To Where Her Voice Could Be Heard
To where her voice could be heard.
Those who knew nothing of the truth might well have wondered:
Why haven't the demons been wiped out completely?
It was a fair enough question. Humans. Elves. Beastkin. Merfolk. Every race with any real power regarded them as enemies. If those races ever truly united and set their minds to eradicating the demons once and for all, then no matter how superior the demons' natural physical abilities were, they would never stand a chance against such a coalition.
So why, centuries after the Great War had ended, were the demons still alive and thriving?
The answer lay nowhere else but in the Demon Realm.
The Demon God, who delighted in slaughter and war. The Demon Realm was the place where his power reached most directly. And the demons, blessed by his grace—within the Demon Realm, at least—stood as a race of absolute beings.
And their ruler. The Demon King. A being for whom the word immortal was hardly an exaggeration. Killing her inside the Demon Realm was all but impossible.
Even for the woman called the strongest human alive.
— Slash!
Vivid crimson blood sprayed across the wall, leaving a dark stain in its wake. Looking down, she saw the deep gash carved into her side, pouring blood without end.
"Hahaha!! How delightful. Truly delightful."
"…"
"It has been far too long since I last found an opponent in the Demon Realm with whom I could clash like this."
The Demon King thrust her hand high toward the sky. From above, blades of pure darkness came raining down like a violent storm. Athena leapt back in a single great bound to evade them—only for a massive barrage of dark magic to materialize before her eyes in the blink of an eye.
But she had already anticipated it. She split the blast apart with her sword at once, then swung again and sent a blade of pure sword aura screaming toward her foe.
"Useless."
The sword aura, surging forward with ferocious momentum, vanished the instant it touched the Demon King's hand.
Well. She hadn't expected it to work anyway.
She kicked off the ground, charged, and brought her blade down from above like a falling guillotine. Once again, the attack failed to land. The Demon King simply raised an arm and caught the blade bare-handed, stopping it with almost insulting ease.
Then the Demon King unleashed a thunderous roar and released a wave of mana. Caught in the colossal shockwave, Athena was hurled backward and slammed into the wall.
"A pity. Had you carried the Holy Sword, this might have been a truly fine match."
With a casual flick of her fingers, several masses of black mana came hurtling in and drove Athena's body hard into the floor. A sharp jolt of impact rang through her skull, and warm blood trickled down from her head, dripping steadily onto the stone.
"If only you had been the Hero."
"Who said this was over already? We're just getting started."
She spat the blood pooling in her mouth, brushed the dust from her knees a few times, and rose to her feet with stubborn ease. The Demon King regarded her with a faintly furrowed brow.
"I do not understand."
"Understand what?"
"That someone who never once showed the slightest interest in demons would now stake her life on a fight like this."
"Ah. That?"
Athena flashed her a crooked grin, then called her beloved sword from within. Particles of light gathered slowly into her palm, and before long they took the shape of a blade.
"Even if I die, I want to die having been of some use."
"Hm? Of use?"
The Demon King tilted her head, clearly puzzled by the words.
Of course. She wouldn't understand. Athena barely understood herself—how could a demon like her possibly grasp it?
She drove the sword into the floor, closed her eyes, and quietly stilled her heart.
"I'm curious. Just how much of my full power will get through to that so-called great Demon God of yours."
"Haha! Still intent on fighting? You would do well to give up."
Leaving the Demon King laughing with open delight, Athena began to recite the incantation in silence.
Stake your life.
Burn your existence.
Let all things burn beneath my feet.
"Stake your life."
"Burn your existence."
"Let all things burn beneath my feet."
⟨ Ardiet ⟩
Fwoosh—
A tiny flame kindled inside her heart. Like a fuse, it raced along her veins and set her entire body ablaze with searing heat. Around her, fierce flames roared and writhed as though a second sun had been born upon the earth.
The corpses of the surrounding demons melted away like snow. Their blood evaporated in an instant, leaving nothing behind but bone. And at the heart of that inferno stood Athena herself.
She felt her flesh burning. The pain was real—and yet it did not torment her in the slightest. The agony of Hera resenting her had hurt far, far worse than this.
When she gripped the sword she had planted in the ground once more, scorching heat surged into the blade, and golden flames cloaked its edge.
Sensing that something about Athena's presence had shifted, the Demon King wiped the hearty laughter from her face and fixed her with a hard stare.
"…That power is dangerous."
Ignoring the wariness in those eyes, Athena tightened her grip.
"Sorry. I'm short on time."
There was none left to waste. Even now, her life was burning away in the flames, vanishing second by second.
She swung her sword in a great arc and unleashed the strike at the Demon King. A colossal blade of sword aura tore through the air toward her. The Demon King raised her hand exactly as before, intending to stop it—
— Shhk.
Her arm was severed with almost casual ease.
"You little…"
The Demon King glared at her with eyes that boiled with murderous light. She glanced once at the severed limb—and in the next instant, flesh regenerated and her arm was whole again.
Athena had expected as much. Still, watching it heal so effortlessly was enough to make her strength flag, if only a little. No point showing it, though.
She smiled calmly, leveled her blade, and spoke.
"Impressive. Shall we see if your neck can regenerate too?"
"…Very well. Struggle all you like."
Without a moment's hesitation, Athena kicked off the ground and charged. After that, no further words were exchanged. Throughout the castle, there was only the sound of flesh and bone being torn apart.
How much time had passed since then?
The Demon King's Castle, which had once radiated such magnificent and overwhelming grandeur, now lay so thoroughly destroyed that scarcely a trace of its former majesty remained—nothing but rubble and ruin.
And among those ruins, Athena stood gasping for breath as she faced the Demon King.
"…Remarkable. I can scarcely believe it."
The Demon King spoke while regenerating her severed arms and legs once more. She, too, seemed to have reached the end of her stamina; exhaustion lined her face as she drew ragged breaths.
"Cough…"
Athena spat a mouthful of blood onto the ground. She no longer had the strength even to hold her sword. The moment she let go, the blade crumbled into dust and scattered into the empty air.
With nothing left to brace herself against, she collapsed face-first onto the floor with a heavy thud.
"…It isn't regenerating completely. I won't be able to do anything for a while."
The Demon King looked down at her own arm—only half restored—and clicked her tongue sharply before continuing.
"…Frustrating as it is, you win. Without the Demon God's power, it would be me lying here instead."
"…"
"Enemy though you are, you have earned my respect. Have you any last words?"
"…Last… words…"
At the offer to hear her final testament, Athena thought carefully. But the only thing that rose in her mind was the image of Hera smiling at her so brightly, so purely.
Even as her life guttered out, her head was full of nothing but that girl. The absurdity of it drew a faint, misplaced laugh from her lips.
"Kill me."
She said it without a shred of lingering attachment. The Demon King gave a solemn nod, as though granting her that much dignity.
"So be it."
Athena let out a single breath. Then she turned her gaze upward, through the shattered ceiling, to the pitch-black sky beyond, and waited for death.
"It looks like Hera's hair…"
The night sky, dark as ink, brought her to mind without effort. What was Hera doing now? She had probably reached the Empire by this time. She hoped the girl would live there without pain—happily.
"Cough…"
A wave of nausea rose from her throat. She coughed, and blood surged from her mouth once more. She could feel the flame of her life snuffing out, one spark at a time. Her body grew colder. Her eyelids grew heavier.
…So this is death.
It was all right. She had steeled herself for this long ago—more than enough. That was why she felt no fear at all. If anything, her heart was at peace. She could rest now. She could feel the approach of true repose.
From somewhere beyond, a voice called her name. Hearing that beautiful voice, a smile rose naturally to her face.
Hera.
I love you.
And I'm sorry.
You're so beautiful and so lovely that no matter where you go, people will love you. Forget someone like me as quickly as you can—and be happy.
She offered that final farewell and quietly closed her eyes.
Athena.
From the other side, Hera called her name once more. As if urging her to hurry across, she kept calling and calling. And that voice—no matter how many times Athena heard it—was the most beautiful melody in the world.
— I love you, Hera.
Holding that voice deep within her heart, the hero slowly slipped into sleep.
Athena.
Athena.
.
.
.
.
.
.
"Athena!!!!!!"
Crack—
A sudden, massive impact struck her cheek, snapping her head hard to the side. Her consciousness, which had been sinking deep into the swamp of death, surged back to the surface in an instant. Her eyes flew open.
"Wh… what…"
Confusion flooded her—and then she saw the girl standing before her. Eyes rimmed red, tears streaming down her face as she cried out Athena's name. The one she had longed for so desperately. The one she had wanted to see more than anything in the world. The most precious, most beloved person alive.
"…He…ra?"