The location is in the back, not far from it.
The Remrest soldiers are looking directly at it. They would consider those who look up at the sky and grow anxious to be happy.
No sound can be heard in the heart of the world’s ending.
Patrick Ashbaton calls its name.
“Yumiela!”
When he called out, he didn’t receive any response.
“Yumiela, can you hear me?! It’s me! Patrick!”
Patrick ran through the gap between the Remrest soldiers.
Some soldiers recognized him by name as a member of the frontier count’s family, but there was no particular reaction. When compared to the sight in the sky, the fact that he was an enemy was nothing more than a trivial matter. The soldiers even looked at him with pity, thinking they were wasting their time and effort.
Frustrated when she did not respond to his call, Patrick leaped up from the ground.
He used wind magic to get close to it as it floated in mid-air.
“What happened? If you hate it so much, we don’t have to have the wedding.”
When Patrick was about halfway to the altitude where she was, mud poured down from the sky.
The jet-black mud made him intuitively feel that he shouldn’t touch it, even slightly.
He does his best to avoid it. Twisted and turned to avoid it, only to be pushed back to the ground.
When he looked up at the sky, he found that the source of the mud was, of course, that. A viscous black substance was pouring out endlessly from the base of its twelve wings.
The mud made an eerie sound as it slammed into the ground, but strangely enough, it did not hit a human being.
Though the mud looked like it would sink into the earth as it was, it looked strange. Countless muddrops began to move as if they had an ego.
They looked like mud because they lacked luster but may have been similar to slime. However, their movement were too different for them to be slime.
They constantly change shape. They writhe and wriggle as if they have a shape to aim for, stretching upward and collapsing sideways.
“This… might not work this time.”
Patrick was thoughtfully prepared for the end of the world when he saw a scene more horrifying than any hell he could imagine. If Yumiela wanted to, she could easily cause the apocalypse.
In a desperate situation, he leaps into the sky again.
Up, up, up, going higher for that thing in the sky.
“Yumiela! No matter how many times I—”
And then crashes.
“…What the hell?”
He was using wind magic to rise. And he must have gained some altitude.
The next moment, he plunged to the ground. It wasn’t that he was bounced back. Patrick was sure he was heading upward, but the next thing he knew, he was heading straight down at full speed.
Patrick picks up a pebble and throws it toward the sky to see what happened.
The pebble was going straight up toward the sky, but at a certain altitude, it changed its trajectory. Up, right, down, up… the stone moved zigzagging in a motion that showed no regularity, at times curving and at other times losing momentum.
It gradually lost speed, moved downward, and stopped before Patrick’s face. This time, it accelerated as it climbed upward. It flew through the air again erratically and finally fell before him.
This time, the pebble bounced a few times on the ground and then stopped moving, following the normal laws of physics.
“Is the space distorted?”
From the stone’s perspective, it was tossed, flown straight up, and then pulled down by gravity to fall straight down.
Considering that the space around Sur is distorted into a mess, this would explain Patrick’s crash.
He has to go through the distorted space to get to her. Dumbfounded, he looks up at the sky and realizes his hopeless situation.
“How can I….
If space is distorted, not even light can travel straight ahead. Even though she is visible, due to light refraction, she isn’t always where she appears to be.
The despairing Patrick is distracted by a voice from the side.
“You’re doing our best. But don’t you understand? It’s all in vain.”
“You are…”
“I’m… who was I? Well, it doesn’t matter.”
This is the first prince of Remrest; he can’t even remember his name. He spoke to Patrick on a whim.
“Right, you were the last person Yumiela was talking to before she became like that. What happened?”
“That’s right, it was me who caused it… me? Me? Me? What was my name? It doesn’t matter. I might have caused it, but no one will soon be to blame. It’s too late to regret it. The sky has gone dark, and I’m… hmm?”
Although the prince wasn’t exactly in his right mind, he was undoubtedly responsible for the situation.
Patrick believed that the source of the problem would be the key to resolving the situation.
“What did you do, Yumiela? What did you say to her? That gentle Yumiela… gentle? It took a lot for Yumiela to get that far.”
Yumiela is mentally stable, though I don’t think she should be described as mild-mannered. If she had been a mentally unstable person, there is a strong possibility that the Kingdom of Balshine would have been scorched to the ground long ago.
How could she become like that? When Patrick asked him about it, his answer was taboo.
“I thought I could beat that thing at level 13, but it was a mistake… to think of trying to beat it.”
“Ah—”
Patrick understood.
…Or rather, he was aware and had a vague idea.
The other day, she was in a similar situation when she was getting worked up at her low level. In reality, the last two digits of her level are 13, but being told that her level is 13 and that she is a low-level loser is unbearable for Yumiela.
It was a silly enough cause, but this disaster had to be put an end to somehow. He takes a deep, dejected breath.
“I knew it… Yumiela is strong!”
Patrick strains his stomach and says she is strong, but he is unsure if his words are getting through.
Yumiela left the house, saying she was going to the moon. If she had known Patrick was there, she would have reacted somehow. She probably doesn’t even recognize him in the first place.
Patrick looked around. He can’t do this on his own anymore. Things might be different if Ryuu or Eleanora were around, but neither is here. The world would end if he had to call them.
He sees the prince standing in a daze and the Remrest soldiers who look alike. They aren’t helpful, but there are too many of them. But still—
“Guess they’ll just have to do their best.”
After sighing, Patrick says again, raising his voice. He also uses wind magic, making his voice reach the entire army.
“Listen! My name is Patrick Ashbaton, and I am the fiancé of that thing in the sky! I’m going to bring her back to normal now. Please help me!”
His voice echoed, but none of them responded. They didn’t even turn to look at him. Patrick raised his voice again.
“Yumiela is strong! She’s the best in the world! Yumiela is the strongest!”
That’s when it happened. In response to Patrick’s words, something noticeable happened.
The strange mud wriggling on the ground stopped moving. It is hard to believe that humans can communicate with them, but they stand still as if listening to Patrick’s words.
Surprised by this startling development, the Remrest soldiers looked at each other.
Patrick added quickly.
“Yumiela went out of control when she was told she was weak. If you praise her for being strong, she’ll return to normal!”
She will return. Patrick isn’t sure either. Not wanting his anxiety to show, he speaks confidently, trying to fool himself.
“Everyone, raise your voice! If those words reach Yumiela, the world will remain as it has always been!”
Although Patrick is also prepared for the end of the world, he doesn’t show any sign of it.
With all his heart, he truly believes that Yumiela will come back. There is no way that Yumiela would want the world to end. And Patrick could have believed in that.
“Let’s all save the world!”
The trembling in the air he produces causes the remnest soldiers to start reacting.
They pity him, thinking that he is too stubborn to give up. What is that overflowing confidence, though? After witnessing that, seeing the doom that everyone could see at a glance, how could he be so sure?
The voice caught their attention, and when they turned their gaze, their emerald green eyes shone brilliantly with hope.
A light of hope spreads throughout the entire Remrest army. Compared to the darkness covering the sky, its light is too small, but this light will save the world.
There was one Remrest soldier who could not stop shaking.
Up until a moment ago, they had given up on everything and were in a relaxed state. But with the hope of survival, they understood that there was a possibility that the world might continue. At the same time, the fear that they could die enveloped them. They don’t want to die; they want to live!
The desire to survive. The desire to protect the world where their loved ones live. The vanity of wanting to help save the world.
The thoughts and feelings of all these people can be summed up in this.
“Yumiela is the strongest!”
“”Yumiela is the strongest! Yumiela is the strongest!”
The simple word that we don’t even know who started it.
People around the world love the world. With those on their backs, the Lemrest Army shouted until their throats were sore.
The mud that had been standing still began to change. The unnaturally autonomous mud began to collapse gradually. Finally, they could no longer hold their shape and spread thinly on the ground.
The sky also began to change. The wings stretching across the sky began to move as if they were slowly collapsing.
It was hard to tell whether those transitions had made things better or worse.
But they kept shouting. They dreamed of a better future and just kept repeating the same words.
“”Yumiela is the strongest! Yumiela is the strongest!””
And finally, everyone’s thoughts and wishes come together… to save the world.
““”Yumiela is the strongest! Yumiela is the strongest! Yumiela is the strongest!”
The shapeless mud disappeared as if evaporating.
The wings that covered the sky were dispersing.
The jet-black halo also disappeared, and the warm sunlight shone down.
Patrick remained calm as he observed the soldiers of the neighboring kingdom screaming, tears flowing down their faces like a waterfall. What was this incomprehensible situation? Why was he doing this?
While embarrassed at his objectivity, Patrick reminds himself that this is the only way to bring Yumiela back, and he adds for good measure.
“Yumiela is stronger than anyone else! She is the best in the world! No one in the past nor the future is stronger than Yumiela!”
“No, no, no, not that much….”
The darkness disappeared, and under the clear sky, Yumiera said shyly.
Quite ridiculous but quite in line for Yumiela xD