"Those who foresee the future march toward a death whose outcome they already know."
"Sure enough, no being that peers into fate can escape this tragic destiny."
After using Precognition Magic, Shulhahat first checked whether there was still any possibility of changing his own death.
However, the prophecy showed no change from before.
Shulhahat shook his head bitterly. He had not expected that even he would still harbor wavering thoughts when faced with death.
"Still."
"No change is not necessarily a bad thing."
The fact that his future death in battle had not changed also proved that the Hero of the South had not found a better path either.
If he merely wanted to survive, Shulhahat had countless options to choose from. It could even be as simple as not showing up at the place he had foreseen.
Even the Hero of the South, humanity's strongest Hero, could not possibly go to the Demon King's Castle and kill him.
But just as Shulhahat dared to be certain that the Hero of the South would come to the appointment, Shulhahat himself would also march toward this battle fated to end in death.
Because their life-and-death struggle was not for individual gain, but concerned the survival of their entire races.
Success did not have to be achieved in his lifetime, but his strength would surely contribute to it.
Humans were not the only ones who understood that principle.
And in the shared future seen by Shulhahat and the Hero of the South, the timeline where they now stood opposed had already led to the best possible ending for both sides.
Humanity would defeat the Demon King in the future, while the Demons would obtain the key to winning their war of survival.
But to reach such a happy ending, two indispensable keys were still missing.
They were the lives of Shulhahat and the Hero of the South.
The two variables with the greatest influence on the future needed to be completely erased before dawn arrived!
At that moment, Shulhahat stood cloaked in an immense robe, his eyes gleaming beneath the shadows with greater resolve than ever before.
This battle was for the Demons' survival hundreds and thousands of years from now.
Shulhahat clenched his fist. The next moment, at the very edge of his mana detection range, his opponent for this battle—the strongest Hero of humanity—arrived.
Watching that figure rapidly approach, Shulhahat turned sideways toward his companion, code-named Miracle, and spoke one last time.
"You remember the things I need you to do after I die in this battle, right?"
"Of course."
Grausam nodded solemnly. "After this battle, I will erase all of Golden Country - Mahart's memories concerning this battle."
"And seven years from now, I will lead my subordinates and colleagues to ambush Frieren at the Goddess's Monument near the Empire's Border and kill her when she returns."
"Mm." Shulhahat nodded at Grausam, then mana surged from his entire body as he entered the final battle against humanity's strongest Hero in his most serious state.
"If possible, I really would rather not die."
Shulhahat gave his final sigh, then pushed his prophetic ability to its limit and peered into the direction of the Hero of the South's next attack.
When fighting an opponent who also possessed precognitive abilities, any prediction or analysis made before battle was unreliable.
Because whatever you could do, your opponent could do as well.
Only when the time came for close combat, when the opponent had already made an attack and could no longer change its course, did predictions based on prophecy hold meaning.
However, once Shulhahat began his battle calculations, he caught something besides the Hero of the South's attack rhythm—something that filled him with terror.
In the future he could see, the thing he feared most had appeared.
A variable!
He did not even have time to adjust his position according to the Hero of the South's attack rhythm before Shulhahat immediately roared at Grausam beside him.
"There are still variables in the future! Two of them!"
"Serie, the Archmage who has survived since the Mythic Era—I can no longer see her future clearly."
"Guter, Serie's disciple—his fate line is an inexplicable singularity, duckweed without roots. All I can see is that one name!"
The next instant, before Shulhahat could say anything else, the Hero of the South's incomparably sharp blade light sliced straight across Shulhahat's throat.
Even though Shulhahat relied on his battle prophecy and powerful body to take a dangerously narrow step back, a line of blood still sprayed from his throat.
"Shulhahat, it seems the world after we are gone will still be full of wonders."
The Hero of the South smiled. As humanity's strongest Hero and someone who likewise possessed prophecy, he had naturally noticed the so-called "variables" Shulhahat mentioned in that instant of attack.
It was just a pity he had failed to seize the opening while his opponent was eager to leave final instructions and kill him with a single slash.
Shulhahat clutched his neck without responding to the Hero of the South. As he retreated, he used his damaged throat to give Grausam his final orders.
"Do not target Serie. Do everything in your power to kill Guter."
"The Demons should not provoke powerful opponents again, and that Guter is most likely the source of these variables—"
Bang! Bang!
Before Shulhahat could finish his final words, the Hero of the South relied on his overwhelming strength to repel several Seven Sages blocking his path. His twin blades carved two sharp arcs through the air.
One slash struck toward Shulhahat's face, while the other cleaved vertically toward Grausam's body.
"Retreat!"
Shulhahat's pupils shrank to their limit. He bent backward nearly ninety degrees, barely dodging the Hero of the South's powerful strike.
Yet before relief could rise within Shulhahat's heart, a bloodstained blade pierced through his body, stabbing from his lower back out through his front.
"When..."
Before the agony of his wound arrived, what Shulhahat felt more strongly was confusion.
Every Demon possessed absolute confidence in the magic they relied upon to live.
Demons were unlike humans, who learned all kinds of magic throughout their lives. Demons usually devoted all their life's blood and energy to developing a single kind of magic.
Thus, every Great Demon Race member's signature magic usually represented the pinnacle of that magical art and its creation.
And Precognition Magic was Shulhahat's pinnacle, as well as his pride as a Demon.
But now, that pride in his heart had been shattered by the blade piercing through his body.
Shulhahat had never imagined that a human's attack could be faster than his own prophecy.
Could even the speed of foreseeing the future fail to keep up with that blade's attack?
"Shulhahat! What are you hesitating for? Run!"
Beside him, the shout of his companion, Miracle Graosam, jolted Shulhahat awake. Looking ahead, Grausam, whose arm had been wounded by the Hero of the South, was using his other intact arm to cast Paradise Transfer Magic. Judging from the fact that the Hero of the South, who had ambushed him from behind, had stopped his follow-up assault, Miracle's Paradise Transfer Magic had most likely succeeded.
Shulhahat silently walked forward, pulling the Hero of the South's blade out of his body step by step.
Seeing Shulhahat's poor expression, Grausam assumed he was still immersed in the shock of having his magical pride broken and tried to comfort him.
"After all, he is humanity's strongest Hero. It is only natural for him to be beyond imagination."
"That is not what I am thinking about, Grausam."
After pushing the last inch of blade from his body, Shulhahat frowned. "If the Hero of the South could be controlled so easily, he would not have killed so many of our companions in countless prophecies."
"What I was thinking was, why could the Hero of the South be controlled by you?"
"Not good!"
This time, even without using the power to foresee the future, Shulhahat sensed absolute danger. He exerted himself and immediately tried to open distance from the Hero of the South behind him.
But—
It was too late.
The next moment, two powerful blade lights slashed out with irresistible force. Even before they reached him, Shulhahat knew with absolute certainty that his death had come.
A trace of hatred appeared on the face beneath his hood. He scattered all his mana backward and, in a manner that nearly sacrificed his ability to foresee the future, carried out countless future observations in a single instant, completely disrupting the means of observation and preventing the Hero of the South from using Precognition Magic for a short time.
Having made all those arrangements, Shulhahat calmly embraced death. The moment the slash from behind caught him, the immense force within it shattered his body into countless fragments, which then turned into dust and vanished.
Only as he completely dissipated did he leave Grausam with his final words.
"Kill Guter."
Grausam gave a bitter smile upon hearing it. The cross-shaped blade light that had already destroyed Shulhahat's body was still rushing toward him with inescapable momentum. Although Shulhahat had used his life to dispel most of its force, Grausam still did not dare be certain that he would survive the attack.
Even though Shulhahat had long told him that he would not die in this battle.
Fortunately, the companions who had previously been repelled by the Hero of the South arrived the next moment.
Golden Country - Mahart rushed in front of Grausam. As All Things Turn to Gold Magic activated, the cloak on his body transformed into a massive golden shield before the slash arrived, blocking the aftershock of the Hero of the South's charged strike for Grausam.
However, even though it was merely the aftershock of a slash that had killed Shulhahat, its remaining power was still not to be underestimated.
Seeing a gap appear even in Mahart's cloak, which had been imbued with All Things Turn to Gold Magic, Grausam became utterly convinced that if that strike had landed on him, it would definitely have taken his life.
But—
Just as Shulhahat had foreseen, he had not died, and humanity's strongest Hero was now approaching his final curtain.
As the dust stirred up by the slash settled, the situation on the battlefield became very clear.
On the ground, Mahart's All Things Turn to Gold Magic restricted his movement.
At his side, Undying Beze led the remaining Seven Sages in completely surrounding the Hero of the South. Their weapons had even left deep wounds across his body.
And mentally, Grausam could sense that some remnants of his Paradise Transfer Magic still lingered.
Such an ending surely matched the identity of humanity's strongest Hero.
But—
Having already been driven into such desperate straits, could the Hero, whose strength had been exhausted, still reduce the ranks of the Seven Sages?
The answer was yes.
And he could take down more than one.
After this battle, the Demon King's Seven Sages became the Four Sages, while Omniscient Shulahart, who had guided the Demons forward, also died in battle.
Humanity's strongest Hero had given a magnificent final performance, worthy of his title as the strongest.
After cleaning up the battlefield, the remaining Demons returned to their respective territories.
Demons were unlike humans. Their natures were far colder and more indifferent.
Yet even so, during his journey back, Grausam could not help but wonder.
What kind of ending had Omniscient Shulahart and humanity's strongest Hero seen that made it worth wagering their lives to pay the price for that vague, intangible word called "future"?
Forget it. Grausam shook his head. Without the ability to foresee the future, he would never understand such things.
Rather than dwelling on them, he should simply carry out what Shulhahat had instructed.
As a long-lived Demon, Grausam was confident he would live to witness the day of the ending.
"Tomorrow, I will visit Golden Country - Mahart and erase all his memories of today's battle."
"Seven years from now, kill Frieren as she goes to the Goddess's Monument."
"And then... Guter."
"Find him, and kill him by any means necessary."
New Era of Xin—Year 21 Before
Northern Countries · Oysaster
Afternoon.
The sun was gradually setting. The golden glow of dusk shone through the colored glass within the great hall, casting magnificent soft light across it.
Serie sat listlessly in a chair within the great hall and eliminated the mage candidate who had come to interview in just one second.
The reason for his swift elimination was simple enough.
This human mage was already far too old and had virtually no value left to cultivate.
Moreover, after practicing for so long, his mana was not even comparable to that of her disciple Guter standing behind her.
With such talent and age, Serie truly had no desire to accept him as a disciple.
After the old mage left the great hall in disappointment, Serie glanced at Guter behind her, who was quietly using his fingers to swing his hair back and forth, and could not help sighing.
"I thought the human mages of this era were of decent quality."
"But after a whole day of interviews, Guter is the only one with any talent. Are there only such difficult-to-assess disciples?"
"Um, may I come in for the interview now?"
From outside the great hall came a somewhat timid male voice.
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