I Became the Academy’s Pink Airhead

The sight of dust clouds rising from the aftermath of the giant tree ladder being shattered. Up in the sky, Goin flies around summoning chaos insects again.

The howls of chaos insects are heard in the distance.

The sound of students holding them back is heard.

The voices of juniors doing their best are also heard.

If only all the sounds had tangled together to become an orchestra of noise. Then I could have glossed over this situation, but I couldn’t ignore their desperate struggle that was audible.

It’s a problem even when things are heard too well.

I wanted to focus here now.

I tapped my ears that keenly detected all sounds with my palms. Though the flying dust choked my breath, I hit my ears because I just couldn’t concentrate.

Tap

Tap

Tap

Piiii—

“…”

Due to the impact, a ringing echoes inside my ears.

This seemed easier to concentrate with.

“…Phew.”

I staggered to my feet. The hem of my short-sleeved summer uniform shirt was messily sticking out from my skirt, and one shoe had come off during the fall, leaving only a sock.

“…”

Having such a mismatched appearance in front of that bastard made me feel exposed somehow, which pissed me off. Even though I was the one who had unilaterally beaten him.

“…”

I took off my remaining sneaker and sock too. I neatly arranged my shirt and tucked it back inside my waistband.

“…”

“…”

He maintains silence while watching my actions.

The cold sensation and coolness of the bare earth is felt on my soles.

My head and heart that had been heated by the fight cooled down.

‘No, actually they cooled down because I was thinking of something else…’

Actually…

This wasn’t the situation to be tidying up my appearance.

There was something else I had to ask him first.

But I was afraid to hear that answer.

“…”

The fact that this bastard had Goin stall for time here, then came through a portal. The rough answer was already decided because of that.

…

‘I see. Then my course of action is decided too.’

I faced the prophet.

“…”

“…”

A messed up appearance. The face inside the hood was still torn and crushed. His four limbs were precariously connected by black thread like a broken puppet doll.

A scarred girl.

A scarred man.

We both looked a mess.

“…Where is Hilde.”

“Are you looking for the possessor?”

“Don’t answer a question with a question. Just answer what I asked.”

“…”

The prophet was no longer surprised by my words. He just calmly nodded and answered.

“…I took care of her so she wouldn’t interfere with the plan.”

“Plan, took care of…”

…

I see.

I… see.

‘You, instead of me…’

-I can’t let Lara be in danger.

-Lara, I love you.

-Lara, do you want to protect the academy city?

-I see… if that’s your wish.

“…”

Why do I suddenly think of the delicate neckline hidden behind long silver hair? Eyebrows like snow falling, long enough to be visible past her slightly turned head, come to mind.

Very trivial but.

Something that can’t be seen anywhere else.

‘I won’t be able to see that appearance anymore.’

Though my mind drifted hazily due to labored breathing,and my eyes felt dry in the confusing situation. Strangely, the voice that came from my mouth was clear.

“Did you kill her?”

“…Who knows.”

The prophet glossed over it as if it didn’t matter either way.

But I couldn’t gloss over it.

I had a duty to hear and witness that death.

Hilde’s death.

Even if she had become a pitiful, cold corpse, a lump of organic matter leaking smelly bodily fluids. I couldn’t pretend not to see that.

‘I have to see and confirm her last moments.’

So I asked again.

“Did you kill her?”

“…She’s probably dead.”

“Did you kill her?”

“…”

“I’m asking if you killed my lover. Answer properly. We swore to be together for life.”

“I see. So you too, like ‘Saintess’ Ymir… the possessor…”

The prophet looked at me with eyes shadowed by deep darkness. In those dull eyes, fragments of longing and regret for the past were glimpsed.

“…”

A moment of silence.

The prophet looked straight into my eyes and said:

“I killed her.”

“…I see.”

I heard the answer I wanted.

“I trapped [Azure Lightning Lance] Hilde inside the beast god of revenge, the ‘wolf’. No matter how much she has the fate of ‘transcendence’, she can’t resist the power of the abyss contained in a beast god’s body.”

“…”

“…In the end, this world is just a world that irrationally revolves around the power of beast gods and the World Tree. I will change the structure of such a world with the power of the strongest ‘dragon’, and restore the source of life and death hidden in the World Tree.”

“…”

“A truly ordinary and ideal world awaits you, not one bound by such miserable shackles. So stop interfering with me anymore.”

“…”

I’m not sure exactly what he means, but thinking of the glimmer I saw in the ‘snake’s’ mouth, and Urd’s dwelling I saw in the chick’s mouth…

It seemed that whatever is inside the beast gods’ bodies is some kind of tremendous power.

Even with just the power left in corpses, they can twist the World Tree’s laws this way and that. Hilde with her strong [Fate] was probably helpless too.

“…”

I see.

Hilde is dead.

The silver star shining in my heart, who was always with me as I reached the realm of wuji-

Has disappeared.

“…”

I accepted it.

Then as her remaining half, I just had to do what I needed to do.

‘Kill the prophet.’

I didn’t ask the inner question of whether I could kill him.

Even if I die, I’ll kill him.

I’ll burn everything.

I steeled myself with such determination.

‘The two Kang Jinsus will disappear from this world today.’

If I straighten out the twisted path, the juniors can walk the remaining path well on their own.

‘I wasn’t the protagonist of this world to begin with.’

[Saintess of Sacrifice]… perhaps a fate that suits me.

Because the two foreign substances that accidentally fell into this world should disappear colliding with each other. Isn’t it right to return as much as you’ve received?

I was loved in this world.

Then it was time to give back.

‘For your sake, gladly.’

I am… your Senior after all.

I took a stance, taking a breath.

Drawing up ether, I regulated my breathing. Placing both fists in front of my chest, I spread my legs to support my body.

‘My body is as heavy and stable as a great mountain.’

After trying all weapons, I returned here again.

But the scenery I returned to is different from when I was ignorant.

‘This time I choose my own [Fate].’

Pink ether gathers in my two fists.

Pink energy fluttering like endlessly extending stems hangs in the air. Rather than an uncontrollable storm, it was rising nobly from the ground, drawing clear spirals.

Gooo—!!

That energy sometimes looked like hands gripping swords, sometimes like extending spear blades, and sometimes resembled the heaviness of a greatsword.

All weapons return to one.

In the end… a weapon is just something that extends out.

‘I didn’t know because I hadn’t handled it.’

But now I can understand.

The reason academy city high school girls… Valhalla’s Valkyries must grip weapons, was to find the [Fate] called ‘true name’.

‘An outsider not bound by the World Tree from the beginning could choose fate directly.’

What’s important is not the weapon, but one’s reflection in it.

When following my heart, I had no goal.

When following goals, I had no heart.

Now I have both.

The path Hilde chose was ‘transcendence’ – the path of going ahead of everyone.

“I am [Pink Spiral], Clara. I choose the fate of ‘sacrifice’.”

Goooong—!!

Rainbow light started sparkling at the tip of the noble pink spiral. Now I could finally see the direction I should go.

Bare hands.

Thick dust.

You and I facing each other.

The final battlefield arrives so absurdly.

Seeing that sight, the prophet murmured in a regretful voice.

“When my plan is finished, death and fate… will become meaningless. Will you still fight? This is salvation for you who live in this world.”

Why try to persuade me now?

Scared?

Or just annoyed?

Do ‘you’ who know everything about this world find ‘me’ frustrating to look at?

“I don’t know about that.”

“What?”

“I said I don’t know.”

I don’t know.

Pink airheads don’t know such complicated and grand things.

Don’t expect a grand salvation narrative from a pink haired girl.

What pink airheads love is just black tea and macarons – ordinary daily life. There’s no way the world you’ll create, ignoring even that, could be so ideal.

“So I’ll kill you.”

“…”

I drew spirals with my hands, drawing up ether from my whole body. Then clear pink melodies were being engraved above the battlefield hazy with dust.

A path I once lost everything on, and walked again.

Like a spiral.

Going round and round in a different direction on the path I’ve walked.

Making mistakes by doing foolishly again what I’ve done before.

‘Yet not losing my way is because…’

Pink fragments rise up in my heart.

-Stop following me.

The regret welling up in my heart.

-Lara, why are you following me?

The memories floating in my mind.

-Lara, thank you for being by my side.

The faint longing in my chest.

-Lara, stay by my side forever from now on.

The moment I reached ‘wuji’, even you who was beside me disappeared.

The starlight illuminating me disappeared and darkness remained.

Now I must walk alone.

I couldn’t chase after you watching you.

“…”

Darkness.

Darkness is seen in the world of wuji that was full of one’s own color. It was the memory that this world has existed since the beginning, and another face of ether, the energy of life.

Abyss.

Death.

History.

Yin and yang.

They were called the universe.

This universe was made of taiji. (tl/n: taiji – the ‘source of the world’; common English translations of taiji in the cosmological sense include ‘Supreme Ultimate’, ‘Supreme Pole’, and ‘Great Absolute’.)

“…”

I saw the universe.

Within it, the name of the path I chose was sparkling.

Guardian of the nine worlds.

One who sees through everything.

‘Behold the path ‘Clara’ has chosen.’

The fate I chose is [Sacrifice], but. Sacrifice that leads ahead of anyone is the fate of a guardian.

The fate named sacrifice began to shine in a different direction.

Kuuuu—!!

The noble pink spirals entangled.

The net that had risen like a giant tower was sucked into my body.

I see the spirit of the sword watching us from afar.

I see Urd cheering from the well of fate.

I even ‘see’ that their true name is ‘Norn’.

The ‘past’ I chose myself.

The ‘present’ with only fragments remaining.

“Urd, Verdandi…”

Now I could see the flow of this world. The rainbow-colored vision wrapped around my scars and began to glow white hot.

And the wolf’s teeth rushing in.

This will happen 1.2 seconds from now.

Bang—!!

I blocked the ‘future’ attack by raising my hand. A heavy impact is transmitted to my hand, and I meet eyes sunken in the abyss.

I feel the killing intent he emits.

And that it doesn’t stem from personal emotions.

“It’s useless.”

The prophet muttered while unleashing the power of the giant wolf. Black energy of the ‘dragon’ was also gushing from his body.

“I have to stop you now. To save ‘them’…”

“…”

How ridiculous.

You chase after grand causes more than anyone, while ignoring grand causes.

I chase after emotions more than anyone, while ignoring emotions.

We were the same soul but-

How can we be such polar opposites?

“Someday… for everyone to be saved…!”

“…”

You who know everything, don’t even know the girl before your eyes is the same soul.

“You…!”

As the prophet emitted black energy, all kinds of chaos insects revived from the ground. And lighting up ancient magic circles all over his body, he grabbed my collar and flapped his robe.

Swoosh—!

Instantly changing scenery.

Cold air felt on my cheeks.

We had instantly moved beyond the sky up there.

Higher than where I had climbed with Anna earlier.

There, the prophet brought out the mouth of a giant wolf.

“Be sealed—!!”

“…”

Actually, this too was foreseen with the rainbow-colored vision. I grabbed the prophet’s collar back in the ‘present’ that had returned.

“[Bifrost]…!”

“What…?!”

Our vision changes instantly.

Swoosh—!

We leap through space again.

What I feel again is acrid smoke.

And all kinds of noise heard around.

The prophet looks around in shock.

“We came back…?!”

The ability to leap through space.

The oath of the guardian of the academy city.

‘Clara’s cognitive abilities were for all of this…’

We prepared to attack each other again, extending our fists.

One side rainbow.

One side black.

Boooom—!!

With the collision, our spatial movement abilities activated again.