“Why won’t you fall unconscious?! Why?! Why?! How can you endure all those wounds for the sake of another who’s practically a stranger to you?! How can you endure all this pain?! This fear?!”
Now a ball of blood, I laughed and continued to unleash my will.
“You wouldn’t understand, would you? A thing like you would never get it!!! You’d never understand the hopes she’s embraced! The path she’s taken! The heroes she’s admired all her life! Not a monster like you who’s ruined everything for people and played with their lives!!!”
With a shout of rage, I let my fist fly—and smacked the demon before me.
“How the hell would I know?!”
Alsuhariya backed away, blood pouring down her body.
“I swore I’d win! To make that crying girl smile! So she could keep on smiling!!! So the hero she believed in can live on in her heart!!! I don’t see a single reason why I could die here! For that girl, who’s practically a stranger to me! Not without overturning this terrible fate!!! Without showing her a happy ending where everyone will be smiling!!!”
My bloody fist shot into Alsuhariya’s face—
“No way in hell am I going to let you destroy the hero she believes in!!!”
Unable to stay on her feet, the evil spirit flew back.
Farther and farther back.
Drawing a line of blood, Alsuhariya retreated until, finally, there was nowhere for her to run.
Every ounce of magical power in the room swirled in a pale-blue thunderbolt, and a burst of sound similar to a crash of thunder said we had reached the end.
“Hey, evil spirit. Do you want me to tell you why you’re going to lose…?!”
I kept punching her as I whispered, “You lose…because you underestimated humans… Unlike you demons, we humans…have a will…that doesn’t falter that easily… We have a lot of stuff more precious to us than our own lives…things we want to create, protect, or save… And to connect them, there’s no way we can stop… We keep moving forward…with emotions that have been passed down to us… I’m not the one you’re going to lose against… Not a guy like me…!!! What’s caused your defeat—”
The smile disappeared from the face of the evil spirit before me—and was replaced with a twitching look of despair.
“—are the emotions that everyone’s handed over to me!!!”
I slammed my fist into her solar plexus, and she crumpled with a thud.
Show me a smile.
Recalling the girl who smiled as she cried, I squeezed my right arm, which was stained a bright red.
“This…this fist…this pain…this wish…is from the ant you toyed with…!!!”
Magic power took on a human form and enveloped me as I raised my right fist.
“This is the will of those heroes!!!”
An image of a hero without a left arm—overlapped with my body—and an image manifested.
“Braun Les Bracketlight…”
The evil spirit was dumbfounded—and my fist connected with her body.
She flew into the air with tremendous ferocity, pounded against the floor, and spat out blood.
Her knees trembled as she staggered to her feet. The relaxed sneer was gone, frozen in a look of shock, and she backed away, no longer able to maintain her composure.
She took one step, then another, and inched back.
An ant she had looked down upon had finally caught up with the evil spirit that had continued to taunt humans—and with the wall against her back, the demon had reached her end.
Aghast, she turned around and saw her doom.
Trembling and shaking, the epitome of evil’s eyes widened and traced the path the hero who had hunted her down had traveled.
“I—I remember… I remember now… Widad…Izdihaar…and Atiifa… Hizumi, Aimia, Sophie’s relatives… The stupid faces of those humans who considered themselves heroes… They were always…always…obstacles that stood in my way…”
My vision narrowed as I remained focused on the demon. I staggered backward, and suddenly, all the sensations in my body disappeared.
I had exceeded my limit at this final moment, and everything turned dark. “Dang,” I managed, but I couldn’t see a thing and had no idea which way to turn.
The life was draining out of me. I gritted my teeth, cursing my uselessness, and was about to fall to the floor—when I heard footsteps.
In the dark.
They were soft, then loud, slowly approaching—and drew in the light.
And a barefoot girl in tattered clothes ran into the light, leaving muddy footprints behind.
She ran faster and faster, her head held high, as she laughed.
The girl turned around, ran back to me, and held out a hand.
Let’s go.
The light of dawn illuminated my body, wrapped around me, and the shadows of the heroes who had left their footprints behind tapped me on the shoulder and passed me.
One, then another.
A trail of light was illuminated in the darkness, showing a single guidepost, and someone gently pushed my back.
Go.
As I stood puzzled, I heard a voice.
Go.
Making out the faint sound, I slowly saw the light again, and my vision opened up.
Go… Hero.
The woman without a left arm who had been with me pointed in the direction with her outstretched finger.
Go as far as you want.
She smiled. It was a soft, gentle smile without a trace of concern.
Keep going forever.
I took a step, fell forward, regained the consciousness I had lost, moved my foot against the ground as hard as I could, and ran.
Staggering, nearly falling, and with the last ounce of strength that I could muster.
“Oh. Oh. Oooooohhh…!”
For the sake of the prayers that kept my heart going—I embraced those intents the heroes of the past had continued to pass down—and focused on moving my feet forward.
I followed the girl who was running ahead, reached into the blinding light—and ran.
Come on, catch up with her, I prayed as I moved my feet with pride and willpower as I ran so she wouldn’t be alone.
Despite almost losing consciousness, despite a heart that threatened to burst, and despite thinking it was easier to die than endure this pain, I ran.
And ran and ran.
Finally, the tip of my finger came into contact with her back—and I had caught up.
Finally.
Watching over where I was going, the magical power that had taken the form of a woman let out a happy sound and disappeared.
It became a band of light that fluttered in the golden wind that blew from behind and twisted around my outstretched fingertip.
We’re here, everyone… This…
I sensed it smile.
This is our goal.
I slammed my soles into the muddy footprints with all my might—and a flash of pale light enveloped my body—and I heard a bloodcurdling scream.
“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!!!”
“No matter how many times…I’ve tried to eliminate you… Why—?”
As the animal roar scorched my brain and the creaking world shook around me, I stabbed the coffin into the left chest of the demon.
“Why do you hold on to life for the sake of a stranger’s smile…?”
I rotated the blade hidden in my pant hem and thrust its tip into her heart.
And—the sounds ceased.
Everything came to a standstill, the outcome was reached, and the score was settled between human and demon.
“……”
Alsuhariya was on her knees, and she slowly looked down at the coffin that had pierced her heart. Pop, pop. Her body bobbed, expanded, and contracted from the inside as its implosion began.
Naturally, my heart was now without a plug, and it, too, slowly stopped functioning.
I was losing my vision.
I smiled thinly and coughed up blood as memories of the past to the present flitted through my awareness.
If it isn’t Hiiro Sanjo! I thought a rude intruder had arrived!
It’s okay. I know! I’ve circled in red the events I want to attend!
I love you, darling! Come home soon!
I was just keeping an eye on my brother so he wouldn’t do something funny again.
My name is Ophelia von Margeline!
No wonder you’d dance with a vase instead of a girl.
I thought something was noisy. It’s your heartbeat, Hiiro.
My chest ached, and the blue light surrounding the area began to swell.
“Oh, geez… If this was how I’d feel… I should have hurried up and died… Sorry, Tsukiori… I leave the rest to you… Promise me…you’ll take care of those girls… I have faith in you… I’m sorry…I couldn’t stick around…to the end…”
With a smile on my face, I whispered, “Listen, demon. I’ll give you the greatest aphorism ever created by humankind to take with you to hell.”
Laughing, I said my final words.
“A guy who gets stuck between yuri girls can die.”
“Ah, I get it… That…indeed…”
The evil spirit closed her eyes, smiling with amusement.
“That’s being human,” I squeezed out with the last of my magical power—and everything became stained with a pale-blue blast of light.