"For now, we've managed to eliminate the two from Chaosism."
With this, we should be able to prevent the Demon King's Resurrection.
"Wait, Ageha. What are you doing?"
I suddenly noticed Ageha searching through the remains of Holy Knight Kanaria. I watched her, wondering what on earth she was up to.
"Found it."
Ageha held up a ring set with a massive gemstone.
"The Ring Required for the Demon King's Resurrection. I thought I should collect it just in case, but what should I do with it?"
She looked to me for an answer, but I wasn't sure what to tell her.
Calling it a Ring of Resurrection made it sound like a blessing, but it was still a dubious artifact, and its true nature was a complete mystery.
In the first place, was the Demon King the only one it could bring back? Or could it be used for others? It was highly likely that such a thing required a heavy price, and I didn't even know how to activate it.
"Do you want it, Kiska?" Ageha asked with an innocent expression.
"Well, I suppose... if you're offering, I'll take it."
I nodded, not thinking too deeply about the implications. Ageha handed the ring over to me. It was all well and good to have it, but I couldn't think of a single use. Maybe it'll fetch a high price if I sell it, I thought, a vulgar flash of greed crossing my mind.
No, wait.
With this ring, wouldn't it be possible to bring Namia back to life?
The moment the thought occurred to me, a shiver ran down my spine and my heart began to pound against my ribs.
Calm down. It's better not to get my hopes up.
If I let my expectations soar and it failed, the shock would be devastating. Besides, the idea of the dead returning to life was simply too convenient. It was better not to believe such a thing was even possible.
I decided to tuck the ring into my pocket and put it out of my mind for the time being. I would think about it again once I returned to my original time.
"So, if we defeat Demon King Zoga, will that resolve everything?"
"Yeah, that's right."
"Then let's go to where the Demon King is!"
At Ageha's call, we set off toward our final target. Without Warrior Golgano and Holy Knight Kanaria present to facilitate the ritual, Demon King Zoga would not be able to return from the brink. We could focus on defeating him without any lingering anxiety.
Once Zoga fell, the destruction of the world would be averted, and my role in all of this would finally be over.
When I thought about it that way, it felt strangely anticlimactic. Back when I was on my own, I had struggled so desperately, yet ever since Ageha appeared, things had been resolving themselves with a smoothness that was almost frightening.
As we walked, one lingering question remained in my mind.
"Hey, Ageha."
"What is it, Kiska?"
"I've been wondering—why would the two from Chaosism let the Demon King die in the first place? Even if they had a way to resurrect him, if their goal was to kill the Hero, wouldn't it have been more efficient to cooperate with the Demon King from the start instead of going through the trouble of betraying him?"
Holy Knight Kanaria and Warrior Golgano had gone to great lengths to play the role of Hero Eligion's loyal companions. Their goal was obviously to wait for an opening to assassinate him, but it seemed like they could have struck much earlier, long before the Demon King was backed into a corner.
For some reason, they always waited until after the Demon King died to execute their plot against the Hero.
"Ah, that..."
Ageha glanced toward Assassin Noc.
"Noc, go on ahead for a bit."
At her command, Assassin Noc nodded and began walking away with brisk, steady strides.
"I'd rather not have anyone else overhear matters concerning the Hero," Ageha explained, waiting until a sufficient distance had grown between us and Noc. Once she was sure we wouldn't be heard, she continued. "This is just a hypothesis, but I think it's highly likely Chaosism was intentionally waiting for Demon King Zoga to be killed by Hero Eligion's hand."
"What... Why?" I asked, taken aback.
"They don't have a perfect grasp of the Hero's Power. Well, even I don't fully understand every facet of my own strength. They know that if Kiska dies, time winds back—and before I transferred that power to you, it wound back when I died. But they don't truly understand the mechanics behind it."
That made sense. There was no way a third party could intuitively realize that the world reset upon my death.
"Their understanding of the Hero is likely limited to the idea that even if you kill one, the fact of their death will somehow be nullified. When they realized they couldn't kill a Hero no matter what they tried, they resorted to a desperate measure."
I waited for her to continue, wondering what kind of "reckless act" they had committed.
"They sealed me," Ageha said, her voice laced with a cold, simmering resentment. "If you can't kill it, seal it. It was a clever tactic, I'll give them that. At first, even I thought I was at a total loss."
"So, what happened?"
"I suppose you could say the Hero's Power awakened. The bottom line is that I became able to transfer my authority to others across great distances. Even I'm not entirely sure how I managed to do it."
It was a fact; I was a recipient of that very power. Even the unconscious Hero Eligion, currently being carried by Noc, was another.
"That threw them into a panic. The Hero's Power became even more unpredictable than before. To counter this, they executed a new plan—one involving Hero Eligion. They moved my Seal into the Holy Sword Hagentia and gave the blade to him, allowing them to effectively choose who would wield the Hero's Power."
"But why go through all that trouble?"
"Likely because they wanted to control the power by tying it to a specific, manageable individual. And then, they formulated a plan to kill that specific person—Hero Eligion."
Finally, we were back to my original question. Why did Chaosism wait for the Demon King's death before attempting the assassination?
"Even if Hero Eligion is a 'fake,' he still possesses the Hero's Power. That means he can't be defeated by conventional means."
Indeed, Eligion could avoid any defeat simply by rewinding time until he succeeded.
"My theory is that they proposed a hypothesis: the Hero's Power only exists for the sake of defeating the Demon King. Therefore, once the Hero has accomplished that goal, the power might cease to manifest."
I see. When put that way, it sounded remarkably plausible.
"So that's why Hero Eligion was killed in those other timelines..."
"Hmm, I wonder." Ageha tilted her head pensively. "After all, we know the actual conditions under which the Hero's Power fails to manifest, don't we?"
"Yeah, you're right."
The Hero's Power wasn't an automatic, forced phenomenon. Its activation depended entirely on the user's will. My Save & Reset worked the same way. If Hero Eligion were to abandon the fight for some reason—perhaps out of sheer despair after being betrayed by those he trusted—he could be killed permanently.
"Chaosism probably doesn't know that the power is influenced by the user's will. That's why they're likely experimenting with different methods to find a definitive way to kill a Hero."
It made sense. They had formulated the hypothesis that the Hero would be vulnerable once the Demon King was gone, and they were testing it.
"Well, it's all just my personal speculation," Ageha added.
"No, thank you. That was actually very enlightening."
"Ehehe... it makes me happy to hear you say that, Kiska."
Ageha gave a sweet smile and clung affectionately to my arm.