"I… I at least die… from your son's hands… Charlotte—YAAAK!! AAAA!"
I grabbed her other horn and this time, pulled it out. A crack spread through her skull as I yanked the horn outward. Dantalian's eyes widened.
Her screams spread.
One of her eyeballs popped out.
And she continued to laugh.
With a slow pull, I separated her other horn from her head.
Dantalian was a mess.
Her hair grayed out and her body dried up the moment I pulled her horn out. As if she had lost all her strength, she shriveled up like a dead branch.
I grabbed Dantalian's neck and raised her body. My other hand tightened.
"I didn't think you'd lose without putting up a fight."
Dantalian raised her fingers, her black blood grazing over my cheeks.
"Hahaha…"
A weak laugh.
"Foolish… Naive..."
To the end, she pissed me off.
"This isn't a game… no one has won… not me… and definitely not YOU! EUGENE HAL—"
Her words stopped midway.
Her heart stopped beating.
With my hands soiled in her blood and her heart crushed in my hand, I tossed her away.
And then, I fell over on my back.
"Eugene!" Noa rushed over to my side and sat down as well. Even Titania stepped out from my pockets and looked at me.
"Is it over?" I asked Titania.
"All her authority is in those horns… there's no way under the skies that she could have survived."
I placed my hands down on the water-filled ground and let out a sigh.
Not long after, confused screams echoed from the entire city.
Her authority had fallen, and her puppets were back to people too.
A strange air filled us. Noa slowly patted my back.
"It was an unsatisfying end, huh?" She asked.
"Bet it was…"
We had defeated her here. We had achieved our purpose and chased her all the way to hell to end her immortal life.
But it didn't feel like a fulfilling victory—No.
It didn't feel like a victory at all.
"I guess she was right… No one won in the end."
If I were to judge by fairness, she was to lose.
If I were to judge through morals, she deserved her loss.
If I were to speak through strength, she had lost long ago.
But none of those counted now.
"It's like that sometimes," Noa said. "When you think the enemy is strong, but die with a flick. You expected spice but only received sweets."
She patted my back again.
"Don't blame yourself. It was the other party that sucked."
"I guess that's true."
I was just expecting more, huh?
It seemed we had come a full circle.
Noa gave me a hand and I stood up from the ground. Dantalian's soggy corpse was on the ground. I kicked her up and tossed her into the coffin, ready to take her back and present her to Dawn.
Just as I was about to close the coffin, a chill ran down my spine.
"NOA!"
The girl behind me rushed to my side and pulled out her axe.
Something was coming. Something crazy was coming.
What was it? Was this her measure? Her way to fight back?
Seconds that felt like hours ticked away, that something was coming closer.
No. There were two. Almost equally matched.
I began spinning my Mana and Ki cores, ready to enter the World's End at any moment.
Right then—
-CRASSSH!!
— the ceiling crashed in. A cloud of dust and water floated up in the sky as the red light of hell lit up the dark underground chamber.
As the cloud subsided, an old man lying on the ground came into view.
Fresh wounds littered his body and two horns stuck out of his head.
Noa pressed closer and I did the same.
In the next moment, the second being appeared too. Floating above the hole in the castle, a young man with blonde hair and green robes, who was also covered in wounds.
"Are you—Oh? Eugene Hall… and Noa Roselle?"
"Excuse me, who?"
"What the heck do you mean who!? It's me! Your fucking principal!"
OH! It was Principal Lushan in front of us.
"You're in for big trouble, young man. How dare you even scurry off to hell? Do you have the foggiest idea of how worried we were? Also, Miss Noa, it is a grand joy to see you alive and kicking, but you're in for trouble too."
Oh no, my trauma was engaging, I was tuning off the principal's words.
The old man on the ground coughed and looked our way.
"Are these the students you were looking for?"
"They are," the principal answered. "It seems you truly didn't have them. I'll be taking my leave."
"Yeah sure, sure," the old man waved his hands, laughing. He then stopped when his gaze fell on me, then he looked at the coffin.
"Oh hoho! Is that Dantalian's true body? That sour woman is dead?"
"He killed her," Noa said. "If you have problems, take it out on him."
"Bitch! Are you snitching by any chance?"
"But aren't you cool and strong? Handle it yourself. That guy's clearly a demon, I am not involved."
"Turncoat! I thought you liked strong opponents!"
"I do, so weaken him, and then I'll swoop in, after you're dead."
"Ahem," Lushan coughed and interrupted us. "Kids, please. That grandpa is not going to touch anyone, right?"
"I won't!" The demon waved his hands. "I hated that woman, good on you! She had anyway lived too long."
The old man stood up and Lushan lowered himself to the ground.
This guy came out of nowhere.
The old man took a step near us and Lushan shot a spell at him. The old man, naturally, flicked it away and walked closer nonetheless.
"Agares—"
He couldn't finish his words.
But I heard them well.
This was him, huh?
Faster than any of us, faster than even I could see, the old man was in front of me.
He raised his hands, and the towering muscular man much taller than I, started patting my head. With his other hand, he tightened my grip over the horns.
"You keep those things safe, they'll come in handy."
"Al…right?"
I wanted to lash out at this man right away, but I was too confused to react.
"Also, long time no see, mistress Titania. It seems you have chosen a good child."
"Agares, wasn't it?" Titania muttered, peeking out of my pockets again.
"I am honored to be remembered by one like you!"
Woah?
This guy was in Titania's chuuni troupe!
"Well then," the old man, the demon king we almost summoned, smiled again. "Lushan, one of your people seems to have been fighting my army and another seems to have poisoned my city."
"Big deal," Lushan said. "I won't apologize for that."
"I don't want you to. I'll leave, so you do too."
The old man patted my head again.
Never could that summoning have worked. Even if we killed every student in the academy, bringing out someone who held this much power was impossible.
For now. I was going to eventually overtake such meager strength.
"Child," he said. "Feel free to reach out if you ever need any help. You've given this old sack of bones a good reason to live a little longer."
"Cool."
"And feel free to call me Grandpa! Hahaha!"
Saying that Agares turned around and took a step away. He waved his hands as he went for the doors of the dungeon instead of the hole.
"Then, goodbye Lushan, and the two children. Miss Titania too, I was deeply honored."
"Bye!"
"Bye old man, you still fight well!"
"Hoho! I am looking forward to this time's Walpurgis."
What in the world was going on?
This was way out of the left field.
The old man went away from view and only we were left.
Lushan turned our way and smiled.
"Well then, let us head back," said Lushan. "I hope you know how to go back."
"We do."
"Yup."
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