The people of the Gabriel territory were witnessing the battle between Neril, Xenia, and Sobius in vivid detail.

Just moments ago, Idria had spoken within the shared vision.

– Mide Mohan. I will take care of you myself.

– Of course. Only a hero can kill the Demon King, after all.

– Hmph. Then I will send my children and your party members elsewhere.

With a snap of Idria’s fingers, space split open.

The vision darkened briefly, then cleared again, revealing this scene before them:

Neril and Xenia standing against Sobius.

Someone among the people of the territory swallowed hard.

– Neril.

– It’s been a while since we have fought together, hasn’t it? Let’s do our best.

– Indeed. I feel reassured having you with me.

– Same here. Would you start with the shield spell?

– Yes. May the will for humanity’s future manifest before us.

Xenia no longer prayed to the celestial god.

And yet, the golden shield spell still enveloped their bodies.

She could have simply shouted “Shield!” as usual, but that would have seemed too careless for a hero’s companion.

Since calling upon the celestial god was no longer an option, they created a new kind of prayer.

That prayer, devised by Mide and his companions together, resonated deeply in the hearts of the territory’s people.

“The spell works even without the celestial god?”

“The Hero was right after all.”

“Of course! He is the one who exposed Sobius as Padania in the first place.”

“That bastard Padania almost got us all killed back then.”

They had nearly been swallowed by that strange black hole.

It hadn’t lasted long, but many were still traumatized by that experience.

– Alright. Shall we begin?

– Yes. Leave the support to me.

Neril glared at Sobius.

– Sobius, you’re the filthy impostor who once pretended to be a hero under the name Padania. You’re no different from Kaeld.

– ……

– Any last words before you die?

– I…

– Not that I would listen. Just die.

So cool!

Someone among the people shouted it out loud.

– Art Flare!

Countless magic arrows formed from Neril’s hands.

They filled the sky.

At her gesture, a storm of arrows rained down!

Sobius raised his sword and deflected them one after another.

– Kwooooom!

With a crash of dust and earth, his helmet shattered.

– You actually managed to break my helmet. Not bad.

– Hmph.

– Mide put Lady Idria through quite a lot. You and your friends will pay for that with your lives.

Padania charged at Neril and Xenia.

The heroes responded in kind, unleashing spells and techniques.

Their battle was as fierce as any ever fought by the heroes of legend.

The people of the territory had never seen those ancient battles.

But they knew this one was fiercer than any that had come before.

Time passed.

At the final moment.

Whirrrr!

Enormous magic circles bloomed in midair.

From them shot out chains of light that bound Sobius’s arms.

– Kh… Wh-what is this?

– Xenia! Now!

– Haaaah!

Xenia swung the holy sword Caesar.

Thud.

Padania’s head fell to the ground.

The people of the territory shouted as one:

“We won! The heroes won!”

The citizens of Atrium were already cheering wildly.

After the fight, the face that appeared was Sabach’s.

The people of this land had a bitter history with him.

They had never seen his face up close before, but they remembered how, when Neril’s magic erased the mountain, green smoke had risen in the shape of a man.

“That bastard… it’s really him, isn’t it?”

“I didn’t see clearly back then, but yeah, it looks like him.”

“Ugh. Thinking about what we went through because of him…”

“Offense will avenge us.”

In the vision, Sabach began to turn into smoke once again.

Then Adwin reached out his hand, as if seizing something from midair.

– Where do you think you’re going!

– K-kh… Wh-what is this…?

– Your soul is in my hand now. Don’t move.

That young boy was known for his politeness and composure, but against the Demon King’s minions, he showed no mercy.

The people murmured among themselves.

“He stopped him from turning into smoke?”

“That’s Lord Adwin. The necromancer bound his soul.”

“A-Amazing…”

Then Offense spread his cloak wide.

‘Honestly, any spell would do,’ he thought, ‘but Mide said I should make it spectacular.’

He commanded all his Little Stars, sending a storm of blades in every direction.

– This one’s for the people of Atrium! Take this!

– Gaaahhhh!

Hearing Offense’s shout, the people of the territory wept as one.

He had already saved them once before, with that vial of poison that had dispersed the green smoke back then.

And now, he was avenging them as well.

– Ghh.. ugh…

At last, Sabach collapsed to the ground, convulsing.

Then the convulsions stopped.

Only his cold corpse remained, along with the victorious smiles of Offense and Adwin.

The people raised their voices in triumph.

“Uwaaaaah!”

In the imperial garden, the Emperor sat in a relaxed posture.

‘It was right here that I once witnessed the Hero’s majesty firsthand.’

There was even a time when he had loudly declared he would become a hero himself.

Now, thinking back on it, he could only laugh at his own foolishness.

As the ruler of an empire, he had never once felt shame perhaps because he had saved it all to feel at once, before Mide.

‘And the person I had tried to use back then was…’

Serein Magnus, whose image appeared now in the vision.

The Emperor let out a quiet, knowing chuckle.

‘Still, she keeps her manners, even with everyone watching.’

Serein had her hands clasped together like a saint.

– Lisel. Let’s begin.

– Yes. Spirits, reveal yourselves.

Spirits were, by nature, invisible to humans.

But this battle was different. They had to show their full might to the world to make their names known.

The emperor soon found himself staring at an overwhelming number of spirits.

‘T-those are spirits?’

Even if Magna Neros herself were to be reborn, could she command that many?

Impossible.

It wasn’t to belittle the first hero’s party, but even Magna Neros could not compare to Lisel.

No, none of the heroes or champions of any era could stand beside those who lived in this one.

Pirensha, as planned, wore a solemn expression at least outwardly.

Inside, however, she was grumbling nonstop.

‘This is totally overkill. Honestly, I don’t even know how I’m supposed to fight.’

Of course, she didn’t need to worry.

Lisel spoke.

“Pirensha, second finger of Lies. I know full well that giving you time would be a mistake.”

If she didn’t stay focused, she would fall into her old habit of speaking too politely.

Lisel’s eyes sharpened.

“So I will finish this in one go! Serein!”

“Yes!”

There wasn’t really anything for Serein to do, but she still placed her hand on Lisel’s back.

Then she closed her eyes and began murmuring something.

Her lips were perfectly hidden behind Lisel’s shoulder, enough that all anyone could tell was that she was muttering. Not even a skilled lip reader could make out the words.

Neril had deliberately adjusted their angle that way.

‘One gold coin, two gold coins, three gold coins…’

And as Serein counted the coins, it somehow looked as though a mysterious spell was granting Lisel strength.

Tap, tap.

Serein patted Lisel’s back, as if to say that should do it.

Lisel shouted.

“Everyone! Become one and strike down that creature!”

Whoooosh.

The countless fragmented forms of Mime merged into a single massive one.

Mime spoke in spirit tongue, a language only Lisel could understand.

“Was it truly necessary to go this far, my king?”

Lisel answered in kind.

“Shut up and hurry.”

“You’re starting to sound like Serein.”

“That’s uncalled for.”

The emperor listened in awe to their exchange.

‘That’s the spirit tongue… Far more fluent than Magna Neros’s. The records said she could only form occasional words.’

Naturally.

The spirits under Magna Neros never dared to talk back.

Soon, the enormous Mime surged toward Pirensha.

For a moment, Pirensha felt a pang of self-loathing, but then faithfully did her part.

“Guh…! N-no, I just need a little more time… aaaagh!”

She vanished into the roaring winds of Mime’s tempest.

When the storm cleared, there was no trace of Pirensha left.

Serein cried out.

“Did we get her!?”

The emperor instinctively replied,

“No, you mustn’t say that, Lady Serein.”

Fortunately, this time, it really was over.

Lisel wiped the sweat from her forehead and answered.

“Yes. Definitely.”

The emperor leaned back in his chair, exhaling in relief.

But the fight wasn’t over yet.

If anything, this was only the beginning.

Shh.

The scene shifted.

Now standing before them were Mide and Idria.

‘The hero and the demon king…’

Sweat dampened the emperor’s palms.

Through the spiritual link Adwin had prepared, Neril’s voice came.

[Mide, Serein and Lisel’s side is almost done. You are next.]

[Got it. Give me the signal five seconds before we start.]

[Okay.]

Then Idria spoke.

“So, it’s nearly over, is it?”

“Yeah. I will let you know five seconds ahead.”

“You know, sometimes I think… If it weren’t me, you would have been the Demon King of Lies.”

“For someone saying that, you still look pretty weak. Meaning, the lies I create are fundamentally different from yours. Even without you, I wouldn’t have become a demon king.”

The lie I’m weaving right now.

It’s as vast as the one I harvested through Kaeld before regression. In scale alone, at least.

Yet this lie, being born in real time, did nothing to strengthen Idria.

She sighed.

“Do you have any idea why?”

“Well, since we have come this far, I might as well tell you. The world seems to like my lies.”

“…What?”

“They say it’s because my lies ultimately benefit humanity.”

“Heh.”

Idria let out a quiet laugh.

“I suppose that makes sense, considering your end goal in all this.”

“…”

“In other words, only lies that harm humanity can serve as a demon king’s power, right?”

“Seems that way.”

“Isn’t that ridiculous?”

I tilted my head.

“What’s ridiculous?”

“The world made the system that way.”

“…”

“I can only grow stronger through lies that harm mankind. But when did I ever ask for that?”

Her voice hardened.

“I never asked to be born. I was born under the law of this world, that ‘the negative emotions of humans’ give birth to demon kings.”

“…”

“I wasn’t born because I wanted to live. I just… don’t want to die now that I am alive.”

“So?”

“That’s all. I was just venting. Wondering why this world plays favourites with humanity.”

I thought for a moment before replying.

“The owner of the heart that became your core… the human Idria.”

“…?”

“Do you think she wanted to die?”

“What are you getting at?”

“The moment you descended as a demon king, the human Idria died. And not just her.”

I began listing, one by one, the lies of Idria I had witnessed through the Eye of Omniscience.

The countless strange incidents recorded in history, those the Holy Knights of Light failed to uncover even with their full might.

Behind every one of them was Idria.

All were part of her to harvest of lies.

And naturally, in that process, countless victims were created.

“More recently, the likes of the Martial King and Patrick were victims too. Not that I’m defending them.”

“…”

“Adwin’s father? Just a plaything to you. And if I hadn’t stopped the Black Sun in the capital, everyone would have turned into monsters and died.”

“…”

“Xenia suffered endlessly after Ophelia vanished. And during Sobius’s incident, nearly every citizen of that territory was slaughtered.”

She listened quietly.

And I spoke quietly too.

There was no point in shouting.

“You’re mistaken, Idria.”

“…What?”

“It’s not that I don’t understand you. I do understand your desperate will to live.”

“…”

“Because humans are the same, we all struggle to live. This ridiculous play between us? It’s another expression of humanity’s struggle to survive.”

But.

I looked straight at her and continued.

“I understand. But I don’t pity you.”

“…”

“You understood humans too, didn’t you? But you never pitied them.”

“…You’re right.”

“So I won’t say things like, ‘How could you! How cruel!’ or any of that.”

Then Neril’s voice came.

[Mide, it’s done. I will start the count.]

Shing.

I drew the hero’s sword.

“I will just quietly strike you down. You’re humanity’s enemy.”

“…I see. I shouldn’t have bothered talking nonsense.”

[5, 4…]

“Since it’s our last fight, let’s make it spectacular.”

“I will oblige.”

[3, 2, 1. Switching now.]

I took my stance.

And with a cold tone, I said,

“Idria, Demon King of Lies… let’s finish this.”

Idria answered solemnly.

“Come, hero.”

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