Ch.352116. And So Everything (3)

“You’re just going to let them go like that?”

As the Ragman Elder grumbled while watching Kariel’s children disappear, the Emperor of Light, who had barely caught his words, gave a cold, faint laugh.

“Whatever the case, our obsession did not lose. Do you think I would stoop so low as to take out my frustrations on the weak?”

“Heh heh… what excuses. Actually, isn’t it that you’re worried if you intervene, that fellow might have already accounted for it in his plans, so you’d rather just stay put because it’s troublesome?”

“Think what you will. What can’t be said with words?”

The Ragman Elder who had been listening to the Emperor began to cough repeatedly.

“So, with this, has he truly shed all his shackles?”

“That’s how it should be.”

“…Then all that remains is to reach the Great Tree.”

“If that is what he desires, then from now on, only the world he wants will become the one true world.”

“The fruit has ripened, and among them, he was the chosen one.”

“He climbed there himself. If you want to call that being chosen, then yes, perhaps.”

“…Even so, he cannot avoid destruction.”

“Ah, let him handle that part himself. What’s the point of us talking about it when we’re not even cornerstones anymore.”

Whether the end will be decorated with emptiness, fall into sin itself, or crash and shatter into pieces.

“However it turns out, it’s no longer our concern, is it?”

“…That’s true.”

After the Emperor of Light, who had once overcome all the most terrible trials, disappeared into light.

“Tsk tsk… how empty this is. How could I not have thrown it away? Until the very end.”

Ah, how regretful.

Was the answer I gave ultimately ruined?

And then.

The Ragman Elder suddenly turned into white, murky salt and collapsed all at once.

That empty space was slowly filled with nothingness and void.

…And again.

“……”

Over that space of emptiness, someone from the distant future had just set foot.

“Where is this…?”

While Eliya wondered in confusion.

“So you’ve come.”

A man with a pale complexion, his faded blonde hair fluttering, with faded green eyes, just now, toward the expected stranger who had come from that distant outside.

He smiled.

“I’ve been waiting for you for a long time.”

Kariel, his distant, far-off other companion.

“I am the last king in the demon realm, the final Demon Lord.”

And.

“The Demon God you seek is also in this realm.”

“……”

Thus, at that precarious time when all worlds were rushing toward their end.

The final arrangement, that lock, only then began to rattle and stir.

****

When fruit ripens, it is natural to pick it.

It is also true that countless beings will try to devour it even if it’s not picked.

That’s ultimately the issue.

When the world ripens, when the world is deemed mature.

Without fail, agents of chaos come to destroy it.

For them, destruction, downfall, ruin… is like picking ripened fruit.

A light motive.

Labor without effort.

Unexpected fortune.

Just like orchard workers enjoying the pleasure of harvest.

For them, finishing the world, ending it, is such a simple motive, merely an opportunity.

But.

From a smaller perspective, from a microscopic viewpoint, for those of us within it, it is a disaster like no other.

…Eliya fought against it using every means and method available.

All the evil that has ever existed in the world.

Its byproducts.

Its followers and minions.

Before humanity’s birth.

The original sin accumulated since the dawn of life’s first sprouting.

All the harm, shells, byproducts, garbage, and filth created by their formation and emergence.

Suppose such things accumulated over tens of thousands, even billions of years, generating hatred, grudges, and malice.

…Wouldn’t that itself be a disaster?

Normally, it would be impossible for such things to have meaning, will, power, or to resent something.

But in an age where magic, mana, divine power—these harmonies that supposedly act on behalf of gods’ will, actions, miracles—openly exist.

In such a world, it wouldn’t be strange at all for something like that to emerge.

Especially when demons and Demon Lords openly use it to cultivate and ravage their worlds.

Therefore, that’s what Eliya must face.

It is both an internal enemy and another external one.

Is the worker who comes to pick the fruit the priority?

Or the insects and beasts that devour it?

It’s ultimately a matter of order.

Thus, in any case, the world’s destruction, end, annihilation is already a predetermined harmony. A predetermined conclusion.

“……”

Eliya slashed and split countless times at something enormous and massive like the universe itself, uncovering at least a small part of its form.

She also fought tirelessly for days, defeating numerous powerful enemies that had spawned from it.

If not for the trials she had overcome until now, she would have collapsed long ago.

…Yet there is no end.

An unending struggle.

‘Even so…’

Could she give up here?

When that thing is ready to go out into the real world at any moment to stain and erode the world itself.

But she doesn’t abandon hope.

From some point on, the invisible support and aid of her companions has been supporting her shoulders, back, and rear.

How did I end up in this situation?

…Remembering her purpose, strength naturally flows into her hands.

‘What’s next.’

To see what comes next.

Because I still have scenery I want to see.

Because I want to experience it with my own eyes, my own body.

And for that.

‘I must overcome this wall before me!’

Eliya struggles desperately.

In this age where heroes have disappeared, as an utterly insignificant individual who can’t even be called a hero.

She, with her own will and stubbornness, firmly takes on the duty that is not a duty, the responsibility that is not a responsibility.

And so, after countless more time passes.

At some point, she found herself in an empty, rag-like space.

‘…That is.’

A tree… perhaps.

So massive that it’s embarrassing to even try to examine it… a tree.

Eliya realizes.

If that thing whispered to her to die, she could never refuse or reject it; it would become an absolute proposition.

……

Yet somehow, she wasn’t scared at all.

Step.

Suddenly.

Step.

As if distorting the static space, like a storm in silence, small footsteps began to cover the surroundings.

“……”

Eliya, so drained of energy that it’s difficult to even open her mouth, finally turns around.

At the edge of her gaze.

The precious and longed-for, missed and yearned-for figure of that person….

“……”

Having reached beside her who had somehow sat down, he gazes at something ahead.

Then.

As if for her to hear, with an indifferent face, he murmurs:

“You’ve been through a lot.”

He’s… a little different from the one she remembers.

Somehow he seems a bit more relieved, a bit more cheerful than before….

Though his still stoic and indifferent expression remained the same.

Eliya couldn’t help but feel as if he had been liberated from all shackles and burdens.

And.

…That is the undeniable truth.

A truth that cannot be erased, hidden, concealed, or reversed.

Clear and firm… truth.

“Take your time coming.”

“…What?”

“Enjoy everything there is to enjoy before you come.”

Having said that, Kariel, showing a pure and confident smile like he used to show only when very young.

Finally.

Step!

He took a step forward.

—!!

In that moment.

With that one step as the turning point.

The whole world transformed into a brilliant sea of stars that bloomed across the blue sky.

Even the ground reflected that bright blue daytime-like starry sea without a single cloud.

And soon the world—.

Endlessly, turned into a clear world spreading far and wide… extensively.

And in this vast and infinite sky-filled world that unfolded.

The traces and signs of the massive tree seen earlier were nowhere to be found.

At that moment, Eliya felt as if her consciousness and body were being thrown back into the real world.

‘Wait!’

Eliya reaches out her hand and calls out.

Toward her, he slightly turns his back, shaking his head.

Let’s meet again later.

With that barely audible echo as the finale.

Finally, Eliya was suddenly thrown beyond the real world’s deep blue sky.

“Ah….”

She falls from the high sky toward the sea.

But in her eyes, the previous turbid and desolate world has disappeared.

A vast world where everything is clear, everything is open.

And along with the intense sunlight rising just in time, brilliantly sparkling in such a world.

She could only smile brightly with tears in her eyes all along.

Whatever, whatever happened.

…The task given to her, the trial.

And the trial given to the entire world, had finally come to an end.

….

……

……..

And.

“…So you’ve come.”

“……”

Taking a deep breath as soon as he faced it.

“Yes. Didn’t I promise you?”

I, to you.

“……”

A formless shape, yet somehow stretched out like the world itself, a golden figure.

It takes the form of an incomparably beautiful woman.

Eventually.

A pretty boy resembling pitch-black darkness.

The golden woman smiling at him with dignity.

Soon she reached out her hand.

“So, have you finished all your tasks?”

“…No, they’re just beginning.”

But well…

“I may have earned some time to catch my breath, at least.”

“Is that so?”

The golden woman, just as she had always appeared, snorted and leisurely waved her index finger from side to side.

“I think I should tell you the truth and authenticity of this world. Since your sanity is commendable, that much shouldn’t matter.”

“…Is there more I need to discover here?”

“Not discover, no. Consider it a kind of reward.”

By now the golden world has crumbled.

The two sit on chairs in a green meadow, with a small round table between them, enjoying some light refreshments.

“But before that, yes. Tell me what you’ve been up to all this time.”

“…I thought we’d be rambling over some alcohol.”

“You rascal. Look at your own appearance before you speak.”

He examined his youthful appearance in the tea water and self-deprecated.

“Well.”

Kariel smiled bitterly, seeming somewhat displeased.

“This is rather…”

But in the end.

He couldn’t help but laugh loudly.

“Still… yes. This might not be so bad either.”

No.

“It might even be good.”

Don’t you think?

“Master.”