Maria stepped forward to Mariyan, who managed to set himself back to his own position and glared intently at Maria. A narrow smile appeared on his face as his eyes returned to their own casual, confident shape.
Maria smiled widely at his face like earlier and said, "A companion is a part of our life, our soul, and our existence itself. However, if the companion himself betrays, then nothing is to be said, nothing can be done."
She lifted her gaze to the sky and took a deep, long breath to refresh herself a bit, and then spoke once again, "You betrayed your companions, killed them, and threw them away like nothing. However, I want to keep my companions with myself, do everything just for them."
Maria fixed her gaze directly at Mariyan as she was going crazy with her facial expression. Once again, she shouted while smiling, "If our destiny itself is going to be different, then why will I stop myself?" As she was speaking, her magic power was continuously brimming all around her body and growing incredibly. Her will and desire to defeat Mariyan were the reason for her increase in power. As a transcendent being, it was obvious for her to ascend by following the strength she's holding in her will.
Mariyan covered half of his face with his left hand and spoke loudly while smiling extremely intently, "You are really interesting."
Maria instantly transformed as her entire body covered with a combination of ice and purple lightning magic. While she used the same transformation in her battle against the sacred spirits, the increase of magic power simply amplified her strength and presence to the next level. I felt like, at that very moment, she could take every single one of us without sweating. Even a single strike from her could wipe out the entire 6th layer like nothing.
On that spot, there was no equal or superior between Maria and Mariyan; they were simply equal in strength. But Maria will always have an extra edge over her opponents. Due to her incredible creation magic and talent, she can easily create new spells following the way of countering her opponent.
Maria drew a sky-blue magic circle ahead of her right hand and brought out a sword from the circle. It was a sword that encompasses an extremely high amount of ice magic potion, which allows her to strike with maximum strength.
While Maria was amplifying her strength with different types of techniques, Mariyan covered himself entirely with flames, as it was his most powerful attribute for a head-on battle. Similar to Maria, he was creating an intent presence around there.
"You were saying our destiny itself is going in different ways. So it was never wrong. Look at us; it's a battle between warming chaos and calm sweetness." Mariyan calmly spoke as he was smiling slightly at Maria.
"So then, why are we waiting further?" Mariyan added as his slight smile turned into a chaotic smile.
Mariyan increased the pressure of his flames and sent a slash toward Maria, who instantly struck back with her cold ice sword and destroyed the flame slash in a matter of a moment.
Maria closed her eyes and then kept the state for a few seconds. Then she raised her gaze toward the sky and opened her eyes as her eyes changed into eyes rested with a dragon symbol, swirling like a alive, soaring dragon.
"Magic eyes? I don't have any record of such a power even existing in the first place. What is this?" Mariyan thought to himself.
A flashing spark came out from Maria's eyes and directly struck Mariyan's head as he was forced to hold back while holding his head tightly.
Maria instantly flew toward him and indifferently struck his chest. Mariyan somehow managed to dodge the slice, but his left hand was completely severed from his body and fell to the ground. With a wounded body, Mariyan jumped a bit away from there as he restored his hand easily. Maria kept her gaze fixed on him without a pause; her gaze was extremely intense and hostile.
Mariyan observed Maria's face for some moments, then brought a slight smile to his face.
"Why do you seek to save them? Why are you so desperate?" Mariyan asked, with an indifferent expression.
"Because they're my comrades, they're my friends, and they're the conquerors of the world, the ones who will bring changes in the story. I can't let them die; I can't let them cry, no matter what." Maria replied; her voice sounded calm and effective. For a moment, I felt like her voice was resounding in my ear and letting me know some certain truth that was painted in Maria's heart and soul itself.
Mariyan replied with a smile as he sounded careless toward Maria's words, "But they're just stories. They are illusions floating all around in front of your eyes. How can you value them so much, Miss Maria?"
"I'm an existence, an existence with a soul in myself. No matter what, I'm still foolish; I'm stupidly weak in front of my emotions, in front of my childish desire. So no matter what kind of beings they are, I will do everything to keep them with me, even if they're lies or illusions. I want to be desperate and ruthless, just for my childish wish." Maria replied. She was taking breaths after her sentences, after every part of her sentence. Those words are coming from her mind. It's not the Maria we know; it's a different Maria that was speaking loudly from that figure. It was a Maria from long ago, a Maria without any layer of false personality. It was the very moment when Maria spoke with her soul itself by breaking her false acts; it was the moment when she wanted to scream loudly and take a long, fresh breath.
"Could it be that your stupid and childish desire turns out to be the reason for your demise? Do you really desire to witness your demise just for some stupid wish?" Mariyan said with a smile. He was trying to hide his feelings by keeping a mysterious smile on his face.
"If so, then I'll be glad. When reality rejected me, when the truth wanted to destroy me, I survived through my dreams, the illusions, and the stories in front of me. Those stories might be chaotic and halls of destruction, but they were stories of hope; they had will and a sight of a smile with them. They might be false, but they were visible in front of me; they allowed me to survive with hope and a smile." Maria replied, indifferent from earlier.
"If they can let me survive, then I will do everything just for this foolish piece of story; I will let myself be shattered, be destroyed like crystals; I will be the most ruthless existence ever." Maria added as she shouted in her final sentence.
Mariyan's smile began to disappear from his face. Mariyan was doing his best to keep the smile intact on his face, but it was a visibly false smile. While keeping his attempt, he spoke up carelessly, "Oh? If so, then go ahead and protect what you wanted to."
Maria kept her gaze down for some moments. Then she pointed her frozen sword toward Mariyan and flew to him. Without feeling any hesitation, she directly stabbed Mariyan's chest and hit his soul. Every single one of us was surprised by Mariyan's careless act, as he didn't even try protecting himself from the strike. He kept standing there without a trace of movement, keeping his gaze down toward the ground.
"What are you doing? Why didn't you even try to protect yourself?" Maria asked loudly.
"You wanted to protect your stories, so how can I deny it? You proved your desire to be superior over me, so how can I say something else? I couldn't deny your story, your will, and your desire." Mariyan replied while standing there. Slowly, his figure fell to the ground as he began to bleed.
I lifted my finger toward the barrier and instantly shattered it like a piece of paper. Witnessing me breaking the barrier, Elesia and Raizel were surprised.
"Why didn't you do that earlier?" Raizel shouted.
"For a purpose, for a certain purpose." I replied with a smile.
"Stop joking, Aizis, just answer." Elesia said loudly.
"Did I predict an interesting and unique story, or was it a part of causality that can be predicted by anyone?" I said carelessly, ignoring Elesia's question.
"What?" Elesia said out of her confusion.
Marco smiled a bit and replied to me, "You are impressive enough to write the story here."
"I'm not a writer, just a witness who wanted to be part of the story." I replied to Marco as we both smiled afterward.
Mariyan's soul slowly faded away. Thus, we concluded the story of the true spirits, the dominators of the 6th layer and the strongest existences.
After that, we returned to Zeldia, began to look forward once again, to get the opportunity to write another tale.