This time too, without fail.
This time, without fail.
As soon as I saw the phrase, anger surged within me.
After mercilessly killing so many people like that.
After killing them with such an indifferent expression.
To want to commit suicide.
My family. My comrades. My loved ones.
After killing them without a single change in expression.
"Bersia——!!"
I immediately rushed to Bersia and grabbed her by the collar.
"You bitch.... Are you hoping for death right now?"
"......Yes."
A voice devoid of inflection flowed out.
"I didn't put that away, so it was accidentally discovered."
"Bullshit!"
I pushed Bersia, who was still staring at me without any change in expression.
Bersia, who always stood firm, stumbled and hit a bookshelf.
Thud-thud——
The impact of Bersia hitting it made the bookshelf sway, and a pile of books fell out.
Books hitting the floor and rolling around.
All those countless books had writing in the same handwriting as the one in the notebook.
Every single one of them contained the phrase, 'I want to die.'
"...You bitch, you don't deserve that."
"......."
"You bitch who trampled on countless lives, on the lives of my loved ones, you don't have the right to hope for death!"
Bersia didn't deny anything.
Instead, she affirmed it with her silence.
"......Even knowing that, how dare you! How dare you think you want to die?"
"Unfortunately, yes. My nature is selfish."
"You fucking bitch!!!"
Unable to contain my surging rage, I picked up a liquor bottle from the floor and swung it at Bersia's head.
Smash!!
The bottle, unable to withstand the impact, shattered into pieces as it hit her head.
However, Bersia stood silently in place, without a single scratch.
"Alright. If dying is your wish, I will personally kill you later. But don't think the process will be easy. I will torture you until you beg to live, and then, at the very last moment, I will rip out your heart myself."
Bersia, who had been quietly listening to my words, nodded her head silently.
"......Yes. Dying by your hand wouldn't be such a bad end."
Bersia drew the sword tucked into my waist and held it to her own neck.
A cynical smile played on her lips.
"Try your best until you can kill me. Rubel. My Hero."
"...Don't you dare utter 'my Hero' with that mouth. That's... a title only one person can speak."
"......."
At those words, Bersia fell silent for a moment, then burst into laughter.
A clear sneer.
"Ah, hahahaha.... Ahahahahaha...!! So... was there a lover of yours among those I killed?"
"You bitch——!!"
My hands trembled with rage.
My lover was a beautiful person, like a spring flower.
But how dare she, with that filthy mouth....
Speaking of my beloved lover, I wanted to tear her apart right then and there.
But I had absolutely no power to do so.......
I couldn't swing the sword; I could only hold it still against her neck.
"Go on, try to cut me if you can. Of course, if you fail... hehe. You haven't forgotten that you'll have to mate with me, have you?"
"You bastard......."
"Live diligently until the day your sword can reach me."
After saying that, Bersia patted my shoulder a couple of times and then left the room.
My stomach felt like it was turning inside out.
I felt like I would go mad if I didn't break something, so I stomped on the liquor bottle remaining on the floor.
"Aaaaaaaaaaah!!!!"
Crackle! Crackle!!
Fragments of the broken bottle pierced the soles of my feet from my kicks.
I felt no pain.
That was because a far greater pain was piercing deep into my chest.
'......Pathetic.'
I, as a human... was truly a pathetic excuse for a human.
Despite regressing so many times, I couldn't even inflict a significant scratch.
Despite witnessing the deaths of so many precious people, I couldn't even achieve proper revenge.
Beryl. Prien. Gwen.
"Kuh......."
If it were up to my heart, I would have wanted to give up right away.
I felt like I had done my best, and that was why.
But.
I don't deserve it.
I don't deserve peace.
- What would happen if that Demon King bastard ruled the world?
- I hope everyone on this land can be happy without any sorrow.
- Because I want to give a better life to future generations.
I inherited the will of my precious ones.
And because I haven't yet realized it.
I must rise.
Even if I fall, I must rise.
Haven't I already endured it tens of thousands of times?
I can burn brighter.
I just need to burn even more.
Even if it means I turn to ash.
I must realize the future I inherited from them.
Because that is the destiny of one who has become a Hero.
And it is my atonement for being forced to stand by and watch countless deaths.
"...Somehow, no matter what."
I must kill Bersia.
***
Bersia, who had left the room, moved towards the entrance of the Demon King's castle.
"......."
Upon reaching the entrance, she saw countless people approaching from afar.
They were soldiers composed of The Order's elite.
These were the ones who came to kill Bersia after the Hero Party was annihilated.
"...This time, they're coming again without fail."
Bersia muttered in a voice subtly tinged with anger.
She couldn't help but feel that way, knowing The Order's ugliness.
After becoming the Demon King.
Bersia realized.
The Order's full power was more than enough to kill the Demon King.
They simply didn't kill her because she was useful.
That was because the existence of a Demon King strengthened The Order's power proportionally.
It was their job to select a Hero to kill the Demon King, receiving the will of God.
To maintain their power, they continuously created new Demon Kings and chose Heroes to confront them.
Originally, Bersia had allowed herself to be killed by The Order's soldiers, continuing the cycle of Regression, so that Rubel could gain the power to stop not only the newly chosen Demon King but also The Order itself.
However, with Rubel alive now... there was no reason for that.
"I'll unleash tens of thousands of years of rage here."
Horns sprouted above Bersia's head as she drew forth her magic power.
Subsequently, massive black wings grew from her back, and a sword extended from her fingertips, letting out a wail.
"Demon King Bersia. The Order shall pass judgment upon you, the root of all evil in the world."
The knight at the very front pointed his sword at Bersia.
However, the current Bersia had no intention of dying, so she let out a laugh.
"Try it if you can."
"Go!!"
At the knight's shout, the soldiers charged forward all at once.
Bersia mercilessly swung her sword at the charging soldiers.
Slash!
Following the trajectory of Bersia's sword, the soldiers' bodies were cut down.
Soldiers collapsing, spitting blood, unable to offer any resistance.
Some soldiers who charged from behind stabbed Bersia with their swords.
Bersia, completely unharmed, plunged those very swords into the soldiers.
Stab! Stab!
After that, a scene that could only be described as a massacre unfolded.
Although she sustained some scratches from a few soldiers... Bersia did not fall.
Instead, she merely dispatched her enemies even faster, like a berserker.
The force that was originally hundreds strong.
But now, Bersia, covered in blood, rushed towards the last remaining knight and slammed him into the ground.
"Keugh!!!"
"No matter how many times you repeat this, you're still the same."
"Save, me.... Save me......."
At his plea for his life, Bersia tore off one of the knight's arms with brute force.
A horrific tearing sound of flesh was accompanied by a painful scream.
"Kuaaaaaaaah!!"
"Does it hurt?"
"It hurts... it hurts......."
"Compared to the pain I've felt, this is nothing."
Bersia tore off his remaining arm as well.
Her expression was savage, one she had never shown when with Rubel.
"Aaaaargh!!! Aaaaaaargh!!!"
"Because of what you all have done."
It was a world where they could have lived peacefully.
It was a world where the tragedy of precious people dying wouldn't have had to be witnessed.
But because everything was ruined by The Order's actions.
Because the moment she learned the truth, it became irreversible.
Bersia couldn't help but be enraged.
"Because of you all, I."
Crunch!
"Do you even know how many painful acts I've had to repeat?"
- If the world ever becomes peaceful.
"Do you even know how many sins I've committed?"
- Then. Shall we get married?
Bersia furiously rained punches upon the knight, who had lost both arms.
Hot tears streamed down her cheeks.
"All of you...!!"
"Bersia!!"
Just as Bersia was about to deliver the final blow to the knight's face.
A voice, familiar and longed for, reached her ears, despite being so close.
It was Rubel.
"What are you doing right now!!"
Eyes filled with immeasurable rage.
'Ah.......'
It hurts.
It hurts to be looked at by Rubel with such eyes.
But because Rubel can only live if things are this way.
Bersia held back her surging tears and maintained an expressionless face.
"......I did my duty as the Demon King."
"You, even with so much blood on your hands...!!"
"That's why I'm the Demon King, isn't it?"
Bersia struggled to lift the corners of her mouth.
A cynical smile appeared on her lips.
"So, hurry and prepare to kill me, this utterly cruel being. My Hero. If you cannot do it, they will continue to die."