Prologue

"Haha…."

Damn, you guys!! To destroy the entire castle just to kill me!! Besides... Where did all those magic tools and magic circles come from? How the hell did you guys get your hand on so much money?

They wouldn't have thought I'd still be alive. No... Would I even be alive for long in this condition?

While thinking about such things, I closed the hole in my stomach with my hand. But it was too big. I was somehow preventing my intestines from coming out, but I was on the verge of running out of mana due to excessive use of spatial magic, and my physical condition was not good either.

"Cough!!"

I reflexively brought my hand near my mouth after coughing, and my whole palm was died red.

My hand was not died red with my enemies' blood, instead today, the blood was mine.

I never thought the day would come when I would be hurt like this. Today, I remembered I was just a human too.

... Still, there was hope.

"…Hero?"

A black-haired mature beauty called out in disbelief.

"Hehe, how have you been, Demon Queen?"

In our last fight, I didn't kill the Demon Queen as everyone thought. Instead, I secretly hid her in this place.

"What the hell happened!!!"

Hence squeezing my remaining last strength I teleported to this hiding place, not anywhere else.

If the plan was to destroy my castle, everyone except me would have participated... No. That girl probably didn't participate, let alone most likely she wouldn't have even known. Still, somehow when I was cornered, it wasn't that girl to whom I went, instead, it was Demon Queen... The same Demon Queen who was my archenemy once.

"It's as it appears. Phew... It's the appearance of a foolishly betrayed hero."

As I vomited blood once more, my strength drained from my body. Maybe it was because I met the demon Queen I was aiming for from the start. It was said that humans subconsciously relaxed when they reached their goals. Perhaps, I was not as big of a monster as I thought I was. Perhaps, I was also a human...

I shook my head. That was not important right now.

"How can it be? Who could defeat you and hurt you this badly?"

"I'd like to explain everything too... hehe, kuck! ... I guess I'm running out of time."

The Demon Queen looked embarrassed, but she quietly grabbed my body and laid me on her lap.

"Huh, I never thought I'd get a lap pillow from the Demon Queen... It's softer than I thought."

“…Before being a demon Queen, I am also a woman.”

"That's right, you're a woman too. A very beautiful one at that..."

The vision began to blur. Maybe that's why, for some reason, I saw tears flowing down from the demon Queen's eyes. Though I shook off such absurd thought quickly and asked, "Do you know why I hid you?"

“…I think I understand now.”

"That's right if I was betrayed… I needed someone to take revenge for me."

"If you expected betrayal, why didn't you run away or attack them first?"

"...I’ve been with them for years. Sigh, perhaps I never wanted to believe they would betray me."

The faces of those bastards came to mind.

Grand Mage, Warrior, Dwarf Paladin, Saintess, Elven Archer. Human Tribe's Martial Artist, and the Sage. …No, he died in the middle of the war. His hair had been strange because he had lost so much blood. …Damn it

"But I was stupid."

My voice began to crack.

It seemed as if my mana had run out, and my intestines were leaking out little by little.

“Demon Queen… I’m sorry I'm asking you this… but you have to take revenge on my behalf. If it were you, you would be able to do it, right?… Honestly, the reason why your army was stopped was all because of me, right?”

"Yes. It was because of you alone. Honestly, the others weren't much. Only… you alone were a monster."

Monster...

Yeah, I was a freak.

The word genius was not enough. Despite being human, I possessed overwhelming talent and innate mana and became the strongest in the kingdom before even turning twenty.

Just then, the Demon Queen's army started to move and I became a Hero.

Although I became a Hero and was admired by people, I was anxious. Because I knew my talent and strength well. Because I could see the fear behind their admiration.

So, I made several hiding places, prepared some means, and as a trump card, I stunned the demon Queen and hid her here.

It was something that the party members, who couldn't even overcome the Four Heavenly Demons let alone the Demon queen, would never imagine.

“Right before I die… I have a question, can I ask it?”

I was talking, but I couldn't tell if my voice was coming out properly.

"…What?"

I guess she heard me, fortunately. However, her voice felt very sad, probably because my ears had already stopped functioning properly.

"What's your name?"

"My name... My name..."

“Quickly… tell me… because I’m on the verge of losing my consciousness…”

“…I’m sorry, hero.”

"..."

"I can not honor your request."

Is that so?

Well, it made sense. There's no way she'd give her name to the Hero who kidnapped and imprisoned her after fighting to the death.

The moment I thought so, my vision suddenly brightened.

It seemed as if an unknown light was emanating from the Demon Queen.

'What… ?'

As I expressed a question in my heart, the demon Queen's voice came as if she had heard me.

"There are three types of taboo magic for demons. Among them, there is something called reincarnation. Originally, it was magic to return oneself to a baby by sacrificing the life force of the same demon tribe to avoid death... But I will use this on you... Using strength as a sacrifice... The probability of failure is high, and I don't know what side effects there may be, but even so..."

'Evil... taboo… same tribe... sacrifice... Harm? I don't know what you're talking about.'

It seemed like the Demon Queen was saying something, but I couldn't hear the words properly. Perhaps my ears stopped working altogether.

So what of it?

I was going to die anyway. It didn't matter if my ears worked properly anymore.

That was my last thought before everything went dark.