Tillis stood blankly for a moment after unintentionally stabbing Lanius, who had twisted his spear at the last second.
Even she couldn’t fully grasp what had just happened.
“Heave-ho.”
Tillis pulled out the two swords that had pierced through Lanius.
What’s done is done.
She didn’t dwell too much on the cause of it all.
As soon as the swords were withdrawn, Lanius collapsed to the ground. Tillis looked at his fallen figure for a while before slowly turning her head.
She considered finishing him off… but he had spared her life too.
So maybe, just this once, she could return the favor.
Besides…
“Well then, shall we welcome this glorious moment?”
There was no “next” after all.
Tillis smiled as she looked at Monia, lying nearby.
At last, the final piece had come together.
***
Monia saw it.
In that final moment, she saw the compassion within the Black Knight.
And perhaps it was because of that unexpected side of the old warrior…
“Any last words you’d like to leave behind?”
“What was your relationship with that man?”
Monia asked Tillis, who had grabbed her by the collar.
“Hmm? That man? Nothing special, really.”
“Then why…”
The compassion Lanius had shown—
It was a fragment of deep regret..
“If I had to put it one way, I suppose he’s the one who burned down my homeland?”
“……”
Only then did Monia truly see both the one lying on the ground and the one standing before her.
The fall of the elves…so infamous that hardly anyone in the world did not know of it.
“You are…”
Monia fixed her eyes on Tillis.
She looked at the innocent face tilting her head ever so slightly.
The situation Tillis was in wasn’t so different from Monia’s own.
Someone who had lost everything.
Someone who had strayed down the wrong path because of it.
That was why Monia could tell.
For someone who had lost family and everything dear, Tillis’s demeanor was far too chilling.
She herself was still in pain.
The death of her only family, the emptiness of being left all alone…it still tore at her heart.
But Tillis wasn’t like that. She smiled softly, as if none of it mattered in the least.
At that moment, Monia was certain.
“You’re broken.”
Tillis wasn’t fine.
She was simply more broken than Monia herself. Someone who couldn’t even pass her pain onto others, who couldn’t deny her circumstances, and instead simply ran away.
That was why Monia could say, with more honesty than ever before:
“You’re a pitiful person.”
“……”
And those few short words pierced deep into Tillis’s chest.
“Is that all? Then I suppose it’s about time we get started?”
Still unaware of her own wounds, Tillis smiled serenely, as carefree as ever.
***
The world of fragmented thought.
Until now, I had never once questioned that dreamlike illusion.
To me, it had simply felt natural.
That’s why it took a long time for me to accept the foreignness that had revealed itself before my eyes.
A stranger who looked just like me as a child.
Why hadn’t I questioned it?
Why had I accepted it so easily?
Even though I had no talent for either magic or swordsmanship, I’d been using this ability without even feeling any restrictions.
I’ve been controlling this power for over ten years.
Is that even possible? Even Ariel, who uses her ability as naturally as her own limbs, doesn’t float around in the air all the time.
“Answer me. Who are you?”
I reflexively reached for the sword at my waist, but there was nothing there.
I’d thought to at least try and threaten him… but it seemed I couldn’t do anything besides talk.
“What do you want from me?”
The stranger inside my mind remained silent.
He simply walked up to me, step by step, and looked up at me with an innocent expression.
Why, I wondered? Even though a complete stranger had apparently been inside my body this whole time, I didn’t feel afraid.
The boy’s innocent expression only looked empty. I saw no will in his eyes.
He simply kept gathering stars for me in silence, again and again.
If that’s the case, then he must not be a harmful presence to me.
But still…
“Why are you only showing yourself now?”
I had no idea why I’d suddenly entered this space or how I was even able to recognize the boy’s identity.
Come to think of it, I’ve never once been able to enter this place by my own will. Even though this is my ability.
“What… you want me to take it? Like always? In this situation?”
My questions only piled up, and nothing was being resolved.
Yet the boy simply held out his hands like he always did.
Stars had gathered in his palms, though there were far fewer than usual.
But resting in his hands was something that hadn’t been there before.
“What is this? A bluebird?”
A bird with mysterious blue feathers lay limp in his hands.
It wasn’t dead. It was simply asleep, breathing heavily as if exhausted.
In this space filled only with stars, a new presence had suddenly appeared.
And not just any presence. It was a living being.
Without thinking, I accepted the bluebird the boy offered me, along with the stars.
“Uh… could this be Shax…?”
In that moment, I realized what this small bird truly was.
The essence of Shax, the demon with the blue wings.
As I looked at its wings that must have once been a pure, untarnished blue in the beginning… I lifted my head once again.
“Why is this here?”
Had Shax pulled something on me? No, that didn’t seem likely.
This tiny bird didn’t look like it could do much of anything.
If anything, it seemed more like the weakest part of myself, hidden deep within.
And the moment I took that fragile life into my hands, something suddenly came to mind.
“You…”
Someone had once told me—
– The Demon King split his own soul to create and command the 72 demons.
Those were the words of Emperor Abraham.
Back then, I’d been too afraid of the emperor to really consider what his words meant.
– Then how did the Demon King not just create the demons by splitting his soul, but also command them?
But now, the reason he said that and the fact that it resurfaced in my mind at this moment was enough to give form to the truth before me.
– Who can truly be certain that the Demon King is gone, just because the world is shrouded in shadow?
The soul, the ability, and the Demon King’s existence.
“What are you trying to…”
Suddenly, the bluebird perched on my hand took off into the sky.
Without thinking, I lifted my head to follow it with my eyes.
And the moment the bluebird, which had flown up into the starry sky, disappeared from sight—
I woke from the dream.
***
“Gah!”
I opened my eyes in pain.
As I tried to figure out the source of the intense pain, I remembered: Molech had grabbed me and slammed my head into the ground.
“Ugh…”
It wouldn’t have been strange if my skull had shattered.
Was I just lucky? Or was I more durable than I thought?
Or maybe… was I special?
“Kuhuhu…”
No, that couldn’t be it.
Even as I said it, I found it ridiculous.
Maybe Johan Damus’s body had some connection to the Demon King.
But even if that were true, at best it’d be no more than leftover fragments from something once whole.
I didn’t feel any power at the moment.
There was no sense that anything had changed. Maybe it was all just a meaningless dream.
Or maybe it was something unrelated to strength or power altogether.
Whatever it was, that’s not what mattered right now.
What mattered was the scene in front of me. The things that had happened during the short time I was unconscious.
“Damn it…”
Tillis was finally absorbing the 72nd demon.
Mastema spread its massive wings wide, engulfing both Tillis and Monia.
The writhing motion looked almost like a beating heart.
What happened to Lanius? Did he lose to Tillis? Or was he overwhelmed by Molech’s combined assault?
Then… what do I do now?
How much time is left until the Demon King’s awakening?
Can Tillis be stopped before then?
But by who? Who could possibly kill Tillis?
“Hoo…”
No matter how hard I looked around, there was no one.
So that meant I had to do it.
I raised my sword.
The magic engineering battery Emily gave me must’ve been drained. It wasn’t enough to produce a full sword aura.
Still, there was some aura left.
And right now, with Tillis in the middle of absorbing Monia’s demon, she had to be defenseless.
“Haa…”
I pushed aside all thoughts and ran.
Gripping my pounding head, I charged toward Tillis.
There’s no one else who can do this but me.
But just as I closed the distance, the 71st-ranked demons under Tillis’s command began to appear, one after another.
“Ah, right.”
She wasn’t defenseless after all.
She must’ve given them orders to guard her before beginning the ritual.
Of course… it was never going to be that easy.
I wasn’t even sure if I could break through a single one of those demons.
Fzzzzzzzzzzzzzt!!
At that moment, a crimson bolt of lightning struck down.
“Your Highness…?”
In the distance, I saw Lobelia, bloodied and collapsed, reaching out with her hand.
Did she crawl all the way here?
A trail of blood marked the path her body had taken.
An incredible display of willpower.
It must’ve been that same resolve that made Tillis give up on killing her and rush this way instead.
But the demons blocking my path were still many.
“Alright! That’s it! Go for it, Johan!”
Sure enough, I spotted Mata, bloodied and battered.
I’d thought he’d lost. He’d broken off from the group early on to face one of the librarians alone.
But somehow, he’d survived.
“I’ll cover you!”
One by one, more of my comrades appeared, stepping in to block the demons.
Is this really the right way?
Wouldn’t it make more sense for me to hold the line here while one of them went to take down Tillis?
“Keep running!”
“Tsk…!”
There was no time to think.
No time to suggest alternatives, either.
The others were risking their lives.
In a situation like this, I couldn’t be the only one whining or hesitating.
The weight on my shoulders was crushing.
Just like that, I’d suddenly become the only one who might be able to end this.
But because of that, I managed to reach Tillis’s position.
There could be no mistakes.
“Hup!”
I swung my sword, wrapped in all the aura I could muster, straight down onto the pile of wings.
Fwump!
A sound I shouldn’t have heard echoed back.
It was like hitting a blanket with a club.
I’d barely managed to push it back with the force of my blow.
Mastema’s power of weakening.
My full-powered strike hadn’t even damaged a single feather.
“So… that’s how it is?”
Fwump!
I swung again.
Still, my sword couldn’t cut through Mastema’s wings.
Not a single feather sliced, not a scratch left behind.
Swordsmanship that couldn’t even scratch the surface.
Was the problem that I tried to defeat the final boss the moment I stepped onto the battlefield?
Was it arrogance and me forgetting my place?
I don’t know.
I really don’t know.
I didn’t have the luxury of dwelling on that kind of thing, and sitting around doing nothing just because I failed once wasn’t in my nature.
Once I decided to do something, I saw it through.
That had always been my motto.
Because I usually turned my eyes away from reality, the moment I chose to face it, I refused to give up….no matter what.
Fwump!
The third strike.
Fwump!
The fourth.
Flash!
Then the fifth.
It was only by that point that I finally managed to scatter a few of Mastema’s feathers.
Only now was I starting to see results.
But at the same time, the 72nd-ranked demons my friends had been holding back began closing in on me. Had they finally decided I was a threat?
But it was already too late.
Shlick!
The sixth strike.
At last, I sliced off part of the wing.
In that moment, my eyes met Tillis’s, hidden within the wings.
Crack!
But in the end, I too exposed my torso to the demons.
I’d been distracted by a fleeting success and by what lay just beyond it.
“Guh!”
With a blow that felt like it broke my ribs, the distance I’d fought so hard to close was torn open again.
“Damn it…”
I was falling back. Further and further.
Through the pile of wings, I could see the tiny gash I’d made—
And beyond it, Tillis’s eyes, cold and unflinching, staring straight at me.
Suddenly, I saw the corners of her eyes curve like a crescent moon.
She was smirking.
Yeah… I must’ve looked pathetic.
Even if she was mocking me, there was nothing I could say.
That’s just how I am.
I never thought I could succeed.
“Yeah.”
I know.
I knew I wouldn’t make it.
Everyone pinned their hopes on me, and I gave it everything I had….but deep down, I knew it was all just a desperate struggle.
Still, I don’t think that struggle itself was meaningless.
And that’s because—
“A gap like that is more than enough, right?”
—I know someone who can take my place.
Someone who would never let an opening like that slip by.
When it counts, they come through.
No matter the method, no matter the cost, they always get the result.
Rumble.
The building’s rubble shifted.
At that moment, a pink-haired girl shot out from between the piles of stone.
– If the conditions had been right, I could’ve killed her.
– It’s not like that woman’s senses were anything special.
– I only got caught because I didn’t know. But now I do, and I won’t get caught next time!
She said it herself.
She only got caught because she didn’t know. But now that she does, she’s sure she won’t be caught again.
“Puhihihihihihihi!!”
Her pride as an assassin lies in slipping from her target’s awareness.
She blends in….perfectly and naturally.
And when she’s outside of your consciousness, when no one even thinks of her—
That’s when the king of assassins moves.
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