True Love
“What… the hell…? This is insane—an overwhelming surge of power is pouring into me!?”
It felt like a blazing sun had ignited and been dropped straight into the core of my being.
Every cell in my body awakened, flooding me with a ferocious vitality that surged upward like a tidal wave.
My protective blessing, which should’ve been completely shut down, suddenly roared back to life. And not just that—the Hero Skill [Regeneration] kicked in at an explosive pace, healing my wounds right before my eyes.
“Ugh… grgh… ahh… gruuuhhh…!”
Even as this happened, Hasumin kept thrashing in agony in my arms, as if something inside her was tearing her apart.
“Hasumin, hang in there! Hey—Hasumin! Say something, Hasumin!”
“Gah… gruh… guh… ah… gii—GUAAAAAHHHHH!?”
No matter how I called to her, Hasumin only let out strangled cries, her face twisted in sheer torment.
“What the hell is happening…!?”
Holding Hasumin tight in my now fully restored arms as she struggled violently, I could only stare in shock, overwhelmed by the sudden turn of events—
“Ah! Wait! I remember reading something in an ancient text!”
Riena, who’d been watching the whole thing unfold, suddenly burst out, her voice tinged with excitement.
“Riena? That was kind of loud—what’s going on?”
“This matches the ‘Ultimate Blessing of the Goddess Athena’ from myth!”
“The ‘Ultimate Blessing of the Goddess Athena’? You’re serious?”
“Yes! According to ancient texts in the Forbidden Archive of the Grand Temple, before becoming the supreme deity of Orphermaus, the goddess Athena was originally a goddess of love. It says she granted a supreme power—one that could overcome all obstacles—to those who fulfilled the bond of ‘true love’!”
“So this blazing, sun-like power… that’s what it is?”
“It matches the descriptions in the texts perfectly. Actually, I once had a similar experience myself, just once.”
“Of course you did, Riena. Genius doesn’t even begin to cover it.”
“The power I felt back then was nothing compared to this, but I’m certain. Now that the two of you have achieved ‘true love,’ Hero-sama, you’ve received the ultimate power bestowed by the goddess Athena—the power of a god itself…!”
“The power of a god, huh…? You know, it actually makes sense. It feels right.”
That’s how immense the force now pulsing through me was—like a star had ignited inside my body.
Also, Riena was starting to sound like one of those characters.
You know the type—in battle manga, there’s always that random onlooker who somehow knows everything about what’s going on, explains it all in perfect clarity, and has encyclopedic insight for no reason.
Right now, Riena was totally that person.
Well, except Riena was an actual expert when it came to the goddess Athena—way more than just some bystander.
And then—
“AAAAAHHHHH!!”
Hasumin let out a scream unlike any before—like a wounded beast—and in that instant, something dark and formless, like a writhing black mist, came tearing out of her body!
“Is that—?!”
“Yes! Now that ‘true love’ has been achieved, Hasumin-san’s body has been purified. The soul of Demon King Kanan can no longer remain inside her—it’s being expelled!”
At the same time—
“Huh… what…?”
Hasumin mumbled, her voice back to normal, soft and dazed.
She blinked up at me from within my arms, her expression blank, eyes wide.
“Hey, Hasumin. Looks like you’re back to normal. Anything feel weird? Any pain?”
“Oh—uh, no. Not really? I actually feel kinda amazing?”
“That’s a relief.”
No signs of harm, no lingering damage. I let out the breath I’d been holding, finally able to relax.