Interlude — Chaos at the Entrance Ceremony
“[Sister Stella.]”
I wanted to tell her to go away. I wanted to scream that every time I looked at her, the self-loathing drove me half out of my mind. In truth, every word and gesture I made had already been screaming it for me. Yet Aria simply continued to call my name.
Why did she keep calling me?
Was she going to yell at me? Did she intend to lash out and blame me for ruining everything? Or was she going to sneer at me for being reckless enough to charge a High Demon when I lacked the power to even scratch it? Perhaps she just wanted to demand that I take responsibility.
No. No, that wasn't it at all.
Deep down, I already knew. I knew all too well what Aria was trying to say to me. Even though we had met barely a week ago, everything she had shown me made it painfully clear that she was incapable of such cruelty. It was impossible not to know what she was going to say.
I wished I didn't know. If only I were completely ignorant, I wouldn't have to endure this suffocating ache. If only I were a colder, more callous person.
“Stop it… Please don't call my name anymore… Please…”
I wished she would just hate me instead. It would have been so much easier on my heart if she wiped that gentle, benevolent smile from her face and glared down at me with pure disgust. The realization that I was pushing away the very first person who had ever shown me genuine warmth would tear my chest apart, but at least I could tell myself that I deserved it—that it was all my fault.
And yet…
“Don't… look at me like that. Please…”
Looking at me with eyes so full of pity was just too cruel. Why on earth was she the one wearing such an apologetic expression? Why, of all people, was she looking at me like that?
“[I am so sorry… Sister Stella.]”
I was the one who needed to beg for forgiveness, so why was she apologizing to me first? Why!
“Just hate me instead…! Don't forgive me!”
If she hated me, I could at least breathe. Everything went wrong because of me, so why was she apologizing? I wanted to tell her to get angry. I wanted to beg her never to forgive me.
Aria, however, gave me no chance to speak.
Before I could pull away, two slender arms wrapped gently around me.
“…”
“[Sister Stella, you did nothing wrong. It only happened because I was lacking…]”
That wasn't true. It couldn't be true.
Our enemy had been a demon. An ancient tome once taught me that any demon wearing a human guise was a High Demon. No matter how peerless her sacred power might be, facing a High Demon all alone was never going to be easy—not even for a Saintess. If it were easy, there was no way she would have suffered through such an agonizing, desperate struggle.
Yet Aria was taking all of my blame upon herself just to comfort me.
“Ugh… hic… sob…”
My vision blurred with tears.
Her embrace was impossibly delicate compared to mine. With our difference in stature, it was I who should have been enveloping her completely.
‘…She feels like a mother.’
My mother had passed away before I was old enough to form memories, but I wondered if her embrace would have felt like this. Despite our size difference, Aria wrapped me in a warmth that felt like a mother's sheltering arms, and the tidal wave of emotions rising from within became too overwhelming to hold back.
Saying it would bring me peace of mind had been a lie. Whichever path she chose, my heart was destined to shatter. Even though we had known each other for only a brief time, she was the first person to ever make me feel like I had a family. To me, Aria was already like family.
For the first time in my life, I had met someone who didn't view me as a mere cog for researching magic in the Spire, nor as an expendable adventurer whose death wouldn't warrant a second thought. She looked at me and saw me for who I was.
Perhaps to Aria, I was nothing more than a roommate she was destined to share quarters with. Even so, she extended boundless kindness to someone like me. She threw her own body into harm's way for someone who was practically a stranger. Though barely a day had passed, she felt like family to me.
And I had hurt that very person.
Even among real family, what I did would have warranted bitter hatred. My foolish blunder had ruined everything, leaving her with dreadful wounds that could have cost her life. Yet even while enduring such horrific agony, Aria offered me the tender affection of a sister.
“Sob… waaah…”
Unable to hold it in any longer, I burst into tears.
Tears I thought had long since dried up—tears I had never once shed in my entire life—spilled uncontrollably from my eyes. Overwhelmed by a tempest of emotions I had never experienced before, I was entirely helpless to stop them. Feelings that had stagnated inside me for a lifetime rushed out like a burst dam.
“[You may weep as much as your heart desires. It must have been so terribly hard on you all this time, hasn't it?]”
It hadn't been. Compared to what Aria endured, my struggles were nothing. Such boundless grace was far too generous for a mage who had spent her entire life choked by arrogance. But today… just for today, I wanted to stay like this. Just for today, I wanted to let myself be comforted. Just for this one day… please let me remain in her arms.
“Yeah…”
Even so, I couldn't remain a spoiled child forever. Aria was a Saintess. She was the one who would one day vanquish the Demon King and bring peace to this world. If I ever hoped to stand beside her, I had to ensure that I would never become a burden.
‘A burden, huh…’
What could I possibly do right now? To ensure that something like this never happened again, there was only one path left for me to choose.
“I'll… give it my all.”
Though the memories were still hazy, I recalled the magic displayed by the Archmage who had appeared not long ago. A transcendent sorcery that manipulated reality itself, bringing her will into existence with mere words. It was a Unique Magic, an art that only those who reached the pinnacle of an Archmage could ever conceive.
My goal was set. Deep within my heart, I swore an unbreakable vow to achieve it.
Inside a pitch-black chamber, a dark-skinned, humanoid demon bound tight in heavy restraint gear sat gasping for breath upon an iron chair.
“Whew…”
Standing before the demon was a man staring down at his captive with undisguised irritation. Holding a heavy mace meant for crushing heretics, the man clicked his tongue in disgust as he glared at the creature.
“Fucking demon scum… You bastards really never know how to do things the easy way, do you?”
“Khahaha… A lowly mortal who grew fat and soft in an age of peace, who has never laid eyes on a demon in his entire miserable life… Kaaagh!!”
“Can't argue with that. It really is my first time seeing a real demon.”
“Gasp… pant…”
The demon stared with trembling eyes at the stump where his arm had been severed. A narrow tube was fitted directly into the exposed flesh, continually pumping pure divine power into his bloodstream and forcing sacred energy to circulate through his body, inflicting sheer, burning agony.
“Thing is, though…” The inquisitor strode forward, his eyes gleaming with a manic fervor as he locked gazes with the demon. “Even if they're not demons from hell, bastards just like you are crawling out of the woodwork everywhere in this world.”
Those who passed judgment on heresy primarily hunted warlocks and demon-worshipping cultists. Naturally, even if he hadn't faced authentic demons until now, he had dealt with countless human monsters who acted just like them. Handling their filthy breed was something he had done until it became second nature.
“Spit it out already. Then you get to take a peaceful trip to the Goddess's side, and I get my intel… Isn't that killing two birds with one stone?”
“…”
“Figures. You never listen to reason, do you?”
“Kaaagh!!”
“Hah… Even if you're strong enough to be classed as a High Demon, there's no way in hell you could weave a barrier intricate enough to fool an Archmage all on your own…”
Just as there was no greater agony for a sacred human than having a demon's corruptive demonic energy forced into their veins, the reverse was equally unbearable for a demon. The inquisitor had chosen this specific torment solely out of vengeance, furious that Saintess Aria, whom he revered above all else, had suffered from this creature's vile assault. Yet despite enduring torment severe enough to drive any ordinary being unconscious, the demon stubbornly refused to part his lips.
The inquisitor's expression darkened with frustration.
“Guess I have no choice but to dial the pain up a notch—”
Just then, a sound cut him off.
“Heheheh…”
The demon let out a low, raspy chuckle. The inquisitor turned back with a scowl, only for his face to freeze instantly in horror. Dark, suffocating demonic energy was boiling violently around the demon's heart.
“Though… pant… my mission was a failure… I'll at least drag you down to the grave with me…!!”
Cold sweat broke out across the inquisitor's brow as his gaze whipped toward the line feeding divine power into the stump. Could it be… did he use the flow of sacred power to channel his demonic energy?!
Because the restraint gear locked his limbs and prevented him from circulating mana normally, the demon had hijacked the invasive sacred power to force his dark energy through. An amethyst crystal erupted outward from the demon's chest, and a terrifying magic circle expanded into the air. Though the inquisitor was no sorcerer, he could instantly tell that the spell being woven was a catastrophic self-destruction.
“Witness me, Lord Demon King!!”
The demon bellowed with venomous malice. The amethyst began radiating a blinding black light, right on the verge of triggering an apocalyptic detonation—
‘What…?’
For some inexplicable reason, the magic failed to ignite. The demon broke out in a frantic sweat and opened his maw to force the spell through, only to freeze in sheer disbelief. ‘My voice… won't come out?!’
This phenomenon… This impossible sorcery was…!!
“What's all this nonsense about?”
The moment that casual voice drifted through the air, the demon's very consciousness turned to ice. It was a voice belonging to someone who had no business being here.
“L-Lady Arhen…!”
“Good grief… You do realize you were a fraction of a second away from being blown to bits, don't you? I only swung by on a hunch, but thank heavens I did.”
“T-Thank you so much…”
Not again… It's that magic again! No! It can't end like this! Do you have any idea how desperately we hid our plans?!
‘Urggghhh…!!’
“Save your strength. It's completely useless,” Arhen Isis said, crunching down on the hard candy she had been rolling around her mouth. “I've halted the flow of time within your physical body. That was a close call, but thanks to your little stunt, you saved me the trouble of prying the seal open myself.”
The pink-haired girl casually flicked the index finger of her free hand. The amethyst crystal protruding from the demon's chest was ripped cleanly from his flesh, flying across the room and landing squarely in Arhen's palm. The demon could only watch in mute, hollow horror.
“Well then… shall we tear open that head of yours and see what you're hiding?”
With an aloof smirk, the ancient girl pressed her hand—now swirling with an intricate magic circle—directly against the demon's forehead.
‘N-No, wait—!!’
Realizing what she was about to do, the demon fought frantically to tear himself away, but with his physical time completely suspended, he couldn't twitch so much as an eyelid. His eyes rolled back in pure, unadulterated terror as the prospect of having every secret stripped from his mind dawned upon him.
‘Gaaahhh! You miserable little witch—!!’
Yet not a single vibration of sound escaped his throat. Arhen looked upon his silent, thrashing despair with cold amusement.
“You're about to experience an ordeal far more horrific than the suffering you inflicted upon Saintess Aria. Your sanity might shatter under the strain, so you'd better brace yourself.”
The magic plunged directly into the demon's mind, snuffling out his consciousness like a pinched candle flame.
“Well… not that it's any of my concern.”
It was an utterly pathetic end for a creature deemed a High Demon.