Alan panted heavily with both hands on his knees. He raised his head and looked at the crystal towering over the surrounding area.
“It’s over. Finally.”
It was a long battle. In terms of the actual time span, it was a far cry from the Titanomachy, but the peril and severity were an order of magnitude higher.
The other five heroes had also exhausted most of their mana and were as much out of breath as him.
“Are you watching, William? This old man gave it his all,” he said softly.
Then, he noticed something out of place inside the crystal.
Hold on. She still has her wings.
Eight wings still sprung from Aria’s back, even while she was trapped in the crystal. The Imperial Flower Hexagram Seal Array should have rendered its target powerless and immobile. Her wings were like the power inside her body given form, so they’d disappeared with the previous seal. What did the fact that they were still present mean?
Another rainbow-colored wing started growing out of Aria’s back.
“It’s not over yet, everyone!” Alan shouted.
A cracking sound filled the air. Soon enough, the crystal shattered, and a wave of noise as thick and dense as a mudslide blew the heroes away.
✦ ✦ ✦
The current situation could only be called a catastrophe. The scenery had been replaced by a massive crater spanning several kilometers, and around it stretched an empty wasteland that spread across the horizon.
“Are you guys alive?” Dora asked, her brawny body splayed on the ground.
“Yeah, miraculously,” Kevin replied. He was also down and injured all over.
Dora and Kevin weren’t the only ones in poor shape; all six heroes lay motionless. They’d each sustained heavy enough injuries from the discharge of Aria’s Miasma of Rejection to be put out of commission.
“I never expected her to break the Imperial Flower Hexagram Seal Array,” Derek said in disgust.
“Indeed. And that’s not the end of our problems,” Isabella said as she looked at Aria.
She now stood before them, framed by sixteen rainbow-colored wings. The Miasma of Rejection surrounding her had grown several times over, the cursed pattern on her skin had made further progress, and a chunk of her body had twisted into a grotesque, monstrous shape. Her form was that of despair itself.
The Imperial Flower Hexagram Seal Array was the only way to stop Aria. Her miasma’s unbreakable defense made defeating her in a fight downright impossible. However, she now had double the wings than what the seal could handle, and her miasma was thick and impenetrable. Sealing her away was no longer an option. In this state, it was easy to imagine her reducing an entire kingdom to dust in a second.
“This is a bit too much,” Norman said with a dry laugh.
All Seven Heroes were experienced fighters who’d overcome many challenges, but even they couldn’t help but lose heart before such a predicament.
“Not yet!”
However, one man stood up before anyone else: Alan Granger the Champion of Light. Falling to his knees and cowering before a threat was out of the question for him. No matter how desperate the situation was, or how overwhelmingly powerful the enemy was, he would stand strong.
“Hah, you never change, do you?” Watching Alan’s back inspired Dora to stand.
One after another, the remaining four heroes got up and followed after Alan. It was the same during the Titanomachy. They’d all thought the same thing the first time they’d seen Alan: that they’d never seen anyone with such meager talent before. But, by the end, his gallant back had served as a source of encouragement for all of them. That was the reason such willful heroes recognized Alan as their leader.
The six of them practically dragged their battered bodies toward the monster wielding hopelessly devastating power. This was bravery, the very essence of being a hero.
“Haah...haah... Sorry for being late, guys!”
The last hero had finally appeared.