I Think My Fiancé Has Regressed

Chapter 78: The Final Battle (5)

Ariana’s presence did turn the tide of the battle slightly in our favor.

The shift in the battle wasn’t as extreme as you might expect given the power of her magic.

For one thing, her offensive magic only comes in two flavors: evenly distributed over a wide area, or massively destructive against a single target.

This was largely due to her ineffectiveness against small groups of elite soldiers, like the ones I’m facing now.

That doesn’t mean Arianna can’t take on the Demon Lord Azazel, and her dark magic won’t do any damage to the demon’s body.

“Get down, Alex!”

I could only do so much to block the creature’s attacks as it flew at me.

Of course, this alone was a great help in the current situation where I had to fight while saving my energy.

By the time I’d slashed through two more demons, the wall of darkness above my head had been lifted.

The hordes of hell demons crawling out began to dwindle in number.

“Tsk. You’re a nuisance, bitch.”

An annoyed click of the tongue came from the mouth of one of the creatures that had tried to attack me and Ariana several times.

He looked a bit agitated, as his attacks had been thwarted by her.

“You’re the one who’s annoying me.”

“……what?”

“Why are you bothering me and Alex like this when you could just go away and die and everyone would be happy? Don’t you think annoying is more fitting for you than for me?”

“You have the nerve to call me a nuisance when I’m the Great Evil.”

“Whether you are the Great Evil or the Demon Lord, it’s just your setting.

If you’re the Demon Lord because you’re the only one among all the unintelligent demons who can talk to people, then I, who’s much smarter than you and use dark magic, am some kind of reincarnation of the Demon God?”

Azazel’s expression twisted at Ariana’s words.

This was to be expected, since there was probably no one who could beat her with words.

“Is that all you have to say, Mr. Intelligent Black Goat?”

“You insolent bitch!”

Dozens of the Demon Lord dark magic bolts began to fly towards the same target in unison.

Ariana leisurely deflected his attacks, using her magical barrier as before.

“I’m sorry, but I can only block so many of these attacks, especially in an environment filled with dark magic like this.”

As it was now, the Demon Lord’s dark magic could be blocked by Ariana’s dark magic, so it would only be a battle of attrition.

If the guy is fooled by Ariana’s words and wastes his power, it’ll be better for me because I’ll be free from the pressure of magical power and it’ll be easier for me to move.

On the other hand, if he didn’t, time would be on our side.

When morning came, the guy’s strength would be considerably weakened. Even if he expected reinforcements, it was obvious that our forces would arrive first.

The Archmages of the Eloreal Empire are also at the Academy, so I’m sure they’ll come to our aid once we’ve cleared out the other demons, even if I’m the only one who can deliver a blow to that talking goat.

If I can take care of these pesky creatures that are charging at me, I can turn the tide in favor of a one-on-one battle with him.

“…Yeah, now that I think about it, that was kind of weird.”

“……?”

However, Azazel, who was expected to continue attacking Ariana in a fit of rage, suddenly looked at her and muttered as if he had realized something.

“There’s no way a hero with his physical prowess and magic skills could have reversed time.

I was confused because he seemed to have memories from his previous life, but it seems that there must have been someone else who turned back time.”

“What? Turn back time?”

“…Judging by your reaction, you don’t have any memories, and you actually sent him back in time instead of you?”

“What kind of nonsense are you talking about? Turning back time? There’s no way there’s such ridiculous magic.”

“Ha, ha, ha…! What kind of nonsense did this bitch do…!”

As I listened to Azazel and Ariana’s conversation, my own mind began to muddle along with theirs.

It was Ariana’s power that brought the future me back to the year-end ball?

And the current Ariana doesn’t know how to do that?

My head was spinning, as I struggled to understand.

Why did the future Ariana send me back in time and not herself?

There were so many more possibilities for Ariana to return to the past.

If it didn’t work out, there would be a chance to start over. She could have left a way to reverse time for future Ariana to figure out.

Could it be that reversing time itself is a magic that can only be used once?

It was far more useful for her to return to the past than for me, unless she really had no choice.

Obviously, I can’t know what Ariana was thinking in the future.

It’s already impossible to ask the future Ariana what her true intentions were in sending me back.

“I don’t exactly believe your bullshit, but I’ll tell you this much.”

“What?”

“What if a world other than the one we’re in already existed, and my counterpart in that world chose to send Alex back in time instead of me.”

“…….”

“That would be because I would have decided that Alex would be the one who needed to go back the most.”

“And you would defend yourself by saying that’s why you would have done such a stupid thing?”

“The only thing stupid is your goat brain, which can only think in one-dimensional ways, and I don’t think I, in any world, would have made a stupider judgment than the one that could have come out of a savage’s head.”

Everything was as she said.

If it was indeed the future Ariana who sent me back in time, it was a rational decision, made because she thought it was the best thing to do.

Now, I needed to fulfill the expectations of the future Ariana as well as the present Ariana.

“The bitch is so determined not to lose.”

The dark magic once again began to condense into a vortex in the Demon Lord left hand.

“I doubt you’ll ever be able to interfere with the flow of time again, but it wouldn’t hurt to kill you, just in case.”

Gathering more than twice as much magic in his hands as he had used to create the Drakhnien’s blade, he transformed it into a long spear.

Longomyniad. Spear of the Fallen King.

As soon as I saw its form, I couldn’t help but call out her name.

“Danger, Ariana!”

Unlike the ordinary dark magic bolts he had been using, this was a weapon that specialized in causing a concentrated impact at a single point.

It was a weapon that was sure to pierce through even her defensive magic, the Dark Barrier.

“……!!”

Ariana had also vaguely realized what Azazel was holding in his hand, and her relaxed expression turned to a slightly tense one.

Unable to use arcane or wind magic, she had no option but to block the attack.

She could only block the attacks with her dark barrier and take the ones she couldn’t block.

There was no time to be concerned with demons here, my first priority was to hurry and protect Ariana’s body.

With that thought in mind, I was about to take a hasty step, when I started to feel a strange pressure around my ankle.

“Heh….”

The corpse giant that I had already defeated a while ago had dragged its half-formed upper body over to me and grabbed my ankle as if in a last ditch effort.

“Oh, shit!”

I hurriedly stabbed the creature’s arm with my holy sword to free my ankle, but the spear in the Demon Lord hand was already flying toward her.

I closed the distance as best I could, using all my magic to save her, but the realization that it was too late flashed through my mind.

“Ariana!”

How the hell did I get her this far?

She was by my side, the reason I’d worked so hard, the reason I’d restarted my life to protect her.

Even if I succeeded in defeating the Demon Lord and preventing the destruction of the kingdom of Leavrov, without Arianna in that world, all my efforts would be for nothing.

I could see the Longomyniad closing in on her body.

At this rate, no matter which way she moved, she would be mortally wounded.

She tried to prepare a spell to save her, at least from a distance.

“……Win…….Region.”

A little far away, a familiar chanting sounded in my ears.

A huge explosion accompanied by a roaring sound came from the left side of Ariana’s body.

Her body was knocked straight to the ground by the recoil.

“Kaaaak?!”

With a scream, a black spear sliced through the back of Ariana’s fallen body.

Somehow, she managed to survive the demon’s attack.

Her clothes and face were a little dirty, but it was better than being pierced by a spear made of dark magic.

“I’ve been searching the Academy for hours for you, and I didn’t know where you’ve gone, so why are you putting yourself in the most dangerous places again?”

The voice that emerged from the darkness sounded fed up and began to hurl accusations at Ariana.

It was her stepbrother, Kael Anastasia.