A towering ash tree stood about thirty meters away from Lu and me. A strange presence washed over me, and I fixed my gaze on it.
Creak.
The very air trembled. Cracks suddenly spread across the empty space before the great tree, splintering the fabric of reality itself. The fissure widened farther and farther to either side until, through the gap, a pair of fierce, gleaming eyes came into view.
An icy gale burst through. Frost raced across the ground, and parts of the mirror-like water froze solid. The rift yawned open from top to bottom. A gigantic figure, well over two meters tall, stepped through, his entire body encased in ice.
Ymir let out a huge groal. Thick arms. A thick neck. His once-fine garments had been shredded into little more than rags, bearing silent witness to the brutal battle he had fought in the world below. Sheets of frost flaked away from his body.
“So… this is the Celestial Realm.”
Ymir spoke softly.
Blue skies and lush greenery stretched peacefully in every direction. Yet around that man alone, the air was thick with murderous intent.
A gentle breeze stirred his golden hair. His eyes, the same brilliant shade, locked onto Lu.
“…Found you.”
“…This couldn’t have happened at a worse time.”
Before coming to the surface, neither Solana nor I had fully recovered. The enemy had found us before we could regain our footing.
The gold coin trembled, and Solana’s voice rang out.
『 Rion!』
I pulled out the coin and shouted,
“Wake up!”
The Alarm skill that Odin had taken from me had finally returned. A burst of light scattered through the air as Solana flew out.
I quickly stepped in front of my little sister.
“Lu, get behind me!”
“O-Oniichan…”
“Hurry!”
Odin came swooping down, scooped Lu into his arms, and soared back into the sky.
“Odin!”
“I’m only taking her somewhere safe.”
Lu no longer carried the Will of Creation.
Solana spoke softly.
“For now… trust him.”
“…Yeah.”
Holding Lu securely with his left arm, Odin swept his spear through the air.
A massive wall of ice erupted before Ymir, encircling the titan from every side. Ymir answered with a single punch. The impact was so violent it made even my ears ache from where I stood.
“It won’t hold for long.”
Solana whispered,
“Odin is far weaker than he once was. On top of maintaining the seal, he has been continuously granting skills to an enormous number of humans. Every gift drains his magical power.”
I drew a slow, deep breath.
Cracks began spreading across the frozen wall.
From above, Odin’s voice thundered down.
“He’s breaking through! Buy us as much time as you can!”
A flash of seven-colored light caught the corner of my eye, and I looked up. From the tallest spire of the colossal castle, a radiant rainbow stretched high into the heavens above the celestial realm.
A quiet gasp escaped my lips.
“…The Rainbow Bridge…?”
With a thunderous crash, Ymir shattered the wall of ice.
“ROOOOOOOOOOOOAAARRR!!”
His bellow shook the very air, the shockwave tearing up the grass around his enormous frame. Ymir swung down his raised left arm. Behind him, the crack in space ripped violently wider, stretching farther and farther to both sides. An even colder blast poured through.
Then came the growls.
Goblins.
Wargs.
Kobolds.
Kelpies.
Orcs.
Then Garms—the hellhounds wreathed in flame.
One after another, monsters poured into the Celestial Realm. In the blink of an eye, a monstrous battle line had formed around Ymir, an invading army spilling endlessly from the rift.
Solana drifted to my side and asked quietly,
“Can you still fight, Rion?”
I enveloped myself in White Flame, letting its healing light mend my wounds. The rapid drain on my mana made my vision swim. I was already close to my limit. I’d survived battle after battle, and my body was nearing its breaking point.
Ymir lifted his gaze toward Lu, who was high above in the sky.
“At last… I can devour my heart… the Creation.”
Ymir slowly turned his head toward the Mirror Lake. Floating upon its surface was a sphere of light nearly forty meters across. Its pale, radiant glow bathed Ymir’s massive body.
“Hoh… That looks delicious, too.”
Goosebumps ran down my spine. The sphere contained an unimaginable amount of magical power—the very power used to create the world. If Ymir stole Creation from Lu and devoured that immense reservoir of mana as well… there was no telling what kind of monster he would become.
“Then come.”
I leveled my short shord at him.
From above, Lu’s voice rang out.
“Oniichan!”
“I’m okay! I won’t throw my life away again!”
As if those words had been the signal, an orc charged. I slipped beneath the swing of its club and slashed open its flank. A giant soldier followed immediately behind it. Its greatsword came crashing down. I let my short sword slide along the blade, deflecting the strike, then stepped straight into its guard. The aftershock of the blow split my cheek open.
“Ymir!”
I shouted.
While I held the line, the goddess unleashed a blast of light.
Ymir blocked it with a barrier of magical power, but the attack forced him to pause for the briefest instant.
“Solana—we just have to buy time!”
“Indeed…! The Rainbow Bridge, Bifrost, has already linked the Celestial Realm to the world below.”
For some reason, I knew they would come.
—Rion!
A familiar voice echoed inside my head.
Just as Ymir took another step, Mjölnir, the Thunder Hammer, crashed into the ground before him, sending earth and debris flying.
I caught Ymir clicking his tongue in annoyance.
“Tsk… So you’ve arrived.”
I looked up into the blue sky.
“Thor!”
Along with him came Loki, Uru, Sigris, and Heimdall.
One after another, the gods descended from the rainbow stretching across the heavens. The gods who had been fighting on the surface had come rushing to the aid of the Celestial Realm.
A rain of arrows from Uru, the God of Hunting, forced Ymir to leap backward. It looked like the gods hadn’t come alone. They had brought adventurers with them as well. About thirty adventurers, wrapped in pillars of light, landed across the Celestial Realm.
Clink.
The rattle of chains rang out.
An axe bound to a long chain swept through the monsters before me in a wide arc, cutting them down.
“We made it just in time!”
At the sound of a familiar voice, warmth welled up in my chest.
Grinning confidently, Mia-san swung the chain effortlessly with her left hand. Felix-san appeared beside her, launching blazing fireballs that blasted the flying monsters from the sky.
The goddess let out a quiet sigh of relief.
“So Odin’s preparations paid off.”
A little earlier, Odin had said he was going to restore the Bifrost, the Rainbow Bridge connecting the surface and the Celestial Realm. At first, I’d thought it was meant to let us return to the surface—
“So it was actually to bring the gods and the adventurers here.”
“Indeed. Once Ymir moved, the battlefield shifted from the temple… to this place.”
I let out a long breath and wiped the sweat from my brow.
Only then did I realize I was drenched.
Long ago, the Royal Capital had been the meeting place of both gods and mortals. There, the Bifrost had once linked the Celestial Realm with the world below. Realizing Ymir would come here, Odin had restored that pathway before anyone else could react.
Beside me, Solana’s expression darkened.
“But… we’re still losing.”
Ymir let out another earth-shaking roar. His eyes burned crimson as the monsters around him grew even more frenzied. More reinforcements poured from the rift in space.
Though Ymir had been forced back once, he was already advancing again—closing in on the glowing sphere floating above the Mirror Lake. Among the creatures emerging from the void were even Fenrir, the Great Wolf, and Jörmungandr, the World Serpent.
Freyr too, stood at Ymir’s side, swinging his sword to shield him from attack.
As Mia-san cut through the monsters surrounding her, she shouted,
“So what the hell is that giant ball of light?!”
“I-it’s the magical power needed to create a world! Lu was in the middle of creating a new one, but…!”
The three of us, together with Solana, carved a path through the horde, pushing toward Ymir.
At some point, I had stopped keeping track of my own movements. I didn’t know how many times I swung my weapon. I didn’t know where I had been wounded.
My head burned.
Every inch of my body screamed in pain.
Even so…
My legs never stopped moving. They couldn’t stop.
Felix swung his staff, smashing a monster aside. He was nearly out of mana. Someone had healed him, but the sleeve over his left arm was charred black, and angry burn scars marked the skin beneath.
“Ymir and the most powerful monsters suddenly vanished from the surface. Thanks to that, we barely managed to hold the front line… I see now. The reason Ymir disappeared… was because he came to the Celestial Realm.”
Felix said between breaths. He grimaced.
“But even so… it doesn’t change the course of this battle.”
He was right.
Ymir continued summoning monsters from the rift while steadily advancing toward the sphere of light floating above the Mirror Lake.
The gods…
The handful of adventurers who had made it to the Celestial Realm…
They were all battered and exhausted.
They were being driven back by the monsters’ relentless assault.
The distance between Ymir and the Mirror Lake had originally been less than fifty meters.
Now it is shrinking with every passing second. At this rate, the first thing Ymir would devour would be the power of creation itself.
After that, either we would all die… or Lu would.
I turned to Solana.
“Solana…”
“Can’t we use the Mirror Lake’s mana to strengthen the gods?!”
Ymir had arrived before Solana and I could recover our footing.
There wasn’t enough magical power stored in Gjallarhorn, the Horn of Awakening…
If so, then our only remaining hope was the sphere of light floating above the Mirror Lake. It contained an immeasurable amount of mana.
Solana shook her head.
“…No! That power has already begun to take physical form. It can no longer be used to strengthen the gods! The only one who could possibly control it is the bearer of the Power of Creation—!”
The goddess unleashed a wave of light, driving back the surrounding monsters for a fleeting moment.
“But even then… there are very few ways it can be used.”
Mia-san and I desperately fought to push the monsters back.
Goblins.
Kobolds.
Wargs.
We cut them down one after another.
Thor clashed with Jörmungandr, the World Serpent, whose enormous body could no longer grow any larger. A strike from Heimdall was stopped cold by Ymir’s barrier of magical power. Freyr fought alongside the monsters, intercepting the long-range attacks unleashed by Uru and Loki. Meanwhile, Sigris moved among the adventurers, healing their wounds.
With the adventurers forming a living wall, they somehow managed to keep the monsters pouring from the rift at bay.
But it was like trying to stop a waterfall with bare hands.
Fenrir leapt over the swarm of monsters and lunged straight at us.
“GRAAAH!”
I met the Great Wolf head-on with the Golden Flame and the Hammer of the Thunder God. Fangs and short sword collided, throwing sparks into the air. The reckless strain on my magic tore a ragged cry from my lungs.
This battle…
It had no end in sight.
Far overhead, Odin slowly shook his head.
“—We will perish.”
Was that how the Chief God saw us?
A final stand… fighting until the very end, knowing only destruction awaited. The gods’ and adventurers’ desperate resistance was steadily overwhelmed as the tide of monsters surged forward.
At last, Ymir reached the edge of the Mirror Lake. He slowly opened his enormous jaws.
“No!”
The power of creation—
Nearly half of the sphere of light was swallowed into Ymir like a raging tornado. The glowing orb above the Mirror Lake was left with its entire left half gouged away. The wounds carved across Ymir’s body began to heal before our eyes.
Then he roared.
At once, the monsters surged with renewed ferocity.
“…Ah…”
The sound escaped my lips before I realized it.
In the end… we were still going to lose.
“…Even so.”
The words slipped out.
“Even so…!”
I didn’t want to give up!
I refuse to surrender. Gripping my short sword, I stepped forward.
Because I am selfish. I refuse to abandon my own life… And I refuse to abandon this world.
“Oniiiiichaaaan!”
Lu cried out.
High above, she pushed Odin aside with a burst of emerald-green magic. She descended from the sky into the midst of the monster-infested battlefield.
Whether it was Freyja’s blessing or something else, she landed as lightly as a goddess herself.
“Lu!”
Ymir’s eyes gleamed the moment he sensed her. His enormous mouth stretched into a broad, delighted grin.
“Why…?”
Why would she draw his attention to herself?
Lu raised her voice and shouted.
“Oniichan.. everyone… I’m counting on you guys!”
Brilliant emerald light gathered in Lu’s outstretched hands.
“I’ll fight too… just like you, Oniichan.”
Ymir let out a triumphant roar.
“My heart!”
The monsters had already spread across the edge of the Mirror Lake. The Primordial Titan no longer cared that they were his own allies. He plowed straight through them as though they were nothing more than trash—
Sending some flying…
Crushing others beneath his feet…
As he charged toward Lu.
“Lu!”
At the sound of my voice, my little sister answered.
“Power of Creation—!”
The power that gave form to one’s wishes.
Wh-what had Lu wished for with the remaining power of creation that Ymir had failed to consume?
“…This…”
Solana gasped.
The sphere of light—now only half its original size—began to shine even brighter. As Thor smashed Mjölnir against Jörmungandr, his eyes widened.
“She’s going to shatter all that mana?!”
Loki snapped his fingers in disbelief.
“Has she lost her mind?! …No… perhaps it’s brilliant! It would wipe out every monster, but…!”
Lu cried out.
Or perhaps it wasn’t a sound at all. Her voice echoed directly inside our minds.
—Gods!
—Please… protect my brother… and everyone else!!
The light exploded.
For a single, endless instant, time itself seemed to stretch.
An overwhelming radiance flooded my vision, burning the scene before me into my eyes. Solana, who had been closest to us, enveloped us in a protective veil of divine magic. The other gods did the same, shielding the adventurers with their own power. Beside the Mirror Lake, Lu herself was wrapped in a thick cocoon of emerald light.
Perhaps some of Freyja’s blessing still remained… or perhaps only the bearer of Creation could command the sphere’s power.
Meanwhile—
Ymir and Frey took the full force of the blast at point-blank range.
I caught sight of Fenrir and Jörmungandr, the World Serpent, being torn apart by the unexpected shockwave as well.
The colossal castle began to collapse.
Chunks of stone the size of houses crashed from the sky, one slamming into the ground only a few feet to my right. Together with Solana, Mia-san, and Felix-san, I was hurled through the air.
The flying debris…
The searing heat of the unleashed mana…
Even through the gauntlet shielding my face, the impact rattled my bones.
“Lu!”
The blinding light that swallowed everything lasted only about ten seconds.
Then…
It was over.
I had been thrown dozens of meters away from the Mirror Lake, lying amid shattered stone. I forced myself to my feet. I couldn’t feel Solana anymore. Nor any of the other gods.
The battlefield had fallen deathly silent. It was as if every living thing had vanished.
Clambering over heaps of rubble, I staggered back toward the Mirror Lake.
“…Lu!”
Ymir is still standing there.
Grievously wounded… but alive. With his left hand, he held my little sister high in the air.
“You’ve… done it now.”
Ymir coughed violently, blood spraying from his lips. Most of his garments had been blasted away, and dark crimson blood poured relentlessly from wounds covering his body. To stem the bleeding, flames burned across his flesh, cauterizing the injuries one by one.
Lu, still dangling from the front of her priestess robes where Ymir gripped her, noticed me.
“…O-oniichan…”
Ymir’s eyes snapped toward me.
His right hand rose— he is about to kill her. Then a scorched figure stepped between them.
“Don’t kill her!”
Freyr, his body covered in burns, leveled his sword at the giant.
“That girl is still carrying my sister!”
I never imagined that I would find myself agreeing with this man.
I broke into a sprint. Thanks to Solana’s protection, I had escaped without serious injury.
But…
This was the first time I couldn’t feel the presence of the gods.
Not Solana.
Not Odin.
Not anyone.
The silence filled me with dread.
Fear tightened around my heart until it felt ready to burst.
…My little sister had protected me.
I glared at Ymir.
“Stop!”
Freyr and Ymir turned and fled, Lu still in Ymir’s grasp.
Both of them were grievously wounded. Every few steps, Ymir staggered, barely able to keep his footing.
Lu looked back over Ymir’s shoulder…
And smiled at me.
“…I’ll be waiting.”
I could clearly read those words on my little sister’s lips.
Lu hadn’t given up.
“Power of Creation—!”
Emerald light gathered once more in her hands.
“I know… this is impossible…! But just one last time… just once more…!”
What… what is she doing?
What did she mean?
Freyr took Lu into his arms and continued fleeing.
Stretching out her hand, she threw something she had created toward me.
“There they are!”
“The enemy’s getting away!”
“Over there!”
The adventurers came scrambling over the mountains of rubble.
They had heard Lu’s plea.
The gods had shielded the adventurers from the explosion…
Entrusting the final battle to them.
And yet…
There was still no sign of the gods themselves.
Not Thor.
Not Heimdall.
Not Loki.
Not Uru.
Not Sigris.
Not even…
…Solana.
“Don’t let them escape!”
“After them!”
Chain axes. Magic. Warhammers. Arrows. Swords.
The few adventurers who remained threw themselves into Ymir’s path, determined to stop his escape. Ymir run for the dimensional rift. Freyr followed close behind him, alongside Fenrir and Jörmungandr, the World Serpent.
They moved through the scattered monster corpses and shattered magic stones as though swimming through a sea of death.
But they were on the brink of collapse as well.
“Wake up!”
With the last of my strength, I summoned Sylph, the Wind Spirit.
“Woof!”
The gale rushed toward Ymir—
Only to be swept aside by a swing of his left arm.
The ice bracelet on his wrist, still unbroken, flashed coldly in the light.
Then they disappeared into the rift, taking Lu with them.
The tear in space, which had remained open until then, began to close… slowly… inch by inch.
“…No…”
Lu had been taken.
But I couldn’t afford to collapse. I forced my trembling knees to hold.
What had my little sister left behind?
Thump.
A sound like a heartbeat brushed against my ears.
Something lay on the ground.
I bent down and picked up the cold object.
“…This is…”
Encased in a block of ice about the size of two clenched fists was a heart.
It pulsed steadily.
Thump.
Thump.
I remembered the words Ymir had repeated several times.
“—My heart.”
Odin descended beside me.
“…That was once the vessel of the Power of Creation.”
“This…?”
The heart continued to beat within its icy prison.
An ancient dream resurfaced in my mind.
Long ago, the gods had slain Ymir…and taken the Power of Creation from him.
“When the power of frost and the power of flame first collided, they gave birth to the Primordial Titan, Ymir. His heart was the first part of his body to form and thus became the core of his existence. It was there that the Power of Creation originally resided.”
Odin had once defeated the giant.
Then… had he taken the Power of Creation from this very heart?
“At the very last moment before she was taken away, Luisia gave the Power of Creation one final command.”
Odin fixed his eyes on the frozen heart.
“To recreate, one last time, the heart that had once housed Ymir’s Power of Creation. It seems the power no longer resides within Luisia… but has now been transferred into this heart.”
He let out a sharp snort, deep lines forming between his brows.
His grip on Gungnir tightened until his knuckles turned white.
“What an extraordinary girl…! She allowed herself to be captured, yet at the very end she left behind a bargaining chip between that giant… and us.”
The Chief God released a long sigh.
“…She believed in her brother… and entrusted everything to him.”
A faint smile, touched with melancholy, crossed his face.
“She has grown strong.”
Odin slowly shook his head.
Once.
Then again.
And again.
“Humans truly are… remarkable beings, Freyja.”
He spoke to the goddess who had already vanished together with Lu.
In my hands rested the item Lu had entrusted to me—
Ymir’s recreated heart. The heart that now housed the Power of Creation.
It continued to beat warmly against my palms.
Thump. Thump.
This is translated by Yume Neiji. Kindly read at yumeneijiworks.com
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