TN: Thank Llama for the chapter.
TL/PR: Ruminas; ED: novicelily
There was a time when she killed only demons like crazy.
It was from the moment she heard the news that her family had been killed by the Demon King’s army.
The young Sertia, who had nothing left, wandered.
The unparalleled genius produced by the academy? The student who graduated at the top with unprecedented grades? What’s the use of all that?
She had already lost a place to return to.
Sertia’s old hometown was a small village close to the Demon Realm.
She came to the Empire to learn, and when she returned after graduating from the academy, the village only had traces of being burned down.
Consumed by the desire for revenge, she set out on a journey alone. It was a path she took solely to kill demons.
She had the talent too. Literally, it was as if her talent had blossomed to kill demons.
She killed demi-humans and exterminated monsters. Like a madman, she repeated the same thing over and over again.
It seemed like it would continue until she annihilated all the demons on this continent. Killing demons and earning bounty from the Empire, she used all the bounty to buy potions and returned to the battlefield.
The limits of the flesh, it seems she couldn’t properly feel them during that time.
Having lost direction in life, she wandered in search of the purpose and reason for her existence.
Since all she knew was how to kill demons, she killed demons.
Otherwise, it felt like her existence was being denied.
About two years passed like that.
That was when Sertia single-handedly beheaded a high-ranking member of the Demon King’s army.
Someone came looking for her. A man with black hair and a large sword.
“What is it? Have you come to mock my life that’s riddled with blood like trash?”
Since no human sought out Sertia after graduating from the academy, she was wary of the man.
The man, who revealed himself as a hero, suggested to Sertia to become his traveling companion.
He said he could end this tragedy. So he asked if she would help with that.
He said he could bring peace to this continent by beheading the Demon King.
“……”
At first, she thought it was absurd. Does he really think he can kill the being who has reigned over the Demon Realm for over a thousand years?
It’s a crazy thing to do, a path to death.
But there was conviction in the man’s expression. It was a face that didn’t doubt the path he was walking.
He had an impossible dream, but his steps towards it at the time didn’t seem so bad.
“Okay. I don’t know how far I can go, though.”
Her own life wasn’t that important anymore.
She thought it was fine to follow him and die killing demons. If she was going to die anyway, she thought it would be good to die on the battlefield.
She just ended up doing the usual demon extermination with someone.
A saint joined the party, and the three-member party was formed. Two people joined the journey she had started alone.
The three of them could kill an incomparably greater number of demons than when she was alone. Sertia learned many things by the side of Ellion, the Hero.
From how to overcome sorrow to how to live anew in this harsh world.
She learned that killing demons wasn’t everything. Protecting something was more valuable than killing evil beings.
She now had something to protect when she thought she had nothing left. She gained a new family, having lost those related by blood.
Just with that, Sertia thought this world was worth living in.
Until she fought the final battle that would determine the future of humanity.
The hero’s party collapsed along with the Demon King. In the final battle, Elion died.
Not long after, Karen died too.
The Demon King, who had taken away Sertia’s first family, soon took away her second family as well.
From that day onward, she lost the purpose of life she had found again and the precious bonds that supported her from the side.
Therefore, for Sertia, the Demon King is the cause of all tragedies.
He killed her family, killed the Hero, cursed Karen, and now she herself is being eaten away by the curse.
Demon King Echidna.
How long will it keep taking from her?
How long will she keep losing?
“If only you didn’t exist.”
At least it wouldn’t have been this miserable.
Sertia raises her head and looks at the Demon King’s avatar.
She sees the form of the Demon King, split into hundreds of pieces and now returned in a new shape.
She thought her tears had long dried up, but a drop of water flowed down her cheek.
Sertia brings out a vast amount of mana and ignites hundreds of spells.
“…If only you didn’t exist.”
The new name was definitely Iria.
She said she had no ill feelings, but in fact, she hated her.
The new Demon King, who might become the same tragedy.
And Sertia,
“Back-alley monster, Iria,”
She grasps the spell that once pierced the Demon King’s heart.
“I am stronger than you.”
The surrounding terrain collapses, unable to withstand that vast power.
Sertia’s study, which was as grand as the Empire’s tower, began to collapse.
***
The ground crumbles, and the terrain is cut away.
There was a fight between monsters that far surpassed the level of humans.
The floor melts in the rising flames, and clean cut marks are left where the red sword passed.
Iria, who was thrown out as the study collapsed, grips her sword with a blood-soaked body.
Even though she brought out all her magical energy, this is definitely the first time she’s been driven to this extent.
The broken bones hurt.
Half of her body is burned, so now she can’t even speak properly.
Sertia was still in front of Iria. She was covered in blood.
But her cold gaze that sharply glared at Iria didn’t change.
“……”
“……”
Iria wiped the blood on her face, and Sertia spread her spells again.
The two monsters, whose confrontation didn’t end for a long time after that.
“I thought you had no ill feelings.”
“…I don’t.”
“It seems like you do.”
“……”
Did her emotions unintentionally show? Sertia took a step back.
Then she stares straight at Iria.
‘Why?’
Iria was a very amazing being, even in Sertia’s eyes.
Iria’s skin must be torn and her bones broken. The bleeding was also considerable, and Sertia aimed mainly at her vital points.
‘But why won’t she die?’
She had faced monsters with excellent regenerative abilities a few times before.
But the monster in front of her had a fundamental difference from the ones she had seen.
‘It’s not a matter of regenerative ability…’
Could it be that there are no weaknesses in the first place?
If you compare the damage taken, Sertia received less. She had the overall upper hand in the bloody battle.
However, it was dangerous.
Her vision was red.
She couldn’t suppress the curse from spreading as she unleashed the mana in her body.
She was breaking down in real time. She was fighting with a body that shouldn’t have fought in the first place.
At this rate, the one who will die is not Iria, but Sertia.
Even if she hadn’t fought this battle, she was destined to die soon anyway.
In her current state, she couldn’t kill the monster before her. Because the power of her magic also weakened as time passed.
Just standing was now a struggle due to the curse gripping her body.
Ultimately, the mage forgotten by history kneels on her last battlefield. In front of her is Iria.
“I won.”
“……”
“The strong doesn’t always win. There’s a saying that it’s not the strong who survive, but the ones who survive are strong.”
The red sword is aimed. The sword that once split the earth in a single stroke now points at a person.
Iria had no intention of sparing Sertia’s life. Putting aside all reasons, she was someone who would die soon anyway.
Even if Iria doesn’t swing her sword, she’s someone who will die as soon as tomorrow. In the end, the terminally ill mage just showed her last struggle, using up her remaining lifespan.
“Why are you……”
“Asking if I know what loss is?”
Iria, who finally broke through Sertia’s mental defense, asks. It’s a question she spits out first after reading her thoughts.
Even a moment is precious to the terminally ill, so this was a kind of consideration.
The gazes of the two beings intertwined.
“I’ll say it again, I’m not the being you think I am. You’re not the only miserable one.”
“……”
“My circumstances are unfortunate, but I’m not in a position to pity anyone.”
After that, only a long silence flowed.
Sertia had her head down, but Iria could tell what look she had. She looked very deep in thought.
Even while thinking that, the curse devoured Sertia’s body. The sanity she maintains begins to fade.
Did the previous saint Karen change like this too? Slowly losing her mind as she accepts the magical energy in her body and sinks into the deep sea.
Sertia raises her head for the last time. She looks at Iria’s face. She was looking down at Sertia with an indifferent expression.
Bright red eyes that emit a clear light.
The eyes of a monster that signify non-human.
Now she too has the same eyes. Sertia was able to completely let go of being human and become a monster only when she was on the verge of death.
Only a monster can understand a monster. She realizes that she’s not the only one who is cursed.
Perhaps Iria’s curse might be even more brutal than her own.
“…I won.”
Then the one who won is not Iria, but herself.
“Because unlike me, you still haven’t been liberated.”
Sertia now closes her eyes, having shed all burdens.
And Iria can not.
Iria was cursed and became a monster.
Since a monster’s life is more painful than death, Iria has never won even once.
She has only experienced pain while sustaining her life as a monster.
Hearing those words, Iria bites her lip. She couldn’t deny everything the dying Sertia was saying.
“…Then what will you do?”
Sertia asks.
“You’ll have to decide quickly. If you don’t kill me here, I’ll go on a rampage just like you did. Then the one who dies will be you, not me. Maybe I’ll become the newly resurrected Demon King.”
“……”
“In the end, one of the two will inevitably die. It’s up to you to choose who will be truly liberated.”
Whether to kill Sertia or to let her live and die herself.
That decision lies with Iria. The choice cannot be avoided. She had to choose one of the two, no matter what.
This time, Iria was deep in thought. For someone who has lived as a monster for a long time like her, it was words that could make her waver.
“……”
But she soon gave up.
Because she knew that even if Sertia became a monster, she would not die.
Sertia also can’t kill Iria. Only starlight can kill her. It was an impression she got while fighting Sertia.
Having made her choice, Iria immediately stabs the red sword into Sertia’s heart.
With a thud, blood splattered everywhere.
Soon after, Sertia took her last breath. The forgotten mage was killed by a monster.
“…You must be happy to win.”
Iria still hasn’t escaped from the nightmare.
She was still alive.