Everyone was shocked.
First there was an explosion.
Then Rei came out of that explosion and threw Howard.
But the real surprise was his face.
Unlike before he kept a dull expression, now he had a confident smile that reminded them of the old Rei.
But there was something different.
He had stopped thinking about being the strongest in the world.
He looked at Eli and walked over to her.
"I'm sorry for the trouble I caused."
He took her cheek and stroked it lightly.
Eli cried as the Rei she loved came back.
"No. I was waiting for you and that makes me happy."
Rei laughed a little too.
He activated a skill.
"Break chains."
The chains that were holding them all were destroyed.
Calvin, who was watching everything with a shocked expression said.
" Y-You did that!!!"
" You destroyed my improvised punishment!!!?"
He pulled out his sword and pointed it at Rei to pierce him in his lung.
"What a testy fellow you are."
Rei sent with a light breeze to blow Calvin away.
Then he spoke to them all.
"Get out of here."
"I'll take care of everyone."
Eli replied without being scared for him.
"I understand that we're in the way, but I don't want to leave you alone."
Normally Rei would tell them if they were a hindrance.
But this time is different.
"I don't consider you guys a hindrance, I just don't want anything to happen to you. Include that to that guy over there."
He pointed at Fionn.
Sig muttered as he saw Rei's concern towards them.
(Hey! What's up with this human-like treatment?)
(Is this the same old Rei?)
Seeing that everyone nodded so as not to leave him alone.
"I understand."
He activated an ability to protect them.
"Dome."
A dome of magic was draped around them.
"With this they will be safe. Nothing will happen to them."
"Prince, will you be all right?"
Smiling, Rei thought of the answer he would always say, but wouldn't.
"Of course I will, after all. It's my duty to put an end to the threat attacking the royal family."
He turned and walked a few steps away from the dome.
He amplified his voice with a skill.
"Emm, testing, testing, good."
"Listen up everyone, enemies of the Kingdom. I don't know who you are nor do I care to know."
"What I will say is this. Surrender."
"I am in a good mood, I will not kill you, if you throw down your weapons and bow to me─ to the ground, I promise I will have mercy on you all."
"Did you understand well? On the count of three."
"One."
"Two..."
"Are you too optimistic or too much of an idiot to mean it?"
Rei watched as a group of black robed men led by Diethard approached.
On the fingers of their hands were several rings.
These rings were a gift from the cult.
It was the power of black magic bestowed from the blood of their victims.
In his right hand he carried a staff with a skull in the center.
Diethard had blue eyes because he is using all his power from the beginning.
Magical power was pouring out of him.
Diethard saw Calvin, his boss noticed his look and ordered him.
"Rodman good thing you got here!"
"Kill that scum now! Don't let it live any longer!"
"Aye aye!"
Diethard exclaimed as he smiled.
Calvin found it strange that he was smiling as he looked at him, but he couldn't understand that that was the end of him.
Diethard pointed his staff at Calvin.
A magic circle manifested from the ground.
"Die. You are too irritable."
"Pillar of fire."
A huge pillar of flames high enough to roast a sack of potatoes erupted from the circle.
Calvin screamed in pain as he burned.
The pain process was very simple but painful.
First the body grease is heated, which makes the flesh, bones, arteries and joints able to feel the heat.
Steam can burn 30% less than flames do.
But Calvin was touched by the flames without the steam.
That made the pain increase, briefly lasted the attack.
Even the heavy armor he was wearing burned his skin.
Calvin was burning outside as well as inside.
Diethard was torturing him in that method.
"It hurts!"
"It burns!"
"Help me please!"
Calvin, the fearsome villain from the first game, was burning alive.
A pathetic ending for a pathetic man was what anyone would think upon seeing it.
◇◇◇
After watching Calvin squirm, Diethard looked at Rei.
"What you saw is only the smallest fraction of my power."
"Scared?"
He asked with a smile full of confidence.
"Not a bit."
"It's more." Rei said pointing his finger at Diethard. "It doesn't seem like a big deal, I think you held back, but I don't care about that guy."
Diethard felt that as an offense.
"I understand. I'll kill you in a very painful way."
He stretched out his arms to the sky.
"Try the power of the highest level magic that was granted to Code Feivellet! That is to say me!"
"This is the power of the leader who granted it to me!"
Rei frowned when he heard the name of the cult.
He doesn't think it refers to any other cult other than the one Azoth came from.
"I see. I guess if I'm going to kill you."
Rei pointed his finger at Diethard.
"I don't know what you did to blow the place up, but don't think I'll let you."
"Get up, Sandman!"
From the ground, using combined earth, water, fire and darkness magic managed to create a dozen giants made of sand.
They all looked like Diethard.
The robed men created them all.
Diethard was perched on the shoulder of one that was created from the ground.
The sand giants pointed their palms at Rei.
"Die! Scum of the Kingdom!"
"Fireball!"
From those palms came great balls of fire aimed at Rei.
He flew into the sky thanks to his ability that allowed him to fly.
He activated a shield as two of the four fireballs were lassoed at him.
The fireballs were as big as trucks and as heavy as a construction truck.
Though their speed was equal to that of a sparrow.
Rei was dodging those fireballs with difficulty.
Diethard laughed.
"Hey, hey, hey. Is this all you can do?"
"What a loser you are!"
"Try this! Rain of fire."
In the sky a magic circle manifested from which fireballs fell from the sky.
They exploded on contact and a breeze of flame swept around every possible corner.
Soldiers fled at the sight of this sea of flames.
Thanks to the dome they were not harmed.
In the distance, Sieghart and Rose as well as the others watched this.
No one could believe the sight of giants spewing flames like a rain of fireballs.
In the distance rose visualized Rei.
"Master!"
She went running straight to him.
But Sieghart stopped her arm.
"Don't be reckless. We can't get close, even if we wanted to."
He understood that Eli and Sig like the others could be there, but those fireballs were impediments to approaching.
They could only pray they were all right.
◇◇◇
"Hahahaha I'm the strongest one of all!"
"My magic power has increased by double, No! Triple thanks to this gift, hahaha."
"I am the strongest, no one can oppose me."
Since childhood, Diethard always craved power.
He grew up in a poor family with nothing to eat.
One day he was sold for a piece of bread.
He took his last name from the nobleman who bought him and abused him along with other children.
He killed that nobleman when he was of age.
He pretended to be his son and became acquainted with the cult.
He wished to have power.
He wished to be the man with more power than anyone else in this world.
Because of that, Diethard was the most ambitious man in the world.
But that ambition came at a price.
Diethard laughed as he watched Rei dodge his attacks.
"What a weakling you are. A weakling. A bug!"
"All you can do is that. Run away while flying."
Diethard was rejoicing in his own ego.
That he didn't realize that Rei was just dodging his attacks without responding.
Suddenly Rei stopped.
He looked at Diethard to say.
"It's over, it's your defeat."
The man with the world's most inflated ego couldn't believe those words.
"You are a great liar. To evade the horrible future that awaits you, you tell lies."
"That's why you try to make me believe you can beat me."
"Aren't you ashamed of yourself?"
"Hahahahahahahahahahahaha."
Diethard's cynical smile was a sonata from the angels themselves to his ears.
But Rei brought him down from his cloud.
"Look downstairs."
Telling him to look down, Diethard remembered what he forgot.
"You weren't the only one."
At the feet of the sand giants, his companions were either burned by the very fireballs he sent or stepped on by the giants.
"I-It can't be."
"Yes it can be. You killed them for being an idiot."
"How does it feel to kill your own comrades for your ineptitude?"
Diethard got so angry at Rei.
That he merged all the sand giants into one.
"Don't think you'll win!"
"I am Diethard Rodman! The man who will assume absolute power!"
The sand giant began to run straight at Rei.
"Die!"
Diethard shouted as he pointed his staff at Rei and a large fireball was sent at him.
All that Rei did was say.
"Freeze."
The sand giant as well as Diethard were frozen.
Even the fireball.
Rei approached his enemy.
He touched his shoulder and gave words of disappointment.
"You know, I thought you were a more dangerous guy and I took my precautions with you when you mentioned you were empowered by that guy."
"But I was wrong."
Rei sighed and lifted as much as he could his right foot.
"I didn't underestimate you, I took you seriously, but yeah you really are a big no-good. Goodbye."
He brought his foot down and struck Diethard's skull.
This caused him to suffer an internal rupture.
Little by little the sand giant fractured until he fell with Diethard to the ground.
Rei muttered.
"I got serious and got disappointment, huh?"
◇◇◇
Once it was all over.
Rei descended and undid the dome.
Eli ran over to hug him.
Rei said to her.
"It's okay."
Sig walked over.
"It's amazing how you stood up to those things."
"The truth. It was no big deal, it was very disappointing."
"By the way..."
His gaze focused on someone else.
He glanced in the direction where Calvin's charred body lay.
"That guy is Calvin, right?"
Sig answered him looking in his direction.
"It is."
"Really? This day has been very disappointing and I was serious."
(That was serious and yet you still found it disappointing?)
Sig thought as he heard Rei's words.
"Master!"
In the distance they watched as Rose and company approached.
There were still flames, but the soldiers of the principality were putting it out.
She ran over and hugged him.
"You're fine. I'm so glad."
"Thank you for your concern Rose."
Rose was surprised by those friendly words.
"Yes. I'm happy to see you too."
With those warm tears, this very important day and event was over.
"Huhhhhhhhhhh! You're fucking shitting me!"
Kurono didn't think so, though.
"All this time I was thinking something super exciting would happen and you show me this disappointment!"
"Any reader of novels, manga or anime would be pissed if they saw a final battle as disappointing as this."
"You're a piece of shit Calvin!"
"In the game you were a scary strategist and here you're nothing but scum!"
"You pathetic, miserable scumbag villain!"
Suddenly, a wind blew around the late Calvin.
◇◇◇
"... What is this place?"
"Where am I?"
When Calvin opened his eyes.
In front of him was a place he had never visited before.
Everything around him was dark as night.
On the ground, beautiful white lilies were growing.
If he went near to touch them, they would break because of how fragile they were.
The grass was non-existent.
Only white lilies were scattered around the place.
He decided to walk and figure out how to get out of here.
With every step, the lilies would break.
After a while of walking, Calvin got used to the sound of glass breaking.
"It's cold."
The weather was as icy as winter.
But... it was just a cold feeling.
Calvin raised his head as he had been curious for a while to look at the sky and see if it was also black.
As he did so, his eyes widened in total fear.
A big black sun, from which, tears of blood were falling to the ground.
"But what...?"
The black sun had a white aura which gave it a unique contrast next to the black sky.
Quickly Calvin shouted.
"Howard!"
"Rodman!"
"Everyone! Where are you?"
Even in his current situation, he refused to call out to his last son.
After running, Calvin grew tired of course.
"Where am I?"
"What kind of place is this?"
"A dream?"
"Yes, it must be. A dream it is."
"After all, it's impossible for me to have─"
His denial was silenced by voices he heard in the distance.
"Those voices, they're coming from the east."
Calvin rushed to the place where the voices were coming from.
This was his chance to get out here.
If there are people, it means there is a way out.
That's what he thought as he ran.
The weird thing that happened to him was that he didn't notice it.
How could he hear those voices when he's been running for a kilometer?
Why didn't he get tired like before?
Why doesn't he say anything about the strange huge vortex of black clouds gathering in the sky?
That's simple, he doesn't want to admit it.
He doesn't want to acknowledge it.
Arriving at the site, he watched as hundreds... no, thousands of people were kneeling in the same position.
Sitting on their knees, raising their hands and praying.
Multiple torches of blue flames were shining in every sector, illuminating the place.
Their bowed heads indicated that their concentration in prayer was important to them.
Calvin approached an older lady.
He touched and shoulder.
"Hey, old lady, where are we?"
She didn't answer him.
Calvin got angry at that and forcefully made her look at him.
In doing so, Calvin finally understood his situation.
The woman's face was in the bones.
Her eye sockets were gone, but he felt she could stare at him.
She stopped looking at him and went back to praying.
As he looked at the person next to him, her fingers and face were also bones.
"No..."
"... No."
"Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!"
"I don't belong here! I don't deserve to be in this place!"
"My place is over there with the humans."
"... You think so?"
At that moment, a bone-chilling freezing wind was sent straight at Calvin.
A gloomy voice, similar to the sound of a broken staircase amplified on speakers.
It was heard by him.
Suddenly, the people who were praying changed position.
They stood facing each other, leaving a space between them as if it were a path.
They all raised their upper bodies and began to pray aloud.
It was in such an unfamiliar language, it was painful for people to hear.
"We thank you from the bottom of our hearts."
"O great mother of death."
"Progenitor of sadness, lamentation and depression."
"We give thanks for allowing us to be under your feet in this land of death and despair."
"She who rules the realm of death."
Along that path.
Calvin could watch as a path of blood generated up to him.
In the distance he could see a dark figure approaching.
The figure hid her face.
But she wore a total black dress.
Her veil was white like that of a bride about to be married.
But the woman's face could not be seen.
She was approaching step by step.
Calvin felt a shiver every time that figure approached.
The voices of the speakers increased as the gloomy prayer they chanted.
"A world of shadow and death, where the unborn are slaughtered, where hope is eaten alive and tears are of blood."
"We implore you, give us your unique love that comes from visiting you."
The female figure was so close to Calvin, he noticed how his body began to rot.
From the soles of his feet to almost his waist, Calvin's body could.
"Sovereign of the land of the dead, give this fool a taste of your infinite love and wisdom."
The figure possessing the physique of a woman stood before him.
She moved her hands to remove her veil so Calvin could accept her reality.
At the same time the prayer ended.
"The goddess of death, Ereshkigal."
As she removed her veil.
The very face of death itself, the goddess of the world of the dead stood before him.
"My name is Ereshkigal."
A calaveric woman with empty sockets but a red glow stared at him. Her voice was just like a damaged violin, it was so painful and unbearable that you wanted to run from that hellish noise.
"Welcome to the Land of the Dead. Calvin."
Calvin wanted to scream.
He wanted to cry.
He wanted to run out of there.
But he couldn't.
Ereshkigal spoke to him as she touched his abdomen.
"You were brought to my home, the Underworld."
Her hands were on his chest.
"Let me thank you, Calvin."
"I managed to keep you from going to hell since I need you."
"From the beginning I made sure you caused all this trouble."
"You wonder why I did that?"
"I needed you to get that boy back to normal. All for the sake of my wish."
Her hands were reaching for his neck, Calvin's armor was black, his skin rotting and his bones yellow.
"Her" eyes were generating a flame based on the realization of her goal.
"It's still not enough. He must feel happier, more confident."
"So that so, the promised day. Despair and tragedy will invade him so that he will feel the desire to die."
"Did you know that Calvin?"
"Dying is not the end. It is the beginning of the happy life everyone wants."
Her hands were gently touching Calvin's face.
"My little Calvin, let your mother give you a job before you have your eternal rest in misery and pain."
Her eyes glowed so brightly that black smoke billowed out of them enveloping Calvin.
"Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!"
"Go and unleash a little taste of our 'paradise' I wish to bring."
◇◇◇
"What was that?"
"What is it Master?"
As he was gathering the soldiers of the principality to take them away, Rei felt something strange on the back of his neck.
"For some reason, I felt a whisper."
"It was just like when my mother would come in to hug me at night. But this feeling is different, it's a more grotesque and repulsive one."
"Umm, I think it's just confusion over what happened."
Rose was suddenly silenced by a strange weather phenomenon.
The clouds in the sky were turning black as if a storm was being generated out of nowhere.
Lightning was making a beautiful melody as it danced across the sky.
"This certainly is weird."
Eli commented as she covered her hair.
The high winds began to extinguish the flames that were still going strong.
Out of nowhere, several blue flames manifested in different places.
In the center of it all where Calvin's body.
His armor began to blacken.
His skin began to darken from the rot.
His face was drying up looking like a mummy with half of his face disfigured.
Then...
"..."
Calvin's eyes opened and his body began to slowly rise.
His blue eyes turned red like his hair.
Calvin... had become an undead, a vassal of the goddess of death.
Howard who was nearby and bound, went running at the sight of his father.
"Father!"
He ran to his side for protection.
"Father, punish that idiot Henry. Not only did he not betray he is also an ally of those guys."
"Now that you've recovered, kill them all."
Howard thought his father's condition was due to some occult power.
Calvin looked at his son and said.
"Howard."
"My beloved son, my adoration, the fruit of my blood and flesh."
He reached his hand up to stroke his head.
"Join me."
He turned his hand face down, emphasizing the palm made.
"Let us rule this world together."
"Sure. It's my inheritance after all."
Howard said smiling, but Calvin, who was showing a smile for his shattered cheeks, showed a sinister expression.
"There's only one condition for it."
"Die and become like me."
"... Huh?"
Howard looking at him, watched as a black magic circle manifested a strange shape above his palm, it was his heart.
In one motion, Calvin crushed his son's heart.
All the blood shot out as if it were an exploded water balloon.
Howard's eyes, nose, ears and mouth filled with blood, giving for the last time a sound of life which showed how much he was suffering, before he fell dead to the ground looking up.
"Only in death can we be happy."
"Not only us..."
He looked at Rei and the others.
"Death is a blessing for everyone and I'll be sure to share it."
"Come on. Everyone give your hearts to go to the underworld together and enjoy the realm of the dead!"
Calvin... became the final boss without a doubt.