In the beginning, the world was the gods' playground.
Due to the brilliant Morning God, the world was brimming with vitality, and the toys woven by the threads of fate were grateful for their birth, praising the gods and willingly participating in their play.
In the tedious flow of time, the toys were arranged and lived according to the gods' will, never daring to be granted more.
The beginning and end of a toy were determined solely by its owner, and not one dared to even consider breaking free.
Taking pity on this, the merciful Goddess of Night imbued her warm breath with compassion, and one toy that had outlived its usefulness stood alone and whole.
"To live because one wishes to live, to die because one wishes to die—this is my will."
If death is reaped, life continues; thus, the first 'Authority of Death' manifested as life.
And so, the toy that had been standing blankly opened its eyes and declared itself the proxy who had received the descent of the Goddess and a share of the Authority of Death.
The proxy proclaimed boldly,
"Birth was the will of the gods, but death is the will of life."
Enraged by this, the Morning God planted spools imbued with its own authority among the toys, and the threads of fate grew thicker and tougher, binding all.
The Goddess's proxy sighed and declared,
"We shall not live for anyone's glory."
As the proxy shattered the gods' spools, countless threads of fate scattered into the void; some said the scene resembled the wingbeats of a butterfly that had just shed its cocoon.
Thus began the scattering of the gods' authorities upon the earth, the start of a struggle that would last for eons.
* * *
Crossing the bridge connected to the outside of the main tower revealed an open cliff.
The river winding below the cliff was a blue hue.
I, who had been standing blankly and looking down at it, raised my head. The sky, immensely high, was relatively clear, though the sun had tilted slightly.
"A cliff like this behind the castle."
Xenon let out an admiring sigh before the vast natural scenery. To his eyes, it probably looked only beautiful and magnificent.
But I imagined overlaying this scene with a black rain that never falls or a red sky and such.
This was precisely the place I had seen when I dreamed before. The cliff where the Captain threw himself after his final confrontation with Samuel.
"But what on earth are we doing here?"
No matter how much he looked around, there was nothing but the empty cliff. After glancing about for a long while, Xenon finally looked at me and Samuel with an expression of incomprehension.
I had nothing particular to say. Because I, too, didn't know what to do.
"Even after coming here, nothing particular comes to mind."
Muttering as if to myself, I glanced back. At some point, Samuel had been staring intently at me.
He wore an extremely complicated expression. Was it because we had reached the place where he parted with the Captain of the past?
"Do you have something to say to me, Sir Samuel?"
"...I will tell you about the final authority."
Taking a deep breath, Samuel drew the sword at his waist in one swift motion. Before I could react to his sudden action, Xenon stepped in front of me, immediately assuming a defensive stance.
"What are you doing?"
At Xenon's sharp reaction, Samuel frowned. Yet, he did not sheathe his sword again.
"I wish to ask something first."
"What?"
"About the rest you desire."
I didn't quite understand what he was trying to ask.
We are facing the final authority, so why discuss my rest now?
"Are you asking if I want to die?"
Does he mean he'll kill me now if I want to die?
I cautiously speculated while staring at the sword Samuel had drawn.
Recalling the attitude Samuel had shown me until now, it was a completely unconvincing speculation.
Rather, hadn't he always wanted to prevent my death?
"Your resurrection was forced. It wouldn't be strange if you still desired death."
There was no leisure to ponder long over a question of unknown intent.
After a brief contemplation, I answered obediently.
"...Sorry to disappoint, but I do not desire death."
The one who reacted to my answer before Samuel was Xenon.
Xenon unknowingly let out a sigh of relief, then belatedly glanced at me and subtly averted his gaze.
Seeing that he couldn't hide his flushed complexion, I thought it would be a real problem if I were to die after all this rest was over.
"I see."
My mind, momentarily distracted by Xenon, snapped back to attention at that reply.
Why was it? Samuel's face was quite dark.
"Why didn't you tell me that in the past?"
Glancing down at the sword in his hand, Samuel let out a bitter smile.
"If you had wished to live, I would have..."
The blade of the sword Samuel held began to glow pure white.
"...gladly offered even my soul."
* * *
Unable to resist alone, she gathered knights.
The first knight chosen by the proxy was the Puppet of Birth. He was a faithful servant of the god who lived as guided by the threads of fate, a devout sword.
Choosing him was for a truly simple reason. It was a bold choice to declare war on the god.
"How fleeting a shackle is the thread of fate!"
She obtained the strongest knight first, but in truth, she did not wish for him to guard her side.
From the beginning, she intended to send the gathered knights out into the world to fulfill their respective roles.
However, her strongest knight stubbornly insisted on guarding her side.
The proxy, who had initially intended to refuse, soon changed her mind.
For no matter how much she wielded the Goddess's authority, facing the swarming followers of Birth alone would not be easy.
The first knight, who had been the Puppet of Birth, knew well how to deal with enemies, and was skilled at it.
"No one shall force the path my sword points to. I will protect you."
The first knight's sword was wielded solely for the proxy.
Thus, the proxy was always at ease when he drew his sword. For she knew better than anyone that this sword would never harm her.
* * *
"So now, are you going to vent your past anger or something?"
Instead of an answer to my light question, the sword's light gradually intensified. It was Samuel's divine power, which I had seen several times.
True to being the man with the most powerful divine power in the Temple, the energy was immense just from imbuing it into the sword.
Xenon, who had immediately deployed a protective barrier, subtly grabbed my hand and pulled me toward him.
"If need be, I will warp us."
Without taking his eyes off Samuel, Xenon whispered to me. Blinking as I listened to him, I whispered back similarly.
"Xenon, will you lose?"
"Absolutely not!"
He jumped up in denial, looking at me with a hurt, resentful expression.
"How could you think I would lose...! I am the next Tower Master!"
It was a status that still didn't resonate with me at all.
But regardless of my acknowledgment, the fact that he was the Tower Master's disciple was true, so I decided to apologize for hastily judging his ability.
"No, I just wondered because you're preparing to run first."
"What if Lady Anelli gets caught up in a fight? If you fall from a cliff like this, not even your bones will remain."
It was certainly a disadvantageous situation in many ways if a fight broke out. Xenon and I had our backs to the cliff, and Samuel had his back to the castle.
Still, wouldn't having a river below rather than rock faces at least increase the possibility of survival?
"But there's a river below the cliff."
"River or sea, don't you know your neck breaks if you fall wrong? It's one hit."
As someone whose severed neck had once been reattached, it wasn't a very scary statement.
But there was no need to give the already sensitive Xenon more to worry about, so I decided to nod meekly.
"Right, got it. But I won't fall."
"Of course! I won't let you fall!"
Xenon made an unprompted vow, saying that if need be, he would embrace me to cushion the impact if I fell.
The sight was cuter than I expected, and I wanted to watch more, but I decided it was time to tell the truth.
"I mean there will be no need for you to fight Sir Samuel."
I lightly patted Xenon's back and turned my gaze to Samuel.
Samuel's sword was now glowing so white that the blade was completely invisible.
Yet, that sword did not feel the least bit threatening to me. Because I instinctively felt it was not a sword meant to harm me.
"Isn't that right, Sir Samuel?"
Even if that sword were to drink the blood of all the world, it would never drink mine.
* * *
The proxy, originally a toy that had outlived its usefulness, extended her life through the Goddess's authority.
That meant, if according to the Goddess's will all authorities in this world disappeared and only natural order remained, the proxy's life would naturally end as well.
Her soul was composed solely of the Authority of Death, so it had never existed in the first place.
While saving the twelve knights of the round table and traversing the world, she thought. This thought, will, action, emotion she was having now...
Are these truly her own?
Or do they belong to the Goddess who descended by borrowing her body?
Can the proxy, a fragment of the Goddess, be said to be identical to the Goddess? If so, can she say she 'exists'?
Can I truly say I have escaped the position of being a god's toy?
"O Goddess, take pity on this endless ennui!"
"Grant us mercy, an end to glory!"
What they praise—is it the freedom obtained through death, or the Goddess that is Death?
As her doubts grew, the proxy instinctively realized the danger. She intuited that the deeper she delved, the more she would sink into a quagmire.
She did not want to think. She wanted not to think, to focus only on performing the given duty.
"Thanks to you this time as well, new people have been saved. Their lives will now be free from the threads of fate."
But perhaps that was already an impossible thing.
Facing her first knight, who looked at her with trusting eyes, the proxy realized.
"Someday, when all duties are over... I want to travel this world. Ordinarily, without a care for anything."
That she had begun to dream of a life of her own at some point.