episode_0160

Kiiing—

A fierce wind erupted from the empty space, soon coalescing into emerald-green mana that wrapped around Elia as if to protect her. The moment she saw it, she realized what was happening and let out a furious roar.

“You stupid bastard—!”

Yikes, scary.

“You said the most we could do in here was block his attacks, right? If we were outside the barrier, we could’ve shattered the entire thing. Fighting that thing inside while wasting our strength is way less promising than that.”

Unfortunately, I’m not skilled enough to pull that off.

“Wait, Eric! I still haven’t—”

Before Elia could finish her sentence, she vanished from my sight as if evaporated into thin air. Good. This is better than wasting time and letting her say things she shouldn’t.

“……”

I waited for a few minutes. If the artifact misfired and actually sent Elia flying to the student council room, we’d be in trouble. She still had a few more roles to fulfill right here, right now.

Thud—!

Thud—!!!

CRASH!!!

Small impact sounds from outside the barrier.

No doubt, these were the reverberations of forcibly dismantling the barrier’s magical walls.

The plan worked.

“El, you can come out now.”

“Okay, got it.”

Fzzzt—

With a small spark, El smoothly phased the rest of her body into the barrier. Compared to when she was with Elia, this was instantaneous.

“How was that? Did I do well?”

“Yeah. Much better than I expected.”

I glanced at El. Even someone who didn’t know the Demon King would find her unsettling—let alone Elia, who did know. So much so that even that Elia had uttered words of final preparation as if sensing her doom.

“Speaking of which… It’s strange. El, you seriously know nothing about the Demon King, right?”

I trusted her words and her character, which is why I came up with this plan. But even so, El right now looked identical to the Demon King. Enough that even the real thing would believe it.

“I don’t know. I was just born like this.”

“Right.”

If she knew something, she would’ve told me by now. And even if she were hiding something only she knew, I had no way to force it out of her.

Thud! Thud! CRACK!!!

The noises from outside the barrier grew louder. Were they really progressing that fast?

“El, how much time do we have left?”

“Hmm… At most, ten minutes?”

“Good. Let’s get ready, then.”

“Ready for what?”

“Leave it to me. First—”

—

“Dammit! Dammit! Goddammit!!”

Freed from the barrier, Elia stood in an alleyway, hurling curses into the air as she swung her fist wildly.

At a glance, it seemed like a meaningless tantrum—but she knew. The air was intricately woven with mana-networks, almost invisible until now. Even she hadn’t noticed the barrier’s presence until trapped inside. It was that precise, that cunning.

“That insufferable little—!”

Eric had forcibly teleported her. Thankfully, she’d reappeared just outside the barrier—had she not strongly implanted the subconscious belief that Eric’s side was her safest place in that split-second escape, she could’ve been sent straight to the student council room.

Had that happened, no matter what she tried, she wouldn’t have been able to save Eric. And she couldn’t bear the weight of everyone’s stares again.

This time too.

Once more in this lifetime, she’d been saved by Eric.

Her fury at him for not listening to her, coupled with the self-loathing of being saved again, threatened to consume her the moment she let her guard down. Yet ironically, that same tension kept her mind razor-sharp.

Eric had staked his very life to break this barrier. How the Demon King had appeared here was beyond her—but that was a question for later.

If she shattered the barrier now and forced the Demon King to retreat, he’d still retain traces of mana and body parts within the barrier’s confines. The damage would be catastrophic.

“……”

Suppressing the emotions burning inside her, Elia slowly began dismantling the barrier.

Maintaining the barrier to keep people away while simultaneously collapsing the one harboring the Demon King required two separate, completely different processes—a feat demanding extraordinary talent.

Like juggling different objects with each hand.

Yet Elia dismantled the barrier without hesitation, sustaining the other all the while.

Thud. Rumble—!!!

Rather than decoding the barrier’s intricate weave, she brute-forced it apart with sheer magical force, the shockwaves clashing with her own mana.

Crude, but for someone overflowing with mana like Elia, it was the fastest and simplest method.

As she dismantled it with ease, something felt off—her hand froze.

A near-instinctual dread screamed at her to back away. Years spent as a hero party member honed this reflex.

BOOM!!!

The moment she threw herself back—

A deafening explosion erupted.

Not from her own magic—but from inside the barrier.

“Huh?”

At the same time, she sensed it clearly—inside the barrier, two mana signatures still lingered.

“No way.”

This was impossible. There was no way Eric could still be alive.

Eric Grave, as Elia knew him, was a respectable man—strong-willed, a capable leader—but not cut out for battles of this magnitude.

Even with Ironwall Defense, thirty minutes had passed since she began dismantling the barrier. Enough time for whatever lurked inside to fully manifest.

No one could face the Demon King—or an entity of that caliber—and survive.

Breaking this barrier was honoring Eric’s resolve.

But.

But that faint glimmer of hope—what if?—quickly consumed her. Her hands moved faster, dismantling the barrier as she stood at the crossroads of choice.

“……”

Open the barrier and confirm what lay inside—or fulfill Eric’s last request and shatter it.

The mana signatures still pulsed inside, screaming that Eric was alive.

She wanted to tear the barrier open and see for herself. But doing so would trap her inside with no escape. What if this was all planned?

What if the enemy deliberately kept Eric barely alive to lure her in and finish them both?

“…This is probably what you’d tell me to do.”

It was agonizing.

For Elia, every problem in this world stemmed from paralysis despite knowing the answer. So she did what she had to—earned everyone’s approval. Even after ascending as empress, her duty never changed.

Sacrifice, suffering—none of it mattered. Like solving difficult tasks, step by step, slowly.

So this was just another problem.

Eric had saved her as the empire’s future hope. Now, as crown princess, she had to fulfill her duty.

One life versus the lives of the empire’s citizens.

The scales, momentarily balanced, finally tipped.

Crack—CRACK!!!

The void began splitting apart.

Abandon Eric and save the masses. That was Elia’s final choice.

Yet her moment of hesitation returned to her as the worst possible outcome.

“—Ghhk!”

CRUNCH!!!

Minutes into dismantling the barrier—

An arm shot through the still-crackling void, seizing Elia by the throat.

“Kh—Kkh—!”

An arm forged of dark magic.

A spell Elia had destroyed countless times in her battles against the Demon King. Normally, she’d dispel it effortlessly—but her momentary lapse was all the enemy needed.

Sluuurp—

Faster than she could react—

The barrier warped, and she finally glimpsed inside—the sight she’d so desperately wanted.

“Kh… Eric…”

Still conscious but utterly limp, Eric lay crumpled on the ground, his hair gripped by the figure looming over him.

Scattered around were artifacts—likely used by Eric—now drained of power. Even Elia, who prided herself on artifact expertise, couldn’t recognize most of them. But their effects were clear—the figure bore wounds and scorch marks across its body.

“Eri…c!”

“You… idiot… I told you… to break it…”

“Hmph.”

The figure spoke—

Its voice so uncannily similar to the Demon King’s that Elia shuddered.

If that truly was the Demon King and Eric was in that state—then she was—

“So this is the limit of an incomplete manifestation. Quite entertaining. And my thanks—your hesitation allowed me to fully return to this world.”

“……”

Still struggling against the hand choking her, Elia barely managed to keep her eyes on Eric.

“Ah, I’ve held on too long. My apologies.”

As if it were nothing—

The Demon King casually flung both Eric and Elia aside.