Ch.196Maria (1)

*

A blurry figure suddenly appeared before her eyes.

Although Sylvia couldn’t see it as clearly as Pia, that faint silhouette was more than enough for her to recognize the friend she had missed so dearly.

Moreover, this magic surrounding her and Ash.

It was a spell Sylvia could never forget.

The image of Maria being horrifically butchered by the Demon Lord while trapping her in this magic was etched into Sylvia’s memory like a tattoo.

“Maria… is that you?”

“It’s been a while, Sylvia. You must have been through a lot; your face looks quite worn.”

“Is it really you, Maria?”

“Come on—how many times do I have to answer before you’re satisfied?”

That playful yet blunt tone.

That light manner of speaking, which had subtly made enemies even at the Academy, was unmistakably Maria’s unique way of talking.

Of course, Maria had a special lovability that won people over, so it wasn’t much of an issue, but even Sylvia, her closest friend, would occasionally get annoyed by that peculiar way of speaking. There was no way Sylvia wouldn’t recognize it.

Yet, it was still hard to believe.

“That’s imposs—”

At that moment, Sylvia felt the weight in her hand grow heavier on the sword handle.

Ash had fainted.

Sylvia’s attention immediately shifted from Maria to Ash.

“Ash…!”

Sylvia hurriedly pulled the sword out of Ash’s body and caught him in her arms.

Tossing the sword aside, she caressed the large wound on his shoulder, tears welling in her eyes as she poured holy power into Ash’s injury.

But the gash Sylvia had created was too severe to be healed instantly with the holy power she possessed.

In reality, his right arm was barely attached to his body by a small piece of flesh less than a hand’s width across his chest, dangling and on the verge of falling off completely.

“Please, wake up. Ash…”

With trembling hands, Sylvia forcibly pressed the severed parts together.

Each time she applied pressure, blood gushed abundantly from the wound.

“No… no, no… I’m sorry. I’m sorry, Ash.”

Sylvia’s voice trembled wildly like a harp string about to snap.

Though it was just one arm including the shoulder, that shoulder was in as terrible a state as when he had suffered the carriage accident years ago.

It could heal if he were laid down and treated for a long time, but that was impossible here and now.

Sylvia’s holy power was insignificant compared to Alice’s.

“…Ugh,”

At that moment, something caught Sylvia’s trembling gaze.

Under Ash’s right arm, which seemed ready to fall off at any moment, his all-too-familiar hand was desperately clutching some mechanical device.

It was Alice’s heart.

Now just a collection of gears emitting even less holy power than Sylvia’s own, but without it, her sword would surely have taken Ash’s life already.

Sylvia recalled her duel with Alice several months ago.

How she had boasted about protecting Ash while crushing Alice’s body.

Yet, in the end, it was Sylvia who had harmed Ash, and Alice who continued to protect him even after death.

“Ah… I… I’m truly… truly sorry… Ash.”

Sylvia was confused.

Just moments ago, she had been spending happy days with Ash, but now she was thrown into the reality that she had cut him down.

What was that scene she had witnessed?

The future? Or merely an illusion?

In truth, it didn’t matter.

What mattered was that while Sylvia was spending happy times with an imaginary Ash, the real Ash was dying, torn apart by his lover’s attack.

With Maria suddenly appearing in this situation, it was no wonder Sylvia was confused.

Sylvia looked up at the blurry figure standing beside her.

Her face was terribly distorted with tears and pain.

“Ma-Maria… Ash is… Ash is,”

“He’s not going to die, you know?”

Maria snapped her fingers and recited a spell.

The gaping wound on Ash’s body closed instantly, like an alligator shutting its mouth.

Of course, this magic merely closed the wound.

The power of healing was a sacred ability bestowed only upon holy power; no magic existed that could heal humans.

However, simple telekinetic magic could perform basic first aid by sealing wounds.

Sylvia covered the tightly closed but still bleeding wound with her hand, pouring out her holy power.

Maria spoke to Sylvia as she did this.

“Sylvia. Look at me. What do I look like to you?”

“…Maria?”

“No, you idiot. You’re still such a fool.”

Maria shot back at Sylvia with her characteristically sharp tone.

Somehow, despite being a blurry figure, Sylvia could clearly imagine Maria’s face looking down at her with disdain.

“I’m a spirit! Can’t you tell just by looking?”

Maria pointed alternately at Pia standing beside her and herself, speaking with exasperation.

Indeed, both Pia and Maria appeared to Sylvia only as blurry silhouettes.

But Maria being a spirit?

Sylvia still couldn’t comprehend the situation unfolding before her.

“How… did this happen?”

“Well, I could explain, but you’d need in-depth knowledge of magical theory to understand. You wouldn’t get it anyway.”

“…What?”

“More importantly, why don’t you pick up your sword first?”

“…?”

“Something’s coming.”

At that moment, a massive impact struck Sylvia.

Instinctively, she rolled backward while holding Ash, dispersing the impact as much as possible.

After stabilizing herself, Sylvia briefly checked Ash’s condition before looking up.

She saw the grotesque face of the Demon Lord, who had extended a steaming hand, twisting hideously.

“…Still using that dog-shit magic, that lizard.”

Though the impact had pushed her back, neither Sylvia nor Ash had suffered any real damage, perhaps thanks to Maria’s magic.

In the past, the Demon Lord’s magic had been lethal upon contact, like deadly poison or boiling acid.

Perhaps that was the nature of demonic energy.

Unlike Sylvia’s ice shards or Maria’s overwhelming mass of magic, it didn’t cause much physical damage.

“…Right,”

Sylvia muttered, staring at the Demon Lord.

Instantly, thick veins bulged on the back of her hands, arms, neck, and temples.

“Demon Lord…”

“Yes,”

“If I just kill that fucking bastard…”

At that moment, the Demon Lord’s elongated face began to twist as if being wrung like a wet cloth.

Looking closer, he was actually wringing his face like a piece of laundry.

A dark liquid poured from the small eye holes at the end of his face.

And like a worm laying a massive egg through a large tube, something round and swollen wriggled inside that twisted, elongated face, moving toward the small hole at the end.

Soon the Demon Lord raised his head, and the large sphere burst out, almost tearing the small hole.

It was a face.

The reptilian face characteristic of lizardmen.

The elongated tube that had been his face now became his neck.

A pale, emaciated body with sagging skin, a pyramid-shaped neck that tapered toward the end.

And at the end, the distinctive face of a lizardman.

When the Demon Lord spread his arms, the sagging skin unfurled like wings.

He looked like a dragon depicted in the most disgusting and filthy way possible.

As that reptile’s elongated snout opened, dripping bodily fluids, an indescribably creepy voice began to sound.

“It’s been a while.”

“…!”

Sylvia instinctively covered her ears with both hands.

It was a repulsive voice that made her skin crawl, as if centipedes or spiders were crawling into her ears.

“In the end, you two are the only humans who step forward to kill me again.”

The Demon Lord clicked his tongue, looking down at Ash.

“But nothing will change this time either.”

As the Demon Lord swung his outstretched arms forcefully, his body soared into the air.

As if he were a real dragon, the Demon Lord let out a terrible roar that was almost a scream.

“This time too, you will die, and you will fail to kill me!”

In her peripheral vision, Sylvia spotted her sword that had been flung away by the earlier impact.

She lunged for it, leaping to where her sword lay in an instant, then immediately kicked off the ground toward the Demon Lord.

Though she couldn’t know for certain, the ability to fly meant the Demon Lord could escape at any time.

She couldn’t let him get away this time.

This time, she absolutely could not let him escape.

But the Demon Lord changed the direction of his wing beats, comfortably widening the distance between them in mid-air.

As Sylvia’s body, having risen high into the air, began to fall back to the ground without accomplishing anything,

Maria spoke with a mocking voice:

“What’s he saying? After messing around with someone else’s corpse and making a mistake…”

Maria briefly recited a spell.

No, it was high-speed incantation that only seemed brief because it was so fast.

Sylvia noticed an ice platform that had formed beneath her feet in mid-air.

Immediately kicking off the platform, Sylvia’s body shot toward the Demon Lord, dispersing a massive shockwave in the air.

She didn’t even need to swing her sword.

From the tip of her blade to the tips of her toes, she flew straight toward the Demon Lord as if she herself had become a sword.

It also looked like a massive arrow fired at the Demon Lord.

“…!”

The Demon Lord tried to change direction hastily, but in an instant, his right arm was severed, and he crashed to the ground.

After piercing through the Demon Lord’s arm and hitting the wall, Sylvia kicked off the wall and dove headfirst toward the falling Demon Lord.

She had already cut him several times today, and she calculated that the Demon Lord couldn’t have suffered only this much damage and still be fine.

Just before the Demon Lord hit the ground, Sylvia fell on top of him, driving her sword into his chest as they crashed into the floor together.

A tremendous boom echoed as shattered marble fragments flew in all directions.