The Forsaken Hero

“… How dare you do that to Katsuragi!!”

Suddenly hearing a sorrowful scream, I lost myself in anger and invoked the imperial rank magic Berserk Tempest.

“Berserk Tempest!!”

“Blizzard Prison!!”

Our enemy also used a similarly strong imperial rank magic. At that moment, I lost any semblance of calm I may have had. Shamefully, I had forgotten what would happen when two similarly ranked magics collided with one another.

As what was obviously going to happen, I knew that I would lose to his Blizzard Prison. However, that was alright.

This was my mistake to bear. I would die, but it was my responsibility. Besides, I’m certain that Katsuragi will come out on top in the end.

But for some reason, I was pushed to the side.

—By Yui, my best friend.

She’d been talking with me this whole time, apologizing… worrying about me. I only ever gave her the cold shoulder in return.

Even with that, she decided to save me, even volunteering her body to do so. So that the mistake she mad on that day wouldn’t repeat itself…

But even then, it was too early for me to be surprised. Someone had then pushed Yui out of the way.

That someone was a gentle person. A very, very warm-hearted person. Someone who made those with him happier.

That someone was Katsuragi.

He saved me. Although he sometimes did terrible things, he wouldn’t stop, even if it got hard.

That’s just they kind of person he was. He probably couldn’t bear leaving Yui to die, either. He’s the kind of person who wouldn’t stop being kind to those who were important to him.

I felt my chest tighten.

Then, a thing I’d hoped wouldn’t happen became reality.

Yui kissed Katsuragi. He didn’t look like he didn’t want it, either, and responded.

“Ah…”

I felt my body suddenly lose its strength.

Katsuragi was telling Yui something. Yui said something back to him, causing Katsuragi to smile.

He was trapped in that ice.

“… Ah… ah…”

Katsuragi had to have said something to her. And Yui definitely has to have started liking him now.

If not, there’s no way she would have kissed someone she hated so much.

There’s only one way I can confirm it.

I need to hear it from Katsuragi’s mouth directly.

I need for him to say I’m wrong. For him to tell me that I’m the only one he loves. For him to embrace me, whispering that I was his into my ear.

So that that can happen… I mean, so that I can get him to do that…

“… I have to kill Fantra.”

Looking toward the annoyingly loud man—the man who put Katsuragi in that ice, I absolutely had to kill him.

I stood up, my eyes dead set on him.

I couldn’t think straight.

My mind felt clouded. Like a bomb went off in it.

In that case, who needs thinking?

I just need to kill him. Yeah, that’s good enough. As long as I can be with Katsuragi, that’s good enough for me.

“Demonslayer, activate.”

My body had felt like it was made of lead moments before, but now it felt like feathers.

I can’t waste any time. I have to end this within five minutes.

“Oh? You couldn’t possibly still intend to fight me? Haven’t you come to understand the difference between us after that little magic display of yours?”

“I’ll win if I don’t use magic.”

If magic is a threat, I just have to make him not use magic. With how I feel right now, I feel like I can do that.

“How idiotic of you. There’s no way you could!”

“I won’t know if I don’t try—no, I can do it.”

I picked up the dagger I’d dropped and swung it through the air a few times… Yeah, fast.

“I don’t mind letting you go, you know? I’m feeling thoroughly refreshed right now. Besides, you are someone who’s been forsaken, just as I have been. I don’t like beating up brokenhearted women.”

“… Shut up. I haven’t been forsaken. He had to do that.”

Yeah. Katsuragi would do anything if he had to do it. He wouldn’t even hesitate if that something was killing someone. I have faith that what he did with Yui was something he had to do.

“Hah, sure. If you want to have at it, then have another taste of my magic!”

Fantra snapped his fingers.

Simultaneously, I—accelerated.

An extremely short moment pa.s.sed, maybe not even a second.

My speed exceeding what Fantra’s eyes could follow, I arrived behind his back.

“… Eh?”

Fantra still hadn’t realized where I was. I pulled my arm back behind me—

“Behind you.”

“Wha—…!?”

—and swung my fist straight into his face. The punch’s impact sent blood all over his face.

“… … …!”

Losing his ability to see or hear, the man fell back a few steps and snapped his fingers again.

Light gathered on his face, restoring it.

“Y-You…! What are you!?”

I punched at the face again. However, as there was a layer of ice to act as a shield between my fist and his face this time, the punch didn’t go through.

I couldn’t let him open a distance between us.

I got in close so that I could get into my dagger’s range.

“Yah!”

“Multi Blockade!”

Realizing that he wouldn’t be able to stop my attack with his ice layers, he immediately switched to using walls.

Taking off into the air and putting my feet together, I flipped vertically in the air drop kicked him. Fantra wasn’t able to hide his surprise at my sudden change in tactics.

“Guh…!”

He crossed his arms above his head to receive my attack, but his slender arms had no way of stopping my attack and couldn’t take the shock, easily breaking.

“Aaaah!? How dare yooou…! Ice—”

“I won’t let you!”

Hearing him begin his incantation, I kicked him to the wall with my shin. He made a crater in the wall before falling limply to the ground, unable to get back up.

I couldn’t miss this chance.

Fantra started getting back up, so I severed his arms.

I didn’t stop attacking him, either.

Grasping his neck and shoving him against the wall, my right hand paid his face another visit. Finally, I jumped and drove him further into the wall with a roundhouse kick.

His head hung limply, he wasn’t breathing anymore.

“It’s because of you that Katsuragi’s…”

Stabbing my dagger into where his heart should be, I tore the area up with all I had. Changing my grip on the dagger into an underhanded grip, I swung it at him again.

Vertically. Diagonally. Horizontally.

I mangled him.

So that he would never appear before us again.

I turned him into a lump of flesh.

Finally, once there was nothing left for me to slice apart, I stopped. The remains before me didn’t look like a living creature anymore.

“Haah… haah… haah…”

I’d definitely killed him.

His skull was caved in, his heart was torn apart, his body was mangled. He didn’t even have fingers to use for his crystals, so he shouldn’t be able to use magic anymore even if he were alive.

I’d won. Now Katsuragi could go back to normal!

Filled with a sense of accomplishment, I looked to Katsuragi in expectation.

However, Katsuragi was still encased in ice.

“Eh, why…?”

Fantra was defeated. I’d taken his life with my own hands.

But why isn’t Katsuragi released yet!?

Did I do something wrong!?

Can only Fantra release the magic?

Or is there another another reason?

“Shuri! Behind you!”

I heard Yui shout, bringing back from my sea of thought.

Once I turned around, I saw that Fantra had almost completely regenerated and was approaching me with a sword in his hand. I tried avoiding him by leaping backward—but suddenly, my body felt like it was experiencing multiple times normal gravity, making it so that I only barely took a single step back.

Why did it have to happen now…

Demonslayer ended…

Right after that, feeling like my chest was being pierced through, I collapsed.