Dai Densetsu no Yūsha no Densetsu:Volume 6 Chapter 4

Chapter 4 - The People's King

~ 73% preceding to be translated (pgs 148-293)

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Pgs 294-347: Ryner's Awakening

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The scenery warped.

The scenery warped.

The world warped with a strangely mushy sound.

And Ryner,

“…”

Had seen this same scene before.

He saw something within the depths of darkness.

The scenery being twisted, crushed, wrapped, and colors melting into each other, staining everything red.

Red.

Red.

Red.

Red.

“…”

This was the same scene he saw when he died a while ago. No, the same scene he saw when he thought he died from being stabbed in the chest with a knife.

Then Ryner looked at his hands.

His hands were being stained white.

Not only his hands – but his feet, his chest, his whole body were being stained white as well.

It almost seemed like his own existence was getting weaker – even the outline of his body was fading away.

“…everything is happening the way it did last time…”

He whispered.

Then he looked around.

Everything within his field of vision was being stained red.

And Ryner knew what kind of red it was.

The same shade of red that the pentacle in his eyes had.

A red ceiling.

A crimson floor.

A vermillion wall.

A scarlet corridor the stretches directly ahead.

And Ryner knew where he was.

He was within himself.

Inside his Alpha Stigma.

A monster called Alpha lived here, and…

“…”

A black-haired woman who tried her best to stop its rampage.

And he remembered the woman’s face.

He remembered who she was.

Mother.

His own mother.

He didn’t know why, but his mother risked her life to prevent the monster from going wild inside Ryner.

Therefore

“…”

Therefore, his mother should be here right now.

And Ryner whispered softly,

“…mother.”

But no response came.

There was only the blood-red corridor, stretching infinitely.

So Ryner began walking. He proceeded through the passageway, and saw what he’d seen before.

Beyond the corridor lay an unbelievably huge room.

If I have such a huge and empty hole within me, won’t I die of loneliness? These nonsensical thoughts passed through Ryner’s head.

That room was red as well.

The sky; the earth; everything was red and wriggled like human insides.

The same as before.

Exactly the same.

Yet somehow different.

Because…

“…there’s no voice…”

He said.

Yes.

Last time, a voice came from the skies.

A low and heavy voice that resounded directly in his brain.

It’s the same voice that Ryner can only hear when his Alpha Stigma goes berserk, a voice overbearing like that of a god’s – however, he can’t hear it now.

The red monster who posed as a deity was supposed to live here.

But it wasn’t here.

Ryner tried speaking up,

“Is it hiding somewhere…?”

Maybe when Lir gouged out his Alpha Stigma, that monster got devoured by that stone Spunquel and died?

Regardless, nothing was there.

Ryner emerged from the corridor and stepped into the room. He mused to himself as he walked on,

“…maybe everything’s a dream? I’m already dead, so I’m seeing things during my last moments…or…”

Am I in hell?

That’s one possibility, he thought.

He killed lots of people when his Alpha Stigma went berserk, after all.

Such a monster could never hope for heaven.

And he failed to protect his friends…

“…”

Ferris and Kiefer and Toale and Voice and Arua and Kuku and Sion and – no, he failed pretty much everyone.

Someone like that wouldn’t go to heaven after he died.

So,

“…is this hell?”

He whispered, and something replied.

<<That’s right.>>

Something replied.

However, the voice came from the heavens. A voice from the skies that battered directly at his head.

But it wasn’t the overbearing voice that resounded when his Alpha Stigma went berserk.

This voice sounded somewhat sleepy and lazy.

Ryner lifted up his face and asked,

“Who is it?”

The voice laughed.

“Just ‘ahaha’ doesn’t tell me anything.”

And the voice said,

<<You should be able to understand by just looking, right?>>

Ryner scowled,

“Where?”

<<Straight ahead. Right in front of you.>>

The voice said.

So Ryner turned to the front again, and discovered that the scenery had changed sometime in between.

Not completely – everything was still stained red -, but two people appeared without his notice.

One of them was a woman.

A woman with beautiful and long black hair. A woman with a gentle face. A face that evoked such nostalgia in him, that he was nearly driven to tears just by the sight of her.

It was his mother.

His mother lay on the red floor, looking like she was asleep.

And a man gently held her in his arms.

Ryner took a look at that man.

“…”

And was at a loss of words.

Because…

“…”

The man was himself.

However, he wore strange clothes. Ridiculous ones like that of a clown, and a tear drop was tattooed below his left eye.

He looked towards Ryner with that left eye and smiled gently.

<<Hi there. So we finally meet.>>

He said in a friendly tone.

Ryner scrutinized the clown that looked exactly like himself, and said

“Who are you?”

The clown merely shrugged his shoulders in reply.

<< I’m you.>>

“Huh?”

<<You. Your sleeping self.>>

“I don’t get it…”

However, the clown interrupted his words.

<<It’s also correct to say that I’m half of “Ryner Eris Reed”[the Lonesome Demon] – the Solver of All Equations. But in the end, I’m still you.>>

He said.

But Ryner couldn’t understand what those words meant. Seeing this, the clown smiled kindly.

<<It’s alright if you don’t understand it right now. You’ll eventually get it.>>

“Really?"

<<Yep.>>

“I see…”

Ryner said and looked around him,

“So, where’s that monster?”

He asked.

The clown replied,

<<You mean Alpha?>>

“Yeah.”

<<He ran. Because I – no, you woke up…if you fully awakened, Alpha wouldn’t be able to do anything about it.>>

That’s what he said, but Ryner couldn’t understand a word.

But it doesn’t matter, because he has more important matters to attend to.

“…”

Ryner gazed at the woman lying before him; at the black-haired and gentle-looking woman.

And said,

“…so”

“So, is mother released now? She has been holding back Alpha for my sake, didn’t she?”

The clown nodded, and gently caressed his mother’s black hair,

<<She’s been released.>>

He said.

Ryner’s eyes widened at this. Pentagrams no longer appeared in his eyes. He opened his curse-free eyes – looking almost as if they’ve never been cursed in the first place - and ran towards his mother’s side.

But the clown said,

<<Then she died.>>

He said.

<<She abandoned everything to protect you. She really is a kind person.>>

Those were his words.

And Ryner stopped himself. He looked at the woman on the floor.

His mother.

His mother, who risked her life and continued to protect him all these years, even though he himself forgot her name, her face and even her figure.

“…sh-she died?”

He said.

But the clown didn’t answer. He merely looked towards Ryner in sympathy.

“..s-she died..but I, I haven’t even said anything to…”

However, the clown replied.

<<Your feelings were conveyed to her.>>

“But…”

<<And you still have things to do, no? She’s already dead, but you’re not dead yet.>>

The clown said.

Ryner stared at the clown who resembled himself,

“I’m…not dead?”

<<That’s right. And you have to protect your friends –no, we have to protect our friends. That’s what we’ve decided, right? We want to save everything we see. If even monsters like us can save someone - then we’d want to save everything – we’ve decided, haven’t we?>>

“…”

Hearing those words, he suddenly remembered.

What he should do.

What he had to do from now on.

And who he is.

So Ryner looked at the clown.

He looked at the clown who was the splitting image of himself, and said.

“You are…”

He felt the depths of his chest shake.

The very insides of his chest trembled.

Then he opened his mouth.

And his voice,

<<…I am…I am a demon who became mad to save Sion, huh…>>

His voice came from the heavens.

“…”

Ryner opened his eyes.

He saw the faces of his friends.

The faces of Ferris and Kiefer.

Both of them looked on the brink of crying.

No, they were actually crying.

They were crying and pushing Derunio onto his body like everything depended on it.

And they hadn’t realized that Ryner was awake already.

“…”

On the side, Toale was talking to Vois with a troubled face.

And Ryner tried to say,

“…ah~”

He tried to speak up,

“…I’m beat.”

Ferris and Kiefer turned around in an instant. Their eyes widened in surprise.

“Ryner!?”

Kiefer shouted and embraced him.

And Ferris…

“…”

She hurriedly tried to wipe her tears, but her attempts only made it worse. She turned away and shouted in anger.

“I-idiot! You sure took your sweet time!”

Ryner smiled wryly.

Toale came towards him with a happy face and extended his hand.

Ryner took it and pulled himself upright. He now realized that he’s standing in a sea of blood. He was probably healed by Derunio absorbing the blood here.

His left arm was attached. His right arm was torn into shreds and missing, but the wound had closed, at least.

Ryner glanced at his arm, and immediately turned towards his two comrades.

As expected, Kiefer and Ferris were drenched in blood from standing in that sea of blood.

“…sorry. I made you worry.”

Ryner whispered.

Ferris still refused to turn around and didn’t even give him a reply.

“Ah~ That’s great. So you did wake up, as expected.”

Vois butted in, and Ryner turned towards him.

“ ‘As expected’ my ass. You lied, didn’t you?”

Vois smiled at his words, and tilted his head.

“About what?”

“About my eyes and what the Goddess said about them. What was it again? Er, Alpha is…”

Vois gleefully finished the sentence.

“Alpha – the power of destruction that lies within you is one of the most powerful types – was that what you meant? Yes. That was a complete lie.”

Vois admitted curtly, even though he lied about an important thing that he really shouldn’t have.

Ryner replied with a bored face.

“Don’t screw with me. Alpha escaped.”

Vois seemed a bit surprised at this.

“Hmm. So Alpha escaped…because it's afraid of Glovil?”

He asked, but Ryner shook his head.

And Vois grinned happily.

“Afraid of you?”

He asked, his expression smug as if he expected everything.

“…”

Ryner was getting more annoyed by the minute, so he stopped replying.

But, Vois kept speaking.

“So, did you find out who you are?”

“…”

“Everything went according to my words, right? If you came here, you’d find out…”

“…ahh geez. Shut up. Stop making such a big deal about it.”

Ryner said, and Vois replied

“Well, you’re having a talk with me later, but at least answer me this. I’m sure everyone here wants an answer…”

Vois paused. Ryner felt a slightly nervous air around Vois.

So, when Vois said

“…it’s about Glovil, can you...”

Ryner interrupted.

“I can deal with it.”

He detached himself from Kiefer’s embrace and turned around. He stared at the real world he had come back to. A world filled with slaughter.

He gazed at the battlefield with eyes whose sight should’ve been stolen by Lir.

“…”

A tear shape floated within his eyes. A tear drop that flickered in blue, red, white, and all the iridescent colors.

Reflected in those eyes were things beyond this world.

The composition of all magic.

The composition of all humans.

The composition of all matter.

The composition of all Rule Fragme can be seen.

And he knew how to undo them.

Vois questioned from behind.

“…so, in the end, who are you?”

“A lonesome demon who happened to be very good at solving puzzles.”

Ryner said without turning around.

He stared into the distance.

And saw, in the distance, a monster being born.

Perhaps no one else can see this scene. Maybe, not even the Gastarkians who summoned that could see it.

The scene is happening in a world overlapping with reality, but different.

A giant snake descended from the skies. A snake with white scales, whose body is huge enough to cover the entire sky.

The snake opened its mouth. From its mouth, another monster – no, the face of a beautiful girl with long, pink hair appeared and said

<<O, contractor…I shall answer your call again>>

The girl cast her voice downwards.

A quiet, quiet, quiet, yet overbearing voice.

A cursed voice that resounds directly in a human’s head.

<< I shall answer. I shall answer. Come, offer the price. Offer it, and release my power.>>

Her voice coaxed.

The monster cast her voice downwards, and coaxed the feeble human.

And the contractor answered. The contractor replied, sacrificing his own body to gain power.

It seemed like the weapon Glovil had to be activated that way.

A human, offering his life to the monster to unlock its true power.

And the girl laughed.

She seemed to be laughing at the foolish antics of man.

She laughed softly, looking down on everything.

And

<<…the contract is finished. Releasing my power.>>

After she said that, a red light appeared from afar.

A light in the shade of blood was released violently into the world.

Ryner began,

“…everyone step back. I’m cancelling Glovil’s mag…”

But his words stopped.

Because another voice came from the skies.

<<Ha, ha ha ha ha, ha ha ha ha ha ha ha, aha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha>>

It was a voice he knew very well.

One that he heard over and over again.

The voice that descended whenever Ryner’s Alpha Stigma went berserk.

The voice of the monster that kept tormenting him.

“…”

No, the monster that killed his mother-

“Alpha, huh…”

Ryner said and looked up towards that voice.

And it was there.

The monster that he once met in his eyes.

A beast as big as Glovil’s floating body descended towards him.

Red skin in the shade of blood.

Eyes even redder than that.

Vermillion pentacles in the depths of its eyes.

Sharp fangs.

Sharp claws.

Gigantic wings.

However, those wings weren’t flapping. They were merely swaying lazily, and the beast ignored gravity as is floated down slowly.

No, the concept of gravity that governs the plane of humans might not even exist in this world.

Ferris, Kiefer and the others probably couldn’t see the monster. No, Ryner himself wouldn’t be able to see it either if not for the power of the Solver of All Equations in his eyes.

All they heard were voices coming from the sky.

Voices like that of gods’ descended from the sky, and humans feared.

However, Ryner looked up at Alpha with bored eyes.

Seeing that, Alpha smiled with its mouthful of teeth.

<<Ha, hahaha, ahahahaha, so you see me, so you see me, demon…so finally, you have stepped beyond the boundaries of man, just like that mad hero…>>

Ryner interrupted.

“Shut up, monster.”

<<Bold words. But what can a mere human do by gaining just a bit of power? You’re no longer protected by Artofaal. Nothing stands against my power now.>>

The beast finished, and bit into his own wings. He tore out his own teeth and sank his arms into his chest.

And gradually, the seal that had restricted the monster began to break. The restraints that his mother cast on the monster to hold him back – to prevent it from going on a rampage and killing Ryner – were being torn off.

And another monster tried to come out from the beast’s body. The beast’s chest was ripped apart and torn open,

“…”

And a giant spider with a human-like head emerged from within. Its whole body was red. A giant spider with a blood-red body. The spider opened its mouth and began devouring the body of the beast which looked like the demons in fairytales. It began devouring the Curse of Artofaal that Ryner’s mother created.

And the human-like head above its mouth looked towards Ryner.

Actually, the face didn’t have eyes, so Ryner didn’t know whether it’s staring at him or not, but it definitely turned towards him.

Ryner looked back.

At the face without eyes, a nose, a mouth or ears. It was simply an egg-shaped and blood-red head, and infinite amounts of pentacles that shone even redder appeared and disappeared before it.

And that head, with all its flickering pentacles, looked towards him. Looked down on him.

Ryner scowled.

“So that’s your true form.”

As expected, Alpha laughed. “Hahahahahahaha”. It laughed with a powerful voice that made heads spin.

And…

<<That’s right. And how would you call me? God. Demon. Devil. Hero. Monster. How would you...>>

However, Ryner extended his hand.

And with his eyes - eyes that were shining with prism tears -, he looked up at the ugly spider and muttered.

“…how would I call you? Hah! You’re just a spider, aren’t you?”

He said and moved his fingers slightly. A light appeared at his fingertip.

Then he looked up.

“…the spider’s…”

And even turned his gaze towards the snake on the other side.

“And the snake’s equations analyzed. Terminating their existences…”

But stopped right there.

He saw something grasping his left arm.

It was woman’s arm.

At first, he thought that it belonged to Ferris or Kiefer.

But immediately dismissed that idea.

After all, humans shouldn’t be able to come to this unnatural world.

So, who…

Who is it…

“…”

Ryner looked towards the woman grabbing his arm.

But it wasn’t a woman.

No, it wasn’t even human.

It had a long hair and a nicely shaped body.

But it didn’t have eyes. It had eyeholes, but no eyes. Insect-like beings gushed out from its eyeholes, and it bit on Ryner’s arm with its horizontal mouth filled with teeth.

“…a Goddess huh.”

Ryner scowled and turned his gaze towards the Goddess.

“Terminating existence…”

But stopped again. He felt a great pain in his right shoulder. Something tore into him.

One after each other, his legs, back and neck were being torn into.

Ryner turned around in response.

And saw dozens of the Goddess’ monsters.

Then, voices came down again.

Alpha’s voice.

Voices of the Goddesses’ doubles.

<<Don’t get cocky, demon…we’ve decided to finish you off here…resistance is futile…you…all of you are going to perish here.>>

They said.

And Alpha released one vermillion pentacle from his face.

Not towards Ryner, but the ground.

The pentacle engraved itself on the earth.

And the ground twisted with red.

A hole opened from the distortion, and what looked like brown dirt gushed out. Then came the soldiers with green armor. Then the blue sky. Then the voices of humans.

Everything was being turned inside out, with the hole as the center. The alternate world was slowly transformed into the real world.

However, Alpha was still there.

An unbelievably huge spider monster, whose existence shouldn’t even be allowed in the human world, appeared.

Just by raising its leg, soldiers around the spider were blown to smithereens, before they even touched its leg.

Humans were rendered speechless before such an unusual sight.

Speechless before the appearance of a monster that looked like it came straight from a fairytale.

But the screams began immediately.

The screams of madness began immediately.

<<Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahaahahahahahahahahahahahahahaaahahahahahahhaaaaaaahahahah know fear, humans! Tremble, humans! I am God, demon, devil, hero, a monster who’ll slaughter all of you…come, scream for me!>>

Alpha roared.

It released vermillion pentacles from its face into all directions. When they hit humans, their blood boiled and exploded from within.

It was different from the power that Ryner used before. When he went berserk and released pentacles, the power within them was different.

Most likely, Alpha was merely abusing the power of the Solver of All Equations.

“…now you’re just a monster.”

Ryner groaned.

Ferris’ voice came from behind.

“W-what is that…”

Ryner didn’t turn around.

“The monster within me.”

“Why is it out here?”

“Because I’m weak. But I’ll stop it now.”

“But, such a monster…”

However, Ryner interrupted her words.

“Hey, Ferris…”

“Hmm?”

“I’ve always made you worry, and you were the one who kept protecting me, but this time, I’ll…”

He said.

“I’ll do the protecting.”

With those words, he took at step forward. His body felt incredibly heavy. The Goddess’ doubles were swarming around his body and tearing into him in the alternate world, and he found it a bit hard to move.

But he ignored that and moved forward. Then he extended his hand towards Alpha.

Alpha laughed at this.

He laughed madly.

<<Hahahahahaha, hahhahahahahahaha, you can’t do it. You won’t be able to. The weakness in your heart won’t let you.>>

Ryner ignored the words that Alpha cast down, and weaved light patterns in the air with his finger.

However, the spider monster still laughed.

<< I said you can’t do it! Your power is too immense, so you can’t use it in this world. If you do, you’ll erase the entire landscape. So, you won’t use your power. That’s why I chose this place for your burial. Because you, with your weak and fragile heart, can’t kill humans…you can only kill that monstrous snake in the alternate world. You can’t kill…>>

Someone spoke up behind him.

“…you can do it. Right, Ryner?”

Vois said.

“You are our king. If you saved us here, then you’d truly be our king, both in name and…”

But Ryner interrupted him.

He cut off Vois’ words.

“It’s not about big things like that. The spider was right. I am a weak human. Not a monster, just a fragile human. And because humans are sad creatures…because they’re weak and sad creatures, they cannot choose everything.”

He said, and remembered Sion’s face.

Sion, who was smiling as tears flowed down his cheeks in the rain.

He kept making choices.

The ones that are the hardest to make.

And in the end, he cried. He cried, and disappeared.

But if he was really that troubled, why didn’t he talk to me? That’s what I thought.

Why didn’t he tell me to save him? I thought.

He said that I’m his greatest friend.

He said that I’m his companion.

Why did he heave all those burdens upon himself?

“…”

But, I was wrong.

He couldn’t have talked to me.

Because I..

“…”

I didn’t bear anything.

All I did was run away.

I selfishly proclaimed that I wanted to save everything, but all I did was run away without shouldering anything.

That’s why Sion disappeared while crying.

But it’s different now.

It’ll be different from now on.

I wanted to stand beside him – not just by talk – but truly stand beside him.

But for that, I need to shoulder my own burdens.

I need to move on.

“If…if I’m not a monster, but a human…”

I need to move on.

Because I like Ferris.

Because I like Kiefer.

Because I like Toale.

Vois…well, I wonder?

And Milk, and Lafra, and Arua, and Kuku, and Fahl, Tyle, Toni, and Sion as well.

“Because I like humans…so…”

Ryner said and raised his hand.

He felt something on his face. Felt his own tears flowing down his cheek.

However, he still said,

“So, I’ll move on.”

And released a light from his fingertip.

A light that undoes all equations.

For an instant, Alpha looked surprised. But it really was for an instant.

Alpha was caught in the light immediately, and its very existence was erased.

But the light didn’t stop there.

It couldn’t be controlled by Ryner’s will anymore. Slowly but surely, like a pandemic, the light spread out into the world.

It expanded in front of Ryner in the shape of a fan.

And the humans touched by the light all turned into sand.

Hundreds.

Thousands.

Tens of thousands.

Hundreds of thousands.

An unbelievable amount of humans were erased by the light and turned into sand.

And the light clashed with the red light that Glovil unleashed.

By that time, almost no one was left in front of Ryner.

Glovil’s light and Ryner’s light had killed most of them.

Then, Glovil’s and Ryner’s powers negated each other and disappeared.

“…”

It seems like their powers were almost equal.

And only despair remained.

Nothing that resembled a human figure could be seen.

More than a million people were erased, but the plains merely stretched on as if nothing had happened.

The sky was clear.

Most relaxing.

Ryner looked at the sky

“…I killed…”

He began, but was cut off by Ferris.

“No! You…you just protected us!”

She shouted.

She shouted with all her might.

Ryner smiled bitterly at that.

He smiled bitterly at her kindness. Normally, she’d swing around her sword and never stop yapping about dango, but at times like this, she’d be so kind. He felt like crying. But he won’t. Not anymore.

“Yeah…”

He merely nodded.

“Yeah, you’re right.”

He merely nodded.

And mused to himself.

He killed to protect his friends.

That’s…alright. It’s a reason that he can accept, he thought.

But it’s not something that he should do, whether he accepted it or not. It’s not something he can forgive himself for. There’s no way he can live on smiling sheepishly after killing more than a million people.

That’s why Sion cried.

And even the King of Gastark-

Even Rephael Edea must be moving forward while crying, isn’t he? Ryner thought faintly.

But nothing is going to change by just thinking about it.

Ryner closed his eyes.

And moved his consciousness into the alternate world again.

As usual, the Goddess’ doubles were biting into his body.

Ryner narrowed his eyes.

“..well, that’s that. What are you going to do about it?”

He said.

And the Goddess’ doubles shivered in fear.

<<…you monster…>>

They say.

But Ryner smiled sadly.

“Sorry, but I’m a human, saddeningly so.”

He said, and grabbed one of the Goddesses that was tearing into him.

“Disappear.”

And it was done.

All the Goddesses detached themselves from Ryner

<<Orders for retreat.>>

They said.

“Then go. But tell this to your boss – since you guys bullied Sion, I’m not going to forgive you.”

Ryner said. He raised his hands, and lowered his voice

“…tell her that I’ll come and kill her one day.”

And the Goddess’ doubles hurriedly ran away from the alternate world that Ryner had created.

Ryner nodded and looked at the sky again.

The snake monster was still there.

A girl’s head emerged from its mouth and smiled. Her hair was the same shade as that of the Gastarkians.

Then

-I thought I could meet you here. Hello, Mister Demon.

She said.

Ryner replied,

“Who are you? The structure of your equation is a bit different from that of the Goddesses or Alpha…”

The girl answered:

-I am Glovil. The lover of Riphal Edea.

“Lover?”

-Yes. I am a woman sent forth for the sole purpose of crossing with him.

“…sole purpose of crossing…um, I’m not really getting it…but, you’re a monster, right?”

-Ahaha.

“Well, ‘ahaha’ doesn’t really tell me anything…ah~ geez. So, you knew you can meet me here, and what did you come for?”

Ryner asked, and the girl answered.

-I just came to see. To see whether we can kill the mad demon. Whether we can kill the mad hero. In truth, the Goddesses aren’t the enemy. The ones who mess up this world are always you two.

“…”

Ryner narrowed his eyes at her words.

He couldn’t understand what the girl was saying.

“…the ones who mess up the world are always the demon and the hero? That…”

-Don’t think too hard about it. You’re mad with love anyways, so you won’t reach the right conclusion. But…right. It’s a bit troubling. Your power is beyond my expectations…

She stopped, and looked like she had a sudden epiphany.

-Well, I’m still glad that I could meet you. I wonder, will I meet you again, or will I meet the hero next? I don’t know, but that’s it for today. I’m going back to my beloved hero’s sword. So, see you.

The girl said and returned to the snake’s mouth.

And the snake disappeared.

Ryner looked at the empty space it left behind.

“…”

Suddenly, his body lost all strength. He couldn’t even stand anymore. He fell on his knees and onto the ground.

“Ryner!?”

He vaguely heard Kiefer shouting.

Ryner opened his eyes.

And returned to the real world again.

Kiefer and Toale were trying their best to support Ryner, who was crumbling to the ground.

He looked at their faces.

“…ah, sorry. I’m just really worn out, and sorta sleepy…”

He said, and Toale smiled.

And so did Kiefer, who looked to be on the verge of tears.

“Ryner, you're always sleepy.”

She forced herself to say in a bright voice.

A voice that conveyed her feelings, that she didn’t mind what Ryner just did.

“…”

And Ryner was deep in thought.

Maybe he really isn’t a monster anymore, he thought.

Because he was loved and helped by such kind companions, and maybe, simply by being amongst them, he’d become human.

Of course, he had committed an unforgivable sin.

He can’t turn back now, for he had opened the gates of hell.

Despite all that, he realized that he was still human.

“…”

He was a weak, sad human that would kill to protect his friends, after all.

“…”

He realized that Ferris was looking at him behind Kiefer. Looking at him with a somewhat incompetent face that spoke of both her desire to come forth and her hesitance to do so.

To think that they’d want to stay at the side of a monster who just killed over a million people..such idiots.

But in the end, all humans are idiots.

Including himself, all of them are idiots, saddeningly so.

Imperfect beings that would hurt one another if they got too close, but would also die of loneliness if they weren’t at each other sides.

So, Ryner smiled.

He smiled gently at her.

“…"

And Ferris gladly returned his smile.

♦

And the battle ended.

An unusual battle in which over a million soldiers disappeared in an instant; in which a gigantic spider went on a rampage, had come to an end.

And this piece of news spread throughout the world like fire.

With an impact that far surpassed the news of Gastark defeating the Steol Empire, this piece of information made its way throughout the world.

Accompanied by rumors and highly exaggerated retellings, it was passed on from person to person.

And the entire structure of the world is threatening to change-

♦

♦

♦

♦

♦

“……”

But the leader had realized that it would come to this.

She said that a demon was about to be born.

A sad, lonesome demon who is easily driven to tears.

She said that he was a weak being who’d die immediately if left alone.

A weak being who’d die right away if no one helped him.

Because he was too kind.

He was too kind, and he loved the hero too much-

He’d be driven mad immediately.

That’s why

“…I have to come and get you.”

He, Tiir Rumibul, whispered.

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