“Haa… damn it.”
Cassian sat alone in the quiet rear garden of the temple, sighing deeply.
He was hiding himself, in case Ruel might come looking for him.
‘That’s just a fake wearing her skin.’
After hearing from Tezette that Ruel was a fake, he no longer wanted to see her face.
Yes, part of him resented the fake who dared toy with Ruel’s body. But more than that—
‘I spent ten years with her, and I couldn’t even see through it. I let myself be swayed.’
Every time he looked at her face, shame gnawed at him. He hadn’t realized she was fake, and it made him want to turn away.
But there was another reason his heart was troubled.
‘Elsez… is the Demon God.’
Even as confusion twisted inside him, worry for her kept surfacing.
Yes, he knew Elsez had the Demon God’s power. He had seen it with his own eyes, felt it with his own body.
‘But can I really call her evil for that alone?’
She carried the power of the Demon God who had killed Ruel.
Cassian knew this clearly, and yet—his own desire to believe in her made him falter.
‘What the hell am I supposed to do in this situation…’
He rubbed his face with both hands and sighed again. Just then, he sensed someone approaching.
Turning, he saw a priest he’d glimpsed in passing a few times.
“C-Cassian, sir. You need to come quickly.”
“Why? What’s going on?”
“Lady Elsez… no, the Demon God has appeared.”
“…What?”
Cassian shot to his feet at the news.
He rushed to the temple entrance, as the priest had said. There he found Dike, her holy knights, and the heroes who had been staying at the temple—all gathered.
And where their gazes were fixed—
“Hello. I came to surrender.”
Elsez stood there, wearing a calm smile while everyone else bristled with tension.
Ruel’s eyes were icy as she addressed her. “For someone who came to surrender, you made quite a scene. Even breaking through the anti-magic barrier.”
“I only meant to disable the gate’s scanner, but… I couldn’t quite control my strength.”
Even at Ruel’s voice, thick with hostility, Elsez answered glibly, raising both hands.
It was a gesture of surrender. “I don’t intend to fight any of you.”
“And how do we know that’s true?”
“This power—I didn’t choose to have it. It was forced on me.”
“……”
“But more than anyone, I want peace and coexistence for this world. No matter what power I bear.”
Elsez looked around at the wary, distrustful eyes on her and went on.
“Think about it. What if one day, you woke up with the Demon God’s power? Would you abandon your duty as a hero and set out to conquer the world?”
A few of the heroes fell silent, considering her words.
“If someone would do that, then they never had the qualities of a hero to begin with.”
“……”
“I chose the path of a hero to use this power in the right way.”
“……”
“So am I really a villain? Just because I have a power different from yours?”
At her question, murmurs rose among the heroes.
Some of them, after hearing her words, began to show hints of understanding, even sympathy.
It wasn’t just her words—it was her actions.
She was a woman with the Demon God’s power. And yet she had walked into the temple—her enemies’ stronghold—on her own feet.
Not to fight, but to try persuading them with words.
That made her claim about wanting peace seem more believable.
‘They’re starting to side with her…’
Ruel bit her lip as she noticed some heroes sympathizing with Elsez.
Even if it was just a few, division of opinion was dangerous for Dike and Ruel.
So Ruel stepped in before momentum could shift further.
“I was already killed once by the Demon God. The gods sent me back to prepare for this fight. Do you think the gods would return me for nothing?”
The common people didn’t know Ruel had been resurrected—the hero appointment ceremony had been cut short. But the heroes knew.
At the word “gods,” absolute and unquestionable, the heroes nodded.
Elsez let out a laugh at Ruel’s posturing.
‘She’s telling my story like she lived it herself.’
It hadn’t been the fake standing there who died in the final battle with the Demon God. It had been her—the real Ruel.
To see the fake flaunt that story so shamelessly—it was almost funny.
Ruel pressed on, using her momentum. “Step back. Any closer, and we will treat it as an attack.”
The heroes and holy knights who sided with her drew their hands to their hilts.
Elsez’s expression tightened.
And then—
“Stop!”
Everyone’s hostility was interrupted by Cassian, who stepped in front of Elsez as if shielding her.
“She hasn’t done anything yet. She hasn’t hurt anyone, or destroyed anything.”
At his intervention, the heroes and knights faltered.
“You can’t attack her just because she has the Demon God’s power. That alone isn’t enough.”
Elsez stared in stunned silence at Cassian’s back.
‘Cassian doesn’t even know yet that I’m the real Ruel…’
And still, he shielded her.
Even knowing that it would brand him as siding with the Demon God, he stood there.
From Dike’s side, the captain of the holy knights stepped forward.
“Stand aside, Sir Cassian. The Demon God is a mortal enemy threatening this world and the saintess’s safety. We must strike before it reveals its true intent.”
“And if I refuse?”
“Then we’ll have to regard you as one of the Demon God’s minions, like Rashiel Celeste.”
Cassian gave him a cold smile. “How amusing. The so-called champions of justice would drag down someone over a mere ‘possibility,’ not even certainty, all while claiming it’s for the good of the world.”
The captain’s brow furrowed, and he gave the order to his knights.
“All units—ready to attack.”
At the knight captain’s order, the holy knights raised their blades and closed in, encircling Cassian and Elsez.
Cassian showed no sign of backing down. He pulled a sword from his inventory, its steel catching the light.
A sharp tension spread between the two sides. The air itself seemed to tremble.
Elsez caught Cassian’s arm. “Cassian, I’m fine, so—”
But the knight captain gave her no chance to finish. He lunged straight at them.
Watching from the sidelines, a faint smile tugged at Dike’s lips.
If Elsez defended Cassian against the knights, it would only cement her as the Demon God in the eyes of everyone present.
But the scene took a turn she hadn’t predicted.
Just before Cassian’s and the captain’s swords could clash—
Another blade cut in, knocking the captain’s weapon aside.
Klang!
Steel screeched against steel, and the captain’s sword went flying.
The one who had intervened was—
“Stand down.”
—Tezette.
With his blade leveled at the knight captain’s throat, he pushed Cassian and Elsez behind him.
Dike’s expression twisted.
Two heroes had stepped forward, not to strike the Demon God, but to defend her. The knights faltered. Even the heroes wavered.
“Are you two truly protecting the Demon God? You’re heroes!”
“Never wanted that title anyway.”
Without the slightest hesitation, Tezette cast off the mantle of hero.
Looking at the ones condemning Elsez, he understood at last. Ever since meeting Ruel, the reason he had hungered for strength—
I just wanted to protect you. So that the one who always threw herself into danger would no longer be hurt. So that she could keep smiling, always.
His lips pressed into a hard line as his eyes locked on Dike.
“That deal you offered me earlier—forget it.”
Everyone’s attention snapped to her.
“Because whether she’s the Demon God or not… it doesn’t matter to me.”
If prejudice demanded her destruction, he would cut it down. If prejudice blinded others, he would tear it away. The world didn’t get to decide who she was.
“Did… did he just call the Demon God ‘Ruel’?”
“Wait—so the real Ruel was her?”
The heroes murmured, confusion rippling through their ranks.
And then—
BOOM!
The ground shook violently as an explosion thundered nearby.
“Wh-what was that?!”
As panic spread, Dike turned sharply toward the direction of the blast. Her face darkened.
The office…?
Beneath it was where the monsters and beasts were held captive. And also—
Astaire.
Her heart lurched. Only now did she grasp Elsez’s “true purpose.”
She spun toward the girl.
And as if to seal her dread, two magic circles flared to life at Elsez’s side.
From their radiant glow stepped Rashiel—and Astaire, pale and weakened.
The four heroes who had defeated the Demon God three years ago now stood together once more.
But this time, they were gathered around Elsez—defending her.
Dike’s eyes quivered.
So appearing before the temple was just a distraction—to buy time to free Astaire.
But there had been no clues to his location.
How did she know?
Elsez met her gaze with a calm, confident smile.
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