Ch.158158. Meeting (4)

BANG-!!

An explosion. Daphne’s eyes widened at the shock coming through the curtain. The protective magic was being shaken. Marianne had extended her Holy Sword but was blocked and pushed into a corner. Daphne waved her hand dismissively toward Aryen, who seemed unaffected by the impact. A temporarily constructed magical mass struck Aryen and threw him backward. Daphne took advantage of the momentary gap and turned to Marianne.

“Marianne-!”

That look, that gesture. Marianne immediately understood Daphne’s meaning. While Daphne bought time, she needed to return to the room as quickly as possible and retrieve the Holy Sword. Having finished her calculations, Marianne moved her feet. Her figure began to blur. Aryen didn’t miss the movement and followed her steps.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

It happened in an instant. Marianne’s pupils froze in astonishment at that terrifying speed. Aryen was already blocking the stairs leading to the upper floor. His hand gripping the sword was raised upward, and Marianne realized that Aryen’s gaze was directed at her neck.

“Well, you first.”

When Aryen extended his sword, his movement stopped in mid-air. Marianne didn’t miss the opportunity and quickly jumped over Aryen’s head and began running. Aryen frowned at the chains of light binding his wrists and ankles. Daphne was extending her hand from the center of the lobby.

“Daphne, you’d better let this go.”

“Since when have we been acquainted that you speak to me in such a disgusting manner?”

A cold wind blew in Daphne’s voice. The chains were binding Aryen tightly. Aryen looked down at the chains binding his limbs and then smirked.

“Otherwise, I’ll have no choice but to change my priority target to you. Do you want to die first?”

“Don’t speak so casually about killing someone.”

Daphne sent an electric current through the chains. Aryen received the current throughout his body but was laughing like a madman. There was a smell of his black hair burning slightly.

“I’m not sure if you’re in a position to lecture me, Daphne. How many people have you killed so far?”

“This is the first time I’ve met someone who speaks so proudly about killing people.”

Daphne’s face showed clear disgust. She concentrated the chains to throw Aryen, but he didn’t move an inch from his spot. His enhanced strength had begun to resist Daphne’s magic.

“Do you know a world where you can’t survive without killing people?”

“I know a world where you don’t have to kill people. Though someone like you wouldn’t understand.”

Aryen gave a bitter smile, then began to exert force with his arms. Resisting the electric current and magical power, Aryen raised his sword. A dark red aura settled on the blade. An eerie energy spread like waves from the center of the blade. The energy pressed down on space and time.

“I’m sorry I don’t understand. I don’t know such a world.”

CRACK-!!

The magical chains shattered into pieces. Aryen raised his aura-wrapped sword and aimed it at Daphne. Daphne rotated one more ring. She was prepared to blow up the entire building if necessary.

Five.

Daphne stopped at five and jumped back. Then, a golden radiance blew away the headquarters’ wall along with Aryen. Through the swirling Holy Sword, silver hair scattered. Marianne grabbed the opened Holy Sword and stared at the space beyond the blown-away wall, then,

“Hah…”

She showed a surprised expression at the headquarters’ wall that had been blown away. Daphne let out a hollow laugh as she approached Marianne, casting a protective spell on her.

“Don’t just stand there dazed.”

The surprised expression disappeared without a trace, and only eyes tracking Aryen’s presence remained. Dirt dust, the collapsed building wall, incoming wind, spreading smell, and magical power. Aryen seemed to have scattered with the fragments. Marianne couldn’t detect anything.

“Did we hit him?”

“…The attack didn’t land.”

It didn’t feel like it was blocked either. He probably absorbed the impact while demolishing the wall and deflected the attack. Did such skill actually exist? Even if it was possible, could someone respond with such handling while being ambushed unexpectedly?

Before they could fully grasp his abilities, death approached from a blind spot.

The sound of breaking glass. Probably the sound of the protective magic breaking and collapsing. Marianne’s vision blurred. She couldn’t react. Before she could even think about it, her body flew through the air. Pain. She wasn’t cut. It was probably the recoil from the destroyed magic. Floor. Marianne’s shoulder grazed the hard ground, and her body bounced like a powerless ball before falling and sliding across the floor.

“Deploy-!”

Daphne shouted like a scream. Frozen blades sprouted from the floor, chasing Aryen’s figure. Aryen glanced at the rising ground and moved. He lightly jumped up using the torn floor as a foothold. The high wall of the lobby became his floor. The blades didn’t stop at sprouting but continued to chase Aryen. Aryen twisted his body in mid-air and swung his sword.

Snowflakes bloomed from Aryen’s sword strap. It wasn’t created by the breaking of the ice spears, but rather as if the sword itself was creating ice flowers. Daphne sharply inhaled at the technique. Aryen was still surrendering his body to the air.

“I feel like I’ve been robbed of quite a lot.”

Aryen muttered. His eyes were emitting light that reflected wildly with the broken ice fragments. Aryen gripped his sword with both hands. The aura that had been fluttering like cloth was compressed into the blade, taking form.

“If I can’t get it back, it’s fine to destroy everything.”

“How pathetic-!”

Daphne countered Aryen’s muttering and fired magic. But it was only buying time, with no substantial damage being inflicted. Daphne grimaced and clicked her tongue.

“Soon, guards will surround this area. I’m confident I can stall alone until then. There’s no escape route, mercenary. Put down your sword and stop this madness.”

Aryen burst into laughter at Daphne’s words. He seemed to genuinely find her words amusing.

“Guards? Knights? Do you really think they can do anything to me? What you should worry about, Daphne, is the lives of those guys who will be swept away by my sword.”

Aryen said this as he raised his sword. The condensed aura was making the space vibrate. Daphne’s intuition warned her not to let him swing that. He was aiming not at Daphne but at Marianne. Marianne still seemed unable to recover from the impact of the sword strike, staggering and unable to steady herself.

“First, I wanted to kill you more painfully, but one down first.”

I have to block it.

Daphne’s mind turned white. The simple amount of magical power felt wasn’t much. But Aryen’s aura had a power that far transcended visible magic. Daphne pulled up all seven rings. The defensive wall that poured out most of her magical power was constructed almost simultaneously with Aryen sending out his aura.

Light bent and space distorted. A dark red crescent that even annihilated magical power collided with the 7-circle protective magic, then slowly began to devour the magic. Daphne sensed she couldn’t block it anymore, stopped supplying magical power, embraced Marianne, and threw herself outside.

BANG-!!!

The headquarters building was split in two. Daphne gritted her teeth and withstood the recoil of the incoming magical power. The circles vibrated, making her insides churn. Blood and the smell of blood coming up past her throat. Daphne raised her head after vomiting blood on the floor with nausea.

“I really didn’t expect you to block it. You’re strong, Daphne.”

With a very surprised expression, Aryen stood in front of the ruins of the collapsed building. Screams could be heard from all over the royal city. Guards recognized the situation and came running with spears. Daphne shook her head frantically at them, but her intention wasn’t conveyed to the guards.

“Moths to the flame, these guys.”

Aryen raised his sword. Again, a dark red aura formed on the blade.

“No…, don’t.”

“This is what the world is like, Daphne. A place where you kill and get killed. The fact that you didn’t know that until now is purely thanks to that damn hero. Isn’t that right?”

A bloody smile appeared on Aryen’s lips. She couldn’t move.

“With the amount of magical power you prepared then, you could have blocked it. No, you might even have been able to land an attack on me. Depending on the type of magic, there might not have been zero possibility of defeating me.”

Aryen said, looking around at the approaching guards.

“Did you not cast such magic at me because you were worried about the people of this royal city? Because if your magic and my attack collided, the surroundings would be completely devastated?”

Aryen shook his head, his eyes full of disappointment.

“No, Daphne. Your choice was one that would kill both you and those approaching guards. The you I knew wasn’t like that. You believed that only you could save people.”

The guards had almost reached them. Aryen took a stance.

“-This is going to be annoying.”

Something flew through the sky. Aryen, as if he knew, turned his sword to block the flying mace. The aura spread, and a numbing energy dispersed. Daphne knew the owner of the weapon that fell to the ground with a thud.

“It’s been a while, George. So you were alive here.”

Aryen smiled pleasantly as he looked at the person standing at the head of the guards.

“What are you doing, Aryen?”

George, with a grim expression, said as he pushed forward his shield. Aryen picked up the mace and handed it to George.

“For old times’ sake. Take it.”

When George didn’t accept it, Aryen threw the weapon at George’s feet. The mace embedded itself in the royal city’s pavement, creating cracks. George looked down at his weapon, then at Daphne and Marianne lying on the ground.

“What old times? Tell me what you’re doing.”

“Didn’t you come to stop me too?”

It was a refusal to explain. The guards had already formed a circle surrounding Aryen.

“Then, defeat me and ask.”

Aryen smiled fiercely and charged with his sword, and George raised his shield. Even in that terrifying pressure, George didn’t back down.

“I might hesitate to kill you.”

And the shield and sword collided.

==

“…What brings you here?”

Isis was looking at me with confused eyes. The Holy Country was unsettled but not chaotic. Aryen’s note in my hand was crumpled miserably.

“Did Aryen come here?”

“Aryen…? No. Did you come here looking for Aryen?”

To the hero who banished me.

I remembered. Everything. What you took from me, and what I originally was. Now it’s my turn to reclaim what I’ve lost.

Aryen Elmione.

I thought what Aryen meant by “what I’ve lost” was Isis. But I realized I had made a tremendous misunderstanding. Aryen didn’t consider Isis as something he lost. I thought he would take Isis and leave. That wasn’t it. For Aryen, for the protagonist, what he lost was.

“Are you okay?”

Isis asked, holding my hand. I nodded, my head creaking.

I need to go to the royal city. Right now.

Having completely forgotten even the pain in my heart, I spread my wings and rose.