Chapter 176
Daphne pushed her way into the hazy smoke. Boom, boom! A series of blasts rang out, one after another, as though bombs were going off. The sound of the lair being smashed and shattered continued without pause.
Of course, having the gold bastard’s lair get smashed to pieces was a fine thing in itself, but the reason behind that destruction—taking Daphne’s own body, that is, Sellus’s corpse—was not a fine thing at all.
So Daphne launched a flying kick at the figures attempting to break through the magic circle protecting Sellus’s corpse.
Thwack—!
“Ugh!”
Watching the man go flying, Daphne narrowed her eyes.
“They’re only wearing masks—the clothes underneath are priest’s robes.”
At that, Shio, who had been busy casting protective spells over Daphne beside her, replied.
“Ah, right. Weird. Are they trying to hide their identity or reveal it?”
“Probably both.”
Daphne smirked and drew her sword.
“Been quite a while since I’ve had to use a blade.”
Daphne narrowed her eyes, pointing the tip of her sword toward the humans.
Every one of them wore a mask carved with strange symbols, and with only their darting eyeballs visible through the eye holes, the sight was thoroughly unsettling.
But did she care?
Daphne had no particular thoughts on whatever they were wearing. All she cared about was stopping them from touching her body.
“Unless you want to see just how impressively skilled I am, enough to leave you all reeling, I’d suggest backing off.”
Daphne offered the warning as a courtesy, but they gave no answer. And not just no answer—they charged straight at Daphne, utterly fearless.
“Die!”
Clang!
Daphne instinctively blocked the arm of the man charging at her with the edge of her blade, and, astonishingly, the arm didn’t sever.
Not a single drop of blood. In fact, the sound itself had been “clang!” A sound like metal striking metal.
“…Oh.”
Only now did Daphne begin to vaguely piece together who these people were.
“These aren’t those chimera things that yellow bastard was making, are they?”
She asked, turning to Shio.
“Ah! Seems like it. No wonder they’re this strong for humans.”
Shio grumbled, though it was little more than a light jab. However much power they might have inherited from a gold dragon as chimeras, their fundamental nature remained human. Naturally, they were no match for Shio, an actual dragon.
“Yo—you…! Die!”
“Not dying.”
Shio replied lightly, using a wind-based spell to blast the attacker far off into the distance.
But behind him, another attacker appeared, and another, and another. Yes. The most terrifying thing about humans was their sheer numbers. There was no end to them.
“Lady Daphne, there’s way too many of these guys.”
“I have eyes too, you know.”
Daphne scowled at the endless wave of humans—no, chimeras—closing in. Then, as though suddenly recalling something, she glanced around.
“I thought Lani was here earlier.”
“Ah, yes. I can still sense his presence.”
“Then where’d he go?”
“Probably hiding somewhere in that crowd, mask and all.”
“Ahh.”
Daphne nodded at Shio’s words, then let out a hollow laugh and glared at him.
“That’s not the answer I wanted to hear! I told you to find him!”
“Ah.”
“Find him!”
“Yes, ma’am…”
Why do I feel like I’m the only one doing any work here? Shio thought, feeling somewhat wronged, but reminding himself that whoever likes someone first always loses, he expanded his senses across their surroundings.
And Daphne, leaving Shio to it, planted herself directly in front of Sellus’s body.
“If you want to touch me, you’ll have to get through me first.”
Hum, sword energy gathered around the blade Daphne held. That energy shimmered like the light of a vast, boundless universe, both radiant and profound. A form of the Galaxy Sword technique Heros had once taught her.
‘I was the one killed by the hero, and yet here I am, using the very swordsmanship he taught me to protect that same self.’
Thinking it over again, it really was ironic and strangely funny. Daphne muttered this to herself, and it seemed she wasn’t the only one to have had that exact thought.
Someone walked toward her from beyond the smoke.
Thud, thud, his steps unwavering.
Approaching in a straight, unhesitating line, his destination was clear, and that destination was, unmistakably, Daphne. Heros Achion approached Daphne in exactly this way.
“Hm?”
Daphne tilted her head.
Hadn’t she left Heros beside Elise, after all? Given how desperately Heros had been searching for his wife all this time, she’d assumed he would want to spend more time speaking with her… so where had he left Elise?
“Why’d you come alone? Where’s Elise?”
“…”
Heros didn’t answer right away. No, he couldn’t answer. Who could possibly call their own mother by name?
Even if this had been the first time he’d ever laid eyes on her, even if all he’d seen was merely her spirit, even so… if he truly believed himself to be her “daughter,” he wouldn’t have called his own mother by name like that.
A hollow breath slipped between Heros’s teeth.
“Daphne.”
He looked down at Daphne, his mouth opening and closing wordlessly, before clenching his fist tight.
“No…”
Then, with a bitter smile, he said.
“Calamity.”
At Heros’s words, Daphne simply stood still, silent. Said nothing, showed no expression whatsoever. Which left Heros feeling somewhat hollow.
“Why aren’t you surprised?”
Daphne wore an expression suggesting the question itself was absurdly obvious.
“I figured you’d have already worked it out by now, at this point. Elise appeared, my body’s right there, and the Emperor and Lani are causing a scene—how could you not know?”
“…Ha.”
Heros felt something strange stir within him. Part of him marveled at how brazenly Daphne was taking all this, and yet part of him also thought that this was, in a way, exactly like her. A peculiar feeling. Hard to put into words.
“So then,”
Heros drew in a deep breath, weighing each word with deliberate emphasis.
“Did you enter that body to take revenge on me?”
Daphne’s light green eyes glinted as she stared steadily at Heros. Revenge, revenge. That damned word, revenge.
Of course, at the very start, it had indeed been about taking revenge on the hero.
But now…
Daphne smiled bitterly.
“Would you believe me if I told you the truth?”
Before Heros could answer, Daphne added further.
“No. Even if you believed me, you’d still doubt it. Wondering if I’d lied to you, if I’d made it up, if this was really revenge or not, all of that.”
“…”
Heros couldn’t offer any response. Because Daphne’s words were exactly right.
“Hero.”
Daphne blinked slowly, looking up at Heros.
“Elise told me to make a choice.”
And continued.
“Whether to return to my own body, or to keep living in this one.”
For a moment, Heros, who had faltered at the mention of Elise’s name, took a beat longer to grasp her meaning, his expression twisting slightly as he looked down at Daphne.
“Have you chosen?”
“No.”
Daphne shook her head.
“I decided that wasn’t a choice I was meant to make.”
“…What?”
“You choose.”
From the very moment she’d first heard about this “choice,” Daphne had already been thinking that the decision needed to be left to Heros.
This wasn’t out of some sense of loyalty to Heros, or anything like that.
It was simply because she believed this body—whatever curse it might have been, however it had come to be—the choice properly belonged to the parent who had created this body, this very body that existed regardless.
‘Elise wanted me to return, but that opinion was made considering the soul, not the body.’
Heros, the father of this body, surely stood in a different position entirely. And so Daphne handed the choice over to Heros.
“Whether your daughter is the Daphne from before, or me, as I am now. If it’s the former, I’ll return to the Calamity’s body. If it’s the latter, I’ll give up the Calamity’s body entirely.”
Heros stared blankly at Daphne, as though he’d lost his senses entirely… then muttered flatly.
“You’re telling me, to choose.”
“Yes.”
Heros’s face twisted into a harsh scowl.
“Daphne, you…!”
