Chapter 80: Chapter 74: Second Coming
Hi everyone, Ellize here!
Aren't you dead, you ask? HA HA HA! YOU FOOLS! IT WAS A PLOY ALL ALONG! I'VE TRICKED YOU!
Nah, who am I kidding? I'm totally dead. Or at least, I'm pretty sure I'm supposed to be.To be fully honest, I'm probably the most surprised out of all of you guys.
After I'd died on the other side and managed to—eventually—find my way out of the darkness, I'd somehow ended up floating around in my old apartment.
As it turned out, I was back on earth, and most likely for the last time. I'd done everything I'd had to do on the other side, and now I was dead. All that was left was to find my way to heaven and laze around until the end of time.
"'Sup?" Fudou Niito (me) greeted me.
The other me was sitting at his desk, as always. He seemed even worse for wear than the last time we'd met up. On top of that, he looked positively pissed off. He probably didn't have much time left.
It was kind of funny how my sick body from my previous life was still clinging on to life when I'd already gone and died.
"Hey, been a while," I said, waving casually.
Niito (me) glared at me.
"Watch the way you speak."
"Oh, c'mon, who cares anymore? I'm done acting anyway."
I'd played my part until the very end. The happy ending was underway, so there was no need for the fake saint act anymore.
I thought Niito (me) would get it, but instead, he grimaced.
"Feeling yourself, huh? You don't know anything, yet you're acting all high and mighty... Seeing your smug face makes me want to puke. So that's how stupid someone looks when they pull the whole 'I can look at the situation objectively' card?"
"What the hell? What's wrong with you today? You're being so aggressive," I complained.
I had no idea why, but Niito (me) was being a serious pain. You're just me, so stop acting like you're a big shot!
Instead of answering, he turned on his computer and launched Kuon no Sanka.
"We got it all wrong," he finally said.
"Huh?"
"Explaining everything will take ages, so just watch," he replied, pointing at the screen.
What I saw was...the total opposite of what I'd been expecting.
Layla clutched my dead body, bawling like a child. Her usually dignified behavior was nowhere to be seen. Trails of snot and tears ran down her face. Saying that it shocked me would be a huge understatement.
Layla was a kind soul, so I'd expected her to shed a few tears for me, but I'd never thought she'd fall apart like that. I understood on the spot that she wouldn't get over my death as easily as I'd pictured. I just couldn't imagine her picking up the pieces when she was in such a state.
The same went for the others.
Verner, in particular, had completely given up on life. He refused to go out of his room or eat. I even watched him try to take his life several times, only for Eterna to stop him.
The truth about me had quickly spread across the land, but the citizens also seemed to be heartbroken. The entire continent mourned me. The story progressed, but I'd yet to see a single character smile. They all had blank looks on their faces, as though they were waiting for death to visit and take them too.
The game ended on a scene where countless people had gathered, crying. Then, the credit rolled and the screen turned black.
What the hell was that?!
"That's the happy ending you're so proud of," Niito (me) told me. I could hear the reproach in his voice.
That's...the ending I wished for?
No, that didn't make any sense. It shouldn't have ended up like that. That wasn't what I'd been trying to achieve. I'd never wanted to see this.
"We both thought only about ourselves until the very end. We failed to understand the feelings of the people around us. In fact, we never even tried to understand them. We've always been like that, haven't we? Acting like nothing's real and we're in a stupid game. And so, when you ended up in an actual game, you kept living your life in the same exact way. Well, that's the result. There's a saying: 'the only cure for stupidity is death.' In our case, not even death could fix it," Niito (me) said, his tone full of derision. His criticism was aimed at both of us equally.
I stared at the black screen blankly until I couldn't bear it anymore.
"Even if you tell me all that, there's nothing I can do about it anymore! It's over! Everything's over already!" I screamed.
I was aware that I was venting my anger at him, but I couldn't help it.
Fuck this! Why the hell did it turn out like this?! This bad ending wasn't what I'd planned! All I wanted was for them to smile at the end! So why?! Where did I go wrong?! My plan was perfect!
I'd gotten rid of all the monsters, fixed the food shortage, and improved their lives in every way I could think of. I hadn't let any of them die, and I'd taken care of the witch myself! The shitty fake saint—me—had finally left the stage. I'd gathered all of the needed components for a happy ending!
Obviously, I'd expected them to be kind of sad after I passed. But at the end of the day, I was a fake! A rotten piece of shit! Why were they shedding so many tears over someone like me?! They should've cheered instead! Rejoiced that the fake that had deceived them all along was finally gone! So why didn't they?! What in the world were they dissatisfied with?!
"We've never been able to read others, have we?" Niito (me) continued, exasperation thick in his voice. "And even when we had an inkling of what they were thinking, we could never empathize with them. That's why we isolated ourselves and turned out the way we did."
So what?! Was he trying to say that creating a happy ending was impossible from the start because I didn't understand others?
"You know what the strangest thing is?" he asked. "With death at my door, I think I'm finally starting to feel a sense of reality. I'm finally able to see that everything I've experienced throughout my life was real. It was never a meaningless game... What about you?"
"I..."
Honestly, I wasn't sure.
Deep down, I still felt like none of what had happened was truly about me. My hopeless brain made everything feel distant.
And yet, I found myself experiencing a strange feeling—one I'd never felt before. My chest felt tight in a way that didn't quite match the punctual bouts of sadness that usually accompanied bad endings in video games. I felt frustrated, angry, and impatient all at once. Whenever I recalled Layla's crying face, the impulse to hit something just took over. I could tell that I needed someone—anyone—to blame. I was desperate to find an outlet for my rage.
"At the very least, you're not thinking of them as mere characters anymore, right?" Niito (me) asked.
"But, it's too late. I..." I trailed off. I realized that these feelings probably meant that they'd become precious to me...or something.
But the time for action had long passed. There was nothing I could do anymore. I was dead on the other side.
The computer's screen suddenly lit up again. It seemed like the bad ending I'd seen wasn't the final ending. There was still more pain for me to witness.
A humongous monster appeared on the screen.
Huh? What the hell is that?
Several women seemed to have merged to create a giant. It started destroying the royal capital. Verner and the others tried to stop it, but they were no match for it.
"That's the witch's curse... It probably became like this because it couldn't transfer to an appropriate vessel," Niito (me) explained. "If you leave the game on for a while after the credits end, a whole new sequence starts. This is probably what the strange laugh after the bad ending was about."
According to the text that had just popped on the screen, the grudges of the successive witches had merged to create this giant. Now that I thought about it, Niito (me) was right—there was a chilling laugh after the ending if you killed the witch with Verner. So it was this thing all along...
In other words, the cycle hadn't been broken at all.
I'd always been convinced that if someone other than the saint were to slay the witch, the first witch's grudge would have no one to pass to, and the chain would be broken. I'd been mistaken the whole time. If there was no suitable vessel, it materialized and turned into a monster instead.
Alfrea and Eterna were fighting on the screen, but their opponents were all of the past witches. Two saints simply couldn't compare. They were defeated, then Four-Eyed Pervert stepped in in their stead. After he was done in, Layla, Verner, Dias, Fox, and Farah joined the fight.
I was even more shocked to see the masses fight to protect me.
Stop! You can't win... That's not even me anymore; that's an empty shell... Don't put your lives at risk to protect that thing! Run away!
I kept praying that they would, but no one fled. They continued to shield me like idiots.
"I won't let you touch her, you monster!" a citizen whose name I didn't even know screamed, clinging to the wicked creature's hand.
"We won't let you destroy our hope!" another nameless citizen roared.
Please stop. I'm dead already. There's nothing to be done anymore... Nothing to be done...
...and yet, I'm so damn pissed! What's up with you, huh, you disgusting monster?! You think you can bully Layla and Eterna however you please?! You think you can do whatever you want just because I'm not there, huh?!
Even the small children who couldn't fight were clinging to my crystal. I couldn't stomach that sight.
"Please, Lady Ellize... Please, save my papa..."
It was a strange feeling. I felt as though the child were talking directly to me through the screen. The kid's dad was probably out there, fighting the giant to protect my lifeless body.
Niito (me) looked at me, a smirk on his face. "They're asking for you, Lady Ellize."
"It appears so..." I said, donning the costume I'd cast off once more. It was still too early for me to give up on my role.
I didn't care what that giant was. I didn't care that I was supposed to be dead. None of that mattered. I just couldn't forgive that thing. I couldn't accept the horrors taking place in front of me.
How hard do you think I had to work to put that damn world back on its feet, huh?! How dare you laugh and destroy it, you bastard?!
"Take my life and go, Ellize," Niito (me) said.
"What?"
"I still have a little bit left in me. That should be plenty of time to knock that monster out, don't you think? I'll be dead by tomorrow regardless, so it's fine," he said with a daring smile on his face, bringing his hand to his chest.
I smiled too. Sorry, me, but I won't hold back now that you've said that. What's mine is mine, after all!
Besides, I could tell that he was telling the truth. Even if I didn't do anything, he'd die soon, and his soul would merge with mine. Going through that process a few hours earlier wouldn't change much.
"I'm gonna do it for real, you know?" I warned him.
"Of course you are. As a matter of fact, I've already called someone over. I want my body found quickly. Wouldn't want to bother the neighbors with rotting corpse stink for several days, right?"
Apparently, a sixth sense had told him that today was the day, and he'd already made arrangements. All the more reason to not hold back.
Niito (me) held his hand out and I took it. Light filled the room, and suddenly, Niito (me) collapsed. I felt his memories flow into me. Something just clicked. I'd found the missing part of me, and—although I was technically dead—I felt in better shape than ever before.
I looked at the computer screen. The adults were still fighting, while the children were still praying.
I got it, I got it. I'm coming!
I probably only had a few hours to do this, but it would be plenty...probably. After all, what was another monster to kill?
I concentrated hard, and my surroundings started changing. I was inside a crystal. I'd seen it on the screen, but now I could feel it too.
Alfrea sealed me, I realized.
She'd probably done that to preserve my body. I needed to thank her. If they'd buried me—or worse, incinerated me—I would've been in a serious pickle.
I looked around and saw countless people lying on the ground. Right in front of me, a beefy young man stood with his back toward me. Verner.
A little further away was the giant. Its hand was rapidly approaching me. I assumed it was trying to squash me along with the crystal. It seemed to know who the real threat was. Sadly for that monster, it had been just a little too slow.
I let my mana explode and broke the seal from the inside. Then, I jumped in front of Verner and blew away the arm that threatened to squash him.
◇
The witches' shrill screams filled the air as the abomination and Verner fought. They soon turned into high-pitched laughs, and several of the heads assaulted Verner from every direction.
The young man swung his claymore with abandon. Still, he couldn't defend against so many of them at once, and sharp teeth sank into his arms, legs, and chest. His defeat was only a matter of time. Even if he were to manage to block most of the hits, he had no way to deal damage to the "witch." He'd eventually run out of strength and succumb to his wounds.
Verner couldn't tell how much time had passed since this hopeless fight had started. He felt as though he'd been struggling for hours already, when, in fact, they'd only been at it for a minute at most.
Blood poured down Verner's body, tainting his clothes crimson. He could feel his grip weakening. Soon, he wouldn't be able to hold his sword anymore.
Dias, Fox, Farah, and Layla had already collapsed. He knew he would be next. His lone fight wouldn't have a happy ending.
"Don't get cocky, you damn soulless remnants!" Alexia screamed.
Verner's mana had recovered a bit, and the former saint blasted it at the monster. This was their last chance at a counterattack. Needless to say, the amount of mana Verner had been able to recover in a little over a minute was negligible—it only stopped their opponent's movements for a couple of seconds.
Eve's head, which was protruding from the abomination's torso, retaliated by releasing torrents of mana toward Verner.
"Argh..." Verner groaned as he used his claymore as a shield.
The sword didn't protect him for long—he was soon sent flying with a scream. His back slammed into Ellize's crystal, and he fell to his knees, out of strength. Still, he didn't pass out. He used all of his willpower to stab his sword into the ground and used it as a crutch, slowly getting to his feet.
"I can...still fight..." he gasped feebly.
He'd stood back up, but anyone could tell that Verner had reached his limits. The fact that he was conscious and on his feet was already nothing short of a miracle.
The "witch" trudged toward the boy, its footsteps echoing darkly.
"HEE HEE HEE!!!"
"Give up... Just give up..."
"Your efforts..."
"...will never be rewarded."
The witches all laughed at once, as if to mock Verner's pointless resistance.
Their words embodied their despair. They'd fought for hope, only to discover that there had never been any from the very start. That feeling had been etched so deeply into their beings that it had remained long after their death.
They would not hope anymore. They'd long given up, and they'd ensure that Verner suffered the same fate.
The "witch" was on the verge of squashing the poor boy when a cracking sound suddenly resounded. A blinding light surged from behind Verner and blew away the monster's arm.
"Huh?" Verner gasped, wide-eyed.
His brain couldn't keep up with the situation. She was in front of him, her pure white dress and beautiful golden locks fluttering in the wind.
No one dared to move or speak. The hectic battlefield fell silent. Everyone present needed a few seconds to understand what had just happened. Even after they did, they didn't dare believe their eyes—were they dreaming? Was it some mass hallucination?
Verner wanted to call out to her, but he couldn't bring himself to say a word. He was too scared that talking to her would dispel the illusion. After all, he couldn't believe she was real—the timing was far too convenient.
Besides, it made no sense. Ellize had died for him. He'd witnessed it with his own eyes. He hadn't wanted to accept it, so he'd checked for a pulse again and again. That was how he knew that Ellize had truly died on that day.
Had she resuscitated herself? Ellize had shown them many miracles, but this was beyond a doubt the most incredible of them all.
Unexpectedly, Ellize herself broke the silence.
"I heard everyone's prayers. I heard your voice too, Verner." She turned around to smile at him. The light the world had lost on that day had started shining once more. "Thank you for hanging in there, everyone. You can leave the rest to me."
Cheers erupted in all directions, making the "witch" falter. As an aggregate of negative emotions, the one thing the "witch" hated most was hope.
Ellize raised her arms toward the sky and dispelled the dark clouds, letting the sun shine upon the royal capital. The rays of light healed the wounded and restored their spirit.
"Ah..." Layla sobbed, tears rolling down her cheeks at the sight of her master.
She's alive.
Her master, who'd been sleeping since that day, had finally awakened. She watched Ellize walk up to her and crouch down. Her master then used her sleeve to wipe away Layla's tears.
"It's... It's really you, right? Lady Ellize..."
"Yes. I still had something left to accomplish here, so I came back to wrap things up," Ellize said with a smile.
She took a look at her surroundings. Countless blood-soaked soldiers and knights were on the ground, their bodies and their gear battered. Even the civilians were in a sorry state. Ellize's light had healed most of their wounds already, but she could tell at a glance how badly they'd all been injured before she showed up.
Idiots, she thought. They shouldn't have bothered for a fake like me. I'm not worth it.
Ellize wasn't the saint they thought she was. She'd never taken this world seriously... No, she'd been that way in her previous world too. She'd never taken anything seriously, in fact. She always acted like she was in a game, like nothing around her mattered. And, just as she'd always done, she'd gone about this world playing a game of make-believe, acting out her little saint fantasy to her heart's content. To put it bluntly, she was a piece of shit.
And yet, all of these people trusted her. Even after her treachery had come to light, they hadn't lost faith in her.
What a bunch of idiots.
But if that was the case...wouldn't it be fine for Ellize to keep acting until the finale?
Verner had once told her that when you played a role perfectly, it stopped being a role. Well, Ellize had made up her mind. She would turn her lies into the truth.
Her being a fake had already been exposed and her story was already full of holes but that didn't matter. As long as they believed in her, she'd continue to be their Ellize.
"Ellize..."
"You fake..."
"Why should we suffer when you, a sham, are worshipped?"
"I'll never forgive you!"
Words of hatred and jealousy continuously spilled forth from the witches' lips.
Ellize's expression was serene, though. "You're right, I'm a fake. I lied to everyone and pretended to be the saint. I won't deny it. However, none of that matters anymore."
Golden mana radiated from her. She was far more powerful than she'd been before her death. After all, she'd finally gotten the missing part of her soul back. After all these years, Ellize was whole again, and her mana increased tremendously.
With her soul complete, Ellize somehow felt closer to this world. Fudou Niito—or rather, she supposed, it was Ellize herself back when she was still Niito—had told her something. (She was still pretty damn confused about the whole situation and wasn't sure how to refer to him/herself yet.) At any rate, he'd told her that in the face of death, he'd finally realized something important: the world he'd been living in all those years was real. He'd stated the obvious, and yet, it had felt like a grand discovery to someone like him, who'd always felt as though he were inside a game, or as though there was an invisible screen separating him from the rest of the world.
Niito had felt it on the verge of death. As for Ellize, she'd needed to die twice to finally get it.
An intense rage accompanied her realization. It was nothing like the usual annoyance she felt when she saw her favorite characters being picked on. People she held dear had been hurt, and Ellize had trouble handling the depth of that new feeling. She was truly angry for the very first time, she realized.
"You said you wouldn't forgive me, right? I feel like I'm finally starting to understand this feeling. I suppose that is what anger does to you," she continued calmly.
Regardless of Ellize's tone, the "witch" flinched, intimidated by her aura.
Layla was even more surprised. She'd served Ellize for years and had seen many expressions on her face. She'd seen Ellize happy, sad, and serious...but never angry. For the first time ever, Layla and the others heard a murderous impulse hidden behind the melodious notes of her voice.
"I'm the one who'll never forgive you, you freakin' bastard."
A gigantic sword of light fell from the sky and struck the "witch" in the chest.
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