The Female Hero Party That Exiled Me, All of Them Are Mentally Broken - Chapter 2

Inside the dim tent, the cold morning air stabbed at her skin without mercy.

Hero Yuria wrapped herself tightly in a thick blanket while shivering violently.

It was the morning after she had cruelly thrown out her beloved Alphonse. There was no warm water he would have made, no gentle hand to stroke her head, and only a morning full of despair.

“No, no, no, no, no, no.”

Words like a child’s babble slipped from Yuria’s lips. Her unfocused eyes overflowed with tears and left dark stains on the blanket.

When she had lost her parents in a frontier town while freezing in the depths of loneliness, it was Alphonse’s family who had taken her in.

For Yuria, who had been pulled from a worn-down shack, his home had been overwhelmingly warm.

The crackling of firewood in the hearth. The sweet smell of stew filled with meat and vegetables.

And above all, Alphonse’s endlessly kind smile slowly melted the frozen heart inside her.

To Yuria, Alphonse was family, a savior, and light itself, and her entire world.

(I like him, like him, like him, like him.)

As long as he was there, she wanted nothing else. Just the warmth of his hand was enough to make her happy. She clung to him, stuck to him constantly, and he had never once pushed her away.

That happy everyday life was shattered during the “Assessment Ceremony” in the winter when she was fifteen.

Inside her lived the power of a “Hero,” a fate destined to fight terrible monsters and save the world.

The people around her celebrated it as a divine blessing, but it felt like a curse to Yuria.

She didn’t want to live. She truly hated it. She hated fighting, hated the blood and mud, and hated the fear. She screamed and cried on the cold stone floor, deaf to everyone, while drowning in despair.

In that pitch-dark moment, it was Alphonse who held her hand tightly and was painfully gentle.

“I’ll go with you.”

Even though he had no fighting power, he must have known how dangerous her journey would be. Yet he laughed at her selfishness, accepted it, became an enchanter, and followed her through the bloody path of a hero.

The journey was far worse than Yuria had imagined. Monsters were terrifying, and her hands trembled every time she swung her sword.

The stench of rotting flesh and the warm splash of blood made her vomit almost every night.

Still, Alphonse stood behind her, using his magic to calm her mind and gently stroking her head, and said, “You did well today.” Because of him, Yuria could force herself to act like a hero.

(I like him, like him, like him, like him.)

Without Alphonse, her mind would have already broken. She might have gone mad with fear or even taken her own life.

But as the battles against the high-ranking demons of the Demon King’s army grew fiercer, the chances of non-combatant Alphonse getting hurt increased.

The enemy’s cruel blade had grazed Alphonse’s cheek, and bright red blood had spurted out that day. Yuria’s heart froze completely with fear. She couldn’t even remember how to breathe.

Because of her duty, the one person she cared about most might die.

That was what terrified her the most. More than dying herself and more than the world ending, she couldn’t bear that.

That’s why yesterday, she had forced herself to be cruel, to shout at him and throw him out of the party. She had taken the role of the villain, all to send him somewhere safe.

“Al, I’m sorry. I hurt you, I’m sorry… I’m so sorry…”

Inside the tent, Yuria bit her lips until they bled and let large tears fall one after another.

With Alphonse’s calming magic gone, the mask of the hero had completely fallen off. Her raw emotions ran wild without stopping.

The world without him felt so cold, so terrifying, and so hard to breathe.

“I don’t want to fight, I don’t want to fight…”

She held her head in her hands while groaning like a wounded animal.

Then, from outside the tent, a strange sound hit her ears.

Saint Serara was gasping for air, her throat making painful sobs. And the female knight Naitsu was pounding her head repeatedly against the hard tree trunk with dull thuds.

The party and the strongest in the world had completely fallen apart and lost its only light, Alphonse.

No, no, this can’t go on like this. They have to do it. They have to fight.

At her limit, a single hope flashed in Yuria’s mind.

One more battle. Just one. If she could kill that hateful Demon King, she could finally be free from the curse of being a hero.

If she brought back the Demon King’s head, Alphonse would praise her. Then she could live as just Yuria and clung to Alphonse’s side for the rest of her life.

“…I’ll kill them.”

Her empty eyes darkened, a heavy flame of obsession burning inside.

“For Al, I’ll kill the Demon King.”

Yuria swayed to her feet, gripping the cold metal hilt tightly.

Dragging the lead-heavy sword behind her, she stepped out of the tent into the desperate morning.

Her steps were unsteady, but her heart was ruled by one pure love.

◇

A heavy lump of flesh collapsed onto the cold, hard stone floor of the Demon King’s castle.

The female knight Naitsu used her blood-stained great sword like a staff while she was panting hard.

The air she breathed smelled of rusted iron and mold, warm and disgusting.

Without Alphonse’s stabilizing magic, her body felt like lead.

Every time she took the enemy’s powerful strikes, her armor bent and twisted, and her bones screamed in pain. She finally understood just how excruciating a real battle was.

“Hahaha, ahahaha…”

Naitsu spat out blood-mixed saliva and wore an ecstatic grin.

It hurt. It was heavy. It was unbearable.

(But this is my punishment. For hurting that kind boy with cruel words, this is my atonement.)

Naitsu once had a younger brother, and he was brutally killed by monsters.

He was small and frail and always smiling with an innocent joy.

Alphonse looked exactly like that lost brother.

At first, it was just a sisterly duty.

Then, as she vowed to protect him no matter what, it became a feeling like atonement.

But as they traveled together, that feeling twisted into extreme obsession and a possessive love.

(Al-kun. Al-kun. My sweet Al-kun.)

Every time she touched his soft cheek or stroked his small head, a twisted desire churned in her chest.

She could never let anyone take him. She could never allow him to be hurt.

As the battles against the Demon King’s army grew fiercer, the risk of non-combatant Alphonse being on the battlefield skyrocketed.

If she had to hold him lifeless in her arms, just like her brother… her mind would finally break.

She could never let another death happen. That obsession burned away all her reason.

That’s why she had insulted her beloved Alphonse like trash and thrown him out of the party.

She had pushed him away with words filled with contempt, so he would never want to return to the battlefield.

“Al-kun, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.”

Dodging a massive battle axe from a high-ranking demon barely in time, Naitsu kept apologizing in her mind.

The shock wave she couldn’t avoid cut into her side, flesh tearing with a dull sound. Pain shot through her skull, yet her face twisted into dark delight.

Safe in some town, Alphonse was probably hating her right now as the worst traitor in the world.

Those kind eyes of his would now be filled with cold contempt.

Just imagining it made her lower belly burn with heat.

(Hate me more. Despise me, look at me like I’m trash, and when this battle is over, punish this traitor for life.)

She wanted to be scolded, stepped on, humiliated, and live at his feet forever like a loyal dog.

“Come. Compared to the weight of my sins, your blade is nothing but a mosquito’s tear.”

The high-ranking demon roared and covered their sword in black flames.

Normally, she would have dodged or defended, but Naitsu was drunk on the pain of Alphonse’s punishment as she spread her arms wide and welcomed it.

The black flames burned her silver armor, the smell of scorched skin filling the air.

“Uwooooooooah.”

Naitsu let out a beast-like roar and stepped forward while covered in blood.

The pain of punishment drove her body beyond its limits.

With all her strength, she swung her great sword, cleaving the massive demon army in half and all.

The enemy crashed to the ground with a heavy rumble.

Bleeding from every part of her body, Naitsu glared down the dark corridor that led to the Demon King’s throne.

If she could defeat the Demon King, she could crawl to him.

She could beg for his forgiveness, be called a cruel woman, and devote herself to him at his feet for the rest of her life.

With only that twisted hope in her heart, Naitsu laughed wildly with her blood-soaked face filled with ecstatic madness.

◇

Deep in the Demon King’s castle, the throne room was filled with damp air.

With a deafening roar, massive black flames raged across the room.

Saint Serara’s porcelain skin dripped with red blood.

Casting such powerful magic without Alphonse’s stabilizing buff mercilessly tore her tiny blood vessels apart.

“Aaaahhh. Spilling my blood for Alphonse-sama, it is so sweet.”

Instead of grimacing in pain, Serara’s face flushed as she smiled in ecstasy.

Tears of blood streaming down, she raised her holy staff high and poured out the finest healing magic over the frontliners, Yuria and Naitsu.

It wasn’t a sense of duty to save the world filling her mind, only the image of one boy.

Serara had been born with immense holy power, a “Child of God.”

But as a price, no man could ever touch her. It was like a curse. Any man who tried would be repelled by divine light and feel agonizing pain as if his whole body were burning.

She had lived as a lonely idol and worshiped but never touched.

Until she met that awkward enchanter boy, Alphonse.

The moment he touched her delicate hand to cast his support magic, she wasn’t thrown back by light. For the first time in her life, she felt a human’s gentle touch.

Something inside her completely broke and awakened.

No man in this world should be able to touch the child of god.

Then he is not a human. He is the “God of Mercy” who has come to save me from loneliness.

For Serara, Alphonse became the very object of her faith.

On the filthy battlefield, covered in blood and mud with rotting monsters all around, she had to keep him with her, absolutely beautiful and sacred, while standing there.

It was unforgivable sacrilege and worth dying for.

She could not let Alphonse, who was like a god, see such a corrupted world.

That is why she had sent him to the purest frontier town.

Even if he insulted her or hated her, it was nothing but the supreme trial that God had given her.

“Begone, impure one! I will not allow you to defile the world of my one and only Alphonse-sama!”

The Demon King’s massive black magic surged forward, threatening to swallow the throne room.

The hot wind singed Serara’s silver hair, but she unleashed her ultimate holy magic and used even her own life as a catalyst.

A crazed smile on her face, with her eyes wide, she unleashed a blinding light.

Serara’s cleansing light sizzled through the Demon King’s corruption, evaporating it instantly.

At the same time, Yuria and Naitsu drove their swords deep into its massive body.

With an earsplitting scream of death, the Demon King’s huge form crumbled and broke into pieces and vanished into dust.

The throne room was half destroyed, and the corrupt fog that had covered the world lifted like a lie.

Standing in the pool of blood, the three looked at each other’s battered bodies and laughed like madwomen.

“Ahahaha. It’s over, it’s really over.”

“Yeah, it’s finally over. Now we can go to him.”

“Al, Al, wait for me. I’m coming to you right now.”

The peace of the world didn’t matter to them at all.

The saint’s status, the hero’s honor, and the knight’s pride, they threw it all away.

All that mattered was serving the one god.

To become a lifelong slave at his feet, they began their pilgrimage of madness.