The morning is just like any other morning. We wake up and eat. During the meal, Lisa tells us everything she knows and everything concerning her, though she had already told me almost all of it. Everyone is surprised by her ability, as it is the exact opposite of mine. Existence and Life keeps me living even though I was forgotten by everyone, and Lisa's ability, "Forgotten Existence," only lets her die once everyone forgets her.
"But Min, what I haven't told you yet: I died briefly, back then, when you used the magic," she says at the end. My breath catches and my eyes go wide, as if I am only now realizing that Lisa almost died because of me.
"But how could you be resurrected?" Luna asks suddenly. But Lisa herself has no idea how it worked; she simply brushes it off as luck or coincidence.
"Do you really think coincidence exists? Coincidence is just an excuse so as not to have to admit that fate exists," I say with a bored voice. Everyone looks at me in confusion because they cannot understand me.
"Of course there are coincidences!" Kira throws into the room. She cites several examples, like us meeting again or the demons appearing at that exact moment, but I simply negate her statements.
"Kira, the fact that we met again was no coincidence. The gods planned it that way so that I would have an emotional burden they could use. Even the demons were probably brought by the gods," I argue against Kira's statements. She immediately falls quiet and realizes it is quite possible that everything happened exactly as intended.
We are finally finished eating. We go to the hotel elevator since the restaurant is on one of the upper floors. We arrive at the ground floor, which is quite crowded at the moment. We check out and then head out of the hotel. The elevator for the various levels is only a few meters away. We walk to the elevator while windows are being flung open in the city and people emerge from the houses. We ride down and see the sunrise looking truly beautiful. We arrive at the third level, where people get on. We continue, arrive at the second level, get out, and walk out of the city. We walk around the city since there is only one entrance and exit. If we were to keep going straight, we would be right back where we started.
We enter the next forest, which is denser than the first one. Inside the forest itself, it is dark, even though it is day and the sun is shining. Kira casts magic that generates a warm light; the forest becomes a bit brighter thanks to this light source. We make it through the entire forest in a relaxed manner without any incidents, except for a few goblins or orcs occasionally, which the others took care of since they are desperate to get stronger. We emerge from the forest and sit down on some stones for a moment. We eat something again and then move on. We walk for about 20 minutes across a pure field of flowers, where there is a path specifically for adventurers so as not to destroy any flowers.
We arrive at the mountain range, which consists of red rock that shimmers in the blazing sun. I take off my cloak, revealing a simple black T-shirt underneath. I tuck my cloak into the dimensional hole I create beside me. We walk along a narrow path that becomes wider over time. After a few minutes, we can mostly walk together again. After a short walk, the path already spirals up a mountain. We go up slowly while the sun beats down on us. We take a break every 20 minutes to drink, as it would otherwise be too dangerous. This place is like a desert, only with rock instead of sand.
After two hours, we arrive at the peak, where the sun is already shining only weakly. We know that we have hardly any time left. I have lost all sense of time, but it is the second day. That means we have to arrive tomorrow at noon or perhaps even early in the morning. We cross a large gorge that we can only traverse thanks to a stone-bridge-like structure, which apparently was intended by nature. A human would not work like that because it is far too untidy. We humans are perfectionists, after all. And what do those who build such things get? A little money for that massive amount of work. The people who truly put in the effort often get nothing. That is how this world works and it will never change.
We arrive at the other side of the stone bridge, which also reveals a mountain. Slowly the sun sets and an orange light shines on the red rock. It looks as if it were shimmering. This mountain, too, can only be descended in a spiral. We descend for some time, during which the sun goes down and the moon comes out. But it does not get colder, as in most deserts; instead, it is still so incredibly warm that I do not need to put on my cloak. We arrive at the foot of the mountain and the stone desert ends at this point. We all think we are one step ahead of the gods, but apparently, we are mistaken.
"Shit, they are almost there! 20 minutes left! How much longer?" Freyja says, while Kronus simply looks at the crystal ball with a smile.
"KRONUS… KROOOONUS… KRONUS!!!!!!" Freyja screams at Kronus with a loud voice. Kronus startles and looks at Freyja, though his smile does not disappear.
"What is it, Freyja? Everything is going according to plan. They should arrive earlier to feel superior," Kronus says, answering Freyja's unvoiced question directly. Freyja just looks bewildered, while the other gods play a few rounds of Blackjack. You can imagine it like a tournament. Mina looks at Galaktika with a pouting face.
"Hey, you're cheating! That's not fair, you always win," Mina says with a pouting face and a slightly sweet voice. A smirk flickers across Galaktika's face. Everyone looks at Galaktika in confusion because he hasn't smiled or done anything similar in a very long time.
"Hey Min, there is the capital of Manduro, Janobu!" Lilly says with a joyful and excited voice.
"Wow, it looks exactly like Tokyo, only smaller," Milo says with a nostalgic voice. The city is completely illuminated and filled with so many skyscrapers. Milo calls them skylines, even though I have no idea what that exactly means. We enter Janobu and look for a hotel—that's apparently what inns are called here in this country. We go into a small hotel with only two floors, which doesn't look very wealthy. We get our rooms.
"Luckily, my father gave us 50 platinum coins," Luna says with relief. I lay down a platinum coin and receive six gold coins back. We go to our rooms and fall asleep. The next morning, a loud scream comes from below. We all wake up, run out of our rooms, and see many fear-filled faces. Luna goes forward and looks out through the glass door. A demon is rampaging in the city.
"What? How is that possible? I did..." I stop mid-sentence as the idea hits me.
"What's wrong, Min?" Kira looks at me worriedly.
"It was a human demon, already here upon our arrival," I say with full determination, since I actually cast a barrier around the city. Without thinking, I run out of the hotel. It looks like a demon general again, who, just like in Lagoon, is simply meant to weaken me. But this time, that won't work.
"Suri, Lilly, Luna, and Kira, come with me! I need your help for this," I shout to them. They immediately start to smile, but it is a strange smile rather than a normal, gentle one as usual. Milo is supposed to be there to protect all the residents, like a shield.
We run toward the demon general, who this time seems slimmer and more agile, but rather weak and vulnerable, which we can use to our advantage. We run in circles around him at specific intervals until it looks as if there are several of us. He tries to orient himself by the tracks of our feet, but I erase them immediately with magic as soon as any can be seen. After a few seconds, I spring toward him, but without anyone else being able to follow me with their gaze. The demon general simply dodges. We all come to a halt while I land on a slightly damaged roof. The demon general looks at me and begins to smile eerily—a grin so wide that you couldn't miss it even from three kilometers away.
His weak points are his legs, but he is too fast. That means I have to make an invisible attack. But I cannot perform such an attack just like that. I would have to cast a combination spell of several elements and invisibility for this plan to work. For that, I need longer than just a few minutes; I need at least an hour and ten minutes or more. Since no one else can cast a barrier, I share this information with them via telepathy magic.
"What? Are you serious? Are you sure about that?" Kira asks me worriedly. She seems to be a little concerned about me. But everyone simply nods and places their lives in my hands once again. Another new burden. But I must not disappoint them; otherwise, I would also disappoint myself. I lower my gaze while slowly holding my arms up. Milo immediately recognizes what I intend to do.
"Quick! Everyone out of the city if you value your life!" Milo shouts through the entire hotel. Everyone runs out without hesitation. Half run to the south gate, where the King's palace stands, which currently isn't noticing anything. His daughter, however, is currently in a fashion shop that wants to close quickly.
"Princess, you must leave! The demons are attacking!" the shop owner says to her. I want to meet the hero, he must be special, the princess thinks while the ground begins to shake. Lisa flies through the fashion shop. The princess runs straight to her and looks at her worriedly while the shop owner runs away in fear.
The demon general tries to run toward me. But thanks to the princess, who quickly healed Lisa, Kira can give her a speed boost. The demon general is just pulling back for a strike with a larger sword. Lisa jumps between us and flings the general away from me. I remain standing calmly and the first color appears above me. A black cloud appears over the capital. Everyone looks into the sky, except for the King, who is just getting up. He sees only black outside the window. With a sleepy and annoyed face, he goes to the window, looks out more closely, and sees the demon general currently fighting against Luna and Lisa.
Both dodge all attacks while preparing a combo attack, which is shown by a red and a snow-white sphere. The white sphere is from Luna, recognizable by the fact that red for the fire is slowly entering it as well. Her hair glows in a radiant snow-white and a flame-red. Lisa, on the other hand, does nothing but dodge. The two spheres fuse with each other and become one sphere that is one-quarter snow-white and three-quarters flame-red. The sphere bursts and becomes a bow and arrow.
Milo stops at a supermarket at the city boundary, as coins from Limbora are converted here, unlike in Kimura where you have to exchange them beforehand. Milo buys several magic stones of various elements with a superior smile. He seems to have a plan, though exactly which one, I haven't understood to this day. I only know that he helped with it, even if no one noticed but me. But I had almost forgotten that this action of his saved my life—or rather: my existence.