In the same breath, the Seven Heroes started running toward Aria. The real, actual final fight was about to begin.
Aria was roughly one hundred meters away from the heroes. Everyone besides Yoshida could close that distance in a flash using some form of magic or martial art, but this time around, they had to get him in front of Aria. She would not surrender peacefully.
The air itself creaked as the sixteen-winged Aria unleashed a colossal wave of noise, like a terrible mudslide crashing down the side of a mountain, leaving only destruction in its wake. In her eyes, even her childhood friend appeared covered in noise. Her attack surged mercilessly toward Yoshida, who was running straight at her. If the miasma touched him, he would be reduced to ash in but a moment, but—he wasn’t alone.
“I’m counting on you, Kevin, Isabella, Norman, Dora!” Alan shouted.
“Of course!” the four of them replied in unison as they charged forward. They’d already exhausted most of their mana to create the seal earlier, but they would have to muster any remaining strength they had.
“The whistling winter wind sings the end, while the first breeze through the pine trees signals the beginning. As the seasons come and go, so too does life.” Kevin was the one to start them off with his incantation. “This is the final task.”
He poured wind mana into the sword in his left hand, covering it in a layer of wind. The temperature around the sword started to drop, until the wind had cooled to a freezing chill. When wind mana was rotated at ultrahigh speed, it started to rob the surrounding air of its temperature. The resulting attack was similar to a localized blizzard.
“Snowy Wind Dance, Frost Crane!”
“High Grade Thunder Nail, Jewel Flower!”
Thunder Nail, Isabella’s signature move, utilized enchanted nail polish she’d painted on before the fight. It enhanced the power of her lightning magic and allowed her to omit the incantation. However, the nail polish on her right ring finger was different from the rest. Its design was that of a three-dimensional flower. Combined with the custom-made magical catalyst jewel on the same finger, it could unleash a devastating electric shock, if only once per day. The ensuing blast struck like lightning from the heavens and was so deafening it sounded closer to an explosion than thunder.
“Roar, O Mother Earth! Earth Breaker!”
Dora gathered strength throughout her body and slammed the ground as hard as she could. The earth elemental spell she was using was straightforward: it delivered an impact through the ground. With Dora as the user, it was truly earth-shattering. Her strength produced a tremor so powerful it split the earth in half as it traveled toward the Miasma of Rejection.
“Infernooooooo!”
Last but not least, Norman blasted blaze mana with raw momentum, no incantation or technique necessary.
The four heroes’ ultimate attacks clashed with the Miasma of Rejection, blanketing the entire area with a cataclysmic roar. It was a magnificent display worthy of the Seven Heroes. The miasma was repelled for a brief moment, but it started reasserting itself soon afterward.
This outcome was natural, though. Even all of this world’s mana combined—the underworld’s included—couldn’t hold a candle to Aria in her current state. While the four heroes had performed their most powerful finishers, Aria had just used a regular attack. One could never hope to overcome such a wide gulf in strength.
“We can at least change its direction,” Kevin said.
The four heroes shifted the angle of their attacks at a slight diagonal, pointing upward, diverting the miasma toward the sky and away from Yoshida and the other two heroes.
“Hell yeah!” Norman pumped his fist in the air.
Yoshida, as well as Alan and Derek flanking either side of him, took advantage of the opening created by the others stopping the miasma and moved forward.
Seventy meters left.
Aria swiftly directed her attention to the three of them. Despite the heroes’ momentous efforts to stop her miasma, she was as powerful as ever. They’d only managed to create a momentary opening. This time, rather than an area attack that threatened to overwhelm them, she fired thin, concentrated beams of miasma toward Yoshida and the other two. Not just one or two beams, but hundreds all at once.
Dodging an attack like that was impossible. The three heroes were mercilessly run through by the barrage of miasma, but then, with a little popping sound, they vanished into puffs of mist.
“Phantom Fog,” Derek said, his arms folded. He had instantly appeared in a completely different location. “Water magic’s property is adaptability. Those fog copies were made of water from the human body. Looks like they were just as covered in noise as us, and she mistook them for real enemies.”
The other two weren’t next to Derek. They’d made their way behind Aria unnoticed and pressed onward.
Forty meters left.
Aria couldn’t react to them yet, but there was still one problem. It wasn’t her attacks; since they’d sneaked up on her, she wouldn’t fire her Miasma of Rejection at them. They also had no reason to use any attacks that would provoke her automatic defense until Yoshida was close enough to stab her. Unfortunately, the problem was that Aria still passively emitted a tremendous amount of noise. The moment they tried to approach her, they would be swallowed up and erased as easily as bugs jumping into the sun. Worst of all, Alan, who was running in front of Yoshida, had no means to deal with the miasma.
“Raaaaaaah!” Alan let out a fierce roar. The next moment, despite everything, mana of light surged from within him. He’d managed to activate it, thought it was a power that could only be used against demons. Alan and his impossibly light-clad sword drove away the miasma swirling around Aria.
“Go, Yoshida!”
“Thank you, Alan!”
Yoshida ran with all his might.
Thirty meters left.
Alan is an incredible guy through and through, Yoshida thought.
How had Alan managed to use the mana of light when it only triggered against demons? If Yoshida had to name a reason, well, it was probably because Alan was the Champion. There wasn’t some kind of complicated explanation behind it: he was a truly incredible hero. Unlike Yoshida, he’d defeated a mountain of foes and saved many people time and again.
That’s why I have to do the same—at least once, Yoshida told himself. He dashed toward Aria.
Twenty meters left.
Now that he could observe her more closely, he could see that she’d grown just a little older, and although part of her had become monstrous, she was still the same Aria. She looked exactly like his first love, the girl who’d made him feel warm and fuzzy just by standing next to him.
But thirty years had already passed since that day. He was now a forty-two-year-old, middle-aged man. Even the little running he’d done was enough to make him out of breath. He’d never had much stamina even when he was younger, but it had clearly decreased. His age had grown evident on his face, his skin wrinkled and worn.
Will Aria even recognize me? At the eleventh hour, that worry crept into Yoshida’s mind.
Ten meters left.
The face of the girl he’d once loved came into sharp relief as he drew near. The girl who’d lost sight of all beauty in the world, trapped in a relentless prison of despair and nihility, stood before him. The familiar shape of her made the determination to see this through boil up inside him.
Five meters left.
Yoshida clenched his knife, the one Aria had given him thirty years ago, in his hand. She’d asked him to kill her in a trembling voice, but he hadn’t been up to the task back then. Now, though, he pointed the knife’s blade directly at her.
Three meters left.
She was right in front of him.
“Aria!”
Yoshida called her name. He wanted his voice to reach her, for her to realize it was him, here to finally keep his promise.
The next moment, a glimmer of light returned to the girl’s murky eyes.
“Ah, it’s you...” she said, smiling at him, just like the time they’d first met.
As Yoshida saw Aria’s smile, memories of their time together flashed into his mind. Many of them were painful. Most of their memories after she’d started seeing things covered in noise were bitter ones. However, the happy ones shone strongly enough to burn the painful times away. Above all else, no matter how painful or difficult those times had been, just being next to her had made him happy.
She was a precious person to him, none other than his first love. He wanted her to keep living, to stay smiling forever. Those thoughts almost brought him to a halt.
Almost.
“Aaaaaaaaaah!”
Yoshida acted this time. With tears running down his face, courage, determination, and kindness welled up in his heart.
One meter left.
Then, he was there. His knife pierced through her heart.
“Ah...” Fresh blood dripped down Aria’s chest, and the Miasma of Rejection surrounding her started to vanish.
“I’m sorry. I made someone as kind as you suffer so much because of my cowardice.”
Yoshida wept as he held Aria in his arms, her body gradually growing colder. He should’ve done this much sooner. If he’d killed her back when she’d asked him thirty years ago, she wouldn’t have had to kill any more people, nor would she have continued to suffer from the noise for so many years.
“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry...” He couldn’t stop apologizing.
Aria reached her slender arms around Yoshida’s body.
“Ah, it’s quiet, and so warm.” She turned to look at the sky with eyes that found the world so beautiful, just like the time they’d first met. “What a pretty sky... Thank you, Yoshida.”
Aria breathed her last in Yoshida’s embrace, a peaceful smile on her face.