Suicide Before Defeating the Final Boss – 116
EP.116 Play
A blood-soaked priest fell onto the flashy black desk.
He calmly greeted the priest, who was now stained in dark red, as he looked at the bloodied robe.
“It’s been a while… or, I guess, not so much for you, huh?”
Due to the nature of the subspace pouch, where time was halted, from Lea’s perspective, no more than ten seconds had likely passed since that day.
He muttered something, then grabbed Lea’s collar and gently pulled her up as he whispered.
“I really missed you. Truly.”
At his words, Lea trembled slightly but couldn’t push him away.
Whether she didn’t have the strength to resist, or if she didn’t mind the action, he couldn’t be sure, but one thing was clear: she was in a position where she couldn’t help but listen to him, no matter the reason.
“… Hero.”
Lea, struggling to catch her breath, called out to him, her voice trembling.
To anyone who didn’t know the situation, it would probably seem like a scene from a tragic romance story, where the female lead was rushing toward a doomed ending.
He looked at Lea, who was calling him so wistfully, and a wave of disgust washed over him.
‘… What a crazy woman.’
She was the perpetrator, yet until the very end, she acted like a victim…
He wanted nothing more than to strangle her right then and there, but he held himself back, as there was still much to be done.
With a deep sigh, he continued speaking to her.
“Why?”
“……”
When he gave her the chance to speak, she just stared at him silently.
Her eyes held no resentment or even anger.
As he watched her with that expression, he let out a bitter laugh.
‘Really… this is just too much.’
He had always felt something was off.
This woman, as well as the second princess, seemed to have changed completely after his death, as though they had become different people.
‘If they had just regretted it, I might have understood.’
But this was beyond mere regret; she acted as though she had fallen in love and was willing to sacrifice everything. It was nauseating.
He couldn’t make sense of it as he gazed at Lea, covered in blood, but he couldn’t resist speaking up with a slight sense of curiosity.
“Hey, don’t tell me… you like me?”
He shouted a line that sounded straight out of a third-rate romance novel, and the reaction he received was more than a little telling.
Her face turned bright red, and her fingers trembled…
Was this really the same person who only knew torture and pain? Her reaction was bizarre, to say the least.
‘This is absurd.’
For her to be acting like this, someone who hated him so much…
It was then that he realized something was seriously off.
‘Something must be influencing her, but… I have no idea what it is.’
Lost in thought, he shook his head and dismissed the idea.
In the grand scheme of things, it wasn’t that important.
‘It doesn’t really matter. Even if this damn woman hated me because of some external force.’
The fact that she did those things would never change.
So he decided to simplify things.
‘Just focus on the clean revenge.’
If these people had tormented him due to some external influence, then he could also take his revenge in a similar way, using the same excuse.
That way, there would be no sense of injustice on either side.
He knew better than anyone that giving leniency only led to his own detriment.
Having made up his mind, he drew his sword, no longer hesitating.
“… Just wait a moment. This is all a misunderstanding… My words…!”
“What’s the misunderstanding?”
“This… everything… it’s all the saintess’s manipulation…!”
Lea, still refusing to repent and instead trying to pin the blame on Lucia, made him laugh.
A bright grin spread across his face as he decided to put an end to his spiraling thoughts.
‘Fine. If this revenge is deemed unjust or the situation too complicated…’
Then there was no need to frame it as revenge.
He could just think of it as dealing with these bastards because it was satisfying.
With that resolution, he managed to rid himself of one of the nagging doubts that had been holding him back. He continued speaking.
“The saintess? You mean Lucia?”
When Lea nodded hesitantly, he thought about the upcoming “plan.” Specifically, the operation to infiltrate the church under the guise of a demon sent as a sacrificial pawn by Duke Pamur. He decided to sow a seed in Lea’s mind that might prove useful.
‘This approach wouldn’t work on a normal person.’
But judging from her current state, it seemed likely to take root. It was worth trying.
‘If this works,’ he thought, grinning inwardly, ‘it won’t just deal a blow to the Pope. It’ll leave a nightmare that haunts him until his dying breath.’
With that, he decided to keep Lea under his control for future use and ensure she’d play her part in the chaos to come.
‘Anyway, let’s call this plan…’
Witch Trial.
Yes, a witch trial targeting the Pope was already forming in his mind.
***
He stood in front of Reltra, who had her head buried in the desk, seemingly overwhelmed.
It was clear that Shin Si-ah had filled her in on the details, given her reaction.
He waited patiently for her to calm down before speaking.
“What’s wrong? You don’t want to do it?”
Reltra looked up at him, her face filled with despair. Her voice trembled as she responded.
“No, it’s not that… I just can’t believe one of the dukes aligned themselves with the church…”
“Fair enough.”
The mere fact that a demon had allied with humans was shocking enough.
But for one of the demon dukes, a representative of their kind, to strike a deal with the church—a sworn enemy of demons—was beyond comprehension.
He sipped his tea calmly, watching Reltra struggle to process the revelation.
‘According to Shin Si-ah, it’s like humans working with orcs,’ he mused.
No wonder she was so shaken.
Still, dwelling on what had already happened was pointless.
He snapped Reltra out of her daze and began explaining the details of his plan.
When he was done, Reltra looked even more bewildered than before. She turned to Shin Si-ah, her expression filled with disbelief.
“… Lord Demon King? This person… he’s a hero, right?”
Shin Si-ah avoided her gaze, looking off into the distance with her lips tightly shut.
Watching their reactions, he couldn’t help but chuckle. Then he continued.
“Regardless, I’ll need your help to make this work.”
“If it’s a request from Jeong-hyeon, I’ll do anything to help,” Shin Si-ah declared without hesitation.
“I’ll do whatever the Demon King desires,” Reltra added, her tone equally unwavering.
The only task remaining was to take these two along and “negotiate”—or more accurately, intimidate—Duke Pamur.
Jeong-hyeon decided that if the Duke refused to cooperate, the next step would be to kill him. With that resolution in mind, he spoke casually.
“Anyway, let’s go stir up as much chaos as we can.”
Reltra turned to him with the same conflicted expression she’d shown earlier. Jeong-hyeon merely shrugged and, like Shin Si-ah before him, averted his gaze.
***
In the underground chamber of the church, constructed entirely of pristine white marble, the Pope stood with the inquisitors, her gaze fixed on a grotesquely transformed, new-generation Paladin.
A faint smile graced her lips.
“It seems to have turned out stronger than expected. I’m pleased.”
She hadn’t yet seen the Paladin in action, so its full strength was unknown. However, based on its overwhelming physical prowess, overflowing divine power, and unnaturally high intelligence, she surmised it might even surpass the previous generation’s Hero.
“A Paladin stronger than the world’s savior… How fascinating.”
If the world were a story, this new Paladin might dethrone the Hero as the protagonist, she mused. Its abilities alone outclassed anyone else by far.
The Pope chuckled at the thought.
“With this… we’ll restore the faith of our believers, capture that elusive Hero, and bring everything to a close.”
Just as her thoughts began to settle, the grotesque Paladin before her, with three faces embedded in its twisted form, began to weep tears of blood. A pained voice echoed from it.
“Give it back… please… give it back…”
“Oh my,” the Pope murmured, realizing the haste of their creation had left remnants of its human consciousness intact.
Rushing things is never a good habit, she thought to herself, instructing the person in charge to erase the Paladin’s lingering self completely.
“As you command.”
At the person in charge’s signal, the inquisitors and holy knights encircled the Paladin, attempting to force it back into containment. But one of the embedded faces—a child’s—kept resisting, crying out desperately for “Father.”
“Father…?”
The Pope quickly deduced that the “father” in question must have been the previous Paladin, whose corpse had been rendered unusable as a material. Sighing softly, she placed a hand on the child’s weeping face embedded in the grotesque body and spoke in a calm, almost maternal tone.
“Don’t cry. Be proud. Both your father and you have made sacrifices for the salvation of humanity.”
She reassured the child to endure the pain a little longer, imbuing divine power into the body as she spoke.
“Hicc… ahh…”
The sobbing continued, faint but persistent.
As she listened, the Pope turned to the inquisitors standing behind her.
“The moment preparations are complete, we will begin the performance. Secure as many magic crystals as possible to broadcast this to the believers and all citizens of the kingdom.”
The immense resources required would make this a risky endeavor, but the potential payoff was worth it. If this succeeded, not only would all current issues be resolved, but the church’s future would also be secured.
“It’s an investment worth making,” the Pope concluded, wiping away the Paladin’s tears with deliberate care.
“When the day comes, make a spectacular display,” she whispered, her voice tinged with anticipation.
A display not as God’s savior, but as the church’s savior. With that, the new Paladin was forced back into its shadowed confinement, ready to play its role in the grand, twisted performance to come.