Type-Moon, Does a Minor Power-Up Count?

Tears welled from Nero's eyes. She did not understand what that single tear meant.

The rain that day was not heavy, yet it continued for a long time. Late at night, in the courtyard of the place where the emperor was temporarily staying.

The air and her clothes gradually became damp. The blonde girl's soaking-wet hair clung to her face and neck. It should have been uncomfortable, but she did not care. She merely lifted her face from where it had been buried between her knees and looked up at the night sky, countless cold droplets striking her cheeks.

After learning that her teacher, Novia, had not actually poisoned her, she realized that she had merely assumed that, to him, she had never mattered enough to warrant it. She... was still the same as before, someone who could be cast aside at any time.

Amid the quiet clamor, Nero felt that only her own breathing was especially grating.

The rain gradually grew heavier, droplets dripping from the ends of her soaked hair and the hem of her clothes.

So cold. Unbearably cold. The girl wrapped her arms around her shoulders and curled herself up tighter.

Why? Why? Why didn't you poison me, Teacher? Do you hate me? Do you not want me anymore? Are you going to abandon me...?

Nero felt her heart shatter bit by bit, as though she had lost the meaning of living. Through the cracks in her heart that had only just been painstakingly mended, darkness seeped in little by little. Alone, she felt it.

During the days before Nero returned to Rome, whenever she fell asleep, she had strange dreams.

In the darkness, she picked up a cold dagger and stabbed it at her teacher.

There was no expression, no emotion. Calmly, endlessly, endlessly, she drove the blade into Novia.

With an empty expression, she stabbed him again and again. Why? Why? It was as though she could hear herself whispering those words.

Because it was a dream, in that world with only herself and her teacher, she quietly killed him over and over.

It was so painful. But what was she supposed to do?

When Nero woke, she was in such pain that she could not help clutching the Primal Fire her teacher had given her beside her pillow.

When had she started to fall in love with him?

It had begun that day, so long ago that she could no longer remember it. He had always been special to her.

Because she liked her teacher, this had happened. In other words, if she had not harbored improper feelings for him, she would not be like this.

Could it be that she had been born bearing the fate of abandonment?

When her mother had carried her, her heart had been full of hope. So long as Nero was born, her mother could poison her to death, commit adultery with another man, and divorce her drunken, promiscuous father. Her mother's hope had been Nero's despair.

"I didn't choose to be born into a world filled with mud like this either..."

Violent emotions suddenly surged into the girl's heart.

Precisely because she was surrounded by endless mud, she yearned all the more intensely for stars so brilliant they could not be looked at directly.

The blood in her body gradually turned into soft cotton. It was not an illusion. If she truly cut open her wrist, perhaps cotton would really flow out.

I'm just a doll. A doll with no value in existing.

No wonder she was always abandoned. It was not that she was not valued. Rather, as someone forced into being born, being discarded everywhere was simply her inevitable fate.

To Nero, living had, since she was very young, been like dull clouds drifting across the sky.

There was neither sentiment nor lingering aftertaste. Nothing remained in her heart. There were only meaningless, worthless words laid out in rows, along with piercing noise. She had no desire to look at them, only staring blankly.

Curled up in this disgusting world, she constantly thought that it would be nice if this could end soon. Yet the world before her showed no sign of ending at all.

The contents of life were probably different for everyone. Among them, there must be people whose lives were filled with vivid colors, cheerful music, outstanding family members, and incomparable joy. Such people surely existed. People like that surely would not want life to end so quickly.

But in her eyes, the life that belonged to her had already ended. It had no taste, no color. There was only herself, squatting there with her head in her arms, casually abandoned. How could she possibly make anyone happy in a world like this?

Even if she wanted to remember, there was no way anymore. I no longer have any reason to live. Just as they said, my past should all disappear. Then I can finally be free.

Nero, her gaze dim, gripped the Primal Fire and muttered:

"If I had never been born..."

The moment the girl spoke those words for the first time, she felt as though she were in a sea of fire. Every minute, every second, a thick, oppressive sense of reality tormented her entire body, as if she were swimming through a crimson sea of blood and continuously gulping down filthy impurities.

The sea of blood eroded the world before her bit by bit. It had already soaked the girl's lower body. She would probably be completely submerged by it and eventually melt into that scorching sea of filth.

Nero did not know why she was here, but her body was filled with dark emotions that seemed like resignation, pain, and sorrow. They left her without even the strength to struggle or move. She wanted to disappear as soon as possible.

Only when the blonde girl came back to herself did she realize that the sea of blood had risen to her chest. Her legs and arms, swallowed by the dark sea of blood, could no longer be felt.

I see. This way, it'll be easier.

That was what she thought, but it was also anger with nowhere to go.

It had to be because she was someone who should not exist that she had ended up all alone.

"I'm all alone..."

The words spilled from her mouth unconsciously. The girl cried—not in silent sobs, but in the wailing way she had as a child.

"...But even though I don't know why I'm alive, why does it hurt when I'm about to disappear? Tell me, Teacher."

How strange. Even though the girl's mind had already pathologically given up functioning, the body that had supported her for more than a decade defied its master's will, still longing to see that person once more. Thus, Nero's body moved again.

And so, six days passed. Nero returned to Rome and immediately went to see her teacher, Novia.

"Teacher, I'm back..."

She slightly opened her translucent green eyes and spoke in a weak voice.

"Welcome back, Nero. Are you all right...?"

Novia looked at the utterly haggard Nero. The girl's eyes were like a doll's, devoid of any emotional ripples.

Then overlapping figures appeared in his vision: a petite, slender body holding something, a face very similar to Nero's, their postures nearly merging together.

"It's nothing. I'm just a little tired. I'll be fine after some sleep..."

The nasal quality in the girl's voice made it obvious that she had cried. Novia stood beneath the brilliant, dazzling sunlight and looked directly at her.

"Then rest here with me. Once you've recovered, I have something to tell you."

At that moment, Nero's mind was filled with noise calling out a certain name.

Ah... I'm about to disappear. I'm going to lose myself.

It's so hot. Why am I here?

What... was I again? Why did I come here? Who is Draco? Why is this blood-red sea calling me that?

Nero's consciousness was gradually swallowed by darkness. She felt her body slowly falling. That was her final sensation.

In the mind that was slowly losing everything, only an unfamiliar name and one sentence continued to repeat—

"Teacher, please... don't abandon me..."

I Can't Do It, I Can't...

"Be careful, Novia! Nero, she... she's turning into a dragon!"

Melusine had originally been waiting inside the spear for Novia to call her out. But the instant Nero spoke, the Strongest Dragon sensed the enormous magical power welling up from deep within the human's body. In a manner she had never heard of, Nero was turning into a dragon, warping the surrounding space with magical power.

Moreover, this was not a simple evil dragon phenomenon caused by extreme desire. It was a return to some origin, some source, as though Nero herself had always been a dragon, and her prior human identity had merely been a false image living in this world.

It was not a human taking on the form of a beast. On the contrary, this was the true form of some beast that had once descended directly into the human world in a shape suited to it.

"...I understand."

Novia knew very well that the dragon Melusine spoke of was undoubtedly the Beast of Sodom. Merely being swept by the ominous red magical power radiating from her gave him the illusion that his mind was about to be completely devoured.

Melusine and Novia both realized in an instant—an enormous blood-red sea stretching tens of thousands of kilometers seemed to be staring directly at them.

Drawing upon Melusine's magical support and using the magecraft he had learned, Novia moved in an instant beyond the limits of human reaction speed, arriving before Nero.

"Don't come closer... to me!"

One hand clutching her head and the other holding the Primal Fire, Nero saw Novia approach and staggered backward as she swung at him.

The girl's current sword stance was laughable, utterly unlike the bearing she had once displayed on the battlefield. Yet it carried an indescribable aura of danger, one that called death to mind. And in Novia's eyes, the Primal Fire was erupting with the same ominous red magical power.

"Nero, I don't understand why you think this way, but I will not abandon you. Nor will I let go of your hand."

Novia spoke in a calm voice.

"Hahahaha, why? Why? Why wouldn't you abandon me...? What value do I have to you? Even the throne—if it weren't me, you could find someone else to replace me whenever you wanted! Say it! Tell me! What value do I even have to you...? I clearly have no value in living..."

The blonde girl's vocal cords trembled as she muttered brokenly,

"I don't want to be abandoned... I... did nothing wrong... I'll never forgive you— I'll— burn— the world— I'll drag you... into the mud and burn you to ashes..."

Bloodshot filled the mad blonde girl's eyes. In an instant, her backward steps became a forward charge, and she raised the Primal Fire to strike down at Novia—

At that moment, Nero briefly returned to normal. The Primal Fire slipped from her hand and fell to the ground.

"I can't do it, I can't... I don't want to kill you. I really don't, Teacher. Please don't abandon me, all right? I'm useful. I can do anything. I have value. Don't abandon me. Kill Teacher... I... I really... can't do it... I was wrong. Please don't be angry, all right...?"

The words spilled from Nero's mouth unconsciously. She cried—not in silent sobs, but in the wailing way she had as a child. Blood-colored tears never ceased to flow. Her final words came out in a soft murmur, as though she had lost her soul, while Novia, as if unconcerned, washed away her emotions with a steady yet powerful voice.

"I promise you, I will not abandon you."

Even so, the girl continued crying without end. She even fell to her knees on the spot, curling into a ball as tears streamed down her face.

'Novia, Nero's transformation is irreversible now. What happened just now can be called a miracle, but before long, she'll become like that again. When that happens, I'm afraid...'

'I know. Melusine, can you gather the magical power around Nero and delay it for a few days?'

As he held the endlessly crying Nero and continuously stroked her back to comfort her, Novia communicated with Melusine through telepathy.

'It should be possible. Since just now, seven streams of magical power that seem to have been stored for a long time specifically for this situation have been gathering around this place. As long as she doesn't resist, and I guide them a little, it should work.'

After learning this, Novia wiped away Nero's tears with his hand, then brushed across her cheek and said to her:

"Next, Nero, you need to rest properly. I do not want the flame that burns everything to ashes to be extinguished here like this, understand?"

After saying what her real mother would never have said to her child in a voice meant to soothe a child, he gently stood up.

"...I'll be good... so... don't abandon me..."

As Nero silently closed her eyes, Novia followed the telepathic instructions Melusine sent him and activated his magecraft.

In an instant, magical power violently swirled in every direction. Almost at the same time, among the seven hills east of the Tiber in the heart of Rome—the Quirinal Hill as the gathering point, Palatine Hill, Aventine Hill, Capitoline Hill, Viminal Hill, Esquiline Hill, and Caelian Hill—

The seven hills that had existed since Rome's founding released the overwhelming "radiance" left behind by Romulus Quirinus, the supreme god born of man, a radiance comparable to ether from the Age of Gods. In that instant, incomparably magnificent light and its paired illusory flower shadows extended toward where Nero was, while multi-layered thunder was spread one by one around the area.

All of this happened in an instant. Before the people of Rome could ask too many questions, the fantastical scene vanished.

"...Romulus."

Novia murmured, carrying the unconscious Nero and placing her on the bed.

Then Melusine, who had manifested beside him, asked:

"What should we do next? I really have no idea. More importantly, why did she become like this...?"

Novia replied to Melusine:

"There's no need to investigate the cause right now. We only need to solve it first... We'll do as the prophecy in that Book of Revelation says."

The silver-haired man's emotions remained calm. In that brief time, he had already decided what needed to be done.

"If Nero is destined to become a Beast that burns the world, then as her teacher, I cannot stand by and let her flames harm innocent people. Besides, this began because of me. I bear this responsibility..."

"Mm, all right. I'll stay with you the whole time! Once everything is over, Novia, you can introduce me to Nero!"

Killing

The next day, Rome's morning was so peaceful that the immense light and illusory flower shadows from yesterday seemed like nothing more than an illusion.

The people of Rome all said that the gods had been pleased because His Majesty the Emperor had personally dug the canal, which was why such a phenomenon had occurred. But to those who had learned magecraft, it undoubtedly showed that the empire had preserved the mysteries of old through some special method.

However, inside a room in the Roman imperial palace where Nero lived, Novia was writing furiously at a desk.

"Melusine, help me open the window. Let some light in."

At his words, the silver-haired girl who had been sitting in Novia's arms jumped down and obediently opened the tightly shut window.

The red-themed bedroom had originally been quiet as though a funeral were being held. But as Melusine slowly opened the window, a dreamlike sight that made one want to sigh in admiration appeared before them: the sky was covered in blue, an enchanting expanse of blue stretching beyond sight.

"Novia, Novia, what are you writing?"

Melusine was somewhat confused. Ever since Novia had brought Nero back to this palace yesterday, he had not done anything related to the Book of Revelation he mentioned. Instead, he had spent the whole night without sleep, writing strange things about there being only one god or something.

She also found it strange that Novia dared to say such things. After all, how could there possibly be only one god? Still, Melusine had been restraining herself from asking too much, lest she trouble Novia. Yet deep down, she still wanted to know what he was writing.