Well, I'm torn. It seems obvious they want you to now assume Aika is this mage of exodus. Sure, it would mean she'd have killed herself, but hey...if it's for the greater plan...
Now, while they didn't say, I'm guessing that one can presume that this mage of exodus may not be controllable by the Tree of Genesis. Which, if true, means that while it may seem like Aika's death was done to facilitate Hakaze's rescue and "winning", if Aika is the mage of exodus, it's possible that's all only superficial and there's something far deeper going on that her death favors her-not Hakaze-in some way. And, if Hakaze can get around being dead in the present, who's to say Aika can't at some future date?
Anyways, I think it's amazing how we've spent a number of episodes standing on a rock talking back and forth to each other, and I'm not pissed at all. If Naruto was half this intelligent, I wouldn't mind it when they spend 10 episodes yelling at each other in the middle of a fight either.
So, these mages aren't supposed to kill? Such semantic reasoning is what lead to the Nazis to exterminate 12 million people in concentration camps. I mean, that's an awful lot of people these mages have killed/turned to stone indirectly.
Or, in a more tongue-in-cheek vein, killing is ok if the tree says it's ok.
Ok, not sure where we're going from here. Hakaze is almost certainly going to come back. I'm going to go ahead and jump on the Aika train and say she is the mage of exodus (even if that seems too obvious, and the show has enjoyed peeling back layers slowly, which would suggest their unspoken suggestion that she is the mage of exodus in this episode would mean she can't possibly be...if that makes any sense
).
I call Aika vs Hakaze in episode 23/24, with Yoshino having to make the tough choice between the two. And, hey, maybe Aika's plan was to have Yoshino so ingratiate himself with Hakaze that Hakaze will be caught flat footed when Aika returns and crooks her finger at her boy toy. Kidding. Sort of.