Ch.191Demon King (4)

*

The green lady had clearly told me.

The reason why the hero’s party couldn’t definitively finish off the Demon King.

And the reason why the fate of this world had become greatly distorted.

It was because the Saint never appeared.

At that time, I was furious at the fact that all the suffering I had endured was merely because a Saint hadn’t been produced.

The goddess and the Queen of Spirits couldn’t fill that one small crack, resulting in the deaths of my parents and Laila. This drove me to such an emotional state that I lost the composure to think clearly.

Moreover, right after that, the green lady sacrificed herself to protect the lakeside from demonic energy, and not long after, I reunited with Alice and Silvia.

Even after that, hellish training with Silvia followed.

As a result, I had never thought about the Saint in my mind.

And now, I… no, we are paying the price.

Because there was no Saint, the hero’s party failed.

That meant holy power was an essential element in defeating the Demon King.

“Alice… sis…”

I reached out and lightly touched the pouch attached to my waist.

A faint warmth penetrated through the leather pouch and transferred to my palm.

“… Damn it,”

Alice had died, leaving behind only the mechanical heart that was the source of her holy power.

Her heart, no longer beating, still emitted a faint holy power and warm energy, but it was merely a barely noticeable trace in this bitter cold season where the hideous Demon King spewed terrible demonic energy with every breath, making my fingers numb.

Rather, it felt closer to dying embers.

I squeezed my eyes shut and deeply regretted in my heart.

During the journey of the past few months toward the Demon King, my weak stamina had dragged down our party several times.

Despite the journey starting at my suggestion, I shamelessly complained about wanting to rest for the day or having sore legs.

It was a mistake.

Even if my legs had been ruined, even if I had lost my life from exhaustion, I should never have stopped moving.

At the very least, from the moment I realized Alice’s heart could stop at any time, I should have moved my heavy feet more urgently.

My complacency and stupidity led to this result.

Unlike the hero’s party that failed due to the distortion of fate, this time it was entirely my failure.

My incompetence, my arrogance, my carelessness, my childishness.

The vague and complacent, utterly idiotic delusion that the two strong beings, Silvia and Alice, would somehow manage everything.

“Ash…?”

A familiar pain found me.

With the agony of cold, thin fingers squeezing my heart tightly, my vision slowly twisted into a spiral.

It felt like a large clump of mud was blocking my throat.

My emotions, unable to become a voice due to my clogged throat, frantically searched for an escape throughout my body, finally reaching my eyelids.

I couldn’t feel the ground.

My sense of balance blurred, and my legs staggered.

To regain my balance, I dropped my head and endlessly stared at my two feet touching the floor.

“… Ugh, keuht.”

When was it?

When did I feel this sensation, this pain, this emotion?

When I first heard about Laila’s death?

When I first saw the grave where Laila would lie?

All of those are correct, but the moment that seems most similar was when I frantically chanted a spell with trembling lips to burn Laila’s living corpse.

The whip of harsh self-blame beats all over my body, and the flames of self-loathing burn all my internal organs, leaving me unable to even shed tears.

My mind empties, leaving only ashes from the fierce flames of self-reproach.

“Ha… haha,”

It’s me.

I’m the one who cut off the last breath of this world.

“… I’m sorry… Mom, Dad… Laila…”

“Ash, snap out of it.”

“Alice sis… I’m so sorry.”

We had exceeded the time limit, and as a result, Alice had died, and the warmth of Alice’s heart imprinted on my fingertips calmly proved that it was all my fault.

I feel a large crack forming in my will, which had remained unbroken even in front of that terrible and disgusting Demon King.

No, it had probably been shattered into pieces long ago.

My weak mind, which had merely been going through each day without any particular crisis or achievement, had already cracked loudly when my parents passed away.

I had barely held it together with the thought that I needed to protect Laila, but even that collapsed when Laila died.

What pieced together my broken heart, however crudely, were the days with Silvia.

My roommate who embraced misfortunes worse than mine, the savior of the world.

And Maria’s comrade.

I had relied on her for many things to endure.

But now, what good is any of that?

“I’m sorry… Silvia…”

The weight of enormous sin crushed me amid the swirling terror.

“Ash!”

Pia called my name, grabbed my shoulders, and shook me gently.

Yes, I know this isn’t the time.

Letting my mind be scattered by emotions mixed with self-loathing and self-pity would be like committing suicide in front of that fearsome being that defies human understanding.

Not just simple suicide, but an act that would also put Silvia and Pia in danger.

Yes, I knew that fact well.

But, so what?

This subjugation has failed anyway.

In fact, the Demon King, until this very moment, hasn’t even attacked me or Silvia, let alone expressed the slightest hostility.

It just trembled after awakening from its cocoon.

And we couldn’t land even a single effective hit on an opponent standing so docilely.

If the Demon King were to attempt a counterattack, it seemed clear we would be finished.

There is no hope.

We have lost.

This is how human history ends.

“Ash.”

Then I heard Silvia’s voice.

“Look up.”

“…”

“Look up and see me.”

As Silvia’s calmly spoken words ended, there was a sound like something bursting.

It was the sound of Silvia kicking off from the ground.

Startled by that loud rupturing sound, I raised my head.

“… Silvia…?”

“Watch carefully.”

Silvia rushed toward that nightmarish monstrosity, wielding a sword wrapped in pale flames.

In the darkness filling the room, only the trajectory left by her blade remained in the air like an afterimage, trailing one after another.

The Demon King screamed that terrible scream again and twisted its body grotesquely to avoid the orbit of her sword.

That’s when it happened.

The trajectory of the sword drawn in the air suddenly changed its form in an instant.

“… !”

It happened so quickly that it almost looked as if the white streaks of light left where the sword had passed were crumpled in an instant.

And the white trajectory was piercing through the Demon King’s chest.

*

I had to spend some time interpreting what that surreal scene was.

That’s how much the scene was beyond common sense.

Silvia’s low voice flew toward my confused self once again.

“You have nothing to be sorry for.”

Her fair face, reflected in the light emitted by the white blade in the darkness, slowly moved her lips.

The Demon King made a strange sound as if inhaling air while vibrating its throat, then rolled on the floor, spraying yellowish liquid from its split chest into the air, similar to what had fallen from the cocoon.

At that moment, I recalled something Silvia had told me during those days when I was training with her, getting hit by her right before this journey.

‘I can adjust the trajectory even while swinging.’

I realized at this moment that her boast that day was neither a joke nor an exaggeration.

She had truly twisted the trajectory of her sword in an instant to cut the Demon King.

“Silvia…”

“We haven’t lost.”

Silvia uttered words as heavy as her sword.

“I have enough holy power to imbue my sword, even if not as much as that woman. Seeing how your magic was able to hold the Demon King, it can be plenty helpful, and that unnecessarily shapely fox girl is still going strong.”

“I… have a name, Pia…”

Not hearing Pia’s grumbling, Silvia swung her sword in the air to shake off the Demon King’s residue and continued in a resolute voice.

“We can kill it. We can win. And…”

“…”

“Humanity isn’t over. Even if every human outside this castle were to die, as long as Ash and I exist, it’s not over.”

I was momentarily speechless at Silvia’s voice and the fantastic sword dance she had shown.

Her overwhelming and absolute skill was impressive, but even more surprising were her words.

Her words directly contradicted what I had been thinking.

Despite not explaining a single word, it seemed her eyes could clearly read the self-loathing eating away at my heart.

Silvia briefly stroked her abdomen with the hand not holding the sword, then smiled faintly and glared at the Demon King again.

“In other words, if I defeat that fucking monstrosity here, Ash hasn’t done anything wrong. I told you before. You are my world now, Ash.”

“Silvia…”

“I’ll prove that Ash has done nothing wrong.”

With another massive explosion, Silvia’s figure disappeared.

The marble floor where she had been standing until just now had large cracks, scattering small fragments.

The white trajectory flying chaotically in the air this time pierced through the Demon King’s shoulder.

The Demon King screamed again.

“And then…”

Silvia’s low voice was heard clearly through that scream.

“After everything is over, I’ll punish Ash for calling me ‘Silvia’ with that formal address again.”

“Ah,”

My head clears.

That future coming after everything is over felt even more frightening than the Demon King.

I slapped my cheeks hard with both hands.

Pia smiled faintly at my behavior, seeming relieved.

“Think, think Ash.”

I muttered to myself.

Yes, the keyword isn’t the Saint or Alice, but holy power.

Silvia’s holy power is certainly far less than Alice’s.

But whether her holy power is insufficient to destroy the Demon King is unknown.

Of course, the Demon King revived despite being fatally wounded by Silvia’s attack, but at that time, Silvia probably didn’t have the information that holy power was important.

Idiot.

It wasn’t yet a situation to despair.

I thought I wasn’t irresponsible enough to let Silvia and Pia die by wavering here, but I was pathetic even to myself.

“Sorry Silvia. I must be too tired.”

I punched my trembling thighs and boldly stepped forward.

Standing firmly on the ground, I carefully observed the monstrosity lying on the floor.

The Demon King was writhing in pain.

If Silvia’s holy power can inflict sufficient damage, then it is by no means an invincible opponent.

“Demon King…”

Surprisingly, as if it were a lie that I had been trembling until just a moment ago, I could directly face the hideous form of the Demon King.

It seems I had been frightened by that fearsome and bizarre appearance.

Although it was still a terrible sight that evoked disgust, at least the sense of fear had definitely diminished compared to earlier.

“… Ha,”

It’s Silvia.

She saved me again.

Once again, Silvia raised me up when I had fallen.

“Wait…”

As I looked at the Demon King rolling on the floor with a clear mind, my thoughts suddenly started racing.

If that monstrosity is extremely sensitive to holy power.

If even a tiny amount of holy power could cause at least some damage to that being.

“…!”

I had just the right weapon.

Though not a sword to cut through the Demon King’s body, a holy heart of anger that could infinitely inflict irritating scratches on it.

I reached for my pouch.

The pouch was still warm.

“… Alice sis.”

I briefly formulated a strategy in my mind.

It’s difficult.

In reality, the chances of failure were much higher.

No matter how much I racked my brain, no brilliant strategy that would definitely work came to mind, and the few that did were all a mess.

But if successful, it would surely kill the Demon King.

I slowly opened my mouth.

“Pia”

“Yes, Ash. Did you think of something?”

“A strategy… well, just an idea really. To be honest, I can’t figure out what to do no matter how much I think about it. So I’m asking Pia.”

Pia straightened her chest and placed both hands on her waist above her hips as she spoke.

“Alright, just tell me anything. I’m ready.”

“Pia…”

“I’ll show you that I can do anything for Ash better than that woman.”

Pia raised her chin, revealing her hostility toward Silvia.

I nodded and asked.

“Get me close to the Demon King.”

“… Huh?”

Pia’s chin, which she had proudly raised, fell limply with a bewildered expression.

.