"Ugh, brrrr."
"Could you please stop making such weird noises?"
"But I feel so cold. It's amazing I'm even alive like this…"
"We didn't have much choice since we had to use the extreme cold to kill all the mold and spores in our bodies."
Wildefrau and Huldra were arguing on a familiar pathway. Unlike their previous ghost forms that amounted to a nude cape and nude fur, they were fully equipped with their Shining Weapons and Percentage-style armor and clothing. Their souls had returned to their bodies and the cold storage had been removed. Since it also helped warm them, they ran down to the depths of the Underworld, but…
"Oh, it looks like the Chief and the others have reached the climax."
"Now that we're back to normal, I can't help but notice how embarrassing those outfits are."
"For you, 'normal' isn't much better."
Beatrice, Filinion, and Armelina were glowing with a pale light.
The only one who could interfere with the Next Generation Embryo was the Sage since she had a Shining Weapon, so they must have cleared up their misunderstanding.
They could save both the humans and the Iberian Orcs.
Their souls could be given bodies and they would be given the freedom of life once more.
"This isn't something we can do indefinitely." The Sage did not even look back toward Wildefrau and Huldra. "There might be plenty of Next Generation Embryos, but they activate by absorbing nutrients from the Underworld's flesh. Using them will destroy the Underworld itself. We have a limited number of opportunities, so we can't waste them. So don't talk to me. It will only distract me."
It was finally coming to an end. The not-quite-dead were being freed from the Underworld. Manipulating the surrounding environment so it would produce an ideal lifeform according to given values was a very complex method, but the entire world outside of the island had been submerged. They did not have to worry about isolating a small experimental field and it did not matter if some new continent rose to the surface.
"Squeal… I was really worried."
"Ah ha ha. Yeah, I have to apologize this time, Boo Boo."
"This isn't funny!! Boo, you suddenly died right in front of me!!"
While holding off the pressure as Boo Boo approached, Beatrice had a sudden thought.
With this many Next Generation Embryos, how far could the salvation spread? Would they be able to bring back the Fairies who had been sacrificed to the Thousand Dragon? Bringing back Elkiad would be a bit of a problem, but what about the ancient humans? They had settled things with the Underworld Lord, but they could not relax quite yet. That was how it seemed to her.
But then the Sage spoke to her with thorns in her voice.
"Wipe that grin off your face. It's distracting."
"Ahhn?"
Beatrice just about snapped back, but then she realized that the Sage was irritated about something.
Almost like she was angry at reality for not doing what she wanted.
A 1000m black Dragon floated on the predawn ocean like an island.
Summon Hunter Gruagach and Noble Dancer Rusalka were viewing the distant Underworld from atop that giant body.
Of the two, Gruagach suddenly raised her head.
"Onee-sama?"
"Rusalka, I'm sorry, but support me."
The Summon Hunter slowly stood up and took an archery pose. Her arrow contained the soul of her contractor. In other words, Demon Lord Tselika. This was a request from Tselika.
She loosed that single arrow.
The white line of light drew a parabolic arc as it sliced through the dark predawn sky. It used the support of Rusalka's Wind Magic to fly accurately over what would otherwise have been an impossibly long distance…
After trying to come up with a good spot for his last moments and coming up with nothing, Omega smiled bitterly and climbed to the top of the Underworld for some fresh air.
A white line of light fell at his feet. The shining arrow transformed into a bewitching Demon Lord with horns and wings.
"It is done."
"Is it now…?"
After the man's casual response, the woman paused as if hesitant to speak.
"Do Beatrice and the others know?"
"Their knowledge would not have affected the operation's success, so there was no need for them to know."
If anyone had seen the two examples side by side, the difference would have been clear.
As Beatrice and the others made the change from dead to living, their outlines began to glow with a pale light, but Omega's ghost remained the same. No, while his outline had already seemed to absorb the darkness of the night, it now seemed to be sinking even further.
"With the Underworld gone, the living and the dead will no longer be able to interact. A solid wall is being built between this world and the afterlife."
"You don't need to mourn. If you think about it, this is the natural state of things. Our souls were completely imprisoned and modified by the Underworld Lord, so we aren't the same as Beatrice and the others who were halfway in between. We are dead spirits while they were only astral bodies…"
In that case, what had this man been fighting for?
Even if he had not taken any conspicuous actions, sheltering Beatrice's group had to have been risky. Things had luckily gone well this time, but if Beatrice and the others had lost to the Underworld Lord, an investigation would have begun to find out how it had all happened. The dead could not escape the Underworld, so he would have been found and harshly punished. He had put himself in a lot of danger, but why?
There was no saving him, so what had he been thinking as he watched the ignorant Holy Swordswoman's Party grow so excited at the possibility of resurrection? Depending on how he viewed it, he might have felt anger and worked to trip them up.
"I guess it was all thanks to the solid blow you gave me."
Omega smiled bitterly and lightly tapped his fist against the center of his chest.
He thought he saw a white glow there and he doubted he was imagining it.
"Demon Lord Tselika Wien Alpha Chelydia Lumidrier. I was saved by a piece of your soul. And I wouldn't be much of a husband if I didn't use the freedom you won me for something you could be proud of."
"Dear…"
He likely intended to disappear like this.
While hoping to the end that Beatrice's Party would be resurrected, he would disappear in silence so as not to place an unnecessary burden on them that might cause them to fail.
He had chosen one side and abandoned the other. The Demon Lord silently lowered her head and bit her lip as she forced out the next words.
"…Thank you."
"Sure thing. I'll be waiting for you on the other side. I hope that emulator can distract you from the loneliness in the meantime. He's a good guy, but he doesn't have a soul. I'll be the one you're with in the end."
She could not raise her head.
Tselika was not prepared to watch the moment in which he disappeared.
She heard his footsteps as he turned around and walked off. And she heard several voices talking at once.
"Ahh, ahh. So this is the end, is it? Meridiana and the others love building things, so maybe they'll make graves for us."
"Well, given how scared the Thousand Dragon was, I think we can trust that she's had a change of heart."
"Ohh, ohh. Don't think you're leaving until I salute you, Omega."
"…So we're finally being freed…"
"If what we humans left behind will help new life grow, then I guess there's no point in sticking around. I just wish I could've seen Abyss's completed form just once."
Tselika kept her head lowered as she listened to each voice disappearing one by one.
It continued on and on.
Until the very, very end.
"Wow…"
That innocent voice came from Rusalka who felt left out back on the Thousand Dragon. No, perhaps it was that great distance that allowed her to watch the end from such an objective perspective. That gigantic Underworld visibly withered from within like watching an apple rot in fast-forward.
And as it did, something was released into the dark sky.
They were small, pale lights that resembled fireflies.
There were thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands…no, even more.
The countless twinkling lights flew silently into the heavens as if they had some destination in mind.
"…How pretty. I wonder what that is, Onee-sama."
Gruagach narrowed her eyes and placed a hand on the girl's head.
And she answered quietly.
"It must be something out of our reach."
It was fully nighttime here.
An envoy had arrived at the Detached Magic Palace in Roppongi, Tokyo. The short man had his black hair neatly parted on one side and that hair glittered like a cockroach. He provided a response with a thin smile on his face.
"Concerning your matter of inquiry, I can only say that we cannot make a decision at our own discretion."
"No, I suppose not. I was expecting it to end like this. However, I was not expecting the government office to be open after hours like this."
Iroka, eldest of the three maid sisters, replied with a calm expression.
If the golden-egg-laying goose that singlehandedly supported 15% of the nation's tax income suddenly said she was creating the world's smallest independent state in the middle of Tokyo, there was no way it would be approved. The request would be quashed at some point along the line. But that was fine. They could gum up the gears by creating conflict between the domestic and foreign individuals who wanted to stop their master, wanted to use her, saw her as a threat, or saw this as an opportunity.
This would prevent a swift and surefire checkmate where the government ordered the Detached Magic Palace taken from them and sent in the counter-terrorist SAT if they did not obey.
Having their independence approved would of course be best, but simply buying time was still good news. By using that time to come up with a second and third plan to strengthen their defenses, they could increase the odds of their beloved master's survival.
It was a strange idea, but no country had official laws determining the process for a piece of their territory declaring its independence. One instead had to use a national referendum where anything could be put up for consideration. Why was something so important left up in the air? Because having a set method for something increased the odds of someone actually doing it. Nothing would be sillier than creating rules that actively work against your own country.
To sum up, it was simple to claim you were doing it, but whether or not it would actually happen was a different matter.
"Don't worry, Misoka. He's a proper envoy. It looks like they weren't so hasty they sent in an assassin pretending to be one."
"So, Haruka, stop adding eye drops as a secret ingredient for that tea. Killing him would only make this more troublesome."
"Ugh."
The roach man had been preparing to take a sip, but he instead lowered the teacup back to the saucer.
"I-I must take issue with how you are referring to me as an envoy. That term refers to a representative dispatched to another country."
"Isn't that what we claim we are? This land no longer belongs to Japan."
The glasses maid was not smiling.
She was not a philanthropist. If necessary, she was willing to head out to sea and dump a body wrapped in weights. But this short man had information she wanted, so she did not do so.
"So where exactly was our request stopped? Surely you can tell us that much. If you believe in justice, you should have no reason to hide that from us."
If it had to do with money, it would be the Ministry of Internal Affairs or the Ministry of Finance. If it had to do with technology, it would be the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology or the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. No, if it was about Pieces, it could also be the Patent Office. If it had to do with the girl's influence on the power balance, it might be the police bureaucracy or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Of course, all of that was only restricting it to political matters. If they looked at the financial world as well, the range of possibilities would include major corporations and investors.
While Iroka considered a number of possible enemies and matched them each to different weaknesses as individuals or traits as organizations, the envoy man pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped sweat from his brow. Surprisingly, the smell of fabric softener was the household variety found in normal supermarkets. He may have had a beloved wife who he hid the nature of his work from, or he may have been trying to make Iroka think that so she would lower her guard.
And he spoke.
"…A-at Ichigaya."
"The Ministry of Defense!?"
No matter how unexpected the truth she found, Iroka would not let out such an honest reaction in the middle of negotiations. This came from Misoka, the more impulsive second sister.
The short man began sweating even more and he tried to hold it back with the handkerchief.
"Someone at your level would be able to find the truth no matter what we did. Attempting to deceive you would only harm my credibility in the future. And that is not what I…no, that is not what the higher ups would want after sending me here as an 'envoy' as you have put it."
"…Sounds like this isn't fun for you either."
"Government service has its downsides, but I am willing to accept some difficulties after finding someone truly worth serving."
It was possible that statement was tailor-made to match their sensibilities, so Iroka was not careless enough to sympathize with this man.
"But since you went to the trouble of meeting us face to face at this stage, can I assume that your 'higher ups' do not intend to simply destroy the Detached Magic Palace? Can I assume they are not taking a 'dead men tell no tales' stance?"
"To be honest, protecting their reputation is probably the top priority here, but this is not time to be worrying about that. There is a more pressing issue, after all."
"The end of the world. …Does that bring anything to mind?"
The glasses maid's expression did not change.
But if someone as well-connected as her could not think of anything, then it was most likely not an earth issue. Iroka made a mental note that this probably had a lot to do with Ground's Nir.
"We have a machine that is simply known as the simulator because its development code is unknown. That box can be said to be the true core of this nation. Even the many Over the Walls who have taken root in the world have only predicted its existence but have not been able to actually reach it. The machine has endlessly expanded and repeatedly added external attachments to evolve like a living creature, so I have no idea what generation of upgrades it is on. However, that being apparently reached an answer recently. And that answer describes the phenomenon that will soon bring about the end of the world."
"That being has been sounding the alarm for quite a while now. It has spent a very long time subtly working in the people visiting Ground's Nir to apply external pressure in the form of bigotry and discrimination in order to test for any truly dangerous reactions. Well, I will admit it has at times taken that influence too far and unintentionally wiped out the source of the alarm with Elkiad. But things have changed. Recently, the simulator began rapidly producing an entirely different answer. Something major must have happened in that other world and the rails of history have entirely changed," said the short envoy. "And that means this is no time for us to be worried about appearances. We must safely overcome the end of the world and we must find a solution that places our own country in the most advantageous position. To do that, we need as much power as possible. And as the representative Level Capper, Lady Beatrice needs to take a leading role in this."
It was like a dream come true.
How long had the Sage longed for this moment? This dream had seemed so far out of reach that - deep down - she may have given up and really only went through the motions of pursuing it.
"Boo…"
"…Elder."
He looked a lot like Boo Boo and she was probably the only one that could tell them apart.
However…no, therefore she could tell at a glance.
The Sage threw everything aside and ran toward him in a show of girlish joy that she never would have shown normally.
"Elder!!"
This may have been a moment everyone should celebrate.
Even for Beatrice's group who had been her enemy.
However.
Royal Elf Sibyl, who had lived for so long, somewhat hated herself for feeling so cold inside and viewing it all so objectively. But she could not throw out this observing eye no matter what she did. Her heart pounded inside her chest. That was a warning signal of tension.
But she had no idea what was causing the warning.
And while Sibyl puzzled at her own signal, something happened in front of her.
"Sage…"
"What is it, elder? Do you still hurt somewhere? Oh, I know. If not, then let's get something to eat. You're just as much of a glutton as you look, after all. I've learned to make your favorite: skewered Master Rabbit and Sliced Fish soaked in yogurt! When you see this, I promise you you'll-…"
"…Oh, oh, Sage. What have you done?"
"………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………Eh?"
The Sage of all people sounded utterly confused.
She was not being criticized. The man known as the Elder spoke with anguish in his voice.
"It all would have been over if you had let nature take its course. Everyone left alive could have lived out their lives without incident…"
"What? Elder!?"
Some kind of ominous straining filled the air.
There should not have been anything wrong with his newly-made body. The Sage had been extremely careful to ensure that. Nevertheless, something like red cracks were forming. The cracks glowed like magma and they throbbed irregularly like an evil will infecting the elder's flesh and blood.
He seemed to be holding something back.
Almost like he would accidentally slaughter his old friend if he relaxed his guard even slightly.
"…I explained our illness to you, didn't I?"
"Y-yes."
"This disease causes our blood vessels to clog up and break apart as if our blood is rusting. But we had no idea what exactly it was…"
The Sage stopped breathing. She was supposed to be in a dream come true, but her eyes widened.
"Sage. I do not know if you currently see yourself as the Experience Points sent back from the future or as the body that existed in the past. But I believe this destruction is not the one that you saw. Because the dead coming back to life is something that was never allowed in the proper course of history. Because you had experienced true destruction, you assumed no other threat existed and let your guard down, didn't you? No matter how painful it was, this never would have happened if you had let time pass as intended."
"You don't mean… Elder…?"
"The Red Swarm."
It was like seeing an incomplete pupa split open to reveal the red adult form.
He stripped off his kindness.
And that crimson embodiment of evil and destruction made an announcement.
"Pushing our bodies to the limit to fight Abyss was all well and good, but a mistaken design left us unable to prevent this murderous element from taking over. If you had only killed us first, none of this would have happened…!!"
Even well-connected Iroka frowned at this one.
"…The Iberian Orcs?"
"Yes. That is the identity of the Red Swarm in the new final answer reached by the simulator." The short envoy wiped away sweat with his handkerchief. "Those Nonhumans are a species from a foreign world, but they have endlessly taken in the strong points of plants and other animals by mating with them. You could call them the strongest. You could say they have completely controlled the natural selection process that is normally reliant on coincidence."
"But wait. Wait! They're from Ground's Nir, aren't they? There's no way for them to reach earth! Or are they going to use some trick to influence things here like Tselika did!?"
Most likely, Second Sister Misoka was not even thinking about bargaining. She was simply asking an honest question.
"…The Gates exist."
"But!! Only humans can-…!!"
"Did I not just say that Iberian Orcs are Nonhumans who have taken in the strong points of plants and other animals by mating with them?"
There was a certain possibility.
They had simply not considered it because it was so ugly.
"Wait…are you saying they had already contacted humans and taken in human elements before even the Sage met them?"
"They have pig faces and humanoid bodies. What percentage of human they can be viewed as is unknown, but they might be able to pass through the Gates. They simply never thought to try before."
Fully bipedal beings that held and used tools with their hands and spoke using the same language as humans had to be rare. There were Fairies and Elves in Ground's Nir, but it was still possible the Iberian Orcs gained those traits through different roots.
And in that case…
"A new end of the world has been introduced," concluded the short envoy.
He was no more than an envoy. A messenger. All he did was relay the answer the simulator had produced.
That cruel collection of ones and zeroes borrowed the short man's mouth to speak.
"Once they lose control, the Iberian Orcs will pass through the Ground's Nir Gates and appear all across the earth. That is the identity of the unexpected end."
The Sage had not said much about it.
To prevent a fourth-dimensional migration that would send 6 or 7 billion people into the past using Experience Points, she had gone around destroying all technology related to that leap through time and she had abandoned an entire age as its demise approached. Beatrice's group did not know when that age was, but the entire thing was on a dizzying scale and they had not asked much more about it.
Would war cover the face of the planet, would an ominous plague spread endlessly, would the people's greed and evil deeds bring about a great disaster, would they replete all resources and food, or would meteors suddenly rain down from the sky?
The identity of that ruin was still a mystery.
But Boo Boo and the others had not been too worried about it.
That was in the distant future, long after Boo Boo, Beatrice, and the others would be dead. They may have felt like they were discussing the events of some other world that they would never visit.
But there was one thing they could not afford to forget.
History could change. In fact, it had already been changed.
That had been proven when the Sage traveled to the past and went around destroying all of the technology related to fourth-dimensional travel and when Boo Boo's group had defeated the supposedly unbeatable Sage. And that change was not guaranteed to be a positive thing.
Also, nothing said there was only one way for the world to end.
What if they had failed to suppress a worldwide plague? What if the Americans and Soviets had begun an all-out nuclear war? What if critical failures had occurred in electronics the world over at the turn of the century? What if the meteor that had fallen on Russia had not broken up in the atmosphere and struck the surface intact? What if, what if, what if, what if…
Those possibilities could not be laughed off as absurd.
Changing one thing would cause something else to rise up in its place.
"B-bmoh…"
And sometimes, an entirely different threat would show itself at an even earlier date.
Not even the Sage could see into the future now.
"Bmoaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!"