WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 696: Man vs. Meteor - 4

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There was nothing in the sky. That was why people often looked up at it for no particular reason. And there were not many people in the world with nothing better to do.

So, across the entire continent, only a handful of people witnessed what happened in that distant sky.

Something fell toward the floating castle as it wandered across the continent. It looked like a spear hurled by an enraged god. Wrapped in flames and scattering light, it let out a thunderous roar as it descended diagonally toward the world.

The floating castle moved to block its path.

The floating castle, which had been following its trajectory, came to an abrupt stop before slowly falling. As if it meant to take that fury head-on, it leapt backward to prepare to stop Pride.

But the mighty spear of a god was too fast. A few minutes had passed since it began falling. The floating castle's speed rapidly increased as well, but it could not compare to Pride, which had already been launched toward the ground. It was like trying to outrun an arrow by running backward. Pride caught up to the falling floating castle in an instant.

And...

Pride's mass was a problem, but its speed was worse. The meteorite that had wandered through space before reaching this land was approaching at a truly cosmic speed.

Unless we could do something about that speed, we could not stop Pride. Yet speed was power in itself. How could we possibly stop it?

"Saint Rene. It's your turn. Settle the regret you left behind."

Thump. Shei shot upward. Accelerated by Lankart, she was hurled into the sky and rushed to meet Pride before it arrived.

Jizan would not be enough. Jizan was, in itself, closer to an immensely heavy sword. As long as Pride's weapons were mass and speed, weight alone could not overcome it.

But there was another option.

Skywarbler had space.

"Skywarbler...! Please!"

Saint Rene had been given her chance. A chance to settle the regret she had left behind in the past. Skywarbler creaked open, and the imaginary space within bared its teeth. Saint Rene, who had been devout and kind in life, showed her savagery only after death.

Innate Arcane, Sky in a Pocket.

For a brief moment before Pride collided, a foreign space that belonged nowhere invaded the world. The imaginary space within her innate arcane. Rene's pouch was released, adding coordinates that had never existed in the world.

It was Saint Rene's space. Twelve percent of Pride's volume was sucked into the imaginary space in an instant. It had not vanished, and twelve percent was nowhere near enough.

Still, Saint Rene had to do it.

"I can't let him become a criminal."

Saint Rene's wish was not simply to protect the world.

She did not want the scholar she respected to become a threat to humanity. She did not want knowledge to become a weapon. She did not want people to see knowledge as something frightening.

If accumulating more knowledge became a greater threat, knowledge itself would become a sin. The hall of knowledge she had loved and nurtured would turn into a garden of sin.

"I can't let him be hated forever. Even if it means I must commit a sin myself."

That was why Saint Rene chose to swallow the Demon God's sin, even knowing it would be far from enough.

A dark, cold space bared its teeth. Rene's innate arcane, Sky in a Pocket, swallowed Pride.

Moments before colliding with the floating castle, Pride sank into Rene's imaginary space. Rene's imaginary space looked like a small pouch, but its interior was a space that did not truly exist. As Pride passed through that meaningless space, its speed seemed to slow for a moment. It had not actually slowed. It only appeared to have done so.

That was enough.

The roar that tore through the atmosphere, the heat from friction with the air, and the fierce light it gave off all vanished for a moment. Rene's imaginary space had devoured the meteorite's speed.

Pride lost its speed for a brief instant. It had been moving quickly enough to pierce the floating castle, but after falling into the imaginary space, it had slowed by just enough.

That single moment.

"Gravity anomaly restored. Prepare for docking."

The floating castle's gravity drew Pride in.

Pride, which had been targeting Mother Earth, mistook the suddenly appearing floating castle for the ground and aimed for its center.

But it was a trap. The floating castle's mages unleashed their power as if they had been waiting for this.

Innate Arcane, One-Way Passage.

The Green Tower Master's power held Pride up. An innate arcane was a rule of the world imposed by an individual. Even Pride was no exception. The barrier of One-Way Passage shook slightly, but the Green Tower Master managed to cancel out Pride's speed once it entered her range.

That range only extended a few dozen meters around the Green Tower Master, but Pride crumpled and bounced away as though it had struck an iron spike.

Innate Arcane, Ignition Garden.

The Red Tower Master burned Pride. The aura of flames she fired just before the collision barely reached Pride first, turning its surface into a bomb. A massive explosion erupted across Pride's surface, powerful enough to dye the field of vision red in an instant. The all-directional blast formed a buffer zone and pushed Pride away.

Perhaps that was the cost of chipping away at Pride. Countless hot, sharp, fast meteor fragments rained down on the floating castle.

Innate Arcane, Vanishing Point.

The Black Tower Master's power had too narrow a range to stop Pride. But those falling fragments were another matter. The Black Tower Master trapped the fragments in a Vanishing Point, then spun the small sphere and fired it back. Pride was attacked by the fragments it had launched itself.

The other floating castle mages, though not comparable to the Tower Masters, were powerful enough to lend their strength. The tower mages scattered their mana.

After pouring all that power, all that mana, into stopping Pride, the result was this.

Pride collided with the floating castle.

Pride was drawn gently into the floating castle. As though the two were becoming one, Pride pierced through its roof and embedded itself inside.

A massive shockwave rose. Waves rippled across the floating castle's hard surface. Pride pierced halfway through the floating castle as its framework and masonry shattered and scattered. The things stored inside burst apart, setting off explosions of every color. Joined as one with Pride, the floating castle fell through the sky.

The impact was so immense that it brightly illuminated the continent's night sky.

No matter how powerful innate arcane was, the mage wielding it still had a fragile body. At least forty percent of the mages fainted or were incapacitated by the shockwave from the collision. That was despite the protection of One-Way Passage and Vanishing Point. Without them, they would have died instantly.

Even without being struck directly by fragments or the storm, the scattered impacts, noise, and heat were enough to injure people.

"...You've lost your mind!"

The mages of Celsius moved to stop it.

A cruel spell that encased people in ice was now used to save them. Ice armor magic. It did not hinder movement. Instead, it became armor of ice that protected the caster from heat and impact.

Elcia Celsius moved the ice under her control and caught the mages blown away by the impact.

Innate Arcane, River of Ice. The spreading ice seized the scattered mages. Elcia Celsius barely saved two mages before staggering from mana exhaustion, and the Cyan Tower Master immediately supported her.

Elcia Celsius broke into a cold sweat. "To think you came up with the reckless plan of catching a meteorite with the floating castle."

"It's very reckless. Thanks for helping with this reckless plan."

The Cyan Tower Master quickly added, "Sister."

"Hmph. Unlike you splendid floating castle people, I, lowly as I am, rule over the lands of the lower realm. I can't let that meteorite fall to the ground."

"I'm the same. I could never allow that."

"It isn't because the Celsius family is down there, is it?"

"That's one reason too."

Elcia gave a short laugh and looked at Pride while standing atop the twisted, shaking floating castle.

"...So what now? At this rate, the floating castle will collide with the ground."

The floating castle was falling rapidly. It had dropped to match Pride's speed, then collided with it. Of course this was the result.

Its weight had even increased. If it fell at this speed, the result would be worse than simply letting Pride fall.

The Cyan Tower Master took out a resonance crystal and contacted the Administration Bureau.

"...Administration Bureau. How is it? Can you make the floating castle rise again?"

[...]

There was no answer. Had the resonance crystal broken? That would be fortunate. In the worst case, they might be dead. Since Pride had pierced the floating castle, the impact must have traveled through its interior.

"Sorry. Rest now. I'll handle the rest."

Catching Pride gently before rising into the sky again. That had been the best outcome, but like all hastily prepared plans, it had failed.

Well, this was still more than admirable. Pride had already lost its momentum. Even if she escaped with the surviving mages at this point, the world would not reach the point of destruction.

"But after coming this far, I can't settle for the lesser evil."

If she could save the floating castle, or even a few more lives, the Cyan Tower Master had to do it. She had to pursue the best result. That was the Cyan Tower Master's duty.

"I'll find the Demon God inside Pride. Sister, keep communications going for me."

"Have you gone mad? You're going to search inside that meteorite? If you stay outside, you can at least run away. If you go in there and can't get out in time, you'll fall with it and be smashed to pieces!"

"I still have to do it."

"No! How are you supposed to dig through that enormous meteorite? How do you even know where the Demon God is?"

Pride was not hollow like the floating castle. Its interior was solid, dense rock. The impact had left cracks throughout it, but entering Pride now was no different from saying she would bury herself alive beneath a mass of stone.

"Learn to tell the difference between what must be done and what can be done. You can't do that with your power!"

No Tower Master could accomplish it. Not unless some miracle happened.

* * *

At that moment, atop the Empire's highest mountain.

While a meteorite that might destroy the world was falling, a man swung a single sword.

"Wind Cut."

Whoooong. The slash only cut through harmless wind. As the scattered wind broke apart and fell away, he silently gripped his sword again.

"Not this either. Then... Sky Cut."

A swordsman flailing his sword atop a mountain peak. How ridiculous. It was as though someone had placed the world's funniest clown at its highest point for everyone to see and mock. Perhaps it was meant to give everyone one last laugh before the world ended.

"Space Cut."

For a long time, the swordsman swung his sword toward the sky. He thrust, flipped, cut, and shook it, repeatedly cutting at invisible things.

In truth, nothing was cut, yet he was earnest as though something had been. Thunder occasionally rumbled, lightning struck, and a cloud split in two, but only once. Most swings ended meaninglessly.

"Cloud Cut."

Yet even a human attempt that seemed meaningless had value. All the more so if it went beyond reaching reason and grasped reason in its hand.

Cut, cut, and cut. If it did not work, then until it did. If there was nothing to cut, then until something appeared. He changed his target, overturned his perception, and shifted his gaze. After endless attempts, a miracle answered him.

"One-Layer Cut."

Ting. The sound of a thin thread snapping taut.

Then the world responded.

Everything in the one layer pointed to by the sword's tip was cut. The clouds, the world, Pride, and the floating castle. Across an unimaginable distance, the sword split that one layer and drew out what it contained.

It was such a tiny slash that it could not be seen from this far away, but the feeling of cutting remained in his hand.

"Found it."

This was the answer. The Sword Saint instinctively realized that and adjusted his grip on the sword.

"The world is cloth made of a single layer. What I hold are scissors that can cut that cloth."

He twisted his perception. Right now, within his mindscape, the world was a painting drawn upon a single layer of cloth. Clouds and mountains were embroidered onto lush blue fabric dyed indigo. The sky was blue, the clouds light and airy. It was a breathtaking view that brought a smile simply by looking at it.

Within that beautiful landscape painting was one discordant stain. A bizarre structure falling from the distant sky.

It was unpleasant.

That was how the Sword Saint perceived it. So he sought to cut it. He wanted to tear apart this painting and cut away that offensive stain.

That perception became his mindscape, and his mindscape twisted reason. A power that had reached Li, no, something beyond it, cut the world apart as it pleased.

Having finished his meditation, the Sword Saint slowly raised his sword. The sky caught on its tip. Wrinkles formed in space. It seemed as though he alone existed in the world. The sky and clouds warped at the whim of a single person.

What, exactly, was the world to him? Why was a world meant to be fair to everyone so fragile before him?

This was neither a rule, nor a law, nor an order. It was nothing but one human's simple insistence.

Yet power that had reached reason made that insistence real.

"One-Layer Cut."

The Sword Saint quite literally tore the world apart.

Footnotes:

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