"I... Understand. You should've said it out loud, but I understand..." Charles stood up, wiping the blood from his mouth.
"Yes... I'm sorry..." Shadow Breaker muttered an apology while looking at the demon in front of him.
"Then... There is no point in living anymore..."
"Yes... Wait what?" Shadow Breaker hurriedly looked back at him, while Charles held up his sword towards the sky.
"Valkyrie Skill: [Gate Of Oblivion]"
A large magic circle formed under his feet, with a bright white light shining through it.
"What a cool name... Wait, Charles! What the hell are you doing?!!" Shadow Breaker tried to rush towards him, but the circle had already activated.
All he could do was grab Aurora and fly up. The Heavenly King Gorloban just looked at the whole farce with an amused expression.
"Charles! Goddammit! I don't know what this skill is but it looks hella dangerous! Stop the skill!" Shadow Breaker yelled from the sky as he hovered over the courtyard.
"Without Val, there is nothing in this world for me..."
"Why are you forgetting about all the money, fame and women? And women? And again, women?!!"
"Val... You pervert."
"Gah."
Aurora's slightly pouting face and her words stabbed him harder than an adamantine sword.
"And Val isn't dead! I'm here!" Shadow Breaker removed his mask for a moment and showed Charles his real face. But...
"Oh... I can hear you calling for me from the heavens, Val! Just wait, we'll be together forever!"
Charles didn't listen to him, or even if he did, he thought of him as a hallucination.
"Wait that's seriously gross!" Shadow Breaker shivered as he suddenly found out about his friend's hidden side. Still... even if Charles was potentially dangerous for him, he had to save him.
After all, Charles was his best friend.
"No! You can't do that!" Shadow Breaker leapt down again, but it was too late.
The moments he wasted trying to think about how to escape from Charles after saving him... Ultimately led him to a situation where he couldn't save him at all.
The white light kept brightening until Charles's silhoutte was completely engulfed in it. Suddenly, another magic circle appeared under Gorloban, but the demon didn't even move.
He just kept tapping on the ground with a grin on his face.
Two pillars of light shot up from the ground. Shadow Breaker flinched and covered Aurora with his hands as the intense heat reached him.
Soon, the light faded away, leaving behind a charred garden. Shadow Breaker couldn't see Charles anywhere.
However, on the other hand, Gorloban was standing there with the same posture as before. He didn't even have a scratch on him.
Charles's trump card couldn't even scratch that demon.
"The actual hell?!! What's up with that crazy weak trump card?!! Is this a prank?!!" Shadow Breaker exploded, while Aurora just patted his head and kept saying "There, there. Calm down, calm down."
"Gahahahahaha. That was a nice warmup. Time for the main dish!" Gorloban looked up at Shadow Breaker, and broke out in a grin.
"Tsk. We need to escape."
"But then the capital..."
"Without Charles or you, I have zero to no reason to protect it."
"But..."
"Ssshh. Don't worry. We'll be fine."
"Even so..."
"Gah, alright. I'll at least take this one down before retreating."
Shadow Breaker groaned as he looked down at the demon flying towards him.
"Heavenly Skill: [Demon's Bane]!"
{Tier-Twelve Heavenly Skill Unleashed. MP at a negative range, shutting down on 5...4 ... 3... 2... 1... Shutting down all functions. Forcing emergency retreat}
"Wait wha..."
Before he could finish the sentence, his whole body became numb. It felt like someone just cut the string controlling it.
However, yet he didn't let go of Aurora. The wings sprouting from his back started flapping faster, and they suddenly flew backwards.
The skill he unleashed had successfully made contact with the demon, who was now writhing in pain.
The skill, even though it had a 'holy-type' name, was actually a curse. The naming sense of the skills in this world was messed up as always.
As Shadow Breaker thought that, the capital gradually become further and further away, and the screams and yells became fainter and fainter.
Drowsiness hit him hard, and he felt his eyes closing. Still, he didn't let Aurora go. Without her, he had nothing left in this world to go on.
The wings kept flapping and kept pulling them further away from the city as if it had a mind on its own. Maybe it had one. Probably.
Soon, the capital was just a dark shape on the horizon.
"So... Now what." Shadow Breaker groaned as the city became further away.
"What will happen to the demon?"
"Well... I feel bad for the citizens, but I can't do anything about it now. Either he'll leave, or he'll destroy the city." Shadow Breaker tried to shrug, but his shoulders didn't even move.
"Are you sure? Will you not feel guilty later?"
"Well, to be perfectly honest, I actually kinda hated that country. Or at least the capital. I wanted to crush them with my own hands, huhuhu..."
"Val, your true face is leaking out. Creepy."
"Gah!" Val stopped his large grin with a pained expression.
"So... I am not sure what our next step should be." Val continued the topic from before.
"What... What did you want to do, Val?"
"Well, I always wanted to go on an adventure, to find a cure for this curse and..."
"Build your own harem?" Aurora asked while pouting.
"I won't deny, for I am an honest man." Shadow Breaker said in a serious voice.
"Val... You pervert."
"Gah!"
As always, it hurt when Aurora said that.
At the same time...
Gorloban stood up, and shivered. The curse was already gone.
It hurt. His whole body hurt like hell. Yet, he was happy.
No. He had an ecstatic and somewhat creepy expression on his face. He hugged himself, and shivered. His pants became slightly wet.
Yes. He was feeling sexually delighted, or in more common terms, he was simply horny.
Indeed. Gorloban was what the common terms would refer to as a 'masochist'.
He fought for the sake of being defeated, for the sake of being dominated.
"Ah, I wish he'd step on me, and whip me, and slap me... Oops. I let my fantasies get the best of me."
Gorloban chuckled as he looked around. He had already seen Shadow Breaker leaving.
Without that hero here, he had no interest in this weak country. Shrugging, he cast another skill, and a gate opened. He stepped inside the gate, and vanished.
As Gorloban's body had fully disappeared, a lone girl crawled out of the rubble.
The girl, Princess Euphie looked at the direction the hero retreated.
Something flared in her eyes. It wasn't awe, it wasn't respect.
It was hatred. Pure hatred.
Euphie had seen it all. She had seen how the hero left her brother to die, and then escaping with a girl while his kingdom was in crisis.
He was selfish.
Shadow Breaker was far from the hero she had imagined him to be.
"If only... If only Val-sama was here... If only he hadn't been cursed..." Euphie muttered in an expressionless tone. Her eyes were blank.
She knew her hatred was unjustified.
She knew that she was wrong.
Yet, she couldn't help it.
She couldn't help but hate the hero who killed her brother.