An Ill-Fated Bond Never Ends
Ah.
.....Thank god.
I'm so glad.
"....Hera?"
Athena stared at me with a dazed expression. She looked as if she were trapped inside a dream; then she shut her eyes and let out a long breath.
"....There's no way. Am I in the afterlife?"
Crack—
That ridiculous nonsense set my blood boiling. I swung my hand again.
Slap—!
I struck her other cheek just as hard, leaving the red imprint of my palm burning on both sides of her face.
Athena lifted a hand to her stinging cheek, looked up at me, and let out a short, incredulous laugh.
"......So I can even feel pain. How curious."
"Hey!!! That's enough!!"
Only after I seized her by the collar and shook her hard did reality seem to start sinking in. Athena's eyes narrowed.
"......Hera?"
"Would you please just snap out of it already!!"
BOOOOM!!!
A tremendous crash exploded behind us. I whipped my head toward the sound and saw the Sword Saint hurtling through the air as if he were about to be driven straight into the ground. At the last instant he spun once, planted both feet, and landed safely.
He shot Athena a quick glance, then broke into a hearty laugh and gripped his sword again.
"Haha!! My friend. Glad to see you're still in one piece."
Athena stared at him blankly.
"...Carlos?"
"If you've come to your senses, we'd best hurry. I don't think I can hold that monster off much longer."
Of course—it had to be the Demon King.
Carlos was in no condition to keep fighting. Small wounds already mottled his body, and exhaustion sat heavy on his sweat-streaked face.
"You little rat... you're starting to irritate me."
That chilling voice came from the Demon King herself as she advanced on us, her temper clearly frayed. With every step she took, an overwhelming wave of terror pressed down harder on everything around her.
"All speed and nothing else.... Hm?"
The Demon King paused and looked at us—no. More precisely, she looked past me, to where Alina and Sepheer stood behind me. Her face twisted sharply.
"Sepheer.... What are you doing over there?"
"Hyaaaaah?!!!!"
Sepheer jumped like a startled frog at the murderous edge in the Demon King's voice.
"Y-Y-Y-Your Majesty.. th-th-th-that's not—"
Her eyes darted wildly from side to side, unable to settle.
"Enough. Traitors simply die."
When the Demon King took another step forward, Sepheer scrambled behind me and screamed.
"Eeeeeek!!!! P-P-Please spare me!!!"
Trembling like a leaf, she flung out her hands—and a massive dimensional gate bloomed open behind us.
"Hera!! W-W-We have to r-run—!!"
"Where do you think you're going."
Before Sepheer could finish, the Demon King unfurled enormous wings, kicked off the ground, and shot toward us. But before she could reach us, the Sword Saint stepped into her path.
He took his sword in hand, closed his eyes for a brief moment of concentration—then swept the blade through empty air in a rapid flurry of cuts.
"Pointless—.. Hm?"
Naturally, since he had only cut empty space, nothing happened. The Demon King stopped short and stared at him with an expression of pure disbelief.
"Have you lost your mind? What a clownish little performance."
She smirked. The Sword Saint slid his blade smoothly back into its scabbard and answered with a booming laugh of his own.
"Even the Demon King couldn't perceive it. Seems my training wasn't wasted after all."
"...What are you—"
Shhhhk-shhk-shhk—!
In an instant, countless sword strikes that should have been nothing more than empty cuts through the air materialized and carved into the Demon King. She threw both arms up to shield her face and took every last blow.
"You... You can manipulate space."
"Take Athena and run. I'll be right behind you."
With that, the Sword Saint charged straight at the Demon King.
"What?! But....!"
"Hurry! I won't last long!"
He was already swinging at the Demon King again. While I stood there still trying to process everything—
"Hera. We're leaving."
—Athena, somehow fully healed and looking almost whole again, scooped me up into her arms.
"What?! But the Sword Saint..!"
"Don't worry. He knows what he's doing."
Athena shifted her gaze to Mari.
"Brat. When I give the signal, hit the Demon King with light-attribute magic."
Mari's face crumpled with reluctance, but in the end she grudgingly agreed.
".....Fine."
"We're going. Sepheer, you first."
"O-O-Okay!! You better come quick...?"
Sepheer was still so rattled she couldn't stop stuttering. The moment she threw herself through the dimensional gate, Athena kicked off the ground and sprinted after her.
"You think I'll just let you escape!!"
Dodging the Sword Saint's assault, the Demon King thrust a hand toward us. Black thorns the color of pure darkness came raining down.
"Now."
Athena gave the signal.
"Got it."
Mari chanted—and a colossal pillar of light streaked toward the Demon King.
"Lucete."
Athena opened one palm and murmured the name. Particles of light gathered in her hand, shaping themselves into a sword. Without a second's hesitation she hurled it toward the Sword Saint.
"Carlos! Catch!"
BOOOOM—!!
Mari's magic collided with the Demon King's. A massive shockwave blasted outward in every direction. Through that chaos, Athena's sword flew true.
"Hm!"
The moment the Sword Saint caught it, his body flared with light—and vanished.
"We're out."
Confirming he was gone, Athena crossed the rest of the way through the dimensional gate. The instant Sepheer saw that everyone had made it safely through, she slammed the gate shut without a heartbeat's delay.
And in that slowly sealing rift, all that remained were the Demon King's blazing crimson eyes, locked on me alone.
Click—
"What the hell were you doing there!!!"
Athena rounded on me with her eyes wide, her voice rising into a furious shout.
"Do you have any idea how dangerous the Demon Realm is?! What on earth were you thinking, Hera!!"
I just stood there, stunned speechless. Athena swung her glare onto Mari and snarled.
"Mari. Why didn't you stop her? If anything had happened to Hera—even the slightest thing—do you not understand that every bit of it would have been on you?"
"...."
Mari stared at her with pure disbelief written across her face.
"If you're a dragon, then act like one and use some judgment."
That was it.
I couldn't take another second of this.
"If it had been me—"
"Would you just shut up already..!!"
I hooked her leg and shoved her hard. Athena, who hadn't bothered to resist, toppled straight onto the ground. Without hesitation I climbed on top of her, pinning her so she couldn't move.
"You bastard.."
"....Hera."
Athena looked up at me with a subdued expression.
"You bitch...! You selfish bitch..!"
Everything I had been holding down—every choked, piled-up feeling—came pouring out of me at once. Under the force of my shouting, Athena's eyes began to shake violently.
"You're mad at me..? Have you lost your mind..?! Why would you crawl into a place like that just to die...!!"
"..Hera.."
"If you were going to throw me away like that, the least you could do was stay alive and be okay!! Who gave you permission to try and kill yourself?!!"
Athena floundered for a moment. Then she squeezed her eyes shut and looked up at me with a wretched, sorrowful face.
"I didn't throw you away. I did it for you—"
"Don't give me that bullshit!!"
My eyes burned; my voice started to tremble.
"You did it for me...? Don't you dare say something that stupid.. Did you honestly think I'd be happy if you died..?"
"....."
"If you had really cared about me... you wouldn't have run. You would have stayed and apologized until the very end."
At that, her pupils shuddered hard.
"Why is it that from start to finish, you never think about anyone but yourself..?"
".....Apologize..?"
Grit—
Athena looked up at me, her face twisted with everything she had been holding back, and finally shouted.
"I wanted to apologize too! I wanted to beg and beg until you forgave me! But you were dying a little more every single day—what the hell was I supposed to do?!"
"....."
"I stayed up night after night, thought it through thousands of times, and in the end the only way left was to let you go. Because you... hated me enough to want to die."
....She wasn't wrong.
Just as Athena said, I hadn't had the courage anywhere in me to accept her apology. If she hadn't let me go, our relationship probably would have collapsed all the way to the end.
But.
Even so.
Trying to kill herself like this—that, I could never forgive.
Athena studied my silent face for a moment, then kept going.
"....I want to be with you again too. I want to love you again. I want to—"
"Athena."
I cut her off. She looked up at me, bewildered.
"We can never go back."
".....I know."
Her eyes trembled once—then sank into darkness.
Yes.
Our relationship could never return to what it had been. It had already shattered past the point of repair.
But I wasn't going to let it end here either.
Ill-fated bond or not—I wasn't running anymore.
Having made up my mind, I seized her collar in a hard grip.
"Athena. I hate you so much for forcing me apart from the people I love."
"....."
"I despise you enough to want you dead for dragging me all the way down to rock bottom."
".....I—"
With every word, her eyes squeezed tighter shut.
"You gave me this enormous wound and then tried to run away on your own terms. I find that disgusting."
"....Fine."
Athena looked up at me with a face emptied of hope, as if she had already given up. I watched her for a long moment.
"I hate you. I resent you. Do you have any idea how much I've suffered because of you..?"
"I'm sorry. From now on I'll stay out of your sight and—"
"I'm going to take revenge."
"....What?"
Athena's eyes flew wide, as if she had heard something she never expected.
"I'm going to take revenge. Everything you did to me..! I'm going to give it all back."
".....What does that even—"
"Every wound. Every scrap of self-loathing I was left with. I'm going to return all of it to you."
Yes.
Our relationship could never be restored.
But at the same time, there was no running from it either.
In that case—
All that was left was to keep this ill-fated bond going.
"So please, Athena."
"This time—become my slave."