"....."
Click—
"Why the silence, Ein?"
Ein approached him without a word.
".....You look like a wreck."
"Tell me about it~ I feel like I'm actually going to die!"
"..."
Ein surveyed his physical state.
A severed right arm, a body drenched in blood, and muscles that had completely lost their tension.
"Why?"
"Why else? I lost because I was weak."
"You could have used that....!"
"Hey now~ I couldn't use that."
"But why!"
As if frustrated to the point of anger by Akumo's nonchalance, Ein shouted at him, demanding the reason for his defeat.
"If you had only used that sword, there's no way you would have lost...."
'!!'
In that moment, Ein realized.
"Are you worried about me?"
".....Nonsense."
'There's no way....!'
"If I used it, I wouldn't be able to hide it anymore, right? Not you, and not Knossos."
"But still....!!"
"Besides, my opponent came at me bare-handed. It's only right that I face him the same way!"
"..."
As Akuo spoke with a casual smile, Ein found herself unable to comprehend him.
Grip—!!!
'How.... even in this situation....'
"How can you make that face....."
'A face that looks so at ease, so relieved....'
Seeing Ein's visible confusion, Akuo spoke.
"I simply wanted to win with the power I possess."
"I fought as a warrior against a warrior, and I lost."
He grinned.
"It was truly fun.... and I was happy!"
"..."
"Because I fought freely, without worrying about someone's cause, or good and evil, or any of that."
Ein's hands trembled as she looked at his relieved and happy expression.
Sharp fangs, the unmistakable red patches of skin beneath his eyes—even his hands had veins bulging, and his nails were sharpened like a beast's.
—'Whether it's humans!! Or monsters!! It doesn't matter!!!'
Looking at him, the words he had roared in Daedalus Street echoed in Ein's mind. She recalled the sight of everyone throwing themselves into battle as if they shared a single heart and soul.
"..."
'No....'
There had been no boundary between monsters and humans there.
There were only those who wanted to save someone and those who wanted to win—people striving to achieve what they desired.
"....."
Grip—!!
It was such a pure battle, and everyone had looked so free.
—'Are you incapable of moving unless someone gives you an order!!!!??'
Those words pierced Ein's heart like a gouging blade.
"That's not it...!"
'How could those... those monsters....'
"Why.... are you so happy....?"
'I'm a monster, and you must be a monster too....! Those bastards are monsters too....!!!'
"Just why....?"
The thought stabbed deeper into her heart, and her pupils quivered.
'I also....'
Crunch—!!
'I wanted that too....'
The desire to enter that freedom, the yearning to see the light, began to consume her mind. She clenched her fists so hard that her nails dug into her palms, drawing blood.
"It's.... all because of you...."
Drip—!
"From the moment you arrived, everything!!!!!"
Creak—!!!
She looked ready to pierce Akuo's heart right then and there.
"I thought all I had to do was follow my God's orders....!!"
".....If that was your choice."
"!!"
'I had finally managed to forget....'
Boom—!!!
"Why do you keep denying it!!!??"
Ever since the day she fell into the abyss of tragedy, Ein had taken her God's words as absolute truth.
If he told her to kill, she killed. If he told her to die, she would have died gladly.
"I was satisfied with just that....!"
She thought that was enough for a monster.
"A monster is just a monster....!"
'To be happy...!! I'm just a hideous existence...!!!'
"Because of you....!!"
But it wasn't true.
Drip! Drip—!
"..."
"Why are you suddenly crying again?"
"Shut up....!!"
She had seen what happened tonight, and she couldn't forget it.
The sight of humans and monsters fighting freely for their own purposes.
A battle so beautiful that it didn't pale even in comparison to the sunlight she thought she would never see again.
"I am a filthy being....!!"
"A life that's worse than dying because I couldn't overcome it!!!!"
"Living with pain that feels like my entrails are being shredded, I was satisfied with just being used and then dying..."
Drip—!
"Don't shake me anymore....!"
Drip—!
"Please don't shake my meaning....."
Her tears were now flowing uncontrollably, and she pleaded with Akuo as if begging for her life.
"Don't... anymore....."
'Don't make me look so pathetic....'
Thud—!
"Ugh... huff...."
She eventually collapsed to her knees.
The sight of Akuo and the Xenos demonstrating a brilliant freedom she could never attain made her feel utterly miserable.
She felt that someone like her didn't even have the right to kill Akuo, and she didn't want to kill him either.
'How pathetic...! How wretched...!'
Grip—!!!
'Die...! Please just die....!'
"Someone, please....!!"
The words 'save me' would not come out.
Was it because of guilt, or an inescapable self-loathing, or the internal burden that told her she must never be at peace?
"..."
Akuo didn't say much to the broken Ein.
"As I thought...."
'The only one who can save me is my God... Only he validates me....'
Drip! Drip—!
"Only... only him..."
In the face of Akuo's silence, Ein tried to erase Akuo's existence and tonight's events from her mind, drowning in self-loathing and blind faith in her Patron Deity.
Grip—!!
She clenched her fist, trying to find peace even if it meant killing Akuo.
'Only he loves me.... and....'
Tremble—!!
'For him, I will offer my body, my heart, and my soul—'
Even as she thought these things, her throat tightened, and her eyes and fists shook with instability.
Thud—!
"...Huh?"
Akuo's hand touched her mask.
"You've worked hard."
Slide—!
"D-Don't look—"
"You're not even a monster, anyway."
"...What?"
Akuo placed his hand gently on her mask and slowly removed it.
"You've really worked hard until now."
He grinned.
'Dying like this... well, I guess it wouldn't be so bad.'
It was just that one sentence.
The words she needed to hear—she who loathed herself, she who hated her past yet could not affirm her present self.
It wasn't for the sake of good and evil or some grand cause. It was simply a word of comfort for the 'person' named Ein.
"Ah...."
Crack—!
Since when had she been like this? Ein, who had been tightly shut and hardened, painted over with sticky, dark emotions.
"Ah.... ah...."
Cr-crack—!!
"Ah....!! Ahhh....!!!"
As the sound of something breaking echoed from within her, she found herself unable to even speak.
"You've done well, Filvis."
The moment he called her by her original name.
SHATTER—!!!!!!!
"Ah..."
That hideous shell she had wrapped around herself in denial—viewing herself as a monster beyond redemption—shattered completely.
"Yes....!"
Drip—!
'It's warm.....'
Tears streamed from Filvis's eyes.
She was no longer Enyo's Ein, acting for a God's grand cause, nor an evildoer seeking blind love.
"Yes...!!"
These were simply the tears of a girl named Filvis.
Step, step—
""""...""""
The Xenos had returned to the Dungeon, escaping Hermes's pursuit amidst the massive chaotic battle caused by Akumo and Akuo, and the disturbance from the fight between Asterius and Bell.
"I have finished treating everyone."
".....Yes."
"Thank you, Fels."
"....."
No Xenos had died in this disturbance, and what injuries they did have were successfully healed by Fels's magic.
"""".....""""
However, their expressions were far from bright.
The faces of Lido, Rei, Gros, and Vane, who were walking at the front, were clouded with a deep sorrow that looked like guilt.
"I'm truly sorry, Fels."
Slide—
"You healed everyone's bodies with magic, and we've caused you unnecessary trouble."
"No, I was prepared for this from the moment I decided to form a bond with you all."
"..."
'I wonder if... Mr. Akuo felt the same way....'
Lido thought of Akuo at Fels's words and couldn't find anything to say.
—'Fight!!!!!!!!'
As if embodying those words, Akuo had remained in the battle until the very end.
Even as his body was being broken down in the duel against the Loki Familia and the city's strongest adventurer, the [Pioneer] Akumo, he had fought until the finish.
"Mr. Akuo....."
"Akuo...."
"....."
Whether it was a blessing or a curse, the Xenos had not witnessed the final moments of the battle. They had only been told the outcome by a stoic Asterius.
"Dammit....!!"
Boom—!!!
"I should have been the one to die...."
"Gros!!"
"Not Akuo.... but me!!!"
'I should have died in his place....'
Gros was furious with himself.
He couldn't even sacrifice himself; in the end, he had just been saved by them along with his kin.
He could only assume that Akuo, who hadn't returned, was dead.
Grip—!!!
"Fels, don't you know anything about Akuo...?"
"I'm sorry. No matter how much I investigated, there was no information."
"Urgh...!!"
"But, since no corpse was found, there is a possibility he's alive..."
Fels tried to comfort them by mentioning the possibility of his survival, but Vane only trembled, her fists clenched tight.
"Is Akuo.... dead...?"
Slide—
"No... he won't be dead...."
Flutter—
"He can't be!"
Wiene asked Rei, who was holding her hand, in a trembling voice. Rei could only barely deny his death, suppressing the tears that threatened to leak out.
"....."
'I... don't know what to say....'
Fels bit her lip bitterly at the sight of their grief.
From her perspective, Akuo was a mysterious powerhouse and a danger born in the Dungeon, but the image he had shown was unmistakably similar to the heroes she knew.
'If he really is the same as him....'
Fels swallowed the words 'he'll return' and waited for their sorrow to subside. In that moment—
Step, step—!
"!!"
"Yo~ What's with all the blubbering?"
".....Akumo?"
Fels momentarily doubted her eyes.
The figure before her was undoubtedly Akumo. If not for the slight difference in the tips of his hair, she wouldn't have even questioned it.
"It's Aku'o', actually."
"....!!"
However, she soon understood.
"Is it really you...!"
'A Xenos... born from Akumo's soul...!'
"Who knows~? Think whatever you like."
Slide—!
"Whatever my identity is, I act according to my heart."
The man before her was Akumo—an existence like a double, infinitely close to him.
"Ah.... ah....!!"
Patter, patter—!!
""""AKUO!!!!!!!""""
Fels decided to simply accept it as such.
In a series of events that could only be described as miracles, perhaps she too wanted to be happy, or perhaps she smiled because the Xenos were so joyful.
Watching the Xenos rush toward him in genuine delight at his return, she smiled.
Slide—!
"You really are.... a hero to everyone..."
She placed a hand on the 'half' her hero had gifted her, satisfied that salvation had come for the Xenos as well.
"The armed monster horde was subjugated by the Loki Familia, and the [Little Rookie] makes a miraculous return, huh?"
"They're talking however they please~"
"Isn't that what you wanted? Both you and I."
Following the series of incidents, Akumo and Hermes were walking through the streets of Orario, which had regained its stability.
"Man~ to think I'd end up being the clown~"
"Once you're on the stage, you have to be prepared, right?"
"Even if it's a stage I set up?"
"Are you really sure about that?"
"....Haha! I suppose you're right~"
Hermes laughed in admiration. The board he thought he had constructed had been completely upended by one... no, by warriors, and yet it had produced an even more ideal result.
"Being a clown isn't so bad."
Step, step—!
"No one complains even if you ad-lib freely!"
"You really are....."
Looking at Akumo as he spoke with a smile, Hermes had no choice but to acknowledge it.
'I forgot that heroes aren't the only ones who step onto the board...'
"So, where are you heading?"
"I have to go to my proud kid."
"Hehe... that sounds good."
"Lord Hermes, you should wait at your home to apologize~"
"I get it, I get it."
After sending Hermes ahead to Hearthstone Manor, Akumo began heading toward a certain location.
He was clearly heading toward the kid he had mentioned to Hermes.
Whoosh—!!
"My head feels quite clear now."
'Just like back then....'
Whoosh—!!
Recalling the Leviathan raid, Akumo headed toward a certain wall. It was a training ground he had heard about from Aiz before.
"Yo~"
"Brother!"
"Akumo..."
"Looks like I already have company~"
Arriving at the wall, Akumo found the white-haired boy and the golden-haired girl staring blankly at Babel.
"Are you training again?"
"....."
"Even after everything that happened?"
"Yes....!"
Akumo laughed happily at Bell's dignified and determined answer.
"Ahahaha!!"
Slide—
"I'll leave Bell in your care, Aiz."
".....Yes."
Aiz looked as though much of her confusion regarding the incident had cleared.
Seeing that, Akumo spoke to her warmly, reminding himself that she was still just a child.
"Both you and Bell want to get stronger, right?"
'Truly.'
"It's unfair... both you and Bell."
"Then get strong enough to be even more unfair—strong enough to achieve everything you want!"
Slide—!
"That goes for both of you!"
The boy and girl answered Akumo's words in unison.
""Yes!""
Even if their desires and intentions differed, it was clear that everyone there possessed the will to achieve what they sought.
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