I was looking down at the scene from the tower —no, I was looking up. The storm clouds had been pushed aside, and the lake below shone under the bright midday sun.
Bathed in that light, Freyja-sama’s enormous projected form rose from the water.
Enormous. Truly, impossibly enormous.
Only her upper body—above the chest—emerged from the lake. According to Solana, her magic was projecting the rest. Indeed, if I focused carefully, I could make out Freyja-sama standing on the lake itself. That was her true body, and the massive figure stretching across the air was a mirage.
But still—
“This… she’s so huge!”
I’m sure my eyes must have been wide as saucers.
Freyja-sama faced the city, revealing a beautiful profile. Her cascading golden hair tumbled like a waterfall and her shoulder was shrouded in mist. If Freyja-sama were to embrace the city with both arms, she might be able to reach the western and eastern ends of the harbor. The mirage beneath her shoulders gradually blurred and vanished near the lake’s surface.
Before I knew it, the city’s clamor had grown faint. The Golden Flame had rained down, yet I couldn’t believe the fighting was completely over. Still, the adventurers of the city were all captivated by the goddess.
—Odin.
The words resonated across the lake. The surface rippled. Though the tone was quiet, I could feel the wind carry it.
—Stop Odin.
I caught my breath.
I remembered the first time I had met Freyja-sama in the Flocia dungeon. Back then, she had appeared only as a “replica,” a projection delivering a message. Now, she was repeating that same beginning.
—Stop Odin.
The words repeated, and my heart nearly froze.
Stop…Odin?
“W-why…?”
I steadied myself, bracing against the wall.
Calm down. Think.
The seal on the lowest floor of Flocia dungeon had been incredibly strong. Strong monsters existed there, so it made sense that the seal would be strong too.
But… could it also be said that Odin-sama didn’t want anyone to hear Freyja-sama’s message?
—If my voice reaches you, it means the people are fighting the monsters, still protecting this world even now.
—But Odin… he no longer truly wishes for that.
—He does not even care.
Her voice continued, vibrating through the air itself.
—That is why I fled, bearing the power of creation.
Fled?
Freyja-sama…. has such power?
Questions churned in my mind. It was as if the mud settled at the bottom of a pond had been stirred, rising and swirling—concerns I had postponed, doubts I had pushed aside, all spinning in my chest.
—To redo the end of the world is to start again from the beginning.
—I wanted everyone to see humans, to know them, to love them…
Her clear blue eyes were downcast, filled with sorrow.
Kyaa kyaa, kyaa kyaa—the ravens cawed overhead.
A shiver ran through me. Solana looked up at the sky. Freyr narrowed his eyes. Even I felt an extraordinary presence pressing in. Then Solana swooped toward me, floating in front as if to shield me.
“Something… is coming!”
Freyr muttered.
“Time to stop this, I guess,”
A streak of light cut across the sky like a shooting star.
Thanks to my skill-enhanced vision, I could see clearly—it was a spear. A two-meter-long spear pierced through the massive mirage from behind, crashing into the lake below.
Ice cracked and rippled across the water’s surface. The mirage writhed in agony. The real Freyja-sama, who had been on the lake, floated upward as if escaping the ice. I followed her movements with my eyes, squinting against the bright sky.
“From… the sky?”
When the seal had covered the world, spears had been hurled then too. By that logic… this must be Odin’s spear.
The clouds parted to reveal a clear sky.
And beyond it, the god—Odin-sama—watched us.
He did not want us to know something.
Red-black flames swirled through the city. The ice walls separating the harbor from the lake were shattered. Even from the tower, I could make out a figure standing in the rift of the ice—Ymir.
The wavering mirage and the primordial titan Ymir faced each other. Something like a tornado erupted from the giant. The mirage’s shoulder was gouged and shattered, green light being drawn into Ymir.
Solana’s voice trembled.
“She… absorbed the magic…?”
Odin and Ymir. These two presences were blocking Freyja-sama’s message from reaching the world.
“Solana!”
“I know! But from here… we can’t—!”
The goddess ground her teeth. I, too, could do nothing from atop the tower.
Even the gods had just finished a brutal battle!
—This is as far as I go.
The massive mirage thinned, then vanished entirely.
The droplets of water that had floated in the air fell back to the lake all at once. Within the cascading curtain of water, the young-grass-colored light twinkled faintly.
The magic that had spread across the lake returned to Freyja-sama. The fading mirage cast a glance toward me.
—Then… until we meet again.
She shot upward toward the hole in the clouds, leaving a trail of green light behind her like a comet.
“W-where…!?”
I shouted, but there was no answer. The young-grass-colored glow stretched steadily in a single direction.
North.
“No way… a replica…?”
Solana murmured, her eyes fixed on the trail left in the sky.
“This might be a replica as well! Its magic was immense, and it even had a faint semblance of will…”
“…So it’s not the real one?”
I pressed the question to the goddess.
But a certain premonition settled in my mind. Freyja-sama had begun her message with the exact same words as the replica I had awakened at the bottom of the dungeon. And even her voice, when speaking, had been slightly… different. It struck directly into my mind, a subtle resonance unlike any other god I had known.
Solana looked up at the sky and drew her own conclusion.
“…Surely, she’s returning to her true form. There’s simply too much magic for a mere replica to contain.”
The trail of young-grass-colored light spread across the blue sky like ripples. The same shimmering magic poured down over the city of Flocia. The departing replica seemed almost like a giant bird, flapping its wings as it drifted northward.
And that was the direction I had come from.
The words escaped my lips before I could stop them.
“T-the royal capital…?”
Could the real Freyja-sama be in the royal capital?
Of course, just because the replica was heading north didn’t guarantee it was bound for the capital.
Yet in my heart, something tugged insistently.
“…Ah.”
A flash of Lu’s smile passed through my mind. My heart pounded. Something that could truly be called truth, and something terrifying—was pressing dangerously close.
Freyr coughed by the wall, opening his mouth.
“…Your little sister… she could wield the power of creation.”
Solana flew cautiously over to Freyr. I felt as if someone had struck my head—I was dazed, barely aware of my surroundings.
“That’s right… the 『Miko』skill, come to think of it—”
How could she possibly use the power of creation, bringing matter into existence with magic?
To create something from nothing was Odin’s exclusive ability—a divine prerogative. Yet Lu had been able to wield it. And Freyja-sama had told us through her message that she herself had fled with the power of creation.
Freyr stared at me. He has been searching for his sister. Perhaps he even reached the royal capital.
I’m sure my voice trembled as I whispered, “…You said Lu is naturally receptive to magic, right?”
“Yeah. The original meaning of Miko is… one who can host [the divine].”
Lu’s body was naturally suited to harbor magic. The reason she had felt unwell in the royal capital all this time was because she had been sensing the presence of monsters from the nearby dungeon. And the ashes of the giants scattered within the dungeon had further affected her, weakening her body.
That’s right. Lu is naturally receptive to magic.
Unconsciously, my hand had been touching what gods themselves often dwell in—my golden coin.
Even a god can inhabit something. My thoughts surged forward like a runaway horse—no matter how I tried to rein them in, they wouldn’t stop!
“The power of the Miko skill…”
Come to think of it, it made sense just from the name of the skill.
“The power of Miko… is it… the ability to host a god…?”
Once I reached that thought, the answer became clear. Solana nodded.
“…I hadn’t realized the possibility either. But now, that seems the strongest explanation.”
The goddess paused, her golden eyes glittering.
“The power of Miko… is not ‘creation.’”
I lowered my head and met Solana’s gaze.
“Yes! Because she hosts the god who fled with the power of creation, she can wield the ability of ‘creation’ through the Miko skill…!”
I remembered the moment Lu awakened her skill. She had been performing a sort of seal release.
Just like the first time Solana had been freed from the golden coin. Lu’s Miko skill had manifested, allowing her to touch the god within—and that was why she could use the seal-breaking power.
“Then… the real Freyja-sama’s location is—”
At the edge of my vision, Freyr’s eyes dropped to the floor. He had always cared so much for her sister, yet now, he seemed strangely indifferent to the awakened Freyja-sama.
He must have known. He must have already been certain of where his sister, Freyja-sama, truly was—perhaps the moment Lu created the orb.
“The real Freyja-sama… is inside Lu?”
The enormity of the thought left my throat dry as dust. I wanted to speak, but the words caught, refusing to form. Freyja-sama had taken the power of creation—and now it dwelled within Lu.
What had happened in the thousand years since the seals had blanketed the world?
The myths told by the gods, and the myths that remained in the kingdom…
The events hidden in that hundred-year gap between them must be connected.
“Solana!”
“Yeah!”
I met the goddess’s gaze and called out, my voice strong.
“Let’s go back—to the royal capital!”
Our next destination is where Lu waits for us. At that moment, Freyr’s hand moved beside Solana.
Sparks flew as sword met magical barrier, a sharp ringing sound echoing across the tower.
Squinting with fierce eyes, Freyr spoke.
“…Then, Rion.”
He was barely alive. How he still had the strength to swing a sword was too incredible. His breathing was ragged, yet the blade he held steady toward me did not waver—and it was unsettling.
“Luisia is a sister to both you and me. To both of us, she is the only one… yet her body is one. Between you and me… we will never truly understand each other again.”
It would be safest to restrain him.
But the moment I stepped forward, a thunderous sound erupted from below. Through the gap in the wall, I saw the lake roiling. A massive tail slammed into the water. Its jet-black scales were the same as the great serpent we had seen in Alvis.
The name must be—
“The World Serpent… Jörmungandr…?”
Freyr stumbled back toward the shattered wall.
—Ooooooooooooo!
The roar of Jörmungandr shook the tower to its foundations.
Solana sent a beam of light toward Freyr, and I summoned the winds of the sylph to try to slow him, but he avoided everything. Through the gap in the wall, he fell backward.
“…Then, Rion!”
With that shout, Freyr was swallowed by the serpent. The massive creature dove into the lake.
Solana clicked her tongue in frustration.
“He got away…!”
Red-black flames rose across the city of Flocia. The final enemy, Ymir, still lingered in the streets. Jörmungandr lifted its enormous head toward the harbor, looming over the city like a living mountain.
This is translated by Yume Neiji. Kindly read at yumeineijiworks.wordpress.com.
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