episode_0021

Creak— Thud— In the dark solitary cell, a man in a white robe approached the man whose entire body was restrained.

Step. Step. Step. In the dry, dark solitary cell, he lit the lantern, then hung it on a hook.

Scrape— He dragged a chair and placed it in front of the man, then sat on it.

Lucas. The Prophet of Light, who sat on the great throne of a Regent, came to Agapé.

“It’s been a while. Is this our first time speaking like this?”

He spoke as if they had been close for a long time, but Agapé gave no answer.

As if he had expected such a reaction, Lucas calmly continued what he had to say.

“I’m sorry about your tragedy.”

“……”

“I didn’t intend for it to go this far. As a Prophet, there’s a limit to reading the future, so I couldn’t see ten years ahead, you see. So, for your sake, I truly, sincerely apolo—”

“…As if—”

His dry vocal cords produced a cracked voice.

“You speak as if you knew everything all along.”

“What are you talking about?”

“That I would end up like this.”

‘Ending up like this’ meant everything that had happened leading up to Agapé’s current situation.

“……”

Lucas looked puzzled. Strangely, among the futures he had seen, there was no instance of Agapé saying such a thing.

But such a minor detail didn’t matter, so he sneered from behind his mask and said,

“How could I not know? How could a master not know what happened to his disciple?”

“…What are you saying?”

“It means I am Hero Kara’s guardian and advisor, in other words, her master.”

After Lucas said those words, Agapé remained silent for a long time.

“…You Prophets are truly something else.”

His head lifted.

“For the great cause, and according to the guidance of fate. You use such grand reasons, yet have no hesitation in ruining others’ lives.”

The great cause, fate. Prophecy. “As if we are meant to be puppets moving within a pre-written script, you move only within fate, disguised by your great cause…”

“……”

“Human butchers who live madly for prophecy, having abandoned their humanity.”

At those words, Richard frowned.

“How dare you—”

“Someday.”

Hatred glittered in his dark eyes.

“I will surely destroy all of you Prophets, including yourself, and prophecy and fate themselves, with my own hands. Prophet.”

Killing intent strong enough to make an ordinary person faint on the spot. Even without infusing aura, it felt like directly receiving ‘Fear’, a pressure of immense aura.

Had it been other Prophets, they would have been seized by fear at his death threat, even knowing from the future that he couldn’t kill them.

However, Lucas, the Prophet of Light, merely smiled.

“……Heh.”

That laugh was clearly a sneer.

“Hahahaha…hahahahahahahahahaha! Who’s going to kill whom, phahahaha! It’s truly laughable.”

Rustle— He rose from his seat.

He leaned his upper body forward, meeting Agapé’s eyes as the latter slumped in his seat.

He wore a plain, pure white mask, so his face was not visible, but it felt as if his face beneath the mask was twisted into a cruel smile.

To Agapé, who was staring at Lucas with eyes full of quiet rage, he said,

“You couldn’t even earn the trust of your own woman, and you talk about killing someone?”

Agapé’s pupils contracted.

Realizing he had hit a raw nerve, Lucas continued to heap insults upon him.

“You’ll kill me? Destroy us Prophets, prophecy, and fate? Listen, you idiot. You can only say such things when you have the ability to do so.”

Press. Press. Lucas’s index finger pressed against Agapé’s forehead.

“Isn’t that too arrogant a thing for a weakling who couldn’t even protect the woman he loved and became a living corpse to say?”

Hmph hmph hmph. A mocking laugh spread throughout the solitary cell.

Rustle— As his robe shifted, his hidden hair began to show.

Golden hair. It was the same hair color as Astolfo.

“You…!!”

“Then, the first ones you should destroy are my Impurity family.”

He, too, was from the Impurity family.

“You said you’d get revenge, didn’t you?” Ignoring Agapé’s reaction, he continued.

“In that sense, you’re quite lucky. The Imperial Family decided to send you, a hero slayer, to the ‘Punishment Unit’ instead of executing you.”

The Punishment Unit. Once you entered, you could only leave upon death. It was a suicide squad, forced to charge into the midst of the Army of Death, leading everyone else.

At those words, which were virtually no different from a death sentence, but rather a more brutal one, Agapé ground his teeth.

“Yes, that expression. I wanted to see that expression filled with venom, rather than your desperate attempt to remain emotionless, trying to suppress your feelings as much as possible.”

These were not words befitting a Prophet at the forefront of a great cause.

Lucas, who spewed such venomous insults, unbelievable for one of those at the pinnacle of good, at the very boundary between good and evil, straightened his upper body and picked up the lantern again.

“It’s not even funny. You lost everything due to your incompetence, yet you don’t know where to direct your arrow of rage and aim it at us…”

Truly ridiculous.

“Well, I wish you good luck.”

Creak— The solitary cell door opened.

“I will absolutely have my revenge!”

Black aura began to surge wildly.

“You, and your family, all of it! Just as you took everything I had, I will destroy everything you hold dear!”

Whoosh— The entire solitary cell began to shake precariously from the black aura swirling like a storm.

Agapé’s ‘Darkness’ absorbed the light from the lantern in Lucas’s hand.

“……I am not afraid of you. Even if your darkness grows immense and casts a pall over the world. I am not afraid of you.”

Do you know why?

“Because you cannot become a disaster.”

In the face of a fate that declares a Prophet will eventually become a disaster, how could *you*, who are not even a Prophet, possibly become a disaster?

How could I be afraid of you, a weak and pathetic being who, despite possessing immense power, cannot become a disaster?

And— “I am the one who made your soul embrace ‘Darkness’ and escape the city. How could I possibly fear you, who are merely dancing within a pre-written script?”

The stronger the light, the stronger the darkness. The stronger the darkness, the stronger the light.

“I am light, and you are darkness.”

I merely cultivated you, who are darkness, to make myself stronger; you are nothing more or less than that.

“So, struggle all you want.”

Unleash all your rage upon me, who ruined your life.

No matter how much you, who cannot become a disaster, struggle, it will only serve to increase my power as ‘Light’.

“Hahahahaha!”

Thud━━! The thick solitary cell door closed.

***

You shall be stripped of your rank. Agapé no longer exists in this world. For the crime of desecrating the Imperial Family, and the crime of slaying Heroes. Furthermore, the Prophet of Light, who foresees the future, pronounces judgment based on your future actions.

Commander Agapé shall forever have his name forgotten, and must atone and serve humanity.

You no longer have a name— Nor do you have the right to give yourself a name.

……

My existence was erased from the continent. With the powerful insistence of the Prophets, as well as the might of the Imperial Family and the Impurity family.

Losing even the freedom to use my own name, bound to the Punishment Unit, only battle until death remained as the sole life for me.

But such things held no importance for me.

Slice— I entered the Punishment Unit. I cut down corpses.

My body became covered in wounds, my heart pounded to its limits, and my stamina reached its breaking point. But no matter how much I pushed my body, I couldn’t shake off the cursed thoughts swirling in my mind.

In the end, I was just a puppet on a chessboard.

No matter how strong I became, I was merely nourishment to strengthen the Prophet of Light, who is Light himself.

I was not destined to become the disaster he feared, and my potential and future for revenge were ultimately stolen and vanished by ‘fate’.

In the end, I had everything stolen by a Prophet living madly for ‘fate’. Even my last possibility for revenge was stolen by ‘fate’.

That fact was painful.

It felt like my insides were twisting.

But even as it was painful and felt like my insides were twisting, another thought emptied my mind.

The fact that Kara abandoned me.

‘Why?’

Why on earth did she abandon me?

I had been thinking that all along.

I knew I was told I was abandoned because I was weak, but I denied that such a reason could be true.

‘There must have been a reason.’

A reason I didn’t know.

But what kind of circumstances could have led her to abandon me so coldly?

There was only one answer.

‘Because I was weak.’

Rather, she had ended up in a position where she had to protect me.

I was so weak that I couldn’t even protect myself, and so the person I loved abandoned me.

I didn’t want to believe that fact.

So I decided to change my way of thinking. I decided to deny this fact.

Eventually, I decided to analyze every action and word she had directed at me, and everything surrounding her.

The continent was threatened by the Army of Death, and the Prophets took her to make her a hero.

I should have protected her to prevent her from being dragged to the battlefield, but in the end, I couldn’t.

And finally, she became a hero.

Now that stepping onto the battlefield was irreversible, I had to protect her from the Army of Death.

Beside her, now a hero, countless things protected her.

Prophets. Beings who existed before civilization even blossomed on the continent, exercising the strongest influence on the continent.

Shahlnu Stellarum. The Knights of Heroes. Heroes who inherited the stars raised by legends, growing stronger with the power of those stars, continuing the legacy of ancient legends. The devotion of heroes.

Astolfo Impurity. The next head of the Impurity family, a relative of the Imperial Family. He possessed genius-level spear skills and was chosen as a hero, even taking the fourth knightly position.

Influence. Military might. And power. Such powerful forces collectively protected her.

Things I, a mere nobody, couldn’t possess, things a common person could never have, were protecting her.

I had no influence.

I had no military might.

I had no power either.

I had none of what they possessed.

Even the military might I did have was far inferior compared to individual heroes.

If I had stood by Kara instead of them, and if I had had the chance to protect her from the Army of Death.

Could I have protected her better than them?

No.

Never.

I wanted to deny it, but it was an undeniable truth.

I am weak.

Weak in every aspect.

I once believed myself strong, but she, who had become a star in the high heavens, shone too brightly for me to embrace.

For me, who couldn’t even strike a small match, to protect her, the enemies targeting her, a brightly shining star, were far too immense.

Ultimately, my thoughts converged on one conclusion.

Because I was weak, I never even received a single chance from her.

Setting aside whether it was to protect me or for any other reason, ultimately the cause of everything was, as she said, my weakness.

Regardless of whether the Prophet of Light manipulated fate or used some trick to ruin my life.

If only I had been strong, I could have resolved everything.

Yes, Kara.

In the end, you were right.

Whatever the reason, whoever ruined my life.

Ultimately, my weakness caused everything to happen.

“Haha…”

Was there any reason to harbor anger toward the Prophet of Light?

Did I even have the right to resent Kara?

When my weakness was the cause.

“……”

I want to become strong.

I don’t want to be weak.

My weakness, which didn’t even grant me the chance to be by her side, is so hateful.

I want to hide my weakness.

I resent my weakness.

I want to erase my weakness.

I want to become stronger than anyone else and stand by her side.

As I once resolved, I want to become a great knight and protect her, now a hero.

I urged myself to do so.

Black flames surged within me.

The black flames, speaking only through their expression without a voice, confirmed it was true and began to fiercely ignite the emotion of madness within me.

Do not be weak.

Do not be wretched.

The black flames couldn’t speak, but they conveyed that through their expression.

From then on, to erase my weakness, and to pursue only strength, I insanely cut down my enemies.