I felt my entire world collapse, all the memories of the two of us flashed; she was the one who stood by my side for as far as I can remember, someone who I could trust—someone who cared for me more than herself, selfless.
“Why… I should have been the one,” I hugged her body tightly, tears rolling down from my cheeks, staring at her pale face, “Kaori… please tell me this is a dream…”
“Right—it’s just a dream, after all, who could possibly defeat Kaori,” I laughed maniacally before a snot could be heard from the devil who was standing before me. Her eyes looked down at me as if she was looking at some ant, I stared back at her and said, “Hey, why don’t you stab me right now?”
“Here I was expecting some kind of battle against the so-called heir of the skies that stinky brat has been mentioning to me for decades,” she responded while looking at me with disappointment, “You were not anywhere near what she said at all, you are just a brat.”
As if the scythe of the reaper, she rose her hand up in the air in a similar fashion to last time. Her eyes looked at me once more as she said, “It’s time to end this so I can take my revenge on the entire world.”
“Wake up, Ayumi!” a scream echoed from behind as Aurora’s figure flashed by, swinging her two daggers towards the devil. Her figure glimmered as the two engaged in heavy combat, slashing each other at speeds faster than my eyes could see, “Don’t let that devil break you apart!”
“What are you doing there?! Get back here!” Seele suddenly slapped me on the face, “Thousands of lives are at risk if we let the devil escape this dimension! Think about it, what will happen to Mana, those little girls of yours, and the people you loved?!”
“Are you just going to abandon them?! Tell me! You aren’t the Ayumi that I—we trusted in the past, you are just a mere shell of the strong Ayumi we knew!” she shouted with visible anger on her face before shotting a disappointed glance towards me as she looked forward with an expressionless gaze, dashing forward as she followed after.
Her words were like thorns inside my heart, each word she spoke touched the most sensitive part of my heart—the faces of Mana, Flora, Leisha, and Crystal crept up inside of my head. All of a sudden, a loud blast echoed around the vicinity, surprising me as Aurora and the rest rested on the floor with bruises and wounds.
All the defensive units were down from the blast, the archers were all injured with their bows cracked; the magus was not in any better condition as well, they were completely knocked down with plenty even dead. It was like a scene of hell as the devil floated up in the air with bright red eyes.
“Is this all you can do, even those oldies lasted ten hours against me,” her melodic voice echoed, releasing plenty of pressure towards the others, causing almost all the defensive units and archers to go unconscious in an instant.
The battle, despite being short, ended in catastrophe; it was like entering a war against an Empire while being a village, a hopeless battle with no chances of survival. I couldn’t help but tremble as I looked at her health bar which was still near full.
“Aren’t you still too weak, come on brat,” a familiar voice suddenly echoed inside of me as the entire world suddenly turned monochrome. All of a sudden, a figure appeared before me, dressed in a black gothic dress with her brown hair fluttering around freely.
The figure was none other than my future self who was standing there with a frown, “You sure are weak, don’t you think? How about you utilize some of those teachings your Mom taught you while in that dimension, that devil is not that powerful at all.”
“It’s already useless to me, Kaori is no long—” I tried to refute to which she smacked me on the head.
“Your little Kaori is not dead, she is still alive, but I can’t say that her body will be able to sustain if you act that way—her gigantic mana reserves is the only thing that is keeping her alive right now and once that runs out, she will practically die. Make a choice, do you wish for her to keep on living, or do you want her to die with her soul evaporating in the hands of those deities?”
“Do you wish for Mana, Flora; Crystal, and Leisha to die in the hands of the same person who killed Kaori? Do you want the Evil Goddess who caused Mom’s grief to succeed and kill her? Ayumi, your choice right now is what will decide the future! Decide now!”
I was surprised and looked at Kaori who looked pretty lifeless to me but there was no need for my future self to lie—after all, what benefits would she earn from me, especially if we consider that she should have traveled back in time to change something.
“Let me guess, you are my future self from another world line from that other one, right?” I laid Kaori to the floor, kissing her forehead once more as I stared at the beautiful me from the future with a wry smile to which she nodded.
“There are billions to trillions of world lines aside from ours, all of those world lines either end fast or live longer than expected. We are all of the same variations of soul “Ayumi” but we are also an entirely different soul, that is how this world works,” she answered before closing her eyes as she added, “You have made your choice already, as long as she lives, then I have no more regrets.”
“I’ll have to thank you for waking me up even though this sounds like another cliché of a hero novel,” I smiled before she shook her head as her figure vanished, reverting the world back to its colors as time moved once more.
I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath as thousands of magic circles appeared inside my mind. They were all the spells I was taught from Mom from the Astral line of skills to the Angelic Rose that I received from the heavens after training on Mom’s dimension.
“It seems like a brat really wants to die,” a loud laugh echoed.
“Right, but that brat won’t be me,” I opened my eyes and smiled as I looked at the devil before two beautiful wings materialized behind me, levitating me up in the air as I took out the dagger Mom had given me, transforming it to a shotgun.
Without taking a single second, I pointed the shotgun at the devil’s wings and shot one round before a gigantic magic circle appeared on her left wing, exploding as a loud scream echoed throughout the entire place.
“I’ll be at a disadvantage in the air, so let me take those wings off for you,” I pointed my shotgun once more but this time at her other wing, shooting another round as the same occurrence happened where her wings would explode.
In an instant, the devil slammed to the floor with a loud scream that really fitted her title as a devil. Her health bar dropped down to fifty health bars which meant her two wings were practically worth fifty percent of her health.
Without waiting, I descended down and dematerialized my wings which felt uncomfortable. I was not someone who likes to fight in the air, I prefer fighting on the ground where I can feel the floor.
“How dare you?!” her cries echoed as her figure appeared before me once more but this time, she left a gigantic sonic boom that caused the ground behind her to deform as she swung her claws down towards me to which I immediately blocked with the shotgun.
The block caused two ringing shockwaves as the two of us backed off from one another, my hands felt numb from the impact. The temperatures around the place were noticeably rising which from what I can remember of her attack patterns meant she was in rage mode.
“It’s my turn,” I smiled before releasing the shotgun as I materialized two daggers out of thin air, dashing forward towards her with the entire world turning semi-monochrome as I kicked her waist with my right foot while using mana as a foothold to propel me towards her.
In an instant, she slammed towards a boulder causing a loud boom as I soon followed after, reaching her, and slashing down as fast as I could. Every ten slashes, the two daggers on my hand would break apart but it was nothing as I continued materializing as many daggers as I could.
“Astral Union,” I cast once more before an enormous clock that reflected the entire universe appeared above her. The clock ticked once as a wound appeared on her cheeks; another two ticks later, a large slash wound appeared on her shoulders as she spat out blood.
I didn’t even need to move as more and more ticks went on, creating more injuries on her before she finally exploded in anger, releasing a heatwave that was strong enough to blast me backward a bit. I could feel my skin evaporating slowly but that was nothing compared to Mom’s spells.
“Indeed, I overestimated you,” I smiled.
“I underestimated you as well,” she replied before closing her eyes as her horns grew, her injuries vanished once more but her health points didn’t grow much. It was now around 15 health bars compared to the 100 before.
Ten seconds soon passed as the clock vanished, releasing the seal on her as she screamed a very loud roar that caused my ears to ring a bit before her figure vanished faster than my eyes could see. All of a sudden, danger rang inside of me from behind as I immediately tried blocking the attack—but it was all a fluke as pain rushed from my back.
It didn’t end there as more danger alarms rang inside of me as pain riddled the insides of my head. It was like I was being attacked at all sides; my shoulders would get clawed; my back would randomly be attacked. I couldn’t see where she was. It was like she was teleporting.
All of a sudden, all the pain from the attacks intensified. It was like I was being shot an infinite number of times, a burning hot sensation could be felt from each part of my body. I wanted to scream from the pain, but it felt like my throat was being blocked by something.
“Wh—what did you do…” I mumbled, falling down to my knees as her figure reappeared in front of me, kicking me down as she grabbed me by the neck with an expressionless gaze.
“Why should I tell my opponent what I can do?” she replied before all of a sudden, sharp claws pierced through my stomach. The internals inside of me felt like it was about to explode, heat rose from there. I felt like puking while not being able to puke.
“AAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!” My screams echoed throughout the entire vicinity as she continued drilling a hole onto my stomach before releasing me as she flung me away as if garbage. My vision was getting darker each passing moment.
Is this the end… I thought inside while looking at the devil who suddenly appeared in front of me once more, slamming my face to the floor as if she hadn’t had enough. My face bled from the sharpness of the rocks on the floor, my eyes were pierced each time but strangely enough, I didn’t get blind.
“You are too quiet even when tortured, boring!” she said before picking me up from the floor as she added, “How about we do it this way?” before we vanished from the spot, arriving where I rested Kaori on as she threw me on the floor before picking up Kaori.
As if flaunting her reputation as the devil of Ashen, she soon started slashing Kaori’s cheeks with her sharp nails, causing blood to leak as my eyes widened from anger.
“No…!” I reached my hands out only for a sharp pain to echo inside as she looked at me with a smirk before walking towards me, “DON’T HARM HER!”
“Why should I not?” she smiled before puncturing a hole onto Kaori’s heart, the beating heart of Kaori was exposed. I felt my heart fall apart, I wanted to stop her but my legs were impaled. I couldn’t move at all, I was paralyzed.
“NOOOO!” I screamed reaching my hand as far as I could.
“Yes! Scream more, brat! All of you nobility didn’t even care when my loved ones were killed similarly, so why should I care about yours?!” she laughed even more before throwing a kick onto Kaori’s stomach as the sounds of bones cracking echoed.
“PLEASE STOP IT!” I cried to which she only looked at me with a mocking gaze as she continued to slash, punch, kick Kaori’s body mercilessly. I felt my entire world turn bland in an instant, watching Kaori’s body being beaten up.
Why… why am I so useless…
She continued to laugh maniacally before looking at me with her cheeks painted in blood, her eyes looked at me as if she was disappointed, “How boring! I was expecting more reaction from you, it seems like I should be merciful and give this girl a quick end now.”
All of a sudden, she placed Kaori on her direct line of sight as she prepared her hand in a manner that was as if a spear about to pierce someone’s heart. I felt my entire world slow down out of the blue as a voice echoed inside.
“The Night When the Stars Fall has been activated.”
Instantly after the voice vanished, power rushed inside of me as all the pain from before vanished. Kaori’s wounds as well disappeared. It felt like my body was telling me to rush towards the devil, striking her once more to which I followed, materializing my strongest daggers as I raced against time that had slowed down.
A second passed by as time soon started to catch up, I was near the devil, but it wasn’t enough as I continued to push even more strength to my foot, hoping that time would not be able to catch up as fast as I could strike the devil.
Ten seconds soon passed by as I could now see the devil’s hand moving slowly towards Kaori’s chest where her heart was. I prepared almost all the dagger spells I knew, pushing all the strength I had remaining onto the two daggers as I reached the devil one more second later.
It was then when time resumed where I stabbed both of my daggers in the direction where I suspected the devil’s core would be. In an instant, Kaori’s body fell to the floor as two long beams pierced through the devil’s body, evaporating her without even allowing her to leave a single letter. All that was left of her body was the ashes that rained down, she was annihilated in one go.
“Kaori—” I immediately snapped back and rushed towards Kaori who slowly opened her eyes, gazing at me with a smile as she touched my cheeks.
“You did well, Ayumi,” she smiled.
“Kaori… is your confession still valid?” I asked before she looked at me a bit surprised but regained her composure as she flicked me on the forehead with a smile.
“Of course, dummy,” she replied.
“Then—I love yo—” I tried to finish my words before all of a sudden, my sight turned dark as I limply fell on the floor. I could hear Kaori’s panicked voice slowly dissipate over the darkness as a single window appeared over at the darkness, a window that showed my health points which was now at zero and two words, “You died.”
[Mana’s Perspective]
While gazing at the moon from the balcony, a sudden suffocating feeling rose inside of me as two knocks sounded from the door.
“Mwama, it’s Flowa,” the person who knocked spoke as I rushed to open the door before visible tears could be seen on her eyes as she held Crystal’s hand tightly, rushing towards me as she hugged me tightly.
“What’s wrong?” I asked before all of a sudden, the crystal necklace on my neck suddenly exploded into pieces, causing me to fall to my knees as I soon realized what had happened. The crystal necklace was a gift from Ayumi that told each other that we were alive.
For the necklace to break meant something had happened to Ayumi—something that was strong enough to cause the necklace which should have been embedded on her to alert. I felt my heart break apart as tears rolled down from my cheeks.
“Aywumi-mwa… I can’t feel her presence, Mwama…” Flora looked at me with tears. She was a Great Spirit who has connections with both me and Ayumi, she told me many times how she could feel our presences even when super far away—for her to suddenly not be able to feel Ayumi’s presence…
I didn’t want to imagine what had happened… I wanted to escape from reality as Flora hugged me tightly, crying as the suffocating feeling inside of me intensified. I didn’t want to lose hope and endured the suffocating feeling inside as I grabbed Flora and Crystal and placed them on bed.
“You two should know Ayumi already, she will come home, alive!” I lied while flicking their forehead, “How about we sleep for now, by the time we wake up, we should hear news from the headmaster with Ayumi already home.”
“Mwama…” Flora hugged tightly before I forced the two to sleep, holding in the suffocating feeling inside as the next day soon passed where a knock sounded from the door, bringing me a little bit of hope as I rushed towards the door only to see Kaori and the headmaster with grief on their eyes.
I felt my entire world tear apart as I grabbed the headmaster’s shirt and asked, “Where is Ayumi? She should be safe right?! Tell me!” to which she shook her head, crumbling every hope I had inside as I fell to my knees.
“Ayumi has died.”
