The party had arrived at the final stage, Knightmare’s castle, entrenched within the bottle of souls.
However, Shion was not entirely pleased.
“...annoying.”
Because his body was that of a cat.
"There’s nothing we can do. The only available vessel for consciousness transfer here is a wild cat," Soliette explained. Shion swiftly climbed onto her shoulder.
Party member [Karl] asked, “So, we’re just going to walk in through the front?”
"Yes.”
Soliette nodded and pushed the door. The passage, which seemed like a massive wall, creaked open with a loud creak.
Dimly lit torches flickered on opposite sides of the dark tunnel-like path, whose end was not visible.
They entered together.
Thud.Thud.
Shion, with his cat eyes, looked at Jared next to Soliette. Draped over his shoulder was the explosive that would shatter the bottle of souls.
Thud.Thud.
Footsteps echoed. Soliette’s heart pounded in unison.
Thud.Thud.
Before long, everyone’s pace slowed down.
It was because of the ‘door” that was gradually becoming visible in the darkness.
Probably the path leading to Knightmare.
Soliette reached the door. Her trembling hand touched the doorknob. Shion, too, placed his cat paw on Soliette’s shoulder.
“...Thank you.”
Maybe it's because he’s a cat, but he seems much cuter than usual.
Soliette smiled faintly and opened the door.
With a great resonance, the scene beyond welcomed them.
There was a ‘throne.’
In the empty cavity, there was only one—lonely seat.
Seated there, an entity wrapped in pitch-black armor.
Knightmare.
Soliette’s heart raced as she gazed at him.
"Look at that son of a bitch.”
"We finally meet.”
The party members each uttered a line, but Knightmare simply extended his hand.
"You won’t be leaving alive today—”
Suddenly, their movements froze.
Not just the NPCs. Jared Arkne stopped as well.
Everyone, as if put on pause.
—I see you’ve received my gift.
Knightmare inquired. Soliette silently stared at him. Shion gently landed beside her.
Knightmare rested his chin on his hand.
—Still haven’t grasped reality?
Soliette shook her head.
"I know. I know you lured me here.”
This game had already reached its conclusion.
Knightmare knew that Soliette was pursuing him and willingly agreed to meet her.
—Good. Now, I will give you a choice.
Choice.
Soliette quietly looked around.
[Karl], [Hans], [Crow], [Jenny],
An adventure with like-minded companions she had dreamed of since her youth.
—If you wish, you can join me in oblivion. We can make this world a reality through oblivion.
And there was Jared Arkne, standing by her side.
Her brother, whom she loved so dearly, pitifully so.
—You can make them real with your own hands. You can forget much and live peacefully with them.
Soliette fell into a quiet contemplation, but soon shook her head.
Perhaps if it had been before... If Shion hadn’t been by her side.
She might have considered it more seriously.
Back then, reality itself was meaningless to her.
"It’s alright."
Now, things are different.
Of course, she had experienced things she had never dreamed of.
Adventures with her brother, with trustworthy people, wonderful adventures.
Days like a dream.
Knightmare might wish for her to never wake from this dream, but Soliette already knows.
A dream is most beautiful when it remains a dream.
—Foolish. Like father, like daughter, I suppose.
Knightmare taunted. Soliette drew the sword from her waist.
"You killed my most precious friend and my brother."
—Indeed.
Knightmare responded.
However, he is clearly not a being but a phenomenon.
A nightmare-like creature, wearing the skin of others, pretending to be human.
"So I must kill you here."
Soliette thrust her sword forward. Knightmare also lifted the greatsword from his back. At that moment, the pause was lifted.
"-You're dead!"
The party members’ voices followed belatedly.
Soliette spoke to Shion.
"Shion. Please help Mr. Jared with setting up the explosives. They need to be placed at the heart of this castle.”
“.Are you sure? You think you won’t lose?”
"Yes. I am certain. Look at my level.”
Soliette suddenly displayed her information window.
[ Lv.78 Solize ]
A staggering level 78. An achievement raised through near-addictive dedication. There’s no max level in [Bethune], but she’s likely the top ranker.
Shion chuckled and climbed onto Jared’s shoulder.
"Mr. Jared, let's go. To the deepest part.”
"Yes.”
Two days ago, when she logged out
Soliette had confirmed it then.
She acquired artifact glasses to aid her investigation, spent all her saved money to request a hack into the police server, and while dredging up old memories—she checked the ‘facts.’
Thinking back, the memory of that day was faint for Soliette.
The day Jared and Felix had died.
She couldn't bear to look at their faces. She lost her ability to think. Her mental state had shattered.
But now, looking back after time has passed.
She saw things she hadn’t seen before.
Heard things she hadn’t heard before.
According to the police reports, Jared’s body was recovered, but only parts of Felix's body were found.
They used the term ‘dismembered,’ but the dismembered parts were never discovered.
Not to this day.
"Phew...”
Soliette took a deep breath and glared at Knightmare. A smile slowly spread across her lips.
There have been times like this in the past.
When she sparred with 'that person,' she always felt this tense.
"Hey! Maintain the front line!”
"Keep the line!”
The stage was already set.
The final boss always commands minions. She’d leave them to her party members and face the final boss herself.
"Are you ready?”
Soliette asked.
Perhaps he had noticed to some extent
—...How pitiful. Such a foolish child.
He spoke like a true villain, but Soliette caught the smile in his voice.
"Ha!”
She kicked off the ground and charged at Knightmare. She parried his greatsword with her thin rapier.
Chaeaaang-
A sonic boom shook the fortress.
She knew who the Knightmare she had to face was.
More precisely, whose skin Knightmare was wearing.
How the soul inside that skin and the phenomenon called Knightmare were clashing.
Chaeaaang-
Their swords clashed a second time. Soliette saw Knightmare beyond the blade. Knightmare saw her too.
In their gazes, there was joy, and there was longing.
For that day they could never return to.
For someone she once cherished.
Knightmare... 'the soul within’ before it lost itself.
Now Soliette must fight with all her might to overcome him.
—That was roughly how things unfolded.
Knightmare had latched onto Felix as a ‘phenomenon,’ and for a while, Felix had his body hijacked by it, until at some point, he regained a part of his reason and clashed against Knightmare for control.
Sometimes he won, sometimes he lost, but it was a battle he could never win.
After all, Felix was as good as dead already.
If he expelled Knightmare, which was keeping him alive, that in itself would be death.
He wandered in agony until he realized that Soliette was pursuing Knightmare. He knew that Soliette was suffering to the point of death.
Therefore, this [Bethune] was a process of healing.
Felix had stumbled upon an abandoned game by chance and reprogrammed its mechanisms for his purpose.
Then he led Soliette to be a player. He deliberately attached NPCs acting like a player party members.
Since Soliette unexpectedly enjoyed the game itself, it somewhat met the objective of healing.
After she went through all the storylines.
He intended to appear as the final boss himself, as Knightmare.
Knightmare had always wanted Soliette to kill him.
So that Soliette could heal Knightmare’s pain, and he could end this nightmarish prolongation of life.
“.The explosives have been set up.”
Deep beneath the fortress.
Jared Arkne had installed the explosives.
And as he was, this Jared is a fake.
A counterfeit created by Felix based on Jared's personality, actions, and memory. If compared to a computer, an assembly of binary code.
"All that's left is to detonate it. Meow."
At my words, Jared flashed a brief smile.
"That’s right”
He sighed and leaned against the wall. I watched him quietly.
"Are you okay?"
Jared glanced over here briefly.
"Yes. I'm fine.”
He nodded with a somewhat sorrowful tone. I flicked my tail back and forth and said,
"Think about it carefully. This choice is yours to make.”
Jared’s eyes widened slightly.
He asked, puzzled,
My choice?”
"Yes. This clay bomb is connected to you. If you wish, you don’t necessarily have to blow up this bottle."
"Nobody wants to die, right?”
If the bottle is destroyed, Jared dies. This very existence will be erased.
Who could easily accept such a simple death?
“I’ll leave the choice up to you, Jared.”
Even if Knightmare dies, the bottle of souls can be maintained.
Jared can live and breathe here.
From this point on, it’s entirely up to Jared.
I can't stop him with this cat body, and to some extent, I hope he chooses life.
For Soliette’s sake, too.
"Well, I am a bit intrigued."
Jared stroked his eyebrow and shook his head.
“It’s okay. It seems like it would be a disservice to my sister.”
At his words, I narrowed my eyes. An involuntary meow slipped from my lips.
"Nyah. So you knew after all. That Soliette is Soliette.”
“It was hard pretending not to know."
"Why pretend, then?"
Jared smiled faintly.
“I didn’t want to make it harder for my sister.”
I looked at him.
He didn’t seem like a fake, even though he was one. He seemed alive, even though he was already dead.
“I desperately pretended not to know. I wanted to... protect my sister.”
"Protect what? She's alive.”
“I’m already dead, aren’t I?”
Jared stood up. He slowly surveyed the grimy basement
“I don’t exist in the outside world anymore.”
I pondered for a moment.
What would it feel like to be a fake who knows he’s already dead?
What kind of heart could accept this so calmly?
"No matter what I say or what voice I use, it will only hurt her. It will remain as a scar-like memory.”
Jared slowly closed his eyes, as if sifting through the memories in his head, and let out a soft breath.
"All I have are the memories from before I died. Our times are out of sync, and the days we spent together must have already faded... A fake like me shouldn’t dredge up those real memories.”
Jared had labeled himself a fake.
At the same time, he called the memories he shared with Soliette real.
They were strangely poignant words.
"You. You don’t know how Soliette has grown up.”
I shot back before I even realized it, a slight thorn in my voice.
"Ah... I see.”
Jared had only been inside this bottle.
Soliette had met him here too, through a process called ‘consciousness transfer.’
Because of that, he couldn’t see how Soliette had grown up.
“I do miss her a little, but it’s okay. That much is fine. I’ll just cherish the memory of her that I have.”
Boom!
Suddenly, a large vibration came from above.
The end was approaching.
I wonder what choice Soliette will make at the last moment.
I’m curious, but right now, I should keep my focus on Jared here.
"Let me ask you again. Are you sure you don't want to go to Soliette?”
"Yes.”
"No, no!"
I shook my head violently. Instinctively, my tail shot up straight, quivering. A growl of dissatisfaction rumbled from the base of my throat.
"That wasn't a question just now.”
Jared looked at me. His eyes were still full of the conviction that he shouldn’t go.
"Go to Soliette.”
I insisted to him.
“I believe in you. Because I’ve already seen the future where you don’t go.”
Soliette from before my regression probably went through a similar ordeal.
But she wasn’t healed back then.
Far from being healed, she became a bloody mess of wounds...
"If you don’t go, Soliette might kill herself."
Jared’s expression widened. I glared at him, my tail erect with solemnity. My eyes sharpened like a hawk’s. I unsheathed my claws, both feline and human, ready to strike.
“I’ll scratch you until you decide to go."
Shashak.
As I swiped through the air above and below, Jared smiled.
"Hahaha.”
It was a laugh that seemed to find me adorably amusing, which was incredibly irritating to me.
