"… How is it possible?" Samuel Barstool muttered with an ashen face as he lay on the ground half dead.
The lower half of his body had been burnt into charcoal, and his right arm had been crushed into a paste. He also had a hole in the place where his heart was supposed to be, and his left eye was gone.
The only reason he was not dead yet was due to the extraordinary vitality he got after Bringer of End turned him into an Irregular.
But even that vitality could not keep him alive for long.
In front of him, a black-haired girl was holding a sword with a complicated expression.
"Do you have any last words? I will allow you to speak them in the account that you are my master's master."
Samuel closed his eyes and let out a laugh of resignation.
"To think that I would be defeated by Evelyn's student."
He then looked around him, only to see the corpses of countless monsters scattered across what was once the Imperial Institute.
This time, though, no more monsters were coming to replace them.
Because the portal had been destroyed.
The black-haired girl, Rose, had destroyed it before defeating him.
"It's unfair." Samuel chuckled bitterly. "I sacrificed so much. I even sold my soul to the devil just to get stronger. But you… You are so young, but you are already so much stronger than me."
Rose frowned. "There are people stronger than me out there."
"Do you mean the prince? Yeah, but he is different. He is… Inhuman."
Rose did not reply.
To be honest, Samuel was very strong. So strong that fighting him felt hopeless.
Even when she and the other girls joined hands, he seemed invincible.
Rose was sure that the previous her did not have any opportunity against him. If that voice did not talk to her, they would have died here.
But after she heard that voice, her strength grew at a level that even she could not believe.
In fact, right now, the other girls were looking at her with incredulous and amazed expressions.
Just then, a figure appeared beside her.
"It looks like you already took care of the situation here, huh."
"Brother!"
"Your highness!"
"Claus!"
"Prince!"
"I'm back." Claus smiled at the girls before looking at Rose and at the previous headmaster. He then raised an eyebrow with a curious expression.
"What happened here?"
"Let me explain it to you, Your Highness." Daisy quickly approached Claus and recounted everything that happened.
When she told him that Rose suddenly had become so much stronger, Claus was surprised.
"Did you have a breakthrough?"
"About that…" Rose hesitated for a moment before deciding to tell him the truth. "I suddenly heard a voice in my head asking me if I wanted strength… It seemed like the voice of a child, and when I answered yes, I suddenly became much stronger..."
"A voice? Could it have been the Will of the World?" Claus looked at Rose curiously before letting out a wry smile. "As expected of the Hero."
"Huh? Hero?"
"I will explain it to you later." Claus patted Rose's hair before looking at the rest of his women. "I'm happy that all of you are alright."
The girls smiled at him with expressions of tiredness.
Just then, Headmistress Evelyn bit his lips and approached him.
"Boy… Can I ask you for a favor?"
"Is it about the old man?" Claus sighed while looking at the half-dead Samuel.
Evelyn nodded with a complicated expression.
"Even if he made a mistake at the end, he is still my master. I want to give him a proper ending."
Claus thought for a moment and nodded. "I understand. You can take him away."
Evelyn nodded gratefully and walked towards Samuel. She then lifted his half-dead body and put him on her back.
"… Just kill me, Evelyn. I'm already dead anyway."
The headmistress bit her lips and shook her head.
"… I can't kill my own father." She then looked at Claus and the others and bowed deeply. "I'm sorry. I will be leaving first."
Then, she cast a teleportation spell and left.
Claus sighed when he saw that.
"… Evelyn must be very sad."
Parting was hard, but it was someone that everybody experienced at least once in their lives. It was painful, but it was something unavoidable.
Even for an Immortal like him.
"Let's go back to the capital." He said to the rest of the girls. "You must be tired."
The girls nodded and left with him.
They were happy and relieved now that everything ended, but Claus could not share their happiness.
He knew that it was not the end.
Ysnay had mentioned a fifth plan to him, however, he had not found any trace of it yet.
That was bad. The longer he took to find about her plan, the greater the chances of Ysnay's plan succeeding.
'… I must not lower my guard.'
Just then, he felt someone tugging at his sleeve.
When he turned around, he saw Rose looking at him with a shy and nervous expression.
"… Claus, was I useful to you?"
Claus was startled before smiling gently.
"Yeah. You helped me a lot."
"I see… I'm glad."
Claus wanted to kiss her badly when he saw such a cute look. However, he decided not to when he thought about Ysnay.
It was still too early to celebrate.
Even now, Ysnay was surely scheming something to achieve her goal.
...
P4TRE0N: patr-eon.com/aidnovels