Merim 

There once was a race known as the “Everlongers.”
Many of them were exceptionally gifted, excelling in intellect and physical prowess; aside from their distinctive ears, their appearance was indistinguishable from that of humans.
However, there was one thing. They possessed a single, definite characteristic that set them apart from humans.
That was their long lifespan.
Unlike humans, whose lives end in a matter of decades, the Everlongers lived well over 200 years.
They were beings who effortlessly lived through a span of time long enough for humans to go through multiple generations. People admired, envied, and worshiped them…

…and also hated them.

A life that burns on and on, a dream cherished by many humans.
The admiration for the Everlongers, who possessed this from birth, eventually turned to jealousy, and those “without” began to persecute those “with.” The Everlongers were deemed an unearthly race that mimicked human form.
Depending on the era and place, they were feared under various names, such as “monsters” or “demons”, and before long… I, too, came to be called a “witch.”

A witch who is said to hide away in the forest, avoiding the gaze of others, to study and wield strange magic.
I willingly accepted that name.
Because it was more convenient for my “research into strange magic.”

Some were killed because one misunderstanding led to another.
Others continue to suffer persecution in various places even now.
Why are we subjected to such a tragic fate simply because we live longer?
Driven solely by the desire to save myself and my kind, I thought and thought, spending decades pondering, until I finally realized.

We cannot be saved by the laws of this world alone.
And at the same time, the answer lies not here, but in another world.

I believe that vibration, the origin of all motion, is the key to traversing time and space and to the “world that might have been” parallel to the one we inhabit… The key, in other words, is “Sound Power”. And so I immersed myself in what humans call “bizarre magical research” deep within a secluded forest.

This is the story surrounding the “Sound Power” that a certain human and I have created…

Merim’s Research Journal, No. 1297
How many days have passed since I began holing up in this laboratory?
As an Everlonger who has not interacted with humans, I have no need for the concept of a calendar, but I find it inconvenient not to be able to grasp the scale of time. I shall make a point of keeping records from now on.
The experiments… still aren’t going well.
It looked like things were going smoothly for a while, but lately, I’ve ended up back at the very beginning of my research.
Why is that? Is there a fundamental flaw in my theory? If so, how much more time will I have to waste?
…No. I mustn’t lose heart.
I will never give up. I will discover the power to transcend the world… the energy of sound that no one has ever heard.
And for that… I’m willing to lose everything.

Merim’s Research Journal, No. 1648
Today, I obtained some truly amazing research results.
Up until now, I’d been too fixated on the “shape of sound.” How could I have failed to notice it, even after I continued staring at those waveforms, like waves ebbing and flowing, displayed on the measuring instruments?
Sound isn’t just about shape. It has rhythm.
When I synchronized with the “sounds of this world” and collided them with another sound in phase, I was able to observe a distortion in space-time, albeit an extremely slight one.
My theory wasn’t wrong.
But what I observed was truly only a minuscule distortion.
I want to collide it with a louder, stronger sound, but I lack the means to do so.
If only there were a device that could generate a strong sound… But am I supposed to build one from scratch now? And how? Should I spend another long time conducting research?
No, I don’t want my research to branch off in that direction. Above all, it’s too much for me to handle alone.
If only… There was some kind of tool in this world that could serve as a substitute…

Deep within a dense forest, so overgrown that no human hand could possibly reach it.
There, on a patch of ground that seems unnaturally flat, as if a gaping hole had been torn open, stands Merim’s mansion… and laboratory.

From within the mansion, various sounds, ranging from ear-piercing high-pitched screeches to earth-shaking bass, occasionally leak out, and none of which could be described as pleasant. But in a forest like this, where no one ever ventures, no one pays them any mind.
Today, just as she had done the night before, Merim had been conducting experiments all night long, and she was now bitterly reflecting on the failure of her 30,000th experiment.
It was on a day when a full 50 years had passed since she began her research.

“This didn’t work either. I’ll have to start over from the hypothesis again… I wonder if this means I’ll be set back about ten years?”

Just as she muttered that and was about to laugh self-deprecatingly, a sound rang out.
One that was different from the noise of moments before, somewhat out of place.
A loud growl from her stomach echoed loudly throughout the laboratory.
Realizing she was hungry and that her food reserves were running out, Merim decided to head outside to forage for food for the first time in a long while.
The forest was rich with edible plants and nuts, and even the frail Merim could hunt something as small as a rabbit.
Wearing a hat disproportionately large for her frame and carrying a bow and arrow along with a basket, Merim secured enough food for one person and then staggered her way to the meadow stretching out within the forest. As soon as she arrived, she threw herself onto the grass and lay down on her back.

“J-just a little break… I’m hungry, sure, but I can’t deny I’m out of shape…”

The warm sunshine poured down, and a gentle breeze blew softly.
For Merim, who led an unhealthy lifestyle in the lab day in and day out, it was a profound sense of healing, something she felt as a living creature of this earth.
Instantly, her thoughts grew sluggish, and her eyelids began to droop.
Merim was completely caught off guard.

“Hey!”

Startled by the sudden, forceful shout from above, Merim jumped to her feet.
Her body reacted reflexively, but her mind couldn’t keep up. It took a moment for her to regain her senses.

Who is there!? Why!? I let my guard down way too much!
This is bad… really bad… they saw me…!

Images of her fellow Everlongers, persecuted by humans, flashed through Merim’s mind.
One reason she lived in the forest was that her experiments inevitably produced noticeable sounds, but the main reason was to avoid being seen by people.
Of course, she hasn’t managed to hide her existence completely. However, even among the people in the nearest town, the belief that “there’s supposedly a witch in the forest” remains nothing more than a fairy tale.
It had been so long since she’d faced a human that Merim couldn’t even remember when it last happened, and she was panicking inside.
However, oblivious to Merim’s state, the girl standing before her peered at Merim’s face with sparkling eyes, looking deeply intrigued.

“A witch… A witch! You’re a witch, aren’t you!? Wow! A real witch!”
“!? N-no, that’s not true! I’m not a witch…”
“But I’ve never seen you in town before, and that big hat… you’re just like the witches in fairy tales!”
“T-this is…!”

Hurriedly pressing both hands against the brim of her hat, Merim wore an embarrassed expression.
It seemed that as the few people who had ever seen Merim passed on her distinctive features by word of mouth, the hat she had worn for so long had become established as her trademark.
Realizing this, Merim instantly felt overwhelmingly embarrassed. She turned her back on the girl and strode off into the forest.

More people knew about me than I thought…!
…Oh well. Witches are generally feared anyway. If I shake her off once, I won’t see her again…

“Wait, Miss Witch!”

One of the reasons humans persecute the Everlongers they call witches is a reversal of their own fear.
Despite that, the girl showed not a trace of fear on her face; with a carefree smile, she followed after Merim.
Faced with this incomprehensible, unexpected behavior, Merim was the one who felt terrified.

W-why is she following me!?
And… s-she’s smiling! It’s scary… There’s something scary about that girl!

Merim walked briskly through the forest, trying repeatedly to shake off the girl, but she eventually gave up against her. That girl seemed to possess even more stamina than she did.
Not hesitating to risk revealing her whereabouts, Merim dashed into her own mansion, quickly locked the door, and collapsed in front of it.
A moment later, the sound of knocking echoed.

“Miss Witch! What a lovely house!”
“E-eek!”
“I just want to talk with you, Miss Witch!”
“G-go away! I’m not a witch, and I have nothing to say!”
“Oh, did I scare you…? Well then, I’ll be back, Miss Witch!”

Saying that through the door, the girl walked away from the mansion.
And just as she had declared, she returned.
Every day… every single day.

Merim was fed up with the daily knocks on her door and the voice calling out “Miss Witch!”
Above all, the fact that the location of her mansion had been discovered was far from ideal.
However, moving her base while carrying a massive amount of research equipment would be an enormous effort. And as someone who possessed magical knowledge, true to her title of witch, Merim had the power to harm humans if push came to shove.
With that in mind, Merim’s decision was to “wait and see.”

One day, as those days continued…
Realizing once again that she was hungry and had run out of food, Merim decided to go out and procure some provisions.
She slowly opened the door just a little and carefully checked her surroundings. Relieved to find no one there, Merim stepped out through the doorway.
But on this day, she had misjudged the situation.
She prioritized the study of the “Sound Power” above all else in life, and so she tended to neglect everything else.
The same applied to her own body.
Having grown hungrier than she’d anticipated and reaching her physical limit, Merim collapsed slowly to the ground the moment she let her guard down in relief.
As her consciousness faded, what came to her mind was a distant past.
It was the image of her comrades, whose whereabouts were now unknown.

The sound of clattering tools and a pleasant aroma tickled her nose.
The moment she registered these sensations, Merim woke up.
Her familiar laboratory. Her familiar bed.
The only difference was that the girl was standing in the kitchen.

“Oh, you’re awake?”

Merim tried to jump up, but her body wouldn’t move.

“H-hey! You have to stay still! You were unconscious just a moment ago, you can’t move yet!”

Saying that, the girl came over to Merim and held out a bowl of golden soup.
Then, with a wry smile, she continued, addressing Merim, who remained on guard despite being unable to move as she wished.

“There’s no poison in it. You need to drink that and get your strength back. Okay?”

For the hungry Merim, that was nothing but sound advice.
Above all, unable to resist the alluring aroma that had been tickling her nose for the past few minutes, Merim tentatively took a sip of the soup.

“…It’s delicious.”

A sigh of admiration escaped her lips naturally.
Merim, who had been subsisting on food that was barely cooked because research came first, felt her heart melt as the warm soup filled her stomach. By the time she had finished it, she had come to think that the girl “might not be a bad person after all.”

“What an amazing house. It’s full of machines I’ve never seen before. What are those tools used for?”
“…Research. I’m researching the “Sound Power.”
“Sound… Power?”

Merim briefly explained her objective: she was conducting research to convert vibrations, that is, the “Sound Power”, into a force powerful enough to affect other things.
Upon hearing this, the girl murmured, “Sound Power, huh,” then stood up and took something out of her bag to show her.

“I’m doing research on sounds, too. This is a tool I made… but it’d be faster if you just listened to it.”

With that, she placed a bow-like tool against the strings, which were stretched in multiple layers.
Immediately, a tone unlike anything she had ever heard before echoed throughout the laboratory.
The small vibrations were amplified massively.
Merim, who had been watching and listening with wide eyes, sat up from the bed and asked the girl, as if clinging to her.

“W-what is that…!?”
“Well, this is a tool I made called a “musical instrument.” I use it to make sounds like the one we heard earlier… oh, it’s called “performance.” I’m researching that.”
“T-tell me all about it!”
“Of course! But before that…”

Extending her hand toward Merim, the girl continued.

“My name is Rita. Rita Carlstedt. I’m 15 years old. I’m an alchemist. So, will you be my friend?”

Merim was taken aback for a moment, but she timidly reached out her hand toward Rita’s.

“My name is… Merim. You people… call me a witch.”

Their research into the power of sounds shared surprisingly many common elements, and it didn’t take long for their exchange of ideas to naturally evolve into a joint research project.

“Rita, are you ready? Next, we’ll play our sounds at the same time and observe the reaction when they collide.”
“Okay, Merim. I’m ready whenever you are!”
“Timing is crucial for this experiment. Make sure you don’t mess up.”
“No problem! We’ll go on the signal, right?”
“Yes. All right, here we go. Ready, set…”
“Set, go!”
“Go!”

The moment a voice clearly a beat behind was heard,
a shrill, unpleasant screech echoed through the room, and every single piece of glass in the lab, from the windows to the drinking glasses, shattered violently.
To add insult to injury for the two stunned girls, the devices in their hands exploded a moment later as well.

“…H-hey! I told you to synchronize your timing!”
“I-I did sync it. On the “go” part.”
“Normally, when someone says “Ready, set go,” you sync up on the “set, go” at the end!”
“Huh!? That’s how it is in my town!”

Merim and Rita ended up arguing back and forth. But for the two of them, this sort of thing was an everyday occurrence.
Despite their different personalities, the two get along surprisingly well; though they fight often, they never hold a grudge.
A few minutes later, they’d completely forgotten about the earlier incident and were laughing together as they continued their experiment.
That was Merim and Rita’s rhythm.

“Hey, Merim. You said the next experiment would move to a new phase. What’s it going to be like?”

Rita asked as she swept up the shards of glass scattered across the floor.
While sorting through the parts from the exploded device that might be reusable, Merim answered her.

“Next experiment… is to convert sound into language.”

According to Merim, the goal of the next experiment was to assign letters like A, B, and C to “sounds” themselves and convert them.
The idea was to assemble these like a program and manipulate “Sound Power” at will.
And she said she’d drawn inspiration for this from the concept of “performance” that Rita had introduced.

“I see… turning sounds into free-form words… yeah, that’s interesting! Alright, I’m getting motivated!”

Saying that, Rita cheerfully set to work sweeping with her broom.
Merim watched her for a while and suddenly recalled her past self.
When Merim was conducting her research alone, to be honest, the results weren’t exactly promising. In fact, she had wasted decades of her life on it.
She wanted to produce results for her comrades. But things didn’t go as planned.
During those days, Merim’s heart had gradually dried up.
But now it’s different.
Every day, she exchanges ideas with the alchemist Rita and eagerly tests out new concepts as they come to mind.
Before long, their research has progressed remarkably, and they’ve finally reached the stage where they can begin to wield the “Sound Power.”
Merim genuinely finds every day “fun.”
At the same time, she felt a pang of guilt toward her comrades, who were likely going through a tough time, weighing on her small shoulders.

“B… B… C… Ee~~… D!”

Singing the musical scale, Rita plucks her homemade instrument.
Having just finished an experiment, Merim was taking a breather with a cup of tea in one hand, watching her with a smile.

“Hmm. It’s starting to sound like a song, somehow. It’s strange… I never knew you could use sounds like that.”
“Hehehe~, right?”

Research and experiments, and chatting with a friend.
The usual scene. The usual time.
It was Rita who spoke words that were anything but “usual.”

“Merim, you said you wanted to make Sound Power into something bigger, didn’t you? What do you want to do with that power?”

Rita asked Merim with a carefree air.
Rita herself wasn’t particularly conscious of it; to anyone watching, it was a natural, offhand remark.
But even though the two of them had been conducting research together for a long time, this was the first time this fundamental question, one that lay at the very core of their research, had been asked.
Merim’s life and background were marked by pain and sorrow, and naturally, it wasn’t something she would happily talk about.
Respectful of others’ feelings, Rita had never casually intruded on that private realm, even as their bond grew closer, and she had refrained from asking until this very moment.
But their research was nearing its final stage.
If things continued to go smoothly, they would soon be close to unraveling the “Sound Power.”
The research would bear fruit. But what then?
Logically speaking, it would have been “unnatural” not to ask.

“…What about you, Rita?”

Merim didn’t answer the question; instead, she responded with a question of her own.
She still lacked the courage to lay everything bare.

“Hmm… It’s hard to say exactly what I want to do… Well, I guess I haven’t changed at all from who I used to be! When I perform music and manipulate sounds with my instrument, everyone smiles and feels healed. I want even more people to know about that power. That’s why I wanted to understand Sound Power more deeply. That’s all!”
“…I see.”

Merim already had a pretty good idea of how Rita would answer.
Rita’s smile was directed at Merim every day. There was no dark past lurking behind that expression.
Because Merim could sense a purity as clear and pure as water, so dazzling it was almost blinding.
That’s why she understood that Rita’s daily mantra “of wanting to make everyone happy with sounds” was the whole truth.

“As for me…”

Now it was Merim’s turn to talk about her own purpose.
She had led the conversation so that Rita would answer first. So now it was her turn.
It was like a mere formality, a ritual designed to create a situation where she had no choice but to speak.
Steeling herself, Merim took off the large hat perched on her head and swept her hair back to reveal her ears.

“Look at my ears. I belong to a race known as the Everlongers.”
“Yeah, I knew that.”
“…I suppose so. I thought you’d have noticed. Since I’ve been called a witch in this forest for so long, you must know.”
“No, no… I mean, it would be weird if I hadn’t noticed after spending so much time with you!”
“…You’re right about that.”

After they both laughed for a while, Merim began to tell her story.
The history of persecution, the sense of alienation felt by the Everlongers in this world, Sound Power, another world.
Decades, centuries.
With every thought she had kept hidden all this time now pouring out, Merim felt as if a sediment within her was being washed away.

“To save my comrades… and to uncover where we came from, I realized I had to go to a world other than this one. A world that exists parallel to this one… I want the power to move freely between those worlds. To that end, I began researching Sound Power, a power great enough to transcend time and space… This is my entire reason for living.”

Past, present, future.
Having spoken her mind and feeling somewhat relieved, Merim was surprised to see Rita wearing a troubled expression.

“Merim, thank you for telling me. But there’s something that’s been on my mind.”
“What is it?”
“Even if you can go to another world, you don’t know what kind of place it is, do you? What if it’s incredibly dangerous? What if it’s a place where humans can’t even survive…”
“I don’t care.”

Merim answered immediately. Then she added, “If it means we can move forward, it doesn’t matter what happens to my life.”
Hearing that, Rita clearly showed her anger this time.

“That’s wrong! Saying it’s okay to die just to save your friends… that’s absolutely crazy!”

Merim was so selfless that she would collapse from hunger. It wasn’t reckless behavior; it was her very core set of values.
Rita was deeply indignant. In a most clumsy way.
Even if she knew Merim’s background, it was impossible to understand it all. Regardless of species, no one can take another’s place. Neither in body nor in heart.
For Rita, the one who mattered most to her from the bottom of her heart wasn’t the other Everlongers, but Merim. That was only natural.

In contrast, Merim was momentarily startled by Rita’s words, then displayed a rage even more intense than Rita’s.
She had interpreted Rita’s denial as a rejection of her very being.
Of course, that was not her true intention. Her words were born of concern for her friend, but Merim had spent far too much time alone to grasp that.
Merim, too, was painfully clumsy.
Their arguments ran parallel, eventually escalating into a heated exchange that only served to hurt each other.

“You wouldn’t understand, Rita! Not you… who’s been researching Sound Power with such naive ideas!”

The words slipped out of Merim’s mouth.
It wasn’t what she truly felt. She had simply gotten carried away and wanted to prove herself right.
But the price she paid was high.
In an instant, Rita’s eyes lost their light, growing darker than Merim had ever seen before, and she walked silently out of the lab.

“Rita…!”

She called out, but she couldn’t bring herself to chase after her.
Her relentless avoidance of human contact wasn’t solely because she was an Everlonger.
More than anyone else… Merim was a coward.

Up until now, their arguments had been far too endearing to be called arguments. It was the sort of thing they’d forget why they’d even been fighting about just a few moments later.
That was precisely why Merim couldn’t hide her unease now.
Rita hadn’t visited the mansion… for three whole days.
This was the first time such a long gap had occurred since the day they first met in the forest.

Not knowing what to do, Merim sat at the large desk in the lab and rested her chin in her hand.
Most of her current research achievements have come since they began working together. She couldn’t just push forward on her own, nor did she feel like doing so.
She sighed, feeling a bit restless, and began fiddling with the pendulum bob sitting on the desk.
It was the switch for the device they had built together to transcend dimensions.
Though it wasn’t perfect, she had expected it to yield some kind of result.
All that remained was to finally put it into practice. But just as they reached that stage, a rift formed between her and her important partner.
Left hanging in limbo for various reasons, Merim had lost her focus.
Just as she tried to slowly return the pendulum ball to its original position, her hand slipped.
The ball collided with its counterpart, and as they collided repeatedly, defying the laws of physics, the arc they traced grew larger and larger before her eyes.

“Ah, ahh…!”

No matter how panicked she was, there was nothing she could do.
The energy generated by the pendulum acted upon the next device, and that device, in turn, transmitted the force to the next.
The chain reaction spread to the various musical instruments arranged in a circle around the lab, and they began to play a strange melody at full volume.

“W-what should I do!?”

Faced with the fully activated device, Merim had no way to stop it. The sounds… or rather, the vibrations produced by the countless instruments collided in complex patterns, shaking the air so violently she could feel the tingling on her skin, eventually swelling into a force powerful enough to make her vision blur.
Merim stared at it in a daze. Right now, there were no thoughts of Rita or her companions in her mind.
But she was overflowing with the “joy of a successful experiment,” and she was savoring every moment of it.
That was when it happened.
The spatial distortion swirling at the center of the lab began to peel back, like the skin of a citrus fruit.

“Beyond… space and time…”

The words Merim let slip turned out to be correct.
The “contents” of the peeling vibration revealed a landscape that shouldn’t have been there.

“”If I go” beyond this… to another world, I might grasp something.”

Merim had always believed that.
But she had never even considered the other possibility.

As if forcibly tearing open a rift in space-time that didn’t fit.
He… had “come.”
One arm, then the other, the head. And finally, the body.
Twisting his colossal form bit by bit, blowing Merim’s mansion itself to smithereens.
As if he had crawled out of purgatory, he was enveloped in a heavy flame… no, he was a colossal mass of flame where the flame itself had taken on physical form and mass.
Emitting a deep, dull glow, he opened his mouth toward the overwhelmed Merim.

“…I see. I sensed the presence of an intruder, but I never imagined it would go this far.”
“W-who are you… exactly…”
“I am the one asking questions. Do you not wish to know the secrets of this world? That Sound Power you have created. If you offer it to me, I will tell you everything. I would not hesitate to lend you my power either.”

The secrets of the world. Everything about the world. To reveal all of that was a preposterous offer.
Yet the colossal figure before her radiated a terror and a divinity so profound that she found herself believing him.
Though he felt somehow different from anything in this world, she could sense a tremendous power akin to magic.
Offered the sweet nectar of “everything about the world”, something she had pursued for so many years, Merim could not resist the temptation.

“…I accept. Sound Power, and my very existence… I offer them to you.”

Merim’s consciousness was clouded.
Half awake, half asleep.
Yet she felt no lethargy. Rather, she felt a vitality so intense it seemed ready to burst.
Before she knew it, Merim had merged her consciousness with the flame giant.
She was Merim, yet she was not Merim. It was proof that she had made a pact with the flame giant and become his puppet, but she was unaware of it at the moment.
Instead, immense power and a strange emotion of “rage” welling up from the depths of her chest filled her entire body.

“This is the place! The witch is here after all!!”

Suddenly, the voices of strangers echoed through the air.
There wasn’t just one; in an instant, they formed a large group, each wielding their own weapons as they confronted Merim.
“Why are they here?” “Only Rita should know about this place.”
Her desire to believe vanished immediately, and Merim arrived at a single conclusion.

“Ah… so that’s how it is…”

All that remained was deep disappointment. And anger.
Her persecuted comrades. Merim truly understood how they felt.

“I see… so this is how everyone felt… I was foolish to trust humans.”

Ignoring the devastated Merim, the humans facing the flame giant rallied themselves, shouting as if to dispel their fear.

“The witch is using some strange magic! Let’s defeat her before something happens!!”
“Ooh!!”

As the humans, weapons in hand, charged toward her, Merim… Or rather, the flame giant casually swung his arm.
In an instant, a whirlwind of flames erupted, burning the humans and scorching the forest beyond them as if carving them out.
The humans, momentarily speechless at the sudden scene of hell that unfolded before them, quickly retreated, their faces contorted with terror as they screamed.

(This power… is amazing… is it mine?)

Merim was elated to have wielded a power capable of controlling human life and death.
A power beyond human comprehension, inexplicable in this world. It lay beyond the boundaries of time and space. Her research had been correct after all.
And so, Merim met her tragic end… Remembering her comrades who were still suffering, she moved forward, step by step, slowly.
Toward the town beyond the forest. The place the humans had fled to.
Having fused with the flame giant, her anger swelled infinitely, taking control of her heart.
But Merim did not let it confuse her or try to suppress it.
She wielded her power, giving in to her emotions. That was all she could think of.

Eventually, the flame giant emerged from the forest and reached the outskirts of the town.
A rough road lay before her, the town visible just a stone’s throw away.
Standing there, as if to block Merim’s path, was Rita.

“Merim…”
“…Move out of the way, Rita. Do you want to die?”
“I won’t die. Besides, I’m taking Merim back.”
“…What!? Who do you think you are…!!”

When Merim swung her arm, Rita was blown away like a scrap of paper.
A new, twisted path of flame appeared on the road, but Rita’s body wasn’t burning.
Though consumed by rage, the timid Merim… could not bring herself to kill her first friend.

Faced with this overwhelming power, Rita realized that willpower alone was useless. Yet, even as she fell, she fixed her gaze on Merim once more, her body trembling slightly.
Seeing Rita like that, Merim’s heart suddenly felt as if it were being squeezed.

Stop. Don’t show me that face. Don’t… don’t look at me with those eyes!

Though trembling, a look of fighting spirit shone in Rita’s eyes.
It was a gaze Merim had never seen before.
If she was going to torment her any further, there was no choice but to have her disappear from her sight.
Just as Merim was about to make that decision, it happened.

“…Huh!? This presence…! Dammit… you followed me hereeeee!!!”

Before the flame giant could finish his scream, the depths of the forest where Merim had been hiding flashed for an instant, and then an intense light turned everything white, blinding her.
Fighting against the glare, she slowly opened her eyes to see a ball of light, no bigger than the palm of her hand, floating beside Rita.
Merim couldn’t make out what they were saying. But after Rita spoke a few times and nodded, a vast, undulating power began to envelop her.
Before Merim knew it, Rita had stood up and was facing her.
Just like her, she carried an unknown god on her back.

Just a short while ago… I was standing side by side with her… laughing together…
And yet, what on earth is this scene? How did it come to this?
Where did I go wrong… I don’t understand anymore…
I was just… trying to fulfill my purpose in life…

Yes… the purpose I must fulfill…
As long as I don’t lose sight of that guiding light, I won’t make any more mistakes…

…?
Yes… “Now is not the time to lose your power”… Yes… I understand.
Let’s retreat for now… My mission is still unfinished… To see it through, I will follow you anywhere… even if it means the depths of Purgatory.

Goodbye, Rita…