The Last Place Hero’s Return - Chapter 35

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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 35. Last Words (4)
I recall that day’s memory.
The day the sky turned crimson.
I remember the warmth growing cold as she lay cradled in my arms.
“Why…?”
The battle against the Demon God’s forces.
Recognizing our hopeless position in that overwhelmingly one-sided conflict, I told my comrades to flee and leave me behind.
It was hardly the grand, glorious sacrifice one might speak of with reverence.
After all, I was an immortal being who would simply resurrect even if I fell.
I judged it the right choice if my mere life could carry us through the crisis.
Of course, if I were captured by the Demon God’s forces, it would not end with simply losing my ‘life’—terrible torture and suffering would follow.
But what of it?
Pain does not bring death.
Suffering does not bring an end.
Even if my body were torn to shreds, consumed by flames, or scattered as dust.
I would not die.
And so.
I harbored no resentment at remaining alone to serve as bait.
Rather, I believed it to be an exceedingly wise and prudent choice.
Until Iris, whom I thought had fled, returned to save me.
“Why… why did you do that! Why did you come back!”
I wailed as I watched Iris, gasping for breath and bleeding.
Iris, whom I had assumed fled with the others, had returned without my knowledge and invoked a ‘miracle’ at the cost of her own life.
Not for anyone else, but to save my life.
Why, why, why, why, why.
Only questions flooded my mind.
She returned to save my life?
How could such an action possibly make sense?
To me, my life was no different from a pebble scattered along a riverbank.
Countless in number, forgotten when lost, disposable at any moment.
That was the value my life held.
And yet.
She would sacrifice her own life for just one such worthless pebble?
Why would she make such a meaningless, foolish choice?
“Ah, hehe.”
She gently caressed my tear-stained cheek as she struggled to speak.
“I’m… glad.”
“Glad? About what? What could possibly be glad about this?”
There was nothing—nothing at all—to be glad about.
She would lose her life to the aftereffects of invoking the miracle, humanity would lose the hope called the ‘Saint,’ and the Demon God’s forces would rampage all the more fiercely.
In exchange, all I gained was a single life.
Out of thousands, tens of thousands of deaths, only one life remained.
How could I possibly call that fortunate?
And yet.
Even so.
“It truly… is… fortunate.”
She spoke those words with a radiant smile.
As if untouched by regret or hesitation.
With such profound serenity.
She closed her eyes.
* * *
A space draped in violet curtains.
Within a barrier that muffled even the horrific screams and shrieks echoing throughout the Academy.
The Seven-Starred Saint with pale pink hair breathed heavily, her gaze fixed upon the man before her with barely restrained fury.
“…You bastard.”
Crude profanity that seemed impossible to come from a saint’s lips.
“My, my. Surely you wouldn’t speak to your professor that way, would you?”
The man with deep brown hair and a gentle countenance gazed at the panting saint and smiled softly.
“Shut up! What kind of professor are you?!”
“Haha. Please, refrain from such harsh language.”
Morpheus shrugged his shoulders, a bitter smirk playing at his lips.
“I’d rather not torment you further, after all.”
Snap.
As Morpheus flicked his fingers, violet light coiled around her body.
“Aaaaaahhhhh!”
A scream tore free.
Iris felt her entire body being crushed, and she collapsed to one knee.
“You’ve been quite noisy since earlier.”
Morpheus clicked his tongue and shook his head disapprovingly.
“Could you not learn from Camilla Bediche over there and remain silent?”
Following Morpheus’s gaze, Camilla Bediche, the Orphanage children, and Antonio Priest lay sprawled on the ground, their eyes glazed as if intoxicated by some drug.
“Ugh… ah.”
Iris glared at Morpheus fiercely, enduring the agony that constricted her entire body.
In that instant.
Iris’s eyes gazing at Morpheus shifted to a rainbow hue, and the violet light enveloping her body dispersed like smoke.
“Hah… hah!”
Freed from the light, Iris gasped for breath.
“Remarkable. To neutralize my magic simply by looking… truly, the power of the Seven Eyes grows more wondrous the more I witness it.”
A deep hunger gleamed in Morpheus’s eyes.
“You cannot possibly fathom the countless efforts I have expended to obtain those eyes.”
“So, this ‘effort’ of yours was to unleash demons at the Festival?”
“No. This incident was never part of my original plan. I’m not fond of barbaric methods.”
Morpheus sighed and shook his head slowly.
“But some nameless fool ruined my plans. I truly regret what’s happened to Iris, the Candidate.”
“…Regret?”
“Originally, I intended to take it from you slowly, without any pain—so slowly you wouldn’t even understand the cause.”
The meticulously prepared plan, refined over countless hours, crumbled in a single day due to the unexpected intruder’s appearance.
“In the end, I had no choice but to resort to a rather crude method to obtain the Seven Eyes.”
“Crude method…?”
“Physical extraction.”
Morpheus spoke words of unspeakable cruelty while maintaining his usual gentle smile.
Iris’s face drained of all color.
“W-what are you saying?”
“Hmm? Was it difficult to understand? I mean to extract your eyes, Iris. Look, I’ve even brought the tools.”
What Morpheus pulled from his pocket was a round metal object shaped like a spoon.
The metal instrument, resembling a tool for scooping ice cream from a container, had its tip honed to a razor-sharp edge.
“If I simply insert this and scoop upward, I can cleanly extract your eyes.”
“….”
“Compared to magical absorption, there’s a significant risk of losing some of the power within the Seven Eyes… but given the circumstances, it can’t be helped.”
Completely absorbing the power of the Seven Eyes was important, certainly.
But more important than that was erasing the Seven Eyes themselves from this world.
“The power you possess has become far too great an obstacle to our desires.”
“…Desires?”
“Haha. When you speak of a Demon Human’s desire, there is only one, is there not?”
The resurrection of the Demon God, sealed five hundred years ago by the Five Great Heroes.
“Once that seal is broken, those damned heroes and your abominable Seven Gods will all vanish from this world.”
Morpheus spread both arms wide, his expression flushed as if intoxicated by fervor.
“Do you understand now? Why I’ve gone to such lengths to obtain your eyes?”
“…You’re insane.”
Iris glared at Morpheus with fierce, burning eyes.
“Well, feel free to curse all you like. It won’t change anything anyway.”
Morpheus took measured steps forward, his gentle smile never wavering.
“S-stay back!”
“It would be better if you remained still. Any foolish resistance might result in…”
Snap.
Morpheus’s fingers flicked once more.
Violet magical energy spread wide, blanketing the bodies of the fallen children and Camilla like a shroud.
“The death of those precious to you, Iris the Candidate.”
“You bastard! If you lay a single finger on Camilla or those kids, I swear I won’t let you—”
“Haha. I was only joking. Please, don’t be so angry.”
Morpheus chuckled at something, his shoulders trembling with mirth.
“A joke…?”
“That business about how people you care about will die if you resist. Isn’t that the sort of dialogue a cheap villain would spout? The situation seemed convincing enough, so I thought I’d give it a try. Please, think nothing of it.”
“….”
“Even if you don’t resist, I’m going to kill everyone here anyway. Of course, that includes Iris from the Candidate Program.”
“What are you—”
“Isn’t it obvious?”
Morpheus smiled warmly, his eyes crinkling at the corners.
“Didn’t they teach you at the Academy? ‘Always exterminate Demon Humans without exception.’ If that’s the rule, then the reverse must hold true as well.”
If a hero’s enemy was a Demon Human, then a Demon Human’s enemy was a hero.
“Wait, just a moment! Then the children have nothing to do with this!”
“Hmm? Now that you mention it, you’re right. But then again, why should I bother myself with such tedious distinctions?”
Morpheus laughed softly and moved forward.
“Simply being unlucky enough to be in this place today—isn’t that reason enough to die?”
“….”
Iris bit her lip, her face drained of all color.
The Demon Human—a concept she had only ever learned about through books.
The vivid malice of a demon wearing human skin constricted her very breath.
“Ah… ugh.”
Tap, tap, tap.
Her body trembled violently as fear, like poison, seeped into her mind.
‘I’m terrified.’
Though she was called a saint and revered by countless people, behind that title was merely a twenty-year-old woman who hadn’t even graduated from the Academy.
“P-please… someone help me….”
Why was it?
Why did the face of a fellow Candidate from her year come to mind first, rather than the professor’s face?
“Haha. I understand your feelings, but no one will come to help you. What surrounds this place is, quite literally, a barrier forged from human lives.”
Morpheus gazed at the violet curtain enveloping them, his smile satisfied.
“Forged from human lives? Surely you don’t mean—”
“Hmm. About two hundred people, I’d say? Each and every one of them were subordinates I cherished… It’s a shame, really.”
Morpheus shrugged with casual indifference.
“You’re insane.”
“Compared to the value of eyes blessed by seven gods, such a sacrifice is nothing at all.”
To obtain eyes graced with the blessings of seven deities, I would have been willing to offer far more than this.
“Well then, shall we begin?”
Morpheus seized Iris’s jaw roughly.
“If you struggle unnecessarily, it will hurt more. Try to bear it, will you?”
As the tip of metal, honed sharp as a blade, drew near her eye—
Whoosh.
Like a drop of water disturbing a still lake, ripples spread across the violet curtain that enveloped them.
“Hm? Someone found the barrier, it seems?”
But what good would finding it do?
“The ‘Veil of Phantoms’ requires a full hour for even all the Magic Department professors combined to dispel….”
“An hour? Nonsense.”
Kwaaaang!
A white bolt of lightning pierced through the violet veil, striking down toward Morpheus.
“Tch!”
Morpheus swallowed a gasp and hastily widened the distance between us.
His hand, which had been gripping metal, hung half-severed, spurting blood.
“…What!”
Morpheus’s eyes widened in disbelief.
Where his gaze fell stood a Candidate with deep gray hair, positioned protectively before Iris.
“Found you at last, you bastard.”
Deep green eyes fixed upon him.
“So you were here?”
I advanced toward Morpheus—no, toward Ashtaroth—my lips twisting into a savage snarl.

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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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