The Heroes Who Executed Me Are Obsessed With Me

There are things one must protect.

And in order to protect them, one must be willing to lay down their life.

Even if it’s something more precious than anything else.

“…You were the one who told me that.”

Tia recalled those words.

“I’ve tried to live by them ever since.”

Those who shoulder the weight of a greater cause must be willing to forfeit their own lives. Otherwise, they’ll never be able to protect what must be protected.

“If you're asking what I’m thinking… I’d say I’m still doing exactly that.”

It was certainly a lesson Clay had once given her. And Clay did not refute it.

But—

“Did you trust me?”

That was the only thing that mattered.

“I won’t deny the things I said as a Hero. At the time, I truly believed them.”

But whether one believed in him was a separate matter entirely.

“If you followed my words, then your faith in me should’ve been just as strong.”

To obey a Hero’s teaching while distrusting the Hero himself, was pure contradiction.

“You’re telling me two opposing things.”

“Is that so…”

Tia lowered her gaze.

“But Clay… you already know.”

She didn’t pretend ignorance about her own behavior.

“People aren’t perfect.”

She confessed that it was human to live with contradiction.

“There are times when you don’t know what to believe in.”

“Tia…”

Clay’s eyes held the stillness of a storm-tossed abyss.

“But you… you shouldn’t have been like that.”

It didn’t matter if it was unreasonable.

He didn’t care if it made no sense.

“You just needed to believe in me.”

If she had held onto even a shred of that faith, Clay might never have come to regret his life.

“But it’s fine.”

The Hero was already dead.

His achievements discarded, his trust buried in a grave without even a handful of belief to go with it—left to rot in the dark.

So now, even the feelings he once had could be cast aside.

They belonged only to the Hero who was already gone.

“Tia. You’ve invaded the Demon Realm.”

Not just anyone—but the Saintess. To the Demon King, that was something he could never overlook.

“I can take it, then, that Ezer and the Holy Alliance have declared war.”

“!”

“If you don’t want war to begin right here—leave.”

He couldn’t just let her go now that her identity as the Saintess had been revealed. But having never faced her before, Clay had no other option at this moment.

“Clay, I…”

“We’re not having a conversation.”

Clay’s eyes glowed crimson.

“Leave this place.”

Whrrr—

A spinning blade came flying from the distance, embedding itself in the ground at Tia’s feet.

“This is…!”

Tia’s eyes widened.

From Syltanaro’s blade, black Magia sparked like lightning, crawling along the ground.

CRACK!

The lightning tore through the earth in a jagged line, spitting up dust and dirt.

“Ugh!”

Tia stepped back and shouted,

“Rotundura!”

A circular barrier of light emerged and swept the dust aside.

Once her vision cleared, Syltanaro was no longer in the ground.

No—it was.

Now buried point-down in the soil before Clay.

Shrrk.

Clay pulled it free—like it was always his to command.

“…Clay!”

Only then did Tia truly realize.

He hadn’t simply come back to life.

Clay had truly become the leader of all demonkind.

If the previous Demon King’s sword had acknowledged him…!

Then the demon forces were already rallying around him as their center.

Clenching her fists, Tia turned as she sensed another presence—

CRASH!

An ice-forged sword slammed into the spot she had just been standing.

“…!”

Her eyes followed the trajectory, and landed on Selvaro’s sister, Selimia.

“So this is how the Empress of Ezer managed to get here alone.”

Selimia summoned a new ice blade into her hand as she smiled coldly.

“I see… so you became the Saintess—the one we all thought was just a legend.”

“Selimia…”

“Don’t tell me you don’t remember me? I feel like we met a few times back in Hanumayer’s palace.”

As the two women spoke, Clay glanced down at Syltanaro.

Before Tia arrived, Syltanaro and Selimia had been fighting each other.

『We agreed to deal with our common enemy first.』

“Common enemy?”

『Yes. The Saintess is your enemy, my lord.』

It made sense that Syltanaro would think so.

But Clay knew full well that Selimia hadn’t targeted Tia to form an alliance with Syltanaro.

She must have realized how strong Tia really is.

Otherwise, Selimia—who wanted to leave only herself and Clay in the world—would never have formed a joint front.

Tia was strong. So strong that even incomprehensible beings felt compelled to strike first.

Clench.

His fist tightened instinctively.

Even with that strength, Tia hadn’t trusted him.

She had power, but never used it to protect him as a person.

True, he had told her that duty should come before personal emotion. But just as she had said—humans weren’t perfect.

And for just that one moment, Clay had wished that he had come before her cause.

It’s already in the past.

Yet, even that sentiment belonged to a time long gone.

Unlike Yuru, who had destroyed Marfane and become an enemy of humanity, Tia had no real use to him.

What’s more, the Saintess, by her very existence, would always stir animosity among demons. She could never be brought under the same roof.

In the end, you’ve become my absolute enemy.

It was an easy conclusion. But the emotions that followed it… were not so easy to settle.

Clay bit his lip, burying the turbulence in his heart.

“Syltanaro.”

『Yes, my lord.』

“I can’t afford to fight a Saintess whose full strength I don’t even know yet.”

And there was no way she had come here alone.

“If she entered through the North, she likely came with Selvaro, who’s been looking for his sister. If their forces grow any larger, we need to pull back before it’s too late.”

『Are you abandoning the North, my lord?』

“No. They won’t be able to remain here for long either. They’ll pull back eventually. Time is on our side.”

After explaining the situation to Syltanaro, Clay bent his knees and adjusted his stance.

“We expel the Saintess from this region as quickly as possible. Can you do that?”

『As you wish, my lord.』

BOOM!

Clay slammed off the ground and launched himself forward.

♧

What followed was a scene so unreal, the knights who arrived with Selvaro could scarcely believe their eyes.

“W-what on earth is happening…”

The Saintess, Tia—was locked in combat with Selimia.

“Wait, that man…!”

And as if that weren’t enough to confuse them, another figure entered their sight:

“The Hero?!”

The executed, long-dead Hero was attacking Tia together with Selimia.

Their minds clouded by shock, the knights turned to Selvaro.

He silently observed the chaotic battlefield, jaw set tight.

Then he took his sword in hand—and began to move forward.

“Y-Your Majesty!”

“It’s too dangerous!”

“Those rumors about Beatrice manipulating the Hero’s corpse… they must be true! Please, stay calm!”

Panicked, the knights tried to stop him.

Selvaro answered quietly.

“It doesn’t matter.”

Because in the middle of that chaos—stood Selimia.

His sister.

“I’m going to retrieve my sister.”

“Your Majesty!”

Before they could stop him again, Selvaro sprinted into the fray.

SHHHK!

He swung his sword in a wide arc with Selimia at his back.

The fractured permafrost exploded upward, spitting ice and dust into the air.

BOOOOOOM!

Everyone nearby recoiled from the sudden intrusion.

“Brother…?”

Selimia blinked in surprise and called out. Selvaro half-turned and replied,

“Selimia.”

Still injured, he didn’t have much time. He moved quickly, trying to take her away.

“Let’s go. We’re leaving this place.”

Just as his hand reached out to grab her arm—

SHING!

A sword appeared, cutting across the space between them—blocking his path.

“Sorry, but Selimia’s coming with me.”

Clay.

He swooped in and took Selimia in his arms, leaping far away.

Selvaro tried to chase—but multiple ice walls erupted upward, blocking his path.

“Selimia!”

He roared as he shattered the walls, but his voice didn’t stop her.

“Don’t follow me!”

Selimia shouted back as Clay carried her away.

“I’m going with the Demon King!”

CRACK! CRACK-CRASH!

Selvaro tore down the last wall—only to see Selimia growing distant, carried like baggage in Clay’s arms.

“Selimi…”

“Selvaro.”

Tia approached his side.

“Let her go.”

“…What?”

“Selimia just escaped from you.”

“Escaped…”

The word didn’t sit right with him. It wasn’t something one said between brother and sister.

“We’re family. This doesn’t concern you.”

“Do you want to lose her?”

Tia’s eyes pierced into him.

“Selimia came all this way just to find Clay. If you interrupt that now with battle, who knows what she might do?”

“Then are you telling me to just sit back and watch?!”

Selvaro’s shout tore through the cold air.

“She’s my sister! I have to protect her!”

“…”

Tia let out a long breath.

“Fine. I won’t stop you. But don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

Regret.

That word wasn’t enough to hold him back.

Selvaro kicked off the ground and chased after them.

In a flash, he caught up with Clay’s group.

It was the skill of a man who had lived in this frozen wasteland for decades.

No one could outrun him on ice.

WHUMP!

As soon as his feet touched a stable patch of ground, Selvaro swung his sword wide.

And the one who blocked it—

CLANG!

—was Selimia, with a summoned blade of ice.

“!”

“Brother, do you want to die?”

A chilling gleam in her eyes.

There was no trace of the sister he knew in her expression.

“Selimia!”

“…Disgusting.”

Her tone turned vicious.

“I’ve humored this family act long enough.”

“What…”

“I’m independent now. I don’t need to pretend to be sweet anymore. So go away.”

Only then did Selvaro realize.

Ah…

While she had been bound in chains, she had merely acted the part of a sister, just to avoid being seen as a monster by him.

CRASH!

His thoughts were shattered as he failed to see a boulder and slammed into it—collapsing to the ground.

“Selimia…”

More than the physical pain, something was screaming inside his chest, but it was stuck in his throat and refused to come out.

“…How unfortunate.”

The voice of a man who should’ve been dead echoed in his ear.

The Hero’s words—lingering, like a dirge.

(End of Chapter)