Capítulo 72: Harden
136 days until the End.
Great Red did not need to eat. It had simply created a stomach within itself for the sole purpose of celebrating its victory over him.
Eren had less than a minute before the Dream simply vaporized everything within itself and returned to the void, content with its first cool fight thousands of years.
Plenty of time for someone who knew exactly what to do.
Eren emerged slowly from the enormous piece of flesh that was once the back of his Titans's neck. He remained attached simply because he needed to keep this final Titan alive for a little longer. He was too fragile to handle another transformation, but he needed to be out of it for this next part.
With flesh still connected to the regenerating Titan, Eren grew another, smaller form beside himself.
It was another 'Eren Yeager,' one in which he had spent centuries getting perfectly right in build, form, and expression.
There was no rule that a Titan had to look monstrous, and Eren was their creator. He simply found it easier to use Ymir's old frameworks, but he could, if he wished, create on his size and shape.
This Titan Eren was almost entirely flesh-coloured, not a creation of the Warhammer, but an almost tumour-like growth from the Titan Eren was still attached to.
Still, it was obviously not him to anyone who bothered to look closer. The way the clothes were attached to its skin or the change in eye colour Eren couldn't do anything about, but that was fine once there was enough blood to disguise it.
It only needed to fool Rizevim for a few moments.
Here, in the 'stomach' of the Dream, only seconds after being swallowed, Eren took the final step toward his plan.
With slow movements, ones due to the sheer power running through his body threatening to tear him apart, Eren raised an arm behind his head.
If the connection failed, his Senjutsu didn't heal him fast enough, or something went wrong in the transference, Eren would die.
He was not afraid.
After all, he'd already succeeded. He was just going through the motions.
He'd already doomed this world.
Eren was just going through the motions.
So, with hands that trembled from the strain of the Infinite's power flowing through them, but without any hesitation, Eren Yeager plunged a blade into the back of his spine.
Blood and spinal fluid sprayed Great Red's stomach.
********
136 days until the End.
Rizevim dragged his wounded body through the teleportation circle.
He forgo his usual subtlety when moving through this part of the Underworld. The Reapers were a mess; if they sensed him in his secret lab, they couldn't do anything about it.
Hades was a more significant concern, but he should still be with Indra, so Rizevim had enough time to grab his mother, destroy this place, and leave before the Lord of the Dead even suspected his presence.
Only... his lab was already destroyed when he arrived.
For a moment, Rizevim could only stare at the remains of what had once been a sizeable magical complex.
Then he snarled, kicking the corpse of one of his dead servants. What good were they if they couldn't even keep his stuff secure?
Rizevim stalked the halls toward where he kept his mother. He didn't expect her to still be there. Anyone who could find and destroy this place would have taken the Mother of Devils' body for their own, hoping to create their own army.
Still... if parts of his mother remained Rizevim could use them to replace his arm before going off in search of whoever had destroyed his stuff.
But that wasn't to be either.
Rizevim found the containment chamber even more thoroughly destroyed than everywhere else.
Every part of the pile of flesh that remained in the room was blackened and burned.
Not by fire but by something holy, rendering the lumpy mass entirely unusable for him.
Rage, like never before, kindled in Rizevim's breast as he looked at the sticky note taped to the place where Lilith's head should be.
'The Hero Faction would like to extend its thanks for your hospitality over the years.' -Georg.
'A hero needs to save a damsel in distress.' -Cao Cao.
'I wish I could see your face right now. I bet you look constipated, hahaha.' -Hercules.
'Nothing personal. We just don't like you.' -Seigfreid.
'Bleh >:P' -Jeanne.
Rizevim's one good arm destroyed the door.
His magic destroyed the rest.
********
112 days until the End.
"Eren Yeager didn't lose," Indra said, removing the shark from the hook, releasing it, and casting his line back into the sea.
"He's dead," Rizevim said, keeping his smile on his face even if his eye twitched at the name.
"Yes. But he won." Indra sipped his bear.
He hadn't offered the devil one.
"He's dead, and everything he's built is destroyed. I won."
"Won?" Indra laughed lightly. "Is that why you are here? No. What remains of the Brigade thinks you're to blame for their loss. Everyone else thinks you are the mastermind. No. You're here because nobody else will help you."
"I don't need their help," Rizevim answered airily. "I can do everything myself. I just wanted to give you an opportunity. All you'd need to do is get me the Nail, and once I'm done, I'll give it back with the Grail."
Indra's laughter was loud and boisterous, shaking the small boat in the waves.
Rizevim grit his teeth but didn't let it show on his face.
"You don't lack ambition, I'll give you that. And blasphemy. You have the Cup, and now the Nail?" Indra laughed, wiping his eyes under his sunglasses. "But you are out of date by centuries. I traded it back to the White God before your father died. It's probably in a Sacred Gear somewhere."
That was bad.
The Nails would be perfect for disrupting the seals, but the Iron Crown of Lombardy was a fake, replaced at some point in the past and this had been Rizevim's last lead on the other Nail.
The plan was still possible. It would just take months instead of a few weeks.
For an instant, Rizevim considered just... leaving.
Without Great Red, the way was cleared. A few hours and he'd be in a new world.
But the thought of leaving this world like a fleeing dog, of having this grey blemish continue to exist, sent shivers of revulsion through his chest.
No. He was Rizevim Levin Lucifer! The first Super Devil. The antithesis of all things good and holy.
He wouldn't slink away, beaten and chastised by the ghost of a human boy.
When Rizevim left this world, it would be as a conqueror. A demon king released to ravage all the worlds that yet existed.
"I see," Rizevim said, letting his smile fall. "Then I shall be on my way. I have work to do."
"Rizevim." Indra's voice, devoid of all joviality, stopped him in his tracks. "My war has been delayed by at least half a century. The Three Factions are unified but brittle. The Brigade and all its members are either dead, dying, or hunted. Every significant force has been weakened. The Infinite is limited. The Dream is dead."
"What are you saying?"
"Eren won," Indra said bluntly. "A human took on the entire world and won. He might be dead, but we are living in his world. One where gods fear humans. He bought time for a new True Longinus wielder to grow. Nobody has made a move in weeks. But the time Eren bought is also ours. A human's world is limited to a human's lifespan. Everyone is waiting for the first idiot to step out and test the waters of this new world. You'd be wise to do the same."
And don't be the idiot.
The rage and humiliation at the implication were barely contained. Rizevim knew the only reason Indra was even talking to him was because he was so restricted. The second the God of War tried anything strong enough to kill the Super Devil, everyone keeping their senses open, just waiting for an excuse, would jump into their business.
Still, he would not swallow this.
"You are wrong," Rizevim said, taking to the air on his wings. "This is my world. I took it from his corpse when he thought his foresight could predict the Devil."
"Tell that to them."
In the open waters of the Indian Ocean, it was easy to tell who the God of War was talking about.
There she was, the wind of her passage sending enormous waves flying from the speed of her approach.
Rizevim's shoulder throbbed. For a split second, he wanted to kill her. To fight her. Destroy her.
To break her.
But she wasn't alone.
The Gremory girl and Baraqiel's brat were with her, both glowing with the crimson power of the Red Dragon Emperor.
None of them used Sacred Gears. Against one of them, especially her, he'd slaughter them.
All three? With Indra nearby, and who knew what else watching?
Rizevim grit his teeth as he fled, his pride burning fiercely.
This was his world.
His to destroy.
They could enjoy their petty victories all they wanted.
He'd be the one laughing in the end.
********
110 days until the End.
Three seals.
That was how many Rizevim had managed to destroy before he was interrupted in his work.
The God of the Bible had spread these spells all over Earth, and only someone with Grail, or equivalent access to the White God's System, could even sense them.
This meant Rizevim needed to be the one to find them, destroy them, and do so without being caught.
It helped that Rizevim was in no way a blundering idiot. He kept his power suppressed, his presence low, and he only stayed as long as needed.
So, when after only finishing up with the fourth seal, out of the hundreds he needed to get through, Rizevim felt the teleportation magic appear around him, he felt more confused than anything.
He was in a small, rural chapel in Chile. The only people who had been around in the middle of the night had been a local drunk blearily watching the stars from the stoop that he'd killed easily.
How, by all that was unholy, had someone managed to find him?
Rizevim didn't have time to wonder, didn't even have time to formulate a plan, before the new arrivals, some sort of local magic sect, appeared and started shooting him.
Language translated something to the effect of 'For my brother... something or other.
Rizevim honestly didn't care and stopped listening, just reducing the dozen or so human magicians to ash. For good measure, he destroyed the town as well.
Then, he had to get going. Fast. The local deities were taking note.
They were weak, as far as gods went, but they were still gods, and Rizevim would not allow himself to be locked down into a battle he couldn't end quickly.
He hoped this interruption was the exception, not the rule.
********
96 days until the End.
"Rizevim killed the last parts of Nilrem in Iceland, but Vali's team chased him out of South Africa," Georg reported, leaning against the corpse of Great Red.
These reports, spoken to the corpse of a dead Dream, were pretty much all he had to do except send the letters.
Georg didn't know how Eren knew where Rizevim was at all times. His foresight used to be limited to the knowledge he could obtain himself, but he wouldn't question it.
Like always, Georg would follow the step-by-step commands Eren had laid out for him long ago, carrying him toward the future.
[[[[[[[[[Boost!]]]]]]]]]
"The Greeks are waiting for him in Kavala, and I sent out the letter to Amaterasu."
Georg trailed off, no longer having anything left to report for the moment.
Looking out over the graves, Georg couldn't help the melancholy.
[[[[[[[[[Boost!]]]]]]]]]
"Leo is doing alright, as far as I can tell. The fallen have been treating him right. They want him to join to help make up for their losses... Things have been mostly quiet."
[[[[[[[[[Boost!]]]]]]]]]
"I've had a lot of time to think... About what comes after..."
[[[[[[[[[Boost!]]]]]]]]]
"I want to train more heroes. I want to find their reincarnations and tell them of who they used to be."
[[[[[[[[[Boost!]]]]]]]]]
"I don't want the world to forget them..."
[[[[[[[[[Boost!]]]]]]]]]
"Or you."
[[[[[[[[[Boost!]]]]]]]]]
"...Merry Christmas, Eren."
[[[[[[[[[Boost!]]]]]]]]]
********
75 days until the End.
Serafall looked at the letter that had fallen to her desk from a clump of mist.
Like the last one, it spoke of where Rizevim was.
Like the last one, she hesitated.
They'd been extra careful last time, fearing a trap, and the Super Devil had gotten away before Mi-chan, Rias, and Akeno could fight him. The fact that Indra had been there at all made it seem like a trap, but the God of War hadn't done anything, and Rizevim had fled.
Knowing that Eren could see the future, Serafall knew the boy knew that she wouldn't catch the Super Devil at that time and was using it as proof of the letter's contents.
But did Eren know that Serafall knew that he knew the future and knew that he could set up the exact letter she wasn't prepared for as a trap?
Gah! This was making her head hurt and was so un-cute!
Serafall decided then and there to do her due diligence (with extra diligence because of So-tan!), and Eren simply had to set up his future around it.
She cast her spells, sent off agents, and had Mi-chan alert Issei to start Boosting.
Then, her unplanned work was done for the moment, and Serafall returned to what she had been doing.
More work.
The Underworld wasn't going to rebuild itself, and someone needed to streamline the mess So-tan had found herself in.
CURSE YOU EREN YEAGER!!! YOU STOLE MI-TAN'S HEART AND MY FREE TIME!!!
...Oh, yeah. And upended the world order and society, and rewrote the history books...
And destroyed her race's greatest method of population...
And killed a bunch of people...
But who hadn't?
More importantly, Eren Yeager toyed with a maiden's heart and prevented Miracle Girl Levi-tan from recharging her So-tanium!
If the Leviathan ever got her hands on the Titan, she'd Pew-Pew him so hard...
********
15 days until the End.
Rias, dressed in her traditional kimono, accepted the diploma with grace.
Her family was, of course, obnoxiously loud and celebratory with her brother's chants of 'Rias! Rias! Rias! Rias!'
Two years ago, it would have mortified her.
Now, she just gave them a warm smile, her cheeks only slightly flushed.
At least they hadn't brought a banner like Serafall, settling for just a few flags. Sona managed to get through the valedictorian speech, but Rias could imagine her friend had died a little inside.
It was nice to see them again. The fact that they could take this time off for their graduation meant things must have been calming down a bit in the Underworld.
Things on Earth had been... mixed.
It was increadibly hard to just return to school after everything, but it had just been so... peaceful.
It had almost been eerie how things just went back to normal.
Issei struggled to balance the attention of his growing harem. Sona was trying to manage her influx of wealth and power while dealing with angry letters/threats and trying to train up a replacement for Student Council President. And the Gremory Group had returned to making contracts, studying, and training.
Rias knew she wasn't the only one struggling to cope with the shock of returning to this peace.
The Battle of Broken Worlds, as Eren's attack had come to be known, hadn't even lasted a full day, yet Rias felt there should just be... more.
More impact.
More aftereffects.
It was as if everyone should feel like her like the world had changed.
Aunty Mikasa had been invaluable in the last few months.
Not only as someone to train with, her grasp of Touki growing by leaps and bounds that matched Rias' and the others' growth, but she was also as a bastion of calm and wisdom.
She was there to talk to Rias when the jarring dichotomy between idyllic peace and frenetic battle got too much. Or to help Sona juggle her responsibilities. Or to talk Akeno through her nightmares.
She was there to learn Senjutsu next to Koneko, teach Yuuto how to incorporate more aerial combat in his style and continue to push Gasper's growing physical conditioning.
Rias had even seen the Pawn talking with Kuroka late at night once.
Looking at the woman, her applause more subdued and her smile less jubilant than those around her, yet no less real, Rias couldn't help but appreciate the woman's presence.
Yet, it wasn't as if everything was perfect.
Their investigations into the bench and coffin had turned up nothing at all, and they had no other clues about the mysterious being who had orchestrated Eren and Aunty's presence in this world.
And Eren was still out there, doing who knew what.
As was Rizevim.
Rias hid the wince at the thought of the Super Devil.
They'd received tips of his location three times. The first, he'd fled before they could reach him.
The second time, they'd fought the son of Lucifer.
It had only been for a few seconds, but more than anything, it went to show the differences between Rias and those classified as Super Devils. If not for the power from the Crimson World Wall, she, Akeno, and maybe even Aunty would have all died.
Still, the devil fled in the end when team Vali showed up.
The third and most recent battle had been a lot longer.
Rizevim had set up a fortification of sorts, expecting more attacks. It was only thanks to their side also having more of a head's up, thus more time for Issei to transfer, that they had managed to chase him off again.
... Eren had probably planned things that way.
Rias couldn't help but notice a pattern as the days and weeks passed.
Despite being hunted by almost everyone in the world and attacked as soon as he appeared, Rizevim managed to stay just ahead of his pursuers. Not enough to escape unscathed, but enough to continue to live to continue his work another day.
Through warnings, notices, and letters, Eren ensured that Rizevim was constantly attacked yet never truly defeated.
Even if he couldn't see Rias and the others, he could still have Georg send off letters to other pantheons or enemies and use them as attack dogs.
Enough to keep Rizevim desperate, but still successful and at large.
Eren was buying time.
Even Rias, who wasn't a master tactician by any measure, could tell that much.
Granted, it was only apparent to those who knew Eren was still alive. Everyone else probably just thought Georg was hunting the man who had killed his leader and comrade and betrayed the Brigade.
Still, it was obvious that Eren wanted Rizevim to live a little longer and continue holding the world's attention while Eren did... something.
Whether he was just using the Super Devil as a distraction, really wanted him dead, or wanted him to succeed, Rias didn't know.
But the fact that Rizevim was up to something meant they couldn't ignore him either.
Rias felt that frustration again, that sense of helplessness at having her fate determined by someone else.
Even if they knew they were playing into Eren's hands, they couldn't stop.
Yet, Rias couldn't honestly say she was still angry at Eren. Not anymore.
Not knowing he was the greatest prisoner of this future he was chasing.
Did Eren want to die?
Rias had asked him that question long ago and hadn't received an answer.
Now, knowing as she did his history, the Rumbling, and the Paths, that question haunted Rias.
Was that why Eren was smiling in the end?
Was it because he was finally free of this life that had been nothing but a prison to a future he believed to be worse than the Rumbling?
Rias needed that answer. Needed to know if the boy on the bench's freedom was a freedom from life or something else.
Eren had the answer she needed herself.
Even Aunty's presence couldn't change the fact that Rias was feeling... empty. Listless. Like she had an anger or energy within herself and didn't know where or how to direct it.
If Eren was still here, if she could meet him one last time on the bench, Rias was certain she could have that answer.
So, as Rias stepped down from the stage, under the applause of a crowd who had no idea they were living in Eren's world, Rias reaffirmed her decision.
She'd follow Eren's Path to the end to hear his answer.
********
0 days until the End.
Rizevim let the triumphant smile stretch across his face as he flew through the void of the Dimensional Gap.
He wasn't the picture of aristocratic grace anymore, with one arm, missing half a foot, and his hair burned from his scalp by an angel's holy spear, but he didn't care.
He'd won!
It had taken longer than he'd liked, and he'd had... setbacks, but Rizevim Levin Lucifer had won.
Hundreds of pursuers died, and those that remained would die in the next few minutes once the Beast was unleashed to finish its work.
And Rizevim would be free!
Free of this wretched world. Free of these mongrels who thought themselves devils. Free of the loathsome shadow of the Titan.
Eren Yeager's memory would disappear under Trihexa, along with everyone and everything that had ever wronged Rizevim.
The son of Lucifer planned on spending the next few decades in whatever world he found, just enjoying this sensation of victory.
It had taken destroying hundreds of seals for him to sense the Beast's stirring, then hundreds more before he reached this point where it was ready to break free of the White Gods' shackles with just a little nudge.
Dozens of times, Rizevim had been attacked while he worked. Sometimes, he was interrupted even before he started breaking the seals, and he'd be forced to give up that particular one, but that was fine.
Rizevim didn't need to destroy all of them.
Just enough that the Beast could do the rest once freed.
All that was left was to carry the last seal he needed to break with him and follow the Grail's trail through the Gap toward the End of the World.
What a fitting name, Rizevim laughed.
If there was a chance, he could watch Trihexa destroy everything before he made his escape.
The catharsis that would bring... Um. Just perfect.
So, despite his wounds, Rizevim was smiling widely as he narrowed down on the section where the infinite Gap between dimensions was weak and thin.
It looked exactly like every other part of the Gap, a wash of psychedelic colours and vast nothingness, but the Grail told a different story. It sensed the boundary between the principle of life and the great unknown of other worlds, and Rizevim followed its trail.
The Holy Relic glowed, and Rizevim, with a broad smile, tore a hole in the void.
And emerged into a barren plane with walls of mist.
The Super Devil only had a moment to recognize the familiarities of one of Dimension Lost's creations before a blade nearly cleaved his head in half.
"GAHHHHH!" Rizevim screamed in pain, automatically detonating his prepared defences.
If nothing else, the last few months had given the Super Devil the combat experience he had lacked the last time she had nearly killed him.
The woman with the swords was blasted away, but the glow of Touki around her body protected her from most of the damage she would have sustained three months ago.
Rizevim didn't waste any time, unleashing a great burst of magic around him to destroy any other ambushers.
He was rewarded for his preparations by the grunt of pain of someone who had been behind him.
Rizevim barely had time to recognize it as the monkey that was always with his disappointment of a grandson before he sensed the disruption in space.
Rizevim threw himself out of the way as Collbrande carved through the space where he had just been.
The Pendragon and the Durandal wielder poured from the tear in space, chasing him.
Rizevim engaged a short-range teleportation, something he had become quite good at recently, and appeared behind them.
He aborted his attack as Black Rain filled the dimension.
Putting all his power in a barrier, Rizevim grit his teeth.
"You cannot kill me!" He taunted as his shield held out.
Holy Lightning joined the Destruction, and Rizevim endured that as well. They were weaker than they should be, he noted. They were still glowing with the crimson of the Red Dragon Emperor's power, but it was less than the last few times.
All the better for him.
"I've removed my weakness! I've multiplied my strength!"
The outer layer of his shields was destroyed and regenerated in succession. Power poured from the Grail over his shoulder.
Sensing a slight delay in the attacks,
Rizevim detonated the outer layer, using the blast as a distraction to teleport beyond the surrounding attackers once more.
He didn't turn to attack them, instead flying forward, the Grail leading him on.
A crimson wall rose in the distance, stretching from one end of the pocket Dimension to the other.
Rizevim smiled a bloody smile, power pouring from him and battering Eren's pet before the cat could get close.
That Wall and the walls of this pocket dimension were no barrier to Sacred Gear Canceller.
With one touch, he'd be beyond the Red Dragon Emperor.
A second, and Rizevim would be free of this world.
He'd like to see these insects chase him with the Beast of Destruction on their tail.
"You cannot kill me," he crowed, nullifying a rain of Holy Demonic swords. "I've won!"
Nobody answered him, and Rizevim lamented the loss of the youth's ability to trade barbs with their opponents.
She was chasing him, wings carrying her faster than the others.
Rizevim would delight in her death most of all.
Another tear in reality from the Pendragon, releasing the jaws of the God Devouring Wolf.
Rizveim hurried to dodge, knowing none of his barriers could protect against those fangs.
His dive placed him near the ground of the dimension, and he was about to nullify it when a rain of lasers and missiles from the golem forced him to ascend away.
She was gaining.
More Black Rain.
Rizevim finally realized why it lacked the power from the battle against the Titan. It was likely due to the desire to spread the transferred power around and not having the time for too many of his 'Wall Falls.'
Rizevim grinned. If the Red Dragon Emperor had simply focused on one person, the Lucifer would have been in much greater trouble.
But he hadn't. The reincarnated devil had, instead, ensured that nobody would be destroyed instantly by Rizevim, and it would cost him everything.
"I've surpassed the Titan!"
Teleport to avoid the spell trap.
"I've surpassed the original Satans!"
Dodge Durandal and send the exorcist crashing into the Valkyrie.
"I've surpassed the Creator!"
Dive and twist to avoid the Ryuu Jing Bang's sweep.
"You cannot kill me!"
He was within arms reach of the Crimson Wall.
"I've won!"
[Reset]
The Crimson Wall was destroyed with Rizevim's laugh.
And the Super Devil froze under the gaze of the Dhampir hidden behind the Wall.
No matter Gasper's determination to reclaim Valerie's Grail, it was only for a second. Rizevim was still the antithesis of all Sacred Gears and their powers, even frozen in time.
But that second was enough for Vali, also hidden behind his rival's Wall, to reach his childhood tormentor without any hindrance.
Rizevim's time resumed to see his disappointment of a grandson, the White Dragon Emperor, bathed in the crimson glow of Ddraig's transferred power, plunge his fist into Rizevim's chest.
The pain was... unimaginable.
But the fear was greater.
This couldn't be how he, Rizevim Levin Lucifer, the first Super Devil, died.
He refused. Not like this!
Not hounded by reincarnated devils, trash, and rejects.
Not at the hands of this... pathetic child!
Not when Rizevim was so close, mere meters from the freedom he had yearned for.
"You... can't... kill... me..."
"Just shut up," Vali said, using the hand not plunged into Rizevim's chest to punch the Super Devil in the face. "That was for my mother."
Rizevim's fear rose, swelling in his broken chest.
"Heal... me..." he ordered, though it sounded more like begging.
He knew they could do it. That nun girl should be around here somewhere.
Another punch.
"That was for me."
"I... die... final... seal... breaks..."
A knee to the groin.
"That was for everyone else you've ruined!"
It hurt. It hurt so much.
But the fear of death was so much greater than the pain.
"I... die... Everyone... dies..."
Vali didn't attack again.
He just looked into his grandfather's eyes, into the son of Lucifer, who had made his childhood a living hell.
And smiled.
"No," Vali said with a malicious glee. "Because Eren's still alive."
Rizevim had a moment to comprehend that fact.
To understand how everyone had been able to find him for the last few months and how these insects had known he'd be here.
Rizevim's last moment was one of horror, realizing he'd lost.
A puppet on the Titan's strings to the very end.
Then Mikasa's sword cut off his head.
********
136 days until the End.
Great Red looked around this cold, lonely world of towering sand dunes and bright blue stars.
And he looked at the boy, the tiny human dwarfed by the Titans of sand and the one pillar of white light in the center of this empty world.
The giant dragon looked at the tiny boy, and the boy looked back up at the towering beast, the only splash of red in this world of blues and whites.
"Welcome," Eren greeted the Dragon of Dragons, his voice an empty whisper as it echoed infinitely. "To my Dream."
REFLEXIONES DE LOS CREADORES 
ReadingDangerously
ReadingDangerously This is it.
The last AN before the end of the story.
Like Rapturous Rhapsody, I will write a post-op on various things after everything is done, but that will be released after the epilogue in two weeks.
Next week, we finish On The Bench, and the epilogue will be on Friday afterward.
I struggled a lot with this chapter's framing, trying to convey events in an understandable yet still entertaining way. I decided to go with this snap-shot approach because, despite the significant time frame, not much actually happens/changes for the characters.
I spent dozens of chapters between Issei's 'death' and Great Red's, a span of a few hours, yet only one that covers months of time. There's a reason Eren needed this time to Boost, but I didn't want to needlessly delay the end. It would ruin the pacing of the ending if I depicted a bunch of battles that essentially went, 'Rizevim is here, is attacked, and escapes.' I don't think that would make for good reading.
Still, I am honestly surprised that nobody has yet to catch all the crumbs I've laid. At times, I couldn't help but go, 'Ah, they're totally going to guess it now!' I guess that is one benefit of serialization. All the clues are spread out over weeks and months, and only when taken as a whole is the complete image really clear.
Whether you've guessed the twists that remain, I hope everyone enjoys what is to come.
There is so much else I want to say, but I will leave most of it until after the story is done. All I will say here is that I am glad you've walked this path with me, and I will meet you all on the bench.
PS: I forgot to shout them out in the last chapter, but two more Omakes were made on Spacebattles. Orangemaster continues Erenel's story, and Netra released another Omake that can be considered semi-canon. I recommend everyone give them a read when you get the chance. After On The Bench is done, I will cross-post all omakes onto other sites with their permission, but if you don't want to wait, please give them a read.
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