Ch.183Sister (7)

*

Alice slowly stopped breathing.

The furnace-like heat that invaded her lungs with each breath was so painful that it scattered her thoughts.

And it wasn’t just her lungs.

Most of her body had already ceased functioning normally.

Her organs were boiling, etching unbearable pain into her nerves, and her spine had turned to mush, struggling to support her collapsing body.

The skin on her chest had already completely melted away, exposing her ribs.

The hand gripping her sword trembled madly.

Only her arms and legs, being furthest from her heart, barely maintained their function. In reality, she was no longer in any condition to fight.

Forget fighting—it was a miracle she was still alive.

“…Huff.”

But Alice was satisfied.

If her arms and legs were relatively intact, she could at least leap at her enemy and swing her sword.

The fact that her death was essentially guaranteed wasn’t so bad either.

It meant there was no reason to avoid Maria’s terrifying magic.

Maria stood there staring blankly at Alice with a stupid expression.

The real Maria would never make such a foolish face.

This must be just an undead wearing Maria’s shell.

With a faint smile, Alice addressed her mechanical heart that she had despised for so long.

“Just once, just one last time, give me strength. You damn piece of junk.”

Alice gathered strength in her legs, digging slightly into the ground beneath her feet.

Forcibly holding together her collapsing pelvis with holy power, she kicked off the ground with all her might.

Alice’s body shot toward Maria like an arrow.

She pulled her sword hand toward her chest, positioning the blade to point at Maria’s heart.

Maria extended her remaining arm toward Alice with an odd movement, chanting a spell.

With a massive explosion, the ground around them was blown away, filling the clearing with dust.

*

Hearing the enormous explosion in the distance, I quietly bit my lip.

It seemed that the showdown between Sister Alice and Sister Maria had concluded.

I wasn’t sure which one had emerged victorious.

If Sister Maria had subdued Sister Alice, I would have to deal with her myself, but if Sister Alice had won…

I would have to recover both of their bodies.

“…Sister.”

Now truly no one was left.

My nostalgic past.

There were no achievements to boast about or glorious honors, just simple and gentle times.

Peaceful moments when I would fall asleep at my desk, then suddenly wake up to watch tiny dust particles beautifully floating in the sunlight streaming through the window.

There was now not a single person left in this world who remembered me from that time.

“…Balder.”

“Guh… ack.”

All thanks to this bastard.

I slowly got up.

Balder, who had been pinned beneath me until just now, was taking his last breaths on the ground with a hole in his stomach.

I had magically entangled his ankle as he fled, making him trip, and Pia had blocked all the magical energy and spells he desperately cast.

In the end, Balder never figured out the secret of spirit magic, and I easily poured magic into his abdomen.

A spell that had been so difficult and challenging in practice despite my theoretical knowledge, yet at this moment, it hadn’t failed me once.

I must have gotten used to it.

Hurting someone with magic was no longer unfamiliar or frightening to me.

Suddenly, looking beside the dying Balder, I noticed a small puddle of water on the ground.

It was a puddle formed earlier when Maria’s water sphere burst.

I looked at my face reflected in the puddle.

Perhaps it was because of the dark night that I couldn’t see clearly, but somehow my reflection seemed utterly unfamiliar.

“…There’s really no one left.”

I realized it then.

Ash, who had lived buried in books and parchments in Goldfield territory, no longer existed anywhere.

I had changed too much, and those who had kept my old self in their memories were now gone.

“Kuh… ugh, A-Ash…”

“Ah, you’re still here.”

“…Kuhk.”

“I should say goodbye. To my former self that I can no longer see…”

I closed my eyes briefly and said a short prayer.

To whom I was praying, or what I was wishing for, was difficult even for me to know.

After finishing the prayer consisting only of a brief moment of silence, I quietly spoke to Pia.

“Pia.”

“Yes.”

“I have a favor to ask.”

“Tell me.”

“Go check on Sister Alice. If Sister Maria won… finish it…”

I spoke calmly.

Pia seemed worried about my demeanor, hesitating before speaking.

“…Will you be okay?”

“Yes. I’m fine now.”

“What about the bodies…”

“…Leave them. I’ll bury them myself.”

“Okay… I understand.”

Pia slowly nodded and instantly disappeared from my sight.

I silently looked down at Balder.

He was still alive, glaring at me.

“You’re tough, disgustingly so.”

His abdomen was a complete mess.

A large hole had been torn through it, revealing the ground beneath, and his intestines had spilled out like tongues beyond his skin.

It was strange that he was still alive in such a state.

After carefully observing him, I nodded and said:

“…Ah, I see.”

He must still be breathing thanks to magical energy.

Apparently, magical energy has the power to make one forget pain, as Balder was still conscious and slowly dying despite injuries that would have sent an ordinary person into shock multiple times.

“This is all you get. After selling out your family… betraying humanity. Just dying so miserably like this.”

“Kuk… what… do you know…”

“I don’t know. I’m garbage who couldn’t protect Laila or Sister Alice, but at least I was never a son of a bitch like you.”

I slowly placed both hands on Balder’s neck.

There was no real need for this.

He was already as good as dead.

But the resentment still heavily sinking in my stomach and the anger heating up my mind drove me to take direct action.

I wanted to kill him with my own hands.

Not with a knife or magic, but directly with these two hands.

I wrapped my hands around his neck and pressed down hard, crossing my thumbs at the center.

Balder gagged and writhed, his punctured abdomen twitching.

“Die, die!”

“Kuh huk, huk!”

“It’s because of you, because of things like you, everything, you!”

It was a strange feeling.

To be honest, I thought it would be unpleasant.

Because of the memory of that day when I tore apart and killed five innocent men with my bare hands, I thought that directly harming Balder with my bare hands would be somewhat unpleasant, even if it was him.

But surprisingly, it wasn’t unpleasant.

Rather, it was satisfying.

Satisfying, yet with anger continuously boiling up anew.

I grabbed his neck and shook it up and down, smashing the back of his head against the ground several times.

Gradually his struggles weakened, and the pulse I felt at my fingertips grew faint.

The more it faded, the tighter I squeezed his neck.

I put more strength into my grip even as my arms grew numb.

Balder.

My uncle, who had betrayed humanity to survive and offered my parents as sacrifices to the Demon King, died by strangulation at my hands.

“Hah… huff.”

I fell backward, gasping for breath.

My arms and shoulders were trembling uncontrollably.

I slowly pushed against the ground with my feet, moving backward while still seated.

Come to think of it, Silvia had definitely cut off the Demon King’s head, yet the Demon King had survived.

I slowly took out the dagger Silvia had given me from my pocket.

Firmly gripping the dagger that had once been used to make Laila’s emblem, I crawled toward my parents’ and Laila’s enemy.

Then I began to slowly cut him into pieces.

Naturally, being just a dagger and not Sister Alice’s holy sword or Silvia’s longsword, it couldn’t cut through bone, so I peeled the flesh from his bones.

“Huff… surely he won’t come back to life after all this.”

How much time had passed?

Balder’s flesh, bones, and entrails were scattered everywhere.

I thought that if wolves or such creatures devoured these remains, perhaps Laila’s soul, who died by beast’s teeth and claws, might find some comfort.

I chuckled at the thought.

What wild animal would eat such magical energy-filled meat in this magical energy-filled area?

I chanted a spell with a cracked voice, burning Balder’s corpse completely.

The dagger, slippery with blood and fat, slipped through my fingers and fell limply to the ground.

Almost simultaneously, my body slowly collapsed onto the ground.

Lying on the damp ground soaked with blood, I looked up at the sky visible through the gap created by the fallen trees on either side.

“…Can’t even see the stars. Is it because of the magical energy?”

My mind was troubled.

I had completed my revenge, but I didn’t feel relieved.

Rather, the oppression only intensified.

Like the pitch-black sky without a single star to guide me, my heart felt filled with heavy darkness.

My parents, Laila, Sister Maria. Sister Alice.

Everyone who knew me from my childhood was dead.

It felt like I had lost my past self.

Is that why I felt so stifled?

I slowly took deep breaths.

“Silvia.”

I wanted to see Silvia right away.

I wanted to be in her arms right now.

Though rest was desperately needed due to fatigue and pain, the true rest I desired wasn’t sleep but her embrace.

“As soon as Pia returns, I’ll go to Silvia.”

There was no time to waste.

The consecration Sister Alice had bestowed upon me would only last a few hours.

If I couldn’t eliminate the Demon King by then, I would once again die from magical energy.

Ha, at this point, I wasn’t particularly afraid of dying.

But I wanted to live with Silvia.

Now that I had lost all connections to my past, all I had left was a future daily life with Silvia.

I hadn’t been particularly attached to life outside the forest, having easily accepted living there, but now I truly had no lingering attachments.

“If the magical energy disappears, we could keep living in this forest. With Silvia in that cabin like before… just the two of us… having children this time… like that…”

Since it was dark whether my eyes were open or closed, I closed them, and gradually my head began to feel heavy.

It felt like I might fall asleep just like this.

Obviously, I shouldn’t, so I tried to force myself to get up, but my eyes wouldn’t open.

No, I didn’t want to open them.

I was so tired and exhausted that I wanted to rest my eyes just for a moment.

Just like this… just a little…

*

“Ash.”

“Pia?”

Startled by the voice calling me, I slowly got up.

Judging by my foggy head, I must have dozed off in that short time.

Fortunately, it didn’t seem like much time had passed, but I had probably been asleep for a few minutes.

I could have easily slept until morning if I wasn’t careful.

“Ah, sorry… I dozed off.”

“…”

Pia didn’t say anything.

I turned my head toward her.

“Pia?”

“Ash…”

Pia slowly approached me and suddenly embraced me tightly.

“What, what’s wrong?”

“You look exhausted… and you’re covered in blood…”

Pia licked her hand to wet it with saliva and then rubbed my face, wiping away Balder’s dried blood.

The smell of magical energy saturating Balder’s blood must have been unpleasant, so she didn’t lick my face directly.

I quietly accepted Pia’s grooming.

After pressing and wiping both my cheeks with her palms, Pia briefly removed her hands, and I slowly opened my mouth.

“What about Sister Maria and Sister Alice?”

“They’re both dead. For certain.”

“…I see.”

So Sister Alice won…

The two who had been inseparable since childhood were together until the end.

Hot tears rolled down my cheeks that Pia had just cleaned.

“Sister… Sister…”

Once the tears started flowing, they couldn’t be controlled.

Then Pia grabbed my shoulder and shook her head.

“Ash, not yet.”

“What…?”

“It might be… too early to cry.”

“…?”

Pia held something out to me with a surprised voice.

I took the object she offered with both hands.

Slightly larger than both palms, it was a complex mechanical device in an oval shape with its interior exposed.

Gears and chains surrounding the entire oval were slowly turning, still emitting a faint heat and an even fainter white glow.

“…What is this?”

“…”

“Ah, could it be!”

I could easily guess what it was.

The heat and glow.

“Holy power…”

This was Sister Alice’s heart.

Though faint, this heart was clearly still moving.

My mood suddenly elevated.

The dark despair that had been weighing down my heart just moments ago vanished like darkness fleeing before the rising sun.

Perhaps, just perhaps, Sister Alice could be revived.

Though the Goddess Church in the outside world was said to be in disarray, surely some sacred grounds or cathedrals must still remain somewhere.

If this heart were placed in a space filled with holy power, if energy could be supplied to this mechanical device that now moves quietly, Sister Alice might live again.

With that thought, I opened the pouch at my waist, emptied its contents onto the ground, and placed Sister Alice’s heart inside.

“Thank you, Pia.”

“Have you come to your senses?”

“Yes, thanks to you.”

Pia grinned and hugged me.

I embraced her and said:

“Now, listen. Here’s the plan.”

“Okay.”

“One, we catch the Demon King. Two, we take the heart to a sacred place. Three, we return to Goldfield territory with Silvia and Sister Alice.”

“Wonderful plan. I especially like how it doesn’t consider tax-related matters.”

“Haha, you know from experience, Pia. No matter how detailed our plans are, things never go according to plan anyway.”

“That’s because Ash’s plans never consider the details.”

“Then this is a plan true to myself.”

“Yes, that’s why I like it.”

“Good. Thanks to you, I feel energized.”

I released Pia and slowly stood up.

“Let’s go to Silvia. To the Demon King’s castle.”

“Yes, let’s… huh?”

“Pia?”

Pia stopped abruptly, staring at the items scattered on the ground.

The contents of my waist pouch were strewn messily across the floor.

“Pia, what’s wrong?”

“Ash… this.”

Pia bent down and slowly picked up an object from the ground, holding it out to me.

“What is it?”

It was a necklace.

The necklace of Malice, the previous generation spirit mage, which Sister Alice had obtained for me.

I could clearly see it in the darkness.

The deep blue gem embedded in the center of the necklace was emitting a blue light.

“…It’s glowing?”

“Ash… this necklace…”

Pia spoke with a surprised voice.

“Someone has gone inside it.”

.