Seirei Gensouki ~Konna Sekai de Deaeta Kimi ni~ (LN) - Volume 20 - Chapter Ep

Epilogue: The Transcendent Ones

“No!” Rio yelled desperately, ignoring the pain in his cracked ribs and arm.

“Aishia!”

He called for Aishia frantically; he had a bad feeling about this.

If Aishia left here... He had a feeling something very, very bad would happen.

Horrified, he used his wind spirit arts to accelerate after her.

“You said it yourself!” he yelled. “You said we’d always be together!”

Because he had everyone else? What was she saying?

“Everyone...”

That’s right, everyone...

“Everyone includes you, Aishia!” Rio roared.

He reached for Aishia, who was already far ahead.

“So don’t go alone!”

As though extending his hand towards the unreachable sky...

“AISHIA!” Rio called her name.

◇ ◇ ◇

Erica stood far in the distance. Aishia released her power—the power that didn’t originally belong to her.

I don’t want Haruto to be lonely anymore. That’s why I’ll...!

She would be his substitute. Aishia was trying to use that power with determination in order to remove the towering threat before them, protecting Rio and Haruto’s precious bonds...

“Why are you trying to use the Dragon King’s power, you creepy little puppet? Did you deceive him and steal it? Just like how you did to me.”

Erica glared at Aishia, enraged. The mountain of magic essence flowing from Erica responded to her fury, swelling in size.

Thus, the power of the two sides increased more and more.

Haruto...?

Aishia whipped around in a panic. She could tell the power she had released was being drawn in towards its original owner—Rio.

“No! Don’t come near me!” she screamed in a fluster. She desperately fought against Rio’s pulling power, resisting the draw.

“So that’s what it is, Dragon King.” Erica’s eyes were locked on the power flowing between Rio and Aishia. She seemed to comprehend something from that.

“You...” She glared at Rio. “You betrayed me too!”

Her rage had reached its peak. She yielded the last of the rationality she had been maintaining in the little time she had left. Immediately after, a tsunami of dirt rose from the ground, reversing the heavens and earth.

Or so it seemed.

◇ ◇ ◇

It wasn’t a sight that was of this world.

The ground shook—the world shook.

“What...is that...?” The Galarc Kingdom army beside the lake looked up in horror.

The shape was similar to the beast of the land. However, the beast of the land couldn’t compare to this. It would have looked tiny in comparison. The creature was enormous in size.

There was no doubt this creature was the cause of the earthquake. It was undeniably a symbol of catastrophe.

“WROOOOOOH!”

With eyes that had lost all rationality, it roared up at the skies. This time, the earth flipped over.

“Wha...!” Everyone standing on the bank of the lake was frozen in fear.

A volcano erupted, sending debris flying.

No, calling it that wasn’t enough. The earth had flipped over, literally. A tsunami of dirt tall enough to swallow everything spread before them, advancing towards the lake.

“So this is the power of a hero...” Galarc King Francois mumbled, as though he had given up on everything. The legends of the heroes were no exaggeration after all. No, the legends seemed trivial in the face of this. At the very least, there were no records of monsters like this in the legends.

“What are the heroes? No, that no longer matters...”

There was no need to question it anymore since they were dead anyway. There was no way for mankind to survive such an enormous natural disaster.

In a dozen or so seconds, Francois and everyone else would be swallowed along with the lake. Even the bravest soldier was no more than a mere human—there was no way for them to defy nature. The soldiers of the Galarc Kingdom army all had expressions of resignation at their imminent deaths. There were some like Duke Gregory among them, who were wailing shamefully, unable to accept that.

“It’s not over yet!” Celia yelled.

“That’s right!” Latifa yelled too.

“The two of them haven’t given up yet!”

“We can’t give up either!”

“Let’s all put up a barrier together!”

Sara, Alma, and Orphia also yelled frantically, encouraging themselves.

“Use my essence! Take all of it!”

“Everyone gather together, quickly!”

“Let me help out too!”

Miharu, Satsuki, and Liselotte also yelled.

“...” Seeing the girls’ faith in Rio and Aishia under such a situation rendered Francois speechless. No matter how strong the magic essence barrier was, there was a limit to the area it could cover. There was no way it could withstand the overwhelming mass of the flying debris. Their greatest hope, Rio, was helpless before Erica earlier. Yet the girls were still optimistic.

“We’ll have to entrust this to them, Father. Our fate is in the hands of Sir Haruto and Lady Aishia. If they fall, then we’ll graciously fall with them,” Charlotte said to Francois, giggling as she looked around at the girls that were working hard. That seemed to strengthen Francois’s resolve, as...

“All forces that can create essence barriers, prepare for impact!”

He gave the order to resist death.

◇ ◇ ◇

The earth flipped over, and the end of the world approached.

“Why did you come, Haruto?” Aishia stood facing Rio, who had arrived belatedly.

“I don’t want to lose anyone important to me anymore. That includes you, Aishia. I want to be with everyone.”

Perhaps it was greedy of him. Perhaps he sounded like a spoiled child. Even so, he didn’t want to lose his most important bonds.

That was why Rio expressed his feelings with determination.

“But you can’t stay with everyone anymore, Haruto. You’ll lose everyone precious to you. You should have just let me go. I could have become your substitute...”

Now it was too late. Aishia was nothing more than the safekeeper—she could no longer use the power. Sensing that, Aishia had an extremely flustered and saddened expression on her face. She hung her head in deep regret.

Rio began to speak about himself. “I was always afraid of losing the people important to me... No, I’m still afraid now. That’s why I tried to distance myself from them. But...”

He continued.

“You’re the one who taught me that was unnecessary. Aishia, you saved me from solitude. That’s why...”

He faced himself as a person.

“That’s why there’s no way I’ll leave you alone. I won’t let you go alone if I know you’re not coming back.” Rio grabbed Aishia by the shoulder, staring straight into her face as he made his point.

“Haruto...” Tears flowed from Aishia’s eyes.

Rio wiped them away. “It’s fine. You said I can’t be together with everyone anymore. I don’t know what you mean by that, but it’s fine. This is my decision.” He smiled at Aishia gently.

“No matter what happens, I won’t regret anything.”

Rio looked away from Aishia, turning his back to the lake where the people precious to him waited. He faced the looming despair approaching them.

The overwhelming mass covered the entire sky. If they continued standing here, they would be swallowed in a matter of seconds.

“That’s why...!”

Rio released his power.

He still had no idea what this power was, but for some strange reason, he understood how to use it.

Oddly enough, it felt familiar in his hands.

Why was that?

Make a sword.

Rio imagined the power as a sword.

This was the easiest way for him to use this power right now.

His instinctual understanding told him that.

Aishia came to stand beside him.

“That power is too much for a human body to handle... If you force yourself to use it, your body will fall apart. But that’s why I’m here,” she said, gently touching Rio’s hand that was holding the sword. As soon as she did so, she disappeared as though she had turned into her spirit form. But immediately afterwards...

“...”

Rio gasped, his eyes widening.

He could tell the power was flowing from his body.

No, he could tell his body was being rebuilt.

In order to make the power easier to use, his existence was ascending to something beyond that of a human.

Now it’ll be fine. Go on, Haruto, Aishia’s voice echoed.

“Haaah!”

Rio slashed his sword horizontally with all his might. A blinding light that could erase everything was released from his blade. “Wha...” Those standing beside the lake were speechless. The tsunami of dirt that was tall enough to cover the skies had been swallowed by a blinding light.

And when that blinding light eventually faded, the tsunami of dirt had vanished without a trace.

◇ ◇ ◇

Immediately after, Saint Erica stood where the enormous creature had towered before. There had been nearly a kilometer of distance between them before, but Rio had closed that gap in an instant...

“Ghh...”

...and embedded his sword in Erica’s heart.

“Heh... Hehe...”

Erica was smiling. The voice coming from her mouth wasn’t the man’s, but the original Erica’s.

“I’m sorry. I had no other choice,” Rio said to Erica. This time, he would kill her. He was able to actually kill her in his current state.

“You’re so kind. There’s no need to apologize,” Erica mumbled with a vacant look in her eyes. “Even if you didn’t deal the final blow, I would have died anyway. I can tell. I used more power than I can handle. The price of that is death. But thanks to you, I can die. I’m so, so happy—I’m overjoyed. I’ve always, always wanted to die... So thank you for killing me.” Erica smiled from the bottom of her heart.

“You...” Rio was at a loss for words.

You never wanted to do this in the first place, did you?

“Humans are extremely foolish and ugly creatures. That’s why I don’t regret what I’ve done. I still think those fools should die. But there are kind people out there. Foolishly kind people. You must be one of them. So I have a favor to ask of you, kind one. Whether you listen is up to you,” Erica said eloquently, even as the light in her eyes dimmed. She really didn’t seem to have long left. Rio realized that.

“What is it?”

“There’s a remote village in the nation that I established, fifty kilometers east of the capital. The worst village with the worst people living in it. But deep in the mountains past the village, there’s a waterfall, where his grave is... If possible... I’d like to be...”

Erica’s consciousness was beginning to fade. Honestly speaking, her explanation was rather insufficient, but...

“I understand. I will search for it.” Rio got the gist of it and agreed.

“Thank you. Please apologize to Rikka for me. She was a very good girl...”

“I will.”

“Thank you... Goodbye, true hero. I’m sure you know this already, but be very careful of the other heroes...”

With those final words, spoken with satisfaction, the light finally disappeared from Erica’s eyes.

◇ ◇ ◇

Once upon a time, there were fourteen transcendent ones in the world. The one and only god of that world created a handful of absolute rules.

Not even the fourteen transcendent ones could escape those rules.

And now, over a thousand years later, one of those rules had been triggered.

◇ ◇ ◇

Beside the lake, Miharu, Celia, Latifa, the other girls, and the people of the Galarc Kingdom were all standing, stunned. Not a single person could even begin to comprehend what had just happened.

They had witnessed a cataclysm before their very eyes, and then that cataclysm had vanished completely. Their utter confusion was very much justified.

Then, someone spoke up.

“Wait...” they said in a very panicked voice.

“Who’s that fighting over there?”