“—Hk!”
Elena-san, who had been watching Aria fight atop the distant temple from a large window in the destroyed hall of the royal castle, instinctively ducked as a shockwave suddenly assailed her from that direction.
“Are you unharmed!?”
As the shockwave passed and Elena-san raised her head, Sera-san’s voice faintly reached her through the ringing in her ears. The royalty present were protected by the shields of the Royal Guard knights, and Elvan-sama and Clara-sama were holding each other protectively; no one was injured.
The battlefield had shifted from the royal castle to the Royal Capital, but the royalty had not yet evacuated. Elena-san, standing up with the help of an Escort Maid, widened her eyes at the sight visible from the window.
“The Royal Capital… is burning.”
＊＊＊
“Aaaaaaaahhhhh!!”
As Collette’s body, burned by the Holy Flame, crumbled and scattered, something like a black Miasma burst forth. A face appeared within the Miasma and shrieked.
Although she had consumed most of her mana and her power had waned, the Incubus, who had been wreaking havoc until now, tried to use a “curse” as a final struggle.
The Devil’s Chorus is not magic, but a curse. Karla-san, who had been hit by that scream at close range, unleashed her right arm, still ablaze with Holy Flame, towards the Incubus and—the Royal Capital.
“――――――――――――――”
The Incubus, along with the curse it had unleashed, vanished without even being able to scream—
“Karla-san!”
I leaped in front of the flame that was about to spread further, deploying my Magic Shield (Shield) as if to shield myself. However, the flame split as if to avoid me and my shield, scattering widely in six directions.
What is she planning? Karla-san gave me her usual smile as I glared at her, and behind her—no, I could see pillars of flame rising from six directions in the Royal Capital.
“…What did you do?”
“Surely, Aria. Did you think I’d leave burning down the Royal Capital to someone else?”
Pillars of flame rising as if to surround the Royal Capital… But, judging by the color of the flames mixed with white light, those six flames are “Holy Flame.”
It’s a composite magic of flame and light, highly effective against undead creatures and devils, but unlike general fire magic, its damage from spreading flames is low. If that’s the case, then the flames themselves aren’t intended as an attack, but rather a groundwork for destroying the Royal Capital.
Six pillars… A hexagram? A hexagram is an amplification ritual formula for mana and magic, also used in things like devil summoning magic circles. Why would Karla-san, who can use infinite mana, use such a ritual formula…
“…No way.”
At my muttered words, Karla-san closed her eyes for a moment, then quietly narrowed them.
“Even for me, casting Level 8 fire magic without any assistance is difficult.”
Level 8—something no longer manageable by humans, a realm of legends and myths. If such a thing exists, the Royal Capital will undoubtedly be destroyed.
“Karla-san!!”
“Come, Aria.”
Karla-san responded cheerfully as I leaped out as if kicking the air.
“—Flame Javelin—”
“—Magic Shield (Shield)—”
Pakiin—
My Magic Shield shattered with the auditory hallucination of breaking glass upon receiving Karla-san’s Flame Javelin. Using the remnants of the shattered mana as a smokescreen, I lunged in with a kick, which Karla-san dodged using Martial Arts, leaning back.
“—Splash—”
A mass of water suddenly appeared before my eyes. I instantly slashed it with my Black Knife, imbued with mana, and beyond the scattering droplets, I saw Karla-san, who had regained her posture, pointing her fingertips at me.
“—Ice Storm—”
The water clinging to me instantly froze due to the directional Ice Storm.
“Hah!”
I kicked up with my leg as if to shatter the ice clinging to the hem of my dress, using the recoil to escape the Ice Storm’s range while Throwing a knife I drew from the slit of my skirt.
“—Ice Whip—”
Instantly, the Ice Whip Karla-san unleashed struck down the flying knife.
“—Dark Gimlet—”
At that moment, the Dark Gimlets I had launched appeared around Karla-san, and multiple Dark Gimlets assailed her simultaneously.
“—Digvolt—”
The lightning Karla-san discharged, as if to envelop herself, blew away the Dark Gimlets.
At that instant, I leaped in, and as I delivered a kick while flipping the hem of my dress, Karla-san also kicked up, the wide hem of her dress flipping and catching my leg as if to entangle it.
“Haaaaah!!”
Relying on my Physical Enhancement, I forcefully kicked through.
“—Hk!”
Unable to bear it, Karla-san leaped back. But seeing her fingertips pointed at me, ready to pursue, I also pointed my fingertips at Karla-san.
“”—[Pain]—””
Phantom Pain, along with Killing Intent, surged forth. The horrifyingly intense pain caused both Karla-san and me to momentarily lose control of our magic, and we descended onto the still-burning temple, its upper half blown away.
“”…………””
We stared at each other in silence amidst the sea of flames.
I was also running low on mana, but Karla-san, being a Magician, must have been even lower.
Why wasn’t Karla-san using her Gift (Divine Protection)? She was probably near her limit. She was putting on a calm face, but I, who had received her [Pain], knew best that she was currently enduring intense agony.
“What do you intend to do with the Royal Capital?”
When I spoke first, Karla-san smiled faintly.
“You know, don’t you? I wanted to carve it into them—the people who twisted my destiny. Their sin. Their despair… The fact that I was alive.”
Her father’s experiments had left her with a body that couldn’t live properly, and Karla-san sought atonement from all those who had done it and all those who had allowed it.
Those who knew, those who didn’t know—for Karla-san, who was fated to die, everyone who smiled happily upon her corpse was a target.
“It was worth luring the battle with the devil all the way to the Royal Capital. I had to light the hexagram in an instant, but even with infinite mana, my ‘vessel’ still can’t ignite and activate it simultaneously.”
“…………”
To amplify and invoke the magic simultaneously, she used Miasma as an oil-soaked fuse and activated it with Holy Flame?
Did Karla-san not move from the Royal Capital in order to lure devils that would scatter the Miasma to act as a fuse? I realized that the battle with the Faceless Devil, and the battles with Amor and the Incubus in the Royal Capital, were all for this purpose.
“Is this what Karla-san wished for…?”
Does she want to avenge herself to that extent? As I asked this, Karla-san closed her eyes slightly.
“That’s right. …Or so I’d like to say, but to be honest, it doesn’t matter anymore.”
At those words, I narrowed my eyes as if glaring, and Karla-san gently placed a hand on her chest.
“Aria… If I can fight you, then nothing else matters. Not this country, not this world.”
Karla-san slowly let her gaze wander as she continued.
“You gave ‘light’ to me, who had no choice but to die in despair. The fact that you said you would kill me was my only hope.”
“…I remember.”
The promise from when we first met. And my vow, made inside the Dungeon.
Karla-san smiled happily at my murmured words.
“I wanted to make that certain. That promise was the only thing I could cling to. That’s why I constructed the magic based solely on descriptions I read in forbidden texts. I couldn’t reproduce it perfectly, and it’s almost like a self-destruct spell, but that was just right.”
Karla-san then lowered her eyebrows slightly, as if in a wry smile.
“From the moment I activate my Divine Protection, the hexagram will use the flames engulfing this Royal Capital as a medium to draw upon my mana and activate. This way…”
Karla-san paused for a moment, looked straight at me, and beamed.
“This way, you absolutely have to kill me, right?”
If I don’t kill Karla-san, Level 8 fire magic will activate.
“Karla-san…”
Karla-san must have realized it. That between her, who wished for death, and me, who was supposed to grant it, an atmosphere of familiarity had unknowingly developed…
Karla-san feared accepting that, becoming nothing, and dying.
Does she seek death to such an extent…?
This isn’t just a fight to the death for the sake of dying.
Just as people celebrate a birth, just as people mourn a death, this was a “ritual” for Karla-san to carve the proof of her existence into the world.
We will fight to kill. On the “stage” of the flame-engulfed Royal Capital, where Karla-san performs the ritual to inscribe her life—
“…Here I come.”
“Yes, come.”
We simultaneously raised our mana and leaped onto the fiery stage.
“—Iron Rose (Ability)—”
“—Soul Thorn—”
――Until death do them part――
Next Time: ‘Clash’
What resolution awaits their intertwined fates?
Aria’s and Karla’s final battle outfits (rough sketches)… My apologies to those who aren’t fond of such things.
I hope this helps to complete your mental image.
The concept is Aria as a female knight, and Karla as a white rose.
Their color scheme is like the original P○reCure…