Noble Sacrifice

The Demon King's chamber was drenched in pitch-black darkness on all sides. "Kuhk!" A man in the center coughed up a clump of blood. His blood spilled across the black earth in thick, viscous streams, the same inky black as the ground itself. I didn't react with surprise. I'd known for a long time that he wasn't human.

I pressed my sword against his throat. Shrrrng— The cold blade touched his skin. Looking down at him, I spoke. "It's over, Demon King. Your ambitions end here."

The Demon King—the being who had once plunged the world into terror. My own breathing was ragged as I said it. Haa, haa. Rough breaths filled the pitch-black room. It wasn't just mine; everyone here was breathing the same way.

A knight covered in wounds. A mage leaning on her staff, mana exhausted. Even the saintess, her holy power spent. All of them stood barely upright, gasping for air. As their heated breaths gradually calmed, the reality of our victory sank in.

It had been an incredibly difficult fight—far beyond what words could express. Blade marks scarred every surface, and the party had nearly crossed the river of death multiple times. There had been one sacrifice. But in the end, we won. We endured, stood tall, and defeated the Demon King who had drowned the continent in fear and chaos.

One swing of the holy sword in my hand would sever his head. The world would be saved. Strangely, I felt nothing.

Then the Demon King spoke. "Kuhuh… What a shame. If only I'd had a little more time, I could have obtained my full power… With just a bit more time, I could have finally ended this hateful world. So this is where it ends. My ideals vanish here…"

"……"

He muttered with some unknowable regret. I listened in silence. Not out of pity, but because this scene couldn't be skipped.

After rambling for a while, he looked at me. "Kill me, Hero. I won't beg for my life."

As he wished, I swung the holy sword diagonally. Thwack! With a silver flash, his head fell. At the same moment—

I stared at the monitor screen in silence. "……"

After defeating the Demon King, the hero's party headed back to the kingdom in high spirits. Smiles bloomed on everyone's faces along the way. The saintess praised the hero's achievements, the knight looked at him with open goodwill, and the mage grinned in sheer relief. Everyone radiated affection. If things continued like this, the hero would build a harem with the entire party and live in peace. Kings from every nation would honor him, carving his great deeds into history. It was the perfect, happy ending.

Yet—

"……Tsk."

I couldn't help clicking my tongue. From my perspective, this playthrough was another failure.

The laughing heroines appeared before me. Saintess, knight, mage…… No thief. The party member who had been eliminated this time was the thief. Last time it was the saintess, before that the mage, and before that the knight. Now the thief had fallen again.

I muttered with a bitter expression. "Damn it. I really thought I had it this time…"

The thief had been eliminated in the final battle against the Four Heavenly Kings. She hadn't survived the last phase and chose to sacrifice herself. We'd still managed to reach the Demon King somehow, but this was only a half-baked ending.

Without hesitation, I deleted this playthrough. All the progress I'd accumulated reset in an instant. It pained me to lose the achievements and equipment, but if it wasn't the ending I wanted, there was no choice.

'That's 999 attempts.'

In the silent room, I murmured inwardly. The 999th try had ended in failure. I'd struggled until the very end, but saving all four heroines had proven impossible.

Whew. At least I'd brought all four to the final Heavenly King this time, so some data had been gathered. I'd have to console myself with that…… No.

"Aaaagh!! This fucking sucks!!"

It was no consolation at all! In the dimly lit room illuminated only by the monitor, I screamed at the top of my lungs. It was the same hysterical outburst that came every time I tasted true ending failure. I'd been so close this time. The plan had been perfect. And still, I'd failed. The fact that it was the 999th attempt made it even more agonizing.

Thanks to that, I was reminded once again: this game, Demon King and the Hero's Party, was absolute garbage!

A common harem eroge that didn't even have a single proper happy ending—what a pathetic game! On top of that, its roguelike mechanics meant one death ended everything, making it nearly impossible to see the H-scenes. ……Well, more precisely, the sweet H-scenes I wanted were hard to reach. The defeat routes overflowed with heroine violation scenes.

Demon King and the Hero's Party was a novel hybrid of roguelike and dating sim elements, following the standard premise of a hero's party marching to slay the Demon King. The random elements that kept gameplay fresh and the growing intimacy with the heroines during the journey were its main appeals. When it first launched, it had gained quite a bit of popularity. The innovative mechanics and beautiful heroine illustrations were enough to draw attention.

But that popularity faded within months. After all, the game's true purpose wasn't for the hero to grow stronger and build a harem—it was for him to be defeated and die. It was a violation eroge. Not just any violation eroge, either, but an extremely niche title packed with grotesque and dark fantasy elements. As a result, players who genuinely wanted to clear it had ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠all disappeared, leaving only the hardcore degenerates.

At first, some people had tried to reach the harem ending. Since it was a roguelike with heavy randomization, many argued that saving all four heroines was possible with enough attempts. But the path to that ending was long and treacherous, and one or two heroines would inevitably fall no matter what. Eventually, everyone chasing the true ending gave up.

'Everyone except me.'

And now even I was starting to feel exhausted. The time I'd poured into this game already approached seven years. I'd spent more than half my twenties on this eroge. Yet I'd never once managed to save all the heroines. I'd defeated most of the bosses dozens of times, but the game was so difficult that even knowing the strategies, I still failed clears constantly.

"This goddamn game……"

At this point, one might ask: if the game was that terrible, why not just quit? Investing seven years in a single eroge—maybe I was the crazy one. I knew that. But even knowing it, I couldn't give up.

It was truly, truly shameful, but…… the reason was so absurd it might make someone laugh. I genuinely liked the heroines in this game. No—liked wasn't enough. I loved them.

I adored the heroines here. Every single one was charming. It wasn't just their illustrations; each had depth, clear appeal points, courage, kindness, and strength. How could I not be drawn to them? Yet those bastard developers had taken these wonderful heroines and turned the genre into a violation eroge. They were incomprehensible creatures who apparently derived sexual pleasure from breaking strong things.

"Haa……"

A sigh escaped me. By now, another thought had crossed my mind. Maybe there had never been an all-rescue ending from the start. Maybe it was blocked by the system, and I'd been wasting my time all along. Whenever that thought surfaced, my mood plummeted.

"……No. There has to be something."

I steeled myself and grabbed the mouse again. After all, it was a roguelike full of random elements—there had to be something. And I'd already reached the 999th attempt; giving up now would be too much of a waste. So I'd try just one more time. Exactly the 1000th attempt. After that, it wouldn't be too late to decide whether to quit.

I clicked [New ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Game] for the 1000th time.

Then something strange happened.

"Oh!!"

I shouted without thinking. A hidden route! And it opened before the game even started! Heh. I knew there had to be something. With how vast this game was, there was no way it only had this one thing prepared.

Grinning, I looked back at the monitor. A blinking choice window appeared before my eyes.

"Of course it's YES!"

Anyone who didn't take this opportunity was insane. Without a shred of hesitation, I clicked the mouse.

And then—

"……Huh?"

Along with a bright light enveloping my surroundings—

I lost consciousness.

*

——And so, half a year later.

"……I shouldn't have pressed YES, you fucking bastard."

I was currently stuck inside the game.

"Hero, is that really the best you can do?"

"Ugh, disgusting. Hey, can't you walk a little farther away?"

"Lady Enen would definitely start cursing the moment she saw you."

"……How repulsive."

And every single day, I was being tormented by these heroines. A sigh escaped me.

"Haa……"

This goddamn game really sucked.