Chapter 44 “Hopeless dream.”

All that remained was black scorched ground.

Just few hours ago, the area was still filled with thousands of warriors, who were fighting for the glory of their races in their everlasting conflict. And yet, despite the fact that the gigantic battle broke out, that battle didn’t last even an hour as in that time alone, both armies were nearly completely wiped out with ease and just like them the object that one side wanted to reach and other wanted to defend was destroyed.

The heaven’s gate was no longer here as it disappeared alongside the armies of hell, armies of heaven as well as small third party that also happened to take part in that battle.

Everything that was once there disappeared and all that remained was the black scorched ground.

But even if area was now empty not everyone were consumed by the flame in the moment it came down from the earth. Some of the demons which were still close to their black portal managed to run back to the hell before the dragon’s breath came their way. There were also demons that were skilled in magic and they managed to teleport away from the place. The same went for angels whose survival rate was especially surprisingly high as before flames took them, there were many that disappeared with the ray of light that came from the sun.

But even then though, only about 5% of everyone who was gathered there did manage to escape as all the rest completely disappeared forever and unlike dying in the battle for which every one of them was ready, there was absolutely no glory in their deaths.

The same went for the party of adventures that happened to be in the eye of the cyclone, they also all disappeared the moment the black flame touch them. All it took was a single contact and with that their existence was erased. In their case though, it was not the end of their lives as all adventures had the power to stand again and fight as long as their will is strong enough to not give up. For some of them dying is everyday bread that they live with every day and they treat it as a natural phenomenon. That did not mean that they could fully get used to it however. No matter how many times one experienced it, every time someone died, it would leave a ‘sour taste’ in their mouth. The feeling of death every time was completely real and even if in the end one didn’t truly die, experiencing the feeling of death still changed people. The moment one wakes up in their capsule after experiencing the death is exactly the same as when someone wakes up in the hospital bed after surviving a life treating accident.

In essence though, it still different greatly from person to person and someone who dies every weekend or so, will not think that much about dying as humans are the creatures that can cope with any situation and the more time they experience it the less shocked they become. That was why not everyone could experience the true feeling of death. Still, if one were to point out those that would get the closest to that feeling, then it would be those to whom death doesn’t happen that often. This actually created the strange combination where those who could avoid death most of the times would suffer the most when they finally fail to escape its grasp and death will finally catch them.

And yet sometimes even a person who managed to stay alive would prefer to simply die and share his comrades’ fate rather than be ‘the only one that survived’.

“…”

It was the truth that he survived but at the same time one could not truly say that he was still alive. Few hours have already passed since he appeared ‘here’ and yet ever since then, he still did not move from the emerald rune next to which he was lying on.

“Why me?”

This was one of the very few thoughts that were filling Arata’s head and it was the thought that he tried to cling to as any other “thought” was so much painful.

At the time when the black dragon appeared out from nowhere and soon after attacked, there was little that anyone could do. Even two large armies couldn’t do anything. Even someone with a title forth archangel escaped right away after seeing the difference in power that was astronomical.

Truth to be told Arata didn’t see what happened over there apart from that, as he as well escaped the platform two seconds after Michael and three seconds before the flame reached him. At that time everyone were still there alive and well, but right now, nothing remained of them and Arata was sure of it, after all no one could escape by the same method as he did.

As to how Arata escaped, it was not his doing. Starting from the fact that he didn’t have anything that would be useful in this escape he couldn’t even use spells as both his mana and stamina was drained from the fight he had. Those wouldn’t have help him anyway as there was only about 10 seconds of time between the time at which the dragon started his breath and the time in which the black flame reached the ground. Before that, it was impossible to move as the strong wind created by movement of dragon’s wings completely immobile everyone, even for the mighty archangel. So there were only ten seconds for escape and in those ten seconds, there was little that one could do. In the first place one wouldn’t even have a time to gather the thoughts especially after so many hopeless events that were happening one after another.

The hope of entering the heavens was already crushed by the archangel Michael and yet even something more powerful ended up standing in Arata’s way. That was only in his perspective though as for the dragon, everything that was on the battlefield was nothing more than a pebble on the road maybe with the exception of the heaven’s gate itself, but it seemed that after his attack the dragon was clearly disappointed.

Still, even in a dire situation like that, there still was one person that would keep his head calm and do anything in his power all the time. In those ten seconds or rather in only 6 seconds, in his last moments Shin casted two emerald runes. One under Arata’s feet and one he shooted far away, deep into the mountain that stood behind the heaven’s gate. With this act, Arata was saved from the death and he teleported to the place in which he currently was.

Still that was all. Despite the fact that there were still 4 seconds remaining, no one else managed to be saved by Shin’s spell and the proof to that was that the emerald gate was still on the ground next to Arata. If it weren’t, Arata could still hope that Shin casted it somewhere else maybe just in case Arata didn’t get out from it in time. Even if it that act would require an incredible speed casting it was possible, or at least it would be still something to hope for. But the fact that the emerald rune was still here meant that it was not the case and that was because, only two copies of that rune could be created at time, so if someone were to escape with that method, that someone would appear where this rune was and yet even after six hours, no one else appeared.

In those six hours, the black flame vanquished all that was on the base of the mountain and now there was no sight of demons, angels, heaven’s gate, or any other adventurer. There was only Arata lying on the ground in the mountain’s forest. One could say though that even he was in the end vanquished by that black fire as right now, he couldn’t even bring himself to log out, much less to stand up.

For Arata, there was always something that hunted him in the very bottom of his mind and that was his parent’s death. Even if he did already made peace with that event, if something similar were to happen to him he would immediately start thinking about it and no matter how much peace he would make with it, it would never have been enough.

Right now it was something exactly the same as at that time as anytime Arata would think back on it, there was always one thing that he regretted the most about that even and that was the fact that ‘he was the only one that was left alive, he was the only one that survived’.

Thoughts like that always used to fill Arata’s head back then and right now the situation yet again repeated itself, as if the circle of destiny could never be changed.

One could say that this time it was simply a death in games that the people alongside him didn’t truly die. In essence it was the truth and yet Arata felt that he really just lost someone.

The death has a lot of meanings and it’s not necessary a state in which the human stops to breath. Do people die when their head is shoot through with bullet? No! Do people die when they are cut through with the sword? No! People truly die, only when they are forgotten. That’s why for everyone, people die at different time. If person A, never meet and will never person B, then for person A, the person B is no different from dead person. The same went for two people who just briefly meet each other and at some point one they would forget about the other person and the would never meet them again. That way to person A, the person B is yet again no different from dead person. Following that the other scenario is when person A and person B know each other well and even after a long time they will remember themselves and that memory will still live inside them. Some might say that it’s simply a helpless thinking that serves one to get over the pain of losing someone but as long as you can recall the other person, as long as you can image their smiling face, they are still alive in your heart.

Still, the death isn’t the worst thing that can happen to someone as there are far more tragic events. If it the examples are already related to memories of others, then it would be a situation where person A is very close with the person B and yet they depart, never to meet each other again, but still with the thought that the other person is alive out there somewhere, and with the hope of meeting that person again. The situation in which those two will never meet each other again, is the one truly tragic one as death ends everything immediately where here it’s a continuous pain for many years. Right now, it was the situation in which Arata found himself.

Obviously right now Arata wasn’t thinking about Levi, Shin, Julia or anyone else because if he decided to, he could meet them again with little difficulty. Still there was one person that he would not be able to meet like that again and that person was ‘the only one that Arata wanted to see right now and from all people on earth and in EOA, without a single exception, she was the one with whom he wanted to reunite the most right now’. Still, that wish could not be granted as Arata was sure that she will never again allow him to come closer to her. Even if he managed to find her again, she would not talk to him, the only thing she would do was either ignore him or kill him if he didn’t give up. Then even if Arata did manage to get stronger than her, at best it would end with her committing the suicide just to escape from him or her running away the first moment he loses her from his sight. The point was that he will never be able to hear her voice again.

“So just like I always thought, it was a hopeless dream.”

There was also a thought like that in Arata’s mind as despite everything, he never considered his chances at succeeding to be high. At best he gave himself 5% chances of winning and for him it was enough to not get depressed over the situation. In the first place, he wouldn’t get depressed even if those chances were lower and that was because the quest itself was the secondary goal. Arata knew well enough that completing this quest was a ‘hopeless dream’. In normal circumstance, if Arata already decided on completing this quest, he would rather tell the Wizard to leave that quest for him for later and in the future he would return to complete it. This was the calm analysis that Arata was making even right now with his quest of rank four. He didn’t want to charge into unknown just for the sake of it, especially when that could also bring the real death to someone from this world. Still, even though Arata could calmly analyze the situation with the other quest he had, in the current quest he couldn’t do so. He couldn’t back off, he couldn’t say ‘I will come later after I am actually ready for it’ and he couldn’t do it simply because he was not alone.

Then again, it wasn’t simply the fact that he couldn’t convince Rin and Levi to put off that quest for later. Even if there was that notice about dying and failing right away, Arata was sure that with EOA’s quest system where one can cheat out an npc from gold, there should be an option of disbanding the quest for some other time and pick it up later, especially when it was the ‘cheated npc’ who was giving that quest. Operation like that should definitely be possible and thanks to that the party could easily separate, get ready and then get back together at later date. But even if Arata was given the chance now, even if he knew since the very beginning how will this most likely end, he still couldn’t make the other decision.

It didn’t matter if it was the failure right now or giving up at the very start as the end result was always leaving ‘her’ alone, to continue ‘a life’ that couldn’t be even called a life. That’s why the only option that Arata had was to try to chase after this ‘hopeless dream’ and to survive in it for as long as it took and maybe thanks to it, he would have more time, more time to be with her, as with the use of that time he wanted to do something for her. Arata himself was not even sure what it could be. There was naturally a thought like ‘paying off for what she did for him in real world’, or simply a though that ‘it will be fun to do a quest with her’ but it wasn’t only that. Arata himself really did not know what he wanted to do with her but ever since he recognized her in Karma’s arena something was born inside him. If there was something that Arata did understand though it was that he wanted to find out:

“Why she? Why someone who was always loved by her parents and all people around her keep on having a face that is even worse than mine used to be? Why someone who already faced many difficulties in her life and managed to live happily with them is now in this state? Why does someone who always loved people and was always being loved back decided to cut herself out from all those who were so dear to her?”.

But it wasn’t only that he wanted to find out about it. Arata didn’t even actually consider that reason to be important, what was important to him though was to change this situation somehow. He simply wanted to stop her from doing what she continued to do and if possible help out in some way.

Arata didn’t know how exactly he can help her but generally as long as he kept being in contact with her, he thought that will be able to do something and there was actually some change.

Even if all of his tries didn’t work, little by little, from time to time, Rin would revert to her old self. There was one moment where Arata saw the biggest change in her and it was little bit after completing the prequest with the tomb fight. At that time and only at that time Arata saw Rin truly smile ‘like Amanda’ as if she forgotten about everything, even if only for a little while. Still that moment assured Arata that his effort is not completely in vain and that maybe by completing this quest, he will be able to make a true change. Even if it were to be a small change it was still worth it. In a way, it was another ‘hopeless dream’ that Arata chased after but it always is better to chase after ‘hopeless dream’ rather than try to face against cruel reality as after all, no one can truly tell if your dream is truly hopeless.

Unfortunately though all dreams end at some point and if you won’t catch your dream in time, it might fly away and disappear from your sight forever. In future, you can still chase after that dream but if that dream already escapes your grasp once, you will always know that you won’t be able to catch that dream in the future as well and if one try to chase after the hopeless dream without a conviction, it is bound to remain hopeless forever.

“It’s over. All is lost. All was for nothing. In the end, I couldn’t do anything for her… shit, shit…”

-SHIT!...

At some point, thought like that appeared and then Arata cursed as loud as he can. Normally, Arata would never curse as he never really saw any reason in it. In a way though that also meant that he never truly could get frustrated over something that he never truly cared for anything. Even the most polite person will end up cursing at some point, they would hide in the darkness corner of the world and there they would release their frustration. In comparison to general cursing, this here wasn’t actually bad but rather it showed that someone truly cared about something, especially in cases of those that usually never cursed.

Right now Arata had a lot of frustration build in him, the biggest problem of that frustration though was that there wasn’t actually anything that he could do to prevent the source of frustration from happening. Because of that, Arata didn’t even have anyone to curse or anyone to blame. During heaven’s gate battle, there weren’t any mistakes that he made, there weren’t even any mistakes that other around him made, in essence given their hopeless situation, they truly arrived at possibly the best scenario for them and they stayed alive for as long as they could, it was simply that it wasn’t enough. Also seeing what happened there, no matter where Arata looked there still weren’t any points at which he could make those chances even closer. At best what he could do would be to gather a massive amount of players, to join him on this big quest and with that, increase his chances of victory. Still would that truly be enough? There were thousands of demons and angels everywhere and yet they all were nothing but a grain of sand against the black dragon. Then, how about adding a group of incredibly strong people like Haru? She probably wouldn’t die that easily, so if there were a whole group of people like her, would it work? It probably still wouldn’t as first of all, ignoring the fact that it was impossible for Arata to gather that many people, there was also the problem that that many strong people didn’t even exist and those that did exist were still not enough because Arata still remembered the story of how the black dragon came to be. Sure he couldn’t be sure if it was the tale about the same black dragon but how could it be not? A being on completely different level than all others. A being that is completely out of anyone’s reach, or at least out of reach of any adventurer in the world. What was more though it was not only out of reach of any adventurer but also out of any group of adventurers, any party, any guild. It was truly a being that was too far in the sky for anyone to reach it as for that being ‘all was nothing’.

So if gathering more allies was not enough, what else was there? Get stronger by himself? Even if someone told him that, there wasn’t much that Arata could do. He was already putting everything into it to the point where he was either doing something or sleeping.

After all, for all this time ‘his motivation’, ‘his goal’ was standing right next to him, so in circumstances like that even Arata who would love nothing else than slack off, could not do so. Arata was always dedicated to that, especially during the expedition.

Through the whole expedition Arata was doing very few things.

It was either fighting against monsters of the west, resting, observing Rin fighting against monsters of the west to find her weaknesses, thinking up the ways in which he can improve so he can get closer to her even if by one step. In a way apart from sleeping time, his thoughts were always filled with her.

While thinking up new strategies and theorizing how he can improve it was always with the last goal in mind and that was ‘how will it help him in fighting against her?’ The same went for most of fighting time as unless it were some dire situation, Arata was testing the ideas that he came up with earlier to see if they make any sense. Most of his ideas did not work out though and it also wasn’t like he had that much time, but yet still it was always with the thought of Rin. Then there was observing Rin’s movements, mostly to learn more about her and at the same time learn something from her. Although if there was one thing that Arata knew well about Rin it was her fighting style because as at the same time it was his own fighting style as well. In that regard watching her wasn’t the complete necessity and yet even if it was going to help even a little, Arata would prefer to do that rather than nothing.

In the end though, winning against Rin was not the only reason that Arata tried to get stronger. It was rather ‘a secondary goal’, or maybe even ‘a lie that he could tell others as when for example Levi would joke that Arata is trying too hard’. In essence the reason that Arata could keep on trying was because he wanted to avoid the situation that happened few hours ago.

And yet, his wish to help her out could not be granted as even if Arata did everything he could, it was not enough.

-shit!...

That’s why Arata was now cursing out loudly as if there was one thing that he could blame, then it would be this evil world that was standing in the his way.

-shit!...

Then if it wasn’t the world, then maybe it was the fate, although cursing his own fate at this point seemed pointless. In his life, Arata cursed his fate so many times already, that doing so for yet another time, wouldn’t add much to that. Nothing he could do right now would have any importance either and in the end sometimes before one can stand up again, before one can start thinking rationally there was a need for a pointless actions and screams of hate.

After yet another hour, Arata finally regained enough composure to gather his thoughts as after all there was a limit to how long one can do nothing at all. Although it was probably going to take a lot of time before his face stop having the dead like look.

“So I guess it’s truly over. Everyone died, the quest objective is destroyed and she…”

Even after regaining composure it still hurt anytime those thoughts appeared in his mind.

“So what should I do now? Or rather should I do anything at all? Why should I do anything to begin with? I don’t see any reason in anything right now? … I guess I should start with logging out. The true fresh air will hopefully help. Maybe getting away from this world will help. Being in EOA sometimes feel like a dream so maybe if I get out from here I will manage to forget… but then again I don’t truly want to forget and yet at the same time, is there anything else I could do? There really isn’t and I probably won’t be able to come up with anything by sitting here either, so logging out sounds like an option. And after that a long break, a break that I wasn’t able to make as lately I was always bound by…”

And then yet again those thoughts caught him again and this time, with all recent events floating through his mind, Arata started to cry and he continued to do so for next 10 minutes.

“It’s no use, I can’t think straight right now after all, everything is simply too fresh. I should log out as fast as possible and at least escape this scenery. A week, two or more without coming back here should help somehow. But even after that time, I don’t want to return to this place again. The thought that I will have to return to this place again may even keep me away from returning and I will delay it as much as possible. So rather than that, I can at least take care of this immediately.”

With that thought still lying on the ground with the rock behind his back Arata unsheathed his sword and looked at it.

“In the end, I am still in this damn west and I will have to come back from there. What is the better way to do so rather than simply resurrecting back in Larisane. Or will it be Karma? I don’t even know, nor do I care right now. But strangely right now it’s not even a crazy though as I won’t be able to come back on my own anyway so I should simply get it done as quickly as possible.”

With that thought Arata pointed the edge of the black sword towards his neck.

“Sorry Shin but I will waste your effort of saving me but you would also consider this action to be a reasonable solution right? After all, I have this ‘cursed power’ that will not even punish me for failure, I don’t think that losing few levels would mean anything to me right now though, still without even that concern, there really is not a single reason why I should even try to stop myself from doing this. If anything, I hope that the feeling of death will be as real as it was in those other times…”

With this last though and hope for punishment, Arata closed his eyes and two seconds later he pushed the sword to his neck.

-… .

But then even though Arata didn’t hesitate, his sword did not reach his throat as it stopped two centimeters before it and even though Arata pushed even harder, thinking that it was his instincts holding him back, the sword still did not budge as it was because it wasn’t his instincts that were holding him back but rather someone else.

-what are you doing you idiot!

Arata heard ‘this voice’ and immediately opened his eyes because if he kept them closed he would think that his mind was playing tricks on him. But then even after he opened his eyes, for a moment he thought that he saw the illusion as it could not be true and yet, could the illusion be so realistic? The large blue eyes right before his, the long red hair that was falling onto him and lastly the voice, the voice that he never thought that he will hear again.

-Rin?

Arata said her name and his grip on his sword loosed up a little. In that second Rin managed to pull it away from him and throw it away. She did that with her hands catching the raw blade and even though she was wearing the brown leather gloves, her hands were still cut as when she first caught the sword to stop it from moving she used all her strength and she wasn’t careful while catching it as for her. She had only a second of time in which she could stop Arata from doing what he was doing.

Still even with bleeding hands, after throwing away the sword, she could slap Arata’s face with that bleeding hand as strongly as she could.

-answer me! What were you doing, you idiot!

Despite what she had done just now, her voice was full of concern. Right now she wasn’t looking like her usual self, not only somehow her red cloak was missing and she only had a sleeveless red shirt on her but also her face was panicking and at the same time there were tears in her eyes.

Still rather than giving her an answer, Arata’s consciousness still wanted a better proof, that the person before him is not an illusion that that his mind created to somehow fight against the empty feeling in his heart. That’s why before he even noticed, his hands moved and he grabbed Rin who was just slightly above him and then he pulled her towards him. After this act, even Rin couldn’t say anything for some time and in that time Arata confirmed what he wanted to and soon he voiced it out.

-so, you are real?

Arata already got many proofs to that and yet his words formed this question.

-of course I am real! Before anything though, let me go Arata!

While being pushed against Arata’s chest, Rin shouted back to him, still after that shout, he started holding her even stronger and also answered to her.

-no!

-what do you mean by saying no. Let me go already!

-no, if I do, you will disappear.

-stop saying nonsense and let me go already! I don’t know what illusions you had earlier but I am completely real.

-I know it now and that is the reason I won’t stop holding you, after all if I do, this time you will truly disappear. After all, it’s over.

-… .

Arata said the last words that somewhat explained what he did, although he probably could do it in another way. Still his body moved on its own and did what it did and now that Arata finally said those words, Rin realized what he meant and afterwards she didn’t answer him back.

In the end, even if Rin survived in some way, it still did not change the situation. The simple death in EOA itself meant nothing after all. Arata wasn’t depressed over Rin’s death itself but rather about the connection between him and her disappearing. Because it disappeared Arata knew as just like Rin always told him, ‘after this connection is lost, they will never meet each other again’ At some point Arata managed to talk her into another meeting with the excuse of paying off the debt for this quest but still, right now it didn’t mean anything as in the end Arata did not manage to help out Rin in her quest so there was no debt to be spoken off. There was truly nothing left, and even if Arata was given this last chance to meet up with her, in a long run this changed nothing. Or maybe it was simply the fate, once again playing around with him, and her appearing here was to make it even more painful experience for him.

After Arata’s last words they stayed quietly for about five minutes like this but finally after gathering her thoughts Rin once again said.

-let me go Arata.

-no.

-what you said earlier is completely right, it’s truly is a time for me to disappear. After all our agreement is done is done isn’t it? So lastly allow me to thank you for your help, sadly though it wasn’t enough but it’s not like I was expecting it to be any different after all even you with your crazy talks did not truly believe in winning, did you?

-… .

Somehow right now Rin was not sounding sad and she tried to sound normally, she even tried to smile while saying that. Still her actually doing so brought completely different effect as her usual self always had the sad voice and sad look. Still even though it seemed like Rin was fighting against herself while saying those words so she continued to do so. Although it was not exactly her fighting against herself but rather her once again trying to cope with the situation in which she was and decision that she made ever since she was locked away in this world.

-so now that we finally finished our quest, it’s truly time for me to go. If anything, the expedition to the west and the last battle near the gate did give me what I want from quests, so I don’t have any regrets. Unlike you, I don’t care about any rewards and even more I don’t care about any world firsts. Maybe this is why we have lost, because I was not serious enough. I can’t truly say that I did anything great during not only the last battle but during the whole quest. It was always you Arata. First winning against the crimson champion against whom I couldn’t win. Then it was thanks to you that we managed to find the gate activator in the black market as I would never find a place like that. Then it was also your idea thanks to which we decided to group up with Yume’s party and thanks to it we safety reached this place. During the expedition it was also mostly you who took the burden and the most difficult positions. Even in the last fight you by yourself decided to stop the whole army of demons that were charging at us and you even succeeded in doing so. Me on the other hand, I didn’t do anything, at best, I did just as much as the other people from Yume’s party even despite the fact that it was my quest to begin with, so Arata, if you want to put blame someone, you can put that blame on me.

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-no you didn’t do anything wrong. I also didn’t do anything wrong. Levi also didn’t do anything wrong and no one else also didn’t do anything wrong. If anything, the only thing that we did wrong was to decide to chase after this ‘hopeless dream’.

-I guess you might be right here, still just like that monstrous girl said, believing in miracles and dreams is much better than living without them, and in the end I did have fun while doing this quest.

-yes me too... Still if you already mentioned it why did you call Haru a monstrous girl?

-but she is a monstrous girl isn’t she? I mean she looks like the girl that always have her head in the cloud but then out of sudden she is defeating one demon lord after another without any difficulty in one attack.

-I guess, in a way you are right although, if you ask anyone on the streets the true monstrous girl is you.

-that’s because I did my best to keep this image for so long…

Somehow their conversation brightened up for a moment, but only for this one time as soon enough Rin once again said.

-now then Arata, it’s really time for you to let me go.

-no, I won’t.

-it’s not even funny Arata, let me go already!

-I am not trying to be funny.

-then what? Are you going to hold me like this forever?

-if I have to.

-wha… wha… what do you mean by that! Let me go already, or do you want me to break away by myself? Is this the way you want to end this?

-I don’t want to end anything but I can tell you that if you want me to let go of you, you will either have to promise me that we can meet up again or knock me out and run away from me forever as I will chase after you.

-that’s even less funny Arata. Let me go already!

-no, didn’t I tell you that you have to break away by yourself. There is no other way because if anything, my arms aren’t going to move.

-… .

In the end though Rin didn’t try to break away and she continued to lay in Arata’s arms. The situation continued for about 10 minutes and after that time Arata asked.

-what’s that. you are not trying to break away?

-… .

-or is it that it’s I am too comfortable to be lying on?

-you are.

-I am glad that you think so.

-… .

-… .

Still the conversation once again stalled after that exchange, as Arata did not know what he is supposed to say in this situation as how could he know. In the first place there were no words that would be better than any other right now, as no words could truly make any difference. Rin also didn’t seem like she was trying too hard to come up with anything appropriate, if anything it seemed as if she decided to fall asleep for now as she rested her head completely on Arata’s chest. Still her falling asleep only seemed like this from Arata’s perspective as she herself naturally couldn’t do so in current situation.

-so how long are you playing to lay on me?

At some point Arata asked to confirm if she is really sleeping or not.

-until you let me go.

-but you do know what you have to do for me to let you go and unless you do so, I won’t.

-in that case suffer having me sleeping on your belly.

-I wouldn’t say there is any suffering here. You are and always were as light as a feather. At best you are doing a job of comfortable warm blanket.

-if I am that comfortable to you, you will fall asleep soon and then I will run away when it happens.

-hey that’s not fair.

-it’s you who is not fair Arata. Right now you are asking me to give you a comfortable lie, but you should know that I hate liars, and that I am not planning to become one myself. That’s why I can’t lie to you that I will allow you to meet me again and Arata, a lie is the only thing I would be able to give you. Do you think it is easy for me? That’s unlike you, I am not suffering? Then you are wrong as I do, I truly do.

-then…-

-and this is exactly why I can give you only this lie. I let myself get close to someone and that slipped back right away and now it collect it tolls. So before that toll become even bigger, I want to start repaying it right now, that’s why only the lie is what I can give. And as for the second option you suggested with breaking out, I would say that it would be really troublesome to have someone chase after me as it’s easy to find me and I am not planning to move, so rather than breaking out and running away, I let you hold me for as long as you want, until you finally give up as my decision will not change. As our agreement said, after the quest is finished we won’t meet each other again the fact that we failed that quest doesn’t change anything as failing the quest means its ended.

-is there really no other way?

After hearing her said that once again, Arata asked for the last time and to that Rin answered.

-…there is Arata but… but that way is too painful to me and I don’t want to have any more regrets. Maybe if you were like Levi, someone whom I didn’t know on the other side, it would have been easier but I did know you. I think that if I let myself meet up with you normally, it would end up similar to me trying to meet up with my parents, you could guess that it isn’t impossible for me to meet them in this world and I did so in the past many times. But as glad as I was to meet them again, there also was no more painful experience than that and I don’t want to go through it again.

-… but then… what about Yume? You two knew each other from real world as well.

-Mary is special… even I can’t understand why but only with her I don’t feel the same pain. I really don’t know why she is special as even after meeting my friends from school it hurt and yet with her… with her it’s simply different. Unfortunately though, you are not special Arata and meeting you really hurts a lot. The fact that you changed and now are so nice despite the fact that you used to make me furious does not help, what else does not help is the fact that the way I am right now, I understand what you were doing back then perfectly and in fact, at some point I started to imitate what you have been doing and that’s what created the so called queen of blades.

-… .

-because of that though I also think that you understand me as well, so if you do understand me, isn’t it already the time to let me go?

-no, because I also learned that this way of living is not right and seeing you now doing that is not something that I can overlook.

-well, I did know that you more or less overcame that as otherwise you wouldn’t be behaving like you do. I don’t know if you overcame it yourself or if someone helped you. I also see that you want to help me.

-yes that is exactly what I want to do.

-but Arata, for you it was just a single moment, wasn’t it? It was a single event that happened once on a snowy night and in that single night it ended. It was something that appeared and finished momentarily. I am not saying it was easier for you or anything as our situation shouldn’t be compared but Arata, can you help with situation that did not end and will probably continue forever?

-… .

-see you can’t, but it’s not your fault as no one can do anything… so now, stop saying stupid things and also don’t you dare to lie to me with words like ‘everything is going to be okay’. I don’t think you are the type to do so as usually with few exceptions you don’t lie, still even if you were to lie to me with those words and I would even feel better after hearing them, it is not going to be okay, or what, do you think that chasing after this ‘hopeless dream’ is better. Sure it might be and I never actually gave up. Who know maybe the medicine will develop itself enough to let me open my eyes in that world again, still even if I decided to chase this hopeless dream it’s not like there is anything to chase after. The only thing I can do is wait, so if you also want to chase that dream, you can do so by simply waiting, but Arata it’s not your problem and you should focus on your own problems. And lastly you shouldn’t be holding a girl in your arms like that.

-you can’t tell me what I can and cannot do. I can do what I want.

-you also shouldn’t be telling me the words like this.

-I can say what I want.

-you can’t be selfish like that either.

-I can be as selfish as I want.

-ahhhh… you are truly a hopeless idiot, fine do what you want I will wait till you are satisfied.

And with that they stayed like this for next hour. In that hour they didn’t talk about anything again and also Arata wasn’t thinking about anything either. He simply hold the thought in his mind that the moment he let her go, he will truly let her go and anytime Arata reminded himself of that he strengthen his grip back.

Still unfortunately the world couldn’t go the way Arata wanted it to go and everything had to have its end… but today was not the day of the end as the true ending was still far away high in the skies.

‘shishi shishi.’

While lying on the ground Arata suddenly heard the sound of moving leafs and then before he even managed to look in the direction of the coming sound, he soon heard someone’s voice.

-ah! Finally, I found you guys… ahh! It was so troublesome to climb this damn thing, couldn’t he teleport me to slightly closer position, it took so many hours to find you two…

The quiet and peaceful time was disrupted by Levi’s voice that came out from the bushes. As he was walking closer and closer he spoke those words but then when he reached where Arata and Rin were lying, he stopped. His eyes become bigger for a moment but naturally, if there was one person who knew what to do in this situation it would be Levi.

-oh, I am sorry for interrupting, please don’t mind me and continue whatever you have been doing. Just call me after you finish.

With the ‘understanding’ voice he spinned on foot and turned around, but then before he even made one step he was soon stopped.

=wait! It isn’t like that!

At exact same time, both Arata and Rin called out to him and even stretch their hands in his direction, even if naturally they couldn’t reach him by doing so. They made that move in perfect union even despite ignoring the fact that just a second ago they were nearly sleeping. Second later, Rin also rolled off Arata as quickly as she could and despite the fact that for all those hours he was keep holding her, she managed to leave his grip in second without any difficulty. Still then even if they separated right away and called out to him, Levi still answered.

-no, no don’t mind me. Don’t worry it’s not like I feel left out or anything. It’s not like I mind that you two were sleeping together here rather than look for me. After all, I fully understand you. There are things that are more important right. So once again don’t mind me, I will return in an hour so you will have enough time to…-

=no!

-one hour is not enough, okay then…-

-NO!

They yet again called out to him and surprisingly Levi did turn around after that.

-hmm, I guess it can’t be helped if I already killed the mood, once again, sorry!

Levi also apologized although his voice was completely not giving any sense of those apologizes to be true. In the meantime though, both Arata and Rin stood up on the ground and afterwards Arata started.

-it’s not like we did anything so give it a rest. Anyway how did you survive, I thought you were dead?

Arata asked him right away, also kind of to change the subject, naturally though Levi didn’t give up that fast.

-well if you think that undressing the girl is nothing then sure, ah Arata maybe I was wrong about you. And here you play such an honest and frightful man. Still as always though bro, your secret is save with me.

-there is no a secret.

-is that so?

-… .

-haha… .

Because Arata went quiet for a second, Levi immediately made an laughter of victory, still when he did that though, Rin immediately said.

-nothing happened, and what do you mean by undressing in the first place?

-well I don’t see your red cloak on you and your arms are completely wide open so…-

-that is completely unrelated! Anyway Levi, I will now say a good bye to you as well! Our quest is done and so is my reason to travel with you two… good bye Levi… … … good bye Arata.

Rin clearly slowed down before saying those last words and her voice just now was yet again, that same sad voice that she always had, maybe even sadder than usual.

“-don’t!”

After hearing that voice and mostly hearing the meaning of those words, Arata slowly started to raise his hand but his voice did not come out, at the same time tears started to form on his eyes even if earlier he already thought that he don’t have any left. But then when he couldn’t say anything, Levi answered to her completely normally.

-hey not so fast, we still aren’t done yet are we? Sure if you want to ditch this impossible quest, then you probably have the very right to do so, still after coming this far already, I think that I would like to at least die while trying to complete it, don’t you also think so as well Rin?

What Levi said made completely no reason and yet his words immediately put so much hope in both Arata and Rin. Arata was still not sure if it will actually change anything as seeing Rin’s resolve, he wouldn’t be surprised if she simply sprinted away as she already was showing them her back. But something completely different happened though, Rin quickly spinned back with a speed that made her long scarlet hair float in the wind. Her face also changed greatly, just a second ago it was a face that would start crying the moment she disappears from everyone sight. Now however her blue eyes were opened wide and her mouth immediately said.

-what do you mean by that, Levi? The gate is destroyed we can’t get to the heaven anymore.

Her words, was still full of reason and yet her voice was calling for the argument to break that reason to the small pieces.

-well yea, we can’t use that anymore. But, the important point is that we are all still alive so we didn’t fail our quest. Rather, it turns out that we just completed yet another part of the questline… oh, well rather than explaining anything you guys better look at the quest window…

The moment Levi said those words, both Arata and Rin went right into the quest window to see ‘the failed quest’.

[Quest: Silver temple in the heavens. Part two. (completed)

There was a legend that a silver temple exists. You meet a madman who asked you to reach that place and prove that it does indeed exist. Following the legend the madman explains that the mentioned silver temple is located in the heavens.

You have found the heaven’s gate activator just like madman asked you to, now you have to find the heaven’s gate and see if the legends are true and if a gate to heaven really existed and if it’s still in useable state.

After reaching the heaven’s gate, you managed to open the gates to heaven and proved the theory of the madman. Unfortunately though, the gate was caught in the war of two races and because of that war the gate become useable anymore. Because of that you will have to find another way to reach the silver temple.

Because of your journey though in which you managed to achieve a lot and also find out a lot, that effort was not in vain. Return to the madman and report on your progress. The madman might not be that mad though, as so far all of his knowledge was unquestionable.

Rank of the quest 3

Reward unknown (Minimum: 50%)

Warning: What madman says may be a complete lie but what he said so far was the truth. The heaven do exist in the skies and it is also possible to reach them the heavens. The silver temple is still unknown so whatever you believe in the story of madman is up to you, still because you already confirmed part of his story, it’s very probable that the rest is also the truth.]

[Minimum: After returning this quest you will reach the point where no matter the final conclusion you will receive a ‘reward’. The reward will be approximate to how much of the questline you manage to complete with the maximum of 100% upon completing the final quest. Do note that only by completing the quest fully can you receive the actual reward and also only then will your quest be marked as completed.]

“Hmm, this doesn’t sound that bad.”

Arata thought after seeing the extra note that now the quest had with it. From the look of it, it seemed like while doing a questline it wasn’t only simply win or lose situation. In their current case for example, they already theoretically, ‘cleared the demon raid dungeon without dying’ and also ‘fought against thousands demons and even made two demon lords retreat’. They also survived meeting an archangel that was about was not joking while with his intention to kill them. And lastly, they survived a meeting with the black dragon that demolished everything in his sight with a single breath, indestructible heaven’s gate included. If one thought about it like this, Arata, Rin and Levi already had a lot of impressive feats and no matter how evil this game was, it couldn’t simply give them nothing for it as if they didn’t get anything for acts like that no one in this world would deserve any reward either.

-so Rin, you won’t be leaving us right now right?...

After they read it Levi continued.

-I mean from the half of reward from quest of rank three you should at least get something on the level of your broken skill. Not to mention that even ignoring this, wouldn’t it be a little rude to leave us now, I mean if it won’t be fun if it will be only us two guys.

And finally after that the ‘hope’ remained.

-… if the quest is not failed then it’s completely different matter. You two ignore everything I just said. In the first place, it’s my quest to begin with and also I already said that I am going to try and complete it so if I were to leave now then it would make me a liar.

-great… but is this really your true reason for staying?

-I don’t know what do you mean by that? In the first place it’s obvious for me to stay if we can still complete the quest it’s the same for you two as well, isn’t it?

-well if we already decided on doing it we should stick to this decision till the end, right Arata?

“So, I still have the time.”

As the conversation progressed, Arata’s mind was becoming clearer and clearer and now it was yet again the same way as always. Or maybe not exactly the same as something in him did change today. His resolve strengthened yet again, resolve to chase after is goal, his ‘hopeless dream’. Now that he experienced what will happen if he fail to catch it, he definitely was going to do everything, to not let this scenario repeat itself. He still did not know what exactly he had to do, just as he never knew but right now he knew well what he wanted to reach.

-yes, we still have a lot to do…

Arata answered to them and then he continued as usual… although maybe not exactly usual as he couldn’t look in Rin’s direction, and unlike as it already happened few times, this time it wasn’t because he didn’t want to see her sad face as in the first place, Rin’s face wasn’t that sad right now.

-so, our first target is to reach Karma, right. We have to do at least that to get that minimum reward. I wouldn’t say it’s the time for celebrating yet though. Because I doubt that anyone else survived it will be only us three traveling.

-we will be alright, it shouldn’t be that hard.

Rin answered to Arata finally getting on the matter, still Arata could only hear her voice as he didn’t see her speaking it.

-actually you two, there is no need for that as this problem is already taken care of.

But then Levi interrupted them with this.

-what do you mean by that? It took us more than a week to get here, two weeks if you count it from Karma so it should take us at least this much to get back.

Arata quickly answered to him but then Levi said.

-Arata, do you know how did I survive the dragon’s breath?

-well I already asked but you didn’t answer. But why do you bring it up now.

-because it’s related. Anyway you two do remember that you left me with the duty of communicating with the Wizard, right?

=well I can’t stand that old geezer.

-hahaha… .

Levi gave a serious normal question and Arata and Rin gave the serious true answer and yet when they did, Levi simply started to laugh again at their perfect union.

=shut up already.

-hahahaha… hah… ha… no please stop guys, it’s not the time for that…

It took him some time but in the end Levi managed to stop his laughter.

-well leaving this aside. You left me with the communication so because of that I also took that Wizard’s orb in case we need to call him later. So far there was no need to and I didn’t do it even once. Actually, I kind of forgotten that I even have it in my inventory. Still, few seconds before the flames took me, my pocket started to shine in the white light, the Wizard’s voice filled my head and then I was teleported away to save distance. Too far away if you ask me, but it’s definitely better than no teleport at all, right?

-so that’s how it was but how did he know that you need rescuing?

-well I actually asked about it myself and he said that he has been watching us. In general he mentioned that he can look anywhere he wants in the world and when someone possesses his magical orb then he can do so without any interference.

“Hmm, I guess there was that function in it if I remember correctly.”

-so you are saying that he just happened to look at you and helped you in time?

-well I wouldn’t say he happened to look as he was already looking at everything that was happening before the gate because as he put it, ‘it was a nice show to see us all get powned’.

“That bastard.”

-still even then, is it really that simple for him to help you by teleporting you away.

-no, he actually said that he barely managed to do so as the distance was too far. He said that if it was easy then he would teleport the others away as well but as you can all know only I was teleported and other died.

-I see so that’s why you realized that the quest is still not failed, that geezer told you didn’t he?

Rin asked him while coming into conversation.

-well yea. Anyway while we were talking he told me what to do next, and now I will explain to you why we don’t have to travel back anymore. In short after saving me he said that we will need to find another way to get into the heavens. He left the details as how we will do it till we reach him but it was something about that other method that had 20% chances of working…

“He really mentioned something like that.”

-but as to how we reach him, he said that he will summon us to him with his magic, meaning that we will teleport all the way from here the way to his laboratory in Karma.

And with that Levi explained everything which meant that their minimum of 50% was as good as granted although in that moment both Arata and Rin answered.

=I don’t think it’s safe.

-haha… no you guys stop. You are making it on purpose right? Like you set it up before.

=no we didn’t.

“We didn’t and it somehow does feel strange to say the exact same words like her at the same time though. I will stay quiet for now.”

-well, it’s too perfect to not be set up. So, just tell me how you send each other the signal to what to say, it’s actually a funny trick and I would want to try it out.

=… .

But then when Levi asked them that, without any reason in particular both of them also didn’t answer and stayed quiet.

-so now, it’s a combo silence ha? … I still don’t know how you two do it, but it’s really working out well. But anyway, the Wizard did expect your answer to be like that, he actually did say that you both will say the exact same thing. Because of that he said to pass the message that he is usually good at teleports and portals and that he is especially good at summoning and the reason for that is because he don’t like to move out from his laboratory so anything he needs he simply summons to his table.

-speaking about a healthy way of living.

Arata commented on it but then Rin said something more convincing.

-actually I did hear him saying it once as well, so it’s not a lie that he came up with just to convince us.

-well if anything, using that teleport is just as risky as going back the same way through the west, and if there is one thing I can believe in then it’s the fact that that Wizard would do anything just too lazy around and avoid meeting people.

-if you are okay with it Arata then so am I.

Rin said those words but even so still, Arata couldn’t look directly at her.

-in that case we are using the offer, right? I will call him back in that case. Still, don’t blame me if the teleport won’t work as it wasn’t my idea okay? You guys also agreed to it.

=fine.

-so let’s get on with it…

After that Levi made the quick ‘call’ to the Wizard. Arata and Rin didn’t hear the conversation but it didn’t last long. After a minute or two, Levi positioned the orb in the middle between the three of them. After that around the orb and around them, the magical blue circle appeared. At first it was a dim lighted but as the time went on the power seemed to increase and with it the magical circle was becoming more and more visible and then after waiting for about 5 minutes the circle turned into liquid like ground and all three of them fall into that circle as if falling into the water.

Their exploration of the west ended. Unlike the expedition though, it still wasn’t the end of their journey as when something ends, something also begins. As for Arata, Rin and Levi though, they simply continued to chase after their ‘hopeless dream’.

----------------------------------------

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The last chapter of arc two is here.

There was also an ART update with new pictures that mostly focus on characters from the arc that just ended.

Art2

…

Now then, following the tradition of ending of arc one with the ending of the second arc the second edition of popularity rankings begins. (answer here or on EOA's website)

1. Who is your favourite character? (The list of characters is on the website)

-this time if possible chose both fav male and female. (You can add as many as you want in both but the placement will be important)

2. What is your favourite part of the story so far?

-answer with the number of chapter/chapters or any other way.

3. What are weak points of the story?

-in short complains, although they won’t any impact on the story.

Apart from those three questions that appeared at the end of arc one there is small bonus that is not important but if someone wants to they can check their knowlague about EOA. Namely it will be a quiz of with no answers and no rewards but you can test yourself with it to find out how well you know the story. (I am not sure if this is good idea but whatever, warning those questions are not easy as you can search the book yourself) (Some questions may have an answer “it wasn’t revealed”)

Question 0: What are the names of Arata’s classes?

Question 1: How many miracle member’s name were already revealed?

Question 2: What is the nickname of Loki?

Question 3: Who is the legendary player who passed 300th level barrier?

Question 4: What are the names of two strongest guilds in EOA?

Question 5: Who are the two people from the “expedition party” that were never killed by Rin?

Question 6: Who is the tenth member of Refrain?

Question 7: What was the name of the crimson champion from the tomb challenge?

Question 8: Why does Arata have black-white hair?

Question 9: How much time has passed since the story began? (Either real time or in game time)

Question 10: Why Arata didn’t get profession of rank 1?

… emm. good luck with answering those or rather, I will be very surprised if someone even tries, much less answers all. Ah I overdid it a little.

But anyway I will end with the example of an answer just like I did for arc one.

1. Male character: Gerald, Levi

Female character: Haru, Rin   (I will hold back myself on only two, but anyone can add more. Counting from left first one gets one point second half a point, third 1/4 point, and so on. Only point 1 will be counted)

2. Chapters 11-13

3. Arata wa baka desu! (this one will probably appear a lot. Still try to not repeat the same thing.) (also it’s not necessary to fill all points. First is most preferable! Third one is not, in essence the third part should be used if it’s something useful and not obvious like grammar is bad. In essence, write the third point only if there is really something that you would like to point out!)