All strength drained from Kerberos's body.
At the same time, the sword that had pierced through it vanished, as if its role had been fulfilled.
(...I want to create more beautiful magic next time.)
He wanted to bring his own magic into being.
There was joy in having that wish granted, yet also frustration that he could only create something so crude.
Still — he had clearly repelled this formidable foe with his own magic. With that sense of accomplishment, he turned his back on Kerberos and began walking.
"...Ell."
Halfway there, Katia rose to her feet and approached him.
"You... defeated it, right?"
"Yes. I confirmed that it has perished without a doubt. —It is our victory."
Only after hearing his words did relief and delight finally surface on her expression.
The two of them walked together back to where the soldiers stood.
The soldiers still seemed bewildered at first, but upon seeing the looks on their faces and the fact that Kerberos did not rise, a growing sense of reality seemed to gradually settle in.
"We won... Does that mean we're saved?"
"Thank goodness... Now we can go home, back to our families..."
"It's because they... no, because those two defeated it... truly...!"
Some collapsed to the ground, legs giving out from sheer exhaustion. Others wept tears of relief. Still others directed gazes verging on worship toward them.
But the two paid them no mind, walking instead toward the one other person who had earned this triumph.
"...Ah..."
Sarah, though visibly exhausted, managed to stand and look their way.
Facing her, Katia smiled and spoke.
"Good work, Sarah. And thank you—we never could have won without you."
"......nngh..."
At those words, Sarah's eyes welled with tears. Overcome with emotion, she threw herself into Katia's arms.
Ever since Katia had left the academy, the two had done nothing but miss each other. Now, at long last, they could slowly draw close again.
Gently, softly, Katia held Sarah in return.
A warm atmosphere flowed through the air. The hostility the surrounding soldiers had harbored toward them had entirely vanished, leaving only feelings of gratitude and celebration in its wake.
It was a beautiful atmosphere—one that finally allowed Ermes to feel, deep down, that the battle was truly over.
"—Well done, you lot!"
An uncouth voice shattered the moment.
"............Lord Aster."
Katia released her embrace and cast a cold gaze at the newcomer—a stark contrast to the warmth she'd shown just moments before. Ermes was much the same.
Yet Aster, who had risen and walked toward them, paid their stares no heed whatsoever—as though it were the most natural thing in the world.
As though he'd entirely forgotten that he'd been lying on the ground just moments ago, he continued:
"You did well to defeat that Monster. Well—"
"It was nothing but"
"accident"
"stacked upon accident,"
"but still, defeating it is worthy of praise."
From his words just now, it was easy to tell that his fundamental nature hadn't changed one bit.
"...Well, that may be so. Much of it may have been due to chance, but since it was Your Highness Aster, you defeated an opponent that no miracle could have overcome."
"Hmph, what are you talking about! I would have had no problem under the same conditions. Rather, it was precisely because I was the first to step forward that I served as support for the rest of you who followed behind!"
In response to Ermes's sarcastic retort, Aster scowled for an instant but delivered his reply all the same.
Then he turned toward Katia.
"Katia, you did well too. I believed --
that you,
no matter how much
I
treated you harshly,
would
,
surely
stand up and
prove your own strength --
I knew you would!
"
"...Huh?"
Ah, so that's how it goes. Ermes sighed inwardly.
Aster would never admit he was wrong. He believed without a shred of doubt that nothing but purity and righteousness existed within him.
But this time, the very person he had endlessly called defective had just defeated a Monster he himself couldn't even beat. His mistake had been proven in the most unmistakable way possible.
And so, he would claim that he "never really believed that in the first place."
That "the harsh words were for your sake, a trial I placed upon you."
That was surely what he was trying to spin this into.
Aster pressed on. That he was absolute. His tone still carried the unwavering conviction — no, the desperate insistence — that he remained the protagonist of this scene.
"As I said, my judgment was correct! You are someone who doesn't just blindly accept my words, but can think for yourself and act on what is right!"
Surely that "what is right" was nothing more than a convenient rewording of whatever served his interests.
"Well done, truly befitting of a lady who genuinely supports me! Now —"
"...That's enough, Your Highness."
There was no way she would accept something like that.
Now there was no reason left to hold back. With that thought, Katya opened her mouth once more.
"Though it was against my wishes, I spent five years here, so I already know what Your Highness is going to say. You'll take me in as your concubine — since calling me your fiancée would be too embarrassing publicly — and then casually try to recruit Elle on the side as well, won't you?"
"Huh? Me?"
"Wha—"
"The wording will be the same as before — I'll be framed as 'the hero who proved her strength by not failing Your Highness's trial,' and all the blame will be heaped onto the Frenblid family. You've always been like this. Anyone you deemed superior, you either forcibly eliminated or, when that wasn't possible, forced them into your service. You reassure yourself by thinking, 'Since I hold the higher position, I must be better than this person,' because you can never admit you're inferior. You did the same thing with Sara as your new fiancée, didn't you?"
All in one breath, she unleashed everything that had been piling up inside her for years.
Whether every word hit the mark or not was written plainly on Aster's ashen face.
"It seems I'm mostly right, so let me give you my answer all at once.
—
I refuse, all of it."
"I have no intention of returning to you, and El is... mine. I don't plan on giving her to anyone."
She stumbled just slightly over the latter half of her words, but Katia still shot down his proposal head-on with an outright refusal.
He clearly hadn't genuinely expected to be refused—Aster's face flushed with fury in an instant.
"Y-You! Who do you think you're talking to! I am—!"
"...El, tell him. Who is this person?"
"Hm? Well... I believe he's the self-proclaimed strongest magician who was humiliatingly defeated by Lady Katia, then launched a reckless charge at that Monster and was instantly killed?"
"Perfect. Not a single gap to exploit."
Ermes understood exactly what Katia wanted to say and answered with all due spite mixed in for good measure.
Master and servant—this terrifyingly in sync verbal dismantling only made Aster flush even deeper.
"Th-That's because—!"
"No matter how you try to excuse yourself, the results speak for themselves. Besides, Your Highness... I'm fairly certain that when El saved you, you clearly stated that you 'couldn't win,' didn't you?"
He was hit with that irrefutable evidence under her cold, unflinching gaze.
Aster was rendered speechless, unable to muster a rebuttal in time, but then—
"—Sara!"
He called out to the girl who seemed like the easiest target to sway, attempting to deflect the situation.
"You should know! Everything they're saying is nonsense—I'm the one who's right! Come on, you of all people, who were always the best at seeing through to the truth!"
Sara, suddenly called upon, flinched and her body trembled—a reflex born from all her past experiences.
Katia worryingly placed a hand on her, but she gently pushed it away and gave a reassuring nod, as if to say it was all right.
"N-No, Your Highness."
Though a faint trace of fear still lingered in her eyes, her expression had hardened with resolve as she raised her face and spoke her piece.
"But, Your Highness, I believe you are mistaken. The only one who hasn't realized it is you, Your Highness... no, everyone has already realized it... and yet, the only one who still refuses to acknowledge it is you alone."
"What!"
"...Up until now, I was too afraid to say it. I kept thinking someone else would set you straight. That surely, once things went too far, you would eventually become a prince worthy of respect. ...But I've realized now."
And then she did.
In a twist of irony, the girl—one who excelled at seeing through to the heart of things, just as Aster himself had said—delivered her verdict with that penetrating gaze of hers.
"No one's words can reach you anymore. And—your words no longer reach anyone, either."
"...Wh-what?"
Hearing this, Aster looked around.
Ermes and Katia, who had always maintained an unpleasant attitude toward him—naturally. But even Sara, who had always been so obedient—was looking at him with something sorrowful, as though pained, yet at the same time decisively—
him
had given up on
that kind of
gaze she was directing his way.
What's more.
Even the soldiers surrounding him—were casting suspicion, distrust, and disappointment his way.
"—Wh-what are those looks on your faces?! You're nothing but soldiers, and you dare look at me—"
"Your Highness. All this time, no matter how arrogant or self-righteous your words and actions were, you were always forgiven."
Katia's voice rang out once more, cutting through Aster's angry shout.
"Do you know why? That's because—"
simply
"That's because you were strong. Your magic was more powerful than anyone else's, and if the task were left to you, the greatest threat endangering the country could be eliminated. That's why you were granted excessive privileges. ……I really don't think that was right, though."
A one-sided assumption. Self-righteous thinking. Excessive preconceptions wrapped in aggressive malice.
Those were the far too juvenile qualities of his personality — and Aster was the man who had hidden every last one of them behind his position and, above all, his strength.
"Everyone saw it. The way you were defeated and fled in shame, without a shred of dignity. Everyone heard it. Your words — unbefitting of a ruler, unbearable to listen to."
Then if that gilded veneer were stripped away, what would emerge was nothing more than an ugly human being who had simply never grown up past childhood.
"And everyone understood. That the one who surpassed you, who struck down the Monster you could not defeat, who was more worthy of protecting the people than you — was us, and above all, Ermes, right here. Ermes — the very El you refused to acknowledge as your better and exiled out of jealousy."
"——Wh-what are you—"
"There's no way you didn't understand. The very first thing I said as your fiancée was 'Forget about Ermes,' and after that I kept bringing up El over and over, only to badmouth him. Honestly, that was the one time I genuinely felt like killing you."
Dumbfounded, Aster stared at Ermes.
Katia placed her hand proudly on his shoulder, and Sarah gazed at him with a demure yet unmistakably adoring look in her eyes.
And every soldier around them, without exception, directed unwavering respect and gratitude toward him.
(Why……)
Respected by those around him. Trusted by the two beautiful young women who had once been his fiancées.
That scene — that was supposed to be his. That place — that was supposed to be his privilege.
The instant he recognized that, a dark emotion surged up inside Aster.
*That guy stole it from me.*
*What was rightfully mine.*
*Inciting the people.*
*Turning them against me.*
My woman
deceived
kept by my side
made to serve
.
That demon
must be defeated
.
This is absolutely
not jealousy
.
Everything is
that guy's fault
.
I am the one
who is right
.
Otherwise
it won't do
.
"You—aaaaaaaah!!"
Until the very end, blindly trusting only himself.
Driven by the currents of rage, hatred, obsession—various emotions he himself couldn't even comprehend.
"You—you're the one behind all of this!!"
Aster lunged at Ermes.
He no longer had any magic power, so all he had were his own fists.
But that didn't matter. Ermes was no different.
And Ermes, in truth, had never once faced Aster head-on before.
He must have
feared
and kept avoiding
me all this time,
no doubt about it,
in which case,
there's no way
I could
possibly lose.
.
Driven by that utterly baseless conviction, Aster swung his fist with full force.
Ermes, on the other hand, watched with eyes devoid of any warmth.
"...I really, really don't want to fight, though."
"Hah! You've lost your nerve against me, haven't you!!"
Interpreting the muttered words in the most convenient way possible, Aster thrust his already-committed fist straight toward Ermes's face without a shred of hesitation.
"That's not what I meant."
Ermes dodged the punch with nothing more than a slight tilt of his head.
In one fluid motion, he seized Aster's arm and slipped behind him, closing into his guard.
Using Aster's outstretched arm as a pivot, Ermes rotated vertically in a full circle—and with that momentum, slammed Aster back-first into the ground.
"Guh—"
But it didn't end there.
The impact sent Aster briefly bouncing off the ground. Ermes exploited that rebound, seized his arm once more, and launched him upward again.
"Why—"
At just the right height, Ermes drove his elbow, loaded with his full body weight, straight into Aster's solar plexus.
"After going to all the trouble of having a satisfying battle against a strong opponent—"
With a generous wind-up, he followed up with a vertical kick to the chin of the staggering Aster.
"You really shouldn't go out of your way..."
He swept Aster's legs out from under him once more, breaking his posture completely.
"...to pick fights with lowlifes."
As Aster toppled backward, Ermes raised his right leg high into the air above his falling head.
"And that's the story—!"
He drove his full-power heel drop, the kind that could split heaven and earth, mercilessly straight into Aster's face.
There wasn't even a scream.
The technique was so excessively devastating that even Katia, who had honestly expected Aster to get pummeled, turned pale—and yet it was performed with graceful, devastating precision.
"...I see. So this is how my master felt when we first met."
Ermes gazed down at the unconscious Aster with a perfectly neutral expression and murmured.
Then, as if noticing something, he turned toward Katia and the others.
"...Ah. S-sorry, I went too far. I just... got more irritated than I expected."
"N-no, if anything, well done, El. ...Wait, you could actually do that?"
The effect had certainly been real.
Sara and the soldiers could only watch in stunned silence. In this battle, Ermes had faced Aster in direct combat for the first time—and though he had no magic, he had been completely overwhelming.
Aster, with his head buried in the ground, and Ermes standing over him, gazing down without a trace of emotion—
It was a clear-cut conclusion, as if symbolizing the end of Aster once and for all.
In the very end, the prince was the one who got thrashed.