The Last Place Hero’s Return - Chapter 288

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 288. Demon God Dale (5)
A rift materialized in the empty air.
Laughter echoed faintly from beyond.
“…Eternal Cult Leader.”
I ground my teeth as I spoke the name—or rather, the title—of the entity beyond the rift.
[Well, that’s what I’m called.]
“It’s not just what you’re called. It seems like you wanted to be called that.”
[Haha. Think of it however you like.]
“…So, what exactly is this situation?”
I narrowed my eyes, staring down at Mephistopheles’s corpse sprawled on the ground.
[Nothing serious. Just a minor dispute between us.]
“A minor dispute.”
The consequences seemed far from minor for something so trivial.
[Haha. You could say it’s reaping what one sows.]
“I heard you were the one who betrayed him first.”
[Betrayal… betrayal, you say? Well, I don’t recall betraying Mephistopheles, actually.]
His voice dripped with shameless audacity.
[What Mephistopheles wanted was the Demon God’s annihilation. I want the same thing. Since we both share the same goal, how could that be betrayal?]
“You told Amon how to descend into the Abyss—the one who supposedly wanted the Demon God’s annihilation?”
[Yes. To annihilate the Demon God, we first needed to ‘resurrect’ it.]
….
So that was why he told Amon how to descend into the Abyss.
So that Amon could absorb the flames of the Abyss and become the Demon God—
‘No.’
Tsk.
I clicked my tongue and shook my head.
Judging by that utterly composed voice, the Eternal Cult Leader’s true aim was never to make Amon into the Demon God.
“So you made me the Demon God instead?”
[Exactly. Amon would have lost control and gone berserk, but I believed you would be different.]
“What’s your basis for that?”
[Because you possess the ‘power to extinguish flames’ within you.]
….
He knew about the blessing of resurrection.
‘How?’
The fact that I possessed the blessing of resurrection was something no one knew except my Party members.
I had killed everyone who had ever witnessed me ‘come back to life.’
In fact, I had barely used the blessing of resurrection in combat recently.
But how.
How did the Eternal Cult Leader know that I possessed the blessing of resurrection?
‘None of my Party members have had contact with the Eternal Cult Leader.’
There was no way I could have obtained information from Demons who were already dead.
[Haha. Curious how I know that?]
A cackling laugh echoed in my ears.

[You are the seed I’ve been desperately, so desperately waiting to sprout for the past 500 years.]
“…That doesn’t explain anything at all.”
What kind of nonsense is that?
[Haha! You just need to know that such a thing exists.]
“….”
[Anyway. So the two of you managed to succeed in resurrecting the Demon God… but Mephistopheles was hoping for something different than me, you see?]
“What was he hoping for?”
[The world’s continuation.]
“…?”
[Mephistopheles wanted this world to remain peaceful and endure.]
“….”
Which meant.
In other words, the Eternal Cult Leader did not wish for this world’s continuation.
[Hahaha! Quite unlike a Demon, isn’t he?]
“…And you’re quite unlike a Hero.”
[Huh? You’re saying something similar to what Mephistopheles said.]
Cackle cackle cackle.
[Oh right, now that I think about it, do you know why Mephistopheles betrayed the Demons and sided with the Heroes?]
“…No.”
[Serpente, was it? There was a female Demon that Mephistopheles cherished. He wanted to turn her into a ‘human’.]
The Eternal Cult Leader continued, his voice tinged with bitter mockery.
[So he thought: if I kill the Demon God, the Demon God’s stigma will also disappear, and then I can turn the Demons into humans.]
“….”
[And in a world without the Demon God, he’d live a happy and peaceful life with his beloved!]
As a ‘human’, not a Demon.
[Don’t you find it amusing? These fools, who would have been long dead without the Demon God’s stigma, striving so desperately to become human again?]
“I don’t know if it’s amusing.”
But I can tell your sense of humor is completely warped.
[Well, anyway, I’ve already eliminated any variables that would interfere with our goal, so don’t worry.]
“Our goal?”
Ha.
A hollow laugh escaped me unbidden.
“Since when did you and I become an ‘us’ worthy of being lumped together?”
[Huh? What are you talking about?]
The Eternal Cult Leader asked in genuine confusion.
[Don’t we share the same purpose?]
“So what exactly is that supposed to mean…?”
[You too— you’re wishing for this world to end, aren’t you?]
“….”
Me? Wishing for this world to end?
“What nonsense are you spouting right now?”
I’ve never wished for this world to end—
[Hahahahahaha! Nonsense? You call it nonsense?]
The Eternal Cult Leader erupted into raucous laughter.
[No, think carefully. If you hadn’t wished for this world’s Destruction— there’s no way you could have absorbed the Primordial Flame, is there?]
“…What?”
[The Primordial Flame is the essence of the Demon God… in other words, ‘Destruction’ does not dwell in those who do not desire it.]
“….”
[Deep within your heart, you’re wishing for the end of this world. More than anyone else… perhaps even more desperately than I do.]
Me.
Wishing for the end of this world?
“Cut the bullshit….”
Then, a landscape surfaced in my mind.
An endless expanse of the Snowy Wasteland and a savage blizzard raging relentlessly.
White breath leaking between my lips and a cold so bitter it seemed to freeze the very soul.
The memories of that day, which I had shoved deep into the recesses of my mind’s closet and locked firmly away, came flooding back.
“Ugh…!”
Whoooosh!
The power of the Primordial Flame began to rampage wildly, and embers blazed up fiercely.
[How is it? Was I right?]
“…Shut up.”
Crunch.
I bit down on my lips and forcefully suppressed the rampaging Primordial Flame.
The embers that had been burning around my body gradually subsided.
[Hmm. Still in denial, I see?]
A mocking laugh echoing from beyond the rift.
[Well, I suppose there’s nothing to be done about that.]
Along with a snickering laugh.
[I’ll help you come to desire the end of this world.]
Crack, crack-crack.
The rift that had formed in empty space gradually narrowed.
After the rift completely vanished, silence descended upon the vast Training Ground.
“Haa, haa!”
Gasping for breath, I collapsed where I stood.
“…Damn it.”
Demon God, Eternal Cult Leader, Mephistopheles, the end of the world.
Countless thoughts tangled together in my mind like a knotted thread.
I slowly turned my head and examined Mephistopheles’s corpse sprawled on the ground.
Pure white flowers blooming through his skin.
Unlike his gruesome death, coughing blood, the flowers nourished by his flesh were breathtakingly beautiful.
“….”
Gazing at those flowers, I thought of the Eternal Cult Leader.
‘He possesses a blessing similar to mine.’
It wouldn’t be exactly identical to my blessing of resurrection.
After all, blessings inherently possess uniqueness.
‘But there are several blessings with similar effects.’
For instance, consider the “blessing of thunder” and the “blessing of lightning.”
Even if they aren’t completely identical blessings, their effects would appear similar on the surface.
In other words.
If the Eternal Cult Leader also possesses a blessing like mine—one where he ‘cannot die even if he wishes to’—
“….”
Though I hate to admit it.
I found myself understanding, deep down, why he desires the destruction of this world.
Just as he said, I was the one who yearned for death more desperately than anyone else in the past.
But.
‘Now… it’s different.’
My life, once spent chasing only death, has found a purpose to live for.
There are stories I don’t want to end.
And so.
“I will… stop you.”
I quietly steeled my resolve, gazing at the place where the rift had vanished.
* * *
A victory celebration.
A festival erupted throughout the Academy to commemorate humanity’s great triumph over the Demons.
“Wahaha! At last, humanity is liberated from the threat of the Demons!”
“Kyaha! So all the Masters gathered this time?”
“Grr! I wanted to see that sight with my own eyes!”
“The one who fled through the warp gate first—what’s his excuse?”
“That, well….”
The Candidates gathered in the School Central Plaza, noisily discussing the war.
“Everyone’s quite excited, aren’t they?”
Iris smiled faintly, glancing around at the bustling crowd.
“Well, it’s the greatest victory since the Great Five Heroes sealed away the Demon God five hundred years ago.”
“Hmm… but why has Dale been wearing such a dark expression since earlier?”
Yuren tilted his head curiously, leaning his face close to mine.
“…It’s nothing.”
“It’s nothing much.”
Yuren squinted and carefully caressed my cheek.
“…Is it because of the Eternal Cult Leader?”
“….”
When his words struck a nerve, my shoulders flinched.
“Oh my, look over there!”
“Y-Yuren is rumored to be close with that lowest-ranked candidate, but….”
“Kyaaah!”
Female candidates passing by shrieked upon seeing Yuren caressing my cheek.
“C-cough.”
Yuren hastily withdrew his hand.
“Well… anyway, today’s a victory celebration, so lighten up that expression.”
“Alright.”
I chuckled and nodded.
“Brother! What are you doing here?! They’re about to show the victory commemoration video, so come quickly!”
“A victory commemoration video?”
“Hehe! It’s a video introducing the heroes who made great contributions in this war!”
Berald’s eyes gleamed brilliantly as he clenched his fists with determination.
“Since you defeated the Archbishop of Destruction, who could be called the leader of the Demons, surely there will be a video about you too, right?!”
“Will there be, you ask.”
My battle with the Archbishop of Destruction had taken place deep within the Abyss, so there would be no footage whatsoever.
‘And if they announced that the person who killed the Archbishop of Destruction was the lowest-ranked candidate from the Hero Academy, most people would think the victory itself was fabricated.’
Most likely, Camelia—who had descended into the Abyss using the Seven-Colored Stone—would be credited as the hero who defeated Amon.
“Hmm. Still, surely something about you will appear, right? You were instrumental in leading this war to victory….”
“Well… I might appear as one of the candidates who fought bravely without fleeing.”
Having been unconscious for the past two weeks, I had no idea how the victory commemoration video had been prepared.
After exchanging trivial gossip with Berald, I took a seat with my party members at one corner of the Plaza.
“Ah, it’s starting, Dale.”
A massive hologram materialized above the Plaza as a tedious video about this war began to play.
[Five hundred years ago, our ancestors, the Great Five Heroes, engaged in a fierce battle with the Demon God and….]
“Good grief.”
They’re starting from five hundred years of history?
‘This will go on for at least thirty minutes or more.’
Shaking my head in resignation, I began gulping down the cold beer sitting on the table.
Bzzzzt! Bzzzzzzt!
The screen distorted along with the noise.
“What?”
“Is the broadcast broken?”
“Since we’re here, why don’t we just play something else?”
As the murmuring of candidates watching the video grew louder.
[Could it be… that you’re the true master of Destruction that you spoke of…?]
[Yes.]
The image shifted.
[Now…]
To something I had never anticipated.
[You are the Demon God.]
Within the flowing image, my face and Amon’s were reflected.
“…What the hell.”
Why is that image appearing here right now?

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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