Ch.23477. It’s Not a Lie (2)

…it was completed.

I don’t know what was completed, but that’s the feeling I got.

However, that wasn’t for myself.

Unless the altruistic mindset that helping others is ultimately helping oneself has completely solidified as my personality and aptitude.

That couldn’t be the case.

But…

That’s just my thought.

For him, it’s the story of my future self.

The present and past me apparently was like that, anyway.

And that.

To someone, it must have looked very attractive and desirable.

When someone shows that kind of interest in you.

…Wouldn’t even someone who wanted to die suddenly feel like living again?

I know well why people say they want to die.

It’s because there’s no hope in reality, in the present, in the future.

If enduring pain brings little or no reward, or if it’s meaningless.

There’s no reason to continue living.

At one point, I lost my reason and purpose for enduring pain.

That’s why I wandered and resigned myself.

Afterward, counting the days until I could escape became my only hope.

Even after the Demon King appeared before me… that thought remained unchanged.

Because I couldn’t bear to stay there for even a moment.

There, I was as insignificant as a withering flower.

If someone were to comfort a flower that hasn’t bloomed beautifully…

That would be…

“Your words and determination are truly like rain falling on dry trees.”

The snow-white girl who revealed herself.

She said so with a calm yet somehow sorrowful smile that only touched her lips.

“But the dead tree has already rotted deep inside. My body is food and shelter for insects, and all living beings can only avoid and despise me.”

“Why?”

The young me threw out a question with pure curiosity at the girl’s words.

“I… don’t just wish for my own death.”

Because even death cannot lead us to peace.

“If there is something after death, we aren’t truly dead even when we die.”

It’s just the beginning and continuation of another life.

“So what I wish for is…”

Peace in the true sense.

“For that…”

“So you’ve been longing for destruction too.”

Not just the simple, superficial destruction of the world.

Destruction in the true sense.

“If you won’t do it, I’ll have no choice but to call someone else.”

“…Is my death not enough?”

“That’s right. Even then, the future will still be saved, however flimsily.”

But who is that uncertain salvation for?

Such crude salvation that will be recorded in history books as merely the dangers, crises, and trials of an era.

In truth, no one can be saved.

“I’ve been watching those scenes from the distant past.”

Heroes, champions, kings, great kings, emperors.

…None of that actually means anything.

We didn’t see hope in them.

What we admired in them was their greatness and power.

Ideals, justice, hope, dreams.

All were just tiny bubbles formed from stirring water.

“For the world, civilization, and species, it might have meaning… but we tiny beings within it were truly nothing.”

“Is that so?”

“I don’t expect to be rewarded for my long devotion and sacrifice. But because I have at least a little futile pride in having watched over and protected the world, my making this choice is ultimately a predetermined conclusion.”

Another trial and stepping stone for growth that the current world and its master have been longing for…

“So I’m sorry… but I can’t grant you anything you want.”

“Do you know what I want?”

“What your father and mother couldn’t do. That’s what you want to do, right?”

“Hmm, certainly.”

He readily agreed.

“But is that wrong?”

“It’s not wrong. I think it’s only right. Going beyond continuation to development. That is the responsibility and right given to descendants.”

…However.

“How many times do you think I’ve seen such attempts come to nothing?”

“But that’s inevitable, isn’t it?”

“Yes. It’s inevitable.”

Because it’s not easy, it gains unique value.

If anyone could do it, it wouldn’t be a trial or an achievement.

People don’t praise eating and drinking as great acts when everyone does them without difficulty.

“The world has been changed by those who desired to leave their names in history and acted on that desire. Their good or evil was never important.”

“If good and evil weren’t important, rulers would have no reason to govern, right? But reality isn’t like that.”

“…That’s because they couldn’t find better options and weren’t strong enough to be untouchable.”

Those who have transformed history have changed existing principles and common sense through struggle and conquest rather than harmony.

“Change and innovation make everyone tired and exhausted. No one wants that. If someone does, they can only lead everyone there by wielding the whip.”

Herding sheep, driving people.

…It’s all the same.

“So you’re saying you have no better options, and now you’re too tired to look for something better, so you’ve given up?”

“……”

That would mean denying even the second-best world that she had been watching over and selecting all this time.

After all, the current world was likely the most optimal world she had been watching over and selecting.

…Even if we could turn back time and start again, could we really make the best choices?

And would the result truly be the best?

“It’s easy to erase. Rebuilding what has collapsed is what’s truly difficult.”

But it’s because it collapsed that we can start again.

In a better way.

“…It’s already too late.”

The girl concludes.

“I’ve already paid the price for that.”

And as the world has always grown and perished in such ways.

“It has either improved or become obsolete.”

Just as the world presents various hardships and trials to individuals.

The same applies to the world itself.

“Isn’t it funny? This world that only pushes us, it’s really strange, isn’t it?”

The boy didn’t shake his head, deny, or refuse.

But at least he didn’t offer words of agreement.

“You could have found your own meaning and value even within that.”

“If so, it’s already too late, and I must be exhausted. I no longer have the energy or meaning for that.”

“Hmm…”

Is that so? So persuasion has failed in the end?

“Because you’ve held onto too much, you have no room to hold anything new.”

The basket is full.

To hold something new.

You have no choice but to remove something existing.

But if you don’t.

You’ll just keep precariously piling things up until they spill over.

Someday, they will inevitably flow out, fall, and spill.

Nevertheless, you can’t stop that behavior.

Because it’s instinct, ecology, habit, and desire.

“But you, who have seen with the eyes and ears of the World Tree, know. This world’s problems can’t be solved by eliminating one or two things.”

“…That’s right.”

However.

In every world, there are those who attempt what others deem impossible.

There are those who deliberately take on challenges.

If they hadn’t known, they might have passed it by.

But once they know, pursuing it becomes their very existence.

“It’s severe.”

The young boy shook his head and even let out a sigh.

“Is it what I’m suspecting… could it be?”

“I don’t know what you’re suspecting.”

But a smart one like you could probably guess it right.

“The world cannot be destroyed by created beings.”

So there’s no choice but to call them.

“You’re calling gods.”

Beings who will become destruction itself.

“The reason there are so many figures in your world now is because the world’s master already knows this.”

This isn’t the present.

It’s already a determined past and future.

“Well, let’s set that aside. So… what happens to you?”

“Nothing changes. Even if the World Tree disappears from the earth, I… will remain the same.”

This isn’t even the reality you know, after all.

“A realm unreachable by those with physical bodies. You guessed correctly. This isn’t your world.”

Perhaps the afterlife.

Perhaps heaven.

Perhaps paradise.

Perhaps hell.

Perhaps…

“A place deeper than those.”

And only by crossing over and over again.

Can one reach it.

“The true celestial realm. The conceptual celestial realm you’ve spoken of is beyond this crossing.”

That place is a world completely different from what you’ve seen and heard.

Where everything you’ve taken for granted with your eyes is not so, something even more noble and higher-dimensional.

“It’s beyond understanding. So it’s a place unreachable with a living self or one who was alive. Even gods, if they wish to enter that place, must shed all their existing concepts and self from here to reach it.”

“…That sounds both amazing and frightening.”

“I don’t like it either. Perhaps for individuals and us, it might mean the same as destruction.”

The reason why the world, the universe, individuals need to awaken, realize, and grow.

“Our ultimate purpose is probably to reach that place as our current selves. An infinitely impossible task.”

“…Hmm.”

Didn’t they say not everyone can reach heaven’s gate?

And that the virtuous are most revered there?

Were those words for created beings?

Or did they include even more?

“Now that you know this, you can’t go back.”

“Is that so?”

“Knowledge is a curse. Now that you know this, you can never return to your former self.”

Everything becomes futile.

Everything becomes transient.

“From now on, your life will change into a struggle for worthless things. Everything is meaningless and valueless.”

“You know but cannot reach it. Effort and will are of no use. So you despair and fall into hopelessness. Is that the story?”

“……”

Before me stands a despairing girl.

Before my eyes is a child who collapsed early and resigned from everything.

“It’s difficult. So difficult.”

The boy, crossing his arms and thinking in a way unlike a child.

“But since I know now, I have no choice but to do it, right?”

Even if I’ve collapsed, if I’m given another chance.

Despite being like this, I at least won’t give up.

“It’s beyond me as I am now.”

Being smart, he understands well.

What she meant.

Because he’s smart, he understands more quickly that he won’t be able to reach it.

So as she said, this is indeed a curse.

So let’s think differently.

I’ll become a fool.

“I understand. Let’s accept that we can’t go back. That’s fine.”

“…?”

The girl looks uncomprehending.

The girl with a faint form tilted her head as she watched him change his tone and seemingly readjust his mind.

“Then since it’s all over, there’s no problem with giving me your qualification or power, right?”

“You’re still saying such things…”

“Because I need it now.”

The boy reaches out his hand.

“Give me that and then rest or play or do whatever before the world ends.”

“What are you saying…”

The trees and leaves that were tinged with light and silver.

They gradually become tinged with dark light and gold, as if gold were mixing in.

As the dark yet bright golden radiance illuminates that chaotic world awkwardly but somehow, the girl showed her bewilderment.

“Why?”

“Because life doesn’t stop living.”

Until the moment of death.

“The World Tree was no exception.”

“…Are you trying to take it away?”

“I’m lightening your burden.”

She clutches her throat as if about to scream, but ultimately drops both hands helplessly.

Her drooping shoulders and head fill her with the colors of despair beyond frustration.

“How is that possible? What I’ve dedicated to the World Tree… doesn’t match yours? That can’t be. It makes no sense…”

“Because it’s rain.”

The boy spoke as if it were nothing special.

“Even if it’s a rotten dead tree, even if it’s infested with insects, as long as it’s a living tree, it can’t refuse the blessing of rain.”

And even sunlight.

“The same goes for you.”

“…Me?”

“And because the World Tree wants it.”

They say they don’t want it.

They say they want to die.

They say they want to sleep forever.

They say they want to disappear.

They cry out, plead, and scream like that.

But I know that’s not really the case.

“Those who say such things actually want to live well and be happy more than anyone.”

Because life can’t provide that.

Because I can’t pursue that.

They drink the bitter poison called resignation.

Although it might be self-rationalization.

…Even that was salvation for us.

“If I hadn’t seen it, I wouldn’t have cared either. But it entered my sight, didn’t it? So I won’t leave it alone. I won’t give up.”

Whether you like it or not.

“I’ll do what I need to do.”

And then.

The boy spread his arms and shouted.

“I’ll throw everything away, so you know what I want, right? Just say it. I’ll grant whatever you ask.”

The girl is flustered at my words.

“What are you doing?!”

“Oh, do you need this? Take it.”

Intelligence and brilliance that could mock the world and more… disappears.

The smart and wise child now becomes a child who is nothing.

“This too? It’s nothing special.”

He had good hands.

Good eyes too.

Whatever he saw, he quickly imitated and caught up with.

Such talent that mocked the world now becomes as if it never existed.

“S-stop! You need to return alive and well from here, don’t you?! If you throw everything away… h-how will you live? H-how…”

“Um… I don’t understand what you’re saying, but let’s just go with it.”

His mind doesn’t work anymore.

There seems to have been something he remembered and was determined about.

He’s forgotten it all.

“……”

What remains is.

The initial determination.

“You want that too?”

Even the memories of admiring heroes disappear.

Friendship and affection with friends.

They burst like water droplets, like dawn dew.

“Still not enough?”

The precious memories of coming to respect and admire those two.

The memories of loving them, such will.

All became as if they never existed.

“…This too?”

All the skills and arts he had honed and mastered.

He forgot everything.

“……”

When asked for this.

He seemed to hesitate a bit.

Because that was…

“I guess there’s no choice.”

“Stop! What will change by doing this?! What are you trying to do?!”

“……”

But whether he had already offered it or not, his once lively eyes were somehow dead black.

“Hmm, I don’t know.”

Grateful heart.

Loving heart too.

Such nobility, innocence, and purity that remained unwounded and untainted despite everything, such unparalleled sublimity.

…Gone.

As if it never existed.

“……”

The next part was rather easy.

Aptitude for swordsmanship.

Even the aptitude for magic, which was ambiguous but clearly excellent.

His good luck, his life’s fortune would be reversed if he were revived, and misfortune would always follow him.

Relationships would turn into conflicts, and misunderstandings would lead to greater misunderstandings.

Taking away isn’t enough.

As if stripping him of all valuable clothes and ornaments he wore.

Now the whip comes down, and a heated branding iron marks his once smooth, white skin.

Terrible scars are engraved.

All misfortune and unhappiness are yours.

Your efforts will always betray you, and you will never be rewarded in any case.

Is that still okay? Really?

“……”

He doesn’t even know what’s okay anymore.

The boy was already beyond the state to respond to that.

Only the initial determination and oath remain.

According to that oath.

The World Tree continues to take away what is his and impose what is not his.

So there were things learned as well.

You were a child offered to the gods according to your parents’ will, but now even that fate will be taken from you.

Nothing remains for you now.

Even the divinity hidden within you becomes ours.

As a lineage of giants, your destiny as a god of war, we take that away too.

It will be given to one who is worthy.

That will be your trial, and as you wished…

If you cannot overcome it by your own hand, it will carry out our will.

We will also revoke the blessing of the serpent.

O creation goddess with many names, most noble, who could also become a wise yet fallen demon.

…Your favor will no longer reach him.

Unless he seeks you out himself.

“……”

Toward the boy who sat down as if asleep.

The girl approaches.

But.

Something grabbed the girl’s hand.

“…?!”

It was something red and dark.

It had the form of a human child.

But it wasn’t a human form.

But the face of that form, the area that felt like two eye sockets.

The intense gaze felt from there was somehow filled with resentment and despair.

“Trying to escape?”

What?

The girl tried to question.

But words… wouldn’t come out.

The snow-white girl was caught by the red and dark girl.

“Why are you the only one trying to escape? What about me? What about me?! Why you and not me?! You did nothing! Only harbored resentment!”

The red and dark girl screams.

Was that why?

Where did the sleeping boy get such strength?

He firmly grasped the fragile, thin wrist of the red and dark girl.

“Cari…el?”

Were you awake?

The reason is unknown.

But with eyes opened with difficulty, looking up at the red and dark girl from his seated position.

He said this.

“You… knew too.”

A small mumble.

Truly insignificant like a child’s babble.

“Wait… You’ll soon…”

…

With those final words, the boy lost consciousness.

The pure white girl reflexively caught him as he was about to collapse.

And.

The red and dark girl looking down at the pitiful boy and the sorrowful girl.

—!!

Despite opening her mouth wide, she cried silently.

She kept screaming and screaming.

“Lutesia.”

“??”

The pure white girl looks up at the red and dark girl who spoke thus.

“You are the witness for him and me. His oath, his covenant. His promise. His wish.”

If any one of them is violated.

“You… will wander an endless hell with me. I swear. I won’t allow… only you to find peace.”

“You… no, that can’t be. It wasn’t just me…?”

And.

Above that, as if cutting through all that gloomy anxiety and hardship.

A long sigh is heard from somewhere.

When the pure white girl instinctively turned her gaze.

Someone was there.

“A crazy tree calls me to show this petty drama?”

It was so dark and dark in form itself.

…There was no other way to describe it.

Even now, pitch-black, dark energy was seeping from its entire body like smoke rising from burning firewood.

Though in human form, it was even more ominous.

“With such determination to do something to the world or whatever, how pathetic and insignificant.”

The pure white girl trembled.

That being was exactly who she had wanted.

Created beings cannot destroy or erase the world.

But he had already done so many times.

So if there was someone who could fulfill her purpose.

Among the many, many worlds.

It would only be him.

The final wish of the pure white girl was for him to take her place.

And he readily accepted it, but.

…Young Cariel reversed the situation.

It seems the World Tree preferred this shabby but dream-filled idealist over that great war god.

“Fine. Now that I’m here, I’ll just seize it with my own hands.”

He approaches with crushing steps.

The red and dark girl had vanished without a trace.

All that remained were the pure white girl and the collapsed Cariel.

“This is the end.”

The pure white girl wishes.

She will probably disappear soon.

As young Cariel wished, she would forget everything and receive a new life.

The World Tree was just waiting.

But because she was a coward who couldn’t make the choice.

In the end, only when someone forcibly pushed her back.

Would she reach it.

“Since it’s my last request. Help me.”

The desperate plea scatters futilely.

The trees and leaves, dyed in extremely dark yet bright gold, gave no response to that call.

But something had definitely changed.

“……”

Ah, so that’s it.

So that’s why that bastard was muttering earlier as if he’d seen me before.

“So it was here.”

This is the place where he and I first met.

And soon after.

The reality where I would defeat or destroy him… that determined reality.