"...!" Though his world was shattered and both fear and doubt were swallowing him with each passing moment, Xalier could hear his son's loud cry, understanding every word.
'Run! Run away, as far... as fast as you can... Please, save those I don't wish to harm...' He heard it and realized his own wish—to complete his son's words using everything his body had left.
Even if he wanted to save his child, he couldn't. At the very least, he should do this—even if his own body broke.
Knowing that his pain-filled mind could easily be diverted by hesitation, he sprung up. There was no time to doubt and fear. He grasped both Elah and Antanasia and began to march without stopping, utilizing every aspect of his uncanny speed. With it, he easily crossed tens of thousands of miles in that same instant.
"No! Stop!" Elah's powerless yet heavy scream echoed throughout the empty fields. Her arm reached out towards their small child, the quickly disappearing figure moments away from being swallowed up by a wave—death's wave, the marching of Reapers unceasing.
Although his body was no longer moving, the beast's will of fire and the invasive green energy flowed around him, representing his unbroken spirit that cleanly separated the Reapers and death itself from his dissipating form.
But the marching veils weren't ready to yield. Their bodies flowed around the motionless monster, trying to reach him from any angle they could. Their weapon-like existence pressed against this insurmountable wall of force and fire.
Even if one of their own was burned by the flames or crumbled by the green force, another took its place. There seemed to be no end to them.
'...' Amidst the swirling forces of death, the broken child turned to the sky—for the last time, again for the very last time.
'The sky... A place I wish to reach...' He could never see its glimmer, but its form witnessed over and over was etched into his mind.
'The heavens... I wished to destroy it...'
'That man... I still didn't kill him... my promise... I couldn't...'
'I'm... Why am I so weak? Did I not do enough...? Was I slacking off... Did my mind become slower... Was I too happy... Was time not enough...?'
'No... I was always weak... I need to be stronger... faster... I have to go beyond... what's considered... impossible...'
'I... I'll start again... I... I will... I will die again...'
'I will... die... again... how many times did it happen now... a hundred... a thousand?'
'...!?' His mind wandered around not for long... Feeling a pain that he could tell apart, his head fell back, only to murmur some words to himself and the being there.
"Hm... It seems it is you.. who was decided as my Reaper... for this end..."
'The end?' Hearing these words, the eyes looking at the child and the scenery widened, it wasn't from surprise since everyone expected it rather... it was a different feeling that once again engulfed all of them.
A tear in space appeared behind his broken form, stretching out from the strange crack was a grey cloth, a veil that seemed to differ from the others present here, shaped more like a hooded robe on someone invisible.
When the grey veil of even greater size than the white ones emerged in full splendor, it stretched one of its corners out as if a hand would be there, and without any move, a silver shaft followed by its long and curved blade manifested itself from thin air.
The emerging blade of the scythe was slowly and leisurely brought before the monster's body, and then, even though it seemed to be hindered by the blazing energy, the scythe slowly but steadily began to move backward, closing in on this broken form.
...
"Hey..."
"Yeah?" In a black-and-white world, the beast, he who would never bow to his enemy, witnessed a scene—one he probably have long forgotten.
'...' Now, instead of his burned state, it was the one he had before this day of end began. Still, the ebony cracks were visible as his form mirrored the one he had just been in, laying his body bare on his knees...
"What would you do if you were immortal?"
"What?"
"I mean, if you couldn't die?"
"What kind of question is that...?" Two young teens conversed while passing a ball back and forth.
"I don't know... I'm curious. Just answer."
"Hmh... I don't know... maybe experience something fun and dangerous... maybe... rob a bank or something too." Without much thought, the faceless one passed the ball back and answered.
"Why?"
"I mean, if I'm immortal, why not? We always need money. Granny said we needed to buy firewood... and she always complains about the pension."
"But... even if you succeed, don't you think people will chase you... And it might even attract dangerous individuals."
"Uhm... Yeah, that's why I said it's stupid. It's not reasonable."
"Uh... Then what would you do instead?" A second passed, but the boy stayed insistent with the question.
"Why are you so interested in this?"
"I watched a movie, and it's just bugging my mind."
"Hah... I truly don't know. I never thought of it before... maybe hide it?"
"Hide?"
"Yeah, like, if I can't die, why not enjoy life just as it is, only for longer? You don't have to worry anyway."
"Not worry..."
"Yeah, and while at it, slowly find out what I can about that immortality... They always say living eternally isn't fun, and while living in comfort, I could prepare for even the unexpected... Something like a vampire lord in movies, that would be the closest to what I imagined now."
"Just live... while preparing for the unexpected..." The boy repeated the words. It was different from what he did, but still, it confirmed his hopes in life.
"Yeah, something like that. And if we are already so focused on it, you, what would you do?"
"Me? Hahaha, are you stupid? I was asking because I had no idea either."
"What!?" Clutching the ball again, the young faceless froze, throwing the ball to the side, he began to charge at the boy in front.
*Ahabaha...*
"Hey, don't run, I'll beat you up!"
'It wasn't even that long ago, but... I don't remember your face either... how long ago was it?' Seeing the two run in front of him, the broken beast lowered his head and contemplated his useless existence.
"Die!"
"...?" Hearing a word he listened to all his life, he raised his head.
"Why..."
"...!" Now the one chasing the boy was no longer a faceless friend...
"Die!"
"Why me..."
"Die, you monster!"
"Why does it have to be me...?" Weapons of a million kinds tore through the flesh of the fleeing boy.
"Disappear, die!!!" Different people yet screaming the same... The voices long since blended, in his eyes, there was none he could trust... none he should not be afraid of.
"Why is it me... who has to die!? I could break their necks with ease... yet I..."
"Die!"
"Why... Why is it only I who has to die!?"
'Arrogance...' Said the beast... 'You were lying, you knew the answer, you simply wished to not hear it... not know of it... you wanted to run from your fears...'
'That man told you many...'
"Boy..."
'...?' The beast's face froze. Slowly, the image of the young man running dissipated while turning into another.
"Hold yourself back, you might kill someone..." The burly man, kneeling before the young child, grasping his shoulders...
"Boy... only a few might be stronger than you, but your strength is beyond this world... If you hurt someone, it will depend on only you..."
'Why... Why even you...' Another word from the side...
'...?' The beast diverted his eyes, looking at the young man questioning the scene they were witnessing together now.
"Son, you can never die. They... their human... mortal form is fragile. The moment you take their life, they end there, but you... you can't die... don't... don't be a monster..." As the burly man finished his words, so did their scene disappear.
"I... I had no idea of why I was alive..." A young man... his face long torn off... only a featurles mask stood in its place.
"Why only I, why was it only me..."
"Why can others not see them... Why can others not touch them... Why was it only me... Why could they not touch only me?"
"Death... Why does it grasp everyone but me? Why can I not die?" The young man crumbled to his knees, depicting the same appearance the beast had... two halves mirroring each other.
"Boy..." The man who could never die stood in fort of him...
"It's... It's his fault... It's because of him!"
"Son..." A green gaze that looked down on him even now, a stare that seemed unforgiving...
"He could never die... I... I can never die..."
"I... I hate that man! I hate him more than anything! Why would he condemn me... it hurt... It hurt... IT HURTS!!!"
"I was stabbed, shot... I died... returned... then died... Returned only to die again! It hurts..."
"Again... Again... Again and again... I died because of him... I died and yet, I stayed alive... It hurt so much... It hurts so much..."
'Brother...' Pain filled the eyes of the beast...
"Son..." The tone of the man standing over him sifted together with the scene, but now it wasn't a mist-like mirage. The world of white darkened, and a space the beast couldn't and never will forget emerged...
'Brother...'
The smoke of cigarettes filled the damp and dark world, a slight light shining atop the stairs, from the half-open door behind the man.
"I don't know if you can hear me or not... But I don't care either..." While looking at the chained-up kneeling monster, the man took the cigarette out of his mouth and began to speak.
"I'll tell an experience of mine that I came upon through this neverending life of mine..."
"Do you know that people can become a simple number?"
*Clang... rattle... clang...* Chains fell and rose, hitting each other to make a never-ending echo...
"Hmh, yeah, thought so... you can't understand it..."
"When there are too many who gather, be it in life or death... People will become just a number to others... The size of an army... The amount of sacrifices they made... Everything just becomes a number... There will be no more individuals, no more them, you, or I. We as everyone else too will just become a number in someones mouth... they set up a stone... a place filled with a jumble of names..."
"You live through hell at the moment all those you cherished become a simple number in the mouths of those you view as hypocritical and superficial."
"What I finally realized at the end of it... You become named a hero or a villain if they can connect your name with a big enough number... How many you had saved... How many you killed..."
"Villains and heroes, the difference is whether you make that damned number rise above or fall short of the estimate those sitting atop make, it is not a fairy tale, a story for others nor are they the protagonist of anything... there are no storise in reality."
"The world is just a corrupt and disgusting thing... I know after all they called me both before..."
"Humans live and die... it hurts but that is it, we just try to make it less monotone and tragic..."
"Humans are too superficial and shallow... They follow people they believe to be higher than themselves... But how could they take pride in someone else who does better than them?"
"In the end, your pride is hurt... you soon start to despise and blame the other for everything even if it is unreasonable... and even I, I'm just another one of those we call superficial..."
"If... If at that time you were in my stead... what would you have become son, a hero or a villain?"
"..." Clang...
"Hmh... Right, you can't..."
"Nu..."
"Hm?"
"An...other... Just another... number..."
"..." For a moment silence settled onto this dark world.
"Yeah... You might be right... If I stayed there and accepted death, maybe the world would be more peaceful..."
"..." It seemed the two misunderstood each other, but the boy had no strength to say anything now.
"Son... I will come back later... but... don't forget..." The man turned around, and while closing the door to this world behind himself, he said the words that the monster in the dark could not remember...
"...if I don't... this door... it opens inwards... towards you... towards 'you'."
'I... I just wanted to be like my father...' But once again... not even the beast could hear it... his thoughts started to fill the dark world before the words could reach him.
'Be it the one in this life or the previous... Each fights for their ideas with everything they have... But I... I always lose... even if I give my all...'
'Main characters like them don't die... their story must conclude... But I... I always die... I lose... every time... a story... he said there is none... maybe its meant for me...'
"Why am I so worthless...?" Again... A new voice emerged...
'Shut up...' Enraging the beast locked up in the dark world.
"I'm immortal yet I can achieve nothing... NOTHING!!"
"Why am I... Why... I... It hurts... Being alive hurts..."
'Shut up... Brother... Even if you show it to me... I... I'll never bow, not even to you!' Though he knew these were words he once told himself, he wouldn't accept them now.
'...'
'I just wish that you stop for now.' And finally, after all the facades of recollected memory didn't work, everything crumbled down and the white world returned.
'I'm sorry but...' Stepping out from the endless dark and abyss-like edges of this world, was none other than the most human of the seventeen of them.
'I can never... stay down!' The beast glared at the unharmed and unbothered young man in front.
'Please, stop.' Original's words were low, he did not wish to force his brother to do anything he didn't want...
'I won't let... anyone die... this time!'
'I, neither do I want them to...'
'You!!! You let him destroy... You let him kill... It was 'you' who let him out!'
'Monster destroyed everything... everyone!!!'
'Yes, but this time, I won't let it be.'
'Fuck... you!' Feral heard these words once before... and it ended with everything they knew destroyed, he would never let it happen again.
'I won't let him destroy. This world, it will be safe.'
'FUCK... YOU!' He screamed with everything he had...
'I, I will stop him on this day, I won't let him end them. I promise you.'
'Fuck... you...' Even as his strength waned and his brother stated his promise... he wouldn't let it end.
'Brother, I don't want to force you. You too know. Wherever we went... Everywhere I was, we soon realized, undeath, immortality... it is all in vain after all the only one who can never die...'
'Is us! That is why... I won't let it... I won't die!' Feral shouted, as he had done many times before, the end wasn't something he would accept, even if it was his own brother who asked for it.
'Your will is indomitable... But brother, you have already... did... die...' Original extended his hand over the kneeling form of the beast who would never bow... even now... facing the end.
...
"Boy!" The mighty god stood up, his gaze unwaveringly nailed on the scene of the scythe advancing to the beast's body.
"..." And similarly, the beast gazed at the scythe reaching his abdomen... the blade cleanly passing through it.
"You monster, I know there is something! I feel it! You can't deceive me!" While the mighty one screamed for the unthinkable, the blade began to cross the beast, his motionless face and body conveyed that it did not hurt but...
"..." Something was slowly pulled from his body with the unceasing movement of the blade.
Simultaneously with the this blue form of his being dragged out, all strength left his body... and without notice... his body... the ash and dust that held up a humanoid form crumbled down...
"Boy... you little monster... no... was I... was I wrong?" Hesitation emerged on the arrogant and all-knowing face.
...
'Rest now... Brother... you were enough... you did more than enough...' Inside the white world, Original closed his outstretched hand, letting the dust and ash left behind flow into the abyss and darkness.
...
"Boy..." Witnessing a light gust of wind blew the ashes apart... the god's gaze began to shake...
But paying no attention to anything the like, from the tear in the space, black chains shot out wrapping around the ghastly and segmentally cracked blue form's wrists, ankles, and neck.
The voice spoke for the last time as the transparent form of the beast became chained up.
{At that moment as Death appeared to take the monster away, the last words left behind by the child shook the world.}
{"Scream... plead... despise and fear me... hate me... praise me... it does not matter... in the end... We will stand atop! We can never... DIE!"}