***Final Arc, One Who Obtain Happiness, Chapter 257 Siblings Quarrel***
Child of God――or perhaps, Demon Lord Kreschenta.
Queen's sister Alberinea.
It was said that the end of these two, who carved their unified history into the continent and led Alberan to its peak, was truly tumultuous.
It was a night when many were asleep.
Many who could sense magic felt a disturbance in the air, awakening from their unease to gaze up at the sky.
Countless blue lights danced in the sky, flashing like daylight, illuminating the earth and occasionally echoing thunderous explosions that shook the land from high above.
Even those who didn’t possess magic jumped out of their beds and went outside in their night clothes.
In one diary, it was recorded as like a dream of an era when countless dragons danced. In another diary, it was recorded as the wrath of the gods――regardless, the numerous records that still exist indicate that something with transcendent power danced in the night sky, engaging in battle.
However, despite this, the events of that night had vanished completely from the kingdom's official records, like a hole had been left.
Aleha Remin, a general who was said to have stood shoulder to shoulder with Alberinea on the battlefield and was a close friend, wrote this in his own journal.
‘――Never before and never again has there been such a troublesome sibling quarrel.’
A girl with pink hair swayed forward, glaring at another girl with silver hair, their beauty identical.
Both adorned in matching pink nightgown.
Both had wings formed of magic power extending from their backs, with small pieces of wings on their arms and legs.
These were manoeuvring devices capable of controlling the wind and enabling instant acceleration through magical propulsion.
Around the girl with pink hair, there were multidimensional magic arrays that filled half i of space.
Numerous magic circles filled the surrounding space.
Within, three-dimensional geometric patterns were carved in the air with enormous density, but even that was only a small portion.
In the multidimensional magic arrays formed like folded spaces, what could be perceived visually was merely the surface, akin to viewing the vast sea from above.
Its depths were endless, and if unfolded normally, it would cover the horizon as seen from the sky where clouds float.
Numerous inscriptions, such that it would capable of collapsing stars themselves if one were to will it, were engraved.
――Naturally, what was released from there was not mere destruction, each of it was a wrath that could cause natural disaster and even tear apart space itself.
And the numerous inscriptions floated around her, in an instant, became twenty-seven.
Mass-producing orbs of light large enough to engulf an estate, she released them without hesitation.
Even the sound went beyond.
The balls of light were released like a flash, right in front of the eyes of the silver girl in front of her.
It was an act of space-time destruction using a preposterous amount of magical power, devoid of any mercy.
The flashes curved around her, bursting.
The surroundings shimmered like midday, with flashes and explosions erasing everything.
The very space in which her sister existed disappeared, and the crushed space-time led to localized collapse――triggering chain of twenty-seven flashes.
A storm of chaos brewed in the void of nothingness, and the world twisted like a distorted kaleidoscope.
With a wave of her right hand, the broken space-time was repaired as if rewound, and the thin clouds scattered and dissipated.
Then, tearing through dimensions, the girl who calmly emerged from the gap, riding on the storm, ascended into the sky.
As her sister spun gracefully, she gathered the surrounding magic to herself.
A vortex of blue magic surrounded her sister.
The girl with pale pink hair――Kreschenta further distorted her beautiful face, deepening the wrinkles on her forehead.
Even Dragons were mere insects in front of her.
Possessing transcendental computing power and possessing infinite magical power, Kreschenta was now the very god of this world.
However, the girl in front of her was the only existence who was her equal.
The first move of the battle――saturation bombing using enormous magical power.
Using the magical power obtained from the magic crystal, her sister evaded the quarter koku long bombardment by shifting her spatial phase and grasped the remnants magical power of the bombardment.
Her greatest failure was realizing too late that her sister was shifting her spatial phases to evade.
The battle that should have ended in an instant became endless once her sister had acquired magic power.
If she had used her magic from the beginning with the intention of erasing the whole space like she was now, then the battle would have been over.
However, her sister, who had acquired Kreschenta’s ‘residual magic’, tore apart the space, hiding herself, and irritatingly emerged unscathed.
Using magic power that could easily make everything within a thousand disappear, all she did was giving her sister magic power.
With frustration, she rotated the thirty-seven imaginary brains and formed over a thousand magical warheads.
Opposite Kreschenta, the silver girl who had ‘landed in the air’――Krische, was staring intently at her younger sister.
“Hmm...what should Krische do?”
Although she had wings like her younger sister, her foothold is the sky.
By instantly forming a barrier in the space beneath her feet, she could use it as a foothold, allowing her to run and jump around in the sky as if it was the ground.
Floating and accelerating with wings consumes a lot of magical power.
In order to reduce its consumption as much as possible, while waiting, she stood on those barriers and when standing still or changing direction she always used it as foothold.
Compared to her sister, who gracefully floated and flied around in the sky, her movements were more angular.
Although there was not much difference in speed, she hold an overwhelming advantage in acceleration, magic efficiency, and maneuverability.
However, it was still too weak to get close to her younger sister.
Kreschenta used magical power lavishly, and there were countless spatial traps around her.
A formula was deployed to instantaneously obliterate any intruder along with the space they were in the moment they entered the trap.
That said, it was an extravagant technique for a trap aiming to kills just Krische alone.
There was no need for a bomb that could wipe out an entire city just in order to kill a single person, and there was no need for a large-scale surgical technique that would wipe out an entire space.
The spatial traps serve to excise anything approaching her along with the surrounding space.
Even if the opponent was a dragon there was a lot of waste.
If her younger sister had just kept small magical energy projectiles floating like now from the beginning――though it would have been better to increase the number more precisely that would have been enough to win the battle.
To kill a single person, inflicting a wound of no more than 1 sun (~3 cm) was more than enough
Of course, Krische was even capable of regenerating her body, but she only had the magical power of one magic crystal, so she didn't have much to spare.
Avoiding all of those attacks would be impossible, and even if she managed to dodge some, she would still get injured.
Furthermore, even for someone as skilled as Krische, recovering magical energy while dodging those attacks would be difficult, and there was no doubt that she would eventually reach her limit.
However, Kreschenta did not choose that approach.
For the record, Kreschenta also had the intent to kill Krische.
However, she did not think of cutting off Krische’s flesh and limbs, hurting and weakening her, and then killing her.
Therefore, the initial attack was a saturation attack that could instantly erases the flesh.
Despite everything, she knew that Kreschenta was a kind child, and she challenged her because she understood that.
She used all of her magical power for the first blow, shifted the phase of space, and watched the explosion as she waited.
Kreschenta seemed to believe that she had successfully dodged the explosion using magical energy and attacked relentlessly towards the ‘shadow’ she projected. She kept attacking the shadow, thinking that she was dodging the explosion using magic.
After waiting for the bombardment to subside, she returned to the space’s phase and took Kreschenta’s extravagant leftovers――thought she was a little nervous about whether things would go well at first.
Perhaps because Kreschenta was so angry, she didn't notice and ignored the small tricks until just now.
Since Kreschenta aimed to increase the number of projectiles and their power, Krusche was able to recover quite a bit of magical energy.
――Kreschenta’s weakness was that she was strong from the start.
As a child, Krische learned how to swing a wooden sword and gain victory over larger adults.
During the civil war, Krische learned her then-current limitations as an individual versus an army.
In battles against Dragon, she fought opponents far superior to herself alone, giving her a wealth of experience.
However, Kreschenta lacked all of that.
Kreschenta learned various ways to use magical energy from Krische and with the vast amount of magical power in her hands, she suddenly gained the strongest power.
A million-strong army was no match for the current Kreschenta, and even if the remaining dragons attacked all at once, they would only be treated like insects.
There were no superior beings to Kreschenta.
Naturally, she never thought about what to do with someone she couldn't easily kill.
That had always been Krische’s job, as the only one with equal thinking abilities to Kreschenta.
There was no difference in ability between the two, but their thinking and experience were different.
And the difference in thinking and experience influenced their strategies.
Ingenuity in combat was essential for dealing with superior opponents.
Sword combat, military operations.
If one have superior physique, physical ability, or superior military strength, there was nothing to think about.
All you have to do is just push through with force.
However, just like Krische against Kolkis, in order to defeat an opponent who was superior in everything based on simple comparisons, it required skill and the creativity to create it.
The current Kreschenta possessed absolute power.
With magical power capable of easily shattering stars――and the thinking ability to fully utilize it, she could just cut out terrain and space against enemies.
Indulging in such thoughts, Kreschenta’s tactical thinking in battle was immature.
Released from the deployed multi-dimensional spell, a rain of over a thousand magical energy projectiles descended.
Krische’s purple eyes, as if wrapped in a silver thread, narrowed――she analyzed each one of them.
A magic bullet that captures and track Krische’s unique magic color.
They first orbit around Krische, and then rushed towards her all at once.
Since the bullets were tracking magical energy, if Krische could expel a lot of magic to create decoys and guide them, some of the magic bullets would naturally fly towards the decoys.
However, that was Kreschenta’s aim.
The purpose was probably to make Krische expel magic power.
“How naive.”
Krische released a small amount of magic power above her head, adjusted her internal magic power and change its color.
The bullet losing sight of their target rushed towards the mass of magic energy hovering above her.
Decomposing only the bullets that would hit her into magical energy and absorbing them.
Various trials and errors to manage Bery's body.
Although the research to mutate her magic power was halted due to numerous uncertainties, it proved useful here.
Kreschenta widened her eyes and furrowed her brows even more.
While observing her younger sister like that, Krische gracefully dodged and collected the released magical energy.
Fueled by failure――Krische knew her own weakness and powerlessness.
Her calculations were fast, and she was also quite skilled at using swords and magic.
She did think that she was a reasonably excellence existence, but she knew better than anyone that she was not omnipotent.
There were many things in the world that she did not know, and many things that she was not aware of.
Because of that, she had many regrets, and each time, she thought about how she could prevent it from happening again.
But regrets, from small to large, come from unexpected places.
Many times she wished she could have done better.
She wanted everything to be perfect, she didn't want to make mistakes.
But Krische was always powerless, no matter how much effort she put in, failures piled up at her feet as if and slipping through her fingers.
There’s no such thing as a perfect being.
Still, all she could do was to try and think.
All she could do was to just keep trying her very best, to chase after for the best possible outcome.
That was the only thing that made Krische no different from other humans.
‘――Then, I will always protect you, so that you won’t experience anything terrible.’
Selene was clumsy and a bit of a slouch with sword.
Even though she was weak she would say something like that, but she always tried her best, no matter what.
Her grandfather couldn’t even be compared to Krische if she only looked at individual abilities.
However, until the end of his life, he was a great grandfather who Krische respected, he taught Krische about many things that she didn't realize.
So was her Mother, and Father.
Bald Eagle, Skeleton, Mia and Kalua, Woof Woof, Meow Meow, Bald Glasses, Chirp Chirp, and Mosha Mosha, there were many such people around Krische.
――Never stop thinking, without running away, do the best you can.
That was surely not wrong, Krische believed.
Krische was sure that Bery would believe in that kind of Krische.
It was because of such a fortuitous encounter that Krische was able to think that way.
Kreschenta was stubborn.
She knew the truth but refused to admit it.
Using magic, Kreschenta formed thirty-seven computational circuits.
For Krische, most of those thirty-seven were unnecessary.
If she was going to made that that, then she could just calculate all of Krische’s possible actions, guide them, and process them.
From the tiny particles around her to the smallest remnants of magical energy――Kreschenta could easily gather vast amounts of information and predict the future based on that behaviour.
However, Kreschenta did not notice this, did not try to notice it, and allocated most of its calculation circuits to grasping the enormous magical power and constructing spells.
Why were her attack avoided? Why was the battle dragging on for a quarter koku?
If she thought about it carefully, the answer would naturally come to her.
――Kreschenta was afraid to admit it.
The only way she could defeat Krische was by using her magic power advantage.
The two were equally intelligent, but Krische had more combat experience.
That Krische could avoided was inevitable, and it couldn’t be helped that it would take time.
Still, it was a battle in which Kreschenta had the advantage on.
She just absentmindedly thought that eventually she would win.
Kreschenta was stubborn, and she refused to admit her weakness.
She thought it was inevitable that Krische would surpass her in battle.
Her older sister was her equal, and on top of that, she had a lot of combat experience, so it couldn’t be helped.
Even though she understood this, Kreschenta didn’t do her best because of the excuse that she was the one who would win since she had enormous magical power.
Since Kreschenta had intended to challenge Krische to a match that she was sure to win, she would not admit that she made the wrong choice.
‘You truly are a worthless servant. Argan-sama just who do you think I―― '
Even though she pestered Bery to hug her, she refused to acknowledge her spoiled self.
She complained that the worthless servant was the one trying to pamper her without permission.
She refused to admit the embarrassing fact that she was a helpless, immature, spoiled child.
If she thought about it calmly, she should know it, and even though deep down she really understood it, Kreschenta wouldn't admit it.
Her immaturity, failures, everything that was inconvenient.
‘――It's about the day when Argan-sama passed away.’
That was why, she couldn't acknowledge that, and it was painful.
Kreschenta changed her methods and unleashed her magic.
When it became clear that guided projectiles were useless, she increased their number in frustration.
Her magic power was limitless, and no matter how much she used, there was no limit.
The arithmetic circuits were doubled, and then doubled again――countless lights and explosions echoed through the sky.
Krische continued to dodge the brilliance that her younger sister produced, and just gazed at it.
She kicked the air, sped up, disintegrated the projectile, and smiled as she seized the magic power.
She felt like if Bery was her looking up at the sky without knowing anything, she would smile and said it was beautiful.
Flowers are flowers and stars are stars.
But Bery would laugh and said it's beautiful.
She would be happy that Krische’s formula and the magic light were always beautiful.
Krische didn't really understand it, but when she saw Bery’s happy face like that, she thought that it was beautiful, and to Krische that happy face was endlessly beautiful.
She thought that many things aren't meant to be explained with logic or words, wondering why they are the way they are.
Just using the most plausible words to express them.
Before one knew it, vague things that suddenly come to mind for no reason.
Saying “I love you” was easy, saying “beautiful” was easy, but conveying it was difficult, and understanding it was even harder.
Most things in the world are settled in terms of benefits and disadvantages.
However, sometimes things that were not just simple benefits and disadvantages arise.
Before she know it, she was so full that she couldn’t hold it in anymore, and she wanted to vomit it out, but she couldn’t put it into words, so there was nothing she could do about it.
A chaotic whirlpool of thoughts that were irrational and cannot be explained by calculation.
Within that chaos, Krische thought there must be something important.
Repelling against the atmosphere that was used as foothold, compressing the space, causing it to burst.
Releasing magical power from its wings, instantly controlling its position and twisting its inertia to orbit at an acute angle.
Kreschenta stopped relying on easy spells for guidance, manipulating all the magical bullets with her own thoughts, blocking her path.
The magic bullets behaved seemingly irregularly, maintaining their speed while performing sharp high-speed manoeuvres.
Kreschenta finally began to predict Krische possible actions, but it was just a casual calculation.
Krische predict Kreschenta’s thoughts that was derived from those half-assed calculations, use magic formula to decompose the real bullet that Kreschenta thought was hidden cleverly, disrupting Kreschenta’s plan and confusing her mind.
Just like Krische, her younger sister hated anything that upsets her plans.
If Krische, planted in Kreschenta’s mind that she could predict what Kreschenta would do, that this was the difference in their combat experience, her younger sister would have no choice but to become further irritated.
Like Krische, her younger sister, was reasonably intelligent.
If she had been able to maintain her composure, she would have found a way to defeat Krische.
If she re-evaluated herself and admitted her mistakes, she would have realized her current error ――that her current way of cornering Krische was a mistake.
But Kreschenta didn’t admit it.
Starting from 1,000 and going to thousands.
Kreschenta began to operate nearly 10,000 magic bullets in parallel, but the result was the same.
Using up almost all the resources of the increased calculation circuits, they were at a stalemate.
No matter how much magical power she had, setting up a new external brain――a calculation circuit required resources for calculation.
And in the current situation where she was controlling the magical bullets with such high precision, there was nothing more that could be done until the situation is interrupted.
Still, if Kreschenta could maintain the current situation, Krische would eventually lose.
However, unlike Krische who mostly just read Kreschenta’s thoughts, Kreschenta had to control over 100 arithmetic circuits, manipulating nearly 10,000 magic bullets, and was trying to cover all of Krische’s possible actions while gathering magical power.
It was Kreschenta who would reach her limit trying to maintain the current situation.
Krische just needs to derail Kreschenta’s plans as harassment.
The more Kreschenta was disturbed, the more irritated she would ger, and the more her thoughts become trapped, and the more she lose resources.
As her lee-way disappears, fatigue would accumulate.
Fatigue breeds further irritation.
A calculation circuit was just a calculation circuit.
It only perform the calculations for the spell in place of Kreschenta, and the one who was using it was Kreschenta.
Even though her magical power was infinite, Kreschenta’s thinking ability had a limit.
Both Krische and Kreschenta were reasonably intelligent, but they were by no means omnipotent.
“...?”
――The rain of light suddenly stopped, and silence fell.
The countless magical bullets that were flying around Krische disappeared one after another, and Krische turned her attention to Kreschenta.
She too, glared at Krische.
She was clenching her fists tightly and breathing roughly.
If she had been calm, that probably wouldn't have happened.
Krische were still just a little sweaty.
Kreschenta use of magical power in anger without thinking ahead was definitely causing her fatigue.
“...Why is Onee-sama not doing anything?”
With her fists still clenched, Kreschenta looked down.
Without amplifying it with magic, her voice was quite
They were far enough away that Krische couldn't hear Kreschenta due to the wind, but there was no need for sound to have a conversation.
Just by watching the movement’s of each other’s lips, they could have a conversation.
“Krische, doesn’t want Kreschenta to get hurt.”
Jumping around in the air until Kreschenta was within earshot, Krische voice was loud enough to be heard.
Kreschenta did nothing to Krische who had come closer.
“Are you kidding? After saying all that――”
“Kreschenta did say she would kill Krische, but it’s not like Krische said anything like that, Krische just said why not just get truly angry once in a while?”
As she said this, Krische extended her magical power as if pointing, interfering with the multidimensional spell formations around Kreschenta.
Each constructed magical trap was dismantled one by one, yet Kreschenta did nothing.
“...Please be serious. Are you making fun of me?”
“Krische is not making fun of Kreschenta. Though Krische did think that Kreschenta is an idiot.”
‘Just like Krische’, she said with a laugh.
“...I'm seriously going to kill you.”
“Yes. If Krische get killed, it's Krische’s loss.”
“Hg...!”
As one more trap was erased and Kreschenta glared at Krische, her face red.
“Please stop joking around! I'm serious! I'm not joking...!”
“Like Krische said, Krische knows that. But there's no reason for Krische to be angry at Kreschenta, so Krische is not going to hit Kreschenta or anything.”
“Making a fool of me...”
Kreschenta took out the magic crystal from her chest.
Then, while holding the string with her right hand, she used her left hand to apply magic power.
“If that's the case, I have an idea as well. …If Onee-sama doesn't take this seriously, I'll destroy this magic crystal.”
Krische looked at Kreschenta and disassembled one more formula.
“Saying that kind of thing again. Even if Krische really got angry, what does Kreschenta want to do? If Kreschenta wants to kill Krische, Krische think it would be much easier to kill Krische that isn’t serious without talking like this.''
‘Kreschenta, do you understand?’ Krische said as she approached.
“Kreschenta is saying strange things. ...Saying that Kreschenta is truly angry while chatting so amicably.”
“...hg”
“Krische understands properly. ...It's a lie that Kreschenta is angry. Even right now, Kreschenta is just pretending to be angry.”
Hearing that, Kreschenta glared at Krische and said with irritation.
“…Still saying things like that.”
Then as if making a fool of Krische, Kreschenta said,
“Thinking understand me like that. Onee-sama understand nothing. Does Onee-sama think I can't break this? If I wanted to, I could destroy it all instantly.”
then she narrowed her eyes,
“As I said, I was just holding back because it would make Onee-sama sad. …After all”
looked at the magic crystal mockingly,
“I am the one who killed Onee-sama beloved Argan-sama.”
and glared at Krische.
Krische approached Kreschenta while erasing the last magic trap
Kreschenta stiffened his body for a moment, as if to prepare herself.
“...”
Krische cupped Kreschenta’s cheek in her hands and kissed her.
Kreschenta moved her hands, hesitating whether to push Krische away or not.
Her eyes widened, confused at the feeling of her lips pressed against Krische’s.
Krische patted her younger sister's head as they kissed for a while, and in the end Kreschenta didn't push her older sister away until she was let go.
“Krische knows”
Krische said as she parted her lips.
With a troubled smile, that somehow seemed familiar.
***Final Arc, One Who Obtain Happiness, Chapter 257 Siblings Quarrel***
Child of God――or perhaps, Demon Lord Kreschenta.
Queen's sister Alberinea.
It was said that the end of these two, who carved their unified history into the continent and led Alberan to its peak, was truly tumultuous.
It was a night when many were asleep.
Many who could sense magic felt a disturbance in the air, awakening from their unease to gaze up at the sky.
Countless blue lights danced in the sky, flashing like daylight, illuminating the earth and occasionally echoing thunderous explosions that shook the land from high above.
Even those who didn’t possess magic jumped out of their beds and went outside in their night clothes.
In one diary, it was recorded as like a dream of an era when countless dragons danced. In another diary, it was recorded as the wrath of the gods――regardless, the numerous records that still exist indicate that something with transcendent power danced in the night sky, engaging in battle.
However, despite this, the events of that night had vanished completely from the kingdom's official records, like a hole had been left.
Aleha Remin, a general who was said to have stood shoulder to shoulder with Alberinea on the battlefield and was a close friend, wrote this in his own journal.
‘――Never before and never again has there been such a troublesome sibling quarrel.’
A girl with pink hair swayed forward, glaring at another girl with silver hair, their beauty identical.
Both adorned in matching pink nightgown.
Both had wings formed of magic power extending from their backs, with small pieces of wings on their arms and legs.
These were manoeuvring devices capable of controlling the wind and enabling instant acceleration through magical propulsion.
Around the girl with pink hair, there were multidimensional magic arrays that filled half i of space.
Numerous magic circles filled the surrounding space.
Within, three-dimensional geometric patterns were carved in the air with enormous density, but even that was only a small portion.
In the multidimensional magic arrays formed like folded spaces, what could be perceived visually was merely the surface, akin to viewing the vast sea from above.
Its depths were endless, and if unfolded normally, it would cover the horizon as seen from the sky where clouds float.
Numerous inscriptions, such that it would capable of collapsing stars themselves if one were to will it, were engraved.
――Naturally, what was released from there was not mere destruction, each of it was a wrath that could cause natural disaster and even tear apart space itself.
And the numerous inscriptions floated around her, in an instant, became twenty-seven.
Mass-producing orbs of light large enough to engulf an estate, she released them without hesitation.
Even the sound went beyond.
The balls of light were released like a flash, right in front of the eyes of the silver girl in front of her.
It was an act of space-time destruction using a preposterous amount of magical power, devoid of any mercy.
The flashes curved around her, bursting.
The surroundings shimmered like midday, with flashes and explosions erasing everything.
The very space in which her sister existed disappeared, and the crushed space-time led to localized collapse――triggering chain of twenty-seven flashes.
A storm of chaos brewed in the void of nothingness, and the world twisted like a distorted kaleidoscope.
With a wave of her right hand, the broken space-time was repaired as if rewound, and the thin clouds scattered and dissipated.
Then, tearing through dimensions, the girl who calmly emerged from the gap, riding on the storm, ascended into the sky.
As her sister spun gracefully, she gathered the surrounding magic to herself.
A vortex of blue magic surrounded her sister.
The girl with pale pink hair――Kreschenta further distorted her beautiful face, deepening the wrinkles on her forehead.
Even Dragons were mere insects in front of her.
Possessing transcendental computing power and possessing infinite magical power, Kreschenta was now the very god of this world.
However, the girl in front of her was the only existence who was her equal.
The first move of the battle――saturation bombing using enormous magical power.
Using the magical power obtained from the magic crystal, her sister evaded the quarter koku long bombardment by shifting her spatial phase and grasped the remnants magical power of the bombardment.
Her greatest failure was realizing too late that her sister was shifting her spatial phases to evade.
The battle that should have ended in an instant became endless once her sister had acquired magic power.
If she had used her magic from the beginning with the intention of erasing the whole space like she was now, then the battle would have been over.
However, her sister, who had acquired Kreschenta’s ‘residual magic’, tore apart the space, hiding herself, and irritatingly emerged unscathed.
Using magic power that could easily make everything within a thousand disappear, all she did was giving her sister magic power.
With frustration, she rotated the thirty-seven imaginary brains and formed over a thousand magical warheads.
Opposite Kreschenta, the silver girl who had ‘landed in the air’――Krische, was staring intently at her younger sister.
“Hmm...what should Krische do?”
Although she had wings like her younger sister, her foothold is the sky.
By instantly forming a barrier in the space beneath her feet, she could use it as a foothold, allowing her to run and jump around in the sky as if it was the ground.
Floating and accelerating with wings consumes a lot of magical power.
In order to reduce its consumption as much as possible, while waiting, she stood on those barriers and when standing still or changing direction she always used it as foothold.
Compared to her sister, who gracefully floated and flied around in the sky, her movements were more angular.
Although there was not much difference in speed, she hold an overwhelming advantage in acceleration, magic efficiency, and maneuverability.
However, it was still too weak to get close to her younger sister.
Kreschenta used magical power lavishly, and there were countless spatial traps around her.
A formula was deployed to instantaneously obliterate any intruder along with the space they were in the moment they entered the trap.
That said, it was an extravagant technique for a trap aiming to kills just Krische alone.
There was no need for a bomb that could wipe out an entire city just in order to kill a single person, and there was no need for a large-scale surgical technique that would wipe out an entire space.
The spatial traps serve to excise anything approaching her along with the surrounding space.
Even if the opponent was a dragon there was a lot of waste.
If her younger sister had just kept small magical energy projectiles floating like now from the beginning――though it would have been better to increase the number more precisely that would have been enough to win the battle.
To kill a single person, inflicting a wound of no more than 1 sun (~3 cm) was more than enough
Of course, Krische was even capable of regenerating her body, but she only had the magical power of one magic crystal, so she didn't have much to spare.
Avoiding all of those attacks would be impossible, and even if she managed to dodge some, she would still get injured.
Furthermore, even for someone as skilled as Krische, recovering magical energy while dodging those attacks would be difficult, and there was no doubt that she would eventually reach her limit.
However, Kreschenta did not choose that approach.
For the record, Kreschenta also had the intent to kill Krische.
However, she did not think of cutting off Krische’s flesh and limbs, hurting and weakening her, and then killing her.
Therefore, the initial attack was a saturation attack that could instantly erases the flesh.
Despite everything, she knew that Kreschenta was a kind child, and she challenged her because she understood that.
She used all of her magical power for the first blow, shifted the phase of space, and watched the explosion as she waited.
Kreschenta seemed to believe that she had successfully dodged the explosion using magical energy and attacked relentlessly towards the ‘shadow’ she projected. She kept attacking the shadow, thinking that she was dodging the explosion using magic.
After waiting for the bombardment to subside, she returned to the space’s phase and took Kreschenta’s extravagant leftovers――thought she was a little nervous about whether things would go well at first.
Perhaps because Kreschenta was so angry, she didn't notice and ignored the small tricks until just now.
Since Kreschenta aimed to increase the number of projectiles and their power, Krusche was able to recover quite a bit of magical energy.
――Kreschenta’s weakness was that she was strong from the start.
As a child, Krische learned how to swing a wooden sword and gain victory over larger adults.
During the civil war, Krische learned her then-current limitations as an individual versus an army.
In battles against Dragon, she fought opponents far superior to herself alone, giving her a wealth of experience.
However, Kreschenta lacked all of that.
Kreschenta learned various ways to use magical energy from Krische and with the vast amount of magical power in her hands, she suddenly gained the strongest power.
A million-strong army was no match for the current Kreschenta, and even if the remaining dragons attacked all at once, they would only be treated like insects.
There were no superior beings to Kreschenta.
Naturally, she never thought about what to do with someone she couldn't easily kill.
That had always been Krische’s job, as the only one with equal thinking abilities to Kreschenta.
There was no difference in ability between the two, but their thinking and experience were different.
And the difference in thinking and experience influenced their strategies.
Ingenuity in combat was essential for dealing with superior opponents.
Sword combat, military operations.
If one have superior physique, physical ability, or superior military strength, there was nothing to think about.
All you have to do is just push through with force.
However, just like Krische against Kolkis, in order to defeat an opponent who was superior in everything based on simple comparisons, it required skill and the creativity to create it.
The current Kreschenta possessed absolute power.
With magical power capable of easily shattering stars――and the thinking ability to fully utilize it, she could just cut out terrain and space against enemies.
Indulging in such thoughts, Kreschenta’s tactical thinking in battle was immature.
Released from the deployed multi-dimensional spell, a rain of over a thousand magical energy projectiles descended.
Krische’s purple eyes, as if wrapped in a silver thread, narrowed――she analyzed each one of them.
A magic bullet that captures and track Krische’s unique magic color.
They first orbit around Krische, and then rushed towards her all at once.
Since the bullets were tracking magical energy, if Krische could expel a lot of magic to create decoys and guide them, some of the magic bullets would naturally fly towards the decoys.
However, that was Kreschenta’s aim.
The purpose was probably to make Krische expel magic power.
“How naive.”
Krische released a small amount of magic power above her head, adjusted her internal magic power and change its color.
The bullet losing sight of their target rushed towards the mass of magic energy hovering above her.
Decomposing only the bullets that would hit her into magical energy and absorbing them.
Various trials and errors to manage Bery's body.
Although the research to mutate her magic power was halted due to numerous uncertainties, it proved useful here.
Kreschenta widened her eyes and furrowed her brows even more.
While observing her younger sister like that, Krische gracefully dodged and collected the released magical energy.
Fueled by failure――Krische knew her own weakness and powerlessness.
Her calculations were fast, and she was also quite skilled at using swords and magic.
She did think that she was a reasonably excellence existence, but she knew better than anyone that she was not omnipotent.
There were many things in the world that she did not know, and many things that she was not aware of.
Because of that, she had many regrets, and each time, she thought about how she could prevent it from happening again.
But regrets, from small to large, come from unexpected places.
Many times she wished she could have done better.
She wanted everything to be perfect, she didn't want to make mistakes.
But Krische was always powerless, no matter how much effort she put in, failures piled up at her feet as if and slipping through her fingers.
There’s no such thing as a perfect being.
Still, all she could do was to try and think.
All she could do was to just keep trying her very best, to chase after for the best possible outcome.
That was the only thing that made Krische no different from other humans.
‘――Then, I will always protect you, so that you won’t experience anything terrible.’
Selene was clumsy and a bit of a slouch with sword.
Even though she was weak she would say something like that, but she always tried her best, no matter what.
Her grandfather couldn’t even be compared to Krische if she only looked at individual abilities.
However, until the end of his life, he was a great grandfather who Krische respected, he taught Krische about many things that she didn't realize.
So was her Mother, and Father.
Bald Eagle, Skeleton, Mia and Kalua, Woof Woof, Meow Meow, Bald Glasses, Chirp Chirp, and Mosha Mosha, there were many such people around Krische.
――Never stop thinking, without running away, do the best you can.
That was surely not wrong, Krische believed.
Krische was sure that Bery would believe in that kind of Krische.
It was because of such a fortuitous encounter that Krische was able to think that way.
Kreschenta was stubborn.
She knew the truth but refused to admit it.
Using magic, Kreschenta formed thirty-seven computational circuits.
For Krische, most of those thirty-seven were unnecessary.
If she was going to made that that, then she could just calculate all of Krische’s possible actions, guide them, and process them.
From the tiny particles around her to the smallest remnants of magical energy――Kreschenta could easily gather vast amounts of information and predict the future based on that behaviour.
However, Kreschenta did not notice this, did not try to notice it, and allocated most of its calculation circuits to grasping the enormous magical power and constructing spells.
Why were her attack avoided? Why was the battle dragging on for a quarter koku?
If she thought about it carefully, the answer would naturally come to her.
――Kreschenta was afraid to admit it.
The only way she could defeat Krische was by using her magic power advantage.
The two were equally intelligent, but Krische had more combat experience.
That Krische could avoided was inevitable, and it couldn’t be helped that it would take time.
Still, it was a battle in which Kreschenta had the advantage on.
She just absentmindedly thought that eventually she would win.
Kreschenta was stubborn, and she refused to admit her weakness.
She thought it was inevitable that Krische would surpass her in battle.
Her older sister was her equal, and on top of that, she had a lot of combat experience, so it couldn’t be helped.
Even though she understood this, Kreschenta didn’t do her best because of the excuse that she was the one who would win since she had enormous magical power.
Since Kreschenta had intended to challenge Krische to a match that she was sure to win, she would not admit that she made the wrong choice.
‘You truly are a worthless servant. Argan-sama just who do you think I―― '
Even though she pestered Bery to hug her, she refused to acknowledge her spoiled self.
She complained that the worthless servant was the one trying to pamper her without permission.
She refused to admit the embarrassing fact that she was a helpless, immature, spoiled child.
If she thought about it calmly, she should know it, and even though deep down she really understood it, Kreschenta wouldn't admit it.
Her immaturity, failures, everything that was inconvenient.
‘――It's about the day when Argan-sama passed away.’
That was why, she couldn't acknowledge that, and it was painful.
Kreschenta changed her methods and unleashed her magic.
When it became clear that guided projectiles were useless, she increased their number in frustration.
Her magic power was limitless, and no matter how much she used, there was no limit.
The arithmetic circuits were doubled, and then doubled again――countless lights and explosions echoed through the sky.
Krische continued to dodge the brilliance that her younger sister produced, and just gazed at it.
She kicked the air, sped up, disintegrated the projectile, and smiled as she seized the magic power.
She felt like if Bery was her looking up at the sky without knowing anything, she would smile and said it was beautiful.
Flowers are flowers and stars are stars.
But Bery would laugh and said it's beautiful.
She would be happy that Krische’s formula and the magic light were always beautiful.
Krische didn't really understand it, but when she saw Bery’s happy face like that, she thought that it was beautiful, and to Krische that happy face was endlessly beautiful.
She thought that many things aren't meant to be explained with logic or words, wondering why they are the way they are.
Just using the most plausible words to express them.
Before one knew it, vague things that suddenly come to mind for no reason.
Saying “I love you” was easy, saying “beautiful” was easy, but conveying it was difficult, and understanding it was even harder.
Most things in the world are settled in terms of benefits and disadvantages.
However, sometimes things that were not just simple benefits and disadvantages arise.
Before she know it, she was so full that she couldn’t hold it in anymore, and she wanted to vomit it out, but she couldn’t put it into words, so there was nothing she could do about it.
A chaotic whirlpool of thoughts that were irrational and cannot be explained by calculation.
Within that chaos, Krische thought there must be something important.
Repelling against the atmosphere that was used as foothold, compressing the space, causing it to burst.
Releasing magical power from its wings, instantly controlling its position and twisting its inertia to orbit at an acute angle.
Kreschenta stopped relying on easy spells for guidance, manipulating all the magical bullets with her own thoughts, blocking her path.
The magic bullets behaved seemingly irregularly, maintaining their speed while performing sharp high-speed manoeuvres.
Kreschenta finally began to predict Krische possible actions, but it was just a casual calculation.
Krische predict Kreschenta’s thoughts that was derived from those half-assed calculations, use magic formula to decompose the real bullet that Kreschenta thought was hidden cleverly, disrupting Kreschenta’s plan and confusing her mind.
Just like Krische, her younger sister hated anything that upsets her plans.
If Krische, planted in Kreschenta’s mind that she could predict what Kreschenta would do, that this was the difference in their combat experience, her younger sister would have no choice but to become further irritated.
Like Krische, her younger sister, was reasonably intelligent.
If she had been able to maintain her composure, she would have found a way to defeat Krische.
If she re-evaluated herself and admitted her mistakes, she would have realized her current error ――that her current way of cornering Krische was a mistake.
But Kreschenta didn’t admit it.
Starting from 1,000 and going to thousands.
Kreschenta began to operate nearly 10,000 magic bullets in parallel, but the result was the same.
Using up almost all the resources of the increased calculation circuits, they were at a stalemate.
No matter how much magical power she had, setting up a new external brain――a calculation circuit required resources for calculation.
And in the current situation where she was controlling the magical bullets with such high precision, there was nothing more that could be done until the situation is interrupted.
Still, if Kreschenta could maintain the current situation, Krische would eventually lose.
However, unlike Krische who mostly just read Kreschenta’s thoughts, Kreschenta had to control over 100 arithmetic circuits, manipulating nearly 10,000 magic bullets, and was trying to cover all of Krische’s possible actions while gathering magical power.
It was Kreschenta who would reach her limit trying to maintain the current situation.
Krische just needs to derail Kreschenta’s plans as harassment.
The more Kreschenta was disturbed, the more irritated she would ger, and the more her thoughts become trapped, and the more she lose resources.
As her lee-way disappears, fatigue would accumulate.
Fatigue breeds further irritation.
A calculation circuit was just a calculation circuit.
It only perform the calculations for the spell in place of Kreschenta, and the one who was using it was Kreschenta.
Even though her magical power was infinite, Kreschenta’s thinking ability had a limit.
Both Krische and Kreschenta were reasonably intelligent, but they were by no means omnipotent.
“...?”
――The rain of light suddenly stopped, and silence fell.
The countless magical bullets that were flying around Krische disappeared one after another, and Krische turned her attention to Kreschenta.
She too, glared at Krische.
She was clenching her fists tightly and breathing roughly.
If she had been calm, that probably wouldn't have happened.
Krische were still just a little sweaty.
Kreschenta use of magical power in anger without thinking ahead was definitely causing her fatigue.
“...Why is Onee-sama not doing anything?”
With her fists still clenched, Kreschenta looked down.
Without amplifying it with magic, her voice was quite
They were far enough away that Krische couldn't hear Kreschenta due to the wind, but there was no need for sound to have a conversation.
Just by watching the movement’s of each other’s lips, they could have a conversation.
“Krische, doesn’t want Kreschenta to get hurt.”
Jumping around in the air until Kreschenta was within earshot, Krische voice was loud enough to be heard.
Kreschenta did nothing to Krische who had come closer.
“Are you kidding? After saying all that――”
“Kreschenta did say she would kill Krische, but it’s not like Krische said anything like that, Krische just said why not just get truly angry once in a while?”
As she said this, Krische extended her magical power as if pointing, interfering with the multidimensional spell formations around Kreschenta.
Each constructed magical trap was dismantled one by one, yet Kreschenta did nothing.
“...Please be serious. Are you making fun of me?”
“Krische is not making fun of Kreschenta. Though Krische did think that Kreschenta is an idiot.”
‘Just like Krische’, she said with a laugh.
“...I'm seriously going to kill you.”
“Yes. If Krische get killed, it's Krische’s loss.”
“Hg...!”
As one more trap was erased and Kreschenta glared at Krische, her face red.
“Please stop joking around! I'm serious! I'm not joking...!”
“Like Krische said, Krische knows that. But there's no reason for Krische to be angry at Kreschenta, so Krische is not going to hit Kreschenta or anything.”
“Making a fool of me...”
Kreschenta took out the magic crystal from her chest.
Then, while holding the string with her right hand, she used her left hand to apply magic power.
“If that's the case, I have an idea as well. …If Onee-sama doesn't take this seriously, I'll destroy this magic crystal.”
Krische looked at Kreschenta and disassembled one more formula.
“Saying that kind of thing again. Even if Krische really got angry, what does Kreschenta want to do? If Kreschenta wants to kill Krische, Krische think it would be much easier to kill Krische that isn’t serious without talking like this.''
‘Kreschenta, do you understand?’ Krische said as she approached.
“Kreschenta is saying strange things. ...Saying that Kreschenta is truly angry while chatting so amicably.”
“...hg”
“Krische understands properly. ...It's a lie that Kreschenta is angry. Even right now, Kreschenta is just pretending to be angry.”
Hearing that, Kreschenta glared at Krische and said with irritation.
“…Still saying things like that.”
Then as if making a fool of Krische, Kreschenta said,
“Thinking understand me like that. Onee-sama understand nothing. Does Onee-sama think I can't break this? If I wanted to, I could destroy it all instantly.”
then she narrowed her eyes,
“As I said, I was just holding back because it would make Onee-sama sad. …After all”
looked at the magic crystal mockingly,
“I am the one who killed Onee-sama beloved Argan-sama.”
and glared at Krische.
Krische approached Kreschenta while erasing the last magic trap
Kreschenta stiffened his body for a moment, as if to prepare herself.
“...”
Krische cupped Kreschenta’s cheek in her hands and kissed her.
Kreschenta moved her hands, hesitating whether to push Krische away or not.
Her eyes widened, confused at the feeling of her lips pressed against Krische’s.
Krische patted her younger sister's head as they kissed for a while, and in the end Kreschenta didn't push her older sister away until she was let go.
“Krische knows”
Krische said as she parted her lips.
With a troubled smile, that somehow seemed familiar.
