C192
Liena's demonic energy and my divine power clashed.
Liena unleashed a storm of demonic energy upon us in exchange for her lifespan, and I purified the demonic energy by continuously pouring forth divine power.
How long did this last?
Suddenly, Lucy's body, which was on my shoulder, slumped and fell to the ground.
"Don't worry about me, just focus!"
I was about to turn around for a moment when Lucy yelled and stopped me.
"I'm a little tired. I'll just rest for a while. Just a moment..."
But contrary to what she said, Lucy couldn't wake up immediately.
For a moment, my heart skipped a beat, but I could hear Lucy's regular breathing, so it seemed like Lucy was asleep.
Unfortunately, it seemed like she was no longer able to maintain consciousness because she had exhausted all her strength.
I was concerned about Lucy's condition, but as she said, I couldn't focus my attention on anything else at this moment.
Terence and I persevered despite the thick concentration of demonic energy in the air that made our skin itch.
"...Tsk."
However, Terence's limit also arrived.
Terence knelt down and furrowed his brow.
He had given me all his strength to ease my burden, and it seemed like he couldn't even stand anymore.
"It's okay, Ethel. I'll rest for a moment and get up soon."
Even so, he smiled as if to reassure me.
"...Alright, then take a break for a moment."
As soon as I could respond, Terence's head drooped.
Even though he lost consciousness, his body didn't fall backward, and one of his hands still held mine tightly.
Now I was the only one left.
I unleashed my divine power with all my strength, without even having time to wipe the cold sweat soaking my forehead.
"Why don't you give up?"
At that moment, Liena from the other side spoke to me.
"Are you tired? Don't you feel like you're going to die trying to squeeze out all that power? You can comfortably accept it with me. You're giving up."
"Noisy! I'm fine!"
"It's a bluff."
Indeed, what Liena said wasn't entirely wrong.
My head was boiling like an overloaded machine, and my vision was blurry.
The joints all over my body were numb, and I was short of breath as if I had just run.
I wanted to give up immediately. I had the urge to throw everything away. But I couldn't.
More than the noble mission of saving the world or humanity, I only felt the need to protect the precious people around me and my happy future.
Above all else...
"I only recently regained my memories for the second time, but will I let the world end?"
I still had so many things I wanted to do with Terence.
I wanted to open up and talk together about our second life, and I also had to confess that I loved him back then, which I couldn't properly convey until I died.
To say it out loud, face to face.
"And, and!"
We need to progress even further!
Surprisingly, Terence and I didn't even hold hands during our second life.
I didn't know because my memories of the first life only partially returned, and in this life, the third one, for various reasons, I couldn't do anything more affectionate than kissing.
But will the world end before that?
No matter how much I thought about it, it made no sense.
How could this happen when we love each other so much?
If that really happened, even if I died and only my soul remained, I was planning to grab Goddess Miella by the neck and shake her somehow.
While swearing that I could never back down for an unhealthy reason, Liena's voice was heard.
"The final battle is truly lamentable. Well, I'll give you credit for holding out this long. But the absolute amount of my demonic energy and your power is different."
Liena had the most disgusting expression I had ever seen.
"Look, the two guys beside you fell, so definitely..."
"What are you so scared of?"
"What?"
"Liena, I can feel your agitation as we gather our powers like this. You're very scared of something right now."
"What are you talking about?!"
"Are you afraid of losing to me?"
"Again, you're spouting nonsense! Look closely! Who's in trouble now...? Oh?"
Liena's eyes widened before she could finish speaking.
The balance between the two forces that had been in tension until now began to collapse.
"Why?! This is ridiculous!"
Furthermore, the demonic energy was being pushed aside by divine power.
"This can't be happening! I definitely have much more demonic energy!"
"You must have a lot."
I recalled a story Lucy once told me.
"Did you know? The effectiveness of blessings is determined by the owner's will."
Thanks to this, Liena, who had a strong desire to be loved, could exert tremendous influence on people. Even disregarding the wishes of the parties involved.
On the other hand, I, who didn't have the same motivation as Liena, could only gain a little persuasion even using blessings.
"But at this moment, it seems like my will is stronger than yours."
Blessing is a power based on divine power.
Although the operating principle was similar, there was nothing strange about it.
The fact that the quantity was small didn't change, but strangely enough, my divine power expelled the demonic energy over time.
In a way, it was natural.
There was no way Liena, whose mind was as precarious as a shipwreck in a typhoon and who had no expectations for the future to the point of giving up her own life, could defeat me.
"I'm more desperate than anyone in the world right now."
Desperation appeared on Liena's face.
"That, that can't be..."
I didn't miss the moment when a gap appeared in Liena's heart, and I raised my divine power with all my strength.
All the power given to me by Terence and Lucy.
Now was the chance to change things.
Shwaaaa!
The divine power that was concentrated in one place and formed like a skewer immediately pierced through the demonic energy.
"Aaack!"
The tip struck directly at Liena, who rolled on the ground, wounded.
Due to the actions of its host, the demonic energy that was everywhere also lost its power and dispersed.
After gently removing Terence's hand, I approached Liena with unsteady steps.
I managed to reverse the situation, but I was almost exhausted because all the divine power I had was depleted.
It's better than Liena crawling on the ground because she has no energy to get up.
"This can't be happening! Why should I lose to an idiot like you?"
Liena frowned at me as if she was really angry.
"An idiot?"
"Yes, an idiot. Drinking poison just for a man? Are you crazy?"
It seemed as if she was talking about my past life seen through soul resonance.
"The most precious being in the world is yourself! But would you give your life for others? That's madness! You're crazy! You and that guy who gave up his blessing for you are blinded by love! I don't understand!"
"...Yes, you don't understand. Of course, you wouldn't understand, since you've never given up anything in your life, let alone your life, for someone else."
"Well, what do you know!"
"I saw your memories too. Have you always balanced and calculated things when dealing with others? How much will that person benefit you? If you show them favor first, how many times will they repay you?"
"You..."
"It was like that even when you treated your family, the Cassius family, and your lover, Mikhail. It was a very bitter life."
Liena let out a sharp laugh.
"Bitter?! That's the way to live wisely!"
To me, it seemed like a forced smile.
"No, now you know you were wrong."
At that moment, the forced smile disappeared like a lie.
"Is that why you were so agitated before? Because you thought the values you've held up until now might be wrong."
"No! Are you crazy? Don't talk nonsense!"
Liena's overly emotional attitude demonstrated that my assumption was correct.
Liena saw my life and Terence's life through soul resonance. A life of sacrificing for each other.
It seemed to have triggered some change in Liena's mind.
There is a saying that it is better to see something once than hear it a hundred times, and I didn't know it would be true in this case.
Liena, who had no doubt that her way of life was correct even in her three lives, began to doubt only after indirectly experiencing another person's life.
"I-I didn't make a mistake! You're the weird one! In the end, you end up alone in the world! It's natural for family and other things to be less important than oneself, isn't it?"
Liena said that.
Although I approached and drew a dagger, she focused only on contradicting me instead of fleeing or defending herself.
She had already lost all will to fight.
"She probably lost half of her motivation even when she clashed with me before."
It didn't feel right. I would have felt a little more at ease if she had rushed to kill me to the end.
The memories of when I was friends with Liena had already returned, and I felt a sense of revulsion at the idea of taking the life of such a defenseless person.
As expected, I was just holding the dagger, thinking it was too soft.
"Ethel!"
Terence's urgent cry was heard from behind.
When I turned around, a familiar but black figure entered my field of vision.
Shadow was running towards me.
"Oops!"
Now that I think about it, the situation up there was so tense that I couldn't step away for a moment and go deal with Shadow.
Before I knew it, enough time had passed for Shadow to recover.
"But the movements are still slow!"
I tried to place my fingers on the transparent belt around my waist.
My intention was to first become invisible and avoid Shadow's attack.
But soon I realized that wasn't necessary.
The person Shadow was aiming at wasn't me.
Shadow's arm, whose tip sharpened, pierced through Liena's heart.
I used the divine power I had gathered to eliminate Shadow and checked Liena's condition.
Liena, who had Shadow's arm stuck in her chest like a splinter, could barely keep her mouth open.
She was being punished for giving up everything...
Losing her will to fight meant losing her mission as an apostle.
In other words, Shadow was retaliating against Liena, who had come this far and finally abandoned her mission.
At the same time, I, the apostle of the goddess, was planning to prevent them from killing Liena and creating a monstrous wave.
Shadow's purpose was to provoke a monstrous wave.
"If things continue like this, there will be a monstrous wave..."
For a moment, I felt desperate, but I realized that there might still be a way to avoid disaster.
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