These past few days, I, Shiro, have remained beside Satre almost constantly.
A week had passed since I brought her back to the island.
A week since Yura died.
A week since everything shattered.
The cabin had become painfully quiet. Too quiet. The kind of silence that lets memories crawl into your skull and build nests there.
I sat outside beneath the crimson evening sky, slowly sharpening one of my daggers while Kyoko rested nearby in her smaller form. Every scrape of metal against stone echoed through the clearing.
My training with Kyoko earlier had gone well… if destroying half the island counted as "well."
At least it distracted me.
Sangui was still searching for Shina.
No traces.
No corpse.
No blood trail.
Nothing.
That irritated me more than anything.
If she was dead, I wanted proof.
If she was alive…
Then someone out there was making a mistake they wouldn't survive.
I exhaled slowly and leaned back against the wooden porch railing.
"I wonder what Hiroy is doing right now…" I muttered quietly.
I hadn't heard from him since we split during the Forest Spirit mission.
Honestly…
he was probably handling things better than I was.
Hiroy always had that stupidly heroic personality.
The type to carry everyone else's burdens without complaint.
The type who'd probably save everybody somehow.
Meanwhile…
I failed.
My fingers tightened around the dagger.
If I hadn't left…
If I hadn't brought them into this mess…
Yura would still be alive.
The porch door creaked open behind me.
I looked up immediately.
Satre stood there.
Awake.
Fully awake.
For a second, genuine relief hit me harder than expected.
But before I could speak, Satre slowly lowered herself onto her knees.
Her pink curls fell around her face as her shoulders trembled slightly.
"I'm sorry," she whispered weakly.
"The future changed… and my power wasn't enough."
My eyes widened slightly.
Honestly, I never fully trusted future sight abilities.
Back in my old world, there had been strange moments before.
Dreams that became reality.
Feelings that warned me something bad would happen.
One time, I even stopped a robbery because I saw fragments of it beforehand.
I got stabbed for it too.
Ever since then, my opinion on fate stayed the same:
The future changes.
Different possibilities exist.
Nothing is ever completely absolute.
"…Satre."
I sighed softly before kneeling in front of her.
"You don't need to apologize."
I gently helped her back onto the bed before sitting nearby.
"What I need…"
My expression darkened.
"…is to know what happened."
Satre inhaled shakily.
A faint blush crossed her face before she closed her eyes.
Then—
light pink magic flowed from her fingertips.
The world around me shifted instantly.
Her memories flooded directly into my mind.
The day I left.
Satre stood inside the manor beside Yura and Shina.
At the time, her future sight still functioned normally.
She told them confidently that I would return eventually.
That everything would settle down.
Then suddenly—
pain.
An overwhelming migraine struck her instantly.
It looked like invisible planets were crushing her skull from both sides.
Satre stumbled forward with a small cry escaping her lips.
And then…
every future vanished.
Every single possibility she once saw disappeared completely.
Except one.
And even that one immediately began changing.
Her body trembled violently.
Yura reacted first.
"What's wrong?!"
Then—
BOOOOM.
The front portion of the manor exploded inward.
Wood and stone erupted across the room.
A dark figure stepped through the smoke casually.
"Oh my… oh my…"
A female voice echoed softly.
"Why is it always the prodigies who gather together?"
Cold sweat immediately covered all three girls.
The woman slowly emerged fully from the shadows.
And honestly…
she was disgusting.
A grotesque mix between a bulldog and a lizard.
Slender body.
Sharp nails.
Twisted smile.
Eyes filled with amusement.
Yura moved instantly.
No hesitation.
No warning.
Her instincts screamed danger.
She planted one foot down and unleashed a devastating roundhouse kick directly toward the woman's stomach.
Shatter Kick.
Yura's ultimate close-combat technique.
A strike that stored layers of kinetic force before detonating them internally.
The final stage:
Earth Crusher.
If that kick landed on almost anyone in this world…
they would explode instantly.
But—
the woman casually caught it with one hand.
No damage.
No strain.
Nothing.
She simply grabbed Yura's leg and threw her across the room like trash.
Satre attacked next.
Her sword blurred forward with impossible speed.
At the same time, Shina unleashed massive arcs of lightning that vaporized nearby trees instantly.
But the woman…
played with them.
She parried Satre's sacred blade using a single fingernail.
She sidestepped lightning casually.
She countered every spell effortlessly.
The entire fight felt wrong.
Like an adult humiliating children.
Then—
the woman sighed.
"Oh my…"
Her smile widened.
"He isn't here?"
Abyssal darkness exploded from her body.
The atmosphere itself became heavier.
The three girls immediately started sweating under the pressure.
Then everything collapsed.
The woman vanished.
A split second later—
Yura exploded.
The same kick Yura tried earlier now hit her own body.
Her torso detonated instantly.
Blood painted the walls.
Her head flew through the air before landing in front of Shina.
The disbelief frozen on Yura's face made something inside me crack.
Even inside the memory, I felt sick.
Shina screamed.
But she still fought.
Water spirits.
Water beasts.
Storm magic.
She summoned an army of mid-ranked magical creatures instantly.
Enough force that even I would've struggled briefly.
The woman inhaled once.
Every summoned creature's heart exploded simultaneously.
Then—
slash.
Both of Shina's arms fell to the ground.
The woman kicked her aside lazily afterward.
Then her disgusting eyes landed on Satre.
"I'll use you two to lure him out."
"Let's have fun."
Satre gripped her sword tighter—
Then darkness.
A rock struck her from behind hard enough to knock her unconscious instantly.
The final thing she heard was the woman clapping.
"Oh my, oh my…"
"Don't damage them too much yet."
Two demons grabbed Satre and Shina before dragging them away.
The memory shattered.
I returned to reality breathing heavily.
My hands trembled violently.
This…
This was my fault.
If I never met them…
If I never came to this world…
Yura would still be alive.
The darkness around me thickened unconsciously.
Then—
the voices returned.
"Ohhh, he still hasn't opened the first gate."
"This one is strong, yes."
"Shut up weirdos, he can hear us."
"We're his partners so why can't we talk to him?"
"Shush already."
"The first door is cracking."
The eight voices overlapped inside my head chaotically.
Different personalities.
Different tones.
Yet impossible to identify completely.
Suddenly—
BOOOOOOM.
Pain exploded from my chest.
My body arched backward violently as dark-purple magic erupted from every pore in my body.
The entire cabin shook.
Cracks spread across the floor instantly.
My magic power multiplied violently.
Nearly tenfold.
"Hahahaha!"
One voice suddenly became distinct.
A playful robotic female voice echoed clearly now.
"I'm first because I'm the most necessary skill!"
A glowing figure briefly appeared before me.
Light purple.
Mechanical.
Beautiful.
Then she disappeared.
At the same moment—
words burned themselves into my mind.
You have awakened the skill:
MAGIC CREATION.
The world around me distorted instantly.
The corners of my vision darkened.
My once light-purple hair deepened further into dark violet-black.
My eyes darkened too.
Magic overflowed uncontrollably from my body.
Then—
everything went black.
The voices echoed one last time before darkness consumed me completely.
"Ahhh, it wasn't me first."
"The youngest won."
"Stop being jealous already."
"Gahahaha…"
"We're only getting started."