CH 141

The light, smaller than a dot, was the colorless shine of the falling Meteor.

The glow of a new beginning. If all the light in the world were gathered, that is what it would look like. Even with my back turned, I was overwhelmed by it. It wasn’t a sudden event but a calm, sublime manifestation that seems to have always been there. Even the passage of time stopped, and the beings there all had a premonition and turned to look at the light.

“…What have you done this time?”

Georg muttered while trying to look at the light. It wasn’t just bright; it also stole the other senses like a candle burning in a cave. It was soft and warm but also distant. Not dim, but far. No matter how far away it was, it was bright, and no matter how close it came, it did not grow brighter.

“Elroy.”

Iris and Georg stared at Elroy, dumbfounded. Like the sun streaking across the sky to the west, Elroy appeared from the east, enveloped in light. Iris felt renewed as she watched him, her mana thumping and pulsing in sync with his movements.

“What happened, Iris?”

At Georg’s trembling question, she shook her head slowly.

“I don’t know, but it’s worth the wait.”

“…I think this every time I see him, but he’s weird, only showing up in moments of desperation.”

Iris chuckled. They both turned their heads to follow the light as it began to move.

It seemed slow. It reached the edge of the basin and stopped for a moment. What happened next was far beyond their comprehension.

A beam of light sliced through the blackness of the ridge above them. The light’s afterglow turned the world crimson. Like blood oozing from a cut, the swarm’s death was a single wound. The mountain bled, blood flowing down to the Capital.

“…Crazy.”

A shiver ran down Georg’s spine. For the first time today, the mountain was bare. The monster clinging to the castle disappeared. The tens of thousands of remaining creatures began to form a single line, moving toward the light.

The light was eclipsed by shadow for a moment as if a solar eclipse were about to occur. Georg swallowed dryly, and Iris inhaled sharply, the soldiers behind them stirring and shouting in agitation. The monsters piled up on the Hero.

“No….”

“Hero!!!”

Desperate voices cried out, and soldiers held their hands together, trying to hold on to some spark of hope. Then, like a chrysalis splitting open, a crack of light appeared in the mass. The soldiers rejoiced. Georg and Iris watched with bated breath. The shell melted away, and the light reappeared.

“Ah!!!”

A chorus of exclamations was heard, for it shone brighter than when he first appeared. The guide out of the darkness. The expanding light scattered shards. They drifted lazily like snowflakes, falling slowly to the ground. The bits, or feathers, dropped from the Hero’s back.

“…Wings?”

Three pairs of wings spread open as if to embrace the world. Like magnolias blooming at the end of winter, the wings slowly unfolded like a butterfly emerging from its cocoon. Gradually, the Hero rose into the sky. One by one, the most devout soldiers fell to their knees. Iris bit her lip and clasped her hands together.

The light of the gods.

Save us.

***

Like a dog barking into thin air, the monsters turned to the light in unison and cried. Natalie did the same, tilting her head, half out of instinct. The creatures surrounding Natalie scrambled down the ramparts.

There was a rush of warmth. Natalie stared at the feather on her shoulder, then slowly turned toward the source.

“…Professor?”

Natalie’s lip trembled. Elroy had appeared out of thin air on the ramparts, and for a moment, she looked up at him, forgetting that this was a battlefield, forgetting that death was beckoning. The professor, or rather the Hero, stood with wings. The swords in his hands glowed together, silver and white.

“You fought well.”

The Hero’s voice sounded strange. She could feel it echoing in her head instead of hearing it through her ears. Natalie met his gaze blankly. It was as if they had just stepped off the battlefield and into a classroom. Natalie gave him an honest answer.

“…What else could I have done?”

At the student’s question, the Hero smiled as he did in the Tower. It was as if he was proud of the question itself. ‘The man I once had to kill. Had he forgotten that now?’ Natalie could see no hostility in the Hero’s eyes as he looked at her.

“You could have run, or you could have joined them.”

“I can’t run.”

Natalie frowned at the Hero’s answer. He said nothing else and looked at her as if he heard everything he needed to.

“So, have you decided to live?”

It implied many questions. Natalie realized the Hero’s eyes were turquoise. Existence is meaningless. Natalie thought her presence was too. But existence cannot remain as meaningless. Because in the search for meaning, it can no longer be meaningless. For Natalie, the meaning she found was warmth. The warmth of someone else, the first for the emotionless being.

“Yes.”

At Natalie’s answer, a satisfied smile spread across Elroy’s face.

“Good.”

He nodded. The approaching monsters lost their form like dirty snow melting and fell down the ramparts. Elroy turned his back, and time began to flow again. Natalie’s eyes met his.

“So be it.”

The Hero descended to the ground. The remaining monsters rushed toward him at once. He raised the sword in his right hand and slashed. As if the darkness parted to reveal light, the horde was bisected. Elroy made his way through. Those he hadn’t sliced through turned and lunged at him, but their corpses came soon after.

She had been allowed to live. Natalie let out a small breath and watched Elroy walk away. There was something else she should have said, but she couldn’t think of it. For now, she had to follow him and finish this battle. Natalie rose to her feet and followed the path the Hero made.

***

The battle has been long, and the line they held will likely collapse at any moment. The only thing that kept it together was the Queen, Agnes.

“As long as I’m here, you can’t fall. So get up and fight.”

The Queen was not strong enough to speak kindly to those behind her. Gentle words would give them false faith, and she would instead encourage them to keep fighting, which would save their lives.

“If you can’t bear to look at me getting hurt, fight with the Archduke instead.”

Quenor was a wall that never looked back. Where Agnes had been a crutch for the soldiers, he was keeping the powerful monsters from getting any closer. The intelligent ones that could speak approached, each chattering about the Meteor’s impact and descent or something else, and Quenor did his best to keep them out. But the words of the creatures, like the words of men, pierced his ears endlessly.

“All things come to an end. There is no reason to be afraid and resist.”

“Look at the light flying over there; their apostle is coming.”

Sometimes he gripped his sword harder and swung it harder. The chattering monsters fell silent as Quenor’s sword passed by. It was the words of another creature that broke his momentary peace. Without turning, Quenor swung his blade in the direction of the speaker.

“…I didn’t know a tongue of a monster could become those of a noble.”

Quenor’s greatsword was planted squarely in the werewolf’s maw. It was deeply embedded in its snarling throat. He pulled it out, splitting its head in two. The remaining monsters hesitated.

“Hit him all at once. Once he’s dead, nothing can stop our advance.”

Said an intelligent leader. At that command, the monsters attacking the soldiers turned their backs on them, and they all launched themselves at Quenor. The mass attack, which would have been meaningless in the first place, gnawed away at the half-dead Quenor’s body. His wounds multiplied. While his sword hadn’t lost its sharpness, his swing was sluggish.

One of the creatures slammed into Quenor’s back. He stumbled forward but did not fall to his knees. Agnes stepped forward, swinging her sword in a desperate attempt to save him. The monsters paid her no heed.

“Archduke!”

The creature piled on top of Quenor. They threw themselves onto his sword so he couldn’t raise it again. They did the same to Agnes, who couldn’t move a step forward. For the first time since the fight began, Quenor looked up and shook his head.

“Do not come, Your Majesty.”

“How dare you say that!”

Quenor’s voice was calm. He had lost a lot of blood, and his skin was so pale you could see the remaining blood flowing in his body. But he didn’t look like he was about to collapse. Even now, with his head turned toward the Queen, Quenor was slaying monsters.

“Your Majesty, the end is near, and for now, you’ll have to count my life as a pawn.”

They piled up higher. Quenor looked like a man drowning in water. He swung his sword, clearing a path for Agnes. The Archduke was ready to give his life.

“Please, don’t give up until the end.”

Agnes gritted her teeth, and Quenor turned away. It was then that a wall of magic began to form between them again, and all that was there crumbled away. The blood that flowed and splashed was not human. Amid death and redemption, Agnes stood frozen, her raised sword without a target.

And then, suddenly, the light appeared before them.

“Both of you held strong.”

It was a wistful voice. Agnes’ grip on her sword loosened as it clanged on the ground. As she fell forward, someone’s arms wrapped around her. Agnes blinked and looked into the face of the Hero who held her.

“Elroy… are you really Elroy?”

The white-silvered Hero nodded, a smile on his face.

“Yes, Your Majesty. I am.”

“How did you…come this far…I hope I’m not seeing things.”

It wasn’t something she would say if it weren’t for her exhaustion. Elroy shook his head with a wry smile. His arms tightened a little more around her.

“Do not worry, I’m here.”

“…I see.”

Agnes finally managed to smile as she reached out and touched Elroy’s face with her own. Elroy gently lowered her to the ground. Agnes wobbled to her feet. When she looked up again, the Hero was staring at Quenor. The Archduke, who had been prepared for death just a few minutes ago, looked at Elroy in disbelief.

“Well, well. Shame on me. I never thought I’d owe my life to the same man twice.”

“No, you don’t. I owe it to you, Archduke, for saving the lives of those soldiers standing behind you.”

Elroy walked over to Quenor and held out his hand. Quenor shook his head as he looked at Elroy’s fingertips, surrounded by a glow. He didn’t even have the strength to hold himself upright, but somehow holding that hand made him feel like he could get back up and fight again and again.

“How… how could you!”

The half-human, half-monster Lion. Elroy stared at the monster unimpressed, then crossed his swords. There were few monsters left. Elroy stepped forward, leaving the two heroes behind.

“You have waited long enough.”

Elroy’s voice was as cold as ever. There was no hesitation in his sword strike. The primordial creature flailed its limbs, struggling against the white light. Its limbs flailed in the air, unaware they had been severed and then fell to the ground.

Elroy took a deep breath. The last of the monster horde was in sight. Beyond them, the Meteor was getting closer and closer.

“Do what you must, Elroy.”

He turned around at the sound of Agnes’ voice. Her eyes were shaking. He smiled bitterly and acknowledged her words.

“I will be back, Your Majesty. I won’t be long.”

Agnes frowned slightly. There was a hint of grumpiness in her carnelian eyes.

“I’ll leave you to it…But let me tell you a secret of mine: I hate a man who doesn’t keep his word.”

“…I’ll keep that in mind.”

The next time Agnes felt his presence was when the monster army vanished like smoke.

***

The Holy Sword impaled the last monster, adding the final piece to the puzzle. It was a sight to behold: a mountain of corpses with rivers of blood flowing down into a basin.

It was all part of the process.

I couldn’t feel my heart. It must have started to break when the Holy Sword awakened its third stage. Now that it was open and my heart had been reduced to rags, a clump of mana was barely pulsing inside the shell called my body. It is unknown how much longer my heart will hold out. Therefore, I must get rid of the Sixth Disaster before I die.

[…Didn’t I tell you not to think of loss before a battle?]

The Holy Sword’s voice was filled with regret and remorse. The pain of having one’s heart slowly ripped out of one’s body was not in the realm of human suffering. I don’t know how many times I passed out and woke up. I woke up many times drowning in my blood.

“I just have to stop a Disaster.”

Still, I had no regrets.

[Do not die, Elroy, you still have much work to do].

I nodded and lifted my head. The spiraling tail of the damn Meteor follows my gaze, chunks falling from the sky.

“Yeah.”

I breathe in and let it out. My heart was still beating.