It was like a scene from a hero's tale.
Broken and beaten, trampling over the corpses of their comrades, and yet still not stopping.
The classic adventure story: everyone joining forces to stand against a great evil.
The sword dance of a mighty beastman warrior raged across the field. An elf mage's spells rained down on the enemy, and benevolent healing magic gently mended the wounded.
The word used to describe those of different ages, races, and genders was adventurer.
More than I deserved, I had that same name too. I had had it.
"[Firebolt]!!"
Fwoosh—flame and lightning burst from the dagger. White particles, like light itself, wrapped tightly around the ferocious crackling blaze as if to suppress it.
Fire and lightning, two forces that should repel each other, were forcibly compressed and fused together by sheer power.
Daaang—
There was no room to spare any strength. All that remained now was to sprint at full speed.
The bell's solemn ring, as if pouring everything out here and now, echoed to the farthest corners of the battlefield like a great temple bell.
Everyone here was an adventurer who had turned the tables. Heroes who would bring an end to myth.
As if refusing to waste the chance they had desperately created for me, the surging power pushed beyond the limits of what was predetermined.
"Ghk..."
And in proportion to that, the time limit drew closer and closer. There was truly only one chance left now. Failure was not an option.
Taking the great bell's majestic resonance as the signal, the final battle between spirit and humanity began.
"Chaaaarge!!!!"
Who shouted it? That didn't matter to anyone.
With a roar, all the adventurers rushed forward.
When the spirit sensed the danger and tried to smash the great bell, humanity moved to stop it.
The tide of battle shifted around a single man.
"GROOOOOOAR!"
"UOOOOOOOOO!"
Giant and gluttony blocked the spirit's advance.
Clothes wrapped around claws and greatswords, their only focus was stopping the spirit. Their blows did not land, but the garments imbued with the spirit's own power were more than enough to halt its advance.
-■■■■■■■■!!!!
The spirit's furious voice stabbed straight into my mind.
The spirit, irritated by the presence of losers blocking its path, and further driven by the threat posed by the great bell, chose the surest, most thorough method.
"Ugh?!"
"It's coming!"
Whoooosh—a tide of darkness poured out in every direction. The adventurers who had been badly beaten by that overwhelming display before kept their guard up, calmly widening the distance and moving to where the Empress's magic could reach.
Except for the two of them.
"UOOOOOOOOO!!!"
They charged. With bodies so small compared to the tide of darkness, they launched a reckless frontal assault.
They would not retreat. They threw away every option except attack. Knowing that if they missed this chance it would be over, the two of them gave everything they had to seize it.
Literally everything, even their lives, to open a path forward.
Whoom—a projectile fired from the rear shattered the darkness and opened a tiny route. The first attack left a trace; the second struck that trace and created a small crack in the darkness. Using that as their center, the two attackers forced their way through the darkness and reached the spirit.
Then the two of them swung their greatsword and claws, beginning to batter the spirit from head to toe without missing a single spot.
-■■■■■■■■?!
Every time they chipped away at the spirit, the cloth wrapped around their weapons was worn down at an incredible speed as well. Once the cloth on their weapons was gone, they would no longer be able to trade blows, and that made the two of them increasingly frantic.
"Any cloth left?"
"None. Those two took it all."
"Tch, useless bastards."
Arphia was the same. The remaining projectile she had used to open the path for those two was now down to one. Aside from that single final support shot, Arphia was effectively out of the fight.
She had spoken harshly, overlapping with those thoughts, but Arphia inwardly felt that the two of them had made the right call. No matter how many daggers they had, there was no way to stop that thing. It would be far more effective to buy the two of them time to fight.
Glancing at Vesta, she saw that darkness could not even reach around him. Neither the Empress's spatial transfer nor the darkness's invasion was allowed there; in a sense, it felt like a temple unto itself.
"If it's that, we can win."
The sight of darkness being erased was enough to inspire that certainty. Not only Arphia, but everyone else thought the same.
That the moment that strike was completed would be the moment of victory.
That if they could not endure it, then humanity would lose.
The very last of the last. A chance created by clinging on again and again.
Amid the battlefield where spells and attacks raged as if refusing to let that chance slip away, Vesta...
'Ah...'
Crack, crack.
Something inside me is breaking.
The [Argonaut] that consumes something other than Mind. I realize, in this moment, what that something unknown is.
An unexpected variable. With the sensation of the time limit dropping in an instant, anxiety swelled within Vesta.
'Full charge...'
Impossible. Just maintaining this state was already pushing it. If I waited for a full charge, I'd collapse before then.
Then should I attack now?
If I attack now, can I win?
Argo Vesta, fused from Astrafe and Firebolt. A triple compression beyond even double compression. This would definitely have an effect.
But... could this strike truly cut the spirit's throat?
'No, don't think.'
I've done everything I can. I've reached beyond my limit and then beyond that limit again.
If I keep being stubborn now, I'll collapse before I can do anything at all. In that case, I should just...!
Daaang— daaang—
The sound swelled. In proportion to it, the converging power also swelled.
The limits of the body, the limits of Mind, the limits of being human. The limits I had surpassed again and again had finally reached their end.
The end of every story. The end of my existence.
It was time to pour everything into this one strike and bring the long, long tale to a close.
'Three minutes.'
Ironically, the charge time was the same as the limit when I first set out on my adventure. Even at the beginning, I had packed everything into those three minutes.
Someone's trust, will, conviction, resolve. Those moments when I ran with all of it in this light and on my back.
It wasn't all that different now.
I had not once looked away from the spirit, and yet I could tell.
Everyone's hopes had gathered on me.
That this one strike was the last hope.
I raised my single rubellite-colored eye.
Before me stood an ancient monster. The spirit of the Dungeon.
Ignoring the two warriors trying to stop it and disregarding the countless spells, the spirit was looking only at me as well.
The noisy battlefield fell silent. Not just here—everyone watching this place, even from elsewhere, had sensed the end and held their breath, waiting for the result.
Waiting for the moment of conclusion.
Then I...
"You're going."
"Yes."
"I see..."
Arphia closed her eyes, as if turning away from the approaching end.
I don't want to see it. But I had to.
She slowly lifted a hand. Then that hand came to rest on the rabbit's back.
"I'll at least push your back."
"...Thank you."
That was the end of the story. There was no room for a long farewell, nor for telling him not to go.
Daaang—
As if the bell were ringing, the power continued to rise.
It shrank, it swelled, the force spreading out like a bell's resonance, until it was reduced to its limit.
Then it rang out again.
"Everyone, get out of the wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!"
With that same shout, I sprinted.
"Ah..."
Far away, the witch's sob broke softly into the air and vanished.
I kicked off the ground and crossed the battlefield.
Holding in my hands the hero's strike wrapped in lightning and flame, I sent its ringing all the way to the end of the world.
Toward the ancient spirit beyond my line of sight, I turned the blood streaming from me and the soul being worn away into fuel for my forward rush, becoming a single sacred flame that burned everything away.
At the shout, every adventurer withdrew from the battlefield. Giant, Zard, the Empress, and all the others from Zeus and Hera Familia.
Everyone who had opened the path watched that figure.
As if pushing that back, go. Go and win. Seize victory.
Under the gazes of countless people, the final conclusion was reached.
■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■!!!!
The greatest voice so far seeped into my mind.
A voice mixed with despair, rage, and bewilderment.
With a voice that carried the spirit's emotions in full, light and darkness collided.
The spirit's all-out fist. Darkness like the abyss burst from the end of that fist, but each time the bell rang out, the darkness was swept away helplessly by the mass of light.
-Someone had said it. This attack was a hero's strike.
Holding that in my heart, I tightened my grip on the black dagger once more.
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!"
-■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■!!!!
The two enormous forces collided.
Darkness and light. Two opposing powers strained against each other, growling as they tried to devour one another.
Vesta...
'Ah...'
An elite archer can tell the result the moment the arrow is loosed.
Vesta was the same. The moment they collided, I understood.
I couldn't win. It only looked like a dead heat now, but the difference in power was far too obvious.
Was the compression insufficient? No, I had done everything I could. What more was I supposed to do?
Even if there had been something else I could do, what meaning would it have in this situation?
-■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■!!!
The spirit, sensing victory, let out a cheer. Darkness surged forth and began to press the light back.
Light was being devoured by darkness.
"Grrrrrrrr!!"
I can't accept it. I refuse to accept it.
How could I accept an ending like this!
Remember it. The strongest hero I can imagine.
The strongest image that can surpass this situation.
What comes to mind is... what comes to mind is...
'...Nothing comes.'
I had always prayed to the heroes of the past.
I borrowed the courage to take one more step, the strength to never lose.
I always followed their traces.
And yet why? Why can't I think of anything now?
No, more than that, why was I even here? Who... was I?
The body that had surpassed its limits finally reached its end. It began to lose reason, lose will, lose even its sense of self.
Crackle, crackle! The flame and lightning that had not yet fully fused began to repel each other. It was proof that the light I had forcibly compressed was vanishing.
But... was that important? Important for what? Why was it important again?
...I couldn't remember. I couldn't remember anything.
What was I even trying to do?
I saw the monster that shook the foundations of the earth.
I saw the sight of darkness covering the world.
At that sight, I... what had I been thinking?
Buzzz— buuzzz—
The converging light began to disappear. In proportion to that, the suppressed power also scattered helplessly.
Darkness covered the world.
'I'm...'
Yes, I was fighting.
To bring down the thing in front of me, this nameless bastard.
With the expectations of someone whose name I couldn't even remember on my back.
'I think I was supposed to fight...'
I think I was never supposed to lose.
'Did it even matter?'
Wasn't I dying right now? If I was going to die anyway, was there any point in suffering like this?
Even if I worked this hard, the one who would enjoy the result would not be me. Was I just a stepping stone toward the future?
As my heart was worn away, the light was worn away in turn, moment by moment.
-■■킥■■킥■킥
I heard laughter. Laughter that had continued since ancient times.
So many heroes had fallen to this monster already.
I would probably become one of those countless others.
An extinguished ember can no longer burn.
Everything falls apart and collapses.
Such a trivial ending.
Darkness covered the world. The moment everything was swallowed in black and wrapped around me...
"[Gospel]"
Arphia fired her last shot. A single thread of light squeezed through the darkness and made a tiny opening.
A tiny opening no one could enter, no attack could pass through.
Through that tiny opening, the wind blew in.
"Ah...?"
It was a weak wind. Too weak to compare with the spirit's darkness, or with my own light.
And yet that wind was so gentle it could not have been more kind.
"A...is..."
As if answering that call, the wind wrapped around my body for a moment. After brushing over me once, it was then drawn into the divine dagger as if being absorbed.
Like breathing into an extinguished ember.
I looked toward where the wind had come from.
There stood the blond girl I remembered.
And one miserable man, covered in tears and snot.
"Ghk... ghhhhh..."
The man whose name was Cranel was on the verge of fainting from fear just for setting foot in such a brutal battlefield.
Even while regretting why he had ever made such a reckless challenge, he forced out the words he had to say.
"D-don't lose...! W-win!"
It was a pathetic sight. A child standing so firmly, while an adult cheered in such a miserable state.
His legs shaking uncontrollably, his face unable to hide his fear.
And yet even as those legs trembled from wanting to flee, he had come to the battlefield.
With something in his heart that had surpassed the fear of death. He must have run with everything he had.
It was a truly pathetic sight, and yet for some reason it felt terribly familiar.
'...Ah, I see.'
I realized where I had seen that look before.
I could finally remember.
The hero I was recalling was [Bell Cranel].
The greenhorn who came to Orario with the absurd dream of becoming a hero.
That greenhorn who had cried and run away so miserably, again and again... I could only acknowledge him at the very end.
Daaang—!
-■■■■■■■■?!
The signal bell rang out. As if announcing the completion of [Hero's Strike].
To stop it, darkness surged.
It aimed for the right arm, trying to tear it apart and block the attack.
But...
"That's gone, idiot."
The right arm I had lost in the distant past, in a future that would never come, had been replaced by a lump of metal shaped like an arm.
The moment that desperate attack was rendered meaningless, my own attack was complete.
As if breathing into an extinguished flame, lightning and fire began to mix around the wind at the center.
As if different pasts and futures were blending together.
The merged past and future soon became the present.
'...It was simple.'
It really was simple. Why had I only realized it now?
The past and the future were certainly important, but there was something even more important than those.
"Now."
There was no need to worry about the past or the future.
Because what truly mattered. What I really needed to care about. Was right now.
Don't cling to the past.
Don't worry about the future before it comes.
Just. In this very moment. I'll burn everything I have!
"Aaaaaah!"
-■■■■■■■■?!
The three intertwined powers converged into a white light.
Brilliant light drove the darkness back.
"I'm not dying right now!"
I'm not fighting just to die.
This is a festival of fireworks. A campanella announcing a new age.
Like a flame that sacrifices itself to light the way for others, I am blessing the road ahead of a new era.
Past and future cross.
It is a miracle of the lower world that should not exist.
Destruction for the sake of creation.
Death toward birth.
Beginning and end interlock.
The end called forth the beginning.
Vesta, the sacred flame, ignited Bell, the fireworks.
"[Argo Vesta]-!!!"
It became a single blade, cutting through the darkness, cutting through calamity, and even cutting through the sky.
-■A■■Aaa■■■■■■■■Aaa■■■■■■■■■Aa■Aaaa■■■■■■■■■■■■■Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaa?!?
In the end, it granted the black calamity an inescapable demise and dyed the entire world white.
The light that stained the world soon faded and scattered away.
Like embers.
The darkness lifted, and through the revealed sky, the morning sun began to rise.
The warm morning sun gently wrapped around my body.
The warmth was so comforting it felt as if even my heart were melting, impossible to imagine in winter.
'...It's spring.'
Before I knew it, spring had come. After passing through a winter that seemed it would never end.
Crack— crack-crack—
"Ah..."
I heard something splitting. And a moment later, the divine dagger began to crumble with soft, stuttering sounds.
The collapse began at the broken edge and slowly spread along the blade.
From the edge to the guard, from the guard to the hilt.
And from the hilt to my fingertips.
"...So this is the end."
The end of what? I did not bother saying.
There was no need to say it, and saying it would not change anything.
Only a complicated feeling passed through me at the realization that everything had finally ended.
"...I'm glad."
Honestly, I still don't know if this was the right thing to do.
Was it really right to deny the result everyone had worked so hard to create?
Should I have looked away as much as possible and simply pictured the original future?
Even if what waited at the end was only eternal loneliness, if it was the result of doing my best, shouldn't I have accepted it?
I thought that... but at the very end, if I can feel this way, then maybe this wasn't a waste after all.
-! -!
Noisy voices came from far away.
People were calling for me.
"Haah..."
Srrrk—
My body scattered into white particles.
As if everything had been burned away, white ash drifted through the air.
"It's over, Lord."
Watching the dim morning sun, I murmured that.
There was no answer. Even if there had been, I would have heard nothing.
"I'm sorry. I was a bad servant who wouldn't listen until the very end."
"But you should think about how I feel too. How am I supposed to live happily in a world without you?"
"Still, if this is how it ends, then I guess all those hard times weren't a waste."
...
"Do you regret it?"
"No, I don't. You know me. If anything, I feel relieved."
"Couldn't you have run away?"
"A life spent running away from beginning to end would be ridiculous."
"Does it hurt?"
"Being alone was far harder."
"...It's all over now, so you can be honest."
"..."
"You worked hard."
"...Sob."
I knew all of this was an illusion I had created.
I knew better than anyone that those who had already vanished would never return.
So this was my self-deception. Nothing more than me imagining the sort of conversation I might have had if that person had been by my side, and talking to myself alone.
And yet, even so...
"It was hard... It was so hard being alone..."
...
"I wanted to see you, I wanted to see you so badly... and yet I could never meet you again."
"Because I was so hopeless, Lord, and everyone else ended up like that too. I..."
-You're still such a child.
The voice that reached me after so long was still clumsy, and yet endlessly kind.
"Still, you really worked hard."
"Sob..."
"Come on. Let's go back to where we belong."
Taking the hand I had failed to grasp back then, the story finally came to an end.
"Let's go. Together this time."
The goddess of the hearth said that, and held out her small hand to me.
"Come to think of it, I never said this."
Then, as if remembering something, she smiled.
"Happy birthday, Bell."
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