Zero no Tsukaima

"...ito...Saito...!"

The voice calling Saito gradually faded away, and his vision suddenly went dark.

When Saito opened his eyes... they were greeted with a wide desert.

"...Well...um...uh?"

Saito couldn’t help but rub his eyes and mutter blankly.

"Huh? What happened? Where is this?"

Wasn’t I with Louise and the others at the "Holy Land" on the seabed? After opening the "Door", the Pope declared that the "Magi" so and so’s had such a crazy goal like wanting to invade the "Earth"....

"After that, how did I end up in this mysterious place...?"

Speaking of which, where did Louise and the others go?

Tiffania, Henrietta, the Pope, and Julio?

Saito shook his head, sat up, and looked around the area.

At the time, he was in the middle of the desert with the sun overhead. Looking behind him, off in the distance behind a wavering haze, was an incomparably huge mountain.

At the foot of the mountain was a snow-white city surrounded by a majestic wall.

But he had never seen such a city before. Neither the cities of Halkeginia nor the cities of the Elven nation he was brought to after he was kidnapped before.

Things were making less and less sense.

"Where exactly is this place?"

Saito sat down in the same place and crossed his arms in front of his chest as he contemplated.

Did Saito get thrown in the desert when he blacked out?

No, how was that possible... Saito immediately denied this possibility. After all, even all those guys in Romalia would have a problem if he were to die here. Wouldn’t they need the familiar Saito if they wanted Louise to use "Void"...?

"Right, how’s the rune on my chest?"

Thinking this, Saito pulled out the shirt under his jacket and peered at his chest.

The "Lífþrasir" runes were no longer glowing. That terrible empty feeling, like losing all his vitality, was now completely gone.

"Shouldn’t I be dead?"

Since this is Halkeginia, is this the afterlife?

Please, how could I die now?

Saito shook his head, his complexion pale. The Pope was trying to use the power of Louise’s "Void" to invade the "Earth", if he didn’t hurry back, things could become a huge mess....

But how could he get back...?

Considering that, Saito tried to knock himself on the head with the hilt of Derflinger. If this was a dream, then that would wake him up.

With the dull sound of a "Knock", stars immediately appeared in his vision.

"...Damn, how could it be this painful in a dream?"

Saito couldn’t help but curse as he touched his temple.

In this case, at this point, Derflinger would be complaining, "Why are you so stupid, partner". But not a word had come from the mouth of Saito’s noisy friend.

Saying that you probably should open your mouth, thought Saito. Since Saito had collapsed in the city of Eumenes, Derflinger had refused to say anything.

"Hey, what’s going on, really...?

Saito sighed, as he meditated with his arms across his chest.

Then he remembered all of a sudden.

"Wait a minute, I’ve run into this kind of situation before...."

Finally becoming aware of the current situation, he felt an inexplicable sense of déjà vu.

I remember having such a strange dream a long time ago.

Yes... That was the Water Capital "Aquileia" when I was hypnotized by Louise and fell into a deep sleep....

At that time, Saito glimpsed a fragment of a memory from 6000 years ago in his familiar rune while he was asleep.

"...In that case, am I seeing another dream of 6000 years ago?"

Therefore, Saito felt confident that this was definitely the case.

The dream Saito saw before was a memory sleeping in the runes of the "Gandálfr". Saying that, was the current dream a memory sleeping in the "Lífþrasir" runes?

An evil chill couldn’t help but run up his spine.

What kind of dream was this exactly...?

After sitting in the same spot with his heart full of worry, Saito saw an individual shadow from the other side of a huge sand dune gradually come to his side.

Who was it exactly? While being cautious, Saito grabbed Derflinger’s hilt at the same time.

As the bean-sized figure gradually approached, its outline became clearer and clearer.

The person was a petite man, wearing a robe so long that it dragged on the ground.

He had a head of bright blonde hair, as well as a serious, if unremarkable, appearance.

This person was one that Saito remembered.

"Mr. Brimir!"

Saito shouted, The robed man immediately discovered Saito and slowly walked to him.

Sure enough, he was in the rune’s dream from before, where he met the Founder Brimir.

Saito was confident that what he was seeing now was the rune’s memories.

Shortly, seeing the appearance of Brimir, Saito couldn’t help but gasp.

Brimir had become a bit older, his cheeks were thin, and he looked like a different person from when Saito saw him before.

Brimir carefully looked at Saito’s face, then revealed a puzzled expression.

"...Excuse me, who are you? Where have I seen you before?"

"You don’t remember? It’s me, Hiraga Saito.", Saito answered. After all, how long ago had it been? Not to mention, was the Brimir in front of his eyes really the same Brimir that Saito had seen before?

"Um, this really gives me a sensation of déjà vu, but where have I seen you before?"

At that moment, Saito had an epiphany. Right, I just need to let him see this....

Then Saito gripped Derflinger and showed him the glowing runes on his left hand.

When Brimir saw, his eyes went huge and he shouted.

"’Gandálfr’! Right, I remember... You’re the youth from that time!"

"Yes, thanks a lot for before."

Saito bowed his head in greeting, and Brimir smiled slightly.

"Oh, I’m sorry. That was when I was living the life of a continuous wanderer and was many years ago. Well, it’s truly incredible that you haven’t gotten any older than you were back then.

"I am a person from 6000 years in the future."

"Ah, that’s right."

Brimir answered with a look of surprise on his face.

"So what are you doing here? Where is your master?"

I, ah, uh, lost my way in the desert... What are you doing here, Mr. Brimir? Everybody in the village, and Sasha?

Hearing Saito’s question, Brimir’s face stiffened, then he answered.

"She should be coming here momentarily."

Then, Saito followed Brimir to a sparsely wooded area, like a small oasis. A tent frame and a damaged well were both abandoned nearby, as well as the skeleton of a large animal, which he didn’t know if it was from a horse or camel. It looked like an abandoned village.

Brimir pointed at the mountain in the opposite direction and said.

"Heading north from here is a land with people living in it. It’s best to flee from here since this area will soon sink to the bottom of the sea.

"Sink into the sea? What’s this about?"

Saito said in surprise.

"Do you know? Your ancestors may not know yet, but this world is facing a terrible, world-ending crisis."

"What?"

Hearing this, Saito’s mouth fell open.

What did he mean by facing destruction?

Isn’t the world facing destruction ours, 6000 years in the future?

Seeing Saito’s uncomprehending face, Brimir explained in detail.

"Have you heard of the stuff called ’Spirit Stones’?"

"Is it like ’Wind Stones’ or a ’Jewel of Fire’?"

Hearing Saito’s answer, Brimir exclaimed.

"It is indeed, ’Gandálfr’, you know a lot. Did you learn it from your master?"

"Uh, something like that."

Saito responded warmly.

"That makes this easy to explain. In other words, ’Spirit Stones’ are the crystallization of the power of the spirits of this world. The vast majority of them are buried deep underground and no one has ever seen them."

This sentence got Saito thinking. In the time that Brimir was alive, they probably didn’t have the technology to mine ’Wind Stone’ yet.

Brimir looked down at the ground at his feet.

"The power of the ’Spirit Stone’ sleeping in the ground will erupt across the world."

"What did you say!"

Saito couldn’t help but shout.

Are you saying that the "Wind Stone" already went out of control before in Halkeginia 6000 years ago...?

"If this happens, the earth will be turned upside down and humanity will lose the land they can survive on," Brimir said bleakly.

"Even after this event that took place 6000 years ago, the same tragedy will happen in Halkeginia...."

Luctiana said the "Great Disaster" that killed half the Elves, could it really be that the "Wind Stones" went out of control.

"But I will absolutely not let this happen, absolutely not."

Brimir, with a look of relief, stood up.

Looking closely at the city stretched across the foot of the mountain.

"That’s...?"

"It’s the capital of the Elves. A great city protected by the ’Great Will’."

"That’s the capital of the Elves...."

The towering snow-white walls were built around the mountain and were really similar to earth-style construction. It was not the same as Nephthys’ "Adyl".

After 6000 years, changes in architectural styles were inevitable, thought Saito. However, to be able to build such an incredible city 6000 years ago, the Elves sure were quite amazing.

Saito watched Brimir face the Elven city and extend his hands.

"What are you planning on doing?"

"Doing what I need to do in order for my tribe to survive. I only came here for that purpose."

Brimir said with a stiff face.

"In order to survive...."

Mouthing that sentence again... at that moment, Saito was suddenly alarmed.

He wondered why Brimir came here, and what he was going to do next.

In order to survive, what do you need to do... isn’t that the same as what happened in Halkeginia 6000 years later?

Each fighting for land to live on, as if repeating the performance of history 6000 years ago....

The legend of the "Great Disaster" that destroyed half of the Elves. And as Derflinger had said, Sasha, as Gandálfr had killed Brimir... What did this sentence really represent?

All the clues came together in Saito’s mind.

No, it can’t be...!

It was only now that he discovered the truth about the huge mountain range towering on the other side of the desert.

Remembering what Mother Sea said at the "Dragon’s Nest", the place where the weapons that had drifted from Earth arrived at, was on dry land thousands of years ago. Several thousand years ago, "Something" changed the surrounding landscape, causing the "Holy Land" to sink to the bottom of the sea.

As for that "Something", it was....

"Mr. Brimir, don’t tell me you’re planning to destroy that Elven city!"

"That’s right. For my tribe that lacks power, this is the only way to survive."

Brimir answered in a hoarse voice.

"Please don’t do this. If you really do this... the war will last for thousands of years."

"I won’t. Today, all Elves will disappear from the face of the earth."

"Don’t joke around... Isn’t Ms. Sasha an Elf!"

Hearing Saito mention Sasha’s name, a pained expression appeared for a moment on Brimir’s face, and he weakly shook his head.

"It’s already too late, this is the only way."

"Why...?"

Brimir, holding up his hands, began chanting the runes of the "Void".

At that moment, acute pain flowed from Saito’s chest.

Saito couldn’t help but moan and kneel on the ground.

"...shit...damn..."

A dazzling light appeared over Brimir’s head as he chanted the runes.

That light... was very similar to Louise’s "Explosion", thought Saito.

But it was not "Explosion"... it was a much, much more scary spell.

Perhaps it was the instincts of a Void familiar, that let Saito sense this.

If such a terrible power were to be released, it could easily destroy a city.

Brimir’s voice sounded particularly clear, as his consciousness gradually faded.

"Because there’s no way for us to understand each other."