The Grill-Wielding Saintess of the Dead

Chapter 127 I Really, Really Missed You.

Blink, blink…

‘Is this real…? Is it really real…?’

Is this a hallucination?

It’s not fake, right?

Is this real…?

Shia repeatedly closed and opened her eyes.

She even pinched her cheek.

Since it hurt, it wasn’t a dream.

“Huhu, why are you making that face?”

Ah, ah…

I don’t know.

What is this emotion?

Is it happiness?

Sadness?

Joy?

Excitement?

Thrill?

Ah, I don’t know.

It feels good somehow…

It really, really feels good, but…

I can’t describe it in words.

I want to jump around.

I want to cry and shed tears.

I just want to sob and wail.

I want to close my eyes like this.

I can’t.

This feeling…

I don’t understand.

Can I… can I be happy?

Am I allowed to feel sad?

No… I still don’t understand.

My heart hurts too much.

I don’t know why it hurts….

“Huhu.”

Menelapie softly stroked my face.

Her hand, once roughened, but still tender in its touch.

The hand I loved the most.

The hand I held, because it felt so nice.

The hand we so often clasped… that hand…

The hand I couldn’t forget, it touched me again.

“It’s been a long time, but I have to ask.”

“….Ah……”

“Who dared to make you cry?”

Her stroking hand, which had feigned anger, briefly pulled away.

“I’ll be back soon.”

She would be back soon…

My hero.

How could you remain unchanged like this?

○○○○○○○○

A saintess is someone who performs miracles.

I know that.

I know it very well.

Because I, too, performed countless miracles in my own way.

Once, I too was a saintess.

Once, I too…

Had grasped onto the lifeline of hope…

But this…

This is too much.

“……..This is unbelievable….”

Ah, this must be a cruel joke.

No, not a joke, but a punishment.

Liricia twisted her lips into a smile.

Her tentacles laughed, too.

Was she laughing at herself?

Ah, yes. That must be it.

The situation was so miserable that she unconsciously mocked herself.

That’s the only explanation.

My Menelapie is dead.

Teresa is dead too.

All those whose names I knew are dead.

Everyone whose names I didn’t know is dead too.

What remains for me is only evil.

So I fought. I killed. I devoured.

With only the hope that if I killed the wicked Demon King, everything would return to normal.

I crammed the blood and corpses of the dead into my mouth, eradicating evil.

Even though my body felt like it would burst from the malignant energy, I swallowed it all and consumed him…

Yet in the end, I became the Demon King.

At some point, it was me that the humans I was supposed to protect feared the most.

Yes, the foreign entity was me.

How sorrowful. So sorrowful.

But you, Shia.

Shia of this world.

You still have so many by your side.

There are still many who believe in you.

There are still those who won’t leave you lonely.

You are no longer alone.

Yes.

Are you happy?

You are happy, aren’t you!

You still have tears left to shed!

I am so envious of that.

I’m so envious I could go mad.

Ah… no, maybe I already went mad.

I don’t know anymore…

“…….A hero has appeared…”

That unforgettable light.

The golden roses I once had.

“Hoo, huhu…”

The owner of the golden roses who had smiled at Shia slowly walked through the rift, standing before Liricia.

She probably sensed it right away.

That even though they had the same face, they were entirely different beings.

Menelapie Hailam.

The hero of a world.

The Empress,

The savior who saved the world, and at the same time… the one and only hero of the Saintess of the Dead, Shia.

That was the one who stepped forward.

Brushing away the darkness that clung to her ankles, she stood there, shining in brilliant golden light.

“……..Ah, I’m jealous.”

I lost everything.

I let everything slip away…

What good is lamenting?

What good is sighing?

All I have left is evil.

Only the dreadful name of the Witch of the Dark Star remains.

“…Hello?”

“Shut your mouth.”

Ah, how cruel.

I was so happy to see you.

“Hey, I’m Shia too. I’m also the Saintess of the Dead. Can’t we at least share a hug? I’m feeling so jealous…”

The Witch of the Dark Star smiled as black tears of blood streamed down her face.

Menelapie, who watched her for a moment, quietly closed her eyes.

Malignant energy surged again.

The malice filled with jealousy, anger, and murderous intent opened its ravenous maw wide.

I’m so jealous.

I’m so jealous.

I’m envious.

So envious I want to die.

I’m so envious I want to steal everything.

Menelapie.

Menelapie?

Won’t you come to me?

Let me. Let me…

Let me have you again.

But Menelapie, without hesitation, drew her sword.

Srrrng…

The sword she slowly unsheathed shimmered with golden light.

The sword, shining even more brightly because it was in the darkness, was the light that cut through the world filled with the darkness of jealousy.

I’m jealous.

I’m jealous.

I’m so jealous.

“You seem to despise the fragments of the Demon King.”

Ah, how did you know?

“In the end, devouring the despair of others and stealing their lives is no different.”

“Ah, I see… that’s how you… see it…?”

Yes… as expected, you’re Menelapie.

You know so well.

You know me so well…

Yes.

There’s no need for more words.

You won’t come to me.

Then all that’s left for me to do…

Is to take it by force.

[Flesh Miracle – Holy Body Descent]

Tentacles bloomed like flowers.

The great, ravenous maw, starved by malice and hunger, opened wide to consume the golden aura.

Let me eat.

Let me have you.

Let me have you again…

You… you…!

Ah, my hero! My hero! My heeeroooo!!

Let me have my lost hero again…!

Touch me again!

Thud!

At that moment, a golden aura flared up.

The air grew heavy.

The physical pressure increased, making it difficult to breathe.

Hundreds, thousands of dark tentacles that had been firing toward Menelapie halted.

The pause lasted as long as a blink of an eye, even shorter than that. But for Menelapie, that was enough.

Because she was…

The only hero of the Saintess of the Dead.

“The Saintess I knew, though her body was of the dead, her heart was human.”

A fake like you, who compromised with evil.

“I hope you understand just how laughable it is for someone like you, corrupted by malevolent energy, to call yourself a saintess.”

Don’t you dare imitate my dear friend.

“This is a reunion with my beloved friend.”

[Great Severance…]

“Dare not let a mere fragment interfere.”

A line of light cut through the darkness.

It wasn’t violent.

Nor was it quiet.

The radiant golden sword, originally there, cleaved through the world beyond the rift and the darkness entirely.

At the tip of the sword was the Witch of the Dark Star.

“Disappear.”

[…Full Bloom of the Golden Rose]

Kwaaakakakakakakakakakakakakakakak!!!!!!!!!

Ah, I knew this would happen…

A flower bloomed.

As the massive golden bud spread its petals with all its might, it became a flame that consumed those who harbored darkness.

Golden aura.

Burn.

For those you seek to protect, you are a flower and a shield, and for those who fear you, you are a sword and a devouring flame…

“Sleep without further ill intentions.”

Liricia… No, the Witch of the Dark Star looked at the petals that now enveloped her.

Even if she wanted to grasp it again.

Even if she wished to hold just a single flower once more.

That brilliant golden rose was now the flames of judgment burning her.

She could no longer hold it.

She could no longer reach it.

She could no longer be together.

Ah, ah…

She reached out her hand.

A hand that would never reach…

Somehow, it felt as though it touched Menelapie’s face.

“….Ah, this is how it was meant to be.”

For the last time, just once…

“I have cut away the evil within you.”

Just let me touch it once more…

“You are now neither dead nor a saintess.”

Though you could not live as a human,

“You can die as one.”

Ah…

Thank you…

My hero…

○○○○○

It was a single sword strike.

A single golden rose in bloom.

But with that alone, the world was split.

With that single bloom, the malevolent energy that embraced the darkness was swept away, and the owner of the golden rose that lit the world, fluttered his red cloak as he gazed at his saintess.

“It was darkness.”

An endless darkness.

It was something slightly different from the abyss.

The abyss consumes me, but this darkness merely watches over me.

Why is that?

No feelings of fear, no sense of unfamiliarity arose.

Facing the darkness, instead, I felt a strange familiarity.

“And so, I wandered dimensions as the darkness watched.”

I moved forward.

I passed through countless worlds.

Of course, it wasn’t entirely comfortable.

There were moments I nearly lost myself, buried in the darkness.

But just remembering you, just recalling the memories of you, gave me strength I didn’t have before.

“And then I heard a sound.”

A very longed-for sound.

“The sound I thought I’d want to hear just once more. The voice that once called out to me…”

It was calling to me so desperately.

Even though it wasn’t your voice, I could tell.

I am needed.

You need me.

I must be by your side.

“Even in the darkness, where countless voices overlapped, I knew as soon as I heard it.”

Yes, how could I not know?

“No matter how much those voices pressed, overlapped, or echoed, it was your voice.”

How could I not recognize your sorrowful cries?

How could I not hear it?

“And so, for the first time, I reached out to the darkness.”

I wanted to clear it away, but it didn’t go as I wished.

The darkness clung to me as if it wanted to hold me.

Or as if it wanted to go with me, it stayed close by.

“But then… I saw a light. Very small, very faint… but it was a light I knew. A light I’d definitely seen before.”

The unforgettable light of mine.

“The light of the saintess who swept away the Demon King and his castle.”

As I regained my senses, I found myself holding a sword as if it were natural.

And when I realized it, I had already swung it.

As I tore through something and emerged, you were the first thing I saw.

Yes, that’s how it happened.

Step, step.

“Haha, but… you truly are a terrible flirt. You couldn’t even wait and already have someone new.”

A faint smile spread across Menelapie’s face as she playfully looked at Yeonhwa.

That smile, just like before, was as radiant as a masterpiece painted by a great artist.

It was so joyous.

So joyous that…

Shia couldn’t believe it was real, and she couldn’t even breathe properly.

Is it real that I’m standing here?

Could this be a dream?

Is this some cruel joke from a mischievous god who wants to torment me?

Such thoughts came to mind.

“Hmph, I missed you, but what about you?”

But the sight before me is real.

The one and only hero standing before me is no lie.

I should say I’m glad to see you.

I should say I missed you so much…

“Haha…. I missed you.”

I missed you too.

“Really, so much…. I’ve never stopped missing you, not for a single moment.”

Me too, me too…

I really missed you…!

I couldn’t speak.

I wanted to say it.

Sniff, hic… I want to say it.

I wanted to say that I missed you so much…!

“In every step I took, every breath I breathed, in every moment, you were there.”

“Sniff, hic… ha… hic….!”

“You, who gently embraced me, you, who smiled at me so calmly, and you, who coldly abandoned me and left.”

No.

No.

I didn’t abandon you…

I really missed you.

“You were everywhere. And that’s why I missed you even more.”

On the day we parted… you told me.

The day the golden rose withered.

The day that radiant light shattered.

[It’s okay. Everything will be alright.]

Even though you cried and grieved, you smiled as if to say it was okay, and said that.

“But, in truth……I…”

A small light trembled in Menelapie’s smiling eyes.

“I… wasn’t okay.”

In truth, I wasn’t okay at all.

I wanted to be okay, just like you said.

But I wasn’t.

“And so… so… because I wasn’t okay… because I wanted to be okay… I came to find you.”

So, Shia.

My Shia.

My saintess.

My light.

“So, answer me.”

“Sniff, hic… ha…ahh….”

Please, answer me.

“Am I still in your memories?”

No more words were needed.

How could they be?

No matter how many words, no matter how floridly crafted by a bard, none could express the joy and happiness between us now.

I too, I too.

I too…

I remember you.

I recall you.

I haven’t forgotten you.

You, you…

And so, I walked.

To you, who was more welcome than ever, always bringing me joy when we met.

To you, whom I was so delighted to see.

To you, whom I could never stop missing.

To you, whom I never forgot.

I now…

Walk to embrace you, who is too radiant to weep for.

Goodbye.

My hero.

Goodbye.

My saintess.