Chapter 362: Epilogue (5) Part 2

#18. Eternal Winter

The journey through the passage was disorienting, and after passing through a strange, nauseating sensation where their entire bodies were instantly twisted and their bones and muscles shook, as if they were rapidly passing through a wormhole of inverted spacetime, they arrived in a forgotten and lost past—an era that no one on the continent had ever experienced.

"It is an eternal winter," Sophien said.

It was an eternal winter of ten thousand years, a world where everything had been frozen.

“Yes, that’s right. Fortunately, it isn’t unbearably cold. I wonder if that’s because it’s almost time to wake up?” Epherene replied.

Sophien and Epherene looked around at the blue, frozen continent. The cosmos and the earth were in perfect hibernation, just as they had been before the destruction, waiting for the spring that would soon come.

“But we should go now, since we can’t stay here for long.”

However, there was no time to stand around, and therefore Epherene took the lead and opened the lighthouse door, and Sophien calmly followed her.

Tick, tock—!

At that moment, the sound of a clock in her ears made Epherene's body freeze for a second, and her face was colored with tension.

“Is it the world’s interference?” Sophien asked, observing Epherene’s expression.

“... Yes, we need to hurry.”

The ticking of the second hand, originating from her heart, was a countdown to the world's interference.

If we were to fail to save Deculein before the proper time, would we, as the deterrence, create a major problem?

Epherene thought.

"Let's move!" Epherene said, and clutching the canvas to her chest, she ran up the stairs of the lighthouse.

Tick, tock—

The ticking of the second hand, which gradually grew faster with each step, remained in a stable zone.

Tick, tock—

Fortunately, Epherene already knew Deculein's location, and her Wood Steel was showing her the way.

Tick, tock—

With the Wood Steel as their guide, they ran and ran, until at last they reached the heart of the eternal winter.

“O-Over there... the Professor is over there.”

“Indeed.”

Knight Yulie stood guard over the place where Deculein was standing and remained as upright and dignified as a crane, as if he alone had not been frozen.

Tick, tock—

Epherene approached Deculein, and at the feet of his hibernating body, she poured mana into Sylvia’s canvas and turned to look at Sophien.

"What is there to hesitate about?" Sophien asked, nodding her head.

“

... Hoo.

”

It was a single deep breath.

Hummmm—

The mana that Epherene had manifested wrapped around the frozen Deculein as she carefully lifted him and placed him inside the canvas.

Tick, tock—!

But all at once, at the sound that was growing more urgent, Epherene pressed her lips together, though there remained work left to be done.

Tick, tock—!

Immediately after, a clear, ringing alarm sounded in her mind once more, and it was probably the final countdown.

Craaaaaaack...!

Immediately afterward, a temporal rift echoed from somewhere, and cracks, as if an ice sheet were splitting, began to form in various places in space.

This was an error that they had predicted would definitely occur and was an interference from the deterrence they had once experienced. If left as it was, it would be a disaster that would once again bring the destruction of the continent.

However, Epherene had already expected this to happen and had also prepared a way to solve it.

"Your Majesty," Epherene called to the Empress.

The Empress watched Epherene without a word.

"Your Majesty, you should first—"

“Epherene,” Sophien interrupted, drawing the canvas that held Deculein's image into her hands with a simple use of

Telekinesis

.

“Your Majesty! What do you mean—”

“I shall handle the rest,” the Empress interrupted, shrugging her shoulders with the air of someone who understood everything.

However, for Epherene, this was an alarming and unexpected situation.

“Your Majesty!” Epherene exclaimed, her head shaking in urgency.

Shing—!

With a sharp sound of a sword cutting off Epherene’s shout, Sophien drew the sword at her waist and aimed its blade at Epherene.

“To stop this rift, a sacrifice is needed, is it not? Must you enter the rift yourself to seal it, as you are attempting now?” Sophien said.

Craaaaaaack—!

It was as if, in response to Sophien’s words, the distortion of spacetime roared louder.

"However, you are arrogant, Epherene. I distinctly said that I, myself, would make the sacrifice.”

“... Your Majesty,” Epherene said, her face hardened.

At the sight of Epherene, who seemed to show even a hint of hostility, Sophien could only twist her lips, as if finding it endearing.

“Your Majesty should not make that sacrifice, nor would Professor Deculein want it, and neither do I.”

“

Hmm...

I wonder,” muttered Sophien, a calm expression on her face as she touched her chin.

Epherene looked straight into the Empress's eyes and talked back, given the gravity of the situation.

“The Empire needs you, Your Majesty, to lead the Empire in the right direction—”

“No, the Empire is already headed in the right direction.”

“What do you—”

“Indeed, you may already know, but I will say it once more. I love Deculein,” Sophien interrupted, her emotions plain as she confessed. “However, you would be mistaken to believe this decision is for Deculein alone.”

Craaaaack—!

In the meantime, the spacetime rift became more intense, and the outer shell that protected them from the cold also began to slowly fracture.

"This is a decision I have made for the good of the Empire and the continent," Sophien added.

"... No, that’s not true," Epherene replied.

After the Altar incident, Sophien stabilized the Empire and the continent by her own power, becoming the greatest Empress in its history by establishing laws and policies and breaking the chain of all hatred.

“The continent needs you, Your Majesty. It relies on your judgment, courage, wisdom, and experience. The remainders of the Altar are still out there, and more than anything... Your Majesty, you have always been right.”

Sophien reigned as an absolute Empress, always appearing as though she could do no wrong.

“

Hah

, indeed. As you say, I have always been right,” Sophien replied with a satisfied smile, as though she had made an excellent point. “However, the fact that I have never once been wrong has caused my people to see me as nothing more than absolute reason, believing my words no matter how nonsensical they may be.”

Epherene’s brow twitched, for she knew the meaning that was hidden within absolute reason.

“... Your Majesty.”

“This Empire, by my will and that of the Imperial Palace, decides everything. However, does that mean the Imperial Palace raised this Empire by itself?” Sophien said, breaking into Epherene’s words. “No.”

Then she answered her own question.

“It was not the Imperial Palace that built this Empire. The Empire was built by its people.”

Epherene remained silent.

“Maho once told me that the true ruler of a nation is its people, that they are its foundation, and the source of its power.”

Sophien's resolve was firm, as if it were a purpose she had decided on a long time ago, with no room for any interference.

“Would you not agree that those are words of truth?”

Epherene tilted her face without a word, her eyes locked on the ground.

“If I were to remain in the Empire, the people and subjects alike would only depend on me and rely on me.”

Epherene was unable to turn the Empress's mind, and thus, could not send her back to the continent.

“Furthermore, if I were to grow old and die, a descendant of the Imperial Palace would succeed me, but that would only continue an unbroken chain of usurpation.”

Sophien was now planning to return her Empire to its owner through her own death.

“To end that chain, the sacrifice of the greatest person of this age—and the one destined to remain the greatest in the future—is needed, and he must sever it by his own hand.”

If the will of Empress Sophien—who would forever be the greatest until the continent was destroyed again—was this radiant, it would spread to every kingdom as well as the Empire, and eventually change the world.

“In other words,” Sophien continued to Epherene, her voice carrying the unbending will of the Empress. “My death... shall grant them freedom.”

At that moment, Epherene could not help but admit it, could not help but accept that the caliber of the Empress could not be compared to her own.

“Therefore, return to Deculein and give him this message.”

As the storm of deterrence raged, she looked at the large rift in spacetime and at the cracks spreading rapidly like lightning in that fleeting moment...

“That I find myself...” Sophien said with a laugh.

In Sophien’s smile there was happiness, joy, a sense of accomplishment, a feeling of fulfillment, and affection.

“Infinitely happy...”

Sophien sincerely wished that she could die for the person she loved and give him the gift of a life on this continent.

"... To be the one who can give you the gift of this continent.”

Boooom—!

The rift in spacetime exploded, and the deterrence descended upon them, but before it could, Sophien swung her sword, slicing diagonally across Epherene’s chest.

“

Ah...!

”

Then Epherene’s figure became blurry, and before she could even say a word, she disappeared and was gone—no, the Empress’s sword had exiled Epherene to her own timeline.

“Farewell,” Sophien concluded, twisting her lips as she turned her back.

Fwoooooosh—!

Into the storm of time and the tidal wave of deterrence that would take hold and break her royal body, the Empress, with a willing heart... walked backward.

#19. Return

... Slashed by Sophien’s sword, Epherene was sent back to her original timeline, finding herself outside the lighthouse without realizing it, where she stared blankly at her approaching group of people, all of whom wore the same expression.

Sylvia, Delic, Arlos, and Idnik were all standing in the exact same places as before, their lips moving busily as they said something to Epherene.

However, nothing was audible to Epherene, and she couldn't say anything in reply, because the eyes that were looking at her were also searching for someone else.

Tap—

Suddenly, Epherene felt a small raindrop land on the bridge of her nose.

Hummmm—!

The vibration of the Wood Steel and the two cold, boisterous energies spread at the same time, rousing Epherene’s mind as she silently turned around and opened the lighthouse door.

Clunk—!

As if she were possessed by something, Epherene entered the lighthouse and walked aimlessly, following the guidance of her Wood Steel, almost as if she were floundering...

Finally, Epherene arrived at a certain underground door—the entrance to the gallery—and threw it open, looking straight ahead, for that was all she needed to do, with no need to search frantically.

At the very center of the gallery, in the most conspicuous position,

he

was present. The canvas holding Deculein was proudly hung there—no, Her Majesty had placed it there herself.

While Epherene just stared blankly, Sylvia rushed toward the canvas.

“It’s possible. We did it, Epherene. The Professor is here—he’s in hibernation, but he can be woken up,” Sylvia shouted, pointing at the canvas.

In response to the words, Epherene shed tears, and seeing her with an emotion that was both immense happiness and immense sadness, the others realized a moment too late and grew tense.

Suddenly, Delic asked where Her Majesty, the Empress, might be.

Without prolonging the moment, Epherene answered in a trembling but steady voice that Her Majesty, the Empress, had gone on a long journey and would not come back for all eternity...