The ground shook with the thud of the Giant God’s footfall.
Destel’s dodging that strike was nearly a stroke of luck. Rising awkwardly after rolling on the ground, Destel hurriedly gasped for breath.
“Hah, huff…”
A dented ground. A massive foot.
Looking up, there stood a Giant God, towering as if to touch the sky. The Giant God gazed down at Destel, his eyes devoid of heat.
A gaze chilling to the bone.
Eyes looking down on someone less than a bug.
However, the moment the Giant’s gaze turned to Chloe, standing behind Destel, fierce flames flickered in his eyes. The Giant God let out a roar and lifted his foot once more, targeting Chloe instead of Destel.
Rumble!
The ground shook.
Unlike Destel, who lost balance and fell, Belnoa managed to leap while spitting blood, carrying Chloe on his back. He escaped the Giant’s footfall.
“…”
Sitting on the ground, Destel watched the scene unfold.
With bloodshot eyes, Belnoa leapt repeatedly, and Chloe, clinging to him, incanted her spell. Meanwhile… countless gods and titanic figures aimed their attacks at them.
The gods’ kicks, punches, and flails.
Roots shot up from the ground, and striking branches swung.
They relentlessly targeted only the two. As if Destel didn’t exist in that place.
‘…Ah.’
Just for a moment.
Even if it was only for an instant, Destel found solace in that fact. He felt relieved that he wasn’t the one being targeted, that they had no interest in him. The moment he realized this, Destel bit down on his lips.
Overwhelming disgust rushed in.
Amidst terrible self-loathing, Destel grit his teeth.
Placing a hand on the ground, he stood up and tightly grasped his emblem. Hoping desperately for any sort of power to aid him. Yet, the emblem remained unresponsive to the cowardly Destel, who was not the Hero.
“Why, why, why…!”
A coward who couldn’t do anything without borrowing the power of others. Destel’s face contorted. Unable to stand, he lifted his gaze.
“…”
There was Belnoa, jumping over the Giant’s arm. Belnoa, barely avoiding attacks, and Chloe, who clung to him chanting spells. For a fleeting moment, their eyes met.
In terms of time, it was only a second or two.
Destel wasted those two seconds frozen in fear.
Chloe spent her two seconds making a judgment.
For a coward, two seconds were but a fleeting moment, but for a Hero, two seconds proved to be ample time for decision-making… Chloe’s mouth opened.
“We’ll buy some time.”
“Destel, call for support.”
A voice echoed in Destel’s ears.
Then, Belnoa and Chloe disappeared from Destel’s view. The sounds of boom and crash echoed successively. Amidst the roaring noise, Destel mulled over the voice ringing in his ears.
…Call for support?
Destel’s gaze slowly turned backward.
There was nothing behind him, and still, the Giant and the titans showed no concern for Destel.
‘…If I circled around there.’
Could he call for reinforcements?
If he went a round through the Duke’s domain and asked Raniel on the other side, or the superhumans coming in from different directions, could he manage to escape from this situation?
…Anything is better than trembling like this.
Without able to make a proper judgment, Destel slowly got up. His body that had been stiffened with fear moved easily as he took steps back.
Tap.
Having turned his back to the battlefield, Destel took his first step. He turned back to the battlefield, moving forward to request reinforcements. Tap, that was the second tap, and the third step tap was taken.
“…”
Destel came to a halt.
He halted and turned back. There, narrowly avoiding the Giant and titan’s attacks, was Belnoa. He saw Chloe weaving spells in the air.
‘…They said they’d buy time.’
…Belnoa’s evasions are clumsy.
The enemies relentlessly pushed Belnoa, not giving him a moment to recover or catch his breath. Belnoa’s body was covered in cuts, and sometimes he even spat blood.
‘You said you’d buy time…’
Chloe’s attacks were no different.
The spells cast without proper preparation barely scratched the gods. They merely swerved the trajectory of the roots that lunged at them.
…Please call for reinforcements while we buy time.
Destel understood the true meaning behind Chloe’s words. He had heard such words mindlessly repeated countless times on the battlefield. A myriad of voices echoed in Destel’s ears.
“This is our responsibility.”
“Step back for the next…”
“Go ahead, Destel. I believe you will return with reinforcements. We shall bear our honorable…”
“Retreat…”
“We will buy time…”
All those who spoke such lines were now dead.
Those who uttered those words undoubtedly anticipated their deaths at that moment. Their eyes reflected resignation or determination, confident they wouldn’t survive.
…But he always looked away.
…He always fled while looking away.
Destel wasn’t oblivious to the meaning behind those words. He wasn’t a coward, but neither was he a fool.
‘We will sacrifice ourselves here, so you can survive. Survive and drink our blood to move on.’
Countless people had said that to Destel.
They said it while bleeding, and they died.
And now, at this moment, his juniors were saying the same. Destel’s last bastion crumbled. His vow not to taste his juniors’ blood shattered.
What remained in that crumbled place was a pitiful human.
A coward who had run and run.
A sneer formed on the coward’s lips. The coward ridiculed himself. Swallowing the blood of those who shone so brightly, the coward who survived through their deaths despised himself. He loathed how wretched he was.
It had been the same that day.
It was the same on that day he became cowardly.
When he couldn’t decide for himself, when he spent seconds dithering about while hesitating, she had made a choice. She spoke to him.
“Run, Destel.”
“This is our responsibility.”
First Knights Order Leader Yorne.
That radiant human smiled as she said so. Even as she prepared for death, she laughed to reassure herself.
“We’ll buy time.”
“Destel, please call for reinforcements.”
Even now, it was the same.
His junior, a child younger than him, was telling him to run. She smiled bitterly and said it. As if it were truly okay to do so.
‘They always made choices.’
He had always fled without making a choice.
‘Should I run again this time?’
The coward questioned himself.
Should he do so yet again?
Should he avoid making a decision and just survive? Should he yet again just survive, cowardly surviving until being pointed at? Does he truly want to live like that?
“…Ha.”
Destel let out a hollow laugh.
Twist.
Yeah, damn it, I do want to.
I want to live like that. I want to live. Even if I am mocked and pointed at, I want to live. I can’t stand the fear of dying because when I’m dead, it’s all over. I am, I am, from the beginning…
Tap.
I never wanted to be a Hero.
Tap.
My dream was to be an actor. An actor who performs in front of many people on stage. Sometimes a jester, sometimes a prince, sometimes a merchant, sometimes, sometimes, sometimes…
“Damn it, ah… really. Really…!”
I just wanted to live while acting like that.
What even is a Hero? Is risking your life that easy? Why, why do they die for me? Why do they bleed to save me? Why do they leave such a heavy burden on me?
Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap.
I don’t know. Not at all.
I don’t know, but I wanted to survive somehow, just to survive, and someday achieve my dream…
“AAAHHHHH!”
Why am I running?
“Ahaha, hahahahaha!”
Destel laughed. He laughed like a madman. Laughing while running forward instead of looking back. He ran toward the Giant Gods, grasping his emblem tightly on his shoulder.
“Mimic, Cutting Berzer.”
The Holy Sword appeared in his hand.
Gripping the Holy Sword, the coward lunged at the gods. He swung his sword at the gods who weren’t looking at him. In a moment as blood spattered, the gods finally saw Destel.
Look at me, yes. Look at me.
Destel grinned. Laughing, he let go of the Holy Sword.
The heat still didn’t come from the gods’ eyes. They merely waved their hands, brushing away the bothersome bug with ease.
“Mimic, Immortal Triton.”
Destel slammed his great shield down.
But the moment he collided with the god’s fist, Destel’s body flew into the air. A mouthful of blood erupted from Destel’s lips. Destel rolled on the ground, becoming a muddy mess.
“Ha, haah, haha…”
Chuckling, spitting out blood mixed with saliva.
Destel slowly rose. Clutching trembling knees with one hand, the coward continued his monologue.
Tasting the blood of his juniors.
Running away and away, once again being cowardly alive.
Could it truly be that he would survive like this, it was too disgusting. Wouldn’t he hate himself for remembering all those who bled for him? Just how far does he plan to fall?
“Haah…”
Destel let out a long breath.
In an awkward posture, neither standing nor sitting, he raised his hand. Bowing his head, he lifted his hand in front of his forehead.
Light Illustration
He clenched his raised hand tightly.
Still a coward, but trembling, Destel chose to move forward. He took a step ahead. What he needed was not courage, generosity, or resolution.
‘Those are not things one can borrow.’
What he needed to borrow now was the power to create a miracle.
“Mimic… no, I request it.”
At this moment, Destel wasn’t acting.
“Just once, lend me your power.”
Not acting at all.
As a coward, choosing to move forward without borrowing anyone’s strength. Wanting to become a hero. Not turning away from the coward he has been up until now…
Thus, finally.
“Galahal.”
The constellation of someone that had never responded until now, engraved on his emblem, began to shine. It was a constellation that once dimmed long ago. But it shone more brilliantly than anything else. That constellation responded to Destel’s call.
“The most Heroic Hero, Galahal.”
Destel’s emblem fluttered.
Light seeped from his clenched hand. Along with the torrent of emerging light, Destel opened the eyes he had been tightly closed.
Light Illustration
What he held was the weapon that belonged to that being.
The symbol that being had never let go of until the end.
Clutching the Holy Spear, Destel stood. Of his own will. Bearing the weight of fear, Destel rose.
Light Illustration
Starlight flooded.
2.
Starlight flooded.
The forgotten gods turned their heads toward the torrent of starlight. They could not avert their gaze from this shining human, even at this moment.
The gods’ instincts rang out like an alarm.
With their eyes glimmering, the forgotten god hurled a fist toward the shining human. He stomped down, intending to squash him. To block that light.
But it couldn’t be hidden.
Swoosh!
A beam of light pierced through the gods’ arms, torso, and legs, embedding itself somewhere. The light struck beside Belnoa, who had been cornered. It was right before Chloe’s eyes.
“…Huh?”
Chloe’s eyes widened in shock.
What lodged before her was the brilliantly shining spear. The Holy Spear gleamed with starlight.
Flash!
Amidst the rising dust, a Hero stood beside the Holy Spear.
As the dust settled, revealing him, he turned back.
“Reinforcements.”
Destel awkwardly smiled.
“I brought them. Somehow.”
Gripping the Holy Spear, he looked around.
Surrounding him were numerous gods. Before him writhed an ancient calamity. Still afraid, Destel pulled out the Holy Spear.
“An unworthy, weak human quaking in fear yet fulfilling his responsibility.”
He recalled those words from someone who had once sacrificed themselves for him. Remembering the blood they shed for him. Remembering the choices they made for him.
“Isn’t it a glorious story? At least I think so.”
Destel spoke.
This time, he made his decision by his will.
“Let’s go.”
Destel pointed the Holy Spear forward.
“Beyond there.”
This time, he would not back down.
This time, he would become the Hero they wished for.
‘Once at least.’
He would become a Hero, not a coward.
He would achieve something worthy enough to consider this power not a curse, but a blessing. Reflecting on this, Destel looked beyond what lay ahead.
There stood the Gletus.