Prologue

In the year 798, at midday, on the highlands of the Kingdom of Radenia on the continent of Lucia, the land lay silent.

This plain should have been a sea of green as far as the eye could see. However, at this moment, only the white of snow was visible.

Dark clouds shrouded the sky. A silence so thick it felt piercing.

On the hill, a girl held back her sobs, hugging the body of a young man covered in blood. Blood flowed from his mouth and chest.

He is already dead.

“Hic-hic… sniff…” she holds back her tears with all her strength, embracing the body of the young man. He is her husband. The man she loved most in her life.

Beside her lay a spear emitting eternal black flames. The same spear that pierced the young man’s chest. It also severed the left hand of the white-haired girl who was crying.

She struggled to hold the young man’s body with her intact hand. His body was already cold, as the surrounding temperature continued to drop.

She sat alone, in the midst of a raging snowstorm.

The world was in mourning, the world had lost the beloved figure, Encrival. Though, the third Encrival had just risen, replacing the one who had passed away.

Around her, there was nothing. Only chunks of ice trapping all the allied and enemy soldiers who were fighting.

The snowstorm, along with the ice that had frozen half of the planet, is nothing less than the manifestation of the true power of the third Encrival.

Something that had never before occurred in the history of this magical world.

Meanwhile, the girl—the one chosen by the Universe as the third Encrival of the youngest magical world, Arthera—remained motionless in her place.

“If only... If only there were magic to go back in time...”
“hic...”
“I... would do anything to protect you. Azami...”

She buried her face in the young man's chest. The upper part of the hollow.

“Lilia!”

Someone called out. The girl lifted her face. Though her eyes were blurry, she could see two people running toward her.

“You two...” She recognized them. Of course, like her, they were also Azami's wives, the young man lying there.

“...!?”
A black-haired girl with medium purple eyes. She wore the traditional attire of the Kingdom of Ilumina, a friendly nation to the Kingdom of Achiena.
She startled, her eyes widening and her hands covering her mouth.

“Azami!”

She immediately threw herself forward, falling, and began crying loudly while hugging the young man's body.
A girl resembling the Spirits race, with long ears adorned with blue gems on her earlobes.
Green hair and blue eyes. Her appearance had not changed since they found her inside a mana crystal with 100% purity within the Sacred Tree in the Iera Forest.

Unlike Lilia, her hair color and eyelashes had completely changed. Her blue eyes looked different from before.

Even though her face hadn’t changed, it wasn’t surprising that those not close to her failed to recognize her as Lilia.
But they still recognized her. Even though her appearance had changed a lot.

“Lilia-san, your hand...”
“What... is happening here?”
Azami's third wife, Ilumina Shizu, the girl with black hair and medium purple eyes, collapsed beside Lilia. She sat down on her knees, speechless at the horrific sight before her.

“Shizu.”

“You... have studied magic extensively and memorized everything in the Academy's library, right?”

“You've even read all the forbidden magic technique books.”
“... Will that be useful?”

Shizu turned her head toward the spear on Lilia's side.

“... That spear's curse... is too strong.”

“...”
“True. Azami is gone.”
“But it's only in this timeline.”

She turned to Shizu, tears streaming down her face, her eyes burning.

It was clear she was holding back emotions that had been pierced too deeply.

“Do you know any magic techniques that can take me back in time?”
“... I... want to save him.”

Shizu's tears fell from both eyes. She bowed her head without wiping them away.
“There is. But it requires a huge amount of pure magical energy (Mana).”
“Pure energy equivalent to or greater than Encrival's.”

She shifted her gaze to Azami.
“But Azami already...”

“There's no need to worry about that.”

“Because I... am the Encrival now.”

“...!”

Shizu's body jumped slightly, a glimmer of hope visible in her eyes.

“Besides... actually, Himera has an enormous amount of pure Mana.”
“She just hasn't realized it yet.”
Lilia turned her gaze to Himera. She could see what they couldn't.

The magical energy circuits connected to every blood vessel in her body, a purity far surpassing that of an ordinary human.

“I-I'll do anything!”

“If... if it can bring him back to this world.”

Lilia stroked the young man's hair in her lap, smiling faintly, though her chest felt incredibly tight.

“Un... I will definitely bring him back.”
“But, still, this time stream will vanish. So, before I go back to the past...”

Lilia raised her hand. Blue light particles gathered, then exploded in an instant.

Creating a glowing blue crystal.

“In this crystal, I will store all of your memories.”

“After everything ends, I will extract your memories from this time stream and transfer them to you in that time stream.”

“That way, you won't forget every moment, every experience, every feeling, and everything you did and felt in both timelines.”

“Un. Let's do it.”
Himera stood up, raised her right hand, and cupped the side of her head.

“Un.”
Lilia slowly pulled her legs back, holding Azami's body, and laid him down gently.

Shizu dragged her feet across the snow, approaching the body of the man she loved. She bowed her head and kissed his forehead.

“We will definitely bring you back, my husband.” She lowered her head, their foreheads touching. With a soft, gentle voice, as if whispering to her husband’s body.
She stood up, leaning on her right hand.
She took the man's left hand and gently placed it on his chest. After the left hand, she did the same with his right hand.

They stood up, turned around, and walked a little away from Azami's body.

“Before we begin, I'll take a copy of your memories first.” Lilia said, her hands held out on either side of her body.

In a matter of milliseconds, the same blue crystal formed, floating above both of her palms.
She immediately approached Shizu.

“Yes, go ahead.”
Shizu complied, allowing Lilia to touch her forehead.

Lilia touched Shizu's forehead with the index finger of her right hand. As if pulling something out from inside, she quickly withdrew her hand and touched one of the [Memory Crystals].
Fine particles of light flowed from her forehead into the crystal. The crystal flickered, emitting a violet light from within.

Himera ran over.
“You too, Himera.”
“Un. Do it!”
Lilia immediately did the same to Himera. The crystal flickered, emitting a green light from within.

Both of them closed their eyes. They didn't move or open their eyes until everything was finished.

A few seconds later...

“It's so mysterious... it feels like something was sucked out of my head.”
Shizu was stunned. It was the first time she had ever felt something like that.

For some reason, Himera remained like that for 10 minutes.
“... I...”

“That took forever, did something happen?” Lilia asked, confused. Because this process shouldn't have taken that long.

“... No... nothing happened.”
“My self in that time stream must have been able to do something.”

“...?”

Lilia and Shizu naturally leaned forward, confused by what Himera had said.

“Are you okay?” Lilia asked anxiously.

“No... nothing.”

“What's more important is that we act quickly!”
It was clear that Himera was changing the subject, but they knew there was nothing they could do except follow the plan for now.

“Both of you step back two paces. This magic technique requires a decent amount of space.”

They did as Shizu said.

“I'll start.”
Shizu furrowed her brows, she was serious about casting that forbidden spell.

“Un.”

“Un.”
Without any protest, they both nodded in agreement.

Shizu took a deep breath, her body pulling back. She stared at the black sky continuously dumping relentless snowstorms.
A magical circle with an odd pattern appeared, expanding rapidly.
A magical pattern neither Lilia nor Himera had ever seen before.
The lines of the circle glowed lavender, the purest color of Shizu's magical energy.

Around their feet, there was an circle empty space where they stood, as if creating room for something that could be modified.

“Himera, channel as much pure energy as you can.”

Himera spread her arms wide, lifting them slowly while closing her eyes.

Wiiin....

In an instant, the magical circle's lines turned white. A pure energy said to have vanished from civilization.

“This is...”
But, of course, as a madman of science and the history of magical civilization, Shizu recognized it.
The pure energy possessed by one of the five Sovereigns that once existed. The figure first created by the God of the Universe for the youngest magical world, Arthera.

For some reason, one Sovereign survived the catastrophic magical wave that should have eradicated all Sovereigns.

An event unrecorded in the history of any world. The tale of the ruler of water and life, recorded only on an inscription never discovered.
But, inscriptions about them have been found in a secret location.
Not without reason, the inscription is still kept secret due to the lack of information about its authenticity.

But now, the truth is right before her eyes.

“Aahhk...”

Suddenly, Shizu choked.

She looked at her hands, stained red with blood. Her body couldn't naturally withstand such pure energy.
Shizu felt her body growing weaker, as if countless tiny needles were piercing her blood vessels.
Her hands trembled violently. She struggled hard just to lift them toward Lilia.

“Lilia-san, we entrust the rest to you!”

Lilia nodded, her expression very serious. Her hands clenched tightly, her resolve unwavering.

Shizu's entire body trembled violently, her right hand straight with her palm open.
Her left hand helped stabilize her right hand.

The second Encrival symbol, the contract mark that Azami had once imprinted on her, glowed.

It emitted a beautiful blue light on the back of her hand.

She glanced at Azami's body. From his right hand, a blue light flickered. As if, he was helping her with all the strength he had left.

Shizu smiled warmly. Blood flowed from her eyes.

“This... is the risk of using forbidden magic.”

“I don't think I'll last much longer after this...”
“The magical wave disaster that once occurred in the ancient magical civilization, said to have annihilated all the Sovereigns, will happen again.”

“Soon, after this world loses its Encrival once more.”
“I doubt the Sovereign still alive beside me can withstand it all.”

“I think... not.”

White light swirled beneath Lilia's feet.

In an instant, from the circle where Lilia stood, the white light shot into the sky. Swallowing Lilia into the light.

The white light vanished in an instant. Lilia disappeared from where she stood.

Shizu's body lost all its strength, she fell to the ground.

The snow beneath her body instantly turned red.

The snowstorm subsided, and the dark clouds no longer dropped snow.

“Shizu!”

Himera ran toward Shizu. She threw herself down, scraping her feet and knees on the snow.

“Hold on!”

“I'll use healing magic on you!”

Shizu held Himera's hand and shook her head.

“Why...?”

Shizu didn't answer. She looked up at the sky.

“Look at that,” Shizu said.

“...!?” Himera's eyes widened, her body jerking.

She saw the sky crack open, a dimensional rift in magic appearing.
From there, disaster-level monsters flew in, descending into this world like rain falling from the sky.

The ground suddenly trembled.

From the thick snowdrifts, disaster-level monsters emerged. They rose from the ground like zombies.
But they weren't zombies. They appeared in all manner of terrifying monster forms.

“Dear, the remaining Sovereign.”
“I know you only regained your memories when Lilia copied them into the memory crystal she created.”
“I know your feelings for Azami are real.”

“I know your duty to protect the world is real.”

“But in this situation, you alone cannot withstand it.”

“Therefore, let us entrust the rest to her.”
“She will surely bring a better future for this world.”

“...”

She, Himera, could not hold back her tears.

She lowered her body, embracing Shizu for the last time.
Shizu smiled weakly, calming her heart and mind with long breaths.

They did not move from there, allowing the monsters to devour their bodies.

This is << Arctic Blue >>

The center of ambition, hope, and prayer of the eight races of the world, entrusted to their leader, Encrival, regarding the fate of the world among the dozens to hundreds of magical worlds in the Universe.