Powerlessness
Powerlessness. 34. Powerlessness. From the uppermost floor of the Demon King’s castle, where the throne once stood, I watched the tide of battle unfold. This place had always been the demons’ front yard, and with the overwhelming presence of the Demon King’s castle itself looming behind them, the demons held a decisive advantage. The monsters loyal to Tia were no pushovers either. Even armed with magi-tech weapons, the humans were not going to topple them easily. Most of the human forces weren’t even carrying magi-tech firearms; they wielded ordinary gunpowder rifles firing lead bullets. After Yuda’s earlier raid, nearly every monster had already begun evolving carapaces capable of deflecting such projectiles. That made repelling them far simpler. Though the humans’ numbers were vast enough to push their advance all the way to the castle walls, they could go no farther. The Demon Generals and the Demon King herself waited inside.
So this was the limit of humanity’s strength.
“····”
Standing at the highest window in a robe that did not belong to any human, I looked down at the dying soldiers. A complicated, bitter feeling rose in my chest. No matter how much I had sided with the demons now, I had not completely abandoned the human side. I was still just a human using the demons to pursue my own ideals, still hoping for peace among mankind. Watching them die from the very seat that belonged to the Demon King left my heart in turmoil. I could not help it.
What made it worse was that their appearance revealed the current state of humanity. Even though these troops seemed to represent every ounce of strength the human kingdoms could muster, they looked far weaker than the minimal forces the kings had sent when I had led the heroes to assault this castle. The realization filled me with nothing but sorrow.
“For every one of them who dies here, I’ll make sure they can be happy again… I’ll take responsibility for it.”
I squeezed my eyes shut and made the vow.
“····· Just this once, please understand. All of you.”
I offered the apology and the plea to the comrades whose deaths already belonged to the past, and to the pitiful souls dying anew right now. I would fix everything. I would make it right. It might sound like empty, baseless nonsense, but I meant every word. The day would come when demons understood humans and humans forgave demons. I would create that future while I still lived.
“····”
I turned my head toward the lower levels where Tia had gone to receive treatment. She would return safely. The medical knowledge of the demon servants was quite advanced. Tia had never forced them to study it, yet living here for so long had allowed them to absorb the knowledge from the books they read. Time really was the ultimate cheat. The longer one lived in this place, the more one learned. Of course, Cartoria’s enormous personal library had played no small part, but ultimately, learning required personal will. Just as I had once been forced to learn the skills of hunting people and eventually turned them into techniques for hunting harmful creatures for the sake of others.
“·····”
Slowly, I raised my hand and looked down at my small palm.
“····”
My hand covered the view outside the window. The same thought returned, heavier than before. I felt utterly powerless. Even after spending so much time in the Demon King’s castle, growing close to everyone and building relationships, I still felt completely helpless no matter what I did. So—
“····”
The moment I confirmed Tia was safe, I began searching for a way forward. Several readable books remained on this floor, so I studied magic with desperate focus. Just like my former body that had possessed strong magical affinity, my current body still retained excellent compatibility with magic. Yet because Tia’s surgery had erased my innate magic, I still did not know how to use that affinity. I would have to keep searching. If I could wield magic the way the court mages I once fought alongside had, the way Yuda, Jeren, and Karman had… then surely I could become strong enough to achieve my ideals alone.
That was what I had been thinking while gazing down at the battlefield from this great height.
Then—
KUOOOOOM———
A magi-tech shell fired from a human cannon tore a hole the size of a house through the castle wall as if a sandcastle had collapsed. The monsters faltered. Chris, fighting on the front line, tried to stop the cannon, but the soldiers around it were armed with magi-tech rifles, leaving her powerless. At that moment, however, Cartoria and her subordinates joined the battle in earnest. The tide that had begun to tilt because of a single cannon swung back toward the demons. After a brutal fight, Cartoria used a deception tactic, cloaking everyone in mist before personally carving through the magi-tech troops one by one. Chris, freed from restraint, rampaged like a beast unchained. The humans, in despair, lost the cannon to us.
“···· Even after growing so strong, they’re still annihilated by two Demon Generals.”
I felt a complicated mixture of relief and pity as I looked out the window with sorrowful eyes, trying to soothe the ache deep in my chest. Just then—
“Lady Karia! Lady Karia———!!”
Cartoria’s voice rang out from outside. When I looked back through the window, a massive mana stone attached to the cannon began to glow with a brilliant blue light. Chris tried to destroy the cannon while Cartoria cleared away the human who had been attempting to fire it one last time. I realized what was happening. In their desperation, the humans had mistaken the figure they glimpsed near the Demon King’s throne for the Demon King herself and were launching a final, suicidal attack. Humans had always favored such last-ditch efforts. Both sides knew this was the location of the Demon King’s throne. I had thought the height would keep me out of sight, but that had been a miscalculation.
Yes. A miscalculation.
Still, it was fine. I was not someone who could die. Even if I did, Tia’s hand would bring me back. It had always been that way. So I stood there calmly as the blue light prepared to swallow me. Running would not have taken me out of range anyway, and by the time Chris destroyed the cannon, the magical shell had already been fired.
How had they created this magi-tech technology so quickly? It had not been long since firearms were invented, yet they had already produced something like this. In one sense, it was impressive. In another… it was terrifying. Even if peace were achieved, humanity would likely fall back into the same cycle. That was why dying was still frightening. Even knowing I would return to life, facing death remained terrifying for a mortal being. So I turned my head and closed my eyes, hoping to endure the pain by keeping the magical shell out of sight.
At that moment—
Swish———
Tia, her bandages barely applied, suddenly rushed toward me and shoved me into a stone coffin.
“Tia, why——”
I could not understand. Why? I was not even someone who could truly die from something like that. So why had she thrown herself forward? Why? If she did this, then—
But I never received an answer. Even as the blue flash struck from behind Tia’s back, I heard nothing. The only thing I could see was the smile on Tia’s face—warmer than the setting sun yielding its place to the moon—lingering until the coffin lid closed. She had tried to stay by my side until the very end. Why did it feel as though she were growing impossibly distant? She was clutching the coffin tightly so I could not get out. No—she was holding it shut from the outside so I would remain safe inside, untouched by what was coming.
I realized something was wrong. If this continued, Tia would—
KWAAAAAAAAANG———!
Even as I desperately pushed against the coffin lid from within, it refused to budge. A shockwave no demon’s body should have been able to withstand slammed into us, accompanied by an earth-shaking roar. The blue flash pierced straight through the castle, carving a path into the sky. Though I tumbled and crashed inside the coffin as it was sent flying, the fact that the coffin itself had been launched told me everything: Tia had let go of me.
Thud———
The moment the coffin stopped moving, I immediately tried to shove the lid open. How tightly had she sealed it? How heavy was this stone coffin she had created in such a short time?
“Ugh, agh——!!”
Thud. Thud———
I hated the unyielding lid. I did not even know why. Why had Tia run to protect me? I was not someone who could die. Why had she thrown herself forward with her wounded body, without even finishing treatment? I could not understand.
Click——
Before long, someone opened the lid. Blinded by the sudden intense light, I squinted and shrank back. The moment the lid lifted, I saw it.
“·····”
Part of the castle wall and ceiling had vanished cleanly, as if erased. Through the gaping hole, a clear blue sky and scattered clouds from the bombardment came into view. And—
“···· Tia··· a.”
The one who had opened the coffin. A massive hole torn through her abdomen.
Drip———
“····”
Tia. Tia Belberman.
“Ti, a···· Tia, Tiaa———!!”
I reached out with trembling arms, leaping from the coffin to pull her into an embrace. Tia’s body went limp.
“Thank goodness····”
Her voice trembled more violently than it had the night before, more than it ever had, as if it had been boiled and festered.
“Shut up, shut up!! P-Please···· Why, why did you do that····!! Why!?”
I laid her down as gently as I could while she collapsed against me.
“Why did you do that, you idiot———!!”
What was I supposed to do about the gaping wound in her abdomen? I could not even touch it, could not stop the bleeding. I could only panic.
Swish———
Even so, Tia smiled and reached for my wrist, gently pulling me closer.
“····· Now···· I think I understand.”
“····”
To me, who could not even speak properly from panic, who could not grasp what to say, who could not hold onto my sanity, she spoke.
“Why···· Heize was smiling.”
Even faced with that smile, my lower lip trembled uncontrollably. My hands shook at the sight of this madwoman grinning despite the hole in her stomach. The sudden, absurd cruelty of it all made it impossible to accept the situation with a clear mind. It felt as though my sanity was being torn apart thread by thread. Why had she thrown herself forward to save someone like me?
“No, it’s fine, so please just shut up····!”
I already knew I could not die. This body was one she had created, after all.
“Rather than saving someone who cannot die, why did you jump in····!!”
Tears began to fall. I clutched the Demon King’s hand that still held my wrist, refusing to let go, while my other hand hovered uselessly near her wound.
“····”
Watching me, Tia began coughing up blood. Still smiling, she squeezed my hand with what little strength she had left.
“··· Promise···”
Slide———
With only that single word, she finally—
“·····”
Thud——
—let go of my hand.
“··· Tia.”
My hands would not stop shaking.
“····· Tia, Tia. Hey, Tia.”
I called her name again and again, desperately trying to make her grasp my hand once more, begging her to at least finish what she had been saying before falling asleep. Even as I tried to hold her limp hand with both of mine—
“Tia, Tia, Tia, Tia, no, please····”
Coldness began to seep in. The hand that had felt so soft moments ago was growing stiff. I could feel it faintly.
“Ah, aaaaah, no, no, no····!”
I was… I was so powerless. Why had I not run? If I had tried even a little to get out of the line of fire, at least Tia would not have been hit directly like this.
“Nooooo, wake up———!!”
I screamed. My voice was not loud, yet my ears felt completely deafened. The world except for Tia blurred. My heart pounded violently, hammering against my muffled ears. But Tia was no longer looking at me.
“Ah, pleeeease·····!!”
I pressed her hand to my forehead, my entire body trembling violently. I had killed her. If I had not stood there dazed, Tia would never have ended up like this. Why? Why had she saved me? It was not as if she simply hated seeing me die. She had always enjoyed watching me suffer and be torn apart. So why?
“Tiaa, Tiaaaaa———!”
I could only keep calling her name while sobbing uncontrollably. I had no idea what to do anymore. I did not know what I was supposed to do for Tia. I had promised to protect her, too. Now I had no idea what to do. I could only scream at her with everything I had, even though she could no longer hear me.
Tap tap tap———
Only seconds after Tia collapsed—
“Master! Demon King———!”
Jemma arrived and found me. She rushed over, checked that I was unharmed, then turned to look at the fallen Tia.
“Demon King——, sir···.”
Her fingertips trembled. Like me, her hands began to shake. Swish——— Ordering another servant to take me away, Jemma slowly gathered the rest of the servants. I—
“Tiaaaaaa———!!”
Even as I was dragged outside by the servants, there was nothing I could do except entrust everything to Jemma. I could not say that I wanted to stay by Tia’s side until the end. I could not even say that Tia had died because of me. I was… I was completely useless to the very end. I could not even help the servants. I knew nothing about myself. I was nothing more than an idealist who believed that anything was possible as long as I remained in Tia’s shadow. I was nothing but a person who only voiced ideals. Truly. Truly—
“Aaaaaaaaah———!!”
Again. This sight again. This same sight once more? Why did I keep losing people like this? Starting with the heroes who had been my family, then Yuda who had told me there were still survivors, and now even Tia who had opened her heart and believed in me—why? What had I done wrong? Was it because I was weak? Was reaching for my ideals with these frail hands such a grave sin? Did the price truly require sacrificing everyone? What could I have done here? What could I possibly have done····
“Tiaaaaaaaaa······!!”