Chapter 22 - The One Who Should Not Be Alive
Silence is like falling snow.
Without realizing it, everything is already painted white.
Everything.
"...That's, impossible."
Yuru looked at Clay standing before the Four Heavenly King Beatrice and had a dazed expression.
"Brother?"
"Yes."
Unlike her, who was so frozen she could barely breathe, Clay moved with a composed expression.
"Did you look for me?"
Clay's voice had no inflection.
Seeing that no emotion was present, Yuru whipped her head around and glared fiercely at Beatrice.
"You! What did you do?!"
Clay was dead.
The dead could not be resurrected through ordinary means.
But faking a resurrection was not impossible.
One could simply raise a corpse and make it a puppet.
"How dare you use necromancy on my brother's body?!"
"Necromancy?"
Beatrice said, as if mocking Yuru.
"As for whether I used such Dark Magic, why don't you find out for yourself?"
"Yuru."
Clay spoke again.
"Beatrice didn't do such a thing."
"!?"
Yuru, whose gaze was fixed on him, shook her head as if she couldn't possibly believe what was happening right before her eyes.
"No, you're not brother."
"Not me?"
"You're just a look-alike! Just a look-alike...!"
Yuru, who was shouting, suddenly flinched.
"What?"
Her lips trembled as if she was in shock.
"Th-That can't be."
In the Blue Magic Tower, which researched the color of pure magi, the ability to distinguish most of the aura of a human was encouraged among all affiliated mages.
Among them, one who had reached the pinnacle of the Blue Magic Tower couldn't help but know.
Even the color of a soul.
"How?"
What was inside Clay's body was none other than Clay's own soul.
"How...!"
Horror filled Yuru's eyes.
"Brother was clearly dead!"
She had been there.
She had confirmed everything, from Clay's breath ceasing as he was hanged, to his soul volatilizing.
He had gone to a place from which he could not return.
When she realized that, she felt as if a stone had been placed on her chest, unable to even breathe properly.
"Sometimes, things happen that you can't understand."
Clay said to her, who stood there surprised.
"My being forced to die was also something I couldn't understand."
He had dedicated himself to the nation.
No, he had sacrificed his body and soul for humanity.
That the reward for that was a rope around his neck, even looking back now, only brought forth a hollow laugh.
"Don't make me laugh."
But Yuru ultimately didn't believe Clay's words.
"I don't know what you've done, but you must have found a way to mimic even the color of a soul. That would be easier than truly resurrecting someone."
The arrogance that no one could achieve a perfect resurrection that even she, a genius, couldn't accomplish.
Yuru's belief in her own abilities was too firm.
"Only I can revive brother! Only I!"
"Yuru."
"Shut up!"
She cut off Clay's words.
"You're not brother. Brother is dead. I'll revive him again. Using the Crown Prince!"
"If you had such resolve, why didn't you save me from the gallows earlier?"
"What?"
"You already failed, Yuru."
Clay said calmly.
"I no longer consider you the you of before. And since there's no chance of you reviving me, it's safe to say that thought won't change."
"What are you saying..."
"Manticore."
A single word he uttered then.
"You once said you'd love to ride one if you made it a pet."
That was a story only she and he knew.
"You even cried once because the previous Tower Master of the Blue Magic Tower gave too difficult a task."
Memories could be extracted from a corpse, but that was merely fragmented images from a specific point in time.
Information detailed enough to have a conversation without a single mistake couldn't be blabbered out by a puppet mimicking the original.
"If you want more proof, ask me. For example,"
Clay looked at Yuru with a cold expression.
"The process leading up to my death."
Tia, his childhood friend, under pressure from the Holy State Alliance, asked Clay to submit to arrest.
The plan was to arrest him, then resolve the Holy State Alliance's misunderstanding and release him, but during the interrogation, evidence was presented that he was a Demon King's pawn, and everything went to waste.
Clay, who had obediently allowed his magic to be bound, trusting only his childhood friend, was then tortured by the priests and Guardian Knights dispatched by the Holy State Alliance.
That pain was impossible for anyone but himself to describe.
"Shall I remind you too?"
Clay brought up what happened back then.
"No one, including you, came to visit me."
Conspiring with the Demon King was considered the greatest crime on this continent, it was no exaggeration.
They kept their distance from Clay so as not to be entangled in such a crime.
"My explanations weren't properly heard. Let me ask you one thing. Did you definitely check the letter I sent?"
"..."
"Yes, you wouldn't have. To avoid being caught in even a single loophole."
Clay knew very well why they had done that.
But that was too cruel for Clay, who had worked for everyone's sake.
"I hoped that at least my comrades would speak up and say they believed me."
Trapped in prison, unable to do anything, Clay couldn't protest to anyone.
He was treated as a criminal, and on the day he saw the sun again, he was strangled to death.
"Don't make me laugh?"
Clay let out a hollow laugh.
"You won't believe me?"
How absurd.
"Yes, don't believe me."
A chill entered his eyes.
"I came here to tell you that too."
He didn't move because he wanted to meet Yuru again.
He wanted to convey these words.
"Because I don't believe you either."
Belief that required evidence was no longer necessary for him.
"Yuru, stop rampaging now."
He said to her, as if making a declaration.
"I have no intention of tolerating your outrageous behavior."
If Yuru ran wild trying to revive him, the Holy State Alliance's attention would inevitably turn back this way.
"The only reason I'm here is purely because you were senselessly depleting your magi alone."
No matter how powerful a mage, if they continuously used Grand Magic, their power would rapidly decline.
Furthermore, a mage who didn't bring any vanguards—wasn't that a perfect opponent to attack?
"Is that really you, brother?"
Looking at him, who spoke things only she would know, she muttered, ignoring the killing intent he radiated.
"Did you really come back alive?"
"Yes. No thanks to you."
Clay raised his hand.
"I'll deal with you here. Before you become a bigger obstacle."
What she was doing here was not his concern.
Even if she was acting to save him, that fact wouldn't change.
Everything was too late.
Because the Hero was already dead.
"Beatrice."
Clay looked back at Beatrice, who was behind him, and said.
"I'll take care of Neville. You deal with Yuru."
"Are you sure about this?"
"Don't worry, just hurry. If we cause a disturbance for too long, it won't be easy for us to return either."
Clay, who had been the Hero, had even learned as much geographical information as possible to protect humans from demons.
He was able to come this far thanks to that information.
Because Yuru had stirred up Marpein, all eyes were on that place.
This valley area, which runs from top to bottom through the border between Marpein and Yapheon, was originally loosely guarded.
Aside from their proximity, the two nations were allies supporting a single nation, Kratia, and there was nothing of value here anyway.
Thanks to that, Clay was able to safely bring Beatrice, who had transformed into her human form, to this place.
She, too, couldn't help but be impressed that he had even memorized the terrain.
"As you wish."
Even though she thought he might waver if he faced Yuru directly, Clay's resolve was so firm that it couldn't be turned back.
Beatrice decided to follow his will.
Honoring his potential to plunge humanity into terrible suffering, precisely because he was more diligent than anyone else in becoming the Hero.
"Go, Clay. I will be your flame."
Beatrice soared into the air.
Clay immediately ran towards Neville.
"!"
Yuru, who had been immersed in confusion, instinctively turned her body when she saw that.
However,
BOOOOOOM!
A fireball thrown by Beatrice collided with the ground and exploded before she could move.
"Gah?!"
Yuru, thrown back by the shockwave along with scattering debris, rolled on the ground and then stopped.
Meanwhile, Clay approached Neville.
"Neville, are you alright?"
"Y-Hero-nim."
"It's an urgent situation, but I'll tell you one thing beforehand."
Clay said with a firm expression.
"Don't call me that anymore."
BOOOOOOM!
Beatrice mercilessly rained fireballs down on Yuru.
"Ugh!"
Yuru gritted her teeth, desperately enduring the intense heat of the fiery storm permeating her flesh.
"Beatrice!"
She met Clay.
And a Clay who had all his memories.
No matter how much she tried to deny it, Clay was not a fake made from a corpse.
The color of his soul was still unchanged.
"Get out of the way!"
That's the real one.
She understood clearly.
It wasn't a fake.
"Give me back brother!"
But whether it was due to the shock of being hanged, or if he was under Beatrice's enchantment, Clay seemed to have lost his identity as the Hero.
She couldn't accept that.
Even if Clay said they were no longer comrades, even if he tried to kill her,
"I'll take him!"
If only she could take him and start over—.
CRACKLE!
Yuru raised the ground, creating a wall.
The fireballs Beatrice was throwing failed to pass through the wall and disintegrated.
"Brother!"
Yuru, standing behind the wall, turned her gaze to Clay and shouted.
"Come here!"
She reached out her hand.
"Brother, you're being deceived! You're thinking something wrong because you died and came back to life!"
Desperation filled her eyes.
"If you're truly brother, come this way! I'll make it right somehow! Truly, somehow!"
She didn't know how much she regretted watching his death without doing anything.
"It doesn't matter if I become a heretic! I'll stay by your side! Don't be fooled by that thing!"
Yuru was convinced that Beatrice was undoubtedly trying to use him.
"So..."
However, Clay didn't even look at Yuru, only supported Neville and ran back to Beatrice.
"Brother?"
Yuru's dazed gaze followed Clay's retreating back.
"Brother!"
BOOOOOOM!
Then, the earth wall collapsed from an even larger fireball thrown by Beatrice, and Yuru's vision turned to darkness.