Final Battle: The Hero's Sword Reaches the Blackened Sky (1)
Regrettably. Truly regrettably, no one heard the hero Emilia's desperate wish, and the fallen black knight did not flee.
From the gaps in his slashed and shattered black armor, he billowed thick black mist as he approached his beloved wyrm waiting behind him—and caressed it. The gesture was gentle, affectionate, like petting one's own cherished pet. But in this situation, there was no way this black knight would show such fondness.
As if to remind everyone of that fact, the chunks of flesh that had formed the corpse wyrm suddenly began melting away at a rapid pace.
“?!”
Emilia's eyes widened at the sight, and those watching from a distance swallowed hard, staring in stunned silence.
『―――――――――――!!!』
The corpse wyrm let out a deafening roar. But it didn't seem born of pain. If anything, it resembled ecstasy.
With that cry, the massive beast lurched upright and turned its body. Its gaze fixed on the shattered balcony the knight had invaded moments before.
Thud… Thud… Crumble-crunch!
Even as its body melted, the corpse wyrm smashed through walls and snapped pillars with its bulk, charging toward the balcony before leaping into the air.
The pitch-black night sky raged with storm and rain. Against that backdrop, the half-melted dragon flapped its wings and took flight. Its wings were in no shape to fly, yet the colossal form hovered—likely due to some sorcerous power.
More importantly, the flesh that had seemed merely to dissolve was transforming entirely into dense black mist.
The watching nobles and knights cheered. The terrifying dragon was fleeing—they were safe. They rejoiced with genuine relief.
But Emilia, peering up through the collapsed ceiling toward the ruined balcony, tracked the beast's every move with her hero's sharpened sight. She clearly saw the dragon—now turning to bone—hovering and wheeling in midair.
—That's not running away.
—That's… probably…
『I… can no longer… endure…』
Emilia whipped her head around. At the spot where the dragon had been, the black knight still stood in a daze. Even the unscathed parts of his armor were dissolving into black mist, the plate vanishing bit by bit.
“…What are you?”
“—What the hell are you trying to do?!”
Emilia stood firm on trembling legs, bellowing her fury. Sensing something ominous, the festive nobles and knights fell silent once more, turning their attention back to her.
And the black knight answered Emilia's shout in a hollow tone.
『To recover… I gave… the last of my remaining strength… along with my command…』
『Destroy… this place…』
『Unleash all your power… obliterate this place…』
『The castle… the village below… everything…』
『As many living souls as possible… alongside the hero…』
『The vermin… my Demon King despises… you lot… as many as possible…』
『Sacrifice your life… to annihilate them… That is my command…』
『……If you can stop it… then try, hero…』
『If not… die here… for the glory of my Demon King… ah…』
Half the black knight's armor had already vanished. The greatsword he'd wielded stood vertically stabbed into the ground beside him, gradually turning to black mist as well.
He was no longer a threat, no longer worth minding.
The real danger—the true thing to fear—was that dragon above.
“Ngh…!”
Emilia whipped her unresponsive body into motion and staggered out onto the balcony. In the heart of the storm-ravaged night sky loomed a darkness even thicker than the roiling clouds.
The dragon was now pure bone—a skeletal dragon, no longer a corpse wyrm. At its core, something pulsed with red light.
That was the undead dragon's nucleus. Unlike the black knight, who had been sealed away, this was the Dragon Heart it had carried since its prime—an immortal dragon's own heart. Mana steeped in destruction and death, refined to high purity and compressed, now prepared to expend itself in a single burst.
The corrupted flesh that had sustained it as a corpse wyrm had become black mist, forming the barrel for its next strike. With the bony body as base, the mist as barrel, it would fire the heart's mana in one shot.
The dragon had no lungs, but the principle was no different from the ultimate breath weapon of legendary dragons in tales.
【Dragon Breath】.
Depending on the dragon's size, it could annihilate a small kingdom—a true strongest, most catastrophic disaster.
And it was about to unleash right here. Engulfing the palace, the hero Emilia, the nobles and knights who hadn't escaped in time. And that wouldn't be enough—it would surely reach the village below, erasing a chunk of the kingdom entirely.
That horrifying strike, that apocalyptic calamity… was now priming in the sky above.
……The situation spiraled toward the worst possible outcome.
* * *
What… do I do?
Emilia's left hand still burned hot, as if resonating with a persistent hum.
But that was all. She stood dazed, helpless, staring up at the impending doom.
—If only I had my holy sword.
The mithril blade from the palace armory was excellent. It had withstood her power to some degree and let her push the black knight back.
But only that far. Its limits were clear—it couldn't break the current crisis.
The Dragon Breath priming in the distance. Even a tenth of that mana would reduce her to scattered dust in an instant.
Even with her holy sword, could she block it? Battered as she was, against this final surge amplified by the black knight's last power… she doubted it.
Impossible.
Admit it cleanly. Impossible.
No moves left. She'd die here.
The 【Hero's Blessing】 buzzed insistently, urging her to do something… but impossible was impossible.
Not every past hero succeeded. Even heroes died when it was their time.
…Guess I'll be the last hero, for real.
If I die here, it's all over.
Would the 【Hero's Blessing】 vanish forever with her death? Regrettable, but nothing to be done.
Her final wish: I hope this takes out Count Melrn too.
If the count happened to be in the breath's path toward the palace and got swallowed up with her, dying wouldn't feel quite so unfair.
“My love, muttering that in a moment like this isn't very elegant.”
“?!”
Emilia whipped around at the utterly unwelcome voice.
Right behind her stood Count Melrn, somehow right at her side. Sweat beaded his forehead— he'd run hard—but he looked unharmed.
“……Thought you'd run away.”
“I'd never abandon my love. Impressed yet?”
“If you were a halfway decent man, maybe I'd be tempted. You piece-of-shit rapist scum who treats women like trash.”
“Even now, your words turn so rough, my love. But that's part of your charm.”
He still spouted that nauseating drivel. No matter how passionately he professed love, she'd never feel a thing for this creep.
Still, perfect timing.
At the very last moment, her final wish had reached the heavens. The count was here, by her side.
Even if she died, this Demon King-worshipping trash—the kingdom's blight—would die with her.
She didn't know what had become of Mine Hwangnyeo, who'd surely come with him, but… no time to worry about others now.
Maybe grab his hand so he can't escape. Last service.
Thinking that, she reached out to grip the hand of the loathsome, detestable Count Melrn—
But instead of his hand, he placed the sword hilt in her grasp.
“Huh?”
What the count handed Emilia was a massive jet-black greatsword, from blade to pommel.
It was the black knight's—the one she'd just fought.
Glancing over, the knight's armor had fully dissolved, leaving only corpse-like remnants. The greatsword that should have been stabbed beside him was gone.
This in her hand was that greatsword.
A moment ago, it was turning to mist…
“I sustained it with my mana. Mona taught me how—I managed somehow. …It'll hold for a while, my love.”
As the count spoke, he touched Emilia's forehead. Faint light flowed from his fingertips, sinking into her skin and spreading through her body. Her lower abdomen's yin pattern glowed faintly beneath her clothes.
With it, Emilia felt her body—pushed to its limits—recover at a startling speed.
A super-recovery technique via mana infusion, usable only on subordinates under one's dominion. Possible only for Mona, who dominated Emilia, and the count as Mona's contractor—their unique healing art.
Originally a Demon King's power, but the count, having consumed the Maou's Egg, could wield it partially.
“……”
Emilia stared up at him in bewilderment. He flashed that punchable smile and said,
“What do you think, Emilia? If it's my beloved, the one I believe in, surely with this much help, you can handle that much, right?”
“You can do it, can't you… Hero?”
At his taunting words, Emilia could only laugh in disbelief.