Chapter 1258: Aria’s Choice

Watching her imitation of a tier 10 attack land against ‘Aria’ Shiro narrowed her eyes in frustration.

‘It’s not enough… What am I missing to reach tier 10?’ Shiro thought with a frown. Quickly backing off, Shiro prepared for ‘Aria’s’ counter attack but ‘Aria’ only stood still.

Her arms dropped down as her posture slumped over.

“Is that it?” She asked in a low voice. Disappointment and sadness could be heard within her tone as she glanced back at Shiro.

“I suppose this is as far as a copy can go.”

Appearing in front of Shiro, ‘Aria’ grabbed Shiro’s head, bypassing her domain from just brute force as her body was now being reinforced by tier 10 magic circles.

“I’m disappointed. Truly, I thought that after countless cycles an exception would appear. But you fell short of my expectations like all of the others.” ‘Aria’ muttered as light faded from her eyes. Her gaze was now cold and unfeeling.

“You can die in this world alone. The cycle will reset itself in due time. And another disappointment awaits me like before.”

Twisting her body, ‘Aria’ plunged her hand into Shiro’s chest as black goo flooded into her body. Without saying anything, ‘Aria’ dropped Shiro before cutting the puppet strings connected to Aria’s body. Giving Shiro one last glance of disappointment, ***** turned her gaze away and returned control to Aria.

As her conscious returned to her, Aria stood silently while looking down at Shiro who was convulsing on the ground. Even though ***** had returned her body to her, the time limit was up. She could already feel her body crumbling away.

Jumping down, she landed next to Shiro.

“What?” Shiro squeezed through gritted teeth as she was trying her best to remove the black goo from within. She could feel her codes being corrupted with every passing moment that they stayed within her.

“Nothing. There’s no point in sealing you away now. Even if I sealed you away it won’t delay the end anymore. She has given up on you, so this world no longer has any uses.” Aria sat down next to Shiro and sighed.

“I had fought this long hoping that I could extend the life of our universe as much as I could. But in the end it’s all futile. Ending on a whim because you couldn’t match her expectations.”

“Uhuh, now can you shut up?! I’m kind of dying here!” Shiro shouted in annoyance as she forcefully dug out the black goo with her bare hands. But it was no use, her vision was already blurring as she could feel the insanity of millions upon millions of Anima’s invading her mind.

Their despair and anguish fighting against Shiro’s sense of self.

“What’s the point? You already saw how the fight went down.” Aria asked as she hugged her knees. Laying her head against her knees, she glanced at Shiro who was still fighting against the corruption.

“If you get the black goo out of your system, what then? How are you going to find her again? And if you find her how are you even going to kill her?” Aria asked. She didn’t know where Shiro was getting her motivation to fight against something so unbelievably powerful that neither of them could do anything.

“It’s obvious, isn’t it? I’ve told you time and time again during our fight.” Shiro clicked her tongue in annoyance as she took a deep breath and summoned Error.

‘Error dear, I’m going to need some help. I want to modify my code and ‘turn back time’ on my own body, before the black goo invaded it.’

[I… Don’t think I can help much but I’ll try mother.] Error replied hesitantly as the black goo was something else entirely. While Shiro could rewrite reality to a certain extent within a given area, the black goo wasn’t something that could be easily removed.

A quick analysis of the goo revealed that it was the essence of every cycle that had already happened, condensed into a liquid that would corrupt and drive them insane. It would amplify the victims strongest desire to the point it would become their only driving force.

Watching Shiro struggle in silence, Aria sighed and laid back.

Looking up at the crimson sky, she couldn’t help but feel bitterness in her heart. She could see why Shiro refused to give up on her path of obtaining strength.

If she was just a little stronger, if she could be the one to make the choices, they wouldn’t be in this situation. If Aria had the strength to properly seal away Shiro and defy *****, none of this would’ve happened.

“Shiro.” Aria called out as Shiro glanced over.

“Do you have nothing else to do? If you’re just gonna watch me die, at least watch in silence.” Shiro rolled her eyes as Aria felt like a vein was about to pop.

“Has anyone told you that you are insufferable? I’m not even sure I want to help you anymore.” Aria clicked her tongue.

“Ha??? Help? Don’t you hate me? Did you get brain damage or something? Why the f*ck would you help me?” Shiro looked at Aria in a mix of confusion and disbelief.

“Don’t get me wrong, I hate you and you hate me. That’s not going to change. But our goal is the same, isn’t it? To preserve this world.” Aria stated while holding back the urge to punch Shiro.

“Yeah, what about it?”

“How confident are you at stopping her?” Aria asked with seriousness.

“No f*cking clue. I mean did you see her? Tier 10! I tried to emulate what she did but it was lacking in the end. I tried to figure out what I was lacking but everything was perfect, it should’ve activated but it still failed.” Shiro complained.

“You have nothing to rely on, no source of confidence and you’re STILL trying to defy her?” Aria blinked in disbelief as Shiro shrugged.

“Well duh, what else am I supposed to do? Cry about it like a b*tch? I might as well try until the end.”

Taking a deep breath, Shiro activated a tier 9 magic circle around her as circuits plunged into her body. A myriad of codes appeared in her mind as she wanted to revert her current state. However, the more she analysed her code, the more she realised how screwed she was with the goo.

Due to the nature of the goo, it was rewriting the history of her codes. Her own existence was essentially merging with all of the previous Shiro’s and Anima’s and once that’s done, she’ll become part of the liquid. Trying to ‘undo’ the moment the liquid came into contact with her was difficult since she’ll need to ‘undo’ the same event that had happened to the other copies of her.

And if she was to try doing that, it’ll be no different to unwinding her own existence till it was reduced to nothing. The moment the goo had touched her, it was over.

“Judging by your expression, I take it that you fully understand what it means to be corrupted by the black liquid.” Aria smiled bitterly as she showed off her own arm that was now completely melted.

“But setting aside our imminent deaths, I’ll try to help you as I said.” Aria said as she stood up and walked in front of Shiro.

“I still don’t get it though. You’re not this selfless as to help out your enemy. What do you want from me?” Shiro asked with doubt in her voice.

“Just take a look at my code and figure it out dumbass.” Aria rolled her eyes.

Glancing at Aria’s code, Shiro finally understood what she meant. Her code was already 70% unravelled and it was only a matter of moments before her entire existence fades. This was her last act before death.

“Between the two of us, I still believe my method is correct. However, if I had to choose a ‘winner’ per say, I’d prefer that to be you than her. We both know I don’t have to power to contend against her.” Aria chuckled while placing her remaining hand against Shiro’s wound.

“Though it’s not like I’m doing it for free either. You got to promise me that you’ll preserve the world, all the worlds. I know you have both Creation and Destruction, so it should be possible for you.” Aria asked as Shiro nodded her head.

“Of course I will. That’s the goal from the beginning.” Shiro replied with seriousness as Aria smiled in satisfaction.

Suddenly, all of the black goo started to drain from Shiro’s body as she felt as though her insides were being ripped out.

“HNG!” Letting out a small cry, Aria flinched as she felt the goo enter her own body. The resentment of Anima filled her mind but she had to hold on, at least until all of it was out of Shiro.

“Thank you.” Shiro squeezed out as Aria head butted Shiro in retaliation.

“???” Holding her forehead in confusion, Shiro blinked her eyes at Aria.

“Spare me the gratitude. Just hearing you thank me makes me want to throw up.”

“Well I guess f*ck you then?” Shiro replied in disbelief as she didn’t think Aria wouldn’t even want to hear a thank you.

“That’s more like it. And f*ck you too, you’re the most insufferable b*tch I know.” Aria smiled as she ripped her hand off Shiro, taking the last remains of the black goo.