The Champions Wall. A resting place for the legacy of past champions of the League and heroes who had defended Kazimierz.
"…No reporters, no flashing lights. It's hard to get used to."
"They don't have the guts to bypass the Campaign Knights standing guard outside and come in here. Darknight Knight Tola."
The voice belonged to an elderly woman. Though aged, her eyes shone with an undimmed brilliance, commanding respect.
The Grand Master. The weight of her name was not light.
"Champion of this era. What brings you here now...?"
"If I close my eyes now, I don't think I'll wake up for a while. I figured I should receive my award first."
"Hah. The awards are handled by the Merchant Association, who manage the Sport Knights, not me."
"Let‘s just say we're expediting the process. The Grand Master's recognition is enough."
The Grand Master smiled, amused by Yujin‘s audacity. Who could have predicted this? The one inheriting his will wasn't a Nearl, but the first Sarkaz knight in Kazimierz history.
This knight had fulfilled his duty. He had reminded her of what a knight truly was—a memory long faded—and demonstrated chivalry with his entire being.
"…A personal question. How was his end?"
That man. Yujin searched his memory and realized there was only one person she could be asking about.
"He was a knight until the very end."
"…I see."
A brief silence followed, as if the Grand Master was mourning the fallen. She closed her eyes.
"You want something, don't you?"
Finishing her mourning, she leaned on her cane and began walking again. Yujin and Tola followed.
"Considering your actions so far, I think I know what it is. But if you pursue it, you will stand in the eye of the storm once more."
"That changes nothing. I want only one thing."
What Yujin desired...
"Establish a knighthood system for the Infected. The title of knight should be fair to all. Everyone should be allowed to dream."
"…You ask for something difficult after all."
Hearing Yujin‘s request, Tola‘s eyes widened in surprise. While he didn't discriminate against the Infected, he hadn't known Yujin sought to institutionalize their knighthood.
"But it is only right to grant it. Kazimierz owes you a great debt."
The Infected trapped in Sector Zero. If Yujin hadn't gone there, the Armorless Union would have caused a massacre.
The man who had brought the Merchant Association‘s schemes and the Union to the brink of destruction made this proposal. She recalled the past.
The creation of the Merchant Association and the Sport Knights. Kazimierz needed change, and it was an attempt, but there are no growing pains without pain.
The Adeptus wasn't blameless either. There were plenty of rotten knight nobles within its ranks.
The world changes rapidly. Nomadic Cities appeared, creating new problems. Friction between nations intensified, and persecution of the Infected worsened.
Yet, the young man before her showed what a knight truly was.
Protecting the weak, dreaming the impossible, and defeating invincible foes.
"Congratulations on your victory, Radiant Knight."
She smiled, bestowing upon Yujin his Great Knight title in advance. Yujin returned the smile, understanding that the Grand Master‘s words marked the end of the turmoil in Kazimierz and his own trials.
Then, frozen in that smile, Yujin‘s hand began to tremble.
"…Well then. I‘m going to pass out now."
Spurt!
Blood, which had been held back by the third star, gushed forth. Yujin collapsed forward, nearly smashing his face into the floor, but Tola caught him swiftly.
Blackout.
With this, the story of Kazimierz came to an end.
2.
Yujin, who had been lying on the ground, opened his eyes. A space made of darkness, a bizarre landscape where pale sand seemed to flow and pulse.
"…I really can't catch a break."
It happened before, and now it's happening again. Yujin looked around for the knight in silver armor, but there was no one around him as he stood barefoot on what felt like a sandy beach.
He walked along the path. No answers were visible, but he walked anyway. At the edge of his vision, a cluster of white light began to appear.
As he got closer, he realized it wasn't just light. A white dress. A body with protruding Originium crystals, crowned by a black, shackle-like halo.
An ordinary girl, yet Yujin knew her name.
"Amiya?"
A memory faded by time, but the name remained. Yujin ran toward her, calling her name, and soon found her sleeping on the sand.
"…Why?"
Why was this girl here? Yujin couldn't understand. Even deducing from the fragments of information he knew yielded no answer.
He touched her shoulder lightly. Carefully stroked her hair, intending to wake her.
But before he could, she opened her eyes.
Unlike the blue eyes Yujin knew, he saw eyes dyed in ash-gray.
Their gazes met, and Yujin looked at Amiya.
Amiya. At a glance, an ordinary girl.
But she was the protagonist of the world Yujin had come to live in, a key figure of the game.
Yujin didn't consider this world a game. He didn't think he had transmigrated into a game.
Everything he saw lived and moved according to its own will. So this was reality, not a game. Since then, Yujin had chosen to forget memories related to the game.
But fragments remained. One of them was this.
Amiya, the protagonist of this world and partner to the human known as the Doctor.
However, the Amiya he saw now was different. She looked at Yujin not as a person, but with inorganic eyes. Eyes resigned to everything.
She reached out. Originium began to sprout on Yujin‘s leg, swelling as if to consume him.
A star rose. Shining clearly, the star rose, and the sprouting Originium turned to ash and vanished.
"…!"
Her eyes widened. Yujin, still understanding nothing, stepped back cautiously. As his will took form, a black sword and silver spear rose in his hands.
"How?"
"…That‘s what I want to ask."
He couldn't grasp the situation. He had fainted at the Champions Wall, only to wake up on a black sandy beach.
Regaining her senses, Amiya opened her eyes fully and examined Yujin. Her ash-gray eyes moved restlessly, scanning him. Suddenly, she moved closer than the eye could follow, touching Yujin‘s face and looking into his eyes.
"A person I've never seen before."
Amiya touching his face. Yujin couldn't bring himself to cut her down. It was sudden and bewildering, but not a reason to attack.
"Am I... seeing an illusion?"
"Again, that's my line."
Was this a memory, or an hallucination?
One of Yujin‘s abilities was seeing memories stored in Originium.
Sitting on the sand seemed pointless, so Yujin stood up. Amiya stood with him, looking up at him.
"So, Ami... no, kid. Do you know where this is? I just woke up here."
"..."
Maintaining her silence, Amiya looked at Yujin, then looked beyond him.
The world reflected in her eyes. The path Yujin had walked, the Infected of Kazimierz he had saved. Theresia and Theresis, Buldrokkas'tee, Raquelamalin, Kalaisha, Netsalem, Kiril Nearl.
"A variable? No. I‘ve never seen a person like this in any other world."
"…Hmm, let's introduce ourselves first?"
Seeing Amiya continue to inspect his face with her hands, Yujin laughed awkwardly.
"My name is Yujin. What's yours?"
Ash-gray eyes met platinum ones. A bizarre situation where nothing was known. And a strange companionship with the girl began.
Unaware of what was happening outside.
Beep, beeeep, beep.
In a hospital room filled with the sound of a heart monitor, Raquelamalin held Yujin‘s hand and looked out the window.
A week had passed since Yujin collapsed, but he showed no signs of waking. When he first arrived, the doctor had told them to prepare for the worst, and it was a miracle they had kept him alive this long.
Someone watched uncomfortably as she held Yujin‘s hand. Theresis and Buldrokk sat in the corner of the private room, having no say in the matter. The person glaring at their joined hands spoke.
"…Why don't you let go of that hand?"
Gazes clashed. Pale pink hair swayed. Raquelamalin stared back, refusing to yield.
Theresa and Raquelamalin.
Seeing the two glare at each other, Theresis sighed. He looked at Yujin, resenting his friend who was still laid out unconscious.
'Wake up and fix this already...'
It was a suffocating lament from Theresis.
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