Enough that a village girl who had yet to even come of age, could fell monsters by her hand.

The only thing that one couldn’t obtain with the Class itself, was the all important 『Courage』. That alone was something one had to make do with their own efforts.

Strong. Its power was certainly strong. But even so, I was scared.

My breath was rough. My hands shook, and my heart gave a heavy beat.

I looked at the palm of my hand. Having overcome hundreds of thousands of dark forces, yet come out without a single wound, those white and elegant fingers, as if to reflect the inside of my heart, were shaking.

I clenched my fist.

It was a fear I’d tasted countless times, and nothing to me at this point.

To those cut down by me, they must have felt a fear much greater than this.

As if to encourage me on, the Holy Sword gripped in my right hand gave a small pulse.

I wonder when it was that I noticed whispering to myself would more or less calm me down. Perhaps it was in that distant time when I first started fighting against abnormal monsters. If that wasn’t the case, then surely I would have.. broken long ago.

“I’m not scared. I’m not scared. I’m not scared. I’m not scared. I won’t lose. I won’t lost. I won’t lose. I won’t lose. There’s no way I can.. lose.”

Even if I never had anything precious.

Even if I never had any comrades to fight alongside me.

I just looked ahead.

There was no one to listen to me. No, there never should have been.

As if to read off a line to myself alone, I whispered.

“I mean, I’m.. a Hero.”

I strongly gripped the sword.

The smell of blood and iron and death. The presence of war, and the abnormal cries.

A battlefield where, if a normal man were to happen upon it, he would all but fall to madness.

Even if I was bad at talking with people, I could cut down monsters.

No matter how helpless I may be, as long as I don’t let it reach my face, no one will notice.

That’s why, no matter how far I went, I accomplished my role as a Hero.

I packed power below my navel, concentrated my attention on my heart, and excited the Mana over my entire body. Concentration great enough for it to take on tangible form, silvery blue Mana blew over as a wind, and drew spirals as it circled up around me.

The wails of the magic beasts ceased. The spirits invisible to my eyes trembled, the world stopped.

Within that noisy world, I was alone.

“See, aren’t I.. strong?”

Having I gained the Hero Class, and rushed across a countless number of battlefields, there was something I came to understand.

Heroes were weapons. Even if there was no technique in their arms, and no good in their hearts, they were envoys of light that could cut down anything with their pure volume of Mana. Those needlessly powerful Skills, and the Holy Sword that inflicted enormous damage on the vassals of darkness were merely a byproduct of that.

I remember the words once imparted on me by the king of a country I stopped by long ago.

.. Hero Serge, never forget that the lives of tens of thousands of civilians rest on your back. Every time you hesitate, human lives will perish. Every time you retreat, human lives will perish. If you’re to ever face defeat, then.. a countless number of lives that could have been saved will be lost forever.

『.. Yes..』

Back then, I had thought it a horribly selfish thing to impart such a burden on a simple little girl But it’s also a truth that I found solace in it.

A light like an aurora emitted from my sword.

That beautiful spectrum that had entranced me the first time I emitted it, after tens and hundreds of uses, was only something I had grown accustomed to.

The grotesque eyes gathered on me.

All sorts of seeds to become the enemies of humanity. Against the forms of various monsters, I smiled with my face alone, and let a light that was nothing but bright flow out from my Holy Sword.

“..”

The first time, I let out an unsightly cry. Because if I didn’t, my mind would have been paralyzed by fear.

But now, I don’t even have to raise a single word.

I inhaled in a shallow breath of air. I exhaled. With just that, I could divert my fear. I overwrote it with fighting spirit.

The point I became a Hero was the point I cast away my tears.

From a hill overlooking a vast land, I ran as if intending to tumble. No matter how steep the slope, I was never tripped up.

If it was just for a short time.. I could even soar through the sky. I trampled over all the obstacles. Enhanced by my power as a Hero, my physical abilities didn’t fall short of a magic beast’s.

Every time I swung the Holy Sword, the monsters would be bisected in a flash, and the lightning would strike through them. My visual and auditory senses and all else were taken in by blood. The feel of cutting into meat, repelling the survivors.

Normal beings of the monster race held dreadful figures, but to me, they were nothing more than scraps of paper. In just one swing of the sword, the monster that would have taken hundreds of human lives was killed.

My objective was always.. the ones clad in the greatest miasma. The enemies of humanity.

On the battlefield, in the center of a wasteland, I found them. Among piles of corpses.

The greatest for of Evil Spirit to appear on the Surface World. With numbers countable on a single hand, they could take down an entire country. And before those strongest Evil Spirits, I alone brandished my sword.

My own foolishness no longer produced anything from me but a quivering laugh.

Friends? Comrades? Something like that.. there’s no way I could have anything like that.

A Hero’s power was something extraordinary.

Even among those that held the Hero class, the one heralded as the strongest was me.. there’s no way there was anyone in humanity who could keep up.

＊＊＊＊＊

My consciousness returned.

“.. So you can still stand.. that’s strange.. I’m sure you should be dead by now..”

By the time I realized it, I had already stood up again.

What raced through my head were the battlefields I once ran across. The lantern turn itself for but an instant.

I knew. What’s left in me is.. not courage, but just my dignity as a Hero.

“I’m.. not.. scared.”

The Holy Sword was the same as before. As if to cheer me up, it let out a glimmer.

I followed my experience, and at the presence I sensed behind, I turned my body, and let the Holy Sword come down.

The weight I felt on my arms. The sharp sound of metal colliding.

What had appeared at some point in time, something with its entire body shrouded in black armor, locked blades with me. If it was just in physical strength, the other side had the advantage. It was a fearsome force, and a fearsome speed, but in technique, I’m.. the greater.

Two strikes, three strikes, our blades met one another, but on the third time, what it should have blocked with its sword, it took with its body. Caring not for the flesh it bisected, the Holy Sword cut through that trunk of a body from left to right.

There was a tough resistance, but I was certain of my target’s destruction.

The body close to two meters in size vanished, and on top of the bloodstained carpet, what took its place was a black chess piece divided in two.

The Fortis Authority could return light to my eyes. But the rolling piece wasn’t to become my threat again.

I overcame my shaking body with fighting spirit, and confronted the Demon Lord again.

I pretended not to notice the hopeless chances of victory swirling about my head.

“.. What is.. with that..”

“.. I won’t.. lose..”

The Demon Lord quietly sat back on the throne. While furrowing his brow, there was no sign of him initiating another attack.

If I can’t pierce through his core, I’ll have to aim for his neck. If not the neck, then an arm or a leg. Anyways, I’ll have to inflict just a little damage..

I gripped the Holy Sword in both hands. I can’t hear anything. I can’t see anything. I can’t understand anything. I stepped in, and swung to take his neck. The muscles of my arms cramped up, and let off creaking sounds. I paid no mind to my own damage.

Leigie wasn’t even looking at me. He let out a sigh, and opened his right hand.

The space before my eyes turned pitch black. But the kinetic energy I had given my body did not die down. My sword was definitely coming towards Leigie’s head, and..

There was so much resistance, it felt like my heart was painted out.

Wh.. y.. his skin is..

“..”

I couldn’t let out my voice. I frantically tried to scream.

I was able to pierce him before. I was definitely able to pierce all the way to his soul core, and yet now my blade.. won’t enter his flesh!

What!? How!? Why!?

The character string appeared again. I didn’t even give the 『Cause of Death: Destruction of Soul Core』 a second glance.

I can’t move at all. Only my field of vision turned left and right. Within my stagnant time, I thought.

Is it that I can’t rend his bones? No. I didn’t make it to the bone. It stopped on his first layer of skin.

If it was metal armor, I would have sliced through with ease, and I could just as easily cut through the barrier of any high class magic barrier, yet a hard sensation remained in the Holy Blade.

It was, strangely enough, the.. same as the last thing that had been left in my hands in my final battle as a hero.

Until just now, until this moment.. it definitely got through!!

My heart shuddered like never before.

Having obtained 『Fortis』, there was a great unrest I felt when I experienced death for the first time. This was an impact surpassing that.

『Brave Heart』 shook. I’m sure it was a Skill that was supposed to be peerless. The path that I never lost sight of, despite my fear and my shivers, was starting to feel unsteady.

Before the selections laid out before me, my will to stand whispered quietly to me.

The simple 『YES』 and 『NO』gained greater meaning that ever before, as they pressed down on my choice.

『Do you still have the will to fight on?』

『Before a great darkness, before an existence much greater than your own, do you have the reason to stand and face him?』

『Do you have the courage?』

The magician’s old words echoed with them.

『Serge, you have the right to choose. To live as a hero to light up the dark, or.. to waste your entire life as a normal civilian..』

I would think back to that question from time to time.

If perhaps I had chosen the path of a normal person, then would it truly have been so useless?

Perhaps it was my life as a hero, and my afterlife as a Valkyrie, descended to repeat endless battles day after day after day that was the wasted one?

The answer had yet to come. That’s why, just once more..

By the phenomenon brought about by my Fortis Skill, my extracted Soul Core was brought back to life. Light blessed my eyes once more, and from the depths of my body gushed up the heat of life. It was an uplifting feeling as if to blow away my fears.I’m sure that for all this time, Fortis Angels have fought on with nothing but that courage as their weapon.

My hazy vision came into focus. At some point in time, Leigie’s gaze from his seat on the throne had quietly directed itself down on me.

“Ye s.. I’ll fight..”

“Hero, could it be.. you can’t die? Even if your heart is destroyed, you’ll revive?”

As I thought, unlike Gloria, this Demon Lord knowns not of my authority.

In Leigie’s right hand, that should have been empty, a transparent crystal appeared. That item that was basked in the glimmer of a finally cut diamond, was promptly crushed in his palm.

Light was extracted from my eyes again. Of course, I had never seen it in my eyes before, but I understood by instinct. That was.. my heard.

『Aport』

It couldn’t be.. no, there’s nothing.. else I can think of. Matter transportation from within my body.

『Cause of Death: Destruction of Soul Core』. The words danced before my eyes.

A ridiculous power. A peerless.. ability. Be it Angel or Demon, no matter how strong they may be, there wasn’t a single one who could live without their heart.

.. Besides me.

I no longer have any hesitation. My spirit blazed up.

In order to clear away all the darkness. In order for my existence to hold meaning. That’s why I became a Hero!

Death distanced itself. The feeling of nihility assailing my body was overwritten with the reality of life.

I clenched my teeth, and stood up again. Again and again. I’ll stand as many times it takes. You’ll see.

“I won’t.. lose..”

“Hero.. I.. see.. Hero.”

The blade I put my might behind, my wishes behind, was brought to a halt by Leigie standing still.

He stopped the Holy Sword that, if he were a Demon, if he was one in cahoots with darkness, it should have burned through his entirety. It wasn’t his neck. The blade came into contact with his unhealthy-looking face, and stooped as if I was living a nightmare.

My hopes were smashed. Not a single drop of Leigie’s blood flowed. He took it head-on, and without even making preparations to defend, he took on the power of a Hero, and the light to destroy all darkness without a scratch.

I let out a piercing yell, and thrust again. Leigie didn’t dodge.

But what I aimed at his left chest was stopped without even piercing the flesh.

It’s no good.. he’s hard.. he’s too hard. The skin I was able to get through once, I couldn’t pierce again.

“Hey, please tell me one thing, Serge.”

Should I retreat? Should I pull back once, and face him again? Can I even face him? Is there.. an existence that can triumph over this Lord?

There is. There has to be.. In the heavens, there were plenty of those wielding powers greater than mine. If it’s them, then..

.. Right, the Demon World.. if I pull him out of the Demon World, perhaps I can win. But am I.. capable of such a feat?

“Hey, Serge Serenade.”

I thrust the blade, and receiving an additional attack, Leigie didn’t direct the slightest hostility at me.

I struck my lightning into him. The world was filled with light, and the intense discharge caused an echoing sound, but the voice reverberating from within it didn’t stop.

“Can you.. not die? Is your valor, your courage.. a result of your lack of death?”

“..”

The lightning disappeared.

The abyss was peering into me.

The abyss was questioning me.

A black to suck in all sorts of light. Those darkness colored irises were examining me.

“Courage born of an inability to die. Could that truly.. be called the work of a 『Hero』?”

I’m sure it was an honest query. There was no good or bad intent behind it.

But I cannot listen to him. I can’t deal with him head-on.

I can’t be brought in by the darkness. Rather than my heart shattering, I was much more afraid of my will falling apart.

The question lasted a few seconds. There was no answer. But I didn’t remove my eyes from him.

The Demon Lord moved. Separating from the throne, one step forward. The slash I released in desperation, Leigie received with the palm of his hand.

The Holy sword slid through and cut off half his hand frighteningly easily.

“.. Ah, I see. So you were a 『Cheat』, same as me..”

I never thought an attack would get through.

For an instant, my thoughts froze. Like a separate lifeform, his fingers flew off, and rolled along the carpet.

Without paying any attention to them, Leigie’s face continued to approach me. The bags stuck under his eyes. The mediocre face of a man one couldn’t see as anyone strong.

His breath hit an area around my ear.

“It’s fine. You’ve no need to despair.. if it’s me, I can issue an end to your life without death.”

Differing from before, a cold Mana started welling up.

I instinctively tried to retreat back, only to notice my legs would no longer move.

Leigie’s face had approached to a few centimeters before me. In his eyes, reflected the scene of my features freezing over.

The chill gradually rising up from my feet. I tried wringing out my power, but my lower body wouldn’t budge in the slightest.

“.. Sleep for the rest of your days. I won’t forget you.”

The tips of my fingers were iced over. The area below my navel lost its power, and my face was suspended.

I didn’t feel any pain. Only my heat was being robbed away. A cold something was passing over my spine. It wasn’t just a hallucination.

Leigie raised a quiet voice like one of a parent to their child.

“I think I’ll.. wait for the next Hero, whom I’m not even sure exists.”

“Ah.. ah..”

The nature of Leigie’s power had changed. From one the was simply heavy, to one heavy and cold.

His finger was fixed on my chin. I didn’t look down. I can’t see what’s becoming of my body. But I know.

My time is stoping. My Soul Core is freezing.

Everythign I have in me is losing its heat. My body, my will.

Is this.. death?

The ice came up to my chest. Slowly, and as if to harass me, oh so quiet. But it was certain.

Contrary to my desire, my lips began to move.

“Am I.. going to.. die?”

“No, you’re not going to die. You’re going to end. Thank you for staying as my enemy. You can.. rest now.”

A one-sided verdict. His calm words, and his dark eyes.

My chest was frozen over, and it continued up my collar to cover my throat.

Yeah, I already knew. I’m sure.. this is.. the end.

The Holy Sword lost its light. My arm had frozen through long ago, and it wouldn’t move in the slightest. Even if that blade had still been clad in light, I no longer had the hands to move it.

From the core of my body, I was frozen. No, this must be just as the Demon Lord said.. suspension.

Even with my breast frozen over, the selection didn’t appear to me.

It was a phenomenon I had never seen before. No, if you count the time I felt it when I lost my human body, this was my second.. end.

“..”

My voice would no longer come out.

Unrest. My emotions were rocked by an incomprehensible wave.

Regrets? Hesitations? Anger? Grief? Or perhaps.. Relief?

I don’t know anymore. I don’t know anything.

What I heard at the end was, differing completely from the rewards of foreign kings, and the ovations of the people I saved, and the oracles given to me by the Angels, uncalculated, and honest commendation.

“Until we meet again, my old friend.”