118
Chapter 118
Blood gushed out endlessly.
Pain radiated from the blade piercing through my heart.
However, what came out instead of a scream was a question.
"Just since when...."
I thought he was a reliable comrade.
We even saved each other from the brink of death. Yet, that was all just an act.
I simply couldn't believe it.
But even so,
"How dull. The very fact that you would ask that is utterly foolish. You've experienced so much, yet you still haven't grown at all."
All I got in return was mockery.
I had no choice but to understand what those words meant.
"When I resolved the Mana Stone incident, you should have doubted me instead of expressing your gratitude."
From the very beginning of the journey,
"When I told you that boy was a Vessel, you should have questioned me. You should have asked how exactly I knew that."
Through all those experiences and hardships,
"And above all else, you should have doubted the existence of the Holy Grail. How could Divine Power gained by grinding people down ever bring about a truly sublime miracle?"
Everything up to this very moment had been part of a perfectly orchestrated play.
The corners of the old man's lips twisted.
He was mocking me.
But no words came out. No words of resentment, nor any words asking how he could do this.
'It's all my fault.'
Even if I hadn't wanted it, I still had a duty given to me. The futures of countless people depended on me.
But I... ran away.
I was always running away.
I relied on my kind and considerate comrade, gave up thinking for myself, erased painful memories to escape reality, and even thought about abandoning my duties.
This outcome was the result of that.
This was the end of my escapism. This was my demise, swearing I would never break, only to ultimately break.
But still....
I gritted my teeth.
I ran and ran until I ended up here.
I know it's already too late. I know my foolishness ruined everything.
But precisely because of that, I must not run away any longer.
At least for this very moment, I could not run.
The resolve I once made to never be broken.
It didn't mean I would never lose to any crisis and only achieve victory.
It was quite the opposite.
I know. I know that I am a rather unimpressive person. Because of that, I know I will suffer crushing defeats and fall time and time again.
But even so, I will never let my spirit be broken.
No matter how painful it was, no matter how much I wanted to run away, I would rise again.
That was the will I had sworn upon the Holy Sword.
Therefore.
I grasp the Holy Sword with trembling hands.
It is faint, and I know it is nothing more than a dying ember, but even so, I pour my will into the Holy Sword.
The Holy Sword faintly regains its light.
I immediately kicked off the ground and ran.
I need to get help.
The power of the Holy Sword is trying somehow to heal my wound, but whatever Curse was infused into the blade, my body itself is rejecting Divine Power.
I was about to run to the clergy, but I stopped in my tracks. I didn't want to repeat the same mistake.
The clergy had often talked with that Mage.
Besides, I could definitely feel Divine Power from that Holy Grail.
From what that guy said, it seemed to be an object made by twisting Divine Power into some sort of evil force, but Divine Power was still Divine Power.
There was no harm in being cautious.
So the one I needed to find right now was....
'Aria.'
It had to be her.
A childhood friend I had grown up with.
A companion who had always supported me.
She would be with Yulli, her daughter, right now.
Whether by chance or fate, Yulli was a child chosen as the Saintess. Aria also had a talent for magic, so she would be able to do something about my wound to some extent.
I hurriedly made my way to where they were.
Yulli, who had been sleeping, and Aria, who had been watching over her, heard me running and stood up with bewildered expressions.
"Ian? What in the world...."
"There's no time right now. Wake Yulli, let's get out of here fast."
I forced myself to endure the pain so she wouldn't worry and spoke.
And Aria, having heard my words....
"Ah, this wretched play is finally over."
She grabbed the sword that was still piercing my heart and twisted it.
I screamed and vomited blood.
Yet, even so, Aria simply stared at me with an expression that was as cold as ice.
"Why...?"
I asked, shedding tears.
But the answer came not from her, but from someone else.
The approaching clergy.
The appearance of the comrade who had shared my journey instantly changed.
The man I had only ever seen in photographs.
The Pope of the Holy See stood before my eyes.
"Haven't you already realized? That the journey up until now was nothing more than a play staged on a set we created."
I felt like I knew what he was going to say next.
"Then, how can you assert that your life was not also a play?"
I couldn't assert that.
I knew very well that I couldn't.
Even so, I wanted to believe.
The love of my father and mother.
The burning village and the final words they left behind.
The girl who only ever fought with me when we were young, but grew up to become reliable and support me. The tiny baby who became the very reason for my life.
That at least those things were real.
That those things couldn't possibly be a lie.
But this entire situation was telling me otherwise. That it was all fake. That my life was nothing more than a play put on for someone else's sake.
Footsteps echoed.
Brilliantly shining golden hair.
The Emperor of the Empire looked at me.
I asked him one last time. Why exactly was he doing this to me?
"Reasons... there are plenty."
The Emperor spoke.
He said that as long as he had me, he could bind the god connected to me, leaving no one to stand in his way.
If the Beast were to take over, the world would fall into chaos, meaning that Wolf would have to be disposed of, but a compromise could be made with Dominance.
If that guy gained power, freedom would be stripped from humanity, but he asked if that wasn't actually something he would welcome.
Besides, he had received a very intriguing proposition.
He said that by eliminating me, he could become one with Dominance.
"Well, in the end, you were never the protagonist of the world, but merely a piece on a chessboard."
Hearing those words, I looked around.
I looked at the people I once believed to be my comrades.
They were all just people who had used and deceived me.
That blonde old man, and that man with the pure white hair.
And even... Aria.
Everything I thought I knew was crumbling. All of it was a lie.
A play orchestrated by someone else.
I was nothing but a puppet on that stage, agonizing, suffering, and struggling in complete ignorance.
A puppet dangling by strings.
'Was there anything real in my life?'
I didn't know.
There wasn't a single thing I could be sure of.
But I did know that I had been wrong.
I should have doubted.
I shouldn't have trusted anyone.
Even the lover who promised me a lifetime was merely an actress.
The only person in this world I could trust was myself.
If I wanted to succeed, if I truly wanted to save the world, I should have pushed forward, trampling over others as necessary.
If I had done that, everything would have turned out right.
But it was already far too late for regrets.
My eyes grew heavy. My head spun. A constant wave of drowsiness washed over me.
The blackened Holy Sword.
The people looking down at me with sneers.
With that, 'my' consciousness faded to black.
*****
But... my true consciousness did not fade.
Not the Former Hero's, but my consciousness as a Possessor and a modern-day human continued to drift even after the Hero's death.
But the predecessor was already dead. In this situation, what else was left for me to see?
I was drowning in those doubts when it happened.
"Your personality hasn't changed a bit."
The blonde old man.
The Emperor of the Empire stood before the Hero's corpse and spoke.
"Was it really that obvious? How embarrassing."
The white-haired man said so, but...
His words didn't match his expression at all. It was a smile devoid of any emotion, just endlessly hollow.
It was a face that made me wonder if he was even human.
"Well, it would be a lie to say none of my personal feelings were involved. But isn't that human someone chosen by our great God?"
The Pope said that the incompetent Hero, who had been chosen but failed to realize it, was more at fault than him, who merely played a 'malicious prank'.
The phrase, 'our great God'.
The hatred that slipped out when he spoke of it.
I could feel it there.
The story of how he lost his child.
In the original story, he had claimed not to care. He had said in a benevolent voice that the God of Light would surely watch over the child, but...
In reality, that wasn't the case at all.
It was obvious that, just like the Emperor, that man was going to do something highly troublesome.
Because of that, I pricked up my ears so I wouldn't miss a word of their conversation, only to hear someone's voice.
A voice calling out to Ian. In other words, calling out to the black-haired Hero, not me.
But that was an incredibly strange thing.
The entire Hero's Party was gathered right here.
In this situation, who on earth could be running this way?
But regardless of my confusion, the utterly desperate voice continued to echo.
Not long after, someone threw the door open with a Slam.
And what entered my vision was....
The sight of Aria, panting heavily as she ran in.
It wasn't the fake who had deceived and murdered her husband while mocking his foolishness, but the real Aria, crying tears as she desperately ran to her husband's corpse.
Seeing this, the white-haired man smiled and snapped his fingers.
At the same time, the illusion of the fake Aria turned to light and vanished.
...Only then did I realize what that 'malicious prank' truly was.