Epilogue: Iris

“Hahaha” I laughed out loud to myself.

Well that was most entertaining. Of course the end result was obvious. After all, Celestia is a prodigy among mages. But to think that Hibiki was able to even keep up for a bit was quite surprising.

Although he wouldn’t have stood a chance if Celestia had taken it more seriously from the start. However, right now it doesn’t matter as he seems to be dead anyways. Oh well, at least it was fun while it lasted.

Seriously though, these ‘guns’ he brought into this world are very handy. They allow the weak to even rise up against mages. Most of the time it was almost assured that mages would always beat those without magic, but now there seems to be somewhat of an equal footing.

It was still surprising to see he had the idea to create diamonds from coal using magic. While the idea was quite interesting, I guess it wasn’t obvious enough to him that it wouldn’t work. I mean even in his world it’s actually a myth that diamonds were created from coal.

He should be grateful to me. If I hadn't stepped in and transported a few diamonds from his world over to his location, he would have been a complete failure. But in doing so I was at least able to witness a joyous sight.

It seems bringing him into this world has caused quite an interesting shift in the balance. While I had done it on a whim, he was able to provide quite a lot of enjoyment for me. I already knew his fate was to be this, but it was still amusing to watch.

As the wind blew, my rose hair fluttered with it. Looking around, I could see multitudes of fires lighting up the city as though it were normal. It’s been so long since I’ve gotten to see a large town in shambles like this. What was it again? Maybe a few centuries ago? Or was it sooner than that?

Oh what’s that? It seems The King and Queen are still attempting to flee from the castle. Not only that, they are joined by Clauffer Von Verse and Requa. Hmm. If the royals live then it will end up impeding my goal. Thankfully it seems I won’t even have to lift a finger. One of the rebels already sees them.

Better yet it seems to be the girl with pine green hair. What was she called again? Names are such a pain to remember. Let’s see, it was Fallem, I believe. It seems she was joined by a small squadron as well. This should settle this matter. Perfect, something for me to watch.

As the girl approached the royals, I chose to listen in to see what word they were exchanging.

“Damn you! You think you can just escape!” Galem….wait, no, Fallem spoke.

“Guards! Guard me!” Clauffer commanded.

Swiftly the guards got into formation in front of them, but it seems the squadron of rebels was already prepared. With speedy action, the group of five rebels shot at the group, killing all the guards. This left the oh so high and mighty Clauffer with a petrified expression.

The expression of his face brought me such delight it made me think of the sweetest of candies. Or maybe even the happiness I seek to reach. Ahh, this joy can only come from the foolishness of mortals.

“Hahahaha!” I couldn’t hold myself back and let out an audible laugh.

The two groups looked up towards where my laugh was coming from. It seems I had accidentally scared them and caused them to stop fighting. These beings frighten so easily. Maybe I should just introduce myself so that they continue faster.

Descending down to them, I landed between the two groups. Seeing me, they all took a few steps away.

“My, that was quite offensive. Do you greet everyone this way?” I questioned them.

“W-w-who a-a-are y-y-you?” Fallem forced out the words.

“Hmm, well my current name I was given is Iris, but I am a mere spectator. Please continue with your battle.”

“W-w-w-w-what's w-w-w-w-r--ong with your ff-f-face?” Clauffer trembled.

“What an awfully rude comment. My face is but the prettiest in the land. What you cannot understand should not be considered wrong, boy.” I reprimanded the scared child.

At my reprimand, the servant Requa stood in front of him. She had placed herself between him and I. It seems she was trying to protect Clauffer. While the sentiment was quite boring, I had to give some credit to her for not cowering in fear like the others.

An applause sounded around us. It was as if an orchestra had just played and was receiving a standing ovation for their effort. However, none of them were all too pleased about the reward I had given Requa. In fact it seemed to only cause more fear, even causing the servant's legs to start trembling.

With a snap of my fingers the applause came to a stop instantaneously. Seeing what had just happened, all the people there could only stare wide eyed at me. It seems they were all wondering what had happened, but I was not in the mood to explain right now.

“Well then, hurry up and continue.” I commanded.

At the command Fallem went rushing towards the royals and lined up her shot. Shooting quickly, she immediately pierced through The King's heart, causing him to hit the floor and die. At the sight of this, Requa quickly dashed towards Fallem, but was abruptly stopped by all the members in her squadron.

It seems Requa was currently occupied dealing with the others there, but this also meant this pine haired girl would be in the clear to start shooting. Noticing something, I could only create a smile. It was one so large it had caused the item which obscured my mouth to start shifting to match it.

Fallem, wasting no time, quickly followed up her last shot, this time shooting at The Queen. Since the remaining royal had been panicking so much, she couldn’t even think of a plan to do anything. Not that she had any time anymore, however. As the bullet connected with her, it shot straight through her eye and killed her.

“Damn it! Where did the other go?” Fallem questioned aloud.

“My, what good aim you have.” I commended her.

Remembering I was still here, she quickly jumped backwards away from me. While the gesture was starting to anger me, I guess I was also partly to blame as my aura was quite threatening. I just couldn’t hide it right now for some reason. Maybe it was from all the pleasure I was feeling at the wonderful sights in front of me.

“That way.” I pointed in the direction where the thing she was looking for had gone.

Looking over in the direction, it was clear that Fallem could make out Clauffer running away from the scene of the slaughter. She quickly took aim and let her bullet fly out. However, at the distance he had gotten, it seemed to just miss. Frustration clearly took over on her face. I couldn’t really care less about her emotions, but it also seems something troublesome is approaching.

As Clauffer made it a fair distance away from us, he looked back to see if he was being followed. Seeing we had not moved from our location, he could only let an arrogant smile come to his face. He even began to start laughing at our inaction.

Suddenly, as if to correct him, a lance pierced through his stomach. The stallion that was now placed behind Clauffer only neighed at the sight. The man adorned in armour and religious symbols had a great smile across his face.

To contrast this, Clauffer’s face could only show shock now. He slowly checked down to see the lance which was impaling him. As blood forced its way out of his mouth, the realization started to set in. Finally, his eyes began shutting.

“Sir Clauffer!” The servant Requa cried out after having taken care of the other rebels.

Sharpening my eyes at the sight, it became apparent to me that this was likely going to be an issue. Suddenly, as if it appeared out of nowhere, at least fifty other horsemen appeared behind the man who still had the noble impaled on his lance. With a great roar the man lifted his lance higher to parade around the body of the dying noble.

With this movement it had caused Clauffer to force his eyes open and let out a scream. His cries of pain could be heard even from the distance he was at. These people were not part of my plan, so who were they?

“YOU RELEASE HIM RIGHT NOW!” Requa hollered, getting their attention.

Hearing her pained shouts, Fallem looked over to her and gritted her teeth. I, however, did not have my attention diverted so easily. It seems the ones with bows were preparing to fire at us so that they could get rid of us all.

The sight had caused both Requa and Fallem to angrily accept their fates. The people who didn’t have bows were recruiting members of the rebellion to join them. Those who didn’t go along with them were executed on the spot. Such a nuisance this is.

A flurry of arrows came towards us. The sheer amount looked as though it would cover the sky. Fallem aimed her rifle at them and tapped the crystal. As she tried to ready her shot, she quickly realized that even if she did fire, she would fail.

As the arrows got even closer, a shadowed blanket went in front of us. The blanket perfectly stopped the arrows they had shot mere seconds ago, making them vanish from the world. The sight of such a feat caused the two next to me to quiver further.

Throwing the corpse of Clauffer to the side, the captain started to order his men.

“Quickly, use holy magic. We’ll need it!” He commanded.

Following along with it, they all casted holy magic using whispering prayers. The small army in front of us was enveloped in a white light. It seems they had successfully used holy magic then.

Their garments made it clear that they belonged to the fraud church of Craviot. I say “fraud church” because their god shouldn’t exist. Seeing holy magic being used by them was certainly a surprise because of that.

They all began charging towards us, trying to end this swiftly. Turning my attention to the two next to me, I looked them over. It seems both of them were injured and would most likely not survive such a battle.

“Both of you should get going now. After all, you have much larger roles.” I spoke, letting out a sigh.

“Roles?” Requa questioned.

“I mean, I guess you are welcome to die. I wonder what Celestia would think of such a thing.”

The words had caused her to straighten her posture a bit. It seems the mention of that girl had caused this Requa to gain back some determination. Turning away from me, she quickly ran off.

“There’s no point.” Fallem relinquished.

“Of course I’m sure your brother would love to hear that.” I goaded.

“My brother? What do you mean? Is he alive?”

“Well did you ever find a body?”

“No…”

“My, and you're giving up already?”

At my words, she displayed a pained expression. Realizing what she was saying, she quickly took off away from here.

This meant I now had just one less thing to take care of. Glancing back towards the wave of people on horses charging towards me, I could only let out a sigh. The sigh was then followed by a yawn.

“Ah, what a bore.” I spoke aloud to myself.

With a flick of my finger in front of my eyes, I watched as most of the horsemen behind the leader were swept away, being crushed by a strong force as it happened. The force had been so powerful it was even uprooting parts of the ground.

The ones which had pushed ahead of the main group had also survived, but they had also been quite few. Seeing the sight, the grunts could only start panicking at the great display in front of them.

Their screams of fear sounded loudly, bringing music to my ears. With my index finger and my thumb, I brought them to my eye. Looking at each person panicking from a distance, I squished them between my fingers.

As I removed the fingers from in front of my eyes, I was met with the lovely sight of a crushed corpse in front of me. In fact, for some of the people I did this on, it had even been strong enough to cause them to disintegrate into nothing entirely.

“AAAAAAAAA!” One of them who had gotten somewhat close screamed when taking a look at me.

“Idiot!” I responded to his yelling.

With a blow from my mouth, a great force of wind rushed at the soldier, blowing strong enough to separate his torso from his lower body. The torso blew off into the distance, leaving behind the lower end to simply flop over in front of me.

“Don’t you know it’s not a surprise attack when you scream and ruin the surprise.” I spoke to the corpse.

At that moment the eight people who surrounded me all lunged towards me. In the same instant they started, they just as quickly stopped. They had been impaled from behind my shadowed spikes, causing them all to stop moving. The display of power had been quite effortless for me, but it seems it had caught the leader of these people off guard.

His face, seeing everything, had shown a great shock. However, when I looked over to him, his shock was replaced with a smile. I wonder why he was smiling? He looked somewhat familiar, but I don’t think I know him.

“I’ve finally found you!” He called.

“Found me? Do we know each other?” I questioned, curious about his connection to me.

“Our saviour, Lord Craviot, had ordered us to capture someone of your description.”

“Oh, capture me?”

“That’s right! But it seems like you’ve already wiped out my entire army. It’s no matter, however. I’ll take you on my own.”

Seeing the use of holy magic and the fact that their false god had appeared before them, it likely meant one thing. It has to be you, right my younger brother?

It seems it would be quite complicated to stay here for much longer. You may have stopped my plan for today, but you can’t always get in my way. I’ll make sure to reach my goal, whether it’s now or in the future. It will happen.

The man quickly charged at me with his spear, readying himself to stab straight through me. It seems while he was trying to capture me he was convinced he was allowed to do it dead or alive. As the lance stabbed through me, the expression of preemptive victory painted itself across his face.

Looking away from his lance for a moment to stop his horse, he quickly brought it to an abrupt stop. Checking back on his kill, he noticed I was no longer on the end of the lance. Looking around for the corpse he was sure he created, he was only met with my gaze towards him.

I was standing in front of him, completely unharmed. Even my clothes were completely intact. It was as though the feeling he had of hitting me was just a lie he believed for himself.

“Well, it seems you’ve failed.” I told him, dissatisfied.

After this point, his face was starting to show a raging fear. His entire body was trembling and even the horse was trying to escape. As the horse knocked him off, he hit the ground. He quickly brought himself back to his feet.

Taking the opportunity to watch his miserable state, he made a mad dash for me. In seconds he closed the fifteen foot gap between us, but in the same moment I had easily dodged his attack.

“Even those enhancements you have from holy magic won’t help you.” I tried explaining.

Even after that remark, he only gritted his teeth in disbelief. With a sigh I snapped my fingers, taking away the glow which was enveloping him. Now an even greater shock was settling into him, and even better too, a hint of despair.

As he dropped to his knees, the shadow blanket which had blocked all the arrows appeared in front of him. In mere seconds, a barrage of arrows rained into him at point blank. With this he had died.

Letting out another large yawn, I rubbed my eyes to try and keep myself awake. This had become far too boring for me. I guess it was time to leave.

Looking back slightly, I could see a young girl with black hair watching everything happening. You are…..ah yes, Luna. Giving her a slight wave, I disappeared from her sight.