"...love you..."
...
...
...
As Scarlet's lips once again sealed from those shocking words she had just left loose, I could do nothing...
I was aware that if Scarlet's [Aria Shot] was strong enough to become as big as 50 ft in diameter... this demon king's [Aria Destruction]... might kill both of us...
...
I felt all of my joints trembling in fear as the demon king finished his chant...
From all directions... the sinister-looking dark energy began swirling all around him...
I could physically see the demonic energy gathering like a giant vortex ready to devastate an entire city...
Not even a second had passed since he finished his chant... yet the amount of energy circling him had become potent enough to destroy Litherm's entire royal palace in a single blast...
"SCARLET!!!"
I yelled instinctively as I covered her wounded form with my body...
I wasn't sure if it would work...
But I could at least try and protect her...
That's the very least I could do for her...
"HOLD ON SCARLET!!!"
Abd as i finally readied myself to receive the impact, the demon king finally began thrusting his powerful arm at us...
...
I could feel the power drawing closer to my face as the demon king's wicked smirk became widened with a sick intention...
'I'll protect what I must...'
And as I held Scarlet tighter than ever before...
...
...
...
"[GOD'S ARROW]!!!"
Out of nowhere, a powerful chant echoed throughout the room... And before I even had the time to even react properly to that familiar voice...
A blazing ray of light shot out with immense speed towards us... I wasn't sure how to react as I looked away in fear...
'I'm dead... I'm sooooo dead... I won't be able to protect Scarlet OR ME if I get hit by that...'
As I squinted my eyes and prepared for the inevitable...
One of the most absurd things, I have seen in my life happened before my eyes...
...
...
...
The zooming arrow of light quite literally...
Turned in a 90 degree angle...
Just an inch away from my head...
I was scared to the brim by the incoming projectile, yet without warning it had changed its trajectory... aiming straight for the demon king...
...
...
...
Before I knew it... the arrow had impaled him effortlessly...
Seeing the arrow begin impaling the demon king made me aware of what was about to happen... I knew far too well what would follow...
As I immediately grabbed ahold of Scarlet and took her in my arms. And without a single more moment to waste... I jumped out of the demon king's range...
And just as I barely got out of range...
Something I had not expected happened...
Out of seemingly nowhere...
A glorious horn echoed across the ruins of the 'Galvan Fortress'...
The horn was beautiful and majestic, yet what followed was even more so...
Just as I had expected...
As the horn came to an end, a strange disturbance began emerging in the cloudy, ash-filled skies...
I wouldn't believe what I had before me, if I hadn't seen it before...
As the strange disturbance finally made itself apparent...
I finally was able to see what I had been fearing...
Large, elegant and holy, an unfathomably enormous arrow made out of light pierced the skies as it filled my entire field of vision...
It broke apart the skies as it slowly descended creating a roaring sound as it slowly filled the entire area with its holy light...
It was quite apparent that the demon king was far more concerned than us... this was quite clearly shown by a horrified look I had never seen him wear before...
I continued to run without any intent of stopping, and seeing this, the demon king attempted to run too... however...
*CLANK* *CLANK* *CLANK*
It was too fast for the untrained eye to see... but... just as he tried to take a step forward... the light arrow he had been impaled with, materialized beautiful golden chains that instantly plunged into the ground...
Locking him, below the falling cataclysmic arrow...
It was a horrifying yet, incredibly relieving sight... The demon king could not move a muscle if he wanted to feel no pain, yet he still tried...
I could see the blood gushing out of his wounds as he attempted to break free from the chains... yet regardless of his struggles, his pains, or his will, the chains wouldn't budge...
I knew this all too well...
I had seen this same skill being used, back when we fought the 'Undead Lord' a couple weeks back...
I was terrified back then... and I am now... The destruction capabilities of that skill are absolutely absurd... and as such we had to run...
I could see the demon king begin to tear up as the roaring ray of glow was just mere seconds from leaving him dead forever...
But just as I turned around and began running once more, I barely heard the demon king mutter something in his hoarse voice...
"Goodbye... Viracia..."
'That name once again...' For some reason, that name felt familiar... or rather... special to me... I couldn't quite define it... yet... It resonated within me...
However... This was no time to be wondering about such trivialities...
As I kept running for the exit with Scarlet in arms, I heard a sudden thud from my left... But I knew all too well who it was...
"MYRIA WHY DID YOU USE THAT?!"
I yelled in anger as I scolded Myria...
"DIDN'T WE AGREE YOU WOULDN'T USE IT UNLESS IT WAS EXTREMELY NECESSARY?!"
As I turned my face to look at Myria, she only held a playful grin as she responded with an envious tone?
"Yeah well, doesn't this count as an emergency?"
"COULDN'T YOU HAVE USED OTHER LESS DESTRUCTIVE SKILLS?! LIKE [HEAVEN'S WRATH]?!"
And as I screamed for my dear life uncontrollably Myria just laughed as she responded:
"Well, you left the castle to have fun right? Where's the fun in using such a boring skill?!"
As we barely made our way out of the remains of the 'Galvan Fortress'... it finally happened...
A second, more majestic, more elegant, and far more deadly, horn echoed through the heavens...
"AHHHHHHH!!!!"
As I stepped up my pace and beginning to leave dents on the ground...
We ran out of time...
*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM*
I was expecting this amount of destruction... but it still surprised the living hell out of me as the very floor under me began rupturing to pieces and my body begins flying as a huge shockwave thrashed me around as if I was a slim piece of paper.
"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
I could literally feel the burning sensation of the nova happening behind me... as I yelled
"MYRIAAAAA!!!!!!! THIS IS YOUR FAUUUUUULT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" (AN: This is not what's happening but, did anyone else get the "We're blasting off again feel here? Nope, just me? Ok then.)
※
It had been about 15 minutes since the absurd explosion Myria had caused... And of course, as soon as we managed to escape she had fainted...
Yep... when you use too much of your magic power you faint... (AN: Bakuretsu, Bakuretsu, La La La)
'I guess I'm kinda immune to that seeing as I don't have any magic power, though'
Anyways, going back onto the main topic, we had managed to live through the absurd explosion that Myria had caused but in all seriousness... the amount of power Myria had been able to release was truly scary...
As I turned to face the crater that was left by Myria...
I was horrified...
If my [Absolute Oblivion] had turned the 'Galvan Fortress] into ruins...
This had completely obliterated it...
It was ABSURD!!!
I'm not sure how many miles the diameter of the crater was!
And to top it all off, in the middle of such crater was a single yellow crystal emanating a strange demonic essence... According to Myria before fainting, that was the target, [God's Arrow] had been able to capture...
And after having an eternity's suffering done in mere instants, he would die through slow and painful disintegration as his very existence was wiped out from this world...
I was, of course, terrified by Myria's explanation regarding her skill, but it quickly lost effect since, mere seconds after explaining, her body just gave up on her as she lost consciousness...
By now I was just looking at the smoking horizon with Scarlet as we waited for Myrai to wake up...
The sun slowly beginning to hide behind the barren wasteland, forcing the ash on the floor to reflect a shade of orange, red and gold...
From a clouded and dark place... such a beautiful image had shown itself before us... yet...
Neither of us dared to say anything...
It was a strangely familiar feeling yet... It was different in some way...
I couldn't quite describe it yet... both of us were aware of it...
Until finally...
Without even looking at me... the sweet maiden opened her sealed lips...
"Reika..."
"Uh... Y-yeah?"
I was unfathomably nervous...
Yet, Scarlet seemed so calm...
"Reika..."
"Ummm... Yes...?"
"Thank you... again..."
"You're welcome..."
...
...
...
Once again... the silence made itself apparent as we both stared at the sundown...
It felt... nostalgic...
"It's beautiful..."
"Un"
...
...
...
Once again... silence... not even a breeze of wind dared to utter a sound...
Such peace... such calm... I didn't want this to end... ever...
But some things... must be done...
"Scarlet..."
"...Yes..."
"...I wanna tell you something..."
...
...
...
Once again we both went silent...
The bright rays of sunlight hitting my face and the gentle breeze blowing my hair...
It was relaxing... so perfect...
And as I finally gathered some courage...
I finally turned to face Scarlet...
"Scarlet..."
She slowly turned her shining, beautiful face towards me as she smiled wholeheartedly...
"Scarlet... I hold you dear... I want to protect you... You are important to me... my pillar... my emotion..."
I could feel some small tears forming in my eyes as I felt my heart-rate rapidly rise...
I wasn't sure how to put it into words...
I felt myself doubting and hesitating too much...
But Scarlet... quickly threw all of those worries out the window...
As she caressed my face with her gentle hands, she began drawing her face closer...
closer...
yet closer...
As the breeze became distant...
And the sunlight faded away...
We both closed our eyes...
'I... I... ...'
...
...
...
...
...
*CRACK*
Both, Scarlet and I were immediately snapped back into reality as a sharp breaking sound pierced the silence...
I could feel something strange going on, yet I wasn't sure what was happening...
*CRACK* *CRACK*
There is was again...
*CRACK* *CRACK* *CRACK*
Repeating over and over... As if, glass were to be broken repeatedly a strange crackling filled our ears...
But before I could even begin searching for the origin, Scarlet tapped my shoulder as she pointed to the glowing crystal in the middle of the crater...
It seemed to be breaking, chipping and shattering quickly...
I could clearly feel the demonic presence fading away too...
But I truly never expected this...
Without any further warning... the crystal simply vanished away in holy light...
...
...
...
But that wasn't the end of it...
In that same instant...
...
...
...
For some reason...
...
...
...
My choker... had fallen off...
...
...
...
*DING*
...
...
...
[Congratulations! You are now the new Demon Ruler!]
...
...
...
"AGH NOT AGAIN!!!"