Seeing the tears flowing from No. 17’s eyes, I couldn’t deny that I had fallen into a strange emotion. No matter what intentions he had, it was clear that he had tried to save the world from its end.
But that didn’t justify all the misdeeds he had committed until now; everyone in this room knew that.
The mana began to stir once again.
“I’m not the kind of person who would do anything to survive and then give up now,” he said.
Other witches hurriedly raised their mana, but I stepped forward to block them.
“You have no right to kill this man.”
As I warned while exuding killing intent, the witches were startled and started to look around. The Grand Witch nodded slightly as if to command them to withdraw their mana.
Even while handling mana, he bowed his head slightly to me. It wasn’t a gesture of gratitude; after all, he was going to die anyway.
But if he felt even a little gratitude for not dying at the hands of the witches, I wanted to use that to my advantage, so I asked honestly.
“How were you able to handle mana even with Arianne’s Flower nearby?”
“Hehe, you know about Arianne’s Flower too?”
No. 17 chuckled in disbelief. Perhaps thinking it was all over, he began to explain in detail.
“While fleeing from the witches and getting lost, a magical beast brought me a leaf and told me to take it.”
“…You mean the black-maned Moon Werewolf?”
Just to test the waters, I prodded, and he widened his eyes in surprise.
“How? How on earth do you know all this?”
There was no way he could have stolen Arianne’s Flower from ‘that guy,’ so I thought he was surprisingly sentimental enough to show some mercy.
“So you used that leaf to bloom the flower?”
“Yes, that’s right. It was a tough battle. In the process, I discovered how to manipulate mana by using the properties of Arianne’s Flower.”
This time I was honestly surprised.
No matter how excellent a mage was, overcoming Arianne’s Flower, the nemesis of mages, is another level of difficulty, and even copying it partially was impressive.
“Now I get it.”
Looking back, the Tudogs had shown a good understanding of the Forest of the Demon Realm.
They had enough knowledge and skill to graft the abilities of countless magical beasts onto their bodies.
Though I hadn’t understood before why they had been wiped out while attacking the Forest of the Demon Realm in their past life without leaving a trace.
“He realized that the flower had been replicated.”
If that were true, the story would change.
Once that guy started moving, no matter how much of a Tudog he was, he wouldn’t be able to survive in this forest, and he would use that sensitive sense of smell to erase every trace of Tudogs from the continent.
“Is this why I didn’t know anything about Tudogs in my past life?”
I felt a sense of relief, as I finally reached the answer.
To randomly replicate the treasure of a guy who generously gifted me a leaf was practically asking for death.
“It seems our conversation has been long for a last one.”
No. 17 began to unleash the gathered mana directly at me. Countless spells came crashing down, even surprising witches skilled in magic.
It felt like we were having a magic competition.
No. 17 was showing everything he had to me and the witches.
He wasn’t just some material used for making potions or magic.
None of you can do anything to me.
Moreover, he pulled something quite unique from his robe.
It was a ‘hand.’
The neatly severed hand seemed oddly familiar, with a surprisingly known mark engraved on the back.
“Symbol of Helios?”
“Indeed, did this young man know too?”
No. 17 raised the hand emotionlessly and infused it with mana, causing the power of Helios, used by Ares, to begin to seep into some of his spells.
“……”
“Why? Am I a villain? Did you pity me for living a worthless life?”
“No.”
I wouldn’t say I liked Ares.
He wasn’t the best friend, but that didn’t justify having his hand severed.
In terms of villains, he was more like a neighborhood punk, a third-rate.
Ducking and dodging incoming spells, I continued to advance, parrying with my mana-enveloped sword.
As his essence burned away, the closer I got, the more he felt his life slipping away, prompting him to unleash even fiercer magic.
Yet eventually, my sword reached right before his face.
Perhaps having used all his mana for defense, there was no simple protective spell around his body.
Although this wasn’t out of a desire for revenge for Ares, without realizing it, I severed the hand that gathered mana.
“Kraaaak!”
With a fierce groan, No. 17 staggered violently.
I didn’t stop there; I plunged my sword straight into his heart.
Letting out a faint groan, he leaned forward, almost as if to rely on me, gripping my sword weakly with his trembling remaining hand.
“The earliest apocalypse… comes in ten years.”
“Well, I suppose you could see it that way.”
“Can it be stopped?”
He was a man who, in order to survive, had dedicated all his time since becoming free to prevent the apocalypse.
Knowing what he wanted to hear from me, I whispered softly.
“Rin will no longer be the apocalypse.”
Perhaps understanding the meaning behind my words, he looked at me with a shocked expression before slowly kneeling.
And that was the end.
Even if he was the notorious leader of the Tudogs who schemed in the shadows and clashed with the Chokugen Faction, once a sword was stabbed into the heart, he could only die.
“Is it over?”
An old woman approached, slowly leaning on her staff.
Adriana tried to support the Grand Witch, but she waved her hand to refuse and stood beside me.
“How pitiful…”
“Not in front of me.”
I cut off the Grand Witch’s remarks as she looked down at the dying corpse.
“Don’t speak carelessly.”
Thanks to Adriana’s help, we had been able to pull off some absurd moves to take down the Tudogs.
But conversely, the witches could not escape the responsibility of forming the organization known as Tudogs.
It was all due to their damned, quirky tradition that these events occurred.
I slowly picked up Ares’s hand that had fallen to the ground.
His hand was thick yet bore the callouses of someone who had worked hard.
“This is my friend’s hand; go and reattach it.”
At my coercive command, the witches raised their eyebrows, and just as one was about to speak out, the Grand Witch’s chuckle stopped them.
“Looks like since I bowed my head, you thought it would be easy? If you want something, you’ll have to pay a beneficial price.”
The Grand Witch laughed obnoxiously.
It seemed this aged woman was completely unaware of the situation due to her old age.
“I have no intention of pitying this man, but it’s clear that your inhumane traditions sparked this situation.”
“……”
“A price? Alright, I’ll pay.”
As I pulled the sword from the man’s chest, I glared at the Grand Witch.
“I’ll spare you.”
“……”
“Right now, I’m saying I’m letting you live.”
*
It was bound to take some time to return.
Perhaps because the witches were living quietly in the forest, there were no warp markers connected to the outside.
In the end, a strange party was formed consisting of myself, the Grand Witch, and Adriana, heading towards Elgrid.
Neither the Grand Witch nor I had much to say, while Adriana just slipped in between us, only observing until we finally spotted the towering Aios Academy building.
Once I arrived at the hospital, I easily found a familiar face in the corridor.
Eve was sitting in a hospital chair, engrossed in her book.
Watching the sunlight gently descend through the window and warm Eve made me feel my heart ease, which had been constricted with tension all this time.
Although this was a scene I often saw, it made me feel that life had truly returned to a peaceful normal.
“Eve.”
Gently whispering her name caused Eve to jump in surprise and turn toward me.
She threw her book aside without even a bookmark and dashed toward me, embracing me.
“Daniel! You’re back!”
I had already told the kids that I would finish off the Tudogs, so they probably waited anxiously for me.
“Are you hurt? Are you okay?”
“No, I’m fine.”
I smiled slightly and assured her, raising Eve’s spirits as her eyes glimmered with moisture.
Eve had grown in her own way recently, but seeing her like this made me feel that small, small animal-like impression I had when I first met her.
That must mean she had felt a great deal of anxiety and fear.
“How are the others?”
Now that her tension seemed to have eased a bit, I asked, and she pointed to the hospital rooms in the corridor.
“They’re all here; our school’s students are hospitalized. Bertia too.”
“……”
“They are mostly hurt, but they’re safe. Please don’t go in with such a gloomy expression; smile brightly.”
“But…”
I wondered if it might come off as shameless to show up smiling in front of the kids who had fought for me and my sister and got hurt, but Eve shook her head.
“Everyone fought so that you would smile, so please do so.”
“……”
I was struck speechless.
I couldn’t organize my thoughts on what to say when I saw them, but more than that, I had someone I needed to meet first.
Just then, Eve’s expression darkened.
“And I don’t know if Daniel is aware, but there was actually an attack on the hospital. In fact, Ares…”
“I know.”
I nodded slightly, indicating the two people behind me. Since Adriana already knew Eve, she just waved her hand in greeting.
“Where’s Ares’s hospital room?”
Hastily moving according to the direction Eve pointed toward the farthest room.
