She was a hero.
Even now, crippled by disease, standing at death’s door, with the very last of her life melting away like a snowflake, Alfia was a hero.
“Haaaaaaargh!!”
“Luminous Wind!!”
She danced between the blades of justice, nullified the flames that bore down on her like a hammer, and with a sweep of her arm unleashed the gospel that swept everything away.
She was a hero. In power, in strength, in appearance. Though she walked the path of evil, she was a hero nonetheless—perhaps the worthiest of the title by far.
“Mages!” screamed Lyra. “Keep peltin’ her with spells! Don’t let up!”
“Keep fighting!” shouted Kaguya. “Don’t give up, and don’t run!”
Their faces were stained in blood, but none of them took their eyes off the witch for a moment.
“Answer that monster with everything we have!!”
The disciples of justice raised a rallying cry in response to Kaguya’s words.
“I can’t show my back! Not to her!”
Clad in a verdant light and gripping her two swords, one elf ran forward, her mind attuned to nothing but the blood-spluttering hero before her.
“We have to surpass her! It’s the only way!”
Everything accelerated. Swords, shields, staffs. Flashes, slashes, bursts, and roars. Even their minds. The disciples of justice devoted everything they had to the pursuit of more and more power.
“Alga! Alga! Alga!!”
Each time she spoke the word of power, more and more of Alize’s energy was drawn from her body and into her magic. The fires around her grew and roared, and at last, they collided with the sound of the witch.
“Alvarna!”
“Gospel!”
Their blazing movements were like a shower of meteors. The shooting stars of justice left glowing paths in their wake, combining their radiant light to extinguish evil.
“Alize… Girls…”
The gods watched from atop their cliff. Beside Astrea, the primordial darkness donned a smile.
“A battle of good and evil—their last battle, at that. Yes, this is what I wanted to see!”
Erebus shivered and spread his arms.
“This is your story, connecting the past to the present, and stretching on into the future!!”
Beneath his and Astrea’s watchful gazes, the black star of evil faced off against the myriad comets of justice.
Until…
“O cursed root of my blessing, O maledict birth. O sin of mine, my twinn’d half’s demise…”
The witch began a third incantation.
“That’s not her usual spell! It’s a new one!”
“Wait, this is…”
“It’s an ultra-long chant!”
It was not her wave of sound, focused on speed. Nor was it her magic-nullifying enchantment. Lyana, Maryu, and Celty, being the mages of the group, were the first to realize that fact. The witch had been concealing a third ability this entire time and was just now invoking it.
“Grh! Stop her! Don’t let her finish!!” yelled Kaguya. She could feel in her bones that whatever Alfia was planning, it would surely end the battle in one fell instant.
Lyu and the rest of her familia charged the witch, like bees swarming a scent they can’t ignore.
Many times their blades rang out; a vortex of strikes that birthed gouts of flames and gusts of wind, creating an inescapable realm of justice. However, the song of evil went on unhindered.
“There is no ablution, purification, or solace. Heaven’s bell begets my sin.”
Alfia’s sonorous voice continued its ode to demise.
She’s dodging all our blows! She’s even fighting back!
Concurrent Casting! We can’t stop her!
It was a peculiar stance. With both arms hanging limply by her waist, she weaved to and fro like a weeping willow, evading every last swing the girls took at her. Alize and Lyu were shocked to see that none of their attacks were connecting at all; the witch paid no heed to their consternation and struck the two girls in their plate armor with a sweep of her chopping hand.
Even Riveria and Gareth were distracted, their eyes drawn away from Delphyne and toward the melody of battle unfolding at the other end of the floor.
“This incantation… This flood of magic! There’s no mistake; it’s Alfia’s final spell!!”
“You mean the one she used to finish off the Leviathan?! Is she crazy? She’ll destroy us—and the whole floor, too!”
They were the only two beings present who had witnessed that spell before, at the conclusion of one of the Three Great Quests. More than anyone else, they feared what was about to be unleashed.
“Why, Alfia? Why do you seek destruction? If you have so much power, then can’t you find another way?”
But Alfia ignored the high elf’s pleas.
“O bugle of the gods. O harp of spirits passed, O melody of light; all traces of my unpardonable act.”
Discarding her silence, the witch drew deeply and allowed everything within her to become her strength.
“O wretched life of mine; the god’s most blessed craft, hearken now my hate!”
She laid her heart bare, using the key of hate to unlock the belfry of her sin.
“Here is my confession! The price of my sin, I pay in full!”
Her chant reached a crescendo as it approached its conclusion. The eyes of every girl in Astrea Familia beheld the same blinding light. A powerful, all-consuming…gray. Not the white that she could never attain, but a cruel reminder of the sin that tainted her very soul.
Then Alfia raised one arm and pointed up, and a magic circle appeared above her head, above which spawned a large gray object in the rough shape of a church bell.
“Hear the howl of the holy belfry!”
Everything shook. It sounded nothing like it should. It was a noise with no future—an awesome, magnificent sound that heralded the end of days.
Lyu felt trapped in time.
Alize felt frozen in ice.
Kaguya was awestruck.
Riveria and Gareth looked on in horror. The black winds calmed, and even Delphyne was hesitant.
There was no stopping her now. The ash-gray bell that hung above her shone with searing light, then cracked, and burst open, releasing a howl of destruction that swept the land.
“Genos Angelus.”
It was the epitome of ruin. It snuffed out all the flames, quenching light from the floor in an instant. It shattered the land, extinguished fires, and broke the trees.
Pure destruction. That’s what was coming for them. The waves it left in its wake were enough to strip the adventurers of their gear and cause blood to seep from their eardrums. Moments later, the true blast bore down on them like a god-slaying hammer.
It was the cry of a Level 7 who wanted everything to perish.
The effect range was over one hundred meders. It couldn’t be dodged. It couldn’t be blocked. This would spell the end of Astrea Familia.
But just then…
“Finally, my time to shine!”
One of the girls started running straight at her.
“Raaaaaaaaaaahhh!”
Before anybody could stop her, Lyra pulled the shield off her back and threw herself at the oncoming sound, curling herself up to fit fully behind it. Immediately upon impact, the shield shattered into a million pieces, but not without first neutralizing the effect of Alfia’s spell.
“Wha—?!”
Kaguya, Riveria, and even Alfia couldn’t believe their eyes. It was the witch herself who first realized what had just happened.
“That was my Silentium Eden! But how?!”
Only one among them possessed the knowledge to answer her. After flying halfway across the battlefield and rolling painfully across the ground, Lyra shot her a smile.