Kwaaang!

Normally, this should not have been Clay’s victory. He had believed all of this was happening within his own mental world—but it wasn’t.

‘Why...?’

Crea looked up at Clay, who had just snapped her neck, her mind full of doubt.

‘I should have already taken control here.’

More precisely, she had created her own mental world within Clay’s, isolating him from the rest. Though she couldn’t make a vast space—she had needed to conserve power for the battle—it was still enough to confine the two of them together.

‘Impossible...’

In such a setting, the advantage should have been entirely hers. Yet Clay had managed to do this to her. Crea could only groan in disbelief.

“Not enough to kill you, is it?”

Clay’s face twisted with annoyance as he spoke. Crea clutched at his hand.

—Because my mind still survives.

“Troublesome. Well, I knew you wouldn’t die so easily.”

This was the mental world. Death here was different from death outside.

“But...”

Even as she struggled to push him away, he didn’t release her throat. Instead, he tightened his grip.

“I’ve found a way to deal with this now.”

Crea felt heat searing through her neck.

—W-what...?

“Elhaen isn’t helping you, is it? It's just left you to struggle, binding you with impossible orders.”

Ssshhhhh—!

The heat grew fiercer. Writhing in pain, Crea pummeled his body with her fists.

“Hurts, doesn’t it?”

—L-let... go...!

“As expected, the ‘higher ranks’ really are different.”

Crea realized then—his power came not from Elhaen, but from another god entirely.

—You can wield that... so freely...?

“Not freely. But enough to defeat you.”

Her body slumped, strength draining away.

“How is it? Think you can still stand?”

—...

She could not. With a higher god’s power suppressing her, there was little chance of turning the tables.

But defeat did not mean the end.

—Clay.

Her voice came weakly.

—I have one request.

“Request?”

Clay looked at her incredulously.

“You fought me to the bitter end, and now you ask for favors? The fight isn’t even over.”

—I know how absurd it sounds.

Her twisted face formed a bitter laugh.

—But I cannot win here. As shameful as it is, my limit is clear.

“Then step down from this stage. Don’t expect me to grant mercy.”

—I’m sorry.

Her expression was one of exhaustion, as though she could bear no more.

—Clay, I want you to take my origin.

“What?”

—Even if you kill me here, my power will still engulf you.

And that power would force his body back into that of a Hero.

—I may not be one of the Outer Gods, but I grew strong enough to rival them. When a star explodes, the power released is immense. Far beyond what you could contain.

“So you’d throw away your life to serve Elhaen?”

—No. The use of that power was preordained by Elhaen. Even if I die, it will carry out what I was bound to do.

Clay fell silent, contemplating her words.

—So take my origin. Then when your body is reconstructed, you can forge obstacles against it.

“What kind of obstacles?”

—Anything that can prevent you from becoming a pure Hero once again.

She revealed what she knew.

—Clay, Elhaen wanted a pure Hero’s body. It thought it would claim it at the right time.

But that hope was shattered at Clay’s execution.

—Elhaen failed, because you became the Demon King.

It wasn’t when he resurrected. It had already begun when he stood at the execution platform.

—You had already become the Demon King then.

“What?”

—Haven’t you ever wondered why you survived?

The reason he lived again—Clay had never known it.

“No way...”

His face twisted as though realization struck.

—Yes.

The Demon King could not be killed unless slain in a very specific way.

That was why Clay had survived.

—Linked to Elhaen, I heard it's thoughts. I knew how things had gone wrong.

“Then... from that moment...”

Clay grit his teeth.

“You knew how much I suffered, didn’t you.”

The pure Hero’s heart broken, drowned in darkness, transformed into something else entirely—Clay voiced the unspeakable torment of that process.

“Elhaen wanted my body, you said.”

His face contorted.

“I despise even saying it, but what it truly wanted was my body without my soul, wasn’t it?”

—You’ve realized it.

Crea sighed.

—Yes. Elhaen needed a vessel to descend.

Elhaen could dominate this world, but it could not truly draw power from it. It was not of this world.

That truth was an unbearable humiliation to him.

—The other Outer Gods, watching each other carefully, forced Elhaen to withdraw. It had no grounds to remain—this was not it's world.

Elhaen craved the justification, and the strength to resist their checks.

—Even I, though born in this world and the strongest among its gods, could not fully draw upon its power. But if Elhaen could wield it, it would become a being none of the other Outer Gods could match.

Even now, Elhaen was the strongest of them. The only reason the others restrained it was because it lacked a vessel here. Once it gained one, nothing could stop Elhaen.

Elhaen would crush all with overwhelming might.

—That is how great the value of this world is.

Even the former Demon King had sought that very power.

The purpose might differ, but you too must walk the same path. Like the former Demon King.

“You expect me to believe all of this?”

—Just... one request.

Her breath came ragged.

—I’ve broken every restriction, just to tell you this.

Crack!

With a sickening sound, her body began to twist. She coughed up blood.

—If I must die anyway... then I wanted to at least try something.

She had wanted to stand as a representative of this world, yet she was left with nothing but futility.

—It’s unfair.

Still caught in Clay’s grasp, she gave a faint laugh.

—I didn’t become a god just to end like this.

“...”

—Hurry. Even if you take my origin, I can’t guarantee things will go the way you want.

She spat blood as she spoke.

—Elhaen has an ally outside. If the device powering the magic circle remains intact, then even with my origin you may not be able to create a true obstruction.

And yet—

—Still... I beg you.

Even on the brink of death, she asked this of him. Not because she cared what became of Clay, but—

—Please.

Otherwise she feared she would lose every shred of meaning her existence as a god had ever carried.

Thud.

Clay released her.

She collapsed onto the ground.

With difficulty she raised her head and saw his face—confused, tormented.

“All of you...”

Clay covered his face with one hand.

“Truly, you’re all monstrous beings.”

He was voicing his disgust toward those who used him, cornered him, chewed at his emotions, and forced him to keep making choices.

“All I ever wished for was peace at the end.”

As a Hero, he had walked the harsh path without complaint, for Elhaen’s sake. He had endured every hardship, believing that at the end lay the happiness he longed for.

And when he slew the former Demon King, he had thought that future was finally within reach.

Now he knew—it had all been empty. He was sinking slowly into a mire, one so deep that once he fell, there was no escape.

“...What do I do?”

At last, Clay made his decision.

“Your origin. How do I take it?”

Seeing his bitter face, sharp with anger yet lined with sorrow, Crea answered.

—Look into my eyes.

“My eyes?”

—Even if the pain makes you want to look away, you must keep staring.

She met his gaze.

—Though I came to you like this, though I was forced to do what you never wanted, I wish at least in the end to comfort you, Clay.

“...”

—I pray that your cruel fate ends differently than mine.

Clay’s eyes trembled as he stared back.

—Here it comes.

Rip!

Clay clenched his teeth at the sensation of his own eyes being torn apart.

Crrrrrack!

His vision warped. The pain was unbearable, yet if he averted his eyes it would all stop instantly.

“Gh—!”

But he only fixed his gaze harder. He knew—Crea’s origin was flowing into him.

—Cough! Hhhhk!

Crea spat blood again and again, her body burning away like paper in a flame.

—F-faster...

Time was running out. She forced her eyes open, straining to keep their connection.

But—

Thud.

Her gaze faltered.

“Not yet.”

Clay grabbed her face, locking it before his own.

“If you’re going to do this, then see it through to the end.”

His own expression looked close to breaking.

“I won’t comfort you.”

He spoke softly.

“But I will acknowledge it.”

That even Crea, too, was nothing more than the product of a cruel fate.

“That you had no choice either.”

Her eyes widened in brief surprise, as if she had forgotten the pain for a moment. Then, with a faint smile, the light in them faded.

—Thank you.

Her body was nearly gone, scattering into fragments.

—I thought I would be alone at the end.

After centuries of sealing, she had awakened only to be used as a tool.

—At the end of your journey, may peace truly await you.

With that final wish, she vanished in a burst of radiant light.