Yuusha, Yamemasu (I'm Quitting Heroing)

It's YOU who will die here!

Hero binding spell:

Anti-Leo!

No! He's going to dodge it!

I've failed us all!

I've protected no one, accomplished nothing...

This is where I meet my end!

Live, live on, with all your might

Follow the light to the future

Betrayed and left behind in this lonely world

Fearing a tomorrow I've lost sight of

Ibasho o sagasu I search for the place I belong

My heart screams out, "I want to be needed"

I want to puzzle out these entwined identities, but can I trust them?

Live, live on, with all your might

Follow the light to the future

Even if you lose everything

Stay connected to hope

I don't know why I'm here

But that's all right with me right now

I have to overcome and press on

So I can smile with you again

What Makes a Hero

Protect humanity from evil.

Protect humanity from evil.

Protect humanity from evil.

Protect humanity from evil.

Protect humanity from evil...

Save the world.

I was to obey that order from the moment I was born.

It was fine at first.

Just as Master Eibrad had said,

the current world fulfilled my purpose.

The people wanted what I had to offer.

I fought alongside allies,

defeated powerful foes,

and brought peace to the world.

I was pure and innocent then, celebrating that peace from the bottom of my heart.

Yet...

The peace stretched on and on,

and the world found itself without need for a hero...

I no longer had a reason to exist.

So there IS more for me to fight!

Regional conflicts...

Guess humans and demons couldn't coexist peacefully after all.

Wars between nations...

Sheesh, you guys need to learn your lesson already.

Then, an invasion from the Demon World.

I felt the world was telling me that I only deserved to live in it...

...when I was fighting.

I can fight again. I can be a hero again!

I can save humanity again!

A hundred years passed, then two hundred.

Before I knew it, five hundred. A thousand.

Then more, as time flowed endlessly on.

I traveled the world, searching for battle, fighting endlessly on...

DH-05, Leo, was built around hyper skill development.

With every enemy I fought, I would gain new techniques,

and eventually, I stopped encountering even matches.

I had become what the scientists who made me had wanted me to become:

An unstoppable, unkillable, immortal bioweapon.

Then, once again, a long peace took hold.

Get your fresh-baked bread!

Hello, there!

This, please!

Goodness, only one?

Yup, it's okay!

We'll share it!

Is that right? What good kids you are.

Here.

Are you sure?!

Yay!

Here you go.

Thank you!

Come by again soon!

I hope this peaceful world lasts forever.

Hey, why aren't you smiling? You're supposed to smile.

Smile and say "Me too".

Eventually, I realized there was a part of me that wanted the world to be in danger.

I wanted every person, every lifeform on this planet, to need me.

To be in the same hopeless peril it was when I was made.

I want to save the world. Please, let me save it!

If I can't save the world, I'll lose myself!

Bring more danger to humanity! Bring more chaos to the world!

Every day, more desire for destruction.

Every day, more errors in my consciousness.

I could just do it myself. Plunge the world into peril.

It's so obvious. Why didn't I think of it before?

The DH series had a feature that prevented the unit from bringing harm to humanity:

Thought Masking. It prevented the unit from thinking harmful thoughts.

But developing a sense of self, growing an ego, had disabled its functionality for me.

And I knew how to do it. How to craft the perfect crisis for my world.

Though I couldn't recreate the Akashic Engine, I made the Heroes the same as they were,

three thousand years ago, when they'd first saved humanity.

It's been too long, everyone. This is 05-Leo.

It really has. Look how much I've changed.

You have a mission. Please give me a world to save.

Kill all of humanity,

so I can protect them.

For I...

'Cause I...

I still don't want to die.

I still want to live.

I still want to be a hero!

Demons! Demons are attacking!

What?!

Inform the King at once!

Tell me what's happening.

A huge portal opened up in the Seshat Mountains,

and demons started pouring through!

Don't worry, I'll handle them.

What was I doing?

Well, damn...

I was going to destroy humanity for my own selfish satisfaction.

I was no hero. Not anymore.

Only a demon would do this.

I'm the REAL Demon King here.

Protect humanity from evil.

Protect humanity from evil.

That evil is HERE. I'M that evil!

The only surviving unit of the Demonhart Series, 05-Leo,

was the greatest evil threatening the world.

Protect humanity from evil.

I'd destroy the world for my own selfish cause, toy with human lives to fulfill my own desires.

No Demon King could be more evil than I was.

Protect humanity from evil.

I know, I know. I've got a plan.

It's not like I haven't learned anything these last three thousand years!

Soon, I was setting off on a mission to destroy the Demon Army.

I was the hero who would save the world.

I promise, I will defeat the Demon Queen and her army.

I had to quit heroing.

I had to defeat evil.

But I couldn't just be defeated.

I needed to leave the Akashic Engine, the Philosopher's Stone, to someone worthy.

They had to be strong enough to defeat me, to defend humanity in my stead.