Became a tyrant of defense games - Episode 226
◈ 226. [STAGE 9] Arrow leaving the protest (2)
- Are you going to just sit there and wait for me to die??
Ash, who came to stand in front of him, said that..
Damian noticed..
This is my memory.
- so? I'll give up, let go, and you'll be fine.?
but… … when?
- I will fight! I will think and struggle until the last moment.!
When did we have this conversation??
- If you want to die like that! Immediately stab yourself in the throat with this knife..
memory,
- But if you're a coward who doesn't have the courage, Damian.
Memories are blocked by something…….
Suddenly!
At that time, Ban ran over and hugged Damien..
“Don't listen, Damien.!”
He covered both of Damien's ears with his half-wrinkled, trembling hands..
“It's because you're tired and tired right now. So wait a minute, that sounds like nonsense. are you okay. I'm with you.”
“…….”
“I will grow old and die with you. Forever, forever, I will be with you. therefore-”
Damian looked at the class, then shifted his gaze and looked at Ash..
- my…….
Ash was grinning and saying something..
Although Van's voice was blocked by Ban's hands, the shape of his mouth at that moment was clearly readable..
- ……It can be a trigger.
trigger?
Damian blinked blankly..
By trigger, do you mean the device that triggers the firearm??
But he has never held a gun in his life.…….
“uh?”
Damien looked down at his hands..
In his wrinkled, skinny old hand, he held something vaguely shaped like a long rifle..
A familiar feel that fits perfectly in your hand, as if you've been handling it for a very long time..
Damien looked ahead again..
Ash was already gone. The grandchildren who followed his son also disappeared like a mirage..
stumble!
Damien got out of bed like he was possessed by something..
My old legs, suffering from illness, lost strength. A sharp pain arose in my deeply bent back. He had long since become unable to move without a wheelchair..
But Damian used the long gun in his hand as a cane to land on the ground and slowly got out of bed..
“No, honey.!”
Ban screamed and tried to stop Damian, but Damian shook off Ban's hand and stood up..
And the moment I left my visit,
clattering…….
With the sound of sand being swept away by waves, the world began to break apart..
The mansion where I spent my old days disintegrated from the ceiling, as if caught in a storm, and soared into the sky..
Damian stood at the entrance to the crumbling mansion and looked down at the view of the city he had lived in all his life..
The world was falling apart.
It collapsed like a puzzle piece, falling to the ground and being rolled up into the sky..
Only then did Damian realize..
I see.
This place was a dream.
“no.”
Then I heard a voice from behind. Damian looked back..
“You can't go, Damien..”
half was standing.
Even though she has wrinkles and age spots, she still has the most beautiful face in the world in Damian's eyes. half were crying.
“You were the one who said we shouldn't go on adventures, Damian.!”
“…….”
“Don't go back. There is only sadness and suffering there..”
“…….”
“Hell awaits you! Damian, please!”
Then, Damien smiled faintly from the corner of his wrinkled mouth..
“Sorry, Ban. It was my dream to grow old and die peacefully with you like this... … I can't do that..”
“why?! It was your dream. Here you can live your dreams and live the way you want. But why!”
“I remembered your last words.”
Ban's will.
- Don't forget the promise you made back then.
The dawn of the day I escaped from the orphanage.
The promise we shared with our first kiss.
“Let's adventure all over the outside world. Let’s capture the whole wide world in our eyes.”
I remember.
Don't remember.
“Life here is happy, but you really didn't want to live like this..”
“…….”
“So, I have to go..”
Stumbling, hitting the floor with a rifle.
“Because I promised you.”
Old Damian started walking forward..
Into the crumbling world, without hesitation.
Rumble……!
The fragments of the shattered world turned into dust and scattered around Damian as he walked along the center of the city..
The theater where I walked in and out holding hands with my class..
My favorite restaurant where I never tried all the menu items, and the upper building where I worked all my life..
The park where we went on outings every weekend, the square where we knelt and proposed on the fall festival, and the semi-basement room where we started our honeymoon.…….
It all turned into dust and disappeared..
Every time that happened, old Damien became younger and younger..
The high, faded stairs leading to the door of the semi-basement house.
The cup that the couple used together, the vase that Van put flowers in every Monday, the lines that we drew on the wall every time our son grew taller, and the bed that we laid down on while holding hands and whispered our love.…….
Memories,
disappears.
evaporates without leaving anything behind.
Damien, now younger, didn't cry..
Without hesitation, I crushed my happy dreams and even managed to hold back my tears. I walked without stopping.
***
When Damien came to his senses, it was dawn on the day he escaped from the orphanage..
Damian and Van, now younger, were standing at the top of the mountain again..
“don't go… … You can't go…….”
Half was crying, covering her face with both hands..
“half.”
Damian looked at the girl he loved and said softly..
“We will be working as mercenaries from now on. It was one of the few things we could do with no money, but it also fit our purpose of wandering the world and having adventures..”
“…….”
“You have outstanding talent as a prosecutor and are quickly recognized. Although I am lacking, I am a partner with you as a healing priest..”
“…….”
“Go through all kinds of hardships. Adults look down on us because we are young, our money is wasted, we almost die several times, we get hurt, we get sick, we cry because we are hurt and sad.…….”
Van quietly looked at Damian with a tear-soaked face. Damien laughed bitterly..
“After struggling like that for about three years, I was about to gain some ground, when I turned eighteen..”
Damian's eyes trembled as he recalled painful memories..
“At the forward base south of Crossroads, I was fighting a battle surrounded by a swarm of black spiders... … You will die from being stabbed by the claws of a black spider..”
Damian barely managed to spit out a voice that sounded like he was spitting out blood..
“After saving me, instead.”
“……Why bother going back to such a painful reality??”
Ban screamed and sobbed..
“If you escape this dream, a terrible hell awaits you! A living hell filled with monsters and death! I really want to go back there?”
“……The three years I lived as a mercenary with you were breathtakingly difficult..”
Is it only 3 years as a mercenary?.
The orphanage of my childhood was equally painful..
“Like you said, this world has always been hell.”
Not even once.
There has never been a time in this world that wasn't hell..
“……But half the time, you laughed.”
Damian recalled how his partner lived.
Always, even in the worst situations.
Even when I die.
half laughed.
“With bravado. Coughing, squirming. I used to laugh strangely. Even on the worst days you smiled like that.”
Instead of turning your eyes away from the terrible reality, you laugh it off with bravado..
Half didn't run away but lived against this hell.
“So I could laugh too. Because you bluffed, I could breathe.”
Damian looked like he was going to cry at any moment, but,
“I liked you like that, Ban.”
But I didn't cry, I smiled weakly.
“……You saved me and died. You gave me my life.”
I looked at Damian half blankly..
“You, who died for me, cannot make your sacrifice count as nothing. Because my life depends on my promise to you.”
Damian clenched his trembling hands into fists..
“I was happy while running away... … Breaking my promise to you is more painful than happiness..”
“…….”
“I'm going on an adventure to the end of this hellish world. No matter how terrible and painful it is, I won't run away anymore..”
Damian stretched out his hands and grabbed both of Van's shoulders.,
I slowly held you in my arms.
“I'll come see you, Ban. the end of the world.”
“…….”
“I will continue the adventure I started with you, even if it is on my own..”
Ban's body began to glow white..
Damian held the feathery girl tighter..
“I liked it, really.”
Trying to remember that precious touch that I will never be able to hug again..
“hi.”
Is it an illusion?.
A ray of white smile seemed to have passed over the lips of Ban, who was crying in my arms..
《okay…….》
《You win, Damien..》
I felt like I was hearing a unique, braggadocious laugh..
《May good luck be with you in your future life as well..》
《……Nightmare Slayer.》
And there was a pure white horse gun left in its place..
***
Damian suddenly opened his eyes..
It was on the walls of Crossroads. Damian looked down at what he was holding preciously in his arms..
It was Ma Chong [Black Queen].
But the appearance was completely different. The pitch-black aura was no longer visible, and the gun barrel had turned dazzling white..
Damian muttered shakily, clutching a long rifle that seemed to emit light of its own..
“……I feel like I've been sleeping for over 50 years..”
I feel like I had a long, long dream..
When I looked to the side, I saw Lily, sweating profusely, giving instructions to fire the artifact. Her alchemists and her Kurehado who assist her..
pop! Bubbling bubbling-!
Cannons fired fire from all directions. The soldiers were screaming and firing cannons..
Damien raised his upper body and asked in a drowsy voice..
“How much time has passed?”
Lily glanced back and answered sharply..
“Did you sleep well, Damien?! An hour has passed since you passed out.!”
one hour.
I only slept for an hour, but my whole body felt heavy, as if it had hibernated for decades. Damien groaned and got up from his seat..
My body was heavy, but my mind was light..
When I fully stood up and looked beyond the walls, Jormungand was just around the corner..
They advanced to a place that was only a few dozen meters away from the castle wall..
Coo coo coo coo coo coo coo coo coo coo coo coo coo coo coo coo coo coo coo-!
The snake's massive body rushed right in front of the castle wall, and clouds of dust flew in all directions..
pop! Bubbling bubbling!
The soldiers who formed the final line of defense on the castle wall continued to pour out shells, but they were unable to inflict any effective damage on the snake's body..
Ash and the party members were working on something above Jormungand's head, but they looked disappointed as things were not going as planned..
There was despair on everyone's faces..
The soldiers on the walls and the heroes struggling on the snake's body.
Damian, who was quietly looking down at this scene, said to Lily:.
“I'll go out. Please open the gate.”
“what?”
Lily, surprised by the sudden nonsense, asked back in astonishment..
“Can’t you see what’s going on right now?! How do you open the gate in this situation?…….”
“That snake, I will stop it..”
Whirling-
Clap!
Damian, holding the Black Queen, smiled slightly..
“Trust me, Lily..”
Stars seemed to shine within the boy's eyes..
Surprised, Lily looked at Damian and,
“……Damn it, yes! It's all over.!”
screamed down the castle walls.
“Open the gate! right now-!”
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