When they got on the Ark, Mike, Sora, Lum and Clarc already suspected that the person who was going to welcome them would not be ordinary. But they were a thousand miles from suspecting that they would be welcomed by the creator of everything, in person.
"You... are you really Ei, ma'am?" Lum asked, even more shocked than the others.
Whether it was Mike and Clarc, who had discovered the existence of the Platonic Sea less than three years ago and had not had a decent education about it, or Sora, who had unconsciously become accustomed to thinking that Noir was a being equal or even greater than Ei because of Shinki's lessons, none of the three could fully grasp the importance of the being before them.
"Yes, my little one, at least that's the name I've been using since the beginning of everything" Ei replied. "Perhaps you are surprised to learn that I am not a man? This is something that not many people know after all. Whoever they are, people always imagine their god as a man, it is a bad habit deeply rooted in the humans of the Primary World. Ultimately, I don't claim to be a god, or a goddess, but that's how most people who know me see me... Anyway, I didn't call you to discuss religion but to discuss the Noir problem. Even if this destroyer doesn't really want to destroy the Platonic Sea or the Prime World and just wants to sow chaos, he still represents a threat that must be dealt with. What do you think is the best way to proceed?"
The four were taken aback, surprised that a being who was fundamentally omnipotent would ask their advice on how to act. Seeing their confusion, Ei explained the reason to them:
"Even if Imagination allows me to do whatever I want, my mind always remains my mind. I'm not able to react perfectly to every situation, and I'm capable of making mistakes, just like you. Before making my decision, I would like to obtain several external opinions so as not to judge based on my own point of view. So now I would like each of you four to give me your own opinion, not that of the group"
Once the astonishment passed, the four found the reasoning logical. The first to give his opinion was Clarc:
"I have never met Noir personally, and so I think I am in the least well placed here to give his opinion" he said. "Still, it was their actions that caused the chain of events that ended in the destruction of my world. He has also caused enormous damage in the Platonic Sea in general and is preparing to do the same in the Primary world. My opinion is that it must be locked up to prevent it from causing harm and, as a last resort, eliminate it if this is not possible"
"Well, advice worthy of a good-hearted soldier, lock up as a priority and eliminate if that's impossible" Ei said. "What are the opinions of others?"
"I, Madam Ei, think we should kill him" Sora said.
"Very violent words for such a young child. May I know the reason for this choice?"
"Master... the destroyer is the one who made Mr. Shinki a Traveler, but it is also the one who pushed him on the path of evil. That's why Mr. Shinki became like this and he… he…"
Unable to talk any longer about Shinki, Sora focused on Noir:
"Noir is too mean and dangerous. Even if we lock them up they will find a way to escape or continue their bad deeds. We must kill them" Sora concluded.
"Well, that's a pretty biased opinion but I can understand your position" Ei said. "Who wants to be next to give their opinion, the fairy or the young man from the Primary World?"
It was Lum who spoke first:
"For me, what Sora said is correct" she said. "During all this time, all this period when I had to wander the Platonic Sea alone, not a single moment passed without me being influenced by this monster. If he was able to influence almost the entire Platonic Sea just to make me his pawn and be able to manipulate Frey and Mike without ever having to show himself until I met them, that means that even locked up, he can always cause trouble. It must be deleted permanently"
"That's perfectly correct reasoning" Ei said simply.
She then turned to Mike:
"Only you are left, please give me your point of view" she said.
Mike hesitated a bit before taking a deep breath and starting to speak:
"For me... locking him up or eliminating him are viable options if there is no other choice, but, I was thinking... couldn't we instead try to bring him back to the good side?"
His companions looked at him as if they were questioning either their own ears or his mental state, and even Ei raised an eyebrow, at least that was Mike's impression, since the creator did not possess eyebrows to speak of.
"Well, of course, I'm not suggesting that we just reach out to him and ask him to be our friend for life, but when you think about it, is Noir really absolute evil? If we turn the chessboard over and put ourselves from their point of view, it is difficult to see why they made the effort to bring back Lum's story when he could have simply gotten rid of it after use: me and Frey, we come from the Primary World so for him, we are probably useful pieces, but that is not the case for her. Shinki wasn't pure evil either, so maybe there's still hope for him. After all, if there is one, you should be able to make it happen with Imagination, right? After all, making a bad person good shouldn't be impossible when you're basically God... right?"
Ei looked at him for almost a minute before responding:
"No, it's not impossible, there have been many cases where Imagination has been used to change a person's nature" she said. "I was a witness to it… and also a victim"
Lum, Mike, Clarc and Sora looked at her with a puzzled look, as if they were waiting for her to develop her thoughts but Ei ignored their looks and changed the subject:
"Mike, I think your idea is good" she declared, suddenly calling him by his first name. "Your idea is good and I appreciated the way you tried to put yourself in the enemy's shoes. Not just you, everyone present here expressed their own opinion sincerely and explained it rationally, you all managed to do what I asked of you"
Saying this, Ei sighed deeply and the immaculate white that made up his body began to darken.
"Even so, you never addressed the most important question, and therefore you failed the test" Ei said.
Mike and the others stood frozen as they saw Ei visibly dull. The latter continued:
"You've all talked about ways to approach Noir, but none of you have ever really asked yourself the question: why is he doing this? The enemies you've encountered so far, were they just doing evil just because it's fun to be evil? No, both Shinki and Inferno, they both had their own objectives, with their share of humanity. Shinki wanted to prove that no matter how predisposed you are to losing, even if you are and will forever remain nothing more than a secondary character, you still have to do your best to achieve victory, even if you descend into evil. and we still end up losing miserably. Even though his efforts ended in his death, he never abandoned his principles, nor did he regret them. Likewise for Inferno, who remained true to himself until his end, as horrible as it was"
"Inferno is dead!?" Lum eclaimed.
She was shocked to learn that this destroyer she had hated all her life had met his end without her knowing, just like that.
"Yes, he met his end after a fierce battle against the Primary World's other human capable of using Imagination, Frey. However, he did not die at the hands of the latter, but at the hands of an... external person, who intervened at the last moment to save the situation. Without that Inferno would have succeeded in beating Frey and using him to destroy all of the stories in the Narrative Layer...
But besides, do you know why he was so keen to destroy everything like that? This is because Inferno hated seeing the same events happen over and over again due to Fate, and also hated seeing the heroes escape almost every time, while countless supporting characters and not -named always ended up suffering and dying, again and again, in total indifference.
Moreover, even in death, he remained true to himself and was not killed by Frey, but by this external person I spoke of earlier. In the end, while neither Shinki nor Inferno were good, and were arguably even bad people, they weren't "evil", "evil" or anything.
They were just pursuing their ideals no matter the cost. You too, along the journey that led you to be here at this moment, countless things were destroyed because of decisions you yourself made: the history of Citura, which Inferno destroyed precisely because you, Lum, had decided that this would be the perfect place to hide.
The story of Shinki, whom he devastated precisely because you, Mike, refused to leave Clarc behind. If you had simply abandoned him and left without accepting Shinki's game, his plan would have failed and this story would never have met such a tragic end. Even Inferno and Shinki themselves met their demise because of your actions. In the end, even if you consider yourself to be the good guys in the story, you are not"
Ei had now completely blackened, becoming a person that Mike and Lum immediately recognized: Noir.
The latter, or rather the latter according to the latest information, ended his speech with a final tirade:
"Even if you were the main characters, in the end you would only represent a few more points of view on this world, trying to assert yourself against everyone else, without ever really being more or less right than the others. Maybe you are the protagonists of this world, but you will never be the heroes. If you could have understood this, you would have passed the test and received help from Ei. But you failed, so all that awaits you is Noir's judgment"
And so began the end of the 98,987,490th reading in world history, the creation myths.