Ch.3211. To Me, You Were Like the Sun (2)

“W-why, why do you… have that?”

The Demon Lord, taking in the space consumed by the fire demon, belatedly realized what it was and opened his eyes wide in shock.

This is, well…

This won’t do.

Kariel.

I’m sorry, but your journey ends here.

To encounter something so absurd at the threshold of your beginning.

I can only say you’re incredibly unlucky.

“My goodness. I’m utterly dumbfounded.”

Sometimes, those from the middle realm have strange aspects about them.

The place is crawling with utterly ordinary mortals and mediocre talents.

But occasionally, strange ones emerge.

“Really, you should have just disciplined your so-called lover with a good beating.”

The Demon Lord clicked his tongue, shaking his head lightly.

Though the flames swirled violently, they burned nothing, consumed nothing, devoured nothing.

They merely overflowed.

That was once the very embodiment of terror.

What the being once called omnipotent displayed when it strode across the world, seizing control.

It was one of those seven absolutes.

====

Right now, over there.

There is a child who wishes to carry on your will.

There is a child who wishes to carry on my will.

“Which comes first, the knight or the hero?”

“Then what about the champion?”

“Can one only be one thing?”

Many words are exchanged.

But this is neither a delusion created in the mind, nor a fantasy.

On the green meadow.

A girl sitting with her back against a large tree.

A girl sitting demurely.

Asked like this.

“Then can’t I become a hero?”

And then.

The boy, handing over the branch he was holding.

Said this.

“Then I’ll give you this.”

“…?”

As the girl with blue eyes opened them round and received it, casting a puzzled look.

“Now you’re a hero too!”

……

…

Wood cannot defeat fire.

This is simply a matter of elemental compatibility.

What about stone then?

Even stone, when exposed to extreme heat.

Melts without fail.

At that point, even water and wind.

Are nothing but specks of dust.

Everything I’ve learned turns to foam.

With mere flames that consume kindling.

With cold that freezes lakes and rivers.

How could they compare to that?

The resolution I’ve constantly repeated to myself, planted deep within, is meaningless now.

No, that’s wrong.

Not meaningless, but rendered meaningless.

But who determines that standard?

Only myself.

When an egg strikes a rock, the egg breaks.

This is self-evident.

No matter how many you throw, hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands.

The rock won’t budge.

Then what about millions, tens of millions?

…There’s not enough time, will, or opportunity for that.

The world doesn’t provide endless opportunities.

“Whatever you’ve gained, this is as far as you go.”

If you cannot overcome even this.

How could you hope to glimpse the boundaries of the world that even I am wary of?

Perhaps you don’t have that place in mind yet.

“But you could become that at any time. Who knows when and where some unknown malice might try to devour you like a nightmare.”

Even if a new Demon Lord invaded the continent, I could protect you if I were by your side.

…But if I’m not there.

Even from a mere outlaw’s blade.

Even from a single monster, I wouldn’t be able to protect and save you.

Even if he somehow overcame that.

What if an even greater trial came?

What if malice fell like a sudden shower on a cloudy day, pronouncing death?

What then?

“When I think about it, I simply cannot let you go.”

The girl who had become the fire demon itself.

Yet, still not losing the clear blue bud blooming within.

A lonely pronouncement dissolves in the flames.

The reddish blazing flames eventually turn blue.

No, even that disappears.

Now, it’s just pure white flames transcending.

At some point, the world was enclosed by a barrier of white fire.

But this doesn’t signify the end.

In my clenched hand, I could still fully feel the solid, leather-wrapped grip of the unreliable sword.

If I had worn thick gloves, the burden on my wrist, the shock that struck my entire finger joints.

Perhaps I would have been prepared with less lingering sensation than now.

Now, even my attempt to grip the sword seems precarious.

She could shatter me head-on, but she knows that alone won’t extinguish my desire and will.

She’s trying to break my will.

Trying to extinguish my heart.

Look at this.

The walls of the world are so grand and towering.

…Little child.

Do you dare think you can handle this?

“……”

Step.

So I advance.

Being unable to handle it is no reason to give up.

Even the word “surrender” is not.

Unless I whisper it to my own mind.

No one has ever forced it.

Not even a mere outcry.

“…Right.”

And.

What I need to see with my own eyes now isn’t my pitiful state.

Nor is it the miraculous devastation that El has displayed.

Until she became like that.

That woman.

The girl.

How much, just how much…

…pain did she endure?

How much did she have to sacrifice.

Dedicate, bear, and endure.

…to become like that?

I didn’t intend to think about it.

But suddenly realizing it.

…the barrier before me is.

Neither fear, nor terror.

Not even shock.

It’s sad.

Endlessly lamentable.

Pitiful.

I know because I’ve experienced it too.

“How much have you…”

The pain of becoming stronger is a realm permitted only to those who have the will to endure it sufficiently.

Or if such will is lacking.

…One can only pour out.

Time, years, weight.

But that’s not enough, critically lacking one step.

Or half a step.

With just that, we fall from heaven to hell.

I died a hundred times.

And only at the ninety-ninth time.

Did I become terrified of death.

To exert sincerity.

To show one’s true heart.

I still didn’t understand even a speck of that.

How can one be more desperate, more earnest?

Even if I desperately wish, even if I painfully realize.

I still don’t know what it is.

I don’t understand.

That’s why I was afraid.

Everything I had walked on until now, like mere foam, like bubbles.

No, if it had been like dew at dawn.

It wouldn’t have been this regrettable, this unjust… would it?

……

“Stop.”

El.

He says.

The heat intensifies as I approach.

I can’t even breathe.

Even the air already settled in my lungs is mercilessly heating up inside.

Now, with the heat directly striking my skin, my entire body feels like it’s being pricked by needles.

Pain is eternal.

As long as you don’t escape, the pain continues.

I understood that better than anyone.

I answered.

“By whose authority?”

A dry tone escapes in a shabby form.

But.

Whether to go or stop.

That’s for me to decide.

“Didn’t I tell you to stop?! Does this situation look like a joke to you?! Are you trying to mock my resolve?!”

“…Not particularly.”

Suddenly.

Standing on a small hill.

I see the figure of a young, tender girl.

Yet on her face, anger and frustration mixed in equal parts.

Despite crying miserably.

The girl, from the one-sided conclusion of giving up.

Parted ways.

And so.

[I, I will!]

A mere individual.

Wanting to change the world by their own will.

[I hereby declare.]

The moment one decides that.

They inevitably face.

[I, Elhermina Berk Enzul! I solemnly pledge before you. I will make our empire the strongest nation in the world. Peaceful yet merciful, where everyone can be happy…]

Under this vast world.

Under this ugly yet sparkling world.

[That way… we won’t have to face such a miserable end.]

How powerless.

An individual’s strength is.

[An ending where someone sacrifices themselves for me! I! Will never accept it again!]

How pathetically weak.

A single person’s strength is.

“Will you truly! Until the en…d!”

As if waking from a reverie.

As if placed at the edge of hell, the given reality is truly narrow-minded.

Above all, he seems angry.

Why don’t you understand?

Why don’t you acknowledge?

When I care for you this much!

…I feel that heart, deeply.

Which made it all the more absurd.

This clueless girl.

In the end, not knowing how.

So she’s just been desperately running in the direction she knows well.

Knowing how frightening the world is.

To protect.

But having little room to spare.

Yet unable to give up.

…So she advances.

“……”

Truly.

Isn’t this the path of the sun?

I thought she was the sun, but even that might have been an underestimation.

“You asked me to show you, right? That mysterious… what was it again?”

Though we just talked about it, the unfamiliar expression made me hesitate momentarily.

“Kariel. I’ve long since figured out the true nature of that technique. With that, you cannot do anything to my flames.”

“El. Who said anything about that?”

I know.

At least that the flame you chose to directly confront the world’s malice.

I clearly understood that.

Then, with what resolve did I intend to confront the world?

Specifically.

Hero among heroes.

Knight of radiance.

Beloved by God.

Foremost among all warriors.

Demon realm slayer.

Demon Lord vanquisher.

Continent’s premier knight.

Continent’s strongest.

There are many such titles.

But in the end.

He’s my father.

He who is the world’s greatest benefactor is, to me, the object of utmost resentment.

I no longer intend to deny this feeling.

However, the current situation is separate.

“El. Give it your all.”

What I’ll show isn’t.

Some shabby excuse to dilute distrust.

“I’m not sure, but… whatever.”

It’ll work out somehow.

To shatter distrust head-on.

A simple will.

A simple belief.

Even if that period was extremely short.

In the end.

What I can show is.

Just sincerity.

====

-No… these bastards collectively…

Following the deep blue fire demon.

When he saw the pure white rising flames.

The Demon Lord gave up.

-Kariel should just become a henpecked husband or a househusband.

If that had been around when I invaded, I would have been in serious trouble.

Would it be easier to ask the princess to defeat her own father?

Wait, what happens to the contract then?

Watching with half interest, half resignation.

That crazy guy, what the hell.

He’s walking straight toward it.

-Is he begging that woman for mercy?

The point is whether that woman herself gives up or not.

This wasn’t a situation where Kariel could do anything about it anyway.

It’s not even a desperate gap.

It’s just impossible.

If a truly venomous ant bites a person.

They might die, of course.

Especially if allergies are involved.

But even that has its limits.

Even if a poisonous ant could kill a person, even if it makes them suffer.

…Would it ever kill a dragon?

-You still underestimate those two.

-Huh?

No.

-Old man, you again… no, of all the old men, why do you of all people have to speak…?

To face such a situation and still encounter infuriating events one after another.

What kind of sorcery is this?

The crowned old man, though a blurry figure, was forming a clearer shape than before.

Even so, the one who could see that appearance was now steadily advancing through the path of pure white flames.

Slow as molasses, squirming like a grub, extremely uncomfortable.

Staggering, with his body not just heated but burning up, probably emitting the smell of burning.

Even that would be captured by the flames and disappearing.

Normally.

Exposure to that would leave not even ashes.

Whether that woman is unskilled or adjusting out of consideration for her opponent.

…Well, either way, who cares.

-More importantly, underestimate?

To the Demon Lord’s question, reminiscent of gold, the blurry old man responded.

-The system was both a shackle and a fence for that child.

Huh?

-The child who left the fence has just unfastened the shackle.

Now, watch.

-Though the opportunity and trigger were provided by you.

The black-haired boy who finally reached the princess.

Forcibly supporting his dimly opened eyelids.

Forcibly inhaling a held breath.

Gripped his sword tightly.

And in a truly fleeting moment.

The pure white strand.

And the pitch-black strand.

Intersected.

……

………

Witnessing that sight, the Demon Lord’s mouth opened endlessly wide.

-That’s… intense.

More than that.

-Without Elbat, how did that bastard use that?

Especially when I never taught him?

No, it’s not something you can use just by being taught, right?

Through the pure white, a black light, even brilliant, cuts through the dark night sky, splitting the world in half.

What emerges from this is a truly curious coincidence.

With the vertical white ascending to the heavens.

Thanks to the horizontal black trajectory, a reverse cross divided by black and white lines brilliantly consumed the darkness of the night sky.

Truly.

A trajectory of darkness cutting across.

Cutting through and devouring radiance.

The unfaithful dark star.

Once a comrade.

At another time, one who claimed to be a servant.

Something I saw only 4 times while alive.

To think I’d see it after death.

-Seriously, the world is really messed up, I tell you?

The middle realm is indeed a class favored by God.

Well, since it was created as a protective barrier, if they weren’t brainless… it would be normal to favor it.

-But this is seriously wrong, I tell you? This is why all the Demon Lords get cut down.

Indeed, my invasion method was correct.

Also, it further proves that the Great Demon Lord’s words were right.

Having confirmed this point, the Demon Lord.

Endlessly curled up his beautiful lips.