The Wind Rises / The Clouds Return

"Hiss—haa—"

And so, she began breathing in the air of the wilderness.

The Wind Rises

When Niiki's figure disappeared from sight, Marina turned around and proudly showed the others what she held: a tiny plastic bag. Only upon closer inspection could they see the short strand of purple hair inside.

"Huh?" The sorrowful atmosphere of parting was effortlessly shattered. Once they realized what Marina had done, they all moved a little farther away from her.

"I once thought you were a respectable senior." Nijika was heartbroken. "Even my sister wouldn't do something like this!"

"What kind of image does the manager have in your heart...?" In Ichiri's eyes, the Starry manager was still a stern person.

Unlike the others' fear, Shiko's eyes shone brightly.

"My understanding of Miss Marina was far too shallow before..." She covered her face to keep her excitement from twisting her expression. "I never imagined she had this kind of gravity... She could at least make it into the top sixteen in Pretty Moe..."

The others moved a little farther away from Shiko as well.

"Everyone... what do you think?" Marina approached them in a crooked, swaying manner, unaware that anything was wrong.

"W-what do you think?! Even if you have that kind of interest, Miss Marina, please hide this sort of thing yourself, aaah—!"

"Huh?" Miss Marina tilted her head cutely. "I mean, with this, we can forcibly let Yuki receive CiRCLE's enhancement."

Oh.

Shiko's expression instantly collapsed, and she looked deeply dissatisfied.

The others relaxed. Naturally, none of them objected to letting Miss Niiki receive CiRCLE's buff as well.

"But... this will divide the strength of your buffs..." That was precisely why Marina had come to ask for the others' opinions.

Of course, no one objected. Miss Niiki was very strong, but being able to help her even a little was still wonderful.

They did not understand the specifics of Marina's operation. In any case, they sensed Miss Niiki's condition. In their perception, if their own Mental Strength was a dim starlight, Miss Niiki's was the brightest first-magnitude star in the night sky. Marina told Shiko that she had used a method to ensure Miss Niiki absolutely could not see CiRCLE's assistance on her panel, saving her from overthinking it.

Two days passed after that.

The five of them entered a canyon. There was no river at the bottom, but a large number of prey had gathered there. Today's harvest was poor. Even though it was night, the density of monsters was the same as during the day.

"Haa... I wonder where Miss Niiki is now." The monster in front of her fell, and Kita relaxed slightly. She lay on the ground, admiring the sliver of starry sky that remained visible. There were few clouds here and no moonlight, so the magnificent galaxy could be seen every night. The five of them had grown accustomed to fighting at night, so they had shifted their hunting hours to nighttime for greater efficiency. That left them with more free time during the day.

Shiko plopped herself down on a rock and wiped away her sweat. Thinking back, she realized that Miss Niiki rarely told them how she lived alone. They knew that, with her abilities, she could survive without food or drink and could even abandon sleep when necessary. But where did she stay? Where did she want to go? Shiko found it difficult to imagine such a life.

Was Miss Niiki also looking at the same starry sky as them now? Or was she asleep? She calmed herself and sensed carefully.

The star in her mind that represented Miss Niiki remained steady and unchanged. Based on what she had learned, when Mental Strength was depleted, the starlight would begin to flicker and dim, then slowly recover once the other person left battle. Over the past two days, the starlight had flickered extremely frequently. Yesterday morning, it had already been swaying as soon as she woke up, and it continued until they finished breakfast. Throughout the rest of the day, it would occasionally flicker twice, as if looking for a sense of existence, and it was still flickering before Shiko went to sleep. Miss Niiki had only left a short while ago, yet there seemed to be an endless number of monsters near CiRCLE for her to fight. Shiko really had no idea where she found them all.

(Come to think of it, the monster density tonight is clearly lower than before. Could this be the reason?)

The wind rose. Shiko opened her eyes. On either side stood colossal shadows a thousand zhang tall, reminding her of the great gods in myths who supported heaven and earth, while the starry sky solemnly revolved between them. The wind whistled through the valley. Paired with this natural music, even the scenery they saw every day seemed different. No one made a sound. They silently praised the moment. Shiko suddenly felt the urge to take a photograph. Unfortunately, she had not brought her camera, but she had her own methods.

Holding a sheet of white paper, she concentrated. The scenery before her eyes was slowly replicated onto the page. It was not as precise as a photograph, but she could freely add her own inspiration to make up for that. Shiko was quite satisfied with the work.

"Your drawing is so good~" a voice suddenly came from beside her ear. Shiko jumped violently, and the drawing in her hand nearly flew away. She turned around and saw that it was Kita.

"Can I see it again?"

With a hint of pride, Shiko handed over her work. The others gathered around as well.

The wind did not die down. Instead, it grew stronger and stronger, and Kita nearly lost her grip on the paper.

"I have a bad feeling." Nijika frowned.

"Are you a little cold?" Kita lit a cluster of flames.

"Thanks... but I don't think that's the reason."

Shiko also had a very bad feeling. She raised her head and looked toward the other exit of the canyon.

She thought she saw a flash.

No, it was not an illusion! She saw that a piece of the sky was missing!

"Look!" She stood and pointed in that direction. Another flash appeared. This time, she saw clearly: it was lightning, lightning she had never seen in this world before! By the light of that instant, she saw the shape of the sky.

It was as if a god had drawn one stroke across the sky with thick ink, then willfully swept it downward, leaving wisps of flying white in the darkness—that was an angry storm cloud pouring down upon the mortal world. Shiko had once witnessed such a magnificent sight from across a river. Now that she saw the familiar scene again, she felt even more uneasy.

There had never been rain here. Although torrential rain in the Gobi Desert was not impossible, Shiko faintly sensed that the clouds' color carried a bloody stench.

"What happened to Miss Niiki?!" Nijika cried out. Only then did Shiko notice that the star representing Miss Niiki, which had been calm just moments ago, had now blossomed eerily in a deep blood-red!

Something had happened! In that storm!

Shiko immediately ran back.

"Little Shiko, where are you going?!"

"Back to CiRCLE! Hurry!"

Her instincts told her that the storm was absolutely not something they could enter right now. But Miss Marina was surely monitoring everyone from the secret room, including Miss Niiki! They could only find out what had happened by returning!

In her mind, the star belonging to Miss Niiki grew brighter and more dangerous, like... like...

The moment a supernova exploded.

When a supernova erupted, the entire universe shone with it. Yet after that magnificent instant—

Just as Shiko entered CiRCLE's gates, panting for breath, the star suddenly went out, as if it had never existed. Shiko desperately searched for it and seemed to glimpse a faint afterimage, like the illusion left in one's eyes after staring at a lightbulb.

She did not wait for the others. She rushed straight underground, broke into the storage room, stumbled into several shelves, and finally pushed open the secret door.

Miss Marina was kneeling on the floor.

Shiko had never seen Marina like this. In the animation and games of her previous life, Marina had always worn a gentle smile. Even in Pico's comedic little animations, she showed a lively side and joined in the girls' games. In this life, Shiko had even seen what Marina looked like when drunk.

Now Marina knelt on the floor, staring blankly ahead. There was no smile on her face, only two streams of silent tears.

Of the screens on the wall, only five remained lit.

Clouds Return

When the members of Kessoku Band followed Shiko into the secret room deep underground, this was the scene they saw.

Marina still knelt in the same position, her head lowered so that her expression could not be seen. Shiko hugged her tightly from behind, and they could hear her sobbing deeply into the clothes.

"Miss Marina..."

Only after hearing the voice did Marina suddenly come to herself. She stood and said, "Shiko, play Yuki's final footage for them."

She ignored everyone and strode out of the secret room. No one could see her expression. But Shiko noticed that Marina was walking with her right arm and right leg moving together.

Shiko wiped her face and beckoned to the people by the door.

She began the playback.

Niiki wandered freely through the wilderness. She had no destination, and did not need one. Sometimes she climbed hills; sometimes she ventured deep into canyons, leaping between the rocks and battling strange and bizarre enemies without ever making a mistake. Even if she did, it did not matter. She only needed to remain where she was for a while before fully recovering and continuing her journey, which had no destination and did not need one.

But this night was different. Her seasoned nose caught the scent of danger. The surroundings were empty, with none of the usual enemies.

A towering mountain stood ahead. Such a height was quite rare in this plateau-dominated region. Around the height of a ten-story building, there was a cave in the mountainside. If it was not too deep, it could serve as her shelter for the night. Niiki walked toward the mountain, but the sense of dissonance in her heart grew stronger and stronger.

No, she could not stay there!

She suddenly stopped and examined the mountain again. There was nothing unusual, nor were there any wandering monsters. Yet her instincts continued to warn her. As an experienced traveler, she chose to trust them. Keeping her eyes on the mountain, she took one step backward.

The next second, she understood the source of the dissonance.

The mountain moved.

At first, only a few stones rolled down. Soon, hazy dust erupted from deep within the earth.

An earthquake?

No. Niiki was standing steadily on the ground. But she had indeed felt a tremor—because the mountain before her had grown legs and begun to walk.

That was no mountain. It was clearly the body of a colossal creature. No one knew how many legs extended from beneath its body, and each one was as thick as a pillar in an ancient Greek temple.

Could such a huge creature really exist? Or was she dreaming? For an instant, Niiki was suffocated by shock.

She remembered the "mountain-sized black shadows" Marina and the others had mentioned before. Was this it? Had it been lying dormant here, only to be awakened by her?

The mountain might have been awakened by Niiki. But was that really the case? Compared with its enormous body, Niiki was no more than an ant on the ground.

Would a person be awakened by an ant passing by?

Niiki hoped that this creature would not notice this particular ant either. The mountain took its first step. Its countless legs moved in a surreal rhythm, creating tremors like an earthquake. Only through her incredible reflexes did Niiki avoid falling. She finally reacted and realized that she needed to evade as quickly as possible. Facing a creature like this, even someone as battle-hungry as her could not summon the slightest will to fight.

Before the mountain took its next step, Niiki moved. Her legs felt as though they did not belong to her, and even moving them felt awkward and lopsided. She forced herself to look ahead, which helped her recover slightly. The earth kept trembling. It was the signal that "that thing" was drawing closer.

Run! As long as she got ahead of it, in a little while she would be able to—

To confirm the mountain's route, Niiki turned her head to the right. There was a canyon over there.

There seemed to be firelight in the canyon.

Firelight?

Her heart suddenly leaped. There really was firelight in the canyon. With the transcendent vision granted by more than three hundred points of [Body], she could clearly see the sparks in the canyon. She also saw faint starlight.

Nearby, only one group of people could emit such light.

And she knew this canyon.

The five of them were currently fighting in the canyon, and a short distance beyond the exit on the other side was CiRCLE.

After wandering around in circles, she had ended up near CiRCLE again!

The mountain's speed was completely disproportionate to its size. During the moment Niiki stood dazed, the dust it raised had nearly swallowed her.

Niiki instead stopped.

The mountain was now moving toward the canyon. It absolutely could not enter it, but its terrifying mass would certainly cause the canyon walls to collapse.

Fire a warning shot? Judging from the position of the firelight she had just seen and the mountain's speed, even if the five of them began running now, they would have difficulty escaping before the canyon collapsed. And CiRCLE was just a little farther beyond that. To such a huge creature, that distance was practically nothing.

"Marina, turn off the [Imaginary Field]." She turned around and whispered to the air.

There was no response.

"I don't even know whether you can really hear me." Niiki drew her twin guns. She did not load them, merely held and toyed with them. "I'll hold it here for a while. Find a way to make them escape as quickly as possible. Be prepared, and evacuate if necessary. Go toward the left-hand side of that tower, cross the mountains, and leave the plateau. You'll find a small settlement by the river. There are five people there. They're also girls in a band, and their band is called Roselia. The conditions aren't as good as here, but at least you'll have a place to stay."

The twin guns transformed in her hands into a black and a white sphere of light, circling around her body.

"Haa..."

The gale kicked up by the mountain blew her long hair into the air.

"Marina."

The red dust, several times taller than her, had already reached her.

"Goodbye."

Blood-red light burst from the darkness.

"I sacrifice my flesh and blood to call upon the gods above the heavens."

"Ancient and mighty beings, forgive this mortal's transgression."

"Let the heart return to the jaguar, Tezcatlipoca!"

Thus, an immense jaguar descended from the night sky. Because of the First Sun's fury, the ten-thousand-foot mountain came to a halt.

Niiki spat out a mouthful of blood and continued speaking.

"Let the hair return to the Smoke Mirror of Myriad Transformations, the Wind of Impermanence!" Her hair, along with her scalp, tore away from her body.

A hurricane that had destroyed an entire era blew forth from myth. The dust soaring into the heavens cut off the starlight, while monster and rock wailed together.

"Flesh and blood—for the Rain of the End, Tlaloc!"

Thunder boomed. Niiki's body became a torch connecting heaven and earth. The flames were so sacred that even the rubble on the ground and the sand in the air ignited together. Her perception drifted upward. Her five senses seemed to blend into one. She saw the sky, the earth below, every leg of the mountain, and the people fleeing through the canyon.

She felt freer than ever before. Riding the destruction of three eras, she joyfully obstructed the advance of the gods.

The jaguar roared, the gale howled, and heavenly fire incinerated everything. Niiki burned without restraint. She tore apart the giant beast's countless legs and melted its hide into boiling magma.

Her consciousness grew increasingly hazy, and her perception grew increasingly blurred. Yet she continued dancing...