"Forget it."
Sophien shook her head and placed her finger on the edge of the Go board. It had 19 horizontal and vertical lines that made up 361 points. This game stimulated Sophien’s interest and awakened her desire to win.
"We will have time to play Go after that."
However, the reality in front of her eyes was something she didn’t want to miss out on by concentrating on a woodblock.
"…Is that so?"
Then, Deculein smiled as if it was a shame.
"I wanted to show you the difference you can't overcome."
Sophien glared at Deculein and replied.
"I'm doing you a favor. If I beat you, there will be no more reason to play Go."
"Is that so?"
"Yeah."
Challengers are apt to burn with enthusiasm because there are goals to overcome, and there is always an enemy who overcomes them. On the other hand, those who reach the top lose their enthusiasm. They live a dull life, and eventually, they become sluggish, just like Sophien.
"They who are at the top have the least fun."
Sophien took a step closer to Deculein. She examined his neat outfit and moved closer.
Woosh—
She untied his tie and raised the collar to one side. Deculein's expression flinched.
"…Deculein."
Sophien called out his name and peered into his eyes.
"Who are you?"
She asked. The emperor still didn't know his true name.
"What do you mean, Your Majesty?"
Deculein asked. Sophien sneered.
"…I'm asking for your real name. You haven't told me."
Even so, Deculein wasn’t shaken. This guy was always the same. In all circumstances, at any moment, he always kept his composure and showed no sign of humiliation or ugliness. Since he was always constant and unchanging, even this moment had become like 'every day.' A daily life that seemed like it would go on and on.
Just a normal daily life where there is you and me, and we won't disappear.
"But it seems like I can tell even if you don't say."
Sophien heard his name one day, those strange letters someone had muttered to themselves.
"Kim Woojin."
"…"
Deculein's eyes trembled slightly. This faint agitation was the most convincing proof.
"…I see."
Deculein nodded. Still looking like Deculein, he said.
"Yes. That is also my name."
Saying that Kim Woojin was his name... no. Kim Woojin 'also' was his name.
"I'm Deculein, and I'm Kim Woojin. There is no real and no fake. Those two selves, both souls, both respect and like Your Majesty."
His tone was enough to disconcert Sophien. She went silent for a while.
"…"
Meanwhile, pattering rain sounded overhead, and mana slowly filled the space. Deculein's magic was in motion, so there wasn't much time left.
"…Even after hearing that."
Sophien managed to open her mouth and speak in a trembling voice.
"Do you think I can survive?"
To survive for her meant to continue living. However, for Sophien, the meaning of life wasn’t the continued existence of the continent but a specific someone. Only that one person.
"I will suffer as the wind blows away my skin, and your face will rise in the lake."
He listened quietly to the emperor's complaints.
"Even if I try to forget you by burying myself in the boring state affairs, things like that will end easily. You will come to mind again in those open hours."
Saying so, Sophien smiled.
"No matter how hard I try, I will eventually die. It'll be easier to die than to forget."
Her feelings came out at their own will, and she grew more certain. The lighthouse trembled in time with the emperor's heart.
"However, I can't change your mind with my confession, so that I will ask you one thing."
Just one question and Sophien needed only one answer.
"Yes. Anything you want."
Deculein replied.
"Huhu."
The smile on Sophien's lips darkened. Her eyes drew a crescent arc.
"…This is my question."
Her voice now held a mischievous tone.
"Just as Deculein loved Julie and Kim Woojin loved Yuli…."
He was Deculein, but at the same time, he was Kim Woojin. Therefore, he wasn't Deculein, and he wasn't Kim Woojin. He was two people who became one harmonious soul.
That was why Sophien had to ask this question.
"Could you have loved me?"
Could he have? If they had been given more time if their daily life had continued.
"…"
He lost himself in thought, but it was only for a moment. Rather, he soon put on a more confident look, looking down upon her that way, and slowly…
"I-"
"No."
Sophien raised her hand to cover his mouth. She shook her head.
"…I think it's better not to hear the answer."
She couldn't help it. Either way, it would be sad and painful.
"…Yes."
He also accepted Sophien's whims. Sophien looked up at him and smiled.
"Then, I guess it's over now."
"Yes, I guess. It felt long, but looking back, it wasn't."
"That is true indeed."
Sophien closed her eyes. She thought back to the day they first met when Deculein introduced himself as her teaching wizard. He explained runes and competed in Go and chess with her. This man who saved her from sluggishness and boredom made her aware of the love and reduced her to a mere human.
"Your Majesty. The time has come."
At that moment, she could feel the magic particles gathered in the air. The spell’s mana caressed her skin. Sophien instinctively grabbed her sword.
"Deculein."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
He called her 'Your Majesty,’ even the way he always ended his sentences calmly. His unruffled attire and that more aristocratic attitude than anyone else.
"…I'll miss them."
She'd miss all of that. Not seeing him again was so sad that tears flowed unbidden down her cheeks.
"I'll miss you."
…At that moment, Deculein's expression hardened. Sophien smiled again.
"Go now."
She put her blade through his heart.
—!
The lighthouse fluctuated as if the trigger had been pulled. Sophien's mana penetrated Deculein’s body.
"…As much as I love you."
Sophien looked at Deculein. She gazed at the magic that rose within his flesh.
"I want you to be happy."
At the same time as she said it-
Swoooosh-
His magic spread across the world. The simplest psychokinesis spell wrapped around the entire continent, and all living beings went into his arms...
* * *
—…Deculein didn't even kill a Demon Blood child.
Primienne's voice sounded in Elesol’s ear.
—He knew I was a Demon Blood, but he didn't reveal it.
Elesol's eyes scanned the analysis paper that Yeriel had set out. She was reading the result of Louina's interpretation of Deculein's Lighthouse.
—Elesol, you too seem to be vaguely aware of it.
A lighthouse that led to destruction. However, there was another meaning Deculein hid inside.
—Deculein isn't trying to kill the Demon Bloods. He's, rather….
Rustle-!
Elesol crumpled the analysis paper. Then, she looked around. Everyone was reading the same thing, even Ganesha, Gawain, Delric, and Maho, all without a word.
"…So?"
Elesol looked around to see it was Ellie who spoke.
"So, where are you going with this? You mean to save the professor?"
Ellie asked Yeriel. Yeriel stared at her without saying a word.
"Nothing changes just because you brought these things. No, even if it does, we can't let that happen. We'd just be in the professor's way. You know it too, Yeriel."
"…"
To become a villain and die. Because of that, the chain of hatred would be broken. That was the result Deculein strove for.
"I know."
Yeriel said.
"I know that too. But… he doesn't have to die."
Yeriel's wish was simple: she just wanted him to live.
"He can pretend to be dead."
"How can he pretend to be dead?"
Ellie logically questioned the situation, but Elesol stopped her. Yeriel clenched her teeth.
"Are you saying we should leave it like this? No, I can't."
She wanted to protect Deculein, just like he protected her. Yeriel took a step forward to the other side of the lighthouse-
"Intentions without action are just a nuisance."
Ellie stopped her.
"We also have orders from Her Majesty. Don't let anyone in...."
—!
At that moment, the lighthouse suddenly shook, and magical energy bloomed from all directions.
"Move!"
Yeriel dashed forward at that moment. She produced a level of mana that even she didn't know she could, all to step inside a place where time and space were frozen without anyone to stop her. Beyond that was her brother.
"Deculein—!"
* * *
…Drip, drip.
…Drip, drip.
Rain was falling across Annihilation and the continent. It was the water of life.
…Drip, drip.
…Drip, drip.
Quay felt it as he watched the rainfall. It was the purest magic that originated on this continent and the countless human auras obscured by it. Deculein had succeeded in taking a single step.
"…It's a little different from the human extinction you wish for."
With those words, Quay looked back to Kreto. He was free from Deculein's magic. To be precise, Quay was protecting him.
"Isn't this enough to be considered your defeat?"
Kreto asked sarcastically, but Quay calmly shook his head.
"No, it's no different. They can't return from Outside the World anyway."
Outside, the World was isolated. Those contained there became non-existent beings.
"How can you be so sure?"
Quay smiled.
"It's simple. Because I am still there."
Even he didn’t dare cross over, so his body remained there. A mere human wizard couldn't meddle with that space.
"Do you think it is possible?"
Quay asked Kreto. Kreto replied, looking out the window.
"Yeah. I think it is possible."
…Drip, drip.
…Drip, drip.
A massive celestial body loomed overhead. The destruction that would condemn this continent arrived quietly with the rain.
"You know that. There is certainly a lifespan to phenomena, existence, and non-existence."
Kreto suddenly said. Quay glanced back.
"There is no eternal life. Nothing can live forever. Even Giants die one day."
Kreto met Quay's gaze.
"So time takes precedence over anything else."
Maybe that was the right thing to say, but why was he grinning? Quay chuckled.
"So, are you saying you want the broken continent to regenerate and that space Outside the World to disappear naturally by simply waiting?"
Kreto grinned back.
"…Maybe. Magic has a lifespan, and your powers must also have a lifespan."
"Haha. Even if it takes ten thousand years, maybe more?"
As Kreto said, it must have a lifespan. After that determined time passed, that space would be dismantled, and those trapped inside might return. But, that time was probably ten thousand years. No, it may be twenty thousand.
"You said you prayed for ten thousand years?"
Kreto asked.
"Yes, I did. Then those guys, too, in about ten thousand years...."
At that moment, Quay stopped with realization.
"…Yes."
Kreto smiled a little.
"Your power may not last forever, but there is something close to eternity."
At those words, Quay also stopped smiling.
"…Eternal Winter, you mean?"
"…"
Kreto shrugged.
"It seems like it. Epherene, and Deculein, didn't they try to defeat me from the start?"
Deculein wasn’t alone; there were more on his side besides Epherene. Three, maybe four, maybe five, six, seven...
"…Right."
Kreto nodded.
…Drip, drip.
…Drip, drip.
Quay looked up without saying a word.
…Drip, drip.
…Drip, drip.
In a daze, he turned around and slowly walked away. Kreto called out as he watched him go.
"Where are you headed?"
"…I'm going to see Sophien."
Quay replied. Kreto let out a small sigh.
"Is this the last battle?"
"…Yes. We have to compete now on whose faith is stronger."
Sophien would be waiting for him somewhere. Deculein and Epherene's plans were based on the belief that Sophien would beat Quay.
"As a God, I have to break them."
