From the very beginning, it was already clear. The promise that my ancestor made, the fate that I was given because of it, and the fate that I was supposed to have if not for that promise... all of them contradicted each other and all of them brought nothing but pain and suffering for those who was caught in the cross-fire of these things that must be fulfilled.
In the presence of these Wills, Powers and Authorities, my menial presence cannot assert his self. I can only be a puppet in that show, an actor that has to follow a script, someone with neither the strength or control over the things that are lording above him.
Yet these beings of great power and will also underestimated my own resilience. As they warred over who can assume power over the world and the fate of mankind, they began to annihilate each other and later, even their own selves. In the end, the only one that remained was me... but that also meant that the only reason why I endured and fought for so long is also no longer with me.
"I will not accept this... I do not want for this to be the reality that I have to live in from here until eternity."
I knew that I would be nothing more than a hypocrite by saying this and following through with this decision... Just like Miyazono Ryuuichi, I do not want to accept the fate that I am handed. I don't want to live in a world without the people that I cherish... especially her who fought and sacrificed herself for my and our destiny's sake.
For me, it was a promise passed down by her blood, and for you, it was a promise passed down by her will. Just like how Lady Cecilia predicted the very bloodline that would flow from her to me, she also predicted the people who originally belongs to this world who would carry immense wills that would shape mankind and its history until it reaches you who carries the other half of the power and authority necessary to fight Babel.
And because of that... instead of fulfilling the final act of the promise which would set in stone the fate of everything that exists, I made a decision to rewrite destiny itself. The impossibilities remained unchanged, yet I was willing to risk everything if it meant that there is one reality out there in the infinitesimal number of possible realities where we can fulfill our fate and still be together with those that we cherish.
At first, it was only me who believed in this choice... but as realities after realities which I rewrote, came to the same conclusion, the other versions of myself also believed in it. No, we have to believe in it. We wanted to find a way, even if we who already lost everything wouldn't be the one Ephraim who would have the ending that we desire, we wanted to achieve it... we want to find comfort in the fact that there is indeed a way towards the proper ending that we all desired.
On and on, all of this went... Hundreds, thousands, millions, billions and so on... Countless realities that we all painstakingly adjusted to get the end that we desired simply piled on until at some point, we found it better to just not count anymore.
In our realities, both of you and Ephraim lived happy, fulfilling lives and reached your dreams even before you met to complete each other... and yet, in our writings, bit by bit, we made you two suffer and be incomplete just so you wouldn't find each other.
In our realities, the world may have pockets of destruction and despair, but the world peacefully trudged on for the most part... and yet, in our writings, massive distrust between nations and the debasing of human morality and ethics for the sake of producing clones meant that losing people in war is now no longer seen as a loss to be wary of.
In our realities, the heroes who would rise to desire a peaceful world such as the people of the S.S.S and the Sumeragi Syndicate would never find the point in their life where they'll gain the will and ability to do so. In our writings, they would only be normal citizens and an underground criminal group.
In our realities, the Malignances were monsters brought over by Babel itself. But in our writings, they are a byproduct of mankind's negativity and fears.
So many things have changed from our reality to the reality that we are now penning for an incomprehensible number of time... If not for us removing our capability to feel hopelessness and tiredness, we would've already lost our minds and gave up completely...
Yet we still have hope... we know that it can be done...
We know that there is a reality where we can still be together.
And so, even when we have to make the cruelest of decisions... sacrificing mankind again and again just to regain the power to once again rewrite fate according to our will, and once again bend the constraints of the three constants to ever so slightly bring us closer to that reality.
Even if we have to do all the killing and betrayal with our own two hands... taking the life of both enemy and foe in order to collect the authority needed to know where we went wrong this time.
Even if we have to be cruel to our own selves by driving them away from you which we are suffering through ourselves... making sure that at least until the very end, you and him would not realize each other's feelings and care for the other.
"I-It's too much... Even as someone who knows true pain, this is far too much..."
At some point, we cannot stomach anymore the pain and losses that we are about to subject him through... yet knowing that maybe... just maybe this time, he will be the one who will successfully fulfill the promise and save you from the price you have to pay for going against a deified Babel... it comforted us enough to allow it.
From being subjected to grueling studies after his parents learned of his incredible intellect that we specifically gave him to let him have a fighting chance in his cruel future...
From suffering the abuse of those who looked at him with lust and wanted nothing more than stain him with their filth and wrongdoing...
From seeing the friends that he loved and cherished all die at what should be the happiest day of their lives...
From receiving all the envy that those who witnessed and felt inferiority because of his talents and maturity...
From being betrayed by those that took his nation's mantle, and once again losing the people that he looked up to as what kind of a man he should become...
All of these thing that happened in his past, and the things that he would suffer through as soon as he awakened his powers. It shaped him into the person that he now became.
And as he inched closer and closer to the realization of what he is and what he should be, we awaited his choice with bated breath. We wanted to believe that he will be the one who will achieve it for all of our sake.
Yet once again, fate brought the two of them together, and just as how it is destined, she will surely die to ensure that the promise and Babel's end would come true.
"It's another loss... once he losses her and later defeats them, he will join us as another one who will rewrite fate."
Such words, spoken with both exasperation and tiredness, rang out of everyone's lips... yet once he began to see the futures that await him after his victory, our comments cannot be further from the truth.
"Is he... seeing our realities?"
"What could this mean? This has never happened before."
"This is impossible... if he's seeing all of this according to our memories, then that can only mean that—"
Indeed... he is the real deal. He is the version of us who can finally achieve all three constants and break the loop.
This is it... Finally, our hope has arrived.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
"If this is all true, then it can only mean that after I achieved all three constants, your realities would become invalidated. That would mean your deaths!"
"Ephraim... Don't be bothered about it. We've already made our choice to stand by this decision the moment we assumed the World Tree's power and tampered with destiny."
"B-But this is ridiculous... t-this is unfair! You've sacrificed so much and yet you're willingly giving it all up after you proved that it is possible?! If you can tamper with destiny, then that can only mean that you can tamper with your own realities and start over from scratch! You can also have my—"
"There's no need for that anymore, Ephraim... We've made our choice. We did all of this not because we wanted to have the same outcome as you, but because we wanted to find comfort with the end that are awaiting us as people who have violated the very Principle that we fought the Miyazonos for."
We did the very thing that we destroyed the Miyazonos for. In wanting to prove that the ending we desire is possible, we assumed divinity and tampered with destiny for so many times.
We've made all kinds of wrongdoings and cruelty that we can only be labeled as the lowest of all that do evil... Yet even in that kind of situation, I find comfort in the words that came from a certain wise man...
"What is done out of love always takes place beyond the limits of good and evil."
We loved her... we all loved that woman who was there with us and for us through fire and storm. The woman who in almost all realities, took on the steep price of going against someone who has achieved divinity. The woman who did all that she can to fulfill her own end of that promise.
Disappearing into nothingness? Ceasing to exist? Death? None of this matters to us now that we've seen with our very eyes that there is a hope for the ending that we all desire.
"Ephraim... while it isn't the version of her that I loved and lost, I want to leave reality while uttering the same words that I whispered towards he ear before we were permanently parted."
As one by one, after we all accepted our own ends, we began to disappear from existence, Ephraim allowed me to gaze at the version of Sayaka that exists in this world... it reminded me of all the time that we spent and the futures we planned before everything suddenly became engulfed in chaos.
And as my turn to disappear came and I began to dissipate into figments of light, the words that I spoke to my version of Sayaka in my reality finally came out.
"You, my whole world, is worth dying for..."
Farewell, Ephraim... Farewell, Sayaka... Our part here is over and we will now make our exit... and as for the rotten chaos Spirit who is responsible for all of this, we also have a plan awaiting it as soon as it defeated.
"All of our suffering and thirst for revenge, it will all await you at the other side... and we will be there to make sure that you will suffer through it, Babel."
Count your days and prepare for it, you Chaos Spirit. You will learn what hell is like.