Chapter 96

EP.96 Prophecy-1

The Clash of Black Rock and Darkness

To them, each second felt like a minute.

Each of Chris’s strikes was a fatal attack.

Leonardo’s strikes compressed time and the limits of the body into a series of rapid attacks.

Black and white clashed like lightning.

Beneath that lightning, the victor of the duel stood.

"...Huh... So you’ve already overwhelmed me..."

Chris, trembling, dropped the proliferating sword. The moment she dropped the weapon, a symbol of a knight, the outcome of the match was decided.

She was already kneeling from the shock of the attack.

"It’s not overwhelming... If this had been a real battle, I would have lost."

This was not a matter of courtesy or ritual. Whether it was the Shining Dark Orbis or the Magic Hot Super Knife, the technique was so powerful that it could cut through armor like this in 0.1 seconds just by making contact.

For this reason, it was also a technique unsuitable for use in a training duel.

In a training match, where life and death were not at stake, even breaking the rules was far beyond what was acceptable. From Chris’s perspective, she would have been unable to display a more natural sword technique.

"...Ha... Modesty to this extent is deceitful."

"I hear that a lot."

Of course, that was only after the regression.

"...Try to have a little pride and love yourself..."

Why was that?

Deep in the swamp of old and faded memories, there was a fragment of a similar memory.

When she had defeated Chris with all sorts of tricks and schemes, she had encouraged Leo, who doubted his own abilities, saying:

'...Believe in yourself. If you’re wrong, someone will correct you.'

It was too much encouragement. It was like showing an album of black history that she didn’t even want to see.

"Yes, if I have the qualifications."

Right, if she had the qualifications.

"...But..."

But there was something she couldn’t understand no matter how she thought about it.

"Who, in the end, does Lady Chris like?"

She was grateful that he had lightened the mood to some extent, but her own love advice had made no progress. She hadn’t even given a hint about who the person was, let alone their name.

"...Ah."

Until now, Chris’s serious expression had vanished, and she looked dazed as she opened her mouth. As Gladio, the head of the family and her brother, had predicted, Chris had been so engrossed in Leonardo’s story that she had long forgotten her original purpose.

"...That’s...! I mean... I was just trying to... loosen up..."

"...That’s... Let’s talk about it later... We’re both pretty beat up."

Leonardo transformed the shattered black armor back into a bracelet. His stamina was already at its limit, and his mana was even more depleted than Chris’s.

With a thud, Leo fell backward. Despite being so exhausted, his expression looked quite refreshed.

It seemed that Chris’s awkward encouragement had resonated with him.

"...This is ironic. The loser has to support the winner."

Chris, who still had some mana left to move, poured all her remaining mana into reaching out to Leonardo, who was half-unconscious.

"It’s the privilege of the winner... Please, help me."

Perhaps the absurdity of the situation was quite amusing, as Leo chuckled and reached for her hand.

Snap

But before their hands could touch, a pure white and radiant hero struck the loser’s hand and instead grabbed her knight’s hand.

"...Miss...?"

Leonardo’s lady, the eternal hero, Ariaesphil.

"Take my hand. Neither of you is in any condition to stand."

Despite her gentle smile and words, Ariaesphil’s eyes looked slightly dead. But Leo thought it was probably just his fatigue making him imagine things.

"...Ah, thank you."

"Thank you... I was at my limit too."

Chris also dropped the pretense she had been maintaining. In fact, just walking was already at her limit.

"It’s only natural that I, who is younger, prettier, and more energetic than my aunt, should help my Leo."

Her expression was radiant, but her words were overly aggressive and full of hostility.

"...Uh... Um... Right..."

Unable to understand the intense pressure, Chris nodded hesitantly. It wasn’t just out of fear of Aria, but because the entire family had signaled not to give any strange responses.

Especially, the various body movements sent by her brother, the head of the family, seemed like desperate attempts to save her life, making it impossible to ignore.

***

Leo fell asleep due to mana depletion. Although he had been extremely arrogant and unforgivable for what he had done with his aunt, he couldn’t be angry when he saw his peaceful and refreshed expression.

"...Hey, Aria... This is... a situation..."

"Shut up."

While laying her beloved knight on the bed, Aria made the ‘sinners’ who had violated her beloved Leo’s privacy kneel.

"If you’ve done wrong, you must be punished, right?"

Among them were her brother, aunt, parents, and grandfather, but she didn’t care. Even the famous saint of the temple was kneeling, having realized his mistake.

"So, why did you bring up such a strange topic to Leo?"

"...Ah... I mean, for an honest... conversation...!"

Crash

A flash of light erupted. Something was thrown to the ground at a speed like a comet.

"...Ouch, the pen slipped."

What flew was a fountain pen from the pen holder, an extremely ordinary fountain pen. The fountain pen, which she claimed had ‘slipped,’ was firmly embedded in the ground like a meteor.

"So, a conversation?"

Everyone swallowed hard and broke out in cold sweat at the miraculous and miraculous technique.

"Is this how you have conversations these days? Right? Aunt?"

Chris thought.

If she had been arrogant with her words in the place of the duel, she would have been flayed alive immediately.

"...Calm down first. Chris was trying to... help Leo with his worries..."

"Dad."

Aria narrowed her eyes and smiled with a murderous intent. At that moment, Gladio saw his mother, Aria’s grandmother, waving from beyond the grave.

"Then I also want to have a very honest ‘conversation’?"

Was it just Gladio, or even Sylia and Lumine, who hadn’t properly learned martial arts, started to tremble like small animals.

"What can I do, 1 vs 6? I’m at a huge disadvantage?"

Aria chuckled,

but no one around her could laugh. Lumine, in particular, had the most anxious expression because she had witnessed Aria’s use of the holy sword during her training at the temple.

{Ruben couldn’t even create such a light cannon.}

The vast mana, which made even a dragon look like a water bottle, was a talent that would only have a chance of winning if she fought these six to the death.

"Actually, it’s 1 vs 7. Aria-nee."

The one who opened the door was a girl with gray hair and a robe, and also the daughter of the sleeping subject of this conversation.

"...Ah... Aina...?!"

Seeing her daughter, Aria’s murderous intent vanished instantly.

"Before getting angry, I want to consider Father’s feelings."

"...Leo’s feelings?"

The sudden disappearance of her murderous intent made the Reinhardt family instinctively realize that their lives were in Aria’s hands.

"Father often said he wanted the family to always be harmonious. He also made great efforts for that."

Everyone looked at Aina with a solemn expression, surprised by her unexpected words.

"But if you get angry now, all of Father’s efforts could be in vain."

Thinking of the young boy who had lost his parents early and had taken up a sword at the age of ten to find his mother’s body, the Reinhardt family wondered if claiming Aina as a child was also for that reason.

In fact, if Leo really couldn’t control his anger towards his family,

he could easily kill the Anus group at the train station and a few people here without much difficulty, but no one realized the true meaning of Aina’s words.

[...Scary woman...]

{You created her, so you deal with her.}

[It’s better to blame the Leo who taught her like that.]

The two spirits seemed to have noticed, but Lumine, looking at them with disdain, was speechless for several reasons.

"...I... I don’t want that, but if you can’t let it go..."

"No!! Since Aina is saying this, you should calm down!!"

Saying that, Aria rushed to her daughter and started petting her head.

The sinners kneeling on the ground looked at such Aria with a mix of pity and genuine respect for Aina, who had calmed the monstrous hero.

"Indeed, Aria-nee loves Father."

"Yep! Of course, Leo..."

Aria suddenly stopped speaking. Then she looked around with a hardened gaze.

There were all her family members, the saint who had helped her for years, and the man she loved, who was unconscious but receiving her love.

"...Of course...! Of course! As a friend and colleague...!! As a partner, I like him!! Not like that... at all...!"

Considering her past and present actions, her excuses were far too late to be considered excuses. Instead, they only reinforced the impression that Aria’s love had lowered her intelligence.

"Yes, I already know that you like him as a life and sexual partner."

"Ugh... Ahhh..."

Aina’s calm and intuitive summary made Aria’s face as red as her burning love.

After all, how could she face her family after making such a bold statement in this situation?

"Where did Aina learn such strange words?! Such words are not for...!"

It was now a tragic comedy. Her struggles were amusing, but it was also pitiful to watch, so Rios said:

"Everyone already knows, Aria. That you like Leo."

"...Ah... Ahhhh..."

Aria’s face turned red beyond just blushing, and she let out a small moan, almost on the verge of tears. If she had let out that sound, Leo might have woken up completely.

"...Since when..."

Rios said it as if she had just noticed.

"Since I met Leo."

Chris said it as if she couldn’t believe how Aria didn’t know.

"Hmm... I started to suspect when Aria and Leo worked together to catch Balrog."

The Reinhardt couple said it, seeing the love in their daughter’s eyes when she was in love.

"Since the moment you showed the dress to Leo first instead of me on my birthday."

"...I was skeptical at first, but after hearing Sylia, I couldn’t think otherwise."

Lumine said it, as if she had known from before Aria’s various eccentricities at the temple.

"Since you started to speak disapprovingly of me getting closer to Knight Leo."

"...Not really... like that..."

Everyone in the room raised their eyebrows as if to say, "Really?" After all, the jealousy was the root cause of this situation.

Marken sighed, as if accepting that there was no longer any denying it.

"Since Leo obtained the holy sword and received a revelation after meeting Leo... It’s hard to deny... Sigh... I have no choice but to accept it."

Indeed, it was hard to deny.

At the time, Aria had been inwardly giddy, thinking that this must be a fate brought by heaven.

"...But Leo himself doesn’t know..."

Everyone agreed with this statement.

Looking back, this was the reason why this whole mess had happened.

Not being able to see the love flowing from Aria’s eyes was a skill in itself.

"...Indeed... the story of first love..."

The mention of "first love" sent a cold chill and murderous intent around the room. It was the terrifying aura emanating from Aria’s frosty smile.

"...Tch, what’s so good about a woman who died alone for Leo..."

Although she made a comment that mocked Leo’s heart and the deceased, no one could point it out. Among them, Lumine, Aina, and the two spirits listened with complex expressions, as if hearing self-loathing.

"...Then, should we investigate that person..."

"That’s not a good idea."

Everyone looked at the person who suggested the objection.

"...Aina?"

Surprisingly, the objection came from Aina, who was the start of this story.

"Continuing to investigate Father’s past is not a good idea."

"...Why...?"

If someone else had said it, Aria might have responded with a threat (disguised as a suggestion) or persuasion (disguised as a threat), but since it was Aina, who was like a daughter to Leo, she couldn’t ignore it.

"...It’s..."

Aina’s lips trembled with an unprecedentedly complex expression. This was not due to simple reasons like embarrassment or low output.

Aina herself couldn’t fully explain the indescribable reason. She felt that if she said everything, Leo’s entire world would collapse.

"...If you know, you won’t be able to forgive it..."

"...What do you mean...?"

At that moment, someone knocked on the door.

"Head of the family! A guest has arrived!"

It was a knight of the Reinhardt family, reporting from the main gate. His voice was quite surprised and flustered, so Gladio asked, concerned. After all, there were no scheduled guests at this time.

"...It’s... not strange, but a werewolf and an old woman are claiming to be ‘Knight Leonardo’s family’ and have come, saying it’s time for their appointment."

"A! That’s right! They’re not blood relatives, but closer than that!"

The hero Ariaesphil said, and the knight immediately understood. However, he still looked surprised.

"Then, the mage ‘Eilin Tempeius’ who guided them...!"

"What’s that old hag doing here? If possible, drive her away, and if not, I’ll kill... no, send her far away."

Seeing Aria rush out at the appearance of her rival, the Reinhardt family could only hope that the far place wasn’t the afterlife.

"...Let’s talk about this later."

"That’s a good idea. Deacon Lumine, can you heal and wake up my brother?"

As Rios left the room, Lumine nodded and gathered divine power.

"Yes, I understand. Please go ahead."

Saying that, Lumine hurriedly saw off the Reinhardt family, who were rushing to prevent Aria and Leo’s family from going on a trip to the afterlife.

"Saint Angela."

{Yes, Deacon Lumine.}

When everyone, including Aina, had left the room, Lumine carefully called her guardian angel.

"...Wouldn’t it have been better to speak? This is..."

If she had spoken, the problem could have been solved, Lumine wanted to say.

[Enough. If you interfere, you’ll get a knife from Leo.]

{...Your tone is too casual. But as the old man, who is just a title, said, it’s a fact we can’t reveal.}

The two spirits, who, despite not looking like it up close, had the character and abilities known to the public, had their own experience and wisdom.

That’s why they had to stop Lumine’s actions.

"But... It’s too cruel to keep suffering from something you didn’t want to do and not be able to forgive yourself..."

It was too cruel, the two heroes also agreed.

However, it was only an agreement in opinion.

[...Yeah, it’s sad and suffocating, like having a piece of coal stuck in your throat. But...]

The sage dismissed the issue with this sentence.

[How can we explain this to Aria without making her feel guilty?]

The problem wasn’t in the regression.

It was the time and pain Leo had endured to reach the regression.

Even after hearing all of that,

could Aria really forgive him?

Before forgiving Leo,

could she forgive herself for leaving the man she loved alone in guilt for over 70 years?

That was the real issue.

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