Hero's Coffin Chapter 51

Chapter 51

Surprised by Mela's smile, which he was seeing for the first time, he didn't have a chance to ask about the meaning of her words. Whoosh! Spreading her dark red wings, Mela soared high into the sky.

Swish! Mela shot towards the tri-horned Dium at a speed much faster than when she was human. Pushing away the nightmare rain with her wing beats, she advanced and slashed her rapier diagonally upwards. A fierce sound erupted, loud enough to shatter the canyon.

The Dium's arm was cut by the completely unexpected surprise attack.

[You...]

"M-Mela! That state is...!"

"...Mela."

The knights who had been blocking the rain, arrows, and Dium below immediately noticed the anomaly. Kalterik was shocked, and Harenir looked up at her with a somber expression.

In the deep night, now darkened with even the moon obscured by dark red fog, Mela's silver hair swayed coolly. The Dium stared intently at her wings, red eyes, and finally her distorted horns, then nodded.

[Ah, I've heard about experimental subjects like you. Experiments conducted in the past with the purpose of opposing us. Kidnapping orphans and injecting them with demonic energy...]

Though the purpose was grand, in reality, it was a horrific experiment perpetrated by black magicians and necromancers who were fascinated by the power forbidden by the Holy Empire. The Dium looked Mela over with interested eyes.

[I heard that those who became half-human, half-demon through such experiments usually don't last even a few months before dying, but you've managed to survive until now.]

[You seem too interested in information about the human world.]

The Dium chuckled at Mela's dry response.

[Kuhaha, isn't it interesting? Humans call us a 'calamity', but the beings that bring the greatest calamity to the human world are themselves. It's quite amusing.]

[...]

[They commit terrible acts against their own kind without hesitation, yet someone else sacrifices themselves to protect everyone for the reason that they're the same species. Such a contradictory race...]

The Dium's attitude as it spoke at length was somehow friendly. At first, he thought it might be an illusion, but the Dium's arm actually smoothly returned from its bow shape to its original form. It was an implicit expression of having no intention to attack.

Though its large body and alien appearance still evoked intimidation, the action of extending one hand to Mela was clearly affectionate.

[You're a victim who was captured by humans and experimented on, yet you must have been persecuted by humans. Don't they consider that there's something impure in your heart that accepted demonic energy? I understand your sorrow. So why not join our cause instead?]

[...Nonsense.]

[Humans are currently in the position of predators in this land. But just because of that, they aren't given the right to act arrogantly as if they're the only standard in the world, yet didn't they label you as unrighteous and point fingers at you? So take my hand. Let's deal with those foolish holy knights together and move towards a true cause.]

Despite the Dium's whispers, Mela's expression remained cold. In fact, he, listening from below, was rather tempted and almost agreed that 'this is convincing enough', but Mela didn't even glance at the Dium's hand.

She just stared intently at the Dium's pitch-black horns, then slowly raised her sword and recited,

[Evil always approaches wearing a kind mask.]

[...What?]

[It will read your heart and approach wearing the appearance you most desire. Do not waver. The world was originally a dangerous place stained with darkness, and yet it's a space where life sprouted, imbued with Solnium's will to illuminate it. Your journey that seems only arduous is the path walking with Solnium...]

The sight of Mela calmly reciting verses from the sacred text with her eyes lowered was quite strange. Was it foolish for a being with a demon's appearance to follow God's will, or had she truly taken on the appearance of a believer by doing so?

Finally, Mela looked straight up at the sky. Her red eyes, looking up at the place where murky fog faintly covered the moon, held a strange light.

[At that end, light shall shine.]

Whoosh, golden holy power imbued Mela's sword. Though smaller in range than when she was human, the light that bloomed through contradiction shone even more dazzlingly. The moment the Dium let out an incredulous laugh at witnessing such a clear rejection, Mela charged.

Boom, boom! Bang! Thunderous sounds repeatedly struck the space noisily. The Dium faced Mela while freely changing the shape of its arms. Though the two-horned Dium could also elongate its fingers, the tri-horned one was much more skillful.

Its thick arms changed into a shield shape to block sword strikes, then transformed into a sharp spear to stab at the opponent, and even changed into a huge mace to swing around.

Despite the opponent's weapon changing in an instant, Mela responded calmly. As if focusing on the flow of air around her rather than visual cues, she calmly defended one by one and occasionally used her wings to appear in completely unexpected places to exploit openings.

Gradually, more wounds appeared on the Dium's body. Rather, the Dium began to retreat more frequently, and even had its shoulder and palm pierced in succession. It was almost like an attack returning the wounds Harenir had received earlier.

Noticing this, the Dium clutched its profusely bleeding shoulder and trembled.

[Why so foolishly...!]

[Your proposal was wrong from the start.]

Once again, Mela cut off the Dium's words in a cold voice. With icy eyes as if its proposal wasn't even worth reconsidering.

[From the moment you called those holy knights foolish, it was revealed that your eyes were misguided.]

[...]

[And 'he' is the noblest being in this world. Such a person extended his hand to me... There's no way I would take the hand of the likes of you.]

The action of looking the Dium up and down was close to mockery. Enraged by this, the Dium gathered dark red demonic energy. It was the nightmare energy that had caught Mela's ankle earlier, so it intended to use that power again.

But it was stopped by a single sword strike from Mela. Swish! She completely cut off the flow of energy gathering like a whirlpool. The current Mela could detect demonic energy better than anyone.

And...

[W-what is this!]

Instead, the Dium's ankle was caught by demonic energy rising from the ground. It wasn't only the Dium that could use demonic energy here. The Dium stomped its feet frantically. Saying it wouldn't be caught by such a thing, it now began to emit black energy.

The Dium's innate power quickly tore apart Mela's shackles. But before the Dium could regroup for another offensive, Mela rushed in. The fastest knight he had ever seen.

Even in the thick black fog that had spread, her silver hair remained uncovered. Bang! The Dium reflexively swung its arm wide to block Mela's charge, but just before that, she leaped high into the sky. Lightly jumping up, she soared several dozen meters.

Gracefully rotating in mid-air, cutting through the fog in the sky.

[He is not foolish.]

Finally finding the bright moonlight in the dark night.

[So, I too, whom he chose, must not be foolish.]

Swish! Mela, bathed in brilliant light, plunged down towards the Dium. The entire canyon collapsed and boom! The earth shook. It was enough to shake the ground even under his feet far away. Though staggering, he kept his gaze fixed.

As the dusty smoke that had spread thickly settled... He could finally see Mela who had plunged her sword into the Dium's abdomen. They had somehow come down to the bottom of the canyon. The battered Dium was motionless, and only after confirming its death did Mela slowly raise her head.

Just then, they had also completely wiped out the horde of Dium below.

[...Commander.]

Mela immediately found Harenir among the countless Dium corpses and looked at him cautiously. He was also quietly looking at her.

[You told me not to demonize, but I disobeyed your order. I'm sorry.]

"...I asked that because I didn't want you to recall terrible memories. It wasn't an order. And the longer you stay in that state, the more your soul will be contaminated..."

Mela smiled faintly at Harenir's kind concern as he shook his head. It was a smile born of relief, as if this was the only thing she had been concerned about all along, even though she had become quite battered from fighting the tri-horned Dium.

[I'm fine.]

It was a highly ambiguous expression. Did it mean she was fine because her soul wasn't very contaminated, or that she was fine because she had prepared a way to resolve it even if she became a demon? If it was the latter, it was sad that it would make him very not fine.