Garfiel growled, his gaze fixed dead ahead, his tone carrying an unprecedented gravity,
"Take a good look!"
"...Eh?"
Emilia followed Garfiel's gaze, and her heart suddenly clenched.
Before her, where there had only been a few scattered white creatures, the entire snowfield was now densely covered with them.
They crowded together, covering nearly every visible spot, their 'chii, chii' cries rising and falling in waves. Their sheer numbers were enough to make one's scalp tingle.
"Wh-why are there so many rabbits...?"
Emilia unconsciously took a step back, her voice trembling slightly.
"Those aren't ordinary rabbits. They're the Magic Beast, the Great Rabbit."
Garfiel said in a low voice, his golden eyes fixed on the path ahead.
"What? The Great Rabbit?"
Only then did Emilia notice that the seemingly cute creatures had tiny horns growing on their heads.
"My Great Self thought you already knew," Garfiel said, looking at Emilia with a snort. "But these things are no joke."
"That's strange?"
As one of the three Great Mabeasts created by Daphne, the Witch of Gluttony, its terrible reputation was known to all.
But why would the Great Rabbit appear here?
"Stop spacing out! Let's go!" Garfiel grabbed Emilia's wrist and yanked her forward. "If we dawdle any longer, My Great Self has no desire to become their snack!"
"I understand!"
Coming to her senses, Emilia quickly focused her mind. Raising her hand, she gathered mana at her fingertips, and a smooth shield of ice immediately formed beneath their feet.
Then, she explained to Garfiel:
"This way, we can slide on the snow. We'll be much faster."
"Sliding? Hmph, interesting idea," Garfiel glanced down at the ice shield and said dismissively. "But My Great Self doesn't need cheap tricks like this to run fast."
"But this is an emergency. It's safer this way."
Emilia insisted.
"Do whatever you want," Garfiel waved his hand impatiently. "But if you slow me down, My Great Self won't wait for you."
Using the ice shield to slide, their movement speed increased considerably.
The snowfield flew past beneath their feet as the cold wind howled past their ears.
"Turn left."
Garfiel looked ahead, calling out directions as the ice shield beneath his feet turned nimbly with his movements.
"Okay." Emilia nodded in agreement, skillfully maneuvering the ice shield to change direction.
After sliding for some distance, she couldn't help but look back.
The dense horde of white rabbits was still in hot pursuit, but they had managed to put some distance between them.
At this thought, Emilia couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief and said to Garfiel:
"These rabbits aren't very fast. Otherwise, it would have been hard to shake them off."
"Don't get careless!" Garfiel snorted, his expression still wary. "There are too many of them. If we get surrounded, My Great Self might not be able to protect you even if I transform. Hurry up!"
"I know." Emilia's expression turned serious as well, and she increased their sliding speed. "Then let's go even faster."
After a period of frantic speed, the two finally reached a white ruin deep in the forest.
"This place is...?"
Emilia panted, her breath misting in the cold air, as she surveyed the snow-covered remains of the building. At the same time, she noticed an ice tower to the side slowly dissipating, turning into motes of light that drifted into the structure.
"The old hag is waiting for you inside," Garfiel explained succinctly. "My Great Self's job was just to get you here safely."
"Thank you, Garfiel," Emilia said sincerely.
"Hmph, save the useless chatter." Garfiel turned his face away, a bit tsundere-like. "If it weren't for the old hag's orders, My Great Self couldn't be bothered with you."
Emilia glanced at the open entrance, and after only a moment's hesitation, she steeled her resolve and stepped inside the ruins.
Snowflakes drifted in through cracks in the ceiling, and the air inside was bitingly cold, even colder than the blizzard outside.
Along the way, several small rooms connected to the corridor. Emilia paid them no mind, her gaze fixed on the depths ahead as she continued walking.
Reaching the innermost part of the building, she saw a room glowing with a faint blue light and couldn't help but swallow nervously—
because inside was an absurdly large magic crystal emitting a faint blue glow, and standing beside it were numerous girls with long, pink hair.
"...Miss Ryuzu?"
Emilia tentatively called out.
"Lady Emilia, you've finally come."
Hearing her name, the girl closest to the door quickly turned around. The face was unmistakably Ryuzu's.
But Emilia still couldn't be completely sure, because every one of the twenty girls present had a face identical to Ryuzu's.
The same hairstyle, the same features, even the same gentle warmth in their eyes.
Seeing twenty identical figures standing before her, Emilia couldn't help but hold her breath, the shock in her eyes impossible to hide.
She had always known that the old woman had a sister named Shima, but she never imagined there were so many more.
"There are so many..." Emilia murmured to herself, her gaze sweeping over the girls' faces. She really couldn't think of any other reasonable explanation,
"Miss Ryuzu's mother must have had it ve~ry tough."
"We are clones. An explanation for that can wait!" the girl at the front took a small step forward, her tone clearly urgent,
"In any case, Lady Emilia, you must stop me!"
"Stop Miss Ryuzu...?"
Emilia froze for a moment. Ryuzu's cry was loud, but it took her a few seconds to truly grasp its meaning.
It was then that she noticed the surrounding girls were encircling one person in the middle, using their hands to block her movements, as if desperately trying to stop her from approaching a certain place.
Following the direction they were blocking, Emilia saw a lone girl standing in front of the giant magic crystal—it was Shima.
Shima's face lacked its usual calm, replaced by an expression that mixed emptiness with tragic solemnity.
Seeing that look, a sudden chill ran down Emilia's spine.
This expression was not unfamiliar to her. In the trials just now—whether in scenes from the past, visions of the future, or the present that should not have been—whenever people made up their minds to choose their own way of life, such resolve would always appear on their faces.
"Miss Shima, right?" Emilia took a few steps forward and asked uncertainly, "What are you planning to do? And what is this place for?"
"Lady Emilia, your safe arrival here means the trials have been successfully completed." Shima slowly turned around, her voice laced with a hint of exhaustion and a light sigh of relief,
"In other words, our final task is now ready."
"Eh?"
Emilia followed her gaze to the magic crystal and only then noticed that within the crystal's dazzling light, a human figure was faintly visible.
It was a young girl with long pink hair, curled up with her knees to her chest, her eyes gently closed as if in a deep sleep.
And that face, too, was identical to Ryuzu's.
"—Hey, the one inside the magic crystal, is that Miss Ryuzu?"
Emilia couldn't help but ask.
Aside from Shima, every girl present had the same face. Anyone would find the situation both abnormal and bizarre.
But she didn't dwell on it, instead taking another small step forward and looking at Shima to ask:
"Are you here to bring the girl out of the magic crystal?"
"I'm speechless. Seeing this situation, that's the first thing you ask?" Shima was taken aback by Emilia's words, a flash of exasperation in her eyes, before her tone grew slightly somber as she continued,
"I understand your sentiment, but there is no need."
She shook her head, her gaze returning to the magic crystal,
"I came here not to bring the Original sleeping in this crystal outside... but to end our duty."
"End... our duty...?"
Emilia frowned, her face a picture of confusion, completely failing to understand what that meant.
"This magic crystal is the very core of the barrier surrounding the Sanctuary," Shima explained patiently,
"The entire barrier operates with the ritual arts in the tomb as its starting point, using this core as a medium to take its complete form.
In other words, both locations must be rendered completely non-functional for the Sanctuary's duty to truly end, and for it to be considered thoroughly liberated.
Now, the ritual arts in the tomb have been undone by you, Lady Emilia. As such, all that remains is this core."
"Oh, is that so?"
Hearing this, Emilia couldn't help but be startled.
She had always thought that the barrier would be dispelled just by destroying the ritual arts in the tomb's inner chamber.
If what Shima said was true, then the ritual before her was an indispensable step.
"But, this doesn't have to be done right now, does it?" Emilia looked at Shima, her voice tinged with worry. "It's snowing ve~ry heavily outside, and the Great Rabbit has appeared. The situation is dangerous..."
"We know the situation is urgent," Shima interrupted her, her tone growing stern,
"But the barrier's core has its own operational rules. If this facility were to be destroyed, or if it lacked a manager to maintain it, something irreversible would happen. We, as the managers of the Sanctuary, the representative personalities of these clones, are the indispensable keys to activating this final step.
Indispensable keys."
As Shima described her own existence and that of the other girls, Emilia looked at her determined eyes and felt intuitively that this was probably an undeniable fact.
"Lady Emilia, catch."
Noticing the change in Emilia's expression, Shima suddenly raised her hand and threw something at her.
"Ah." Emilia instinctively reached out and caught it. Opening her palm, she let out a small gasp.
In her palm was a small fragment of a magic crystal. Though not large, it emanated an astonishing power.
The fragment's purity was especially high, and holding it in her hand, she could clearly feel a familiar pulsation, as if a life was gently beating inside.
This feeling... it was the important spirit who had guided her all the way here, who had stayed by her side when she was lost.
"Is it Puck?"
"Indeed, it is the Great Spirit," Shima nodded, then continued,
"The Great Spirit came here earlier, destroyed the site that was sealed by ritual arts, and delayed the spell's activation time.
Afterward, he did his best to rescue the villagers in the settlement, finally exhausting all his strength and leaving behind this fragment."
"So that's what happened."
After hearing Shima's explanation, Emilia finally took a closer look at her surroundings.
She discovered that complex patterns were carved into the ground with the magic crystal at their center, forming a massive ritual art.
The density of this art's mana structure was extremely high, in no way inferior to the one centered on the coffin in the tomb.
"Puck, you raised a mana barrier to protect everyone when the heavy snow fell, and you pushed yourself to tell me about this place... What other reckless things did you do?"
Emilia clutched the crystal fragment in her hand, but it gave no response. After confirming her arrival, Puck had fallen completely silent.
Speaking of which, when Puck unilaterally broke their contract to unlock her sealed memories and disappeared into the far distance, Emilia had prepared herself for the possibility that it would be a very, very long time before they met again.
But he hadn't just left. Instead, he held on until the very end to help her, until he exhausted his power and fell into a deep slumber, destined to sleep within this tiny fragment for who knows how many years.
"...Lady Emilia, Garfiel, and many others have lent their strength. Since this has resulted in an opportunity, it is time for me to fulfill my duty."
Shima placed her palm against the magic crystal. The contact was cold, yet a gentle smile graced her face.
That earlier solemn resolve, the meaning of completing her duty, was now crystal clear in her heart.
"Old hag!" Garfiel suddenly strode forward, his fists clenched so tightly they cracked, tears welling in his eyes. His voice was hoarse with suppressed anguish,
"Duty... I know about duty! But there are so many people here, why does it have to be you! I won't allow it!"
"Garfiel, I have lived for hundreds of years. I have seen spring pass and autumn arrive, watched the snows come and go. It has been more than enough." Shima slowly turned her head, looking at the emotional Garfiel with eyes full of love and reluctance,
"Having you by my side all these years, watching you grow from a reckless little brat into a young man who can stand on his own... it has made me happier than anyone."
"What good is being happy!" Garfiel's voice broke into a sob, and tears finally streamed down his face,
"I haven't... I haven't even had a proper talk with you, I haven't let you see me get stronger... If you're gone, who's going to look after me? Who's going to knock me on the head when I mess up?"
"Silly child." Shima sighed softly, looking at Garfiel with a gentle gaze,
"I will always be watching you. You must remember, no matter what you encounter out there, to stand tall and not bring shame to my name... You said you wanted to see the outside world, so go, and live my part for me as well."
"I..." Garfiel opened his mouth, but his throat felt as if it were blocked. A thousand words were stuck in his chest, but in the end, they only came out as a choked sob,
"Old hag, I don't want you to go..."
"Be good." Shima looked up and said to Garfiel with a kind expression, "This is my final home, and it is something I must do. Garfiel, you must take care of yourself, and also take care of Lady Emilia and everyone else."
Garfiel's shoulders trembled violently, his vision blurred by tears.
Emilia gently placed a hand on his shoulder, feeling his body's tremors through her palm.
She knew in her heart that no one could stop Shima now. The only thing they could do was grant her this.
Thinking this, Emilia gazed into Shima's eyes and gave a solemn nod:
"Leave what comes next to me. I will take care of Garfiel and protect the Sanctuary. I won't let your efforts be in vain."
"To have grown so much in just half a day... this truly is an old woman's pleasure." Shima said, lowering her eyes. She then turned to the magic crystal and whispered gently to the sleeping girl inside, who looked exactly like her,
"Original, you've worked hard. Leave the rest to us now."
In an instant, a dazzling, pale light surged from the magic crystal, gradually filling the entire room.
The white light was gentle yet brilliant, enveloping everyone within it, as if to wrap up all their reluctance and attachment.
This light carried a faint warmth, heralding that the Sanctuary, which had existed for hundreds of years, had finally met its true end.
When the light completely vanished, the room was empty. Shima was gone, and the giant magic crystal on the pedestal was gone too, as if it had never existed.
Left behind were only Emilia, a tear-streaked Garfiel, Ryuzu, and a group of many young girls who had lost their direction.
The air seemed to retain the lingering warmth of the end, leaving Emilia feeling hollow, yet with a heavy sense of finality.
"If it were Subaru, what would he do right now?"
The moment the thought appeared, Emilia's heart felt as if it were gently clutched by something, and a complex warmth spread through it.
That boy who was always grinning and making strange jokes, yet would always throw himself in front of her with all his might at critical moments.
Even if it meant stepping into dangers that even she feared, time and time again for her sake, even when covered in wounds and utterly exhausted, he never once spoke of giving up.
She remembered the darkest moments of the trials, how the persistence and determination in Subaru's eyes were like a beam of light cutting through the fog, giving her the courage to keep moving forward.
When Subaru looked at her, the trust and expectation in his eyes were always so direct, as if he had kneaded all the tenderness in the world into his gaze, making her want to respond, to become stronger, to become someone Subaru could rely on with peace of mind.
And Puck, the family who had been with her for so long, had willingly broken their contract and exhausted his strength to protect her, all so she could truly become independent.
Shima had calmly chosen to sacrifice herself for the end of the Sanctuary.
"They were all doing what needed to be done for her, for this land."
Emilia took a deep breath, her fingertips curling slightly.
Subaru was still waiting for her, waiting for her to lead the residents of the Sanctuary out of their predicament.
She couldn't stop here. She couldn't let down those who had sacrificed for her, and she certainly couldn't betray the pure trust and expectation in Subaru's eyes whenever he looked at her.
Thinking this, Emilia took a deep breath, looked at everyone present, and said:
"Let's go, Garfiel, Miss Ryuzu. We still have things we must do."
Garfiel kept his head down, wiping away his tears with his hand, forcing an impatient tone:
"I... My Great Self hates this sappy atmosphere. If we're going, let's go. What's the point of dawdling."
"Lady Emilia..."
Ryuzu called out softly, her eyes holding a trace of unease and confusion about the future.
"Shima entrusted her wish to us, so—" Emilia turned around and looked toward the exit, where the blizzard outside seemed to have subsided a little,
"We can't stop here."
She saw Ryuzu and her sisters also turn their gazes toward the entrance, so she nodded firmly, as if to encourage herself and tell everyone:
"If we're going to cry, let's save it for later. The people I love always said that before they left. We should smile and move forward too."
Afterward, Emilia's group arrived at the Sanctuary's plaza.
Because of the heavy snow earlier, all the mixed-blood residents of the Sanctuary had gathered in the church next to the plaza. They were crowded together, their faces full of fear, occasionally glancing at the swirling snowflakes outside.
Here, Emilia saw the bandaged Roswaal. He was leaning against a wall, his face somewhat pale.
Ram stood beside Roswaal, carefully straightening the collar of his jacket.
"Lady Emilia." Ram was the first to speak, her tone calm, but the worry on her face was hard to hide. "It is a great relief to see you are safe."
"Ram." Emilia nodded, then turned her gaze to Roswaal. "Roswaal, how are your injuries now?"
Roswaal raised his eyes slightly, his mismatched pupils glinting in the dim light. A subtle curve formed on his lips as he spoke with his usual peculiar smile:
"Myyyy, if it isn't Lady Emilia. These minor wounds are nothing to worry about. As for you, did you successfully pass the trials?"
"I have passed the trials," Emilia answered directly, then quickly changed the subject. "But we have a more urgent situation now. A large number of Great Rabbits have appeared in the Sanctuary and are approaching this location."
"The Great Rabbit?" Upon hearing this, Ram frowned, clearly familiar with the Great Rabbit's fearsome reputation.
"Why would a Magic Beast of that calamitous level appear in the Sanctuary?"
"I'm not sure about that either," Emilia said, shaking her head.
"But the Great Rabbits are already on their way. We have to protect everyone here."
______
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