Prologue

The world ended.

The once blue sky turned black.

By a single demon who had lurked beneath the surface of the Empire, a great power, accumulating strength and authority for hundreds of years.

It was a fact so obvious that even three-year-old snot-nosed kids running around the slums could understand it.

Yet those in power never spoke of such obvious facts.

Was it because they didn’t know? No, they knew the world had ended too. They probably knew it more specifically than others.

Even so, they never spoke of it. Because the moment they did, it would mean acknowledging that everything had truly ended.

Those in power hide the situation. They hide it to show hope. Because they haven’t acknowledged it, there might be something.

There might be something that could turn this situation around. That’s what people can believe.

Because they can believe that.

“…There sure are a lot.”

That’s why there are people who risk their lives on battlefields where death is certain.

It was something someone had to do.

Someone had to sacrifice their life to buy time against the demon army that was advancing moment by moment to trample the lines of fleeing refugees.

Someone had to sacrifice for them, so I decided to do it.

“Damn it.”

I reach out my hand and unleash holy power.

The Pantheon Temple, which records and serves the numerous gods that exist in this world.

I recreate miracles based on faith in the gods recorded there.

Crack!

The power received in exchange for faith is the lightning of ‘Jupiter’, one of the many celestial gods recorded in the Pantheon Temple.

The brightly shining holy power transforms into lightning, taking the form of a spear.

And it flies toward the demon army gathered before my eyes.

CRACKLE!!

The power of one particularly high-ranking among those called celestial gods burns the demon at the front.

The tip of the lightning spear that pierced through that demon splits and spreads to the demons lined up behind.

“Haa……”

Around 20 demons were silenced by that single strike.

If this had been a normal many-against-one battle, it would have been a great achievement, but unfortunately, what I’m facing is an army.

“Are you satisfied?”

A demon who appears to be an officer raises the corner of their mouth slightly and asks.

They’re mocking me.

At the fact that despite risking my life to fight like this, this is all I could manage.

“You did well for a human.”

“……”

“So die satisfied that you fought this much.”

“Haha……”

It’s quite amusing how they’re acting like an honorable knight while coming to trample refugees.

“Why are you still acting like a knight when you became a half-demon because you were afraid of death?”

A being who was originally human.

But a traitor to humanity who sold their soul to demons, tempted by an immortal body. They may have been a knight before becoming a half-demon, but after betraying humanity, such a title is too good for them.

“I see.”

“Kugh…!”

Crack!

In the blink of an eye, I’m pierced by the demon officer’s attack.

“I understand. Criticism is all that a loser can say.”

I’m frustrated. I couldn’t be more frustrated than this.

They were someone whose name I didn’t even know. Not even a high-ranking officer with widespread infamy, just one of many knights.

And I lost to such a person.

“Continue the advance. I can’t even be bothered to play along with such pathetic tricks.”

The demon who pierced my heart snorts and leads their army.

Far from confirming my death, they ostentatiously walk past where I am.

“Damn it……”

I wasn’t a hero.

I couldn’t create miracles.

A task that someone had to do. But I couldn’t even accomplish that.

Despite pouring everything I had into it, I couldn’t even hold back the advancing army’s feet for 10 minutes.

I failed to buy time.

It wasn’t just me. Everyone around who took up arms with similar resolve met the same end.

I was just one of many who were swept away by the enemy army.

“You’re in quite a state, ■■■.”

At that moment, when I was waiting for death in the place where the army had passed.

A woman with pure white wings descended from the sky.

Sky-blue hair and pure white wings.

A person wearing an equally pure white mask and clothing.

“Saintess.”

Of the two apostles of god beloved by all deities in the Pantheon Temple that serves numerous gods.

Commonly known as the Heaven’s Saintess.

She descended before me in person.

“Why is my attendant dying in a place like this? Wasn’t today supposed to be for paperwork?”

“Indeed it was.”

Though I was a priest directly under the Saintess and a heresy inquisitor, I wasn’t particularly someone who tried to live righteously.

If anything, I was someone who would fit better in back alleys.

Why did someone like me risk their life in this situation? Did I suddenly want to protect someone?

No…

That’s not it. I couldn’t do that. If that were the case, I had dozens of chances. But I’m someone who has repeatedly run away each time.

Even so, the reason I tried to buy time to protect the refugees.

The reason I wanted to burn this one life.

“I guess I couldn’t become like you after all, Saintess.”

It was because I admired someone who lived such a life.

Because I wanted to be able to stand proudly before that person.

“Has the evacuation finished?”

“Yes, ■■■. Thanks to you, thousands of people saved their lives.”

“Are you just saying that?”

“I’m being sincere.”

Whether those words are truly sincere, or if they’re just final comfort she’s giving to me as I die, I don’t know.

Because her pure white mask doesn’t reveal any emotions.

That’s the kind of world this is.

It’s not strange that the ‘Saintess’, who should be a beacon of hope for people, doesn’t want to show a despairing expression to the masses.

Though it does feel a bit cruel that she’s like this even before me as I’m dying.

“I think it’s about time now.”

My vision is blurry.

The voices I hear are muffled.

“Aren’t you going to ask if I can heal you?”

“I’ve been by your side as your attendant for the past 3 years, Saintess. I know well enough that you can’t heal this.”

“…I suppose you would.”

I was truly a nobody. But the Saintess took me in, made me a priest, and appointed me as her attendant.

“Please tell Claire that I’m sorry.”

“After hating each other so much normally, now you say this?”

“How could I face that kid with any dignity?”

If I was the Saintess’s left arm, then her right arm was the church’s strongest paladin and guard knight, ‘Claire Ryan’.

And I am her enemy.

Because when her brother was dying, I ran away from that place.

I wanted to live.

So I ran from something I couldn’t handle. And that’s how Claire lost the only family she could rely on.

But Claire didn’t blame me. She just disliked me.

So I acted in a way that would let her hate me comfortably. That was all I could do for her.

“■■■, if you had a chance to turn back time, could you have acted differently then?”

“Even if I had acted differently, we would have ended up with the same relationship.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes, because Burke was more of a bastard than I thought.”

Claire’s brother Burke was a bastard. Sadly, he was someone who had to become that way.

Claire lived because he died. That’s what I think.

And if one of them had to live, I think it should have been Claire rather than Burke.

Of course, the same applies when compared to me.

If someone had to live, it should be that kid who’s called a hero, not a half-baked person like me.

So I die here.

If my death here bought even a little time for those called heroes, that’s enough.

“I’m tired now.”

All I can see now is white and sky blue.

Both are the Saintess’s colors.

The sky that originally represented those colors is no longer blue anyway.

Covered by that demon’s wings that appeared like a nightmare, now only a black sky without a single star remains.

“■■■ worked day and night with insomnia, so it’s natural to be tired.”

“Because it was a world where day and night couldn’t be distinguished. But today, I think I’ll be able to sleep well.”

“That’s good.”

It’s a pointless joke.

I know how much comfort such jokes can bring to the heart, and so does the Saintess. That’s why I imagined a tomorrow that would never come again.

Having tea time together, the Saintess preparing strange snacks, and me grumbling while eating them all up.

The Saintess who prepared the snacks wouldn’t even taste them herself and would just mock us.

When I get angry at that, Claire would glare at me with eyes saying I’m being irreverent.

I imagined such a pointless tomorrow.

While imagining tomorrow like that, my vision went dark.

“Good work, ■■■.”

“Yes… Saintess.”

Fighting off the drowsiness pouring over me, I barely manage to answer her emotionless words.

I forced my eyes open.

No matter how hard I try, it’s too dark to see the Saintess’s figure clearly.

So I don’t know if she’s really emotionless, but probably not.

“Though today may be like this, won’t ‘tomorrow’ be better?”

“Yes. I’ll do better.”

That’s how I’ve always been.

I’ve always tried not to repeat the same mistakes.

Tomorrow I’ll do better.

The day after tomorrow I’ll do even better.

That’s how I’ve endured until now. That’s how I rose to the position of high priest.

So…

“I’ll believe in you.”

In my final moment.

I was able to answer like that.

“Yes… Definitely…”

And when I opened my eyes again.

I felt the warm sunlight that should have been impossible to feel anymore.

*     *     *

“Mmm.”

A light that stabs at my eyes.

But it doesn’t feel entirely unpleasant, instead feeling somehow natural.

“……”

The moment I realized it was sunlight coming through the window gap, I felt an iciness completely opposite to that warmth.

“What?”

When I opened my eyes, I saw a bright scenery.

I’m speechless at the distortion of perception that makes me doubt even myself.

“What is this……”

Am I dreaming?

Or was everything until now a dream?

I raise my hands and look down at both of them.

Both hands were there. Though one arm had certainly been blown off while fighting, now I have both arms attached.

My body condition is unusually good too.

Only then did I check my surroundings. Seeing only the necessary items are furnished, it feels like an inn.

“Ah?”

On the table beside the bed are what appear to be my belongings.

Among them, I first noticed the sword my master passed down to me.

The sword that was stolen from me when I was heading to the city, not knowing any better.

The situation becomes clearer.

“A dream? Was it all just a dream?”

The time when I had just left my master and teacher’s side to venture into the world.

A time 10 years apart from the reality I remembered.

“A dream……”

Why?

If so, I should just dismiss it as a nightmare. That painfully difficult time never existed.

Then why do I feel such emptiness?

“No.”

Why do I want to think that it wasn’t all just a dream?

Even if it wasn’t a dream, why can’t I be happy about returning to a moment when everything was normal?

“…That can’t be.”

I opened my hand.

If it wasn’t a dream, if all of that was really the life I lived.

There’s a way to prove it. It should definitely be possible.

If physical power is the strength that accumulates in body and mind through training the flesh and honing skills, then holy power is the strength that accumulates in the soul.

Even if my body has returned to the past, my soul at least should be the same.

I became a priest 5 years from now, if everything until now was a dream, then this miracle would be impossible for me right now.

This should be proof.

I steady my breathing and concentrate. Though it’s holy power that I could handle like a part of my body, this is the first time I’ve felt so nervous about it.

Slowly, with confidence, yet carefully. I borrow the power of Baldr, the god of light recorded in the Pantheon Temple, in exchange for faith.

“Ha……”

Then a small light naturally rises above my outstretched hand.

If everything I experienced was just a dream, I wouldn’t have been able to use this proof of faith that was there.

“Haha……”

Everything became clear.

None of it was a dream. Even this moment isn’t a dream.

I’ve returned to the past from 10 years ago.

-Though today may be like this, won’t ‘tomorrow’ be better?

A ‘tomorrow’ that shouldn’t have come. And now I’ve gained a ‘tomorrow’ called 10 years ago.

“I see.”

I found the reason for my emptiness.

I gained an opportunity.

And I lost many things.

I gained the chance to redo the moments of wrong choices in the past.

All the relationships I built after crawling through the mud crumbled.

My heavy body became light, and my lost arm returned.

The sense of achievement from the few successes I built up through repeated failures disappeared.

“Saintess, I just.”

I didn’t want this opportunity.

It was certainly a painful and difficult time. Even objectively speaking, it couldn’t be called an excellent life.

But…

“I liked that. That miserable and worthless life.”

I had found happiness in such a worthless life.

Because even in that wretchedness, there was a ray of light.

But what is this?

I was satisfied.

Even with such a death.

I prided myself on being happy and joyful in the moments I spent with you.

“Saintess, you’re too cruel.”

But in the end, she said I could do better ‘tomorrow’.

And I answered that I would.

Then shouldn’t I do better? Shouldn’t I create the best possible results without missing this opportunity?

“Thanks to you, everything I achieved has crumbled.”

The world ended.

But now only my world did.

Because I won’t allow anything more than that.

I remember that horrific scenery.

I alone will remember and keep that horrific scenery inside.

Now, what I must do from ‘tomorrow’ onward has been decided.

“I will kill that demon in your stead, Saintess.”

That demon prepared from beneath the surface of the Empire. Probably for dozens, even hundreds of years wouldn’t be an exaggeration.

Facing such a being who only started moving after completing their preparations, victory was impossible from the start.

So I’ll shake things up.

When they rise from beneath the surface, judging they can win, I’ll make them realize too late that it isn’t so.

In the way I can, slowly strangling them.

In the way of a heresy inquisitor.

I will hunt Belial, the King of Darkness, the demon hiding and plotting within the Empire.