-Chapter Thirty-Two-
What Could Have Been
Lia took a step back as the silver-haired woman pushed her way into the small room, her narrowed, deep royal blue eyes darting from corner to corner.
The silver-haired woman’s gaze hovered over Aria for but a moment, and then finally settled on an unconscious Aelius.
Saki slowly rose to her feet, her shyness nowhere to be seen.
Instead, only a serious glare could be found on her face.
“To think we have the missing Kanarian Prince and the Aerianne Princess together in one room, looks like I’ve just interrupted something I shouldn’t have,” the newcomer voiced sternly, her tone ice cold.
“State your business, Valorie,” Aria cut-in, her voice equally authoritative and unattached, with her eyes still squeezed shut, sweat dripping down her forehead as she continued to focus on her weapon refinement.
“What’s the first Holy Knight doing here in our measly presence?” she asked.
“Hmph, you’re quite clued in for a clueless Academy student.”
Valorie took one of the spare seats in the corner.
“I’ll leave you alone since you’re in the middle of something important,” she offered with a gesture and Aria frowned.
“What game are you playing at? Aren’t you a bit too relaxed?” she remarked.
“I’m still here on official business, but let’s just say there’s nothing for me to be wary about, between the three of you.”
“Arrogance,” Saki spitefully muttered and Valorie gave her a glare.
The two girls were of similar age in appearance, and though they glared at each other, neither made a move.
“There was an attack on a resident over in the middle of town. It was the Kanarian Prince who made the attack,” Valorie began to say. “So I was wondering, if anyone could care to explain?”
“I’ve been busy with this, so don’t expect to hear anything from me,” Aria answered with her eyes narrowed.
“What about you two, then?”
The newcomer named Valorie turned to Saki and Lia, who exchanged a glance.
“I was here with Aria,” Lia answered.
Valorie finally looked to Saki, who crossed her arms.
“Ask him yourself once he wakes up. If he won’t tell you, then I won’t tell you,” she answered with hostility in her tone.
“Hmm…” Valorie looked to the unconscious and injured, but self-healing Aelius. “The rumours can’t be trusted, it seems.”
She crossed her arms and leaned back.
“You’re all fortunate I’ve got all day today. Besides that, a certain Guard Captain has been very insistent that the attacker be brought to justice.”
At her words, Saki glared at the woman.
“B-but… why aren’t you using any force, then?” Lia asked, hesitantly guarding Aelius at his bed.
“That’s merely one Guard Captain’s assessment. I have my own,” Valorie answered. “How long will he be unconscious for?” she asked.
Saki and Lia turned to Aelius, gazing at his peaceful, sleeping face.
“Another six hours, maybe?” Lia wondered.
“Hmph,” Valorie looked away. “Let’s just let him heal up then.”
—-----------------------
Alert!
Rekindling has been triggered.
This skill heals by administering an effect similar to rewinding time. This effect however, if triggered, will affect parts of the User’s mind.
Through the passive skill 「Universatility」, the side effect 「Rekindling」is resonating in symphony with the passive skill 「Liberation」. The effects of Rekindling has a higher chance of being amplified the more severe the wounds to the User due to 「Liberation」.
「Universtality」
Create hybrid skills from pre-existing skills that are originally entirely separate. Splice and dice skills freely.
Universalised in Mind, Body and Soul.
Side effect: Automatic Activation Factor!
Universality has the certain chance of activating on its own where Skills naturally correlate to some degree.
Repeat, Rekindling has been triggered - resonance has not resulted in amplification in this instance due to insufficiently severe wounds.
The system urges the user to protect their psyche so it may remain intact and… sleep well…
…
…
“I have bad news to report, Commander,” a shaky, nasally and high pitched male’s nervous voice spoke, causing the woman at the desk opposite the speaker to look up with a pair of cold eyes.
Her hair a reflective silver, her irises royal blue, she exuded a commanding aura of ice.
“Speak,” Valorie, the former first Holy Knight allowed the messenger before her to continue.
“Y-yes ma’am. The results of the investigation you’ve ordered are out, but I’m afraid… there’s something we did not expect.”
“Which investigation?” Valorie questioned.
“The inquiry into the disappearance of the Eleventh Holy Knight, Alea Langston,” the messenger answered and Valorie pursed her lips.
“Finally, after four years, we’ll get some answers? Speak already!” Valorie slammed her fist down on the table, startling the messenger.
Very solemnly did the Commander express her frustration, so the messenger knew this topic was of the utmost importance to her.
“Y-yes! We’ve found ties between her disappearance, and an individual named Aelius Kanaria. That was a recent discovery, but just today, we were informed of additional intel. That is…”
The messenger was hesitant, but one deathly glare from Valorie spurred him to keep going.
“We just discovered the former fourth Holy Knight’s headless body… and his murderer appears to be the same, Aelius Kanaria.”
For a moment, Valorie was deathly quiet and the messenger could not predict what was passing through her head.
But he flinched when moments later, Valorie sprung to her feet, crossed the room and took hold of her rapier.
“Where is the missing Heir of Kanaria?” she asked coolly.
“He was last seen in the Eastern regions of the Empire, in a remote region called Santafica.”
“Alright. Have the Vice-Commander man my post. I’ll be departing on my own,” she said, her tone eerily calm.
“But Commander, that’s unsafe-”
The messenger attempted to warn her but was cut off by a sudden outburst.
“Silence! I will go alone, and that is final,” Valorie snapped and stormed out the room.
The messenger had never seen her so enraged before.
As she walked down the corridor, Valorie clenched the hilt to her sword so tightly her knuckles were turning white.
Alea… her sweet, innocent juniour in the Academy and in the Holy Knight’s order, had been subjected to Goddess-knows what horror. Alea, her half-sister who knew not of their true relationship.
And now, though she disliked Quarren Leos, he was a man who had fought for the honour of Farrien, and he was gone too.
She will make the Kanarian Prince pay.
—-----------------------
It was a stormy night with heavy thunder and lightning casting an occasional light in the endless darkness.
A narrow road ran up through the forests, down which a single and lonesome, hooded figure wandered.
With a limp and his flesh covered with blood, hidden away beneath his cloak, his breathing was shallow and weak, his skin pale.
He only made it so far through the rain before he came across another figure going the direction he had come from.
Or so it would have seemed, if not for the fact that there was nothing behind him.
Aelius Kanaria came to a dead stop, glaring at the figure from underneath his hood.
The other figure came to a stop as well, and in the silence, only the heavy rain could be heard.
Then, swiftly, the cloaked figure opposite him pulled off their robe, revealing a white uniform with a white rose as a sigil.
“Do you remember this appearance, Aelius Kanaria?”
The woman opposite him spoke with a low voice, almost a growl, heavy with fury and anger.
“Valorie Sania,” Aelius responded, discreetly gripping his metal blade behind his back. “How could I ever forget the Holy Knights uniform? Didn’t you disband three years ago, though? To what do I owe the pleasure of this unannounced trip down memory lane?” he asked.
“I came to make you pay for your sins.”
“My sins?” Aelius asked her. “You’ll have to be more specific than just that.”
“Did you kill Quarren Leos three days ago?” Valorie coldly questioned him and he sighed.
“And what’s it to you? He shouldn’t have any affiliation to you anymore,” he answered with a glare.
“That’s irrelevant. His life was not yours to take. You’ve committed a heinous crime, and I will bring justice down upon you,” she drew her rapier and Aelius grit his teeth.
“You don’t know what sort of atrocious acts he committed,” he answered with a growl.
“Whatever self justification you can come up with matters not to me. Today, I will drag you back to our homeland and execute you in front of the masses,” Valorie gave him a look of fury. “And I’m lucky you’re already injured.”
“So you have no intention of listening to me.”
Aelius harshly clicked his tongue with annoyance and unsheathed his sword.
“I have no need to listen to the words of the murderer of my juniours,” Valorie answered lowly.
“Do you think you can defeat me, if I’m capable of killing Quarren Leos, who was the best fighter out of all the Holy Knights?” Aelius asked with a narrowed glare.
“Hah…” Valorie scoffed, gathering up an enormous amount of Mana around her blade. “That was a lie to deter outsiders. Leos did the most fighting, but he could never beat me. I’m not the first Holy Knight for nothing.”
Aelius narrowed his eyes at the amount of power washing off her being.
If I hadn’t just finished clashing with a Devil, I could’ve at least defended myself. But right now, I’m completely out of Mana. Thankfully, I have other powers than Mana.
“You still can’t beat me, even if I’m injured,” he smugly told her with confidence.
Raising his blade, he summoned his dark Divine power around the weapon and pointed it at Valorie.
“I didn’t want to do this to you.”
With those words, a spiral of black energy shot forward at her and Aelius closed his eyes, giving off a deep sigh.
“I’m sorry, Valorie-” He froze as his Divine power was dispelled by the slash of her rapier, the energy frighteningly familiar.
The energy of the slash completely one-sidedly eradicated his Divine power and he ducked as the horizontal energy shot over his head, narrowly shaving his hair off.
The space folded behind it, revealing Valorie perfectly fine behind his attack.
“So you’ve reached such a mastery of sword prowess as well.”
He looked down at his injured arm.
If I can’t rely on my Divine power, then I’m going to lose this battle, he sighed.
“I guess you actually were the strongest,” he laughed. “If I had been at my prime, I could’ve given you a good fight.”
To think there was a second person with such high affinity for the sword, rivalling mine.
“I’m not interested in such things. Are you surrendering?” Valorie asked sternly. “I’ll drag you back to the Capital if I have to-”
She gasped as Mana gathered around Aelius’ body and he gave her a scoff.
It was the opening sequence of a cross-map teleportation spell.
“Let’s meet again sometime,” he said as his body began to glow.
“As if I’d let you! Even if I can’t drag you back with me, I’ll at least finish you!” Valorie shouted, her figure disappearing in a flash of blue energy.
Aelius’ eyes widened as there was a loud ‘shiiiiing’ and a blade came plunging through his chest from behind him.
In an instant, during his most vulnerable moment, she had swiftly disappeared from in front of him and reappeared behind him in her attack.
She used Blink with Dimensional energy? Aelius thought in shock as he spurted out blood and then his vision flashed.
Momentarily, his feet left the ground and then hit hard concrete, and he collapsed over into a bloody puddle.
Looking around just as his consciousness was fading, he was relieved to see he had made it home.
Even if he was wounded, at least the teleport was successful.
The prerequisites for the innate talent Phoenix’s Love has been satisfied.
Phoenix’s Love is now taking effect.
「Phoenix’s Love」
Wounds that greatly impair or have the chance to cause permanent damage to the individual will trigger this skill and heal over a good nine-hour sleep.
The power to heal over sleep is only possessed by the Phoenix. For a human to come to possess this power, they must be the one the Phoenix blessed, at the cost of their own life. Imbued with power from the one who adored you, may you wake up from the long dream anew.
Slowly, Aelius’ vision faded away as the warm fire of life overtook his body.
—-----------------------
Valorie gave a deep breath as Aelius disappeared in a flash of light, suddenly whipping her sword aside and casting his blood onto the ground.
“You can’t escape me, Kanarian Prince.”
After taking a deep breath, her eyes began to glow with that same royal blue energy.
Using her Dimensional energy, she peered into the trail of the blood left on the ground before her.
“Aha… so that’s where you’ve hidden. I’ll see you again soon,” she prophesied in a low voice.
—-----------------------
Valorie approached the location in question, a small abandoned warehouse on a port that, after a quick investigation, had been silent and sealed off for years.
But evidently, it had been the base to the Kanarian Prince all along.
She came to the door, and with a deep breath, kicked it down and entered.
Dust was kicked up into the air in the dark warehouse, causing her to cover her mouth with her sleeve as she pushed through, finding a set of thick, wooden double doors at the end of the entryway.
His blood marker led to just beyond this door.
With a wound of that calibre, he should be dead now.
Valorie pushed open the double doors, flinching as a surreal, soft, blue light hit her eyes.
It took a moment for her pupils to readjust, before she froze in awe at the sight before her.
Lying on the ground unmoving, in a puddle of dried blood, was her prey, Aelius Kanaria.
Limp and still, he had died with his arm outstretched and reaching out to something.
Her eyes rose from the ground to in front of her, following the line of blood he left in his final moments before gasping.
Though the room was dark without the orange light of a flame, the walls glowed blue from a light-emanating block at the back wall.
It stood up right, the shape of a rectangle and was slightly taller than the average person, almost reaching the low-hanging ceiling.
A bed of ice jade stood before Valorie, encased in it the juniour sister she had been searching for all along.
Alea, or what remained of her, gracefully slept within the bed with a small smile turning upward at the corner of her lips.
For a moment, Valorie’s lips trembled. Though she had always been distant and judged as uncaring, for just a single moment, the emotion overwhelming her entire being made its way onto her face.
But she then took a deep breath, steeled herself, and took a step forward.
Ice jade was famous for its magical capabilities to freeze things.
It had many uses, including stopping poison from spreading. But it also had the use of preserving a dead body so it did not rot.
As Valorie stood before the ice jade in the cold room, able to see her breath in front of her, she simply silently gazed at it for the longest time.
“I’m sorry, Alea. I’m sorry.”
Even now, as she looked at her deceased juniour sister, she did not know how she had died, though she could tell it was a painful death from the state of the corpse.
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Turning away, Valorie hesitated for a single moment, looking at the still and unmoving Kanarian Prince.
Perhaps there was more to this story than she had expected, and she was so hasty that now she’ll never know it.
Turning her eyes away, she scanned the walls, noticing for the first time the trophy-like skins hanging up on the walls.
There were several corpses of a strange humanoid species.
Some were closer to human looking than the others, but they all shared the similar trait in that in death, they were brutally torn apart.
A few had reptilian scales and Mana markers that were incomprehensibly powerful, even lingering in their bodies post-death.
Valorie was able to see it with her enhanced vision.
She turned away and continued browsing with keen interest until she came to a small corner, stopping at it with her lips pursed.
A makeshift shrine had been set up with small, unlit candles at the side.
Reaching forward, Valorie summoned a ball of light in her hand and waved it over the wall, revealing a hand-drawn portrait hung up of a girl slightly younger than her in appearance.
The girl had beautiful purple hair and emerald-green eyes, and she was drawn smiling softly, wearing a torn dress and seated on a single rock with snow falling around her.
Valorie could sense the emotion behind the one who drew the portrait.
Longing, yearning and regret.
She then tore her eyes away from the surreal painting and dropped to the shrine beneath it, where there were a few plates of rich, preserved meat laid out.
Then further down, she inhaled sharply and narrowed her eyes as her gaze settled down on a dried, dark red puddle with a head offered to the shrine - the head of Quarren Leos.
Biting her lip, Valorie looked around the room.
It was a library, it was a documentation, it was a bibliography and an attestment.
But of what, exactly?
As Valorie reached up to rub her brow in frustration and some self-ridicule, she noticed the air vibrating above Aelius Kanaria’s still body.
Apprehensively, with her sword on her hilt, Valorie slowly inched forward, her footsteps as silent as the dead night.
As she drew closer, she felt the cold air of the room turn warmer and warmer, until it was hot like a flame.
Kneeling down before the prince’s unmoving body, she reached up to pull aside the fallen cloak covering his wound and gasped to find it glowing with orange light and life.
Before her very eyes, the wound was rapidly nursing itself back to health again, speedily regenerating.
So the prince actually had another card up his sleeve, she thought with a smile of relief, and withdrew, giving a deep sigh.
“Thank Goddess he’s still alive. Incredible.”
—-----------------------
Eight hours passed in no time, and Phoenix’s Love had finished its process.
Feeling refreshed, Aelius’ eyes snapped open and he found himself lying down on the cold, concrete floor of his hideout.
Sitting up, he was greeted with the still face of Alea in the ice jade bed he had procured for her.
He continued looking at her for a moment longer, before he gave a deep breath and rose to his feet.
“I sent another one of those fuckers your way yesterday. I’ll make sure one more follows soon,” he said as he stepped up to the ice and softly put a hand up against it. “I’m slowly getting them all. You can rest in peace.”
He looked at her for a short while longer before he closed his eyes and dipped his head to the floor, reaching up and covering his face with his hands.
Aelius didn’t say another word, only massaging in his face and simply breathing in silence as he gathered his chaotic thoughts, when he sensed a presence behind him.
Narrowing his eyes, Aelius quickly spun around with his blade in his hand, his eyes then widening in surprise to see Valorie leaning up against the back wall across the room, her arms crossed, her royal blue eyes settled on him.
“How did you find this place?” he asked her in a low tone.
“My prey can never escape me once I’ve marked them. I can chase them down to the ends of Vertex if I must,” she simply gestured, but Aelius no longer sensed the hostility in her tone that was present the previous night.
“Right…”
“Now that you’re back up and about, why not explain to me what all of this is?” Valorie suggested, turning to the head of Quarren Leos and gesturing at Alea’s ice jade bed.
“Now you’re finally willing to listen,” Aelius answered, putting his blade away and crossing his arms.
“That’s right, so you better start talking,” she coldly and sharply answered.
He simply narrowed his eyes into a glare at her, and silence rang out between the two of them for a long moment.
For that long second, one would be unsure of what was going to transpire between the two of them, until Aelius grunted and shrugged.
“Alright. Listen well.”
Over the course of an hour, Aelius had explained to Valorie everything to do with his life’s journey.
First with Alea’s death, then with the existence of the Devils, and then the death of Violet, and lastly, the destruction of his family at the hands of the Farrien King, who was but a mere pawn used by the Aerianne Archduchy, who were but mere pawns used by the Devils.
After hearing everything, Valorie had no words to speak.
She only examined the reptilian corpses once more, and then without a single sound, gave Aelius a staunch glare, and then left the warehouse.
He simply watched her leave, his life intact after his explanation.
She saw herself out, and he watched as her white hair slowly disappeared down the dock. And that was that.
Until many years later.
—-----------------------
Having travelled all around the Sacred Continent eradicating Devils, after their existence had been exposed to the people at large, the war deteriorated in the Devils’ favour very rapidly.
At first, they were only operating in the shadows, but upon their existence becoming common knowledge, they began full frontal assaults on key locations, such as the Royal Palace of the Imperial Empire.
The casualties of both innocent civilians and the defenders attempting to defend humanity from the Devils was catastrophic.
Soon enough, Aelius’ deeds as the only person strong enough to fend off the Devils, with the use of Divine power bestowed upon him by the Goddess, were quickly spread amongst the people.
It didn’t take long until he came to be hailed as the Hero of humanity.
No one was unaware of his name nor face, his fame was unprecedented.
But to Aelius who had always operated in the shadows and alone, save for helping his kin Tristia, was hostile towards all of the attention.
He always worked at his own pace, but when humanity set its eyes and expectations on him, there wasn’t a single day he could rest.
He had always been fragile, but the added pressure did not help his waning sanity.
And that was how he had found himself in the current situation in the present day.
One Aelius Kanaria, titled Hero, sat atop a small throne in a large atrium, idly listening to the dozens of civilians, priests and Royals begging him on the ground.
“Please, sir Hero,” the people chanted before him repeatedly.
It lasted for a number of minutes until the priest finally raised his hands to calm them down, and turned to Aelius before bowing lowly before him.
“Please, sir Hero,” the well-mannered, calm man began to say. “Our lives are hanging in the balance. Our scouts risked their lives to obtain this information. Many of them died and only a few survived to deliver this news.”
Aelius calmly listened, avoiding the priests’ eyes as he boredly rested his head on the backrest.
“The existence of the nest is pivotal to mankind’s history. We know we are asking you to risk your life, but we beg you. So are all of our brave warriors being risked. Even as we speak, mankind’s defenders are assaulting the Devils’ Palace, distracting their attention in hopes of allowing you to focus on attacking the nest, the source of their species. The nest should be loosely guarded, as the Devils are unlikely to expect we discovered its location.”
Aelius listened as the priest droned on for a while, feeling irritation well up within him.
But it was not irritation towards the priest, nor all of the people before him.
It was irritation at both himself and the state of the world.
If he was to be brutally honest, mankind was close to doomed.
The appearance of the Saints appeared to be humanity’s saving grace at first, which took the pressure off Aelius’ shoulders.
Yet Saint technology soon proved to be helpless against Devils as they learnt to use tactics to dodge bullets.
Sure, guns worked. But only if they hit.
The Devils quickly cultivated new footwork techniques, as well as rapidly gained enough blood from their human victims to gain access to teleport spells.
Though it was only a select few of Devils who were able to use Blink and Warp, it was enough for those handful of Devils to slaughter the naively unprepared Saints.
Five-hundred years of preparation all for what? In that span, the Devils also evolved.
And thus, the burden of salvation fell onto Aelius once again.
But he had lost the will to fight at this point.
The truth was simple.
Yes, he was able to take out many Devils. But that was only one at a time, while evading the Devils and hiding in the shadows of society.
Each encounter with a Devil also left him completely vulnerable for eight hours while Phoenix’s Love took effect.
Now that his presence is entirely revealed, he has no hope of performing a frontal assault on the Devils - they’ll just use the power of numbers to overwhelm him.
Maybe if he had the chance of shaving them off one-by-one over the course of forty years, he could eventually kill them all.
But with the way things stand, humanity won’t be left standing by the time forty years have gone past.
So now, it has all come down to the current moment.
However, it was not as though Aelius was waiting for his death, either.
He was not opposed to performing a frontal assault and sacrificing his life in the process. No, by far, right now, he wished for sweet death more than anything, since victory was simply out of reach.
The only problem is, he is not just responsible for his life, but his kin as well.
If he marches into battle, Tristia might follow. And if Tristia follows, so will the rest of their family that they’ve grown over the years. Halona as well.
He refuses to take them to their deaths, all because of his mission.
But what these people were asking of him was exactly that - they were begging him to sacrifice his loved ones, in exchange for their lives.
Yet, what choice did he have? It was do or die.
Finally, Aelius took a sharp breath and raised his hand, abruptly stopping the priest in his tracks. Broodingly, and with a glare, he rose to his feet.
“Where’s the nest?” he asked.
—-----------------------
Being the Hero, Aelius was certainly capable of holding his own.
And relatively swimmingly, he broke through the Devil’s defences through to the nest, until he finally came to the last gate, and the last gatekeeper awaited him.
The battle that then ensued turned out to be disastrous, for Aelius’ Divine power was not strong enough to kill higher-ranking Devils.
It was as though they had obtained a power that was capable of rivalling the Goddess’.
Some sort of ‘law’ or ‘principality’ that stood on par with the Goddess’ principality.
So, instead, Aelius relied on his beloved Spirit, Asura, the one and only Spirit who was ever willing to sign a contract with him.
She was both his companion and significant other, treating him preciously and always supporting him.
Together with her powers and Saint technology, he would firstly inflict a physical wound on his Devil opponent.
That wound would expose blood, which Aelius would then use as a weapon against the Devils themselves.
Since Devils were completely impervious to damage from Mana, the strength from their own blood was always enough to wound them, especially after being enhanced by Asura.
But, he encountered his worst nightmare when he met the final gatekeeper of the ‘nest’.
The reason guns worked on Devils were because Devils were incapable of conjuring - they were all augmenters.
Augmenter mages would use Mana to enhance their physical ability internally within their body.
Conjurers were the opposite; they would expel and manipulate Mana outside of their body. Simply put, conjurers had weak defences but extraordinarily strong offences, as well as being capable of attacking at long range.
The innate constitutions of Devils meant they could not expel Mana to the outside of their body.
So in other words, they were incapable of erecting barriers to defend against a bullet.
Without bullets, even if a fighter was able to restrain their Devil opponent somehow, dealing the killing blow would be impossible.
Yet Aelius soon discovered, as he fired the first round at the final gatekeeper, the Devil guarding the nest was unlike any he had fought before.
In a flash, the Devil had multicast several numbers of spells, including barriers, that were all ranged spells, and Aelius narrowly avoided a Fortieth Ring power-enhanced ice missile.
Looking up in shock after he landed on his feet, Aelius realised he was facing off against the first ever conjurer Devil.
The fight proved to be incredibly one-sided.
The Devil was at the Fortieth Ring, and Aelius was only at the Ninth Ring.
Anytime his Mana clashed with the Devil’s Mana, it was like a bulldozer running over a small piece of paper - he was completely incapable of stopping the Devil’s attacks.
His only choice was to avoid getting hit, but it was a battle he was doomed to lose, for not only was he unable to defend, he was unable to inflict a wound on the Devil so Asura could use her powers.
Aelius quickly made the judgement to try to use his own blood, but his own Ninth Ring blood was incomparably weaker than the blood of a Thirtieth Ring Devil.
If he had known it was going to come to this, he would have kept some blood on hand from his last opponent.
The fight dragged on for Aelius had no choice but to continue it, until he had finally taken enough hits that he was on the brink of losing.
In the moment of hopelessness, Aelius was questioning how is it that he’s unable to even attack the nest, let alone the main base camp of the Devils?
But it was then, he heard a call from behind him and glanced over his shoulder.
A familiar head of silver and pair of blue eyes was giving off a fiery glare at his opponent.
“V-Valorie!?” Aelius exclaimed, flabberghasted .
“Dodge! Aelius Kanaria!” she shouted and he turned back around just in time to narrowly avoid a swing from a pair of summoned tentacles.
Swiftly, Valorie joined him in the wide, spacious fighting arena, lifting up her rapier.
“You look like you’re having trouble, prince,” she said without looking at the blood covering him.
“This bastard is a conjurer,” Aelius answered just before the two had to split up again to dodge a wide attack.
“Is the power of the Goddess useless against it?” Valorie asked.
“That’s right,” Aelius answered and the two dodged another round of attacks again.
“Then you distract it. I have a way to damage it,” she calmly declared and Aelius looked at her with surprise.
“How?” he asked.
“My sword aura can pierce its defences.”
He recalled she was capable of a technique similar to the Space Sword.
If she is able to sever reality itself with her slash, then she should be able to kill the Devil.
All he has to do is create openings for her to sneak up on it.
“Alright. Erase your presence. It’ll be on guard for you but I’ll do what I can,” Aelius nodded to her.
“Good,” she simply staunchly responded, and then split off to the edge of the large atrium.
Aelius diverted his full attention to his opponent, taking a deep breath.
Let’s take this chance to reset.
His left arm was out of commission, his ankle was twisted, but he’ll run and swing his sword regardless.
Let me try it a little bit, he thought.
In all of his time, maybe he had forgotten his roots.
With so many other powers he had been cultivating, he had forgotten the one that had been there with him since the very beginning.
Before him, a heavy wave of red and purple energy surged forward.
Aelius dodged it but another volley of attacks quickly followed, while the Devil stood still at the end of the room, raising its clawed hands to summon attacks.
User has activated the skill 「Space Sword」
Slash anything in existence.
Aelius swung his blade and a dark wave of blue and purple like the night sky shot out from his swing.
He watched in apprehension as his sword energy met with the Devils’ attack and a small, blinding explosion erupted.
When Aelius’ vision returned, he saw his slash had cancelled out the Devil’s attack.
It was better than nothing, for certain.
Though his Dimensional energy was unable to break through the Devil’s Mana, it was the most potent weapon he had, by far.
The Devil, upon regaining its vision, quickly reverted back to repeatedly casting attacks at Aelius.
He continued to dodge and shoot out the occasional space slash at it before he looked around the room for Valorie, and spotted her in the corner hidden in the Devil’s blind spot.
She was entirely focused on it, and without giving her away on his face, Aelius turned his eyes back onto the Devil and changed up his movement.
Until now, he was dodging frantically but in an instant, he shot forward at the Devil, immediately prompting it to react and cast shorter range spells.
Summoning a purple magic circle in the air, Aelius was met with a humongous beam of pink energy as soon as he took a step forward.
It spelt certain death for him if it hit him and he quickly took a dive.
The Devil spun around, following Aelius closely with the beam while he narrowly dodged it with each step until he reached the back wall.
Summoning Mana at his heels, Aelius quickly ran up the wall and then sprung out into the air, flipping back across the room.
The beam was unable to keep up with him as he rapidly made distance until he was plummeting down on top of the Devil.
It immediately cancelled its mega beam attack and cast a new spell, forming a spiked wall in front of it for Aelius to land on.
But with impressive gymnastics, Aelius flipped back into an air step and changed direction at the last second, dodging around the wall and sending out a cheeky slash.
As soon as he made his attack, he was hit by a spread attack and knocked out the sky.
Aelius hit the ground heavily but quickly sprung up again, seeing his slash reach the Devil.
Without any choice left open to it, the Devil erected a barrier to meet the slash and neutralise it.
But in that short moment, Valorie dashed out behind the Devil and gave it a point-blank stab.
Aelius watched in awe as her stab shattered space itself, piercing straight through the Devil and leaving half of its body obliterated.
It was like a beam that eradicated reality itself. Nothing would be capable of enduring the beam that erupted from her stab.
“Amazing!” Aelius exclaimed and ran forward, seeing the Devil collapse over, dead in an instant.
Valorie’s stab left him in awe. It was certainly Dimensional energy behind her thrust, but it seemed somewhat different in nature to his slash.
However, any thoughts about how great her thrust was were quickly discarded when he looked up to Valorie’s face.
His lips quickly turned downward instead of upward when he saw blood spew out of Valorie’s mouth, her blue eyes looking into his.
In that instant their gaze met, he felt like he could almost hear her thoughts in his hand. But then, he saw her eyes fall out of focus.
As her grip loosened and her rapier fell to the ground, Aelius looked on with trepidation at a black hole in her abdomen, causing black energy to quickly spread through her skin.
The strength in her legs instantly disavowed her and her slender body began to fall without him even having the time to process what had happened.
“No!” Aelius lunged forward, catching her just in time before she hit the ground, and fell to her knees in his arms.
There’s no way…! He put both his hands on her cheeks that were quickly turning blue, feeling that they were ice cold to the touch.
“Valorie…” his voice broke at the sight before him and he turned his eyes onto the wound.
With Mana enhancing his vision, he was able to quickly analyse the festering wound that was rapidly syphoning her life away.
Within seconds, her breath rapidly weakened.
It was the effect of a ‘curse’, a special type of spell.
Aelius had only ever seen curses in records and never with his own eyes, but he knew enough to know that once a curse was activated, the target will suffer its effects without fail.
In his arms, Valorie’s body was promptly falling cold and he felt hopeless and despair progressively overwhelm him as he took in the horrible sight.
here’s no way this is happening again, he choked.
It was no different to when he found Alea’s slow, fading body.
Just like then, yet another brilliant spark of life was being taken away before his very eyes by his sworn enemies.
And there was no way to save her.
Just like then, he was utterly powerless.
Nothing has changed.
As Aelius realised this truth, the weight of the world suddenly dawned upon him, his mind and his shoulders.
Nothing’s changed… he thought, gritting his teeth and feeling tears fall down his cheeks.
Rapidly, his mind began to spiral into thoughts of despair.
Can I really do this?
Who do I think I am?
I’m weak.
“A-Aelius K-K-Kanaria…” Valorie weakly summoned her strength, snatching his attention back to her.
Aelius opened his watery eyes again, sniffling and nodding to her.
“I’m so sorry, Valorie. I never imagined this would happen-”
He saw her weakly smile through her bloody teeth, and she raised her hand with what little strength she had.
Aelius latched onto her grasp, clasping onto her hands with his warmth.
“I see now… t-that you are a kind soul. To even shed tears for me. Y-you are worthy of being the Hero. No one else.”
She gave a deep, painful breath, wheezy horridly as her final moments came to pass.
“D-d-don’t feel guilty. Humanity must p-prevail. So… never stop. Only y-you must never stop. You are the only person who can never stop.”
Aelius watched as Valorie’s eyes glazed over, and so easily, was someone so incredibly remarkable taken from this world.
For a moment, he found himself gazing at another beautiful but still face of a warrioress.
It was yet another soul that he now carried with him, but he felt its weight on him would be more than others.
The expectation she left him as she passed compelled him to rise to his feet.
The tears were no longer flowing, nor could Aelius feel any rage.
Instead, it was all simply… emptiness.
Desolation.
He felt sombre.
Raising his hand, Aelius lifted Valorie’s body up with telekinesis and hid her away in his dimensional storage subspace, before turning his eyes onto the final gate before him.
The nest of the Devils awaited him, the source of their birth.
This was, at last, the beginning of the end. It is finally time to put an end to this horrid nightmare.