Chapter 54
Chapter 54
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 54
Chapter Title: The Saint's True Heart
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Victoria felt an emotion welling up from the depths of her heart as she looked at Astal lying collapsed.
A feeling named regret, arriving with a sensation that made one side of her chest feel heavy and numb, aching cold as if bruised.
"Wake up... You're not the kind of person to lie down here like this..."
Victoria kept holding Astal, uttering words that received no answer with vacant eyes.
It hurt so much.
Despite having experienced many things while traveling through the Demon Realm, this time it hurt as if someone were carving her heart out with a knife.
Why was this happening?
She felt breathless, a pain as if someone were gripping her heart with their hand and squeezing it.
Because she learned of the sad past of the man named Astal? Because he wandered through a dream within a dream yet saved her and lost consciousness?
Victoria's mind thrashed about, trying to find a reason for this pain. Because she desperately didn't want to believe the scene unfolding before her eyes.
'At least I shouldn't have uttered those harsh words... I should have honestly confessed my feelings of liking him...'
Even when she pressed her ear close to Astal's heart, she couldn't feel a beating pulse.
A quiet silence.
The fact that the heart of the one she loved had stopped made both her fingertips and pupils tremble.
"Hahaha! See, who told you to have the stupid idea of facing the Succubus Queen in a dream?!"
"......"
Bellamora watched the scene, baring her teeth and laughing. From the start, her values regarding love were twisted and distorted.
"Ah... Actually, my dream was to die by the hand of the one I love, and it really came true... Don't you think dying together like this, at the same moment, is quite romantic?"
Bellamora was touching the wound Astal had left as if lovingly, her cheeks flushing.
Even in that fleeting instant, he had chosen the most efficient method to kill her.
"To instantly throw the Coresword and destroy my heart...! Just how formidable is your mental fortitude?"
The Coresword imbued with Victoria's Divine Power. The weapon that inflicted a fatal wound on Bellamora, who existed in reality beyond the dream's boundary, had been at the cost of Astal's life.
That Astal was now unconscious and collapsed, his heart stopped, was the backlash for that.
"Haaa... As expected, you're the best. Astal. So a stab from the one you love is this thrilling and hot."
Even knowing that fact, Bellamora showed no intention of saving Astal; instead, she was excited by the fact that she would die with him.
With a seductive voice and the blush on her flushed cheeks, she wore an ecstatic smile, finding joy simply in the blood dripping from where her heart should be.
"...You crazy bitch."
Victoria bit her lower lip and spat a curse at Bellamora. It was the first time in her life as a Saint that she had sincerely uttered such vulgar language.
Victoria found Bellamora disgusting. How could she utter the word 'pure love' while loving in such a form?
The pure love Victoria thought of was something for which one could even stake their life for the loved one. Yet, one should avoid causing injury or harm to that person as much as possible.
"Hah! Yes, that's what love was to me."
In Bellamora's case, for the sake of her love, she would use any means and methods without discrimination. She didn't hesitate to torment the other to the point of death or threaten them with their past as hostage.
Bellamora knew that too, so she readily laughed and retorted in response to Victoria's condemnation. To her, love was indeed madness.
"What a pity. If only I had known Sir Astal a little earlier, maybe I, not some vulgar Saint with nothing but her chest to flaunt, would have been by his side..."
Bellamora let out a deep sigh, recalling the story the Demon King had told before.
The order to go to some rural village where the hero who would kill her would be born and kill all life there.
A thought blossomed in her mind: what if she, not Dullaham, had been the one to carry out the village assault?
"How dare you say such nonsense while you've tormented Sir Astal like this?!"
"And you too demeaned and disparaged Sir Astal's character while hiding your true feelings, didn't you? Aren't we about the same?"
Feeling the spark of life slowly fading, Bellamora spoke to Victoria with an attitude of not wanting to lose even once.
For the sole reason of having the person she liked taken away, she envied Victoria immensely.
"...I am not like you."
Looking at Bellamora like that, Victoria clasped Astal's hand with both of hers and offered a prayer. She thought that for his sake, she would die tomorrow if need be.
Even if her entire body were to turn into flowers, she wanted the man she loved not to die.
"Because I... am a woman who sincerely loves Sir Astal."
Victoria poured out all her remaining Divine Power and miracles, striving to make Astal's heart, which had already stopped, beat again.
In the process where even her fingers and remaining body parts were transforming into beautiful flowers, Victoria silently used miracles without letting out even a small scream.
Because if she showed even a little pain, it felt like Astal's life, which she was barely holding onto, would slip away.
Because if she showed even a hint of suffering, it felt like he would be sad.
Because the sensation of her heart tearing and freezing felt more painful than the pain felt in her body.
"...So please, don't die before me."
Victoria murmured softly while looking at Astal. It was the first moment she had spoken of her love for him with her true heart, not just her inner thoughts.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ The Hero Kyle was the first to rush toward Bellamora, swinging his flame Holy Sword to finish her off.
Because he, more than anyone, had immediately sensed the danger of this situation where Astal was collapsed and Victoria was holding him and crying.
"My, such a fiery man isn't really my type."
"I knew you were trash, but I didn't know you'd make Astal die..."
Kyle gritted his teeth, raising his voice at Bellamora, who had blocked his Holy Sword with a single finger.
Right now, Astal's Coresword was embedded far away in the outer wall. If they didn't retrieve that, no matter how many miracles they poured out, he would find it hard to sustain his life.
"...No matter how much I love someone, I am one of the Four Heavenly Kings serving the Demon King!"
Bellamora listened to Kyle's curse and twisted her lips upward wildly. Because even though her life was now like a candle before the wind, destined to be snuffed out soon, she was so immensely joyful.
"You all will never be able to defeat the Demon King. Because He is a god-like being who has mastered everything."
Bellamora recalled the Demon King Ergothum. Even the heroes, evaluated as the strongest, had failed to handle Him. A being with multiple arms and reality-manipulation abilities.
The hero party that judged they could defeat such a Demon King seemed to Bellamora similar to moths flying into flames.
"Even if you survive here, ultimately, the Demon King will claim Sir Astal's life."
Bellamora covered the area where her heart should be with her remaining hand. It resembled the action of someone placing a hand over their chest to feel their heartbeat.
"...That's why I'll be waiting for Sir Astal ahead at the threshold of hell. Because I'll be able to win him over before that disgusting Saint!"
Bellamora knew there was an afterlife. Because it was one of the secrets the gods who created this world had hidden.
The reason why the gods called the Constellations could do nothing even as the Demon King ran rampant, and instead chose pawns like heroes or saints to handle it, also fell into that category.
"Because that's the love I think of!"
"What a horrifying thing to say."
"If that's not possible, then I can just reincarnate and aim to be the child of Sir Astal born from between that disgusting Saint's legs!"
Even while dying due to the fatal wound Astal had inflicted, Bellamora showed her characteristic composure. She simply found the existence of humans living unaware of such secrets endlessly amusing.
"That will absolutely never happen. Because I will personally drag you down to the deepest pits of hell."
"How scary. If you can, try i—"
Fwoooosh!
Bellamora's words were drowned out by the tremendous roar that arose in that instant. Because a massive meteor shower of flames had flown in from afar.
"You trash bitch!!"
An attack Anima launched at Bellamora using the Flame Spirit King and the Earth Spirit King. She no longer wanted to see her friend and comrade Victoria crying.
Although she had usually doubted Astal and Victoria's relationship, seeing the mage collapsed and the Saint embracing him and crying, her entire body wounded, made it clear they had tried to protect each other.
"...Thanks to that, I retrieved the Coresword. Thank you for creating an opening, Anima, Kyle."
And not missing that opening, the archer Taryon brought the Coresword embedded in the wall to Astal's side.
Like pouring water into a bottomless jar, Victoria continued using miracles on Astal, whose heart remained stopped. Seeing the Coresword, she let out a sigh with a voice that had grown hoarse.
"Ah, ah... Thank you... Thank you... Taryon..."
Victoria's appearance, having already transformed most of her body into flowers from overusing miracles. Yet, she shed tears of joy at the thought that she could save the person she loved.
Because originally, what even miracles couldn't revive was a dead person.
"...You are an existence that should not exist in this world. Bellamora."
Schlik—
Confirming that Victoria and Astal's safety was secured, Kyle finally mustered all the strength in his body and took action, severing Bellamora's steel-like neck.
Already mortally wounded by Astal, Bellamora, unable to use magic or illusion dreams even if she tried to resist, closed her eyes as she sensed her end.
"What a pity. If I had just a little more time, I could have truly experienced love..."
Bellamora showed a final, candid smile and laughed. Her expression showed no trace of any regret or remorse.
"That's not love, just a horrible obsession."
Kyle looked at Bellamora with a contemptuous gaze and took action, crushing her remaining skull.