Ch.147The Main Character (5)

# The Main Character (5)

All the sand that had been protecting Twelve fell and scattered on the floor.

Seeing the two people approaching him, Twelve thought.

‘Is this the end?’

He was weak.

Born weak, he had merely disguised it with effort.

His physical abilities were significantly inferior to other demons, which is why he had to choose magic as his means.

Then what could he do when he lost that means called magic?

He knew. He knew his weakness. That’s why he could become strong, and that’s why he could be certain how the current situation would end.

‘I cannot defeat either of them.’

He always carried an umbrella.

A foolish demon who originally liked rainy weather. To deny his past self who mixed his weak tears with rainwater.

He used an umbrella with the thought that he would never cry again.

Leaving behind a small lingering attachment.

An attachment toward the sword that he could never reach no matter how hard he tried.

‘Why did I…’

The two people drawing closer with each passing moment.

Memories flashing by like a kaleidoscope.

‘Why did I join the Demon King’s army?’

Was it just to show that he had overcome his weakness?

Did he want to prove something?

Yes, that must have been it. He wanted to boast that he, once the weakest during his school days, had risen to a higher position than anyone else.

He wanted to show himself to them, saying, “Look what I’ve become.”

But was that all?

‘Yes, that was all.’

He had proven it.

He had shown everyone that he, once weak, had risen to this height.

Isn’t that enough? Is there any need to try harder?

Twelve looked at the last means of resistance in his hand.

His lingering attachment. The sword skill he could never master no matter how hard he tried.

He who had fled to magic as a means, leaving behind his strength that he most wanted to prove.

He let it droop.

After all, his swordsmanship wouldn’t change anything anyway.

But…

‘Is that really true?’

He had proven it.

Even if his means wasn’t the sword, he had shown everyone that his efforts had surpassed those who had oppressed and tormented him.

But was that really all? Was it just for that that he had joined the Demon King’s army, risked his life through countless battlefields, and become a corps commander?

“No…”

He had hated himself. He felt sorry for his weak, useless self.

So he pushed himself.

“Self-hatred…”

Perhaps that’s why he had been jealous of Lilith.

Twelve, facing death, finally realized why his past self had shown such a sharp reaction.

If proving himself was truly all he wanted, there would have been no reason to act in ways that would displease the Demon King.

Yes, he had been jealous.

Jealous of her existence, who, like his past self, had no power yet stood in the same position as him.

And he had certainly envied her.

The fact that the strongest being in this world protected her.

The proof of the bond called kinship that only the Manmata clan possessed.

“Ah, I see…”

He had been forgiven by the Demon King.

Forgiven by Lilith.

The care that the Manmata clan had for others had reached him too.

That must be why he had shed tears endlessly, tears he thought would never flow again.

It wasn’t raining.

He wasn’t using an umbrella.

But he cried.

He cried out of gratitude.

“Your Majesty the Demon King…”

Now he understood.

The reason why he hadn’t stopped trying even after becoming a corps commander.

The reason why he wanted to keep fighting at the risk of his life even at this moment.

“Your Majesty would be able to do it, wouldn’t you?”

He too had wanted to change.

This world of the demon realm where one could only live by the rule of power.

He wanted to invade the human realm, take what was theirs, and live like them.

He wished for a world where not only power was everything, but where one could contribute to society through various abilities.

He wanted to live in a world where people were evaluated by various things.

Twelve gripped the sword he had let droop. He decided not to give up, even if it was in vain.

Because that’s what humans did, and that’s what his enemies before him did too.

Then he, who wanted to live the same life as them, shouldn’t give up.

“Then I too shall become a cornerstone of that noble path!”

It’s fine if he couldn’t win.

An arm. No, even just a slight wound would be enough to stop them.

He would be the stumbling block for those who hindered Belphegor’s path.

“Long live the Demon King!”

Twelve swung his sword.

He gripped his thin lingering attachment more strongly than ever before.

And so his attachment…

***

Tina was staring intently at Twelve who had collapsed on the floor.

It took much longer than expected.

It took too much time to bring him down as he desperately held on with his crude swordsmanship.

And what was more troubling was that it was hard to think that her and Extra’s combined attack had brought Twelve down.

Twelve had desperately held on and on until he finally collapsed from exhaustion.

He was severely injured to begin with. He had been hit by Millia’s consciousness magic and cut by Tina and Extra’s swords multiple times.

Even in that state, he had held on and finally chose the moment of his collapse himself.

“Aren’t you going to kill him?”

“No…”

Eirene asked as Tina didn’t finish off the fallen Twelve, and Tina nodded.

“He spared me once, so I should spare him once too.”

“When?”

“…You’ve forgotten that he was trying to blow me away earlier.”

“Ah.”

Eirene didn’t remember as if it was nothing.

And Tina began to understand the terrible aspects of her party members.

Her blinded vision was starting to clear.

She realized that the hero’s party… was not as kind as she thought.

“What do you think?”

“…I think the same. It’s better to keep this person alive, even for the sake of the demon realm.”

“For the sake of the demon realm?”

“He’s someone who knows how to run an army properly…”

Extra also wanted to spare Twelve. Twelve was capable enough to handle the finances of the Demon King’s army alone, and compared to other corps commanders who treated their subordinates as sacrificial pawns, he at least knew how to operate an army properly.

Above all, he, belonging to the 5th Corps, knew Twelve’s abilities well enough.

The Demon King’s army couldn’t have grown this large without Twelve.

“I think it’s better to kill him. This demon was extremely loyal to the Demon King. Wouldn’t moving forward without killing such a person likely cause troublesome consequences?”

“…”

At Eirene’s cold words, the members of the hero’s party looked at her.

An assessment so cold that it didn’t match her title of ‘Saintess’.

Under gazes that seemed to question whether she could really be called a saintess, Eirene frowned and sighed.

“Someone has to point it out. And I’m the only one who knows how to point it out.”

It’s an unpleasant role, but someone needs to look at the situation coldly. They’re in the middle of enemy territory.

Just by keeping him alive, the hero’s party takes on several risks.

“Well, if you still want to do that after hearing this, I don’t mind.”

“Uh, yeah…”

“Then what are you going to do now? Take him as a prisoner? Or leave him here?”

“Mmph! Mmph!”

Eirene said as she lifted Millia’s nape, who had collapsed from exhaustion, and poured a potion down her throat.

Tina’s gaze became sour again at the inhuman appearance that seemed to be just doing a task, but she quickly regained her composure and suggested an alternative.

“…It would be better to take him as a prisoner. As you said, it could hold us back later.”

“Heave-ho! Then tie him up well. Phew, Lady Millia is heavy.”

“…It’s because her chest is big.”

“Who said what?”

Eirene silenced the group with a somewhat eerie smile.

***

Eleven’s sword technique and Esmeralda’s thrust. Facing the blue strike that gazed beyond transcendence, Esmeralda could feel her senses heighten.

A technique she had already experienced.

Yet, a fatal strike for which no countermeasure came to mind.

Against that attack that could pass through all interference and cut the enemy’s neck, there was only one option now.

The fact that it passes through everything means it will also pass through her sword.

And that means whoever tears apart the other’s neck first wins.

‘That’s not enough.’

The opponent had bet his life. No, he seemed not to care if he died the moment he won.

Eleven had already given up on life. He doesn’t weigh death heavily.

In such a situation, even if Esmeralda’s sword reached Eleven first, he wouldn’t stop.

An attack swung as if it doesn’t matter if it reaches him.

It would certainly be admirable to match such an attack, but…

‘That’s not enough for me.’

Even if Eleven had decided this place as his end, her journey still had a long way to go.

She couldn’t end it here.

‘Then…!’

She had to go beyond that.

She had to surpass the limit.

She had to make the impossible possible. She had to bring the fatal strike that couldn’t be avoided or blocked into her domain and make it non-fatal.

There was only one way to do that.

-What you need to learn is an ability that would work on them too.

What the leader of the Twelve Thousand, Shiva, had said, what he had shown in person.

A small crack crossing the void. The broken wall between worlds.

She had seen attacks from those in a different realm from her many times.

The blue flames Lug wielded, the deadly strike the Demon King pressed down, and even Eleven’s ominous slash.

She had seen all of that and captured Shiva’s counterattack in her eyes.

‘That should be enough.’

No, it had to be enough.

In truth, she still couldn’t grasp how to do it, but.

If she had seen it so many times, she had to respond. Because turning the impossible into possible is the hero’s job.

“Hup!”

Esmeralda bit her lip and accelerated the speed of her thrust.

Soon, at the moment their swords would meet. She believed her sword would pierce through Eleven’s sword instead of passing through it.

If it deviated even slightly, if she was late. At that moment, she would perish along with Eleven.

But she didn’t hesitate.

She thrust with the conviction that she would definitely pierce through.

And at that moment.

A brilliant golden radiance began to envelop the tip of her sword.

Crack!

She completely shattered Eleven’s ominous sword.