I looked up at the sky.
The place where the beast that devours the sun was resurrected.
The point where the Evil God of Emptiness swallowed the sun.
Countless stars twinkled in the pitch-black night sky.
Amidst them, a darkness wavered.
It shouldn’t be visible, yet it was.
The Evil God of Emptiness.
The sun trapped in its mouth.
As I watched this, I held an unfounded conviction.
I can stop this phenomenon.
I can kill that beast.
I can erase that Evil God.
‘The price for that….’
I slowly closed my eyes.
The mad power of flame coursed through my body. That is the Sun’s Power.
And the accumulated energy of the Moon over a long time.
The two fused powers filled my whole body.
It felt like they would take me somewhere.
Like I would accomplish something.
I can do this.
Even though I’ve never done it before.
Even without trying.
I was convinced.
Johan’s words suddenly came to mind.
A human cannot become a god.
That’s true.
But if I’m not human.
If I abandon my personality, I can reach divinity.
To reach divinity, I can permanently annihilate that Evil God.
And right now, I can achieve that.
I was certain.
I became aware of the great warmth holding my hand.
“…Lady?”
A low voice that brings peace just by hearing it.
I slowly turned my head.
I saw Judas.
A miracle that came to me.
My color. Anemone.
That face was colored in anxiety.
How do you know me so well?
One second flows like an eternity.
How nice it would be if time stopped like this.
If we could be preserved without any end.
Just holding you, living forever in that beauty.
I shook my head.
I know it cannot be.
The large hand gripped me tighter.
I pulled my hand away and stepped back.
I picked up the sealing chalice that had rolled to my feet.
I finally understand why I was drawn to this as if enchanted.
“Lady…?”
Judas looked at me in disbelief.
It wasn’t a reaction of rejection.
It was a gaze that guessed what I could do.
And now, a look that was scared of what I was about to do.
‘You really know me too well.’
What should I say?
This might be our last.
There’s so much I want to say.
So many things I want to do.
There are still so very many things I haven’t done yet.
All those futures.
Before packing them away without a promise, I must capture them in this moment.
I must convey them in a single word.
It’s a difficult task.
The first words that come to mind are, I’m sorry.
For having to do this.
And then, my selfish, reckless wrongdoings.
One apology isn’t enough, so I must do it again.
But I didn’t want to do that.
The words I pull out now will probably be my last for you.
I don’t want to leave behind a sorry image.
Then, how about saying thank you?
Five years since I met you.
If it weren’t for you, I would have lived without knowing joy and satisfaction.
As if the countless versions of me you experienced in places other than here prove it.
I would have become such a bizarre human.
Can I be satisfied with just saying thank you?
There’s a more profound sincerity left.
Yet, I still cannot speak it.
The last words will not echo.
A confession without reply is how sad.
A confession that only receives a reply is no different.
So, just.
I smiled at you.
Language is merely a means of communication.
Thus, sometimes language cannot convey everything completely.
It’s an imperfect tool.
Moreover, the emotions carried by language get lost in the process of delivery.
I want to give you this heart as completely as possible and reassure you.
But that’s impossible.
And we share a bond that’s a little beyond words.
So, I just smiled.
And if I have to say something.
I said.
“…It’s okay.”
That was the answer to everything.
Just like when you held the young me troubled by nightmares and said that.
I truly meant it.
“It’s okay.”
I can disappear like this.
If I can save you.
“Lady-!”
Judas reached out to me while rushing.
It was a hand I wanted to hold.
But I must push you away.
In the moment that came closer, the golden flames surged around me.
The swirling fire blocked him.
Flashes spread out in all directions.
It was brighter and more dazzling than ever.
But my eyes, even amidst the flash, remained clear.
I just looked directly at the Evil God.
“Lady! No…!”
Judas tried to approach with his arms outstretched.
But the flame storm continued to push him back.
He was just standing still.
You knew how dangerous and meaningless this was, yet you had to accomplish the things you aimed to do.
That figure was even more radiant than the flashes that subdued the world now, and like a moth to the flame, I rushed towards you.
I closed my eyes, knowing it would be a collision.
I wanted to say one last thing, but no voice came out.
My body was turning into gold.
I looked down at my shining hands.
My face was reflected on my sparkling skin.
Golden eyes.
The words I once heard and scoffed at came to mind.
‘Golden eyes are a symbol of the savior.’
I was indifferent.
Worlds, destruction, salvation.
It was a worthless matter to me.
I scoffed and ignored it.
I thought of it as an old, tedious saying.
Now I know.
It’s not entirely wrong.
When I raised my head, I saw Judas’s face.
His eyes shone with a gold even more dazzling than mine.
You saved me.
That was as good as saving my world.
‘Then this time, I’ll save the world you’re in.’
That too is the act of saving my world.
‘Because you became my world.’
My body floated higher and higher on the golden currents.
You grew distant.
“Lady-!”
That call became faint.
Like falling into sleep, my consciousness clouded.
Far away, further away.
And higher and higher.
I soared.
The horizon gradually shrank, until the round land appeared.
The tawny desert and the blue ocean.
Beyond that, the emerald ground.
Above it, the stars that had suffocated in the vast emptiness begin to shine.
It was a landscape reminiscent of that fresh meadow where I rode with you on Yuel.
Even the cool air filling my lungs felt like a long-lost past.
As if my flesh were also faintly scattering like consciousness.
My crumbling body turned into golden particles, drawn toward the sun.
It spread like fire toward the Evil God.
Even from such a distance, I could see precisely where you were.
I whispered my goodbyes silently.
Like a whisper for a good catch.
A lie that I’d see you again when the sun rises in the morning.
‘Goodbye.’
*
The ground where the sun disappeared.
For a moment, the eyes of all humanity were blinded.
A golden flash that flew in from somewhere obscured their vision.
In that flash.
All humans saw the same scene.
Flames swirling and rising.
A woman soared through the fire towards the sun.
Made of gold, she rode a chariot of flame and held a golden chalice in her hand.
When she finally reached the Evil God, flames spread to the pitch-black deity.
The beast screamed as it burned.
Unquenchable flames flickered all over its body.
The woman willingly became the kindling that fueled the fire, burning the Evil God.
The two beings turned to ash and were contained in the chalice.
The chalice vanished beyond the emptiness.
At the site where the beast and the woman had vanished.
The swallowed sun shone regally.
A priest who knew Eliya muttered in a daze.
The savior written in the prophecy.
A being that shone with complete gold.
“Eliya is that person….”
*
Judas slowly opened his eyes after the vision.
The sun illuminated Golgotha Hill.
The bright sky dazzled him.
It was daytime.
“……”
He looked towards the spot where Eliya had stood.
No one was there.
Only the cross-shaped scar remained on the ground.
He chewed on her image before she left.
Her strained smile.
Her words that it was okay.
“What on earth….”
He walked weakly.
Kneeling to the right of the cross.
His hands clenched the ground.
“What’s okay….”
The beast that devoured the sun was dead.
It wasn’t sealed; it had been destroyed from the world.
The Evil God would never return again.
The world, humanity, finally found complete salvation thanks to Eliya.
But Eliya wasn’t in that world.
She sacrificed herself to perish with the Evil God.
He could not save Eliya.
That was equivalent to saying he could not save himself.
He clenched his teeth.
Wouldn’t it have been better if he had died in her place?
It was an arrogant assumption.
He lacked the power to perish with the Evil God.
The world felt empty.
Now, what should he do?
Why should he live in this world without you….
‘…….’
A beam of light brushed through his mind.
He recalled the status window after a long time.
There was a reward he had once received but deferred his choice on.
[Special Reward: One-time Dimension Gate Opening Ticket.]
[Opening the Dimension Gate: Through the Dimension Gate, you can travel anywhere and become or achieve anything.]
[Example: You can return to your original world and live the life you desire.]
‘If I can go anywhere and do anything… the possibility of reviving the dead Eliya exists, right?’
[…….]
‘So, I don’t know for sure, but if the concepts of god, soul, and afterlife exist in this world… wouldn’t it be possible to bring Eliya back from there? Please, I’m willing to pay any price….’
[Detected the user’s specific desire.]
‘!’
[Would you like to move through the Dimension Gate now?]
‘…Yes.’
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