Recalling the past, I spoke to Dia. “No, Dia. I’m Sieg.”
“Ahh, aah, Sieg! Sieg, Sieg, Sieg! Ahhhhhh!” Dia, her anxious expression fixed on seeking out Hitaki, didn’t hear my words.
Facing her like this, the words I would say were already decided. Dia had been troubled all along, ever since we first met. She’d carried her troubles alone, never noticed by anyone until it was too late. And just like Ide and Titee, her spirit had broken, leaving her no choice but to cling desperately to a fake.
Now, I understood how she felt. It was what Wyss and Palinchron had taught me a year ago. And what I’d learned from the battle with Titee and Nosfy. Above all, it was what I saw when watching Ide just now. All those experiences wove themselves into words.
“Dia, I am me. You can call me Kanami, or Sieg, or whatever you like, but please don’t forget that I am me. I am right here.” I reintroduced myself clearly to avoid her confusing me with Hitaki. “Dia is Dia,” I continued. “What Sith did has nothing to do with Dia. There’s no way Dia bears any responsibility for what happened a thousand years ago. That’s obvious, right?”
But it wasn’t enough. Dia’s eyes were still fixed on Hitaki, not me. Of course, the burdens weighing her down were still heavy. Heavy enough to crush her. Because of that, she’d become so consumed by despair that she’d vanished from me a year ago. So what I had to do now should be the same as what Ide had just done. I had to get back each burden I’d forced onto her in the past, and from now on, we had to overcome them together. That was why I’d call out her name over and over again.
Following Ide’s example, I shouted, “Dia, do you still remember the day we first met? That day, I was a cowardly, despicable person. Just remembering it makes me sick. So let me do just one thing over. Just one thing! Let me say it again!”
On that first day, I was the one who’d wanted to be friends with Dia, yet like a coward I’d let her ask me instead. Out of self preservation, I’d made her feel indebted to me and forced her to bear the responsibility for the battle in the Dungeon. That wasn’t everything, but it was definitely the first mistake, like a button being buttoned wrong on a shirt.
“Dia, come with me to the Dungeon! Come with me once more! Don’t you want to be with me, Dia?! That day, I was the one who wanted to be with you! So this time, I’ll take your hand! I’ll take your hand, Dia! Let’s go back together, to everyone!”
I was the one who wanted Dia.
Hearing that, her body trembled violently. “K-Kanami? I... No, I...”
Now I could see not only Hitaki’s body in her eyes but my face as well. She looked back and forth between us, her expression slowly shifting. The bitter, tormented look seemed to soften just a little. Then, as if remembering something, she touched her hairpin with her left hand. It was a memory of our adventure together. She touched the Hairclip of I’lia that I’d given her when we’d had some spare money after exploring the Dungeon. She tried to step forward, but Sith stopped her from within.
“Tch!” she retreated, letting out a sharp click of her tongue. Sith must’ve forcibly snatched Dia’s consciousness away. “You’re despicable! I hate that side of you, my friend! I hate how you deceive girls like that, going around hurting them!”
Sith released her grip on the Hairpin of I’lia, demonstrating her resolve never to take my hand, and pointed at her own body. She flaunted the body that had lost its right arm and left leg, its very consciousness stolen by another, and used it to criticize me.
“What do you mean you want to be with Diablo?! This arm was taken by Tida! My torso was destroyed by Palinchron Regacy! This leg was taken by my dear friend Mar-Mar! And this wound on my thigh, it was inflicted by you, the one I love, just now!”
“I know. I know all of that. I’m saying this knowing all of that.” I dismissed her rebuttal calmly. Criticism of that level was, even among what I’d anticipated—no, even among what I’d foreseen—lukewarm. I criticized Sith right back. “Even as an Apostle like Regacy, you’re second-rate.”
“Me, second-rate?!”
I hadn’t expected such a violent retort. It came with Sith’s most furious expression of the day. She might have tolerated everything else, but her pride as an Apostle seemed paramount.
“Palinchron Regacy was far more formidable,” I continued. “He held everything I was hostage. He used the very existence of Aikawa Kanami as a shield to threaten me. My sister’s happiness, the bonds of my comrades, my very reason for living—everything. You? You took one comrade hostage, gained a little power, and grew arrogant. You thought you could do anything you wanted. Well, this is the result.”
“Y-You!” Sith, enraged, raised the sword in her right arm and charged forward. Palinchron would’ve never fallen for such a cheap provocation. Rather, he would’ve scoffed at such a clumsy, monkey-see monkey-do provocation and taunted me right back.
I dodged Sith’s sloppy sword strike, tripped her, and sent her tumbling. As she tried to scramble back up, I thrust the tip of my blade right under her nose, freezing her in place.
Immobilized, she snarled and glared at me. “Damn it! So you’re saying you’ll just abandon Diablo and kill me?”
“There’s no way I’d abandon Dia, but if necessary, I’ll cut off those remaining limbs and incapacitate you.” Dia being possessed imposed various limitations on what I could do. I couldn’t kill her body, but I had no hesitation about anything else.
“L-Limbs?! What do you think Diablo’s body is?! What do you think her life is?! Do you seriously believe losing limbs wouldn’t matter to her?” Sith was clearly shocked and doubting my sanity for that cold statement.
I shook my head and raised my voice. “How could I think limbs are nothing?! Dia dreamed of becoming a swordsman! That very arm, that very leg, is the essence of her soul! Even so, I’ve sworn in my heart that no matter what happens, I will absolutely save Dia from you! If I don’t free her from your curse, her life will never begin!” I wouldn’t hesitate and risk something irreversible happening again.
Faced with that resolve, Sith’s eyes widened. “You... Are you really, truly my friend?”
“Yeah! I’m me! Aikawa Kanami! And I won’t give up again! I won’t hesitate, I won’t stop! I’ve decided!!!”
My power now surpassed Sith’s. The only factor left that could make me lose was mental lag. That’s precisely why I absolutely couldn’t lose. Never again would weakness of heart be the reason for defeat.
Sith must’ve realized I wouldn’t back down, so she tried to break the stalemate another way. “Even if you could incapacitate me, how do you plan to separate me from Diablo?! We’re completely fused, so it won’t be that easy!”
“Do you really think it’s impossible? I believe it’s possible,” I replied and cast the soul-extracting spell Distance Mute. My sword-wielding right arm glowed purple, signaling that I could eliminate only Sith at any moment.
“Ah, aah, ahh... No, no, that’s just my friend—” Sith muttered to herself in stunned disbelief as she stared at me. For a split second, her face showed an expression like she’d found something precious but then, instantly, it twisted with rage and she screamed like a child. “Why?! Why would my friend acknowledge me again?! I hate you! I absolutely hate you! I don’t need a friend who won’t acknowledge me! Just die! Die already!!!” Cornered, Sith went mad, trying to stand despite the sword before her.
Anticipating the counterattack, I unleashed the greatest magic I had prepared in advance. “Blizzardmension!”
Hit by the Resonant magic from two Essence Thieves, Sith’s movement to rise slowed. I tossed my sword aside and slowly thrust Distance Mute into Sith’s chest. It was easy to slip my arm into that gaping wound.
Sith let out a small groan and opened her eyes wide. My victory was sealed.
“Goodbye, Apostle Sith.”
“I lost? So easily? Wh-Why? I just... I only wanted to bring peace to the world, to make everyone happy...”
“This everyone you speak of is just you and your master. That’s what it sounds like to me. So I cannot acknowledge you.”
With my arm thrust into her chest and her soul gripped, Sith, unable to move, wore an expression like it was the end of the world. She still couldn’t accept reality. Shaking her head slightly, she continued to mutter under her breath, “Why? I had Hitaki prepared, and I even got this perfect body called Diablo! How could I lose to my friend that Deiplachra prepared? Losing to Regacy, losing to Deiplachra, losing, losing, losing. Could it be that I was the weakest? Was I the biggest failure?”
She screamed. Hearing that voice so close, my body almost froze for an instant, but I mercilessly reached out to seize Sith’s soul. Even then, she kept screaming.
“Regacy! Deiplachra! I won’t forgive you! I won’t, I won’t, I won’t! Why is it always you?! Why are you the only good ones?!”
I withdrew my hand. Without harming Dia’s body in the slightest, I extracted only that which was not Dia, transforming it into a magic gem. Naturally, Sith’s death throes echoed through the world.
“I won’t forgive you! I absolutely won’t forgive you! I won’t—”
They cut off abruptly as I took the stone. Sith had lost her body and thus her right to live in this world. At the same moment, Dia’s body began to collapse onto the grassland. I caught her with the hand holding the gem, gently laying her down on the grass.
Carefully, I immediately froze the white magic gem in my hand with Hitaki’s ice magic and placed it into my Inventory. With that, Sith would never wake up again.
“It’s over... Finally...” I said as I looked up at the sky. I lay my sister down beside Dia and breathed an emotional sigh. There would be no more nights when I lay awake, consumed by restless anxiety. Nor would I ever again feel my heart tear apart, remembering my memories from my original world.
I had finally reached my destination.
I picked up Lorwen, Treasured Blade of the Arrace Clan, which I’d tossed to the ground, and apologized for my careless handling as I placed it into my Inventory as well. A smile naturally spread across my lips. Looking closely, it seemed to me that both the sleeping Hitaki and Dia were smiling too.
Though not everything was resolved yet, tears threatened to spill from my eyes. I turned those moist eyes not toward the person I had regained, but in another direction. Not far away Titee and Ide sat huddled together, shoulders pressed against each other and leaning against a familiar white Pieris Aicia tree. They too, like Hitaki and Dia, were smiling gently.