The Final Battle (3)
“Hasumin, I love you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Please… will you stay by my side?”
I mustered every last scrap of strength, looked straight into her eyes, and let my heart speak to hers.
Beneath the growing shadow of Demon King Kanan, the sweet, adorable face I once knew had hardened into a cold, merciless mask.
If I didn’t stop her here, the world would be lost.
Riena was right—completely right.
(But even so… even so!)
I just… can’t bring myself to kill Hasumin—the girl I love with all my heart.
“Shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up! I told you not to confuse me!”
Like a child throwing a tantrum, Hasumin screamed and launched her largest volley yet—over a hundred magic bullets raining down on me.
They struck me, one after another, without mercy.
With my divine shielding gone, every hit landed with its full weight. I knew… my body was nearing its end.
Honestly, it was a miracle I hadn’t died on the spot.
Maybe the last faint remnants of that divine shield had bought me this one final breath.
But at last, I—
“Why didn’t you dodge…”
—had made it to where Hasumin stood.
My body soaked in blood, arms limp from exhaustion, I summoned every remaining ounce of strength to gently hold her slender frame.
And what I felt in return was the warmth and softness of the same Hasumin—even now, even as a demon king.
I remembered holding her after the relay race at the sports festival. With that came a flood of memories—every little moment we’d shared—rushing through me like a final montage.
“Didn’t I tell you…? Every one of those magic bullets is a piece of your heart—your feelings, Hasumin. How could I dodge that? I said I’d take it all… every last piece of you.”
“But if it kills you, what’s the point…? You’re the Hero. You’re supposed to defeat the Demon King.”
“Heh… You were just trying to kill me a second ago, and now you’re worried?”
“I… I don’t know… my feelings are all tangled up… It’s like there are two of me inside, fighting each other, and I don’t understand anything anymore…”
“Then at least understand this… I love you that much, Hasumin. Enough that I’d gladly die for you. So get it through your thick head already, you idiot…”
“Shuhei-kun…”
“Hasumin… I love you. More than anything in this world. I love you.”
“Mmm…”
As she listened in dazed silence to my rasping confession, I leaned in and kissed her—gently, softly, as I held her in my arms.
I pushed my body to move, pouring everything I had left into that kiss.
Of course, it wasn’t much—a clumsy brush of lips, like something out of a child’s daydream.
But it was the only way I had left…
The only act I could offer, burning up the last ember of my life to show her my heart—
And then, suddenly—
“Ah—gah—ahhhhhHHHHH—!”
Hasumin let out a scream, her body convulsing in pain.
At that same moment, I felt it—an overwhelming surge of power rising inside me, unlike anything I’d ever known.