Ch.192Last? – 5

I knelt on one knee before Aria. Even at this moment, her eye color was constantly shifting between gray and blue.

‘She said their souls were mixed together.’

If that was the case, I needed to separate the souls. Fortunately, the holy spear could serve that purpose. While it couldn’t directly separate souls, it could produce a similar effect.

I drew out the holy spear. Golden light rose from my left hand, illuminating the surroundings. Aria’s struggles became more violent. From here on, I needed to concentrate. Taking a deep breath, I brought the tip of the spear to Aria’s chest.

Supporting her back with my right hand, I used magic to wrap around her limbs and laid her straight. Her body continued to twitch. It seemed Latina was preventing Aria from struggling too much. The holy spear touched her chest.

“I’m sorry, Latina. This might hurt a bit.”

I thrust the spear inward. With a soft sound, the spear of light tore through flesh and burrowed inside. Fresh blood spurted onto the nun’s habit, already soaked with blood. The sacred power began to churn inside her body.

“Mmph! Mmmmph!”

Her eyes, which had been shifting between blue and gray, widened. A muffled scream erupted from her mouth. As I focused my mind on the tip of the spear, I felt something wrapping around it. It meant the holy spear was searching for the soul.

‘Found it.’

Soon, the divine power firmly wrapped around one soul. It felt like finding something in a chaotic mixture of clay. I twisted the spear while keeping it wrapped.

“Kuh, hnnnngh?!”

Aria thrashed about. Not yet. I continued to infuse divine power into her body while applying force. Finally, a gap formed between the tangled, chaotic souls.

I thrust the spear in with all my might.

“—!!!!!”

A silent scream erupted from her mouth.

Aria, who had been twisting her body, soon became still as death. Her entire body was drenched in cold sweat, and blood was gushing from her chest. As I treated the wound on her chest, I checked her eyes.

Gray eyes were looking at me. Blinking, those gray eyes moved their lips to form words.

“It hurts. You didn’t say it would hurt this much, Savior.”

“…Latina.”

I felt something hot welling up from deep in my throat. There was so much I wanted to say, but when the moment came, I didn’t know where to begin.

“I’m sorry for hurting you. There’s still more to do. Aria’s soul—”

Just as I was about to say I needed to purify it, Latina carefully wrapped her hand around mine.

“It’s done.”

“What do you mean, done?”

“From here on, I will handle it. Would you please allow me?”

Trapped in frozen time for over a thousand years, Aria had endlessly pondered.

‘Why did it have to be me?’

Why me, why did it have to be her?

She constantly blamed herself, resented, and harbored boundless hatred and anger toward whoever had made her this way. If she didn’t blame someone, she felt she would truly go insane.

After burning herself with hatred and anger in that infinite time, her emotions eventually reached an end. It was because Aria had come to a completely different realization.

‘It’s because I’m special.’

It was because she was special that this was happening to her. Only Aria, a special being, could move within frozen time, and therefore she had to endure this moment.

This thought soon transformed into conviction and fanaticism. It was natural, as there was no one beside her to stop her or tell her otherwise.

“…I see. This was a trial. This was a special trial given to the protagonist.”

This conviction reached its peak when she finally absorbed the fragments of the broken world. When she realized that this world was actually created as a novel, and she was the protagonist of that novel.

She trapped Laura, who was no different from the world’s creator, in an infinite loop and watched her gradually break down—primarily for revenge, but also because it gave her a sense of superiority.

Even the human who created this place was helplessly breaking down, unable to do anything. That was proof that Aria was more special, more superior.

Even after bringing real humans to keep time flowing, her mindset didn’t change. After all, even real humans were trapped in the time Aria created, breaking down all the same.

“Now I understand. Why I went through all that. Because I am special.”

Aria’s conviction didn’t change, bend, or break.

Behind Aria April’s conviction stood a thousand years of time. A thousand years spent alone, lonely and isolated, leading to a distorted conviction.

If she wasn’t special, then that time would be denied as meaningless. She couldn’t allow that. She couldn’t let anyone declare that the time Aria had spent was meaningless.

That’s how it should have been.

“Kyah, aaagh…!”

Aria writhed and let out intense moans from the pain rising deep from her soul.

It hurt. It hurt so much. Not because her soul was being separated, but because it hurt to feel how special the nun’s soul was as they separated.

She tried desperately to pull her consciousness up to escape from the soul that made her feel so insignificant, but Aria, whose soul had already been separated, no longer had control over her body.

While Aria desperately struggled to pull up her sinking soul, she saw Ms. Mira about to pierce her chest again with the holy spear.

‘She must be targeting me.’

Now that their souls were separated, she could deal with Aria without hesitation. Aria sneered even as she continued to struggle. She thought she and Ms. Mira were destined for each other. She truly believed that.

At the very least, that nun had nothing to be ashamed of even in discussing that destiny. Hadn’t her soul been sleeping inside the holy spear, only to be liberated upon awakening and resurrected across dimensions?

Aria felt the holy spear touching her chest and smiled weakly.

“It’s done. From here on, I will handle it. Would you please allow me?”

If the nun, who had just regained control, hadn’t pushed away the holy spear touching her chest, this would have been the end for Aria. In her increasingly dimming vision, she saw Ms. Mira’s puzzled expression.

“You’ll handle it? What?”

“The purification of the soul that was bound to mine. Your battle lies elsewhere, doesn’t it?”

Her finger pointed to the time that was turning golden. The situation was truly dire. The space-time had begun to destabilize rapidly due to the divine power Aria had desperately released at the end.

“…Will you be alright?”

“Of course. I won’t die. This is my second chance—how could I let it slip away right before my eyes?”

‘I see.’

Though dazed, Aria was certain. This nun intended to kill Aria with her own hands. Of course she would. After suffering like this, she would naturally want revenge by her own hand.

“Just hold my hand. So I don’t lose the warmth and wander.”

At the same time, something firm grasped her right hand. If Aria could have, she would have covered her ears completely. This warm touch wasn’t meant for her.

Her soul sank below the surface. As neither had control over the body, Latina’s body collapsed. She felt someone gently cradling her limp body.

And finally, Aria could face Latina directly and see her clearly. Aria flinched and covered her eyes from the aura that seemed to radiate from Latina’s soul.

She felt pathetic. Her own self felt so utterly pathetic.

“This is the first time we meet like this.”

“…Why.”

Emotions welled up inside her. Aria’s body trembled as she spat out:

“Why are you making me so miserable! Why are you making me feel like nothing! Why…!”

If Latina had been angry about Aria hijacking her soul and mocking Ms. Mira, Aria wouldn’t have felt this wretched.

But Latina wasn’t angry. She didn’t resent Aria. She simply faced Aria calmly. As if Aria was nothing.

That behavior felt like a denial of her past, as if the thousand years she had spent alone were being dismissed as nothing special, and it was unbearable.

“I am special! That’s my destiny! That’s who I’m supposed to be! But why… when you’re here, I… *sob*…”

Aria finally broke down in tears, unable to finish her words. Latina, who had been watching her calmly, spoke.

“Special for what purpose?”

“…What?”

“I asked what makes you so obsessed with actions that distinguish you from others.”

Aria was momentarily stunned, not understanding the question. But the silence didn’t last long. The more she pondered the words, the more anger rose within her, and she shouted:

“You can say that because you know nothing! If I’m not special, then what was all that time? What about the thousand years I spent alone, lonely and suffering!”

Latina calmly listened to her outburst. She knew. When their souls had mixed, some memories had been transferred.

That obsession with being special had broken her mind, but conversely, it was also what allowed her to endure.

If not for that, the human known as Aria April might have ceased to exist altogether.

She wasn’t trying to deny this woman’s evil deeds. Forgiveness wasn’t Latina’s role. That belonged to the people who had been directly involved with this woman.

Instead, she could do something else.

“No. I understand that feeling perfectly.”

“You understand me? How?”

Aria growled.

“Because I too was once the protagonist of the world.”