Arifureta - Chapter 46

"Them" (あの方) is the 46th chapter of the Arifureta: From Commonplace to World's Strongest Manga adaptation. It was released on "Overlap:Comic Gardo" Online Publication on November 6, 2020 on "Point Payment" system, with Free Preview released on December 4, 2020.

Summary
As Kouki warns Hajime about Cattleya's Petrification Magic, which she is casting because she considers Hajime to be a true threat to her. She unleashes her spell "Dark Gaol" on Hajime, but he uses one of her demons to shield himself, resulting it in turning into stone instead. He jumps into the air to avoid the spell, but Cattleya points it up at him in the air. Kaori calls to him but he uses "Air Dance: Aerodynamic" to dodge her magic.

Seeing this, Cattleya directs it towards Kaori and Shizuku, knowing that Hajime won't be able to dodge if he's busy guarding them. Sure enough, all of them seem to get engulfed to Cattleya's pleasure, but to her horror, Hajime emerges unscathed and points his gun at her head. She asks how he was able to avoid her magic, and he tells her he used "Mana Radiation", which allowed him to push the smoke away and save himself and the girls.

Cattleya is left in disbelief that Hajime is as strong as that and he asks her what her goal was. Cattleya says it was to kill the Hero Party after failing to recruit them, but Hajime doesn't buy it as the only reason. He points out to her that she brought with her a lot of extremely unique and strong demons as if she was trying to find her way through the Labyrinth, but does acknowledge she couldn't have come across the party by sheer coincidence. He once again asks her what her goal was, but Cattleya refuses to answer knowing it would aid the humans, so Hajime shoots out both her legs, saying he doesn't care about humanity, he just wants to know. Cattleya asks what will happen to her if she doesn't answer his question.

He looks at the remains of Ahatod and says that it was made with "God's Age Magic", and says that not only does it mean that the demons have been growing in strength recently, but it means that someone tried to traverse the Seven Great Labyrinths. As such, she was trying to acquire the Ancient Magic at the center of the Labyrinth as fast as possible. When she found out that the Hero Party would be in the Labyrinth, she decided to let them clear through the Labyrinth for her by having them join her. Hajime tells her that her goal was Oscar Orcus's home and acquire his magic, as well as deprive humanity of a valuable asset.

Cattleya confirms that everything Hajime said was true and realizes he already traversed the Labyrinth before everyone else, which explains his strength, even calling him as strong as "that person", who gave her the demons. With that, Cattleya tells Hajime to finish her, promising that if she dies, her lover will avenge her. Just before he can shoot her, Kouki speaks up and asks Hajime to not kill her, stating his reasons to be that since he is the Hero, he doesn't want anyone who can't fight back anymore to wind up dead. Instead, he asks they take her captive and interrogate her. Cattleya reacts with disbelief over Kouki's offer, and Hajime shoots her through the head, killing her.

Kouki tries to ask how he could do such a thing, but Hajime ignores him and walks over to Shea to ask how Meld is doing. She tells him that had it not been for the Ambrosia, he wouldn't have made it. She asks if it was wise to use it because of how rare it is, and Hajime says that Meld is an okay person to him, and as long as he's training the students instead of some religious fanatic, he's not worried. As Yue and Shea walk over to him, Kaori walks up to Hajime and tearfully thanks him for saving everyone and staying alive. She also apologizes for not being able to protect him back then, but he tells her not to worry about it because he's still alive, and Kaori embraces him while continuing to cry tears of joy.

Characters in Order of Appearance

 * Hajime Nagumo
 * Cattleya
 * Kaori Shirasaki
 * Shizuku Yaegashi
 * Kouki Amanogawa
 * Kousuke Endou
 * Yue
 * Shea Haulia
 * Meld Loggins
 * Miledi Reisen (flashback)
 * Ishtar Langbard (flashback)

Locations

 * Great Orcus Labyrinth

Monsters

 * Ahatod (corpse)
 * Hydra (flashback)

Differences from Light Novel

 * In the Light Novel, Hajime doesn't try to avoid Cattleya's "Dark Gaol" and uses one of his "Cross Bit" Artifacts to prevent her from escaping after he remains unaffected from it.
 * In the Light Novel, Hajime is initially hesitant to let Kaori hug him, but he relents after seeing Shizuku glaring at him for not immediately responding to Kaori's feelings.