“You chose the hero,” I said quietly. “The hero lost. I won.”
“You forgot someone,” I said.
The Demon Lord’s castle loomed. Our party was broken. Everyone chose the hero. “You chose the hero,” I said quietly
I looked down at them. Fina reached a trembling hand toward me. Mia whispered, “Riol… please…”
I smiled. A thin, cracked smile.
I ripped the Demon Lord’s darkness apart with my own borrowed shadows. I absorbed his final scream into my chest. When the dust cleared, I was the only one standing. The hero’s corpse lay to my left. The girls stared at me—no longer with pity, but with terror and awe.
Instead, I ground my teeth. I opened a forbidden grimoire we’d looted months ago—the one Leon called “too dangerous.” It was a tome of sacrificial magic: To take everything from the one who took everything from you. The Demon Lord’s castle loomed
Finally, even Mia, the childhood friend who swore she’d always be my home. She didn’t say a word. She just walked past me into Leon’s tent, her hand in his.