The Heroes Who Executed Me Are Obsessed With Me

“Are you truly going to continue?”

The far eastern border of Hanumayer.

They had already long since crossed into the Demon Territory.

“You still need to recover more. Please, think again…”

The knights pleaded.

On their way here, they had encountered all kinds of demons. Fortunately, none of them had been particularly strong.

That was because someone had already decimated them all.

Sensing that a Calamity was nearby, the knights had no choice but to give their lord an earnest warning.

Yet, Selvaro, Emperor of Hanumayer, didn’t reply right away. He turned to look beside him.

“I trust you know what we’re heading into. Will you still go?”

“Yes.”

They were already inside the Demon Territory. And perhaps this was the only time they would be able to enter without heavy resistance.

“I’m going.”

Tia spoke firmly to Selvaro.

“It may be impossible later.”

With Selimia wreaking havoc across the Demon Territory, the attention of the demons was focused elsewhere.

If they didn’t take advantage of this moment, they might lose their chance.

“Very well.”

Selvaro asked nothing more.

With a motion of his hand, the knights stopped trying to persuade him.

They simply continued marching in silence.

And after a long trek, what they finally encountered was—

“What the hell…”

“What is this…”

“What happened here…”

A field of corpses—so gruesome it could only be described as a massacre of demons.

Crack…!

Their eyes quickly turned skyward.

There, slicing through the skies, was Freezing—spewing ice breath as it soared.

“Freezing?!”

“But His Majesty killed that thing!”

Selvaro held his breath.

He already had a sense of how that creature had reappeared.

“…Selimia.”

Tia heard the name murmured from his lips, then began walking forward on her own.

“Leave a few and send the rest ahead to assist. I’ll be right behind.”

Still weakened and sluggish, Selvaro swiftly gave the order.

Though confused, the knights obeyed and followed Tia.

Tia’s eyes narrowed as she fixed her gaze on the approaching Freezing.

A husk.

It had no life force—just a summoned shell.

Its appearance was threatening, but its true destructive power might not be all that impressive.

“It’s too dangerous!”

The knights of Hanumayer hurried to catch up with Tia.

“We don’t even know the situation yet! Let us scout first!”

“If you’ll wait a moment, we’ll find out what’s going on!”

But Tia did not stop.

“If I intended to wait, I would’ve brought my own soldiers.”

She had come to Hanumayer alone. Even for this expedition, she hadn’t summoned any troops from Ezer.

She had moved in secret, relying solely on the assistance of Hanumayer—a nation whose presence in the northern Demon Territory would arouse no suspicion.

It was unprecedented.

For a ruler of a nation to undertake something so reckless—

The knights of Hanumayer couldn’t understand.

“You can’t! If you go like this—!”

KRAAAAAAH!

Freezing suddenly dived and unleashed a breath of frost before her.

“!”

Tia flinched and scowled, watching it ascend back into the sky.

It was clearly trying to keep anyone from advancing—like it was hiding something just beyond.

“It’s coming again!”

As Freezing swooped in once more, the knights spurred their horses forward.

Blades cleaved through the air, sending slashes flying toward Freezing.

Clang!

But its body, now reinforced with even harder ice, could not be cut.

“D-dodge!”

“Gyaah!”

Some knights were snatched by Freezing’s claws and tossed into the air, only to crash down again.

KRAAAAAH!

Another blast of breath knocked others from their horses.

“S-someone… help…”

One by one, the knights began to freeze where they stood.

They struggled, but that was all. Their bodies slowly turned to solid ice, mouths wide in silent screams.

And just as Freezing swooped down, ready to finish them—

“Fiate Lux.”

FLASH!

A lance of light descended from the sky, piercing Freezing straight through.

KRAAAH!

It let out a shriek as its wings were blasted back and it plummeted.

KREEEE! KRAAAAAH!

As it tried to rise again, an even stronger light struck.

With heat blazing through the beam, Freezing began to melt—shuddering and dripping apart.

The soldiers could only stare, wide-eyed.

“Wh-what is that…?”

“What just happened…”

“No way… is that…?”

Their gazes shifted.

Standing there was Tia de Mezelef—bathed in golden light from head to toe.

“Dissolve—”

As she spoke again, the light split into multiple rays, slicing through Freezing’s limbs.

—KRRRCH!

Even its shrieking mouth froze in place.

Freezing’s body, now severed by light, melted into fragmented pieces.

“No way…”

“What is she…”

“Is she… is she a saint…?”

One of the forgotten titles of legend slipped from the knights’ lips.

“Saintess…”

A Saint—one of the central figures said to stand beside the Hero in saving the world.

They had only appeared a handful of times throughout history, and no one even knew how they manifested.

And yet, such a being had now appeared—incarnated in the form of Tia de Mezelef, Empress of Ezer.

“Saintess?”

Selvaro, who arrived late and saw the scene, also murmured in disbelief.

It had been beyond anything he could have anticipated.

“So… that’s how she was able to come alone.”

For the sovereign of a nation to enter the Demon Territory alone—it was unthinkable. Even with aid from another country, it was an act that defied all reason.

But if she was a Saintess… it all made sense.

“Clay.”

Having defeated Freezing and thawed the frozen knights, Tia’s sapphire eyes sparkled.

“I’m coming to you now.”

Flash—

A path of light extended from her feet, melting the frozen ground and carving a road forward, all the way to the man and woman clashing with sword and sword of ice.

Clay and Selimia.

Tia was heading straight for them.

♧

Clay was locked in fierce combat.

Clang! Crack! Clank!

Each time his demon sword struck, Selimia’s ice blade shattered, but each time, she conjured a new one.

“It’s no use.”

Selimia spoke with a chilling gaze.

“I’ll keep making new blades until I break yours.”

Her sole focus was the sword Clay held—Syltanaro.

“Hand it over.”

Crunch!

Clay said nothing and broke another ice blade.

Then Selimia stomped the ground.

The frost-covered land suddenly melted halfway, becoming slick and unstable.

Clay’s footing slipped for an instant—but he drove Syltanaro into the earth to regain his balance.

“I reached you!”

In that instant, Selimia grabbed the hilt of Syltanaro.

Craaaack!

Overlapping her hand with Clay’s, she froze the blade completely.

“Well? Caught you off guard, didn’t I?”

“…You know this means you can’t move either.”

Clay let out a sigh, showing not the slightest hint of panic.

“For someone who commands ice, your hands are warm.”

“…!”

Only then did Selimia seem to realize she was physically touching him—and stammered in surprise.

“T-that’s not strange at all! My body isn’t literally made of ice!”

“I did wonder if it might be.”

After all, the current Selimia was modeled after the original—but that didn’t mean her body had to be constructed the same.

Yet now, touching her, Clay understood:

This Selimia had reproduced even the body of the original.

An impossible being, yet real.

“The more I learn, the more fascinating you are.”

His words made Selimia’s eyes tremble—then she shouted.

“Never mind that! Give me the sword!”

“Sword?”

Clay tilted his head.

“What sword are you talking about?”

“…!”

Syltanaro was gone from between them.

And in its place—

“Get away from him, you!”

Boom!

A simple punch.

But it was no different from the magical sword’s usual strikes.

“Gah?!”

Selimia was sent flying.

Her face twisted with fury.

“I’m the only one who belongs at Lord Clay’s side…!”

They soon descended into a wild, fist-flying brawl.

The great Calamity who had frozen the entire northern Demon Territory was now in a scuffle with a weaponized woman over her master’s favor—and Clay watched in disbelief.

“…?”

That’s when he felt another presence approaching.

Holy power.

A great, immense holy power.

It surpassed even what he had in his prime as a Hero.

From the Holy Alliance already…?

That couldn’t be.

There shouldn’t be anyone of this caliber alive now.

Just as Clay scowled, a pillar of light melted through the permafrost and appeared before them.

“!”
“!”

Both Syltanaro and Selimia turned toward it.

FLASH!

In the next moment, they both leapt away to avoid the wave of blinding light that surged toward them.

BOOOOM!

Mountains of ice were blown away, crashing and piling like glacial cliffs.

“You…”

Clay turned toward the figure who had appeared through the light.

At the end of his gaze, stood the one he had cherished, perhaps even more than himself.

“Tia…”

Golden hair glowing with divine radiance.

Sapphire eyes gleaming like a sea full of starlight fixed themselves on Clay.

“There you are. Really.”

The Saintess—Tia de Mezelef.

Seeing her in a form even he hadn’t known during their childhood together, Clay parted his lips.

Reunion.

More than shock at her new identity, it was the emotion tied to that word that rose first.

Crack.

But Clay closed his mouth and clenched his fist.

“Tia.”

Shaking off everything, he confronted the reality before him.

The Demon King and the Saintess.

Now they stood as perfect opposites.

“So you’ve become a Saintess while I wasn’t looking.”

“…Yes.”

“I won’t ask whether you already had that power when I was executed.”

Though he tried to suppress it, he found himself bringing up the past without meaning to.

“Whatever the case, what matters now is that you’ve appeared—now.”

Clay had begun moving again as the Demon King.

He was gathering new forces—and in the process, had come face to face with the Saintess.

“How does it feel… to realize we are now clear enemies?”

He needed to stick to what was necessary.

“I heard from those who returned to Ezer… You know I’m alive and in this form. What do you think about that?”

But not everything could be kept in the Territory of necessity.

“So I ask again—what are you thinking, standing there, Tia de Mezelef?”

“…”

Tia didn’t answer.

Because even she didn’t know what she was thinking.

“Clay.”

At last, after a long silence, she spoke.

“I wasn’t strong enough to bear it all.”

Her words came out—

a scream, crushed under unbearable pain.

(End of Chapter)