1
If, one year ago, a prophecy had been delivered that this world would meet its end.
What would those who heard it have guessed as the reason for the apocalypse?
Probably eight out of ten would have predicted, without a doubt, that we would perish while failing to stop the might of the Dark Church and the Demon God Kardia.
The remaining one or two would have thought of extremely ordinary disasters such as famine or war.
That would be the most common scenario of calamity an ordinary person could imagine. Indeed, it would have been the most likely future.
I, too, once harbored such thoughts in my heart and joined the party to subjugate the Demon God Kardia.
Probably not a single person among hundreds of millions could have predicted.
That the end of humanity’s long history spanning over ten thousand years—
would crumble not by the Dark Church, not by war, not by famine, but by the hand of a single Hero.
No, by now, even that expression is probably a strange one.
Because she, who had picked up the Demon God Kardia’s demonic sword, has already become a new Demon God.
The demonic sword of Demon God Kardia, which draws out the desire slumbering within its owner to the very limit.
The wish of Hero Stella, who had hoped all worlds would be at peace forever.
When the Hero who had slain the world’s final sin picked up the Demon God’s demonic sword to recover it.
The wish she had harbored in her heart appeared before the world in an entirely different form due to the demonic sword.
To make all worlds peaceful forever.
That was, shortly thereafter, no different from annihilating all humanity, which bore the potential to disturb the peace.
It did not take long for the Hero of Hope who held the demonic sword to become the worst Demon God.
The first thing she did after picking up Kardia’s demonic sword was to cut down all the comrades who had fought alongside her until the very end with the demonic sword.
Because the greatest obstacle blocking Stella’s wish, manifested in a twisted form, would of course be the comrades of the Kardia Subjugation Party, said to be the strongest among present humanity.
Objectively speaking, her judgment in cutting down her comrades was valid.
There would never have been a better opportunity than that moment to pierce our hearts, as we had poured out every ounce of strength we had to slay the Demon God Kardia.
The archer who had bought time by intercepting the Demon God’s magic with arrows each carrying devastating destructive power.
The saintess who had led the battle favorably from beginning to end with high-level holy magic and the power of the Saint.
The thief who had stolen the Demon God’s protective magic at the final moment, allowing the Hero’s holy sword to strike.
One by one, they simply fell, bleeding from the merciless demonic sword she wielded.
With my magic power completely exhausted, the only thing I could do was close my eyes and wait for the final moment.
However, if there was one strange thing.
It was that she did not strike me, her last comrade, but left behind meaningful words and departed.
“Lord Conrad.”
“…….”
“I believe you are thinking the same thing as I am.”
Feeling something strange in her words, when I carefully opened my closed eyelids again—
Stella had already disappeared from before my eyes.
I could not even dare to guess what she had been thinking, leaving me alive instead of taking my life.
There was only one thing I, who had survived, had to do.
Gather all forces, including the Imperial family and the Holy Church, as quickly as possible.
And stop the Hero of Hope who had now become a Demon God.
To stop her, who had absorbed the other comrades’ powers with the demonic sword, it was necessary to mobilize all of the Empire’s military might.
Alone, I was naturally insufficient. Even with the Magic Tower’s help, it would have been impossible.
There was a need to hurriedly unite the Holy Church, the Magic Tower, and the Imperial Army—the Empire’s major powers—into one.
But the arrogant Imperial family did not listen to me, an ordinary viscount’s son. Instead, upon hearing that the Saintess, the core of the Holy Church’s forces, had died, they burst into laughter as if delighted.
They showed even greater joy at the fact that Stella, the Hero sponsored by the Holy Church, had fallen.
I tried to persuade the Imperial family and the noble houses dozens of times that it was absurd to think they could stop her, who was even now hastening the world’s destruction, with the Imperial Army alone.
The words of a mere viscount’s son who had lost his backing as a comrade of Hero Stella had already lost all persuasiveness.
In the end, not only the Imperial Army of the Imperial family, which had been one pillar of final hope, but also the Holy Church and the Magic Tower began to collapse one by one by her hand.
After that, her “destruction for the sake of peace” did not stop and continued.
Alexandros Academy. The beastman village. The Holy Land Larapria. The Forest of the World Tree.
Even reaching Arwen County, her family and hometown.
Her blade brought an equal peace called death to all humanity.
Naturally, the Viscounty of Perdalos, my hometown and the last place I wanted to protect, could not avoid her eerie conviction either.
Her madness, which I had tried somehow to stop even at the very last moment, came once more to claim my life.
“Have you made your peace, Lord Conrad?”
Her appearance, met for the first time in a long while since the final decisive battle, had changed considerably from her past self who had been called the Hero of Hope.
Her brilliant golden hair had faded to an ashen grey due to dark mana, and her ocean-blue irises had turned blood-red from mana addiction.
Her beautiful face, which had never lost its smile, was also withered as if all emotion had vanished.
The moment I realized she had already gone too far to turn back, my magic was already being activated to stop the madness of my former comrade.
After a fierce battle spanning dozens of exchanges, the one who suffered fatal wounds and fell to the ground was, of course, not her but me.
“…I thought that you, Lord Conrad, would surely understand my heart. It seems you have spurned even the last chance I gave you.”
Stella brought the blade to my neck so she could finish me off at any moment, murmuring with eyes that seemed to pity me.
“The last chance…?”
“To slay all unrighteous humanity and rebuild human civilization from the beginning with me—I thought there was no one better than you, Lord Conrad. But seeing how you obstruct my plan like this, it seems you too do not love peace after all.”
“Peace, you say… How on earth is this slaughter peace?”
“It is impossible to achieve eternal peace while maintaining present humanity. Selfish genes, large or small, remain within all human bodies. Therefore, by slaying all existing humans and building a new humanity with you and me, who love peace, only then can the world achieve eternal peace….”
“Ridiculous. The most wicked human in the world is still alive to the very end. How do you intend to build a peaceful humanity?”
“…What?”
“The number of people you alone have cut down must be in the hundreds of millions. Stella, if you aren’t the most wicked human in the world, what are? And how can a new humanity starting from you become one that loves peace? You are the person furthest from peace.”
“…….”
“Peace only has value when there is something to protect. What you have committed is nothing but simple massacre, not achieving peace. Everything I was supposed to protect has already died and disappeared by your hand. What meaning is there in achieving worthless peace?”
“…It seems you cannot understand my logic.”
“Was it too difficult an explanation for someone who would cut off their wrist for fear of injuring a finger?”
Her sword, which had been aimed at the side of my neck, was withdrawn outward.
“Why? Why not finish me quickly?”
“…In any case, your life will end before long. There is no need for me to dirty my hands.”
Until Stella turned her back to me and disappeared after those words, I silently gazed at her back for a long while.
Only I remained in the territory of Perdalos, dyed in shades of dark crimson.
???
Where on earth had it gone wrong?
Right after slaying the Demon God Kardia, when I trusted the Hero of Hope and entrusted her with recovering the demonic sword?
The day she graduated from the Academy and was acknowledged as a Hero, when I volunteered to gather comrades?
Or was it failing to resolve in time the absurdity of humanity that had built up in Stella’s heart for so long?
Perhaps everything was wrong, or perhaps nothing was wrong.
But one thing was certain: that she had become like this was probably not entirely without my responsibility.
She had been unusually closer to me than the other party members. I had vaguely felt that she relied on me in many ways.
As the subjugation journey grew longer and longer, I too grew tired, and I repeatedly failed to care for Stella’s weary heart as I had before.
Those things piled up and up until now, and she who is called the worst Demon God was born.
I am not defending her, who has fallen.
I simply wonder if only I had done a little better. Only such lingering attachment remained at the end.
“Haa, haa, haa….”
The bleeding from my torn wound grew increasingly severe, and with it, I began to feel the mana draining from my body.
Even without her bothering to finish me off, as per her last words, my lifespan probably had less than an hour left.
Because I had to take in as much as I could with my eyes before I collapsed, my steps turned toward Perdalos Manor as if entranced.
The first thing to catch my eye was my father’s corpse, collapsed at the manor entrance from fatal wounds.
“…….”
My respected father, who had raised the House of Perdalos to prominence and fought for his family and territory until the very moment of his death.
Watching a precious person fade before my eyes was an experience I had already gone through several times.
But this kind of experience was not one you grow accustomed to no matter how many times you face it.
I simply forced down the surge of emotions in my chest, trying only to remember one more of the faces sacrificed because of my failure.
Head butler Jack.
Hadn’t he said he would marry his childhood friend next year?
I had built him a new home in the territory for his long years of loyalty to Perdalos. In the end, he closed his eyes without ever getting to see it.
Apprentice maid Rine.
Two years ago, you had committed the rudeness of spilling black tea on my clothes upon my long-awaited return.
It must have already been nearly seven years since you started working at Perdalos Manor. Yet, ever the blunderer, you never managed to shed your apprenticeship until the very end.
Sous-chef Tenet.
I feel a bit sorry saying this to Chef Hardy, but honestly, your cooking was much tastier.
I had promised to be your first customer if you ever opened a restaurant in the Imperial Capital. Now that promise can never be kept.
Wherever I went in Perdalos Manor, someone with a face I knew lay fallen, having breathed their last.
Their bodies all bore the marks of being stabbed and slashed by the same weapon.
Whenever I saw traces of them trying to resist, clutching kitchen knives or brooms until the very moment they fell, the sense of guilt toward them surged even higher in my chest.
How long had I wandered aimlessly inside the manor like that?
In a corner of the fourth-floor hallway of Perdalos Manor, I slowly leaned my back against the hallway wall.
This was a dark corner untouched by sunlight, so I would not have to see the dark crimson scenery burning outside.
Turning my eyes away from the dark future I did not want to see even at the final moment, I would be able to picture a bright future where no tragedy had occurred.
After giving up everything like that, at the moment I tried to close my eyes, longing to dream pleasant dreams—
I discovered a small object inside my cape faintly glowing.
“……Huh?”
Feeling something strange, I reached into my cape and pulled out the object of unknown origin that had been emitting a faint light.
I recognized it immediately as the artifact of unknown purpose discovered in ancient ruins about a year ago.
“Why is this… now….”
Not only when it was found in the ruins, but until now, I had never once seen this artifact activate.
Why on earth had this object of unknown origin started working now?
It was moving by principles that even I, a 9th Circle Archmage, could not even begin to comprehend.
Even I, with death before my eyes, felt bewildered once again.
Blink. Blink.
The artifact of bizarre shape, fitted together like a puzzle box, stimulated my attention continuously as a green light flickered from its center.
As if telling me to pour my mana into it.
“…….”
My mana was nearly exhausted from the previous battle, and only a minuscule amount remained, barely enough to sustain my life.
I recalled hearing that among ancient artifacts, there existed legendary items with power enough to save the world.
Rather than waiting for death meaninglessly like this, investing my last life into this artifact was probably a choice with a far greater chance of salvation.
I stopped the movement of blood that had been forcibly made to flow by water magic, replacing a heart that had ceased to beat.
After withdrawing even the wind magic that had been forcing my unmoving lungs to draw breath—
when, within my fading consciousness, I poured every last drop of remaining mana into the artifact in my hand—
my vision went black, and my consciousness severed.