Ch.177Aria – 3

“Right. Somehow I thought it would be like that.”

Aria was smiling a cold smile I’d never seen before, her eyes half-dead. Judging by that expression, she didn’t even seem to care about hiding anything anymore.

“How did you figure it out? I thought I had prepared quite well.”

“If you want to say you prepared well, you should have at least avoided suspicious behavior. And fixed your manner of speaking properly.”

“Suspicious behavior… such as?”

“What you just said. The way you referred to the four people you brought here didn’t sound like someone who feels remorse at all. It felt more like you were talking about replacing broken parts. I could understand if it was just Laura, since you know how you view her, but treating the other three the same way is strange.”

If she truly felt sorry enough to apologize hundreds or thousands of times as she claimed, she wouldn’t have spoken that way.

“And during the midterm practical combat exam, remember? You smiled strangely before going to fight Leona. The smile you just made had exactly that same feeling. Now that I see it, I understand. They were small, fragmented behaviors that I didn’t pay much attention to at the time, but given your past, they’re worth suspecting.”

“Hmm… so you didn’t have any definitive evidence. What a shame. Perhaps I should have just let you believe me.”

Aria’s eyes narrowed slightly, seeming to realize my bluff.

“I couldn’t help it. After living alone among humans frozen in time for over a thousand years, I’ve developed a personality where I simply can’t resist anything that looks fun or interesting. I tried hard to hold back, but sometimes I just can’t suppress the impulse.”

Can’t resist when something is interesting, huh? That expression sounded familiar. I pondered for a moment where I’d heard it before. Soon, something came to mind.

“…The demon god’s avatar?”

“That’s right. That’s what I said when we first met. You even remember that. How delightful.”

“I thought the demon god’s corpse looked different from the avatar that appeared before me. So it was because of you?”

“Yes. Originally, I planned to quietly observe from behind until the time was right, but as I just mentioned, after spending over a thousand lonely years by myself, my patience has greatly diminished. When I saw Miss Mira alone, I simply couldn’t resist.”

Aria smiled brightly.

“Since I’ve been found out, I have no choice but to change my plan. Miss Mira, I’ll send you back to your original world along with the other four people I brought here, so please help me.”

“Why should I help someone who was just trying to deceive me?”

“Because not everything I said was a lie? First, the story about the past is true. It’s also true that time stops in this world without readers, and that with Miss Mira’s power, such a phenomenon can be prevented. The only lie was my attitude toward the people I brought here.”

“You’re shameless.”

“This is an opportunity that comes once in thousands of years. Whether I’m shameless or not, I need to use whatever means necessary to succeed.”

Aria released her hands from behind her back. Her slightly bent upper body gradually returned to its original posture.

“So, what do you think, Miss Mira? Will you save even a shameless person like me?”

“…What makes you so confident? I’ve never even managed to rewrite the world with my power?”

“Ah, that’s not true! What I lack isn’t the method but the output. I know the method, but I don’t have enough power to do it. But if I receive the power you possess, that’s a different story. While absorbing the fragments of the world along with the remnants of memories left in that world, I saw all the great feats you accomplished. Like single-handedly defeating monsters worthy of the term ‘dark fantasy.'”

She seemed to be referring to the memories I saw when under the Elder Lich’s spell. She was dropping hints to test me.

“If it’s about lacking power, I might not be enough either. I don’t know if you’re aware, but my power is half—”

“Sealed?”

“…So it was you after all.”

“Haha, you have such a wonderful expression right now, Miss Mira. You suspected it might have been me from the moment you asked, didn’t you? Since you seem to understand, I don’t need to explain further. Yes, it was me.”

Having been caught in her lie, she no longer seemed to have any intention of hiding anything. Aria smoothly laughed off my icy stare.

“Let’s be positive about this. Please don’t make such a scary face. I sealed away your trauma along with your power, didn’t I? You should actually be thanking me.”

“You did something I never asked for and now want me to be grateful?”

“Think about it. You’ve changed so much since being possessed here. Without me, you would have obviously rotted away alone and lonely in your original world. Just like I was when left alone. You would never have overcome your past trauma either.”

I couldn’t argue with that point. I had taken a leave of absence from university and shut myself in my room for an entire semester, but since coming here, my condition had improved to the point where I could hold the Divine Spear without feeling phantom pain.

“Isn’t this fate? You save me, and I save you. That’s our destiny. Is there anything wrong with what I’m saying?”

“That might be true if you had brought me here with pure intentions, Aria.”

However, since her purpose in bringing me here was not to heal me but for her own self-preservation, I had no intention of expressing gratitude. It was the other four people who had eased my trauma, not Aria.

The conversation was over. Now that her plan to use me had been exposed, continuing to talk would only waste time. I raised my Divine Spear again.

“I see. That’s unfortunate.”

Despite my reaction, Aria continued to stand there, showing no sign of wanting to fight. Then she suddenly spoke.

“Let me ask you one thing. Has your curiosity been satisfied?”

“Yes. Thanks to you, I now know you’re beyond redemption.”

A bright smile appeared on her face.

“I’m glad. It was worth stalling for time.”

As soon as I heard the words “stalling for time,” I instinctively kicked off the ground and lunged forward. Whatever it meant, it was clearly not going to be advantageous for me.

“Ugh?!”

Before I could reach Aria, the strength drained from my legs. My left knee buckled and scraped against the floor. The tip of my blade, which had been aimed at Aria, dropped back to the ground.

I barely managed to support my collapsing body by stabbing the Divine Spear into the ground. It felt like something was actively draining out of me. A debilitating weakness swept over me, making it impossible to move even a finger.

Aria was smiling as she watched me.

“You… what did you do?”

“What did I do? I stalled for time. Since you won’t willingly give me your power, I have to take it by force, don’t I? I didn’t ramble on with all those explanations for nothing. Even for someone like me, it takes quite a bit of preparation to steal power from you. Well, it would have been better if you had been persuaded and handed over your power voluntarily. I was being sincere in my own way.”

“You crazy—”

I tried to force myself up but staggered and drove my knee into the ground again. I couldn’t do anything. Even breathing required a deliberate effort. A look of pity appeared on Aria’s face.

“Please don’t waste your energy. From the moment you entered here, it was certain that your power would be drained sooner or later. You can’t leave anyway. You’ll just stay here and continue to be my battery. After about a thousand years, your thinking might change. My thoughts will never change though—the idea that we are destined to save each other.”

Aria approached until she was right in front of me, then knelt down demurely. She pulled her school uniform sleeve halfway down her palm and gently dabbed at the sweat on my forehead.

“Shall I tell you something interesting? About why I sealed your power and memories.”

“…”

“Originally, I planned to absorb your power as soon as I brought you here. But no matter how I looked at it, it seemed impossible to consume it all. So I sealed half of it along with your memories and tried to swallow the remaining half… but I had no idea you would be so extraordinary. I only took half because it was obvious that taking it all would be too much, but I still almost couldn’t handle it.”

If she tried to absorb my power as soon as I arrived, then her claim about waiting because she couldn’t ask someone who had just saved a world to save another world was also a lie.

I wasn’t even surprised anymore.

“I was fortunate enough to be able to vomit it back out and return it to you. Otherwise, my body would have burst and I would have died then.”

“…It would have been better if you had died then. What a shame.”

“Hehe. How can you say that? Oh, the reason I’m telling you this is simple. I’ve nibbled away enough by now that I can handle it. The seal has been gradually breaking as I’ve been secretly taking your power, but that doesn’t matter anymore, does it? Just think of it as payment for the good things I’ve given you.”

“As if.”

After uttering those brief words, I caught my breath. Aria stroked my cheek a couple of times, then stood up. As she rose, I asked her a question.

“Assuming I gave you my power… were you ever planning to return it to me?”

Aria stared at me for a moment, then smiled.

“You already know the answer, don’t you?”

“…”

“Then I’ll see you in a thousand years, Miss Mira. By the time I return here, everything will be over.”

Aria turned away as if I wasn’t worth her concern. This was my chance while she was off guard. I finished taking a deep breath and concentrated my strength in my left hand.

Even as the weakness continued to consume my body, making it feel like pouring water into a bucket with no bottom rather than just a leak, I gritted my teeth and drew forth divine power.

Aria was humming a tune while creating a dimensional gate. Even though she should have sensed the divine power gathering behind her if she had absorbed my power, she didn’t even glance back, perhaps thinking it was just a futile struggle.

It was time for her to pay for that arrogance.

I released all the power I had gathered at once. I aimed the Divine Spear that had formed in my left hand at Aria’s heart and threw it with all my might.

When the area behind her lit up as if the sun had risen, Aria sensed something was wrong and turned around. She tried to dodge the spear with a shocked expression, but she had too little time.

“Kyaaaaaaah!”

A piercing scream erupted. The Divine Spear had pierced through Aria’s left shoulder. A hole exactly the size of the spear’s diameter appeared in her shoulder. Blood flowed down her limp left arm.

‘Tch.’

It wasn’t a satisfying result.

If my body had been in normal condition, I would have incinerated the entire surrounding space. Even without that, it should have been the right angle and speed to pierce her heart, but I failed. I hadn’t expected her to react to it at this distance.

The backlash from forcibly drawing out power hit me. I lost my grip on the Divine Spear and collapsed face-down on the floor. It felt like every drop had been wrung out of my body. I barely managed to lift my head.

Aria was covering the hole in her left shoulder with a pained expression. Green light leaked from her hand, and her shoulder healed instantly. This was why I should have killed her in one shot.

Our eyes met. Aria smiled faintly while sweating.

“Not bad, Miss Mira… I’m genuinely impressed that you could resist in that state…”

“…”

I couldn’t answer. Simply breathing required all my strength, as if I were sprinting at full speed.

“I said I’d give you one chance to test me, so I’ll let this one slide. But there won’t be a second time. You’d do well to remember that.”

After composing herself, Aria staggered through the dimensional gate and disappeared. Left alone, I buried my face in the floor. Even holding my head up while lying face down was exhausting.

After catching my breath for a moment, I gritted my teeth and tried to raise my upper body.

“This… way… hu… man…”

From somewhere, I heard an unfamiliar voice.