Give children a little self-destruction shock to their worldview.

Page 179

[After all, they are the last guardians...]

She's heading towards the village now. Looks like it's her again this year. Little Raven will be happy.

As the wind whispers through the air, Karasu looks forward to the day she will reunite with Mayumi Haga.

Finally, Mayumi Haga stood in front of her.

Ya Yu knew that the moment the wait ended, it marked the beginning of the countdown to her life.

Text: 283. I'm sorry

The selection result was exactly as Ya Yu had predicted; it really was that little white bird.

After handing over the hair ornament that represented the clan chief's authority, Mayumi Haga did not choose to join the banquet crowd, but instead accompanied Karasu, who was clearly much weaker.

As the two left the lively campfire, Mayumi Haga noticed that Karasu seemed to be shorter than she remembered, and his once upright back was now hunched over.

When he summoned the power of the wind to send the two of them back to the tree from years ago, he was already panting heavily.

The secret base of Raven Feather was struck by lightning and died decades ago during a thunderstorm. It broke in half shortly afterward, and after decades of wind and rain, only charred stumps remain.

It was the perfect shape for the two of them to sit down. Mayumi Haga sat down first, and then noticed that Karasu had some difficulty climbing up.

She helped him up.

“Don’t be so surprised, I’m already a little old lady,” said Ya Yu.

Mayumi Haga said, "I can't really tell the age of the Feather Clan. To me, you're just not as shiny as you used to be."

Crow Feather was taken aback for a moment, then laughed and said, "That's really lucky."

Mayumi Haga had no idea what Karasu was celebrating; this was a thin veil of shame that she couldn't expose without her permission.

The person she once admired was standing before her, just as she had in the past. But she herself had grown old and faded.

Fortunately, the other party could not see the aging of his body. In their eyes, there was no pity brought by the passage of time; he was still as calm and friendly as he had been back then.

That's good, Karasu thought. In Mayumi's heart, she wasn't an old bird with few feathers left to shed, and Mayumi was still the same as she was back then.

"Do you know where the former clan leader goes after the selection?" Raven Feather suddenly asked.

Mayumi Haga has gained a lot of experience over the years, and after a brief silence, she replied, "It will be one last flight."

The Feathered Race is a race of wind; they are born from the wind and return to the wind after death.

After the next chieftain is chosen, the former chieftain removes the hair ornaments that sustain his life and vitality, and then goes alone against the wind to the burial grounds of the Feathered Clan.

That wind path was extremely dangerous; even the strongest Feather Clan members couldn't cross it, but the old clan leader, who didn't even have the strength to flap his wings, was able to reach it.

After that, it completely disappeared from the world and returned to the long river of time.

When Crow Feather succeeded to the position a hundred years ago, the old patriarch also took advantage of the fact that no one was paying attention and left on the wind, only bidding farewell to his personal guards.

Now, Mayumi Haga has a premonition that it is time for Karasuha to leave.

The once soft and fluffy bird's body gradually grew cold, and life was fading from its body, not even lasting until noon the next day.

“Sit here with me for a while and tell me about your experiences over the years, Mayumi,” Karasuha requested.

Mayumi Haga had no reason to refuse.

Although the experiences of the past century had been carried to Karasuha's ears by the wind, she still wanted to hear Mayumi Haga herself tell the story.

The two sat on the tree stump all night, until just before sunrise.

Karasu stood up, shook the dew off her feathers, and expressed her gratitude to Haga Mayumi.

Then, it spread its wings toward the sunrise.

In Mayumi Haga's memory, Karasu's flight had always been effortless and graceful. But this time, perhaps because she was too old, Karasu struggled to flap her wings in the air, yet still couldn't find her rhythm.

She tried to fly forward, but her body wouldn't obey her commands, and she was about to crash into the cliff.

Suddenly, the sound of a paraglider opening came from behind.

Her falling body was lifted up, and she swerved sharply, narrowly avoiding the obstacle.

It turned out that Mayumi Haga had grabbed the back of her clothes with one hand and held the slightly modified hang glider steadily with the other, making a dangerous half-circle in the air.

“Give me directions,” Mayumi Haga said.

She will be seeing her friend off on this final journey.

After a century of experience, the once somewhat clumsy Xiaobai is now able to navigate through all sorts of chaotic wind paths with agility and ease.

Her white hair took on an inhuman beauty in the gradually brightening sunlight, her golden eyes were gentle yet firm, and although slender, her body contained a reliable strength.

A hundred years ago, Karasu saved Mayumi Haga, who was wandering aimlessly around here without finding her way.

Now, Mayumi Haga must traverse this most treacherous Wind Path to deliver the crow feathers to a peaceful place.

With their roles reversed, Ya Yu suddenly burst out laughing.

Her voice was weak, but still cheerful.

"Really, I'm the flight instructor!"

Mayumi Haga seemed to smile as well, but upon closer inspection, her face remained calm and solemn.

The Guardian's physical abilities are indeed extraordinary. In the past hundred years, Mayumi Haga has never slacked off in practicing her flying skills. She even asked a craftsman to slightly modify her glider so that it could carry greater weight, be more durable, and glide farther.

She pulled Yayu up, intending to carry her across, but Yayu insisted on flying on her own, only asking Yuga Mayumi for assistance.

And so, they set off.

Raven Feather would point out the direction to Yuga Mayumi, a direction engraved in the soul of the Feather Clan, so that they would never go astray.

That was a temple located in a cave at the deepest part of the valley.

As a guardian, Mayumi Haga was intimately familiar with the energy that filled this space. When she made a pact with the consciousness of the River of Life, she also felt this infinitely vast aura.

However, she could not enter the burial grounds of the Feathered Clan.

Even though she is a guardian, she cannot enter the area behind the intense light.

It seems this is the only way to send it.

Mayumi Haga thought, watching the raven feathers gradually regain their last bit of vitality in the light, the feathers seemingly regaining their luster.

It seemed as if all the words had been spoken last night. Raven Feather was quietly drawn to the light and slowly walked toward the end of its life.

Suddenly, Mayumi Haga spoke up and called out to her, "Wait a minute."

The raven feathers were already shrouded in bright light, half of its body surrounded by the warmth of its mother's embrace.

As soon as she turned around, she saw Mayumi Haga gently toss something over, which landed right in her arms.

The Yuga Mayumi was wrapped in a piece of fine silk, and now a corner of it was open, revealing several crystals that emitted a soft glow.

Crow Feather was taken aback.

Mayumi Haga said, "I've collected as many star fragments as I can, but I'm still missing the last one."

She noticed that other winged creatures wore elaborate necklaces and inquired about them. She learned that winged creatures like Ravenfeather actually loved sparkling gemstones.

However, Ya Yu was an orphan with no gemstones passed down from her parents, and because she had always been chasing stars, she didn't have much savings, so she had never made herself a necklace she liked.

I thought that after becoming the clan leader, Raven Feather would be less strapped for cash, but it seems that because he has high standards, he has not been able to find a suitable gem.

Over the past century, Mayumi Haga has found more than a dozen star fragments, but she is still missing the last one.

"I'm sorry," she said.

Just one piece is missing, but there's no time left for Raven Feather.

Text: 284. Hunting

That was the last time Mayumi Haga saw Karasuha.

Over the long years she has been a guardian, she has learned firsthand the regrets that come with different rates of lifespan. She gradually understands that her pace of life is different from everyone else's, and no one can accompany her to the very end.

But this does not mean that Mayumi Haga can get used to parting.

She cherished every encounter, and she cherished every farewell as well.

Not to mention, what will be left for her this time is the regret that will shroud her in eternal life.

After Karasu walked into that light, Mayumi Haga stood there for two days until a rain soaked her to the bone, which brought her back to reality.

When the rain stopped, Mayumi Haga left.

After that, without any guidance, Yuga Mayumi never found the Feather Clan cemetery again.

She will still travel to the Valley of the Storms every hundred years to observe the selection of warriors.

Unbeknownst to her, she felt that she was visiting this place more and more frequently, but in reality, it was just that a hundred years had passed by faster and faster for her.

Gradually, this continent also began to change, until the Gale Valley was almost reduced to ruins in an unprecedented earthquake, and the terrain also underwent tremendous changes. The Feathered Clan planned to find another place to live and build a new settlement.

Yuga Mayumi silently watched as these Feather Clan members, who no longer recognized her and had forgotten their warrior selection tradition due to an epidemic, left their homeland, resulting in a break in their lineage.

The clan chief's hair ornament is also missing. It is said that it was lost during the earthquake and may have fallen into a fissure in the ground.

The Feathered Race gradually dispersed across the continent, with only a small number remaining in this region, firmly believing that their ancestors resided in the mountains here.

Then, disaster struck.

This area became an earthquake-prone zone and lost all life; Mayumi Haga never went back there.

She would occasionally think of the star fragments she hadn't collected for Raven Feather, the necklace design she had tucked into her diary, and the star fragment she had once inlaid into the clan leader's hair ornament.

If I could have been a little faster, I might have been able to finish that final gift and wouldn't have left with such regrets.

It was just a hair's breadth away.

-----------------

Let's go back to the present.

Mayumi Haga's vision was completely occupied by the outstretched, jet-black wings. Her chest was scratched raw and bloody, and most of her ribs were broken.

With a single claw strike, it ripped open its own chest... No wonder it's...

Her self-healing ability began to operate at a rapid pace, and Mayumi Haga realized the problem.

Strange, why aren't the harmony rules working...?

Generally speaking, in this children's world, anything that is exposed to people in this world will be censored and turned into orange juice.

The festival competition is covered by a magical camera system, and it's broadcast live the entire time... unless...

Having had this experience several times before, Mayumi Haga immediately realized what was going on.

Unless all the cameras here have been destroyed, no one else can see it.

It seems that Ms. Terasaki Ayasa was unable to repair the magic monitoring system here; apparently, an enemy was sabotaging it.

While Mayumi Haga was very worried about Ayasa Terasaki's safety, it was more important to deal with the situation at hand first.

In that brief moment of stunned silence, Mayumi Haga was grabbed and dragged off the ground by an enemy who looked very familiar.

The giant, jet-black bird had crimson eye sockets, and billowing black mist emanated from beneath every feather. Yuga Mayumi had never been able to discern the appearance of the Feathered Clan in their bird form, but she could see the white feather on the visitor's forehead.

Raven Feather...? Her soul hadn't entered the cycle of reincarnation long ago...

Is this a state of being corrupted by calamity...? It's not quite the same as what we saw before...

Before Mayumi Haga could react, her body had already been lifted at least ten meters off the ground.

Being preyed by crows is not a pleasant experience, not to mention that the crow's claws were ruthless, piercing her collarbone, sinking into her chest cavity, and tearing her newly repaired internal organs to pieces.

The feeling of being tightly gripped by her ribs and collarbone, and being accelerated into the sky, was like being torn into pieces by a loaf of toast. To alleviate the pain, Mayumi Haga gripped Kara's claws tightly.

Her struggles naturally attracted the attention of the predators. The giant raven's eyes gleamed red, its black beak opened, and it emitted a hoarse cry.

Then, it suddenly plunged down, starting the aerial roller coaster!

For someone whose vulnerable organs are being gripped so tightly, it's like having their body in a centrifuge while their internal organs are held in the predator's claws.

It wasn't just tearing; it was accompanied by overwhelming dizziness and a tearing sensation. My body felt like a fragile toy being grabbed and tossed around by a child. Just a few more swings against the ground and wall would be enough to turn my whole body into a limp, meaty mess.

Crows are birds with high hunting intelligence, not to mention that the Feathered Clan possesses intelligence comparable to that of humans. Even when they lose their minds, they will instinctively launch an irresistible attack.

Mayumi Haga tried to break free, but suddenly realized something.

--nest.

He could have fought her on the spot and then devoured her flesh, but instead he took her into the air and flew her in one direction.