Arifureta: From Commonplace to World's Strongest Vol. 10

by Ryo Shirakome

  “It’s time to end this...” Yue declared calmly. Her golden mana filled the room. She unleashed all five of her elemental dragons, using all the ancient magic at her disposal.

  The weakened copy had no way out of Yue’s unwavering assault. However, it hadn’t given up. Its lips curled up in a faint smirk.

  “I see. So the source of your strength is Hajime Nagumo.”

  Aletia was long gone. The fact that Yue had crushed her without hesitation was proof of that. That meant Yue’s past couldn’t shake her. But what about her future?

  Even as Yue’s dragons blasted through the magic her copy had summoned to defend itself, it wasn’t fazed. It merely spoke calmly and said, “You’re simply averting your eyes from the contradiction.”

  “Huh?”

  “It never once occurred to you that maybe you should think about who and what you are, did it?”

  “What are you...?”

  “Do you really think you’ll be able to stay by his side forever?”

  “Huh...?” Yue’s voice wavered just a little. Three of her dragons had been destroyed by her copy’s counter and the two that had made it through missed, even though Yue should have had a clear shot. A little bit of the copy’s lost power returned.

  “Tch... I’ll just crush you with force, then.”

  “Are you up to the task?”

  The fight should have been decided, but it once again raged on.

  Around the same time—

  “Dieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!”

  “Gaaaaaah!”

  Ferocious yells echoed across a chamber identical to the one Yue was fighting in. A second later, someone screamed in pain. Shea stood in one corner of the room, Drucken on her shoulder. She remained alert as she watched her opponent, a black-haired, black-eared copy of herself, fly across the room like a pinball.

  Unable to slow itself down at all, Shea’s copy slammed into the ice tree in the center of the room. There was a loud boom, and chunks of the tree trunk crumbled. Shea’s copy slid to the ground and fell to its knees. It was only by using its own Drucken that it managed to avoid collapsing entirely. The tree started to repair itself with a series of loud cracks, and the copy looked up at Shea. Glowing crimson eyes peeked out from behind its black bangs.

  “Have you already forgotten the screams of your family? The pain they suffered just to keep you alive?”

  A second later, Shea was thrown into a vivid flashback. Clouds of dust covered a barren wasteland.

  “No! Stoooooop!”

  “It hurts! It hurts so much! Please, stop!”

  “Run! Quickly!”

  Screams, screams, and more screams filled Shea’s eardrums. Screams of pain, screams of sorrow, and screams of people telling Shea to keep running. Punctuating the screams was the sound of vulgar laughter and the pounding of countless hoofbeats. The sounds grew louder as the stampede of malice closed in on Shea and her family.

  “Hahaha, time to hunt some rabbits.”

  “Kill all the old ones! We don’t need ’em anyway!”

  “We’re gonna sell half of them, so don’t rough ’em up too bad! The rest you can do whatever you want with!”

  The imperial soldiers chasing down Shea’s tribe saw the rabbitmen as nothing more than playthings. The memories were still fresh in Shea’s mind. Even if she wasn’t being shown a flashback, she’d never forget what had happened.

  “Hey, look at that pale girl!”

  The soldiers whooped in excitement. They bared their fangs and started chasing down their next target. It was like they were hunting beasts.

  “She’s mine! Don’t let her get away!”

  The soldiers’ greedy eyes were trained on Shea. They cut down anyone in their way as if the members of Shea’s family were nothing but trash to them.

  “Nooooooooooooooo! Stooooooooop!”

  This time, the scream belonged to Shea. She’d turned around and was trying to head back to the members of her family who were being trampled underfoot. However, Cam and the other rabbitmen nearby grabbed her and kept on running.

  Again. It’s all my fault again.

  “That’s right. It’s all your fault,” Shea’s copy taunted.

  The imperial soldiers bearing down on Shea hefted their spears and—

  “Fuck off!”

  “Agh!”

  Shea slammed her fist into the center of the soldiers’ formation, and connected with her copy’s face. The copy flew through the air, bounced off the ground a few times, then slid to a halt.

  “Ngh, you really don’t have any openings, do you!?”

  Memories were just memories. Even if the labyrinth forced Shea to relive them, her focus was still entirely on the present. She knew better than to lose sight of her foe in the middle of battle. In fact—

  “Your birth was a mist— Ah!?”

  The copy tried to rile Shea up with more barbed comments, but it suddenly stopped and perked up its bunny ears. Then, without turning around, it leaped to the side. A second later, Drucken appeared where it had been standing.

  “I’m gonna flatten you.”

  Shea’s cute voice didn’t match the tremendous impact she caused with her hammer. A crater formed in the floor and cracks ran through the entire room. The copy landed lightly on its feet and looked over at the crater Shea had made.

  “What!?”

  But there was no one there. The copy shouldered its hammer and turned around, only to see Shea standing behind it. As unbelievable as it seemed, it had lost sight of Shea for a moment.

  “How’re you so fast!?”

  “You’re just too slow!”

  The copy shivered in fear. There was another boom as Shea’s hammer accelerated past the speed of sound. The copy barely had time to bring its own black Drucken up to block. The impact alone released a shockwave powerful enough to end the fight, and the copy was sent flying. It crashed into the ice mirror wall at the far end of the room with enough force to drive the air out of its lungs. But it knew it had no time to rest, and fired a shotgun blast sideways, hoping to use the recoil to escape Shea’s follow-up attack.

  “Take thiiiiiis!”

  Shea kneed the wall with such force that she created another crater.

  “Everything happened because you were born! It’s all your fault!”

  This is impossible! But despite the fact that the copy could see no possible avenue to victory, it continued to carry out its duty. It had every one of Shea’s combat tactics at its disposal, as well as the knowledge of what words would hurt her the most.

  “Because of you, your family had to live in hiding!”

  A barrage of iron balls hurtled toward the copy. Shea had just thrown them, but they had the speed of cannonballs. The copy just barely managed to dodge them and was forced to deflect a few with Drucken. Determined, it once again tried to stir up the darkness inside Shea’s heart.

  “Even the other rabbitmen tribes abandoned you!”

  It was true that only the Haulia had ever cared for Shea. The other rabbitmen would have turned her in had they known about her. That had forced the Haulia tribe into isolation, and they hadn’t even been able to trade with the other tribes. As a result, they’d had a hard time even scraping by. They’d needed to get all of their food and other necessities by themselves, without relying on others. All because Shea had been born with mana. From that moment onward, the Haulia had been treated as outcasts. Of the Haulia, it had been Cam who’d suffered the most. Shea knew better than anyone what he’d gone through to raise her.

  Finally seeing an opportunity to counterattack, the copy fired off a barrage of explosive slugs at Shea. She brought Drucken up and blocked the assault with the hammer’s face. Once again, the copy dragged her into a flashback. This time she was seeing a memory of when another rabbitman tribe had come to the Haulia village. They’d come to convince Cam to rethink his policy of isolation.

  “Chief of the Haulia! You can’t keep going like this!”

  “Us rabbitmen are
already the weakest race there is! Shouldn’t we at least work together to survive in this world?”

  “Don’t you understand? You Haulia are making it harder for the rest of us rabbitmen to get by too!”

  A young Shea watched the argument from her hiding place inside a small wooden crate. Even though everything the other rabbitmen were saying was correct, Cam didn’t budge an inch.

  “I’m sorry. If you need help with anything, you can ask us. But we would prefer not to trade with others. That’s just how the Haulia are.”

  Though his expression was pained, Cam’s resolve was firm. He didn’t waver even when the other rabbitmen pelted him with insults. Throughout the meeting, the only thing Cam did was lower his head apologetically. In the end, the other rabbitmen left in a rage, even though they should have all been allies. It was on that day that Shea started to feel guilty that she was alive. It was also on that day that she realized she needed to hide from the rest of the world.

  “We were the only irregular beastmen in all of Haltina! Even our family wasn’t like us!” the copy shouted.

  “We should have just run away on our own! Left our family behind! At least that way they wouldn’t have died for us! This all happened because we were weak! Weak of body, and weak of mind. If only—”

  “Shut the fuck uuuuuup!”

  Shea stomped on the ground with such force that the ice beneath her rose up to form a shield. The ice wall blocked the copy’s next barrage of explosive slugs. After the shockwaves died down, Shea punched the wall in front of her, blowing it apart. Shards of ice shot forward, blowing a hole through the copy’s third wave of explosive slugs. Then, she instantly dashed through the opening and threw Drucken at her copy. She closed the rest of the distance between them while the copy was busy dodging. Panicking, the copy tried to blow Shea back with a concentrated salvo of explosive slugs.

  “Shea-style defensive maneuver, Power Through!”

  “That can hardly be called a maneuver.”

  The copy was right, but unfortunately for it, that didn’t matter. Shea crossed her arms in an x-shape in front of her chest and dashed through the barrage. She improved her already insane body strengthening by enhancing it with evolution magic. As a result, the explosive slugs barely even bruised her skin as they exploded. She had quite literally just powered through. And once she was through, it was her turn to go on the offensive.

  “Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! Die!”

  Shea fired off a right straight at her copy. It blocked with Drucken, but it wasn’t able to absorb the impact of the blow and was sent flying. As it flew through the air, it heard the jangling of chains.

  “Oh shi—”

  Before it could finish that thought, Shea’s left arm finished its rotation. In her hand was Drucken’s handle, still attached to the hammer via chain. The chain wrapped around the giant tree in the center, adding even more centrifugal force to the hammer’s rotation. The copy barely had time to register what was happening before Drucken slammed into it.

  The force of the blow caused it to change trajectory in midair, sending it sideways instead of backward. Unable to break its fall, the copy slammed into the wall again. Tiny crystals of ice flew through the air, sparkling in the dim light. Within that glittering cloud, there were also sparkling particles which weren’t ice.

  “Ahaha... Looks like I’ve lost.”

  The copy smiled sadly to itself. It was cradling its shoulder, and parts of it were starting to disintegrate.

  “So you’re finally at your limit.”

  “Yeah, I’m no match for you.”

  Shea had even healed the slight damage her copy’s barrage had inflicted on her via restoration magic. The copy shook its head in amazement.

  “You really weren’t fazed at all. Even though everything I said should have been our true feelings...”

  Shea hadn’t faltered in the slightest. In fact, the more the copy had tried to torment Shea, the weaker it had gotten. It hadn’t been much of a trial. Shea looked down at the copy and shook her head in exasperation.

  “What are you talking about? You can’t change the past. All you can do is carry it with you. But even if the past is still with me, I swore that I’d do everything in my power to make the future better.”

  On that day when Shea had been chased, watched her family get murdered, and then chased again, she’d seen the future. In the depths of despair, in the abyss of grief, she’d seen a future full of hope. Hope in the form of Hajime and Yue. It was then that she’d told herself not to give up, to keep running forward. She’d done everything in her power to reach out and grasp the future that lay together with those two.

  “I swore that I’d become someone who could protect the people I love from those who’d try to take them from me, remember?”

  That had been Mona’s—Shea’s mother’s—wish. And Shea had inherited that will. Tired of being weak, Shea had pushed herself to become strong. As a result—

  “I made my peace with all that suffering ages ago.”

  Shea reeled Drucken back into her hands and slung it over her shoulder. She looked just like the Grand Tree. Firm and strong, but also flexible.

  “The darkness in people’s hearts is supposed to be strong enough that it paralyzes them even then.”

  It wasn’t easy to free oneself from the darkness lurking within them. And yet, Shea had.

  “You might be me, but it looks like you don’t really get me. I guess that’s proof that the labyrinth’s mixed in with you somewhere. Otherwise, you would have known from the start that your words couldn’t hurt me.”

  The wounds in Shea’s heart hadn’t healed. She’d never forget the day she lost so many members of her family. And no matter what anyone else said, she knew for a fact that the whole ordeal had been her fault. But she was done moping and crying about it. She’d resolved to throw away her weakness and stop running from conflict. Nothing could stop her anymore. She’d keep going toward the future she desired.

  Why? Well that’s obvious. Her family had worked so hard to protect her. Even though they were members of the weakest race, they’d weathered scorn and derision just to raise her. Her father and mother had endured so much to keep her alive.

  Her life was precious to her precisely because of what others had done to protect it. And now she’d found so many other things precious to her. Someone who cherished her and accepted her love wholeheartedly. A best friend she could trust and confide in. So many others whom she cared about and who cared about her. This time, she’d be the one to protect them all.

  “The darkness in my heart? Hah. Sorry, but I’m not some tragic heroine.”

  Shea knew she was blessed. There were people she wanted to protect, and those people wanted to protect her back. She could say with confidence that she was happy. Which was why she was the one who’d never forgive herself if she started acting like some misfortunate damsel. Sure, maybe she might have entertained those feelings for a fleeting moment, but that wasn’t nearly enough to weaken her resolve.

  “Listen up and listen well.”

  Shea grinned fearlessly and pointed Drucken at her copy. She straightened her back, confidence oozing from every pore. Even her copy couldn’t help but be amazed by how beautiful she looked. Then, she puffed her chest out proudly and declared, “Right now, I’m invincible. It doesn’t matter who I’m up against, I won’t lose!”

  Her words rang true. The copy felt itself grow even weaker. Words had the power both to bolster people and to weaken them. Shea had proven that this trial could be overcome through strength of body and mind alone. She’d tackled it head-on and come out victorious.

  The labyrinth had no choice but to accept the strength of this challenger. Shea’s copy smiled faintly at her.

  “I see. This trial pushes you to overcome yourself, but you’d already done that long ago.”

  “That’s right. Anyway, my friends are waiting for me, so you better let me through!”

  “Fufu, you h
aven’t gotten past me yet! Let’s see if you can take my final attack!”

  Twin pillars of mana, one sky blue the other dark crimson, rose into the sky. Shea and her copy shot forward at the same time, leaving craters in their wake. They’d gone from zero to max speed in a single step. Both of them then used the recoil from Drucken’s shotgun blasts to speed up even further.

  Wisps of mana trailed behind the two of them, making them look like shooting stars. Shea narrowed her focus to the enemy in front of her, and the rest of the world faded away. She brought Drucken back, ready to swing at a moment’s notice. Still hurtling forward, she spun around once. Then, with all the force of her charge behind her, Shea swung. Sonic booms trailed behind the swing as it accelerated past the speed of sound.

  The copy mimicked her movements exactly, so the black and gray hammers collided with unbelievable force. The collision caused a deafening boom. Shockwaves spread out from the point of impact, blasting the nearby ground and walls. A massive crater formed in the ground, as if Yue had just cast gravity magic on it. Of the two combatants, the only one still standing was—

  “Impressive.”

  Shea.

  The copy smiled slightly as it praised her skills. It then disintegrated into a mass of shimmering particles and vanished. Shea stood there silently for a few seconds, then sighed in relief. The shotgun shells she’d spent to accelerate herself clattered to the ground.

  Shea looked up at the ceiling and muttered, “Mom. I want to become a kind monster.”

  Once in the past, Shea had come to her mother crying about how she was a monster. Back then, Mona had said, “It doesn’t matter what other people say. You are who you want to be. You have the power to be anything you choose.”

  This isn’t enough. I need to get even stronger. I’m gonna get so strong that I can protect everyone from anything. I’m gonna become a kind monster. It was this determination that had propelled Shea this far.

  What would Mom think if she saw me now?

  “Be proud of yourself. Hold your head high and tell the world ‘I’m Shea Haulia! You got a problem with that!?’”