PHASE 94 - A CURSED WISH

“Oh heavens, I pray this song to you. Oh, love, that I have come to.”

Particles of light started to dance around my body. I can feel enormous...no, it’s not just a large amount of prana. It is infinite. I can feel all the nature’s energy from all parallel worlds, from all living things, and from all souls that have ever been frozen into the void.

“Thou shall offer thy song for the Frozen Soul for you.”

The particles of light multiplied at an unstable rate, and now I can only see the golden light. It seems that I’m inside a pillar of energy, and nobody’s inside here but me.

I closed my eyes to focus on singing. Now that I have separated myself to the existing realms, I should think nothing but to grant my own wishes.

The can only be sung by the goddess who has a fragment of the Frozen Soul from their heart. I have attained such fragment when Necchan gave a part of her soul to me. It is sung in the language of the gods that only I can understand. I can telepathically sing it without uttering a word.

The swarms of particles of light faded, and now, I can see all those people around me. I’m back at the top of the bell tower of the shrine, and everyone is looking at me with amazement. Asumi-nee, Helena, Key, and Diadem bowed and prayed. Then the others followed. It’s as if I’m being treated as a real goddess.

“Tiara…”

Rikkun locked eyes with me for a moment, and then he bowed afterward. Even gods themselves will bow with such energy around me.

The only one who’s not bowing in my presence is my father, who is in a wheelchair. Of course, he can’t bow.

My wish.

My wish.

That’s right. My first wish is to remove my father’s illness.

Light surged upon my father, Frederick Solstice. In an instant, his pale and weak form was revised into a healthy and bulky man in his prime. When he noticed that he has gained the strength he never had before, he stood up.

“Tiara, my beautiful daughter… Thank you…” Then my father bowed.

“You’re welcome, dad. I’m glad that the song is working~” I made a pure white smile.

My second wish.

My second wish must be the revival of Kristoff Anderson. He may be a playboy, but he is an irreplaceable brother in our group, a great husband for Naomi, and amazing father for baby Riza. I made a promise to Riza that I will bring his father back, and it shall be done.

I closed my eyes, and the next time I open it, I’m in a dimension of pure white nothingness.

A man wearing a pure white robe looks at me with his chocolate eyes. He’s slightly brown, and he’s a tall and handsome fellow. It was Kristoff.

“Thank you for saving me, Tiara.” He said.

“It’s nothing~,” I said.

“Well then… I’ll be meeting you in the Earth Realm.” Kristoff said as he waved goodbye. He walked away from me, and his figure disappears as soon as he reached the horizon.

My third wish.

I want to revive Necchan, but her voice echoed in my head.

“It’s not necessary, Tiara. I am you, and you are me. We are the same existence. It’s already enough that I am now in your heart.”

I have to comply. I have to honor Necchan’s wish.

So my third wish...

I have tons of wishes, including an unlimited supply of pure beef quarter-pounder burgers and eight children with Rikkun, but I have to do why I sang the in the first place. My duty to save the world comes first.

I have to repair the Frozen Soul so that everything won’t blink out of existence. The Frozen Soul has the Outer God Core of Azathoth, the sleeping omnipotent god. It’s said that all reality exists in Azathoth’s dreams, and so is all the universes. When the great dreamer wakes up, the dream will fade. The same is true with our existence.

So my third wish… Is to keep the Frozen Soul sealed so that it won’t wake up.

…

It was where everything went wrong.

<>

Static.

All I can see is static.

My head hurts. I feel the cold spikes of the crown of thorns tightening in my head. It’s squeezing my brain!

It hurts!

It hurts so much!

The ground trembles. The air is filled with poison. The blood inside my veins froze. All bones inside my body aches. My heart is burning, and my soul is melting.

The Frozen Soul.

She’s waking up.

She’s waking up.

She’s waking up!

I have to wish continuously so that we won’t blink out of existence!

I have to wake up from this dream so that I won’t disappear!

<>

When I opened my eyes, I’m no longer in the bell tower of the shrine.

I’m in a world filled with ice. The skies are white, filled with infinite hails and raging blizzards. There are no walls nor rocks in this landscape. There is only a flat frozen floor that looks like kaleidoscope glass.

Everybody who was once in the bell tower is here beside me. They are all so confused about how and why we are here in this kind of place. They asked questions like “What happened!?” or “What is this place!?” Nobody here has a certain answer, even me.

But there is only one who has a slight clue on what is going on.

“This is… This is the Realm of the Frozen Soul…” Rikkun muttered. Then he looked at his back and gazed upon the only existing thing in this plain icy nothingness.

It’s a gigantic frozen crystal that contains a silhouette of a beautiful woman. I have seen her before when Rikkun and I made a replica of her using the Brightmore Witch’s powers.

She is the Frozen Soul.

But she’s a little bit different.

The frozen crystal that kept her sealed for eternity has been shattered. It now reveals her face and her bare naked body, but his legs and feet are still coated with indestructible ice. She’s now fully awake. Her eyes gave a definite fear to all of us.

It is because...

Her crimson eyes bear the mark of a Cursed Guardian.

She’s still telepathically singing, but it doesn’t soothe our minds. It makes our head hurt as if we’re suffering from migraine. But the song… It’s the same song. It’s the . She’s not singing it to save everyone, but to exterminate everyone.

Information went through my brain, ordering me to do what must be done, like a survival instinct. I have to counter her song on my own. I have to focus and continue singing the so that we won’t be deleted! I’ll cancel out her omnipotence with my own omnipotence!

“The Frozen Soul… Is it corrupted!?” Rikkun raised his voice but his questions can never be answered by anybody but me.

“Rikkun! Destroy the Frozen Soul! It’s going to delete everything that exists!” I cried.

Hearing my words, everybody used their Weapon Gems to project their respective weapons.

“Somebody is telling me that this will be the strongest boss we will ever face,” Heushac said to his best buddy.

“Yeah.” Rikkun made a threatening smile. “I have fought an omnipotent being before, but not to this extent. I think we can die just by making a single step.”

“I’ll go call the Black Cross for backup!” My father said as he swiped his fingers to open a Gate.

But…

He can’t. My father swiped his fingers over and over repeatedly, but he can’t project a Gate!

Impossible… My wish for making him healthy has been granted. But why can’t he open a Gate?

All other Gate Guardians, including Rikkun, tried to open a Gate, but no good! They can still cast Gate Guardian spells and use Weapon Gems! But why is everybody unable to open a Gate?

Suddenly, a dark portal opened. A man full of mysteries has finally made his entrance.

“Stop swiping your fingers in the air, you look like stupid kittens.” The man with a black jacket and red scarf mocked.

“Y-You!!!” Rikkun glared. Diadem and Helena also had the very same serious and killing expression, as if they have finally seen the person who had a lot of debts from them.

He is The Outsider.

Yohan Hikari Romanov. He is the man who is in love with the Frozen Soul, and now, he is back to get his lover from the freezer.