While Snow remained frozen with a serious expression, Lurtos turned around.
“Oh, Core-chan. Wow, hehe, you’re all set—200 years later~”
‘――I won’t forgive you.’
“Haha, that’s good. Look, look, this way, this way. Come on, break the chains, the demon’s here!”
“W-wait, what are you――”
The goddess flaps her wings and ascends into the sky.
The demon king’s behavior is strange. He groans, opens his sewn-shut mouth, and reaches his hand toward the sky, toward the goddess.
‘I won’t forgive you, I won’t forgive you, I won’t forgive you.’
“Hahaha! Oh, how scary~ Come on, Core-chan, let’s go somewhere wide.”
“You――what are you――”
“S-Class Gifted. Snow von und zu Liechtenstein , if this goes on, everyone will die, you know?”
A roar.
The canopy opens.
A hole opens in the ceiling of the dungeon.
On the other side, the sky.
“The demon king will curse all life, hehe, your friends, your brother, and even the people of this world who have nothing to do with you—everyone will die.”
The demon king looks up at the sky.
Red tears fall from his red eyes.
His face slowly, slowly, shows a twisted smile.
“I’m counting on you. Reincarnated hero, defeat the demon king and save the world. ―It’s your role, right?”
“――! Wait, you, no way――”
“Goodbye then. Alright, Core-chan, come this way~ Hehe, that appearance, heh! You look just like the former demon king~ hehehehe.”
Lurtos steps into that space, and then—
‘I won’t forgive you.’
The massive body of the demon king’s mummy rises from the dark bubble, spreading its black wings.
“Wait…”
With the flapping of wings, a fierce wind stirs.
When Snow opens her eyes, the demon king, too, ascends into the sky.
He chases after the goddess――.
“No way…”
Snow collapses to the ground with a thud.
But the overwhelming reality is before her eyes.
Her brother, who hasn’t woken up.
Kastanitakihito’s death, the awareness of being the trigger for it. The resurrection of the demon king. A foreboding of even more death.
The trigger for it all.
Everything, everything, is her incompetence’s fault.
“――Ah.”
Something creaks within Snow.
“Haha, what is this, what is this, haha! …Takihito-kun, died! He was killed! ―Because of me!!”
Her heart is already…
“I! Why am I the only one still alive!? It’s not me!! The one who should have died! Why!? Why did Takihito-kun have to die!?”
“Because I was captured… because I called out, because I wanted to be friends――I… I’m the one who should die!!”
Over and over, she strikes the ground with both hands.
Her white, doll-like hands rub raw, blood seeping from them.
The agonized screams echo in the empty hall of the dungeon.
As she herself admits, the real her is a coward, lazy, and an ordinary girl.
The deterioration of her brother’s condition since childhood, her own lack of virtue and carelessness.
The sudden death of a friend, one she could trust and wanted to get closer to.
“Ugh, oei… uuuuu… eww…”
Everything in her stomach is thrown up. Her head aches, and it’s hard to breathe.
She just wants to die like this, she wants to be allowed to die.
The girl’s heart is at its limit.
Cracked, scratched, just waiting to shatter.
“Die…”
“Die, die, apologize in death… Snow, useless Snow, trash Snow, hehe, if you’re really sorry right now!!”
Buuun!!
Her talent, even in the worst of conditions, allows her to use magic.
A faint, rainbow-colored blade of light appears in her right hand, pointed at her own slender, white throat.
All that’s left is to push it in.
Just push it in, and she’ll be at peace――.
But――.
“――I really like that person.”
“…Ah.”
Snow can’t move the blade of light.
No.
“……Get at peace? That’s not something you can have…”
Death is no longer a fear Snow seeks to avoid.
It’s a means to escape this whirlpool of despair and regret.
Her intellect won’t allow her to make an easy choice.
And most of all――the words won’t disappear.
The blessing words the boy gave her on that hill won’t go away.
They’ve seeped into her soul, her memories, her heart, sticking, clinging to her.
They won’t disappear, like an unclean curse.
No, this is…
“Ka…s…tani, taki, hito…”
――A curse.
The boy’s blessing became a curse that made Snow choose life.
“…Kya…”
The curse speaks.
It tells her to stand.
The curse speaks.
It tells her to go.
She is already cursed.
Someone who acknowledged her role and told her they liked the role she plays.
That truth won’t allow Snow to let go of Snow von und zu Liechtenstein .
So, she stands up.
“――Kana, Kya…”
She wavers, trembles――and then, she looks up.
The ceiling is open, and the sky, too blue, is wide open.
The space the demon king and goddess disappeared into stretches out evenly to the hero.
A transparent staircase leads up.
It’s the exit to the dungeon.
“I have to go.”
◇◇◇◇
“I’m getting bored~.”
◇◇◇◇
Bari-ri-ri-ri-ri-ri-ri!!
The pale light glimmers in the dark torture chamber.
“Gah…”
Twitch, twitch, twitch…
The boy’s limbs jump like a fresh fish from the market.
His body is burned by lightning magic from the inside.
The lightning consumes everything, from his magical organs to his cells, blood, and organs.
The poor boy’s body is scorched black, and after convulsing for a while――.
“Is he dead?”
“Yeah, brother. He’s gone on to travel with the gods.”
“He was a brash kid, but… when it’s time to die, you die.”
“Pitiful, huh… like a moth flying into the flame.”
As the torturer checks the boy’s pulse, he suddenly notices something.
“Hm?”
“What’s up, bro?”
“Quickly clean up the body, let’s go back to the prince. There’s a festival tonight, right?”
“…Something’s odd about this one.”
The torturer, the eldest of three brothers, tilts his head.
“What? Is there something strange about the corpse?”
“…He didn’t wet himself. People killed by lightning usually—”
The professionals of torture and murder. Only those who walked that path would understand this strange feeling.
Ah, their obsession with the job would end their lives here.
“Seriously? Isn’t he supposed to wet himself?”
“““Huh???”””
The dead body suddenly twists its neck and mutters in a lazy voice.
Bang!
In an instant, the eldest brother, who was closest to the boy, has his head blown off.
“Eh?”
“Ah~ I learned something at the very end! So that’s what happens when you’re killed by lightning~.”
Snap.
The restraints on the torture chair come off as easily as peeling off tape.
“Promotion to the next rank, does that happen to knights too?”
“Eh?”
Plop.
The final scene the torturers saw was a strange one: the dead boy smiling at them before disappearing right in front of their eyes.
