Ignoring the demon worshippers, he moved forward.
There was no time to spare for bodies that were still alive but barely clinging to existence.
He pushed through the blizzard, stronger than before.
Even though he couldn’t see well ahead, he immediately sensed the presence of someone nearby.
That woman was no mere demon whose name he didn’t even know.
Even though she was only on one side, the light he felt from her eyes was not that of a cruel demon, but that of a human.
“I’m sorry, hero.”
She was not a demon.
Glacia smiled a sad smile.
Despite being happy that she had regained her sanity, she couldn’t stop the tears that flowed as she realized that everything she had done until now was exactly what the demon had wanted.
Glacia, who despised herself, slowly stepped forward.
At the sight, Im So-yeon hurriedly drew her sword, but she was immediately stopped by Si-woo’s hand.
“It’s alright.”
“…Okay, I understand.”
Matching Glacia’s pace, Si-woo also stepped forward toward her.
The distance between the two quickly narrowed.
The two of them, now close enough that they could touch by simply reaching out their hands, stood face to face.
Glacia, with her eyes locked on Si-woo, let out a trembling breath.
She spoke the words of her resolve to herself.
She said it to give herself assurance.
“This time, I’m truly ready.”
Those words were not only for the hero, but a proof of her resolve.
“I’m really sorry. I was weak, and I was deceived by such a demon.”
“It’s not your fault for being deceived.”
“No, at least in the end, I lost control, and that was my mistake.”
She should have said nothing.
The greed she felt in her final moments caused the accident.
If she had misstepped even a little, the catastrophe would have far surpassed what Glacia could even imagine.
“If that wasn’t the case, I should have made up my mind right before dying. Instead of greedily acting on my own, I should have asked directly to be killed right there, or crushed my heart to delay the demon’s revival…!!”
Glacia spoke in a self-blaming tone.
Si-woo shook his head and responded to her.
“You’re not a hero.”
“That’s…”
She wasn’t a hero.
At those words, Glacia’s eyes wavered.
“If you want to call yourself a hero, I won’t stop you. But I wouldn’t recommend it.”
Hunters were revered as modern-day heroes.
They slay monsters and save people from the disasters of the gates.
“Such noble sacrifices are not something ordinary people can make. Even if you did something heroic, that doesn’t mean the regret will disappear.”
Si-woo had seen hunters, hailed as heroes, fall into despair multiple times.
He’d seen people who lost their comrades right in front of them despite successfully clearing gates.
He’d seen people who swiftly dealt with the overflowing monsters from the gates but couldn’t save a single child.
He’d encountered many people who, despite saving a hundred lives, despaired over failing to save just one.
It was those realities that Si-woo had come to avoid, seeking an illusion called Si-woo.
For that moment, he could escape the heavy burden of responsibility as a woman, not as a hero or a hunter.
Having witnessed those struggles, Si-woo spoke to Glacia.
There was no need to become a hero.
“You’re just an innocent victim, just as if you had died at the hands of the demon. You’ve never killed anyone by your own will, not even in your final moments.”
“If there is any blame, it’s on the humans who sought to control the demon and on the demon that tried to use those humans.”
In everything that had happened up until now, and everything that would happen in the future, it wasn’t your fault.
“Still…”
Even with Si-woo’s words, Glacia’s expression remained dark.
Even after he said that, it wasn’t enough to erase the guilt she carried.
Eventually, Si-woo realized that what she needed wasn’t kind words, but punishment.
With that in mind, he steeled himself once again.
He turned his sword toward Glacia.
The sword, wrapped in a swirling blue flame, was now aimed toward Glacia.
Glacia nodded at Si-woo, who had steeled himself.
If she had made up her mind, then he too had to do the same.
“Hero.”
Even she thought it was a cowardly way to go about it.
If this method was used, Glacia would be freed.
She would be liberated from her guilt after receiving her punishment and could find a happy ending.
However, it would leave an indelible scar on Si-woo.
Killing someone wasn’t as easy as it might seem.
Although the demon had been involved, Glacia knew, having experienced it firsthand.
The horrific sight of someone dying before your eyes.
Cutting flesh, hurting others.
Watching a body die slowly, having its life drained away, was a pain so unbearable it felt as though your own heart was being squeezed just from witnessing it.
Even knowing such pain, Glacia still made her request.
Not through suicide.
“Please, kill me.”
She wanted to meet her end at Si-woo’s hands.
It was a selfish wish.
A filthy desire to be remembered by Si-woo, even in such a way.
A feeling that a sinner like her shouldn’t have had.
But in the end, Glacia couldn’t hold it in.
She revealed her selfish and ugly desire in her final moments.
Crack.
The grip on the sword tightened.
Si-woo, facing Glacia’s expression, smiled bitterly.
Si-woo understood the thoughts she harbored.
If he decided to avoid it, rejecting her wish was still an option.
Furthermore, she was already dying.
The final choice the demon made left a clear scar on Glacia’s body.
Starting from her heart, most of her internal organs had frozen long ago.
The cold seeping from her skin had long surpassed even Baek Eun-seol’s chill.
If time were to drag on like this, Glacia’s body would collapse.
Even then, it was clear she would smile and tell him she was fine.
“Yes.”
But still, he aimed his sword at her.
Even as the blizzard raged around them, he didn’t take his eyes off her face.
From the start, Si-woo had decided to approach her not as a Hunter, but as a Host.
If that was the case, then even in her final moments, it was his duty to satisfy her as someone who sold illusions.
In that last, fleeting moment, he would fulfill the illusion she held in her heart.
Si-woo’s gaze no longer wavered.
“I’ll never forget.”
The meaning of those words didn’t need to be questioned.
It was the one thing she had wanted to hear until the very end.
Yet, in response to the hesitation he felt, he spoke.
Glacia, taking a deep breath, spread her arms wide.
“Sorry.”
“You’ve already walked too many paths to hear such words.”
“That’s true. Until the very last moment, I only caused trouble for you, hero.”
“Then consider it your punishment. It might hurt more than you think.”
At those words, Glacia smiled brightly.
As if wishing for it to be so.
She accepted the flame-wrapped sword that was approaching her.
“Yes, please. So that I won’t be able to forget, even in death.”
One step.
Simply moving forward, the end was drawing near.
But Si-woo no longer hesitated.
In answer to her resolve.
The sword, wrapped in blue flames, pierced her heart.
“…Ah.”
The sensation was numbed, so she couldn’t feel it.
But the blue flames were burning something.
Before the body, the fragment of the demon was burned first.
It was the same kind of malice, and that was what was destroyed first.
The cold that had been felt from her heart disappeared.
“Ah… Ahh…”
Si-woo carefully caught Glacia as she collapsed to the ground.
When Glacia saw herself reflected in Si-woo’s eyes, she couldn’t hold back her tears.
“I’m glad… I’m… glad…”
Seeing herself in his eyes, Glacia smiled.
Her white hair and pale eyes, once drained of color, disappeared with the power of the fragment.
Emerald-colored hair, full of life, cascaded beautifully.
The golden light that had barely clung to one side of her body now shone in both of her eyes.
“Finally, at the… end… I could… show you my true face… cough…”
Wearing the black dress she had been in when the demon had created her, not the gown made by the demon, Glacia spoke.
For the hero who had granted her final wish, she barely managed to express her gratitude.
“Thank you for saving me, hero.”
“…”
“Don’t mention it.”
The girl, who had been used even in death by the demon, smiled brightly.
She fell into a peaceful sleep, within the illusion.
