—————————————————————–
Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Wjin
—————————————————————–
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
The porch of a small, neat house on a hill.
A young girl with matching silver hair and blue eyes reached out her delicate hands, trying to hold onto a man.
-Don’t go…
-Hmm! Hmm! I guess Daddy needs to stay after all?
-Honey! They said the crops have been suffering a lot lately… All the villagers are going, you can’t be the only one who stays.
-Ahem, well, that’s true…
-Honestly… Who does Aria take after, being so clingy?
-I don’t know…
The woman, presumably her mother, lifted the whining little girl and faced her towards the man.
-Aria, it’s okay. Daddy will be back soon.
The man said, stroking the girl’s cheek.
-Honey, wouldn’t this be nice in its own way? She’s so cute, we could keep her with us forever.
-Honestly, dear. Are you serious…? Aria will grow up and see the world.
-……
-…That silence, what does it mean? Are you saying you’re not satisfied with me…?
-No…! You both are so precious to me….
-…Me too.
-Hug.
The three of them embraced each other.
It was warm.
Warm enough that she could still recall the feeling.
And this was Aria’s last memory of her family.
.
.
.
-Whoosh!
Crimson arrows targeted Marcosias alone.
-Damn it!
-Bang! Bang!
-■■■■■■■!
Even as Marcosias momentarily soared into the sky and thrashed about, the arrows of fate were unavoidable.
In truth, Aria was trying hard to ignore it.
What she felt from that scarlet light connected to Marcosias was
the Archdemon Andras.
The object of Aria’s hatred.
The stench of that vengeful being, as if it had no intention of hiding its identity, permeated the air thickly.
‘Lev… is really… Andras…?’
As her mind became increasingly confused,
Kill Lev Denec.
-!!!!
Marcosias’s command fell.
Shift.
With that single word, Aria’s frail body slowly began to move.
‘…!’
She had anticipated to some extent that her body would be used…
but still, she was a healing mage who had even exhausted her divine power.
So, she hadn’t imagined she’d receive a direct order to kill someone.
She thought it would end with her being a sacrifice, enduring something terrible in their place.
‘Of all people…!’
She had placed a surveillance spell on Lev, so even if she closed her eyes, she would undoubtedly reach him.
As Aria, who didn’t look well, suddenly left her position,
Edwin and Yeriel grabbed her.
“Aria?”
“Aria, where are you…!”
-Whoosh!
-Kaboom!
Where are you looking, leaving me behind! Khahaha!.
Of course, Marcosias prevented them from approaching Aria.
‘Edwin, Yeriel!’
Her voice wouldn’t come out. Her body moved on its own.
And as if to conclude all of this, Marcosias’s inner thoughts were transmitted to Aria.
Kgh…! Kgh! This familiar scent of magic… Is it truly my friend, Andras’s power residing within him…!
“!!!”
-Archdemon Andras is dead.
-I… killed him.
-I inherited his power.
Suddenly, Aria recalled the time Lev mentioned Andras.
To maintain his relationship with Yeriel, to push her away completely, to detach himself from her, she had thought those were just words.
‘What if it was all… true…?’
Finally, a possibility Aria had been ignoring opened up.
If he really had defeated Andras and become stronger by inheriting his power, and if he was hunting demons based on that power… then this situation might make sense.
But it was too late.
Marcosias’s voice, consumed by madness, struck Aria’s mind.
Ah! Yes, that’s right!! I had forgotten. You must have wanted to kill Andras too, right? The enemy who took your parents away!
As he said, she was now on her way to kill… Lev Denec.
Khahaha, khahahaha!! But what are you going to do now~~?!!
As if he had gained a good source of black magic, Marcosias began to provoke Aria.
Khup. That… that man you like, he’s the one who defeated Andras. To you, he should be more than a benefactor… To repay him with death, what a wonderful picture!
‘…No… No.’
She wanted to deny the demon’s whispers, this act.
But she couldn’t do anything.
Aria’s mouth and body no longer moved at her will.
“Aria!!!!”
Edwin and Melissa’s cries from behind grew fainter.
Good, good, you’re doing well! Don’t lose your composure. Watch and listen carefully! Rev Denek will die by your hand! Khyahl!
Only Marcosias’s urging forced her to move.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
-Ding.
‘I can’t do this anymore…’
Even when still, his hands trembled uncontrollably, and his vision narrowed to the size of beans.
He had no strength left in his body.
Perhaps not even enough to pull the trigger.
‘Kgh… It’s not easy after all…’
Repeatedly switching between Fallen Angelization and Demonification through dual chanting.
The excruciating pain and the frantically rising Corruption.
Forcefully channeling it into the ashen crossbow and firing.
Then forced recovery through Hell’s Balance.
It was like a makeshift method of infinitely using a skill that consumed HP, with someone forcefully healing him from the side.
‘I’m not a bunch of pixels…’
Experiencing and performing these complex calculations directly with his body truly made him feel like he was dying.
“…Kgh…!”
It’s alright.
“Almost there…”
While torturing Kaelan, he had re-designated the location of his Well of Souls through Marcosias’s 5th Legion dimensional gate connected to the magic tower.
‘I can’t use Wind Instant Kill yet…’
Edwin, Yeriel, and Aria… they should be able to finish off the remaining 19%.
‘Well, there’s Violet too… I must take Marcosias down…’
He dragged his heavy body, as if bound by shackles, and leaned against a rock.
His lungs felt constricted, painfully so.
‘The air itself is shitty, probably because it’s a demonic area…’
As he caught his breath,
-Thud.
The silver-haired girl he had been waiting for arrived.
.
.
.
-Thud.
-Thud.
‘Ah… Ahhh… What am I… doing…’
Aria, holding a dagger in both hands, slowly walked towards Lev, one step at a time.
Her grip was all wrong, but what she held was a magic sword.
It would be powerful enough to kill a single boy who had exhausted all his strength.
‘L-Lev…’
Perhaps a god, pitying this sight, intervened.
Aria’s tightly closed lips parted with difficulty.
“N-No…”
Finally, as Aria reached his side,
Lev showed a light smile as if he had been waiting.
Seeing him so composed, as if he knew this situation, accepting his death like a terminally ill patient,
tears streamed down Aria’s face incessantly.
‘N-No. Run… away…!’
Aria’s lips moved soundlessly.
But Lev, seemingly oblivious to Aria’s burning heart, simply stroked her hair.
“It’s a shame. The Clarice beret suited you well.”
“……Ah…”
“Aria. Bluebell.”
He softly, gently called Aria’s name.
She wanted to answer, but pain surged through her.
‘Kgh… Endure, I have to endure…!’
Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill.
‘How can I… kill Lev…’
“Huu!”
Aria cringed, trying to resist the subordinate’s command.
“Haa… ugh…!”
-Crackle…!
The pain from her resistance intensified, beginning to consume her body.
Then, Lev gently straightened Aria’s body and lifted her into his arms.
“It’s alright. Aria.”
“!”
He held her tightly, patting her back.
Suddenly, all the pain vanished, and she felt at peace.
‘No… No…’
After Andras’s attack, the shape of her father’s mouth, seen from afar…
-Aria, it’s okay.
His last words had felt like this too.
Kill! Kill him! What are you doing! Kill! Kill! Don’t hesitate and kill him! Now!
“Haa… Haa…!”
With Marcosias’s continued commands, her violently shaking hand came to a sudden stop.
“St… Stop……! N-No…!”
Just as the magic sword was pointed at Lev’s stomach,
-Slide!
He firmly grasped Aria’s hand.
‘Lev?’
And…
-Stab!
.
.
.
‘Ah… Ah?’
A chilling sound, the sound of flesh tearing.
The signal that the blade had reached where it shouldn’t have reached was transmitted simultaneously to Aria and Lev’s hands.
-……
Silence followed for a while.
If anything, Marcosias’s piercing laughter filled the air afterward.
But Aria couldn’t hear anything.
‘L-L-Lev…’
Her vision blurred, but she couldn’t even cry out.
-Cough!
Lev coughed up blood belatedly.
It was a natural consequence.
Even if it was a small magic sword, it was embedded deeply in his stomach, the blade completely hidden from view, and undeniably so.
“Ah… Ah… Ah…”
Aria controlled her facial muscles that were trying to move on their own, and
‘H-Healing first. S-So. I-I have to remove the blade first…’
She thought and thought.
First, let go of his hand.
She had practiced healing magic in Clarice to the point where she could cast it in her sleep.
She knew it was a little late, but
‘I-I can do it. Aria…’
She was a healer.
That’s what healing was about.
Even if she had to use all her strength.
No, even if she had to sacrifice her life and recite the incantation, wouldn’t she be able to save him?
-Tremble…
A sliver of hope spurred the girl on.
Her body, which had been so disobedient, now felt like it would finally obey her.
But…
-Thud!
-!
Rev, still smiling, tightly gripped Aria’s hand.
“L-Lev… Y-You can’t do this. I-I’ll really d-die…?”
She couldn’t hold back any longer.
Her usually expressionless face transformed with grief, and she began shaking her head frantically.
“No, this is. This isn’t right, is it?”
“Aria.”
Lev’s eyes were half-closed.
As if he no longer had the strength to cough up blood, he whispered with difficulty.
“I’m sorry….”
“W-What are you sorry for…! I-I should be the one… hic…! Lev! This… what I’m doing hic… isn’t…”
She needed to speak, but her throat felt choked with tears, and the words wouldn’t come out properly.
“I know.”
He replied warmly.
The more he did, the more Aria’s heart ached.
-Is Lev a good person?
-…Lev is… the worst.
-He’s really bad…! He’s bad!
-Lev is… the one I like… You are…!
-……It’s too much.
-It’s… creepy. The you I believed in… was a worse person than I thought.
-It’s fine. Please stay away from me!
-You don’t need to help me with my revenge anymore.
-Please don’t… pretend to be close to me again.
She had been so mean, so harsh to him.
She had practiced so much to confess her feelings, but only managed to say it once.
-Whoosh…
Perhaps it was the effect of the magic sword.
His form was gradually turning to dust.
Aria burrowed into his embrace.
“No, don’t go, hic… don’t go…”
She wanted to feel his warmth, even just a little longer.
Lev stroked the back of her head and slowly opened his mouth.
“A-Are you… l-lying… L-Lev, are you l-leaving me too…?”
“Don’t blame yourself, and tell Edwin, Yeriel, and Selena…”
“I don’t want that. hic… I don’t want to say goodbye like this…!”
“…”
.
.
.
-Aria, you’re the healer Aria, right?
-I know you hate me, but I have something to give you.
-Nod your head if you trust me.
-You’re going to follow me around anyway, keeping an eye on me. Watch me properly this time.
-That was too much, doing that to someone who loves chocolate so much.
-You have a nice scent, Aria.
-Aria, be my master, just for today.
-It’s just, you always help me. And you’ve been overworking yourself lately.
-Andras. I’ll help you. With your revenge.
-…Wait for me.
.
.
.
She had loved him.
“Ah…?”
She had loved him so much.
“Ah?? Lev…?”
Nothing remained around her.
Not the faintly glowing magic sword,
not the third-rate delinquent he once was,
nor the image of the girl chasing after Andras.
“L… Lev? Lev, Lev Den……”
All that remained was the fading warmth of the ashen-haired boy…
-Drop. Drip.
and Aria’s tears falling onto the space where he had been.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
