Yoshida arrived at one of the Seventh Kingdom’s military bases completely out of breath.
“Mister Yoshida! You’re safe!” A soldier ran up to Yoshida as soon as he saw him. “I heard that the disaster’s seal was broken and the front line was blown to bits, so I was worried.”
“Y-Yeah, that’s true, but I made it out somehow,” Yoshida replied. Privately, he thought it was only because he’d immediately run away.
“The rest of the Seven Heroes are heading to stop the disaster as we speak.” The soldier pointed at an image displayed on the wall thanks to Norman’s magic. It showed Aria facing Alan’s group. “Will you be joining them, Mister Yoshida?”
“No, I’ll pass. I may look fine, but I’ve broken several bones. I can hardly walk.”
“You could always receive some first aid recovery magic.”
“N-Nah, it’s okay. It’s not like I’ll be of much help even if I go.”
Yoshida wasn’t lying about the broken bones. But, even if they were restored to normal, the most he could do was provide support with his mediocre ether magic.
You never run away, do you, Alan? Yoshida thought as he stared at the image.
Alan had experienced Aria’s hopeless power firsthand in the past, yet he still decided to face her. Unlike Yoshida, he’d always been strong; the same was true for the other heroes too, but Alan especially. Even though Alan could be said to be worse than Yoshida in terms of raw talent, he’d eventually become stronger than anyone thanks to his steady efforts and countless do-or-die battles on the front lines. Courage, determination, and the mental fortitude to never run away had transformed Alan into the man he was today.
Yoshida had none of that. He’d enlisted in the hope of changing his weak self, but he still ended up running away with his tail between his legs no matter what.
“I’m sorry, Aria. The one you fell in love with is a pathetic excuse of a man,” Yoshida mumbled while squeezing his fist hard enough to draw blood.
✦ ✦ ✦
The girl had been suffering, struggling. The world she saw was completely covered in nauseating noise, and the constant buzzing cacophony in her ears didn’t allow her a single moment of rest.
This girl was a gentle soul. She knew that erasing that noise would take the things that were precious to her—or should have been precious, at least—along with it, so at first, she’d secluded herself in a place with no one but herself. That way, there would be no one there for her to hurt. But the noise never stopped. Day in, day out, it grew louder and louder, covering ever larger parts of her world.
Please, I beg you...be quiet!
The incessant, unpleasant noise—both visual and aural—eventually broke her spirit.
“Shut up...”
Her only wish was for it to disappear from around her, to finally give her peace and quiet. So, the girl erased the noise, and transformed into a monster. She’d long since forgotten what the things that appeared as noise to her originally were; she might have even forgotten who she was. All she wanted now was to get rid of the noise. She acted with that sole goal in mind, and in doing so, had become destruction and devastation itself.
Now, six massive sources of noise stood before her. A deafening buzzing spread around her, making her sick to her stomach.
I have to erase it.
All in order to return to a warm, quiet world, like the one where she’d played with that boy.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Here it comes!” Alan shouted.
Not even a second later, a wave of Miasma of Rejection spouted out of Aria’s body and assaulted the six heroes. Of course, none of them were amateurs who’d simply stand there and take it. They swiftly leapt away before their original position was swallowed up. The massive quantity of miasma rushed onward like a tsunami for several kilometers and eradicated everything in its path.
“How terrifying,” Kevin said with cold sweat running down his body.
“Yeah, and all that with only three wings,” Alan said. He pointed at Aria’s back. Three rainbow-colored wings shining ominously grew unevenly out of her back. “Just like last time, her Miasma of Rejection grows stronger with every new wing.”
Alan looked to Isabella. She and Derek had split away from the rest of the group. Each quickly drew a magic circle on the ground and started pouring mana into it.
“Six high-grade magic circles surrounding the target are necessary to set up the Imperial Flower Hexagram Seal Array. It will take us quite some time,” Isabella said.
“I know, but please hurry. Last time, we barely managed to seal Town Girl A when she’d reached eight wings. If we don’t move quickly, she’ll keep growing more of them, so we have to finish this before things get out of control,” Alan said.
While Alan was talking, Aria’s Miasma of Rejection aimed for him, but Dora bashed it from the side with a club and deflected it.
“Your brute strength never disappoints. Strongest human indeed,” Alan told his comrade. It was hard to believe she’d just stopped an all-erasing miasma with brute strength.
“No, it got me a bit,” she admitted. A small part of Dora’s arm had been eaten away, and blood now dripped from the wound.
“Sing, o whirlwind that gallops across the meadow. First Spring Breeze, Morning Swallow!” Kevin attacked Aria with deadly wind magic, but her miasma stood in its way. A thunderous roar echoed at the moment of impact, clearly demonstrating that the “Unrivaled” part of his epithet wasn’t just for show. The spell held such tremendous power that the two forces were equal for an instant.
“And another one on the house!” Norman provided backup with his signature blaze magic, instantly turning the tide in their favor.
However, a grotesque cracking sound rose from Aria as her flesh and bone tore apart to reveal a fourth wing that sprung from her back. Her miasma immediately grew more powerful with terrible momentum.
Kevin and Norman grunted in pain as their combined offensive was pushed back and they were tossed away.
“Are you okay?!” Alan shouted.
“Yeah, more or less. I switched over to a defensive spell that helps me dodge attacks by knocking me away right before they hit,” Norman said.
“As for me, well, it’s not so bad that I can’t fight anymore, at least,” Kevin said as blood ran down his brow.
“Then, it’s as we feared?” Alan asked.
“Exactly. Seems like injuries from her Miasma of Rejection don’t recover even if I go back in time.”
“I see. The destruction we’re facing defies everything in its wake,” Alan said while looking at the sinister noise rising from the girl’s body. “Let’s try this instead.”
Alan combined shukuchi—a martial arts move that increased his movement speed—with Basic Warp to perform a lightning-fast maneuver. He disappeared from Aria’s line of sight before she could even blink. He reappeared behind her and aimed a sharp slash right at her neck, but though her back was turned, his sword was blocked by the Miasma of Rejection.
“It works even if I take her by surprise. It really is automatic.”
Aria turned around without uttering a single word. Alan swiftly darted away to avoid the miasma’s counterattack. The ensuing wave of noise was much more intense than the first one and spread like a polluted river of death for many kilometers.
If we let this go unchecked, humanity really will be done for, Alan thought anew as he took in the miasma’s power.
He turned back to the girl and noticed another rainbow-colored wing growing out of her back. “That’s already the fifth one. They’re growing faster than last time.”
She’d already grown two more wings in the span of this battle. Only three more and the seal would barely work, if at all.
Alan checked Derek and Isabella’s statuses. They’d finished drawing the first two magic circles and were now working toward completing the third and fourth ones. They wouldn’t make it at this pace, and they both knew that. They had to find a way to cut down on the necessary time.
Please hurry, you two! If she grows more than eight wings, we’re truly out of options.