Chapter 83: Chapter 77: When the Tragedy Ends
The bright light drowned everything out, and the witches, who'd laughed throughout the entire battle, finally shrieked in pain.
The "witch" was only supposed to materialize when it was attacking, but for some reason, the intense light of the people's hearts had no regard for the rules. The abomination was weakening.
Ellize, who'd been on the receiving end of the witch's grudge, had an inkling why. When it had flowed into her, she'd died almost instantly because her body couldn't withstand it. Before her passing, she'd still felt like a part of the witch's memories and feelings had started streaming into her.
This "witch" was an aggregate of the previous witches' negative emotions. Starting with Eve and her overdeveloped ability to take in mana, they'd all accumulated more darkness than they could handle. After their death, their twisted mana had endured, merging with their predecessors' and seeking the next heart to inhabit. Over the past thousand years, this twisted mana had done nothing but grow, until eventually, it had turned into the abomination before them—negativity and darkness in its purest form. That was why no spell was strong enough to destroy it.
For example, if a person consumed by hatred were hit, cut, or even killed, it wouldn't do anything to erase their hatred. The same could be said of a jealous person. Blasting a powerful spell at them wouldn't make them any less jealous.
The source of the personified darkness was disillusionment—despair of humanity. The witches had ended up wondering whether helping people when they were so horrible was truly worth it. And trying to challenge that feeling with brute strength could only yield the reverse effect. The more the people feared and hated the "witch," the more those feelings seeped into the ambient mana, strengthening the monster.
But then, what could be done to defeat the "witch"?
Well, the answer was surprisingly straightforward: shower it with positivity.
Now, for another example—imagine that someone hurt you. You'd naturally start disliking—or even hating—them. Now, imagine that this same person saved your life. Your hatred would soon fade in the face of the new, more powerful positive feeling you'd develop. Another analogy could be that of a child who hated wasabi and mustard. If they grew to like it, they'd eventually forget about their past distaste for it. In other words, one could grow to love something or someone they used to hate, and naturally, the reverse could happen too. Any specific feeling could be offset by one directly opposing it.
Since the "witch" had fallen into despair because of the ugliness of the human heart, all Ellize had to do was show it the beauty and light that lay underneath it. (In truth, Ellize was so done with being blinded by that light that she couldn't wait to dump it onto someone else.)
"The witch is in pain! Nothing else worked, but this..." Verner whispered, flabbergasted.
He didn't understand why this had worked on the seemingly invincible enemy. To be fair, he was also confused about the process itself. Could you just throw positive feelings at others like that?
"The human heart—rather, the wickedness within it—gave birth to the witches. As a result, they destroyed, massacred, and plunged the world itself into darkness. The more suffering there was, the murkier everyone's souls became, which tainted the witches further. This vicious circle has oppressed us all for over a thousand years," Ellize told them.
Simply saying that the witches had all gone batshit crazy because of too much mana circulation didn't sound as cool, so she'd gone out of her way to find a dramatic explanation. At the end of the day, the meaning was the exact same, but her impactful wording would go a long way in terms of leaving an impression.
"If the darkness of people's souls can affect the world, then I'm certain the reverse is also possible. The light hidden inside each of our hearts—our brilliant hopes and dreams—can light up the world. All I did was direct that at the witch."
What she'd actually done was deflect the positive feelings directed at her toward the witch because she didn't want anything to do with them, but that didn't sound as pleasant.
Ellize rose into the air and created a faint gleam around her figure to attract everyone's attention.
"Still, one thing hasn't changed. I'm afraid we are still pushing everything onto the saints' shoulders. If we want the world to change for good, we need to rise to the occasion. Every single one of us must stand up and fight."
Or, in other words: Get moving and stop making me do all the work!
Ellize had shown them that pleasant emotions worked on the "witch." All that was left was to continue. What better way to get people to pump out more positivity than to get them involved?
The people took Ellize's words to heart. They all got up, their eyes sparkling with hope.
"She's right! We shouldn't let one person protect us all! Let's protect what we love ourselves!" someone exclaimed.
As he spoke, light overflowed from his chest and made its way toward Ellize.
"Everyone, let's seize our tomorrow with our own strength!" another voice shouted. Like the first, another ray of light appeared.
One person turned to two, and before long, the entire crowd had risen to their feet. A steady stream of light—composed of attributes like courage, friendship, justice, kindness, compassion, and love—merged with the mana and traveled through the air. They flowed into Ellize and strengthened her.
AAARGH!!! That's way too much!
A torrent of dazzling light that couldn't even be compared to the previous one struck Ellize and her undead heart in full force. She lost altitude and almost collapsed, but Verner immediately supported her.
Initially, Ellize was thankful, but when she felt the wave of love pouring out of his heart, she wondered if he was just there to rub salt into her wounds. Still, she endured with a smile and nodded at the young man.
"With this..." Verner started.
"It's oveeeeeer!" Ellize finished for him, firing the light she'd accumulated at the "witch."
It exploded when it came into contact with the monster, and a shrill cry filled the air. The clouds dispersed, and cheers erupted as the people finally caught a glimpse of the sun high up in the sky.
Suddenly, something fell right in front of Ellize.
"No way... M-Mother?" Alfrea asked, her voice shaky.
A woman was groveling on the ground, her entire body covered in a layer of darkness as black as ink.
Ellize's previous attack had most likely destroyed most of the negative emotions. The remnants—this woman—crawled toward Ellize and let out a feeble cry. She looked pitiful. Ellize softly reached out to pat her head and poured more positive emotions into her directly. Overkill, perhaps, but Ellize didn't care.
"You're fine. You've suffered enough," Ellize said. "You can rest now."
"Yes..." the "witch" muttered weakly, vanishing after that final blow.
Cheers erupted once more as the people celebrated their Great Saint.
Finally...it was finally over. This marked the end of a cycle of pain that had lasted for a millennium. There would never be another witch again...nor another saint forced to sacrifice herself for the rest of the world. From tomorrow onward, everyone would be responsible for their own destiny.
Having rid this world of its greatest calamity, Ellize stood up. She focused on the feeling of the breeze against her skin for a moment, then looked at Layla.
One last hurdle remained: how would she tell Layla that she only had a few hours left?
In the past, Ellize wouldn't have spared much thought to this. She would have simply assumed that Layla would get over her death eventually. She knew better now—especially after she'd felt the extent of Layla's love firsthand during the fight.
It was quite a pickle she currently found herself in. Even though peace had returned to this world, Layla's heart would break when she died again.
Ellize had absolutely no idea what to say to mitigate her pain; unfortunately for her, she had no time to think of anything either. Now that the fight was over, and she had finally relaxed, she was assailed by the horrible chest pains. She fell to her knees.
She should have had a couple more hours left, but she was painfully aware that she'd chipped away at her life by overdoing it during the battle. She probably only had minutes left, not hours.
Layla embraced her weakened body, and Ellize saw the fear and pain in her eyes.
"Please...someone, anyone! Save Lady Ellize! Heal her, quickly!" Layla screamed.
Several knights came running and started casting healing magic, but to no avail. Ellize wasn't hurt. Besides, she was perfectly capable of using healing magic herself.
Ellize felt her consciousness slipping away, but she clutched it with everything she had. She refused to close her eyes. She couldn't die in Layla's arms for the second time. What if Layla killed herself from the trauma?
Ellize had always been very indifferent to the prospect of her own death. As far as she was concerned, she'd go when the time came. It wasn't a big deal.
And yet, for the first time, she didn't want to die. Ellize didn't want to live for her own sake, though—she simply didn't want anyone to be saddened by her passing.
Unfortunately, the increasingly painful palpitations in her chest held little regard for her feelings. She could feel death looming over her.
Damn... My voice...won't come out.
She wanted to talk to Layla at the very least, but even her voice had betrayed her.
She was worried that Layla would follow her master in death immediately after. But whenever she tried to call out to her, coughs came out instead. She wasn't even allowed to cheer Layla up in the end. She saw Layla's expression shift into a sad smile as she hugged her tighter. She'd resigned herself, Ellize understood.
"Lady Ellize... I won't leave you alone. I'll be right there with you, so don't worry..."
What the— Scotterbrain?! Please hang on, Layla! If you were trying to put me at ease with that line, it was just about the worst thing you could say! Please rethink your— Wait, why am I speaking politely even in my head now?!
Layla had stressed out Ellize even further with her promise to commit suicide after her death.
On top of that, the fake saint was currently feeling quite unsettled because of the aftermath all the positivity had left inside her heart. She hadn't exactly been purified by the light and turned into a good person, but she felt like she was sitting on the fence of decency...which was already weird in its own right for her.
She was at a loss. The only thing she could do was battle the drowsiness that threatened to take over her.
Suddenly, Profeta appeared on the edge of her vision. "You're quite something, Ellize. I had a feeling you'd be able to change the fate of this world, but to think you really went and did it!"
Why, thank you very much, Ellize thought before shifting her focus back to Layla and her dumb mistake-to-be again. She was still trying to figure out a way to prevent this disaster.
Ellize couldn't really tell whether Profeta had guessed her thoughts or not, but the turtle continued, "There won't be another witch, nor another saint, again. This means there is no need for a prophet anymore either."
True, Ellize thought. Her eyelids had grown so heavy that she couldn't fight them anymore. She let them fall, and from that point onward, became utterly incapable of opening them again.
She felt a tear drop fall on her cheek—Layla's, her brain supplied—and, while she wanted nothing more than to wipe her knight's tears for her, she couldn't get her arm to move.
"Oh my, looks like I don't have the time for long speeches," Profeta said. "I'll just do what I have to do, then. I, Profeta the prophet, choose Ellize to be my successor!"
At her words, something started streaming into Ellize. Her drowsiness disappeared, and she got up as though nothing had happened. She stared at her hands, amazed, clenching and unclenching her fists again and again.
Before she could figure out what had happened, though, she found herself slammed to the ground. Layla had jumped on her, overcome with emotion.
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