RECOLLECTIONS CHAPTER 4 THE WIND’S DESIRED ETERNITY
Everything was going smoothly. Aiz gained much under Finn’s leadership, from Riveria’s teachings, and through Gareth’s admonishments.
Having run out of tears to shed, Aiz threw herself into battle day in and day out. And day by day, she started forgetting how to smile, but even so, she showed growth in many areas as they watched over her.
The city was as turbulent as always, and she could hear the siren’s song of destruction and chaos, but she still kept running without losing sight of herself.
She felt fulfilled in those days.
Everything was going smoothly—or at least it should have been.
Aiz Wallenstein
LEVEL 1
Strength: D591 ? D593 Endurance: D559 Dexterity: B788 Agility: A800 ? 801 Magic: I0
Aiz furrowed her brows.
Looking at the update sheet Loki handed her, she unconsciously clenched her fist.
“Aiz, this is the same path everyone has followed. Don’t take it too hard.”
“As you master your ability, your rate of development naturally decreases. It’s not like you have no more room to grow.”
“Yeah. That’s just how Statuses work.”
Finn, Riveria, and Loki were all offering encouragement, but it went in one ear and out the other.
Aiz’s Status had plateaued. After her strength had seemed to go up by leaps and bounds every day, it had suddenly stopped.
Now, day after day after day, her growth had been limited to these small boosts that might as well have been rounding errors. It was almost as if she had reached her limit.
Aiz was getting impatient.
Up until now, she had felt herself actually getting stronger and improving. Even the strategy and techniques that Finn had drilled into her had proven their value. All of it had been reflected in the numbers going up on her Status. Those numbers proved she was on the right path, and the more they went up, the more confident she could feel in her progress.
However, now—
It’s too low…
The upper bound for her base abilities—in other words, her proficiency in a given field—was 999.
That was the upper bound for Aiz based on her race.
The winter one year after she entered Loki Familia, Aiz hit a wall.
“…Level up.”
When those two words crossed her lips, the others’ faces tensed.
“What do I need…to level up…?”
Level up. The spiritual container’s sublimation. The one process that existed for surpassing the limits that had been placed on her body and moving to a higher realm.
Riveria responded to the girl’s question.
“…Leveling up is not something that an adventurer simply just does. There are steps you have to go through.”
“Ye just need to keep goin’ through the labyrinth like you have been. I know it’s frustrating, but that’s the fastest way.”
“You can’t get impatient here, Aiz. You have to go deliberately and carefully.”
Gareth, Riveria, and Finn all expressed the same opinion.
“There is no point in rushing it. We have all seen countless adventurers get impatient like you are now and then self-destruct when they could not control that impatience. So just calm yourself, Aiz.”
What are you saying? This isn’t a joke.
Aiz couldn’t help feeling that their statements were an attempt to hold her back.
I want to get strong. I need to get strong. I don’t have time to be standing still.
It was the first wall she had encountered, and even if she couldn’t see it, she could feel it blocking her path. And their responses just fanned the flames of her impatience. It was an expression of her fear that she might have reached the limits of her growth.
The unease she felt welling up turned into anger as she looked away. Clenching the update paper in her fist, she stormed out of the office.
“…Riveria, about tellin’ Aizuu how to level up…”
“I won’t tell her. There’s no way I could.”
After Aiz had left…
Riveria looked down as she responded to Loki’s question.
“Yeah, I guess so,” the goddess mumbled, resting her hands behind her head.
“Leveling up requires high-level excelia. That means a great accomplishment…something you can only achieve by adventuring.”
“Defeating an opponent far stronger than you, delving deeper into the Dungeon and facing death countless times…Those are the last things we should be letting Aiz do. Like Riveria said, she would charge in, do something reckless, and get herself hurt or worse.”
Finn and Gareth picked up after Riveria left off. Their anguish was audible.
It was hiding in the shadows now, but Aiz’s tendency to not care about herself had not been eliminated. She was still perfectly content to risk life and limb in order to prioritize her wish.
On an adventure where her life was at risk, it was a land mine waiting to be stumbled onto.
“But still, we can’t let things stay this way, ya know? Aizuu’s just buildin’ up more stress and might just blow as it is. So what are ya gonna do about it?”
Loki wouldn’t let them escape from the reality of the situation or delay the inevitable. Of the three followers entrusted with the growth of their familia’s newer members and pioneering deeper into the Dungeon, Riveria responded first with a firm rejection.
“We should not treat her any differently from the others. She can target monsters of a similar or higher level as a member of a party. Even if that takes more time and effort.”
Gareth and Finn nodded in agreement.
“There’s little we can do when it comes to the ‘great accomplishment’ she would need.”
“All we can do is make sure she adventures safely, though I admit that’s an odd turn of phrase.”
Loki reluctantly accepted their unanimous judgment.
She narrowed her eyes slightly, looking past the door Aiz had just stormed out, then shifted topics to change the mood.
“Finn, when was the deadline for the expedition mission again?”
“Mm, with an extension, maybe in one month? Royman was bugging me about it yesterday.”
“Speakin’ of unreasonable requests, take a look at what the Guild is askin’. We have to face down those Evils bastards, protect the peace, aye, and don’t forget the expedition to unexplored territory, not to mention everything else.”
Gareth sighed and grumbled about their workload.
It was Loki Familia’s job as the strongest faction and thus the representative of Orario. They didn’t really have the time to be obsessing over the fate of one girl.
“They want a successor to Zeus and Hera as soon as possible. Someone with the influence and power to end this period of chaos…to be a symbol to calm the masses inside and outside the city. And that’s our job, since we were the ones who ran them out of the city in the first place.”
Finn’s blue eyes narrowed as he clasped his hands on the desk.
He was also chasing his ambition. Torn between his duty as leader of the faction and his personal desire, he had to make concessions as he searched for the best response. He had the same wish as Aiz, but he displayed an adult’s maturity that she lacked.
“What do you intend to do about Aiz? Will you bring her along, Finn?”
Riveria was also trying to balance her job as second-in-command and her role as teacher as best she could.
“…I’ll wait and see. There’s the obvious question of whether she’s strong enough to contribute, but even before that, if she stays like this, I’m going to leave her aboveground.”
Finn closed his eyes and shook his head.
“If we took her deeper into the Dungeon in this state, we might as well just perform her last rites now.”
Golden eyes watched her father’s back as he swung his sword.
She was sitting with her mother in the shade of a tree as the sun’s warm rays filtered through.
He seemed embarrassed by people watching him practice, so he didn’t like to do it in front of others. But when Aiz’s mother coaxed him to let her watch, he would always give in. After his initial embarrassment, he would soon become engrossed in swinging his sword, and her mom would watch his gallant face with a smile. And Aiz’s cheeks would always flush as the sight captivated her.
She couldn’t keep up with the blurred blade. But she could still tell how beautiful his techniques were. His lower body hardly moved as he swung the sword freely in all directions, as if it were a conductor’s baton. Sometimes he would take a big step in and spin around, making a silver arc through the air. She could remember that sword’s melody whenever she wanted by simply closing her eyes.
She loved seeing his techniques.
She knew that her father’s sword was used for hurting things. And the flash of an unhesitating sword calling forth a mist of blood was a scary thought to her. But that was a sword for saving everyone.
A sword to protect her mother.
When she thought of that, she was proud of her father. She aspired to be like him.
He was the hero she dreamed of. The swordsman her mother loved.
Finally, after finishing his training, he came back to the shade of the tree.
She beamed at him as he approached, and he returned her smile, the wind blowing his hair.
“Aiz.”
He said her name and held out his sheathed blade to her.
After a moment of wide-eyed hesitation, she took the sword in both her hands.
It had a profound weight, but for some reason, it also felt comfortable to her.
Her father smiled as he watched her.
“Aiz.”
Turning to face the voice coming from behind her, she saw her mother smiling as well.
Almost as if telling her to follow her father, she raised her arm, held up her finger, and made a sound.
“?”
Along with the sound, Aiz felt a tender breeze embracing her body. She trembled, giggling as the wind’s whispers tickled her.
Her mother broke into a smile and wrapped her arms around her and the wind.
“I’ll always be with you.”
This person. And me.
She nodded at the woman’s words. She nodded over and over as she smiled…
As she basked in the warmth of her father and mother, happiness filled her.
The sword was calling her closer, and the wind was smiling so gently.
—And that was where her memories of the past cut out.
* * *
“…”
Feeling tears flowing down her cheeks, she opened her eyes. Aiz got up without speaking, rubbing her eyes as she sat atop the bed. All alone in the room as the remnants of the dream’s warmth dissipated, she returned to cold reality.
Why now?
Why did I see that dream?
Aiz cursed herself, her memories, and the scenes of her past.
Why now, when she couldn’t just forget everything by frantically rushing forward? When she was blocked by the wall that was her limit?
“…”
Outside the window was a gray morning sky in stark contrast to the scene from her dream. It was as if the world was expressing the feelings in her heart. After staring at that darkness for a moment, Aiz got out of bed and quickly changed. Reflected in the mirror in the corner of her room was the profile of a girl whose smile had died. The look of a doll who had smothered her feelings.
—It would have been better if it were all a dream.
That was what the girl in her heart whispered. The weak Aiz cowering in the darkness hugging her knees.
“…I have to fight.”
Because those days were long past, and they would never come back.
That dream was followed by several days filled with unease and impatience.
She would descend into the Dungeon and slaughter more monsters with a more ghastly vigor than before, but she could not get past that wall. Her Status continued to stagnate. Riveria and the others accompanying her would scold her when she kept fighting without any pause for rest, and she heard them tenderly tell her to “calm down” countless times. From that point on, they had Aiz team up with other low-level followers in order to search the Dungeon as a party, but that just tortured Aiz even more as she started to suspect that it was a way to keep her from acting rashly.
Aiz heard the crackle of fire—the black flame flickering in her heart.
You have to get stronger. If you don’t—
She broke out in an unpleasant sweat. Her heart trembled. Standing before the wall blocking her way, she felt more and more lost as her goal vanished before her eyes. As soon as she stopped moving, an icy loneliness would grip her.
The feeling of cowering alone in the darkness. Of being left behind by important people, of facing cold reality, of being abandoned by the world. The loneliness tearing her apart, accompanied by a flood of tears. She had papered over this abject emptiness with the will to fight for her wish, and now it was threatening to engulf that tiny body. The things that Riveria and the others were trying to help Aiz forget were starting to latch on to her.
She had to do something. She had to break open a path for herself.
Because Aiz knew that no help would come for her.
She realized that a hero wouldn’t appear.
She would even let that disgusting black flame consume her if that was what it would take. She would never again be that child crying away all her feelings.
Aiz struggled. In order to avoid being ensnared by the weak little girl she had left behind.
Her trusted sword did not tell her anything as it continued to bathe in the blood of monsters.
It had been a while since she had visited a place this packed with adventurers.
Gareth and the others took care of selling her drop items. They used the establishments at Babel to take care of everything, including exchanging them for money.
Guild Headquarters was crowded with people returning from the Dungeon. While rounding up even more familias to send out to maintain the peace and stand against the rise of evil, they were also encouraging the Dungeon crawling necessary to obtain more magic stones to support Orario’s industry. She was careful not to let her adult coworkers knock her over as she made her way through the lobby.
Aiz had come here by herself behind Riveria’s back, searching for the secret to leveling up.
She had realized that they were hiding something about reaching the next phase of her spiritual container, because they wouldn’t tell her anything about the actual method of leveling up and showed no intention of ever telling her. And they had sworn the other members of Loki Familia to the same secrecy.
She could try asking total strangers and other adventurers, but she knew that her fellow rookies were jealous of her. They either wouldn’t give her a clue because she was ahead of them, or they’d lie to her. The malice hidden in the latter was her main concern. No matter how impatient she was, she was not yet desperate enough to risk something so stupid and careless. Raised as an adventurer by the likes of Riveria, Finn, and Gareth, she could not go that far.
Consequently, since Aiz had no connections with anyone outside the familia, the only place she had to turn to was here.
“Ummm…”
“Hi, how can I help y…? Wait, aren’t you…Aiz Wallenstein?”
The red-haired receptionist at the window, the werewolf Rose Faunette, was visibly surprised by her unexpected guest. She had thought it was a prum adventurer at first, but just like the day they first met, she dropped her formal receptionist tone.
“It’s been a while, hasn’t it? You’ve sure become something. If I could have been your adviser, I’d probably have gotten a raise by now…Tch, I missed my chance.”
“…”
“I thought the monsters would get you before long, but…I guess Riveria and those guys did a good job protecting you. Must be nice to be so loved.”
It was just her nature, but Rose bluntly spoke her mind.
Businesslike—as if she was trying to maintain a distance between her and the adventurers she dealt with. Perhaps that was the secret to her success as a receptionist.
Watching Aiz silently acknowledge her small talk with an unchanging, aloof expression, the red-haired beauty shrugged.
“Okay, okay, I got it. So what do you need?”
Aiz finally spoke.
“Leveling up…How do I do it?”
Rose’s brow furrowed in surprise, and her eyes met Aiz’z golden ones. She could see the black sparks of a girl willing to do whatever it would take to escape the corner she was trapped in.
“…Isn’t it something that eventually comes from going down into the Dungeon?”
“Liar! Just tell me!”
“I’m not lying. It’s the truth. That’s what all the other adventurers do.”
Rose maintained her flippant tone as Aiz leaned in, glaring at her. Her expression soon changed, though, and she looked down at the girl with a serious gaze.
“And even if I did know more…I wouldn’t tell you as you are now.”
“!”
“I don’t want your blood on my hands.”
The girl’s doll-like mask slipped in her desperation when Rose hit her with that.
Aiz was gnawing at her lips, when—
“Ahhh, I’ve finally come back after my long journey! Were you lonely without me, Sofi?!”
“…?”
She heard an extremely loud laugh from another window.
Looking over, she saw a man—a god—with orange hair talking to a receptionist.
“I didn’t notice you were gone. I’d have been fine if you never came back, honestly.”
“Ahhh, yeah, I love it when a lovely elf gives me the cold shoulder! How’s about we go on a date now?!”
“I’ve got work to do here, and you’re getting in the way, so if you could just go back to wherever you came from and never return, I’d appreciate it.”
The cold-looking silver-haired elf receptionist was particularly rough in rejecting the playboy god. She seemed rather experienced at doing it.
“Ah, that god’s always like that. Though I guess you could say the same for all the gods who play around. Anyway, if you don’t need anything else, head back to your familia. Lately the Evils have been acting suspiciously, so you shouldn’t be loitering around by yourself.”
As Aiz glanced over at the boisterous back-and-forth, Rose urged her to leave. Pursing her lips as the werewolf started taking care of another adventurer, she left Guild Headquarters.
Lately, it was as if the overcast skies were reflecting her clouded mind. Beneath that ashen sky, Aiz felt a whole new level of concern as her final hope failed.
She cut through the main branch’s wide front garden when—
“Are you the Doll Princess?”
A familiar voice called out from behind her.
Turning around, the ridiculous god from before was walking toward her.
“I’m not totally up-to-date on things happening in Orario after being gone so long. To think a rookie like you would have shown up.”
His eyes, the same color as his hair, were unmistakably focused on Aiz. Fingering the brim of his travel hat, the dandy god smiled.
Assuming it was just the meddling of a god looking to amuse himself, Aiz turned to ignore him as he chased after her, but…
“Weren’t you asking about leveling up earlier?”
At those words, she stopped and faced him again.
“By chance, are you worried about growth after your Status hit its limit?”
“!”
“And no one will tell you how to level up, despite all your worries? That ring a bell?”
Aiz could only stare in shock as he kept putting all her thoughts into words.
His smile never changed as he finally stood eye to eye with her. He moved his face closer to hers, peering into her eyes.
“Looks like I’m onto something…Are you the one Zeus—?”
Thanks to her shock, she missed the second part that he murmured to himself.
He stood back up.
“Shall I tell you how to level up?”
“?!”
“I’d rather you not be so suspicious. Guiding children is a god’s duty. That’s just common sense, isn’t it?”
“…Will you really…tell me?”
“I swear upon the things over which I preside: I won’t lie.”
Aiz didn’t care anymore why the god had approached her or what he was trying to achieve.
She leaned in aggressively.
“Please tell me!”
“Sounds good. The hero who will bear the Era of Promise…It’s best to raise the odds as much as possible, even if it’s only a bit.”
The god’s smile deepened as he said the last part to himself.
“As for my name…Well, maybe not. It would probably be a pain if Loki found out. So I’d appreciate it if you didn’t tell anyone about me.” The dandy god added that clause to their deal.
Aiz impatiently accepted without a second thought.
In the middle of the relatively deserted front garden, the god whispered to her.
“The condition for sublimating our Blessing…is accomplishing great feats.”
“Where are you, Aiz?!”
She could hear a voice calling her.
Aiz knew immediately it was Riveria.
It had been almost a full year since they had first met. She was always strict, sometimes kind, and very rarely warm. That clear, bell-like voice had reached her ears like a gentle touch countless times. It was almost always with her. That was why Aiz could guess what sort of face Riveria was making right now. However, despite knowing it, she pretended not to hear her.
Night enshrouded Orario, and the sound of falling rain engulfed the city.
Shivering in the cold winter downpour, Aiz walked toward the area lit by the magic-stone streetlight.
“Riveria…”
“Aiz…?!”
The sight that greeted her as she turned the corner left Riveria speechless.
Armor stained red, her battle dress in tatters. The rain washed away the blood, but it couldn’t hide the deep red gashes in her skin. The girl who appeared beneath the magic-stone light was the image of a broken-down doll.
Aiz had not even remembered to put her trusted sword back into its scabbard. Her palms were bleeding after swinging it so much. She looked up at the shocked elf, but her face was blank, showing no emotion at all.
“I’d like a potion…”
Riveria had been searching for Aiz nonstop since she left the manor by herself. The elf’s gorgeous jade hair that she had grown out was clinging to her face in the rain. She was at a loss for words.
“I’m going to the Dungeon again…”
When Aiz confessed what she had been doing, Riveria’s face twisted.
“What are you doing?! What are you saying?!” she screamed, dashing toward Aiz and kneeling down in front of her.
She didn’t give her a potion. Instead, she practically assaulted her with a healing spell. As a testament to the high elf’s emotional state, she used too much Mind, and the jade magic glow healed Aiz’s wounds in an instant, even restoring her stamina.
“You went to the Dungeon by yourself?! How much were you fighting?! No, what were you fighting?!”
“…Infant dragons.”
Infant dragons.
A rare monster that appeared on the eleventh and twelfth floors, it was the only dragon in the upper floors—the monster that held the greatest potential. For the upper-floor region that didn’t have Monster Rexes, it was effectively the floor boss.
Hearing the name of that monster from Aiz’s mouth, Riveria felt her shock give way to rage.
“I beat it, but…but it’s still not enough…I have to beat more.”
Meeting the elf’s eyes with her emotionless gaze, Aiz gradually continued.
Riveria howled at the girl’s obsessive level of fighting spirit.
“You fool! Are you out of your mind?! Do you think I’ll allow that?!”
“…”
“How many times have I told you never to go to the Dungeon by yourself? Why did you disobey us?!”
“…”
“Why would you do that?!”
She grabbed Aiz’s shoulders with both hands, rage and sorrow blending in her voice.
Hanging her head, Aiz gritted her teeth and knocked away the hands that were gripping her shoulders.
“…You wouldn’t…”
“Ai…z…?”
“You wouldn’t tell me…”
Riveria was in shock as Aiz looked up, glaring at her as she shouted back.
“You wouldn’t tell me! You kept quiet about how to level up!”
“!!”
“You tried to hide the part about great feats!”
She shouted at those stunned jade eyes, and her voice became louder as the pent-up anger broke free. She hadn’t realized just how angry she was.
“Even though you knew my wish!”
Aiz’s feelings couldn’t be stopped. Even though she knew that she was making up reasons to hide the truth, she couldn’t stop herself from blaming Riveria.
Aiz thought she was getting stronger. That she was growing as they watched over her and she followed their lessons. She thought that they would acknowledge her by now.
But she was wrong.
They wouldn’t have faith in her, in her strength. Judging it dangerous, they had hidden the key from her.
If the condition for leveling up had been something else, she wouldn’t be so troubled. But for Aiz as she was then, strength was everything. If they couldn’t trust her strength, then what value did the War Princess have? She had nothing left to rely on. Their good intentions were a rejection of Aiz’s entire being.
Aiz didn’t know why it hurt her so much.
But there was no hiding from the fact that the lack of recognition had torn a hole in her heart.
“Where did you hear that…?”
Riveria mumbled in shock—the girl had learned the method to overcome her limits.
Aiz glared, closing her heart off further when the elf didn’t deny her accusation.
“I’m going to the Dungeon again. I’m going to go and get my level-up.”
Riveria reached out for Aiz, who was clenching the sword in her right hand.
“Calm down and wait, Aiz! This isn’t the time for that!”
A wild, emotional swing drove her back.
Smack! Her outstretched hand was knocked away and Aiz pushed her chest. The shocked elf fell back a step as Aiz screamed.
“Then when is the time?!!” she shouted, consumed by her emotions. “I have to become strong! I don’t want to waste my time. I can’t do that!”
Her mother’s smile and her father’s words from that day flashed through her head. The scene quickly shattered, and all that remained was a little girl alone in the dark.
It was the piercing wail of a child who could only cry as she drew the sword before her eyes.
“Aiz, listen to me, please. I—”
“No! No! Don’t get in my way!” She interrupted Riveria when the elf tried to approach again. Aiz refused to let her get close. “I’m not your doll!”
The next instant—slap!
A loud sound came from her cheek. The sword she was gripping slipped to the ground. Staring in shock, Aiz only realized she had been slapped because of the heat emanating from her cheek.
She froze for several seconds. Looking in front of her, she saw the rain-drenched Riveria glaring at her with an expression she had never seen before.
“How dare you. You don’t know how I feel, either!”
Part rage, part grief, part suffering.
The raindrops running down her cheeks looked almost like tears to Aiz.
“Do you really not know what I think of you?! Why don’t you understand that I—that we are worried about you?!”
Riveria’s own shout rang out.
It was the first time she had ever showed such a strong reaction. She was a bundle of emotions to rival Aiz’s.
The girl’s resolve, the determination she had to sacrifice anything, even herself, in order to fulfill her wish, wavered. Pierced by those straightforward jade eyes, her golden eyes faltered, swerved.
“We are…a family.”
Aiz was flustered.
That gaze, the pleading.
—But she was also gripped by fury.
At her own stupidity.
At the weak Aiz who had turned her mother and father into memories, who had thrown away her past in order to dive into now.
Shock and anger, fear and confusion, all of it swirled inside her.
“Aiz, I lo—”
“Stop it!!”
Aiz screamed.
“No! You’re wrong! Don’t say that! Don’t try to confuse me!”
She kept shouting, “Wrong, wrong,” shaking her head violently over and over.
Her doll-like mask slipping, she looked her age: a little girl shaking her hair madly, tossed about on a roiling sea of emotions.
Aiz floundered, trying to deny it. Turning her back on all the memories of Riveria that flashed through her head, she fled into the embrace of her task, shrouded in black flame.
“You’re not…”
Aiz’s eyes narrowed in fury, glaring at the woman who stood transfixed before her. Opening her quivering lips, she delivered her decisive blow.
“You’re not my mother!”
The moment she yelled her rejection of Riveria, it was as if time stopped for both of them. The sounds of the world grew distant. Her scream echoed through the city, quickly drowned out by the sound of the rain.
A rain-soaked silence pierced her ears. Breathing raggedly, Aiz desperately tried to suppress the hiccups rising in her throat.
Why was Aiz hurt when she was the one who had said it?
For some reason, when she saw Riveria’s frozen face, she felt an intense regret.
Perhaps because of the falling rain, her field of vision seemed to blur.
“…”
The face of the woman in her golden eyes looked like a blank mask.
Riveria quietly, emotionlessly responded.
“You are right…I’m not your mother.”
“—!!”
“And I can’t take her place.”
The moment the words left her mouth, Aiz ran off. Turning away from the elf, she picked up the sword she had dropped and kicked the ground with all her might as if trying to destroy it.
Droplets that weren’t rain flowed from her eyes. Aiz kept wiping them with her free hand, scattering transparent beads behind her as she ran.
Nothing had changed. Nothing would change.
She had always known that she was alone.
The people who had loved her had left her behind and disappeared. Those blessed days had degraded into long-gone memories, fragments of the past that tormented Aiz.
There was no such thing as eternity. Only the moment. And nothing could soothe that never-ending pain. Loki and the others couldn’t do it, and neither could Riveria.
She was alone.
She always had been. And always would be. Always.
Looked down on for being a doll, continuing to kill monsters without ever listening to any voice of reason. Loved by no one, understood by no one.
She should have known that already. Her tears should have long since dried up. And yet, she couldn’t rid herself of the feelings clouding her eyes.
She screamed with all her might in an attempt to drown them out, running wildly through the city’s darkness.
“…”
Even after the girl had disappeared into the rain, Riveria couldn’t move from that spot. How many minutes? Hours? Unable even to chase after that small figure, she stood with the rain pelting down on her.
“Riveria!”
“What of Aiz?! Was she here?”
Voices called out to Riveria as she stood battered by the elements, unmoving and not wearing any rain gear.
Finn and Gareth dashed over to her.
The high elf’s lips quivered as she struggled to break her silence.
“Finn…Gareth…What should I do?”
She had never before relied on others for determination, but now she felt helpless, unsure. She didn’t know what to do with herself after exchanging barbs with the little girl. Her words were tinged with regret and anguish.
Her comrades from other races held their tongues. They understood just from looking at her after all the times they had fought shoulder to shoulder in the past.
It had been a long time since they had seen Riveria look this frail. In fact, it was probably the first time she had ever seemed so weak.
“What should I do?”
As Finn silently looked at the dispirited elf, Gareth furrowed his brow. Forcefully grabbing the collar of the taller Riveria, he dragged her shocked face closer to his.
“Get a grip, ye damn fool!!”
Gareth’s deadly serious, thundering anger shocked Riveria.
“I used to say you elves worry too much! I thought you had gotten better than you used to be, but I see nothin’s changed!”
“What’d you say?!”
“If yer gonna act like a teacher or a parent, then have the resolve to do it right!”
Her face suddenly red with anger, Riveria knocked away Gareth’s hands. But the dwarf snorted without backing down at all from the fire in her eyes.
“What’s that face?”
“What would a dwarf like you know…?! When I’m feeling lost…!”
“Lost? Feh, don’t give me that shit!” He continued shouting. “Isn’t that lass a lot more lost than you are right now?!”
“!!”
Riveria’s eyes widened in shock at his thunderous shout.
“Yer just scared of Aiz! You’re tryin’ to keep a dignified attitude and pickin’ yer words carefully to avoid hurtin’ her; you didn’t just say how ye feel!”
“…”
“You think ye could tell her with your dithering and beating around the bush?! If ye don’t know the right words and ye don’t know what to do, then just pull her close and give her a damn hug!”
There was no rebuttal to Gareth’s booming voice. Riveria couldn’t respond. All she could do was clench her fists.
“Gareth, you went too far.”
“…Yeah, I’m sorry. I got a bit too heated.”
It’s not Riveria’s fault; it’s all of ours, was what Finn left unsaid. They had all missed the signs that something was wrong with her. Gareth exhaled.
“Riveria, go look for Aiz again. If you aren’t there, nothing will change.”
“…But she already rejected me. I’m in no place to—”
“Riveria.”
This time it was Finn, quietly but forcefully.
“Quit worrying about stupid shit like yer ‘place.’ Don’t belittle the time you’ve spent by Aiz’s side. Or are you saying all of that was a lie?”
This time Riveria hung her head.
“—I thought you were lookin’ a bit glum, but I guess none of us’ve changed.” As if having heard their arguments, their patron goddess appeared before them without a care for her drenched body. “Inseparable through thick and thin.” She smiled cheerfully.
“Riveria, lift yer head.”
“What Aiz needs now isn’t our voices.”
“Aren’t you the one she’s been closest to the longest?”
Loki offered encouragement, Finn firm assurance, and Gareth a solid argument. Riveria raised her head and looked back at them.
“Going after the girl who ran away from home is obviously her mama’s job.”
Half teasing, their patron deity added one last point. Riveria started to argue but couldn’t muster the energy and just smiled as she gave in.
Before Finn, Gareth, and Loki found Riveria.
The girl was running through the rain holding her sword.
A deep-purple pair of eyes was watching her.
Inside a building shrouded in darkness, a god smiled.
“Hey, Valletta. You know the Doll Princess?”
“What are you talking about, Thanatos? Of course I know her. She’s the little girl Finn and the others are raising. A cheeky rookie who’s gotten stronger at a crazy rate…A real piece of work.”
The patron gods and the leaders of the Evils were shrouded in darkness. Thanatos Familia and several other factions and followers of the evil gods were operating behind the scenes to spread more destruction and upheaval in the city.
“What about her?”
“You see, I happened to lay eyes on her one time, and I’ve been interested ever since. You can see it smoldering in her eyes even from a distance—that dark-black flame.”
Underneath his tattered black hood, the god’s eyes were following Aiz. They narrowed as she ran through the city spread out beneath him.
“She’s got the scent of death to her, and it’s strong. Real strong. Strong enough I can’t just leave it alone. I am the God of Death, after all.”
Giving off an aura of debauchery, the god Thanatos grinned.
“Hey, Valletta, can we change our plans for today?”
“Huh?”
“Go a little wild, show off, ya know? Make it so Loki Familia—anyone who’d get in my way, really—won’t come near the Dungeon.”
The death god was staring at the golden-haired girl’s destination—the city’s center, Babel—as he made his proposition.
“I can’t order around the gods of other familias. You want to change the plan, then talk to them—”
“It’ll be a nice way to mess with Loki Familia’s Braver, though…”
“?”
At the mention of Braver, the Evils leader Valletta Grede fell silent.
Finally, as if grasping his divine will, she broke into a smile.
“You pervert. You’re after that brat.”
“You’ve got it all wrong. There’s no ulterior motive here.”
While Valletta turned and spread the new orders to her subordinates, Thanatos continued watching the girl from behind, his lips twisting to reveal a crescent smile.
“Helping lost children is a god’s job, after all.”
Aiz proceeded into the Dungeon.
She didn’t know why her feet had carried her there. But she had nowhere else left to go, so she headed toward the dark, cold underground labyrinth.
Running, running, always running.
Fleeing from Riveria, she dove into the Dungeon.
Swinging, swinging, always swinging.
Falling into despair, she continued swinging her sword to slaughter all the beasts.
Eyes red and swollen, Aiz kept running. If a monster stood in her path, she put all the violent emotions she was feeling into her Sword Air as she cut through the body. It was fortunate that no one was around. That meant no one could see that even now, she looked ready to cry, and no one could hear her screams verging on childlike sobs. Instead of crying, she kept swinging her sword, surrendering herself to the emotions running wild in her heart.
“Ha…ha…ha…”
Finally, before she could contain those feelings, her body started to give out instead. In her rush, she was barely breathing at all. Her lungs cried out. Her arms and legs were burning up, even to the tips of her fingers and toes. After defeating the last monster standing before her, Aiz stuck her sword into the ground, gasping uncontrollably. She used it as a staff for a while.
Finally peeling her cheek off the tip of the hilt, she looked up.
“This is…the twelfth floor?”
A white haze drifted around her. The floor was covered in a light fog like the kind that fell early in the morning. There were countless bare trees that turned into nature weapons growing all around. Judging from the size of the room and the fact that she recognized the lay of the land, Aiz could guess where she was.
The place she had reached in her haphazard running was the deepest room in the lowest floor of the Dungeon’s upper-level region.
“…I…”
You belong here.
When the other Aiz dwelling in her heart—when the dark flame seemed to whisper that in her ear, she wrapped her arms around herself.
—I want to become strong. Stronger than anything. So I never have to lose anything.
—I’m scared. I’m lonely. I’m cold. I’m always alone. There’s nothing left for me. I’m sad.
The two voices contradicted each other. They were both hers. Looking steadily ahead, the flame in her eyes flared up.
In the empty room with no more traces of monsters, Aiz was desperately struggling against the feelings welling up inside her.
“—Is it painful, o lost child?”
“!”
A solemn yet seductive voice reverberated, caressing her ears. Gasping, Aiz swung back around. A single shadow rose from the white mist.
A black-robed person. The dark-purple hair that fell from the deep hood was long like a woman’s, and the body was slender. The perfect features of the newcomer’s face were bewitching. More than anything, this being’s licentious aura was like nothing Aiz had felt before.
…A god?
Judging from his handsome demeanor and the otherworldly atmosphere, she felt suspicious. That should have marked him as a god, but for some reason, the feeling she got from him was different. As if he was missing one of the pieces that would mark his divinity. She was perplexed.
She had no way of knowing that he was suppressing his divine will in order to enter the Dungeon. Thanatos smiled suspiciously. As he approached, several shadows appeared behind him, as if to defend him. Seeing the robed figures, Aiz gasped.
Could it be…the Evils?
Aiz was on guard against this god. His very presence in the Dungeon made this an unheard-of situation. Unsure what he was after, she started to ready her sword.
“Do you hate monsters, little girl?”
“!”
Shock colored her face.
“You can’t forgive your own weakness…Your heart has been led astray by the world that has allowed you to remain weak…”
“…!”
Aiz was shaken, and he continued to confound her with his words and that bewitching smile.
“You’re feeling trapped, conflicted, in the grips of an impulse tearing you apart. You are an apostle of revenge seeking power…A pure swordswoman starving for strength. Your heart will never be healed…You don’t know the method for containing that black flame of destruction hidden inside you.”
He spoke Aiz’s fears and thoughts without any hesitation. She recoiled. The god’s beautiful voice had a wondrous tone to it that bewitched mortals. Even if she wanted to close her ears, she couldn’t. Like magic.
“No one understands you…You are alone.”
At those words, Aiz’s face finally cracked.
“You hate it, don’t you? You’re sad, aren’t you? You’re anxious, aren’t you?”
And as the girl’s face changed, Thanatos’s purple eyes, which resembled an abyss shining from beneath his hood, narrowed.
“Shall I release you from your suffering?”
“!!”
Her golden eyes wavered.
“Child, you are beautiful. I think one who has fallen in love with death as she fights and fights is a lovely thing. I want to save you.”
“…?!”
“I shall give you power. The ability to get stronger, a place where you can fulfill your wish. A place where you don’t have to be lost. The world of swords and flame you desire.
“It’s also a way to escape your current slump, a place to fight you will never tire of, a relief to allow you to escape this suffering.”
Aiz’s heart trembled at the sweet refrain of his voice. The black flame roared in delight. It begged to be released from the constricting embrace of Loki Familia to continue moving forward.
Free us from the pain of loneliness—just worry about getting stronger, it pleaded.
“Entrust yourself to the flames blazing in your eyes. If you do, the world around you will change. It will bless you.”
The god’s prayer tempted the child’s heart. It was salvation from the heavens as well as a step onto the path to destruction. A cursed ritual to give birth to a murderous angel spreading untold death for his benefit.
Thanatos opened his eyes wide and reached out his hand to the fledgling swordswoman of death he sensed in her.
“Come with me. Everything you desire, I can grant you.”
Aiz looked at the beautiful god’s hand.
It represented relief from all her suffering. A path of carnage seeking the power she desired without any other concerns. The entrance to the world she should have wanted more than anything.
I…
Her vision warped, and the god’s hand changed shape.
It morphed into the place that Aiz needed to reach, the summit of a mountain of monster corpses and the enormous objective beyond that.
I’m always alone. If I can’t change that, then I’d rather not feel anything. I don’t care how dirty my hands get or what others think—I can just be a child who lusts for power. The black flame raged in her heart, and a heat strong enough to burn spread across her back, stirring her up.
Finally the girl’s hand trembled, as if to loosen its grip on her sword. Just as she was about to be swallowed by the black flame and surrender herself to her desires…
A single high elf’s gaze appeared in her mind.
The look on her face when they had last parted, a visage warped by a familiar suffering. Aiz’s memories of the time with her until now, of the people who had watched over her, resurfaced in her heart. Her trusted sword flashed, catching her eye as if calling out to her.
She didn’t know why she remembered that now.
She didn’t know why she couldn’t let go of the sword.
But no matter how she tried, Aiz couldn’t reject everything that had happened.
The days she spent with them—sometimes stormy, sometimes peaceful—replaced the black flame like a wind blowing through the sky…
“…I want power.”
Time began to move again as her lips trembled. As she looked into Thanatos’s eyes, the black flame receded from her golden eyes, and the swordlike gleam returned.
“But joining you…is wrong!”
Resolutely, she turned down the god’s invitation.
“Even if I end up alone…betraying them…would be wrong!”
As she shouted her thoughts, Aiz changed. She glared at the god.
What stood before her was a symbol of darkness, clad in black robes. As if an illusion had shattered, the God of Evil’s smile looked repulsive as he held out his hand. Once the internal discord clouding her eyes had cleared, she saw through him.
Thanatos stopped smiling, going silent. But after a few moments, he shrugged.
“—Toooo bad.”
Losing his godly splendor and the enchanting visage, a single shallow god was what emerged. Thanatos smiled flippantly as Aiz doubted her eyes.
“And I thought I was gonna win over the rumored Doll Princess…If you could have developed some, you would have sent who knows how many people to the heavens as one of the followers of my beloved Death.”
“…?!”
“Man, I really screwed this up. You were a lot stronger than I thought you’d be.”
As Thanatos revealed his true self, a chill ran up Aiz’s spine. The atmosphere changed, but his degenerate nature hadn’t changed a bit.
She was afraid of this shallow being and the traces of madness his words revealed.
This was an evil god, like the ones Loki and Finn and the others had mentioned. She was sure of it.
“Who are you?!”
“I’d love to tell you more about myself, but I can’t now that you’ve turned me down. The Evils can be suuuch a pain.”
Pulling his hood up to hide his eyes, Thanatos curled his lips, smiling back at Aiz.
“Well then…Unfortunately, I promised Valletta I’d clean up the loose ends if the invitation was rejected…”
At the phrase clean up the loose ends, Aiz immediately readied her sword. The Evils followers who had accompanied Thanatos as bodyguards moved out. The two warriors who had hidden in the fog shifted to block her way.
Two on one…Can I win?
Despite all the practice fights she had had with Finn and Gareth, she didn’t have any real experience in an actual fight against another person. She was unsure whether she would shrink from a deadly exchange of shouts and flying blood or be able to stand her ground, but Finn and Gareth had far more of a presence. They were probably lower-level adventurers like her. If that was the case, she thought she had a chance to win.
However, ignoring Aiz’s calculations, Thanatos spoke as if he was a world apart from them.
“Ah, I just thought of something interesting.”
Recalling a child’s playfulness, he snapped his fingers.
Beneath his hood, his lips revealed a cool crescent.
“Little Doll Princess, let me give you a present.”
“…?”
“I’ve always wanted to try this once.”
Aiz looked at Thanatos suspiciously. Even the Evils with him seem flustered as they glanced at him as he raised a single arm over his head.
Touching the bedrock ceiling, he smiled as his deep-purple eyes narrowed.
“Just for you.”
The next instant, he unleashed the divine will he had been suppressing.
“—?!”
A dark-purple swirl was visible—the God of Death’s color—turning into a small column of light as it pierced the labyrinth’s ceiling.
Immediately after, that arrived.
The first thing that occurred was an earthquake.
As if moaning, or undulating, or angry, the labyrinth’s floor rumbled.
While Aiz gazed in wonder at the unknown, having never experienced anything like this in all the time she had been coming to the labyrinth, the walls began to howl. From three points buried in the white mist—where the exits were—she heard the thunder of a rockslide.
It can’t be—the exits are blocked?!
The instinctual analysis of the situation that flashed through Aiz’s head left her dumbfounded. The Evils followers had the same reaction.
Thanatos paid them no mind; his smile remained unchanged. The god, who was comfortably accepting the unceasing tremors assaulting them, all of a sudden looked up.
“Ahhh—this is what happens.”
Aiz looked up as well, and just as she did, crumble.
“?”
Cracks formed in the labyrinth’s ceiling.
Fragments rained down, and she laid eyes on the thing the Dungeon was summoning.
Aiz’s eyes froze over.
At the same time.
“—”
In the Guild’s underground temple, the old god groaned.
“Ouranos?”
“…A god has trespassed in the Dungeon.”
He furrowed his brow deeply as he answered the question from his black-robed follower.
“Freya…”
“…I’d like to stop it. But making more trouble is…”
They were in the giant white tower.
“It really shook there, my goddess…My goddess?”
“Which dumbass unleashed that…?”
And on Main Street lined with weapon shops.
“Hey, hey…This is way past playing with fire.”
“Hermes, what happened?”
And in a manor far from the center of the city.
“Ganesha! It’s the Evils. They’ve struck a magic-stone factory in the northeast!”
“…Got it. Get going, all of you!”
And in a part of town where the military police were gathered.
All the gods in Orario felt it and understood what it was. Because it was unleashed in the upper floors close to the ground, there was no mistaking it.
And of course, they also felt it.
“Oi, Loki, what was that?”
“This timing is too perfect…”
Loki stared suspiciously at the ground as the quivering died down. Her response to Gareth’s question hung in the air.
“Captain! The Evils have appeared! It seems they’re attacking the Industrial District, and Ganesha Familia is requesting immediate support!”
One of Loki Familia’s members appeared, bearing an emergency report.
“What? At a time like this? Finn!”
“…Yeah, let’s go. We can’t just abandon the Industrial District.”
For Orario, which boasted the only magic-stone industry in the world, the Industrial District that produced them was the city’s economic heart. If that was destroyed, it would be a huge blow to the Labyrinth City.
Finn bit his thumb as he glanced over at Loki before unleashing a flurry of orders.
“Gareth, get a squad of the fastest people and head out first. I’ll take the overall command.”
“Aye!”
“Give the order for everyone to move out!”
“Understood!”
Gareth and the messenger ran off. About to follow after them, Finn swung around to face Riveria.
“Finn…I…”
“Riveria, you search for Aiz.”
“!”
“I’ve got a bad feeling about this. Make sure you bring her back. You have to go get her!”
The prum leader immediately dashed after them, leaving the high elf with that order as he disappeared into the rain.
Riveria snapped out of her reverie when Loki grabbed one of her arms.
“The Dungeon.”
“?”
“Aiz is definitely in the Dungeon. No, there’s no place else she could be. Somethin’ stinks.” Loki grabbed Riveria’s shoulders, her face tense as rain dripped from her crimson hair. “If my instincts are right, Aiz’s in a reeeal bad spot right now.”
“…!”
“Go, Riveria. Ya don’t have time to be hesitatin’. Go help her.”
You’re the only one who can.
Riveria could see the unspoken words in Loki’s wide crimson eyes. Silently…she clenched her fist in determination.
The patron goddess smiled as the elf nodded.
“Sorry, Loki. I’ll be back.”
Having made up her mind, Riveria started running.
She headed for the city’s center, toward the white tower rising in the darkness.
A shower of debris fell as it was born in the labyrinth.
Sharp claws, long fangs, innumerable scales, and distorted, filmy wings.
Its entire body was jet-black.
Aiz’s heart screamed at the upside-down thing emerging from the ceiling. As it raised its head.
That’s.
That’s.
That’s…!
She forcefully gripped the sword’s hilt. Her heart felt like it was going to beat out of her chest, or maybe even burst.
Ignoring Aiz, who was fixated on that, Thanatos pulled out a silver orb that looked like a magic item from his breast pocket.
“Well then, Doll Princess, have fun. I’ll be leaving before I get torn to pieces.”
Without even glancing at the thing on the ceiling, he turned away like an uninterested bystander. Taking the trembling, scared, panicking Evils followers with him, he headed deeper into the mist.
“You’ll have to return to the heavens one step ahead of me—my beloved girl.”
His black-robed figure disappeared into the fog with those parting words.
The jet-black creatured fully emerged from the broken bedrock, falling from the ceiling and spreading its wings. It rose in the air with a great screech.
“—Ooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!”
The creature unleashed a scream that made even the mist in the room tremble.
Her eardrums quivering from the monster’s roar, Aiz forgot to even cover her ears as the image of the intruder was seared into her eyes.
It was a dragon.
It should have been impossible for a true dragon to appear on the upper floors. And yet, here was one with wings.
A wyvern.
A monster that inhabited the middle-floor region. From its long outstretched tail to its head, it was more than five meders long. Despite being shrouded in fog, there was no mistaking that it was a species of dragon. Wyverns’ bodies were usually a pale-red color, but the tough scales covering this one were pure black. It was clearly an Irregular, a subspecies hiding far more strength than the usual.
A black dragon.
While Aiz stared, unmoving, it spread its wings far above her head, its red eyes surveying the floor below. It seemed to be glaring at the veil of mist blocking its view as it opened its mouth, baring the rows of fangs in its jaws.
A ball of flame sparkled in the back of its mouth, glowing brighter.
Aiz’s eyes opened as far as they could.
And then…
“?!”
It unleashed a flame breath. The river of fire hit the ground beneath it with a thunderous explosion, kicking up dirt as it rocked the ground. The dragon swung its head as the brutal crimson light streamed from its mouth. An unceasing eruption of flame poured down, following its head all around the room.
“??!”
Aiz ran with all her might to escape the waves of flame surrounding her. She jumped behind a small hill to get any cover she could, just barely escaping the blazing hot ball of flame that passed over where she’d stood a moment ago.
“Oooo…”
The intense flame breath blew away all the room’s mist.
Evaporated it.
Under the cover of the hill, she reeled to her feet, taken aback at the scene unfolding.
Bare trees and grassland turned to a blazing hellscape. A big tree, its trunk carbonized, crashed to the ground. The misty floor had turned to scorched earth as sparks flew everywhere.
Flashes of flame escaping the gaps in its fangs, the wyvern swung its head around, puzzled.
Because its intended target was not visible in the red glow lighting its field of view. Thanatos and his followers, who should have been hidden in the mists, had suddenly vanished, despite the exits still being blocked. The apostle of destruction born of the will of the Dungeon wavered, its target having escaped outside the Dungeon by some as-yet-unknown way.
Before long, though, by process of elimination, the dragon’s eyes lit upon the sole remaining prey—Aiz.
“OOOOOOOOoooo!”
“?!”
Her golden eyes wavered as the dragon dropped from the ceiling. Its commanding presence was more fiendish than that of any monster Aiz had ever faced. There was no choice but to run. Its menacing howl made the girl’s skin crawl.
However, Aiz gripped her sword with all her strength. A tremendous fighting spirit overwhelmed that small fear. Emotion rocked her body as she put aside everything leading up to that moment.
Facing the wyvern flying at her, Aiz sprinted.
“Uwaaaaaaa!”
Even she didn’t know where the ferocity came from. The young girl roared as she raised her trusted Sword Air aloft. Facing the wyvern that grew bigger and bigger as it drew closer, she let loose with a sharp slash.
“!”
“Gu?!”
As they passed each other, Aiz was knocked to the scorched earth by the absurdly powerful shock wave of the charge. Despite just barely dodging its claws, she still felt the force of it tearing at her. Immediately peeling herself off the ground, she tracked the shadow dancing back into the sky.
On the other hand, the wyvern glanced disinterestedly at its body. A single scale had been broken on its shoulder near the base of its great wings. Even if it was just a small chink, the dragon’s defense that should have withstood any attack had been broken. The wyvern glared back at the undersized little girl beneath it who was fixing it with a sharp gaze.
It commenced its descent again, looking down with murderous intent at the blade shining blue and sharp.
“—!”
Aiz kicked the ground. Her aim was a boulder about as tall as she was. Using the momentum of her sprint, she spun just before she reached the boulder protruding out of the grassland and swung her Sword Air with all her might.
As the wyvern flew in from above, she hit it with the fragments of the rock.
“!”
The strengthened Damascus blade shattered the boulder spectacularly, sending countless pieces flying in a ranged attack when the dragon was least expecting it. It could only regret its speed as it bore the full brunt of the attack head-on.
Gagagaga! She could hear the hard blows landing one after the other.
The wyvern had immediately averted its eyes to avoid the fragments of stone, slowing down just the slightest bit. Clad in dragon scales, it didn’t receive a single wound, but its field of view was blocked.
Aiz seized that moment.
The theory for beating winged monsters is—
She quickly leaped. Shock registered in the dragon’s eyes as the little girl got above it.
Aim for the wings—knock them down to the ground!
Eyes flashing, Aiz unleashed the strongest sword technique she could.
“GUOOOOOO?!”
The rippled steel blade carved into the dragon’s wing, sending red drops of blood flying.
The attack with all her might pierced the dragon scales, reaching the meat below its defenses.
It was a technique. The sword technique that had so totally shocked Loki and Finn—the special move of a certain man from her memories. The crispness of that tremendous technique managed to overcome the vast difference in Status and leave a wound on the dragon.
Subconsciously, Aiz had drawn out all of herself. Finn’s, Gareth’s, and Riveria’s teachings, as well as the swordsmanship of the hero she had always watched as a child.
Before an enemy she needed to defeat, all the pieces of her that she had gained before now moved as one in order to knock it down.
That was still shallow!—It’s not over yet!
Off-balance, the wyvern was forced to land. Hitting the ground a second later, Aiz didn’t wait a moment to continue her assault. Her target was its wing. Cut off its means of flight. Ignoring its howl of rage, she struck it with a flash of steel.
Consumed by an inferno of emotions, Aiz lashed out with sword techniques that contained her whole being. Vestiges of her father that she hadn’t yet grasped, the remnants left behind for her. She used those techniques to just barely dodge the enemy’s flailing teeth and claws as her battle clothes were torn to pieces.
From the side, from the back, she kept moving, swinging her sword from outside the enemy’s field of view. With each flash, fragments of scales scattered, and neither she nor her enemy could tell whose fresh blood was spilled with each clash.
The girl raged as if possessed.
“—Uuuuu.”
However.
That only incurred the dragon’s wrath.
The wyvern’s eyes flashed at the tiny beast who kept biting at it constantly, not recognizing the difference of level between their species.
Once Aiz leaped, aiming for its wings, it forcefully turned its body. Its scaly tail swung around, knocking away everything that approached.
“Ahhh?!”
The tail hit Aiz directly in the chest.
Wrapped in hardened scales, it was a fiendish bludgeon no weaker than an adventurer’s high-level weapon. Aiz coughed up blood, struck with a force equivalent to a giant club. Despite immediately putting her sword in front of herself to block, her armor plates were crushed, stripped off of her, and blown away by the dreadful force…
“Gaaa~~~~~~?!”
Thanks to the protection of the Damascus sword, she had just barely avoided an instant death, but she was damaged unlike anything she had experienced before. Cracks started to form in her trusted sword. She coughed up blood as she writhed in agony on the ground.
Ignoring her suffering, the wyvern easily flew into the air. Its eyes flashed dangerously as it glared down at the floor of the Dungeon. Burning with rage, it decided to use its greatest weapon, opening its mouth.
“AAAAaa!”
“!!”
Its deadly breath poured onto the earth.
With a power several times that of the fireballs a standard wyvern could breathe, it assaulted Aiz with a savage, hellish rain. She hit the ground with her fists, desperately trying to escape as she rolled away from it, but the scale of the attack was not something a lower-tier adventurer could hope to resist.
Finally.
“—…?! The flames…”
Lifting her head, Aiz was surrounded by a wall of fire.
The scene of purgatory had perfectly cut off all means of retreat. She had nowhere to run. The wyvern would have no mercy on the human who had wounded it. The wyvern, king of beasts, looked down upon all that existed below it, unleashing a cruel crimson flash to turn everything to ash.
“OOOOOUU!!”
It was a giant fireball, more than five meders wide.
Aiz’s world shone red as she looked up in horror.
“~~~~~~~~~~~~?!”
The world was tinged red.
She exhausted the last little bit of her strength to avoid a direct hit, but inside the wall of flames, the waves of heat and shock buffeted Aiz. In an instant, the armor on her body melted.
The whirling inferno scoffed at her futile struggle to resist with all her might as her skin and hair were scorched. Merely by exhaling, the wyvern’s frighteningly hot breath pushed her down.
“Aaaaaaaaaaa…?!”
Sticking her sword into the ground, desperately trying to stand, she couldn’t even control her breathing. Her throat and lungs were starting to burn, and she couldn’t move from her kneeling position. The room had been turned into hell’s furnace, threatening to incinerate the girl.
I…
Aiz could hear her body being singed. The hopeless sound of sparks falling and burning her arms and legs.
Am I…going to die here?
I won’t…
I won’t allow it. You haven’t done anything yet. Stand up. Take your sword. Howl! Turn it all into hatred and strike down that dragon. Fulfill my wish!
Aiz’s heart cried out. She tried to stand up.
My back is hot.
My back is hot.
The black flame was flaring up.
The flame in her eyes tried to push her to struggle.
But.
Even the font of that black flame was on the verge of being burned out by the enemy’s inferno. The enemy’s flame was hotter. Hot enough to burn away Aiz’s worst resolve and leave no traces.
Is this…?
The brutal waves of heat were obscuring her consciousness. Her sense of time slowed in the red world. Aiz’s consciousness started to fade away at the same moment her trusted sword started to melt.
It will all be easier now—a voice of despair and hopelessness that had always lurked in her whispered.
No! I refuse!—The black flame tried to resist with all its might.
But it’s already…—Her roasting body started to give in.
In the end, nothing had changed.
Nothing had been achieved.
Aiz would die alone, consumed by flames.
What a stupid death. What a disappointing demise. What a sad ending.
As the voices in her heart melted, Aiz lifted her head.
The wyvern was slowly opening its mouth. It was preparing to deliver the finishing blow. A giant fireball to scorch the entire floor and Aiz with it.
Aiz’s mind turned to white as she was unable to even stand, about to be swallowed up by the bright flames.
“Aiz!”
One of the entrances to the room blew open with an explosion, and she heard someone calling her name.
“?”
The moment she recognized the high elf Riveria, time stopped.
An inexplicable emotion rushed through her in an instant, completely different from the despair that had filled her before. A light shone on the girl cowering in the darkness, a jade glow pressing against her chest.
Following the monsters drawn by the God of Death’s divine will, Riveria had found this location. She had blasted away the barrier at the entrance using magic. The moment she set foot in the room that had transformed into a furnace—she lost her voice seeing the girl trapped in a cage of flames.
The wyvern mercilessly unleashed its giant fireball at the little girl.
“Aiz! Say it! Call it forth!!”
Before Aiz could be engulfed by the inferno, Riveria shouted. As the crimson flame approached the burning Aiz, she heard those words.
“Awaken, Tempest!”
And the instant before the fireball burst, Aiz’s mouth formed the same sound.
“Awaken, Tempest!”
The magic inside Aiz was unleashed.
“—!”
“?!”
A giant explosion rocketed upward. A resounding magic felt by Riveria and the wyvern. The giant fireball landed, exploding into fragments, bringing the scene to light.
Despite what should have been a direct hit, the girl hadn’t been turned to ash.
“This is…”
Kneeling on the ground, Aiz was protected by the wind.
The torrent swirled around her little body. A wind armor stronger, more elegant, more sublime than any other. It was Aiz’s magic that was engraved deep within her body. The divine protection of wind, watching over the lonely girl.
“Ah—”
Aiz knew what the wind embracing and dancing around her body was without any explanation.
“Mother’s…wind.”
The wind Aiz had always seen when she was younger.
“…Always.”
She had always felt it, her mother’s gentle breath.
“…She’ll always…be with me…!”
The spirit of wind had never left her side.
“?!!”
Power welled up inside her, overflowing. And with it came memories and tears that left her trembling. Bracing herself on her knees, she heard the wind’s voice grow louder, as if supporting Aiz while she tried to stand.
“…?!”
The wyvern shuddered, clearly shaken by the wild wind swirling beneath it.
A wind pressure strong enough to defend against its fireball.
A magic strong enough to faze even a dragon. Without regard for its appearance, the dragon that had lost its kingly demeanor prepared to roast the girl again. Gathering the next giant round in its mouth, it gave off a crimson gleam.
“Fuuu—!!”
Aiz didn’t let that opportunity escape her. Unleashing the full strength of the wind her body had been given, she turned into the eye of a ferocious storm. A whirlwind so strong that Riveria had to cover her face with her arm as the shimmering cage of flame enclosing the girl was blown away.
And then she rode the wind.
“?!”
The wind armor launched her forward at an incredible speed to bring her below the wyvern.
While the monster lost sight of her, Aiz dashed up one of the trees still standing in a single leap and kicked off a branch with the next step, taking flight.
Borrowing the power of wind, Aiz turned into a tornado arrow.
“Uaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!”
The giant fireball the wyvern was building backfired. Because it was charging a powerful attack, it couldn’t move. Defense, evasion, preemptive attack—all were impossible. Thanks to her quick judgment and the wind, Aiz closed in with a speed that betrayed all the dragon’s expectations.
The dragon’s eyes were bloodshot with unease; the red light emanating from its mouth shone brighter and grew larger.
As Aiz roared, the trusted sword in her hands was enveloped in the flowing wind.
Her back was hot.
Her back was burning.
The black blaze was flaring in anticipation of striking it down.
However, more than that.
The wind embracing Aiz raged.
As if protecting the girl, as if embracing its child.
It will be okay, it seemed to whisper.
Tears scattering in the wind, Aiz swung the sword with all her power and gave birth to a maelstrom.
“—OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO?!”
The gap between them disappeared. The wyvern had just finished charging its fire breath, preparing to unleash it. Before the flaring mass of fire could go off—
Aiz swung her sword of wind down.
“Airiel!!”
The storm broke.
“?Aaaaaa?!”
The sword swung at the dragon’s head and unleashed the wind.
The giant tornado blew away the creature’s mouth and upper jaw. With nowhere to go, the stream of flames backfired in a giant explosion.
“Aiz?!”
Riveria screamed at the thunderous explosion blooming above her head, scorching the floor’s ceiling, and leaving cracks in the bedrock. The girl’s body broke through the black smoke and sparks, falling to the ground.
Somehow controlling her magic, fragments of wind scattering around her, Aiz landed on the ground. Shaken badly by the impact, she looked about to collapse but just managed to stay on her feet. While Riveria rushed to her side, Aiz dropped her sword to the ground, as if her hands were declaring they had had enough.
However, the wind still embraced the girl’s body.
“Ah…Ahhhhh…—”
Looking down at her hands as the wind caressed her, embraced her shoulders, Aiz couldn’t stop crying.
She had thought there was nothing left for her.
She had imagined that she was always alone.
She was sure an eternity of pain and suffering awaited her.
But she was wrong.
Her mother’s breath, their connection, still remained.
It was inside her, always holding her close.
The sword at her feet shone, teaching her what she hadn’t realized.
Her father’s sword techniques lived on in Aiz.
Her mother’s wind resided with Aiz.
“W-waaaaaa…!”
I…
I wasn’t…
I wasn’t alone.
“Aiz…”
Unable to contain her sobbing, Aiz turned around. Riveria stood before her eyes.
That gaze had always been trying to tell her what she had just realized.
You aren’t alone.
Filled with regret as she looked at the girl covered in wounds, those moist jade eyes revealed the love that was hidden behind them.
“Aiz…I can’t be your mother…but…I want to be by your side.”
Tears flowed down her cheeks.
“I love you.”
As the traces of her mother overlapped with Riveria, this time Aiz didn’t reject her. Hands gently reached behind her shoulders, wrapping her in a warm embrace. The warmth of those hands summoned more tears to Aiz’s eyes. Pressing her face into Riveria’s stomach, the tears that she thought had dried up flowed out.
“Riveriaaa, R-Riveriaaa…! I’m so sorryyyy!”
“It’s okay. It’s okay…It’ll be okay…”
As her overwhelming sobs got in the way, interrupting Aiz’s apology, Riveria smiled through her own tears, unable to speak clearly herself.
Instead, she just tightened her hold, bringing the girl closer.
Aiz wailed, crying even harder.
In the middle of the scorched earth, two figures overlapped.
The girl’s sobs echoed through the room, reaching the ears of the fairies and evoking their sympathy. The remnants of her magic turned into a gentle wind, wrapping around the two of them.
As if smiling at them, as if calming them, the wind embraced the mother and child.
“…You know, Bell, gods and children might not be able to live out the same lives.”
What is an eternal love?
Aiz asked no one in particular as she heard the goddess’s voice.
“But I will always be by your side.”
Kam died.
His beloved children—his family unrelated by blood at his side, in tears.
“Even if death forces us apart…I will come find you.”
He had always been plagued by regret and feelings of remorse, but in the end, he had been saved.
Because of the memories of his goddess living on inside him.
Hestia had revived the bond with his love, Brigit.
Even in his loss, an eternity that could soothe his loneliness existed within Kam.
It was something that had probably never stopped haunting him, but in his final moments, he was saved by what remained of that goddess and passed in peace.
“No matter how many hundreds, thousands, millions of years it takes, I will find you after your rebirth…”
Her bond with Kam would live on forever in the goddess’s memories.
“And when I find you, I’ll say, ‘Would you join my familia?’”
Just like Hestia was saying now.
“—Ah.”
The sobbing Bell had struggled to contain broke through and grew louder until they reached Aiz’s ears.
They were in the dark forest, where he had fled after seeing Kam’s death. Scared of the eternal suffering brought by loss, he was crying, cradled by Hestia as she spoke.
“I’m not the only one. Other gods’ and goddesses’ bonds with children like you can last forever.”
A modest vow of an eternal love, just like the one she had sworn.
“After all, we are gods. We live forever, you know.”
Leaning her back against a tree trunk near them, Aiz heard those words.
They weren’t unchanging, like Hestia and the other gods.
They would lose everything eventually.
Eternity did not exist for them.
However—
There would be things left behind.
There were bonds that would last a lifetime after they passed.
Whether in memories, or warmth, or thoughts.
Like the wind residing in Aiz’s breast.
Like the pattern of her father’s sword that was engraved in her hands.
The things her parents left behind still lived on in Aiz.
“Goddess…I want to always, always be with you…!”
“Yes…”
Behind Aiz, the boy’s tears fell.
“I will always be with you, Bell.”
His teary voice rang out as she held him to her chest.
Aiz averted her eyes before softly raising her head.
“Always…together…”
The boy’s thoughts and the goddess’s words came to her lips.
She felt like the wind residing within her was embracing her now.
“Mother…”
She whispered as she gazed beyond the woods’ canopy to the golden moon in the dark night sky.
Putting her hand on her breast, Aiz gazed up with a strong determination at the sky that spread out before her. The sky that connected the ends of the Earth.
“Wait for me…”
She made a vow to the wind that had been left for her, to the eternal bond living on in her heart.
“I swear…I will take you back.”
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