The following week, the training got extremely tiring that we didn’t even have time to waste on other things. We only repeated training, eating, and sleeping most of the time.
Every other day, Fatima would do a mock battle against us three. As a handicap, she was barehanded and didn’t even use her skills. Still, we couldn’t even lift a finger against her.
“No, no. It’s already a great achievement to make me take a step back you know?”
She happily told us when we complained about it. The three of us knew that we were improving at a quick pace, but compared to a God Tamer, we were nothing much to talk about.
It was tiring spending our days like that, but it was fulfilling nonetheless. However, I noticed that as D-day approached, there were times when Fatima had this extremely sad look on her face while watching over us. Even when I asked her about it, she would just brush my question off.
Then, on the ninth night after fixing the core, Fatima silently went somewhere else again. I noticed it only when I woke up in the middle of the night.
I stood up and slowly searched for her whereabouts. Luckily, I have a clue as to where she could be. I only need to follow the flow of energy in this place. There were only three large flows of energy visible to me, one is going to the core, another is going from the core, and the last one is going to where Fatima is.
After eliminating the two energy that was coming and going from the same direction, I only needed to follow the last one. This flow was heading towards the part where Ember was usually training.
I followed it and soon entered a tunnel that had a lot of purple strands of energy swaying back and forth. It was illuminating the whole cave for me to see the letters and drawings that were carved on the wall.
“That’s a lot of names…”
I muttered as I headed deeper into the tunnel. At the end of the tunnel was another clearing that was large but wasn’t as large as the previous one. The only difference was the large crystal hanging on the ceiling with a bunch of golden energy strands flying around it.
“… Who’s there? Will?”
As I was staring in amazement, Fatima called to me from the side. When I turned to face her, I was lost for words.
She was actually crying. Tears were still freshly falling down her face.
“Ah, wait. Turn around, please. I don’t want to show such an unsightly face to anyone.”
Fatima shyly smiled as she tried to wipe her tears away with her hands.
Propelled by an unknown force, I slowly paced toward her as I took out a towel from the storage ring. To honor her request, I was facing the other direction as I passed it to her.
“Please use this instead. Forgive me for I do not possess a handkerchief.”
Fatima accepted my offer with a smile, “Thanks.” she muttered quietly.
After a few more moments of awkward silence, Fatima audibly sighed and started speaking.
“I got a bit emotional when I thought that our long-time wish would finally be granted. After tomorrow’s battle, I could finally face my fallen comrades and say to their faces that their sacrifices weren’t in vain.”
While saying so, Fatima stared at the cave I just passed through. ｏｖ𝚕．ｃｏ𝚖
“You mean the names on the walls are all…?”
“Yes. They were all my former comrades.”
Fatima stared at the large crystal above as she slowly recalled her memory.
“A handful of them held the Void Beast back as we sealed it, and fell heroically. Hundreds of them died to complete the seal, sacrificing their very soul. And thousands of them died from protecting us before the seal was completed.”
Fatima slowly closed her eyes, as if savoring the memory she just recalled.
“We were really foolish back then. If we tried to weaken it instead of just sealing it, then we may have won with fewer casualties.”
She then slowly shook her head.
“But I doubt the method of weakening that I discovered after thousands of years of studying could be replicated in just a few days of contact with it.”
Fatima leaned on the wall as if she was resting.
“Sorry for making you listen to this old lady’s history. Please forget it.”
Her still-wet eyelashes were glittering under the light of the golden strands of energy. Given her current self which looked so powerless, before I noticed, my body was moving.
“…!”
I don’t know why, but I had the urge to give her head a pat. Not only was Fatima surprised, but even I was surprised by my own actions.
“What, do you want to console this old lady?”
Fatima, as if her pride was slightly hurt by getting patted on the head, poutily asked. “You’re thousands of years too early for that, kid.”
For some reason, hearing her say that last line made my mind blank out. Was it a sense of manly pride? Or maybe a sudden impulsive thought? Before I noticed what was happening, I realized that my lips and hers were touching lightly.
As I came back to my senses, I quickly tried to back off but stopped midway. Fatima’s face was bright red, which was honestly too cute compared to her usual adult-like behavior. “Y-You…!”
Fatima was acting like a teenager that got her first kiss stolen. Unless “Was that… Your first kiss?”
“N-No, you idiot! How long do you think I’ve lived!”
Although she denied it, the way she was acting so flustered was giving out her true self. Thinking the gap between her usual self and her current state was too cute, I tried to push her a bit and see more of her reactions.
“Then, it should be fine if I do it again, right?”
I joked as I held her shoulders and slowly neared my face to hers. If she wanted to, she could send me flying with just a flick of her fingers. That’s just how far apart the power between us was.
However, she instead stiffened up, eyes wide open in surprise. Then, she turned her head to the side for a moment. After that, she faced me once more, closed her eyes, and slowly released the tension in her body.