The Demon King gazed intently at Aider and opened his mouth.
"This time too, we didn't reach a conclusion satisfying to us all."
"..."
"Neither you nor I could save 'that person' we each long for. Just when will we succeed..."
Aider silently listened to his adversary's words. The Demon King chuckled.
"Repeating this ordeal over and over, truly tiresome, but, well. I've always been good at enduring boredom."
The Demon King extended a hand made of shadows towards Aider.
"But how much longer can you endure, Aider?"
"..."
"Your soul has long exceeded its limits, and yet you continue this game, even going so far as to pass the player role to another, that kid named Ash."
The Demon King looked down at Ash, who lay dead on the city walls, and clicked his tongue.
"This substitute player, really not up to par."
"Ash will do well."
Aider asserted strongly.
"Better than me. He will do well."
"Keke. Let's wait and see."
Then the Demon King looked up at the sky and shouted.
"Let's start the next game!"
With that, the atmosphere began to ominously ripple.
"..."
Fernandez blankly listened to the incomprehensible conversation, then suddenly noticed something amiss and looked up at the sky.
"...?!"
And Fernandez saw it.
In the now pitch-black night sky, densely packed like stars-
Countless eyes.
Flash!
A beam of light flashed among those eyes, falling from the sky and enveloping the Demon King.
The light began to disintegrate the Demon King's body into fine particles.
Even as his body disintegrated, the Demon King smiled leisurely.
"Then, see you in the next cycle... 'Hero'."
Flash!
Another beam of light fell upon Aider's head. Aider murmured bitterly.
"...See you again. Demon King."
The Demon King vanished first, with a bizarre laugh.
Finally coming to his senses, Fernandez stumbled forward.
"Pro, Prophet!"
Hearing his name called, Aider slowly turned around. Fernandez asked in confusion.
"What on earth... I don't understand any of this! Ash's words, your words, it's all so confusing!"
"..."
"There's a repetition of the world? Cycles? Game? What is this nonsense!"
"...You don't need to know, Fernandez."
Aider sighed deeply.
"More precisely, even if you knew, nothing would change. This world is over, and you in the next cycle won't remember."
"What does that..."
"Give up everything and embrace a peaceful end. That's the best advice I can offer."
As he turned into particles, Aider murmured bitterly.
"...I'm sorry for failing again."
"Wait, Prophet!"
"Someday, for sure."
"Prophet! Pro..."
As Fernandez's desperate calls fell on deaf ears, Aider, like the Demon King, completely disappeared.
"..."
Looking at the empty spots where the Demon King and Aider had been, Fernandez wondered if he had seen a mirage.
But it wasn't.
The countless eyes still floated in the sky.
Each eye, a divine being with a power and will far beyond Fernandez's comprehension.
Fernandez barely managed to realize.
"What in the world...?"
What were these otherworldly gods looking at?
Following their gaze, Fernandez eventually realized what the eyes were observing.
- Aaaaahhh...
- Aaaargh...!
- Save me...
- We must flee...!
The eyes were watching the destruction of this world.
Like a child peering into an ant hill after a flood.
They were looking down at the end of this world, heading towards death, with a sense of interest.
Bang!
Crack...!
Crunch!
The monsters that had penetrated the city walls started their massacre, and the screams of people cowering within the Imperial Capital echoed.
A massacre occurred.
One person, while running away with their child.
Another, while fending off the monsters with weapons.
While fleeing. Hiding. Crying. Guarding. Consoling. Holding their breath. Prostrating in prayer. Fighting-
Died.
Sliced, torn, ripped apart, pierced, shattered...
Without a single exception, people across the city were brutally killed by the monsters.
Everything Fernandez had strived to protect was crumbling like a sandcastle.
- Please, save... me...
Fernandez covered his ears with his hands, but the screams and roars still pierced directly into his mind.
There was no escape.
This was hell itself.
And the eyes in the sky were intently watching this hellish scene.
"Don't make me laugh."
Grind.
Fernandez gritted his teeth.
"Repetition, cycles, game. Stop talking such nonsense."
While people cry, suffer, and die.
Like resetting a chessboard, placing new pieces, and starting the next game- how could one speak so easily of such things?
Fernandez, with tears of blood, looked up at the sky. He confronted the eyes that were observing the destruction of this world.
And he thought.
If. If what he had overheard was true.
If the world continues to repeat itself. Then-
'I will not be a passive victim.'
He too, could make a final struggle.
Fernandez began to create a new spell on the spot.
Assuming the premise that 'the world repeats itself' was true. He formulated a spell accordingly.
To convey the truth of this world to his next cycle self.
'Even a very short message would suffice.'
A fragment of memory, or an image, or if not that, a line of text- no. Even a single word would do.
If he could convey a hint about the truth of this world.
Pouring all his being into it, to convey anything to his 'next cycle' self.
Then, perhaps, a clear-minded him could realize.
At the moment of the world's destruction, watching his citizens die, the last guardian thus created a new spell.
And- completed it.
A spell that, at the cost of his own life, could convey just one letter to his next cycle self... he had created it.
Fernandez did not hesitate. He willingly sacrificed his life to activate the spell.
And-
***
Present.
"..."
Fernandez opened his eyes on the bed.
He had dreamt, repeatedly, hundreds, thousands of times... a loathsome nightmare of the empire's destruction.
It felt so vivid, as if he had actually seen it, though he never had.
"Sigh."
Exhaling a sigh, Fernandez slowly got up from the bed. His body was drenched in cold sweat, perhaps due to the nightmare.
He threw off his clothes and went into the bathroom. Turning on the hot water, he absentmindedly looked at the mirror.
There was a letter there.
In the reflection of the mirror, Fernandez's lean body was densely marked with letters. Fernandez clicked his tongue.
"I'm not one for tattoos or anything like that..."
This was a record sent by his past cycle self.
More precisely, a total of records sent by his selves from many past cycles.
The world had repeated countless times, and the words gathered as 'the final message' became sentences, then stories.
The densely inscribed letters on his body were the truth of this world, and at the same time, a record of the battles he had fought.
"..."
Fernandez meticulously examined the records sent by his past self.
He does not remember. However.
Records do not lie.
The world is repeating itself.
No matter what is tried, the world ends due to monsters coming from the south.
What methods had he used to prevent this destruction?
All the records were left on his body. With every accumulated failure, new sentences were etched onto his skin.
And now, in this cycle.
With no more space left on his body to inscribe messages, now covered from neck to toe in letters.
Fernandez suddenly realized.
The fact that it is impossible to win against the Demon King.
Defeat is inevitable. Destruction is certain.
Then perhaps-
"Surrender is the only option."
Accepting the destruction.
Deciding to surrender to the Demon King.
He had made up his mind.
And for that to happen- he must become the Emperor.
The position to decide the fate of this world and the lives of the empire's citizens.
The seat that held the power of life and death over all people, he must ascend to the throne.
"..."
Truly, Fernandez loved his family.
His father, his brother, his sister, he loved them all.
But the greater good of preserving humanity as a species is more important.
Therefore.
He decided to willingly sacrifice them.
"Please understand, brother."
After finishing his shower and changing into new pajamas, Fernandez murmured quietly.
"All of this... is to protect the empire."
"..."
He was not speaking into the empty air.
In one corner of the spacious room, there was a portable prison, and Lark was imprisoned there.
Both arms severed. His magical veins destroyed to prevent him from using magic.
Though it was widely rumored that he had been executed.
He was certainly alive.
"...Fernandez."
Lark looked at his brother with a hoarse voice and dry eyes.
His parched lips parted, and a raspy voice barely came out.
"What exactly... are you planning to do?"
Fernandez gave his brother a faint smile, then slowly walked out of the room.
"To break this repeating destruction, and... to survive with the people."
"..."
"In whatever form that takes."
As Fernandez stepped out of the room, the corridors of the imperial palace unfolded before him.
The place where he had rested was none other than the Emperor's chamber.
Dressed in pajamas, Fernandez walked leisurely towards the audience chamber.
Standing in front of the locked door of the audience chamber, he used a key necklace around his neck to unlock it and stepped inside.
Inside the spacious audience chamber, there was a frozen thorn tree- Everblack, and a frozen golden throne sitting alone.
The original owner had vanished, leaving the chair empty.
Step. Step.
Approaching, Fernandez slowly sat down in it.
A chilling cold spread from the throne, as if biting into his flesh. But undeterred, he leaned fully back in the throne and tightly closed his eyes.
He had finally made it here.
His father was trapped in the spirit realm, and his brother was captured. There was no one left in the Imperial Capital to stop him from becoming the Emperor.
And once he became the Emperor.
Once he became the leader of humanity.
He could evacuate humanity, the empire, from the inevitable destruction.
Through his final plan- 'The Last Ark.'
"..."
Fernandez suddenly rubbed his tired eyes with his hands.
The road ahead was long. And this path, demanding much more blood than he had shed so far, was a true path of carnage.
But Fernandez had resolved to walk this path willingly.
In the end, it's a simple either-or choice.
To let defeat happen and the world be destroyed by monsters, or to win and move the world as he wishes.
Fernandez made his choice.
Even if it meant subjugation.
Even if it was miserable.
Even if no one in this world would understand him.
He would do whatever it takes to protect his people.
"...So, Ash."
Turning his head towards the distant south, Fernandez whispered.
"It must be the 'first' time for you to see me move like this."
A thin smile stretched across his narrow lips.
"How will you try to stop me?"