Ch.191Last? – 4

“Surely we’re not going to have a similar incident like last time, right?”

“Surely it won’t happen twice. Mira went this time, so it should be fine.”

“I think so too, but…”

While Leona was receiving information about Mira’s situation from the goddess, Rosaria muttered with a serious expression. The memory of being trapped in time was still too vivid.

All sensations could be felt properly, but a world where not a breath of wind blew, nothing moved, and nothing could be changed was unbearably horrific.

Fortunately, Mira came to rescue them shortly after, but what if she hadn’t? What if, by some remote chance, Mira had lost, and it was Aria who came instead?

All four of them would have either starved to death in there, been driven insane by that crazy woman, or been toyed with until they died miserably—one of those three outcomes.

Each possibility was equally terrifying. Rosaria shuddered.

“Let’s at least open a window.”

“You’re being dramatic…”

Having made herself anxious with her own imagination, Rosaria flung the window wide open. Laura was looking at her with a face that said she found her pathetic.

That’s when it happened.

—RUMBLE!

The world shook as a deafening explosion rang out, rattling everything. With a crash, the teacups and plates neatly arranged on the table all toppled over.

“W-what?! What’s happening now?!”

Rosaria, who had managed to steady herself by gripping the window frame, looked at the window she had just opened. Had her fears actually come true? Good thing she opened the window—

“…Huh?”

As soon as she looked outside, she noticed something strange. All the students passing by had peaceful expressions. They didn’t seem to have felt any vibration at all.

Thinking she might have been mistaken, she checked behind her. The table was a mess with overturned teacups and spilled tea, and so was the carpet. Leona, Priscilla, Laura, and Elysier all wore bewildered expressions.

She definitely wasn’t the only one who felt it. She looked outside again. The students were still calm. While chaos reigned inside, people outside were walking around normally as if nothing had happened.

Just as Rosaria was beginning to think something was very wrong, all of the academy’s defensive magic activated at maximum output. All the buildings began to glow blue.

“Is everyone alright?!”

A dimensional door opened in the empty space. The chairwoman appeared in a fluster. She was in such a hurry that she didn’t even try to hold her ridiculously large breasts steady as they swayed in all directions.

“What’s happening this time? Surely that woman hasn’t—”

“No. It’s just… I think you should look outside.”

Completely overwhelmed by the chairwoman’s height, Rosaria timidly pointed outside. The chairwoman, who had been breathing heavily with excitement, approached the window. The dragon’s overwhelming hearing picked up the murmuring conversations.

However, the content was completely different from what she had expected.

—What’s this, defensive magic? Did something happen again?

—Don’t know? I didn’t feel anything. Maybe it’s happening outside?

—Yeah. Let’s just evacuate. They wouldn’t activate this for no reason.

From anyone’s perspective, it seemed like no one knew why the defensive magic had activated. The chairwoman stood there, dumbfounded.

“…Why is everyone acting like that?”

“I don’t know. We definitely felt it. The room shook and teacups fell over. But other people didn’t…”

It was around then that the communication magic tool reacted. Erestica took out a crystal ball from her waist and infused it with mana. Through the now blue crystal ball, Professor Ingrid’s voice flowed out.

—You’ve raised the defensive magic output to maximum, has something happened again? If you wish, I’ll immediately put all professors on high alert.

Looking dazed, Erestica replied that they were currently investigating and turned off the crystal ball.

It made no sense. The vibration was strong enough to turn a stack of documents on the desk into a carpet of papers, yet hardly anyone felt it.

All the children here are—

“…I understand what’s happening. It must be related to time. That’s why other students couldn’t perceive it.”

“I thought it might be something like that…”

Rosaria clutched her head. Then she looked up at Leona.

“Leona, did the goddess tell you anything? What is Mira doing right now?”

“I was just about to tell you. She said the thought she attached to Mira was scattered. She said the details are something she can’t speak of herself, so we should hear it directly.”

“Ugh, this is driving me crazy! Something really did happen!”

Just when they thought everything was over, this happens.

“Since it seems like only we are affected like last time, maybe we should at least move to another—”

—CRASH!

Before Priscilla could finish her sentence, the world shook again. With a loud crash, the entire table flipped over, scattering tea and broken pieces of cups and plates everywhere.

Rosaria nearly fell despite holding onto the window frame, and Priscilla landed on her bottom. Laura almost rolled onto the floor with the sofa, and Elysier destroyed one sofa trying to brace herself.

Only Leona and Erestica barely managed to maintain their balance.

But outside remained peaceful. Even though furniture was wobbling and overturning in here, creating chaos. There was no way people could maintain such calm if they felt a shock strong enough to make even a dragon stagger.

By all rights, there should have been panic long ago.

‘What on earth is happening…?’

A meteor shower of light rained down from the sky. Simultaneously, a volcano of blue mana erupted from the ground to block the shower of light.

An explosion rang out, and divine power and mana flooded the world.

‘…!’

A chilling sensation swept across my nape. I jumped back. The moment I did, the space where I had just been standing was torn apart.

Immediately after, magic circles grew all around as if to cut off my retreat. Each one was powerful enough to easily penetrate the defensive magic I was currently using and blow me to pieces.

—Moonlight Expansion.

The blade of the Dragon Fang Sword traced a crescent moon. The crescent soon became a half-moon, then a full moon, and finally exploded outward as I twisted my body and brought the sword down.

The slash, imbued with both divine power and mana, cut through the magic that was about to activate. The space that was about to be crushed was contained, resulting in a terrifying explosion. A ringing sound filled my ears.

Judging by the size and intensity of the shockwave, it had enough power to completely destroy a decent-sized mansion.

Through the space emptied by the exploding magic, a spear filled with divine power flew at me. I caught the flying spear with my left arm wrapped in divine power. The spot where I caught it seemed about to break before it was absorbed into my body.

—CRASH!

The remaining half that wasn’t absorbed struck the ground. Once again, the time axis was shaken. The entire earth beneath my feet staggered.

I kicked off the ground and ran. I could see Aria smiling brightly in her blood-stained nun’s habit. Her eyes blinked and changed color. From blue to gray.

The gray eyes directed at me had almost no confusion left in them.

‘Just a little more.’

If Latina wasn’t simply acting as a vessel but was mixed with Aria’s soul, she couldn’t help but notice what was happening.

Every time she regained control of her body, I would stop just before attacking her, and then she would lose control again, her consciousness cutting off repeatedly.

But knowing that fact wouldn’t help her.

At least not right now.

I twisted the trajectory that was meant to slice through her neck. The Dragon Fang Sword barely grazed a strand of gray hair as it passed by. The slash imbued in the blade bisected the innocent ground instead of Aria’s neck.

The soil collapsed in sequence, creating a ravine that looked to be at least ten meters long from a single slash. I was about to prepare the next spell but hesitated momentarily when I saw her eyes were still gray.

In that interval, magic circles formed in both of Aria’s hands. A moment too late, her eyes changed back to blue. Divine light flashed as a storm of flames combined with ice swirled around.

My body, hit directly by the wind, floated up into the air. While my body was being consumed by flames, ice shards the size of fingernails pierced my entire body.

Immediately, a golden meteor struck down. I moved my tattered arm to bisect the golden light forming the meteor, and it dissipated in mid-air.

Nevertheless, the storm didn’t stop. My body flew backward for quite some time before I could finally touch the ground. I used healing magic on my battered body.

The places where ice shards had pierced through filled with new flesh, and skin that had been completely torn away to reveal internal organs returned to normal. Muscles that had been overheated and radiating heat were also completely restored.

“I’m a bit surprised. I didn’t think you would really attack.”

In the distance, Latina with blue eyes walked toward me. Her blood-stained nun’s habit squelched with each step. It was evidence of being injured by my attack and then healed.

“If my reaction had been just a little slower, I might have died.”

“Indeed. I could have ended it there.”

“That’s unfortunate. I’ll express my regrets.”

In other words, it was Aria walking toward me.

“Surely you’re not going to just keep taking hits? How long do you think you can run away?”

“It’s not about when I end it, but when you can catch me. At this rate, we could fight for a whole year without resolution.”

“Hmm, is that so? Then a year would be too boring, so I’ll have to make Mira come to me. What would you do if I started firing divine power at this world? Could you block it all?”

“No. I couldn’t.”

Thinking my words were a joke, Aria made an expression that said it was absurd.

Just a little more.

“I always believe in you, Mira, but not this time. I’m sorry. What makes you so confident?”

“What about you? What makes you think I’ve just been taking hits all this time?”

Aria’s face stiffened slightly. She seemed to realize from my attitude that I had something up my sleeve. Her hand hurriedly tried to cast a spell, but she froze before completing the magic circle.

“Kuhak?!”

With a contorted expression, Aria fell to her knees. Her hand clutched at her chest. Her body began to tremble violently.

Her blue eyes turned gray.

“Savior… *cough*!”

Latina’s body screamed again. The eyes that had turned gray returned to blue. Aria, who had been staggering, raised her head with difficulty.

“H-how…”

“Didn’t I tell you earlier what kind of person Latina is?”

She’s a woman with strong convictions. She’s also quite perceptive. In that brief moment she appeared, she would have understood what she needed to do. The current situation, where she was fighting Aria for control, was proof of that.

It also helped that every time Aria was attacked, she kept switching personalities to adapt. All of this was a situation of her own making.

“Kuh, uuuugh…!”

Her body twisted in all directions. Her eyes kept alternating between gray and blue. Since the changes were forced rather than by her own will, it seemed to cause great pain.

Latina also appeared to be in considerable pain, but she was holding up much better than Aria. There were clearly fewer screams when her eyes turned gray.

—!!!!!!

Divine power erupted from Aria’s body. I planted the holy spear in the ground to stabilize the nearby space-time. With a strange creaking sound, the time that was about to distort calmed down.

“Do you… think… I’ll give up… here…?!”

A voice spat out as if possessed, and the periods when her eyes remained blue gradually lengthened. Latina was losing ground. At the same time, the erupting divine power grew much stronger.

I drew Eternity instead of the Dragon Fang Sword. A bluish, translucent blade formed.

I couldn’t save her before. I had to flee with an unawakened holy spear that was thrust upon me.

This time will be different.