#316. Master of Emotions (Conclusion)
—
At Ray’s request, Viola continued speaking with a gentle smile.
Somewhere in this world, there is said to be a band of seven colors called a rainbow.
And those who find it are granted a single wish—any wish they desire.
“The brave-hearted adventurer. The scholar who has read tens of thousands of books. The bard who sings of the world… Many have set out on a journey to find the rainbow, but none have ever succeeded. There were people who claimed to have seen it, but in the end, it turned out they were all lying.”
As Viola’s calm voice flowed, Ray didn’t take his eyes off her face.
Once again, he was certain.
She wasn’t an ordinary old woman.
He remembered a young woman’s face from long ago—his memory of the rainbow.
That same face still remained in the Viola of today.
*The Guardian of Violet.*
Why had he only now realized?
After the final battle with Redran, she had vanished, and had since been living in the lowest-ranking sector.
Exactly when she started living here, he didn’t know—but it must’ve been unimaginably long ago.
“So, no one who searched for the rainbow ever…”
“Do you have a wish?”
Ray cut her off.
His heart was swelling.
“A wish, you say?”
“A wish you’d want to grant if you found the rainbow, Grandmother.”
Viola answered softly and without hesitation.
“If I had a wish, it would be to once again see the world, restored to its former beauty, with my own eyes. It might be hard to believe, but in the past, the world was painted in far more vibrant colors. The sky, the earth, the buildings of the cities, even people’s clothing.”
It was a wish that aligned with the hope Ray had come to hold in his heart over his long journey.
“That’s my wish too.”
“Yours as well?”
“Yes.”
“That’s a surprise. I thought you were someone who preferred stories grounded in reality over these fairy-tale dreams.”
“People change.”
Viola lifted her head slightly and looked up at the sky with a smile.
“I believe a world like that will return someday. A world where no one falls ill or goes hungry, where everything is abundant. I just… regret that I may not be alive to see it with my own eyes.”
She added quietly—
That a long time ago, in a fight with someone, she lost her sight and could no longer see.
“If you could see again, what would you do?”
“If I could… I think I would be truly happy.”
Ray looked at Viola’s emotional core.
The violet emotion that always shone from the center of her vessel.
The emotion he couldn’t identify even at the moment they escaped from Sector 50.
But now he knew.
Looking toward hope, Ray spoke.
“Viola.”
Viola flinched.
Her expression was filled with confusion.
“Look at me.”
Flashes of surprise, uncertainty, and bewilderment passed over her face.
“Look at me, standing here.”
As emotions came flooding in one after another, Viola’s expression began to change.
And beyond the deep wrinkles etched by time, the expression of the young woman who once guarded the violet fragment of the rainbow resurfaced.
“Ah…”
With a helpless groan, Viola slowly opened her eyes.
In her left eye was a violet gemstone, set in the form of a prosthetic.
Drip.
Tears streamed down the deeply wrinkled skin of her cheeks.
“It’s been a long time, Viola.”
Ray extended his hand forward.
The violet gem dissolved into mana and was drawn toward his hand.
The absorbed mana traveled through his body, arriving near his heart, and joined the six other orbs of light orbiting that space.
A ring of violet light formed in an instant.
And then—
Wuuuuuuuuuuum───!
The seven colored lights accelerated, chasing one another’s orbits, and began to merge into a single hue.
What emerged was a pure white light.
That immaculate light spread furiously through his body, reaching the lowest of the six layered circles and climbing upward like ascending a spiral staircase.
Each circle it passed left behind a distinct color.
────!
The first ring turned red.
The second, orange.
The third, yellow.
───────!
The fourth, green.
The fifth, blue.
The sixth, indigo.
Each circle was filled with a different color.
Then, the light that passed through the sixth circle looped back to bite its own tail and began orbiting again, forming a new circle.
Flash!
At last, the seventh circle was completed, dyed in violet.
Various colors flowed through Ray’s body like blood, sometimes mixing like paint on a canvas, sometimes separating again.
Wuuung!
Having finished its work, the white light exited Ray’s hand.
It hovered there, flickering as if waiting for its next command.
“……”
What he had to do was clear.
Ray reached his hand toward Viola.
The light nestled at the corner of her eye.
*
*
*
Two months later, in the bustling streets of Sector 28.
Philip spoke to Veronica, who walked beside him with her face thoroughly hidden under a hood.
“Do you really have to walk around looking like a criminal?”
“I have no choice! If I don’t, people recognize me, and I can’t even step outside!”
“Why not just use illusion magic to change your face?”
Veronica shook her head.
“Nope, I don’t like that. I like my face. Besides, good magic users can see through illusions. Haven’t you noticed? Since Sector 26, there’s been a huge increase in high-level mages.”
Just as Veronica said, it had recently become easy to spot 3rd and 4th circle mages on the streets.
That was due to the Imaginus Tower, now ranked first, spearheading the dismantling of the magical city’s barriers.
Philip nodded.
“Yeah, mages from there are flooding out. I guess their elitism is becoming a problem, though.”
“It’ll settle down over time. The world is changing—magic isn’t so special anymore.”
Philip nodded in agreement.
Even someone like him, with zero magical talent, had succeeded in forming a circle.
As the gap between the once-separated worlds continued to close, the distinction between mages and ordinary people would gradually fade.
That’s when Philip noticed men following them from not far behind.
“Looks like you’ve even got bodyguards now. Life of a celebrity, huh? Kinda surreal—my friend is the saintess of the Solar Church, which is spreading across all sectors like wildfire. Rescuing the poor, maintaining public order—ah yes, the Touch of the Sun reaches even the darkest—mmph?!”
Veronica quickly covered his mouth as he started gesturing dramatically.
She grabbed his arm and rushed forward.
“Mm, mmph—h-hey!”
“You can’t say the S-word in crowded places. Especially not here in Sector 28, where the Church HQ is located.”
Just as she whispered, a commotion erupted behind them.
“The Saintess?”
“Did someone say Saintess? Where?!”
“I’ve prepared an offering for the Saintess!”
“Offer your sacrifice to the Saintess!”
“Bless me with your radiant smile!”
Thankfully, they got away quickly enough not to be surrounded or identified by the masked fanatics.
Only when they reached a quiet area far from the crowds did Veronica remove her hand from Philip’s mouth.
“Pfft—what was that just now?!”
“There are some real zealots out there. You have to be careful what you say in public.”
“I didn’t think it was that bad…”
Not long after they resumed walking, a large bridge came into view, guarded by priests at its entrance.
It used to be a regular vehicle bridge.
But now, it connected to a small island where the artificial sun was housed—making it a restricted zone.
“We greet the Saintess.”
“May the warm sunlight always be with you.”
As Veronica lowered her hood, the priests all bowed deeply.
Passing by them, walking along the empty road, Philip asked,
“How’s Ray? I heard he got back from his trip yesterday.”
“Yeah, he’s back!”
Ray had recently traveled across all sectors alone for several weeks.
He’d gone to take in the scenery, observe people’s lives, and reflect on his emotions—things he had missed while relentlessly chasing his goal.
“So, does he seem more settled now? He was struggling with it, right? With the idea of being the Rainbow and also just being Ray.”
“Hmm, I don’t know. We haven’t talked much since he got back.”
As they talked, they reached the end of the bridge and the island came into view.
In the distance, Ray stood before the artificial sun.
Tap.
The two stopped for a moment.
“Veronica, here’s what I think.”
“What?”
“Ray is… just Ray. If he suddenly got all serious and said, ‘I am the Rainbow who bestowed emotions upon you all,’ I’d feel really let down.”
“……”
After a short silence, Veronica nodded vigorously.
“I think so too. That totally doesn’t suit him!”
Tap—
They started walking again.
“ Ray! Long time no see!”
“What were you thinking about just now? You looked so deep in thought!”
When Ray saw Philip and Veronica, a faint smile crossed his face.
“I was thinking about a problem.”
“A problem?”
“The problem of not running away from my emotions.”
It was something Ray had been pondering for a long time since becoming aware of himself as the Rainbow.
Throughout the journey, he had come to understand and personally experience many emotions, becoming a different being than before, but his emotional core still wasn’t quite the same as that of an ordinary person.
He could vividly summon certain emotions along with past memories—or, conversely, shut them out completely.
Depending on the type and intensity of the emotion, it varied somewhat, but overall, he could maintain a state in which his emotional fluctuations were extremely small.
Then a thought occurred to him:
—Am I being honest with myself?
Back when he had tried to use the perfected power of the Rainbow, the element of creation, to revive Niles and the children under the bridge.
The boy had realized that he was forcibly blocking out the grief that surged within him.
—…….
In a way, it was only natural.
It was a painful emotion, after all.
He also told himself this:
Once he brought back the people he cherished, the sorrow would disappear with them, so he only needed to suppress it a little longer and endure.
But the voice in his heart kept echoing in his mind.
—This is deceiving yourself.
“So I made a decision. I won’t bring Niles and the underpass children back to life. I’ll be honest with my own emotions. I’ll face my grief head-on.”
Accepting the death of a loved one as death itself was also necessary.
Philip and Veronica’s eyes widened in shock and disbelief.
Because they knew that this had been a wish Ray had carried even before he met them—a wish that had been the beginning of his journey.
“A-Are you sure about this?”
“Ray, will you be okay…?”
Ray nodded.
He looked up at the pale sky.
Even though no more black clouds were forming, the scenery of the world was still as desolate as ever.
It was natural—pollution that had accumulated over long years could not be resolved in an instant.
A decisive turning point was needed.
For the world to be colored again.
‘I need to return the Rainbow to the sky.’
Also, the ability to open and close emotions was connected to the power of the Rainbow.
To truly face himself, returning the Rainbow was essential.
…It was something he could do at any time.
All that was needed was a decision of the heart.
*Vwooooom──!*
Focusing his mind as he looked up at the sky.
The seven-colored mana within the seven circles began to surge through his body.
The point they gathered at was his outstretched hand.
Seven beams of light intertwined into a spiral and were fired toward the sky.
His heart pounded wildly.
His whole body felt like it was boiling.
He had always known.
That a world with emotions always had the potential to descend into destruction once more.
In some ways, Redran’s beliefs were not entirely wrong.
Even so, the boy chose a world where emotions existed.
Because many groups and people—including the Order—would strive to ensure that the restored world would not be destroyed again.
The boy believed in their emotions.
*──────!*
A release of mana so vast it made one dizzy just being near it.
The surrounding priests rushed over, but were overwhelmed by the pressure and could do nothing.
They could only look up with awestruck expressions at the seven-colored band forming beside the sun.
The seven beams of light that had completed the Rainbow merged again into a pure white halo.
Then, breaking apart into thousands of rays, they scattered across the world, spreading shards of multicolored light.
The sky, following the trail of light, shed its pallor and took on a vibrant blue.
Beneath it, Ray lowered his outstretched hand and spoke in a slightly weary voice.
“Veronica, you said something once.”
The boy’s circles were now empty.
“That someone who can’t love themselves can’t love others, either.”
No more mana filled him.
He had sustained a fatal injury as a mage—but it didn’t matter.
“I think I understand what that means now.”
More magical than any spell.
Emotions of dazzling color were gathering in the vessel that was his heart.
And among them, sensing the one emotion that shone brightest, he spoke:
“Veronica, I want you—”
Under the radiant sunlight, Ray’s lips moved and uttered three words.
Veronica, who had been stunned by the sudden moment, came back to her senses.
Tears welled in her eyes, and soon the corners of her lips lifted into a bright, unrestrained smile.
“W-What are you even saying?”
Unable to hold herself back, Veronica leapt forward and ran into Ray’s arms.
As he caught her and stumbled back slightly, Ray wore the brightest smile he’d ever shown.
In that moment, the colors of the Rainbow deepened.
And the sun beside it shed its dullness and began to radiate a brilliant light.
*
*
*
Thousands of rays of light spread out into the world.
Wherever the fragments of light landed, the scenery changed in an instant.
The desolate land turned into lush green meadows.
Wilted flowers bloomed again with vibrant life.
And clean water began to flow through the once-parched valleys.
“Hey! Look over there!”
At an intersection in a certain sector.
Children playing in an alley pointed their fingers at the sky.
“Whoa! What’s that?”
“A shooting star? That’s so cool!”
“My mom said! If you go to where a shooting star lands, there’s a treasure a fairy hid!”
Forgetting their game, the children started running after the light.
“Wait for me! Don’t leave me behind! Huh…?”
The smallest child who had fallen behind suddenly stopped.
An old woman was sitting against an alley wall, a mat laid out before her.
The tin can beside her was filled with a fair number of coins.
After watching her for a moment, the child rummaged through their pocket and placed a coin into the can.
*Clink!*
“Grandma, I’m sorry! This is all the money I have right now!”
Just as the child turned to follow the others, the old woman spoke.
She opened her eyes, which had been closed.
In a gentle voice, slowly, she said:
“Would you like to hear a mysterious tale?”
—finish.
