The struggle in your heart kept you from using your full strength. You knew that the beloved before you had transformed into a monster.
You were gradually forced onto the defensive.
At the critical moment, you saw Stheno and Euryale appear at the outskirts of the abandoned temple.
They were worried about you and Medusa.
Though the two women had sharp tongues, they could not conceal the sorrow in their hearts at this moment.
How cruel was it for sisters and brother to fight one another?
Seeing the tears streaming down their faces, you tightened your grip on the greatsword forged from the temple's foundation.
You could not let Medusa hurt her two sisters.
There was no way to communicate with her.
Medusa's python-like hair, each strand as thick as a carriage, lunged at Moran to bite him for what felt like the hundredth time.
Its gaping maws were filled with sharp fangs.
"Medusa, I can't let you commit the sin of hurting them. So at the very least, I'll stop you here—"
The veins on Moran's right arm bulged.
The creaking of his spine reached its peak.
The countless martial arts he had learned aboard the Argo flashed through his mind in an instant.
Before that great hero had even disembarked from the ship,
he had imparted all his skills to his junior brother, Moran. Their understanding of martial arts was not far apart.
"Nine Lives!"
Moran gave his sword a flourish and growled.
This was the martial technique Heracles had conceived to slay the Hydra. Now, it manifested in Moran's hands.
Dozens of giant purple-haired serpents roared like crashing waves as they lunged forward.
They wanted to swallow Moran whole.
Splat! Splat! Splat!
Before him lay shattered chunks of flesh scattered across the ground.
As though a bucket had been overturned, crimson liquid spread across the broken temple foundation.
It was the blood splashed forth by the giant purple-haired pythons.
The instant they pounced, they were cleaved in two by a single strike.
You used the floating stones as footholds, leaping at a speed so absurd it left people dumbfounded.
The giant pythons blocking your path were cut to pieces.
The light of the Mystic Eyes was canceled out by an equal radiance.
Before her, you were like the nemesis of all demonic things, declaring that you had come here to stop her.
Soon, the distance between you rapidly closed.
You ignored the purple blood sprayed by the giant serpents.
Turning into a black speck, you slammed into the chest of the monstrous goddess like a bullet.
Boom—!!
The enormous impact resounded throughout the abandoned temple as that towering figure toppled backward.
You stepped on Medusa's chest.
You gripped the greatsword, as though about to bring it down and sever her head.
"Guh... Medusa...!"
Moran's vision blurred involuntarily.
His heart, as unyielding as a chalk-white city wall, suddenly trembled.
As a hero, it was only natural to slay calamities.
But if he truly brought down this sword, everything he had believed in throughout his life would shatter with it.
Even a hero who had overcome countless hardships
came to a standstill at this moment.
As though savoring the memory, his mind recalled those sweet nights he had revisited countless times.
"Moran..."
He remembered the face he saw whenever he awoke after countless days and nights, along with the gentle voice that had echoed by his ear.
The softest part of his heart was touched.
The hand holding the sword hesitated.
It was as though he heard the hero within himself speak.
"Will you betray your duty as a hero? Will you give up slaying the monster?"
"Will you give up slaying her?"
A single second felt as long as a century.
Beneath the moonlight, she had smiled gently at him. Without a doubt, she was the most beautiful flower in the world.
This was something he should never have been able to obtain.
It was a sight he could only see in this simulation.
Because of her, he had found love.
She had saved him like that, and he had even become a hero.
If he slew the one he wanted to save here, then the entire meaning of this life would surely turn to foam.
So, at the very least, he had to preserve this truth in his heart until the end.
His consciousness returned to reality, and he looked at her before him, now stained with blood and rendered hideous.
Medusa, even if you become like this, I still—
Moran spoke his true feelings in his heart.
He understood that even if he traded his life for it, all he would gain was a laughable, absurd wish.
Yet he still wanted to protect those memories.
No matter what, he could not raise a hand against the woman he loved so deeply.
PS: I generally try to wrap up simulations within around twenty chapters. I also have real-world plot planned, so everyone need not worry too much.
From the beginning, I planned for the simulations to take up sixty percent and reality forty percent, with the two progressing in tandem. After all, some events in the simulations truly feel worth writing about. I intended to write them in detail from the start.
Of course, the simulation arcs will not become excessively long.
The author will keep that under control.
Saving, Farewell—Please Give Flowers! Please Give Monthly Tickets!
The madness of the monster did not stop.
It happened almost in an instant.
"Stop—stop! Stop—!"
Deep within the monster's heart, swallowed and submerged by monstrosity, the last shred of reason cried out, wanting to stop that vile and ugly self.
To stop the hundreds of millions of fangs stabbing toward her beloved.
However, she could not change anything.
The giant purple-haired pythons shot forward like a foul gale, their fangs and teeth piercing an unyielding body.
Your body burst apart.
The stench of blood and viscera flooded through your nostrils and into your brain, while bewitching crimson flowers bloomed in the air.
Thud—!
Blood sprayed outward.
The lower half of your body, below the chest, fell to the ground.
Like a torn rag, it rolled several meters across the ground as your organs spilled out and scattered everywhere.
"Guh—ugh!"
The phrase "bleeding without end" was best suited to describe this scene.
Even when you tried to draw a breath, clots of blood pumped from your mouth, and the concept of death drew ever closer.
There was no need to say more. No matter how foolish you were,
you knew that there was no saving yourself in this state.
"...Mo...ran... I don't want... no... no... how... how could this be... why did I...!"
A trembling voice squeezed from her throat.
Her scarlet eyes, eroded by darkness and madness, temporarily regained clarity after consuming an additional source of origin.
This man possessed her blood.
Drinking his blood was equivalent to absorbing her origin.
In the past, she had relied on her own power to suppress the madness, splitting off part of her strength to restrain the ever-growing monstrosity. Once she used all her power, she could no longer suppress it—that was when Medusa transformed into Gorgon.
Now, she should have remained mad.
Yet by chance, consuming that additional origin restored her consciousness.
"...No... I actually... no, that's not it... ah—ahhh—no, no... waaahhh—!"
Her snake hair was chewing on her beloved's flesh.
The fact that she found it so fragrant and delicious made her hate the monstrosity born from herself to the utmost extreme.
Perhaps she truly was a monster that deserved to be slain.
How ironic. She did not want to kill her beloved,
yet she could only regain her sanity by devouring his flesh. Once she regained it, she had to face the collapse of her own self.
"Ah..."
You felt the warmth drain from your entire body.
Yet beside your ear, you heard the heartbroken cries of a child.
Your chest twitched as though being torn apart.
"...Ugh... don't make... that kind of... expression..."
You forced out those words weakly.
Medusa's delicate body trembled.
Realizing that you still retained a trace of life, she immediately rushed to your side.
Heh... the talisman Medea gave me... really... I ended up troubling her even at the very end...
Moran held a disc-shaped Mystic Code in his hand.
After blocking Medusa's strike to the greatest extent possible, it sustained his life in an extremely precarious manner.
"Don't move! I'll give you my blood right now!"
Medusa shrank her body and moved to cut her wrist for blood.
However, Moran shook his head.
A sorrow welling from his chest pierced straight through his heart.
Before you continue