Editing Apocalypse Witch:Volume1 Chapter4 (section)

===Part 5===

Size-wise, ''it'' was like a giant mountain more than 100m tall.

Shape-wise, ''it'' had a bizarre silhouette resembling a bipedal dinosaur crossed with a grotesque deep sea fish.

''It'' felt like a great symbol of ruin with how it repeatedly crumbled and re-solidified at its outlines and how it gave off a strangely sweet rotting smell.

Paralyzed.

Completely paralyzed.

Karuta and Marika were too overwhelmed by the yellow and black to move. Crystal Girl Aine silently tilted her head, but she would not act unless she was given instructions.

“There are many different forms of tarot divination. Reading the future is the most well-known, but they can also be used to determine your compatibility with another person, to organize your own feelings…or to seek out something in the past that has already been lost.” Anastasia spoke with the giant form behind her. That monster seemed to accept that thing as perfectly normal. “This was originally an attempt to recreate a lost lifestyle by using the 22 cards of the Major Arcana and the 56 cards of the Minor Arcana. In other words, to revive a ruined civilization. But strangely, when I dropped the fishing line into the depths, I ended up catching more than just the one I was after. The line must have been a little too strong because ''it appears I have fished up every last thing known as a lost civilization.''”

“What…are you talking about?”

“Yes, yes! This one caught even me by surprise, but now I can ''believe'' it. I had not acquired just the one specific lifestyle. Oh, no. I had fished up all of the civilizations that have vanished since the dawn of history. Altogether, that is a series of 1056 dooms and apocalypses.”

“……………………………………………………………………………………………………”

What the hell was that?

How were they supposed to defeat something as absurd as that?

The category of civilizations could not be measured with something as simple as countries or populations. Thanks to the spread of globalization in modern society, it was impossible to say how many civilizations there were. If this woman had over a thousand methods of destroying an entire civilization – be they a meteor, a flood, a virus, a war, or quieter options like depopulation or isolation – she might be able to destroy the entire world with just a small fraction of them.

“…”

Karuta was overwhelmed.

He was truly speechless.

Someone had said Anastasia Blast was in charge of the world’s military infrastructure.

Was this what that meant?

She could protect her allies and kill her enemies. She could alter the power balance. The military was nothing more than the means of using lives to control the rising and falling of civilizations.

She viewed the world before her on the level of civilizations, so she did not focus too much on each individual life. If she appeared before a hero or dictator powerful enough to single-handedly destroy an entire civilization, they would realize for the first time they were nothing more than a side character. Even the Demon Lord with the power to destroy humanity would be killed instantly by a flick of her fingers.

All civilizations would fall one day.

Even if globalization progressed to the point that the entire planet could be considered a single civilization, it would still fall apart eventually if viewed in the long, long term.

That explained why she rose above the interests of individual nations.

If she could do all this but was still considered an ace on active duty – in other words, she could not fully destroy the Threat and retire – it made sense why the entire world so feared the Threat.

(What do we do?)

Utagai Karuta’s eyes rolled in his head and sweat soaked his body as he searched for some kind of salvation. Marika tried to catch her breath while down on her knees and Crystal Girl Aine awaited orders at his side. Student Council President Omotesandou Kyouka was also waiting back at the RV. Who could he order to do what in order to overturn this ridiculous situation!?

(Gathering all the current civilizations won’t be enough to match the total number that have been destroyed in the past. So what about Aine? She’s made from a Crystal Blossom from head to toe, so she doesn’t count as part of humanity and she might be able to deal damage from outside this conflict between human civilizations. No, that wouldn’t work. I still form the foundation as the Crystal Magician, so she’s only a portion of my civilization. Not to mention that Crystal Magic as a whole was created by human hands. So it can’t defeat that collection of our predecessors’ knowledge!)

“Hold on. Is that an ‘oh, no’ I see on your face?” There was clear amusement in Anastasia’s voice. “But I hold every civilization that has been destroyed since the dawn of history, avenger. And that would include that lost time that was stolen before your eyes and that you desire above all else. I do not know where in here the 700 from your Ocean Crystal Magic Academy can be found, but since their small Crystal Blossom civilization was destroyed, it must be found here.”

“Kh.”

(Gekiha!!)

That boy was not dead.

It would take a long, long time, but he would recover eventually.

But what if he was trapped in that large framework of a destroyed civilization?

“Ha ha ha! But instead of hoping for a reunion, your thoughts jumped straight to ‘oh, no’. That is who you truly are. You say you are fighting to protect the dead? You claim this revenge is to prevent us from taking everything from you? If that were truly your priority, you would have seen this as an opportunity, just like those nobles who indulge in seances to meet their departed loved ones again.”

This was the last remaining world’s strongest.

This was the temptation of Anastasia who controlled the world’s military infrastructure…no, who controlled the entire field of doom.

“This is the true essence of my magic.”

She moved her right hand like she was holding an invisible brandy glass and the frighteningly large form began to swirl around.

By the time a deafening roar reached his ears, the collection of doom had compressed to the size of a softball and dropped into her hand. Then it crawled out to surround her entire body. Some of it covered her limbs and some spread across her spine to cover her with yellow and black armor.

It almost looked like an incomplete Crystal Blossom.

That giant monster of more than 1000 meters had been made from all the civilizations that had met their doom in the past, ''yet even it was only a material to be used.

The world’s strongest reigned supreme as an individual. She was not like Karuta who let the entirely separate crystal girl do the fighting.

“Now, it is time for the final act,” she said while giving off an even more intensely menacing aura.

Even an ordinary person could tell this was the most efficient way to use that. They could tell this would bring about the ferocious destruction of the world’s strongest far more than letting that 1000m monster run amok.

“All who cannot overcome the doom of a civilization shall be crushed by my wall of doom.”

A yellow and black explosion followed.

As soon as he realized that was Anastasia Blast charging forward, the decisive moment had already arrived.