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Last Embryo Volume 1 Chapter 4 Part 1

Translator: DarkHeartedAlchemist

Editor: Weasalopes

A waterfall flowing from beneath the base of the giant tree, a city that looked like it was build on water and the enormous birds unlike every species they have seen before flying through the sky. Even though his logic was trying to deny all of those impossibilities as they unfolded right before his eyes, Saigo Homura was still trying to come up with the solution to their newest pickle which involved him, Suzuka and Ayato falling from the sky and approaching the surface of the water below that at an alarming speed.

「We are roughly 4000 meters in the sky, so if I assume that the air resistance is still the same as it was before and didn’t go through some sudden changes, that gives us about 90 more seconds before we die after hitting the water! Is there anything we could do to prevent that from happening? Anything at all?!」

While they continued to fall, they showed no signs of slowing down. Instead, they were only accelerating. Making a decision in a fraction of a second, Homura grabbed Ayato and positioned himself so that he could cushion the eventual impact for her.

「Suzuka! We are most definitely going to bite the dust if we won’t do something! Can you use your power to get us someplace safe, like that river over there?!」

「I can, but that won’t achieve anything, and could potentially make things even worse! You see, my power can transport people and objects, but it does not cancel the kinetic energy that worked on them at the moment of the jump!」

「And you’re only telling me this now?! Dick move, Sis! Straight up dick move!」

That being said, it was a perfectly natural thing to expect. If Suzuka’s Apport & Asport did not transfer the energy along with the object that was being transported, it would mean that every force that worked on the human body would have to be left behind as well. The moment he realized that, he felt as if somebody stabbed him to the gut with a knife and started twisting it. The maximum range of Suzuka’s power’s effectiveness was 120 meters. So if we take that into account along with the value of gravitational acceleration, teleporting them to the ground from 120 meters in the air would not differ from the direct impact in the slightest. In both cases, there would be nothing left of them, but bloody smears on either the ground or the water’s surface.

30 seconds remaining until impact. With only one crazy idea in his head, he decided to go all in, placing all of his figurative chips on that single bet.

「Then, can you redirect the kinetic energy of the objects you are teleporting?!!!」

「Can I wha…. What do you mean?!」

「We don’t have the tome for a full explanation, so this will have to do: kinetic energy should move in the same direction as the object it is working on! Therefore, if we could just change the direction of our fall, theoretically we should have at least the sliver of a change at surviving! I know I’m asking a lot of you, but we don’t have time, so I’m counting on you, Suzukaaaaa……!!!!!」

When there were only 3 seconds remaining until impact, Suzuka stretched out her hand and changed the direction of their fall, just as Homura instructed her to do. Despite the obvious risks associated with his theory, in this do or die situation her decision to listen to him turned out to be the correct one. Using her power when they were mere 20 centimeters above the water’s surface, they have been yanked upward for about one meter, and then Homura and Ayato fell into the lake. As for Suzuka herself, she wasn’t that lucky, as reversing the direction of the fall backfired on her, sending her flying parallel to the water’s surface.

「Waaaaaaaahhhhhh!!!!! Kyaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!!!!!!!!」

Thankfully she wasn’t hurt in any way, but she bounced on the water like an oversized skipping stone, all the while screaming like a madwoman, which was quite comical to watch now that they knew she was going to be fine. Fortunately for her, she lost all of the momentum that was pushing her forward just as she was about to reach the shore near the base of the giant tree. Making her way out to the dry land on wobbly legs and coughing violently from all the water she involontarily drank on the way, her life was no longer in any immediate danger.

As for Ayato and Homura though…

「Ouf!」

「Kya!」

Even though the momentum of their fall wasn’t completely nullified, the impact when they hit the surface of the water was cushioned by something soft right underneath it, most likely some kind of living creature. Whether it wanted it or not it saved them, but there was no time for them to stop and see what that thing was exactly, because they had more pressing concerns than that at the moment. The place where they fell was not a lake, but rather a large river, and contrary to both Suzuka’s and Homura’s expectations it was deeper and its current was much stronger than they anticipated. If Homura was alone he would have probably had no problems with getting to the shore, but now that he also had to carry Ayato with him, swimming against the river’s current without both of them drowning seemed almost impossible to pull off. Even so, he just had to do it. So he faced towards the shore and started desperately moving his legs. Even though he closed Ayato’s wound and stopped the bleeding, her overall condition was far from perfect, and he didn’t know if what they just went through affected her in any way, so if nothing else, he had to get her out of the water safely and warm her up to avoid her succumbing to hypothermia, but at this rate he was bound to run out of strength to continue swimming and die first before getting even halfway there.

(The current… It’s too strong…! I can’t….!)

He lost count how much of the river water he swallowed, and kept moving his body forward while clenching his teeth as hard as he could. If he just abandoned Ayato and swam the rest of the way by himself he would have made it just fine, but that was absolutely out of the question. If he wanted to abandon her, then he should have done so a long time ago, but he didn’t do it. Even if it meant suffering and getting himself thrown from one danger to the next, Saigo Homura would always do everything in his power to save Kudou Ayato whenever she found herself in peril, and today, a clusterfuck of rapidly changing circumstances as it was, was ultimately going to be no different, so there was no way for him to give up now. He will push himself forward, and he will continue to do so right to the bitter end. Going past the limits of his body, he paddled through the water with all of his strength, but at some point his life began to flash before his eyes, making him realize that he was probably done for… but then, someone grabbed his hand and pulled him forward.

(Who, who’s there?!)

「Are you alright?! We’re almost at the shore, so just hang in there for a bit longer, okay?!」

A voice he never heard before called out to him. It belonged to a girl. The hand that pulled him towards the shore was small, but despite that its owner must have been quite strong to be able to haul two people out of the river while swimming against its current like it was nothing. Before Homura realized it, they were already at the shore.

He sprawled himself on the ground and gasped for air, but the feeling of solid ground beneath him coupled with the smell of the earth and the warmth of the sunlight shining down on him made him feel more comfortable than ever before.

(I don’t know what’s going on anymore… but it looks like I can finally have some rest now.)

Maybe it was due to the fact that his mind was finally able to relax after he was rescued from a near-death situation, but he felt that his consciousness was gradually slipping away from him. But that won’t do at all. Before he drifts off into sleep, at the very least he has to thank the one who saved his and Ayato’s lives, so he tried to force himself to stand up.

But at that moment, the final mindfuck of the day made its grand entrance.

「WHO WAS IIIIIIIIIIIIIT?!!!!!!!!! WHICH ONE OF YOU BASTARDS FELL ON MY HEAD?!!!!!!!」