Editing Hyouketsu Kyoukai no Eden:Volume 6 Chapter2 (section)

===Part 5===

The floor was filled to the brim with noon sunlight.

In this place that was close to two thousand metres off the ground, the sunlight passing through the window’s glass could be seen without obstruction.

{{furigana|Tenketsu Palace|Sophia}}, floor 276. It was a floor made to allow a Priestess to devote herself to training.

“……The floor is shining blue?”

Standing in the floor Ymy was waiting at, Sheltis stared down at the view under him.

A pattern spread far out on the floor’s surface. The blue pattern’s contrast with the white floor was beautiful but it was also a little eerie because he didn’t know what it was for.

“''All of this is a formal carved seal.''“

“……That’s amazing.”

He had heard it was a facility that could also purify people corrupted with mateki. It meant that a person suffering from mateki would also directly enter and exit so measures to prevent the spread of mateki within the tower were necessary.

“''Sheltis, are you okay?''“

“I have my boots in-between.”

The rejection between the mateki residing within him and the shinryoku-affixed floor. There was a numbing feeling at his toes but it wasn’t unbearable.

“Come to think of it, she didn’t specify as far as the place.”

“''That’s right. I wonder which room it is.''“

The far end of the passage was blurry. At any rate, it had the expansiveness of an entire floor of the tower so even if Ymy had arrived, he had no idea where she was.

“Over here.”

To his right, a room’s mechanical door slowly opened.

“……I’m glad. You came.”

Her off-gold hair swayed with relief. Her expression looked more relieved than happy.

“I thought it wouldn’t be possible because it was such a sudden request. ……Did you skip training to come here?”

“Nope, today’s a full day of rest. Training starts tomorrow.”
[[image:Eden06_089.jpg|thumb]]

Ah, so that’s it. My plans for today start in the evening so now that you mention it, that should be how it is. The Governmental Sector mission exhausted everyone ── well, let’s put that aside. Come over here and enter the room.”

……This is a Priestess’ training room?

……Well, this is.

It was covered from the floor to the ceiling in pure white tiles and a formal carved seal was carved in atop that as expected. It was just the floor for the corridor but this room was covered on the walls and ceiling thoroughly, in every nook and cranny.

“It’s a room specially for me. But this isn’t a training room, you know?”

Ymy turned towards him at the center of the room and pointed at the formal carved seal overhead.

A shadow fell over her eyes.

She had remembered a painful past event ── it was that kind of expression.

“It’s not for training but for actual use. ……It’s a place for Priestesses to heal those with heavy corruption that apprentice Priestesses can’t purify.”

“……Ymy, do you not like this place?”

“I like it.”

Just that answer was clear and without doubt.

“In the little under a year since I became a Priestess, there have been four. Four times that a person has been carried to this room. Those people who had a request made because there were none amongst the apprentice Priestesses who could handle it. It’s a room to save those suffering from mateki…………so I couldn’t hate it.”

She bit down on her lip.

The Priestess, his childhood friend, continued staring up at the ceiling.

“But……it was harsh. We would forcefully lie the person afflicted with mateki mind control over on that bed and purify them. It was a procedure we would perform while watching them writhe in agony despite that. That dark red stain is from a person whose body underwent necrosis and tore from the decaying effect of mateki……the green stain on the other side is also someone’s blood. The iron within their body was morphed and their blood turned green.”

“…………So what happened to those people?”

“They were cured. All of those I mentioned were cured and are rehabilitating. There are also those that have been discharged so I’m really happy. ……But healing them isn’t ideal. To begin with, it’d be better if there was nobody who needed to be healed. It’d be the best if we could live in a world where we didn’t have to fear the Yuugenshu……”

The mere fact that somebody would be carried to this room is something that shouldn’t happen.

If the Priestesses’ Hyouketsu Kyoukai completely froze the {{furigana|Garden of Corrupted Song|Eden}}, Yuugenshu wouldn’t be able to come up to {{furigana|floating continent|Orbie Clar}}. People afflicted with the Yuugenshu’s mateki would also cease to exist.

A perfect barrier.

A perfect Hyouketsu Kyoukai.

It was the ideal that the Priestesses had as their goal.

“So! That’s not good, that’s not good. I went off on a tangent again.”

Ymy slapped her cheeks with an adorable sound. She shook her head two, three times side to side and took a deep breath.

“All right! Then I’ll do my best, so I look forward to working with you!”

“E-Err……?”

“I said it yesterday, didn’t I? You also came because you heard, right?”

His childhood friend beckoned him over from the center of the room.

“……About my mateki?”

“Yeah, I don’t have any confidence yet that it can be cured but I want to try it. ──Come on, come over to this bed.”

A large bed was situated just in front of where Ymy was standing.

The bed with white sheets spread over it was not a rectangular shape, but the shape of the 十 character. The patient would lie with their arms spread out and there were black belts for restraining a rampaging patient.

“''Hey, hey, Ymy, let’s bind Sheltis〰?''“

“It’s a pity but I won’t rampage.”

He took off the pendant that {{furigana|machine crystal|Ilis}} was attached to and placed it on the tray beside the bed. He looked down at the bed once more.

“…………”

“What’s wrong?”

“Ah, nothing. ……I’m kinda nervous. I feel like I really shouldn’t be lying on this bed.”

It was also his first time receiving the mateki purification technique and it was a request to his childhood friend, which made him even more nervous. Lying down on the bed was like getting an examination at a hospital so he couldn’t settle down.

“''Sheltis has been bad with hospitals since a long time ago after all. Ymy, what will you do?''“

“Eh……h-hr─m, what to do. After all, those carried to this room couldn’t stand on their own. I was never asked a question like that.”

Ymy let her gaze wander through the air while silently thinking.

“……I think it’ll be fine if you just sit on the bed.”

“Ah, that’s a relief. That should be pretty easy.”

He sat down lightly on the bed.

“Then please.”

“R-Right! I’ll do my best!”

Ymy nodded, then──

 

 

The air shook.

 

 

A complete one-eighty from the gentleness that even seemed to exude a smile, it changed to a tension that seemed like it even stung the skin.

…………This.

……might be…………the first time I’ve seen this.

The childhood friend before his eyes ── no, with the form of the “Priestess” before him, Sheltis gulped.

Priestess Ymy Ele Soufflenictole.

Her jade green eyes stared unblinking at him. Crimson particles of light suddenly rose up from her entire body.

…………Three years ago……the time when I returned to the {{furigana|floating continent|Orbie Clar}}……Ymy wasn’t a Priestess yet.

Ymy who had been an apprentice Priestess at the time had tried time after time to purify his mateki……and had cried herself dry when it ended in failure.

And now.

This was the first time Ymy was facing the purification of his mateki as a Priestess.

“──I’m starting.”

 

[Unto me, all the wishes that of which I am able......]

[ele So Phi-a-s Arma-Riris]

 

A release precedent meaning the invocation of power was sung from the Priestess’ lips. Immediately afterwards, the overflowing crimson particles wrapped around her body.

……My throat’s dry.

His lips, tongue and throat had dried up from nervousness and he couldn’t speak.

“Don’t move.”

Ymy’s fingertip that was held straight out neared the center of his chest.

……Can she actually purify it?

……Maybe it’s possible for even my mateki if it’s Ymy’s spell.

The mateki of the {{furigana|Garden of Corrupted Song|Eden}}. Would the cursed power that no Priestess could purify three years ago become undone?

The fingertip neared his chest.

The tip of the nail touched the center of his chest and touched his skin through the clothes──

 

──Bzz……zzt!……──

 

“……!”

“Ow…………uu!”

Sparks like lightning instantly expanded into something like an aurora and seemed to be rejecting the touch of Ymy’s fingertips.

Elbert Resonance.

……No……way!

It used to be just sparks. That grew into this aurora-like barrier!?

“''The Elbert Resonance is manifesting even more strongly than before!? Ymy, this isn’t good, you must stop the ritual──''“

“Kuu……uuu……!”

But Ymy didn’t stop the ritual. The shockwaves given off by the Elbert Resonance barrier stopped her breathes but she stood her ground and reached her fingers out even further──

Deja vu.

In that instant, the future image of Ymy collapsing with bright red blood spurting from her entire right arm surfaced clearly within the back of his mind.

“Get back!”

“!?”

Her shoulders contracted at the sudden shout and Ymy pulled back reflexively. At the same time, the mist cleared up and the Elbert Resonance sparks also disappeared.

“……Ah………………haa……a……”

Ymy shoulders moved up and down and she couldn’t hide her ragged breathing. Her fingertips were dyed with a crimson different from that of the baptism type arts.

“Ymy──”

He jumped off the bed.

He tried to run over to his childhood friend who was crouching and hugging her legs.

“Don’t!”

It was at the same time.

When Sheltis took one step, Ymy’s shout echoed throughout the room.

……Don’t?

What am I not supposed to do in this situation?

“……Shel, ti…………s……you……sit there!”

The girl spoke with her head still down, in a voice like a sob.

“……Once……mo……re……”

Once more.

Sheltis doubted his ears when he heard what was conveyed to him from Ymy’s lips.

……Once more?

……It can’t be that having seen that Elbert Resonance just now, she wants to try once more?

“Ha, ah……hahaa. …………Sorry, I failed. Next…………”

The Preistess of Baptism stood up unsteadily.

She was trying hard to hide the intense pain with a pale face.

“For the next one……I’ll do my best……”

“Ymy!”

In order to stop the girl who was wobbly drawing nearer, he stood before her with arms held out to the sides.

“I’m really……happy that you feel that way. But let’s stop here for today.”

“…………”

“Anybody would understand that you’re doing your absolute best from seeing what happened just now. Even I understood at a glance. That’s why I have faith that you will be able to purify my mateki in the near future.”

……Really?

His own words sounded like exactly like somebody else’s sophistry.

……If Ymy trains beyond this, will she really be able to purify my mateki?

Ymy’s maturing shinryoku spells.

But as those spells grew in strength, Elbert Resonance would also grow stronger. To get rid of that repulsion, Ymy would try even harder but the Elbert Resonance barrier will get even stronger?

An endless vicious cycle. It would undoubtedly turn into that prediction.

“Th-That’s why……for today…………”

It was clear when he saw Ymy’s eyes just before. She hadn’t been holding back and used all her power. With the result being the Elbert Resonance just now, it would be difficult for her to purify his mateki in her current state.

“……………………”

Ymy didn’t speak as she drew deep breaths.

“……You’re right.”

A dry smile.

Different from the long silence just now, she spoke intermittently.

“So it wasn’t possible again. ……How bad it is, even though I’m supposed to be the Baptism Priestess. I’ll be scolded by Horn-san like this too.”

“Horn?”

There was only one Guard in {{furigana|Tenketsu Palace|Sophia}} who identified with that name.

The third Sennenshi, Horn Nova. Born with a unique shinryoku spell, she was the Ex Machina who was versed in every kind of gun.

“That Sennenshi? Did something happen?”

“……Just a little something.”

Ymy rubbed her eyes to dispel her faintly self-deprecating smile and moved her hand away from the bed.

“Hey, Sheltis, I want to get some outside air so shall we go to the floor above?”

Come with me.

With her delicate back telling him that, Ymy’s vestments fluttered.

“……I’ll remember more than necessary if we talk in this room, after all.”