An archangel has always been a symbol of the one who takes care of everything impure in this world.
Metatron is the prime example of this.
"Jophiel...find Azrael, and make sure he doesn't find him."
Those were the orders for this archangel, Jophiel.
He never imagined he would end up caught in Azrael's ■■■.
There are still more archangels out there; perhaps they are looking for the three of them.
Although maybe not.
What's lost is lost.
However, I still don't want to accept it.
"..."
Anser watched the scene unfold before his eyes; Randy Bornman revealing his true archangel form.
Any reader of the Mr. Detective story would already know that this was one of the obstacles that would make the final battle one of the most difficult battles for Anser Ciro.
However, this was already the reality, and now, they were in the final battle.
Anser knew it.
He always knew it.
"Jeon..." He crawled next to Ji Noo. The dark feathers were finishing covering his face, and besides that, he was crying.
Neither of them would be saved.
All of his companions were dead, and Anser knew it well; the moment when what little remains of Ji Noo is lost, will be when they lose.
What does it matter if Randy wants to repeat the whole world so he can have a happy ending?
This would probably be the only life in which Ji Noo and Anser Ciro would be themselves, before becoming enemies again.
He wished the world had frozen since they met.
That way they would never have to face this outcome.
However, amidst all the misery that filled Anser's soul; a furry ball jumped behind him.
Mayu.
Anser stood up immediately, holding his rib wound.
"Mayu!"
The demon leaped up to Randy, opened its mouth, and thousands of tracker demons poured out. They all bit Randy's wings, devouring them as if they were the poisonous grass they loved so much—except that this one was killing them with every bite they took.
Randy flapped a wing to stop them, interrupting their final attack; it was then that Mayu lunged at Randy's head and bit it off.
"No...Mayu, wait!" Anser tried to move to stop his beloved pet, but he was so tired that he fell to his knees on the ground.
And just then, Randy moved his hand, grabbed Mayu by his fur and threw him aside, while Mayu spat out the remains of Randy's head.
Randy's head regenerated, and with it, his blond hair grew longer again.
"Raum." That was all Randy said.
And when Anser turned around, Ji Noo's body was already wrapped in black feathers.
Anser frowned, and his eyes felt tearful, threatening to burst into tears at that very moment.
«Take everything from me, except him.»
"Jeon..." His solemn voice was so small it sounded like a child's. "...Please."
And finally, Ji Noo's eyes opened; red, crimson eyes.
But Randy felt that something wasn't quite right.
Ji Noo raised his hand, and with a hiss, a dagger came to his hand.
"..."
Apparently, Ji Noo didn't let Raum take control of his body.
And that made Randy angry. "Agares."
[Yes sir.]
Everything around him turned black and white; time stood still, and once that happened, Randy detached from his wings and floated towards Ji Noo.
"I thought you would be our salvation...it seems I was wrong, and because of you, I had to resort to this..." He said, as pure energy emanated from his hand. "...You never told me how this story ended, Ji Noo."
But before he could do anything, an arrow pierced his hand, knocking it aside.
Lunar energy.
He knew that Anser would not be affected thanks to the grace of the Moon.
Randy turned to look at Anser, who, with an arrow filled with his blood, shot it at Ji Noo—right on the head.
"Will you kill your partner?" Randy snorted.
"No," Anser smiled. "He will kill you."
And that's when he remembered that the blood of a Vulpecula was the most valuable artifact in this world ruled by pure and impure energies.
Randy stepped back just in time as Ji Noo's dagger was about to cut his face.
It was then, when Randy was present, that Ji Noo's feathers turned white. That was no longer Raum's power—Randy realized it.
"..."
Ji Noo plucked out a feather, turning it into a dagger, and with Elmetron's dagger...he was ready. "...Pulsar."
And thanks to Anser's blood that had entered his body, Ji Noo now had the grace of the moon as well.
He took a high leap, and began to spin, at a speed that, for the first time ever seen in all of Randy's lives, was at his own level.
Randy floated, retreating as he recharged a spell.
But Ji Noo kept getting closer, becoming more and more like an astronomical phenomenon that would destroy everything if he crossed his path.
And it was then that Ji Noo managed to catch up with him.
"...!"
Half of Randy's torso was separated from his body.
Randy quickly took advantage of the proximity to cut off Ji Noo's head; but Anser shot another arrow at his hand. "Agh!"
Randy's body separated, barely managing to regenerate, Ji Noo had already headed straight for him.
Anser had also gained mobility; he had done the same with Mayu as he had with Ji Noo, riding him, while shooting silver moon arrows at him.
Mayu wasn't fast, but Anser's arrows were accurate; worse still, Ji Noo was literally on his heels.
If he slowed down a little, he wouldn't be able to regenerate that quick.
It was then that Randy realized that even with Agares' power, it wouldn't be enough.
"Agares!" He entered a building, exiting through a broken window, and when Ji Noo passed by, he split the building in two. "Deactivate the monochrome field!"
And when time began to flow again, all the destruction behind them was rekindled, but Ji Noo did not stop.
An arrow from Anser managed to pierce him, making him stop, and it was then that Ji Noo reached him and tore him to pieces.
Ji Noo floated by, until he reached Anser's side, and that's when he stopped.
"Jeon!" Anser got off Mayu, holding his left arm, which was torn. "You're you, right?" He said, and then put his arm around him. "I almost felt like I was dying...it really is you...I thought that if you came back to yourself...you wouldn't be the same anymore..."
Ji Noo looked at him, seeing his injured arm, and seeing Mayu wrap his body around them both...he realized that Anser injured his arm to save Mayu and him.
"Anser..." He murmured, from Liam's bag, which hung like a necklace around Mayu's neck, he took out a regeneration potion and a stamina regeneration potion, to help Anser drink it. "Your eye...Anser..."
Anser stopped Ji Noo's hand before he could give him the entire regeneration potion to drink, handing it to him instead.
"It doesn't matter..." Then he smiled, melancholic. "I can see you, that's all that matters now, Jeon."
Ji Noo sighed, taking the bottle and squeezing it in his hand.
"I'm so sorry..." Then he looked at where he had previously torn Randy to pieces. "If I had followed Enver's plan...this wouldn't have happened..."
Anser seemed curious; he hadn't heard that plan.
"Enver?"
It was then that Ji Noo decided to tell him. "He planned to use the grimoires to overload Randy's pure energy..." He said, looking at the dagger in his other hand. In this world, grimoires were made with a portion of the magic, or energy, of the person who made them; an example is the grimoire of Vulpecula, who used lunar energy to write it. "I had a...dream. Randy is an archangel, and it's possible he could die if his pure energy is overwhelmed with impure energy, but if he dies..."
His pupils sharpened; something was approaching.
Randy's wings were speeding towards them; for Ji Noo, he could dodge them, Anser could not.
"Anser!"
He quickly grabbed his arm and pulled him towards him, with Mayu suffering the injuries.
Anser looked surprised, not so much by the fact that the wings moved without Randy controlling them, but by Ji Noo who was willing to sacrifice Mayu to save him.
Crack.
The shell was cracking.
The true memories threatened to burst from his soul like a bomb.
That reminded him of that.
Crack.
But why did he remember that?
"You need to stop slipping away, Ji Noo..." From the wings, Randy's body reappeared, glowing golden, while his hand pierced Mayu's chest. "This is a family matter." And he threw Mayu aside. Leaving him to bleed out on the floor. "Stop dragging Anser along with you."
Ji Noo frowned, letting go of Anser for a moment, to stand in front of him.
"This stopped being a family matter when you decided to sacrifice everyone!"
"Isn't that what you were trying to do at the beginning too?"
Ji Noo gripped his dagger. "I never tried to hurt anyone."
"You're wrong," He smiled. "You're hurting someone."
Instinctively, Ji Noo turned to look behind him; at Anser. Wounded, dirty from the fight, and above all, tired.
That's what he caused.
"The funny thing is, all I want is to fix you all. And yet, you all came together to prevent it?" Randy continued. "I asked you for an ending, a different ending than the one I saw. Unlike the other endings that ended the same way, unlike all those drafts..." His face turned serious. "...I'll tell you one last time, Ji Noo..."
Ji Noo turned his gaze to look at him.
"...What is the end of this story?"
On Randy's face, there was nothing but curiosity, a desperate desire to know.
And the ending?
"..." It's not something Randy would have...expected. "The end? The true ending of the novel is this life, Randy."
...
Randy froze.
If this life, this present life, was always the unfolding of the true ending, of the true story behind so many drafts, so many 'lifes' for Randy...
That means there was no afterlife if he died now, or if he restarted the world.
"...What?" His plan was perfect, no, rather, it would be perfect if current life had been a draft like the others, something he could change, but now... "Why didn't you tell me before?"
He could no longer change a story that was already finished.
"I just remembered, and perhaps that was one of my biggest mistakes."
If only he had remembered it earlier, Randy wouldn't have followed his entire plan, and he would have lived the life he so longed for. He believed that everything would be the same if he didn't do something, without realizing that all the bad things had ended after he had died again and again and again.
However, if Ji Noo had remembered it in the prologue of this story, that would mean that this story would not have developed.
And that means that I shouldn't have to be narrating this story now.
Randy's legs trembled; it was obvious he was struggling to keep from falling to his knees. Did he win?
He didn't.
He lost everything, for wanting something better than what he already had.
"...Agares," That was the first thing he thought; if this was the definitive end, why didn't that demon ever tell him? "You have deceived me."
[Yes, I did.]
She knew it perfectly well.
"Why?" His voice sounded broken; he was crying. Both Anser and Ji Noo stayed where they were. Still. Watching. "Why have you deceived me when I'm the one who has suffered the most here?"
A laugh.
She was laughing at him.
[Because you should never have tried to stop me.]
And Randy didn't know what she meant.
"...What?"
But, just as he was about to turn around and see Agares' eyes, his heart stopped.
"Randy?" Ji Noo approached, but stayed in place when he noticed something strange. "..."
Randy fell to his knees on the ground, pressing his hand to his heart. Not taking his treatment was already affecting him.
Rather...perhaps, all this time with his heart disease was because of Agares, who was trying to kill him slowly.
And at least, it wasn't just Ji Noo who noticed, Randy did too.
"R-Run...away..." He said, slightly raising his gaze, meeting Anser's eye, and all he could do was lower his head. "I...made a mistake..."
Anser opened his eyes, raised his hand towards Randy, but, just as he did, a wave of energy was expelled from Randy's body, sending them both back.
Randy's wings shone, and then they wrapped around him; perhaps Anser didn't know it, but Ji Noo had seen the same thing in that 'dream'.
"Death of an Archangel..." Ji Noo murmured, and immediately, he carried Anser in one arm, and then went to Mayu, who was slowly healing. "Run away!" He put Anser on Mayu's back, and Mayu ran off.
"Jeon!" Anser shouted, raising his hand towards him as he rode on Mayu's back.
But his path was interrupted with a rumble; the ground opened up, causing Mayu to jump, but because of his injuries, he fell to the ground with Anser.
Ji Noo noticed it, and immediately went towards them, but as soon as he took a step, he felt something detach from his body.
"Found you, my prince."
He could recognize that voice, for some reason, he could, and it wasn't that it was someone he knew well...or so he thought.
He turned to look behind him; and there he was, that demon he had spoken to on his journey to the third world, that demon who had caused those reincarnations in the archangel Azrael...
Doepul-i.
And which was emerging from Ji Noo's shadow.
"!"
It was then that Ji Noo realized that the time he thought he had run away from him, in reality, Doepul-i had been hiding in his shadow all this time.
«Idiot...»
"JEON!" And it was Anser's voice that made him turn back and look ahead; Anser drew his sword, going straight towards Doepul-i.
"No! Wait, Anser—"
But he speaked too late, and just as Anser was about to cut Doepul-i, Doepul-i raised a hand towards him, and threw his flames of blue fire at him.
"NO!" Immediately, Ji Noo grabbed Anser by the waist and left with him.
The fire reached and burned the right side of Anser's body, the burns almost completely melting Anser's skin.
On the other hand, Doepul-i was standing in front of Randy's scene...
"..." Doepul-i sighed, and then adjusted his suit. "Agares, I told you that you couldn't leave the Underworld, especially if you used my power for that...don't you know the legal problems you left me with there?"
The tremors grew stronger, the buildings around him began to collapse, and just as one was about to crush Doepul-i, he teleported and floated upwards.
From above, he could see that eye formed with Randy's wings.
"I had enough of that brat who killed Raum to take advantage of him...and now you?" But he didn't attach much importance to it, and instead, he stretched out his hand, pointing at him. "Agares, you are removed from this timeline."
And then, he closed his hand.
[ㅤ]
The wings vanished, and Randy's body fell to the ground, a black shadow emerging from his chest.
All the chaos ceased, but in return, that black shadow expanded. [I am no longer a prince...]
"Of course not, you declared yourself a princess before you left, didn't you?" Doepul-i mocked. "What does it matter? Because of you, I let Raum and Paimon go looking for you, and look at you now, you were here refusing to abandon Jophiel..."
[I am no longer part of the Third World, I...can escape this story if I destroy it!]
"No," Doepul-i said, with a disinterested face. "You can't anymore, you've used up all of Jophiel's pure energy. If you want to do it, you need another archangel."
Orange eyes opened from the shadow. [He's an archangel, isn't he? I'll get him and prove to you that I don't need you!]
But Doepul-i...was already fed up enough with Agares, so he simply snapped his fingers.
The shadow disappeared in particles, and all of them joined Doepul-i's horns, growing.
And then, he teleported back to the ground.
"Now, where is my commander?" He moved his hand in the air, a blue flame appearing, and which expanded as soon as it appeared. "...Oh My!"
Then he extinguished the flame, and put his hands in the pockets of his suit.
"So, this time, did he manage to find us?" He muttered to himself, then turned to look at the sky. "Could you come here now? Come on, brat! Take care of the defective one while I take care of that guy!"
He waited a few seconds.
...
There was no response.
Doepul-i sighed, he didn't need an answer, he knew she had already heard him.
"If you disobey me one more time, I won't lift that curse from you next time."
And with that, he disappeared into the shadows.
However, this was not over yet.