Chapter 67 – I Won’t Forget You

The sentence fell from Ellie’s mouth. It was a death sentence for myself, and a single word that concluded my fate. The end of the demon king, who trampled on the territory of the empire and took the lives of countless humans and demons, was quite plausible. He denies fate and tries to devour the world, eventually facing death at the hands of the chosen warrior. It’s a story that will not be inferior at all even if it is told as a song later.
However, that was the end befitting the demon king.

“Ellie…”

I looked at her through her cloudy eyes, wiping away her endless tears. But she didn’t even look this way with her eyes closed.

“Ellie…Please…”

The sinful boy did not dare lay a hand on the girl he did not dare to protect, but only repeated her name. No matter how much she called her, she kept repeating the word, knowing that the name would not reach her.

“L…”

“I am Theta.”

Then Ellie slowly lifted her head and looked at me. Then she opened her pale pink lips and added her words.

“In the language of humans, it is called the Demon King.”

The voice, which had grown colder than before, tore not my ears, but my heart. There were still traces of a soft smile on her face, but even that slowly hardened back to a perfectly emotionless expression.

“No… You…”

“Are you not going to admit victory?”

Ellie tilted her head and opened her mouth. She then slowly lifted her hand, which she had dropped to the floor, and placed it gently on her lap. The space around her fingers, as dry as her twigs, rippled.

“Ellie…”

“Then I have no intention of admitting defeat either.”

After those words were gone, I looked around. Incontinence appeared on the white-stained floor, and the scattered feathers gradually gathered in one place. It was a very slow movement, but I was able to intuit that everything would be restored to its original state over time.

“Ah…”

I tried to call Ellie’s name again and looked at her face. There was no expression of any emotion on his cruelly heartless face. Only then did I have to admit it.

That there was no Ellie I knew in her.

Even if I don’t slit my throat and struggle, what’s the point? I will have to repeat this meaningless fight again. Even if he wins again, even if he wins and finds a way to stop this fight, then all traces of Ellie will have already disappeared.

No, maybe it’s all gone already.

On that day, it is selfish to expect that the small fire that bloomed in the snow field in the middle of winter is still alive. Actually, I didn’t do anything to protect it. I couldn’t even do that simple act of looking back.

In the end, I wonder if all I can do is cry while hugging the cremated memories in that small flame.

“Haaa…”

I let out a breath over the sky. Even the twilight had passed, and an endless darkness was about to descend upon the world. Even in this miserable sight, you quietly closed your eyes and forced me to make a choice.

At first glance, it seems like there are two options, but in fact, the correct answer is fixed. Behead yourself and become a hero, or die with the world. If you choose the former, you will live with regrets and lost memories for the rest of your life, and if you choose the latter, you will die without even doing that. Just like I did with Leo. If you don’t choose, you die, and even if you choose, only miserable results await.

Not even a laugh came out. The only sin I committed in the world was being born, but you were avenging my original sin so cruelly.

Or just.

Is it a punishment for coveting the fate of a hero?

Is it a judgment on me for being greedy for loving even just one girl?

The feathers that had been gathering towards this side were floating in the air before I knew it, announcing the beginning of another beginning. I looked at them and slowly got up from my seat.

At the same time as I stood up, Ellie’s gaze followed me up. The sun was now shining its last light over the ridge, and the twilight feathers glowed red with it and gently wrapped around us. It was a scene quite suitable for the end of a foolish young man whose whole life was stained with blood.

“…”

I raised my sword with a slightly trembling hand. My figure was not reflected in the sword with its chipped teeth and blunt blade. But even without seeing it in person, it was obvious that it was very ugly. The sword, which was so messed up that it made you feel skinny, contained the words of a dream you had in your immature childhood.

If only I knew it would be like this. So, would my fate have been a little different if I had made a different choice? If only he had made his way outside the walls instead of running to Leo. If you had defeated the Minotaur and stepped forward for the people left behind. If you turned your steps in front of the demon castle that day and headed for the demon castle.

The day it all started If only she turned her head for Ellie.

Could I have not been in such a miserable state?

It’s worthless regret. It’s a wish that won’t come true

“…”

Ellie closed her eyes again as she watched me raise the sword. The eyelids that came down like a curtain with the darkness hinted that the end had really come.

“Devil.”

I repeated the name with my mouth. I hope that makes all of this easier. If you do that, I hope this heart will be a little lighter. But no such miracle happened, and the names of other people came to mind.

Vanessa.

Rachel.

Ellie.

I hear them calling me warrior. Mr Luca. Luca. Those who called me by different names told me countless stories, some of which I still remember vividly.

“..”

Like me, there was a woman who lost everything after going through many battlefields. Even though she called me a warrior, she remembered me as a person, not a warrior because she knew the weight of that name. And things I’ve been forgetting for a while. It taught me things I didn’t know. Maybe she was my mentor.

“…”

And there was a girl who, like me, was steeped in revenge. Like me, she walked the path of revenge and handed over an apology full of regrets. She finally confessed everything. She should have expected my end when she saw it. Of course, that wouldn’t have changed anything.

“…”

Did Ellie, who stopped me from leaving her hometown that day, anticipate all of this? Did I intuit that I would only get hurt and lose everything in this harsh world? In the end, the girl who put her ring on me in order to remain by my side until the end, ends up bowing her head to meet her death right in front of me.

“..”

A word made up of only two letters lingers in my head. After all, is this the last thing I can say? The last word left in the footprints I left was this one word. Plural. Regret. Select. Fate. After going through countless stories, the word that was eventually delivered to me stuck on the tip of my tongue and lingered in my mouth.

…Now.

It’s time to choose.

“Ah…”

You forced fate to the end in the name of choice. But that’s not wrong. Now is the time to really choose.

I raised my sword high. The sound of a cold sword slicing through the air is crazy. The sword always cuts something in half and forces you to choose one of the two.

Are you going to cut her throat?

Or should I just give up everything like this?

If I had to choose between the two, I would…

…

…

…

“…Sorry.”

I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you.

I’m sorry I couldn’t look back on that day.

I’m sorry for being stupid and foolish until the end.

But I never had a choice in the first place.

All I can do now is this.

“…Sorry.”

I put all those feelings into a single word and left a very modest apology. The moment the hand holding the sword trembled slightly and cut through the air, I called out his name for the last time.

“Luka.”

…

…

…

“…?”

When I called my own name, the demon king frowned. A question filled her face as she had foreseen death for a moment. I called another name as I stuck my blunt sword into the white ground.

“Ellie.”

This time, when her own name was called, the demon king opened her eyes and looked at me. I looked at him and continued talking.

“Artani. Verum. Erenghetti.”

…

For a moment.

Then your words resonated in my heart. But instead of hearing your voice, I remembered what Vanessa had said that day.

…Since I was rolling over there, I picked up a lot of military terminology. Ego to move forward. Ruta to stop. And to go back…

“Maden.”

“…!”

The demon king and you both opened their mouths at the same time and looked at me. I poured the words over and over again.

“Luca. Eli. Artani. Verum. Erenghetti. Maden.”

…What are you doing now…!

For the first time, you hear your panicking voice. Even you, who shook my fate, didn’t expect this. I chanted the incantation again with earnest desire.

“Luka.”

Luca.

“Eli. Artani.”

Ellie’s. By name.

“Verum. Erengeti.”

Your. Time.

“Maden.”

Turn back

…But…!

In an instant, the devil’s arm, with his feathers clinging to it, rushed in to block my mouth. But I grabbed her by the arm just before her claws pierced her through my neck.

“You have no right to use that power. Champion.”

You became desperate and eventually spoke to me through the devil’s mouth. But I didn’t waver and looked her straight in the eyes.

“There is.”

“No. No. Hero. That’s…”

“Yes. Only those who signed a contract with the demon lord can use his power. That’s why I have the right to do so, Ellie. Did you forget?”

I raised her opposite hand in front of her eyes. The dazzling ring was still there.

“We made a pact, Ellie. Just like Rachel and the Four Heavenly Kings she loved, we made an eternal pact.”

“But that was a contract with Ellie, not with the devil.”

“No. Coincidentally, that contract came after Rachel signed a contract to hand over all her powers to you, right?”

“But…”

“So I have the right to use this power. Just like the Four Heavenly Kings who were willing to sacrifice for her beloved until the end of her life, I can use that power too.”

But…!

“As the Demon King’s groom.”

They both shut up at the same time. In an unexpected twist of fate, the young man in the prophecy ignored only two options. And I was about to turn around and make another choice.

The choice to return everything to the beginning.

…That!!!

Your shocked voice resonated in my head. As someone who witnessed all of this, as a god so omnipotent and therefore incompetent, the shock of not expecting the thought of a mere puppet shuddered inside me.

…It can’t be!!!

However, no matter how much you deny it, the choice has already been made. All the roads I’ve walked people I’ve met. And the words they said to me mixed with the footprints they left, and I was running toward my final destiny. Toward the fate I chose, not the world. That’s why, towards an ending that no one can know.

“Aww…!”

At that moment, I felt a tingling sensation at the tip of my hand. The fingertips, which were full of scars, hardened and soon crumbled like sand and were scattered in the air. The sand dust floated in the air for a while, then collapsed into space in an instant and disappeared without a trace.

…No!!!

You screamed in astonishment. With that alone, I realized that the spell was working and I gritted my teeth. Now the pain was piercing through my fingers and reverberating deep inside my body.

“Aaaaah…!!!”

…Stop! Stop!!!

“Cheuk…Keukheuk…!”

Feeling as if the parasites were gnawing away at my body, I coughed out, and a torrent of sand, not blood, fell and scattered back into the air. In the end, I couldn’t overcome the pain and knelt on the floor and vomited sand incessantly.

Ah.

Is this the pain Ellie felt?

Is this the pain Ellie had to endure for me?

…No…Demon King!!!

Again, your earnest words echoed in the air. This time, the demon king raised his head to the sky, as if he had heard your voice. It was obvious that she didn’t even bother to listen to what she had heard, what she had heard from you. I gritted my teeth and met the devil’s eyes.

“Ellie…”

“…”

When I heard my voice struggling in pain, the demon king slowly turned his gaze this way. No matter how much I peered into the blackened eyes, I couldn’t read his thoughts. She stared at me for a long time before speaking in a low voice.

“There’s no use doing this.”

A little dust escaped from between her slightly parted lips. It must have been painful, but she opened her mouth again without batting an eye.

“Even if you turn back time, nothing will change. Turning back time means turning back everything. You and I will lose all memories and go back to the past. And we will repeat the same actions and face the same fate.”

“Kuhh…Ah… Ugh…”

“You and I will suffer again, and we will meet again in this place. That is our destiny.”

“You speak as if…As if you’ve done it.”

Suddenly, one side of the field of vision went blank and was stained with darkness. Now it seems that even one eye has turned to sand. But I said, staring at her to the end of her eyes with one of her remaining eyes.

“Have you ever looked back…? Has that ever happened, Ellie…?”

“…Does not exist.”

“Then…Then you don’t know.”

I crawled to her like she was clingy with her still-remaining leg. And although it has changed a little, I still face the face of Ellie, who is so pretty.

“If it’s not 0 percent, it’s like 100 percent, Ellie.”

“…”

“Even if I lose my memory, I will not forget one thing. I will never leave you in pain this time.”

“…”

“I promise, Ellie. This time, I promise.”

I looked at her, trying to make her smile. However, since he hadn’t smiled for so long, he must have really forgotten how to smile, and the corners of his mouth only slightly raised awkwardly. She looked at me like that and threw a word of her heartlessly.

“Is it.”

At that moment, her body and mine sank downward, and a surprisingly soft touch embraced our bodies. Thinking that the bridge had finally collapsed, I looked around a bit to see that the entire land had turned into sand and was scattering into the air. Now the sky and the earth, the light and the shadows, and even the scent of mint in the air were all running toward the past.

“Ah…Ahhh…!”

“…”

It really felt like the last time. My body had already been shattered and was heading towards the past. So was she. Her whole body turned to sand and she faded into darkness with the world. I mustered up what was left of her and lifted her hand and held her face.

“Ellie.”

“…”

A surprisingly soft touch spread through the palm of my hand. Her skin was still very warm. I paused for a moment to remember this touch, her face, and every little sensation that passed through my body.

Suddenly, memories of that day leaked into my head and a familiar landscape unfolded. I looked at you even though I struggled in pain like you that day, and you stared at me without moving an inch like me that day. Soon, the word you left echoed quietly.

Don’t forget me

At that time, a word that was only a mouthful sounded vividly in my ear. After a long time, I was finally given a chance to answer. I opened my mouth with a desperate wish like you that day.

“I won’t forget you.”

In the midst of endless pain, I threw out a word. At that moment, my hand was scattered into the dust, and her figure also changed into a small sand with me. I wanted to repeat that one word again, but the last remaining eye was crumbled and my eyes were stained black.

Everything flows into the past and begins to return to an unknown future. In the midst of it, I threw away all other memories and kept thinking of only one name in order not to forget it.

Ellie.

Ellie.

Ellie.

Ellie.

Ellie.

In the midst of a collapsing world, I embraced the name of Eli with both hands and prayed earnestly. Please don’t forget you I hope this time I can get everything back.

Just as I was wishing so much, I suddenly heard a soft voice. It may have been an illusion, but that simple word resonated deep in my heart as if it was an answer to my last words, even as I headed toward the past. I smiled sincerely as I listened to her voice that sounded like salvation.

“Huh.”