Ch.293293. Six Clock Hands (13)

# Time? Memory?

Everyone here, with one heart, is willing to sacrifice anything if it could save Junon.

He always brewed potions with mana herbs alone to prevent rampages in advance, and this time, even when he reached his limit and went berserk, he single-handedly prevented harm to others. Yet Charlotte couldn’t confront him honestly and directly, instead responding with childish blame and reproach.

Despite delaying his lover’s illness as much as possible, despite retrieving Lumia’s body and giving her a grave in a sunny spot even when the operation went slightly awry, Cain remained silent each time, unable to maintain his composure, and ultimately failed to provide any help.

Senia, who deserted the battlefield claiming the Sirens were dangerous and shifted the responsibility onto Junon, later became the cause of Charlotte’s rampage, and personally branded him as someone who only left behind massive failures, not only among the Imperial troops but also within the Tembris party.

Aris was terrified seeing Junon no longer breathing. She who not only failed to trust her comrade and lashed out at him, but even harmed him with magic, had now withered like a lotus.

Finally, Michelle. She was the one who directly led Junon to Tembris, and repeatedly persuaded him when he tried to give up and leave the party. She also failed to stop the growing resentment between the two people, and ultimately collapsed, unable to control her own body, causing the resentment to explode.

Indeed, everyone present had received Junon’s grace, and simultaneously, everyone had sinned against him.

Whether intentional or not was irrelevant. The person in question had simply died from being hit by small balls built up one by one by each member.

Therefore, there was no disagreement among all Tembris members about activating this ritual called the Clock Hand Formation.

But there was a problem.

“I think I did everything as instructed… What’s going on? The ritual shows no signs of activating. Is it the same for you all?”

“It’s the same for me…”

“Same here.”

Even offering the time of all five people, the ritual would not activate.

“The ritual might have gone wrong somewhere or been performed incorrectly. Let me first…”

“…No, that’s not the problem, Charlotte.”

“What?”

Michelle firmly stopped Charlotte who was trying to restart the ritual.

“It’s not enough. As vast as the ritual is, its contents must naturally be filled, but with just this, it won’t respond.”

“You mean we’re completely unprepared and can’t even engrave the formation?”

“That’s right, Senia.”

“Hah…”

This was quite a headache.

If the magic circle had determined that even the mana of five people was insufficient, the only option was to add more people.

But.

“How much are we lacking?”

“…About one person’s worth of mana, equivalent to Cain or Charlotte.”

“Huh.”

They say they’re lacking mana equivalent to someone like Charlotte or Cain, not even an ordinary person.

Where on earth could they find the missing amount? For a fleeting moment, the thought of bringing Erica back crossed their minds, but they neither wanted to do that nor thought she would agree.

And as the members sighed deeply, facing this obstacle, a girl whose arrival had gone unnoticed removed her hood and spoke.

“Senior…? How did you…”

Flowing silver hair revealed as she removed her hood. Though disheveled, among the members, only Junon might not have recognized her face.

Someone who met all the conditions had appeared. Senia quickly approached Renias, clasped her hands together, and made a request.

“Renias. Without beating around the bush, may I ask you for a favor right here?”

“A… favor?”

“We want to save Junon. By any means necessary. For that, you need to participate in activating this ritual.”

Though startled by the sudden request to save Junon, seeing him collapsed like that, Renias couldn’t help but feel uneasy.

Whether it was possible or not didn’t matter.

“What do I need to do?”

She too was someone who had received help from Junon. Wasn’t that enough?

And so the Clock Hand Formation is completed.

This massive distortion that reverses time for just one person was not something that even the being who engraved the words on that ruin could casually perform.

But it was finally completed.

Those who received grace and those who sinned. This magic, created by consuming their memories, leaves an opportunity for regression to one boy.

【 Your will to save your benefactor by offering all memories and time as payment has been well conveyed to me. 】

【 Yet it shall remain. Not forgotten, but someday deeply excavated within your minds. 】

【 For his death must never be forgotten. I hope you can change this cruel outcome in the time that has been reversed. 】

The constellation of Sagittarius responds by engraving symbols on each clock hand.

Mirror. Lake. Ring. Blue flame. Lotus. And as it engraves the summoning formation, a massive clock face unfolds beneath them.

Then, the six clock hands standing on the clock face begin to move backward.

Light rays, almost too bright to open one’s eyes, fill the space densely, and their time returns as if nothing had happened.

Tick-tock- Tick-tock-

The white-flashing vision returns.

From that place they last attempted. From what is now called the ruin where the oracle descended.

All memories of the Tembris party returned.

The girl with the beast within her body wiped away tears once more, and the boy who had remained despondent and passive at his lover’s death grabbed Junon’s blood-stained shoulder with one hand, trembling.

The comrade summoned from the same country gripped his sword hilt just as he had when he tried to cut down Erica, and the one who had denied being a comrade vomited in disgust at the sight of her past self, who had directly harmed him and shown ingratitude before the Osoftera battle.

And the friend with the red ponytail, now loosened, stares intently at where the corpse had been.

Vowing not to create any more resentment towards him. Retying her red hair. She speaks.

“…Let’s go. Let’s find Junon first.”

Let’s change the future.

Though no one answered, they all left the cave and moved.

With the inner beast threatening him again, Charlotte had no time for tears.

His dead lover was alive thanks to one person alone. Cain showed his determination to repay this debt without fail this time.

Perhaps most affected, Aris staggered noticeably after vomiting. Still, she uttered her resolve to apologize in person and asked for help.

Senia nodded silently as she supported Aris, also vowing not to flee due to personal emotions anymore.

The clock hands that once turned counterclockwise now turn clockwise.

This meant that Tembris had been implicitly given one common task:

Change Junon’s future.

And to one more person, far away.

This memory was transmitted.

“So that’s… what happened?”

***

After a long time passes, eyes finally open.

In truth, it wasn’t that long. Barely a week had passed.

But even if the time was short, the memories before falling asleep hadn’t disappeared.

“Damn it…”

This familiar view is unforgettable.

The weight of the body on the sheets always feels different, yet it’s too familiar to dismiss as mere intuition.

There may be no concrete evidence.

No one may have conveyed the situation.

One might say no such judgment has been made yet.

But the moment eyes opened, everything was instinctively understood.

That Goden had died. That Ashpern hadn’t been defeated. That something was going wrong. That everything had veered completely from the expected direction.

Throwing off the blanket, rising to stand.

And then heading somewhere.

To a place known only to oneself, a place no one else knows.

.

.

.

Should it be called a dream state, or unconsciousness? It’s hard to know how to express it, but after expending all energy and closing the eyes, strange scenes flickered before them.

Eyes clearly closed. Body completely immobile.

It felt just like dreaming during sleep. After all, scenes that could never exist in reality kept appearing one after another.

What was called a dream was the past self.

Powerless, incompetent, repeatedly failing. None other than oneself.

Why dream such a terrible dream after collapsing?

Is it a sign to give up because this reality is no different from that past?

…

Yes. Come to think of it, nothing is different.

What has actually changed?

The Empire’s situation was hardly different from past to present.

As if proving that the future they wanted to change was in exactly the same predicament, the resting Peltibourgos came into view.

Peltibourgos, which had been emitting corrosive poison, seems to have already devoured an enormous amount of living beings.

Once again, just like then.

Two named beasts are advancing toward Lebrant.

Nothing has changed. Not a single thing.

The collapsed Dube Hall. The unresolved position trouble. The noble alliance not broken even by the time of the faction war. Peltibourgos awakening as a result.

Just looking at this shows that the situation is completely unchanged.

Is that all?

Despite subjugating the Plague of Shanbereshu, the Lemtert plague had already spread widely, consuming Schütt, and Pimpert’s shockwave greatly shook the Imperial army, significantly weakening their forces.

Mirpark Province was completely destroyed, and Algenib’s granary belt was corroded by Peltibourgos’s poison and became desolate.

Also, the attempt to prevent Ashpern from gaining power failed. And in this process, Goden even died.

Not a single thing had been successfully accomplished.

No visible change had been achieved.

Failure.

That was a reality that couldn’t be escaped even with two lifetimes.

After leaving the hospital room like someone fleeing, the destination was Sirah.

The rocking stone that was always seen was still in its place.

The stone that would return to its position after being pushed.

The stone that always made one’s heart rise like a roly-poly doll, with unchanging determination, even when it felt like crumbling.

But now.

“Damn it all!!!”

-Crash!!

This stone that returns as if to make one face the fact that nothing will change no matter what is done, this stone that returns to its original state as if to say the future is predetermined so stop struggling.

It was too hateful.

“If it wasn’t going to work anyway, why… why give me this chance!!! What exactly am I supposed to do!!!”

-Crumble, thud.

The scattered rock fragments all fell and dispersed down the hill.

“Did you just want to see me despair?! Is that it?!”

That’s what they wanted to ask the being who had sent them back.

Blood began to trickle from the hand that had smashed the rock. Even in the past when beasts were defeated instead of rocks, blood seemed to have flowed along this same path.

***

-Rumble, thud.

“It’s, it’s coming out…! Peltibourgos…!”

Peltibourgos revealing itself as if hatching from an egg. Its eerie and alien aura makes the skin crawl.

Although they knew about the resting period, Muniher hadn’t been able to establish any effective countermeasures.

The reason was very simple.

“What? You don’t know either?”

“…That’s right. I simply cannot figure out what’s engraved in there.”

“Huh… This is maddening. Muniher, if you don’t know, then who…”

It was because even Muniher didn’t know.

The only thing they had figured out was why this named beast was called the Corrosive Peltibourgos.

First, any terrain stepped on by that undead dragon becomes corroded, and the corroded terrain becomes Peltibourgos’s domain, turning into land that cannot be stepped on.

Though rare, there are beasts that must be sieged like massive fortresses. Peltibourgos was that type.

Second, it has a resting period.

Given its enormous size, they predicted movement would be difficult, and like all domain-controlling beasts, it has a resting period to spread magical energy throughout its domain.

In other words, it has slow movement speed and stages of domain control.

Up to this point, it’s not much different from other domain-controlling beasts.

However.

-Let us… become one…

-Together, let’s… devour…

The third characteristic, and essentially the only information they had discovered:

Those exposed to the corrosive domain for extended periods are consumed by its poison and become one with Peltibourgos.

And then, like that, they are absorbed alive and become nutrients and parts of the undead dragon’s body.

How on earth could they face such a thing? Where the deaths of allies become nutrients for the enemy, and it even mimics and uses the magic they once wielded, making it essentially an integrated army.

“Maintain formation and fight back until strength fails! If anyone is exposed to the corrosive poison, prioritize withdrawal and detoxification!!”

All they can do is retreat step by step and buy time.

Even if half of Lebrant has already collapsed, there’s no other way.

For them, the worst situation arrives.

“A horde of beasts is charging from the left!!”

“What?”

“It’s, it’s Ashpern… It’s Ashpern!!”

Two named beasts begin to attack the Imperial army from both sides.

Just like what Junon experienced back then.