‘Wha… what is this?’
Reinhild could not understand at all what was going on.
As the Demon God had said, he knew that one not chosen by the god could not draw on the power contained in the Hero’s sword.
He also knew the Hero’s sword would not harm the Demon God.
He had only meant to disgust the Demon God to create an opening and escape.
Then why?
What is making him suffer?
‘This is not the time to be curious about that.’
There was one thing that was clear amid all the incomprehensible things.
This was a chance.
Because the Demon God had flung him to the floor, the secret passage was closer.
He only needed to seize this opportunity and throw himself down it.
“What did you do to me, Demon King!”
The Demon God reached a hand toward Reinhild.
‘…Now!’
At the same time, Reinhild hurled himself toward the secret passage.
The carpet that covered the opening fell with him and wrapped around his body.
Reinhild clutched the carpet tight and tried to draw up every last drop of magic he had left.
‘Move!’
He had to use magic.
Even if he could not fly, he had to stop the fall for a very brief moment before hitting the ground.
‘Please!’
Despite his desperate wish, his magic was absurdly insufficient.
It was something he had not anticipated.
Originally, Reinhild had planned that the moment he slipped from the Demon God’s line of sight, he would squeeze out his remaining magic and take to the air.
His magic would hit bottom, but that was better than having his body shatter.
But the instant he drove the blade into the Demon God’s body, his magic drained away.
As if the Demon God had absorbed his strength.
‘No…’
He had to go meet Xion…
He was going to die.
The moment that thought arose, his memories with Xion flipped through his mind like pages turning quickly in a book.
The day they rejoiced at the news of a Hero’s birth.
The day he first saw Xion’s face through the crystal orb.
The day he left his room for the first time to meet Xion who had come all the way to the Demon King’s castle and breathed the outside air.
The image of Xion, then awkward and boyish unlike now, flashed by, and he remembered the time they met again after he awoke from the seal.
He remembered those eyes that looked at him with a heart like sunlight.
“…Xion…”
I want to see you.
Sensing death, Reinhild closed his eyes.
Thud.
Did falling through empty air make a sound like that?
Perhaps it was the sound of falling into the afterlife.
He cautiously opened his eyes, but it was pitch dark and he could see nothing.
So he had died. He was trapped in darkness.
He learned for the first time that one could still think after dying.
So what happens now?
Rustle.
As something that covered Reinhild’s face was pulled away, letting him accept death, his vision brightened.
Reinhild squinted against the sudden flood of light.
He could faintly make out the shape of something.
A shadow? …No, a face?
“I am very late, Rein.”
“…Xion?”
A familiar voice.
Reinhild blinked wide eyes, checking again and again the figure looking down at him.
‘It is Xion.’
It was really Xion.
Xion was truly right before his eyes!
“Xion!”
Overjoyed, Reinhild threw his arms around Xion.
Just moments earlier he had not had the strength to even twitch a finger, so when had he recovered enough to move like this?
‘Right, this is the afterlife.’
In the afterlife, it seemed one did not suffer from the depletion of magic or injuries from life.
So Xion had died too, just as the Demon God said.
So he had been waiting here for Reinhild to arrive.
Thinking that, tears pricked his eyes.
He pitied Xion, who had died for his sake, and he felt sorry for Xion, who had had to keep waiting even after death.
“Xion…”
Reinhild buried his head against Xion’s shoulder.
His voice shook as if he would burst into tears at any moment.
“I missed…”
“Demon Kiiing!”
A blaring roar rang in his ears.
An unpleasant voice.
Demon King, Demon King, Demon Kiiiing…
It echoed like a voice inside a cave.
Reinhild hurriedly lifted his head to find the source of the voice.
Far above, he saw the Demon God looking down at them.
“…Huh?”
So he had not… died?
Reinhild rounded his mouth in surprise and tried to grasp the situation.
No matter how many times he looked again, what was up there was the Demon God.
Where he was, was not the afterlife, but the bottom level of the Demon King’s castle’s secret passage.
A moment ago, the reason it had been dark before his eyes was not because he died, but because the carpet that fell with him had covered his face.
And Xion had pulled the carpet off his face so he could see again…
“Xion?!”
Reinhild jerked his head back in shock, pulling away from where he had been leaning on Xion.
If this was not the afterlife, why was Xion here?
Had Xion caught him when he fell and saved his life?
When he lifted both hands to cup Xion’s cheeks, he felt the warmth unique to humans.
‘It is really Xion. Xion is alive!’
Xion smiled gently at Reinhild.
“Xiooon…”
How Xion, no longer a Hero, had entered this place.
How his body, which had been dying from magic depletion, had become fine.
Why the Demon God screeching above did not come down here to attack them.
He had many questions, but right now none of that mattered in the least.
With eyes brimming with tears, Reinhild hugged Xion again.
“I… missed you.”
“I missed you too.”
“I thought… you would be… safe, sob…”
He had tried to hold back somehow, but in the end tears gushed out.
Xion drew Reinhild into his arms and gently kissed him.
Even though the inside of Reinhild’s mouth was torn and smelled metallic with blood, the kiss tasted only sweet.
“I am sorry for making you worry. I will never make you wait again.”
Looking at Reinhild nodding, Xion felt as if his heart would tear.
‘I wanted to protect him so that he would never be hurt again…’
What right did he have to call himself a god when he could not keep even the vow he had made himself.
He felt as if he would regret for the rest of his life not being there when Reinhild went through such hardship.
Swallowing his tears with effort, Xion set Reinhild down from his arms. Then he wiped Reinhild’s face, which was a mess, stained with blood and tears, with his sleeve.
He did not forget to plant one more kiss on the lips that wheezed as if even breathing was hard.
“Let us go home, Rein.”
“Okay.”
“Before that…”
Xion lifted his head.
Up above, the Demon God, ignoring him, was pouring out his fury at Xion and Reinhild for staging a happy reunion.
“You vermiiin! Wretches like you! If only I could bring out my original power, the likes of you would be nothing!”
The one who had hurt Reinhild.
There was no way he would let him go quietly.
Xion released Reinhild’s hand and murmured softly.
“I will make it so that thing never shouts at Rein again.”
And he would have lunged at the Demon God to swing his sword.
If only Reinhild had not grabbed his hem.
“No!”
Reinhild stopped Xion in a panic.
The opponent was a god. A god who had lived as long as the Supreme God.
No matter how strong Xion was, no matter that he had become a god through his efforts, he could not overcome the Demon God.
“Do not go.”
“Rein.”
When Xion’s eyes met Reinhild’s, Reinhild shook his head firmly.
Seeing that earnest face, Xion wanted to grant whatever he asked.
“I said I would not make you wait. Please…”
“I will not go.”
In the end, instead of running toward the Demon God, Xion knelt on one knee before Reinhild as if making a knight’s vow.
Reinhild threw off the carpet that still clung half over his body and embraced Xion.
“It seems the Demon God cannot come down this far. Let us run now.”
“The Demon God is not unable to come down. He is avoiding clashing with me.”
“…Why?”
When Reinhild looked puzzled, Xion met his gaze and smiled serenely.
It was a peaceful smile that could never have imagined the most evil god above their heads was raging.
“He senses the trace of the High God from me, and I am alive.”
“Hmm?”
“I will explain the details in a moment. First, we should clear away the noise so we can enjoy some quiet time together.”
Before Reinhild could voice his question at that, Xion swept his right arm upward.
An immense vibration that began from Xion’s hand shook the entire secret passage.
The tremor was strong enough that Reinhild’s body vibrated with it.
What is happening?
The moment he thought that, the thick walls surrounding the secret passage burst.
The Demon King’s castle split in half.
Kwoooaang!
Rumble, rumble, rumble,
“Wah!”
Huge chunks of stone came pelting down over their heads.
Reinhild squeezed his eyes shut and flung himself into Xion’s arms.
The collapsing stones did not so much as brush a single strand of Reinhild’s hair.
As if there were a protective spell around them, the stones bounced away before they could touch Reinhild’s body.
“Kh… damn it!”
As the Demon King’s castle collapsed and he fell from the top floor, the Demon God hastily shot upward.
But the caved-in ceiling fell right down on him and crushed his back.
“Ghk!”
The Demon God’s current body was the body of a demon he had cobbled together so he could pass as a common demon.
And it was an old, five-hundred-year-old body.
A shock of this degree might be nothing in the divine realm, but not here.
If he drew on any more power, the body would break apart.
If that happened, he would be flung back to the divine realm against his will.
If divine power was consumed in the process, all the strength he had worked so hard to gather would vanish.
“Damn it!”
But he could not just plummet.
Down below waited the former Hero… no, the God of Plenty.
A “god who survived meeting the High God,” no less!
“Gwaaaaaaah!”
Letting out a vile scream, the Demon God pulled up his power.
Xion did not simply watch from the side and let the Demon God have his way.
Xion drew the sword at his waist and swung it toward where the Demon God was.
A red light burst from the tip and flew toward the Demon God on a diagonal line.
With a tremendous roar, the massive falling debris exploded into pieces.
The Demon King’s castle shattered without a trace.
The dust that veiled their vision was blown away and scattered by the wind.
The Demon God was nowhere to be seen.
Small fragments of stone dropped to the ground and piled up.
And throughout doing all of this, Xion did not let Reinhild out of his arms.
Not for a single moment.
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