How to Teach a Hero at the Academy

Chapter 1: The Beginning of the End

There was a staircase.

One that failed to reach the heavens,

Yet a flight of stairs that refused to be bound to the earth.

What constituted the staircase was pure malice. Like masterless blades, spells lingering without a target, and corpses entangled, holding in screams.

What sealed the end of the stairs was none other than a throne; a desolate, withered throne lay solitarily between the heavens and the earth.

──Chwarak!

It was stained with blood.

On the barren throne, a bloody flower bloomed.

<……Ah.>

A woman's voice, drenched in pain.

The woman's eyes slid downwards.

The blade that had pierced her heart.

Confirming it, the woman smiled, baring her teeth.

The woman's trembling fingertips touched the corner of my mouth.

Kuk, and then.

The woman asked with a sneer.

Blood like flower petals soaked the top of my feet.

The woman's grasp pulled me closer.

The woman, who had been murmuring so, whispered someone's name into my ear.

Whose name was it. Was it my own name. What was the woman's name. My mind was hazy. A sensation as if my existence had been carved out from the world. My own form, reflected in the woman's eyes, felt so unfamiliar.

All that remained was a sliver of silence.

I looked down at the earth stretching out beyond the throne.

Where was my homeland. Was it a rainforest painted in green. A firm city center like a sarcophagus. Or had I grown up rolling in the mud of the streets.

Everything was silent.

All around was so desolate that no sign of life could be felt. I had reached a place far too high to hear the sounds of life flourishing on the ground.

And so, the voice came not from the earth, but from the sky.

[The Lantern of the Pantheon illuminates you.]

I looked up at the empty space stretching out beyond the throne.

[O, walker of the path.]

[You have finally completed your long journey.]

There was a goddess.

A goddess so colossal she obscured a corner of the sky.

Even though I had forgotten what my existence was, the goddess's name alone was as vivid as if it were carved into my heart.

The Mother God ‘Ivensina’.

The head of the Pantheon.

The goddess who presided over circulation, inevitability, and birth, while simultaneously diagnosing the creation and end of the world. It is said that all life was born from the rainwater pooled in the Mother God's footsteps.

The Mother God's body, clad in patternless platinum armor, was radiant. Not a being of flesh and blood, but a sacred existence, lifeless, as if the sky itself had solidified into a mass. The Mother God was looking down at me from a realm that transcended the concepts of life and death.

“……Is it all.”

I parted my dry lips.

“Is it all over.”

I asked as if possessed.

Having forgotten even what I had sought to end.

[Look back on the path you have walked.]

[The woman who drew her last breath behind you. She was the Demon King who denied the world's continued existence. Your world will now be at peace for all eternity.]

I looked back at the woman's corpse sprawled on the throne.

──So that's what it was.

A threadlike hatred brushed through my hazy mind. An emotion turned to embers flickered, and the names buried in my heart began to surface one by one.

“O, Mother God.”

After kneeling on one knee to pay my respects,

“There is something I wish to ask.”

I asked with my head bowed.

“Why is Leon Baibars not by my side.”

[The mage, Leon Baibars.]

[He fought hard to subdue the demons that invaded the White Magic Tower. He caused the tower's mana reactor to overload, resulting in mutual annihilation with the demon army.]

[To honor the death of your close friend who left not a single bone fragment behind, you would have kept Leon Baibars's magic staff.]

The hazy image of Leon Baibars materialized.

The Head Mage of the White Magic Tower. The man who would jocularly encourage his comrades crushed by their sense of duty. The scorched expression of Leon Baibars, standing amidst the black flames emitted by the rampaging mana reactor, came to mind.

“A genius mage dying gloriously with his tower. Isn't that kind of cool?”

Therefore, my precious friend,

You must kill the Demon King.

Those were Leon Baibars's last words.

“Vanessa Spencer.”

I asked pleadingly.

“Why is she not by my side.”

[The Inspector, Vanessa Spencer.]

[She sacrificed herself to protect the royal capital from the Demon King's trusted subordinate. She offered her body, which had inherited the blood of the Ancients, to activate a barrier.]

[Clenching your teeth within the fortress walls forged from life, you would have kept Vanessa Spencer's crossbow.]

“Don't make that dispirited face. You have to be the pillar of this world.”

Therefore, my reliable comrade,

Please, kill the Demon King.

It was as if Vanessa Spencer's last words could be heard from somewhere.

An officer belonging to the kingdom's army. Vanessa Spencer had volunteered to become a tribute to protect the royal capital. I recall Vanessa Spencer's smile as she scattered into light. Without the barrier stained by her life, the royal capital would have fallen helplessly.

“Maurice de Olfrange.”

Swallowing hard, I asked.

“Why is he not by my side.”

[The Strategist, Maurice de Olfrange.]

[He threw himself in to rescue you from the corrupted spirits. As you were the only one who could kill the Demon King, he protected you with his life.]

[Watching your comrade's body rot away, you would have kept Maurice de Olfrange's Sword Breaker.]

“I never liked you. You were always just clinging to vain hopes.”

Therefore, O hope that I lack,

Make sure you kill the Demon King.

Maurice de Olfrange's last words echoed in my head.

A man who pursued only practical gain due to growing up as a fallen noble. And yet, my comrade who wished for a simple life. I recall the touch of Maurice de Olfrange's hand, hardening like a burnt old tree. The sensation of closing his eyes with my own hands became vivid.

I looked down at my blood-stained hands.

Beyond them, I stared at the armaments that were nothing more than my comrades' mementos.

Kill the Demon King. Please, kill the Demon King. Make sure you kill the Demon King.

I endlessly repeated my comrades' last words.

Only their dying voices were vivid, so I clenched my teeth and enunciated them, so as not to forget.

“Ion Blanche.”

However, the questions were not yet over.

“Why is she not by my side.”

[That is…….]

For a moment, even the Mother God hesitated.

[The Saintess, Ion Blanche.]

[She was nailed alive by the subjects who were crushed by malice. The subjects, having witnessed the Demon King's power, sought to guarantee their autonomy by making the Saintess a sacrifice.]

[She could have resisted. By all means. She could have subdued them all. If she had wanted to.]

[Ion Blanche refused to do so.]

“……Do you remember.”

Ion Blanche's whisper could be heard.

“The patterns of the leaves we trampled upon, the number of constellations we made by connecting our fingers, and the names of the souls we deluded ourselves into thinking we carried on our backs, I remember them all.”

Nailed to a temple pillar, gasping for breath,

Ion Blanche's face, stained with screams, comes to mind.

“Please do not resent the subjects. Their hearts were merely weak.”

Amidst the foul-smelling rainwater dripping down the rusty stake,

Even amidst the jeering breaths of the subjects, Ion Blanche was smiling.

“I was the same. So weak, I……. Please, let me die dreaming of the days I would live with you.”

Therefore, my beloved,

I can finally say it now.

You must survive.

It's alright to run away. It's alright to give up on everything.

Please, just you alone, please survive.

I pressed my lips to Ion Blanche's last words.

To kill the Demon King, I turned my back on her.

Since those who would call my name were gone, I forgot my name. Since my shattered heart became a burden, I cast it aside. My existence was enough as a blade. I stubbornly gripped my sword and traversed a world that had become a nightmare. I had reached this place solely with the obsession of piercing the Demon King's heart.

“This is the last question.”

I raised my head and stared at the Mother God.

“Who am I.”

As a close friend, as a comrade, as hope,

As a beloved one,

What meaning could there possibly be to my existence, which had to be prolonged like this.

[You are the Hero.]

[A being orchestrated by the Pantheon to subjugate the Demon King.]

The Mother God's declaration was like a joke.

[To you who have finished your journey, I shall tell you the truth of this world.]

Streaks of light curved behind the Mother God.

Translucent spheres rose up from around the Mother God.

Shimmering within the spheres were worlds sparkling in all sorts of colors. Shapes like glasswork decorated with sky and earth, forest and sea. Countless worlds were contained within each sphere, floating by the Mother God's side.

[The world is not one.]

The Mother God revealed in a calm tone.

[The Pantheon governs countless dimensions besides your own world.]

The world I had sought to protect was nothing more than a mere fragment when viewed from afar.

[In every world, a Demon King is bound to appear, and for the Demon King's subjugation, the Holy Sword chooses a Hero.]

My destiny was also a common one, and the journey forged by the lives of my comrades was also preordained.

[The Hero of some worlds is defeated by the Demon King.]

That was no consolation.

[To reconstruct worlds that have met their end by the Demon King, the help of those like you is needed.]

However,

The fact that there was still a battlefield left was a solace.

[I swear it.]

[Your comrades will remain within the domain of the Pantheon. They will rest eternally under the brilliance of the main gods, and one day, when they wish for it, they will be reincarnated.]

[You are the only one left behind.]

[Therefore, O Hero, please choose.]

A blue world was held in the Mother God's right hand.

What was vibrant inside the sphere was the distinct color of life.

[Life is a signpost that points the way to death. You have the right to choose a peaceful death. You may remain in the world you protected and savor its peace, and it would be fine to meet your rest in the name of a hero.]

[……However.]

A gray world was held in the Mother God's left hand.

What was sinking inside the sphere was the vague abyss of death.

[Death is a resting place to dream of a new life. You also have the right to turn away from death. You may struggle to set right the worlds that have met their end, and it would be fine to fight against the Demon King until your very soul is crushed.]

[I ask you, O Hero.]

[Will you take my right hand.]

[Or will you take my left hand.]

There was no room for hesitation.

I drove the Holy Sword, which held a cool radiance, into the ground at my feet. I stared at my world, stretching out beyond my swaying hair.

It was self-evident. What made up my body was nothing but grave-like regret. For my world to truly be at peace, the existence of a Hero with such an impure heart rightfully had to disappear.

Scorched snowflakes fluttered.

The vague clouds were merely ink-black,

And what enveloped my body was the death of my comrades.

“As long as the Demon King exists, my journey is not over.”

I declared to the Mother God.

“I have a duty to soothe the souls of my comrades. I can only console them through the annihilation of the Demon King. If this world was truly saved, my existence would not be needed. For a Hero is one who faces those who have fallen in the midst of salvation.”

I bowed my head towards the Mother God.

“O, Mother God.”

I bit my lip and muttered.

“I humbly request an eternal battlefield.”

[……Raise your head, O Hero.]

I raised my face, stained with grief.

At the edge of my vision,

the gray world held in the Mother God's left hand was cast over me.

[You will depart for a world where the Demon King was victorious.]

[The Demon King's victory signifies the death of the world.]

[Because not a single thing remains alive, it leads to an end where even time has become meaningless.]

[Precisely because of that, the Pantheon is freed from the shackles of causality and becomes able to use the power of regression.]

[We will turn back the time of the world that has met its end. You will retain your memories and power, and be reincarnated as a creature that did not exist in its history.]

[I shall bless you.]

[As one who was a Hero, please guide the one who will become a Hero.]

The Mother God's voice began to grow faint.

The distant scenery unfolding before my eyes also distorted dimly.

[If it is you, surely…….]

A benevolent laugh was heard.

[You would be able to become a good teacher.]

Finally, my surroundings were dyed black……,

.

.

.

At the same moment a light flashed,

I opened my eyes amidst countless worlds.

‘I swear.’

While the five main gods looked down upon me,

Into a darkness that bloomed like a cradle,

Into a certain world,

I plummeted towards the place I was meant to go.

‘……Never.’

A wish that could not be voiced crumbled and scattered.

I did not mind. For there were many gazes fixed upon it.

It would not be just the main gods watching over me. My comrades who died during the journey. Along with them, the countless lives that had faded away. Because of them, I could barely stand firm.

‘I will never, let them live a life like mine.’

Towards the nameless Hero I would eventually encounter,

I swore with all my crushed heart.