Ch.193Sylvia’s Happy World (1)

*

Our lives are constantly divided by comparing status, wealth, or power with others, but humans were never born to be coerced.

This was one of the sayings often recited by the priestesses of the Goddess Church.

The reason their teachings about the nobility of life and love spread more widely among commoners than nobles was likely because they comforted the stifling and arduous lives of ordinary people.

Although the majority of the population deeply believed in the faith, the kingdom had not officially declared the Goddess Church as the state religion, so there were quite a few nobles who harbored resentment toward this commoner-friendly church.

However, it wasn’t easy for these nobles to coldly reject the church’s requests for donations, no matter how displeasing they found them.

This was because the true opposite of the Goddess Church was not the nobility, but the Demon King.

The Demon King was an enemy of humanity, but the Goddess Church was the true enemy and adversary of demon-kind and the Demon King.

Holy power was an unquenchable fire and incurable poison to demons, which is why throughout human history, whenever a hero appeared to slay the Demon King, a saint from the Goddess Church was always by their side.

Therefore, it goes without saying what a momentous event it was that the Goddess Church had failed to produce a saint.

“…”

And now, I was feeling the full weight of that event head-on.

As the Demon King’s chilling gaze and those horrifically shaped fingers pointed toward me, I could feel the fire within me rapidly extinguishing.

Holy power.

The holy power that Sister Alice had left me was quickly burning away.

I knew I needed to escape.

Both my reason and instinct were screaming in unison that I needed to throw myself away from where those eyes and hands were pointing.

But I couldn’t move an inch.

That hideous monster seemed to contradict the Goddess Church’s teaching that humans weren’t born to be coerced—it seemed born solely to coerce.

That monster’s gesture was forcing me to remain completely still.

“Do not fear.”

A strange voice echoed in my mind, like a mixture of a voice deeper and thicker than the deepest ocean trench and the cry of the highest-flying bird.

That enormous voice slowly spoke, matching the trembling of the Demon King’s finger.

“Poor creature, you have suffered, trapped in a free body but a bound destiny.”

Only that voice came through clearly.

Silvia’s battle cries sounded muffled, as if heard underwater.

I could barely catch glimpses of her swinging her sword in my peripheral vision.

I couldn’t see Pia’s panicked expression either.

Even the image of the Demon King reaching toward me was fading away.

“Wait for me there, and I shall bestow upon you a blessing.”

“…”

A blessing?

“Suffering one, what you have longed for…”

The voice paused momentarily, then finally released the rest of its words with a brilliant flash.

“Death.”

With those words, a blinding light rushed toward me with magma-like heat.

I winced at the terrible pain of the air in my lungs seemingly burning away in an instant, yet strangely, my feet remained rooted in place.

Ah, I’m dying.

At last, I can rest…

“I knew it, you bastard.”

In that moment,

Along with the curse, there came a wet, tearing sound like something being ripped apart.

The brilliant light that had filled my vision vanished instantly, and the world was once again plunged into deep darkness.

“Kack!”

I fell backward, groaning in pain.

My entire body stung as if burned, and my already dark vision was now blurred with light spots, making me dizzy.

“Ash!”

Pia rushed toward me in one bound.

Suppressing the groans escaping through my clenched teeth, I spoke to her.

“What… what just happened…”

“I don’t know, Ash. You were just standing there ignoring me, standing still and letting the Demon King’s flames hit you!”

“…Flames?”

“I tried to move you, but I couldn’t… it was like you didn’t want my help…”

“What… what does that even—”

“I thought… I thought you were going to die… I, I…”

Pia couldn’t continue, choking on her words.

From the sound of her rough breathing, she seemed to be forcibly holding back tears.

I wanted to comfort her, but first I needed to understand the situation.

I was just standing there, accepting the Demon King’s attack?

Then, was that voice I heard the Demon King’s voice?

My head was in chaos.

I rubbed my still-painful left eye, covering it while barely opening my other eye.

I could see Pia sniffling beside me and the Demon King’s form in the distance.

The Demon King was writhing as if in pain.

His pale waist was twisted round and round like a giant screw.

And beside the Demon King stood a small boy casting a spell.

“That child is…”

“Tch,”

The boy clicked his tongue once before continuing.

“This is why I can’t trust humans with anything.”

He was the demon boy who had been gathering the bodies of his fallen kin until just moments ago.

*

The boy, apparently judging that I still didn’t understand the situation, sneered with a contorted face.

“Well, I suppose there’s no way just the two of you could defeat the Demon King when even groups of heroes couldn’t.”

“What was that just now…”

“An illusion spell. It’s a favorite trick of this bastard.”

The boy said this while slowly rotating his hand that was extended toward the Demon King.

The movement resembled turning a doorknob.

A soft purple light emanated from the boy’s palm, and the same light flowed from the Demon King’s twisted body.

It seemed the boy was attacking the Demon King with demon magic.

But the boy’s arm was trembling severely, as if the effort was too much for him.

He gripped his violently shaking wrist with his other hand and said:

“Well, the fact that he’s resorting to cheap tricks like illusion magic is proof enough that he hasn’t fully recovered yet.”

“…Who exactly are you…”

“That doesn’t matter. Hey,”

The boy addressed me with an insolent attitude.

“Instead of sitting there stupidly, go wake up that woman over there.”

“…What?”

The boy painfully gestured with his chin, pointing somewhere.

When I turned my head in the direction he indicated, I saw Silvia standing blankly, just as I had been moments ago.

“…Silvia is also under the illusion?”

“Yes, I woke you up first because I was afraid she might cut you if you got close. Now that you’re conscious, hurry up and wake her.”

“R-right. Got it.”

“I’m really struggling here. Hurry. Quick!”

I nodded and pressed my hand against the floor to stand.

“Argh!”

A harsh cry escaped my lips as I tried to rise.

My slightly melted and bent armor was sharply stabbing into my scalded skin.

The exposed skin on my arm was blistered from the intense heat.

It would be a fatal wound if it became infected, but I had no right to complain after foolishly falling for the illusion.

“Damn it, my body… it’s too heavy.”

“Ash, are you okay?”

“Pia, help me.”

“Of course, what can I do?”

I slowly raised my arm to reveal the leather straps located between my armpits.

They were the straps connecting the front and back of my armor.

Pia looked at me with concerned eyes for a moment, then nodded in understanding and cut through the leather straps with a precisely aimed sharp gust of wind.

I immediately threw off the metal pieces digging into my chest, and Pia simultaneously doused my body with ice-cold air to soothe the burning sensation of my burns.

Biting my lip, I slowly moved my feet.

“Silvia!”

Silvia didn’t respond.

Having just experienced it myself, I could understand.

Her voice would have sounded like muffled noise to me as well.

Besides, all my attention had been captured by the scene unfolding before my eyes and that mysterious voice resonating in my head.

Right now, Silvia was surely captivated by some vision that had taken hold of her mind.

“Let’s go, Pia.”

Though my body was full of fatigue and injuries, I felt much lighter after discarding my armor.

If I could just endure the pain, there wouldn’t be a problem.

I gritted my teeth and ran toward Silvia.

“Silvia, snap out of—”

In that instant, a short beam of light flashed before my eyes.

Almost simultaneously, a sharp wind followed its trajectory.

“…Silvia?”

Whoosh.

The hair-raising sound of air being sliced reached my ears belatedly.

Cold sweat broke out all over my body.

I immediately recognized what this strange phenomenon was.

But at the same time, I desperately hoped that my thoughts were wrong.

I don’t think I’ve ever prayed so fervently before.

“Pia…”

“Ash.”

“It’s not, right?”

“We’re fucked.”

Pia’s face turned deathly pale.

Though I had no mirror, mine was surely the same.

It was now clear.

That light, wind, and sound just now was Silvia’s sword strike.

“…”

“S-Silvia, it’s me.”

I slowly raised both hands and walked toward Silvia.

But as the distance between us shortened, the angle of Silvia’s sword arm gradually rose higher.

“It’s me, Ash.”

“…Ash?”

“Yes, Ash. It’s me, Silvia. Look carefully.”

“Ash… I’ll protect you…”

Silvia raised her sword with vacant eyes.

“…Damn it!”

I hurriedly chanted a spell.

A massive earthen wall burst through the marble floor, but simultaneously, the wall split horizontally and collapsed sideways as if sliding.