Ch.923You Are My Hope

Today, as always, I killed Demian.

“Gak! Kuhak…!”

No, I misspoke.

I didn’t kill him, just dipped him in the River Styx and pulled him back out. As a way to learn how to become stronger there.

Water always knows the answer. Since the River Styx is also water, if I keep dipping him in, won’t it eventually give Demian an answer?

I was the proof of that.

Weren’t my moments of dramatic strengthening always when death was at my doorstep?

When I awakened my Karma, when I crossed the wall to reach the realm of heroes, and when I finally cut the sky—it was always like that.

Except for Amitamir. Then, instead of death, the voice of a goddess who liked large breasts was by my side.

Anyway, gradual growth could be achieved through training and monster subjugation alone, but this method was the best way to rapidly develop Demian to the level I wanted.

After all, potential blooms faster the more one is cornered.

In fact, after beating him diligently for several days, didn’t he finally manage to use “Heaven’s Fury”? A miraculous attack comparable to the power bestowed by a goddess.

So… Demian, this is your fault.

If you had absolutely no talent, that would be one thing, but when results pop out immediately every time I hit you, how could I stop?

If Jesus or Buddha witnessed this scene, they’d probably say to keep hitting him to see how much more he could grow.

– Thwack! Thwack!

“Gak! H-Haschal, wait! I can’t feel my legs!”

“Then fight with your arms. If you can fly, legs are just decoration, right?”

“That’s absurd…!”

…Come to think of it, the very situation of Demian getting beaten by me is his own doing.

The reason for this huge skill gap is because Demian didn’t—couldn’t—face the enemies he should have defeated himself, so I had to struggle and defeat them instead.

Of course, the reason such powerful enemies appeared in succession was due to the butterfly effect of my seeking asylum in the Empire, so I bear some responsibility too…

That’s why I’m working so hard to train him now, right?

Even at this moment, I was fulfilling my responsibility. That’s why I could beat Demian like bread dough without any guilt.

– KWAAANG!

“ARGHHHH…!”

Demian blocked my Frosting fist aimed at his abdomen with his holy sword but screamed as he plummeted toward the ground. A heavy rumble—KUWOONG!—accompanied the rising cloud of dust.

In the past, this would have been a fatal impact, but…

– Woooong!

Seeing the flashes of pure white light through the dust cloud, I knew there was no need to worry.

He must have deployed a holy barrier at the moment of impact to absorb the shock.

‘His growth rate is insane, seriously.’

I shifted my gaze from Demian to my left leg.

My calf was purple with internal bleeding. Not just my left foot, but my entire body was mottled with bruises, and muscles were exposed where skin had been torn and cut.

Though I was holding back somewhat… still, to inflict this level of injury on me.

[Indeed, his talent is worthy of your concern and impatience.]

A talent that even Hersella couldn’t help but admire. Thanks to his near-death experiences every day, Demian was growing at an astonishing rate.

Fighting me doesn’t accumulate Karma, so his raw power hadn’t changed much… but that was the only thing that remained the same.

Reaction speed. Intuition. Swordsmanship. Endurance. Adaptability. Application. The range of techniques he could use and their precision.

While his total power remained the same, the way he wielded that power had improved admirably in every aspect.

Today, he even came up with a method to counter time-stop after much struggle and consideration.

It was a crude method—combining holy miracles with Karma power to create spheres of light that exploded like mines upon contact, scattering them everywhere.

One of the weaknesses of Defying Fate.

He had identified a vulnerability I hadn’t even considered: objects in contact with me, like my armor or Durandal, could move with me in stopped time.

I’d never thought about this drawback… but it makes sense. Otherwise, how could I run around in armor during stopped time?

Anyway, for this reason, the holy light mines that touched my body were considered objects in contact with me and exploded, causing damage.

I took a heavy hit from that.

If he had deployed a holy barrier to block my approach, I could have broken through it, but these mines just exploded on contact, so I had no choice but to dodge.

And while dodging, those 3-5 seconds would pass in an instant.

In a real battle, I could slice through all the mines with Sky Cutting, but that would cut Demian in half too. So I had no choice.

After all, I’m not trying to actually kill Demian with all this effort.

—-

“Um, Haschal. There’s something I want to ask…”

After our training session, Demian looked up at me while healing his broken spine and legs through a miracle of healing.

“What is it?”

I asked, puffing out cigarette smoke.

I too was sitting quietly next to Demian receiving treatment, having sustained various injuries, albeit minor ones.

“Well… it’s a bit awkward to ask, but… why am I the only one who has to train so harsh—I mean, intensely?”

“Huh? What are you talking about?”

I frowned, turning my head toward Demian. I wondered what he was suddenly going on about.

Why only him? Is he saying the others should be trained as harshly as him too?

What nonsense. Did awakening his emotions only awaken some kind of resentment?

“You want me to beat Millia like this too?”

If I trained them like you, they’d all die, you fool.

You can endure this training because it’s you—the others might perish from the first attack.

“No, that’s not what I meant…”

Demian waved his hands and shook his head.

“How should I put this… I was wondering if I’ve done something terribly wrong to you.”

“Wrong?”

I tilted my head, puzzled.

Wrong? There’s nothing particularly wrong. If anything, the only wrong thing is that he’s weaker than me despite being the hero.

“You know. Unless I’m your mortal enemy, how could you treat someone like this…”

Ah, now I understand what he’s trying to say.

I guess I did beat him pretty severely. He’s carefully asking if he might have been my enemy or something.

“Hey, hey. What enemy? This is ridiculous.”

I chuckled, lightly patting Demian’s shoulder. As if to say, what nonsense are you thinking?

We’re not enemies—if anything, we’re benefactors to each other.

Right now, I’m doing him a favor by helping him become stronger, and later, I plan to put the strengthened Demian on the front lines to share the burden I carry.

“You think I’m doing this because I have some grudge against you? What a misunderstanding. If anything, it’s the opposite. The opposite.”

“The opposite…?”

Demian wore an expression of incomprehension.

I brought my index and middle fingers to my lips, took a deep breath, and exhaled slowly before speaking again.

“Listen, Demian. I’m not doing this because I dislike you, but because I have high expectations for you. Because I believe in you.”

“You believe in me?”

Yes. Despite everything, who could be more reliable than the owner of the holy sword and the protagonist of the original story?

And he was actually growing rapidly under my intensive training.

“Yes. You could say you’re the only one I can trust… No, more accurately, you are my hope.”

Talent that surpasses even Ophelia’s, growth rate as rapid as mine.

And the conviction that if I keep training him, he’ll eventually become as strong as in the original story, worthy of being called Carlos the Great’s reincarnation.

I have expectations for the others too, like Ophelia, Lacy, and Millia, but…

To be honest, I don’t think the “protagonist’s heroines” can become as strong as the “protagonist.”

So I have no choice but to focus all my expectations on Demian.

When I reach the true limit of level 100 from the original story, Demian is likely the only one who can fight alongside me as an equal.

“Only you can stand beside me and support me. …Only you.”

With that, I looked into Demian’s eyes with a gaze full of faith and trust, declaring my belief.

You’re the only one who can save the world with me, so stop complaining and just take the beatings to get stronger quickly.

“Uh… well…”

Did my heartfelt feelings reach him? Or was he despairing at the certainty of more near-death experiences to come?

Demian’s face paled slightly as he avoided my gaze, his mouth opening and closing as if unable to find words to respond.

Finally, he managed to utter:

“…Just to be clear, this isn’t some kind of love confession, is it…?”

What the fuck?

I dropped my cigarette and gaped, my mind suddenly blank. I wondered if this was some kind of mental attack.

“Um… I’m grateful? I should be grateful! But, still, I already have Millia…!”

Demian stammered, his eyes showing that the mere thought gave him goosebumps.

“…What nonsense are you spouting.”

I replied with a tone dripping with murderous intent. Goosebumps my ass. I’m the one getting goosebumps here.

What the hell is inside this guy’s head?

Even after gaining emotions, nothing’s changed. Just when I start to think I can evaluate him positively, he somehow manages to crash his image straight into the ground.

How on earth did he interpret my words to reach such a conclusion? It was completely beyond my comprehension.

[It sounded that way to me too…?]

Hersella openly took Demian’s side.

What do you mean it sounded that way? What nonsense.

Birds of a feather flock together? Like father-killers, these two seemed to have some kind of mutual understanding.

For me, who never had a father to begin with, it was impossible to understand the mindset of those who had eliminated their fathers.

—-

After clearing up Demian’s misunderstanding with some violence-laced explanation, another dozen or so days passed like waves.

Perhaps thanks to working them to exhaustion with monster subjugation? Not just that bastard Demian, but the others also began to show results from their training.

“Now I can see something too! Let’s duel!”

“If you want that, cross the wall first. Or, could you mean a different kind of match?”

Jahan, who hadn’t crossed the wall yet but was getting close.

Nigel saw Jahan’s confident face and smirked, then responded with a joke that the old Nigel would never have made.

“Is… is this it? Is this right…? Miss, how do I look right now?”

“You look lewd. Why don’t you change your clothes first? And wipe off that sweat.”

Leonore also seemed to have grasped something.

When I suggested she try learning magic if all else failed, she instead gritted her teeth and devoted herself even more to swordsmanship.

Leonore really has a strong personality. That’s part of her charm, though.

“Look at my saw. What do you think?”

“Can you please move beyond the saw already?”

Frider’s growth was extremely difficult to evaluate.

He had asked Asha, who visited Hestella, to make him new weapons, but those weapons were…

– Whiiiiiirr!

…A chainsaw powered by mana stones, and…

– Click, KWAAANG!

…A pile-driver-like hunk of metal that drove forearm-sized spikes into opponents using explosion magic carved into mana stones.

Pile Bunker, was that what they called it? It looked like a weapon perfect for shattering your shoulder blade while using it.

“How about this! With this, even your blessing or whatever…”

The weapon had only one purpose: to somehow penetrate my defenses and land a hit.

“…Well, you’re using your head for once. I’ll give you that much credit.”

Well, if it could work on me, it could probably penetrate dragon scales too, so I didn’t criticize him since it would be helpful one way or another.

Joshua, Heinrich, Ophelia, and Adamante also achieved results proportional to their efforts.

Joshua and Heinrich improved not only their pure abilities but also their application of heroic tales, while Adamante received another divine power, reaching about 0.7 Ceylon level.

And Ophelia… what did she say again?

That she had gained a new power but it wasn’t ready to be demonstrated in actual combat yet?

So she’d keep it secret for now and reveal it properly later…

I decided to stop thinking about what she was planning to show, as the more I imagined it, the more terrified I became.

—-

And then.

Five days later.

「 Krrrrrrrr…. 」

The shadow of dragons loomed over Hestella’s skies.

“…Ha, look at those colors. What are they, traffic lights?”

Red. Yellow. Blue.

Three serpent dragons.