After a few hours into the training, Reito was completely prepared. He asked Airis Ariaâs whereabouts and headed to the place she was hiding out.
âHere?â
ăYes, here.ă
Reito had come to some ruins that looked like an old church. There were no signs of other people or buildings.
Reito, carrying the Extermination Blade on his back, opened the door with his shoulder.
The inside was brighter than Reito expected. There was a large stained glass window on the ceiling, and although it was already nighttime, light shone in.
A woman with white hair and wings on her back was depicted in the stained glass. Curiously enough, the part with her face on it was destroyed.
ââŠIs she a goddess?â
ăNo, sheâs an angel,ăAiris replied to Reitoâs mumbling.
He looked to the side to find Aria standing there, clad in all black. Reito thought he would lose it if he saw her face again, but he was taking it surprisingly cool.
Unlike the last time Aria attacked him, she had two kodachi (short swords) on her waist. Her pupils were empty. Reito had seen that facial expression before. When he had fled the mansion, she had tried to assassinate him with that very same expression.
Reito surmised that she was trying to kill him for real just like that time.
âItâs been a while, Aria.â
âDonât call me that. Iâm not your maid anymore.â
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âYouâre wrong.â
âWhat?â
âYou are my family. Iâve never thought of you as a maid.â
ââŠ!!â
Ariaâs pupils fluttered at Reitoâs words, but she shook her head to the side and drew her kodachi, ready to fight. Reito clutched the Extermination Blade on his back.
The two of them moved at the same time and used their battle skills.
âHelmet Splitter!â
âTest Strike!!â
The metallic sound of their blades striking rang throughout the church. The blades repelled each other. Overwhelmed by the power of the other, Reito and Aria had taken a step back before activating âLeapâ and launching toward each other.
âWhirlwind!!â
âParry.â
Reito swung sideways, but Aria parried Reitoâs Extermination Blade with her Kodachi in mid-air. She spun her body and aimed to cut Reitoâs head off. Reito ducked his head and avoided the attack before swinging his longsword again.
âSpin Strike!!â
âWind of the Deceased.â
The moment the longsword approached Aria, a blast of wind burst through the room even though they were indoors.
Aria rode the wind, and Reito realized she was using spirit magic that only elves could use.
One time, when Reito was a child, he had fallen off the roof of his mansion, and Aria had used the same magic to save him.
Reito aimed for her in mid-air and released some magic of his own.
âFireball!â
âThatâs a waste of time.â
Aria didnât flinch. She funneled her wind magic through her kodachi, slicing through the magic attack.
Pyro magic was advantageous to use against wind magic, so it was weird that she was able to cut through it.
Reito asked her.
âWhat did you just do!!â
âOnly spirit magic can beat spirit magic. Regardless of how well one can use their magic, ordinary human magic doesnât work on elves.â
âOh, I didnât know that. So, thatâs why elves are known as the most superior race.â
She funneled more wind through her sword and got it ready. Reito judged that he had no chance to win with ordinary magic and used his âGravity Blade.â
âHow do you like this?â
âTornado!!â
Seeing Reito approach from the front, Aria spun her body with full force and swung her kodachi.
The power of wind and the power of gravity collided. Reito was stronger.
âAghh!!â
âNgh!?â
One of her swords went flying as she was blown back.
Reito also sustained some damage. When their blades collided, the wind power sliced every part of his body.
Reito was on his knees, âIf Iâm using gravity, it looks like wind attacks wonât work.â
âAir-splitter Slice!!â Aria grasped her kodachi and swung down.
A large crescent-shaped blade of wind was released from her kodachi.
Reito realized he wouldnât be able to dodge the attack and used a battle skill he learned from Bal â he turned his extermination blade into mithril.
âStrike Blade!!â
Mithril is a metal with magical resistance properties. He was able to cleanly cut the wind blade generated from the spirit magic head-on.
The collision wave rushed through the room and violently shook the stained glass ceiling, cracking it in the process.
âHow did you!?â
âAriaaaaaa!!â Reito clutched his extermination blade and used âFull-Body Reinforcementâ along with âMagic Reinforcementâ to bring his body to the limits. He drew near Aria. He used âMagic Reinforcementâ on his âGravity Bladeâ as well, turning it into a pillar of crimson red flames.
Reito pointed the sword and rushed at her but Aria stayed calm.
âI knew you would do that, little boy.â
â!?â
The next moment, Aria disappeared from his sight.
Aria, who had completely mastered assassin skills, completely erased her presence.
Expecting this situation, Reito had been drilling his âMindâs Eye.â
He felt the faintest of presences coming from the right. Normally, she would have been able to completely kill her presence, but she was tired from all the fighting, and her skills were lacking a certain luster.
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Reito redirected his swing to the right and stuck it out.
âAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!â
â!?â
Aria instantaneously threw her kodachi at Reito, but he didnât try to avoid the attack.
âWhatâŠ!?â
Aria was surprised.
Reito used his storage magic, generating a black whirlpool. He had sealed the kodachi away in another dimension.
Aria, coming apart at the seams, tried one last attack.
â!!â
A voiceless scream reverberated through the church and blood splatter came from her body.
She looked at the Extermination Blade that was piercing her body and spit out blood.
âGhaa!!â she screamed.
Reito was panting in exhaustion.
âWonderful work, little boy,â Aria smiled even though she was on the verge of death.
Reito remembered the days they had spent together at the mansion and began to shed tears.
âAriaâŠâ
âDonât look at me⊠like this⊠youâre the one⊠who chose this.â
Ariaâs face grew limper before the slime attached to her body peeled off.
At long last, Reito was able to see her real face. She put her hand out for Reito.
âThank you. I can finallyâŠâ she wasnât able to say her last words as her strength left her body.
Reito tried to grab her hand, but he wasnât able to before her body had fallen to the ground.
Reito let go of his Extermination Blade and ran to Aria. He held her body like a child and cried. He had prepared for this before he came here, but this was still someone he considered important. He couldnât stop crying over the fact he had to kill her.
âNo, why. Why did she have toâŠ!?â
He picked up her body and saw something slip out of her chest.
Reito picked it up and saw the birthday present he had gotten from Aria as a child â a small bottle of recovery medicine. There was a crack in the bottle from all the fighting.
âYou kept it, all this time?â
When Reito had run away from the mansion, he left behind the small bottle and his motherâs pendant.
Suddenly, the small bottle broke into pieces.
Reito squeezed the shards of the small bottle, disregarding the blood pouring out of his fingers. Then he saw Ariaâs face lying with a peaceful expression.
âTell me⊠your nameâŠâ
After all, Reito couldnât even know Ariaâs real name. Reito continued to shed tears, but Airisâs voice suddenly echoed in his mind.
ăReito, get away from there!!ă
ăAiris?ă
ăIn that place, there are a lot of pyromagic stones hidden in large quantities. The church is about to burst into flames!!ă
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ăCan I take Aria with us?ă
ăWe donât have time for that. Aria was the one who decided to put the stones there in the first place. She planned to burn your body after she murdered you.ă
ăAria!!ă
ăWeâve gotta get out of here! If you were to die here, she would be sad!!ă
ăNgh!!ăReito looked at Ariaâs corpse before leaving it behind and fleeing from the church.
The moment he got out, the church burst into flames and slowly burned away.
~
Reito lost his most beloved family member that day. The only one who knew her real name, whether or not she was obeying the empire, whether or not she loved Reito, was Airis. Reito decided to not ask Airis anything about Aria. He pledged to carry the sin of having taken a family memberâs life.
At present, he was digging a hole in the burnt-down church. He found the carbonized remains of Aria and buried them. He stuck her kodachi in the ground as a makeshift grave and returned home. He took the shard of the recovery medicine bottle as a memento, putting it in a leather bag.
When he was returning home, he noticed he was being trailed.
âWho are you?â
âI found you⊠Human!!â
He turned around to see the runaway elf Raikofu in dirty clothes carrying a bow and arrow. He had a nosebleed and was dragging his left leg. Why was he here? Reito didnât even feel like asking.
Raikofuâs clean-cut face was grimacing in pain.
âBecause of you, I lost everything! Itâs all your fault!!â
âBack off⊠Iâm not in the mood.â
Raikofu drew his bow, but Reito didnât even try to run away.
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Raikofu widened his eyes at Reitoâs apparent lack of concern.
âWhatâs wrong with you? Get out your sword!! If youâre going to die, die like a warrior!!â
âWhy?â
âWh!?!?â
âIâm⊠not a warrior.â
Raikofu was skeptical that this man lacking in vigor standing in front of him was the man that managed to defeat him.
But then he got angry that this kind of loser had ruined his life and fired his arrow.
âDie!! You inferior race!!â
âWhat are you looking at?â
âHuhâŠâ
A voice came from behind Raikofu.
He turned around to find Reito standing there.
Raikofu let out a pathetic scream and fell over. He was trying to run away, overwhelmed by fear.
âWhere are you going?â
âAhh!?â
Reito was in front of him now.
âHow did you!?â
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âWhat are you saying, fool!â
âNgh!?â
Reito wasnât sure why Raikofu was so afraid. He was just using âLeapâ to jump from place to place. Apparently, Raikofu wasnât able to see his movement.