Time to Settle the Score
"Absolutely... absolutely, you can't pass through here."
Rosewin, blocking the only entrance into the Imperial Palace, speaks in a chilling voice as she glares at Frey.
"I can't let you anywhere near where the Hero is."
"...Hah."
"Even if it costs me my life, I'll stop you somehow."
Frey, standing before her, lets out a sigh and subtly turns his head to glance behind him.
- KABOOM!! BOOM!!!
In the imperial palace garden stretching out behind him, dizzying battles rage on, each one perilous just to witness.
"Grrooo... Ooooh..."
The leader of the combat executives, along with all the other combat executives, eyes the sub-heroines hungrily with lifeless gazes.
"D-Danger!"
"I'll handle this place! Hurry and go after Frey...!"
Facing them, the sub-heroines put up a fierce fight, each unleashing their unique abilities.
Ariane deploys a barrier from the rear of their formation, Lulu analyzes enemies with her Demon Eyes and briefs the others. Aishi unleashes freezing magic on the foes with a cold expression from mid-range. Up front, the Church's youngest paladin bolsters everyone's morale while blocking enemy attacks.
"...Impressive."
Frey stares at them blankly for a moment before flashing a hollow smile and turning his gaze forward again.
"Step aside, Rosewin."
He says with a soulless expression.
"Sorry, but..."
Rosewin scowls deeply at Frey, then twists her face in disgust as she begins to speak.
"...Could you not call my name? Hearing it in your voice makes my skin crawl. I feel like I'm gonna puke."
"Is that so?"
"Ugh, it's the worst. Really pisses me off."
More than anyone, she adores the Hero.
And because of that, she despises Frey, who stands at the direct opposite pole from him.
"I should've just fought the executives back there. Why'd I have to take the gatekeeper role...?"
She mutters with a pout, glancing at the girls battling fiercely behind Frey.
"If I didn't have to look at that disgusting face, it would've been so much better."
"........."
Frey, his physical abilities maximized by donning the Hero's Armament, hears every one of her mutterings and begins to tremble silently.
"What the hell is this bullshit."
Rosewin stares incredulously at Frey, who glares back at her with a pale face and shaking hands.
"Come at me already, you disgusting bastard."
She beckons him with a finger, assuming a combat stance.
"I'll kill you with my own hands and offer you up to the Hero."
Frey, who had been trembling up until that moment before her, mutters with a desperate expression.
"Until I reach the Demon King, I have to hold back my power. Remember that."
"You trash bastard, what're you waiting for—"
"Shut up."
Finally, Frey cuts off Rosewin's taunt with a ferocious burst of killing intent.
'Focus.'
He draws his sword from his waist and imposes a self-suggestion.
'One mistake, and it's back to the start...'
"Haaah!!"
And at that instant, Rosewin could no longer tolerate facing off against Frey and lunged at him.
- FWOOOM!!!
In the corner of the battlefield where large and small skirmishes raged, Rosewin's small but powerful strike...
"...Huh?"
Was effortlessly blocked by Frey using only his left hand.
- ZZZZING!!!
As she faltered in shock, Frey swung his sword at her.
"Good."
He shoves aside the limp Rosewin, who still stubbornly blocks the entrance to the end, and mutters as he steps into the palace.
"I'll keep it like this inside too."
"This is driving me insane."
After felling Rosewin, Frey mutters in a soulless voice as he enters the palace.
"What... what the hell is all this...?"
The 'transparent Frey' follows him with a dazed expression.
"Why on earth...?"
Overwhelmed by the incomprehensible words and scenes he'd witnessed so far, the 'transparent Frey' teeters on the brink of panic.
"...Ugh!"
Suddenly shoved from behind, he tumbles toward the spot where he'd been observing Frey.
- Shaaaa...
And at that moment.
The two Freys begin to merge.
"...Perloché? Girls?"
Amid this bizarre phenomenon, Frey starts to say something to the 'transparent Perloché' who shoved him and the main heroines wearing equally pale expressions.
"I, I..."
But before he can finish, they fully merge.
"Can you hear me, Frey?"
The merged Frey tilts his head for a moment, then begins walking desolately deeper into the palace.
"From now on, please proceed with the Trial by assimilating with that time's Frey."
The transparent Perloché gazes at him with affectionate eyes.
"That way, you can grasp even the innermost feelings that Frey felt back then..."
She says in a slightly trembling voice.
"...And properly judge us."
"Frey."
After walking for a long while, a familiar voice calls out.
"Stop."
Lifting his head quietly, familiar faces come into view, matching the voice.
Black mage Kania, grand mage Irina, Princess Clana, Saintess Perloché, Prime Minister Serena.
They once used more intimate titles that hinted at their bonds, but now there's no desire for that.
He no longer has the heart to love them—or even himself.
- KABOOOM!!!
Ignoring Perloché's warning up front to halt, I take another step, and the assault begins immediately.
"...Tch."
No needless insults or abuse—just attacks carried out with unwavering resolve, even against me clad in the Hero's Armament.
Gazing at their onslaught, filled solely with the intent to kill me.
'This loop... it's a success, as expected.'
I flash a weary smile.
- Shaaaa...
Amid it all, a dark energy surges toward me.
The first attack to reach me seems to be Kania's black magic.
"Kania, long time no see."
"Shut up."
In the countless loops I've repeated, she was the one who most often pierced my disguise first.
In the early days of regression, she was my sole pillar, my steadfast vassal.
"I miss the sandwiches you made me."
"I still regret not poisoning them, so shut that damn mouth."
But as the loops dragged on and on, I realized.
I'd become too dependent on her.
To grow even a little more in these endless loops, I had to cut her loose.
- Shaaaaaaa...!
- ZZZING...!
And so she transformed from my greatest vassal and partner into the black mage Kania, tormenting me with curses and poisons.
- WHOOSH...!
As I parry Kania's black magic with Star Mana, flames rush in through the rift.
The second attack looks like Irina's magic.
"Everyone, fall back. I'm using my ultimate."
If Kania often saw through me first, Irina was usually second.
Block her Curse of Twelve O'Clock and recruit her as an ally, and she'd provide overwhelming firepower from the start.
"Irina, I don't see many dog-love poems in the empire these days. Word is the Hero's gathering them for potion ingredients..."
"Perloché, cover me. This spell needs to be cast up close, like your blessing."
But that also meant Irina got hurt a lot.
Fighting powerful foes on my account, it was inevitable in a way.
"Haaaah!!!"
"Useless."
So when she shattered before me for the hundredth time, I gave up on recruiting her.
"Wh-Why didn't the attack...?"
"Simple. I'm stronger than that attack."
And thus, she went from my best fighter and childhood friend to the grand mage Irina, endlessly slaying me with her overwhelming magic.
- Crackle... Crackle...
"I've gathered all the Solar Mana! I'm joining in!"
As I block Irina's grand magic with a cheap trick and some bravado, Clana charges, her body wrapped in solar mana.
The third attack is from Clana, it seems.
"I'll kill you, the rot eating away at the empire, and hang your corpse in the square. Prepare yourself."
Among the main heroines, Clana was the most aggressive and ruthless in trying to kill me, yet the one who suffered the most guilt upon learning the truth.
"Clana, do you still remember that oath from back then?"
"Shut up. Serena's oath overwrote it. Don't try to deceive me with that filthy tongue, you demon-worse-than-demon scum."
Day by day, she drowned deeper in guilt.
And in the end...
Most loops ended with her as an eternal tiny canary, chirping songs softly on my shoulder.
"Pathetic. Challenging me with this level of skill?"
"A hundred times, a thousand—I'll keep coming. In the end, I'll be the one to fell you."
So I vowed never to let her learn the truth.
The eyes of that canary, curled quietly on my shoulder and chirping, looked far too sorrowful.
Even to me now, numb to proper emotions, it left a deep trauma.
The girl who once promised to serve each other, her shy smile so beautiful...
Became Princess Clana, the one being who pinned me down solely with raw power.
"Allow me to assist, Princess."
I dodge Clana's attack and knock her down, and now Serena blocks my path.
The fourth assailant is Serena, as expected.
"...Die."
"Concise. I like it."
Serena needs no long explanation.
She loved me to the end in nearly every loop.
- Whoooosh...
But who knows? That love, when excessive, turns to poison?
To fool Serena perfectly, I'd invested half of every regression into it.
An average guy like me had no choice to outsmart her intellect.
"Serena, can't you see it? The outcome of this battle."
"The outcome where we successfully buy time for the Hero?"
After countless regressions beyond count, I finally succeeded in deceiving her—and came to resent even her.
My first love, my fiancée, the girl I'd give everything for...
Became Prime Minister Serena, the one who tormented me most.
"Everyone, attack all at once under my command!!"
As I defend against Serena's all-too-familiar patterns, Perloché raises her voice from the rear.
The final attack is Perloché—no, a combined assault from all of them.
"I'll use my blessing to attack, so Clana, join me for close range. Irina and Kania, rear support. Serena, plan the next strategy."
Perloché, who led the main heroines as their commander in nearly every loop, was no exaggeration my arch-nemesis.
Her unique charisma, sharp instincts, and overwhelming might made rallying everyone against me effortless.
"Perloché, how's it feel to be the Hero's dog?"
"I'm merely following the Sun God's will, but personally, I'm thrilled to finally witness your end."
Of course, since she tried to redeem me to the last, I didn't resent her much.
But her power was so overwhelming that I fought her with all I had.
Slain by her repeatedly, neck snapped, memorizing her patterns, analyzing her blessing's weaknesses.
The friend who once visited my home daily to reform me...
Became Saintess Perloché, hunting me as everyone's leader.
"Haaaah!!!"
As I block their attacks one by one, lost in stale memories for a moment, all five charge at me simultaneously.
"Hoo."
I spin my sword once, gazing at them.
'Hold back.'
Just before their onslaught crashes in.
'This is the final hurdle.'
I mutter inwardly like a vow.
'...Time to end it all.'
And moments later, my sword cleaves the air.
"...Hm."
I gaze at the Hero's sword, gleaming in the sunlight streaming through the window, then slowly sheathe it.
"Success."
Around me lie five girls, unconscious.
'Well, obviously.'
The armament designed to let even a full party of main heroines defeat the Demon King—if it couldn't handle this, there'd be a problem.
But something nags at me slightly.
"...No injuries, right?"
I don't want to create debts.
Now, I want to create light.
"None."
Observing them closely with that in mind, I confirm no visible wounds and slowly move away.
'Where the Demon King gathering power would be... the Throne Room, obviously.'
Her location is obvious.
The epitome of arrogance would be at the palace's pinnacle, atop the throne in the uppermost chamber.
- Step, step.
Decision made, I head slowly for the stairs.
"Hooo..."
In countless regressions, I've never reached this point.
Finally, the end is right before me—literally at my nose.
I thought cold sweat or a racing heart would hit when this moment came, but instead, my mind clears.
No—my mind clears, and my whole body feels light, unburdened.
"Hm?"
Soon, I reach the top floor, but someone blocks the entrance to the throne room.
".......Frey."
It's someone unexpected.
"Senior."
"........"
Isolet, the second person I respect most in the world.
Of course, to the current her, she's just Professor Isolet.
"One question."
"What?"
I draw my sword to quickly fell her and enter, but Isolet suddenly poses a question.
"Why?"
"...?"
"Why those five girls..."
She stares at me, puzzled and tilting my head, with a confused expression.
"...Did you take them down using only the flat of your blade?"
She asks in a trembling voice.
"Hm..."
Pondering her question quietly.
"Forgot."
"What?"
I answer her with a hollow expression.
"There was a reason... but I forgot it."
"What does that mean?"
"It was so long ago, I can't remember. A bit more time might jog it..."
Seeing her eyes tremble as she watches me, I rack my brain harder.
"...Ah."
Finally, I smile faintly.
"I remember."
"So, what is it?"
I stare blankly at Isolet, who immediately presses for the reason.
"...A sword isn't for cutting people down. It's for protecting them."
I reply in a low voice.
"You taught me that. Forgot it for so long, but now it comes back."
".....!!!"
Isolet's eyes widen round at my words.
Why widen like that?
Why... Ah.
- ZZZING!!!
Before Isolet can speak, I swiftly knock her out with the flat of my blade and mutter with a sigh.
"Get it together. So close to the end, and I almost triggered a Retry."
Slapping my cheeks with my palms as I say that.
- Creak...
I open the door to the long-awaited destination and take one step inside.
".........."
Silence flows for a moment.
"Are you well?"
Breaking it is.
"Hero."
Ruby, the Demon King, lounging languidly on the throne with a wine glass in hand.
"Yes, good to see you."
Gazing up at her, I cautiously summon the system window before my eyes.
Now, it's time to settle the score.