The night deepened.
After dinner and chatting with Maria, it was completely midnight.
The light was turned off.
In the pitch-dark room, I gazed at Maria’s face, her adorable little breaths puffing out as I held her small hand. However, I couldn’t stay like this until morning.
Reluctantly, I let go of her hand. Then, with that freed hand, I made the gesture of closing a book—not a real book, but one from my imagination—even though my hands were empty.
Now, I had finished writing one “story.”
If there was any continuation to this final page, it would have to be outside the book. In other words, beyond the “innate differences” of “writing” and “reading.” With this, Tiara and I would no longer interfere, and Maria could choose her own path and live her own life.
“Maria… you did great…”
As I praised her, I also congratulated myself on doing “great.”
It wasn’t a battle, but one wrong word could have led the story in any direction. However, by facing her without running away, I had overcome it. I had gained a new book. I honestly felt glad to be able to talk about it here and now.
I titled the cover of my imaginary book “Maria’s Story” and held it close to my chest as if embracing it. It was like an “inventory” for things without mass, and here, unless some form of “Distance Mute” was involved, it would be safe from anyone. I called this place my “bookshelf,” where many thick books with grand spines lined the shelves.
Gazing at the void with deep emotion, I leaned back against the chair. It felt too heartless to return to my own room now, so I decided to sleep here, watching over Maria. Normally, my back would ache when I woke up, but I would be fine.
“…Haa.”
I sighed and listened to the sounds of the quiet night. For the first time, I felt I could sleep soundly and was beginning to close my eyelids—when I spotted a wiggling object in the corner of my vision.
It looked like a black stain swimming in the darkness, and I immediately recognized it as a magical “stealth” spell using shadows. Moreover, the fact that it had remained undetected by me until this point meant there was only one suspect. With a wry smile, I called out their name.
“Reaper?”
The black stain that was called out tried to pretend it hadn’t moved by staying still. However, I didn’t break eye contact. She conceded, and with a fluid movement, like a child emerging from a pool, she slithered out from the shadows of the room. What appeared was a girl in black attire with black hair and tanned skin. For some reason, her mouth was moving as if chewing.
“It really is Reaper… What’s wrong?”
“Hmm? Uh, is it a celebration? My ninth one.”
“…What’s in your mouth?”
“Hee hee hee, can’t help it if you noticed. I’ve taken all the remnants of Rowen’s sweets from the kitchen!”
It wasn’t a lie. It seemed she had indeed been eating the food in secret, but her true motive was likely something else.
“You don’t have to rummage through leftovers; I made the same thing for you. Here.”
Without acknowledging her actions, I took out a spare plate from my “inventory.”
“Eh, you have some? Brother, you should tell me these things beforehand.”
For now, I created a soundproof barrier with an incantation-less “Wind.” I deployed it to surround Maria, so she should be able to sleep soundly until morning. Then, I stood up from the chair and placed the food I was holding on the room’s desk.
It was the diorama of that particular dessert. Seeing it, Reaper’s eyes widened.
“O-oh…”
Her reaction was exactly what I was looking for, which was a great help and made me very happy. Reaper snorted, shook her head from side to side, admired it from every angle, and kept saying, “It’s so cool!”
“By any chance, Reaper, is this one also hard to break?”
“No, not at all. I’ll eat it normally.”
When I asked, Reaper picked up the spoon I had prepared and casually, in a small voice, said, “Eat it!” and dismantled the Rowen doll. She didn’t hesitate to put the remains in her mouth.
“Rowen, yummy yummy.”
“I wish everyone else was as unreserved as you.”
“No, I think people normally wouldn’t do this. Even if it’s a replica, breaking a human-shaped object is something anyone would hesitate to do. Normally, that is.”
“Normally… You don’t seem like the normal type, Reaper?”
“Of course, we’re ‘best friends’! The late Rowen and I are always connected in spirit! That’s why it’s okay, okay!”
There was no doubt that Reaper and Rowen had a “connection.” They wouldn’t hesitate to give their lives for each other. Without such a trusting relationship, they probably wouldn’t have been able to eat this diorama. Reflecting on how I might have recommended a harsh food to the kind Dia and others, I continued to watch her eat. Her delightful way of eating made me truly happy and warm. Midway through, she asked for some tea, and I offered to bring out another dish. However, she shook her head, saying snacks were enough. Perhaps, in my absence, her understanding of her magical body increased, and she realized she could eat as she pleased. Her diet was likely unbalanced. I should subtly warn Sis, who is also a magical life form, later, as it would be problematic if she imitated it.
“Phew, that was delicious!”
Reaper, having finished eating the sweets with gusto, gulped down her tea and took a breath. However, she didn’t get up from her seat or leave the room. Now, Reaper knew my body better than anyone.
Because of that, he showed no hesitation towards me—and it seemed he had no intention of letting me rest.
“Brother, it’s over, isn’t it? Finally, everything.”
“…”
“This is the de facto completion. I can see how everything is connected, the flow of the newly written ‘Story’.”
He then touched upon the core that only another dimensional magic user could understand.
Reaper must have been waiting for an opportunity to bring this up.
As if forbidding me from escaping, he looked at me piercingly.
“Indeed, with the conversation I just had with Maria, all remaining worries might be over… The ‘Thief of Nothingness’ is finished, and the ‘The One Who Steals the Logic of Fire’ is also finished. All that’s left is to collect the ‘Thief of the Law of Blood,’ which is already finished… And then, everything will proceed as planned. …Although, saying things like this is usually a losing flag, so I don’t want to talk about it much.”
While joking, I subtly indicated that I didn’t want to delve too deeply into it.
However, Reaper, with a serious expression, pressed me about the conversation with Maria.
“From my perspective, I have some complaints about the method? Honestly, it feels like you’re leaving Arti-san out again.”
“That’s not true. Arti has been welcomed into the circle of new companions. She’s left the difficult circle of ‘Thief of Principles’ and joined a new one.”
I answered immediately and turned my gaze to the bed behind me.
Following my lead, Reaper also looked.
Seeing Maria sleeping with a look of complete relief, Reaper reluctantly began to understand.
“That’s true… Seeing that sleeping face, I can’t argue back anymore…”
“Even if you call me selfish, I will rid the world of unreasonable things like ‘Thief of Principles.’ I’ve decided.”
“Is that the same for Hermina-san and Fafnir-brother too?”
“All ‘Thief of Principles’ will definitely be saved. Next, I’ll go to the ‘Blood Land’… and then collect all the ‘unfinished stories’ left by Tiara and Hitaki.”
“It seems so… Everything will be collected in that ‘Blood Land.’ And in just two months since then… all four, which I thought were almost impossible…”
Reaper murmured the numbers with a faraway look.
Then, he smiled bitterly and criticized me.
“—Brother, you’re too fast.”
His expression, unlike that of the other companions, was mixed with clear dissatisfaction.
Reaper alone lodged a complaint about the continuation.
“Doesn’t this kind of thing normally take years? Kuuneru also, normally she’s someone who wouldn’t become a companion even after ten years of persuasion, right? This holiday too. Even though we had three days, you already settled things with Maria-nee-chan… It wouldn’t have been too late even after we all went to the hot springs and made lots of memories. It definitely wouldn’t have been too late…”
Reaper was saying troublesome things.
I couldn’t answer lightly.
The atmosphere between us was becoming ominous.
The air between us grew tense.
Just like with Maria, I needed to face him seriously.
“Reaper, please listen. It’s not okay to just go along with things. Life must be lived earnestly, or you will definitely ‘regret’ it. …I don’t want to have any more ‘regrets.'”
Certainly, there was time.
But making the conversation with Maria the final day was merely procrastination.
I knew firsthand that with that kind of resolve, one could not overcome their own life. To carve out a future, one needs a strong will to face destiny without running from a challenge.
“You want to live earnestly because you don’t want to ‘regret’…? Brother, you’ve really become like them. Like Tiara-san and Hitaki-san.”
“That’s… because I’ve inherited and carry various things. I can’t help it.”
After such a frank exchange, it was difficult not to be influenced.
Both of them were truly wild girls, but there were so many things I wanted to emulate.
Therefore, it couldn’t be helped that I had become like them.
It was proof that I was learning and growing.
With that, I wanted to end the conversation.
I wanted to end it, but—
“Even if you possess ‘Magic Stones,’ they don’t have an effect unless there’s ‘Affinity,’ right? I heard that from that person, ■ months ago—”
—A sharp sound of biting one’s lip could be heard.
The abnormal sound drowned out Reaper’s voice, making it difficult to hear properly.
Presumably, Reaper could hear the sound too.
Even so, she didn’t stop digging into the core. Just like I resolved to talk about ‘Rustiara’ earlier, she had a look of never backing down.
As usual, she was easily influenced by me—but this was bad.
“Mo-more importantly, Reaper, what about tomorrow? If you’re going to the hot springs together, you should say so soon. Not just about reservations, but you’ll also need to prepare things.”
“You should move the ‘Magic Stones’ inside that body to your ‘Inventory’ quickly. I understand you’re afraid of losing them, but if you’re ‘■■’, it’s a different story.”
As we exchanged one-sided conversation, the abnormal sound denoted by ■ continued to grow louder.
From a crisp tearing sound, it changed to a grinding sound of teeth chattering.
That abnormal sound drowned out Reaper’s words.
And when Reaper fully began to reveal the core—
“Now, copying Arti-onee-chan’s ‘Magic Stones’ to Ragune-onee-chan’s ‘Magic Stones,’ that’s the ninth. Once the last remaining ‘Thief of the Law of Blood’ is added, it’ll be ten. You’re already almost, Brother, the so-called ‘■■■■■■ things,’ aren’t you? As much as possible, ‘Deepest ■’ to ■ should not be in the same ■, ■■■■■■—, ――――っ!”
It was crushed, distorted, and completely inaudible.
The Reaper’s voice was displaced and replaced by a high-pitched, raspy, and strident sound, as if playing a recorded voice in reverse.
The Reaper realized that the sound escaping her throat was not language, and she closed her mouth, her eyes wide open.
In other words, it was not distorted by her will, but by interference from someone else.
With the confirmation that magic attacks were taking place, it could no longer be hidden.
It was not the Reaper making the strange noise.
The strange noise was coming from within me.
“——Wh-why? Why are you saying it now?”
A very small and weak voice echoed in Maria’s room.
The voice was truly tiny. However, it was accompanied by an extraordinary amount of resentment and distorted magic power.
“You said copy just now… And you said ten of them… ten, ten, ten…”
Like a curse, the small voice weighed heavily, pressing down on her entire body.
Naturally, the Reaper moved for her own safety. She jumped back from me, who didn’t move an inch, and glared at me from the corner of the wall.
—She was staring at the ‘woman with only an upper body’ that had crawled out of my abdomen and fallen to the ground with a splat.
The ‘woman with only an upper body’ had tears in her eyes, her cheeks flushed, blood dripping from her bitten lip, and she slapped the floor with both hands in frustration.
The woman’s somewhat stiff hair was brown and reached her shoulders.
Her facial features were dignified, yet still retained a cheerful air.
She was dressed in a Fuziaze knight’s uniform, resembling the former enemy Ragune Kaikuola.
However, the ‘display’ accurately indicated her true identity.
【Ninety Guardian】Thief of Principles
What was written was the existence that was the beginning of everything.
The woman who was the master of the three apostles and the master of this world.
It indicated Noi El Lieberl, the former ‘Thief of the Principles of Dimensions’.
“‘Death God Who Yearns for Shadows’… You are a ‘Judge’, aren’t you? Isn’t a ‘Judge’ a role that makes judgments? Why are you telling the story of me and Seldra, which has already ended, here and now…? Huhhh…?”
Noi’s personality could be described in one word: cowardly.
This could be easily seen from her current expression.
What was important was not her frightened expression, but her familiar facial features.
She was currently using magic to construct and borrow the face of Ragune Kaikuola.
Even if she were to reveal herself, Noi would never show her own face.
In times of need, she had said that she could use my or Ragune’s magic stone as she pleased, but she chose to appear as a woman of her own gender. However, perhaps out of consideration for various things, it was an imitation based on a ‘future vision’ of the possibility that Ragune would grow into her late twenties.
Noi would choose any means or sacrifice for her own safety.
Why did she, who had been hiding inside me for a month—the safest place in this world—bother to come out?
“‘Noi El Lieberl’…”
The Reaper averted her gaze from me and called out her name.
No, it was probably Noi who had been piercing me with her eyes from the beginning.
Realizing that the one she truly wanted to talk to was Noi, not me, she took a step back.
“I’m in Ragune’s body right now… So please call me ‘Ragune-san’ properly…?”
“I can’t do that. Because Big Sis Ragune is just Big Sis Ragune. And Noi-san is just Noi-san.”
The two, whose tension had risen, continued their conversation, leaving me behind.
The taut atmosphere had completely snapped. Immediately, I turned my back to the bed, making sure to protect only Maria, and strengthened the barrier to be more than just soundproof.
“Listen, ‘Death God Who Yearns for Shadows’. Today, I was ‘at ease’ and enjoying reading a book… I was reading the continuation of Rustiara’s ‘Story’ while lying down in a safe home. I went out to eat with Dia-chan, carried Snow-chan like a princess, cooked with Maria-chan, and they were all so happy when I gave them clothes from another world…! I even made up with Arti-chan! It was truly a good day! It was peaceful, quiet, ‘happy’, and completely free of anxiety or worry… a wonderful time…! So why…?”
“‘At ease’? I wasn’t ‘at ease’ at all. Because there’s no one who causes as much anxiety just by existing as you do, Brother.”
The two facing each other were having a conversation where, even more so than with Maria earlier, a single wrong word could lead to disaster.
Noi, in particular, was unstable, protesting by banging on the floor.
“Th-that’s not true! That’s not true at all! Kanami-kun is amazing!! When it was me, there were many children like Dia-chan! But I wasn’t this ‘happy’! I couldn’t make anyone ‘happy’! Compared to me back then, Kanami-kun is great and amazing! It’s thanks to him that I can spend my last holiday like this now…! This continued everyday life is truly amazing… so don’t interrupt me…!”
“But it’s not fair. To secretly hide and just read that ‘happy’ daily life. It’s a little cowardly not to be anywhere in the world yourself…”
“Fai-fair…? It doesn’t matter if it’s fair, does it? Because I’m already finished. Ahh, everything is already over for me. A month ago, already, I already—
—My ‘Ninetieth Ordeal’ has ended.
My life has also been entrusted to Kanami-kun! It’s not just Seldra and Helmina who connected to the future, but me too! This means that from the ‘Tenth Ordeal’ to the ‘Hundredth Ordeal’ prepared in the labyrinth, everything has been completely resolved!? I’m not speaking metaphorically; Kanami-kun has truly achieved a complete game clear! Then, isn’t it fine now…? It’s okay to want to enjoy a little of the remaining time, isn’t it…?”
“No, that’s not it. It’s not completely over yet. —That Fafnir, my older brother, is carefully protecting the last ten. As long as that remains, you should stand properly as an individual on the main stage, just like Uncle Seldra. That’s what I believe is a fair fight.”
“—I can’t stand.”
The Lord of the World responded pathetically to Reaper’s mother-like, pacifying voice.
He refused to stand up.
As if saying such things were unnecessary, his lower body had yet to be constructed.
With only his upper body, he bowed his head to the floor and continued to speak.
“I’m already tired… Today has been full of hardships, and I’ve been pushing myself continuously. That’s why I’m done with ‘ordeals,’ ‘lingering desires,’ ‘duels,’ ‘curses,’ and all that… I’m truly, truly tired. Even if you call me cowardly, even if you call me a loser, I don’t want to fight anymore. I don’t want to quarrel with anyone. I hate competing. I just want to read this safe ‘Aikawa Uzunami’ and continue this ‘happy’ state. Yes—
Even if I can’t do enjoyable things, I’ll read enjoyable books.
Even if I can’t be happy, I’ll read happy books.
—I’ve realized that this is what I’ve always wanted.”
Reaper must have decided to talk with Noi and come this far.
He felt determined to say what he wanted to say about the continuation of this ‘story,’ even if it meant throwing away his life. However, Noi’s answers to him were all weak.
“—We’re at our limit.”
Noi shook her head with teary eyes, laughing.
Her unfocused eyes were just like mine when I was looking at Rustiara.
“That’s why I have no intention of interacting with this world other than reading books. I can’t feel ‘safe’ mixing with everyone and living. If you’re going to tell me it’s not fair to be secretly reading, then I… I—!”
“—!”
Noi’s bowed face lifted, and their eyes met.
Reaper immediately tensed.
He was facing the guardian of the 90th floor, the oldest ‘Thief of the Principles of Dimensions.’ And the Lord of the World.
If it came to a battle, he would burn all the magic power in his body.
Reaper must have come with that resolve, but—
“I have no choice but to admit defeat…”
It didn’t come to pass.
Noi bit her lip with frustration and surrendered to Reaper.
“Fighting that ‘Death Follower Shade’ is scary… It’s really scary! That’s why I lose. I’ll give up on secretly reading. …B-but! Let me tell you, I’m used to losing! It’s not a boast, but I’m a veteran loser! So, from now on, I truly won’t read anything at all!”
“…Eh? Eh?”
Having become the loser, she would be absolutely obedient to the winner Reaper’s words.
Reaper was bewildered by Noi, who threw out such unconvincing parting words.
Noi’s surrender, despite being overwhelmingly superior, rendered his hard-earned resolve… null.
“No, that’s not it… I wanted to tell you about living a normal life with everyone—”
“Ah. But, that’s good. Now there’s no reason for the ‘Death Follower Shade’ and me to quarrel. After all, conflict is not good. That’s scary and painful. Everyone just loses out. We’re even losing this time. Such a tense atmosphere doesn’t suit a peaceful holiday. I’m truly sorry for disrupting things by not reading the room. So, please let me apologize. With my magic, I’ll properly apologize and compensate—”
Noi was no longer looking at Reaper.
Even to a third party, it was clearly conveyed.
Even though her eyes reflected Reaper, her brain wasn’t recognizing him.
Out of fear, she abandoned communication with the other party and spoke alone, heading only toward the answer she had come up with.
She continued to apologize.
She continued to fear.
As if seeing a hallucination, she stared into the void—
It was the same as my ‘constriction.’
Though the direction was different, she possessed the same ‘curse’ as a ‘Thief of the Principles of Dimensions.’
Therefore, I did not interfere with Noi’s magic activation and watched over her.
It was magic I could also use, so ‘Magic Nullification’ was easy, and in the first place, her magic source now was me. Because I could stop her anytime, I wanted to let her do as she pleased until her limit.
“—Reaper and I didn’t have this conversation. There was no such menacing atmosphere. There was no reason for Reaper and me to fight. Everything in our conversation right now, all of it, all, all, all, all, was not real. Become strangers. Make it as if it never happened. ‘Let it not happen,’ ‘Let it not happen,’ ‘Let it not happen.'”
“W-wait, still—”
“—Dimensional Magic: Black Shift.”
She activated one of her favorite spells, the one that affects the world’s principles and devours them pointlessly, while everyone else was left behind.
I judged that there was no danger whatsoever, but Reaper turned pale and tried to stop her.
However, even if he could, it would only strengthen the effect of the dimensional magic. The guardian named Reaper was entrusted with the management of this world under such conditions.
Therefore, even if Reaper reached out his hand, it would never reach.
In the end, I tried to confront it with a composite magic that mixed darkness and dimensions, but the difference in magic power was too great.
Resistance can be made.
A next-generation mage would be able to perceive the continued existence of reality even if this saturation magic were applied. That is why it is called “Judgment,” but this will not reach the main body.
-This was simply too fragile.
However, it is no longer possible to do so.
From now on, it will be painted over with a spell of [oblivion].
When it turns black, the magic will be erased.
The light also disappears.
“It’s a futile effort, you know. It’s all just a waste of time.”
“Unacceptable!”
Darkness wraps around.
The void expands—
The boundaries blur, and the world is engulfed in a desolate darkness, as if being swallowed by the endless night.
