When I regained my senses from the nightmare, there was something lukewarm smeared on my helmet.
“..Huh?”
Feeling ominous, I brushed my hand over it and caught a whiff of a bitter, metallic scent. This smells like blood; whose blood could it be…
At that moment, with a thud, the knight beside me, Yuri, slowly collapsed, her armor torn at the chest.
“..Saintess?”
No, I should call her Pina now. The Masterpiece, who had been hiding her true self, was here.
“What on earth is going on?”
The one I always searched for was hurt by someone else’s hand.
I looked at the blue-haired man, Dennis, who had collapsed right in front of me. While I was trapped in trauma, everything had already ended.
The Demon King of All Knowledge. I could see Head Ake walking toward me steadily.
“No… This can’t be happening.”
I tried to press my hands against the blood flowing from her chest to stop it, and though shards of glass lodged in my palm, I felt no pain.
Saving her took priority over everything else.
“Please.. Please…”
How precious a person this is, how could this happen?
Don’t worry. You have the Savior Sword.
I took hold of Yuri knight’s hand and tried to use the paladin’s skill like before.
“..Why, why isn’t it working?!”
But it failed. What on earth is going on?
Mana’s source is the heart. Given that part was injured, borrowing Pina’s magical circuits to use the skill must be impossible.
“My hands are cold. No way…”
Moreover, divine power is a wish forged by reason. I was trapped in reality, envisioning only a grim future.
Maybe I had already decided she was dead. Uncharacteristically, my mind went blank, filled with chaotic, dark thoughts.
“Hey, Licht.”
At that moment, the golden-haired hero activated the Holy Sword while facing the approaching Demon King.
“Ariel and I will try to buy us some time. Do whatever you can.”
“It’s already too late; it’s all over.”
There I was, holding her tightly and choking back tears. Suddenly, a boom, like fireworks bursting, sounded. A magic only a fire mage could summon.
“Helmet! Mardol isn’t dead yet!”
“What do you mean… Ariel?”
“Think about it, this Masterpiece withstood the Magic Hat’s attack!”
Now that I thought about it, the amount of blood loss was minimal. Ariel’s words brought my calm back.
“..It’s true, she’s still breathing.”
The glass armor must be stronger than I thought, having withstood even the Magic Hat’s stronger attacks. It seems she wasn’t completely pierced.
Could it be Dennis-san protected her?
There were traces of Dennis’s 3D magic circles nearby. This was an ultimate move; it must have mitigated some of the projectile’s power.
“Thank you, everyone.”
I began to think of every possible way to save the fallen Pina.
It’s too far to join Schartines… but asking someone else to use healing magic wouldn’t suffice either.
It felt like I was in a celestial demon’s situation. If I just let things be, she’d be forgotten in this world, shot by the Demon King of All Knowledge.
In fact, I had considered this to a degree. Wasn’t our Saintess a victim of Head’s powers?
Yet, thinking that felt highly insufficient. The celestial demon had fallen to ignorance, but her power was still intact.
The powers of the Demon Kings are not perfect. There must be a flaw somewhere.
In the lore, her name is stated outright. White Lily.
It didn’t add up for a knight who seemed strong to be powerless as the “Nameless Saintess.”
If this continued, she’d lose all memories of herself or be erased from every record in the world. Or everyone, including me, would forget Pina Grancia.
“I can’t forget her. Absolutely not.”
But it seems odd for her to suddenly disappear or become a saint who can’t freely wield divine power.
Her attributes were different too. The saintess had a light attribute, whereas Pina had an earth attribute.
Doesn’t it feel off that someone with such great strength could end up incapable of catching even a single monster?
“..Could it be all the Demon Kings of the Hero Church are like this?”
I instinctively realized now. It wasn’t just one Demon King; numerous ones were meddling in this dark deed.
If this continued, she’d fall victim to the Demon Kings’ schemes and become a “Nameless Saintess.”
It was obvious. They would erase all memories of her in this world, and deceitfully take her away where no one would notice.
“Bastards.”
What did this innocent, pure-hearted person do wrong?
What reason do they have to erase her name, make her incapable of even catching a single monster, and render her divine power useless so that everyone would forget her?
I was running out of time to think about such things. It was time for a choice.
“I don’t want to let this person I finally found… just slip away like that.”
Even if I never see the Saintess I remember again, that’s fine. I wasn’t saved just because of her appearance.
“No matter her appearance, our Saintess is still a saintess.”
I was touched by her warm and gentle inner self.
I had just glimpsed it in Mardol’s form when he came to rescue me from the nightmare, and even if she remained the princess instead of the saintess forever, that would be okay.
“Living like this with Emperor Rock as my father, being the sister of my younger brother Rufus, is right.”
That would be Pina’s happiness. I cannot change the person I love for my personal desires.
Though this choice may cause her to dislike me…
As long as I can save Pina Grancia right in front of me, that will suffice.
“Ariel, let’s use a combination move.”
“Understood, Kai!”
Moreover, right now, friends were buying time to save Pina behind me. It was different from the time when I faced [Black Heart].
“..This kind of technique wasn’t in my ‘all-knowing’ abilities. Kainel!!”
“Ha ha, seems to have hit well!”
“Kai, be careful!”
The shining fireworks flew toward the Demon King. Explosive sounds echoed everywhere, and Head, who held a revolver, lost his balance.
Bang, a bullet aimed at me veered off course.
A gap had appeared. But what should I do? Whether I held hands to use divine power or tried to cast a spell, it all failed.
Wait, magic?
Two words flashed in my mind, reminding me of something Dennis said earlier. The advice he gave me when I first joined the club.
“If you use a medium, you might be able to substitute the circuit.”
A powerful memory struck me. I had that ‘medium’ right in my arms.
Mana Rose..!!
A deep blue rose soaked with mana, a legendary grade flower I had kept for our saintess.
It was time to use this. After all, some little kid told me to take good care of it.
“Savior Sword.”
I took the Mana Rose out to use divine power, but it remained unresponsive.
“It’s okay.. Everything will be fine. Pina.”
Drip, blood fell onto the glass armor of the knight. Regardless of being pricked by thorns, I gripped the stem tightly.
“From now on, there won’t be any hard times.”
I melded the blood flowing from my hands with the rose.
“..I will surely make it work.”
The merged magical circuits, the base of the Mana Rose turned red; it would no longer be appropriate to call it a ‘blue rose.’
「Savior Sword.」
With the rose crushed in my hand beside her, I knelt and took a praying position to the heavens.
Whether the blue rose turned into a red one didn’t matter.
As long as I could save this person, that would suffice. Even if I were to die, they could take as much blood as they wanted from me.
─Droplet.
Just like before, the serene sound of raindrops fell, and a white light ripple spread around me.
“Done. The blood has stopped.”
This time, perhaps because of using the Mana Rose, an intensely bright light radiated all around.
It then took shape as multiple small swords that pierced into the wounds, healing the injured people.
It resembled a scene with snowflakes drifting in winter. A white Christmas we had witnessed during the trauma was being reenacted.
“..Licht?”
Gradually, a golden eye sparkled from within the glass helmet.
“Hello, Pina.”
I smiled in relief towards her now awake form. The inside of the helmet was soaked with tears, unable to tell if I was laughing or crying.
“Do you remember me..?”
“Of course, you’re the perverted Licht.. right..?”
Maybe it was because she had just regained consciousness, but the glass knight looked fatigued. Thankfully, she didn’t seem to have been affected by ignorance. I immediately embraced her.
“I’m so glad.. really.. so glad..”
“Licht.. I can’t breathe..”
The warmth was returning. The sound of her heartbeat was clear in the close distance. All the signs that she was alive filled me with joy.
“I’m sorry. I was just so happy you’re alive…”
“As long as it’s not too tight, I’m fine.. I can deal with you, Licht..”
Come to think of it, I had hugged her without her permission. Feeling my face flush, I pulled back and asked about her condition, red from neck to chin.
“You don’t feel pain anywhere now, do you, Pina?”
“Not really… Ah, I do have one.”
“Where?! Is there another injury?!”
Is there a part the Savior Sword couldn’t heal? My heart raced with worry as I began checking her body.
“..The chest you groped earlier hurts.”
“…”
Then Pina gazed at me gently with a soft look, stroking the helmet. I pressed down on her wound when the blood flowed, only to stop the bleeding.
“Puhuh, you’re such a pervert.. totally…”
Seeing her tease me like a fox made me smile involuntarily. No matter how I looked at it, she was indeed the Saintess I remembered.
“Later on… I’ll scold you… Licht.”
“Do as you wish. If it’s your whims, I’ll accept anything.”
She always enjoyed teasing me like a fox, rather than a wolf.
At that moment, a loud voice of a scolding old man was heard from afar.
“Hero, do you know what you’ve done!!”
The Demon King of All Knowledge, Head Ake, shouted at me while getting hit by Kainel’s Shine Advance.
Wow, that stubborn guy managed to dodge Head’s bullet. Of course, light is faster than bullets.
“Licht, you saved Mardol… You must have had a tough time waiting.”
“Just as expected, that’s our Helmet!”
Kainel, whose Shine Advance had worn off, returned next to me and Pina, and Ariel smiled brightly as she saw the glass knight stood up.
“Oh? I was sure… my legs and arms…”
And then, before us, the blue-haired Dennis stood, rising on one arm, fully restored.
The Savior Sword has a wide-area healing effect.
“You’re even teaching Kainel Shine Advance, and healing Dennis too?!”
“Is there a problem with that, Head?”
It was only natural since it was a higher skill than standard healing magic.
“This means all predictions are gonna be thrown into chaos!!”
Predictions, predictions. Making peevish assumptions about people’s futures with faulty knowledge and harming others based on one’s beliefs is absurd.
“If touching our Pina is your prediction, I’d like to say screw you directly. Head.”
“..Wait, how do you remember Pina Grancia..!! Hero!!”
Head froze, stunned as he saw our Saintess standing. Was it really the power of ignorance?
“This cannot be happening. She should have been shot by that bullet!! How could you negate my strengthened ignorance..?!”
Thinking back, that’s true. The Pina beside me was not forgotten by anyone, nor did she appear to lose any memories at all.
“Boy, you’re not the ordinary hero..!!”
“..You keep saying hero, hero. It’s getting annoying.”
I summoned a sword embedded in the ground and aimed it at Head.
“I am not a hero. Head.”
“What the hell are you, then, if you’re not the one neutralizing my ignorance and all-knowing?!”
“I’m a Black Knight. A Pure Love Black Knight.”
More precisely, I am the Pure Love Black Knight of Grand Hertz Academy. I stepped in front of the Demon King, signaling Kainel, Ariel, and Dennis to step back.
“..Does the Demon King of All Knowledge not understand that?”
“You.. you!!”
I instinctively realized. For some unknown reason, Head Ake’s abilities do not affect me. Moreover, I could even dispel the ignorance that he had inflicted.
“Indeed, Head, you were just a bastard after all.”
I did not lose my memories when I met the celestial demon, and I was also the one who taught her swordsmanship.
