Fantasy Clock～Dream Ruler～

If the world were pure darkness, there would be no so-called "color".

I, who have never experienced color, will not pursue color.

"..."

Assumptions are always assumptions. Colors other than pitch black have existed, so I cannot adapt to pitch black vision.

The flustered thoughts made me reach out to the front, as if I could grab a ray of colorful colors from the darkness.

Suddenly, a dazzling light spot disappeared behind me like lightning, and my arm could not help but follow the light spot and swing to the back, but the light spot had already disappeared. When looking forward again, there are countless but passing lights all over the eyes.

It was as if I were in a deep tunnel. I suddenly realized that it wasn't the point of light that flew rapidly behind me to form the disappearing scene, but that I myself was moving forward quickly to make the surrounding scene flow.

The world has never changed, and what has really changed is myself.

Confused, I raised my palm to block the brighter and brighter white light in front of me, and the shadow cast swept across my eyes.

Gradually, even if I stretched out my hand, I couldn't cover the light, and the temperature in my body became higher and higher. I clearly feel that I am approaching that dazzling ray of light, and this ray of light is the exit of this tunnel.

There is no turning back. Because you said that even if it is a road of no return, you will never turn back.

The heart seemed to be pinched without leaving any gaps in a broad palm, and there was a feeling of oppression and heavyness.

The outstretched hand reaches the finish line first. The field of vision is no longer pure black, but a monotonous paleness.

In the blink of an eye, the thoughts have escaped from the order of this track at high speed, and met the black cloth that was splashed with colorful colors.

Sky blue, lemon yellow, beach gold; night black, starlight silver, fantasy orange...

In the end,——is a flaming crimson that soars into the sky.

Because I used to have color, I can't be in a vision of only darkness.

Unknowingly, the tightly closed eyelids slowly opened.

Surrounding my body is a translucent purple cube. The moment I opened my eyes, dust was scattered with the sound of glass breaking, the pupils involuntarily shrank to the center, and the world fell into a hellish picture.

——The night sky, which was supposed to be sealed off, is now illuminated brightly.

The bright firelight seemed to be embedded in the charred planks, and the long wooden bars hanging from the eaves were crumbling. The black and gray gunpowder smoke fluttered restlessly in the sky, rushing towards the crimson sky together with the pillar of fire that soared into the sky.

I sat up hastily, my eyes were distracted due to lack of focus, and I suddenly focused. I saw something stuck in the palm of my hand for some reason, and it was lifted into the air by the wind.

Inexplicably, I felt as if my beloved toy had been snatched away. I instinctively stretched out my hand, grabbed it at a loss, carefully moved it back to my chest, and slowly let go of my trembling fingers.

——Without any dust, a pure white feather, as holy as something forgotten by an angel.

His eyes trembled involuntarily. Because I vaguely remember this feather, which I saw in another world not long ago. The out-of-focus vision blurred the object in his hand, staggered it and noticed the person sitting on the ruins.

Flames flickered in the girl's eyes, and green light squeezed out from the palm of her hand, covering the shocking wound on her arm. The scars heal faster like a speeding film, and disappear after a few seconds.

"Tong Xiyu, this is... what's going on?"

Probably because of the bad air nearby, the voice in my throat was extremely hoarse. Even after I just said this simple sentence, the discomfort in my throat made me cough hard.

"I don't know. All I did was promise others to heal your injury. I don't know anything else."

The voice just fell. There were scattered sounds from the left, as if someone had moved the disorderly gravel across the road.

I looked towards the source of the sound hesitantly, and the sparks flickering like stars in the night sky stayed in my field of vision. Xia Yinci lowered her dim eyes and jumped down from the top of the wood that traversed the outside world, her long hair followed her The action fluttered.

"Ah... are you awake?"

Noticing that I was sitting on the broken stone slab on the edge, Xia Yinci put away the emotion in her eyes in a little haste. She put the things in her hands behind her back, and turned around to glance at Su Huilin as if to cover up.

Su Huilin walked to the edge of the wood with Xiao Lulu, whose face was dripping with blood, behind her back. She turned sideways, hugged Xiao Lulu carefully, followed Xia Yinci and jumped into the ruins on our side.

When she came near us, Su Huilin paused for a moment, she suppressed the thoughts surging in her eyes, and looked at me thoughtfully, as if she wanted to ask me a lot, but in the end she said nothing to me Say it.

"Tong Xiyu, you still...can you?"

Xia Yinci's tone was not a question, but a confirmation. Probably they met once before I woke up, Tong Xiyu asked them to bring Xiao Lulu here.

Tong Xiyu didn't mind answering the questions he had heard, and said in a flat tone without fluctuation.

"Barely. I can heal one more person in 3-5 hours."

All five people present suffered injuries of varying degrees. Most of the wounds of Tong Xiyu and I have healed, only a few wounds such as scratches are left, I think they should have been treated by her.

Xia Yinci's mouth was obviously wiped with blood, her face was slightly pale, and her delicate and pretty face had a feminine temperament at this time, not as proud as before. Su Huilin has bruises mixed with blood on her arms and legs, but she is not sickly tired. Compared with her, she is more traumatized.

Xiao Lulu was the most seriously injured, with a thin black mist remaining in her palm, her flesh and blood were exposed outside her skin, her face was covered by blood, and her expression could not be seen clearly at all. And she's in a swoon now,

"I'm sorry to trouble you today, but please heal her wound."

Su Huilin looked at Xia Yinci's state worriedly, and she gave orders hesitantly, then squatted down on the spot holding the white cat, and carefully placed the white cat on a relatively stable ground.

Tong Xiyu gently lifted the white cat's bangs, and the green light followed her palm against the white cat's forehead. Faulty memories flooded my head like the throes of a storm, blurring my vision for a while.

In the end what happened?

In my memory, not long ago, I was still fighting against the ruler of clock number twelve, and I lost consciousness after that.

What happened during my coma?

——The answer seems to be in the palm of my hand.

I spread my palm hesitantly, and my eyes returned to the feather held by my palm. I have seen it in the world of Elus, and I know roughly where it comes from and what it is used for, so I feel so uneasy.

"I'll go over there and be alone for a while."

I frantically explained to Xia Yinci and the others, and before I could wait for their response, I couldn't help but walked to the corner, lowered my head, and focused my sight on the feather in my palm.

As if wanting to answer the questions in my heart—the feather seemed to be entrusted with a soul, freed my fingers, and floated freely into the air. When I stretched out my hand hastily, Elus's slightly haughty voice rang in my ears.

"Hey! Su Ruoyang, let me ask you!"

"If the person who came here to save you wasn't me..." The voice paused for a short while, as if intentionally suppressing the sadness, "If it was Xia Yinci or Su Huilin, what would they do?"

＊＊＊

— About an hour ago.

Colorful ribbons protruded from Solomon's back in a continuous and uneven posture. The last second showed a gentle curve, and the next second it changed into a straight trajectory without warning.

"Hey, what's the matter? In order not to affect your comrades, why don't you use the ability to manipulate gravity?"

The Warlock lowered his palms to the ground arrogantly, and the red carpet on the ground twisted suddenly, turning into a column approaching from behind the girls, and at the same time, the front end of the column was ground into a sharp cone shape.

Both the front and rear were attacking with no flaws, but compared to the Warlock's attack was more violent, aiming to penetrate their bodies, but Solomon wanted to tie them up with ribbons for some reason.

Xia Yinci weighed the two, and simply moved towards Solomon. Su Huilin and Xiao Lulu chose to follow Xia Yinci to retreat after the same consideration. However, the warlock's streamer caught up at a faster speed.

Xia Yinci seemed to be counting silently, and looked at each other with Su Huilin and Xiao Lulu respectively.

Facing the pincer attack from both sides, before the tip of the stream column hit them, the three of them quickly dispersed into two groups, using the black mist to stagger the ribbons at the same time, and lured the stream column to Solomon's direction.

The flying tapered tip pierced directly through Solomon's cloak. Xia Yinci immediately turned around, only to find that there was nothing in the place where the legs should be, and the cloak that was completely pierced below was floating in the air without any support.

"As expected, is that so~"

Solomon, who was not affected by this, turned back with red eyes that looked like demons.

"I don't refuse anyone's surrender. With all due respect, those of you who don't use gravity—have no chance of winning."

Countless ribbons that turned into sharp blades struck him with his unwavering tone. The warlock who was standing far away took a step back, and his hands attached to the clay floor tiles created a moving "mountain" and approached the girl.

Xiao Lulu, who was busy dealing with the ribbon, had no time to take care of the warlock's offensive from behind, so Su Huilin could only spread his right arm and look directly at the warlock here, a crimson flame suddenly flashed in his eyes, and flew towards the warlock's eyes.

"Warlock of Clock Number One, I allow you to rest here for a while."

Su Erin's command made the warlock and his mobile mountain retreat at the same time. The definition of "a moment" is actually quite vague, and everyone has different boundaries, which is why we can ensure that we will not be affected by backlash.

Xiao Lulu, who can concentrate on dealing with Solomon for the time being, spreads a black mist behind the opponent, causing the ribbon passing through his body to enter the space near Solomon, and the ribbon galloping at high speed pierces the cloak regardless of enemy or friend.

However, the already damaged cloak still showed no sign of losing consciousness. The attack towards him could only reduce the area of ​​the cloak, but could not hurt Solomon himself, so it was meaningless.

"Your self-awareness...is it cheating?"

"I don't think that self-awareness beyond reality is not a derivative of dominance?"

"The guy who was silent at first, why is he talking like an old lady now?"

The ribbon pierced the hood of the cloak and pierced Solomon directly in the eye, but it did not affect the glass of water like a thin needle in a glass of cold water. Solomon remains unharmed.

"I'm just answering your question in my own way. It seems that the truth is dross in the eyes of stupid people."

"Who are you calling an idiot!" Xiao Lulu yelled, almost forming an intuitive instinct.

Solomon sneered and stopped answering her, his eyes narrowed suddenly, and the ribbon pierced into the black mist was instantly retracted behind his back, and the warlock who opened the bondage also let the mountain attack at the same time. But the gravity changed again in the next second.

"Oh? Don't you worry about implicating your companions?"

"If I don't defeat you, she will also be implicated."

Xia Yinci shook off the upward gravity, and the falling warlock immediately extended the top of the mountain, spreading out a thick layer of rocks, and the warlock fell on this layer of rocks to barely support the gravity.

The violent pressure created cracks in the fragile part of the rock, and the Warlock was about to adjust the density of the rock when an overwhelming roar erupted from the left, and the dazzling flames immediately tore through the wall of the building and rushed toward us——

Su Huilin, who stepped on the table, took a sharp step back, and at the same time pushed away Xia Yinci who was closest to her, and then an explosion that could swallow everything came to everyone in the building in the next instant.

The closest person to the explosion is Xiao Lulu on the left. At this time, she just received a call from Lin Yu, Black Cat, Chart and Xue Xueer, but she didn't have time to think about how to deal with the shock, and because of this sudden call, she hesitated and paused fatally, so Almost being drawn in from the front, the crumbling ceiling broke completely, and she was buried in the ruined floor.

Solomon was sucked into the hurricane caused by the explosion, and he floated up into the sky, staggering the flame and disappearing. The building was split into two parts by the spreading flames, and the broken rock just hit Warlock's back, and he flew out together with him.

"It's Elus..."

The devastating impact didn't even allow time for her to finish speaking, Xia Yinci instinctively raised her arms to block her eyes, her vision was immediately taken away from the color, leaving only a brightly illuminated pale void.

The flame-colored long hair, which is particularly conspicuous even in the firelight, flutters in the center of this picture of hell. As a result, the ultramarine-colored crystal chips dissipated in the bright red sky in an inexhaustible spiral shape.

＊＊＊

"Charlotte and the others entrusted their hopes to me, and now I want to entrust this matter to you willfully. If you can win the domination war, please, by the way, bring light to my world..."

The light of the star array disappeared like a blown out candle, and the pure white wings that lost their sustenance floated to the sky with the wind, and disappeared into my world together with her voice, leaving only an empty sadness in my heart.

"Qianyan...are you here? Please, come out..." I lowered my arms and begged wearily, "Can't you go back in time? Please...let me, go back?"

"You want. Where are you going back?"

This time, Qianyan didn't ignore my request, but she didn't appear in front of me either.

"Anytime is fine, as long as it's before Elus died for me, any time is fine."

The brief moment of wordless silence made my heart truly feel the pain.

Qianyan sighed lightly, and replied:

"I can't do this kind of thing either. As I said, it's a prophetic dream about the future."

Even though the clear and dignified voice did not pretend to be cold this time, it was still like a pot of cold water pouring down his body.

"What has happened is the established past. No one can interfere."

The strength in the body seemed to be completely drained, and the breath squeezed out the deep throat. I knelt and sat powerlessly in this piece of ruined steel and steel, my vision was covered with a layer of white mist.

"..."

what is this?

"..."

What the hell is this?

I don't know how long I lost my voice, and the words were squeezed out of my throat by the unspeakable emotion.

"Hey, tell me... what! What kind of plan is this...!"

"What is honor? Narcissist!"

"What do you mean by deleting? I know... Do you think I can't see what you want to say? Do you think I don't know? You didn't delete it because of Tsundere!"

This kind of thing... I actually understand it!

"At a time like this... Everyone will want to tell the truth, right? Why do you still consider my feelings at this time? Why delete it? Don't worry if I will be troubled, tell me frankly... !"

At least...at least at this last moment, you should be honest once, right?

"Thank you for what I did? Hey, I'm not a hero... I'm just a meddling piece of shit..."

"Let me smile and thank you? Call you sister? Hey, can the 100 years you were frozen count as your age?!"

I raised my head with a wry smile, and a sour mood welled up in my eyes.

"Come on!! You bastard... no matter in mind or appearance, you are only 12 years old at most!"

100 years without consciousness, 100 years without experience, can't be counted in your life at all, right?

"Don't pretend to be an old man who has lived for more than 100 years! You are only 12 years old, right?! Don't act like you have lived for a long time... It doesn't matter if you die for a long time, idiot!"

"Don't sacrifice yourself for me without me knowing it...you idiot."

A strong sense of tearing gripped my heart tightly, and the strength of my voice became weaker and weaker, so that I couldn't speak out loudly.

"Bringing you out of the bad memories of the past and bringing you back to reality is to let you spend the rest of your life well... If you sacrifice, the things I do will be meaningless, right?"

More than one roar made my voice gradually hoarse. I coughed out the discomfort in my throat vigorously, but unexpectedly, the suppressed tears in my eye sockets would also be uncontrollable, directly gushing out of my eye sockets, completely blurring my vision.

"What others entrust to you, you do it yourself! Isn't this your obsession to live!?"

Up to now, I finally really understand what it means to "lose the reason to participate in the domination war", that is the obsession to live. Just because they don't want to live anymore, Domination War will abandon these people who have lost their "reason".

Kazuhiko Sato found what he had been looking for, and William accomplished what he had been suppressing in his heart. Therefore, they no longer need to be obsessed with dominating wars, and they no longer need to be obsessed with life.

What about you, Elise? Why should people like me be considered a reason to give up on life?

"It's not worth it for you to sacrifice your life to save a piece of trash like me—"

Suddenly, a weight that was too slight to be noticed was forcefully covered on my head, interrupting my self-pity.

"Su Ruoyang, if you want to vent your emotions and express your sorrow by crying out in pain, I won't stop you."

Sparks like stars floated upwards in the field of vision, and the gentle voice that scolded me pulled me back to my eyes.

"However, I will not allow you to blame yourself too much, devalue yourself to nothing, deny and trample on our love for you in a self-defeating way. You are not only belittling yourself, but also insulting people who like you .”

My trembling mood caused my sight to shake for a while. The peaked hat Xia Yinci that was covered on the top was not worn securely for me, and it fell lightly when blown by the wind. I caught it with both hands, so my sight was once again blurred. hazy.

"After the explosion, on the way to find Elus, I accidentally found this top hat."

This is Elus's hat, perhaps the only thing she lost.

When I woke up, Xia Yinci hurriedly hid the things behind her back after seeing me, Su Huilin hesitated to speak, and finally said nothing. They are considering my feelings. It has always been so.

Elus is the same, no different from them.

Even in the last letter, Elus is still scruples about my thoughts. She pretended to be playful and said what she thought would disturb me, and didn't say the request until the end, which proved that she didn't make excuses casually and really liked me.

I have no doubts about her liking. On the contrary, it is precisely because I know all this that I am in such pain.

"Hey. If you still think our love isn't worth it..."

Xia Yinci crossed her arms abruptly, covering my eyes, and gently leaned the back of my head towards her.

"If you still feel that you are not worthy of other people's liking, then you should work hard to change all the places in yourself that make you feel "unworthy" of others, and then let our liking become "worthy"."

There was a tearing sensation in the chest. I hugged the pointed hat in my hand and gritted my teeth tremblingly, but the sockets of my eyes turned red, moistening my clear vision. I clutched the pointed hat tightly, and a heart-piercing mournful sound came from my ears.

It's crying, who is crying loudly with all his strength.

Like a baby born only to cry. Because he was given the mission to live, he cried in confusion.

This burst of unstoppable crying made me sad.

The consciousness that came from the throes was looking for answers in the chaos, trying to identify the direction of the sound.

Then, I found the answer -

It was the cry from my own throat that was tearing my heart.

"...When you thank me, you can't look too ugly! You can't cry!"

Now, Elise. How could I...face your departure with a smile?

So... I will agree to all other requests, but this is the only one... sorry I can't make it happen.

＊＊＊

The streets ransacked by black shadows are bleak and desolate.

For some reason, there is a bloodstain that has not yet dried up in the middle of the road, extending to a distance that cannot be seen.

Follow the bloodstain all the way forward, and you will see a single figure in a pitch-black cloak, staggering towards the destination.

There was an infiltrating bloodstain dripping from his thick wrist, and his clothes seemed to be torn to shreds due to the impact of the explosion, exposing his bloody skin. It's unbelievable that he can still act on his own will.

——In fact, it is not the case. Because his consciousness has passed out, even his eyes can't be closed tightly.

If you observe a little more, you will find that the incomplete cloak on his body is wrapping his legs, and it is the cloak that pulls his legs and drags him forward. Looking from the front, you can even see a pair of red lights in the gap of the cloak. s eyes.

Passing the corner of the street, Solomon and Warlock were greeted by an abandoned base with a "No Entry" notice and surrounded by rusty barbed wire. Only the central building itself is as clean as a newly built building.

The warlock "stopped" at the damaged barbed wire all over the place, and the bright colored ribbons sprang out of thin air, sticking down to the bloodstains on the road, sliding along it, and all the bloodstains on the way were wiped clean.

Solomon didn't know where the limit of the ribbon could go. He counted down the countdown in his heart, and regardless of whether it was completely removed, he took back the ribbon that had been dragged two or three streets away.

He manipulated the warlock's wrist to forcefully break the barbed wire, broke through a hole that could allow the warlock to pass through, and dragged his body into the barbed wire. The strange atmosphere of "no strangers should enter" immediately stimulated Solomon's intuition.

If this is not our stronghold, I would never want to come to this kind of place.

Solomon secretly put away the instinctive rejection in his heart, and entered the interior of the middle building.

The heavy footsteps made a rippling echo on the tiled floor of the building, which seemed deserted except for the two of them. But Solomon seemed to be convinced of something, and stubbornly led him downstairs and opened the door to the basement.

The dust scattered between the cracks of the door was like the white breath exhaled by a monster, and a flat but suppressed terrifying and oppressive voice sounded from the depths of Solomon's consciousness——

"Here we come... What? Isn't No. 2's main force fighting against No. 2 and the others? Are you injured like this?"

Only the voice can be heard, but the figure of the other party cannot be seen. Solomon, who had long been used to it, untied the warlock's body, and the black cloak drifted forward. The warlock who lost his support immediately fell to the ground with a muffled sound.

"Yes, the main force is indeed not on our side... It's just that, as I guessed before, the ruler of clock number nine really caused us trouble."

Having said that, Solomon narrowed his triangular eyes in the cloak, and changed the subject again:

"But in any case, at least the task of breaking through their stronghold has been completed."

The echo in the room gradually dissipated, and Solomon didn't hear the other party's response, as if he had already left here without a sound. Solomon turned his eyes away and looked around, but he didn't see anyone.

Ruler No. 1 of Clock No. 1 has never appeared in front of anyone, even the ruler of Clock No. 1 has never seen his true appearance, and there are very few exchanges, as if he doesn't care about this domination war at all .

Solomon once discussed No. 1 with other rulers out of curiosity, and learned that they were all invited by mysterious voices to dominate the war, and no one had seen his real body.

Compared with other masters of the clock, Solomon is actually more concerned about the true identity of his No. 1. The less he appeared in front of people's eyes, the more Solomon became curious about him.

It is impossible for people here to have no interest in dominating the war, and those who have lost interest have already been forcibly withdrawn.

Throwing the position of leader to Molutong at will doesn't mean he doesn't want to win the domination war. It turned out that they managed to stay until the final stage of this domination war, if this is also what he expected?

People always can't help exaggerating mysterious things, and Solomon is no exception. The mystery of No. 1 made him think that "the other party is a monster-level powerhouse, or even a person who is even more exaggerated than this".

"Hey, are you still there?"

Solomon looked around, raised his voice and asked in the direction of no one. In fact, he didn't know whether No. 1 was still here, but even if it was a bluff, he wanted to ask the other party's details all the time.

[Sure enough, he has already left. 】

There was no response for a long time, and Solomon let out a long sigh of relief. I don't know why knowing that he left, the depressed mood will improve a little. Perhaps even if No. 1 does nothing and just stands there, there will be a terrifying atmosphere.

"Of course I'm still here."

The sudden voice drilled into Solomon's thoughts, and it was louder than before, causing Solomon to take a half step back in panic, and at the same time, he swung several ribbons to attack the direction where no one was there, and ruthlessly plunged into the floor to tear out the cracks.

"The warlock has such a serious injury, how can I leave, right?"

Number 1's tone was still unusually steady, and he didn't seem to blame Solomon for his rude reaction. But Solomon vaguely felt that his flat tone was also mocking his own overreaction.

"You have completed the task I entrusted. Even if you bring back a serious injury, it will not hurt. In addition, I have only recently taken over the position of the dark green pupil, and you trust me so much, which also makes me quite moved."

The voice echoed in Solomon's mind, switching positions back and forth, appearing now to the right and now to the left. Solomon gradually became dizzy, but he still tried to catch useful information from his words.

"So—I want to reward you both. I think this is what a leader should do."

"There is no need for rewards. Breaking the stronghold is beneficial to all of us..."

Solomon still has a sense of distance from No. 1. He is indeed curious about his so-called reward, but also doubts his intention.

"No, no. Rewards are necessary. Humans have a very good saying - different ways do not seek each other. I know that everyone has the same goal, so I will be a companion, but if there is no reward, human beings will become lazy of."

It was clearly not in his field of vision, but Solomon felt that he was being slapped on his shoulders, and when he turned around, he didn't see anyone, and he didn't even notice his breath.

"Alright then... I would like to thank you in advance for your generous reward. But what is your reward?"

The atmosphere fell into silent silence again. The air was so still that Solomon's ears tingled and ringing. Gradually, he found that his surroundings had changed unconsciously. This made him feel uneasy, and he hurriedly searched for the abruptness.

So, his eyes focused on the place where the warlock was lying—there is now empty.

Solomon, who suddenly sensed something was wrong, hurriedly floated backwards, trying to leave the basement, but the moment he turned around, his whole body seemed to be melted away, and his pitch-black cloak became stiff.

"We are companions, right? Then the rewards for you are also rewards for myself, so I don't think you will mind."

The warlock's body was swallowed by pitch blackness, and disappeared before Solomon's eyes with the sound of swallowing.

"Ah, I forgot to say... I see that you seem to be very interested in my identity. You really want to know who I am. Then I think you will like the reward I gave you. You can get to know me to your heart's content. "

"My reward is—to let you 'be me'."