[Graduation Certificate]
-Degree: Doctorate
“…….”
Emily stood blankly in front of the train station in Manchester, holding a piece of paper.
‘It’s over.’
She had done everything she wanted to do.
Now it was time to prepare to hand over her body to the superior inner being and wait.
It wasn’t despair or frustration about her dwindling time, but an objective evaluation of her state.
Though there was still some time until the fateful day, she felt as if she was walking in a dream, mixed with the Magical Girl of War, Animus.
Some days she spent completely lost in sleep, and on others, she barely noticed the leaks in her monstrous memory that she would never forget at first glance.
Emily was slowly dying. And the Magical Girl of War was being born based on the world she had seen.
A perception that saw everything, including herself, as victory and defeat.
A fool who merely affirms joy, sadness, pain… everything.
A madman who believes that the most intense moments of life lie in struggle.
A monster who had never truly lived with emotions.
While she admired the resolute, idealistic Animus, she couldn’t help but imagine what it would have been like if she had gone to another girl instead of herself.
But it was already too late.
“Animus.”
[…….]
“Don’t you hate me? Because of me, you…”
[No.]
“Why? Everyone says it’s strange when they hear my thoughts in detail.”
[I agree too.]
“Hehe, thanks.”
[The Apostle descending upon a madman who is understood by no one.]
“…….”
[That is me. I alone affirm you.]
She affirms all humanity.
She affirms the sins they have committed.
She affirms the endless struggles they have repeated.
She affirms all battles.
Advance.
Do not stop the struggle.
The end of humanity is not brought about by the whims of gods or the will of stars.
[Human evolution, too, will be achieved through its own chaos and determination. That was humanity’s past.]
“…….”
[To move forward, I will believe it is right to reject those who deny the scarred past.]
“Even if just a handful of human will remains connected to the past.”
[That will be humanity’s victory.]
Soon, a voice grew around Emily, softening into the air.
“I can’t agree to that.”
[Is that so.]
When Emily turned around.
The silver-haired girl she had seen before was standing there.
＊
I could only understand the thoughts that the Magical Girl of War possessed after going through everything.
She undoubtedly loved humanity in a very cruel and consequential manner.
“Is this because of the mistake of the Goddess of Start?”
[Yes.]
The Goddess of Start, who simply wanted every human to be eternally happy in a dream.
The primordial humanity suffered in happiness and led themselves into an imperfect world.
In that imperfect world, they fought endlessly, struggling and moving forward.
Humanity surely ignited brilliantly after breaking free from the gods’ embrace.
[The mistake the goddess made was not showing the purpose of living for tomorrow.]
“That doesn’t matter now. Humanity has already changed from back then.”
[No. The history of humanity has been extended since the great explosion of starlight.]
“What’s so bad about overcoming the past and changing?”
[That is not overcoming; it is fleeing. It is running away into the remnants of the goddess.]
“…….”
[…….]
Emily and the Magical Girl of War were merely running parallel lines.
Me, trying to go towards a better future using the legacy left behind by the goddess.
The “War” trying to adapt humanity to a new world through its own evolution.
Any fragile fragments of dreams that I worry about dropping even a little were just clutter to the Magical Girl of War, necessary to sacrifice for survival.
The strategic objective of this war is the preservation of humanity. Therefore, it is not worth caring about every human’s survival or the correct growth of the Magical Girl.
[Only after drawing infinite resources into finite ones did humanity evolve to the next stage.]
[The method for humanity to not completely disappear from the curses of the three goddesses in the coming trials.]
[That is only to overcome through struggle.]
[I affirm the sight of struggling to survive like a bug, scraping along the ground.]
Because the Magical Girl of War positively viewed humanity, which the gods and apostles were indifferent to, she pushed humanity into chaos more fiercely than anyone else.
To filter out the tiny fraction of humanity that learned a new way of life amidst struggle.
“It’s different now. Because I’m here.”
[You are also merely a remnant of the goddess.]
“I’m the son who has rushed to change, and the daughter born to make change happen. I am a Magical Girl.”
[What is a Magical Girl?]
“It’s a girl who protects everyone with dreams and hopes.”
[…….]
I deny the Apostle who was the only one to look at humanity before the world changed.
I deny the Magical Girl who even affirmed guilt among all the Magical Girls.
I will change the world and twist the unreasonable curses of the gods.
Because this world has already changed because of me.
[Do you plan to save humanity from the three goddesses and the will of the stars?]
“Yes.”
[What apostle are you from?]
“I am an outsider summoned by the Goddess of Start from another universe. A guest who has come to love this world.”
[You are not an apostle then.]
“My alias is Deception. One who continues the lie the goddess told to save humanity.”
[…….]
“A peeping intruder who has stealthily glimpsed the future of this world.”
Emily’s eyes were already clouded, and only I and the Magical Girl of War stood facing each other in the quiet square.
Our shadows, elongated by the sunset, faced each other without overlapping.
She remained silent for a while in the gradually darkening sunset, then momentarily looked up at the sky.
Throne of Nihility
The Exile of the Three Goddesses
The three goddesses do not care about the evolutionary consciousness left behind by the Goddess of Start.
They merely wish for humanity to completely perish on its own.
[Then prove it.]
“What should I prove?”
[Prove through war that I am wrong.]
“Is there no way but to fight?”
The Magical Girl of War shook her head.
[My essence is chaos, cursed by the goddess. Chaos that mixes everything to move onto the next.]
“…….”
[The only thing I can give you, having persuaded two apostles and seen the future, is a trial.]
“Trial?”
[On the day the apostles descend, I will inevitably march towards the land where the goddess’s remains have fallen.]
Japan
Shinjuku
[With everything I have, I will abandon all rights, and pour all my power into the attack.]
“Why tell me this?”
[Because both you and I care about the future of humanity.]
“Wouldn’t it be more beneficial to humanity if we cooperated without fighting?”
[Do you not know that it is already impossible?]
Scavenger
Many were already hurt by the chaos she had unleashed before she even knew me.
If she were to choose a half-hearted coexistence, everyone might scatter.
Even if they coexist, she would still unhesitatingly push humanity into chaos with extreme means.
Because that is how the Magical Girl of War loves humanity.
Because she could not give up herself in her love for humanity.
[Stop me with all your might. Defeat me. I will not flee; I will march forward to conquer.]
If I win, she will acknowledge that she was wrong and cease to exist.
If she wins, she will carry out her way to preserve humanity.
“……”
[…….]
This was my contract with “War” and a play deceiving the three goddesses bound to the throne.
But the blade that appears in the play will be real.
[If I cannot even surpass myself, then your words will be empty.]
“Why go this far?”
[Magical Girl…]
But the Magical Girl of War could not continue her sentence and firmly closed her mouth.
I instinctively realized that this moment was the only moment for compromise.
Even if I led Elysion with thousands of Magical Girls to surround and exterminate the “War,” with her abilities, she would surely break through the encirclement and flee.
And what I would face would be the sight of the deeply disappointed Magical Girl of War deploying all her tactics to block me.
The trust I could only earn once.
A battlefield devoid of all strategy and deception.
The greatest consideration the strongest apostle, “War,” could give me.
Declaration of War
“Okay.”
[Prepare thoroughly during the remaining time.]
“Is that something to say to the enemy?”
[Hostility is also a form of exchange for humanity.]
The sunset completely passed, and darkness fell.
“……”
“……”
The Magical Girl of War vanished, and Emily returned.
I spoke to the girl sharing thoughts with the apostle while recalling Alisa.
“I still can’t agree with your thoughts.”
“I know.”
“I will save everyone and make them happy.”
“Is that so.”
“I will lead everyone with dreams instead of winning or losing.”
Emily took off her glasses and showed a sorrowful expression for the first time.
But even that felt strangely awkward and empty.
“I envy you. I mean it.”
“……”
“But I still think Animus’s thoughts are more correct.”
“……”
“…It’s a shame that I can’t see the conclusion. Still, I want to cheer on Animus.”
I turned around without saying a word.
The girl who affirms the apostle by throwing herself in.
The apostle who believes plunging humanity into chaos is salvation.
I didn’t want to discuss victory or defeat with them.
What I wanted was tomorrow.
Three months passed.
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