"To think you won't die even after your head is lopped off... truly, a stubborn, stubborn bloodline. Heh... but I have no more time. Farewell, Hero. I have questions to answer for Patricia—"
"—Damn it. I can't believe he smashed through my barrier in a single blow."
I cursed my own incompetence. I had lost to Belial in a pathetic display. I’d expected to face demons eventually, so I thought I’d prepared enough during my summer vacation demon summoning practice... but he was far beyond anything I had imagined.
I guess I really did die this time.
The vision of my pierced chest and my severed head lying uselessly on the ground flickered through my mind.
But...
"Why am I still conscious?"
I tilted my head, confused by the situation. I should have been dead or at least out cold, yet here I was, standing in a room with my body perfectly intact.
The room was my office back at the Brave estate. It felt like I’d just teleported there, but looking out the window—where a swarm of magic insects used to cling—all I saw was an endless white void. I realized then that this wasn't the real world.
"...Hmm."
Fine. I decided to sit in my usual chair and think things over.
The memory of my crushing defeat was undeniably real. Anyone would call those wounds fatal; in other words, I was dead. So, was this the afterlife? Considering how many regrets I had, it wouldn't be strange if I were stuck here as some kind of earthbound spirit.
"Still, why the office...?"
It wasn't as if I had any lingering attachment to managing the territory. If anything, the thought of being free from those duties felt more like a relief. My only real regret was dying before I could fulfill my promise to protect Alicia. I’d just gone and died on her.
"If I was going to be a ghost, I should’ve been Alicia’s possessing spirit or her guardian spirit!"
"—It is a bit premature to decide you are dead, Young Master."
I was slamming my head against my sturdy, familiar desk to vent my frustration when a voice spoke up. The door opened.
"That was quite a pathetic showing, Young Master."
"Sebas!"
Our head butler, Sebas, stood there. The sight of him laughing his signature "ho-ho" while stroking his beard was no different from when I had returned home for summer vacation. Just seeing him made me feel strangely at ease.
"If Sebas is showing up here, does that mean my biggest regret really was the Brave Territory?"
I guess I was worried about my home after all, since I was the last of the line. Neither of my two older brothers had children. I was the only heir left, so perhaps I should have valued my life a little more. I’d gotten swept up in the excitement of the fight with Edward and stepped into a situation I normally wouldn't have—just like my father had when the enemy general killed him.
"Hmm, you seem to be under several misconceptions, but you are still alive, Young Master."
He placed a cup of coffee in front of me. I took a sip. It didn't taste like anything.
"Wait, there's no flavor."
"Young Master, this is a mental world. While I can recreate the imagery, the sense of taste is beyond my reach."
"What do you mean?"
"I shall say it once more: you have not died yet."
According to Sebas, this was a mental world. It was similar to the one the demon had brought me to before—a space where a location from my memories was reproduced.
"Mind you, while you are not dead, you are not exactly living, either. That is your current state."
"If I'm not living, then aren't I dead?"
"You are mostly dead, but just barely alive."
"Just barely, huh?"
"Precisely."
He explained that even though my head and torso were currently separated and I had a hole through my chest, my barrier was—at the very last second—preventing blood loss and maintaining a thread of life.
"To manage that unconsciously... you truly are a Brave, Young Master."
"I’m barely hanging on, though...?"
If my magic power ran out, I’d be a goner. But the fact that I was actually surviving in that state was a bit disturbing even to me. My instincts were terrifyingly persistent. I’d mastered barriers specifically to survive, but this was next level. Barrier magic really was the best.
"So, Sebas. How do I come back to life?"
"Regarding that, there is nothing I can do. After all, your head is detached from your body, and you have hardly any magic power left."
"Then I'm just dead..."
Even if there was a slim chance of resuscitation, a total stalemate like that was basically death. I slumped my shoulders, but Sebas just laughed.
"Ho-ho. That is why I have come here."
"You say you 'came here,' but aren't you just a figment of my imagination?"
I had a theory—was he just a phantom created by my survival instincts? When humans reach a desperate point, their brain removes its limiters. It's like the "hysterical strength" people get in emergencies. Similarly, when the mind undergoes intense stress, the instincts can create a separate personality to protect the psyche. The person I trusted most wasn't Alicia; it was the head butler who had looked after me since I was a child.
"I am not an image. You have experienced a situation like this once before, have you not?"
"A situation like this...?"
This was the second time I had maintained clear consciousness in a mental world. The first had been when I fought Jelasis.
"Wait, if you’re putting it like that... are you saying you’re a demon, and you’ve been possessing me? No way, right?"
"That 'no way' is exactly the case."
Sebas gave an exaggeratedly deep bow.
"I had no intention of stepping into the spotlight, but this is an emergency. In accordance with our ancient promise, I shall provide my assistance."
"Wait, what...?"
"Belial is a very old and powerful demon. As you are now, he is an opponent you cannot handle. Therefore, unless I, who hold the same rank, lend my aid—not as Sebas—"
I couldn't quite keep up with the conversation, but Sebas continued.
"—then I, the demon Samael, shall."