World's Last Hope-Chapter 41: Aria

Aria was sitting on the table with a plate full of pancakes in front of her.

Just by looking at them, at their softness and their pleasant aroma, it was clear.

These were the pancakes her father had prepared for her.

She hesitated for a moment, and using the fork in her hand, she picked one of them and brought it to her mouth.

The rich flavor spread through her body, tears began flowing down her eyes as she knew she could not mistake this taste.

Only her father’s pancakes were so delicious.

"Is it good?" her father asked, raising an eyebrow as he saw his daughter beginning to silently cry as she ate.

All she could do was nod, as she began to devour the food like a hungry beast.

Seeing that, her father smiled as he spoke, his voice firm but also gentle, "I am glad."

Slowly, Aria was cursing inwardly in her mind,

’This is it, isn’t it?! That corruption... this is what it wanted to show me. It wants me to succumb—but I will not fail.’

She pierced the pancake with all her strength, shattering the plate below it.

’I will kill this cursed thing. I swear it!’

"Oh my, are you alright?"

Her mother jumped startled as she saw the plate that Aria was using break so violently.

"I am fine," she replied.

Her mother furrowed her eyebrows spoke, "No, you are not! Look at your hand—you are bleeding!"

Shifting her gaze, Aria realized her mother was right.

Her mother grasped her hand as a pleasant light began to spread around Aria’s body.

It was a feeling she valued the most.

But...

She knew the truth.

"Mother..."

Hearing the suddenly serious voice of her daughter, the woman looked at Aria with a worried expression on her face. "Yes?"

Aria placed her hand on her mother’s cheek as she spoke coldly.

"I love you... so I am sorry for what I am about to do. It’s just that the idea of letting a corruption mimic you makes me sick to my stomach."

"What are yo—"

Aria’s mother began to speak but stopped mid-sentence as she felt something sharp pierce her throat.

It was the fork Aria had been using to eat the pancakes just a second ago.

The woman tried to resist, but Aria, without hesitation, pulled the fork back and stabbed again, this time into her mother’s head.

Aria’s eyes were filled with hatred—hatred she had never shown anybody else before. Her voice wasn’t stoic, it was filled with rage and fury.

"I love my mother so much, so don’t you dare copy her, you cursed thing!"

"ARIA!" her father shouted, seeing his daughter just kill his wife in cold blood.

Aria immediately moved, pulling the fork from her mother’s head and sending it flying straight into her father’s eye.

As the fork pierced his head, he fell back in his chair as blood began to fall down his face.

He was a strong master, but he had let his guard down, so Aria used the moment of opportunity.

She shifted her gaze to Gryndor...

No, to what was pretending to be him.

The thing was looking at her with cold eyes, its friendly demeanor completely gone.

It slowly opened its mouth as it began to speak,

"Why do you resist? Here, you can live with no trouble, no worry of the future, with the people you love. What more could you possibly want?"

Aria chuckled as she picked up the knife that had been left to the side of her plate, slowly approaching the cursed thing.

"I am a greedy woman, so I want much, much more," she said.

The thing, posing as Gryndor, raised its eyebrow.

"And what would that be?"

As Aria dug her foot into the wooden floor, cracking it, she exploded toward the creature.

"For starters, getting rid of you!" she proclaimed as she stabbed the thing that was pretending to be her grandfather.

The creature didn’t move, simply taking the hit. It opened its mouth and slowly began to speak,

"Everyone is brave at the start, but in the end, all of them succumb to me."

Suddenly, the space around Aria broke apart, as if reality itself had shattered. She found herself once again in a void of nothingness.

"Well, I am not everyone," she spoke coldly.

"Aria!" a voice suddenly called out, and she opened her eyes.

The first thing she did was glance down. She saw that she was equipped with elegant white armor and a sword in her hand. As the smell of fire reached her nose, she observed her surroundings.

A whole portion of the city was aflame. Everywhere she looked, wild infernos were ravaging the houses and streets that had once been filled with life.

"Aria!" the voice called again. Shifting her gaze downward, she saw her father weakly resting his back against a wall, using his right hand to try and keep a wound on his chest from bleeding.

"Thank goodness you’re alive!" her father said, attempting to stand but failing miserably.

"Listen to me," her father spoke, taking a shaky breath.

"This portion of the city is done for. Find your grandfather and regroup somewhere safe."

"What about Mom?" Aria asked, slowly approaching her father.

The man shuddered the moment Aria mentioned her mother.

"I am sorry... I lost her. She was taken."

Aria didn’t display much emotion as she continued to slowly approach her father. Perhaps it was due to the shock she was experiencing—or so her father told himself.

"Listen!" he repeated. "Go find your grandfather and regroup somewhere safe!"

As Aria reached her father, she kept her gaze fixed on him.

"I see... you are weaker."

"Yes, I am sorry, Aria. I couldn’t stop them, nor did I manage to save your mother, so pl—"

"No," she interrupted, her eyes shining a darker shade of blue.

"I am talking about your inability to use my memories against me," she said as she unsheathed her sword and brought it close to her father’s throat.

"You see... he was left-handed, so he used his left hand to put pressure on the wound, not the right hand."

As the thing’s eyes narrowed, realizing its mistake, it was too late—Aria had already sliced her father’s neck.

No, not her father, but something pretending to be him.

As she slowly stood, reality around her once again seemed to break, and she found herself back in the empty void.

Cracking her neck, she spoke in an emotionless voice,

"Next."