“Mikhail-sama… Aria is—!”
“Calm down, Theo.”
From a damaged corner of the Royal Castle, the young men watched Aria’s battle.
Theo, as Mikhail’s combat butler in the Shadow Unit, was working behind the scenes to deal with any disputes that would inevitably arise at the Graduation Party.
Because he prioritized evacuating the guests, Theo couldn’t participate in the battle at the venue. Like Mikhail, who also remained behind the scenes, he could only watch Aria’s fight from afar, frustrated.
“…”
Not only that, but Theo also felt a sense of helplessness regarding that girl who had been his charge for a short time.
The royal family, including Mikhail, saw Licia only as an enemy. Theo had certainly thought so too, but having witnessed the last scene between her and Aria by chance, Theo prayed for her soul, precisely because he knew her.
She was a troublesome and annoying “enemy,” but Theo knew she wasn’t a bad person.
“Theo, don’t let your mind wander. While Aria… Alicia is fighting, our job is to protect what she’s trying to protect.”
“…Yes.”
While scolding Theo for worrying about Aria, Mikhail was overwhelmed by his own powerlessness.
Theo admired Aria. Mikhail felt the same, but his feelings were closer to admiration and worship. He understood his role in this situation and remained behind the scenes, but that was because Mikhail couldn’t stand beside Aria in this battle.
This incident would give Aria a significant influence.
Princess Elena, who stood as the new Crown Princess through her own ability.
Carla, the most formidable magician whose combat power even surpassed Aria.
And Saint Licia, who plunged the kingdom into chaos.
In this place, only these three could stand on equal footing with Aria. No matter how this ended, Mikhail darkened his expression, wondering if he could protect Aria from domestic and international interference.
(Even so… I…)
Amidst lightning that seemed to engulf everything in flashes, the silver light I unleashed towards the heavens with all my might sliced through the lightning.
DODDOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!
A deafening roar like a giant thunderbolt echoed, and amidst the shock that seemed to blow away everything around me without a trace, I mustered even more strength.
BIKIIN—…
In the clash of unimaginable power, I heard a sound like cracks forming in the Black Knife and Dagger I held up with both hands.
As the clear metallic sound faded, the lightning also ceased, and Carla, bleeding from the mouth, appeared in the night sky where the dark clouds had been torn apart.
Carla’s blood-stained lips smiled faintly. I closed my mouth as if to hide my clenched jaw.
Our battle was not over.
GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!
At that moment, Carla, falling straight down, and I, leaping into the sky, collided, and a sound like striking a giant bell echoed.
Carla could no longer use large-scale magic. Not because of her Mana, but because Carla’s body couldn’t withstand it.
The same was true for me. The damage I had taken was severe, and my entire body screamed with every movement.
I threw away the cracked weapons and struck Carla’s face with the sand-filled gloves I clenched.
After all, a proper blade wouldn’t work. Carla, undeterred, retaliated with a fist covered in black thorns, striking my face.
GOOON—GOOON—!
The heavy metallic sound, unimaginable for a bare-handed brawl, struck my ears. With each collision, Carla’s Mana and silver light scattered, and intense shockwaves shook even the night sky.
GOOON!!
We collided at speeds invisible to the eye, and my kick met Carla’s kick head-on.
Thanks to the Iron Rose’s effect, the Level 10 Body Enhancement carved into the earth with every step. In response, Carla used the black thorns wrapped around her entire body to approach me with speed and power.
“HAAAA!!”
“Ahaha!!”
Leaping dozens of meters with a single step, each blow sent the other flying dozens of meters.
We intertwined and exchanged blows, changing locations with high-speed movements, smashing through buildings that were still intact as we punched each other.
GOOON!
Carla’s elbow struck my face, and the impact caused my tied-up hair to come undone. While reeling back, I grabbed Carla’s arm, let my hair flutter, and headbutted Carla’s face.
GOOOOOOOOOON!!
“—!”
And we glared at each other from point-blank range—
“Get more serious.”
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
BACHIIN!
Carla’s Mana and silver particles burst around our bodies, creating a slight distance, and in an instant, our fists collided, scattering intense embers.
The bones in our fists creaked, and blood flowed from our fists, which had finally broken through each other’s defenses.
“Haa!!”
Spreading silver particles like wings, I shot out like a cannonball, slamming into Carla’s body with my shoulder and sending her flying.
I chased after Carla, who was spitting blood as she flew, and Carla forcibly changed her posture as if doing a somersault, kicking me with her mithril stiletto heel.
I instinctively caught it with my heel, grabbed Carla’s leg, and slammed her into a stone building while swinging her around. Inside the building that had begun to collapse from the impact, Carla’s leg thorns wrapped around my arm, and she slammed me into the building as if kicking me.
While exchanging kicks and punches amidst the collapsing walls and ceilings, we simultaneously kicked the floor to pieces and leaped up, breaking through the ceiling of the collapsing building and soaring into the sky. As Carla swung her arm, a vast amount of Mana became a physical shockwave that raged.
“—”
I wrapped myself in silver light and floated in the air without resisting the shock. But at that moment, Carla, surging with Mana, approached like a giant iron ball and blew me away.
“Gofuh.”
My body creaked, and blood seeped into my mouth. But in that instant, I grabbed Carla’s body and kicked her into a building while kicking her body.
DOGOOOOOON!!
The battlefield shifted from the area around the destroyed Temple to the noble district.
The silver light and Carla’s Mana stirred up the furnishings of the evacuated noble residences. Carla threw a huge stone table, and I kicked it to pieces, kicking the scattering giant fragments towards Carla.
“Hmph!”
Carla exhaled, caught them with the hem of her dress, and kicked them to pieces with her knee.
In that instant, I leaped up, kicked off the ceiling, and dropped a heel kick onto Carla’s head.
GOON!
Carla caught it with her arms crossed, grabbed my leg, slammed it into the stone floor, then slammed it into the ceiling, blowing me away as if crushing me with a Mana shockwave.
“Haa!”
In the instant our gazes broke, I escaped the shockwave with silver light, kicked through the stone floor of the second floor while erasing my presence, and kicked Carla’s back as if blending into the dust, shooting through the plaster wall and sending her flying.
“!”
I wrapped silver light around my arm and fired it there. But at that moment, Carla unleashed Mana and shockwaves from her entire body, blowing away the dust and rubble and collapsing the building.
While dodging the scattering fragments, I leaped in, and unleashed a jumping kick with the silver light at full power, kicking like a storm with the force of a cannonball.
“HAAAAAAAAAAAA!!”
The barrage of kicks filled with spirit blew Carla away, and she charged through multiple noble residences beyond. But Carla forcibly stopped her charge by driving black thorns into the surroundings, and countered with a knee strike to my face.
GOOON!!
Even if slashes didn’t work, the impact of strikes became shock and accumulated damage.
Our attacks often pierced each other’s defenses, and Carla laughed while spitting blood at me, who was spitting out saliva mixed with blood.
“More, more, Aria!! I can’t kill you otherwise!”
We punched, kicked, and now we were just punching each other without even defending.
Every time Carla’s blow struck me, her heart was conveyed to me…
My heart must have been conveyed to her too.
“…Then, why are you crying?”
Carla was crying while laughing. To me, she looked like a child crying and punching.
We had become adults. But that was only because we had grown up with Mana, and we were just children who had forcibly gained adult knowledge, crying out for parental love, helpless children.
We were children who could no longer be children. We were children who had given up on being children, Elena too… and probably Licia as well.
To defy fate, I fight to survive… Carla chose to fight for revenge, I fight to live, and Carla fights to die.
That’s why we brawl.
In this world where we can see only each other, we hit each other while crying like little children.
“Kill me, Aria!!”
Laughing, crying, Carla’s blood-soaked fist strikes my cheek.
“Won’t you die with me…?”
That fist was the most… painful yet.
I return the blow with my own bloodied fist, and Carla, blown away, smiles sadly.
“You’re so mean…”
I leap onto the collapsing roof of the noble’s mansion, and Carla, spewing Mana, dives in, her kick hitting my stomach.
“What am I supposed to do?”
My elbow, wrapped in silver light, strikes Carla’s forehead.
“I had nothing else left.”
Carla wraps black thorns around my diving body and slams me into the ground as if throwing me.
“I couldn’t show that I was alive in any other way!”
Forcing my legs to bend from the slammed ground, I pull Carla closer and kick through Carla’s face.
“If I live, more people will die…”
Carla spits out bloodied saliva and gently raises her right hand to the sky… In that night sky, flames rising from the six directions of the Royal Capital gradually gather.
“…Wrath of God (Megiddo)… God’s wrath against the forbidden act of layering matter upon matter… If this Magic explodes, the Royal Capital will disappear.”
The flames gather directly above the Royal Capital, and the moment Carla utters the activation words, level 8 Fire Magic will incinerate the Royal Capital.
The only way to stop it is to kill Carla.
Carla seeks “death” to that extent.
I can tell by accepting Carla’s power. Not just Magic. Body Enhancement, Thought Acceleration, and all the resistances she has acquired are the result of constantly being targeted for her life to fulfill her revenge.
And no one can leave the “most evil” who has achieved revenge with the “strongest” power alone, and the earth will be stained with the blood of all living things until Carla breathes her last.
That’s why Carla sought “death” madly.
Not by the hands of those who say she is wrong, but by “my” hands…
“…You idiot.”
Carla’s attention is momentarily diverted by my mutter, and my knee, bursting out while crushing the earth, pierces Carla’s defense and shatters several ribs.
“I said that I would kill you!!”
Even if you went berserk, I would have killed you anytime without doing something like this.
Even if it cost me my life…
“Can’t you trust me that much!”
As if layering Combat Arts on the Iron Rose Combat Art, I unleash the Dancing Ripper exceeding eight consecutive strikes, using my bare hands and legs.
Carla’s entire body is beaten by hand swords and kicks. Unable to withstand the force, my left arm breaks, and blood gushes from my entire body.
Carla also has multiple bones broken and is blown away while spitting blood.
But Carla doesn’t stop. She smiles faintly at me with a tearful face, manipulates her tattered body with thorns, and thrusts all the black thorns around her body like a Spear.
There is no way for me to defend against it now that I have used a reckless Combat Art. But my bloodied right hand moves slightly and tears apart the thorn Spear with that (・・) taken from the bottom of Shadow Storage.
Carla’s eyes widen.
In those deep purple eyes, the figure of me diving in with a small “Golden Dagger” is reflected.
Carla…
“You will die here today.”
We intertwine as if colliding, are slammed into the ground, and I, straddling Carla, swing down the Golden Dagger towards Carla’s heart.
In a way, it’s a dirty fight that is typical of this work.
Next time, what kind of ending will the battle between the two finally reach?
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