Reunion (2)
Princess, proceed on your own path.
The girl, Liliana Yekaterina, had poured every effort into honing her own strength and reputation, turning a single careless remark into both a stepping stone and a curse.
No, it was simply one line written in a letter.
To uphold that single line, the girl had wrapped herself in thorns of words and actions to protect her fragile self.
Hoping that the attendant waiting in the afterlife would recognize the effort she had made to fulfill his final request.
And, as was only natural.
Even knowing the girl’s life was in danger, Ian Cedric had fled from her arms, his desperate actions explained by just one phrase from the boy’s final words.
Her life had already been saved once by Veris—someone who bore no resemblance to the boy at all.
Even now, if Veris had not been that boy, the guilt and responsibility of failing to protect her as an imperial princess would have driven the girl to whip herself mercilessly.
I’ll never show such ugliness again.
The girl had sworn to herself, but fate was both cruel and merciless.
She had to run from Veris once more, preserving her own life.
Even if it had been forced upon her, the essence remained the same for the girl burdened by the boy’s final words like an unbreakable curse.
Or perhaps even worse.
Even if the creature was the size of a house, the threat Veris had faced then was no more than a single beast.
And if they had run full speed, they could have summoned the instructor in time.
Of course, a lycanthrope could never be called “just a beast,” yet when considering Veris’s current situation, the word “just” fell woefully short.
Death and the dismembered corpse left behind.
If she had left Veris there, the result would have been visible to all.
That was why the girl had fought relentlessly.
To protect the boy’s final words more precious than her own life.
To protect her role as imperial princess.
To never lose Veris—the boy’s true mark—in front of her eyes.
She had fought without end… until a named demon’s blade severed Veris’s abdomen, shattering the boy’s necklace.
Crunch.
With the sound of a gem shattering, the boy in front of her began to change.
Veris to the boy.
To Finn.
To the person she loved, cherished, and had buried as her own destined fate.
It was impossible. Veris could not be the boy. Such an absurd denial never passed her lips.
To the girl, nothing mattered more than the fact that Finn had appeared before her eyes once again.
And then…
Even if she poured her entire life into repaying the debt, the person who had departed carrying such an unrepayable favor was now about to abandon her once more.
In front of her very eyes, the one she loved most.
Before the girl could say a word, her body was pulled out of the training ground by Ian Cedric, and the scene that unfolded before her eyes was no longer the same.
It was the ordinary training ground with no anomalies, as if nothing had happened.
Power circles that should have been shattered and scattered remained whole and running.
Concealment magic.
Soundproof magic.
Since the girl had once cast one of them herself, she could easily guess what had occurred.
“Let go of me!! Stop it right now!!”
“Y-Your Highness the Princess…!”
The girl’s screaming voice cracked and spread.
Her struggles quickly transformed from simple resistance to protect a promise into pure despair moments before death.
The girl fired magic toward Ian.
Whoosh! The magic she hurled struck Ian’s back, and the backlash caused her own wounds.
“Kuhk! Princess…?”
Yet to the girl, such wounds meant nothing.
Her only goal now was survival.
“Princess!!”
Before Ian could reach for the girl he had just saved, her body was slowly swallowed by the barrier and vanished from his sight.
“I must bring Her Highness…!”
Ian stretched toward the princess, honoring his promise to Veris.
But…
Ian’s body, chasing after her into the barrier, suddenly lost all strength and crashed to the ground.
Thud.
His eyes, lifeless on the grass, stared blankly at the barrier beyond which the girl had disappeared, and then he slowly closed them.
“No, Ian… don’t chase that insect girl.”
Another girl, Selina, who had been held in Ian’s arms moments ago, whispered.
“How much effort did I put into killing those brats… and now you want to do the same?”
A smile that could not be hidden spread across Selina’s lips, brimming with genuine joy.
“I don’t know why some random guy suddenly appeared this time… but it doesn’t matter.”
“Those kids will vanish from our lives as originally planned. Forever.”
“After all, if someone interferes with me and Ian… they must be killed.”
“Like that useless demon who almost raped you just to save him.”
“Or that pathetic wretch who created a monster to save him.”
“Just like the other fools who approached him without understanding the danger.”
“Just like last time… I’ll kill everyone for you and Ian.”
Selina kissed Ian’s lips gently while whispering.
It was a whisper like a nightmare she could never wake from.
Because she believed her half-torn Prophecy Book would guide her to a happy ending with Ian Cedric once again.
***
“Hah… hah…”
The vision blurred. The boy’s form before her split into multiple images.
“Fascinating. Even with this much blood loss, a human shouldn’t have fallen unconscious.”
…But his struggles ended there.
Before he could finish speaking, my body lost all resistance and crashed to the ground.
Collapse? Would I show such pathetic weakness?
If I cannot endure here, where would you even go? Would I really faint just to meet a convenient death?
With that resolve, I scraped the ground with my fingers and crawled toward him.
Hoping to buy even a second: his stubborn living arms, my legs that refused to stop moving, my eyes that stared at him without blinking.
Crunch.
My nails, digging into the dirt with all my weight, felt the flesh tearing away.
But it did not matter.
My life, everything about me, existed for her. To care for the girl who had devoted her entire existence to this worthless man.
“…I’ll grant you this much stubbornness.”
Just as he spoke, the named demon raised his pitch-black sword Heuk-ya high toward my neck.
“Finn!!!!”
A person who should never appear here had shown himself. His eyes overflowed with tears of unease.
Without a word about training together, he unleashed magic I had never heard of.
Countless magic circles unfolded across the sky like a painting.
Just from that sight, I knew she had surpassed her own limits.
Soon, countless spells flew toward Phorath, who was thrusting Heuk-ya toward my neck.
“Move aside!!”
Kaboom! Boom!
Just as Phorath tensed to block the magic, a gap appeared between him and Liliana, who had slipped through.
…Ah.
The voice I heard was…
Not a hallucination.
She had truly found me and spoken my name.
But before I could savor the emotion, a roar pierced my eardrums and covered both Liliana and me.
CRASH!!!
“Kuhk…!”
Even though Liliana had cast a barrier, it failed to fully dampen the impact.
Perhaps the lack of magic power from the prolonged battle, or perhaps because my identity had shocked her and prevented full concentration.
Or…
“Bifrons, you are my target.”
The massive difference in skill between Liliana and her opponent.
Bif… rons.
No. That monster could not be allowed to live. He was the perfect match for Liliana’s weakness.
So I screamed, praying she would realize and flee while she still could.
“Run, Princess!! That guy is…!”
“SHUT UP!!!!”
Liliana’s shrill voice swallowed my words.
Then she retreated backward, casting a barrier with all her remaining magic.
“You… you didn’t know?! For your entire life you didn’t know?!?!”
“…”
Only one sentence.
Yet it conveyed everything she wanted to say.
“Rather… it’s better to die together…! So please… don’t leave me alone anymore… Finn….”
She begged me with tears streaming down her face, but I could not nod in agreement.
After all, that Bifrons was…
The one who killed Liliana before the regression.
“Prin…!”
Just as I tried to warn her about Bifrons’s magic cannon, black-red spheres began to gather in his hands.
They were far more turbid than any sphere I had seen before, emitting a far more ominous aura than any known magic.
BOOM!
With the roar of a war cannon, I shoved Liliana aside and took the hit for her.
……
……
“H-Huh… Finn!! Finn!!!!”
At the end of my sight, Liliana screamed in terror and despair.
Plop.
My abdomen, half destroyed by Bifrons’s magic cannon that had pierced through Liliana’s barrier, came into view.
Through the gaping hole, blood and intestines spilled onto the ground. My body collapsed onto the dirt without any resistance.
Thud.
Through the unfocused eyes now on the ground, Liliana’s despairing face appeared.
She was trying to revive me, as if my stitched-up bear doll, by collecting my dirt-covered insides.
“Ah… no… Finn… please don’t… please… please don’t die… please….”
And then I saw Bifrons’s palm reaching toward us both.
…Would it end like this? Would I… and she… die?
Just as I sensed death, an old middle-aged man’s voice from long ago echoed once more.
Protect.
Even though he was reciting the greatest goal I had ever had, he lamented with deep regret that I had failed to act.
…I wanted to protect her too, didn’t I? But look at this state. How am I supposed to protect anyone in this condition?
A mere corpse.
Protect.
……
Protect.
Protect.
Protect.
Prot…
This is insane.
…You?!
You think I have no desire to protect her?!
I want to protect her as much as you do! I can confidently say I love her more than anyone!
But!!!
Do you think I’m just saying the impossible for some trivial reason?!
Me, who is willing to give everything for her?!
My life, my soul, any other thing!!
Even if I do anything, I cannot overcome this situation with my current self!!
I poured my anger at my own stupidity and weakness onto him.
Since I did not know the answer, I clung to a sliver of hope that this desperate situation might have a method to be solved by the one who would say “protect”.
……
……
For a moment, silence reigned, then the middle-aged man offered his final suggestion.
…Strength.
Was this the limit?
My voice, too, became harder to hear as my consciousness sank into the depths of death.
Yet.
Even with the final words left before death, my heart’s last wish was granted.
“…As much as you want.”
With those words, my body began to long for its original owner’s soul.
***
Startled.
Bifrons, who had spread his palm to fire the magic cannon at Liliana and Finn, could only look in confusion.
Golden dust had gathered on the boy’s abdomen, which had just been pierced by his own cannon and lay unconscious.
The moment of dazzling light made him blink, but when he opened his eyes, the boy—who should have been nothing but a corpse—was standing there, shining his golden eyes at them.
“…Finn?”
His companion girl, who had been dying with severe injuries, suddenly saw the boy rise and felt dizzy.
Bifrons, watching the girl’s reaction, only grew more unsettled.
“Yes, Your Highness the Princess.”
The boy smiled at the girl with a smile that could not be more gentle.
The girl gently stroked the spot where the boy’s abdomen had vanished without a trace, her hands trembling.
“P-Please… are you okay…?”
“I apologize for causing you worry, Your Highness the Princess. However, please do not worry. This poor Finn is not a weakling who would die so easily.”
Finn.
The boy had called himself Finn, the name the girl had longed for.
With tears like gems in his eyes, the girl began to sob.
Many questions still remained for the girl, but the only thing that mattered now was that the boy who had been Veris had acknowledged his own name as Finn… and the girl simply clung to the hem of his pants, weeping.
“Wuuuh… hic… hic…”
Soon, with a gentle smile, the boy took the girl’s hand away from him and turned to the named demon who had shot the painful magic at Liliana with eyes calm as a quiet sea.
The eyes that had looked at the girl—eyes like a father’s loving gaze—were completely different.
Endlessly serious, endlessly detached, they began to radiate an aura.
“Is that all?”
The air shifted instantly.
A presence that felt like staring at the sun began to weigh down on Bifrons.
“Kuhk…”
The named demon’s name resonated in his mouth, but he forced out the words, trembling, unable to show weakness before a mere human’s presence.
“A human brat….”
Hah.
While glancing around, the boy let out a short, condescending laugh and said, “If you had listened to my legend, you should have brought at least three hundred of them.”