The Rebirth Of The Hero’S Party’S Archmage [EN]: Chapter 224

224.

“Magic circle construction, double 5-star.”

Forcibly spitting out blood, I calculated countless mathematical formulas with a hazy mind, constructing different 5-star magics in each hand.

The three runes that define power are common, but the first rune that grants the source attribute is different.

And the last rune, which determines how that power is exerted, is also different.

To thunder (雷), falling (落).

To fire (火), ascending (承).

If Miria buys me time now (I can’t understand how that’s even possible), I can use ‘this technique.’

I wouldn’t even have dreamed of it in a one-on-one fight.

“Dragon Thunder Flame Flash (龍雷線火).”

A replica of the Dragon Slayer’s ultimate technique, Dragon Thunder Flash, used by the greatest swordsman of humanity.

From the cracks spreading across the ground, dragon flames surged, and from the sky, dragon lightning endlessly exploded.

Perhaps sensing the danger, or realizing she couldn’t avoid it the moment it was activated, Rista swung Schlierf heavily, shaking off Miria.

“Kugh!”

And in a world where the sense of time slows down, she alone moves quickly, placing the space-time where I am located on the trajectory of her slash.

The one who activates their power first will be at the crossroads of victory or defeat.

Peepy jumped in front, as if to block Rista’s vision.

“No, no, no.”

Schlierf groaned dully, and a subtle crack spread across Rista’s expression.

“Target, annihilation……”

Even though it’s a body without a soul, did the trembling of the bond deeply embedded within the Holy Sword create a moment of hesitation?

No, Schlierf stopped Rista.

Schlierf, emitting a faint light, didn’t want to cut Peepy. The sword betrayed its master’s will with its own will.

Therefore, what was activated first by a hair’s breadth was not the Space-Time Slash, but the Dragon Thunder Flame Flash.

Rista didn’t cut Peepy, she just blew her away with the back of her hand, but that almost caused me to hesitate as well.

“Let’s end this now, Rista.”

At that moment, lightning that tore through the sky swallowed Rista’s left arm.

The area below the elbow vanished in the ultra-high temperature lightning as if cut off by a sharp blade.

The blood gushing from that severed surface was red. My heart ached as if it were torn apart. Perhaps feeling a similar emotion, Peepy barked loudly, as if sobbing.

“Don’t get involved from here! You’ll get hurt!”

Unlike the Dragon Slayer, I set the blast radius of the Dragon Thunder Flame Flash to be small.

The place where Rista is now is my domain; a dragon is not harmed by its own flames and lightning.

That place, where flashes of light pour down incessantly and hot winds rage, is the space where I can gain an advantage in the fight against Rista.

– Rista’s letters were all apologies and regrets. That’s what I saw.

Rista moved her body breathlessly, deflecting the relentlessly pouring lightning with her Holy Sword and avoiding the surging flames.

The masterful skill residing in her body allows her to block even natural disasters that shake the heavens and earth with just a single sword.

I convert the runes of the current particles shattered by Schlierf’s blade, granting the runes of Jeser’s Chain.

– She regretted bringing Rin, that is, you… into the Hero Party at such a young age.

Rista soared upwards to avoid the chains that were blindingly forged from all directions.

Rista’s gaze turned towards me as she deflected, cut, and severed the chains that bent and twisted at complex angles.

Did she judge that there was no end, and therefore decided to end me, the caster?

“Swallow it, Schlierf.”

Schlierf maximized its absorption output.

The indiscriminate frenzy of flames and lightning is sucked into that blade.

The sword’s aura surrounded the blade with overwhelming power, emitting a dazzling light.

– If only I could turn back time, she said she wouldn’t go to meet you.

But this is not enough.

The real Rista was dozens of times stronger.

– That’s all I read. But I think the rest would have been similar. …I somehow feel that way.

Our reunion is a wish that could not originally be fulfilled. A tragedy that should have ended there on that day 300 years ago.

I’m the one who wants to turn back time.

If I could go back, if I could undo that mistake, I would have said a proper farewell to you back then.

If there were no regrets left, this corpse wouldn’t be desecrated like this.

“Rune Amplification, 존(Jon) [Respect/Honor].”

Before the sword aura, which rose nearly 8 meters above Schlierf’s blade, could be emitted as sword energy.

Before finishing the concentration of power and entering the drawing sword stance.

According to my command as the caster, the last power of the Dragon Thunder Flame Flash was concentrated on the ground.

“Thunder River (雷川).”

Flashes of light with transcendent power, so intense they seemed to burn the eyes, swallowed all the cracks in the ground in golden light, covering Rista’s lower body.

She seemed to block it with Schlierf, but just before the collision, the source rune, thunder (雷), was converted to fire (火).

It covers the opponent with the speed of lightning and destroys them with the power of fire. The conversion of the source rune, which I could only fantasize about in my Rin days.

A fierce explosion.

In the storm that seemed to tear my whole body apart, the smell of burning, as if the atmosphere itself was burning, danced.

The sound, momentarily amplified beyond its limit, lost its power, and a long silence descended upon the world.

Thud, the hero crashed to the ground.

Since her lower body was burned away, a proper landing was naturally not possible.

Her posture collapsed, and the greatsword Schlierf, as tall as a grown man, was also thrown from her hand.

I have to end it.

This fight, and the lingering attachment (未練) [lingering regrets] between you and me that has lasted for 300 years.

“Rista, I don’t regret following you at all.”

I ran towards her.

Pressing down on both arms with both feet to subdue her.

“Because by following you, I was able to learn about the world (世上) [the ways of the world] that I couldn’t learn from books.”

I confessed my feelings.

Since being revived, whenever I faced a situation, I would think about how you would have acted.

I used to deny it out of embarrassment, but in fact, I might have wanted to be like you.

To be able to bring smiles to many people like you and Headmaster Ajumma [a respectful Korean term for an older woman]…….

“Meeting you and Headmaster was truly a miracle, even more miraculous than a miracle.”

So, you see.

If, really, if.

If time is turned back as you wished, if I go back to that time again…….

“Would you come to pick me up again?”

Tears welled up on Rista’s face as she looked up at me, who was muttering with a smile that seemed about to break.

It wasn’t tears shed by a doll. It was tears endlessly pouring from my eyes.

This is the end of you and me, the final chapter of a story that could not be concluded in any form, the finale of our story.

“I will definitely follow you, anytime.”

Thank you.

For finding me in a corner of the world, and for taking me to the other side of the world…….

I kept the words I couldn’t spit out because my throat was choked up in my heart, and after conveying only that sincerity.

“I’m really sorry I couldn’t keep my promise.”

In the torrent of emotions, just as I was about to raise the staff held in reverse grip high, Rista… no, Miria grabbed my hand.

“No matter how I think about it, this doesn’t seem right.”

“What……?”

“I still can’t forget seeing my father die in front of my eyes. Even after 10 years.”

“…….”

“But what would it be like to have the experience of killing someone precious with your own hands?”

“But this fight is…….”

“For the rest of your life, until the day you die, it will follow you as a nightmare. You can’t endure that. So this…… leave it to me.”

“……?!”

“Look, this Demon Sword wants that too.”

Ending it myself would have been a courtesy to this guy who had been waiting for me.

I should have refused and ended it myself, but at that time, I felt an overwhelming gratitude for Miria’s suggestion.

Because whether it was a doll or a soulless corpse… I didn’t want to kill Rista with my own hands.

“Then…….”

Hugging Peepy, who had somehow landed on Rista’s forehead and was crying, with both hands, I stepped back.

In Miria’s grasp, the Demon Sword shone even more strongly and fiercely, sharpening its blood-red blade even more eerily.

And that sword.

The sword with the heart of Demon Slayer Link, was stabbed straight into the heart of the doll with Rista’s form.

* * *

The moment the sword was stabbed into the heart, a resonance of souls (共鳴) [soul resonance] occurred.

The engraving of memories achieved through contact with the old body…….

From Miria’s perspective, fragments of memories that she couldn’t understand were faintly engraved in her mind, like cherry blossoms scattering in the spring.

‘What are these memories…….’

The memories of Rista were not being superimposed on Miria’s personality.

Nor were all the memories fully revived. Only fragments of vaguely returning memories.

But for some reason, the emotions that Rista felt during those days were conveyed to her heart so clearly.

【In the Twilight Grass flower field.】

【Teaching Rin staff techniques.】

【Not being able to say goodbye to Rin.】

That echo of emotions.

So unbearably sad and sorrowful.

Was that why she had to bury her face in her arms holding the Demon Sword and tremble?

Buzz, buzz, buzz.

It was around that time that the Supreme Holy Sword Schlierf, which had fallen to the ground, emitted light.

The moment she looked at that sword, that light drew Miria’s consciousness into the realm of the Holy Sword.

“Thank you.”

In the center of that realm, the hero brushed her beautiful white hair behind her ears and gave a quiet smile.

The Hero, Rista.

A being she once admired, and now…… a being she couldn’t help but be wary of.

“I’ve been waiting for you to come here. Leaving my will in Schlierf.”

“I didn’t do anything to receive thanks from you.”

The moment she acknowledged that being as her past life, she felt as if she would somehow cease to be herself.

“I am not you. I only acted according to my will.”

“Because you like Rin?”

“Let’s just say I repaid a favor. In the first place, unlike you, that slick guy isn’t my type.”

Then the legendary hero gave a smile warmer and more dazzling than the sunlight, which no book had ever properly described.

“No, he is your type.”

“Because I’m you?”

“Didn’t you just say you weren’t? I think you know the answer to this question better than I do.”

The realm of the Holy Sword, which holds the memories of the sword’s master, began to crumble.

In the scenery outside the scattering realm, Rista’s body was seen being burned in the dragon’s flames.

This is a funeral dedicated to an old bond and the end of a long wait, so that the body can be freed from the shackles of the abyss.

“Rista, Rista, Rista.”

Seeing Peepy crying sadly on Rain’s shoulder, who was looking down, made my heart ache.

Is it because memories and emotions are shared…….

Instinctively, yes, really without even realizing it, I picked up Schlierf, which was pulsating powerfully as if calling out to me.

[Please take good care of Rin in the future.]

The ashes of the burned old body warmly brushed past my ear, and I felt as if it whispered that.

Miria saw a faint smile on her face reflected in Schlierf’s blade.

Feeling the unknown obsession of regret that had been frustratingly lodged somewhere in her heart since birth, melting away.

“I will, even if you don’t tell me to.”