End of History (3)
Shiina frowned.
"Boarding?"
Even if his mind was damaged, treating someone clearly still alive like a corpse was outrageous.
"We don't care what the Illuminati are. Leave."
No matter what sweet offer they made, her instinct to avoid getting involved was too strong.
"Oh?"
Crown pointed at Kuan.
"That man might still be able to come back to himself."
"What?"
Shiina's eyes widened.
She decided then that, whatever the cost, she would have to get involved with the Author.
"Is there a way?"
"Simple. Fix him. Think of it like... the receiver's broken. The signal comes in, but nothing processes. If I board him, I might be able to fix it."
"That 'boarding'—"
Crown made a circle with his thumb and forefinger.
"Just make a small hole. Then seal it back up. It won't be obvious."
She intuited he meant the brain.
"Are you crazy?"
"Heh."
Crown turned his head toward the battlefield.
On the large screen, Girsin and humans grappled near the mountain. Shirone and Nane fought in the sky; on the ground, humanity's elite clashed with Imir.
Kyaaaaa!
The temple, overlapping with the otherworld, burned from the foundations upward amid screams.
"This is madness."
Seonak Gongae didn't care.
His concern was a fundamental question about living things that held even in the outside world.
- Does love transcend death?
Why do living beings choose a system called death to leave descendants?
- There are children born anew even in the outside world.
Even those who had gained immortality.
So it was inadequate to view death merely as an inevitable choice against a virus.
Crown said, "To get into this madhouse you'll need a body stronger than now. It might be your chance. Choose—an appropriate misfortune, or a slim hope."
Shiina remained silent for a long time.
Tap. Crackle.
The area around where Havitz stood kept spreading, turning to coal.
Kido, who held the unable-to-stand Uorin from behind, widened the distance between them.
This was bad. Even if he activated Vanishing, it would be useless unless he could attack Havitz.
Satan wanted only Uorin.
"Run?"
Havitz's mouth—where there had been none—split open.
"What a joke."
With a bang his body ignited and he shot toward Uorin at terrifying speed.
"Ugh!"
Kido reflexively leveled his spear, then flinched at the memory of the recent, terrible pain.
If that hit him again...
His legs were already shaking.
"Damn it!"
Like Gaold, he pushed aside his anguish and stepped into the pain.
"Here I go!"
The spear began to char the instant they collided, but he didn't let go this time.
I have to protect him.
"Heh heh heh!"
As Havitz split his mouth into a grin, the cheekbone near it burst with a pop and shards flew.
"Huh?"
Staggering to the side, Kido turned his head and saw Natasha with a clenched fist.
"Run."
Hearing the thudding of an insanely fast heartbeat, Kido watched her fist.
It had blackened like coal.
That must hurt.
At that moment, Natasha's avatar combat doll forcibly infused strength into her hand.
When she spread her five fingers, the ash cracked and pale pink new flesh pushed through.
"I've got business with Havitz. Evacuate the people. If you stay here you'll experience hell."
"Why?"
Kido had to ask.
"You were in league with that bastard too, weren't you? Revenge? Now that others might die, what does it matter?"
"...Because he's a friend."
Kido felt as if she'd spoken something very difficult and couldn't press further.
"Go."
"Don't be ridiculous!"
Havitz burst into flame again and charged; Natasha instantly blocked his path.
Supersonic strikes detonated right in front of Kido.
"Hurry!"
Seeing Natasha's face contorted with pain, Kido no longer hesitated.
"Argh!"
Hoisting Uorin onto his shoulders, he ran down the corridor as Havitz screamed amid the flames.
Kreeeee!
Kido felt faint.
Please—please—don't follow.
The pain of even part of your body burning was enough to strip away the will to fight.
If the Death Field completely swallowed you...
There would be only eternal torment.
Not a lack of strength or skill—fighting itself had become terrifying.
Run. If possible, get all of humanity away. Put as much distance from Satan as you can.
They burst out from underground into chaos, humans and demons fighting fiercely over territory.
What meaning was there now?
"Everyone—"
Kido spat with everything he had.
"Get out of here!"
Kruuuu!
Having lost Uorin, Havitz turned his terrible gaze to Natasha.
Her right arm and left leg were charred; she bit her lip, sweat cooling her skin.
"Does it hurt?"
"Annoying, isn't it? I told you I don't want to play. Who are you to stop me?"
Ugh...
Natasha couldn't focus.
Feels like I'm human coal.
But regardless of her will, the reaper avatar forced her body to stand.
"Aaah!"
When Natasha screamed with superhuman grit, Havitz found it entertaining.
"Serves you right. I never liked you. You only pretended to be close because of our family."
It sounded like a whisper in her ear.
- Havitz, Havitz. Child of dusk.
Though the memory was hazy, even there Havitz had been difficult.
"Havitz."
She spoke as if the words had slipped out of her eyes.
"Mature." Crack. Havitz's face crumpled and black ash fell.
This world—if he wanted, he could burn it all down right now.
"Let's stop going back. Our friends are gone. Whether our memories are true or not, end it here."
Havitz was silent.
'Wizard.'
Even if the memories were true, he wouldn't leave her behind.
"No. If you're leaving, you leave."
"...Fine."
Even amid unbearable pain, Natasha activated the Reaper's martial art.
"Then I'll send you off."
Havitz's mouth curled.
"Heh heh heh."
Five minutes later.
....
In a corridor charred like a fire scene, a single victim's corpse lay alone.
Baked to coal with limbs twisted, the body was unrecognizable.
Creek. Creek.
The malfunctioning avatar that snapped its joints revealed the corpse to be Natasha.
"I told you—go."
Fingers curled, trembling intermittently.
Without ears to hear, without a mouth to speak—this was eternal suffering.
"How about it, want to die? Shall I kill you?" Irritated by the corpse's tremor, Havitz stepped on its face and crushed it.
Hmph.
Creek. Creek.
The battle doll folded like a sheet of paper and collapsed, then shortly after completely disappeared.
"Next time, don't go that far." Was freeing Natasha an act of mercy for a friend, or mockery?
"Wizard."
One thing was clear: he would show the world no mercy from now on.
"It doesn't matter where you are."
If he turned the whole world to ash, the only person left would be you.
Heh heh heh.
Havitz's body flared again and rekindled the embers of the building that had already burned.
Kwahahaha!
The Death Field expanded at an enormous rate.
Kyaaaaa!
Hearing the screams from Delta HQ, the ground forces all turned.
"W-what is that?"
Buildings incinerated in an instant, and the blackened radius of scorched land widened.
"Satan."
As if to mark the birth of true atrocity, a gigantic ship appeared high in the sky.
The High Magistrate announced to the world:
- The day of judgment has come. Humanity, all the history you have built stands before the judgment. In the battle of good and evil...
"Uaaaaa!"
Shirone roared and charged.
"Nane!"
Photon cannons fired in overwhelming numbers, but Nane's sermons destroyed them all.
"Why did you kill them!"
"Shirone, look at the world."
"Why! Why did you kill them!"
"Look at what humans have done! The ignorance and wickedness, the desire and attachments of humans—look at the Satan they created!"
As the Death Field expanded, everyone inside it turned to coal.
Auuuu!
Though they had no mouths, it felt as if all their souls were wailing.
"What more do you want from this world? They can't even die! Living on with hearts charred black until the moment of death—that's all this world is!"
Yaaaaa!
Shirone finally reached Nane and grabbed his collar.
"Why."
Tears flowed.
"Why did you kill them?" "It's irreversible. It's something you can't be held responsible for! Why! Why!"
"I will take responsibility."
"??"
Shirone raised his head with murderous eyes.
"Then die."
When the Photon Cannon Infinity fired, waves of particles spread at light speed.
"Foolish one."
At the same time, the sermon that embodied the ultimate Principle split the particle waves and struck Shirone's chest.
Hrk!
Nane lifted his hand with sorrowful eyes as Shirone fell.
"I will save sentient beings from suffering." A massive golden sword began to rotate in the heavens.
"Shirone!"
Seeing Shirone fall, Rian pushed past Imir and threw his body forward.
He slid across the ground and checked him at once; there were no obvious mortal wounds.
But—
"Wake up!"
There was no sign of consciousness returning.
With Shirone defeated, not only the elite forces but those who had fought beside him accepted reality.
"We lost."
Humanity had been defeated.
"Take Shirone and go."
Miro, scanning the Death Field, approached.
"Without Yahweh you can't stop Nane. Even if you fought Satan now, the result would be the same."
Rian held Shirone with one arm, gripped the Daejikdo with the other, and asked, "Where should we go?"
Miro could offer only one answer.
"As far away as possible."
Rian understood instantly, nodded, and drove his foot into the ground.
He was ready to run to the edge of the planet.
"Where are you going?"
Imir stepped in their way.
Damn it!
"It's all over anyway. Let's finish what we have to. Even if the world closes, I want to know who remains at the end."
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Each time Imir's attacks struck the Daejikdo, it felt like bone crushing.
"Unbelievable."
Such extreme defense.
"So that was it? All that reckless momentum, that violent posture—just bluster?"
Gruuu!
It had nothing to do with recovery.
He only feared dying pointlessly—failing to protect Shirone and leaving the world in vain.
Protect.
When he clenched his convulsing hand, Imir narrowed his eyes.
What is this?
Not Rian—he felt as if a single Daejikdo stood before him.
Yaaaaa!
The Daejikdo, moved by conviction, cut through all three of Imir's right arms.
"Huh?"
Feeling his shoulder, Imir turned back in a daze.
"Hah. Hah."
Rian's hand—muscles gone, bone exposed—still gripped the Daejikdo.
"You—"
At that moment, Rian pushed off the ground and put distance between them.
No.
He couldn't leave things like this.
You're a yaksha. A fiend. You've come this far and you'd flee now? You?
Do you want to see the giant die like that?
"Come back."
Come back—
When he realized Rian had already disappeared from view, Imir's face contorted.
Gaaaaaaah!
Nane intoned, "Sermon."
Earth-annihilating strike.
When the golden sword plunged into the ground, the constructs of civilization collapsed into dust and fell.
"Aaaaah! Fall back! Fall ba—!" Someone's shout was swallowed by the spreading dust cloud.
Kururururu.
And so humanity's history came to an end.
Omega, End.