Just like looking in a mirror, two women with similar impressions faced each other.
With the same long hair, wolf ears, and tails, the hero and the demon king looked so alike that one might mistake them for twins.
Gulp
“Surely, our Pina is the prettier one!”
But I could tell the difference for sure.
Is it love’s illusion? I had always been able to recognize Pina from the beginning, no doubt about it.
Of course, I felt super embarrassed that I couldn’t recognize her sooner because of her glass armor. It seems it applied to the demon god as well.
“Unbelievable!! I was definitely unable to confirm her existence in this life!”
Crash The Magic Hat glared with wide eyes and deflected Pina’s glass sword.
Did the demon god think Pina’s presence had vanished? Maybe that’s why it couldn’t properly imitate her appearance.
The power of falsehood doesn’t create something from nothing after all.
“Su-hyun, are you alright? I’m sorry I’m late…”
Pina healed my wounded side while shedding tears. Well, I figured it’s much better that I’m hurt than her.
“It’s fine. Isn’t this what we planned?”
“But… if I had come a bit earlier…”
I had asked her to come after I used the Demon King Kill, so I wiped the tears from Pina’s face while shaking my head.
“It’s much better than my partner getting hurt. So don’t cry.”
As I chatted with that jerk in the pillars, I found out something about Pina.
The Inrang Tribe supposedly loves only one person for their entire lives.
Because of this, they call that person their “partner.”
As such, many Inrang members go to great lengths for love, but if that partner dies suddenly or disappears, many go insane.
“Huh, the reason Emperor Rock opposed me at first was….”
He probably figured out I’m from another world.
Becoming a beast is also one of the reasons, but if I just up and returned to my original reality leaving my precious daughter behind, it would be a disaster.
Thinking of the emperor listening to our conversation from a distance, I was grateful I didn’t feel any killing intent directed at me.
“Su-hyun, we just need to kill that crazy woman, right? The demon god who hurt you…”
“That should be the case.”
Pina cursed out, sounding a bit out of character, and clicked her tongue.
Now that Black Cloud is dead, we could just deal with the last remaining Magic Hat and have our wedding, right?
A white wedding dress that the Nameless Saintess desired.
Since she also had a small desire for me, I really wanted to fulfill that promise this time.
“No way! This isn’t happening!!”
Just then, a scream that could tear our ears apart echoed before us. The Magic Hat, with silvery hair, was tearing at her hair and shrieking.
“How on earth is the Nameless Saintess alive?!”
Seemingly having just faced reality, the Magic Hat stared at us for a moment without making any moves.
The demon god pointed at Pina while talking about the Nameless Saintess.
“You almost died when you were young, remember? Don’t you?”
Looking at that magician, Pina asked about the time she was attacked in the imperial palace.
How they turned Queen Bellin into a card and killed all her familiar servants.
“I don’t remember!! Get away from my lord right this second! You horned bitch!”
“…..”
However, far from apologizing, the Magic Hat was getting mad at Pina. She didn’t even remember the trauma she inflicted on her.
And then, as if trying to separate us, the Magic Hat’s card flew towards us.
“Pina, please copy Kainel’s Holy Sword. I’m counting on you.”
I took out what I had left, seeing that I had to do my best to save Pina.
I wonder if I’d have to stand up to the same power of the demon king. After all, the Magic Hat became a demon god by stealing the powers of demon kings.
“Alright. Su-hyun, I’ll help this time too.”
“…Thank you.”
Pina, as a beloved hero, was now awakened to her abilities. She wasn’t helpless like when battling the Demon King of Might.
It was a bit disappointing that she hadn’t fully awakened since she still lacked an ultimate move.
“My lord’s name is Licht!!”
“No, it’s Su-hyun.”
As I stained the sword Pina made for me with blood, the Magic Hat threw a tantrum.
Their appearances might be similar, but every little thing about the Magic Hat was completely different from Pina.
Pina referred to me by my true name, Lee Soo-hyun, while the Magic Hat called me Licht, a character in a game.
“Who do you think you are…!! If it were the original you, you wouldn’t remember anything, not even your name!!”
Inferiority complex. The Magic Hat was overtly displaying jealousy towards Pina.
She must have bitten her lips so hard that she was bleeding.
“I’m not nothing. I exist because Su-hyun is here.”
Pina displayed her composure towards the Magic Hat. Now she wasn’t an empty person like glass.
Having succeeded in forcibly becoming a demon king, I immediately lunged at the Magic Hat, aiming for her neck.
“Nameless Saintess. Do you know how funny it is to see you die?”
It seems the demon god realized that mere words couldn’t win, as it began to mock the fact that Pina would die.
Clang—! Clang! The ringing metal sound echoed.
Using Shine Advance, I swung my sword countless times.
But she blocked all my attacks with a single card. So it really seems that nothing works against a demon god.
“The sight of you getting crushed under the rubble of collapsed buildings, hoho….”
“Shut up. Magic Hat.”
While I held onto the Magic Hat, Pina slashed the demon god’s neck with her sword.
Thud, roll goes the head. The Magic Hat’s head stuck out its tongue one last time like it was dead.
“Haha, that was really funny!”
The absurdity of the scene was terrifying as the beloved hero swung the Holy Sword yet failed to kill her.
This time, it wasn’t a clone. I could see the blood flowing, so she must have been the real body.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t be of any help… Hehehe!”
I swung the sword, trying to prevent her from regenerating, and asked Dennis to burn the head.
But even in the flames, the Magic Hat kept babbling, reciting the lines that Pina said right before she died in the sequel [Black Heart].
“Even if we’re out of reach, there will definitely be hope… If we gather stronger allies…”
“Shut up. I’m really scared it’ll turn out like the ending of the sequel.”
As her laughter continued, Kainel and even Ariel felt a pang of fear.
Even if heroes or mages attacked, her limbs would stick back together as if nothing happened. Is there really no way to defeat a demon god?
“Ha, I’ve had a good laugh. If you know you’re weak, at least don’t be a nuisance.”
“…What the hell are you?”
I spoke as I observed the resurrected Magic Hat.
How does she know the Nameless Saintess, and why is she talking about Pina being dead?
Wasn’t there a difference between the game and this world? What on earth was going on?
“I’m just like you, a successor. My lord.”
Laughing, the Magic Hat broke the 3D Magic Circle that Dennis made. My plan to teleport to the hall of heroes to cast my ultimate move got blocked.
“Successorship is ‘the succession of souls’. My lord has killed me once!”
The demon god spoke like it was Global First Kill.
As I firmly gripped my sword, I could see the magician slowly approaching.
“You all cannot defeat me. Only my lord can kill me.”
It was now certain that this wasn’t a game. Some of the information I knew didn’t match the facts about this world.
Thinking of how the Nameless Saintess knew my true name, or how the demon god mentioned wearing the Helm of Faith…
Confusion reigns.
When she attacked Pina as a child, something felt off too. Why doesn’t the Magic Hat remember?
If she knew the Nameless Saintess, she should’ve known that she was alive just by seeing little Pina.
Even if she got it wrong because it was a girl with black hair instead of white, that didn’t hold much water.
“..Only I can kill you?”
“Yes! You kept trying to defeat me… Ahh, just thinking about that gives me shivers.”
I outright denied what the Magic Hat said.
It could just be a lie she mixes into her usual babbling.
The demon king, who leads others astray, sowing doubt.
“Perhaps you know that I once played that game.”
Like in Pantos Shrine or Tardun Shrine, she might have become a demon god and learned about my existence.
Pina knew I had played [Night Heart Trilogy].
Even if she learned that there was a game mimicking her world, she still whispered her love to me.
“Are you not overlaying the current me with the past me?”
I aimed my sword at the Magic Hat, mixing my affection and feelings.
Many clones surrounded her.
It was the exact opposite of before.
Initially, I ran away from Pina, realizing she was the Saintess.
Perhaps it was out of fear of overlapping memories, wishing for her to find someone she truly loved.
“It doesn’t matter, does it? After all, the important thing is having a handsome appearance!”
“That’s nonsense.”
The Magic Hat craved twisted love.
She firmly believed that as long as her appearance and actions were similar, she would receive love like the Nameless Saintess.
“A rather ironic cautionary tale.”
Casting Demon King Kill again, the Magic Hat shamelessly smiled at me, showing off how she intentionally took my attacks to recuperate.
“Without the Magic Sword Horizon this time, you won’t be able to kill me. This might actually work out for me…”
The demon god said that she couldn’t be killed without the Magic Sword Horizon.
“Do you really think so, Magic Hat?”
“Yes? Who else could possibly kill me…?”
There’s exactly one person.
The wolf king, who bites the sun and swallows the moon.
The one who has been listening to everything said by the Magic Hat, who happens to be Pina’s father.
“…Emperor Rock Grancia. I, Lee Soo-hyun, the consort to the princess, greet you, the Steel Wolf King.”
The emperor of the Grancia Empire, Rock Grancia, appeared wielding a fierce axe behind the Magic Hat.
