Chapter 155: How to Write a Proper Ending (7) (Part 1)

[155] 24. How to Write a Proper Ending (7)

Can a mistake become hope.
Can pain become a path.

“Big bro, Big bro, w-wake up…!”

I barely manage to open my eyes at the tearful voice.

In the middle of the familiar inn’s ceiling, Feya’s wet face comes into view.

“Feya…?”

“Big bro!!”

She suddenly hugs me tightly. The smell of rotting flesh hits my nose sharply. It wasn’t hard to find the source of the smell.

“Feya, your body…”

“Rem!!”

It wasn’t just her. Every woman who embraces me has their body blackened.

Though Clara’s divine power surrounds them, it’s merely delaying the inevitable.

Slowly, through my hazy mind, memories resurface.

The goddess’s resistance, the black plague that infected us all, and inside the goddess’s stomach.

The rising emotions add strength to my clenched fists. I manage a faint smile and gently push them away.

“I, I’m okay. I’m fine, so… Move away a little…”

“Ugh…!”

It was at that moment that a hot wetness touched my chest. Trembling sobs that aren’t mine flow through my chest.

“I’m sorry…! I’m so sorry… Rem…!”

Sister Amy’s tearful words. The same weight of sorrow hangs on the faces of the others.

How could my anxiety not well up after seeing that.

“…What happened?”

***

On the inn’s bed, half of Sharik lies.

This is not a metaphor.

Sharik’s lower body below the waist had been torn away by something. Additionally, his left arm was gone as well.

Only the tree roots covering his entire body seem to be barely keeping him alive.

“…When we were escaping, he was blocking the monsters that rushed at us…”

The Captain, half her body covered with the plague, hangs her head. She barely holds onto my collar as she continues speaking.

“And the pointy-ears…”

Tears finally choked her throat. I simply raised my head and looked out the window.

Through the crumbling sky and earth, flickering flames are faintly visible.

I knew what kind of experiment Shafiq had been subjected to. I had overheard it while planning our escape from the underground prison.

The Unquenchable Flame.
That was Shafiq’s final trace.

No sudden tears came. Only a cold realization brushed against my fragmented heart.

Another person has died because of me.

“…It’s not… your fault…”

I turned my gaze, shoulders trembling. Sharik had painfully opened his eyes and was looking at me.

“…I’ll bring Clara. Just wait a moment…”

“…There was a prophecy.”

Sharik’s remaining arm grabs my wrist as I’m about to run off. It’s a weak grip, but one I can’t shake off.

“…I’ll go get her, Vice-Captain.”

I silently nod. Sharik’s faint voice follows immediately after.

“The World Tree’s… prophecy… that my son… would… burn to death for you…”

“…Did Shafiq know?”

“Of… course… even before… leaving with you…”

…So that’s why the Elven Queen tried to stop Shafiq.

This late realization is terribly painful.

“…So, it’s not… your fault… It… was Shafiq’s choice…”

A violent coughing fit wracks Sharik’s body. I hurriedly grab his hand and try to calm him down.

“There’s no need to say more. Clara will be here soon…”

“If anyone… is to blame…!”

But instead, Sharik grabs my hand and raises his body. He clings to me with desperate eyes.

“It…is my fault…!”

Tears stream down, mixing with the blood on his face.

“Because I…! Because I… killed so many… shed the blood of innocents in the name of a greater cause…!”

But his sudden surge of strength quickly fades. Soon, I had to support his body to keep him from collapsing.

The strength drains from his firm hand.

“My son… My son…”

His hand finally releases mine. His body slumps back lifelessly onto the bed.

“I’m… sor…ry…”

And that was the end.

His arm dangles limply off the bed, and his eyes grow cloudy. A single stream of blood flows from his parted lips.

One of the Seven Heroes who saved the world 200 years ago, my friend’s father, a mere elf who couldn’t shake off his guilt until the very end,

Breathed his last like that.

With trembling hands, I barely managed to close his eyes.

“…Rem, I’m here…”

“…”

I didn’t dare turn around. I didn’t even know what expression I was making. I just gritted my teeth, trying to suppress whatever was welling up inside me.

“Rem.”

Clara quietly embraced me from behind.

She continues speaking with a voice wet with tears.

“Let us, run away.”

Clara’s sobbing flows from my back to my chest.

“The Goddess will be here soon. Marianne and Parsley’s barrier won’t be able to hide us for much longer.”

We no longer smell of lavender. Only the stench of our rotting bodies and the pitiful fishy smell of tears linger.

“So, to the west… let’s flee to the western edge of the continent. Let’s wait for the end there. If I use all my strength, I can delay the disease for about two months. So…”

Finally, sobs choked her voice.

“I’ll… make you happy…!”

Clara’s voice always finds its way into my heart. It was like that when we were young, and even now, that hasn’t changed.

That’s why I could shake off the last bit of hesitation left.

“Even if for a mere brief moment, I wish to give back the happiness you should have had. So, so please…! Escape with me…”

“Clara.”

I turned around and cupped her cheeks in my hands. I forced a smiled as I wiped away her tears and pus with my thumbs.

“I’m not running.”

Clara’s face contorts. I look over her shoulder, avoiding her pleading eyes.

Everyone was standing there with dark expressions. It seemed like they also wanted to run away.

But I couldn’t do that.

It’s not because I suddenly felt a sense of duty to the world. And absolutely not because I’ve given up on everything.

I just know.

That I am responsible for this end.

That when the end finally devours the ones I love, I’ll wish I had died instead.

And that hope had not yet vanished.

Can mistakes become hope.
Can pain become a path.

I carefully push Clara away and look at everyone.

“I have a plan.”

It didn’t take long to explain the plan. It wasn’t that complicated to begin with.

“…Can you do it?”

Everyone was silent at my question. It was an understandable reaction. After all, it’s essentially a suicidal plan. If they refuse…

“If we say we won’t do it, Rem, will you do it alone?”

I raise my eyes to look at the Captain. No, I try to look but avoid her gaze.

“I…”

“Never mind. Of course you would. You’ve always been like that.”

A deep sigh escapes the Captain’s lips.

“Vice-Captain, you’re a real asshole, you know that?”

Having nothing to say, I just bit my lower lip. Looking at me like that, I wonder what was the Captain thinking. After a long silence, she finally spoke with a trembling voice.

“Just… just… promise me one thing…”

I cautiously look at the Captain. At some point, she had begun to tremble, with tears dripping down.

“That you’ll definitely, by all odds come back. When you return, I’ll never talk that bullshit about leaving again. I’ll stick by your side even if you hate it… Promise, promise you’ll come back…!”

She won’t leave. It’s the words I’ve been waiting to hear for five years. Words that, if I heard them, I thought I’d be so happy I’d jump for joy.

So why, hearing them now, do I only feel sadness.

“…I promise, Captain.”

It’s probably because I’m an asshole.

And so, we prepare for the final battle.

***

The parasites’ barrier annoyed me more than I expected. Despite being hastily erected, why was it so complex. Even Irene had gone crazy, so I had to break through the barrier alone.

Well, I did manage to find it in the end.

I stood before the shabby inn, shaking off the remaining flames. Then, I calmly opened the front door.

“My, I didn’t expect you to be waiting so openly.”

Holy scripture densely written on the inn’s walls and floor, with Clara standing in the center, glaring at me. With eyes already turned white and cloudy from the disease.

Not suppressing my sneer, I advanced.

“Where have the others gone? If you tell me now, I suppose you could be swallowed in one bite…”

[O Lord.]

Bright light shoots from her toward me. The heated holy scriptures also try to bind me.

But what use is any of it?

I approached Clara while absorbing the light.

“This is pitiable enough. Didn’t I tell you. The Heavenly God are merely fragments of my body. Holy magic can’t possibly work against me.”

But Clara doesn’t stop channeling her divine power at me. Rather, she sends even more light towards me with all her might.

It’s not even amusing anymore.

“Kuhek…!”

I grabbed Clara by the throat and lift her up. Looking into her increasingly pale face, I said.

“You tried, but this is as far as you go.”

Just then, a sight caught my eye. It was a sight that made me unable to hold back a hollow laugh.

A dagger clutched in Clara’s desperate hand.

“Ha, surely you’re not going to try and stab me with *that*? What a pathetic resistance. A mere dagger.”

At my mockery, Clara’s face contorts. She’s probably about to burst into tears.

Parasites are all the same.

Daring to interfere with my freedom, such weak…

“You… bitch…!”

Clara swings her dagger.

“_!”

But not at me.

Confused, I look at Clara’s severed pinky finger. Of course, I don’t let go of her throat.

“Self-harm…? Have you finally gone mad…”

Clara’s severed pinky turns into light.

And then,

*Boom-!*

“…!!”

Blood and flesh burst from my hand.

I automatically stepped back. Struggling to suppress my shock, I stare at my hand where blood has erupted.

My flawless hand, specifically the pinky finger, has transformed.

Blackened and festering, as if about to crumble away.

No, it’s more accurate to say it has been swapped.

Body transfer holy magic.

The forbidden magic Clara had used on her own body to restore Rem’s missing limbs.

“You parasite…!”

Trying hard to swallow my irritation, I look at Clara, who has collapsed and is coughing. That’s when I begin to see the faint light connecting her body to mine.

“So that’s why you were showering me with holy magic. To connect your body to mine?”

“You… finally… Cough…! You only realized now…? Cough…!”

…A look of satisfaction is visible in Clara’s smile. It’s quite difficult to tolerate.

“It’s useless, Clara.”

I reached out toward my pinky finger that’s scattered on the floor.

Right now, I possess a body with a complete soul and flesh.

Reattaching a piece of my separated flesh would be…

[anishb]

The flesh pieces flying toward me disappear, enveloped in blue light. I narrow my brows and turn my head.

“It… won’t be that easy…?”

Parsley, a barely standing parasite. It’s becoming increasingly hard to bear the irritation.

“Did you teleport it away? It’s still useless. This world is strictly my body. As long as it’s in this world…”

While searching for my pinky finger, I suddenly stopped speaking.

My pinky is…

“What? Can’t figure out where it is?”

Naturally, my gaze turns to Parsley’s fierce smile. And then I finally discover what’s clutched in her hand.

Alain’s pocket watch.

A relic powerful enough to send things to another world.

Parsley brushes her decaying left arm and grins.

“It’s impossible to blow away the whole you, but I can throw something like a severed pinky finger to another world.”

Everyone has their breaking point.

Naturally, the scene of my dismembered body being banished to another world flashes before my eyes.

It’s a disgusting feeling.

“You especially, I’ll chew up slowly… Ugh…!”

At that moment, blood burst from my hand once again. But for a completely different reason than before.

A powerful soul requires a suitable body.

Clara’s pinky finger couldn’t bear the burden of my soul and cracked. Thread-like soul leaks out from the cracks.

It’s because I’ve been separated from my original body for too long. Having parasitized Betty’s body for a long period, the connection to my soul had weakened.

But it’s merely a matter of gathering it again.

For such a trivial matter…

*Clang-!*

I reflexively raised my hand to block the slash. Looking up, I see Amy’s twisted face.

“Do you truly have no capacity to learn? With such an insignificant weapon against me…”

“The one who can’t learn is you, Goddess.”

Amy kicks me away and steps back. But I couldn’t pursue her.

“My soul…!”

The soul leaking from my cracked pinky finger drifts toward Amy. As if finding its home, it seeps into her body.

The reason for this becomes clear when I look at the color of her hair.

The fragment of my soul that had mixed in while reconstructing Amy’s soul. It was now drawing the rest of my soul towards it.

And only then could I notice their scheme.

“So this is how you’re planning to dissect my soul and body again? Taking advantage of the weakened connection?”

Using Clara’s body transfer holy magic to separate my body,
Using Parsley’s world transfer magic to banish the separated body parts to another world,
And using Amy’s soul to absorb my soul that leaked out in the process.

Like distilling saltwater.

But I am the ocean.

“You dare?”

*Rumble-!*

With just the release of my true power, all those parasites are flattened to the floor. Even Amy, who was supposedly strong, falls to her knees.

These things were no match for me, even in their diseased state.

I look down at them and walk upon the earth.

“Now that even Alain’s final secret measure is gone, do you think I’ll perish at the hands of mere you? I am the only god of this land! I am your creator!”

Anger I couldn’t suppress finally mixes into my voice.

“Ignorant parasites who don’t even know that fact dare to disregard my mercy…!”

“Didn’t I tell you.”

I felt a presence behind me.

I immediately swing my hand to shatter the approaching axe. Further, I grab Feya’s nape.

“This kind of sneak attack…!”

Another killing intent coming from behind.

Hurriedly, I extend my hand…

[O Lord!]

[anishb!!]

My ankle shatters, throwing off my balance. Seizing that opportunity, Rosalia grabs my waist.

I immediately strike down with my elbow, but it crushes her shoulder rather than her head.

“Even a goddess loses sight of things when she’s pissed off!!”

Feya’s legs tangled around my neck and arm. Even as her legs are crushed, Feya’s smiling face catches my eye.

“You parasite…!!”

And then ‘he’ appears.

‘He’ who had been hiding his body within Marianne’s barrier until now.

He operates a giant machine, focusing it on me. He peers through the machine’s lens.

A primal unease fills my heart.

“Let go!!”

I try to shake off Feya and Rosalia with all my might, struggling towards the machine. But they won’t let go.

With their hands, with their legs, and if those are broken, then with their teeth, they cling to my body.

[O … Lord!]

[ani, anishb!!]

Moreover, another part of my body is replaced. This time, my entire calf is gone. Unable to keep my balance, I finally tumble ungracefully to the floor.

And finally, Marianne grabs the lever.

“Don’t pull it!! Don’t…!”

Rem entered my soul.

In that moment, everything became clear.

What these parasites’ real plan was,
What they were truly aiming for,

And how utterly futile it all was.

“Haha…”

Unlike his fading body, I rise to my feet. Unlike their darkening expressions, my face lights up with a smile.

I looked up at the ceiling and burst into a triumphant laugh.

“Hahahaha!!”

This was my victory.