LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 82
The Goddess’s Garden.
Despite the grand name, the enormous island felt rather desolate.
Compared to my domain, which seemed like an ideal earthly paradise, my garden possessed a beauty cultivated by human hands, while the Goddess’s garden looked as if the flora was simply left to thrive in nature.
Unlike the plants that were hybridized through modern methods, these plants grew in an isolated environment.
Some trees blossomed with buds filled with water in the middle of their trunks.
Some flowers bowed their heads to the ground in response to the footsteps of me and Yuki.
‘I can’t feel the magical girl’s magic.’
It seemed as though an ecosystem of a type we had never seen before had been maintained.
Yet, everything was merely a backdrop that highlighted the overwhelming white lighthouse visible hundreds of kilometers beyond the plain.
“⋯⋯.”
“⋯⋯.”
Excluding the sound of helicopters broadcasting live images of the island overhead, the place was eerily quiet.
[Only those who have seen the future and those who have inherited the first deception are allowed to enter.]
A message left behind with a burst of white starlight from the lighthouse.
While all eyes of the world were focused on the word ‘destruction’ boldly uttered by the magical girl goddess of [Revelation], another bombshell was dropped.
The First Goddess.
The one who saw the future.
The first lie.
Instinctively, people across the globe felt they were witnessing a historic moment right here.
‘⋯Rather, this gathering of attention should be taken as an opportunity to reveal the truth about magical girls to the world.’
I came up with an idea to take advantage of this surreal and dramatic situation. I informed Ichika, Sumire, Kang Dorim, Laura, and Lee Meirin that this could potentially be a major turning point for us. Despite the chaos, they quietly watched the situation while expressing their trust in me.
Yuki and I launched ourselves toward the island using our telekinesis while transformed.
And after walking side by side for an hour…
“H-Hikari. Up in the lighthouse…!”
“Yeah.”
Long silver hair dancing in the sea breeze.
A peculiar outfit that looked like a large white cloth draped halfway between a dress and a priest’s robe.
Crimson eyes that seemed as if they had rubies embedded in them.
She was watching us from the top of the lighthouse.
Born 3-Star of Blooming [Revelation] Magical Girl
Anonymous Goddess
A presence so shocking that it could be described as being like a [Thousand Bloom] 3-Star, igniting the massive lighthouse with silvery-white starlight.
Me and the goddess faced each other from a few kilometers apart.
Below the lighthouse, in front of the white village, blonde-haired, golden-eyed girls bowed their heads respectfully. Among them, one was a familiar [Wings] magical girl.
‘All of them are magical girls. And they’re blooming.’
About ten of them felt to be around the power of Born 2-Star. The rest, even if they were Born 1-Star, displayed either an awakening on the verge or possessed strength far beyond that of other 1-Star magical girls.
“⋯⋯.”
Among the hundred Born 2-Star beings, ten gathered together, and dozens of 1-Stars, holding potential akin to Yukina or Hana.
This island would undoubtedly be safer than any country when the time of destruction approached, excluding the magical girl society I had created. In the era before the magical girl society, it could easily be regarded as humanity’s last refuge.
“Hikari, what exactly is this island…?”
Yuki felt the starlight of the girls living in the village beneath the lighthouse and appeared to tremble.
And with resentment swelling in her heart.
“Wait… Did you guys have this land and power all along and just ignored it…?”
Red flames flowed like tears of grievance.
For the first time, she unleashed her flames in front of me, revealing her anger. I grabbed her hand urgently.
“Yuki, I can’t guarantee your safety if I fight against the Born 3-Star.”
“⋯Okay. I get it. I’m sorry, Hikari.”
“No, it’s fine. I’m really angry too, but…”
Yuki shook her head, giving a sad smile as if she understood everything.
“⋯⋯.”
Still, I needed to hear from the goddess.
Why don’t the apostles want to save humanity?
What is [Magical Girl HAZARD]?
What were the intentions left behind by the First Goddess?
“Welcome. To the land of the Goddess Church.”
As we approached the village, magical girls with blonde hair and golden eyes, including the [Wings] magical girl, offered their greetings in unison.
Listening closely, I felt a sense of incongruity in their words.
‘Korean? No… Sounds a bit like Japanese too.’
I sensed traces of every language I knew, yet the essence of what they wanted to convey was conveyed perfectly. Though the sounds I heard were foreign, I could understand the meaning with clarity, sending chills down my spine.
“As I mentioned, the following matters will be explained by the goddess.”
“⋯⋯.”
Thud.
Even after jumping from hundreds of meters up, it sounded almost like the light drop of someone jumping out of a first-floor window.
Flowing silver hair.
And the calmly staring crimson eyes.
The goddess.
The [Revelation] magical girl.
I was now facing the first born 3-Star magical girl I had ever met, one of the four set to be the strongest in the story.
“⋯⋯.”
“⋯⋯.”
I widened my thin eyes to see her clearly.
She gazed back at me with a mechanical gaze.
Two pairs of crimson eyes.
Suddenly, it struck me as funny to be facing her.
All the magic and strategies I had imagined during the first two years of being in this world while fleeing from the magical girl of [War] were just trash techniques before the true power of a blooming Born 3-Star magical girl.
Even now, I discerned her combat abilities, which I judged by reverse causality, were slightly a notch below mine.
Reading the fighting patterns learned from Ichika.
The unique skill of reverse causality I had realized by myself.
The unique equipment transformation learned from Yuki.
With each lesson, the realizations that propelled my massive growth.
The various techniques I acquired to protect others.
Utilizing all of that, I barely took a single step forward.
I found it laughable to think how I once imagined I could survive against [War] all alone.
“Successor.”
“Goddess.”
We finally spoke each other’s names as we faced each other.
The goddess looked at me briefly before speaking mechanically.
“Why didn’t you go to school?”
“⋯What?”
“Shibuya East Girls’ Middle School.”
“How do you know that…?!”
“I arranged for you to receive schooling in this world and set your fate to meet the witness who received the power of resurrection to prepare for destruction, yet you didn’t go.”
A shock hit me like a hammer to the head.
The chilling thought I had right before the Christmas party.
What if I had met Yuki earlier before becoming a magical girl, formed a bond like Sato Hana, relying on each other without ever proclaiming our domains or debuting, clinging to the original story?
What if one day, all the memories with the past Yuki were shattered by the memories that Yuki brought back from the future?
Would I have still wanted to save this world?
Did she expect me to become a machine and follow through all that?
“Anyway, you received the power of [Resurrection], and it’s clear that you possess the will to save humanity, so you are more than qualified to be the successor. Now…”
Hearing the goddess’s words, Yuki’s face turned pale as she spoke in a daze.
“You remember the previous world? How?”
[Resurrection] Magical Girl.
It was a title Yuki could no longer use in this world.
“I also transmitted the memories I had left after the last trial to fulfill the goddess’s command.”
“Do you remember the wild boar pack too?”
“About the third trial.”
“Why did you do that!!! Some people even threw themselves into the sea because there was no boat!!!”
“The history of a world where the successor has not awakened holds no meaning beyond mere observation.”
Yuki, upon hearing this, seemed to lose her ability to reason entirely and crumbled to the ground in tears. Even then, the goddess continued to speak.
“The goddess’s command is that when the world returns due to the endless recurrence of [Resurrection], the awakened successor must adapt to this world. And meet the [Resurrection] who has returned to hear the story of everything that has happened.”
The goddess replied without emotion, staring at Yuki.
“It is to hand over the Goddess’s Garden, designated as humanity’s last domain, if all conditions are met and the successor possesses even a shred of the will to save.”
“⋯⋯.”
I also asked the goddess in a dazed voice.
“So, the First Goddess didn’t want to save everyone from the start?”
“It would be more accurate to say the goddess did not expect the successor to save all of humanity.”
“So, everything I did… the magical girl society… was not the goddess’s intention? My actions were unrelated to her plan?”
“That is correct.”
The goddess spoke with a rather puzzled expression.
“Successor, why did you know about the trials and the curses cast by the three goddesses even before [Resurrection] returned?”
The curses cast by the three goddesses.
This was also the first time I had heard of it.
“Why would a soul from a completely different universe know the common sense and future of this world?”
“⋯⋯.”
Amidst the confusion, one thing was certain.
If I hadn’t taken the initiative.
If things had flowed as this terrifying command execution machine had prepared.
There would have been no hope of salvation, let alone any satisfactory outcome.