'...... quintessential, Christ. You just killed that Tida.

　Arti speaks to me with plenty of time to spare, spilling a lot of blood.

'Shut up ......!　Just get the hell out of here and go f*ck yourself: ......!

　I take out a new damp cloak from my 'possessions' and walk forward while putting it on.

　I have 238 HP left.
　Looking at the numbers alone, it's still possible to continue. It's too early to give up. Even Maria will try to help out like Rustyala, and then she reworked her magic power.

It's not quite there yet ....... It's still not enough. Maria, isn't it ......?
It's still not enough: ......!

　Maria stood next to Arti and repeated the same words.
　Wobbling, Arti approaches Maria and hugs her from behind. Then they repeat. 'Not enough' and 'to come', layer upon layer, repeat.

　I have a bad feeling, and I start to run with all the strength I have left.
　I have to stop. That's what I intuitively thought.

　With momentum, I thrust out my sword and stabbed Arti, who was behind Maria, in the face.
　But there is no response. As if sucked in, I went through Alti's face.
　The outline of her face wavers and loses substance, turning into flames as she looks at me and smiles.

　At the same time, Maria's flaming sword is wielded and I jump back.

　It was too strange a sight.
　Arti's entire body turns into fire and is consumed by the flames that Maria wears.

　In the end, it seeped into Maria's body and disappeared.
　And then a part of Maria's flame changes shape into a mouth and speaks to her.

'Now it's coming. Christ. This is complete assimilation. There is more to come--

　I thought about my next move and my body went rigid.
　There was no one left to slash at, and my hand stopped.

　I can see that Arti has become a flame and mixed with Maria's flames.
　Does that mean that I have to extinguish all the flames in this place? Or does it have to get into Maria's body and kill her whole body? Is it something more than that? I have no idea.

　When I'm lost and unable to move, Maria readies her flaming sword and runs towards me, screaming.

''Master, please fall down!　If you fall down, you can start over: ....... We can start over again from that moment!　This time we don't need anyone else, let's start over, just the two of us!

　I can only play the flaming sword that comes at me again and again. It's because I don't know how to attack Arti.

　If this is the case, we will end up impoverished and lose. And yet, the only countermeasure I could do now was to persuade Maria, which I failed to do earlier.

"Ma-Maria!　Pull yourself together!　Everything is at the mercy of that monster over there!　Fighting me is not going to get you anywhere!　There are no do-overs in life!
'But still!　Mr. Alty was on my side until the end!　He worked so hard for me when I was all alone!　Unlike my master, if he hadn't left me out, left me alone, or left me behind!

　Words of persuasion were returned with more words of reprimand.

　The more he spoke, the more the fire seemed to intensify.
　Without a doubt, there is a close relationship between Maria's spirit and heat.

　I shouted as I strengthened my magic 《Dimensional Winter (Di Winter)》. I overworked my fevered head, choosing my words as I did so.

'I'll never leave you alone again!　I'm not leaving you!　I promise!　So keep the flames contained!
'Another lie: ......!　Then why did you save Mr. Rustyala!　I won't be able to keep up with him. He'd leave me. I'll be alone. Knowing that, why did you save Rastiara-san!
I'll get Rustyala to agree. We're all in this together. We're all in this together. So...
'He's there!　Mr. Rastiara has gone crazy since he arrived!　That man is a coward: ....... It's not fair that he was born to be dazzling. How anxious I was to see the master wander off and get sucked into that man's light!　As long as she's around, when will you leave me again, or will master lie to me again?　I don't feel safe!

　The more conversations we have, the more Maria's true feelings are exposed.

'............!'

　At the same time, my misconceptions are coming to light.
　I think I'm starting to see the root of Maria's feelings, little by little.

　I thought my feelings of love and jealousy were out of control, but no.
　It doesn't feel right. Maria has been angry over and over again - at 'different things'.

　Now Maria and I are both screaming for our lives.
　That's why me and Maria were finally beginning to understand each other.

'It's ...... and I'm starting over. I'm going back to those days when Master was kind, vulnerable, and like a lost child, and he was kind to me. At that time, Master was clinging to me, which made me feel very safe. I knew that this man would be there for me and that I would finally be happy. ...... I knew that he would never lie to me either. Master!　Please, please go back to being the master you were without her: ......!

　Maria burns and says she wants to be with me (・・・・), who is weak.
　Otherwise, she says, I can't feel safe.

　If it's not the weak me, I can't worry about when and where I'll disappear.
　That means--.

　-- only, Maria is worried.

　I haven't said anything to Maria.
　I haven't told her my real name, my origins, my purpose, or anything else: .......
　I don't know anything about it, and I can't bear to worry about it .......

　No matter how much you say it's okay, no matter how much you try to be nice or patronizing, it doesn't matter if you're not telling a single truth. Instead, it was counterproductive.

　That is the root.
　The root of this battle - the root of the 'Tenth Test'.

　Maria wants assurance.
　The guarantee that I will not disappear (・・・・・・) anywhere (・・・・・・・) -- the guarantee that I will not disappear (・・・・・・) -- the guarantee that I will not disappear.

'I couldn't do anything but watch my loved ones move away!　I couldn't get to it, no matter how hard I clung to it!　Do you know how I feel when Mr. Rastiara has taken my beloved!

　Maria loves me.
　I have literally loved her to death .......

　That's why I couldn't allow Rustyala to have a guarantee. She knew my real name, my origins, my purpose, and I was afraid of Rustyala, who was always by my side. I had no guarantees, and I didn't care when he would abandon me.

　Perhaps all along, Maria was anxious.
　All along, she was anxious to the point of losing her mind.

　--I'm beginning to understand.

　No, I've been taught (・・・・・・・).
　'The one who steals the reason for the fire,' in Arti's The Tenth Test.

'The Master is mine: ....... I found him first. So, it's mine alone ......!

　Maria's fire burns everywhere.
　It burns through everything in my body, and its momentum surpasses my cold air.

　In the end, even the exchange of swords surpassed me, and flicked my sword backwards in a big way. And then the defenseless torso is pushed away and the distance is open - Maria chants.

"'Cut off the flame' --

　It's a poem of determination to get it, no matter what.
　For some reason, I understood the meaning of the "Chant".
　Maria's wish in the "Chant" reaches me.

　At the same time, I also understand how much magic Maria has chanted to 'pay' for.

"Tell 'em to break the ice...

　So I chant (...) too.

　The chanting spilled out of my mouth as if I had (・・・・・・) thought about (・・・・・・・・) it.

　At the same time, I feel one important memory missing.
　I feel my emotions being played with.
　But it's the same with Maria. Will it ever stop?

"'Dreaming staggering and sensuous to the manima'...
"'I have a love affair with a reluctant woman.

　The magic to be constructed is probably the magic of the flaming snake.

　If it were me now, I would be able to do it.
　I've trained, understood, and strengthened the freezing magic, risked my life, added the chanting, and learned the source of Maria's flame (...) - now!

"Swallow the stars, Midgard's Blaze!
"Swallow the stars, Midgard freeze!

　Two giant snakes are released from my and Maria's bodies and collide with each other.

　Both snakes are insubstantial.
　Heat and cold air.
　The great magic of the anti-attribute clashes, and they devour each other in an attempt to cancel each other out.

　The antagonism was instantaneous.
　The winner is the flame snake.
　There was not a single element of my cold air snake's victory.

　However, due to the antagonism, the flame snake's momentum was greatly diminished.

　I jumped to the side and dodged that flame snake just before.
　The flame snake collided with the ground and dissipated.

　I quickly regain my position and force my screaming body to move, urging Maria to get closer.
　Thinking that Maria would be feeling that pain, I couldn't think of it as pain.

　I won't let Maria use fire magic anymore.
　With that vow, I'm going to make a close battle with Maria.

''-- 'Shining Flame Sword'. This is the perfect flame sword. --'Flame Flamberge'!

　As I approach, the fiery mouth chants a single spell.
　This is Arti's voice.

　At the same time, the heat of Maria's flaming sword increased. The flame sword, which has increased in density as I look at it, changes its color to blue, and eventually transforms into a dazzling white flame sword.

　My treasure sword and Maria's flaming sword clashed with each other.

　It was a strange response.
　A lukewarm response to call it a collision.
　The reason for this is simple. The tip of the blade of my treasured sword that touched the flaming sword had begun to melt into a sludge.

''d*mn!　--The Ice Flamberge!


[Status]
　HP 219/345 MP0/657
[Status]
　HP208/332 MP0/657--


　Remaining 208 and 332.

　The treasured sword is coated with a coating of ice to reduce the damage to the sword.

　Using unfamiliar magic, my life is visibly chipped away.
　After surviving the Tida battle, the lives that had been increasing as my level increases are converted into magic power as the ice melts.

　The flaming sword and the ice-sword clashed with each other, and sparks of magic power flew.
　A fog of magic power blows and rises.

　As soon as I could, I drew my sword and swung it back.
　But all of it is played by Maria's flaming sword.
　Obviously, it's different from Maria's movements a little while ago. All of her abilities have increased due to Arti's assimilation. The strength, speed, technique, and accuracy of the 'penetrating eyes' are all different.

　No matter how much he swings his sword, sparks will only go up.
　With that, Maria shouts.

''Even when I lost my home and became a slave!　It was never this painful!　If I was so bitter and jealous and sad, I wanted you to abandon me in the first place!

　Every time Maria listens to my chest, my body slows down.

　I know.
　I don't want to talk back.

　--It's my fault.

　I was wrong for reaching out to him with half-hearted determination.
　My fault for being ambiguous after that.
　My fault for tricking myself into pushing Maria.
　My fault for being so overprotective.

I wish there was no hope!　If I had died as a slave, I don't think I would have suffered as much as I do now!　It's mind-boggling to be left behind even if you want to get close, and to be turned away even if you want to know!

　My fault for putting off the explanation.
　I'm sorry I kept running away even though I knew I was in love.
　To top it all off, my fault for making excuses and leaving Maria alone.
　It's my fault for being the one who realized it too late.

　All of this was causing Maria pain.

　As a result, Maria is being instigated and toyed with by the monster called Arti.

　I want to punch myself in the face when I thought everything was fine after rescuing Rustiala unharmed.

　What's "everything is going well".
　What do you mean, "I'm so glad"?

　As usual, nothing is going well.

　When I'm conscious, the skill "?" is crawling right beside me. When I'm aware of it, the "??" skills are crawling right beside me.
　If you are in your current state of mind, if you reach for it, it will surely be activated immediately. He would sacrifice everything but the labyrinth. It will throw away all the congestion and everything without hesitation and give you a simple answer.

　It's a sweet temptation.
　If I activate it, I will surely kill Maria, who threatens my life.
　And that's it.

　Whatever the outcome, it will be easy.
　I can erase all the pain, the sadness, the anger, the worry.

　But no.
　There's no right answer to any of that stuff.

　So I think desperately.
　With my not-so-sober mind, I gather all the information I have and decide what action I should take.
　By my own will.

It's the only way (・・・・・・)

　My throat trembled and I spoke my decision.

　-- Now, I chose the answer (...).

　And then I did not activate the skill "? I'm not going to be able to get it right.

　I'm going to aim to wrap Maria in cold air just like in the morning.
　I wield all of my power and start running.

''-- Magic 《Midwinter of the Overcrowded Dimension (Di Overwinter)》!

　Struggling to connect with distant consciousness, he scrapes for life, building the greatest magic possible.
　He expands the realm to encompass Maria and wields his sword, taking away her heat.

　The cold air of the magic chills Maria as it impedes her movements.

　There are more than a thousand sources of heat from the enemy. The circuits of the brain scorch as it tries to understand them all and distribute the magic power optimally. The brain, sensing danger, secretes a great deal of drugs. Pain-relieving substances pass through the ducts (kuda).

　I reach the other side of the pain and understand the source of all the heat with my inhuman processing power.
　Obviously, my magical alchemy is different from the earlier Battle of the Seven Knights of Heaven (Celestial Knights). Is it due to his status, or is it due to his increased skill level that he is able to remain conscious--

　Intuitively, I knew that it was the difference in the quality of the magic power.
　The magic power created by cutting down on maximum HP was clearly different in quality.

　I would use my freezing magic to block both Maria's flames and her movements.

　As a result, I suppressed both Maria's and Arti's flames, dodging the flaming sword with a single piece of paper, and my ice sword was placed around Maria's neck.

　But that's as far as I can go.

　Maria moves to swing the flaming sword again, as if she doesn't care if she gets her head cut off. With my extra hand, I grab my wrist to prevent it. I have no intention of letting go, even if the palm of my hand is burnt.

　Thus, I'm in a position where I'm staring at Maria, right in front of my eyes and nose.

　In that position, I slowly talk to her.
　I knew from my repeated failures that this was my last chance.

'Maria, I will not give up ....... I will definitely not stop exploring the labyrinth and aiming for the 'deepest' ......
'I don't want to go ....... I don't want to go, I don't want to go. Because I don't want to be alone anymore--
'I don't want to be alone either (...), so I'm ....... So I've decided to go to the 'deepest' .......

　With power and fire, I hold down Maria, who is about to shake my hand, and reveal my true intentions, which are not false.
　At the same time, I let go of the treasure sword attached to my neck and drop it to the ground.

''--Huh?''

　Maria loosened up a bit.
　I leaned back against Maria, letting the cold air permeate my body as I summoned up the true feelings I'd been hiding for so long.

　Once I say them, my mind will lose control.
　Just thinking about it would drive me crazy.
　Once you become aware of it, you can't stop crying.
　I can't stand still, I can't stay calm. I know that.

　But this is the only way I can think of to save Maria.

　For the past few days, I've been suppressing my skill "? It's worth it for the past few days of suppressing the "? I'm sure now I'll be able to articulate my feelings in a truthful way. I'm sure I'll be able to express my feelings about my family again. The other day's skill "? The only thing that the "?" paid for was my feelings for Rastiala.

　You'll be able to find a way to make the most of your time and energy.

　In a moment, I felt dizzy.
　Just facing it was enough to make me feel swallowed up by anxiety, and I couldn't stop myself from nausea.
　But I will never activate the skill "? is not to be activated.
　It's of my own volition, I say it.

"If Maria is one, I'm one too ....... Because I'm the only one in the world. I'm the only foreign body .......
What are you talking about?
'I'm not a (・・・・・・・) person from this world (・・・・・・・). I'm just a student, called from another world far, far away. So I want to go home. I want to go home ....... I don't want to die in this incomprehensible place ....... I don't have a family here!　She's a veritable one-of-a-kind!　I was scared ....... I was so scared to die alone in a place like this ......!
Of this world, not human ......?

　For the first time, the feeling of being lost in this other world - the skill '??' I managed to dig up the feeling that I wasn't in - and I didn't hide it, I didn't hide it, I made eye to eye contact (・・・・・・・・) and told Maria.

'Go home, my precious family!　I want to see my "sister"!　Partly because I miss him, but more importantly because I'm so worried about him!　We were our own family, so ......!　Without me, that guy is truly the only one ....... He can't live without me, and I've been trapped in this world for over a week now ....... I'm struggling to be alone in this world too. But!　I'm sure my sister is alone on the other side of the world, suffering more and more!　That's why I have to go back!　And for that, you've got to get a miracle!　We need a miracle at the back of the labyrinth!
Master ...... and sister ......?
'Oh, it's a girl who looks just like Maria. So I was consoling myself by helping and patronizing Maria, who looks like my sister ....... I kept me in the house by keeping Maria at home instead of my sister. ...... Just to distract myself, I helped Maria!
'Ah, ah, ....... So .......

　That Maria alone with her dark hair reminded me of my former 'sister' in appearance, age, attitude, and circumstances.

　I didn't want to admit it.
　I tried not to think about it.

　Just remembering it, just talking about it, twisted my mind.
　My heart aches as if my flesh is being twisted with pliers.

　The people I care about are too far away to reach.
　That alone is such a painful experience.
　I can't bear the anxiety.

　--but (...)

　This pain, Maria has been experiencing this all along.
　Unlike me, she's been in it the whole time.

　And I'm the one who's been giving her that pain.

　So I apologize to Maria, even as my hands, feet, neck, and body are burned.
　You can burn as much as you want.
　But in return, I will help Maria. If I don't free the girl who is suffering because of me from the flames of her suffering, she won't be able to return to her world.

　As I 'display' the status, I see the lives being whittled away.
　One by one, the cells are dying, and I can taste death from the back of my tongue.
　Still, it never stops. In the extreme, I won't stop until my HP is at 1.
　The penetration of cold air is intensified further.

　But Arti, who refuses to admit it, tries to interrupt me.

'Well, wait, Maria ....... That's the truth--'
'Please shut up, Mr. Alty!

　Maria silenced it.
　She didn't seem to allow anything to stand in my way as I began to speak the truth.

　For Maria, it would be a gateway to the truth she had finally found.

'I'm sorry, Maria ....... I did a terrible thing to Maria. I was aware of Maria's love interest, but I treated her like a sister to no end. It was the easiest thing for me to do, so I kept running there .......

　With a serious look on her face, Maria listens to my confession.

　I thank her for that, and without pretense, I express my decision in words.

'So I've made up my mind. Maria--

　If it didn't work and you're going to make it work, there's a price to pay.
　And the price has to be paid by me now.

I can burn you in this place and you can become Maria's. I don't care if I end up dying at the end of it. There's only one condition: ....... I'm willing to cut off your hands and feet right now if you'll take that one condition: ......

　This is my answer (...).

　I just assumed that the answer and my purpose were incompatible.
　That's not true (・・・・・・・・).

'Promise me that Maria (・・・・) will go to the 'deepest' part of the labyrinth. Promise me that you will definitely help your sister instead of me. Now Maria can do it if she works with Rustyala and the others ....... I'm sure you can do it. ......

　I don't have to do it (・・・・・・) (...).

　I don't care what happens to me, as long as I have someone to carry on my will.

　Now I have a Rustyala who has redeemed himself. His talent is undoubtedly the stuff of heroes. He has the makings of a leader. He is trustworthy and above all, a seeker who doesn't want a miracle.

　We have Radiant, Mr. Hine, and Dia.
　If the five of us work together, we will be able to reach the 'deepest' part of the labyrinth. If Maria and the others are willing to carry on my will, then that kind of end is fine.
　Rastiara's 'covenant' is also a condition that even Mary can fulfill.

　The feelings of the explorer, Christ Eurasia, are of little importance.
　It doesn't matter that I am whole and complete.
　My return is not necessary either.

　The only thing that matters is "my sister's happiness" (...).
　Because that's what Aikawa Uzumi really wants--

My real name is Aikawa Uzumi, and my sister is Hitaki. And my sister is Hitaki. When you go to my world, look for Yotaki: ....... If you help Yotaki, I don't need anything else: ......

　It must be a stupid idea.
　If the skill '?' I'll never forgive you if the skill '?

　But that's what people who can't afford it are like. If you have the right emotions at the end of your life, and if you were able to waver, you can make this choice.

　You can even bet on a little bit of irrational hope.　

　When Maria heard that, she repeated my name.

'Kanami ....... The master's real name is ....... Aikawa, Kanami .......

　The skill "? There is no "?".
　There is also no lie of Christ Eurasia.
　It's not just a matter of a mere "Aikawa Uzumi", Maria repeated as if she were biting down on the answer she got.