Stunned by the unexpected words, I stood speechless, and my eyes beheld the sky turning crimson.
The color of the sky was becoming similar to that time in my memory. If there was any difference, it was perhaps the positions of Samuel and myself.
"It is dangerous."
Xenon tried to dissuade me, but I instead soothed him and then approached Samuel.
Samuel was still holding the sword hilt out toward me. After a moment's hesitation, I took it and carefully grasped it.
I had thought it would undoubtedly be heavy, but for some reason, I could lift it with one hand without any strain at all.
Samuel, who had handed the hilt to me, knelt as if a prisoner awaiting judgment.
"If I strike you with this sword, will your divine power disappear?"
I looked down at the sword with a somewhat curious feeling and asked. Samuel nodded and replied.
"It is possible if your authority is added to it. The divine power wrapped around the sword will enhance the blade's sharpness, and your authority contained within it will devour my divine power."
He said the betrayer had made a vow of repentance. He also said to find rest at the end of the journey to be reached.
"I have carried this power through each life, waiting for you. And now, I can finally keep the covenant with the goddess."
At that moment, it suddenly flashed through my mind that Samuel possessed divine power so powerful it was counted among the best in the Temple.
If that innate divine power was in fact evidence of the covenant, deducing the rest was not difficult.
"Obtain what you desire."
The reason Samuel absolutely had to reach this place with me.
He was to cooperate in the completion of the final authority, while hoping that from its conclusion, the Captain would also find rest.
"And then, grant rest to myself."
"Originally, you, who were resurrected after the final authority, would also have breathed your last. For you to obtain the 'desired form' of rest now, the power of birth is necessary."
Samuel explained in a calm voice.
"And the pure divine power I possess originates from the authority of birth."
I recalled Samuel, who, after granting Mori rest, explained about the authorities, saying there is death only after there is birth. That the two authorities must interlock to complete a single, whole life.
I told Samuel I wanted him to live.
For me to live...
I raised the sword and pointed it at Samuel's neck. I understood perfectly what kind of sacrifice he intended to make, yet my mind only grew cold.
"You intend to offer me your very neck?"
"...If you desire it."
He was willing to sacrifice for the Captain. To devote all his strength. To offer his very life if necessary.
Perhaps that was the greatest atonement he could make. If the authority of birth was needed for the wish to live peacefully, then Samuel's choice was a great boon to me.
"Sir Samuel."
But how strange.
I did not find Samuel, kneeling resolutely, admirable in the slightest.
"I believe I said this before, but the person you betrayed is not here. So you cannot receive forgiveness. Do not seek such a thing from me."
At my words, Samuel's shoulders, which had been slumped weakly, stiffened.
I stared at him, a sneer on my lips.
The memories and emotions of the Captain who had stood in this place subtly flooded in, but rather than assimilating, I accepted them with a detached feeling, as if watching someone else's story.
The Captain of the past might have been moved to tears by Samuel's sacrifice at this very moment.
The Captain of the past, the Captain who faced his betrayal...
The Captain who, in her final moment throwing herself into the river, prayed to the goddess to forgive Samuel—she surely would have.
She held Samuel in special regard. If Samuel knew this, if I told him now, he would undoubtedly close his eyes feeling as if he possessed the whole world.
...The mere thought churned my stomach with resentment.
"If you wanted forgiveness, you had already been given several chances. During the journey here, how many times. When my Dullahans regained their heads, you should have begged *them* for it."
My grip on the hilt tightened. The knights to whom I had personally granted rest passed through my mind one by one.
Dasha, who reached her desired death after a long wait; Ganik, who pitied the young Lizardman until the end; Pallides, who embraced me warmly; Tristan, who could not even remember his own death; Bark, who stepped forward first to protect Minte, and Minte, who witnessed Bark's death; Soana, who prayed for the knights in the chapel; Nadav, who greeted me with a steadfast face until the end; Zigore, who showed pure loyalty; Mori, who stubbornly voiced his wish to stay with me despite his apprehension.
My Dullahans.
"You've been seeking forgiveness from the wrong person from the start."
For me, meeting the Dullahans had been as bewildering and awkward as an unexpected accident.
Who could have known? That I would come to cherish these headless, ghastly Dullahans so deeply.
I didn't know, but it ended up this way. Therefore, I could not help but feel anger toward Samuel, who offered no apology to my Dullahans.
My choice not to tell him how the Captain of the past viewed him also stemmed from this anger.
"I will not take your head."
I muttered coldly and let my authority flow into the sword I held. From the hilt of the blade, which had been shining white, a green energy began to coil upward.
The two powers did not mix, like water and oil. As a result, the once pristine blade became mottled, like the skin of a patient afflicted with plague.
Confirming that the divine power, which had felt so sacredly white and transparent, was being stained, I indifferently raised the sword.
I said I wouldn't take his head, not that I wouldn't draw blood.
*Screech!*
"Kgh!"
Along the line of a clean, straight slash, red blood spurted. Samuel, caught defenseless and suddenly attacked, let out a painful groan.
Blood streamed from his arm.
Being unskilled with a sword, I failed to sever his arm in one stroke as intended. My clumsy skill likely added unnecessary pain to Samuel.
Yet I felt no remorse.
"I was always going to obtain the rest I desired. Whatever that rest may be, it is not something you are giving me."
The Captain of the past might have needed it. But I did not. Because the Captain of the past gave up, but I did not.
No matter how much he tried to save me, it was a matter I could simply refuse. So if one must speak of credit, it should go to the Dullahans or Xenon.
For it was they who stirred in me the desire to live longer.
"I'm saying your credit has no place in my rest."
Glancing at the blood pooling thickly on the ground, I gripped the sword again. This time properly.
"But I cannot send you off unscathed, for my personal grudge."
The mottled blade instantly turned pitch black. I gritted my teeth and raised the sword high.
Authority this, war of the gods that, rest this!
I will shake off all these vexing things, finally, now. I poured all the authority within me into the sword.
I felt my vision dizzyingly blur, but had no intention of stopping.
"Spend your life regretting the opportunities you turned away from and atoning."
Along the trajectory of the powerfully swung sword, an intense light erupted. My vision turned white.
*Find rest at the end of the journey to be reached.*
I, will obtain rest.
Exactly as I desire.
* * *
As dusk fell, the brightly shining divine power instead made it as bright as midday. The divine power emitted a blinding light and swirled around the surroundings.
Within it, the kneeling Samuel was bleeding profusely. Bright red blood pooled thickly on the ground.
Yet despite that wretched state, Samuel would not die. Anelli had never intended to kill him in the first place.
Then, what of Anelli?
"Lady Anelli!"
Xenon, who had been unable to intervene and could only watch the situation, urgently reached out his arm.
At that moment, Anelli, who had been standing still looking down at Samuel clutching his arm as he collapsed, raised her head and looked back at Xenon.
Her body was enveloped in a green light.
Just as the knights she had sent off had been.
"Xenon..."
The sword, now devoid of light, brushed her fingertips and fell to the ground. The heavy sound it made as it rolled looked like an object corroded over a long time, now unusable.
Anelli looked down at her own hand, which had been gripping the sword just moments before.
She had not let go of the sword.
"Lady Anelli, this is!"
Seeing Anelli's semi-transparent hand, Xenon, his face pale, grabbed her arm.
The sensation that had seemed tangible in his grasp crumbled and disappeared.
"It's alright."
"This, so suddenly...!"
"It's alright, Xenon."
Anelli's hand touched Xenon.
No sensation of contact was felt. She was disappearing.
Perhaps sensing it herself, she looked down at her own body with wonder. Then soon, with a calmly settled expression, she looked at Xenon's face.
"It won't take long."
Her face seemed to forebode something.
"What do you mean?"
"I think most people in the world are swindlers and scoundrels, but I know you are not. Because you always believed in and waited for me."
Her calm voice held a hint of mischief. Xenon understood her words were the same ones she had used to lure him before.
That very moment when she handed him the appearance-altering magical artifact in front of Gelben.
*「Don't heed such requests from strangers lightly. You'll get betrayed.」*
*「I don't know what kind of life you've lived, but not everyone in the world is a swindler.」*
*「Not everyone is, but the majority are swindlers.」*
It had been a very ordinary exchange, and at the time, Xenon had thought she was a person devoid of any human compassion.
He had even felt absurdity at her words, which seemed carelessly uttered to take advantage of him.
Now, the same words sounded different. They were neither absurd, nor did she seem heartless.
"...I will believe you."
What else could he say? To Anelli, disappearing before his eyes, that was all he could say.
At his words, Anelli gave a bright smile. The light enveloping her shone even more brightly, then slowly began to scatter.
"Yes."
The divine power that had illuminated the surroundings, and Anelli's authority, gradually subsided.
Xenon stared blankly into the void and thought.
Against the darkened background, the scattering green light was like... a butterfly just beginning to beat its wings.
* * *
A pillar of light soared high into the sky.
It was such a massive and intense light that it was witnessed from various places across the continent. Some said it was the descent of a god, while others said it was divine punishment.
Some claimed an ancient magical artifact had been discovered, and somewhere else, people trembled, saying a terrifying Monster had been born.
No one could ascertain the truth. Because the place from which the light pillar soared was the infamous Trevi Mountains.
There were no bold souls willing to plunge into the mountain range, where Monsters were even now swarming, to grasp the situation.
For a while, the whole world was in an uproar as if the end was imminent, but as peaceful days continued, interest gradually faded and scattered.
With nothing particularly changed, the world flowed on as usual.
It was an everyday life where, as always, moderate peace and moderate chaos coexisted.