"I am here and you are strong. It's enough."
"Yes." Milleia wiped away her tears and stood next to me.
Her whole body was shining.
She is awakening her bloodline.
It was probably one of the things I was waiting for the most since I recovered my memories.
"Wow…she is so beautiful…" Milleia muttered when she noticed Mary fighting. Indeed in her leather-armored dress, she looked sublime. "Is she someone, you know, Sir Nyrel?"
"Yeah." I nodded at her. "She is my partner."
"Your partner…?" Milleia's expression turned gloomy at my reply.
What was that?
I really had a bad premonition but let's concentrate for now.
I have to help Mary.
-Booom!
Just when I was about to leave, Eric landed next to me. He had bruises all over his body and he was holding on his knees, trying to recover his breath.
"A-Are you okay, Lord Eric?!" Milleia was horrified in front of Eric's state.
"He won't die, don't worry." I reassured her.
"You…left me alone!" Eric spat at me angrily.
I shrugged at him. "Milleia was in danger, she is the priority."
"Ah…u-um…thanks." Milleia thanked me bashfully.
I said some unnecessary words.
"More importantly, we have to deal with that thing. The Golden Grasses are just behind him," I showed Milleia and Eric. This Irisless was obviously protecting the Golden Grasses but-
"Isn't he looking at us?" Eric narrowed his eyes when he saw the Irisless turning his gaze to us.
"No," I said and glanced at Milleia. "He is only looking at Milleia."
"Eh? M-Me?" Milleia, unaware of the change that was happening inside her body was confused.
"She is nearly at it…" Eric muttered seeing Milleia's shining body.
"Yeah, it's good for us." I nodded at him. "But first, let's get over with this, I don't feel good about you being attacked by the Arvatra Empire."
"You are not alone to feel like that…" Eric crossed his arms.
Suddenly Mary emerged from the mirror that materialized next to us.
"!" Eric's face froze when he saw Mary from up close.
Mary glanced at him, then Milleia before coming toward me. "I'm sorry Nyr. It's ignoring me now."
"Don't fret over it." I smiled at her. "It will be over soon."
"Wait, who is she?" Eric interjected.
"She is with me, no worries," I said and shifted my eyes to the Irisless. "Milleia, you can go now. It won't attack you."
"Uh? R-Really?" Milleia was perplexed as it attacked her ruthlessly a few minutes before.
"Yeah," I confirmed to her.
I think it attacked Milleia the first time because she was in her weak state and the Irisless didn't recognize her powerful bloodline.
"Believe me, we will follow you anyway," I said to her. I had been wrong the first time but not this one.
"Okay." Milleia nodded and rushed past the Irisless.
The Irisless stared at Milleia very long before turning its gaze toward us.
"Roaaaaa!"
"I think he is furious," I commented.
"Of course, it is!" Eric raised his sword seeing the upcoming fist.
Before I could take action, Mary raised her hand and a giant mirror appeared above us as a shield. The Irisless' fist entered the mirror and stuck out from another giant mirror next to us. With her other free hand, Mary clenched her fist and the second mirror shattered into pieces along the hand…
"ROHHHHHH!" The Irisless screamed in agony as its right hand vanished as if it had never existed in the first place.
"W-What the hell was that…" Eric was sweating profusely upon witnessing that.
I smirked and somewhat felt proud of Mary. She was a genius. Honestly, even I was shocked by her improvement over the course of months. I mean, I already knew she was special as I received most of her important memories when I became contracted to her but it was still amazing to witness such a progression.
"Take care of the rear, Eric." I said and rushed at the Irisless. "Mary, just support us but don't overexert yourself, okay?"
"Um."
"Fine."
With that said, I slid between the Irisless' legs and swung my swords. A grey-like matter flowed down upon my slashes. Taking a deep breath, I slashed one after another with each of my swords repeatedly on his leg.
"Falkrona Bloodline, Third Wing." I muttered and pure mana from the surroundings started to gather around my swords. "Mana Agglomeration."
A burst of energy started to sputter from both of my swords in a second.
"Ruah." I coated with Ruah as well and felt my swords really…really heavy. Clenching both of my swords tightly, I spun on my heels and swung my sword at a frightening speed.
A powerful shockwave of wind rippled and grey matter burst out like lava from a volcano.
ROAAAAAAAAHHH!
The irisless let out a deafening painful scream as it fell on the ground without his lower body as I sliced half of his body.
"It's…disgusting…" I jumped away with some of the grey matter tainting my clothes.
Before I could take a rest, a pillar of light shot out from behind me. Even the ground started to rumble as it was going through an earthquake. I immediately turned around and saw that Milleia was in the center of the pillar of bluish-pink light.
All the Irisless stopped fighting and turned toward Milleia.
"Finally…"
The light receded and a picturesque sight reflected on my eyes.
Milleia was standing there, her hair longer and a vibrant shade of blue. Her pink eyes further lightened in color, and her skin was as smooth as porcelain. Due to the few grasses she had plucked, Milleia cupped her hands, which were now glowing gold. A smile that could put any guy in trance slowly developed on her face. She transformed dramatically after her bloodline's Awakening, and I had to admit that she was breathtaking.
I don't even want to imagine how Alfred will react now…
Putting aside Cleenah, a Goddess, Milleia's beauty rivaled Aurora's, whom I had previously believed to be unsurpassed in that regard.
"It's finally over…" Eric arrived next to me and said tiredly.
"Yeah." I said. "By the way, we should have a discussion together."
"It's my line." Eric seemed to agree as well thankfully. "I have a lot to ask you."
Sigh…
It has been a tiring day honestly.
At least now Milleia's EVENT should be over. It should have been the moment for Jayden to definitely get Milleia but he chose Carla so…
Whatever.
"S-Sir Nyrel! Lord Eric! I obtained them!" Milleai ran toward us while jumping in joy.
"Beautiful…" Eric muttered unconsciously.
"Oy." I elbowed Eric.
"U-Uh…What? Could it be that you are also aiming at her? Even though you already have this girl?" Eric pointed at Mary who was next to me.
"What are you blabbering about? Why would I compromise the Ending by doing such a stupid thing?" I shook my head.
"Oh thank god, I feared that…" Eric sighed in relief.
"I finally got them, Sir Nyrel!" Milleia smiled brightly at me and it was a destructive power.
"I see, that's good." When she got this near to me, I stumbled. "Now, let's leave this place."
The Irisless stopped fighting but they were looking at us motionless and it was not putting me at ease.
Like that, the three of us left that place and the doors opened and closed when Milleia just approached the proximity.
"Um? Where is that girl?" Eric asked, seeing Mary not here anymore.
Since I could feel her getting tired, I asked her to leave.
"She left." I said shortly.
"Left? How? I didn't even notice her leaving though…"
"Are you blind?"
"I really want to beat you-"
[<Amael!>]
-BOOOOOM!
A deafening explosion obliterated everything in its vicinity. The sheer force of the blast left me reeling and disorientated.
"Kah!" I coughed up blood as I struggled to regain my bearings, my hand still raised from my initial defensive stance.
"W-What…" Eric, who had been standing behind me, was clearly in shock as he looked around at the aftermath of the blast.
At that moment, I realized that I had only managed to react in time due to Cleenah's heightened instincts. I had summoned several mirrors to protect myself, Milleia, and Eric from the explosion.
"Hey!" Eric called out to Milleia.
What?!
As I glanced to my left, I saw Milleia with her hands still raised. Her blue barriers were still up, though they were on the verge of collapsing. I knew that she had used an enormous amount of mana, which wasn't advisable immediately after her awakening.
Eric, however, was quick to catch Milleia before she could crumple to the ground.
I clenched my teeth, annoyed at myself for not being able to provide better protection for Milleia. However, her quick thinking had ultimately saved us all.
Of course it would have been too easy!
It was evident that the attack had been intended to eradicate all evidence of our presence.