Ch.187Return – 6

“Huaaang… heuuk…”

A sorrowful crying echoed through the air. The small figure, seeming especially tiny today, trembled continuously.

Everyone watched in silence, unable to say a word. The four possessed individuals wore complicated expressions, while Nika and the Chairman looked troubled and completely bewildered by the situation.

Unfortunately, there wasn’t time to just stand and watch. I carefully placed my hand on the shaking shoulders. A face drenched in tears and sorrow turned toward me.

“Leona. I’m sorry, but…”

“Hic… yes… I understand…”

Leona stood up unsteadily. She tried to pull out the holy sword embedded in Aria’s chest, but when the corpse lifted along with it, her legs seemed to give out, and she nearly collapsed backward.

I quickly caught her before she hit the ground. The tears that had begun to subside grew heavy once more.

“Nika.”

“Yes, Master.”

Nika swiftly approached and supported Leona. Leona staggered away, following Nika’s lead. After making sure she was properly seated on the ground, I turned my attention back to Aria.

Aria was smiling.

Not with madness or mockery, but with that pure and radiant smile befitting a romance fantasy protagonist, just like she had at the beginning. It was hard to believe that all her previous actions filled with madness had been real.

I quietly pulled out the holy sword. The corpse twitched, spitting out blood that hadn’t yet congealed. I stood the holy sword upright and knelt on one knee beside it.

As I wrapped magic around my right hand, it became translucent up to just below my elbow, with Aria visible through it. My translucent hand passed through the side of Aria’s head and entered inside.

The cold, chilling sensation unique to corpses began to seep through my fingers.

—Please… someone answer me… please? I don’t want to be alone anymore… Anyone will do, please…

I flinched, my body trembling. A voice as sorrowful as Leona’s just moments ago echoed in my mind.

It was Aria from the time when she had awakened to self-awareness alone in a frozen world, desperately trying to find someone in the same situation as herself.

—Leona… I’m here… I’m scared. What should I do…? I’m scared. I’m telling you I’m scared. I’m so scared I could die… Please… please say something, anything. Just wake up, even if you only speak… Why… why aren’t you waking up…? You promised… you promised we’d be together forever… Liar…

Another memory seeped in. It was also Aria’s memory.

In the memory, Aria was holding the motionless Leona, crying and begging. Her weak fists tapped against Leona’s chest. Leona remained completely still, her smiling expression unchanged.

Aria’s memories continued to flow endlessly after that.

—I want to die… Just… kill me…

Aria, huddled in some remote cave, leaning against the wall, hugging her knees with her face buried between them.

Aria jumping off a cliff. Aria trying to drown herself. Aria smashing her head against rocks. Aria strangling herself. Aria biting her tongue. Aria attempting suicide in every possible way.

When none of it worked, Aria’s mind broke, leaving her half-dead inside.

—I… see… There’s still… a chance… So, I… heh, hehehe… I had… a chance… hic… huaaaang…

Finally, Aria absorbing fragments of the broken world and learning about another world.

“…”

When all those memories ended, different ones flowed in. Memories of Aria screaming with joy as soon as I encountered the prologue, and Aria preparing various things to bring me here.

In real time, less than ten seconds had passed before I finally obtained the memory I wanted and withdrew my arm. My translucent right hand returned to normal.

I looked down at Aria’s still-smiling face and slowly stood up. There was a rustling “sound” of dirt being stepped on. Evidence that the world was beginning to move again.

If I didn’t take action quickly, it would become more than just movement.

I closed my eyes and concentrated, touching time just as Aria had done. I dispersed and stabilized the time that was trying to burst forth like a breaking dam. The writhing subsided.

“It’s done.”

The work didn’t take long to complete. I opened my eyes. Everyone was looking at me with worried expressions, but when they heard me say it was done, they collectively sighed in relief.

They must have felt the writhing of time. Whatever it was, it would have instinctively wrapped them in an unpleasant feeling.

“Is it over?”

“Yes. About five more minutes and we’re good.”

Five minutes wasn’t even necessary. That was just the maximum; probably one to two minutes would be enough.

As proof, the wind began to blow again, gently rustling our hair. Priscilla, feeling the touch of wind on her palm, nodded vigorously.

Of course, the situation wasn’t completely resolved. We’d just put out the biggest and most urgent fire, so to speak. There were still things to explain, and Leona, sitting in a daze, needed comforting.

We also needed to decide what to do with Aria’s body.

“Nika, you don’t need to maintain the Queen appearance anymore.”

“What? Oh, yes. Master.”

With her response, Nika’s pink hair turned brown. Her outrageous outfit changed to a maid uniform that was unnaturally tight around the chest area.

Rosaria was looking at Nika with an expression that seemed to say, “What is that?” Though to be fair, the saint’s outfit she wore when we first met was even more revealing.

I wonder how she’d react if she knew it was because of Aria.

“Child. I’m glad you’re safe, but… what happened? Why did that student try to…”

“I’ll explain everything later. It’s not appropriate to discuss here, so let’s return to the academy first. Chairman, don’t you have things to take care of as well?”

Because of Aria, an entire women’s dormitory building had been destroyed, and the nearby park was practically razed to the ground. Time would soon flow again, and the Chairman needed to manage the situation.

Having the Crown Prince there would be helpful too. The confusion would subside more quickly.

“Chairman, please take everyone back first. They can provide a basic explanation, and I’ll explain the rest when I return. Nika, you go with them too.”

“I’ll do that.”

“Yes, I will. What about you, Master?”

I silently looked back and forth between Aria’s corpse and the still-dazed Leona. Understanding my intention, Nika nodded.

While Nika went to create a dimensional gate, I briefly stopped the Chairman.

“Chairman.”

“What is it?”

“I’ll pretend I didn’t hear what you said before I went to the demon realm. There were circumstances. You can think of another favor to ask.”

I meant the promise to grant any favor if I returned alive. He had been quite serious when I left, not knowing what the Demon God was like, but the reality turned out to be completely different.

The Chairman’s face brightened considerably at my words. Then, changing his bright smile to a subtle one, he approached me.

“Should I take this to mean that you were secretly looking forward to what favor I might ask?”

“…It’s a courtesy, just courtesy. The Demon God was quite different from what I expected.”

“I was joking, so don’t worry. Anyway, thank you. For being considerate of me.”

The Chairman, who had come right up to me, embraced me briefly, and only after the scent of milk had thoroughly permeated my nostrils did he release his arms. Nika, in the middle of casting her spell, was looking this way with envious eyes.

While Nika and the Chairman went to create the dimensional gate, I called the other four together.

“You heard the explanation, right? Go with the Chairman. Explain what happened as far as you know.”

“As far as we know, you mean everything?”

The “everything” just mentioned would include the fact that we are possessed individuals and all the information derived from that fact.

“It doesn’t matter. You saw it too. Nika, the Chairman, and even Leona could move just like us. Aria muttered something about it being because of her relationship with me, but anyway, for whatever reason, is there any point in hiding it anymore after coming this far?”

“Well, I guess you’re right. Understood.”

The four seemed to accept this and nodded, then left for the academy with the smiling Chairman and Nika, who was sending me desperate looks.

Left alone with Leona, I silently sat down beside her. Leona leaned against me weakly. Her head rested on my shoulder. We both remained still in that position for a long time.

“Mira.”

Leona was the first to speak.

“I’m listening.”

“…I never once thought of Aria as anything but a friend. But I guess Aria didn’t feel the same. This isn’t the first time I’ve heard such words from her. When she first started acting strange at the academy, she said similar things. Tell me, Mira. Was Aria… deceiving me from the beginning?”

Probably not from the very beginning.

At least initially, the two were childhood friends and innocent lovers, as described. For unknown reasons, she awakened to self-awareness alone and was left abandoned for over a thousand years, which twisted her mind.

When I say “beginning,” I mean up until Laura finished the novel. The Aria in the novel and the Aria in this world were essentially different people.

“Not necessarily.”

In fact, among Aria’s memories were ones where she spent entire days crying by Leona’s side, unable to bear the loneliness. Conversely, there were also memories of her getting angry, asking why a hero would be in such a state.

That doesn’t mean I feel sympathy for her. Whatever the catalyst, what she did to us remains unchanged. At most, I could only give her a very slight consideration.

“…Really? How can you be sure?”

“Because I looked inside directly.”

I briefly explained what I had absorbed while sifting through her memories. Leona’s face grew darker as she heard about what Aria had experienced in the past.

By the time the story ended, Leona looked like she was barely holding back tears that threatened to burst forth again.

“So that’s… what happened.”

After staring at Aria’s neatly laid body for a long time, Leona spoke again.

“Why did it happen only to Aria?”

“Who knows.”

I kept to myself the thought that it might be because she was the protagonist. I didn’t want to burden Laura later. She was already tormented by the idea that she might be the root cause of all this.

I stood up. Leona, who had been gazing at me, cautiously reached out her hand. I took it and helped her up. Still holding hands, we approached Aria, and I pulled out the holy sword that had been embedded in her.

I returned the holy sword to Leona and created a spear of light in my left hand. The tip of the spear pointed at Aria.

“I don’t know what you think, but Aria’s past and what we’re doing now are separate issues. The fact that we can stand here contemplating this is because we won. It seems Aria had no intention of sparing any of you.”

If Aria had been standing here instead, I would have become a living battery, and the others would have disappeared when the world was overturned. Or perhaps they would have been tormented somewhere until they died.

“…Yes. I know. That’s how it should be. I also… think what Aria did was wrong.”

Leona hesitated for a moment, then abruptly turned away.

“Come find me when you’re done. Please. I may think she was wrong, but… I don’t think I can watch. I’m sorry.”

I comforted her, saying there was no need to apologize, and let her go. Leona walked far away before stopping, crouching down, and covering her ears with both hands.

After confirming this, I raised the spear of light. There were other options like using Eternity or the Dragon Fang Sword, but this would be the most definitive.

The light pierced Aria’s chest. Her body was enveloped in a radiance that scattered in all directions. Only a few bloodstains remained where the corpse had been.

After confirming that nothing else happened for about five minutes, I turned away.

This is the end.

In the place everyone had left, a speck of light flickered and disappeared.

It was exactly where Aria had died.