Chapter 667

"Kkwakang! My wrist has been broken countless times. Just enduring the pressure of the Void Sword causes my wrist, shoulder, and arm to break. If it weren't for Tiamat's recovery ability, I would have died the moment we exchanged blows. I'm used to pain. Even death is familiar to me since I've died thousands of times in my dreams, so there's no way I'm not used to pain. ... Ellen slowly walks towards me, who was thrown far away. She's not hasty. It was a movement that assumed I couldn't avoid this battle. Therefore, she approaches without being too slow or too hasty. That slow and calm approach alone suffocates me. Blue aura and grayish energy were swirling around Ellen's body. Even the Ellen I imagined in my dreams couldn't beat her. I thought the real Ellen would be different, and even the Ellen who had gained the power of those evil spirits would be stronger. I've never looked down on her. I thought she would be stronger than what I could imagine. But that doesn't mean I didn't have that thought of killing Ellen. I couldn't even dare to think about it. So I thought I couldn't do my best. But that was arrogant. Even if I did my best and used all the means I could, I felt like I couldn't beat Ellen. Two strikes. And then... " Ellen has become stronger with the power of the artifact, but without it, the fight would not have been possible. The protagonist's wrist was broken during the first attack and his throat would have been cut during the third. He would have died if it weren't for Tiamat's healing ability. Ellen approaches him with a calm and suffocating aura. The protagonist admits to having thoughts of killing her, but he knows he cannot do it. Despite using all his means, the protagonist feels like he cannot beat Ellen. Ellen's attacks are too strong and she has no weaknesses. The protagonist wonders if he was destined to lose to her from the day they met. "Is this the story of the demon king losing to the hero? I haven't endured all this just to die here. Not only will I die, but if she kills me, she'll die too. I don't know. Even though I've avoided fatal injuries so far, my life will soon be gone. Miracles can't continue forever. I speak quietly as I watch the day measuring the distance. 'Is it unfair?' '...' There is certainly a will in that thing. I don't know exactly how it works, but I know that conversation is not impossible. 'I saw you trying to protect humans.' So she must have seen everything. 'Now we also know that you tried to protect humans.' She knows that I'm doing this for something, even if she doesn't know exactly what. It just ended up like this. I know that my intention itself was not directed towards evil. It asks. 'Is it unfair that it had to be like this even though it was like that?' It can't be unfair. Many people died, but the damage to the alliance is minimal compared to the original due to the different development. One step left. Just one more step. I just have to get Ellen back. That's all I want. I don't want to be greedy. But in the end, I might lose everything because I lost the last fight. I might not even be able to be a match for her. Isn't that unfair? Just one more step, but I can't take that step. I might lose everything because I lost the last fight. 'Of course.' I don't want to say that it's not unfair, but I can't say it's not unfair. All of this. All the days I've spent. I sometimes imagined what it would be like to get you back. And sometimes, after everything returned to normal. Just sometimes. It's sad. Is that all? 'I woke up as a weak demon prince of a dying country.' 'I don't remember anything.' 'Just knowing that the world is about to end.' 'I didn't want to die somehow, so I fell to the Yellow Sea, believing in a trivial disguise magic that would be released with one dispel.' 'Until now...' 'Trying to save everyone somehow, the world ended up like this because of me.' 'But still, I somehow made it here.' 'Now, all you have to do is come to your senses.' 'But I'm about to die without seeing that.' 'Isn't that unfair?' In fact, everything happened because of me. I'm about to die with only one step left for everything to end. Isn't that unfair and sad? I'm angry, unfair, and sad. How did I get here? I came here to die. In my appeal of injustice that doesn't fit my situation, it doesn't mock me. 'Poor thing...' It doesn't blame or criticize my lament. It just closes its eyes in the rain. Rain falls endlessly from its eyes, flowing down its face and eyes, becoming puddles." "Is it tears?

It must be the downpour summoned by Liana.

-Shooaaaah

-Urrrrng

I felt like this pouring rain was the same as the tears that flowed from that entity.

If everyone in the world cried and it turned into rain.

It would be as miserable as this pouring rain.

It speaks amidst the world's lament.

"What about us then?"

I can't even count how many 'us' there are now.

"Weren't we pitiful?"

"We were just swept away by your stories."

"We had no role. We couldn't even resist."

"By monsters."

"Sometimes by humans."

"Sometimes."

"By you."

"For your own reasons."

"The 'me' that had to disappear."

"Our trampled lives."

"Isn't it more unfair than you?"

"With just the excuse of 'it couldn't be helped'."

"Do we have to accept that?"

With closed eyes, the mixed voice that calmly speaks instead of shouting in anger and despair conveys a deep sadness.

I didn't dream of anything.

It was the dreams of others.

To be precise, it was the people who were trampled and disappeared because of the dreams I had.

No matter how much I didn't intend it, the deaths that occurred because of me.

It's only natural for them to feel unfair and angry, and it can't be justified.

If I dare to say that I feel unfair to them, it would be unfair and unbearable for them as well.

"It can't be helped even if it's sad."

"It can't be helped even if it's unfair."

"As if we died in those words."

"Great Demon King."

"If you can't give us back our lives."

"If you can't give back everything you took from us."

"In sadness, unfairness, and anger."

"Face an inevitable death."

"You have to die like that too."

"It can be the minimum apology for all the deaths caused by you."

Returning life is impossible.

I know that, and it knows that too.

So I have to die too.

Just one step away from achieving everything.

In despair, unfairness, and anger.

I have to die in sadness to make it the minimum apology.

I can't live.

Trying to live is excessive greed.

It stares at me with its eyes open.

"But I know your heart."

Has it been purified over time?

It didn't seem to be engulfed in intense emotions like when it first appeared.

Or did it enter Ellen's body, who always maintained a calm attitude, and become like Ellen?

That gaze.

The eyes that were once full of emptiness and abyss.

Now looked like a frozen deep lake.

It's not warm.

There's no hostility either.

It was just calm.

"I have no intention of forgiving you or saving you."

"But at the very least, I will respect you."

"Let's make a deal."

It acknowledges me, but it can't save me.

I have to pay a price. Knowing my intentions won't change the outcome, and it won't bring back my life.

I have to pay the price." However, is there something to propose?

A deal.

"Just die."

It was a simple and cruel word.

"Your loved ones."

"Your precious people."

"Everything you want to protect."

"All except you will be saved."

"Even from the child you love, I will let go."

"And disappear."

"You will no longer be able to see how everyone you love is living."

"To a world of numbness. Come with me."

"With sorrow, injustice, and anger."

"Become a being like me."

"Disappear from the world."

That's what it was.

Now I understood.

What that 'future' meant.

The scene where I was killed and Ellen committed suicide.

That future was not a future of defeat.

It wasn't about fighting and losing.

It wasn't about fighting and being killed.

I saw the next scene of this deal.

Because I could solve everything with just my life, I would have accepted this deal.

Even if I fought, I would lose.

Because I would die anyway.

If I hadn't seen the next scene, I would have definitely accepted this deal.

* * *

What I saw in the preview was the image of me dead and Ellen hanging herself.

That wasn't the image of me after losing.

It was the image of me after accepting the deal to just die.

If I don't accept the deal, it won't just kill me.

It will start killing everyone, including me, Harriet, and Olivia.

And finally, it will kill Ellen, who is turning me over.

But if I quietly die now, I will disappear.

If I hadn't seen that future, I would have accepted this deal.

That's the only best choice I can make.

Death after meaningless resistance and struggle, and everyone I love dies.

Only I die.

It's obvious what to choose.

There's no need to die with others for no reason.

That statement is not a lie.

It is sincere that it will only kill me and disappear.

Ellen hanging herself in the future I saw is an action she takes after realizing that she killed me with her own hands.

The promise will be kept.

But one truth that I know because I know the future.

It's not just a deal where only I die, but Ellen, who killed me, will also die.

This is not a deal that ends with just me dying.

If the demon and the hero both die, will peace come to the remaining people?

Is disappearing with you the only ending allowed for me?

If I use Alsbreinger, I might be able to defeat Ellen, but even if I do, we will both die together, so it's meaningless.

Whether Ellen, who killed me, commits suicide or I use the power of the deity to kill Ellen and die as a result, it's the same thing.

The future I saw was not a problem based on the outcome of the battle, but a problem of choice.

If I refuse, I have to fight against it, and if I lose, it will kill everyone I love.

If I accept it, only Ellen and I will die, and everything else will be the responsibility of the remaining people. Even if I'm not there, everyone will somehow survive.

Some will be sad, but most will cheer that the hero defeated the demon.

It's ridiculous.

The war between the hero and the demon ended in mutual destruction.

And even now, across time, are the hero and demon fated to disappear together?

Are the hero and demon always fated to die together?

I prove that I did all of this not to destroy something, but to protect something.

At the very end.

I prove it by giving up everything and dying in its hands.

Even at the end of everything, I shouldn't be able to have anything.

It's okay if it's just me.

If it's just me.

It's okay.

I see Ellen, who will be confused and then kill me with her own hands, and then finally choose death.

Many times.

Dozens of times.

Hundreds of times I've seen it.

Whenever my will weakens. Whenever my determination weakens.

I grit my teeth at the sight.

I didn't accumulate this time to see such a future.

I was killed by Ellen in my dream.

I tried to support the collapsing world somehow.

But in the end, do I have to choose the future I never wanted to see?

I've talked too much about things that can't be helped.

It can't be helped.

So let's do this now.

We have to accept it.

Those things that can't be helped.

This time, I want to try to do something about it.

I don't want to choose the choice that must be made.

But I might not lose.

It might not be inevitable that I die.

Just as I can't live off of others' misfortunes.

Isn't it true that I can't live off of your happiness with my misfortune?

It's a terrible and cruel thing to say.

But maybe I can be happy now too.

In the end.

I don't want to die.

Dying is scary.

I'm afraid of what will happen after I die.

Ellen, who killed herself, and the people left behind.

I've only seen Ellen's appearance, but just imagining the thoughts and emotions of those I haven't seen makes me scared and trembling.

That's why.

This time, I'll make the choice that shouldn't be made.

I'll choose even though I know it shouldn't be chosen.

"No."

I shake my head.

Yeah.

Let's think about it easily.

"I promised."

I definitely promised.

There have been many times when I almost died.

There have been times when I faced an enemy that couldn't be defeated by fighting.

And in front of such an enemy, there were times when I survived with just one promise.

"I won't make you sad."

Luna Artorius.

The reason she saved me was one thing.

Not to make Ellen sad.

I said I would somehow deal with things later.

"I promised your mom."

She didn't believe me.

Just like I knew this would happen, Luna knew too.

But if I die by Ellen's hand and Ellen kills herself, that promise will ultimately be broken.

I'm not an ordinary existence.

It's a promise with a god.

So I have to keep it. No, I want to keep it.

"So even if I want to die for you, I can't."

The moment they said that.

Suddenly.

Really suddenly.

The world stopped.

And turned red.

"What... is this?"

Everything stopped, and only I could move.

Even the rain stopped.

In a world where time had stopped, something had changed.

The cloudy sky cleared up.

And there was a huge hole.

In the center of the sun, which was dozens of times larger than usual, there was a gaping hole.

No.

It's not a hole.

Something is blocking the sun.

A sun that is dozens of times larger than usual.

And the moon that covers it.

"A... solar eclipse?"

With an unexpected solar eclipse, the world stopped.

And.

Between the stopped raindrops, something that had never been there before was in front of me.

"You didn't forget the promise."

I turned my head at the familiar yet missed voice of someone who suddenly appeared.

I couldn't help but doubt my eyes.

The person who I thought I would never see again in my life was there.

The moon.

And the sun.

I know someone related to those two.

And the only person who can make such a miracle happen is the one I know.

"Oh my... Lady?"

Luna Artorius.

The person who appeared in the moonlight appeared in front of me with a huge solar eclipse this time.

"Didn't I tell you?"

The words she said when she sent me away.

"The protection of the moon and the sun will be with you."

Was that a wish or a promise?