Those Who Brought Ruin (4)
The spine-crushing did not end there. The Demon Lord’s arms tightened further, as though intent on cleaving the hero’s body in two. The hero coughed blood yet still struggled, but against the Demon Lord’s overwhelming strength the resistance was meaningless. Gritting her teeth until they threatened to shatter, the hero began pouring out Divana at maximum output. Odvolg’s Divana and the Demon Lord’s Luina collided violently.
Quaaaaaaaah! The two forces clashed without yielding an inch, each striving to devour the other. The ferocious struggle sent shockwaves so intense they seemed to warp space itself, shaking the entire Demon Lord Castle. The sage desperately maintained a seventh-tier defensive spell, Perfect Shield, to protect his comrades from the raging torrent of power. All he could do was shield them; even approaching the combatants was impossible, let alone launching a magical counterattack.
Jet-black mana and sun-like radiant mana entwined, shattering the ceiling and soaring endlessly toward the sky. Their collision resembled the first dawn when light and darkness were born—an elemental cataclysm. The colossal forces that sought to consume one another shook the world itself with the promise of its ruin. The place where the two powers met had already become an unrecognizable ruin: the lofty throne room atop the Demon Lord Castle. The ceiling and walls lay in shattered heaps; only the ravaged floor remained, and the lone surviving throne hinted that this had once been the chamber where Hemonigent’s mightiest knelt before their absolute ruler.
Someone looked down upon the devastation, seething with rage.
“Neromeltia di Isis! You truly know no shame and refuse to give up to the very end!”
The blue dragon, bearing antlers like an elk’s crown, had dispelled the fifth-tier Polymorph spell that had kept him in human form. Kerdihak had returned to his true, colossal draconic shape. Though his face was that of a dragon, the way his jaws stretched suggested a cruel grin.
“With the mighty authority the Creator bestowed upon dragons I could annihilate you, yet doing so would inevitably drag Odvolg’s hero into the fray. How unfortunate!”
Each word roared from his mountain-sized body reverberated throughout the Demon Lord Castle, reaching every soul within. Kerdihak was performing for an audience—mocking the Demon Lord, exaggerating his own power, flaunting draconic supremacy, all for a specific purpose.
“Therefore I shall leave the Demon Lord to the hero… and reluctantly go punish the filthy Demanians and monsters instead. What a pity, that the valiant and resplendent might of a dragon must be wasted on exterminating mere insects.”
With a powerful beat of his wings, Kerdihak dove toward the battlefield where the human army clashed with the refugees. A sly smile and a final, sinister glance accompanied his departure.
“Kerdihak!!!!!”
The Demon Lord, enraged by the blue dragon’s cowardice, hurled the hero away. Forced to sever her mana flow, she was repelled by the hero’s Divana and suffered a severe blow to the heart. In a Mana Battle, when one side’s power is exhausted or deliberately withdrawn, the heart—the source that stores mana—receives tremendous shock.
“Kuh…!!”
Even while vomiting blood, the Demon Lord rushed toward the mana sphere. Gasping, she squeezed her wounded heart and drew forth more Luina. Excruciating pain assaulted her, yet she paid it no heed, pouring the mana into the sphere once more and raising a barrier to protect the innocent and the weak who could only flee.
The Demon Lord desperately wrung out Luina that no longer obeyed her will. Little remained. Once again a colossal mana barrier split the Demon Lord Castle in two before the human army. This time, however, its radiance flickered unsteadily, its power clearly waning—and both Kerdihak and the human forces already knew it.
Kukukukukukung!! The thunderous roar of the human army’s bombardment shook the heavens. Thousands of magic artillery pieces, capable of shattering even Terraris Rock—the tallest and largest mountain on the Astaris continent—unleashed beams that engulfed the faltering barrier. It began to tremble violently.
“Struggle to the very last, Demon Lord!!!”
Quajijijijijik!!! Kerdihak’s massive jaws opened, and from within poured countless lightning bolts that blanketed the sky and hammered the barrier. The once-magnificent fortress that could neither be scaled nor toppled began to crumble. The Demon Lord poured every last ounce of strength into holding it together a moment longer—a sandcastle on the verge of collapse at the slightest lapse of concentration.
Then Berkadia belle Gertrude rose. The hero whose spine had been crushed and who had been hurled aside during the Mana Battle now stood whole again. She retrieved the blood-soaked holy sword and walked slowly forward. Allowing the hero to strike would mean the end. The Demon Lord extended her right hand toward the fallen Deus Ensis; the massive greatsword answered the call, rising into her grasp.
Kaang!!! The Demon Lord swung Deus Ensis at the hero who had reached her. The hero, still retaining a considerable reserve of Divana, easily parried the blow. Kaang!! Kaang!! Kaang!!! The Demon Lord’s attacks had grown far lighter than before. With her strength devoted to maintaining the barrier, even a one-handed swing posed little threat to the hero. Yet those eyes—those of a wounded beast glaring with murderous intent—warned the hero never to let her guard down.
Kaang!! Kaang!! Kaang!! Kururururung!!! After several more exchanges, the mana barrier finally collapsed.
“Kuh…!!!”
Unable to sustain it any longer, the Demon Lord staggered under the backlash. The hero’s body moved like lightning once more; a single slash severed the Demon Lord’s right arm. Deus Ensis fell with the severed limb, marking a tragic end. Without hesitation the hero drove the holy sword Celestia into the Demon Lord’s heart.
Chwack. An uncontrollable torrent of blood gushed from the Demon Lord’s mouth. Her strength spent, she gazed at the hero with empty eyes before sinking weakly onto her throne. From the wound where the holy sword had pierced, her ruined heart pulsed, spilling crimson that stained the throne beneath her.
“…What did you fight for?” the Demon Lord asked, a faint, self-mocking smile on her lips.
“I fought for the peace and prosperity of the world in the name of the God King.”
“Look outside. Is this peace for my people, slaughtered and soaking the earth with their blood?”
“I received a divine oracle. Once this battle ends, we humans will lead all living beings to peace under the will of the gods. The blood shed today was an unavoidable sacrifice.”
The Demon Lord’s eyes, though their focus was fading, still saw the hero clearly. Even in death her posture remained dignified, yet the aura around her was heartbreakingly sorrowful, as though she might shed tears at any moment.
“Will the people of Hemonigent also obtain peace?”
“I promise. No one will bleed or suffer any longer. God King Odvolg himself assured me of this.”
The Demon Lord’s eyelids grew heavy. It felt as though an unstoppable night was falling, quietly drawing the curtain on the day.
“…I wonder if that will truly come to pass. I shall… watch over your promise…”
The hero felt a sharp pang in her chest. Justice and righteousness were clearly on her side, yet an inexplicable pain tightened around her heart.
“…Hero… Berkadia belle Gertrude… Do your best…”
The Demon Lord closed her eyes. Her body crumbled into black ash, and that sorrowful smile scattered on the wind. The hero gazed beyond the ruined throne room at Hemonigent below. She had imagined this moment countless times—raising Celestia in triumph before cheering humans. Yet what remained of Hemonigent was only flame and black smoke, rivers of blood and shattered ruins. There was no victory cheer, only the screams of the suffering and the thunder of destruction.
The hero felt the nameless pain in her heart grow stronger still.