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Chapter V: From Run of the Mill to King of the Hill

A loud rumbling noise resounded as one side of the only building in this space, the pyramid with a throne atop it, crumbled. Buried in the rubble, Hajime coughed up a lungful of blood. His face was twisted in pain.

A few seconds later, there was a series of clattering noises as pieces of metal hit the ground. They were the remains of Hajime’s prosthetic arm.

“Ngggh!”

Through sheer force of will, Hajime lifted Donner. Blood was running into his eye, making it difficult for him to see properly. His vision was coated in a layer of red.

In the distance, Ehitruje got to his feet and glided forward, appearing weightless. As he drew close, he snapped his fingers, and Hajime felt a sharp pain in his right hand. He felt Donner get knocked out of his fingers, and looking down, he saw that all five of them were bent at painful angles, clearly broken. As Donner spun through the air, it was enveloped in platinum light and crumbled to dust. There was also a small plink as his Treasure Trove fell off his broken finger and hit the ground.

“Well played, Irregular. That was well played indeed. I’m impressed you actually managed to hit me with your ultimate trump card. Unfortunately for you, it seems it wasn’t sufficient to defeat me.”

“......”

Ehitruje touched down on the ground and started walking slowly toward Hajime. Normally, his feet made no noise when he walked, but now he was purposely letting his footsteps echo loudly. In his hands was a necklace, Hajime’s Guardian Talisman. He’d stolen it when he’d sent Hajime flying. He held it up for Hajime to see, then destroyed it with a flash of platinum light. With each step he took, he destroyed another one of Hajime’s precious artifacts. He brought Schlag, Laobenschiram, Aideon, and even all of Hajime’s scattered Exchange Cases to him with Heavenstep and destroyed them one by one.

“You must be confused. Why is it that I’m still alive after being hit by god-slaying concept magic, you wonder? Heh...”

“......”

Ehitruje gave Hajime an amused look, but Hajime didn’t respond. Instead, he simply slumped against the wall, looking as if he was too exhausted to even speak. His eyes were still open and he was looking at Ehitruje, but his gaze was empty and there was no fighting spirit left in it. It looked like he might pass out at any moment.

Ehitruje loved seeing him in such a pathetic state. His fear and panic gone, he smiled at Hajime and explained, “Your concept magic may have worked on me a few thousand years ago, but my very existence has continued to evolve thanks to all of the faith people have placed in me. The sheer level of divinity I possess is too much for a mere god-slaying concept to destroy me. I have reached far greater heights than just that of a god.”

“......”

Ehitruje stopped right in front of Hajime. Then, he raised one foot, showing off a completely unblemished leg.

“Though I admit I wasn’t absolutely certain your concept magic would fail. Besides, even if this body does have the power to repair itself, it would have been unforgivable for my divine being to be injured even in the slightest, so I had no intention of taking that bullet of yours,” Ehitruje stated as he brought his foot down, crushing Hajime’s Treasure Trove. It leaked a bit of light as it shattered, its magic depleted. “You should be proud, Irregular. No one else has managed to make me panic before.”

“......”

Hajime had now lost every single one of his artifacts except for his Demon Eye. Ehitruje looked haughtily down at him, and though he was smiling, his eyes still burned with a fierce rage. It galled him to no end that a mere human had managed to scare him, even if only for a moment. He had never felt such humiliation in his life, and it was only his pride that kept him from lashing out like a kid throwing a tantrum.

However, Hajime continued to remain unresponsive. His left eye finally closed, and though his Demon Eye was still open, it was hidden behind his eye patch, so it was hard to tell. He wasn’t moving at all either, and it really seemed like he was dead.

Still, Ehitruje wasn’t going to let him die that easily. He needed to return the humiliation he’d felt tenfold or he wouldn’t be satisfied. Though he’d managed to keep himself from throwing a tantrum, he was still an immature brat. Thus, he knelt in front of Hajime so that his face was at the same level. He then caressed Hajime’s thigh gently.

“Agh!”

A second later, he fired a bullet of light through it, shattering bone and opening a hole in Hajime’s thigh. Hajime’s body twitched and he let out a groan of pain. Ehitruje then cupped Hajime’s chin with his bloody fingers and lifted his head. Smiling sweetly to hide his rage, he brought his face close enough to Hajime’s that he could kiss him if he wanted to. However, just before their lips touched, he moved his face to the side and leaned even farther forward to whisper directly into Hajime’s ear.

“I’m going to destroy everything and everyone you ever cared about. All of your friends who came into the Sanctuary with you, all of those idiots fighting on the ground below, your family back in your world, everything. I’m going to make them suffer the most painful deaths imaginable.”

“......”

Still, there was no response from Hajime. His expression didn’t change either. It was almost as if he’d become an empty husk. But that wasn’t what Ehitruje wanted. There was no joy in tormenting a husk, after all. He wanted Hajime to cry and beg for mercy. He wanted Hajime to get on his knees and entreat him to spare his loved ones...for nothing else would be able to quell the rage burning within him.

Determined to get a rise out of Hajime, Ehitruje decided to hit him where he knew it would hurt most. What he didn’t realize, though, was that was the very thing that also served as Hajime’s greatest source of support, and the very reason he would never break.

“But don’t worry,” Ehitruje said with a smile. “I promise to take very good care of this body. It’s quite a splendid vessel, after all. I’ll be sure to explore every single nook and cranny of it too.”

Knowing that his beloved was going to be violated finally seemed to get a reaction from Hajime. Or at least, that was how it seemed to Ehitruje. That couldn’t have been further from the truth, though. In reality, Hajime had been ignoring everything Ehitruje said, knowing it was pointless drivel. However, he did suddenly reach out to grab Ehitruje by the collar, and Ehitruje, thinking that Hajime had finally snapped, grinned sadistically.

“I’ve finally...found you...” Hajime muttered quietly.

“Huh?”

Ehitruje had no idea what Hajime was talking about, but he was confident Hajime must have finally given in to despair. And so, he leaned in closer, wishing to hear the defeated cries of a broken man. Instead, he heard just one word as Hajime invoked his greatest weapon.

“Transmute.”

Ehitruje gave Hajime a confused look, but before he could ask Hajime what he was playing at “—Gaaaaaah!”

Countless blades sprouted from his chest. Pain wracked Ehitruje’s body as the blood-soaked blades sliced through his innards. More blades sprouted from all over Ehitruje’s body, joining together to create a cage holding him in place.

This development was so unexpected that Ehitruje just stared in shock for a few seconds. He’d been taken completely and utterly by surprise. And unfortunately for him, those few seconds he left himself open gave Hajime all the time he needed to carry out his plan. This, in fact, was the real moment of truth Hajime had been waiting for all along.

“Transmute!”

Once again, Hajime activated his ultimate skill. All it did was allow him to shape and move metal, and as far as Ehitruje could tell, the only metal around was the blades sprouting from his body. Sure, they’d caught him by surprise, but they couldn’t do any permanent damage when not even god-slaying concept magic had been able to truly hurt him. However, Hajime’s right hand—which he’d forcibly moved using his ability to freely manipulate his own mana, since his muscles no longer worked—was pressed against his own stomach instead of the blades.

Crimson sparks ran down his fingers and a second later, another blood-drenched blade sprouted from Hajime’s own stomach.

“What?!” Ehitruje exclaimed in shock. Not because Hajime had been hiding metal in his own stomach, or that he’d been willing to slice through it just to get a surprise attack off, of course. No, the reason Ehitruje was so surprised was because he felt the overwhelming, deadly power emanating from that blade. Chills ran down his spine, and his instincts told him to run. He could tell from a glance that the new blade Hajime had sprouted was enchanted with concept magic.

“Agh!”

Ehitruje tried to activate Heavenstep, but the countless blades slicing through the inside of his body were causing him too much pain to concentrate. Not even the auto-repair ability he’d inherited upon taking over Yue’s body could fully heal damage that was being applied constantly. To make matters worse, the two blades that had shot out of his feet had dug deep into the ground, holding him physically in place so he couldn’t just jump away. As a result, Hajime’s blade reached him.

The translucent, pale-blue knife made of pure Divinity Stone stabbed into Ehitruje’s chest, glowing crimson with the light of Hajime’s mana.

“Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!” Ehitruje screamed in agony. He no longer had the presence of mind to try to retain his dignity as a god. Frankly, it was hard to believe such a small knife had caused that much pain, but it had.

Using up a tremendous amount of his mana, Ehitruje destroyed the blades holding him in place with a flash of platinum light and staggered backward, cradling his head.

A second later, ripples of energy started pulsing out of Ehitruje. They grew stronger with time, indicating that the true owner of this body had finally awoken.

“Impossible, I eliminated every last trace of that blasted vampire princess!”

Ehitruje had indeed watched as Yue’s soul vanished in a scream of despair, so he couldn’t understand why Yue was still alive...or why her soul was growing in power with each passing second, slowly but surely pushing his own soul out.

Grinning fearlessly, Hajime decided to throw Ehitruje a bone and clear up his confusion. In a flat tone, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, Hajime said, “Yue was smarter than you. That’s all there is to it.”

“Gah!”

Gasping in pain, Ehitruje finally realized he’d been tricked not just by Hajime, but also Yue. Even when she’d been reduced to nothing more than a soul, she’d put on a show of attempting to resist him while in reality focusing her efforts on finding a hiding place within the vastness of Ehitruje’s soul. She’d believed with absolute certainty that Hajime would come to rescue her, so even the dying screams Ehitruje had heard had all been part of Yue’s act.

“I see now...this knife is...”

Ehitruje pulled the knife out of his chest and looked down at it with bloodshot eyes. He destroyed it with a flash of platinum light, but Hajime seemed unconcerned. He was already moving on to the next step of his plan, his right hand once again emitting crimson sparks.

“That god-slaying bullet’s only purpose was to shake your soul a little and give Yue’s soul the signal it needed to wake up. Now, this Oath Bloodedge on the other hand? Well, that was meant to actually sever your connection to Yue’s body and give her soul the strength it needs to take it back.”

The god-slaying concept magic had been born out of a pure desire to destroy Ehitruje’s soul and nothing else. But when Miledi had given the dagger to Hajime, she’d warned him that it might not work at this point. And so, from the start, Hajime had decided to make use of its property to affect only Ehitruje’s soul and nothing else, while assuming that all of its other powers would be ineffective. Hitting Ehitruje with the god-slaying bullet had let him make a clear distinction between what had been his soul and what was Yue’s.

The reason he’d been silent the whole time Ehitruje had been taunting him was because he’d been using his Demon Eye to pinpoint the location of Yue’s soul. His true trump card would only work if he could reach Yue’s soul with it, after all.

The Oath Bloodedge that he’d hidden in his stomach in spherical form was the true attack aimed at Ehitruje. The god-slaying bullet had just been there to get Hajime to this point. The concept magic imbued into that knife was, in simple terms, “Don’t touch my woman.” It was an ability that kept anyone from interfering with Yue’s soul that had been born from the monster of the abyss’s rage and hatred at having his beloved Yue stolen away from him.

Now, no matter how hard Ehitruje tried, he wouldn’t be able to maintain his hold on Yue’s body for long. The concept magic he’d been hit with wouldn’t allow it. His attempts to suppress Yue’s soul were all stopped by the power of Hajime’s concept magic, and as she awakened, her body started treating Ehitruje’s soul as an invader and started to attack it, the same way white blood cells attack viruses.

“You mean this was your plan all along?!”

“I mean, if I could have just overwhelmed you with force, I would have. But Yue’s life was on the line here, so I wasn’t gonna leave anything to chance. It’s only natural that I’d have two or three backup plans just in case, right?”

The platinum mana shooting out of Yue’s body slowly started turning golden as she started regaining control. As the pulsing grew stronger and stronger, Ehitruje’s expression twisted in pain and he started losing the ability to command Yue’s limbs.

Yue’s ironclad will was strong enough to push out even god’s soul. This was her body, and in her mind, the only one allowed to touch it was Hajime.

Ehitruje looked into his own soul and watched as a golden glow began expanding from a dark corner, blotting everything out. The eternal vampire princess had awoken, and now the look in Yue’s crimson eyes was one of love and trust, rather than hate and condescension. Ehitruje no longer looked out from Yue’s eyes.

Hajime looked lovingly at Yue, Ehitruje momentarily forgotten. This was the moment he’d been waiting for since she’d first disappeared. Though the two of them had been ripped apart, they’d continued to have absolute trust in each other, and that trust was now being rewarded.

In that instant, Ehitruje realized that from the moment he’d left Hajime alive upon feeling Yue resisting his takeover of her body, he’d already lost to the strength of their bond. His defeat had long since been sealed.

Feeling an unpleasant sense of dread, he shook his head and screamed, “Don’t underestimate me, Vampire Princess! This body is mine! I’ll destroy every last shred of your soul for good this time! And once that’s done, you’re next, Irregular! A concept this weak won’t be able to stop—”

“True that,” Hajime said lightly. Once again, he was two steps ahead of Ehitruje. He’d predicted that the Oath Bloodedge alone wouldn’t be enough.

“What?” Ehitruje muttered, looking over at Hajime. He still didn’t have the strength to stand, but he’d thrust his trembling right hand out, and upon seeing that, Ehitruje once again felt a primal fear.

As much as he didn’t want to believe it, he could sense concept magic emanating from Hajime’s closed fist. Hajime opened his palm, and sitting in it was a single bullet. It was covered in blood, and he’d clearly pulled it from out of his body just like the Oath Bloodedge.

“Wh-What good will a single bullet do?! You don’t even have any artifacts to shoot it with!”

Ehitruje’s battle with Yue’s soul was so fierce he could no longer move, and he could feel panic creeping up on him despite his bravado.

It was true that Hajime couldn’t move, and that Ehitruje was too far away for a blade to reach him now. A bullet alone couldn’t accomplish anything. But of course, Hajime knew all that. And so, for the third time, he cast his ultimate spell.

“Transmute!”

Waves of crimson mana spread from his hand. A second later, glowing particles began to gather around Hajime’s palm. They coalesced into a familiar shape.

“You’re taking in metal particles from the air?” Ehitruje muttered in amazement. That was indeed what Hajime was doing.

“I figured I would need at least three concept magic artifacts to get Yue back for certain. I told you, I wasn’t leaving anything to chance.”

“You mean to tell me the entire time during our fight...from the very start, this is what you were aiming for?”

This was the real reason Hajime’s Crosswelts and Grim Reapers had self-destructed upon being cut down. Of course, the explosions had also been an attempt to eke out a little more damage, but that had just been a cover for Hajime’s true aim. His plan had been to spread metal particles all over this dimensional space. That way he could transmute no matter where he was. In fact, some of his crow-shaped Grim Reapers had only pretended to fight, while in reality, they’d been running around the battlefield to disseminate more metal particles.

Hajime had made this backup plan just in case he wasn’t able to beat Ehitruje in a battle of numbers. He’d made Ehitruje think he was fighting as hard as he could to hit him with the god-slayer artifact, while in truth he’d simply been spreading ingredients for transmutation all over the battlefield without letting Ehitruje notice. That was how he’d also gotten the metal blades to come out of Ehitruje. All of the Crosswelts that Ehitruje had cut down had spread tiny metal particles that he’d absorbed without realizing it. And as soon as Hajime had confirmed that Ehitruje wasn’t aware of them, he’d immediately switched to his backup plan. Just in case, he’d also injected liquid metal into Ehitruje when he’d grabbed him with his prosthetic arm.

The last piece of the puzzle that had made this plan possible was Transmute’s final derivative skill, Expanded Transmutation. Normally, a synergist needed to be touching whatever object they were working on to Transmute it, but it was this skill that let Hajime work with all of the metal particles scattered about. He’d learned that skill at the same time he’d learned Image Composition back at the Demon Lord’s castle.

Its effect was quite simple. It let him transmute things without directly touching them, that was all. It was a fitting final derivative skill for a job as commonplace as synergist, but it was that exceedingly commonplace job that had gotten Hajime this far. It was his ability to transmute that truly made him into the monster of the abyss. So naturally, this very commonplace ability was more than strong enough to destroy a god.

Hajime’s lips curled up into a feral grin as he declared, “You beat me in a battle of numbers, you overwhelmed me in close combat, and you were able to destroy all of my artifacts. But so what? Did you really think that you won just because of that?”

Ehitruje’s jaw dropped open. That fierce battle where Hajime had nearly died a dozen times had been nothing more than a step of his enemy’s plan.

Indeed, the fact that Ehitruje had so carelessly approached Hajime after destroying his artifacts had been because Hajime had lured him into thinking he was beaten. It was unbelievable to Ehitruje that Hajime’s true plan had been to shred his beloved vampire princess’s body from the inside out. Only an insane person would have come up with such a deranged plan.

Ehitruje was so taken aback by Hajime’s insanity that he let his concentration slip for a second, letting Yue gain the upper hand in the battle for her body. As a result, he was unable to do a single thing to stop Hajime.

Using his Expanded Transmutation, Hajime created a very basic, single-shot revolver. However, that simple gun was more than enough. Hajime loaded his concept magic bullet, the final weapon he needed to deal a lethal blow to Ehitruje.

“Stop getting in my way!” Ehitruje roared, trying to push away Yue’s soul to no avail. He couldn’t move, and every single time he tried to cast magic, Yue’s soul disrupted the flow of mana in her body. She was clearly assisting her lover as best she could.

“Hajime.”

Hajime heard her confident voice, clear as day, and he grinned fearlessly.

“I’ll be taking Yue back now. Every last drop of her blood, every last strand of her hair, every single fragment of her soul belongs to me!”

Hajime pulled the trigger, and a crimson streak shot through Ehitruje. The bullet he’d fired was an Oath Bullet, enchanted with the exact same concept magic as his Oath Bloodedge. Naturally, the bullet was just as effective as the knife.

Ehitruje had just barely been managing to contain Yue’s soul until now, but this one shot wrested control of her body away from him. He let out a wordless scream, and at the same time, Yue crowed in triumph.

A second later, there was a burst of golden light. It was far warmer and far more vivid than the platinum light of Ehitruje’s mana. Nostalgia washed over Hajime as he basked in the golden glow of his beloved Yue’s mana.

Something that looked vaguely like a shade was expelled from Yue’s body and she closed her eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath. When she opened her crimson eyes again, the only thing reflected in them was her beloved Hajime. She smiled as bright as the sun, looking like a flower in full bloom.

At long last, the Yue Hajime knew and loved was free. She slowly walked over to him. Though she was covered in as much blood as he was, that only made her more alluring.

There were no words to describe the wealth of emotions the two of them felt as Yue spread her arms wide, her golden-blonde hair splaying out behind her. It was hard to tell if she was inviting Hajime into her embrace, or if she wanted him to embrace her. Either way, Hajime smiled gently and reached out to her with his one arm.

Yue hugged him tight, burying her face in his chest. Hajime wrapped his one arm around her as well, bringing her even closer. The embrace made his wounds ache, but the pain of his physical injuries was nothing compared to the pain of being apart from Yue for so long.

Yue pulled her head back a little and cupped Hajime’s face in both hands. She then pressed her forehead against his, her eyes looking directly into his. A warm breath escaped her lips, and Hajime rested his hand against her cheek.

In a voice gentle enough to touch the hearts of any who heard it, Hajime said, “I came for you, my vampire princess.”

“Mmm... I knew you would, my demon lord.”

Both of them chuckled, then leaned in closer for a kiss. It was a brief brush of lips against lips, but was filled with as much emotion as any longing, passionate kiss might have been. Their lips tasted like blood, but neither of them seemed to mind. In fact, Yue licked up the blood on Hajime’s lips with relish.

Suddenly, a blast of lethal platinum light interrupted Hajime and Yue’s touching reunion.

Yue reflexively turned back and held out a hand, immediately casting Hallowed Ground. As the beam of light hit it, she let out a small groan.

“Mrgh...”

Her brow furrowed. Yue had expended a great deal of her strength when she’d chased Ehitruje’s soul out of her body. That was why she’d only been able to cast Hallowed Ground in response to the attack, rather than a much more powerful spatial magic barrier.

While this beam of platinum light was much weaker than the destructive force Ehitruje had unleashed from his three-ring halo, it was still a miracle that Yue had been able to stop it with just a Hallowed Ground.

Though Yue was exhausted, Hajime was too injured to even move. She knew it was her turn to protect him this time. Determined, she continued casting more Hallowed Grounds to keep the two of them safe.

“Die! Die! Die! Die, you goddamned Irregular!” a voice dripping with hate screamed. Looking over, Yue saw a human-shaped silhouette made purely of light standing at the point of the beam’s origin. It looked just like the light apostles Ehitruje had mass-produced from his halo. While the tone and pitch of the voice were very different from when he’d been inhabiting Yue’s body, it was obvious whom it belonged to. No one else sounded that childish, after all.

That puny silhouette of light was undoubtedly Ehitruje.

“This is MY sanctuary! Even if I’m stuck as just a soul, I still have enough strength left to beat you! I’m going to kill that Irregular right in front of your eyes, Vampire Princess, and then I’ll make your body mine for good!” Ehitruje’s voice echoed throughout the pure-white dimension, sounding like it was coming from everywhere at once. Despite his boastful claims, it seemed he couldn’t use his claymores or his teleporting attacks anymore. The god-killer bullet Hajime had hit him with had likely done more damage than Ehitruje had let on. Moreover, Ehitruje had also expended a great deal of his strength trying to suppress Yue’s soul. The Oath Bloodedge and Oath Bullet had exhausted him greatly too.

That being said, the platinum disintegration beam was still quite powerful, and as Ehitruje raged on, it started growing stronger. Cracks started appearing in Yue’s multilayered Hallowed Grounds.

“Despair, puny mortal! Even your final trump card wasn’t enough to kill me! You have nothing left to stop me with!”

The platinum beam grew larger, causing the cracks to spread. Yue desperately poured mana into her barrier to try to repair it, but it was taking damage faster than she could fix it.

Of course, Ehitruje didn’t even suspect that Hajime might still have a concept magic artifact left. After all, only a handful of people in all of history had ever managed to use concept magic, including Ehitruje and his old comrades.

“When did I ever say that was my final trump card?” Hajime declared with a feral grin.

“What?!”

Once again, Ehitruje had underestimated the sheer depth of Hajime’s determination, as well as his desire to get Yue back.

“Yue.”

“Mmm...”

That brief exchange was all they needed. Though Yue didn’t know the exact details of Hajime’s plan, she knew exactly what he wanted from her. They understood each other well enough that longer explanations were unnecessary.

Yue rose to her feet and stood protectively in front of Hajime, focusing all her attention on holding back Ehitruje’s beam. She stuck both her hands out, pushing her Hallowed Ground as far back as possible, angling it so that the shock waves of the impact would spread upward rather than toward Hajime. At the same time, she created a very tiny hole in her barrier, allowing a stream of metal particles to flow through it. They gathered around Hajime’s palm, which was emitting crimson sparks, and formed into a single bullet. Hajime then bit down on one of his teeth and spat out a small stone fragment covered in sealstone.

This was the final concept magic he’d prepared to take down Ehitruje. The concept magic that denied the existence of anything it touched, the very same concept magic he’d created when he’d felt true despair after Yue had been stolen from him at the Demon Lord’s castle. When his chains had disappeared, so had the concept magic he’d imbued them with, but by using Expanded Transmutation, he’d managed to salvage a thimbleful’s worth of existence-denying material, which he’d then hidden in his back tooth.

The Oath Bloodedge and Oath Bullet’s main purpose had been to rescue Yue, not kill Ehitruje. Hajime had known from the start he’d need more than just that. And so, he transmuted the piece of stone he’d spat out of his mouth into the bullet he’d just made and looked over at Ehitruje.

“You asked how I managed to kill Alvaheit, right? Well, the truth is, he just had the misfortune of being close by when I got truly pissed. Do you really think a guy like me would come up with something as banal as god-slaying concept magic?”

“Y-You bastard!”

Hajime wasn’t trying to kill Ehitruje because he was an evil god who was trying to destroy the world, and that certainly wasn’t why he’d killed Alvaheit. The gods had simply pissed Hajime Nagumo off...and that was the one and only reason they were about to be killed.

Hajime was treating Ehitruje like a common thug who’d tried to mug him. It was a huge blow to Ehitruje’s pride. No one had ever humiliated him so thoroughly in his life. He let out a scream of pure rage, but at the same time, he could instinctively sense the extreme threat the concept magic in Hajime’s hand posed, and a big part of him wanted to run away.

Caught between his senses of pride and his self-preservation, Ehitruje hesitated. And that hesitation proved fatal.

“This is checkmate, you third-rate poser.”

Grinning fearlessly, Hajime loaded the bullet into his single-shot revolver and pulled the trigger. The existence-denying bullet shot toward Ehitruje, leaving a crimson trail behind it. It easily cut through the platinum disintegration beam without slowing down in the slightest.

Realizing he couldn’t win, Ehitruje finally decided to try to flee.

“I order you in the name of Yue—don’t move!”

“Impossible!”

Yue hadn’t just been sitting around and twiddling her thumbs while waiting to be rescued after Ehitruje had taken over her body. She’d been keeping a very close eye on him, analyzing all of the spells he cast and figuring out how they worked. She was a genius mage who’d become the strongest vampire in existence by the time she was a teenager. Ehitruje’s magic may have been complex, but she’d felt him using it with her own body, so she was now able to replicate it to some extent. Though of course, casting Ehitruje’s Divine Edict cost so much mana she nearly blacked out. Still, she gritted her teeth and kept herself conscious through sheer force of will. As a result, Ehitruje was momentarily bound in place.

“I-I’m a god! You can’t do this to me! Damn you, Irregulaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar!”

Though his face was just a blurry oval of light, it was clear his expression was twisted in fear. He watched in slow motion as the bullet sped toward him, counting down the milliseconds to his demise.

For millennia, he had thought he would live forever, but now he could see his death inching closer to him at supersonic speed. No matter how much he told himself he was a god, and that this couldn’t be happening, he couldn’t avert his eyes from reality. The merciless, unstoppable, unreasonable monster of the abyss had sentenced him to death, sealing his fate. The bullet that could destroy anything parted Ehitruje’s beam of destruction and pierced his heart.

“Gaaaaaaaaah!”

The remnants of Ehitruje’s disintegration beam dissipated and he touched the hole in his chest with a trembling hand. Within seconds, his light-forged body began to break apart.

“Aaaaaah! No...this can’t be...happening...”

Unable to stop his own destruction, Ehitruje could only watch as his body crumbled away. When he was nothing but a head, he looked up at Hajime and Yue.

“This can’t be...” he whispered again one last time, then vanished.

Yue dispelled her Hallowed Ground and fell to the ground in a sitting position. Hajime slowly lowered his gun as well. The only sounds in the pure-white room were Hajime’s and Yue’s heavy breathing.

Smiling, Yue looked over her shoulder back at Hajime. He smiled back at her, but then a second later, his expression was filled with panic.

“Yue!” he shouted.

As she turned back, a truly unearthly scream reverberated across the room.

“Raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

An invisible shock wave slammed into Yue and Hajime. Taken completely by surprise, Yue was blown back into Hajime, who wrapped his arm around her and twisted his body to shield her from any follow-up blows.

Another roar echoed through the room, and the altar Hajime was half-buried in was shattered into a thousand pieces. It was a small mercy that he wasn’t simply crushed against the altar wall, but the force of the shock wave still sent him and Yue flying now that there was nothing to catch them.

Hajime bounced against the floor multiple times before finally coming to a stop a good distance away from the altar’s wreckage. Rubble was scattered all around him.

“Gah! Yue...” Hajime wheezed, coughing up blood.

“Ngh... Hajime!”

Thanks to Hajime, Yue hadn’t taken any serious damage, but the shock wave had still knocked the wind out of her. The two of them clasped each other’s hands and unsteadily rose to their feet, leaning heavily against each other. As they looked around to see what had attacked them, their expressions stiffened.

“You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me...” Hajime muttered.

“Is the Sanctuary...falling apart?” Yue asked.

The perfect, pure-white dimension did indeed look like it was breaking. Cracks ran through the walls, floor, and ceiling, and sections of the room were warped into strange shapes and flickering unsteadily. From beyond these dimensional rifts, Hajime and Yue could see glimpses of the Sanctuary’s other rooms. They were visible for only a few seconds before they were replaced by another, cycling through in random order. It was clear what was causing this breakdown.

“Raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

A black miasma was pouring out of the cracks and warps in the room. It gathered at a single point and started whirling like a vortex. There were a few apostles and monsters that had been caught in the flow of miasma as well, and they were crushed in the vortex with a series of sickening crunches.

Another bloodcurdling scream emanated from the center of that miasma.

“I guess...this is what’s left of him?” Hajime muttered.

“Mmm...” Yue said with a nod. In the midst of the screaming, the two of them could pick out a few words here and there.

“I don’t...want to...die...” “Why...can’t you understand...that...” “Eternity...is everything...” “I...I am a god...why...?” “I’m not the one who’s mistaken...you...” “Kneel before me...or I will destroy...” “Behold...the masses of people...worshipping me...giving me...” “No...I don’t want...to die...”

Those words were a manifestation of Ehitruje’s attachment to eternal life, his hatred for those who had disagreed with his ideals, his childlike desire to rule over everything, and his overwhelming narcissism. Ugly as they were though, Hajime could understand Ehitruje’s overwhelming desire to not die, and his wish to destroy everything after he’d been abandoned and left alone. Though he didn’t want to admit it, he’d been in a similar state of mind when he’d first fallen into the abyss. In order to survive, he’d become someone who didn’t give a damn about anyone else and was willing to dine on even the meat of monsters to live. Plus, that part of him had never truly gone away, as evidenced by the fact that he’d been able to create existence-denying concept magic when Yue had been taken away from him.

“If I hadn’t met you and the others, Yue, I might have ended up just like—”

Before he could finish, Yue put a finger to his lips and shook her head. In a gentle voice she said, “No, that thing is nothing like you, Hajime. I’m sure there were people who cared about him and tried to steer him back to the right path before he ended up alone. When he was talking about his past, he even mentioned that some tried to reach out to him. He was the one who chose not to take their hands...and this is the result. Who you are now is a result of the path you’ve walked so far. A path that was very different from Ehitruje’s.”

Yue’s crimson eyes sparkled with affection, and she gently stroked Hajime’s cheek. Even after closing his heart off to others, Hajime had still answered Yue’s cry for help. And despite saying he didn’t give a shit about the rest of the world, he’d done a great deal to help many of the people he’d met on his journey. Had he not, perhaps there wouldn’t have been anyone around to stop him when he’d gone on a rampage at the Demon Lord’s castle. But there had been, and that was the definitive difference between him and Ehitruje. Yue knew that, which was why she didn’t want Hajime putting himself down.

“I guess if you’re saying that, it must be true,” Hajime replied with a small smile.

“Mmm...”

Considering how dire the situation was, this was hardly the time to be doubting himself or getting all sentimental. Hajime once again steeled himself for the battle that was not yet over, and Yue smiled at him.

A second later, the miasma shot out in all directions. There was still a small core of miasma whirling around the center of the room, but it had thinned enough that the creature controlling it was now visible.

“That thing really is a monster.”

“Mhm. I almost pity it.”

It looked like a giant lump of flesh. Various creatures’ bones, muscles, and skin had been smashed together to form its body, and numerous limbs stuck out of the misshapen lump at odd angles. It also possessed several writhing tentacles that looked utterly grotesque. Simply staring at it was enough to sap one’s sanity with how deranged it looked.

Hajime couldn’t sense anything of Ehitruje’s personality or will from the creature. The existence-denying bullet had indeed killed Ehitruje himself. The only reason he hadn’t completely disappeared was because his attachment to eternal life and desire to trample over everything were so strong that a shade of him composed of only those feelings had remained.

The creature that had once been Ehitruje let out another scream.

“Raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

A storm of wind swirled around it and the black miasma once again coalesced, sending out a series of invisible shock waves.

Hajime and Yue both dropped low to the ground, but they couldn’t avoid being blown backward. They groaned in pain as they bounced across the ground, but they didn’t let go of each other’s hands. Once they came to a halt, they once again staggered to their feet, using each other for support.

“Yue, suck my blood,” Hajime said calmly.

“But...”

“It’ll be fine.”

Yue hesitated. Hajime had said he’d be fine, but there was no way he’d survive losing more blood. He was already on the brink of death, after all. The deep wounds in his stomach and thighs hadn’t even closed up yet. He’d stopped the bleeding by clenching his muscles, but he’d already lost enough blood that it was a miracle his heart was still beating. It was only thanks to his unnaturally sturdy body that he was still conscious and capable of clear thought. Thus, Yue could tell that sucking his blood might really kill him.

In the distance, the flesh beast let out another howl. More shock waves rippled out, widening the cracks in the room and destroying entire chunks of it. The tentacles started extending in all directions as well, as if searching for prey. At this rate, both Hajime and Yue would die unless they did something.

Still, Yue hesitated, and Hajime gave her his usual fearless smile, baring his teeth. There was a dangerous glint in his eyes, the same glint that always reassured his allies and struck fear in the hearts of his enemies. Yue’s heart skipped a beat.

“Do you really think I didn’t have a backup plan for this eventuality?”

“Hajime...”

“It’s true that I’m out of trump cards, but you’re not.”

Yue was at a loss for words.

Ahhh, the man I fell in love with really is...incorrigible.

Her fears assuaged, Yue nodded and buried her fangs in Hajime’s neck. As she sucked his blood, she could feel her mana recovering little by little—and then suddenly her heart rate jumped. Her Blood Oath skill made it so that she could more efficiently convert blood into energy from one specific target, but that alone didn’t explain the sudden surge of power she felt as she drank just a few drops of Hajime’s blood.

The final artifact Hajime Nagumo had prepared for this battle was—himself. Or to be more specific, his blood. He had enchanted the iron in his blood with a combination of evolution magic, spirit magic, and specialized CheatMates to be as effective as possible at restoring Yue’s strength. He’d turned his own body into a unique artifact just for Yue.

On the off chance that he lost all of his artifacts, Yue was too exhausted to fight, and his existence-denying bullet didn’t kill Ehitruje, Hajime had wanted to make sure there were still options available for them.

“Mmm...” Hajime’s blood was so delicious that Yue let out a small moan of pleasure.

A second later, the flesh beast’s tentacles shot out toward the two of them. Their ends were tapered and sharp enough to pierce through flesh. Yue pulled away from Hajime’s neck and stuck her hand out toward the tentacles. The space in front of her warped, tearing open a hole to another dimension. The tentacles passed through the hole and were immediately destroyed.

Yue had opened a portal to another disintegrating section of the Sanctuary and let them be destroyed along with it. Normally, that would have taken a lot of mana, but as the Sanctuary was falling apart, the borders between dimensions were quite thin and she was able to do it efficiently.

Once she was sure the two of them were safe, she turned back to Hajime. His eyes were unfocused, and his face was pale. Even the few drops of blood that she’d sucked had taken quite a toll on him. It was clear he was struggling just to stay conscious. If not for the severe pain of his wounds, he might have actually blacked out.

Yue hurriedly started casting restoration magic on him, but after she saw the look in his eyes, she stopped. He didn’t want her to expend any unnecessary mana. Though she desperately wanted to ease his pain, she nodded and instead picked him up.

In a raspy, yet still determined voice, Hajime said, “Regular...attacks won’t be enough...”

“Mmm... We’ll need concept magic stronger than the one you just used on him.”

Hajime nodded in agreement while Yue created another portal to redirect the flesh beast’s next attack.

“But I don’t have enough mana to do it alone...” Yue added.

“Use metamorphosis magic...on me to—”

“You want me to turn you into a vampire? Are you saying you’ll heal yourself with my blood because I have a lot left?”

Yue was stunned. She hadn’t even considered that possibility. But after thinking about it, she realized it was theoretically doable. She ran some quick calculations in her head. Of course, Tio had already proven it was possible when she’d obtained magic that had let her turn other creatures into dragon familiars. Granted she’d needed the help of Hajime’s artifact for that, but Yue’s skill with magic was far greater.

Yue had no way of knowing that Tio had done something similar already, since that had happened after she was kidnapped, but she was once again amazed at just how thoroughly Hajime had prepared for this battle. She was also overjoyed because it meant Hajime trusted her enough to make this insane plan work. If she didn’t meet his expectations here, she didn’t deserve to call herself his woman.

“What will we use to make the artifact, though?” she asked curiously.

“My eye.”

It was at that moment that Yue realized Hajime’s eye patch had been enchanted with magic that made it difficult to notice whatever was behind it unless Hajime specifically brought attention to it. Of course, if someone was calm, they’d be able to overcome that minor enchantment, but this was why Ehitruje, who’d been acting purely on rage and a desire to humiliate Hajime had overlooked his Demon Eye.

Yue peeled away Hajime’s eye patch and dug her slender fingers into his eye socket. Hajime let out a small groan, and Yue pursed her lips and swiftly pulled the Demon Eye out. It was perfectly spherical and glowed a faint, pale blue.

“Yue...I’m counting on you.”

“Mmm... Don’t worry, I’ll take care of the rest.”

Hajime’s body was enveloped in golden light as Yue started the transformation process. She used spatial magic to keep the flesh beast’s attack at bay while casting a combination of metamorphosis, spirit, and evolution magic on Hajime. It was honestly awe-inspiring how many different types of ancient magic she was managing to juggle at once.

There was no need to turn Hajime into a full vampire, so all Yue had to do was grant him the ability to regenerate by sucking blood. Still, even that was a nigh-impossible feat.

The flesh beast that had once been Ehitruje instinctively seemed to realize that tentacle attacks were getting nowhere and started slowly lumbering toward Yue and Hajime. Yue had until it reached them to transform Hajime, or they’d all be dead.

She was so focused on the vampirification that her defenses weakened for a moment, and a few tentacles grazed her. But she paid them no mind and concentrated only on the task her beloved partner trusted her to accomplish.

“Yue.”

“Mmm... I’m ready, Hajime.”

Hajime’s canines grew a few centimeters and his irises had turned crimson. He leaned closer to Yue and bit into the soft skin of her neck.

“Nnnaaah.”

Yue had succeeded with flying colors. With every drop of blood Hajime drank, his wounds healed a little. And though Yue knew this was no time to be getting horny, she couldn’t help but moan a little every time Hajime sucked on her neck. She wanted this moment to go on forever, but the rational part of her mind that was still focused on their predicament came to a worrying conclusion.

It’s not enough.

Indeed, even after giving Hajime her blood, the two of them combined still didn’t have enough mana to create a concept stronger than the existence-denying bullet Hajime had used. And she knew she wouldn’t be able to give Hajime much more of her blood without running too low herself. Moreover, she’d expended a great deal of her mana to transform him into a quasi-vampire. At this rate, they really would die here. As always though, Hajime had thought ahead.

“Don’t worry. When I made myself into an artifact for you, I did a lot more than just make my blood better.”

Simply hearing Hajime’s confident voice was enough to reassure her. Hajime pressed his lips against Yue’s, but this kiss wasn’t just to show his affection. It was, in fact, the final backup plan that he had prepared.

Ignoring her small moan of pleasure, he bit into her lips with his fangs. A second later, she did the same, and the two of them started slurping each other’s blood.

After that, an explosion of mana erupted from both of them. Golden and crimson mixed, creating a spectacular light show. Their mana spiraled upward, breaking straight through the roof of the Sanctuary and rising toward the heavens.

Both of them should have been completely spent, yet the amount of mana pouring out of them was greater than ever before. This was all thanks to the technique Hajime had devised to theoretically let both of them generate infinite mana, Ultimate Bond. The metal particles Hajime had injected into Yue’s body during his fight with Ehitruje had actually been an artifact in and of themselves, but they’d been designed to only activate when mixed with Hajime’s blood and when Yue was using her power to convert blood into energy. This artifact had the power to restore the power in one’s blood that was temporarily lost when it was sucked by a vampire. Since both of them had this artifact in their blood now, they could theoretically generate infinite mana.

In other words, as long as they were kissing, they would keep increasing their mana.

“Aaahn...” Yue trembled, both from the pleasure of the kiss and the rush of power flowing through her. It was the same for Hajime. He held Yue close, savoring the taste of their bloody kiss.


The flesh beast was now only a few meters away from the two of them.

“Raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

It let out a scream, shooting out its tentacles and shock waves at the same time. Yue didn’t even look at it as she dispelled her portals. There was no need for defense anymore. In fact, the torrent of mana rolling off of Hajime and Yue was so dense that it was creating an unbreakable barrier by itself. It filled the room, and it was quite possible there had never been such a concentration of mana in one place in the entire history of the world.

Hajime and Yue finally broke apart, but they kept their gazes fixed on each other. This was hardly the time and place to be flirting, but they were surrounded by such a dense wall of mana no one could have stopped them anyway. The two of them placed their palms together, Hajime’s Demon Eye, made from Divinity Stone, and the tiny revolver he’d made nestled between them.

Once again, Hajime activated the spell that had gotten him through every hardship he’d come up against thus far.

“Transmute!”

Crimson and golden mana melded together completely, creating a burst of sunrise orange. The surge of mana was powerful enough to force the flesh beast to take a few steps back and scream in pain.

A second later, the burgeoning bubble of light shrank down, coalescing inside the small gun Hajime and Yue were holding together. Hajime’s hand was shaking with exhaustion, so Yue helped steady his aim. Their gazes were both focused on what had become of Ehitruje.

Crimson and golden sparks ran down the length of the gun barrel. The bullet capable of finally putting an end to the monster that Ehitruje had become started to form within the gun’s chamber. The concept magic imbued into it was without a doubt the strongest concept either of them had ever created.

“Raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

The flesh beast launched its tentacles at Hajime and Yue, instinctively sensing the threat that the bullet they were making posed. However, such a haphazard attack was, of course, incapable of even hitting the two of them.

“You’re like a fairy-tale heroine, Yue, blessing the protagonist with victory with a kiss.”

“Mmm... And you’re the perfect protagonist, grasping victory from the jaws of defeat at the last minute.”

As they bantered, the two of them slowly started to pull the trigger.

“All right, you half-dead shade. I’ve got only one thing left to say to you.”

“Yeah.”

The two of them sucked in a deep breath and shouted in unison, “You get what you fucking deserve, you bastard!”

They finished pulling the trigger and the bullet shot out with a surprisingly quiet noise.

How dare you use my body to hurt Hajime?! Not even a thousand deaths can atone for such a sin!

Hajime’s thoughts were, of course, in a similar vein to Yue’s. The two of them loved each other so deeply that any time the other was hurt in any way, shape, or form, they immediately flew into a rage. Moreover, the concept packed into that bullet—that one should pay for the sins they’ve wrought—was akin to an encapsulation of the feelings of every single person across the history of Tortus that had been toyed with and trampled on by Ehitruje.

A single streak of light shot across the room and, small though it was, it contained the most powerful concept magic that had ever been. All the pain and suffering Ehitruje had inflicted on humanity over his long, long lifetime was coming back to smite him.

For a moment there was silence as the streak of light pierced through what Ehitruje’s body had become. Black blood as thick as sludge spilled from the hole the bullet had made, then the flesh beast began to disintegrate.

“Raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

The pained screams of a dying monster filled the room and a mixture of black miasma and platinum-colored mana started rising up into the sky. They traveled through the Sanctuary’s ceiling and even the dark red sky above it.

For eons, Ehitruje had caused the people of this world untold amounts of suffering. And now, at long last, he was paying the price for his crimes. Not even the fires of hell were hot enough to give him the suffering he truly deserved, but it would be a start.

After a solid minute of screaming, the black miasma and platinum mana finally faded completely, leaving nothing behind. This time, Ehitruje—the self-styled god of this world—was dead for good.

The small revolver that had slain god crumbled away into dust. For a while after that, Hajime and Yue just leaned against each other in silence, enjoying the feeling of holding each other’s hands. They looked at each other, smiling happily.

“I guess this isn’t really the time to be resting, huh?” Hajime said.

“Mhm... Can you stand?”

“Tch, I can’t even move my arms, let alone my legs. How about you, Yue?”

“It’s hard enough just to stay upright.”

With the death of its creator, the Sanctuary had started falling apart. The rumbling was growing louder by the second, and there were countless cracks and holes in the pure-white space. Unfortunately, neither of them had the strength left to move. Even Hajime hadn’t predicted the real trial would come after Ehitruje was dead.

“Sorry, Yue... I was thinking that after we killed Ehit and healed up, we’d be able to use the particles left in the air...or even my bones...to make a Gate Key, but...”

“Mmm... Doesn’t look like we have the time for that.”

They couldn’t even recover their mana using Ultimate Bond. The metal particles that served as the basis for the technique hadn’t been able to withstand the burden of constant use and had lost their power. Plus, both Hajime and Yue were exhausted down to their very souls, so even if they did have mana left, they wouldn’t be able to cast ancient magic. Trying would just knock them out.

Hajime had prepared as best as he could, but he wasn’t omnipotent. In their current situation, he couldn’t think of any way to buy them the time they needed to recover either.

Hajime frowned as he watched the room start to break apart even faster. Despite the hopeless situation though, he refused to despair.

“There’s no way...I’m going to let it...end here... We’re going back home even if we have to crawl there.”

“Mmm...”

Lending each other their shoulders, Hajime and Yue literally started crawling across the room. They were heading toward one of the holes that was showing a hazy image of the surface of Tortus. It was slow going, since they had to avoid all of the giant cracks that were more like crevasses and detour around the holes that led to dimensions they didn’t want to fall into, but step by step they pushed forward, just like they always had.

Eventually, they reached their destination. The warped, twisted space that stretched out below them looked too turbulent for any living creature to survive passing through. Hajime and Yue could both tell instinctively that if they jumped in there, they wouldn’t come out alive. Even though they could see the unified Tortus army spread out below them, they couldn’t reach it. Even though Kaori was down there waiting for them, they couldn’t get to her. It was right below their eyes, but the surface was still so very far away. Their only hope was to wait until the very last second and pray that Hajime recovered enough mana to make some artifacts that could protect them during their journey through that twisted space before the Sanctuary fell apart completely.

Unfortunately, reality was cruel. The room started disintegrating faster and faster and the black void crept ever closer to the two of them.

“Yue,” Hajime said.

“Hm?”

“I love you.”

“Mmm...I love you too.”

Hajime wouldn’t recover in time. However, that helped both of them steel their resolve. As the cracks reached their feet, the two of them calmly smiled at each other and kissed. They then prepared to jump, willing to gamble everything on a reckless attempt to reach the surface through that portal.

“Waaaaaaaaait! The super genius beautiful mage Miledi Reisen-tan is here right on tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiime! Did you miss me? Didja?”

Right before they jumped in, something popped out of the portal.

“......” Hajime and Yue stared at the newcomer in utter shock. It felt like they’d been in the middle of a funeral, but then a clown had suddenly popped out of the coffin.

Miledi continued as if she hadn’t just popped in out of nowhere, in the same excited tone as always, “Come on, guys, where’s your thanks? I came here to save you and you’re just sitting there staring! You could have at least given me a round of applause! You’re making me cry. I went through all this trouble and this is what I get?”

“God, she’s so annoying,” Hajime muttered.

“Mmm... That’s definitely Miledi.”

No one else could be that annoying. Hajime and Yue had no choice but to accept that the smiley-faced golem making a peace sign and winking at them was indeed real. At the same time, they realized Miledi had somehow stopped the destruction of the Sanctuary from reaching the small area they were in.

“Are...you doing this?” Hajime asked.

“He he, that’s right. Something like this is a piece of cake for the great leader of the Liberators, Miledi-chan! Aren’t I great? Oh, but save the praise for later. I can only keep this up for a few minutes.”

“Can you get us out of here?” Yue asked.

“But of course! I already sent the bunny girl and all the others back. You two are all that’s left! See, I planned ahead! Now, where’s that applause?”

Miledi’s smiley-faced mask sparkled as she spoke, making her appear even more annoying. Still, Hajime and Yue were genuinely grateful for the assistance. Though admittedly, it galled them that they felt that way. Miledi’s next words wiped the budding smiles off their faces, however.

“All right, here you go. A weaker replica Arrow of Boundaries. It’s my last one. It probably wouldn’t even work if the space here wasn’t so unstable, but it should be enough to get you guys out. And here, have some bonus mana potions! They should get your mana back up to the point where you can activate the thing at least. Once you’ve recovered, activate that arrow and get the heck outta here! I’ll take care of the rest!”

“What do you mean? You’re not coming with us?” Hajime asked as Yue grabbed the arrow Miledi tossed over to them. It definitely sounded like she intended to stay behind in this decomposing dimension. And indeed, her next words confirmed Hajime’s suspicions.

“Yep, I’m staying here. I can’t just let this messed up space run rampant. If it self-destructs naturally, it’ll cause damage to the land down below too. I need to stay back to stop that.”

“You make it sound like you’re dying here,” Hajime said, able to speak with a lot less pain now that he’d drunk the potion and recovered enough mana to activate the arrow.

In a matter-of-fact tone, Miledi replied, “That’s right, I’m going to die here. I’m going to use my last and strongest spell to compress this entire space into nothing. This is a dimension that can’t be allowed to exist, so I was planning on doing this from the start.”

In truth, Miledi’s last-ditch backup plan had been to use this spell to kill herself and Ehitruje along with the Sanctuary if Hajime failed to end him, but that would have been pretty difficult to actually pull off had Ehitruje been alive, so she was honestly quite grateful that Hajime and his friends had succeeded.

“Don’t be stupid. Sacrificing yourself in some heroic fashion isn’t your style—”

Annoyed by how easily Miledi had accepted her own death, Hajime tried to speak some sense into her. But before he could finish his statement, an ethereal image of a blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl of about fourteen or fifteen appeared above the golem. Miledi had projected her spirit out of her golem to show Hajime and Yue what she’d looked like back when she was human. She smiled gently at the two of them, and said in a satisfied voice, “This isn’t self-sacrifice, it’s selfishness. Long ago, I made a promise to my comrades. We swore that we’d kill god and save this world. It was an impossible dream back then, but now I finally have a chance to fulfill that promise.”

Miledi looked off into the distance, recalling the past. Her sky-blue eyes were filled with a mixture of regret and unyielding determination.

“In my time, I couldn’t save the world...or any of my friends. All I could do was entrust our hopes to the future. I’ve been waiting for this moment for thousands and thousands of years. Using up all my power right here, right now, to help the people of the world is the only reason I’ve lived this long.”

Hajime and Yue sat there, listening quietly. It was clear to them that this wasn’t just an attempt at a noble sacrifice to make herself feel better about her past failures. Miledi truly was trying to fulfill the promise she’d held dear to her heart for all these millennia.

Miledi closed her eyes and added, “Thank you, Hajime Nagumo-kun, Yue-chan. Thank you for achieving our long-held desire. And thank you for using our magic for good.”

For once there was no playful note to her voice, and Hajime and Yue were both moved by her heartfelt gratitude. They no longer felt compelled to stop her, but they were glad they were there to witness her final moments.

Smiling, Yue replied, “No, thank you, Miledi. Your magic helped me out the most. In a way, you could say I’m your successor, Miledi Reisen.”

“He he he. Sure, I’ll allow it!”

“‘Live your life however you wish. I know your choices will definitely help this world.’ That’s what you told me when we first met. Now that it’s all over, do you still think my choices were the right ones?” Hajime asked.

“Of course! You sent that shitty god to hell, and I’m still here. You even gave me the chance to use what remains of my washed-up life to help people. Thanks to you, I can finally go meet my comrades with my head held high.”

Had Miledi still been in her mortal body, she likely would have been tearing up right now. Though as it was, her soul projection still looked overcome with emotion.

“All right, you two, I can’t hold off this dimension’s destruction for much longer. It’s time to return to the people who are waiting for you. Don’t worry, that’s what I’m going to be doing too.”

The room rumbled, and the cracks started spreading again. Feeling that, Hajime and Yue rose unsteadily to their feet. Yue activated the Arrow of Boundaries in her hand with the little mana she’d just recovered thanks to Miledi’s mana potion. As the arrow began to glow, the two of them looked into Miledi’s eyes.

In a solemn voice, Hajime said, “Miledi Reisen. You have my utmost respect. No matter how many millennia passed, you never once wavered. You have the strongest will of anyone I’ve ever met, without a doubt. Oscar Orcus. Naiz Gruen. Meiru Melusine. Laus Barn. Lyutillis Haltina. Vandre Schnee.”

Hajime named all of the labyrinth creators—the Liberators who’d fought at Miledi’s side until the very end—one by one. He then placed his hand over his heart and bowed deeply.

“I swear I will never forget you, or your precious comrades.”

Yue also bowed and said, “None of your struggles were in vain. I swear that future generations will know what you did for them.”

Stunned, Miledi was momentarily at a loss for words. It almost looked like she’d just received a treasure she’d always wanted, but hadn’t expected to ever find.

“Oh, umm...come on, guys, why’re you getting all sappy on me?! I can’t even think of what to say! Anyway, get out of here. I really can’t hold this place together for much longer!”

Embarrassed, she looked away and waved at Hajime and Yue to get going. The cracks at their feet really were getting larger, and if they didn’t leave soon, they’d be swallowed up into the void.

Hajime and Yue smiled at Miledi, who still wasn’t looking at them, one last time, then turned their backs to her. After making sure the surface was still being reflected in the dimensional tear they were about to jump into, they nodded to each other.

“See you around, Protector of the World,” Hajime said.

“Goodbye, Protector of the World,” Yue said at the same time.

And with that, the two of them jumped into the unstable portal.

Once they were gone, Miledi stared at the spot they’d been standing in.

“Protector of the World, huh? Come on, guys, that’s just not fair. Saying that at the very end is going to make me feel like I actually did protect the world.”

Miledi smiled to herself, and a second later, her sky-blue mana flared out. Cracks appeared in her golem’s smiley-faced mask and her metal body started fading away from the edges, as if it was disintegrating.

Sparks ran down the body of the golem that had been made with all the knowledge and abilities at the seven greatest Liberators’ disposal, and a giant black sphere appeared above it. Just then, Miledi felt as though she sensed another person’s presence, so she looked up.

“Oh...”

Standing in front of her were her six irreplaceable comrades. Millennia had passed, but her memories of them were as vivid as when they’d first met.

“Guys...”

The specters of her fellow Liberators said nothing, but they were all smiling proudly at her. Miledi knew it was just a hallucination, but that didn’t matter.

“You all came to pick me up together? He he he, well, all right, then. I guess there’s only one thing to say!”

The swelling black sphere started swallowing everything up. The white room, all of the dimensions it was linked to, the cracks and holes that opened up into empty voids, all of it. It was like a true black hole.

Miledi’s golem was destroyed along with everything else, but her soul glowed brilliantly for one last moment, and she shouted with all her might the words that finally signaled the end of her long, solitary journey.

“I’m back, guys!”

A second later, the Sanctuary and everything in it vanished without a trace.

The dark crimson pall that had hung over all of Tortus inverted itself and started to fall apart. The air creaked and groaned as cracks spread beyond the layer of crimson and started extending up, down, left, right, and in all other directions. It wasn’t just the crimson pall that was falling apart, it seemed, but the entire world.

Though the army of apostles had fallen to the ground like rag dolls, no one was cheering. In fact, they were all looking up at the sky and praying for salvation.

“Please save us, God...” a soldier muttered.

Most of the regular soldiers didn’t know the truth about what god was. In order to avoid confusion, Hajime and Liliana had come up with a propaganda cover story that the leaders of other nations had agreed to spread as well. The average person thought there were two gods, a good one and an evil one, and that they were fighting against the evil one.

Naturally, that meant when things got this crazy, they turned to the good god they believed still existed. But then Aiko Hatayama—the beloved Fertility Goddess—addressed everyone in a clear, calm voice, wiping away the soldiers’ desire to cling to god.

“There’s no need to despair, everyone! Even now, I’m certain that Nagumo-kun is continuing the fight against the evil god! The fact that the apostles have fallen and the Sanctuary is breaking is proof that god is struggling! I’m sure that Nagumo-kun will find a way to stop the destruction from spreading to the rest of the world, so hold fast! Pray not to god but for Nagumo-kun’s victory! Let him know that we’re supporting him from down here!”

Silence followed Aiko’s words. For once, this wasn’t a prerecorded speech Hajime had given to her. These were her genuine feelings. She believed with all her heart that Hajime and the others would return safely, and that they’d save the world.

Because she’d fought on the same battlefield as these soldiers, her sincerity got through to them. However, the first to respond was Liliana.

“That’s right, we’ve won!” she shouted, using her artifact to amplify her voice across the battlefield.

A second later, Gahard, who was covered head to toe in cuts and bruises, shouted, “Victory is ours!”

Kuzeli, Lanzwi, Ulfric, Cam, Adul, Simon, and Yuuka all followed suit.

“Victory is ours!” they shouted in unison. Rallied, the soldiers started stomping their boots and chanting, “Victory is ours! Victory is ours! Victory is ours! Victory is ours! Victory is ours! Victory is ours! Victory is ours! Victory is ours! Victory is ours! Victory is ours! Victory is ours!”

Their chanting grew louder with time, everyone hoping that their determination and will would reach those still fighting up above and clear away the darkness enveloping Tortus.

Humans, beastmen, and the visitors from another world all chanted in unison, putting their faith in Hajime and the others. There was only one person who didn’t join in on the chanting—Kaori. She was so drained of mana that she could barely keep herself airborne, but she stubbornly remained in the sky and kept her gaze focused upward at the Sanctuary. She wanted to be as close as possible to greet Hajime and the others when they returned, which was why she forced herself to stay airborne even though her wings were flickering in and out of existence.

After a few seconds, Kaori’s face lit up in joy. They were still a few thousand meters up in the sky, so a normal person wouldn’t have been able to make them out, but Kaori could.

A small hole appeared in the cracked, deteriorating Sanctuary and a group of familiar faces leaped out of it. They started free-falling and didn’t seem to be doing anything to decelerate.

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

“Nuwoooooooooooooooh!”

Two of them let out rather pathetic screams as they fell.

“Shea! Tio!” Kaori shouted. It was indeed Shea—her bunny ears flapping wildly in the wind—and Tio—whose torn kimono was revealing far too much skin—falling from the sky.

A short distance above them, Shizuku, Suzu, Ryutarou, and Kouki were all on Skyboards. Seeing that Shea and Tio were free-falling, the four of them hurriedly dived down to try to grab them.

Seeing their worried expressions, Kaori realized Shea and Tio were actually too exhausted to break their fall. She flapped her silvery-black wings, forcing her exhausted body into action. She accelerated upward, matching her speed to their downward acceleration, and grabbed Shea’s and Tio’s arms in midair.

“Shea, Tio! Welcome back!”

“Kaori-san! We made it!” Shea exclaimed.

“Many thanks, Kaori. It’s good to be back,” Tio said in a more calm tone. The three of them hugged each other tightly, glad to see everyone safe and sound.

Kaori didn’t have the strength to stay airborne for a long while also holding Tio and Shea, so she glided down to an empty patch of ground a short distance away from the army.

Shea and Tio breathed sighs of relief once they were on solid ground and all three of them sat down, too tired to stay standing. A few seconds later, Shizuku and the others came down as well.

“Kaori!” Shizuku shouted, dropping her Skyboard and running over to Kaori.

“Shizuku-chan!”

There were tears of happiness in Kaori’s eyes as Shizuku came over and hugged her. Suzu and the others followed suit.

“Kaoriiiiiin! We’re back!”

“Suzu-chan! Oh...welcome back!” Kaori paused for a second when she realized Eri wasn’t with them, but then she hugged Suzu back as well, deciding it was best not to touch on that subject right now.

“Yo, looks like you guys got out all right,” Ryutarou said with a cheery wave.

“I’m glad you guys did too, Ryutarou-kun.”

Kaori gave Ryutarou a relieved smile, then turned to Kouki, who was standing awkwardly a short distance away. She smiled at him too, and he felt a weight lift from his chest.

“I’m glad you returned safely, Kouki-kun.”

“Oh, yeah. I’m...really sorry about everything. I mean it. And...thank you.”

Kouki bowed his head, tears spilling from his eyes. He had been prepared for a stern lecture, considering that he’d attacked Kaori back at the Demon Lord’s castle, so he was pleasantly surprised when Kaori welcomed him back like everyone else. He was eternally grateful that Kaori, just like Shizuku, hadn’t given up on him. Of course, he understood now that wasn’t because they loved him either, at least not romantically.

Kaori nodded to him, then looked back up at the sky, searching for two certain someones.

“Kaori-san...Hajime-san and Yue-san weren’t with us,” Shea said hesitantly.

“But fear not. We parted ways midway because it was necessary. I do not doubt that Master will return with Yue before long,” Tio added.

Shea and Tio also looked up at the sky. They, too, had absolute faith that Hajime and Yue would return.

“Besides, Miledi-san went to go get them, so I’m sure they’ll be fine...” Shea said, looking a little forlorn. She was thinking back to when Miledi had given them all a weakened knockoff version of the Arrow of Boundaries.

At first, Shea and the others had insisted on going with her to find Hajime and Yue, but Miledi had explained that she only had a few arrows left and that they were quite frail. Once used, they’d break and would only be able to keep a human-sized portal open for a short period of time. If she ended up having to use too many to get to Hajime and Yue, there would only be a limited number of people she’d be able to send back with the last one.

Still, Shea had been reluctant to just leave, but Miledi had insisted that she would get Hajime and Yue out safe and sound, and in the end, Shea had chosen to believe her. After all, she’d correctly surmised that Miledi herself wasn’t planning on returning. The last living Liberator had, from the start, been prepared to sacrifice everything, including her life, to save Hajime and Yue, and more importantly protect the world.

“I know she’s really annoying, but she’s really strong too, so they’ll be fine!” Shea said with a nod.

“Shea... Yeah, you’re right. Besides, if the two of them are together, there’s nothing they can’t do,” Kaori said.

“Indeed. Failure is not a part of their vocabulary,” Tio agreed.

Kaori broke away from Shizuku and Suzu, then looked back up at the sky again. Shea, Tio, and even Shizuku did the same. They glared up at the decaying Sanctuary, praying for Hajime and Yue’s safe return.

Meanwhile, the army was still chanting so loudly that it was a wonder they didn’t lose their voices. And after a few minutes that felt like an eternity, it happened.

“Ah!” Kaori gasped.

A pillar of gold and crimson light shot up out of the Sanctuary. There was so much mana in that pillar that even Shea’s and the others’ jaws dropped open. The will, the concept pouring off of that mana could be felt even from here, and the soldiers fell silent as they looked up at it. Everyone else did too. They were too enamored by that spiral of crimson-gold light to do anything but stare, after all.

“Hajime-san! Yue-san!” Shea shouted happily, the first to break the silence.

A second later, the mana was sucked back into the Sanctuary, presumably converging on the point where Hajime and Yue were. Then, a pitiful scream echoed throughout the entire world, and though it wasn’t ear-splittingly loud or anything, everyone all across Tortus definitely heard it. And at the same time, a streak of platinum light with dark black miasma swirling inside it rose out of the Sanctuary.

In that moment, everyone was absolutely certain that the light was the lifeblood of a god, spilling out from him. The platinum light dispersed into nothing, and silence returned to the world.

A few seconds later, the destruction of the world stopped spreading and instead turned back inward toward the center of the Sanctuary. It was almost as if it was being sucked in by a powerful black hole.

Once all the cracks were gone from the world, the Sanctuary vanished. Its destruction wasn’t accompanied by an explosion or a shock wave, but instead just silence and a brief ripple of light made up of seven distinct colors.

The bright golden yellow of noon, sunset orange, moonlight silver, verdant green, earthy brown, the obsidian of a night sky, and finally, an all-encompassing tinge of sky blue. As that seven-colored light spread outward, it erased the crimson pall that had settled over the world, returning proper color to the sky.

It was a beautiful spectacle.

“Ah...God...” one of the soldiers muttered. This time, though, it wasn’t a voice of supplication, but rather one of everlasting gratitude.

As the light spread it became fainter, but it never quite disappeared. Instead, it turned into a faint aurora in the sky, watching over the people of Tortus as they quietly shed tears of joy.

“Hajime-kun...Yue...” Kaori muttered through gritted teeth. She was squeezing her fists so tight they were drawing blood.

“Hajime...” Shizuku whispered.

“Nagumo-kun...” Suzu said.

“Goddammit. What’s taking you so long, you idiot?!” Ryutarou shouted.

“Nagumo,” Kouki said simply.

All four of them were looking up at where the Sanctuary had vanished. It was completely gone now, and all that could be seen in its place was the sun, shining its light down on everyone. But despite all their waiting, the two people Kaori and the others wanted to see most didn’t show up.

Though the world had returned to normal, the battlefield remained silent.

Up on the fortress rooftop, Yuka said in a trembling voice, “What are you doing? Hurry up and come back...”

Kousuke and Cam were both so exhausted that they had to lean against each other to stay standing as they looked up to the sky and shouted.

“Stop fucking around and get back to us, Nagumo!”

“Boss, you can’t vanish yet, I haven’t even repaid my debt to you!”

In the command room, Liliana had her hands clasped together in front of her chest so tightly that her knuckles were white.

“I won’t allow things to end like this. Please come back, or I’ll have to go looking for you.”

On the opposite side of the fortress’s roof, Aiko was also praying fervently for Hajime’s return.

“Nagumo-kun, you promised you’d return. You’re not allowed to break your promises. As your teacher, I won’t allow it.”

She was desperately holding back tears.

As time continued to pass, the common soldiers—as well as Kouki, Ryutarou, and Suzu—started to think that Hajime and Yue really might have died up there.

“It’ll be fine!” Shea shouted in a confident voice. She said it so loudly even the soldiers heard her, though they were a good distance away.

Kouki and the others looked up, and they saw Shea standing defiantly in front of them, her rabbit ears standing up straight. She was still looking up at the sky, her gaze unwavering.

“It doesn’t matter what anyone else says, or what happens! As long as Hajime-san and Yue-san are together, they’ll definitely be okay! When they’re together, they’re invincible!”

Shea had no doubt that in her mind that they’d make their way out of this predicament. Her absolute confidence bolstered the spirits of those who were beginning to doubt, and suddenly, everyone felt foolish for ever having worried in the first place.

“He he, true that. They’re probably flirting right about now and have forgotten all about us,” Kaori said with a grin.

“I could honestly see that happening,” Tio said with a nod.

“It is their heartfelt reunion, after all. I guess we should give them some time,” Shizuku said with a coy smile.

Suzu’s and the others’ expressions softened as well, and a second later, Shea’s words were proven true.

“Hah! See, look!” she said, pointing up at the sky.

A small crimson ripple spread out from a specific point, and a tiny hole opened up in the seven-colored aurora that now appeared to be an ever-present feature of the world.

“Whoa!”

“Mmm...”

Hajime and Yue tumbled out of the hole, wrapped in each other’s arms. Hajime had his one arm around Yue’s back, while she’d wrapped both of his around his neck. The wind whistled in their ears as the two of them quickly accelerated to terminal velocity. From their height, they would hit the ground in about forty seconds or so.

In the distance, they could see Tortus’s army. With their bearing, they’d fall a few kilometers away from them.

“Yue, can you fly?”

“Nope. I used all my mana activating the arrow.”

“Yeah, figured. All right, this is gonna be a bit bumpy, so hang on tight.”

“Mmm... Don’t worry, I’ll never let you go again.”

“......”

They were falling thousands of meters through the air, but Yue had eyes only for Hajime. In fact, she was smiling and licking her lips, seemingly unconcerned with the dire straits they were in.

Hajime coughed loudly, and ignoring his racing pulse, got to work. He only had one arm, so it was hard to balance in midair, but he managed to right himself. As he did so, his body glowed with crimson mana.

“I can use this...maybe ten times if I push it as hard as possible.”

With his mana reserves nearly depleted, he could only create that many footholds with Aerodynamic. Somehow, he needed to soften the blow of falling eight thousand meters with just those ten footholds.

“Well, I guess if I’m with you, it’s not so bad,” Hajime said, looking at Yue.

“Mmnnnh.”

Yue kissed Hajime’s cheek, which was an impressive feat considering how much the air pressure was restricting their movements. She, of course, had absolute faith that Hajime would succeed, no matter how impossible the odds seemed.

Naturally, Hajime had every intention of proving her right. He concentrated, and a crimson ring rippled out as he created his first foothold. It, of course, shattered immediately, but it slowed their descent somewhat. He repeated the process, calculating their speed and the distance to the ground as he did so.

At some point, the army noticed the ripples of crimson mana that were getting steadily lower in elevation. There was a lot of pointing and shouting, and then a second later, the commander of the allied forces of Tortus shouted, “Victory is ours!”

At long last, Hajime was able to hear the declaration he’d been hoping for. Shortly thereafter, the soldiers let out cheers of joy. It wasn’t just them either; people all across the world cheered at the prospect of living in a world that would no longer be toyed with by god.

Almost as if in response, the seven-colored aurora that covered the sky started emitting particles of light. They glittered in the bright sunlight, looking like diamonds sparkling in the sky. The Liberators, too, were celebrating the birth of a new world.

Bathed in the light shower, Hajime used his last Aerodynamic to perfectly decelerate just enough before hitting the ground so that the impact didn’t hurt too much.

Unfortunately, the holes in Hajime’s legs hadn’t fully healed yet, and Aerodynamic had completely drained him of mana, so he wasn’t able to absorb even the mild shock with his legs. The two of them fell, hitting the ground with a pathetic thud.

“Ha ha, that was a pretty uncool landing,” Hajime said, unable to move even an inch. His expression was relieved, though.

Yue was on top of him, content to simply rest in his arms. She shook her head and said, “That’s not true. That was the coolest landing ever.”

“Really?”

“Mmm... Hajime, thank you. I love you.”

She smiled, then kissed Hajime on the lips. Hajime couldn’t move, so he just let her have her way with him. Granted, even if he could have moved, he couldn’t ever say no to Yue. He simply had no desire to resist her, after all.

The two of them enjoyed a long passionate kiss, and the army’s cheers faded away into the distance. But soon enough, voices they couldn’t ignore reached them.

“See, I told you! They forgot all about us and are flirting! Wait, Yue-san?!”

“Sh-She’s turned into an aduuuuuult?! Oh god, she’s seducing Hajime-kun with her wily adult charms!”

“How can this be?! Master doesn’t seem to be resisting either... It’s as if she’s drained his soul!”

“Sh-She looks really sexy...but I won’t give up! A real woman forges her own path!”

Shea, Kaori, Tio, and Shizuku had arrived. Suzu, Ryutarou, and Kouki were a short distance behind them.

Shea and the others rushed over to Yue, their touching reunion marked with the same lively bickering as usual. Yue stopped kissing Hajime and got up, while Hajime simply turned his head, and the two of them beamed at their companions.

“Yo. We’re back, guys.”

“Mmm... I’m finally home.”

“Welcome back!” Shea and the others said in unison, their happy voices echoing over the grassy plain.

The sky above was covered in glittering diamond dust and the dazzling sunlight was as bright as everyone’s smiles. In the distance, Hajime could hear other people running over and calling his name as well.

Surrounded by warmth and feeling as though he’d accomplished something truly worthwhile, Hajime smiled back at everyone. It was a mixture of his usual fearless grin and the kind, gentle smile he’d had before being dropped into the abyss, and it immediately melted the hearts of all the girls who were in love with him.

Eventually, the exhaustion of the long, long battle overtook him, so he closed his eyes, falling into a deep sleep.



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