Side Story: Someday, I Wish to Stay by Your Side (2)
After hearing Bernoa's story, Eldacrad spoke with a grave expression.
"So Seto treats that thing as the Demon King."
"Yes."
If Seto had created the Demon King, then Seto might well be the power behind it.
"The Demon King appears differently to each person — as whatever form they desire. Is that it?"
"He did show himself a few times during the wars, and that was almost certainly Seto's handiwork. But the Demon King I faced myself, the one I watched for decades, was never a figure who commanded the demon armies."
Then there was no real need to strain so hard to kill the Demon King himself.
In the end, the true problem was the presence behind him: Seto.
If they could just take Seto, the Demon King would effectively be finished as well.
But before that—
Eldacrad glanced at the Saint.
Her confession had certainly been unexpected. Had it really run that deep?
Deep enough that she would choose the Demon King — that monstrous beast?
"I never knew you cared for me that much."
"No. Looking back, I think it was only obsession."
Yes. That was possible too. And yet Eldacrad could not deny that he himself had been at fault.
He had failed to notice the change stirring in the Saint's heart.
If he had truly meant to draw a line, he should have kept their relationship from the start as nothing more and nothing less than that of lord and Saint. Instead, their friendship had deepened without need.
The cause lies with me as well.
He already had a fiancée, and still he had been careless around another woman. That, too, was his sin.
"We'll set that talk aside for later. So the Demon King himself is meaningless."
"Yes. Which means—"
"Which means this time, I must make the choice myself."
"Pardon?"
"In place of you, I will kill Seto."
If Seto had been behind that long, grinding tale of the Demon King all along, then when Eldacrad raised his army, Seto was the one he had to seize.
After all, this was the man who had used the Saint to kill him once before.
"Seto is someone even I never truly understood over those decades. Killing him may prove difficult."
That didn't matter.
This was Seto, who had toyed with humanity for ages.
If nothing else, Eldacrad at least had to break that arrogant nose of his.
One thing was certain: because of this affair, Saint Bernoa would become a sinner of history.
He could not simply leave her to that fate.
"For now, you will stay out of this campaign."
"What?"
At Eldacrad's words, Bernoa tilted her head as if she could not grasp his meaning.
Was there any need for her to look so startled?
"Exactly what I said. If what you've told me is true, then it's too dangerous. Besides, our soldiers are strong now. We've grown powerful enough through your help all this time."
She fretted far too much.
Death was simply what happened on a battlefield.
He could always treat the wounded after the fighting was done. He never understood why she insisted on riding into the fray herself.
Perhaps it was because he had treated her too casually for a Saint.
"But I—"
"Do as I say. It will be better that way."
They could not afford to dance in the palm of Seto's hand.
Bernoa decided, for the moment, to obey Eldacrad's command.
After all, no one could say how the future would unfold from here.
"Then perhaps, my lord, when Seto tries to abduct me, you could seize him then—"
"The risk is far too great."
Seto's mobility could not be ignored.
He struck from the sky with his gargoyle corps.
If he truly meant to snatch Bernoa and flee, could Eldacrad even stop him?
Better, then, a full frontal war — hard as it might be.
Something that would break the momentum of Seto and the demonkin alike.
"Even so… can it really be done?"
Having returned through time, Bernoa could not help but worry.
Could simply speaking of it truly change the future?
She could certainly prevent her own fall. She knew enough now to stop that.
Even if Seto dragged her away, she was ready to stake her life on landing a single blow against the Demon King.
Perhaps she could aim for that?
No. If that's the case, I might be able to use this the other way around.
Just as Bernoa steeled herself for whatever came next, Eldacrad began mustering his forces around Crad Castle.
"What is this sudden talk, my lord? An advance all the way to the Demon King's castle?"
"Exactly what it sounds like. If not now, when will humanity ever push so deep into the Demon Realm again?"
"That is true, but—"
At present, the only one of the Four Heavenly Kings active in the Demon Realm was Seto, at most.
The other Heavenly Kings were confident that humans would never reach their domain. This was the chance.
Eldacrad sent Bernoa in secret to the Ashtar Territory.
And he himself led his army across into the Demon Realm.
The Saint's carriage slipped away toward Ashtar under cover of night, in complete secrecy.
"My lady Saint, we will reach the Ashtar Territory shortly… My lady? This is terrible! The Saint is gone!"
The carriage continued on to Ashtar. But Saint Bernoa had leapt from it and was already making for the Demon Realm.
If that is my lord's decision, then I must follow it. Of course I mean to help him catch Seto. But I cannot simply sit still and do nothing.
She was a body that had already betrayed him once.
If so, then she would stake her life and play along with Seto one more time.
Bernoa clenched the rosary hanging at her throat.
"Goddess. If you returned me through time and gave me this chance, then please, just once more, lend me your aid. I wish to offer my life to help my lord."
She would capture Seto and make Eldacrad a hero of humanity.
She had already come a long way from the Ashtar Territory, heading back toward the Demon Realm where the Demon King's domain lay — and it was so far.
Had she left from a greater distance than she had thought?
At this rate, things could diverge greatly from the original history.
She hurried on with that thought, and then a figure appeared among the trees.
"So this is where you were wandering."
"You… Seto?"
It was Seto. He stepped into view with a vile smile on his face.
Just as she had expected.
"Keh-keh-keh. There is someone who wishes to see you. Come along quietly."
So that was it. The fate of meeting Seto had not changed.
In its own way, that was a relief.
The Demon King's Castle
"Well? How does it feel to be betrayed by Eldacrad?"
So this was where it began.
Good. Perfect.
This foolish man who thought he had reeled her in would take a blow of his own later.
"Betrayed? What are you talking about?"
"Exactly what I said. For all those sweet words of love he whispered, he cast you aside in the end."
"He didn't cast me aside! I was the one who approached him! I was the vulgar one — I went to him even though he had a fiancée!"
The conversation from her dream unfolded word for word.
Bernoa answered exactly as she had in the dream, and Seto, as if reciting a part, delivered the same lines.
Then it was possible.
This was the chance the Goddess had given her.
"The true lord who will love you, who will become your everything, who will be your light — is His Majesty the Demon King."
This was the dangerous part.
If something went wrong with the Demon King because of what she knew of the future, she was prepared to blow herself apart right here on the spot.
"My beloved Bernoa."
Good. It was going well.
For reasons she could not explain, the Demon King too was reacting exactly as he had in the dream.
She felt nothing. With her present strength of will, she could endure anything.
"From this day, you are the Fallen Saint Berna. Now then — time is plentiful. Wipe out the humans of the lands the Ashtar army has liberated, and kill that false lord. Free me of this worry."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
Was the Demon King truly moving by Seto's will? Or could he simply not see into her heart? Or was the Goddess shielding her?
She could not know which. But she had the power in her hands now.
"As if I would kill them."
In a complete reversal of the future she remembered, Bernoa hid the people of the villages she was supposed to overrun, and used her new power to gather wild demonkin into an army of her own.
Then she met with Seto again.
She still had to play the part of a Heavenly King, after all.
"Keh-keh-keh. Looking fine. You've become quite the proper Heavenly King."
"So how do you plan to take the false lord?"
The false lord. Even speaking the words made her heart feel as if it would tear itself apart.
But this was the only answer for now.
"First we will lure him to the gates of the Demon King's castle. Then, before those walls, your forces and the corrupted soldiers of Ashtar will strike Eldacrad's army from the rear, while I ambush from the sky and the forest."
"A strategy worthy of you. Fine. But—"
Just as in the dream, Bernoa cooperated with Seto.
Seto would never know what lay beneath.
Well then. From here, it began.
"My lord! My lord!"
Bernoa raced back into the Demon Realm in desperate haste.
She had to tell Eldacrad at once.
"What happened, Bernoa? That appearance of yours—"
Eldacrad was struck speechless by the sight of Bernoa riding hard toward him.
Her hair had turned ash-gray. Her eyes were red.
He had only heard of it in words. Could it truly be real?
"I let myself be captured by Seto on purpose."
She said no more than that.
Only that Seto had taken her, and that this was the result.
She had already told him the contents of the dream. He would understand what this form meant.
For a long moment Eldacrad stared at her, and then his eyes twisted with pain.
How had she come to this?
"Don't tell me you… as in the dream — no, as in the future you saw—"
"It's different. I engineered the situation myself. The same as in the dream."
At least for now, she had full control of her power, and her mind was clear.
If she wished it, she could even restore her appearance to that of the Saint.
She would not create the worst outcome she had seen in the dream.
"Then—"
"This is the region where Seto's army and the ambush will strike. I will make it look as though I am luring you all the way to the Demon King's castle."
Yes. They would follow the path of the original future.
"And after that, we simply turn the tables and catch Seto instead."
"Yes. Exactly."
Somehow, they would create a place where Seto could be taken.
This time, they had to deal a blow so severe that neither the Demon King nor the Heavenly Kings could rise again.
"Even so… how could you—"
"My lord?"
Why did he wear such a sorrowful face?
Why that lonely look?
"How could a woman who is a Saint walk alone into a place so dark and foul?"
"No, I—"
"And if the plan had failed? You might have died. How could you—"
Eldacrad — the lord she followed — had tears gathering in his eyes.
"Even if only in a dream, I am the one who betrayed you, my lord. Calling someone like me a Saint is absurd. Right now I am nothing more than a woman who loves you — who wants only to help the man she loves."
She was no Saint.
Through her encounter with Seto, she had become certain that this was truly a regression through time.
She had fallen to Seto and the Demon King. She had been steeped in evil.
She had offered her body and soul to the Demon King.
This time was a little different — but that fact remained unchanged.
How could such a person be called a Saint?
I am no Saint.