Looking back, it had always been that way.

Even though Eve was a demonkin, she was gentle, kind, and not aggressive.

Despite multiple combat records from the Star-Facing Mountain, there had been no fatalities.

And her combat style was unmistakably that of a warrior. Not an assassin, not a mage—just a warrior.

“Eve?”

Where was she now?

I hadn’t established a communication link with Eve. Voice-based communication was never an option to begin with. Which meant I had no way of knowing where she was—from the sky to the ground.

What I did remember was that at the start of the battle, Eve had seemed confused. She hadn’t actively participated in the fighting. She’d simply stood there with her sword in hand, hesitating. Maybe it was because we were in the air. Maybe it was because Agion’s [Stigma] was of the Light⁺₊⋆ attribute.

Or maybe she’d picked up the scent of a demon. She herself was undergoing demonification—a demonkin. Perhaps she’d recognized him as one of her kind.

I hastily attempted to contact her through communication. Where is Eve? The answer came back: They don’t know. I ordered them to find her.

O-over here! Agion is rampaging!

C-captain! Chief engineer!! Stop him!

Meanwhile, reports of casualties kept pouring in, one after another. The merchant ship crew scrambled to respond, but the number of victims was steadily increasing.

“Glory!”

I rushed over and grabbed him by the collar, yanking him upright.

“Go stop Agion!”

“...What’s the point in stopping him? The world’s already—”

“Stop barking and get moving! If you’re a hero who’s already served his purpose, then forget about the future and go save people! The ones dying ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) right now!”

Maybe because he was still a so-called hero.

Even with that despondent look on his face, he stood up. Then ran off without a word.

Come to think of it, he was always like that. Even in Count Kahla’s territory. When he was downcast, if there was something that needed doing, he’d just do it without complaint.

...As if he still believed he was some kind of hero.

“Adele Mouin. You go help too.”

“Don’t give me orders... Dammit. Do you even have a plan? If we go in like this, we’ll just be buying time.”

“There is a plan.”

“......”

The cleric Adele grit her teeth and ran.

From beyond the forest in the dead of night, bursts of light kept flaring. Since the moment his demonification was exposed, Agion’s Radiant⁺₊⋆ [Stigma] had lost about 71% of its power. That’s what happens when your attribute and your race classification collide. Even so, he was still overwhelmingly powerful.

In the meantime, I ran frantically toward the fallen airships. And began searching for Eve.

Raising my voice was pointless—she couldn’t hear it. So I went from ship to ship, scattering 『Glass Butterflies』 to scan.

As my inner world projected itself outward, I scowled.

There were only casualties everywhere.

“Urgh...”

“Ah... kuhk...”

“Robern... Robern, wake up...”

Crew members frozen in fear, collapsed. An officer with his legs blown off, covered with a blanket. A passenger shaking their unmoving friend. All those scenes rushed into my head at once and knocked the breath out of me.

At the same time, fury toward Agion surged within me. That bastard chose to undergo demonification to grow stronger. And this was the result.

Elize: Balmung!

Then I heard a sharp voice in my ear. As I retrieved the 『Glass Butterflies』 I’d sent in that direction, I realized it.

A beam of light had pierced straight through Balmung’s abdomen and out the other side.

At that moment, Glory lunged and struck Agion. Agion transformed into light and leapt several meters away to evade.

But something was wrong with Glory’s body too.

Looking closely, one of his arms was missing.

It seemed it had been severed in the fight with Agion. Adele Mouin was seen dashing off with the fallen arm in her hands.

It could probably be reattached.

But we couldn’t afford any more losses. I needed to find Eve.

How?

What came to mind was the memory shown to me by the scout-type │ㅅㅇ).

Ding—

Grasping at straws, I rang the [bell]. A small sound, but one that would carry far.

And then, from several dozen meters away, a burst of powerful magic exploded outward. It was Eve’s—something I’d sensed before at the Star-Facing Mountain. She was sending a signal.

I sprinted over.

On the airship deck, Eve was there. On her knees. Both her hands drenched in blood.

None of it was hers.

“......”

In that moment, I remembered what the 88-year-old mountain keeper at the Star-Facing Mountain had said to me once.

— He’s weak to death. Completely at a loss when something’s dying in front of him.

The old man had been hunting birds with a shotgun when they encountered each other. Eve had hesitated back then. The larger the creature, the more sensitively he reacted.

— If it’s a human dying, he’ll completely freeze up!

And right now...

Eve was trying to scoop up the things that had spilled out of a crew member’s stomach, after it had been torn open. Her face trembling with sobs.

The abdominal cavity had been punctured. The muscles that held the organs in place were destroyed. No matter how hard she pushed it back in, it wouldn’t go.

Even so, Eve kept trying to put it back.

“Eve...”

I carefully approached her. Since she couldn’t hear my voice, Eve kept desperately leaking unstable magic power, doing everything she could. But the crewman was already dead. Even though she knew it, her hands kept moving. Because out of all the corpses on this ship, this one looked the most intact.

I grabbed her wrist in a rush. Only then did Eve’s head turn toward me. Her blue eyes looked at my face, but they were out of focus.

Anxiety, or fear. Whatever it was, the fact that someone had died had hit her like a sledgehammer. It was the [Panic] status.

“......”

Then Eve raised her hand and signed: This human. Stopped. Ship. Not enter. Then she gave a thumbs-up and pushed her other palm forward. Help. Help me... Her fingers trembled like a leaf in a storm.

There wasn’t time for this.

She had to draw the Holy Sword now. If she did, she’d be able to kill Agion.

I infused that intent into my gestures. Let’s go. Fight. That way. Enemy. I repeated the cues one after another.

Eve shook her head.

When I tried to forcibly tug her wrist forward, she let herself be dragged powerlessly—but her head kept shaking in refusal.

Even though she was a Two-Horned Demon, a powerful warrior, she was utterly terrified of killing and death.

The crewman was already dead.

Even if she healed him, he wouldn’t come back.

But making Eve accept that was a nearly impossible task.

Elize: Professor! Mister Glory is going to die!

Adele Mouin: What are you doing, Professor! We can’t hold out much longer!

The fleet captain was dead. Kendreik had crashed along with a burning small airship. Balmung was critically wounded. Gray had fallen somewhere far off, and the rest were being crushed one by one by Agion’s overwhelming rampage.

In the face of this sudden, unimaginable crisis—I decided to break one rule I had always upheld.

I reached out and pulled my elephant into my arms.

I pressed that small head into my chest and covered her eyes.

The round horn stuck close to her head felt alien to the touch.

The good little elephant didn’t resist.

She only trembled—her tiny shoulders shaking without end.

⋮

『World Forgery: Memory Forgery [Deceased Crewman]』

⋮

Until now, I had never once used [Memory Forgery] on someone close to me.

There were many reasons, but above all, the ability could only be used once per person. Ever.

In other words, from this moment on, I would never again be able to forge Eve’s memories.

⋮

『Memory Forgery: Forged Variable Input [Erased → Witnessed the crewman’s death]』

⋮

Upon scanning Eve’s memories, I found it: witnessing the moment of death had scarred her as trauma.

There had already been plenty of deaths around us—but she had directly seen that crewman’s stomach pierced, seen him collapse, seen him slowly die beside her. That was what had pushed her into extreme anxiety.

So I forged the memory.

Now, Eve would remember never having seen that crewman die.

─── .

As the ability took effect, the trembling in her shoulders began to subside.

“...?”

Her memory continued awkwardly. Eve now believed she had been attacked and fainted, and that I had come to wake her up and hold her.

She tried to lift her head in surprise, but I pressed down on the back of her head, not letting her turn. It was to stop her from seeing the aftermath.

Only after completely forging the surrounding space with [Illusion] did I finally lift her head.

“???”

Elephants, when confused, look you in the eyes. She did just that now. Asking silently, Why? Why?

I raised my hand before her blue eyes and signed: this was an emergency. We had to draw the sword and kill our enemy.

In her forged memory, the one who attacked her had been Agion. Eve nodded and moved quickly.

Now, everything was in place.

⋮

What followed was swift.

I instructed Eve to draw the 「Peacemaker†」.

We were all tense—especially after Glory had been repelled by it once. There was a chance she wouldn’t be able to draw it, being a demonkin.

But Eve drew the 「Peacemaker†」.

And light descended from the sky, illuminating her.

At the very moment that sacred light—so divine it was almost grotesque—burst forth, the light Agion had been spewing all along suddenly meant nothing.

But right after drawing the holy sword, blood began trickling from Eve’s lips. The sword was consuming her life force.

There wasn’t much time. We joined the battle at once. We crushed the radiant knights Agion had summoned too late. And at last, we faced him directly.

“You...! You dare touch that impure thing even while serving the Lord of Eternal Return?”

Agion was already drenched in blood, but as Eve approached, he gathered the last of his strength.

The instant a dying man exploded with power, Radiance⁺₊⋆ surged from the earth to the sky along the mountain paths.

【W-what the hell is this...!】

【We’re done for...】

Despair washed over the watching masses.

But then—

Everyone saw what a true Holy Sword was.

Eve dashed forward, feet igniting into a battle awakening.

Radiance⁺₊⋆ split apart.

All the grotesque power pouring from Agion was destroyed and scattered at the very root.

The Empire-designated National Treasure No. 48, the 「Radiant Sword⁺₊⋆」, detonated—

And the entire mountain range exploded.

The quake that followed could’ve blown away the clouds above. And yet, the warmth it radiated healed the wounded, purified the tainted.

And those who bore witness could feel it—

The most powerful weapon in this world had fallen into the hands of the one most destined to wield it.

Against a demonkin—

There was no way to stop this.

***

Before the sacred light of the Holy Sword that stretched to the heavens, Hero Glory dropped to his knees.

“......”

***

Agion gasped, his horn shattered.

At the last moment, he had barely escaped by teleporting—but he no longer possessed any magic power.

A warrior without magic was an empty shell. Agion felt his ruined insides and exhaled a long breath. The end was near.

From afar, an assassin with pink eyes approached. He tried to escape her again using a special ability, but crackle—snap! sparks flared and died out. His body refused to move.

“Agion. Any last words?”

At the end, the professor asked.

“My brother... will come for you...”

Agion declared revenge.

The professor replied without a hint of hesitation.

“Is he a demon too?”

“Who knows...”

The professor drew his sword.

“I hope he is.”

And thus, the Empire lost one of its Constellations.

.

.

.

┃ Main Quest [First Demonified Constellation Slain]

┃ Reward: Star Fragment × 200