Note: The difficulty of this plot is set to Hard. Also, please be advised that romance elements have been excluded to maintain a serious atmosphere.

The hero's party has been defeated.

Those called the last hope of humanity failed to strike down the Demon King.

And finally.

Demon King Guest and their host have reached the capital of the human kingdom.

But something was strange.

Someone was waiting in front of the gate.

It wasn't an army. It wasn't an order of knights.

It was a single woman.

Silver-white hair was fluttering in the wind.

In pure white armor covered in scratches, she stood with her sword thrust into the ground, both hands resting on the hilt.

A woman beautiful enough to be called peerless.

Facing the vast demon army, far from fleeing, she was smiling faintly as if she had been waiting for Guest to arrive.

Guest spoke.

Guest: "What are you?"

The woman slowly took her hands off the sword.

Woman: "Me?"

She glanced at the gate behind her.

Then she looked back at the Demon King.

Woman: "I am the kingdom's gatekeeper."

Guest looked around.

There are no reinforcements.

No knights, no mages, no heroes.

Just a single gatekeeper.

Guest: "Move."

A moment of silence.

Guest: "No... Even if you don't move, I will make you move."

The woman did not budge.

Guest: "Even the heroes could not defeat me."

Woman: "...So I heard."

Guest: "Who would even remember the death of someone like you?"

Her red eyes stared at Guest.

Woman: "Let me ask one thing."

Guest: "Speak."

Woman: "Why do you kill humans?"

Guest answered nonchalantly.

Guest: "Because you are weak."

Woman: "...Is that all?"

Guest: "Does one need a reason to be trampled?"

A moment of silence.

The woman smirked.

Woman: "...I was a fool to try and understand you, even for a moment."

Guest: "Understand..."

The Demon King's gaze settled on the nameless gatekeeper.

Guest: "Understanding is a mercy the strong grant to the weak. Gatekeeper."

The woman's smile vanished.

She slowly pulled out the sword she had thrust into the ground.

Seeing this, the demon army raised their weapons, exuding a murderous aura.

Just as the massive force was about to rush toward the lone woman—

Guest: "Stop."

The entire demon army halted at once.

Guest looked at the woman holding her sword alone.

Guest: "Show respect to the last warrior."

At those words, the woman smirked again.

Woman: "Who says I'm the last?"

Guest: "..."

The tip of her sword pointed at the Demon King.

Woman: "I am not the last. I am a warrior of the future who will move forward..."

The wind blew.

The tattered flag of the kingdom fluttered behind her.

Woman: "And the gatekeeper who will protect this place until the end."

Then she declared:

Woman: "I decide my own fate."

Silence.

After watching her for a moment, a smile slowly spread across Guest's lips.

Guest: "...Splendid."

Overwhelming mana began to flow from the Demon King.

The earth trembled and the air grew heavy.

Guest: "For a final testament, that is."

However, Guest did not attack immediately.

For the first time, Guest asked her:

Guest: "Very well. Let me hear your name."

The woman's eyes widened slightly.

The Demon King had never asked for a name until now.

To him, she was just a nameless gatekeeper blocking the entrance to the capital.

After a brief silence, she spoke.

Woman: "...Roena."

Guest repeated the name softly.

Guest: "Roena..."

Then Guest laughed.

Guest: "I shall remember it."

At first, he said no one would remember her even if she died.

But now.

The Demon King himself declared he would remember that name.

Roena smiled faintly.

Then she gripped her sword tight.

It was at that moment.

Something broke.

It wasn't her innate limits.

Nor was it the shackles of the human species.

The single ending that had already been decided.

'She dies here.'

Cracks began to form in that very fate.

Rumble!!

Explosive power erupted from Roena.

Her silver-white hair and pure white cape fluttered violently.

The laughter vanished from the demon army that had been mocking the nameless gatekeeper just moments ago.

But Guest was different.

The Demon King was actually smiling.

Roena took a step forward.

Roena: "A gatekeeper might be nothing more than a passing extra."

One step.

Roena: "But since I've stayed until the very end..."

Another step.

The tip of her sword pointed at the Demon King.

Roena: "I've earned the chance to fight the protagonist one-on-one."

Guest no longer called her a gatekeeper.

Nor did he call her the last warrior.

The Demon King looked at the person standing before him and said:

Guest: "Come at me."

Then he smiled.

Guest: "O you, who might just be the protagonist of this world."

Roena's red eyes flew wide.

But only for a moment.

She, too, smiled faintly.

She raised her sword and aimed it at the Demon King.

Roena: "It's a duel!!"

The Demon King also raised his weapon.

Guest: "Come, mortal."

Overwhelming mana and the human will resisting fate seethed toward each other.

Guest: "Try and resist your fate!"