May 15, 2018Tgurneu
How many times was she convinced that she had killed Ruruta so far? Hamyuts already stopped counting. She pierced his heart and smashed his head. Even so Ruruta still stood up. His super regenerative ability couldn’t keep up so his whole body was covered in blood. His consciousness was dimming due to the pleasure of sweet death. Yet even that wasn’t enough to finish him off.
An hour passed since the battle began.
“Uoohhh!”
He pointed a broken index finger to Hamyuts. He shot lightning that was much beyond what Enlike could produce. Hamyuts didn’t move. The lightning strike merely wound up dust in vain.
“Why, why can’t I hit?!”
Ruruta also attempted a counterattack. Seeing him repeat attacks that couldn’t hit at all was truly comical. Hamyuts scorned him.
The Suicidal Wish already fully controlled his heart. No matter how much he wanted to win, no matter how much he couldn’t allow himself to die, he unconsciously aimed for defeat.
If Hamyuts were to die no person who can kill Ruruta would be left. So Ruruta couldn’t ever kill Hamyuts. Hamyuts who possessed the Suicidal Wish realized this. She knew how much the despair of having no one to kill her was scary.
“You obviously won’t hit me, Rurutaa.”
“….Guh…”
“Because you’re the one who doesn’t want to hit me!”
While getting hit by gravel bullets, Ruruta grabbed his right wrist with his left hand. Even Hamyuts could tell he was concentrating all of his magic power there.
“Oooooh!!!”
He activated several powers at the same time. A storm was created around his right hand, white-hot flames were created in the eye of the storm, and he even gathered a slashing attack made of vacuum. Extraordinary power dwelt in his hand.
“Hamyuts! I will end this!”
He brought his arm overhead. The slashing, scorching storm wrapped 100 meters around Hamyuts. No human could possibly defend against that. Not even cinders would remain of her.
But even that was only assuming it would hit.
“…Huhuhu.”
Hamyuts laughed. The only thing that reached her was a hot wind that could lightly burn hair. The storm blew while neatly evading only her body.
“Ahahahahaha! Stop it Ruruta! Are you trying to kill me of laughter? I can’t take it anymore! I’ll die of laughter!”
“You bitch… you bitch… If I hit you just once…”
Even while she forgot to wield her sling due to laughing so hard Ruruta could only look at her while grinding his teeth.
“Won’t you die already? Surely you realize you can’t do anything?”
Hamyuts spoke while dropping her shoulders. Ruruta also stopped moving so the battle was temporarily suspended.
“Why are you so eager to embarrass yourself? People who’ll read your Book will laugh their asses off at about this point. You, the demon lord who owns the world, the great hero who crushed even the Gods… Wouldn’t you like for that title to die without shame?”
“Shut up.”
“You want to die right? You’re itching for it, right? Please be honest with yourself. Dying feels really, reeeally good.”
“So what!”
Ruruta shot a desperate lightning attack. The battle resumed.
He tried escaping to the skies while shooting attacks. Although he knew it was impossible, he probably tried leaving the Imaginary Entrails.
But it was already foreseen. The groundwork has already been laid. Hamyuts shot gravel bullets at him as if attacking from straight above. The ascending Ruruta was knocked down by the rain of rocks.
Estimating the point he would fall off, she followed with another attack. Coming from right and left at the same time she struck his ears. Next she struck both of his heels.
Hamyuts was running. Since Ruruta’s ears were shot he lost his sense of balance. He couldn’t fly. Since his heels were broken he couldn’t run either.
“Gotcha!”
Ruruta used both hands to leap and tried running. But Hamyuts was slightly faster. She extended her sling to its limits and wrapped it around Ruruta’s neck.
Swinging his tied body around, she hit it on the sand, lifted it again and slammed it down again. After his bones were broken she shortened the string and dragged him to her.
Then, applying every bit of her powers she fastened it around his neck. She wasn’t trying to suffocate him; she was going to lop his head off. Ruruta gripped the string with his broken arms and tried to loosen it.
There was a great difference in their arm strength. However, when taking into account Hamyuts’s full strength and Ruruta’s while being afflicted by the Suicidal Wish, Hamyuts had the advantage.
The string dug into Ruruta’s neck along with a creaking sound. His trachea was broken and air leaked out of his throat as if he was a whistle.
Hamyuts lifted Ruruta’s body. She peeked into his face that was covered in blood and could be seen down to the bones. Small traces of resistance remained in his ecstatic expression.
“Hey, Ruruta. I don’t hate you as much as I have before. It’s because I’ve read Chacoly’s Book. So I know about Nieniu-chan.”
She couldn’t tell if he heard her or not. Yet Hamyuts spoke calmly as if remonstrating him.
“You were splendid. It hurt but it moved me. I even respect you. But die. Die because of that. That’s the best thing for you.”
Ruruta’s breathing ceased. She could feel his trachea severed with her hands. All that was left were the bones of his neck.
“If you die no one will hate you. Although you have fallen to the path of evil, everyone will think of you as a great man. Although everything you did was in vain, they will extol your love as beautiful.”
Hamyuts cornered Ruruta with gentle words and cruel chocking. Strength left Ruruta’s hand holding the string.
“…Please die, Ruruta. That’s the best both for you and for other people.”
Poor Ruruta. Wounded, exhausted Ruruta. Hamyuts hated and pitied him. These should be enough words to break his heart.
“You can just relax now.”
Ruruta’s hand dropped. Hamyuts thought he stopped breathing. However, the next instant his lips moved. No voice came out, but she could read his lips.
But what about Nieniu?
“Uh!”
Hamyuts instantly unraveled her sling and leapt back. It wasn’t an action made by her reason, bur perhaps due to her instincts or warrior’s intuition. The next instant, countless needles stabbed the spot she stood at.
The moment she landed, she began running to the left in full speed. A lightning attack stabbed the sand, its impact sending sparks that singed Hamyuts’s pants.
If she hadn’t immediately gained some distance she would have gotten hit. Even though it was impossible for him to hit her.
Ruruta was collapsed on the sand, vomiting blood. However, eyes full of anger stared at her. His super regeneration ability quickly recovered his throat.
“I wanted to give up… only once.”
Ruruta said, holding his throat.
“But then I remembered. I recalled what I’ve been fighting for and what’s the most precious to me.”
Ruruta stood up slowly. The pressure squeezed at Hamyuts’s heart.
“I don’t need any pleasure. I can’t be allowed an easy death.”
Sparks scattered from Ruruta’s body. He howled while spraying blood around.
“I can endure it! As long as it’s for Nieniu!”
Hamyuts couldn’t fully defend against the next lightning strike. It was now her turn to scream.
Their positions were reversed. Now it was Hamyuts running away from the indiscriminate attacks. If Ruruta was in his normal condition she would’ve died instantly.
Hamyuts also struck back. However, although she hit him with several gravel bullets he raised no moans of pleasure. He survived even the pleasure that exceeded human knowledge.
“Die! Just die!”
“…What a monster… you as well.”
Hamyuts muttered. She had again misjudged Ruruta.
He was a struggler. He was someone who would desperately keep on fighting even while crawling on the sand, vomiting blood, and being crushed by despair and agony.
This was Ruruta’s real hidden strength. The power of the great hero who had once saved the world.
“Uwah!”
She tried to evade an invisible slashing attack by lying on the ground. But the attack she couldn’t fully evade deeply cut her left arm.
“Be ruined, go to hell, die, begone from this world, begone from my sight!”
As Hamyuts rolled on sand to escape, Ruruta’s face entered her vision once. For some reason it appeared to her that he was crying.
She could do nothing but run in front of his overwhelming attacks. Even Mokkania’s ants or the Deep Blue Curse Rebellion were nothing compared to this. Fighting while running away was Hamyuts’s invincible style, but even she didn’t have to leisure to attack back for an instant now.
Furthermore Ruruta wasn’t even able to display 10% of his former power.
Yet she didn’t despair. No way she would. The Imaginary Entrails were the world of souls. The power of the soul was the power of the mind. When her heart breaks her defeat would come.
Hamyuts believed – since Ruruta had hidden strength, so did she. The result has not yet been determined. The shockwave of the lightning scorched her back. Fire singed her skin and the storm cut through her body. Yet she was able to avoid any lethal injury.
“…So stubborn!”
Ruruta shouted.
“You too!”
Hamyuts yelled back. She evaded needles that came out of the ground, shaving the flesh of her sides.
She unleashed Sensory Threads from her entire body. She spread them to cover the entire desert and surveyed the surroundings. Something was sure to happen. She wanted to not miss that omen.
However, no person appeared in the desert and Ruruta’s ferocious attacks never ceased. The Sensory Threads drifted in vain. Pushed back from the shockwave of an explosion, she fell atop the sand.
At that moment, Hamyuts grinned.
She evaded a vacuum slash that tried mowing her down by leaping on all fours. At the same time she flung her sling. The gravel bullet hit not Ruruta but the sand.
Hamyuts heard Ruruta mutter through the sand cloud with her Sensory Threads.
“…A smokescreen?”
Wrong, thought Hamyuts. She further struck several dozen gravel bullets into the sand. Dust rose from here and there in the desert.
“Or are you trying to destroy the Imaginary Entrails themselves?”
That’s impossible, retorted Hamyuts in her heart. Ruruta couldn’t even imagine it. Even Hamyuts herself was surprised.
“You bitch, what’re you trying to…?!”
Hamyuts was thinking while lowering her body. You will soon realize.
You see…
The next moment, Hamyuts could hear a heavy metallic sound. A moment later came Ruruta’s shocked voice and then a scream of agony. His attack stopped. He readied his defenses in order to prepare against an unknown enemy and surveyed the situation.
The sand clouds that lowered visibility gradually vanished. She could now see a huge needle protruding in the desert. The one pierced by it was Ruruta.
And a single girl stood next to Hamyuts.
“…Who’re you?”
Hamyuts didn’t know the girl. She was barefoot and wore a crude headpiece made of cloth.
“Have you forgotten me, Ruruta?”
The girl swung the fingers of both hands.
“Have you forgotten the power of one of the Books you’ve Eaten, of Miena Yammo?!”
Hundreds of giant needles protruded from the sand. They all aimed for Ruruta. It was an unforgettable power for Hamyuts. It was the ability Ruruta had used to rob her life earlier.
Escaping from the giant needles, Ruruta employed his barrier, twisting the projecting needles. He was confused. He was now being attacked by the power he had used before.
“How can you…”
Before he finished talking another attack came from a different direction. A vacuum blade raging like a storm aimed at him. That was also a power Ruruta had used just now to torment Hamyuts. Next came a fire attack, an ice attack and an aerial slicing. Attacks aiming for Ruruta were shot from here and there in the desert.
The standing cloud of sand cleared up. Several dozens of human figures appeared. They were people of ancient times, many of them wearing crude headpieces made of cloth and bronze armor. Knights from the middle ages wearing shining silver armor and Armed Librarians clad in brown cassocks could also be seen.
“Hamyuts, you bitch, did you bring them back?!”
They were the warriors that Ruruta had Eaten so far. The ones who should have been digested in the Imaginary Entrails and become a part of the desert. They all uniformly glared at Ruruta. They all pointed their swords, spears, and fingers unleashing powerful Magic at him.
“…Why do you have such a power?”
“You’re wrong, Ruruta.”
Hamyuts said, holding the wound at her side.
“You’re the one who’s brought them back.”
Ruruta hadn’t negated the poison of Suicidal Wish. He had simply forgotten about it due to anger. It was obviously still controlling his soul.
Hamyuts’s power could no longer kill him. Therefore, Ruruta’s consciousness searched for someone who could. The warriors he had once Eaten, the warriors who hated him… he had revived them all by himself.
Hamyuts knew – among the Books Ruruta had Eaten there were dozens of warriors that were a match for her. And they were the ones who encircled Ruruta right now.
“I don’t know who you are, but I assume it was your ability that called us forth. Right?”
The girl known as Miena inquired Hamyuts standing next to her.
“I don’t know how the world is now, but what we have to do is unchanged. We need to exterminate Ruruta. So it appears, but is it right?”
“…That’s right.”
This girl’s strong. I dare say more than me. Hamyuts smiled at Miena.
“For giving me the opportunity to kill this man, I thank you!”
Miena, the fire users, the slicing air users, the knights, and the Armed Librarians all uniformly invoked their abilities. They attacked Ruruta from all directions. His barrier was easily broken through, and his entire body was burnt, cut and pierced.
“As if I’d lose! As if! And to the likes of you!”
Ruruta activated his needle power, trying to sweep down the surrounding warriors at once. However, Miena’s simultaneously activated needle entwined around it, altering its trajectory. The launched invisible slashing attack was met with an invisible slashing attack that counterbalanced it.
Hamyuts did not participate in the simultaneous attack. She ran through the desert and hit further gravel bullets on the sand. The warriors buried in the sand were revived one after the other.
“All you warriors! Kill Ruruta! This is the only time you can fulfill your grudges!”
Even while the warriors were surprised at their sudden revival and confused by the unknown woman wielding a sling, they understood their duty. Everyone unhesitatingly went to face Ruruta in battle.
“You see, I’ve worked hard. The fact that no one’s killed me means I’ve worked hard. But you have so many people who can kill you.
I’m so envious, so jealous of you, Ruruta Coozancoona!”
“As if… I can lose! Just a bit more and I can make Nieniu happy!”
Every time her gravel bullets struck the sand more warriors were revived. Ruruta’s Suicidal Wish kept reviving them.
“Ahaha Ruruta! Even if your mouth denies it seems your body is honest!”
The attacks of the warriors who came one after the other and Ruruta who was unable to fully defend against them. The warriors’ angry shouts and Ruruta’s moans echoed in the Imaginary Entrails.
Has an hour passed since then?
Saying Ruruta battled ferociously would be understating it. Although he had gotten used to the pleasure of sweet death and was still being eaten by it, his fighting spirits didn’t exhaust at all.
Hamyuts ran around the Imaginary Entrails, explored inside the sand with her Sensory Threads and revived warriors. They numbered over a thousand.
However, even those revived warriors diminished in numbers. There should have been warriors even stronger than Hamyuts there. Even now Ruruta showed how much his power was off the scale.
“Eat this Ruruta!”
An ancient warrior launched a large fireball at Ruruta. Ruruta tried blocking it with the palm of his right hand. Was he trying to invoke a defensive ability or some power of water to counterbalance it? But he couldn’t activate it. The possessor of that power had already been annihilated.
“Don’t let him run away! Catch him!”
A warrior shouted while leaping. Ruruta attempted evading him to the side but his escape was blocked by a giant needle. A spear pierced Ruruta’s chest and attempted to knock him down to the ground. Ruruta shot a fireball from his hand and annihilated the warrior in one blow.
The warrior’s sacrifice allowed the surrounding warriors a chance to attack simultaneously. Needles and flames assaulted Ruruta. Although he was not yet dead, he was barraged by attacks without even a moment to breathe.
“We can win! We can win, Miena! It’s our victory!”
Although he had not been killed yet, the ancient warriors expressed joy. But it was natural they would be happy. They were the most pitiful humans that were used by Ruruta.
“The amazing thing here is Hamyuts’s power that bound him. To think such a method could be used to kill him…”
The needle user known as Miena had at some point become a central figure to the warriors. Considering how terrific her ability was it was obvious.
Ruruta struggled. But he had no way of winning. It was because the powers he was using had been taken away from him by the souls inside his Imaginary Entrails.
Every time Ruruta defeated a warrior their Magic Right would also be eliminated. This meant that the more Ruruta won the more he was weakened.
Ruruta was on the verge of death. That was the unavoidable, hard truth.
Hamyuts was checking the battle far from Ruruta with her Sensory Threads.
“Ruruta, how much do you have left? How much power do you have left?”
Hamyuts muttered, crossing her arms and simply standing in place.
She didn’t participate in the battle.
Almost all buried humans were dug out. There were no other powerful warriors. All that was left was waiting for Miena and the rest to destroy Ruruta.
Having her join the battle would be a bad plan. Were she to die the power that confined Ruruta inside the Imaginary Entrails would be gone. In order to avoid this one-in-a-thousand chance, she decided to devote herself to defense.
Her position was perfect. She only had to wait for Ruruta to exhaust himself. Hamyuts folded her arms and calmly waited for the moment of victory.
During that time Colio had returned to the theater. There were no traces of either Hamyuts or Ruruta there. The statue of Nieniu left there seemed lonely.
He could hear the sounds of battle from afar. While hearing them, Colio was thinking about Ruruta.
How could I have stopped him? He kept thinking about things that were already meaningless.
“…But what’s happening?”
Colio standing alone in the theater couldn’t help but mutter. The sounds of battle increased in intensity by every moment. Explosive roars echoed in his stomach, and blows shook the ground. Even if a country was to fight with its entire army they wouldn’t make so much noise.
Earlier he had seen Hamyuts running near the theater. When she struck the sand with gravel bullets people appeared from inside. Responding to her shouts of “Kill Ruruta!”, these people ran ahead.
He had no idea what was going on. However, by hearing Hamyuts and seeing the faces of all these people heading out to kill Ruruta he knew well what was about to happen.
Ruruta was about to lose. So Colio thought while looking at them.
“…”
Neither Hamyuts nor any of the warriors coming from the sand paid any heed to him. He was unable to do anything and nobody cared about him. He was as good as not being there.
That was why none of it mattered. He just returned to his former self.
“…Ruruta.”
He raised a call that didn’t reach anyone with a small voice. Colio thought about Ruruta there for a long time. What was he thinking about? Why had he waited for him? How could he have stopped him? He had the feeling he would realize something if he stayed there.
He thought of his irreversible failure. That was the only thing Colio could do.
He looked at the desert from the theater where Ruruta had sat earlier. What a dreary view it was. But Ruruta had waited there. Day after day, he waited for Nieniu to become happy. He became exhausted, despaired, and stood up to destroy the world.
“Did Ruruta want to destroy the world?”
Colio muttered but immediately denied it. He had told Makia – that was the world he had protected and there was no way he wanted to destroy it.
He loved Nieniu, but he also loved the world at the same time. No way would he want to destroy it. This decision should have been as painful as having his body being ripped apart to him.
And yet Ruruta decided to destroy the world.
“I see, I now somewhat get it, Ruruta.”
Colio muttered. He now understood a little about Ruruta’s reason for waiting for him.
He wanted to be stopped. He still hesitated deep inside his heart. And so he thought that if someone came to stop him he wouldn’t destroy the world.
He thought that Colio would’ve been able to stop him. And so he waited for him.
“…But I couldn’t.”
Why couldn’t he? Even if the world was destroyed Nieniu wouldn’t be happy at all. Colio was absolutely certain that was true.
He looked at Nieniu who stood lonely inside the theater. As expected, in this situation where he had no idea what was going on he hadn’t the courage to try touching her. But he knew well what she was thinking about.
She was probably cheering Ruruta. But it wasn’t because Ruruta loved her; it was because the world wouldn’t be destroyed unless he wins. Without loving anyone, without acknowledging anyone, she continued to hate everything as worthless. That was how Nieniu was right now.
Colio felt mad at her. Why didn’t she answer to Ruruta? She didn’t even say a single gentle word to the person who loved her so deeply. Even though with just one word, with just a single smile, Ruruta would have been saved.
Even if the world was destroyed she probably wouldn’t even thank him. She hated Ruruta as well. Even if the world was destroyed she would never respond to his love. She loved no one.
“…Ruruta… this is so wrong.”
Such a thing couldn’t be called happiness. It couldn’t be love. Love should’ve been something much more splendid. It should cause a person that regretted their birth to become happy at being born. That was what it should have been. Colio knew of it since he had experienced it himself.
“You’ve been trying to throw away… the one and only person important to you, the most important thing to you.”
No one responded to his call.
And, at that time, something stabbed into the audience seats in the theatre. Looking there he could see a rock the size of a palm. It was Hamyuts’s gravel bullet for communication. He picked it up and read.
“What’re you doing Colio-kun?”
Just as he wondered how to reply he recalled the ability of Sensory Threads. If he spoke normally it would be transmitted to her through the thread.
“Nothing… in particular.”
A few moments later, another gravel bullet flew at him.
“Thank you. You’ve done well. Thanks to you I can kill Ruruta.”
Looking at it for a while, he then stored it inside his suit’s pocket.
He could still hear the thundering roars of battle. Ruruta was obviously not dead yet. But the situation was irreversible. And it was such that Hamyuts was even able to afford time for an idle chat.
That’s fine. I have no problem with that. The world will be saved and the Indulging God Cult destroyed. Even Colio made a contribution in the form of creating an opening on Ruruta.
He should be happy. And yet, thinking about Ruruta, Colio’s chest ached as if being squeezed.
He felt mysterious camaraderie towards him.
They have talked for not a long while. When they faced each other he felt nothing other than fear. And yet he couldn’t help but ache now.
‘Since it’s you, don’t you understand? My feelings.’
‘But there are only two exceptions to this. Me and you.’
‘What a pity. I’d hoped we’d be able to have mutual understanding.’
He recalled Ruruta’s words. He now realized another reason why he had wanted to meet him.
Ruruta wanted a friend. Until now he had no one he could call a friend.
This man who owned the world, who put his life at stake, had nothing other than a single lover. The one thing he looked for in the end of his life was just a friend.
“Perhaps we could have become friends, Ruruta.”
Colio muttered. Now that he felt some camaraderie he could understand Ruruta.
Even Ruruta realized that destroying the world won’t make Nieniu happy. If he hadn’t he would’ve destroyed the world much sooner.
But he had to do it. Because destroying the world was his final hope.
Even offering her happiness, even appealing to her love, Nieniu never opened her heart. Her heart was exhausted. It was sickly love. Even while he was hurt, exhausted, and even thought about death, he couldn’t throw his feelings away.
Although he knew it was useless, although he knew it was the wrong path, he couldn’t choose anything else. He couldn’t help but cling to this final hope. If he had lost even this final hope he would have nothing left.
‘…You and I are different!’
‘Nieniu will not become happy!’
Colio recalled his own words from a few hours ago. He shouldn’t have said those. He was trying to take away all hope from Ruruta.
“Ruruta. I understand you.”
It was as Ruruta had said. They were able to understand one another. Only Colio had rejected it.
Perhaps if he’d understood him something would have changed. Perhaps he would have stopped him from destroying the world. Perhaps he would have saved the world without Hamyuts having to do anything.
An explosion occurred near the theater. He realized that the battlefield was growing closer. He could hear Ruruta’s screams as he tried running away and the angry roar of the people pursuing him.
“Serves you right, Ruruta!”
“Curse you, have you learned your lesson Ruruta!”
“Suffer! Die while suffering! Choke on your retribution!”
The warriors pursued the fleeing Ruruta. Colio felt as if their anger and resentment were directed at him.
“…I wasn’t able to do anything.”
Colio muttered.
“And… I still can’t.”
He fell to his knees atop the stage. And he covered his face in his hands. He thought of at least crying. Instead of Ruruta… for Ruruta’s sake.
But at that moment, he heard a voice from the back.
“I seem to have a peculiar destiny with you, Colio-sama.”
Turning around, he could see a woman. Her face covered by a black cloth, she wielded a strange stone sword.
“…Lascall Othello?”
Lascall bowed deeply as if in affirmation.
Hamyuts stood quietly with her arms folded. She was observing Ruruta being cornered with her Sensory Threads.
She no longer paid any attention to Colio. She didn’t use her Sensory Threads around the theater either. She wondered if he would try to do something strange while being moved by some weird feelings, but it appeared to have been needless worry.
“…I don’t know why… but something feels off.”
Ruruta was wounded. He was on the verge of exhaustion. If the fight kept going like this they would definitely win.
Yet that made her conversely anxious. There were no absolutes in a victory. Thinking one could definitely win meant missing the possibility of a loss.
Yet no matter how much she thought, she could see no way for Ruruta to make a reversal. And so her anxiety increased.
“What’s this… is there something still left?”
The most frightening thing was that despite being in such a desperate situation, Ruruta’s eyes were still alive. Would he simply not give up no matter what happens? Or has he seen something?
Should I join the battle? Or is that by itself the trap? Hamyuts kept thinking back and forth in circles.
She didn’t notice that Lascall appeared next to Colio.
Colio had met Lascall before. He also came to know of his true identity from Ruruta’s memories. He knew that he was the one who’d brought him Shiron’s Book as well as brought his Book to Ruruta.
“Do you have any business with me?”
“I have nothing that would be called business. I intend to immediately disappear if you think of me as a nuisance.”
What a troubling person, thought Colio. If you need something then just say so.
“So?”
“This Lascall Othello is the ally of no one. Neither am I the enemy of anyone. I am simply one who grants continuation to stories and observes them.
I assist Ruruta-sama, but I have also lent a hand to his enemies. I have allied with the Indulging God Cult, but I have also allied with the Armed Librarians. I have helped you, but at the same time I have also helped Cigal-sama.
That is what I am.”
“…And?”
“I will not lend a hand to either side in the battle of Ruruta-sama and Hamyuts-sama. If the result is destruction then let it all be destroyed, and if it ends in salvation then let it all be saved. So I think.”
What do you want to do, Colio swallowed these words. If you’re calling yourself neutral you should just watch it silently.
“Yet this is all far too cruel. Since it is so one-sided, even I have lost some of my interest as a spectator. Since it is finally the end of the world, it should be a bit more exciting.”
Calling it exciting rubbed Colio the wrong way. What do you mean by spectator? he was angry.
“…I have no intention of helping Ruruta.”
Colio replied. If Hamyuts were to lose the world would be over. No matter how much his chest hurt, he couldn’t save Ruruta.
“Huhuhu.”
Lascall averted his gaze, stifled his voice and laughed. Colio felt he was sneering at him. Perhaps this stone sword had always been scorning humans.
“Even you are saying that, Colio-sama?”
He could see his lips distort under the black thin veil.
“The one about to lose is Hamyuts.”
“…Wha-”
At the same time as Colio’s shout, Lascall disappeared as if announcing his business was over with him. He gazed at the faraway battlefield. It was undoubtedly Ruruta who was cornered. Yet Lascall had said that Hamyuts was about to suffer a one-sided defeat.
Colio started thinking not about the situation of the battle but about Ruruta’s mind. What did he think about while being cornered? What could he do in order to make Nieniu happy, in order to destroy the world? No matter how much cornered he was, he was probably thinking only of her.
“…Ah.”
He recalled a certain ability from his scarce Magical knowledge. And he understood Ruruta’s thinking.
Colio started running.
“Hamyuts! Hamyuts! Can you hear me?!”
His face paled. His feet tangled with fear.
“Hamyuts! Listen to me! Stop attacking this instant!”
After Colio had left, Lascall appeared in the theater again.
“Hamyuts-sama. Even if I told you he was all barks and no bite it would be useless. Because something like this could not even be called a secret plan.”
Lascall spoke to Nieniu who couldn’t move even a single finger.
“Is it not so, Nieniu-sama?”
May 15, 2018Tgurneu
How many times was she convinced that she had killed Ruruta so far? Hamyuts already stopped counting. She pierced his heart and smashed his head. Even so Ruruta still stood up. His super regenerative ability couldn’t keep up so his whole body was covered in blood. His consciousness was dimming due to the pleasure of sweet death. Yet even that wasn’t enough to finish him off.
An hour passed since the battle began.
“Uoohhh!”
He pointed a broken index finger to Hamyuts. He shot lightning that was much beyond what Enlike could produce. Hamyuts didn’t move. The lightning strike merely wound up dust in vain.
“Why, why can’t I hit?!”
Ruruta also attempted a counterattack. Seeing him repeat attacks that couldn’t hit at all was truly comical. Hamyuts scorned him.
The Suicidal Wish already fully controlled his heart. No matter how much he wanted to win, no matter how much he couldn’t allow himself to die, he unconsciously aimed for defeat.
If Hamyuts were to die no person who can kill Ruruta would be left. So Ruruta couldn’t ever kill Hamyuts. Hamyuts who possessed the Suicidal Wish realized this. She knew how much the despair of having no one to kill her was scary.
“You obviously won’t hit me, Rurutaa.”
“….Guh…”
“Because you’re the one who doesn’t want to hit me!”
While getting hit by gravel bullets, Ruruta grabbed his right wrist with his left hand. Even Hamyuts could tell he was concentrating all of his magic power there.
“Oooooh!!!”
He activated several powers at the same time. A storm was created around his right hand, white-hot flames were created in the eye of the storm, and he even gathered a slashing attack made of vacuum. Extraordinary power dwelt in his hand.
“Hamyuts! I will end this!”
He brought his arm overhead. The slashing, scorching storm wrapped 100 meters around Hamyuts. No human could possibly defend against that. Not even cinders would remain of her.
But even that was only assuming it would hit.
“…Huhuhu.”
Hamyuts laughed. The only thing that reached her was a hot wind that could lightly burn hair. The storm blew while neatly evading only her body.
“Ahahahahaha! Stop it Ruruta! Are you trying to kill me of laughter? I can’t take it anymore! I’ll die of laughter!”
“You bitch… you bitch… If I hit you just once…”
Even while she forgot to wield her sling due to laughing so hard Ruruta could only look at her while grinding his teeth.
“Won’t you die already? Surely you realize you can’t do anything?”
Hamyuts spoke while dropping her shoulders. Ruruta also stopped moving so the battle was temporarily suspended.
“Why are you so eager to embarrass yourself? People who’ll read your Book will laugh their asses off at about this point. You, the demon lord who owns the world, the great hero who crushed even the Gods… Wouldn’t you like for that title to die without shame?”
“Shut up.”
“You want to die right? You’re itching for it, right? Please be honest with yourself. Dying feels really, reeeally good.”
“So what!”
Ruruta shot a desperate lightning attack. The battle resumed.
He tried escaping to the skies while shooting attacks. Although he knew it was impossible, he probably tried leaving the Imaginary Entrails.
But it was already foreseen. The groundwork has already been laid. Hamyuts shot gravel bullets at him as if attacking from straight above. The ascending Ruruta was knocked down by the rain of rocks.
Estimating the point he would fall off, she followed with another attack. Coming from right and left at the same time she struck his ears. Next she struck both of his heels.
Hamyuts was running. Since Ruruta’s ears were shot he lost his sense of balance. He couldn’t fly. Since his heels were broken he couldn’t run either.
“Gotcha!”
Ruruta used both hands to leap and tried running. But Hamyuts was slightly faster. She extended her sling to its limits and wrapped it around Ruruta’s neck.
Swinging his tied body around, she hit it on the sand, lifted it again and slammed it down again. After his bones were broken she shortened the string and dragged him to her.
Then, applying every bit of her powers she fastened it around his neck. She wasn’t trying to suffocate him; she was going to lop his head off. Ruruta gripped the string with his broken arms and tried to loosen it.
There was a great difference in their arm strength. However, when taking into account Hamyuts’s full strength and Ruruta’s while being afflicted by the Suicidal Wish, Hamyuts had the advantage.
The string dug into Ruruta’s neck along with a creaking sound. His trachea was broken and air leaked out of his throat as if he was a whistle.
Hamyuts lifted Ruruta’s body. She peeked into his face that was covered in blood and could be seen down to the bones. Small traces of resistance remained in his ecstatic expression.
“Hey, Ruruta. I don’t hate you as much as I have before. It’s because I’ve read Chacoly’s Book. So I know about Nieniu-chan.”
She couldn’t tell if he heard her or not. Yet Hamyuts spoke calmly as if remonstrating him.
“You were splendid. It hurt but it moved me. I even respect you. But die. Die because of that. That’s the best thing for you.”
Ruruta’s breathing ceased. She could feel his trachea severed with her hands. All that was left were the bones of his neck.
“If you die no one will hate you. Although you have fallen to the path of evil, everyone will think of you as a great man. Although everything you did was in vain, they will extol your love as beautiful.”
Hamyuts cornered Ruruta with gentle words and cruel chocking. Strength left Ruruta’s hand holding the string.
“…Please die, Ruruta. That’s the best both for you and for other people.”
Poor Ruruta. Wounded, exhausted Ruruta. Hamyuts hated and pitied him. These should be enough words to break his heart.
“You can just relax now.”
Ruruta’s hand dropped. Hamyuts thought he stopped breathing. However, the next instant his lips moved. No voice came out, but she could read his lips.
But what about Nieniu?
“Uh!”
Hamyuts instantly unraveled her sling and leapt back. It wasn’t an action made by her reason, bur perhaps due to her instincts or warrior’s intuition. The next instant, countless needles stabbed the spot she stood at.
The moment she landed, she began running to the left in full speed. A lightning attack stabbed the sand, its impact sending sparks that singed Hamyuts’s pants.
If she hadn’t immediately gained some distance she would have gotten hit. Even though it was impossible for him to hit her.
Ruruta was collapsed on the sand, vomiting blood. However, eyes full of anger stared at her. His super regeneration ability quickly recovered his throat.
“I wanted to give up… only once.”
Ruruta said, holding his throat.
“But then I remembered. I recalled what I’ve been fighting for and what’s the most precious to me.”
Ruruta stood up slowly. The pressure squeezed at Hamyuts’s heart.
“I don’t need any pleasure. I can’t be allowed an easy death.”
Sparks scattered from Ruruta’s body. He howled while spraying blood around.
“I can endure it! As long as it’s for Nieniu!”
Hamyuts couldn’t fully defend against the next lightning strike. It was now her turn to scream.
Their positions were reversed. Now it was Hamyuts running away from the indiscriminate attacks. If Ruruta was in his normal condition she would’ve died instantly.
Hamyuts also struck back. However, although she hit him with several gravel bullets he raised no moans of pleasure. He survived even the pleasure that exceeded human knowledge.
“Die! Just die!”
“…What a monster… you as well.”
Hamyuts muttered. She had again misjudged Ruruta.
He was a struggler. He was someone who would desperately keep on fighting even while crawling on the sand, vomiting blood, and being crushed by despair and agony.
This was Ruruta’s real hidden strength. The power of the great hero who had once saved the world.
“Uwah!”
She tried to evade an invisible slashing attack by lying on the ground. But the attack she couldn’t fully evade deeply cut her left arm.
“Be ruined, go to hell, die, begone from this world, begone from my sight!”
As Hamyuts rolled on sand to escape, Ruruta’s face entered her vision once. For some reason it appeared to her that he was crying.
She could do nothing but run in front of his overwhelming attacks. Even Mokkania’s ants or the Deep Blue Curse Rebellion were nothing compared to this. Fighting while running away was Hamyuts’s invincible style, but even she didn’t have to leisure to attack back for an instant now.
Furthermore Ruruta wasn’t even able to display 10% of his former power.
Yet she didn’t despair. No way she would. The Imaginary Entrails were the world of souls. The power of the soul was the power of the mind. When her heart breaks her defeat would come.
Hamyuts believed – since Ruruta had hidden strength, so did she. The result has not yet been determined. The shockwave of the lightning scorched her back. Fire singed her skin and the storm cut through her body. Yet she was able to avoid any lethal injury.
“…So stubborn!”
Ruruta shouted.
“You too!”
Hamyuts yelled back. She evaded needles that came out of the ground, shaving the flesh of her sides.
She unleashed Sensory Threads from her entire body. She spread them to cover the entire desert and surveyed the surroundings. Something was sure to happen. She wanted to not miss that omen.
However, no person appeared in the desert and Ruruta’s ferocious attacks never ceased. The Sensory Threads drifted in vain. Pushed back from the shockwave of an explosion, she fell atop the sand.
At that moment, Hamyuts grinned.
She evaded a vacuum slash that tried mowing her down by leaping on all fours. At the same time she flung her sling. The gravel bullet hit not Ruruta but the sand.
Hamyuts heard Ruruta mutter through the sand cloud with her Sensory Threads.
“…A smokescreen?”
Wrong, thought Hamyuts. She further struck several dozen gravel bullets into the sand. Dust rose from here and there in the desert.
“Or are you trying to destroy the Imaginary Entrails themselves?”
That’s impossible, retorted Hamyuts in her heart. Ruruta couldn’t even imagine it. Even Hamyuts herself was surprised.
“You bitch, what’re you trying to…?!”
Hamyuts was thinking while lowering her body. You will soon realize.
You see…
The next moment, Hamyuts could hear a heavy metallic sound. A moment later came Ruruta’s shocked voice and then a scream of agony. His attack stopped. He readied his defenses in order to prepare against an unknown enemy and surveyed the situation.
The sand clouds that lowered visibility gradually vanished. She could now see a huge needle protruding in the desert. The one pierced by it was Ruruta.
And a single girl stood next to Hamyuts.
“…Who’re you?”
Hamyuts didn’t know the girl. She was barefoot and wore a crude headpiece made of cloth.
“Have you forgotten me, Ruruta?”
The girl swung the fingers of both hands.
“Have you forgotten the power of one of the Books you’ve Eaten, of Miena Yammo?!”
Hundreds of giant needles protruded from the sand. They all aimed for Ruruta. It was an unforgettable power for Hamyuts. It was the ability Ruruta had used to rob her life earlier.
Escaping from the giant needles, Ruruta employed his barrier, twisting the projecting needles. He was confused. He was now being attacked by the power he had used before.
“How can you…”
Before he finished talking another attack came from a different direction. A vacuum blade raging like a storm aimed at him. That was also a power Ruruta had used just now to torment Hamyuts. Next came a fire attack, an ice attack and an aerial slicing. Attacks aiming for Ruruta were shot from here and there in the desert.
The standing cloud of sand cleared up. Several dozens of human figures appeared. They were people of ancient times, many of them wearing crude headpieces made of cloth and bronze armor. Knights from the middle ages wearing shining silver armor and Armed Librarians clad in brown cassocks could also be seen.
“Hamyuts, you bitch, did you bring them back?!”
They were the warriors that Ruruta had Eaten so far. The ones who should have been digested in the Imaginary Entrails and become a part of the desert. They all uniformly glared at Ruruta. They all pointed their swords, spears, and fingers unleashing powerful Magic at him.
“…Why do you have such a power?”
“You’re wrong, Ruruta.”
Hamyuts said, holding the wound at her side.
“You’re the one who’s brought them back.”
Ruruta hadn’t negated the poison of Suicidal Wish. He had simply forgotten about it due to anger. It was obviously still controlling his soul.
Hamyuts’s power could no longer kill him. Therefore, Ruruta’s consciousness searched for someone who could. The warriors he had once Eaten, the warriors who hated him… he had revived them all by himself.
Hamyuts knew – among the Books Ruruta had Eaten there were dozens of warriors that were a match for her. And they were the ones who encircled Ruruta right now.
“I don’t know who you are, but I assume it was your ability that called us forth. Right?”
The girl known as Miena inquired Hamyuts standing next to her.
“I don’t know how the world is now, but what we have to do is unchanged. We need to exterminate Ruruta. So it appears, but is it right?”
“…That’s right.”
This girl’s strong. I dare say more than me. Hamyuts smiled at Miena.
“For giving me the opportunity to kill this man, I thank you!”
Miena, the fire users, the slicing air users, the knights, and the Armed Librarians all uniformly invoked their abilities. They attacked Ruruta from all directions. His barrier was easily broken through, and his entire body was burnt, cut and pierced.
“As if I’d lose! As if! And to the likes of you!”
Ruruta activated his needle power, trying to sweep down the surrounding warriors at once. However, Miena’s simultaneously activated needle entwined around it, altering its trajectory. The launched invisible slashing attack was met with an invisible slashing attack that counterbalanced it.
Hamyuts did not participate in the simultaneous attack. She ran through the desert and hit further gravel bullets on the sand. The warriors buried in the sand were revived one after the other.
“All you warriors! Kill Ruruta! This is the only time you can fulfill your grudges!”
Even while the warriors were surprised at their sudden revival and confused by the unknown woman wielding a sling, they understood their duty. Everyone unhesitatingly went to face Ruruta in battle.
“You see, I’ve worked hard. The fact that no one’s killed me means I’ve worked hard. But you have so many people who can kill you.
I’m so envious, so jealous of you, Ruruta Coozancoona!”
“As if… I can lose! Just a bit more and I can make Nieniu happy!”
Every time her gravel bullets struck the sand more warriors were revived. Ruruta’s Suicidal Wish kept reviving them.
“Ahaha Ruruta! Even if your mouth denies it seems your body is honest!”
The attacks of the warriors who came one after the other and Ruruta who was unable to fully defend against them. The warriors’ angry shouts and Ruruta’s moans echoed in the Imaginary Entrails.
Has an hour passed since then?
Saying Ruruta battled ferociously would be understating it. Although he had gotten used to the pleasure of sweet death and was still being eaten by it, his fighting spirits didn’t exhaust at all.
Hamyuts ran around the Imaginary Entrails, explored inside the sand with her Sensory Threads and revived warriors. They numbered over a thousand.
However, even those revived warriors diminished in numbers. There should have been warriors even stronger than Hamyuts there. Even now Ruruta showed how much his power was off the scale.
“Eat this Ruruta!”
An ancient warrior launched a large fireball at Ruruta. Ruruta tried blocking it with the palm of his right hand. Was he trying to invoke a defensive ability or some power of water to counterbalance it? But he couldn’t activate it. The possessor of that power had already been annihilated.
“Don’t let him run away! Catch him!”
A warrior shouted while leaping. Ruruta attempted evading him to the side but his escape was blocked by a giant needle. A spear pierced Ruruta’s chest and attempted to knock him down to the ground. Ruruta shot a fireball from his hand and annihilated the warrior in one blow.
The warrior’s sacrifice allowed the surrounding warriors a chance to attack simultaneously. Needles and flames assaulted Ruruta. Although he was not yet dead, he was barraged by attacks without even a moment to breathe.
“We can win! We can win, Miena! It’s our victory!”
Although he had not been killed yet, the ancient warriors expressed joy. But it was natural they would be happy. They were the most pitiful humans that were used by Ruruta.
“The amazing thing here is Hamyuts’s power that bound him. To think such a method could be used to kill him…”
The needle user known as Miena had at some point become a central figure to the warriors. Considering how terrific her ability was it was obvious.
Ruruta struggled. But he had no way of winning. It was because the powers he was using had been taken away from him by the souls inside his Imaginary Entrails.
Every time Ruruta defeated a warrior their Magic Right would also be eliminated. This meant that the more Ruruta won the more he was weakened.
Ruruta was on the verge of death. That was the unavoidable, hard truth.
Hamyuts was checking the battle far from Ruruta with her Sensory Threads.
“Ruruta, how much do you have left? How much power do you have left?”
Hamyuts muttered, crossing her arms and simply standing in place.
She didn’t participate in the battle.
Almost all buried humans were dug out. There were no other powerful warriors. All that was left was waiting for Miena and the rest to destroy Ruruta.
Having her join the battle would be a bad plan. Were she to die the power that confined Ruruta inside the Imaginary Entrails would be gone. In order to avoid this one-in-a-thousand chance, she decided to devote herself to defense.
Her position was perfect. She only had to wait for Ruruta to exhaust himself. Hamyuts folded her arms and calmly waited for the moment of victory.
During that time Colio had returned to the theater. There were no traces of either Hamyuts or Ruruta there. The statue of Nieniu left there seemed lonely.
He could hear the sounds of battle from afar. While hearing them, Colio was thinking about Ruruta.
How could I have stopped him? He kept thinking about things that were already meaningless.
“…But what’s happening?”
Colio standing alone in the theater couldn’t help but mutter. The sounds of battle increased in intensity by every moment. Explosive roars echoed in his stomach, and blows shook the ground. Even if a country was to fight with its entire army they wouldn’t make so much noise.
Earlier he had seen Hamyuts running near the theater. When she struck the sand with gravel bullets people appeared from inside. Responding to her shouts of “Kill Ruruta!”, these people ran ahead.
He had no idea what was going on. However, by hearing Hamyuts and seeing the faces of all these people heading out to kill Ruruta he knew well what was about to happen.
Ruruta was about to lose. So Colio thought while looking at them.
“…”
Neither Hamyuts nor any of the warriors coming from the sand paid any heed to him. He was unable to do anything and nobody cared about him. He was as good as not being there.
That was why none of it mattered. He just returned to his former self.
“…Ruruta.”
He raised a call that didn’t reach anyone with a small voice. Colio thought about Ruruta there for a long time. What was he thinking about? Why had he waited for him? How could he have stopped him? He had the feeling he would realize something if he stayed there.
He thought of his irreversible failure. That was the only thing Colio could do.
He looked at the desert from the theater where Ruruta had sat earlier. What a dreary view it was. But Ruruta had waited there. Day after day, he waited for Nieniu to become happy. He became exhausted, despaired, and stood up to destroy the world.
“Did Ruruta want to destroy the world?”
Colio muttered but immediately denied it. He had told Makia – that was the world he had protected and there was no way he wanted to destroy it.
He loved Nieniu, but he also loved the world at the same time. No way would he want to destroy it. This decision should have been as painful as having his body being ripped apart to him.
And yet Ruruta decided to destroy the world.
“I see, I now somewhat get it, Ruruta.”
Colio muttered. He now understood a little about Ruruta’s reason for waiting for him.
He wanted to be stopped. He still hesitated deep inside his heart. And so he thought that if someone came to stop him he wouldn’t destroy the world.
He thought that Colio would’ve been able to stop him. And so he waited for him.
“…But I couldn’t.”
Why couldn’t he? Even if the world was destroyed Nieniu wouldn’t be happy at all. Colio was absolutely certain that was true.
He looked at Nieniu who stood lonely inside the theater. As expected, in this situation where he had no idea what was going on he hadn’t the courage to try touching her. But he knew well what she was thinking about.
She was probably cheering Ruruta. But it wasn’t because Ruruta loved her; it was because the world wouldn’t be destroyed unless he wins. Without loving anyone, without acknowledging anyone, she continued to hate everything as worthless. That was how Nieniu was right now.
Colio felt mad at her. Why didn’t she answer to Ruruta? She didn’t even say a single gentle word to the person who loved her so deeply. Even though with just one word, with just a single smile, Ruruta would have been saved.
Even if the world was destroyed she probably wouldn’t even thank him. She hated Ruruta as well. Even if the world was destroyed she would never respond to his love. She loved no one.
“…Ruruta… this is so wrong.”
Such a thing couldn’t be called happiness. It couldn’t be love. Love should’ve been something much more splendid. It should cause a person that regretted their birth to become happy at being born. That was what it should have been. Colio knew of it since he had experienced it himself.
“You’ve been trying to throw away… the one and only person important to you, the most important thing to you.”
No one responded to his call.
And, at that time, something stabbed into the audience seats in the theatre. Looking there he could see a rock the size of a palm. It was Hamyuts’s gravel bullet for communication. He picked it up and read.
“What’re you doing Colio-kun?”
Just as he wondered how to reply he recalled the ability of Sensory Threads. If he spoke normally it would be transmitted to her through the thread.
“Nothing… in particular.”
A few moments later, another gravel bullet flew at him.
“Thank you. You’ve done well. Thanks to you I can kill Ruruta.”
Looking at it for a while, he then stored it inside his suit’s pocket.
He could still hear the thundering roars of battle. Ruruta was obviously not dead yet. But the situation was irreversible. And it was such that Hamyuts was even able to afford time for an idle chat.
That’s fine. I have no problem with that. The world will be saved and the Indulging God Cult destroyed. Even Colio made a contribution in the form of creating an opening on Ruruta.
He should be happy. And yet, thinking about Ruruta, Colio’s chest ached as if being squeezed.
He felt mysterious camaraderie towards him.
They have talked for not a long while. When they faced each other he felt nothing other than fear. And yet he couldn’t help but ache now.
‘Since it’s you, don’t you understand? My feelings.’
‘But there are only two exceptions to this. Me and you.’
‘What a pity. I’d hoped we’d be able to have mutual understanding.’
He recalled Ruruta’s words. He now realized another reason why he had wanted to meet him.
Ruruta wanted a friend. Until now he had no one he could call a friend.
This man who owned the world, who put his life at stake, had nothing other than a single lover. The one thing he looked for in the end of his life was just a friend.
“Perhaps we could have become friends, Ruruta.”
Colio muttered. Now that he felt some camaraderie he could understand Ruruta.
Even Ruruta realized that destroying the world won’t make Nieniu happy. If he hadn’t he would’ve destroyed the world much sooner.
But he had to do it. Because destroying the world was his final hope.
Even offering her happiness, even appealing to her love, Nieniu never opened her heart. Her heart was exhausted. It was sickly love. Even while he was hurt, exhausted, and even thought about death, he couldn’t throw his feelings away.
Although he knew it was useless, although he knew it was the wrong path, he couldn’t choose anything else. He couldn’t help but cling to this final hope. If he had lost even this final hope he would have nothing left.
‘…You and I are different!’
‘Nieniu will not become happy!’
Colio recalled his own words from a few hours ago. He shouldn’t have said those. He was trying to take away all hope from Ruruta.
“Ruruta. I understand you.”
It was as Ruruta had said. They were able to understand one another. Only Colio had rejected it.
Perhaps if he’d understood him something would have changed. Perhaps he would have stopped him from destroying the world. Perhaps he would have saved the world without Hamyuts having to do anything.
An explosion occurred near the theater. He realized that the battlefield was growing closer. He could hear Ruruta’s screams as he tried running away and the angry roar of the people pursuing him.
“Serves you right, Ruruta!”
“Curse you, have you learned your lesson Ruruta!”
“Suffer! Die while suffering! Choke on your retribution!”
The warriors pursued the fleeing Ruruta. Colio felt as if their anger and resentment were directed at him.
“…I wasn’t able to do anything.”
Colio muttered.
“And… I still can’t.”
He fell to his knees atop the stage. And he covered his face in his hands. He thought of at least crying. Instead of Ruruta… for Ruruta’s sake.
But at that moment, he heard a voice from the back.
“I seem to have a peculiar destiny with you, Colio-sama.”
Turning around, he could see a woman. Her face covered by a black cloth, she wielded a strange stone sword.
“…Lascall Othello?”
Lascall bowed deeply as if in affirmation.
Hamyuts stood quietly with her arms folded. She was observing Ruruta being cornered with her Sensory Threads.
She no longer paid any attention to Colio. She didn’t use her Sensory Threads around the theater either. She wondered if he would try to do something strange while being moved by some weird feelings, but it appeared to have been needless worry.
“…I don’t know why… but something feels off.”
Ruruta was wounded. He was on the verge of exhaustion. If the fight kept going like this they would definitely win.
Yet that made her conversely anxious. There were no absolutes in a victory. Thinking one could definitely win meant missing the possibility of a loss.
Yet no matter how much she thought, she could see no way for Ruruta to make a reversal. And so her anxiety increased.
“What’s this… is there something still left?”
The most frightening thing was that despite being in such a desperate situation, Ruruta’s eyes were still alive. Would he simply not give up no matter what happens? Or has he seen something?
Should I join the battle? Or is that by itself the trap? Hamyuts kept thinking back and forth in circles.
She didn’t notice that Lascall appeared next to Colio.
Colio had met Lascall before. He also came to know of his true identity from Ruruta’s memories. He knew that he was the one who’d brought him Shiron’s Book as well as brought his Book to Ruruta.
“Do you have any business with me?”
“I have nothing that would be called business. I intend to immediately disappear if you think of me as a nuisance.”
What a troubling person, thought Colio. If you need something then just say so.
“So?”
“This Lascall Othello is the ally of no one. Neither am I the enemy of anyone. I am simply one who grants continuation to stories and observes them.
I assist Ruruta-sama, but I have also lent a hand to his enemies. I have allied with the Indulging God Cult, but I have also allied with the Armed Librarians. I have helped you, but at the same time I have also helped Cigal-sama.
That is what I am.”
“…And?”
“I will not lend a hand to either side in the battle of Ruruta-sama and Hamyuts-sama. If the result is destruction then let it all be destroyed, and if it ends in salvation then let it all be saved. So I think.”
What do you want to do, Colio swallowed these words. If you’re calling yourself neutral you should just watch it silently.
“Yet this is all far too cruel. Since it is so one-sided, even I have lost some of my interest as a spectator. Since it is finally the end of the world, it should be a bit more exciting.”
Calling it exciting rubbed Colio the wrong way. What do you mean by spectator? he was angry.
“…I have no intention of helping Ruruta.”
Colio replied. If Hamyuts were to lose the world would be over. No matter how much his chest hurt, he couldn’t save Ruruta.
“Huhuhu.”
Lascall averted his gaze, stifled his voice and laughed. Colio felt he was sneering at him. Perhaps this stone sword had always been scorning humans.
“Even you are saying that, Colio-sama?”
He could see his lips distort under the black thin veil.
“The one about to lose is Hamyuts.”
“…Wha-”
At the same time as Colio’s shout, Lascall disappeared as if announcing his business was over with him. He gazed at the faraway battlefield. It was undoubtedly Ruruta who was cornered. Yet Lascall had said that Hamyuts was about to suffer a one-sided defeat.
Colio started thinking not about the situation of the battle but about Ruruta’s mind. What did he think about while being cornered? What could he do in order to make Nieniu happy, in order to destroy the world? No matter how much cornered he was, he was probably thinking only of her.
“…Ah.”
He recalled a certain ability from his scarce Magical knowledge. And he understood Ruruta’s thinking.
Colio started running.
“Hamyuts! Hamyuts! Can you hear me?!”
His face paled. His feet tangled with fear.
“Hamyuts! Listen to me! Stop attacking this instant!”
After Colio had left, Lascall appeared in the theater again.
“Hamyuts-sama. Even if I told you he was all barks and no bite it would be useless. Because something like this could not even be called a secret plan.”
Lascall spoke to Nieniu who couldn’t move even a single finger.
“Is it not so, Nieniu-sama?”
