CH 95

The sight was unreal. Elroy wasn’t wearing a hood over his head or holding two swords. His empty eyes didn’t know where they were staring or whether he was looking at the Kraken swishing its tentacles at him. It’s as if he’s fighting blind, flailing, and dodging attacks with his senses alone.

“Forward….”

A muttering sound came from his mouth. The tentacle chased, and Elroy slashed. A white light enveloped the Holy Sword, and Elroy stepped forward. Marianne stared at him, still clutching her pulsing Holy Spear.

“Hero…?”

Marianne called out to him, but there was no way her voice could reach Elroy’s ears. Marianne stepped to Elroy’s side, but his eyes did not meet hers, and when his blade had finally severed all of the Kraken’s tentacles, Elroy looked down at them. Gripping his Holy Sword with a shaky hand as if he were hesitant to finish the job.

“You’re getting better at this.”

Elroy shook his head. Trying to hide his agitation, he fiddled with his right hand, which held his Holy Sword with his left. ‘Better at what?’

“Finish it.”

Elroy then raised his Holy Sword and brought it down. Marianne’s eyes widened in surprise at the unhesitating, clean strike. It was the movement of a practiced swordsman, something cleaner than anything Elroy had done before. He turned away, not bothering to wipe the blood from his face.

“I wonder what will happen to you this time.”

Elroy muttered and walked away. Marianne glared at him as he brushed past her, then hurried after him.

“Marianne, it’s over.”

She flinched at the sound of Elroy calling her name. No, he wasn’t calling her. The Hero kicked at the pile of monster corpses, prying them apart with his arms and pulling Marianne from beneath them.

“…Hero.”

She was a wreck. Marianne stared at the sight, her eyes steady. The phantom reached out weakly to Elroy, and he took it. When the phantom’s life was over, and it breathed its last, empty breath, Elroy rose to his feet. The depths of his lightless eyes deepened.

Then, the illusion began to crumble. Marianne stood before an unfamiliar tent, and the scene repeated itself. Elroy sets sail on a ship, encounters a swarm of monsters, and fights a Kraken. He fights tooth and nail and defeats the Kraken. He searches for Marianne’s bloodied body.

“This… all this time?”

Marianne muttered in a despairing voice. As the third iteration began, Marianne looked down at her compass. It clicked. The needle on the compass twitched every time Elroy returned to the barracks. Marianne remembered how many times it had moved.

A week ago, almost once an hour.

Hundreds of times. Over and over, without rest. With each repetition, Elroy’s complexion was visibly deteriorating, his eyes glazing over.

“Funny, isn’t it?”

Marianne turned her head, startled by the voice. Arjen, the mercenary at odds with Elroy, stood with a faint smile beside her.

“Rather than forsake his convictions, he forsakes his life. Isn’t that what a true Hero looks like? Never stopping, even when uncertainty and despair weigh him down?”

Marianne looked at Arjen with a pale face.

“If I can’t break him immediately, I’ll chip at his sanity. One cycle at a time until his convictions swallow him whole. Once he loses his individuality, I win.”

Arjen chuckled.

“Do you think you can save the Hero from becoming a madman when you are his mere companion?”

“…Is the purpose to defeat you?”

Marianne asked sharply, and Arjen shook his head.

“No. Do you think Disasters were made with a self-destruct button? We are merely moving as planned, and I got an unexpected catch.”

Arjen turned his head to look at Marianne.

“You can try calling out to him, though I doubt your voice will reach him.”

With that, Arjen disappeared. Marianne looked back at Elroy, who was fighting the Kraken, then jerked her head away. Behind Elroy, her illusion was fighting. Her skill with the spear seemed similar to her own.

The phantom’s ankle was grabbed by the Kraken’s tentacle and thrown into the air. She could barely twist its body before being slammed into the deck. Seemingly intent on dying in the most miserable way possible, she lay still and waited for the monsters to tear her apart.

“….”

Marianne glanced at Elroy fighting in the distance, then walked over to her vision, which had fallen to the ground in a heap, and looked down at it in disgust.

“This is what a Hero deserves.”

The corpse-like vision said. Marianne looked down at it.

“All because he wanted to save the people of Bactins. They’re useless, and when things go wrong, they’re just a burden.”

The illusion laughed.

“No matter how much he tries to fight it, that fact doesn’t change.”

Marianne clutched the Holy Soear with both hands and stiffened. Elroy had slain the Kraken by now and was approaching. As if out of habit, he had to ensure Marianne was dead. Turning back to Marianne, the vision spoke again.

“I wonder what you mean to the Hero.”

“What does it matter?”

At Marianne’s words, the phantom’s face changed for the first time. A sneer floated over it. It was the look of one who looked upon the foolish as if they were nothing more than plastic.

“I’ve been listening to you all this time, but I doubt he would pay attention to you. Within this vision and the real world. And there’s nothing you can do about it.”

Marianne didn’t try to listen to her anymore; she stared at the compass and talked to herself.

“I have been saved by him many times, whether you realize it or not, and there is no room for your words to intrude.”

“That’s funny. Do you think you can bring me down? No matter how hard you work alone, your efforts alone will never make a scratch on me.”

Marianne shook her head. Elroy stepped closer to her. She raised her hand to his face, just out of reach.

“I didn’t mean to do this alone in the first place.”

The world was falling apart again. Marianne suddenly found herself in the tent, facing her unharmed vision. The vision was frowning slightly as if in displeasure. Marianne looked at it with a piercing glare and declared.

“And that’s my spot.”

Picking up her spear, she pointed it at the apparition.

“Get out.”

The Holy Spear awakened to Marianne’s will. Marianne’s vision was gradually being torn apart.

“…With a weapon like that….”

The vision of the Mist glared at Marianne in a low voice. Marianne frowned as she pushed through the illusion, only to face stiff resistance. It seemed unwilling to allow her to reach Elroy.

“You have no right to stand by the side of the Hero.”

“That’s not for you to decide.”

Marianne stabbed the spear back in.

“I decide that.”

“You are like a bitch, following your master even if you’ve been abandoned.”

Marianne pushed the spear in harder.

“Why do you care? You should enjoy your last moments instead of worrying about me.”

The vision’s face contorted, and Marianne’s Holy Spear touched its core. The phantom opened its mouth to speak but was swept away by the mana in the spear.

“We should go.”

Elroy was shaking his head as he spoke. It was a face devoid of any determination, any hope. It was like Marianne’s before she met Elroy.

This time, I’m the one who’s going to save you.

***

The wind picked up. Marianne watched Elroy’s back without speaking, holding her Holy Spear. Daphne’s apparition was at his side, whispering to him, and Georg’s apparition was slumped over, unable to get up.

“Ready.”

Elroy raised his sword mechanically. It was a futile, vague gesture. Marianne felt him draw up his mana with effort.

“Let’s go.”

A barrage of gunfire and the screams of monsters. Marianne knew this ship would shatter sooner or later, and it happened immediately.

She could hear the keel being snapped from below. The sound of the kingdom’s finest wood being crushed and torn like paper. Marianne brought out her mana and hurried to Daphne and Georg. Elroy spurred off the deck in a run, landing on the Kraken’s body.

“What-?”

Marianne grabbed them both and landed on another island. Her companions’ shoulders slumped as they met her icy gaze.

“Stay here.”

Marianne said tersely and took off running again. There was no time to argue with the illusions. Her Holy Magic wrapped around the Holy Spear. Monsters threw themselves at her, sensing a power similar to the Holy Sword.

It wouldn’t be hard.

Marianne faced it head-on. With the slightest movement of her hand, the awakened Holy Spear pierced through a monster. Meanwhile, Elroy had single-handedly slaughtered hundreds of demons and was now fighting the Kraken’s main body. Marianne chased after him, swinging her spear relentlessly.

“Hero….”

As one monster died, two more rushed to intercept. They tried to stop Marianne’s words from reaching Elroy somehow. But she would not back down.

“Get out of the way…!”

The Holy Spear glowed even brighter. A spear that killed a god. A spear soaked in their blood and sharpened by their flesh.

Like a crescent moon, Marianne’s spear stretched and swept around her.

Beyond them, Elroy fought robotically, performing efficient movements without life. Marianne ran forward. A tentacle reached out to grab her, but she dodged and sliced it off, and behind her, another tentacle swooped in unnoticed.

“Hero!”

Marianne called out to him as she ran. Elroy didn’t turn his head. Marianne gritted her teeth and screamed for the first time.

“Elroy!!!”

Elroy’s shoulders twitched. Very, very slowly, his head turned. And he saw Marianne rushing toward him, covered in radiant light but breathing heavily. Elroy stared at Marianne, his mouth agape in disbelief, his hands trembling. His eyes had regained focus for the first time in a long time.

“…Marianne?”

“It’s dangerous!”

Marianne shouted as she pushed past Elroy. The spear’s blade tore apart the tentacles that tried to attack Elroy’s back. Marianne pierced her Holy Spear into the Kraken’s body and turned to face Elroy.

“…No. How did you get here?”

Elroy shook his head slowly. Slowly, Marianne approached him and opened her mouth.

“I came to save you.”

Elroy’s eyes didn’t light up with joy. Instead, they were filled with disbelief. Marianne watched as Elroy forced out a laugh. It was a dry laugh, like grains of sand in the desert.

“Is this what we’re doing now?”

At the sound of his voice, Marianne stiffened. Elroy’s mind was too distracted. Before Marianne could say anything, Elroy gently pushed her back and extended his Holy Sword.

“Don’t come any closer. Don’t even think your little trick will work.”

Marianne dropped the Holy Spear and looked at Elroy. It hurt like a shard of glass pierced her heart. Marianne raised a hand to her throbbing chest and shook her head.

“It’s me, Elroy. I’ve come all this way to rescue you.”

“Cut the bullshit and start. Please. I won’t be caught in your deception.”

Slowly moving toward Marianne, Elroy seemed to be drained of his magic. His hands and feet shook, and his face sagged from exhaustion.

“What… what do you want from me?”

Marianne’s voice sounded exhausted, and she slowly approached him. Elroy took a step back, his hands trembling.

“Don’t come, Marianne. Please. I can do it. Just a little more, and if I do it again….”

For the first time, Marianne ignored his orders.

She took a step. One step, then another. For the first time, there was fear in Elroy’s eyes. Marianne seemed to know what she had to do first.

“Elroy.”

“Don’t… don’t call me by my name.”

Ignoring Elroy, who raised his Holy Sword between them, Marianne leaped into his arms. Elroy froze in place, unable to react.

“Elroy.”

She could feel his arms trembling as he held the Holy Sword. Marianne placed her hand behind his back and buried her face into his chest.

“I’ve come to save you.”

“Please… don’t do this.”

Marianne didn’t know how to bring him back. But she had to do what she could.

Marianne pulled out the compass. It hadn’t moved, pointing straight at Elroy, telling her she had already reached her goal.

Marianne took a step back from the dazed Elroy.

She tugged at his clothes, and he fell forward.

Then Marianne brought her lips to Elroy’s.