The golden waves enveloping the current world swirled away.
What unfolded behind it was a blue sky.
The ominous purplish hue that covered the heavens had vanished, leaving behind a peaceful landscape as if it had never existed.
The people regained their reason.
The rampage that had them terrified, smashing everything in sight had ceased.
Just before the final limit was reached, the black power that urged them on had been completely eradicated.
There was no more intimidation.
The sensation of a colossal something staring down at them was gone.
All that remained was a world no different from the usual.
At that moment, from the sky,
A shooting star was falling.
“Airship! It’s crashing down!”
The former alliance headquarters.
An emergency alarm rang out in the command center.
The specially modified airship, aiming to break through the atmosphere, had now lost power and was plummeting.
The massive hull entering the atmosphere, glowing from the heat, looked just like a shooting star.
It resembled a meteor.
External components melted away and fell off as the hull’s frame was on the brink of detachment.
“Now!”
With the signal from the Master of the White Magic Tower, the magic circles installed atop each magic tower began to unleash their mana.
The magic being activated was 5th-tier magic, Telekinesis.
Using the five towers as a core, the spell decelerated the falling airship at an incredible speed.
Just before it touched the ground, the speed of the airship dropped to nearly zero and it landed softly.
Boom!
As the overheated hull hit the ground, flames erupted onto the grass.
With a gesture from the mages, the flames were swiftly extinguished.
Revealed after the smoke cleared was the airship, stripped of its paint and outer armor, leaving only the bare hull.
It was the airship that had first ventured into space, exterminated dimensional beings, and returned.
“It seems …”
“Yes. It won’t be unscathed.”
The Great Mages shook their heads.
The airship emitted such scorching heat that it was hard to get close.
It was all too clear what had happened to those inside.
The Frost Duchess, the Witch, and the newly titled Great Mage, the Nameless.
They had lost several superhumans.
Faced with the threat of destruction of the current world, they had selflessly sacrificed themselves.
As the mages offered their condolences, a sudden sound rang out from within.
“…?!”
Bang! Bang! Bang!
It was a loud noise from inside.
Wasn’t that like a distress signal?
The mages became flustered.
From how to approach that scorching hull to gathering ice-type mages to cool it down, there was a flurry of activity.
At that moment, the hull suddenly crumpled.
Then crack!, the hull walls ripped apart.
Instantly, a chilling cold enveloped the surroundings.
The grass froze, and the air turned chilly.
“Haah. I asked you to get me out for real. You’re making me come out myself.”
The interior of the completely frozen airship was revealed.
The Frost Duchess and her companions emerged calmly from inside.
They appeared unscathed, without any injuries.
All the mages bowed their heads.
Even the Great Mages couldn’t discern what had happened above.
Because they had reached the pinnacle of magic, they understood what they didn’t know.
What ordinary people thought was a colossal something was beyond imagination.
Just gazing at it could strip one of their reason.
Only by erasing the memories of having witnessed it could one return to their senses—a forbidden existence.
Those who had regained their sanity under the protection of the golden light would merely think, “Ah, so a dangerous calamity came and went.”
But the Great Mages could sense, at least in fragments, what achievements they had returned with.
They had not just prevented the world’s doom.
They had stopped the collapse of dimensions.
They had surpassed the limits of magic, transcended the limits of engineering, and overcome the limitations of mortals, defeating an existence that could dare to be called a god of a dimension.
“An honor fitting for our heroes.”
All the mages and soldiers surrounding the burnt, blackened grass humbled themselves, kneeling with genuine respect.
Because it would never be known to the world.
And it wouldn’t be understood.
Thus, it was their duty to honor and remember this day, the tiny fragment of those who had reached it.
“Wait, just a second······! Everyone! Ugh?!”
The witch, Yulia, who rushed outside, froze in place.
The warm sunlight and the gazes of numerous people.
As she was suddenly hit by the things she loathed, it felt as if her throat was blocked and her body was crawling with insects, causing her to shrink back.
But Yulia gritted her teeth and moved forward.
“Please······! Yoo Jin······! Please save my Yoo Jin······.”
Sobbing, she pushed forward the man on the stretcher.
There seemed to be nothing wrong with him at first glance.
But as he lay unconscious, sweating coldly, the medical team became frantic.
“Waaaaah! What to do! I don’t want him to leave again!”
“Oh, it’s really nothing serious. Stop being so dramatic, honestly.”
“How can the Frost Duchess be so heartless······ sniff······.”
“No. Honestly, stop being so over the top.”
Yulia clung to Yoo Jin, crying loudly, while Yerina, bewildered by all the fuss, couldn’t understand why.
Just as Yerina sighed, fatigued, someone arrived to make things even louder.
“Aaaah! What’s happening right now? Not Yoo Jin again······?”
“No, it’s not! Calm down, Priestess. Can we hear my story first? There are a lot of eyes here, so let’s- ”
“No, don’t go! Don’t go, Yoo Jin! You promised to come back this time for real!”
“I don’t even know anymore······.”
Exhausted by the two women clinging to the stretcher and crying, Yerina turned away.
She reached the peak of fatigue.
*
Yoo Jin’s condition was more serious than expected.
Contrary to the initial diagnosis that he was just exhausted and asleep, he did not wake up easily.
As the time without consciousness exceeded twelve hours, both Yulia and Jill were growing frantic, as if they were about to lose their breath.
Yoo Jin seemed to be having a painful dream, continuously groaning and shaking his body.
Occasional sounds of bones cracking came from within him.
Sweat was constantly pouring down his body.
Amidst this, Jill and Yulia turned away medical staff, nearly cleaning Yoo Jin’s body every hour.
Jill tirelessly poured her mana into him.
Casting healing magic and infusing divine energy.
Yet, there was no sign of improvement.
‘Is this an ailment the Priestess cannot heal?’
‘Could it be······ fate, the laws of the world are trying to take Yoo Jin away······?’
Jill’s mental state deteriorated in real-time.
The trauma she had barely managed to forget resurfaced.
Just as she contemplated whether to separate Jill, Yerina was lost in thought.
“Uh······. I think I’m starting to figure out the diagnosis.”
“What’s the matter, Doctor?! Please don’t just say he’s dying! I’m begging you······!”
“This is metamorphosis.”
“Metamorphosis?”
“Yes.”
“······?”
Jill’s expression went blank at the completely unexpected diagnosis.
Metamorphosis? Why does that suddenly come up?
“What I mean by metamorphosis is······.”
“Yes, that metamorphosis you all know. When someone possesses extraordinary talent or has awakened abilities, but their body cannot handle that power, their body rapidly transforms into one that can accommodate that strength, enduring severe suffering.”
“Isn’t that something that usually happens to superhumans during their growth phase?”
There was no way they wouldn’t know.
Jill, Yulia, and Yerina had all experienced it.
Those born as mortals but having talents beyond what they should have either died in childhood or underwent metamorphosis to become vessels for superhumans.
“Yes. That’s right. Looking at the current situation, the metamorphosis is in the final stage. His skeleton has become much sturdier, his skin has firmed, and the previously unstable flow of mana within his body has stabilized. The metamorphosis has been successfully completed, and he should awaken soon.”
“W-what······? So, Yoo Jin has been······ in a body that hadn’t even undergone metamorphosis until now?!”
Jill couldn’t even muster a chuckle at the ridiculousness of it all.
To think he just finally became a superhuman’s body?
That meant Yoo Jin had been fighting against powerful enemies with a frail and inefficient body all this time, right?
Such unimaginable information short-circuited Jill’s brain.
And it was the same for Yulia and Yerina.
Of course, they had thought Yoo Jin was one of them.
A being who mastered martial arts that an ordinary person could not withstand and glimpsed beyond.
If that was the case, didn’t it mean that every time Yoo Jin unleashed a martial arts technique, his bones twisted and his muscles tore?
That every time he cast magic beyond 5th tier, he endured the sensation of his life force being drained and blood vessels drying up?
That each time he manipulated demonic energy, he bore the erosion and decay of his bones to the very core?
What was normal for them was not normal for Yoo Jin.
In that simple fact, Jill, Yulia, and Yerina fell into a momentary shock, unable to speak.
