[WHY DO YOU NOT YIELD TO "US"—TO THIS EVIL?! WHY—EVEN AFTER BEING STAINED BY MALICE—]
The end is seconds away. In that infinitesimal moment—
[WHY HAVE YOU FOUGHT… THIS HARD?!]
The answers cross paths!
[IF YOU WANT TO KNOW, I'LL TELL YOU!! IT'S SIMPLE—]
[—!!]
[SO THAT I—CAN LIVE!!!]
She proclaims it loudly to the world—
[GOETIA GUILLOTINE LIVES: THE EXECUTIONER OF COMPASSION—!!!!!!!!!]
The secret technique that saves humanity detonates.
The earth is carved by endless fissures. The clouds in the sky are vaporized.
「Aaaagh—!」
Mash barely manages to plant her feet, shielding herself from the aftershocks.
A massive tremor. Then, silence.
[—...]
[—...…]
Locked in the final pose of the technique, time itself seems to stagnate.
[To live… simply so that you… might live…?]
[Yes. That's why… I don't hate you. I don't even resent you. It's just—"You were in the way of my life." That's all there is to it.]
Rikka states it clearly. No grudge. No hatred.
He was an obstacle, so she tore him down.
[—I see. We truly did misunderstand. We overestimated you far too much.]
Goetia accepts this in the quiet.
[To think we were defeated by one who—while wishing for survival and fearing death—struck down we who aimed for eternity out of that same fear…]
[—My way of life won't change. I don't care who it is, what their reason is, or what they have to say. If they get in the way of my living—if they block my path—I'll crush them, I'll blow them away, I'll destroy them, and I'll kill them. For the sake of the future I want to live in. For the sake of my own wish.]
That was the resolve she made on the day they met.
The way of life she chose for the soul that was saved that day.
And—the vow she made to the irreplaceable best friend who guided her and saved her, even without a future of his own…
["I won't hesitate to destroy for the sake of living"—That is my "Evil," Goetia!!]
That is the Dragon's answer.
The future she wants to live in is here.
The tomorrow she wants to live in is now.
She will destroy anything that interferes with it.
And at the end of that road, she will save the world again and again.
That—is the life of Rikka Fujimaru.
[—What utter, irredeemable foolishness. What stubbornness, beyond the need for salvation.]
Goetia laughs softly.
["Handled with care," indeed. Ha—haha—HA-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!]
He savors that answer as he fades.
[Andromalius: Activity Ceased.]
[Flauros: Activity Ceased.]
[—All Envoys: Silence Confirmed.]
[…Good grief.]
Goetia chants to no one in particular.
[Unnaturally short… and strangely wondrous—]
In his final moment, the King of Demon Gods takes the form of a man.
[—How brilliantly precious it is—this thing called a human life—]
He reduces into golden motes of light and quietly vanishes.
「————, …——」
And as if following him into the beyond…
「…I did it. Everyone… Gudo… shi…」
Her energy spent, Rikka loses consciousness and collapses.
「SENPAI—!!!」
『—Lemegeton. No. Heroic Princess Aia. To your way of being, I offer my respect and gratitude.』
—!
『Just as you gave to me, I entrust my parting gift to you. —I want you to take it. And I want you to never forget.』
—Goetia…
『The proof that I lived. —The proof of our decree, we who aimed for hope in the void. Its meaning—』
—Yes. …Truly, truly… thank you for your hard work…
-------------------------
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