Chapter 226

Chapter 226

"Are you just going to sit here and wait to die?" Ash spat the words out as he stood before Damien.

Damien realized itthese were his own memories.

"So? Planning to gracefully kick the bucket by giving up and doing nothing?"

But when... when had they had this conversation?

"Im going to fight! I will struggle and contemplate until my last moment!"

He couldnt recall when this dialogue had occurred.

"If you want to die without a fight, then take this sword and slit your own throat right now."

His memory was, for some reason, blocked

"Stop!"

Just then, Ban rushed over and tightly embraced Damien.

"Dont listen, Damien!"

Bans trembling hands covered both of Damiens ears.

"Youre just tired and worn out. Thats why youre hearing nonsense. Its okay. Im here."

""

"I will grow old and die with you. Always and forever, Ill be with you. So"

As Damien looked into Bans eyes, his gaze shifted back to Ash.

"My"

Ash was saying something, his lips curling into a sly smile.

Although he couldnt hear Ashs voice due to Bans hands covering his ears, he could clearly make out the shape of Ashs lips.

"just be my trigger."

Trigger?

Damien blinked in confusion.

Was he talking about the mechanism that fires a gun? But hed never held a gun in his entire life

"Huh?"

Damien looked down at his hands. In his old, wrinkled, and dry hands, something shaped like a long-barreled gun was forming.

It felt strangely familiar, as if hed held it for a very long time.

Damien looked up again. Ash had already vanished. The grandchildren who had followed their father were gone as well, disappeared like a mirage.

Staggering, Damien managed to get out of bed. His aged legs, weakened by illness, suddenly gained strength. His bent back straightened, despite the pain. It had been a long time since he could move without a wheelchair.

"No, honey!"

Ban screamed, trying to stop him. But Damien brushed off Bans hand and got up.

And the moment he stepped out of his room

A sound like sand being swept away by the tide filled the air, and the world began to crumble.

The mansion where theyd spent their twilight years began to disintegrate, its pieces soaring into the sky like they were caught in a storm.

Standing at the entrance of the crumbling mansion, Damien looked down at the city where hed lived his entire life.

The world was falling apart.

Pieces of it crumbled like puzzle pieces, some sinking into the ground, others rising into the sky.

Then, Damien realized.

I see.

So this was a dream all along.

"No."

A voice came from behind him. Damien turned around.

"You cant go, Damien."

There stood Ban.

Her face was wrinkled and marked by age, but to Damien, she still had the most beautiful face in the world. Ban was crying.

"It was you who said we shouldnt go on any more adventures, Damien!"

""

"Dont go back. That place is nothing but sorrow and torment."

""

"The hell waiting for you is real! Damien, please!"

Then, Damien gave a faint smile through his wrinkled lips.

"Im sorry, Ban. My dream was to grow old peacefully with you... but I cant."

"Why?! It was your dream. Here, you can live as you wish, as youve always wanted. So why!"

"I remember the last thing you said to me."

The will Ban had left behind.

- Dont forget the promise we made then.

Dawn of the day they escaped the orphanage.

The promise they shared with their first kiss.

"Lets explore the entire outside world. Lets take in all this vast world with our eyes."

I remember.

I cannot forget.

"This place may be happy, but the real you didnt want to live this way."

"..."

"..."

"Ill go on an adventure to the end of this hellish world. No matter how horrifying or painful it is, I wont run away anymore."

Damien stretched out his hands and grabbed Bans shoulders, then slowly pulled him into an embrace.

"Ill be back, Ban. To the end of the world."

"..."

"Even if I have to continue the adventure we started together alone."

Bans body began to shine brightly.

Damien held onto the girl, as light as a feather, even more tightly.

"I really loved you."

Trying to remember the precious touch he would never feel again, he said,

"Goodbye."

Was it an illusion?

It seemed like a pure white smile flashed across Bans face as he held him close.

Yes...

You won, Damien.

It felt like he heard Bans unique, pretentious laugh.

May luck be with you in your future life.

...Nightmare Slayer.

And left in that place was a single, pure white magic gun.

***

Damien suddenly opened his eyes.

He was on the walls of Crossroad. He looked down at what he was holding dearly in his arms.

It was the magic gun [Black Queen].

However, its appearance had completely changed. The dark aura was gone, and the barrel had turned a dazzling white.

Holding the long gun that seemed to emit its own light, Damien murmured shakily,

"... It feels like Ive slept for more than 50 years."

It felt like he had a long, long dream.

Turning to the side, he saw Lilly, drenched in sweat, directing the firing of artifacts. Beside her were the assisting alchemists and Kureha.

Boom! Bam bam bam!

Cannons roared in all directions. Soldiers screamed as they fired the cannons.

Damien, propping up his upper body, asked in a languid voice,

"How much time has passed?"

Lilly turned back with a sly smile and responded sharply,

"Slept well, Damien?! Youve been out cold for an entire hour!"

One hour.

He had slept for just an hour, but his body felt as heavy as if it had hibernated for decades. Groaning, Damien stood up from his position.

His body was heavy, but his heart was light.

Fully standing up to look over the rampart, Jormungandr was right in front of him.

The serpent had advanced to a point not even a few dozen meters away from the castle walls.

Grrrrrrr-!

The massive body of the snake pushed right up to the walls, and dust swirled all around.

Boom! Ba-ba-ba-boom!

Soldiers who had formed the final defensive line on top of the walls ceaselessly poured out shells, but the attacks seemed ineffective against the snakes body.

Ash and his party members were doing something atop Jormungandrs head, but they wore frustrated expressions; it appeared things werent going as planned.

Despair clouded everyones faces.

Both the soldiers on the walls and the heroes exerting their utmost efforts on the snakes body.

Looking down at all this, Damien spoke to Lilly,

"Im going out. Open the gates."

"What?"

Startled by the sudden nonsense, Lilly questioned him incredulously,

"Dont you see the current situation? How could you ask to open the gates now?"

"Ill stop that snake."

Swish-

Clang!

Grasping his weapon, the Black Queen, Damien smiled thinly.

"Trust me, Lilly."

It seemed as if stars were shining in the young boys eyes.

Startled, Lilly stared back at Damien and then shouted,

"Damn it, fine! Its all or nothing!"

She yelled down below the walls,

"Open the gates! Now!"