Vol 2 Chapter 63 – The Hero Stands【Vol 2 – The Condemned Knight Edition】

Erik collapsed, spewing blood.

He tumbled through the air for a moment before collapsing to the ground with a wet thud, completely unable to break his fall. Seeing him crumple in a heap, Eleonora was certain he was dead.

No, perhaps she hadn’t managed to take his life.

But she had surely dealt enough damage to leave him with permanent aftereffects.

He would likely never be able to chew solid food again.

“Ahhhh…!”

Imagining it, a feverish sigh escaped her lips.

“Ah, yes, that’s it. That’s very good. I felt his jaw shatter through my gauntlet. Oh, what a feeling… His jaw must be in pieces, that handsome face completely ruined, don’t you think? His brain was surely rattled, and he might even have lasting neurological damage. And I was the one who did it. Ah, how sweet…”

An ecstatic expression melted across Eleonora’s face as she hugged herself, basking in the euphoria.

In that moment, Miriam rushed to Erik’s side and began casting healing magic.

The damage was so immense that she knew the magical device she had given him wouldn’t be enough to heal it.

As she cast her magic, Erik’s external wounds began to close with incredible speed, but a side effect of Miriam’s powerful magic sent searing agony through his body, forcing him to cry out in a pained shriek.

Hearing it, another tremor of pleasure wracked Eleonora’s body.

“…You were deceiving us. You liar! This is horrible…!”

Tears welled in Miriam’s eyes as she glared at Eleonora.

Her combat abilities were vastly inferior to Erik’s; if she were to fight Eleonora, she would be killed in an instant.

But even knowing that, Miriam couldn’t suppress her rage at seeing Erik so grievously wounded.

Eleonora simply returned her glare with a cold stare.

“I’m the one who should be saying this is horrible. If you people… if Erik hadn’t called out my true nature, we could have all gotten along just fine.”

The look of intoxicated pleasure on Eleonora’s face slowly hardened.

“All this time, I’ve been holding back. I’ve somehow managed to suppress this urge to beat and brutalize every single person who enters my line of sight… I created a loophole for myself, telling myself it was okay to kill them if they were villains, if only they were villains, just to keep myself under control…!!”

She gritted her teeth hard.

“I became a knight to fix this twisted personality of mine. I thought that if I joined the pure and noble ranks of the knightly order, it might dilute these urges… but nothing changed. This is probably the real reason I was never accepted into the Royal Capital’s knightly order.”

Even after becoming a knight—no, because she had become a knight—Eleonora’s attacks on criminals grew increasingly severe.

Because her targets were villains, she was never punished, but she was never promoted, either.

“Next, I started clinging to the word ‘justice.’ I am justice, therefore I must act in a just manner. That’s how I managed to keep myself suppressed…!!”

For the first time, Miriam understood that Eleonora had not accepted her twisted nature as a good thing.

Her confession carried a visceral intensity, as if she were coughing up blood.

To fix her warped personality, Eleonora had likely tried everything.

She had tried to reform herself by joining the knights, and when that failed, she had tried to deceive herself with the word “justice” to keep her urges in check…

Eleonora’s years of suffering washed over Miriam, and she found she could no longer bring herself to condemn her.

But that didn’t mean she could forgive her.

Her precious partner, Erik, was a bloody mess, and Eleonora had inflicted so much damage that even Miriam’s exceptionally fast healing magic still couldn’t restore him.

“With the word and deeds of ‘justice,’ I managed to deceive even myself… I was managing things just fine. By unleashing my brutal attacks on criminals, I kept myself from turning my fangs on other, innocent people… That’s what I was doing!!”

Eleonora’s head snapped up, her face a mask of demonic fury.

“But then you people… Erik had to go and say something he shouldn’t have! And now I remember what my true nature is! What are you going to do about it!? From now on, I might not just attack criminals, but innocent people too!!”

Eleonora condemned Erik, faint tears shimmering in her eyes.

All this time, she had been desperately fighting a war against herself, all alone.

But now that Erik had exposed her true nature, she could no longer return to being a knight of justice.

Because the pleasure she had felt from striking Erik—who was not a villain—had also been absolutely overwhelming.

Now that she had remembered this joy, she could no longer limit herself to killing only villains.

“That’s such a selfish excuse…!!”

Miriam seethed with a powerful anger toward Eleonora.

She shot Eleonora a glare so intense it was unlike anything she’d ever shown before, and opened her mouth to unleash a torrent of abuse…

“Mi-Miriam…”

“Erik!?”

The one who had placed a hand on Miriam’s shoulder was Erik, who had apparently lost consciousness (from the overwhelming sensation).

He was trembling unsteadily, but he was trying to stand up again.

At this, both Miriam and Eleonora’s eyes went wide with shock.

“D-Don’t be reckless, just sit down. My healing magic can close your wounds, but it can’t restore your stamina or mental fatigue…”

“No, I’m okay. This… this person is someone I have to deal with.”

Erik smiled at the worried Miriam and rose to his feet.

Standing before him was Eleonora, who was staring at him as if he were an impossible sight.

“…I’m impressed. My attack should have caused enough damage to ensure you would never stand again.”

Eleonora’s physical strength combined with her hardened gauntlets, slammed into an unguarded jaw—it wouldn’t have been strange if his entire face had been pulverized. It wouldn’t have been strange if he had died.

Even though he had been healed by Miriam, his mental fortitude to be able to stand again was astonishing.

Would a normal person, even if they survived an attack like that, even think of standing up to face their attacker again?

Most, she thought, would be unable to.

“To still have the willpower to stand… I suppose that’s to be expected of a Hero, a Guardian. …No, perhaps you’re actually a Berserker? Is that it? Do you want to fight me that badly?”

If that was the case, then she could kill him without reservation.

Yes, she could torment Erik for her own desires once more…

But in response to Eleonora’s words, he just gave a bitter smile.

“Sorry, but I don’t think I can meet that expectation. Eleonora-san’s attacks are… extremely effective. I don’t think I can fight.”

That much was obvious to anyone watching.

Erik’s legs were wobbly, and his entire body was bloody from her punches and the cuts from the spikes on her gauntlets.

Even though Miriam had closed his wounds, the amount of blood that had soaked into his clothes was staggering.

“Then why did you stand up? If you had just stayed down, I might have let you go…”

She looked at him, confused, unable to understand why he had risen. But the next words he spoke made Eleonora’s face freeze over.

“Let’s see. I suppose it’s to save you, Eleonora-san.”

“…………Huh?”