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After staring into space for a while, the girl finally chuckled.

"A Corruption Quest, huh? Frey? Got corrupted? That… That can\'t be true, can it?"

"..."

"G-Get up. I found a way to restore your soul. If you eat this bead, your soul will stabilize. So stop playing around and get up now.”

With those words, Ruby tried to lift Frey up.

But she stiffened when she grabbed him.

[Congratulations on Clearing the Quest.]

[Ending 999 - Corruption of the Hero]

Before Ruby\'s eyes, a simple message appeared.

"..."

Having lost her words after seeing the message, Ruby slowly opened her information window to check her own disposition.

[Disposition: Girl]

Her disposition had changed from ‘Demon King’ to ‘Girl’.

[Disposition: Demon Lord]

On the other hand, Frey had his disposition changed from "Hero" to "Demon King."

"Is this real...?"

It was the first time Frey\'s disposition had completely changed.

- Crackle...

Lost in her thoughts, Ruby watched the scene unfold, her expression twisting as her system window buzzed and disappeared.

[Ending the Path of Pretender System.]

"Ah, aahhhhh!!!"

Soon, Ruby began to scream in despair, her eyes brimming with tears.

"Frey!!!! No!!!! Nooooo!!!"

She then began to untie the ropes that bound Frey to the chair.

"Why did you do that!! Why did you do this!! You idiot!!"

And then, embracing him tightly, Ruby began to sob loudly.

The children at the end of the hallway, the raindrops beginning to fall from the collapsed ceiling, none of it mattered to her now.

"How am I supposed to live!!!"

Despite his unstable memory and soul, Frey once again sacrificed himself for her.

To break the shackles that were imposed on her, he accepted the Corruption Quest and became the Demon King in her stead.

And, with a smile, he asked her to kill him.

"I don\'t want to!!! I don\'t want to!!"

For Ruby, who had just understood the emotion called love, it was something she could never do.

"I already had a place for us to live. I had already bought a house in a rural village in the Eastern Continent... I even filed for relocation..."

Holding Frey with an expression of disbelief, Ruby buried her face in his chest, choking back sobs.

"Why did you save a scum like me... Just why..."

She remembered a few days ago, sharing the same bed with Frey in the cabin.

At first, both of them felt awkward, and for a while, they slept at opposite ends, hesitating in their pure affection.

Then one day, unable to bear it any longer, she timidly approached Frey and hugged him from behind.

And the next morning, she woke up to Frey hugging her back. At that time, she felt like her heart would explode from beating too hard.

Even now, as she hugged him, those memories were still vividly replaying in her mind.

Right now, she felt like Frey would kiss her shyly, just like back then.

Back then, the kiss was really sweet.

To the point where even her stomach would unconsciously flutter.

"...Heuk."

Ruby, who was staring blankly at Frey, suddenly clenched her fists and hit her own stomach hard with lifeless eyes.

"Uh, ugh..."

It was the first time she hurt herself.

If she didn\'t do this, she felt like she wouldn\'t be able to drive away the guilt and regret that overwhelmed her.

- Crackle...

Suddenly, an unfamiliar energy began to emanate from Frey\'s body.

"Uh, huh..."

What she felt inside of him now was not the pure and noble stellar mana… it was demonic energy.

His once fair skin started to turn purple, starting from his left arm.

His head twitched, and horn-like protrusions began to emerge.

- Swish...

Watching him blankly, Ruby raised her trembling hand and reached out to him.

- Slash...!

And then, Ruby quietly flicked her fingers.

- Drip...

After a moment, small wounds appeared on Frey\'s arm, and blood began to trickle down.

"Ah..."

The action just now wasn\'t an ‘act of affection’ from Ruby.

Instead, it was something she couldn’t have done if she truly loved him.

But Ruby\'s attack succeeded all too easily in inflicting wounds on Frey.

It was proof that the ‘system’ blocking the two had completely disappeared.

"Uh, uuh..."

That meant Ruby could kill Frey right now.

While Ruby herself needed the ‘Hero Armament’ to die, she could kill Frey as much as she wanted.

As long as he hadn\'t fully awakened as the Demon King yet.

"Uwaaa, aah..."

Ruby\'s trembling hand moved towards Frey\'s chest.

If she gave just a little force now, Frey would die.

Just as Frey wanted, just as he had begged her to.

"..."

Ruby’s hand trembled on top of Frey’s chest. Soon, tears stained her cheeks.

"I can\'t do it."

Finally, a small word came out of her mouth.

"Frey, this time I’ll be the one to save you."

She slowly lowered her hand from his chest and continued.

"I\'ll try to find a way to regress. No, even if it\'s not a regression, whether it\'s the Demon God or the Sun God, no matter who it is I will make them save you. Even if I have to sacrifice everything, I\'ll definitely save you."

Frey had regressed until his soul shattered to save her corrupted self.

Then, there was no reason she couldn’t do it for him.

Of course, realistically, regression would be difficult for her.

Both the Demon God and the Help System said so; they all called it a ‘unique ability’.

However, even if she didn’t regress, there ought to be a way to save him.

After all, even if he is corrupted, Frey is still Frey.

He was the most kind-hearted Hero.

So, if she just tried a little harder, someday he would too...

"Ah."

Ruby, who was stroking Frey\'s cheek with tears in her eyes as she was lost in thought, soon widened her eyes.

"F-Frey?"

"..."

Before she knew it, Frey was staring at her with wide-open eyes.

"W-What\'s going on? What happened?"

Ruby looked at him and took a step back, her face was pale as she murmured.

"I-I don\'t understand."

Frey had clearly chosen corruption.

But now, his expression was too pure.

It was as if the corruption had somehow failed.

- Rustle...

As he slowly stood up, cold sweat began to trickle down Ruby\'s face.

"D-Did you manage to resist it?"

- Step, step...

"You resisted the corruption? Really?"

Eventually, a hopeful smile blossomed across her face.

- Boom!!!

"Gah!?"

Frey suddenly scattered stellar mana all around, causing Ruby to vomit blood and collapse to the ground.

"...What?"

Frey\'s power was overwhelming her.

"Hello, Ms. Ruby?"

Before she knew it, Frey stood before her, now in the form of the Demon King.

.

.

.

.

.

A few hours later...

"Cough, cough..."

"..."

Ruby was slammed into a corner of the destroyed temporary shelter of the Hero Party. After coughing several times, she finally staggered to her feet.

"W-What\'s, what\'s going on?"

"..."

"What on earth is this?!"

She yelled at Frey who was tilting his head in front of her.

"..."

But there was no response from Frey.

He just continued to tilt his head and observed her.

It almost looked eerie.

"H-Help system!! Come out!!!"

Unable to bear it any longer, Ruby tried to summon the \'help system\', but her expression darkened immediately.

My Path of Pretender System has already ended. Then it wouldn–

As Ruby thought of that, her eyes widened.

> Please enter your question.

"Uh..."

For some reason, even after her system was gone, the \'help system\' remained.

Was it because the Demon God had installed it in an abnormal way to begin with?

"T-Tell me."

Tell me something.

Ruby was already too mentally drained to think through all these thoughts individually.

"W-Why is Frey... acting like that?"

- Currently, Frey\'s personality and soul have been reset.

"What!?"

Ruby exclaimed in shock upon hearing that.

- The individual known as \'Frey Raon Starlight\' will never fall to corruption under any circumstances.

- However, an unprecedented event of him choosing corruption on his own has occurred. The probability of such an event happening is less than 0.00000000001%...

- Thus, in order to forcibly proceed with the \'corruption\', the personality and soul remaining within Frey were completely reset.

- As a result, the corruption was successfully carried out. If you have any further questions...

"...Ah."

Ruby, having read all the text in front of her, collapsed in front of Frey with dead eyes.

"Ugh."

Frey was dead.

From the moment he made the choice to shoulder the burden in Ruby’s place, he was already prepared to die.

She realized this now.

"I have no idea how to kill you."

"..."

"I need to adjust my plans. First, I\'ll collect items to increase my strength, and then I\'ll deal with the individuals who are most likely to interfere with my plans, including you..."

Frey started to move forward as he spoke.

"There are seven people nearby who are likely to become my allies. I\'ll join forces with them first..."

"Aaargh!"

"...!?"

Then, as Ruby desperately rushed at him, Frey immediately turned and assumed a combat stance.

"Eat this! Eat it!!"

"Heub!?"

Ruby, clinging to Frey, forcefully shoved the bead into his mouth, a bead mixed with ruby and silver colors.

The same one from the blood oath they made just a day ago, containing both of their souls.

"Please!! Eat this and come to your senses!!"

With tears streaming down her face and her eyes tightly shut, Ruby cried out.

"Heub."

"Keoheokk!"

As Frey was forced to swallow the bead, he kicked her directly on her stomach.

"...That\'s unpleasant."

Shortly after, Frey, with a cold expression, stood up again and muttered as he looked at Ruby, who was sprawled on the ground.

"Do you really think something will happen because of this?"

"..."

After saying that, Frey spread his wings and began to fly into the sky. Still sprawled on the ground, Ruby just stared blankly at Frey’s figure, which was getting farther and farther away from her.

“Hero...”

"Ms. Ruby..."

Then, she heard a voice coming from behind her, causing her to tremble.

"I couldn\'t believe it, but it turns out, big brother really was the Demon King. That scumbag. I\'ll kill him..."

"I\'ll dedicate my life to killing him. So..."

Aria and Vener who were as battered and bruised as her, grabbed Ruby\'s shoulders and spoke tearfully.

- Bang! Bang! Bang!!

"Eek!"

"..!?"

Ruby\'s eyes were filled with horror as she looked at the two of them. Suddenly, she began to pound her forehead against the ground.

"Why... Why are you doing this?! Hero..."

"I-I\'m not a hero..."

"What?"

As Ruby knelt before Aria, who was covering her head, she began to speak with a frightened expression.

"I\'m not the Hero... Frey was."

"What are you saying?"

"I was the Demon King."

As soon as she finished speaking, silence fell.

"Ruby... Are you alright? You seem to be in shock."

"Hero, you should take some rest..."

After a while, the two were comforting Ruby with concerned eyes.

- Poof!!

"...!!!"

As purple smoke revealed Ruby\'s true form, their expression started to turn blank.

"I... I was a pretender."

To the both of them, Ruby revealed herself with eyes devoid of hope.