659 – The End of the Former Hero

“You won…!”

I shake my head in response to Aro.

『…No, she let me win.』

At the last moment, I took a bad gamble, and Miia easily avoided it. By all means, she should have killed me then. That should have been it. But, she intentionally overlooked the opening and allowed me to strike her.

I pick up the limp treant from the floor and heal him with [High Rest], then walk over to Miia’s separated upper body.

The six-eyed thanatos writhes in pain as blood pours the wound in its forehead. The movements are gradually becoming duller as it bleeds to death. Miia lies next to it, covered in her own blood. She looks up at me

“[God of Destruction] has set in it seems. My maximum HP is high enough that I’ll probably die before that though.”

Miia weakly raises an arm up as she speaks. I can see the tips of her fingers crumbling away into sand.

[God of Destruction] continuously reduces the victim’s maximum HP and MP. It was responsible for most of what killed the slime.

『You shouldn’t get [God of Destruction] just by losing your divine skill…』

“It was set up by Laplace so that monsters powerful enough to endanger the world wouldn’t keep appearing. Losing a divine skill causes your stats to reduce, but God of Destruction only sets in if they’re still above a certain value. Of course, there’s someone who’s subverting the God of Destruction system to keep a stock of monsters though.”

She must be talking about God’s Voice. Fake divine skills have been handed out in order to gather a huge number of Legendary monsters in this forest.

The relationship between God’s Voice and Laplace is still unclear, God’s Voice seems to have a pattern of is trying to subvert Laplace’s restrictions.

『Miia… Didn’t you want to get outside and take revenge?』

“My God of Madness had already progressed to an irreversible state. I could tell right away. Once you get it, there’s no turning back. It’s not some simple status condition.”

I open my eyes wide. Then, she had already accepted that she would die in this Ngai Forest when she jumped into the origin matter.

“The mental burden is worse than you think. Even before… Ever since evolving to a thanatos, I haven’t been doing well. For a long time now, nothing has stirred my heart. God of Madness and the destructive impulses of the thanatos have been eating me from the inside. The last of my reason and my prior sense of duty and desperation have carried me this far, but they too are close to being crushed by God of Madness.”

That’s how bad it was… I had thought her artificial expressions was uncanny. I had thought it was because of her hatred for God’s Voice, but it seems that wasn’t it. The being that’s in front of me now isn’t Miia, but rather the torn apart wisps of who Miia once was.

Even in that mental state, despite the pain, she guided us and entrusted her hope to us. It’s clear now why she fought me. Knowing her limit was close, she choose to give me the fifth divine skill at the cost of her life.

“Sorry for dragging you along with my selfishness. Before I gave you my divine skill… I wanted to test your resolve and strength.”

Of course. She chose to entrust everything to me. If I were to lose to God’s Voice, or to give up without a fight, it would all have gone to waste. Even though she had no other choice, it’s no wonder she wanted to test me first. But I can’t imagine I lived up to her expectations.

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『Sorry, Mia… We fought you three-on-one, and still lost.』

I shouldn’t have been able to handle her initial surprise attack. I can understand what happened now that it’s over. If she wanted to, she could have struck at a better timing, and then kept attacking to deal a fatal wound. She could have won right at the start. At the end too, she lowered her sword of her own volition.

“No… It’s fine. It would be a lie to say I didn’t hope you could defeat me. But I was also mistaken.”

『Mistaken…?』

“I pretend to be rational, but the inside of my head is always like that.”

She indicates behind herself.

“OoOOOOOO…OoOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”

The six-eyed dragon’s body writhes as it screams with its repulsive voice. Drool drips from its mouths, and its claws slam against the floor again and again.

“Ever since evolving to a thanatos, I’ve been attacked by waves of hatred and destructive impulses. I was holding myself together with the memory of how I used to think. That’s probably why I was acting under such a terrible misunderstanding for so long. My objective wasn’t revenge, but to free this world from God’s Voice. Thank you for helping me remember before I die.”

『Miia…』

“I can’t ask you to inherit my resentment now. I denied what you said before, but you were right. Killing God’s Voice doesn’t mean anything by itself. It’s no more than a means to an end. Don’t charge headfirst into an unwinnable fight for something as vague and grand as preventing the destruction of the world. You should fight in order to protect someone, and keep that in mind as you fight..”

I can’t find the words to reply. My thoughts are too jumbled. All I can do is bow my head.

“I’ve been trapped by destructive impulses, and I haven’t felt anything else in a long time, but… Eating with you guys was the first fun I’ve had in ages. I’m seriously glad you were the ones to release me from the origin matter. Thank you for the final beautiful memory.”

Miia closes her eyes.

“…Umukahime is still alive. I know it was impossible, but I would have liked to have seen her one last time. She’s been fighting for my sake all this time.”

Miia says, her words falling in drops. I only told her about Umukahime’s survival right before the battle. I thought for sure she didn’t care and was paid no attention. But I’m glad she was bearing Umukahime in mind.

『…Thank you, Miia.』

She smiles with her usual awkward expression, her eyes still closed. Then, at the same time as the six-eyed dragon, she stops moving.

【82950 experience points have been acquired.】
【Due to the title skill [Walking Egg: Lv -], an additional 82950 experience points have been acquired.】【The level of [Oneiros] has risen from 145 to 150.】
【The level of [Oneiros] has reached MAX.】
【Characteristic skill [Butterfly Dream] has been acquired.】
【Evolution requirements have been met.】

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