"Big trouble! Enemies are rushing from behind!"
To make matters worse, the creatures targeted the rear of the battleship.
In front, a barrier manifested by [Nursery Rhyme].
Behind, swarms of creatures like dark clouds.
Since they couldn't deal with the creatures, they had to break through the barrier ahead first.
"Everyone, concentrate your power!"
Elisa gathered compressed magical power at her fingertips and fired it toward the barrier.
The long pink beam of magic collided with the barrier and then faded away like a dying candle.
Elisa's expression hardened at the sight.
"What? Even though it wasn't full power, I attacked quite strongly."Instead, a tingling pain was felt in her right hand that had fired the magic.
Others had similar reactions.
Every time magic hit the barrier, it lost power and disappeared.
Rather, due to the strong repulsive force emitted by the barrier, the magicians retreated with groans.
Chris Benimore frowned behind his glasses.
"This is no ordinary barrier! It's showing a repulsive force greater than the impact we apply!"
Alex and Pantos stepped forward, but it was useless.
Their sword strikes and harpoons bounced back due to the rebound force when they hit the barrier.
-Kwagagak!
The drill tip broke off and continued to wear down at an increasing rate.
Crimson sparks burst like fireworks.
Rudger's expression hardened.
He kept generating cubes to replenish the drill, but they were wearing out and disappearing faster than he could create them.
'But I can't let go here.'
The airship was maintaining its form thanks to Rudger.
It was a precarious situation where he constantly had to add steel to fill cracks and replenish broken armor.
If he let go for even a second, the airship would collapse.
Others seemed to know this too, as they were doing their best to break through the barrier.
"Keep hammering! Even if your arms and legs break, keep hammering!"
"If we don't break through here, it's all over anyway!"
Just as the Dream Walkers, who hadn't lost their fighting spirit, were about to pound the barrier again, an anomaly occurred in the barrier.
-Woooong.
The translucent surface of the barrier vibrated like waves, then began to create a black mass at its center.
"Huh?"
As someone expressed confusion at the sight, black energy radiated outward, sweeping across the deck.
It happened so suddenly that people were late to respond and covered their faces with both arms.
But as time passed, no pain was felt.
People realized that someone was blocking the energy alone from the front.
"M-Master?!"
Dream Master Clara Cowen alone was holding her staff and blocking the energy fired by the barrier.
With no trace of her elderly appearance, she had rejuvenated to at least her 30s and was barely withstanding the massive torrent.
Her younger appearance meant she was now burning all her power.
But even Clara Cowen couldn't stand alone against this massive flow.
As her body staggered, someone from behind supported her.
At the same time, Clara was partially relieved from the pressure crushing her entire body.
Soon the wave of energy emitted by the barrier stopped, and Clara was barely safe.
"What are you doing?! You almost died just now!"
As Franz questioned with a voice filled with anger and sadness, Clara smiled.
"What else can I do? This is all I can do here."
"You mean sacrificing your life? Knowing that's how father died, you're trying to do the same thing!"
"Maybe that's why. They say couples grow similar through love, don't they?"
"You are... no. Mother..."
Franz bit his lip with a complicated expression.
"Finally calling me mother again?"
Seeing Clara smiling gently at him, Franz felt something welling up inside.
His heart ached as if it would tear.
"This is not what I wanted."
Franz knew his father could never return.
He was dead, and for those who had left, all one could do was keep them in a corner of one's heart.
But Clara was different.
She was still alive, and Franz still considered her his mother.
Clara was his only remaining family.
"What I truly wanted was..."
After avenging his father, Franz wanted to be with Clara again.
Although much time had passed, he wanted to spend the remaining time with her.
Even if they couldn't completely go back to how things were, he thought it would be enough if they could fill the deep trenches in his heart even a little.
He thought that would be sufficient.
"I just wanted mother to live and be together with me."
"That's the same for me."
"...!"
"What mother in the world would want to lose her only child after losing her husband? So to save you, I would gladly sacrifice my life."
That's what a mother is.
Franz couldn't hold back his tears at those words.
He wanted to sacrifice himself instead, but Franz's reason desperately held that back.
His role was not to perish here.
At the very least, he had to destroy [Nursery Rhyme] with this dagger he had honed for so long.
For that, Franz had to conserve his strength even at this moment.
"Another attack is coming!"
There was a commotion at the barrier's anomaly.
Clara gently pushed away Franz's support and stood up.
"Mother. You can't."
"Franz."
"No. No. Not mother, please."
Clara shook her head at Franz and spoke.
"Let me go now."
"..."
"Sometimes, you need to let go of things that are flowing away, rather than trying to hold onto them."
"..."
"I realized that too late, but I hope you won't. And you, you still have things to do going forward."
Franz couldn't hold onto his mother leaving his hands.
He desperately reached out, but Clara stepped forward briskly, widening the distance.
His hand couldn't reach her.
Why did it feel so distant, as if it would never be reached, despite not being that far?
Franz bit his lip tightly.
If he didn't, he felt he would break down and wail.
The wrinkles on Clara Cowen's face completely disappeared, and her appearance changed to her mid-twenties.
She had entered her prime completely.
Before, she had stopped midway to preserve her life, but now it was different.
She had become a fully lit fuse, a candle burning most brilliantly.
Clara didn't look back.
Those who had to leave shouldn't look back.
'No, maybe I'm afraid my heart will weaken too.'
As she gave a bitter smile, someone approached Clara's side.
When she turned her head, she saw a familiar wrinkled face.
"Zantman."
"Old hag. No, Master. Why are you trying to show off alone again?"
Zantman grinned.
At the same time, his appearance also began to return to his younger days.
His beard disappeared, and his wrinkled skin returned to when it was young and vibrant.
"At least two people are better than one, right?"
"But if even you go like this, what about the rest..."
"Well, those left behind might feel a bit sorry."
Zantman muttered as he looked back.
The Dream Walker colleagues who always bickered with him were staring at him.
As the massive energy that should have been fired out came back in reverse, the barrier visibly rippled unlike before.
Not just rippling, a hole was created at the center of the explosion.
The hole was small, just enough for one person to barely enter, but it was definitely a hole.
"It's broken! Finally, a hole in that barrier!"
People who had hope for the first time, but the barrier began to recover slowly as if mocking such reality.
"No! The barrier is closing again!"
Someone inserted their hand into the gap of the closing barrier and spread it.
Rudger Chelici, with black shadows around both arms, barely held the entrance of the closing barrier.
-Kigigigigik.
The barrier in contact with both hands emitted a harsh noise.
Rudger raised the output of the shadow mixed with dream power to maximum, but it was just enough to maintain the hole in the barrier.
"We'll help too!"
Dream Walkers flocked to support Rudger.
They each used hooks made from dream power to keep the entrance from closing.
"This passage was made by Master and Zantman sacrificing their lives! Protect it with the resolve to die!"
"We'll help too!"
Teachers from Theon also flocked to help the Dream Walkers.
But they couldn't completely prevent the barrier's hole from closing.
Very slowly, but the hole in the barrier was gradually narrowing.
Two people sacrificed their lives, and it ends without any meaning like this?
'No.'
As Selina was watching the scene, not knowing what to do, someone whispered to her.
-Will you be alright?
The voice was so similar it seemed like her own but Selina knew that this voice wasn't hers, but Esmeralda's.
Thinking of Esmeralda's true identity, it wouldn't be wrong to say it was her own voice.
-You're still confused.
Esmeralda saw through Selina's heart.
In the nightmare given by Noxana, Selina faced the truth of the past she had forgotten like a dream.
That she was actually not real, but a synthetic spirit.
That Esmeralda, the real owner of the body, was gone.
To think that she wasn't real but fake.
To think those memories engraved in the past were nothing more than a substitute made by piecing together Esmeralda's joyful memories.
That cruel fact shook Selina's fragile heart roughly.
"But I..."
-It's true that old memories might be fabricated. But are all the memories since coming to Theon also fabricated? Can all that be called fake too?
"...!"
Selina shook her head vigorously without realizing it.
No. At least everything after she came to Theon was real.
Laughing and teaching students.
Having pleasant conversations with fellow teachers.
Sharing the same hardships, empathizing, and envisioning future work were all real.
And
These feelings for Rudger Chelici, who was desperately trying ahead.
They were absolutely not false.
"Please. Esmeralda. Help us all."
-For you, gladly.
Darkness spread from Selina.
But it was far from horrific. Rather, it felt like a strange darkness that even gave a gentle and warm feeling.
Esmeralda, the spirit of darkness that appeared behind Selina, gently embraced her from behind.
Esmeralda's body poured over Selina like ink, and Selina's black hair became one with Esmeralda's darkness.
Her pink hair, like flower petals blooming in spring, dyed as dark as the night sky.
Her pupils turned red.
The color of the clothes she wore also changed to match, taking on a black base.
"That...!"
Vierano, who realized what Selina had done, widened his eyes in disbelief.
Spirit fairy tale.
Selina had now reached the realm a spirit mage can show when communion with spirits reaches its peak.