Chapter 67: Give Me Your Despair (5)

Dark, cold, heavy, creepy, terrible—

A feeling that made me want to scream.

My mouth automatically closed at the tingling sensation rising from my fingertips.

A feeling that I could never get used to even if I knew it.

A despair like death itself that accompanied the end of all magical girls.

“This, crazy…”

Even though it was clearly daytime just before, the world was dyed black.

A darkness that made it impossible to see even an inch ahead.

In an abyss so thick, so thick that I couldn’t even be sure if my own body was moving—

Red eyes opened.

“…Apo, Calypse.”

Calling that name.

The enemy of the world, the nemesis of all magical girls. That name.

The monster didn’t respond to that call.

As if that wasn’t its name.

It simply stood there, quietly observing the figure of its prey that had tried to harm it.

‘No, I was prepared for this. From the moment I was given a second chance, I decided to do it no matter what…’

But Ruby didn’t despair.

In the first place, this feeling was enough, to the point of being sick of it.

A second chance.

Just that fact alone was enough to have hope.

And it certainly wasn’t just me.

“Sapphire—!!”

Hope began to burn within the abyss.

Like a cluster of stars shining in the dark night sky, a familiar face appeared at the end of the mass of hope that filled despair.

Sapphire.

A comrade who had risked each other’s lives and fought together.

The moment that one hope became two, the darkness cleared and the world began to fill with light.

“You’ve finally revealed your true nature, Apocalypse!”

“…”

“Ha, you’re suddenly shutting your mouth, huh?”

Seeing the opponent who had remained silent unlike before, memories from the past came to mind.

No, it wasn’t memories from the past that came to mind, but rather it felt as if I had returned to the past.

The monster called Apocalypse never spoke human language.

“Ruby.”

“You remembered, Sapphire.”

Ruby raised the corners of her lips as she watched Sapphire nod slightly.

This is it.

It would be nice if we could become three again, including Emerald, but Emerald was already completely smitten with that monster.

I thought she would come to her senses if she saw that.

Ruby muttered to herself and put strength into the hilt of her sword.

“Die…!!”

There was no other warning.

Not only did she not intend to show such consideration to a monster, but she also had no time to hesitate in the face of Apocalypse.

The sharpened blade of hope aimed at the enemy in front of her and finally reached it.

No, right before the blade made contact.

“Keuk…?!”

“Ruby!”

The black awl that had penetrated the defensive magic pierced Ruby’s abdomen.

How on earth?

She gritted her teeth and plugged the wound.

More important than the blood flowing out of the wound was the despair that was invading her body through the wound.

‘Damn it… I’m sure she wouldn’t have let her guard down…’

Could it be believed that the experience of long battles had actually been poisonous?

A defeat that occurred because it knew only too well how long Sapphire’s defensive magic could withstand Apocalypse’s attacks.

“Tch…”

The monster tilted its head as it looked at Ruby.

As if to ask, “Isn’t this what you wanted?”

---

When I opened my eyes, I was in a black room.

A room with nothing, just darkness.

No, but wasn’t there nothing?

When I turned my gaze, all I could see was a sofa that anyone would find soft and a vintage analog TV with the back of its head sticking out.

Was he locking me in here and telling me to just watch TV?

‘Anyway, why am I here?’

I was so out of it that I couldn’t remember properly.

I clearly remember asking Emerald to give me despair…

Didn’t he give me hope instead of despair?

Well, considering the expression on his face the last time I saw him, I don’t think he did.

‘Maybe he was taken to a research facility or something…’

I slowly walked and threw myself on the sofa.

Ah, annoying, annoying. Why on earth do these magical girls keep harassing me like this?

I slowly moved my body and put my head on the armrest of the sofa.

Then, the TV that had been showing only a flickering screen started showing a proper image.

[Apocalypse!!!!]

“Oh, you’re fighting well.”

The one who appeared on the screen was none other than Ruby.

She dodged, knocked away, and advanced against the awls of despair that were pouring in from all directions.

The attacks coming from every angle were deflected by Sapphire’s defensive magic, and she herself was running with all her might to reach Apocalypse…

She looked like a moth flying toward a flame.

“It’s refreshing to see it from the first person like this.”

[You, are defeated here!!]

Is this the omniscient Demon King’s perspective?

After all, this was me—no, it seemed to be Apocalypse’s inner self.

I had felt it since long ago, but could it be Apocalypse’s personality?

No, should I say it was the monster personality here?

Anyway, I didn’t know something like that would remain.

It even seemed to have memories.

“So, is this the ending…”

The magical girls returned to the past to defeat the monster they couldn’t defeat, but they ultimately failed—that was the ending.

Even with Emerald’s help, they lost, so it was too bad that those two alone had no chance of winning.

Why provoke a monster that was just sitting there, tsk.

[Gasp, gasp… sob…]

[Ruby, it’s dangerous!]

They were putting up a good fight, but that didn’t mean they would win.

There wasn’t enough light to fully illuminate the vast darkness.

And that took a while.

Thump, thump, thump—

“You’re happy…”

The joy that came from being able to get rid of those annoying magical girls, the two most annoying ones, was transmitted to me.

In the original, Apocalypse seemed to feel no emotions at all.

In fact, he might have had an incredible poker face or something.

If not, then—’—he learned emotions from me.’

Just as I learned monster things from Apocalypse, Apocalypse might have learned human things from me.

Rather than learning, it would be more correct to say that he moved as his body led him.

He liked to feed on the despair of humans and magical girls, and he acted as his instincts led him.

However, he enjoyed the process of filling his hunger, not the despair itself.

That’s why he lost all interest and became stuck on a deserted island when the despair circuit was completed.

If the despair circuit was turned on, he wouldn’t have had to go around looking for despair, and even if he did, the satisfaction wouldn’t have been that great.

[…You, do you remember?]

“Phew…”

Even if you realize it slowly, isn’t it too slow?

You would have thought so.

Did you ever imagine that not only them, but even Apocalypse would have memories of the previous world?

She evaded Ruby’s attack method as if she was used to it, and easily pierced Sapphire’s defensive magic.

It meant that it wasn’t just the magical girls who were used to their opponents’ attacks.

“At this rate, I can’t even tell them to fight.”

I stretched, pressing my cheek against the armrest.

There was no point in watching it like this.

Whether they won or I won, I didn’t think I would ever escape from here.

Why did you force the beast that was locked inside us out?

‘Should I take a breath…’

The scene where the magical girls and Apocalypse fight was the most fun when viewed from the third person.

In the first person, it felt like they were bullying children, so I didn’t like the feeling.

I thought it would be more fun to watch Apocalypse destroy the world.

Then wake me up when the world starts to end.

The moment I closed my eyes like that.

[Akari…!!]

A voice was heard.

“…”

[Akari, are you there?!]

A voice desperately called out to me.

“…Haa.”

I opened my eyes with a sigh, and the screen was filled with the image of the magical girl I’d seen the most recently.

I thought she’d lost consciousness from despair.

[Akari!!!!!]

I shook my head as I watched Emerald desperately calling my name.

How can you be so slow in understanding the situation?

What was in front of Emerald’s eyes right now wasn’t me, but Apocalypse.

And yet, she’s so defenseless, are you just going to die?

[Can you hear me!? Akari!!]

“Yes, yes, I can hear you just fine, so could you please be quiet?”

This TV didn’t have a volume lowering function, so my ears were starting to hurt.

If I were Apocalypse, I would have turned the volume down a little.

Or at least muted it.

If there was a way, well… physically?

Anyway, I couldn’t sleep because Emerald was calling my name over and over again.

[Akari. Please, answer me…]

“Yeah, I told you not to answer even if I say that?”

Oh, really. What a foolish thing to do.

It felt like I had become an idiot too because Emerald was doing something stupid.

‘… Really, I can’t help it.’

She got up from her drooping body and walked to the TV, then crouched down slightly.

Her face was a mess of tears, and her eyes were filled with longing.

Even her hands were clasped in front of her chest.

She stared blankly at Emerald, who was acting like an idiot, and reached out to the TV’s power button.

It would be rude not to tease her directly.

Yeah, that’s how it is.