Episode 32

The demon’s attack swung down as though in slow motion.

He had forcibly canceled the chant for sealing magic, a spell he was already unused to, and moved by force. All Zeke—Hiroto—could do now was shove Van away.

He did not really understand why he had been able to move, or why he had moved at all. Even though he had boasted so much in his heart about surviving, surviving, and surviving, in the end, he had protected someone else…… and the protagonist, no less. It truly made no sense.

Was there any move here that could reverse the situation? He used his worthless head to think of a solution, but nothing came to mind. ……On second thought, that was only natural.
Hiroto himself had no advantage such as being especially talented or smart. He was just an ordinary person found anywhere, nothing more than a mediocre man. The reason he had survived this far was because he had original-story knowledge and Zeke’s unfair strength and talent. He had simply forced matters to resolve in ways convenient for himself. ……That was why, at the very end, he failed.

(Think. Think of something within the next second.)

[Failure! Burn the Watchman to ashes with your defective Flame Demon God!]

(Impossible. The current protagonist can’t properly control Flame Demon God. Worst case, I’ll just be burned along with the Watchman and it’ll be over.)

[Sage! Teleport either me and the failure, or the Watchman!]

(No good. Communication is impossible in this short time. There’s no time to chant a spell, and I can’t give instructions that fast either.)

To begin with, the idea of relying on the protagonist’s party was foolish and shameless. After telling them not to interfere, what mouth did he have to say that now? From their point of view, they would probably be thinking, “What is this guy even saying?”

The chance of overturning this predicament in less than a second itself was zero percent. This was truly game over. A forced shutdown with no continue option. There were no moves left.

(……Is this it? Is this where I end?)

Memories from after possessing Zeke surfaced in his mind like a revolving lantern. It began in Zeke’s room.

To survive, he hired an instructor, subjugated the basilisk, and encountered the Accursed Child.

He met an original-story character called the Sage, got dragged into the curse incident, and beat the protagonist to a pulp in the royal capital.

During the entrance exam, he ran wild as he pleased and tried to flee to another country, but failed.

He also imitated an adventurer and infiltrated an intelligence agency.

He had done whatever he wanted, getting tangled up with weirdos and picking fights with royalty.

……Every one of them was a memory that did not matter. Everything had been the worst from beginning to end. And in the end, this was the idiotic conclusion. Perhaps humans could only live in ways that suited their station. Mediocre people could only die as mediocre people.

(Protagonist…… You really are trash after all. You’re the protagonist, so try a little harder, get fired up, show some persistence. —But, well, yeah. ……I’ll leave the rest to you.)

He complained inwardly, wondering what he was saying after bringing Van here himself. He had various thoughts about Van, but Van was the protagonist of Wish Soul, the game Hiroto had been obsessed with. Even if he was useless now, Hiroto believed he would settle things in the end.

The claw strike swung down. In the current situation, dodging or blocking it was impossible. Hiroto knew that precisely because he had been fighting it. This attack was impossible.
As the end approached, he relaxed his body. Believing this was his final moment.

“—!?”

For an instant, truly just one instant. Glanz and the others watching from afar, and even Van, who had fallen on his backside nearby, probably did not notice. —But Hiroto understood. He did not know why, but the demon’s attack had stopped for an instant. It was only a tiny moment, less than a second, but for Zeke, it was more than enough of an opening.

He squeezed out what little mana he had left and teleported together with Van. The demon’s attack cut through empty air.

“!? Whoa!”

“……Hey, you pieces of trash. This debt will be expensive. Prepare yourselves.”

He roughly threw Van into Ciel’s barrier.

Upon seeing that Van was safe, Atri looked relieved and, at the same time, slapped him back and forth with dead eyes. She was grilling him not to get in Zeke’s way.

Perhaps judging that this was a chance to reset the situation, the demon did not pursue. It watched them from a distance. Still sending powerful killing intent toward them.

“Zeke-san……”

“As you can see. Unless that thing is killed instantly, it will regenerate forever. Half-hearted weapons, magic, and tricks will not work.”

His heart continued pounding like a frantic bell. He did not know whether it was because he had escaped danger, or whether there was some other reason.

……He put a lid on one thought that surfaced. If he thought about unnecessary things, he would truly be killed this time.

(Why do I have to do something like this? I don’t want to kill people. ……But someone has to do it. Otherwise, unrelated people will die.)

Perhaps it had been carried by the crashing waves, but the jeweled sword Fool had held came into view. The treasure sword Grand Chariot shone in the sunlight. The cursed sword that had drunk the blood of the domain’s people for many years. He took it in his hand. He felt its heavy weight.

(The demon’s weak point was the heart. ……Meeting their end by Grand Chariot, strengthened with the blood of their own people…… That’s ironic. Truly.)

In the original story, after a life-and-death struggle with the protagonist’s party, they were burned away in the end by Van’s Flame Demon God, incomplete though it was. No remains were left, and they vanished before regeneration could keep up.

When the people of the Lagias Domain learned of their lord’s death, they burst into joy. Among fans of the original story, it had been praised as a satisfyingly cathartic famous scene.

“……Why? Why can you fight? They’re your real parents, right? How can you……”

“So what? That is no reason for me to yield. I decide how I live. ……And of course, how I die, and how Lagias ends as well.”

Van, who had been released from Atri’s grilling, asked Zeke weakly. The others also looked as though they had something to say, perhaps having their own thoughts. Taking that into account, Zeke—Hiroto—stepped forward. ……This much, he had to do himself. He had no choice but to do it now.

“……I will not let you bear this alone.”

Luke stood beside him.

Zeke rejected him with his eyes, but Luke did not accept it. He felt a strong will from him, a will that would absolutely not retreat.

“I know. I will only provide support. You are the main one.”

Luke refined his mana. Seeing the waves of shining mana, the demon’s wariness intensified. Evil waves flew all the way to where they were.

Luke rushed forward, and the demon glided as though sliding across the ground, and the two crossed paths. —The Watchman was faster.

Before Luke’s magic sword reached it, the demon’s sharp claws pierced his body.

“Huh!? Luke!”

“No, look closely. This is……”

It looked as though the demon’s attack had caught Luke. As though those vicious claws had torn through his body.

“Relaxion.”

Luke’s body vanished from before the demon’s eyes. Using an illusion created through refraction of light with no physical substance, Luke avoided the attack and circled behind it.

Perhaps having predicted the demon’s follow-up using its whip-like tail, he backstepped and fired the magic he had prepared.

“Arc Bind!”

The demon was restrained by light-attribute magic—Arc Bind. Its movements were restricted by chains wrapped in light, and it could not move.

The aim was not bad. A test of strength was not the only form of battle.

However, the enemy was not so easy that it could be restrained forever. The Watchman, whose magic resistance was also abnormally high, tried to tear the chains apart by force. ……But that had been expected.

“Go! Now, Zeke!”

He had not been waiting idly for Luke’s battle with the demon. Holding the treasure sword Grand Chariot in hand, he was running. Chasing after Luke, he rushed straight toward the Watchman from behind.

His stamina and mana had hit rock bottom. But as an opening, it was enough. All he had to do in the end was thrust the treasure sword into its chest. Then everything would be over.

In terms of actual time, it was probably only a brief moment, but to Hiroto, it felt very long. The time until the treasure sword in his hand pierced the heart of the Watchman, the demon, the Lagias couple.

“Farewell. ………………Please rest in peace.”

The treasure sword Grand Chariot drank the demon’s blood and shone brilliantly.

The demon, which had rampaged so violently, fell silent. Its resistance ended, and its body, gigantic compared to a human’s, collapsed to the ground. The pierced heart did not regenerate.

(This was the only thing I could do……)

An unpleasant sensation remained in his hands. Demon blood clung to the hilt and both of his hands.

“……”

No words came out. Was this also due to the influence of possessing Zeke? For now, he was grateful that he could avoid saying any unnecessary whining.

The demon’s body became black sludge and vanished as though melting. Its body changed and returned to normal as though the moment the Lagias couple turned into a demon was playing in reverse.

Fool and Noisy lay on the ground.

“Zeke……”

“This is the true nature of Lagias. The thing you people so despise.”

Perhaps judging that the battle had ended, Glanz and the others who had been at a distance gathered around. Each of them had a sorrowful expression. They were probably wondering what words they should say to Zeke.

From Hiroto’s perspective, he did not need sympathy. It would have been easier if they had rejoiced that great villains were dead.

“Zeke-san. First, let us move the two of them somewhere safe.”

“I will help too. ……No matter what kind of person they were, they should have the right to sleep peacefully at the end.”

Perhaps it was only natural from someone with abundant life experience, but Glanz gave the most reasonable opinion. Even such an obvious thing had not occurred to the current Hiroto. What should be done first when people died? He had never thought about something like that.

“Z-Zeke, is that you?”

“Are you there?”

“““!?”””

(Impossible…… What is this?)

He had certainly pierced their hearts. In fact, the areas around both their hearts were covered in blood. There was no way they should be alive. And yet those voices belonged to Fool and Noisy.

“I will treat them now!”

Ciel applied sacred arts to the two fallen figures. Silver light tried to heal Fool and Noisy, but the holes opened in their hearts did not close.

“Inheritor of silver. They must be lingering alive for just a little while because of the influence of becoming Watchmen. Your concern is unnecessary.”

Fool and Noisy opened their closed eyes. They seemed unable to move their bodies, but only their eyes turned toward him.

“Zeke. You stopped us well. ……At the very end, we managed to avoid killing anyone. Thank you.”

“I’m sorry. We made you do something like this. We are failures as parents.”

“What are you…… saying?”

(Huh……? What are these people saying?)

His heart continued to pound.

It was not because his life had been in danger. Nor was it the shock of killing people. This was……

What exactly had he misunderstood? Where had he taken the wrong path? Only now did he wonder whether he had simply felt as though he knew everything just because he had knowledge of the original story.

—Ah, it was always like that. He always made mistakes in the important places.

Since when had it been? He felt as though he had experienced the same thing over and over. As though he had seen it many times. As though he had died many times.

A corrupt noble hated from birth. He had always been the target of criticism throughout the country. Whenever something happened, he was cursed as the evil of this nation. He was hated by all that existed. —But none of that mattered.

If there were those who got in his way, he crushed them with force. If there were those who defied him, he trampled them with authority.

He did not think anything of it. It was the same as feeling nothing no matter what happened to trash on the roadside. Because they were special.

Counterfeits repeated again and again. When he noticed that, he understood for the first time. So this was what it felt like to be removed from the path.

Then what he had to do was already decided.

He would change this worthless reality, this world.

It did not matter what anyone thought of him. No matter how many people he killed, no matter how much blood stained his vision, he did not care.

He would become one. A “Wisher”—Diabalet.

In order to live freely. So that he would no longer have to despair. —In order to free them.