Volume 4—Chapter 110: “The First Cataclysm”
Amelia hovered high above Tsukuru City, the night wind rushing past her as her broom cut through the sky. Below, the city stretched in a web of lights and motion, unaware of the presence drifting overhead.
Behind her, Syena clung tightly to the broom, arms locked in place as if letting go would send her spiralling into the streets below.
“Where was it…” Amelia muttered under her breath, eyes scanning the city with quiet intensity.
She was searching for someone. Not just anyone, but someone similar to herself. Someone like her sister. Someone untouched by the construct of time.
The idea sounded abstract, even contradictory.
Multiple timelines existed in this world. In one timeline, a war might begin. In another, it never happened. In one, a person might become a hero. In another, they lived an ordinary life. Events changed. Circumstances shifted.
But the people themselves always existed.
Their roles differed. Their paths diverged. Yet across timelines, they remained present in some form. A constant variable in an ever-changing equation.
So what did it mean to be someone not affected by time constructs?
It meant an existence that appeared only once. A person who existed in a single timeline and nowhere else. No alternate self. No variation. Just one instance, absolute and irreplaceable.
Beings like that were anomalies.
Usually, individuals of that nature possessed immeasurable power or embodied an aspect that could not be duplicated. If they existed more than once, the balance of timelines would collapse under the contradiction.
The holders of the six Authorities were prime examples. Creation, Reality, Time, Fate, Awareness, and End. Each could exist only once across all timelines.
Yet there were others.
Rare. Nearly impossible to detect.
But Amelia could feel one.
Her Authority over time allowed her to sense disturbances others could not perceive. A singular presence, standing outside the layered structure of timelines, like a fixed point that refused replication.
“I wonder what it is… I’m curious,” Amelia murmured, a faint smile forming as interest replaced uncertainty.
Behind her, Syena groaned.
“Please slow down… I feel like I’m going to throw up at any moment,” she said, her voice strained as she pressed her face closer to Amelia’s back, trying not to look down.
Elsewhere, a girl frantically tries to make a call, but the line will not connect.
“Father… why won’t you pick up?!” Irana’s voice trembles as she stares at the screen.
Nearby, Elizabeth stands with a hard glare fixed on her.
“You… this happened because of you. Your actions led to this…”
Her voice trails off. She exhales, the anger draining from her face.
“…No. I shouldn’t be taking it out on you. Carrying that kind of burden at your age… that’s your father’s responsibility. And now Aria is awakening her power.”
“I… I’m sorry.”
Irana lowers her head. She knows her failure played a part in all of this. If she had completed her mission properly, maybe none of this would have happened.
Then, a second later, something shifts.
“Woah… what was that?” Irana looks up.
“An earthquake?” Elizabeth asks.
Unfortunately, it is far worse.
The atmosphere turns violet, the colour spreading unnaturally across the sky. Then cracks begin to appear in the air itself, not just one, but many, splitting open like fractures in glass.
Irana’s face turns ashen.
“This isn’t good…” Elizabeth says quietly.
“Irana, quickly. There’s a safe area in the school basement. The Association built it in case something like this happens. You know what to do, right?” Elizabeth said.
“Evacuate people, right?”
“Exactly. I’ll contact nearby espers. And listen, don’t you dare join the fight. Stay behind and focus on defence. You hear me?” Elizabeth’s tone sharpened.
“O… okay,” Irana replied, nodding.
Then…
“We’ll help.”
A girl’s voice cut in from behind them.
She had fiery red hair, and behind her stood a more mature-looking girl with a black ponytail. Ariana and Yukari.
Elizabeth recognised Ariana immediately, the rogue esper who caused an incident last month before disappearing without a trace. This was not the moment to confront her, let alone arrest her. The other girl was Yukari Fiolera, the eldest daughter of the Fiolera family. Seeing her beside Ariana made one thing clear… She had been sheltering her all this time. For what reason did not matter right now.
“Glad you’re willing to help,” Elizabeth said, “But we need to split up.”
She pointed quickly, already organising the response.
“Irana, head to the gym. Yukari, take the left wing of the main building. Ariana, go to the dorms.”
Without another word, they moved.
Irana broke into a sprint toward the gym, shoes pounding against cracked pavement. The air felt heavy, like the world itself was holding its breath. As she turned the corner past the main courtyard, the first dimensional crack came into view, suspended in midair like shattered glass frozen in place.
Something crawled out of it.
Small, hunched figures with blades and snarling faces. Goblins. Behind them, larger shapes forced their way through, wolves with glowing eyes, and something heavier that thudded against the ground with each step. A bear, but twisted, its body too large, its limbs stretched unnaturally.
Irana clenched her fists and kept running.
The first goblin lunged. She dodged on instinct and struck it aside with a burst of force. Another came from the left, then a wolf from the front. There was no time to think, only to react. She weaved between them, pushing forward, every movement focused on one thing only. Reach the gym.
The path turned into a gauntlet. Creatures poured from the cracks, filling the campus grounds, forcing her to fight step by step. She knocked one aside, slipped past another, and drove through the opening before they could surround her.
Then one of the goblins lunged and slammed into her, knocking her off her feet.
It should not have happened, not like this.
She had just been fighting Ariana and Yukari earlier. If she were in her usual state, there was no way something like a goblin could take her down so easily.
Irana forced herself to move, trying to conjure ice around her arms, a shield, anything.
Nothing formed. She doesn’t have enough mental power to do so.
“Ah… no…”
The goblin raised its crude weapon as it prepared to strike.
Irana squeezed her eyes shut.
But the impact never came.
Irana slowly opened her eyes.
The goblin was frozen in front of her, suspended midair, its weapon inches away from her face.
“Huh… what happened?” Irana whispered.
It was as if time itself had stopped.
“My… that was close. Thankfully, I arrived on time. Well, of course I did.”
The voice came lightly, almost amused.
Irana turned her head and saw her.
A girl in witch-like attire stood a few steps away, silver hair flowing gently as if untouched by gravity or wind.
“Uh… what happened? No, I mean… thank you,” Irana said, still trying to catch her breath.
“Well, no worries. But… hmm. How curious,” the girl replied, her gaze shifting from Irana to the frozen monsters around them.
Then, from behind her, another person appeared.
Irana blinked.
That face was familiar.
“Syena Fiolera? Where have you been?”
Author's Note
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