The dizziness brought by the slow and steady constant up and down fluctuations suddenly came to a halt. This abrupt feeling made Su'er, who had even gotten used to this dizziness and the pain from the depths of his internal organs that came from the swaying, even more uncomfortable.
"...Why did we stop?" He raised his head with difficulty and asked weakly. However, he didn't need Think's answer. When Su'er's gaze passed over Think's shoulder and saw that familiar figure, he knew everything.
He couldn't see the playful smile that Jibril always had on her face, nor could he hear the curious voice that always had a rising intonation at the end. Even her usual crazy appearance was gone. Jibril was standing at the edge of the hollow, with the temperatureless blue flame burning behind her. She seemed to have lost all her emotions, and her face, like a block of ice, showed not a single word.
The pink-haired Flügel was no different from how she looked in his memory. Even though he hadn't seen her for more than ten years, Su'er couldn't see any more differences on her. The tattoos on her thighs, the socks that were at different heights, and the wings that were usually retracted to her waist were now spread out wantonly, showing the majesty of power. The halo that always floated on her head was also slowly rotating, shimmering with a beautiful light. Her amber pupils also seemed to be no different from the past, but at this moment, there was only silence.
Silence.
"...Let's go," Su'er lightly tapped Think's shoulder with his index finger and leaned back on her back, whispering.
In his ears, Think's powerful heartbeat was surprisingly not flustered by the pink-haired Flügel, as if nothing had happened.
"Mhm."
With a short promise, without any fear, Think continued to take steps forward. Even though every step was incredibly difficult and she seemed to be about to fall to the ground in the next second, her direction was so straight that it didn't have a single curve, walking towards Jibril.
The figures reflected in their eyes overlapped. For the first time, Jibril didn't hear that weed saying something like she was arguing with her. However, this situation didn't bring her the slightest bit of joy of victory. That weed who always argued with her seemed to have not seen her at all. The lips that always sneered proudly were now tightly bitten, and bright red blood was seeping out.
Inexplicably, Jibril suddenly remembered the first time she saw this man and woman. It wasn't when she couldn't help but show up because of the provocation in their words, but even earlier, when she was hiding high up on the dome, watching with curiosity and disdain as a stupid Elf dragged her broken body, with the flesh that had been corroded by the black ash leaving a long trail on the not-so-smooth ground.
The haggard and dirty face was so unclear that no subtle expressions could be seen. The only thing that might be the same as now was the tightly bitten lower lip and the blood.
She had changed, but some things seemed to have not.
"...Stop."
She took a deep breath and said in a deep voice. Although she didn't need a low-level function like breathing to sustain her life, Jibril found that she needed this coldness to let the cold air flow into her body and to calm her body, which was gradually burning up.
But, there was no response.
Jibril's words were as if they didn't exist. Think just lightly lifted Su'er on her back, and her forward-moving steps didn't waver in the slightest.
"Speaking of which? Should we live by the sea in the future? Or should we live in the plains? Or in the mountains?" Su'er suddenly asked. He also didn't feel any tension. He was as if he was resting on a sofa after lunch, casually asking for his wife's opinion.
"...Can't we live in all of them?" Think's answer was a little difficult. Although the pain of overdrawing her spirits in her body had somewhat subsided, the impact on her body was still there.
"Huh? But one home is enough, right? If we have too many, we won't have enough time to take good care of them," Su'er's voice got softer and softer as he continued to plan for their future life. "Humans are really strange creatures. They want to live by the sea to see the tides rise and fall, but they also want to live in the mountains. While they're troubled, they also feel regret for not being able to have both at the same time... I'm just too greedy, I guess."
"There's nothing bad about it, is there? If we leave too many—"
"If you take one more step forward, I will strike," As if she hadn't heard Su'er and Think's words, Jibril raised her finger and lightly interrupted Think. Her calm face didn't show any emotion, but the half-bent and extended index finger was trembling almost imperceptibly. "Go back. There's still time."
However, the pale-golden-haired Elf's raised step only paused for a second. In the next moment, Think continued to firmly take a step.
The white light that was instantly shot out from her finger pierced through her thigh before Think's nerves could even react. The penetrating beam of light even created a hole behind her that was smoking with wisps of smoke. No blood flowed out because even the flesh and blood were scorched dry the moment it passed through her body.
Her already wobbly figure stumbled and fell forward, but in the instant she was about to fall, she half-knelt, holding on with one hand to keep herself from falling. She didn't scream from the sudden pain. Think just used all her strength to maintain her balance, so she wouldn't fall completely to the ground, biting her teeth so tightly that it sounded as if even her teeth were about to be crushed.
She struggled to protect Su'er on her back and then straightened up, stumbling forward a few steps. Think finally stabilized herself. She was now almost standing in front of Jibril. The pink-haired Flügel could even clearly see the sweat flowing down the sides of her face, and she couldn't tell if it was from pain or from using all her strength.
She was breathing heavily through her tightly-clenched teeth and nostrils, as if she didn't feel the injury she had received. Think still moved forward, one step, two steps, and Su'er also quietly stayed on her back, as if nothing had happened just now.
"—If... if we leave too many regrets... then won't even the longest life become meaningless?" Think struggled to spit out the words she hadn't finished earlier because of her injury. Every word was trembling, as if she were in a freezing ice chamber, constantly sucking in air.
"Just like what we're going to do... If we're going to die anyway... then we'll live to our limit..."