#089 Liberation
#089 Liberation
Arpe hated Witch Bel.
There were several reasons, but she hated Bel because she was a foolish woman who, even after being reduced to "his" servant, insisted to the very end that humanity be protected.
A faith in humanity that she, a Hero, simply could not understand.
Because she insisted to the very end that they believe in humanity, that they not destroy humanity, the Demon King did not destroy humanity.
Though no one could have known that it would lead to the Demon King's death.
"...Hoo."
She was a traitorous witch she could not bear to look at, but still, the witch had fulfilled her duty as a human to her final moment.
From the witch's position, though, she herself—who had held a Holy Sword and ultimately chosen the "world" over humanity—might seem like the traitor.
The perspective of an ordinary human and that of a Hero who had learned the truth of the world were clearly different.
The witch who believed in humanity's potential.
The Hero who believed humanity should vanish and be culled.
Arpe and Witch Bel shared the same perspective as "women," but their views on humanity were utterly different.
To Arpe, humanity was a people she cared nothing about.
-Humanity deserves to be destroyed.
-I hate humans!
Arpe was born human, but upon becoming a Hero, she saw the ugly and filthy sides of humanity and was greatly disillusioned.
-You must not give up on humanity. Even if all one million of them are wicked, if even one person holds hope, you must not give up on humans, on humanity.
But Witch Bel, the Crimson Mage, foolishly believed in humanity to the very end.
-Hey, ...? Why would you do that...?
-You are nothing but a sacrifice to bring down the Demon King. Bel.
-How could you.... I trusted you...!
-Trusting me was your mistake! Hahaha! Serves you right! When the Demon King arrives, he's going to lose his mind! Ahahaha!!
Because she believed in humanity, she was betrayed by humanity, and in the end she met a death too miserable for words.
And that woman is alive?
Even the Demon King died fighting the Wind Hero, yet Witch Bel, who died before that, is alive?
Clearly.
"...The Demon King saved her."
GRIND.
Arpe hated Witch Bel.
At the final moment, she herself had been somewhere other than the Demon King's castle, for some reason.
She hated that she had provided the impetus for the Demon King's end, hated that she had not met her end alongside the Demon King, and hated that even as the Demon King met his end, he had wrung out all his remaining mana to infuse the witch's soul into another body so that it would not be extinguished.
...She did not know whether that last part was true, but the situation she had witnessed with her own eyes suggested as much.
Witch Bel.
Arpe sensed the familiar scent of mana from the small girl's body Witch Bel inhabited.
She was fundamentally an ordinary mage, but faintly, from her body and her mana, the traces of the Great Demon King wafted like perfume.
She was envious, and irritated, and utterly furious that it was not she but Witch Bel who had shared Demon King Belphegor's final moments.
Look.
Even as the Demon King was being extinguished.
For Witch Bel's sake, he had prepared another body, saved her, and placed a seal upon her.
Surely the moment that seal was released, she would regain her appearance from five hundred years ago, not that little brat's form.
"......."
Arpe looked down for a moment, then bit her nails.
"No, I can't let that happen...."
She could not allow her power to be released.
From what she had observed from afar, she appeared to be in a state like an undead, but if Great Demon King Belphegor had made her into an undead, then everything fit together.
Right now it would be impossible because she had no mana, but once her mana filled, she would surely recover her former appearance.
Her feelings were complicated in many ways, but Arpe could neither like nor hate Witch Bel.
In the end.
No matter how much she hated her, she was....
"!!"
Danger.
The moment she sensed Demon King Beelzebub's mana.
The moment Demon King Beelzebub's mana turned toward the village where Witch Bel was.
Arpe seriously considered whether she should step forward herself, identity be damned.
Should she save her?
Or should she believe that she could win on her own?
"......."
Arpe silently watched the battlefield.
Watching that witch, who even while facing Demon King Beelzebub soothed the Hero and steeled her own resolve to bring down the Demon King, Arpe felt a needless sense of self-loathing.
So the witch struggles that hard to save humans.
And then.
"......That's absurd."
She was trying to bring down the Demon King, trying to save people, even to the point of pouring her own power into the Hero who wielded the Holy Sword that had pierced the Great Demon King.
"......Just what are you...?"
GRIND.
Arpe could only bite her innocent nails and watch the battlefield.
Gazing at that detestable golden-haired Hero wielding the Wind Holy Sword—Ascalon—who seemed to have grown a step stronger through the witch's power.
"......."
About the Hero.
She could not help but think deeply.
* * *
Slash!
Skreeee!!
Beelzebub screamed.
The hand the bastard had been reaching out to block me was split palm and all, and dropped to the ground with a thud.
'How's that! This is the sword that killed me!'
It was self-deprecating, but Ascalon's power was truly immense, as was plain to see.
If the Fire Holy Sword burns everything away.
If the Water Holy Sword imprisons or freezes everything in water.
Then the Wind Holy Sword tears everything apart.
"Wind God Descent!"
With a light shout, I swung Ascalon toward the ground.
The blade-wind struck the earth and surged upward in all directions, and Beelzebub's reaching hands were instantly shredded by the blade-wind.
Grrrrk.
As if electricity had arced across his body, deep gouges remained carved into Beelzebub's arms.
Drip, drop.
Even the remnants of Diptera falling from his wounds were ground by the wind and turned entirely to fragments.
Even the venomous fluid was split as if at the molecular level; the golden wind tore everything apart.
Beelzebub could not attack me with any attack at all, and simply suffered helplessly.
"Don't look at me like it's so unfair. That's just what a Holy Sword Hero is."
Right.
It wasn't that Beelzebub was weak.
Holy Swords were simply that absurdly powerful.
'And this isn't even full power.'
This isn't Beelzebub's full strength.
He wasn't the type who was strong as a single entity in the first place, but he also wasn't weak enough to crumble this easily merely because I'd released Ascalon.
'He's resisting.'
Trying not to use his full strength.
Resisting whoever is controlling him.
If he had intended to use his full strength, he would not have resorted to physical attacks like now.
SKREEEAAH!!
Beelzebub's wings spread wide, and the Diptera that burst from his wings rushed at me all at once.
"Wind Eye Barrier!"
I lightly stamped the ground with my foot.
Centered on me, the golden wind began to spin upward like a coil, and the Diptera flying toward me could not pierce the barrier, instead being ground against it and flung upward, scattering.
It merely looked like a golden mass spinning like a coil, but in reality sharp blade-winds were rotating around me.
With Demon King Beelzebub unable to show his true power, he could not defeat me while I held the Holy Sword Ascalon.
A Demon King.
"Isn't just about size!!"
I kick off the ground and leap for the final blow.
A jump I had never shown before.
As I leap several meters in an instant toward Beelzebub's solar plexus, Beelzebub flinches in shock and opens his maw.
SKREEEAAH—!!
He tried to suppress me with a shockwave, but it was useless.
I used Ascalon's power to spray golden wind forward and cancel the shockwave, then stepped on the empty air and advanced.
"Split apart!!"
With a shout, I swung Ascalon.
Splitting his solar plexus vertically, I burrow into his torso.
HISSSSS!!
The venomous insects filling the surroundings tried to bite this body—Lucius's body—but it was useless.
This body is a Hero.
With the Holy Sword released and wind wrapped around my entire body, they were simply ground apart and torn to pieces by the blade-wind before they could even reach me.
Crunch!
I thrust my hand into the gaps between the insects.
The blade-wind pouring from my arm ground away the insects blocking my view, and at last I found the bastard hiding behind them.
[Kik, kiiik....]
Beelzebub.
An insect whose limbs are held by other insects, only the seal on its forehead glinting as it merely breathes.
Ah.
I see.
I escaped by dwelling in a girl's body, but Beelzebub was forcibly made to dwell in this insect's body.
"Demon King Beelzebub."
Will he recognize me?
Outwardly, I looked like Lucius, even though I was holding the Holy Sword right now.
"Sleep."
As a fellow Demon King.
As a fellow Demonfolk.
And as one who came from the same world.
"This is goodbye."
Squelch.
I grabbed Beelzebub's neck and pulled, then cut the bastard's neck off.
[You, you bastard————!!]
A voice like a scream heard from afar.
A voice I hated hearing, yet had desperately wanted to hear.
Zepar.
It's him.
It wasn't the worst possibility, but as if it were the second-worst, Beelzebub had been summoned and was being used by Zepar.
[I curse you to dea-]
"Shut up."
[SKREEEAAH!!]
I swung Ascalon once and detonated wind-element mana around me.
Centered on me, a hole was blown open, excluding the Beelzebub I held.
The power of the golden storm, which ground away even the flesh of the venomous insects and even their Mana Stones, leaving nothing behind, turned my surroundings into a vacuum with no air or mana at all.
"Beelzebub."
Zepar could not possibly be making a sound in this place right now.
Now was the time to pull Beelzebub out of this binding.
Now, serve me.
I, the Demon King Belphegor, command.
"I shall release you from the curse of evil."
Squelch.
I drove a single small Mana Stone into the bastard's seal.
Beelzebub's body began to slowly crumble like ash, and the seal began to gradually take root in the Mana Stone.
[...Mere humans, to me-]
A voice transmitted from the Mana Stone.
No, a will.
[This one and that one, daring to...!!]
Far away, I sensed a girl radiating dark-violet light from the abyss, giving off killing intent so intense it felt as though she would devour me if I lost focus for even a moment.
[This dog-like-]
[Hey, It's Me. Bro.]
[......The Demon Realm tongue?]
Through the will, I was finally able to reveal my identity to my comrade.
[This mana wavelength, don't tell me...!]
[Yes, I, Am!]
[...Why is your soul female when your body is dwelling in a Hero's body?]
"......."
No, you son of a-