Ringo was dead.
The weight of that single fact pressed down on my chest, making it impossible to breathe.
So, when countless tentacles, which I thought I had defeated once already, slithered out of the hole in the wall, I felt nothing.
“Soma!”
Sahzan’s voice.
Her voice, high-pitched and on the verge of tears, didn’t make me think of anything in particular.
I just looked in her direction, reflexively, and saw Mitsuki, with Sahzan on her back, right beside me.
“We’re escaping.”
Mitsuki said briefly, and while still carrying Sahzan on her back, she tucked me under her arm and we left the spot in a single breath.
The scenery receded at an astonishing speed.
In a few seconds, we reached the door on the opposite side, and Mitsuki continued up the stairs to the third floor…
“Ah, Ringo’s, watch…”
Ringo’s Chronos Watch, left behind.
I had left it there.
“I have to get it back…!”
I tried to break free from Mitsuki’s grasp and go back, but my body was sluggish.
—The penalty from the Incarnation of Rage.
Some incomprehensible words flashed through my mind for a moment.
In any case, this situation was unacceptable.
I pleaded desperately with Mitsuki.
“I have to go back! That’s… Ringo’s…!”
“You are more important to me than a watch.”
Her tense face, for some reason, looked like she was crying, and I fell silent.
I consciously took a breath.
The heaviness in my chest lightened, just a little.
“…Sorry.”
To my apology, Mitsuki, opening the door to the third-floor room, replied briefly, “No.”
“I believe I told you before.
Saving the world is a difficult task, and it’s not something that can be done without any sacrifice.
It’s not your fault to feel responsible.”
Her words made me bite my lip.
I wanted to scream that it wasn’t true.
I refused to believe that Ringo’s death was a sacrifice for saving the world.
But… now that Ringo was dead, such logic was meaningless.
“…But it’s fine that you feel that way.
It’s because you are that way that I came to like you.”
“Mits…uki…”
Carrying both of us, Mitsuki, who should have been suffering from the penalty, was still fast.
Even while talking, her eyes were vigilantly scanning our surroundings, and with the shortest path, her feet were already crossing the large room on the third floor and reaching the stairs to the fourth.
“Let’s proceed for now. So that we don’t lose anything more.
While you are incapacitated, I will protect you.
So you—Gk!”
There was no warning.
Midway up the stairs to the fourth floor, the tower wall was broken through, and several tentacles shot out.
The way was completely blocked.
I thought so.
But Mitsuki was truly amazing.
Without hesitation, she leaped forward, somersaulting while holding both of us.
“Guh!”
She let out a suppressed groan and, losing her balance in mid-air, dodged the swarming tentacles and rolled into the room on the fourth floor.
Hearing the door close behind us, Mitsuki continued to accelerate in a falling posture and, after crossing the middle of the room, fell forward.
“Mitsuki!? Uwah!”
Sahzan and I were also thrown forward.
The penalty from the Incarnation of Rage was still ongoing.
I hit the ground without being able to brace myself.
However, what was more serious…
“Mitsuki!”
“I intended to dodge, but it seems I was grazed a little.”
Mitsuki’s leg was stained bright red.
Even to my eyes, it looked like she had dodged completely.
Given the damage from that, I could imagine what would happen if she had taken it head-on.
“It’s not a particular problem. Rather than that…”
While applying a Potion taken from her bag to her leg and healing it, Mitsuki glared at the door ahead.
“We’re being flanked.”
“Wha—!”
I couldn’t sense anything unusual from the door in front of me.
But if Mitsuki said so, it must be true.
Come to think of it, it was unnatural that there were no pursuits from behind at this point.
Based on my preconceptions from the Game, I had underestimated the intelligence of the Fragment of the Evil God.
But if that’s the case, what should I do?
There was only one path ahead.
However, proceeding into a situation where the Fragment of the Evil God was waiting seemed impossible…
“…It can’t be helped.
Sahzan, I’m leaving the rest to you.”
Before I could come to a conclusion.
Mitsuki moved.
“…Soma.”
I was called by my name in a clear voice.
Before I knew it, Mitsuki’s refined face was right in front of me.
“Leaving the rest to you, what do you mean—Hm-ph!”
It was truly a momentary event.
Mitsuki’s face, which had been at close range, moved even closer, and before I knew it, something warm touched my lips.
“—!”
A moment that felt like an eternity.
Mitsuki, ending the short but long kiss, reluctantly pulled away from me, and offered a smile softer than any I had ever seen.
“It might be unfair to Ringo if only I do this.”
“Mits…uki…?”
Her smile, her expression devoid of worry, stirred my anxiety.
But Mitsuki was already unstoppable.
“I will draw the Fragment of the Evil God’s attention.
So, proceed exactly ten seconds after I leave this door.”
“Mitsuki! What are you saying—!”
I had to stop her.
Even as I thought that, my body wouldn’t move freely.
“…Understood.”
And then.
Sahzan nodded beside me.
With a look of utter relief, Mitsuki began to walk.
“Wait! I can’t do that, I…”
My shout did not reach Mitsuki.
“—I was happy to have met you.
So please, at least you, survive.”
Her figure disappeared beyond the door.
“Mitsuki!!”
I tried to chase after her back.
Driving my sluggish body, I tried to move forward…
“Let’s go.”
However, it was Sahzan who blocked my movement.
Stopping me with a frail hand, she pulled me in the opposite direction.
“Sahzan! What are you saying, Mitsuki, Mitsuki…”
“Chasing her now would be futile. …We have to move forward, we do.”
“But, how can you just accept this…!”
As I was about to shout back, my words stopped.
Because I noticed tear streaks flowing down her inorganic mask.
“…Because. We have no choice but to move forward, don’t we?”
Her sadly murmured words left me with no argument.
…And then, ten seconds passed.
As if timed, the sluggishness in my body disappeared.
I opened the door.
Beyond it, there was no ambush by the Evil God.
Pulling Sahzan’s hand, I climbed the tower, half dragging her.
Sahzan stumbled several times, being slower, but she never once complained.
Passing through the fifth floor, running through the sixth, dashing through the seventh, and now passing the eighth.
“Almost there! Almost there! Two more floors, and then the magic circle…”
“Soma!!”
Sahzan’s scream-like voice.
The wall to my side was smashed in.
Before I could even see the reddish-black thing emerging from it, I leaped forward with Sahzan in my arms.
“Ugh!”
It wasn’t as elegant as Mitsuki’s move.
But I did it.
Vaulting over the tentacles, I rolled in front of the door to the ninth-floor room.
As I tried to enter the room before the tentacles could attack…
“…Hey.”
I noticed what the tentacles were holding.
“Soma? What are you doing! Here…”
Sahzan’s voice.
But I couldn’t hear it.
My consciousness was focused solely on what was in front of me, and nothing else entered my eyes.
And then, it clattered and fell.
A thin blade, with a magnificent hamon.
A light sword, unique in this world.
“…Moon Shadow.”
Mitsuki Hisame’s beloved sword, which she always carried with her, was now brutally broken in half.
There was no need to ask what had happened.
Still, my mouth spun out words on its own.
“You killed her, didn’t you?”
My chest grew hot, and conversely, my mind grew cold.
A hot and cold impulse coursed through my entire body.
“Soma! Soma, no, Soma!”
I heard noise from behind.
But it didn’t matter.
I glared at the tentacles.
New tentacles emerged from the wall.
More and more, they increased.
But that didn’t matter either.
“…I’ll kill you.”
I have no weapon.
My Fire of Sh is broken.
With other weapons, I probably couldn’t even scratch them.
But that’s fine.
If I don’t have a weapon, I’ll punch.
My fists won’t break.
With my current Strength, I’m sure I can still deal some damage.
If so, then I can kill them.
My fists won’t break anyway.
If the tentacles are in the way, I’ll deal with them first.
Then their arms, their heads.
And finally, I’ll attack their core and punch them hundreds, thousands of times, until they die.
I took a step towards the tentacles…
“—You damn fool!!”
An impact from the side.
Taken by surprise, I lost my balance and, grappling with whatever had leaped at me, I rolled into the room.
We tumbled across the floor with momentum, stopping with me underneath.
The room door closed on its own, and the figure of the Fragment of the Evil God was no longer visible.
“Why are you interfering?”
I made sure of that, and then I yelled at Sahzan, who was straddling me.
Sahzan said nothing.
I raised my voice.
“She killed my precious person, Mitsuki!
Ringo, Mitsuki, here like this…”
Sahzan said nothing.
Without a word, she raised her hand to her face,
“Wha—!”
And with force, she tore off her Mask.
Beneath it, a face appeared…
“You… that, face, no, but…”
To me, who was shaken,
“Are you awake?”
Sahzan, the one who had removed her mask, spoke to me.
“Remember what you have to do.
Is your responsibility to lash out in rage and seek revenge?
What you need to do most, what you want to do most, is what?”
“Th-that is… Activate the magic circle, and the Evil God…”
“Wrong!!”
Sahzan’s face, which I had never seen before.
Sahzan’s voice, which I had never heard before.
“Wrong, isn’t it? Remember Mitsuki’s last words.”
“Mitsuki’s…”
As if clinging to me, Sahzan shook me,
“—You have a place to return to, a place you must return to, don’t you!!”
Those words pierced me.
“A place to return…”
I remembered the warm place, the place where I should be.
…Yes.
I still have a place to return to, a place where I want to return.
The necessary things are already in place.
I remember the magic properly.
I should be able to return.
“It’s just a little more.
Save the world quickly…
You, go back to where you belong.”
Sahzan said, her voice trembling, and moved away from me, standing up.
Then she stared intently at the door, not the one we should be heading for, but inexplicably, the one we had come from, and remained still.
“…Sahzan?”
I asked.
“What are you doing? Hurry up and go.”
Her hard voice filled me with a bad premonition.
“Hurry up and go, what are you going to do?”
“…I have some business.”
That was enough.
And I hated myself for being able to understand.
“Don’t make that face.”
“B-but…”
“I wouldn’t go to my death willingly.
I have a special plan.
A great plan that the Fragment of the Evil God absolutely cannot ignore.”
Saying that, she forced a smile.
But I couldn’t stop her.
Because I want to go back.
Even if I abandon this person forcing a smile, I still want to go back.
“…Please.”
So, with a hoarse voice, I said that and turned my back, starting to walk.
Forward.
In the opposite direction of Sahzan, who was facing the Evil God alone.
“Soma!”
Just before reaching the door.
Sahzan’s voice stopped me.
I turned around.
“I… I…”
I waited for her words.
But Sahzan eventually shook her head weakly.
Then, as if suppressing a strong emotion, she bit her lip, and then…
“—Soma. I used to hate you.”
With her face a mess of tears and her lips pale, Sahzan still smiled and said it.
She finished speaking.
And that was the end.
Before I could engrave that smile into my memory, that cowardly yet brave person turned her back on me.
“…Soma. I have one request.”
“Wh-what?”
Sahzan, with her back to me, without showing me her face,
“—Absolutely do not look back.”
We proceeded on our respective paths.
Climbing.
Climbing, climbing, climbing.
A roaring sound shook the tower.
The sound of a great force colliding echoed.
But I didn’t look back.
I kept climbing, looking only forward.
I didn’t know what was happening.
However, I told myself that as long as this sound continued, Sahzan was alive, and I went forward.
“Found it!”
Reaching the tenth floor.
The moment I opened the door, I ran towards the magic circle,
“Set! Set, set, set!”
I created a large amount of Mithril from the Mithril carving knife.
I didn’t even have time to put the carving knife away.
Discarding the carving knife I had finished using, I opened the Necronomicon at the center of the magic circle.
“The magic’s pinnacle, Soma desires.
The guidance of great mana, the realization of an unparalleled miracle…”
In the Game’s events, the activation of the ritual required a long chant.
Fortunately, the full chant was written in the Necronomicon’s development records.
There was no fear of making a mistake.
(Faster, faster, faster!!)
But it was long.
The chant, which I had enjoyed during the Game, accelerated my impatience.
However, the chant was finally nearing its end,
“…with this, here, its power—?!”
Air escaped from the back of my throat.
The tower’s shaking and roaring continued.
But a single tentacle from the Fragment of the Evil God pierced the floor and came towards me.
—I consider evading.
But it’s no use.
If I move now, all my previous preparations will be in vain.
I no longer have time to start the chant again.
The tentacle approached.
Resigning myself to death, I began the final chant…
—Nitaa.
At that moment.
A yellow flash shot out from my waist, from my bag.
(B-bear?)
It was a one-of-a-kind plush toy.
A reliable companion who shared joy and sorrow with me, with us.
The bear, holding a Wakizashi, clashed with the tentacle.
“—!!”
A scream was about to escape my lips.
The power of Kongou Toshi contained within the Wakizashi intercepted the tentacle, and in return, the bear was blown to the corner of the room.
Its ear was torn off, and its stuffing spilled out.
Its fallen body didn’t twitch.
—But.
I had bought time.
There was nothing left to prevent the completion of the ritual.
I was about to utter the final phrase of the chant…
For just a moment.
For a single moment, I hesitated.
In my mind’s eye, I saw Iasky transformed into a grotesque figure.
Perhaps I would too…
(I don’t care!!)
I cast aside my hesitation.
I shouted the final phrase.
“—Here, show your power! Necronomicon!!”
The chant was completed.
Simultaneously, the magic circle began to glow, and it became a light that enveloped the room, the entire city…
Staggering, I moved forward.
I placed my foot on the stairs, lifted my body, and when that was done, I moved my other foot.
By advancing my feet alternately, I could still move my body properly.
“Bear. Just a little more.
When it’s over, I’ll fix you properly.”
Deep within the magic circle, as I climbed the stairs leading to the top floor, I spoke to my bag.
When the light subsided.
All that remained was me and the bear discarded in the corner of the room.
I immediately rushed over, but strangely, the bear with its torn ear didn’t move at all when I called out to it.
Given its playful nature, it must be trying to surprise me.
I put the bear back in my bag and left the magic circle room, heading for the top floor.
The sound of the Wind blowing into the tower.
The sound of my footsteps treading on the stairs.
And even the beating of my own heart.
All the surrounding sounds were strangely clear.
I wondered why, and then it occurred to me.
“That’s right. That sound has stopped.”
The roaring and shaking of the tower, which had been incessant until the completion of the ritual, had stopped completely now.
But that no longer mattered.
Reaching the door to the top floor, I pushed it open.
What spread out before me was the scene as depicted in the Game.
A large, set-up bed, and a window with a view of the city outside the tower.
“I have to check…”
Driving my tired body, I walked towards the window.
Whether I was walking or staggering, I no longer knew.
Driven only by a sense of duty, I peered out the window.
“…Hahaha!”
The first sound that escaped my lips upon seeing what was before my eyes was such a laugh.
The sight from the huge window looking down below.
I saw an empty city and a crouching colossal body.
The figure of the Fragment of the Evil God, slowly dissolving into light particles and melting into the sky.
Perhaps it was because I saw it from a high place.
Or perhaps it was because the opponent was dead.
The Fragment of the Evil God, which had seemed so immense and powerful, now appeared to be half or even a third of its size from up here.
“Haha, hahahaha! I won! I won!!”
Exclamations of victory escaped my lips.
Tears welled up from the joy of victory.
Staggering, I moved away from the window and spun around.
I expressed my joy with my whole body.
“We did it! We did it!”
After all, even the Evil God was just a Monster with HP.
The Fragment of the Evil God, its power drained by the forbidden ritual, had finally vanished.
“This is human strength! This is our…”
Once again, to express my overflowing joy, I raised both hands, and then, the next moment—
—My back exploded.
“…Guh!”
I rolled on the floor.
Unable to fully absorb the impact on my back, I repeatedly scraped my hands and feet, finally hitting the room’s wall and stopping.
“What the…?”
Just when I was feeling good.
Just when I thought I might be able to forget him for a moment…
Irritation, surging anger, I didn’t even feel the pain.
Using the bed next to me for support, I tried to stand up.
“…Huh?”
I saw it.
A malevolently glowing, blood-like giant jewel.
A rough, powerful giant arm prying open the window.
An ugly face with unfocused eyes.
And countless tentacles reaching towards me.
“A Fragment of the Evil God…?”
I didn’t understand what was happening.
Perhaps I was dreaming.
A very, very worst, and terrible nightmare.
“I have to wake up soon…”
Driving my powerless body, I pushed myself up.
With great effort, I crawled onto the bed.
“…Dad. …Help.”
A creaking sound reached my ears.
The Fragment of the Evil God was saying something.
But I couldn’t understand what it was saying at all.
Well, it’s a dream, so it’s understandable if I don’t.
“That’s right. Ah, that’s right…”
With trembling hands, I took out a jet-black ring from my bag.
The ring of memories that we all took together from Arken’s mansion.
I slipped it onto my finger.
Just doing that made me feel closer to my friends and happy.
“What the hell, don’t interfere.”
Yet, something red and dirty interfered.
It extended a reddish-black tentacle and dropped something in front of me.
A bracelet with complex decorations.
Somehow, I had seen it somewhere before.
“…No. …Want. …Help, help me, …Ma.”
The jarring sound didn’t stop.
Because of that, I couldn’t organize my thoughts.
“…No. …Want. …This, …help me.”
The Evil God’s words became clear.
The Fragment of the Evil God was asking for help.
It made no sense.
It was still a dream.
“No. Actually, I don’t want to be alone. Don’t leave me behind. Help me, help me…”
At that moment, I understood the answer.
This was…
“—Help me, Soma!”
—This was Sahzan’s bracelet.
“I-I see. …Ah, haha. Hahaha!”
I understood everything.
It was all resolved.
Of course, the Evil God wouldn’t ask for help.
This was a message.
It was the Evil God’s way of conveying a last message from Sahzan just before her death, reproduced.
—Absolutely do not look back.
For some reason, Sahzan’s last words echoed in my mind, and the area around my eyes burned.
I carefully, carefully put Sahzan’s precious bracelet into my bag.
I felt an urge to scream, but I didn’t know what to say, so I burst into a loud laugh.
“Aha, ahaha! Ahahahahaha!!”
Laughter poured out of me and wouldn’t stop.
I found it so funny, so funny, though I didn’t know why it was funny, the urge to laugh kept coming, and wouldn’t stop.
“Haha! Haha! Ahahahahahahahaha!!”
It was so funny, so funny, I didn’t know if it was me or the world that was funny.
But I understood.
“…It’s over.”
There was nothing left in this world.
Everything was broken and gone.
Not a shred of hope remained here.
The Evil God had turned it all into despair.
“It’s over…”
At that moment, I truly decided to abandon this world.
I had no regrets, and it didn’t matter if things didn’t go well.
Rather than live in such a broken world, it was better to die in failure.
“I’m going home.”
I will return.
To that peaceful and tranquil place, to the place where I belong.
“Have you gone mad?”
The creaking sound disturbed my ears.
But I didn’t answer.
Just touching the black ring with trembling hands, I looked at the deformed figure that was staring at me for the last time.
This was supposed to be the last sight I would see in this world.
Clearly, no matter what, so as not to forget, I burned that grotesque figure into my eyes…
—I chant.
The spell to escape this world.
The spell to bid farewell to this world.
The spell to abandon this world.
“—Sleep.”
Magic slumber enveloped me.
My heavy body, my fading heat.
Through my dimming vision, I saw red-black flesh whips rushing towards me.
But they were a little late.
A moment before death captured me, my body was caught by the bed.
My consciousness sank, and the scenery darkened.
An event trigger that shouldn’t exist was pulled, and everything reversed quietly.
The world closed and turned inside out.
The flow of time reversed, and all causality was inverted.
Spilled water returned to the basin, and rolling rocks climbed the mountain.
All worlds rewound, and then—
“Diz Aster. I will not forget you. I will surely—”
—Everything turned into a midsummer night’s dream.
“—!”
My consciousness surfaced with a familiar sound that struck my ears.
The first thing my eyes recognized as they reflexively opened was a man who looked like a Magician from a fantasy world, Iasky.
“…!”
A sight that should be so, yet at the same time, felt impossibly unreal.
My calm mind whispered that this was the back of the Magician’s Guild, and that I had just undergone the baptismal ritual.
However, before my rational judgment could make a decision, my instincts reacted against it.
I involuntarily staggered back.
“Soma!”
The one who saved me was a girl’s voice, once again.
As I turned towards the sound, my vision was filled with a bright sky blue.
The figure of an irreplaceable companion, with whom I had spent the most time in this异世界.
“Lin…go…?”
It should be so, but why?
That figure, which I had yearned for more than anything, was blurry, smudged, and I couldn’t see it clearly.
“…So…ma?”
In my hazy vision, the blue-haired girl who had rushed over looked up at me with a puzzled expression.
Such a trivial gesture felt indescribably nostalgic and endearing…
“—Gk!”
Unable to bear it, something hot ran down my cheeks.
Something hot overflowed endlessly, and I couldn’t see anything.
Instead, I hugged the delicate body in front of me.
“…Soma. Are you crying?”
I didn’t know what I intended to answer to that question.
I could only manage to utter broken words along with my sobs.
“I’ve returned. I’ve… come back…!”
The blue hair in my arms rustled, and a slender hand reached out.
White fingers gently stroked my cheek, and then she smiled awkwardly, but with all her might.
“—Welcome back, Soma.”
Part 3: The End
