The Breaking Dawn
The air trembled.
The earth shook.
The living held their breath.
Then came the thunderous crash of colossal footsteps.
"How... How is that possible...?"
The words slipped unconsciously from Sein's lips. I couldn't blame her. I was just as stunned as she was.
"Malekidus...?"
Before our very eyes stood the giant Malekidus, one of the Demon King's Corps Commanders—a monster who had unquestionably died. Massive curled horns, shaggy goat legs, and the suffocating reek of sulfur on his breath. The sight was so surreal that everyone froze, minds momentarily blank. Then, a deafening explosion shattered the stupor.
"Have you all lost your minds?! Get a grip!"
Peria's voice roared across the field, amplified by magic. The torrent of fire unleashed by the archmage and my comrade scorched away Malekidus's hide, setting the giant ablaze where he stood.
"What the hell are you standing around for?! Just because a dead bastard climbed out of his grave doesn't mean you have to line up to take his place in the underworld!"
Her reprimand snapped the soldiers awake. Regrouping into formation, they advanced upon the burning giant.
Right then, a flail swung through the air, swatting a soldier into the distance. Blood and shredded flesh sprayed across the ranks, and the advance ground to a screeching halt. His flesh had burned to cinders—by all rights, he should have died for good—yet Malekidus still moved, nothing more than a hulking skeleton clad in embers.
"What the fuck is that?!" Lena's frantic shout pierced the air.
"Necromancy!" I yelled back. "It's necromancy! They turned a demon into an undead!"
Demons were never meant to be candidates for necromancy. Born of darkness, their natural resistance to black magic was absurdly high. For someone to raise the corpse of a Demon King's Corps Commander into an undead thrall... I couldn't even begin to fathom what kind of repulsive ritual had made this possible.
Hearing that, Lena clutched her head in frustration.
"Fuck! Then how the hell are we supposed to kill that thing?"
"If they turned an entity of that caliber into an undead, there has to be a Life Vessel," I replied. "It's probably inside that castle. Long story short... we can't kill him right now."
"God fucking damn it, then what are we supposed to do?!"
"The mistake was burning through miracles so hastily just to clear out the small fry. We should've made the soldiers deal with the zombies no matter what... For now, buy me time."
"Shit...! Royal guards, on me! We have to buy time against that giant bastard!" Lena barked out the order to her troops, then whipped her head toward me. "Listen to me! I'll buy you all the time you need, so you better deal with that thing. I'm using the lives of the royal guard as bait here—if you fail, I will never forgive you!"
I gave a sharp nod, bypassed Malekidus, and charged straight toward Grandis. But before I could reach her, several Death Knights blocked my path. Cutting through high-tier undead would cost precious time—and in that span, Malekidus might very well annihilate the fairy elites.
Right then, Sein appeared at my side.
"You need to take down Grandis and don't have time to spare, right? I'll handle these bastards. Go. Quickly."
Her blade clashed against the Death Knights with a shower of sparks, and I seized the opening to sprint ahead. Passing through a chorus of screams that echoed from all sides, I finally arrived before Grandis.
"Well, well. So you've finally come to finish me off yourself, Hero."
Her crimson lips curved into a smile. She was laughing at me.
"Though... it looks like your hands and feet are trembling a little?"
A face I had seen countless times. A voice I had heard in uncounted loops. It made my head spin.
"And that gaze of yours is terribly clouded, too."
Gripping my sword, I met her eyes.
"Why could that be? You're hesitating. Surely our great Hero, who has slaughtered countless demons without batting an eye, hasn't suddenly had an epiphany that 'demons have lives too,' has he?"
Damn it. It was driving me insane. Exactly as she said, I hadn't been able to lunge forward and strike. I couldn't bear the thought of cleaving that face, that neck, that body. Somewhere behind me, frantic shouts urged me to attack.
"Just like that time you let me go."
"Shut up."
"Why? Did you not let me go back then? That's certainly what it felt like. Look at you—even now, you're just standing there, staring blankly at me. Though I have no idea why."
My knuckles turned white around the hilt. Screams tore through the battlefield behind me. I couldn't just stand here frozen.
"Strike her already! What the hell are you doing?!"
In the end, I swung my blade.
Grandis, still wearing that amused smile, cast a defensive barrier.
And in that instant—
The moment my sword collided with her ward—
With an ear-splitting shatter, the Holy Sword broke.
Fragments of divine steel scattered like sprayed glass. And just like that, the chains of my destiny shattered with them.
No one understood what had just happened. No one could believe the sight unfolding before their eyes—not even Grandis, whose leisurely smirk vanished completely. But the stupor didn't last.
Starting from the tips of my fingers, a burning sensation slowly crept inward. The bizarre sensation crawled up my wrists, my forearms, past my elbows, until it finally reached my throat. My vision flipped upside down, and my stomach violently churned. My knee buckled, slamming into the dirt.
I struggled with all my might to maintain consciousness, but something was invading my body... No, something that had been dormant inside me was suddenly erupting outward. I had never experienced anything like this in all my lives. My mind began to slip into darkness.
"...The Demon King's mana...?"
A voice drifted faintly into my ears, but my numb brain couldn't process the words. I was exhausted. Blackness swallowed me whole.
Grandis stared down at the man collapsed at her feet. She had maintained a facade of amused detachment until now, but the current turn of events thoroughly bewildered her. When they first crossed paths, the Hero had deliberately refused to pursue her, allowing her to retreat. And now, meeting again on this battlefield, he had hesitated to strike her once more.
Yet that was hardly the most baffling part. The moment the Hero finally seemed to steel his resolve and brought his sword down, the Holy Sword had shattered to pieces. Then, a familiar demonic aura—the Demon King's own energy—had seeped out from the tips of his fingers, enveloping him before he passed out cold.
"...The Demon King's mana...?"
She was utterly flabbergasted. Why on earth was the energy of a Demon King who was already dead pouring out here? Not even the most devout demon cultists harbored such an immense reserve of his dark mana within their flesh. But as she looked at the shattered remnants of the Holy Sword, the truth dawned on her.
The Protection of the Hero. The divine authority that nullified all forms of mental interference and curses had shattered alongside the sacred blade, allowing the suppressed dark mana of the Demon King to run rampant.
That realization brought an even more confounding question in its wake: Why was the Demon King's mana inside the Hero's body in the first place?
A fleeting hypothesis surfaced in her mind. Could he...? No, that's impossible.
She dismissed it at once. The notion that the Hero knew how to wield black magic and had deliberately absorbed the Demon King's mana was absurd beyond reason.
Giving up on deciphering the Hero for the moment, Grandis turned her gaze to the battlefield. Her forces—most notably the undead frame of Malekidus—were winning.
...This, too, was unprecedented. In any battle where the Hero took the field, the demon army had always met defeat with uncanny certainty, even when possessing overwhelming military superiority, while the enemy somehow suffered minimal losses. No matter what brilliant stratagems or secret ploys she prepared, the opposing coalition had always countered them as if anticipating every move. Because of that, she had fully anticipated her own demise here.
Believing this would be her final stand, she had thrown together a few desperate gambits, thinking she had nothing left to lose.
Yet those very ploys had succeeded to an almost laughable degree. Merely having zombies claw their way up from beneath their boots had thrown the allied soldiers into total panic. Seeing the soldiers crumble, the Saintess had squandered high-tier miracles in a reckless frenzy before effectively withdrawing from the frontline. Had her divine miracles been properly concentrated, Malekidus would have been purified into a handful of dust long ago.
Even though the continent's strongest swordmaster, the greatest archer of the fairies, and the sovereign archmage of the Magic Tower were all gathered in one place, the allied forces seemed to be tripping over their own feet. The threads of destiny were tangled into an inexplicable knot. But for Grandis, that chaos was an unexpected stroke of fortune.
Grandis briefly considered slitting the fallen Hero's throat. But the memory of how he had refused to hunt her down flashed through her mind. A spark of genuine curiosity flared. Instead of ending his life, she reached down and picked up a shard of the broken Holy Sword.
...Somehow, she felt this tiny divine shard might hold the answers to this baffling, twisted reality.
Just then, Sein Luderan broke through to the clearing.
...She already slaughtered every last Death Knight? What a monstrous woman.
"Right on time," Grandis cooed with a playful smile. "Why don't you be a dear and pick up your fallen little boy?"
Sein Luderan froze, visibly at a loss as to how to process the scene before her—the shattered Holy Sword, the Hero collapsed on the earth, and the pitch-black markings suddenly branding his skin. It was only natural she was confused; Grandis was just as bewildered herself. But the demon hid it flawlessly behind a smug facade.
"What the... fuck..." A raw curse slipped past Sein Luderan's gritted teeth. Behind her, the screams of dying men echoed incessantly.
"Well, what are you waiting for? Run along," Grandis taunted softly. "You've lost."
Yes. This day belonged to her.