The demon god was truly insane.
Without a moment’s rest, it turned the demonic beasts into ferocious creatures and spread them across the empire.
To stop this, the entrance to the Black Field needed to be sealed, but the empire no longer had the strength to do so.
The dark and sinister bastards known as Amcheon had thoroughly ravaged the empire.
“Hey, hold on. This isn’t the first or second time.”
“…You say that so casually.”
The chaos continued.
Civilians turned into looters to survive.
Once they fell, they didn’t hesitate to kill and steal.
Seeing this, Theonar often couldn’t contain his anger.
Isabel understood his feelings, but…
They couldn’t just kill everyone.
“Are we some kind of righteous judges? Don’t bother with every little thing. It’ll only make things harder.”
She wasn’t like this at first.
She protected civilians and dealt with those who threatened them.
The innocent deaths of Aldonia’s people were etched in her mind, making her particularly sensitive.
But after Isabel briefly visited another city, she was shocked to find that the refugees who had nowhere to go had been slaughtered and looted.
“Why did you kill them? Why!”
“…You don’t understand. To survive, we have to do things like this. Do you think we want to? To feed my children, I have to tear apart the corpses lying there!”
After that incident, she stopped acting recklessly. Even if innocent people were dying.
As the world crumbled, the empire made a bold move.
They formed a special unit to deal with the demon god.
If things continued this way, the empire would fall, so they decided to capture the demon god to create a livable environment for humanity.
Isabel, Vanice, and Theonar all agreed to this.
Ian, who had awakened the divine blood, was chosen as the hero, and the empire’s finest were gathered.
At first, there were about 200 of them.
A number gathered from the best the empire had to offer.
Of course, compared to the empire’s peak, it was woefully insufficient.
Still, the special unit set out.
They couldn’t just sit still.
As they swiftly advanced through the Black Field toward the demon god, hope seemed within reach.
Even in decay, the empire’s gathered talents were formidable.
They defeated every demonic beast in their path, but…
“They’re all dead.”
“Yeah, they are.”
Exactly two years later, all but six of them were dead.
“I told them to wait until I got back, but they went ahead like idiots…”
Casualties occurred frequently over the two years.
Those with minor injuries were carried along,
but those with severe injuries had to be left behind.
Vanice and the other priests were there, but their divine power had limits.
They couldn’t regenerate those with shattered organs or torn bodies.
One by one, they fell behind, leaving only us.
“Theonar. Can you move?”
“…Yeah.”
“Tch, just stay back.”
Among them, Theonar was in an ambiguous position.
He wasn’t particularly strong. He was always the first to fall.
But they couldn’t abandon him.
In desperate situations, the strange power he displayed was something no one else could replicate.
“I told you I’d protect you, so why do you keep rushing forward?”
“If we don’t destroy that, we’re all dead.”
“But you almost died.”
“…..”
He always threw himself into danger.
It was agonizing to watch.
In hindsight, his actions were always right, but…
Every time he fell, bleeding, it was hard to bear.
The others felt the same.
Even Ian, who was unconsciously seen as the leader, relied on Theonar.
Without him, the journey to the demon god would have taken twice as long.
They all knew it, even if they didn’t say it out loud.
Around five years into the journey to the demon god,
one day, while taking a walk alone, I witnessed something unbelievable.
“No… no. It can’t be. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.”
He was tearing at his hair, rolling on the ground.
“…What are you doing?”
That’s when it started.
The memory of that day resurfaced.
“Right. That’s it. I came from Earth. No… did I? Where did I come from? Can I go back? What’s my name? Theonar… yeah, Theonar, that’s right… no! No! My real name! The name I used on Earth! Damn it, remember! Remember!!”
It was clear something was wrong with him.
He would talk to himself, then suddenly stop, do something else, then suddenly stop again and scream.
Unpredictable actions.
Seeing this, Isabel rushed over and grabbed him.
“What are you doing?!”
“Remember, remember, remember, remember, remember, remember, remember, remember.”
“What the hell are you doing?!”
His eyes rolled back as he continued to convulse. Isabel, desperate, knocked him out and dragged him to Vanice.
“…That’s what happened.”
“Isabel. I know it’s a lot to ask, but could you please pretend you didn’t see this? He would want that.”
“What’s wrong with him? What’s the problem? Did the demons cast a spell on him? Right? That’s it, isn’t it?”
“Answer me! Tell me he’s fine! Tell me you can fix him! Say it!”
At Isabel’s desperate cry, Venice just bowed his head and turned away.
As if he knew something.
“Why… why didn’t you tell me…?”
“He didn’t want you to know.”
“Don’t… don’t mess with me. What’s the point of killing the demon god if it’s like this…?”
That day was probably the second time Isabel felt true despair.
It was similar to the feeling she had when Aldania was brutally destroyed.
“Stupid girl. You didn’t notice until now. Haha…”
She had no idea.
She didn’t know he was in such a state, why his mind had crumbled so much.
She blamed herself for her ignorance.
She should have known.
She should have looked around.
She kept saying she’d protect him, but in the end, she was only focused on herself.
“…Please, hang in there.”
So from that day on, she didn’t hold back.
She pushed forward more recklessly, more boldly.
Vanice scolded her, but she didn’t care.
She threw herself into danger, taking hits so her comrades wouldn’t get hurt.
“Ugh…”
“Venice, are you hurt too?”
“No. My stomach hurts from watching you run around like a lunatic.”
“But this time, everyone else is fine, right?”
“Yes… that’s a good thing. But don’t push yourself too hard. Death can come in an instant.”
“I know, I know. Stop nagging.”
As she widened her view and looked around, she learned a few things.
One of them was, of course, Vanice’s power.
‘He’s stubborn too.’
She realized this recently, as she was the only one getting injured.
Vanice’s power wasn’t omnipotent.
It required a significant price.
Whenever he healed severe injuries like severed limbs or protruding organs, Vanice would bite his lip and sweat profusely.
She didn’t know the exact details.
She never asked.
Vanice never complained to Isabel.
He just told her not to push herself too hard, or she might really die.
Somehow, they managed to continue their journey, but it all came crashing down in an instant.
“Everyone, when you wake up, gather here! No matter what!”
They had fallen into a trap and were scattered.
Thanks to Rozennia’s quick thinking, they didn’t suffer major injuries, but their positions were a problem.
“This is ridiculous.”
Even taking the shortest route, it would take at least a year.
Were the others in the same situation?
Or was I the only one thrown far away?
Outwardly, I moved forward, killing demonic beasts as I went.
But inside, anxiety was slowly growing.
‘What if they abandon me? No, no way. Surely they’re not all dead…?’
Being left alone was quite painful.
There was no one to exchange trivial conversations with, no one to take watch while I slept.
It hurt.
I was lonely.
I was scared.
But I kept walking.
There was no other way to escape this hell.
“Ah, finally here. I thought I was going to die from exhaustion.”
“…Isabel.”
“What, why?”
“Your arm, your arm…”
“Ah, this? It got corrupted along the way. So I tore it off.”
It took a year to reunite with my comrades.
Of course, not everyone was unharmed.
Isabel had lost her left arm below the elbow, and Rozennia had lost an eye.
But there was one thing to be grateful for.
He looked fine on the outside.
Even if his insides were broken.
Once reunited, we silently moved toward the demon god.
There was no turning back.
The empire, and the entire continent, had fallen.
We didn’t even know if there were any other survivors besides us.
But we had to do it.
If we gave up on this, there would be nothing left but death.
.
.
.
.
.
The demon god was terrifying.
It was hard to even look at it directly.
No, it was beyond Isabel’s comprehension.
Still, we charged.
Enduring the fear, shaking off the horror.
“You… what, what are you…”
But then something unimaginable happened.
That bastard Ian stabbed him with a sword.
Isabel was out of her mind at that moment.
Her wailing was like a beast’s, her twisted face like a demon’s.
The four of us rushed at Ian.
We unleashed magic.
Slashed with swords.
Poured out divine power.
Threw punches.
We were confident.
Even if Ian had divine blood, he couldn’t stop this.
We thought we’d make him pay for betraying us, but…
“You all still need to live. So keep crawling on the ground like worms.”
We were wrong.
It was all an act.
The explosive mana Ian emitted was beyond belief.
Ninth rank?
No, Ian was tenth rank.
A realm even the war god Drakan couldn’t reach.
Ian had achieved it.
In just a few exchanges, we were incapacitated and could only watch as Ian fought the demon god.
I don’t remember what happened after that.
I lost too much blood to stay conscious.
I vaguely remember Theonar falling to the ground after destroying the demon god.
How was that possible?
Was he even alive?
Before I could figure it out…
“Ah, you’re here. Senior.”
I had returned to the past.
“Haha, I cleaned up nicely today. How is it? Neat, right?”
Theonar, forcing a smile as he cleaned the training ground.
Seeing him like that, tears welled up.
“Are you hurt somewhere?”
“No, just a bit dizzy.”
I composed myself and looked up at his face.
“Kuk, you’re still as clueless as ever.”
“…Huh?”
His blank, slightly clueless expression.
It was the him I had missed.
I bit my trembling lip and watched him.
I vowed.
This time, we wouldn’t meet the same end.