All right, I'm in a pickle.
I was fighting the "witch" in another world where virtually everyone was so depressed that gathering hope was like pulling teeth. Even so, I'd managed to back it into a corner by firing successive attacks until...it took over Eterna's body in a last-ditch effort to survive.
I could probably continue to weaken the "witch" even inside of Eterna, but the issue was that I had absolutely no way to bypass her defenses. Saints and witches could tamper with space. With that power in its hands, the "witch" could just block every attack I threw its way. This was the very reason the witch could normally only be defeated by the saint.
As a lump of mana, the "witch" had lost this ability to gain some sort of bugged immortality. Saints and witches, on the other hand, weren't immortal, but they were impossible to hurt unless you also had their powers.
In the past, I'd sacrificed a big chunk of my life span to borrow some of Verner's dark powers and break such defenses. The issue was that I'd gotten rid of the last of those powers after I'd freed Alexia from her seal.
It's not my fault! I wasn't going to act as the saint anymore, so I didn't see the point in keeping them! How was I supposed to know that I'd need them again?!
Without saying a word, Eterna lifted her hand, pointed her palm at me, and fired several blasts of condensed mana.
My blades of light automatically intercepted them and flew at her. Needless to say, they were unable to touch her. They slowly flew back to me, wobbling as though they were dejected.
It's not your fault, guys, so keep it up. What to do now?
Eterna and I were locked in a stalemate. She was far too weak to hurt me, and I had no way to bypass her defense. We were staring at each other in silence when I felt a hand on my shoulder.
"Mr. Verner?"
"This battle's mine to fight. I'll stop that thing," he said. "I'm sorry, El, but I can't leave this to anyone else."
I'd tasked Verner with the villagers' protection, but he hadn't been able to stand by any longer.
He'd made the right choice, though—unlike me, Verner had dark powers. He could get to Eterna. In fact, I was very happy he'd stepped in without a word from me. I wouldn't have had the face to ask him to save my butt after I'd insisted I'd take care of things myself.
"Mr. Verner, please try to get close to Miss Eterna without hurting her," I told him.
"Ya got a plan?"
"Yes. If it goes well, we'll be able to save Miss Eterna. Will you do it?"
Verner stepped forward, a smile on his lips. "Leave it to me."
With those words, he rushed forward, his cloak flapping in the wind.
Whoa. This Verner is so reliable.
I wasn't into men, but even I couldn't help but admire guys like him. He truly was the kind of guy other men would fall for.
Eterna immediately fired mana beams at him, but that didn't stop him. He roared as he cut through them with his claymore.
Hang on, he's repelling the saint's spells like they're nothing? How even?!
On a closer look, he had missed some of them—they hit him in the stomach and arms. However, he didn't show the slightest sign of hesitation. He powered through.
Eterna jumped back as she fired mana bullets, trying to maintain the distance between them.
The bullets exploded when they hit Verner, but he soon rushed out of the smoke. He had taken some damage. I could see a trail of blood running down the side of his face, and his cloak was falling apart. Still, he refused to slow down. He kept moving forward, closing in on Eterna even as she relentlessly attacked him.
Did his Hyper Armor kick in or what?!
"Give her...back...to me!!!" Verner roared, veins popping out on his face.
He finally reached Eterna, and he pulled her into a tight embrace. Eterna kept attacking him with her magic. Blood drenched his clothes, but he refused to let go.
"Eterna...you're finally back in my arms. Sorry I'm late, but don't worry—I'll never let ya go again."
"V-Ver..." Eterna whispered.
HUUUUH?! She can talk even though she's practically dead and sealed?! Wait... Did Verner break the seal with his dark powers?
If that was the case, this was my chance. I flew to them in a split second and put my hands on Verner's back.
I was about to do the exact same thing I'd done in my previous world when I'd stolen—um, borrowed—Verner's dark powers, but with Eterna instead. However, since I wasn't the saint, absorbing those powers into myself would cut my life span drastically. That's why I'd decided to use Verner's body as a buffer.
Instead of laughing, the "witch" groaned. It was fighting me, trying its hardest to return inside Eterna, when something unbelievable happened: Verner grabbed it with his bare hands!
He stuck his face right up against the abomination, their foreheads pressed together. With a fierce smile on his face, Verner started to threaten it. "Don't ya think you've done enough, you damn bastard? Let go of your goddamned regrets and drop dead!"
The "witch" whimpered.
Verner's smile was radiant. He was still all teeth, when—suddenly—he leaned back and headbutted the witch. He didn't stop at once, though—he struck it again and again until his face was covered in blood.
After the fifth time, the "witch" gave up and fled, leaving Eterna's body.
Seriously? That's—that's a thing? The protagonist at max level is so damn scary...
"El!" Verner exclaimed.
"Y-Yes!"
Verner's way of dealing with the "witch" had freaked me out so much that I'd just stood there, gaping at him like an idiot. I snapped out of it and placed my hand on Eterna. Needless to say, I was going to heal her. I dealt with her wounds and restarted her heart.
Eterna opened her eyes, and Verner tightened his embrace even more.
"Ver... Hurts..."
"Ya idiot! D'ya have any idea how worried I was?!"
Aaaah, I sighed inwardly. Now, that's a sight for sore eyes— Um, I mean, what a moving moment...
With the "witch" gone, Eterna was back to being stark naked. Sadly for me, as soon as Verner noticed, he wrapped his cloak around her.
Not cool...
Anyhow, Eterna was safe and sound, and the "witch" was once again defenseless.
Which meant...that it was time to put an end to this!
Let's put on one last show!
I raised my hand and started charging up another sun. Compared to earlier, I was able to gather a lot more noble emotions in a shorter time. I could tell that the two who were providing me with the most positive energy were Verner and Eterna.
To put it bluntly, the power of their love was about to save the world. My heart was also brimming with self-satisfaction. I'd finally gotten rid of the last regret I didn't even know I had.
Right before I'd transmigrated, I'd been watching the end of Eterna's route and lamenting. My disappointment and sadness had been the starting point of this whole thing. In a way, you could even say that I'd come here because I wanted to see Eterna and Verner reach their happy ending.
A lot had happened ever since I'd become Ellize. While I'd earned my happy ending, it wasn't the one I'd been hoping for at the start. I'd ended up destroying Eterna's route with my own two hands. Don't get me wrong, though—I wasn't trying to say that I was unhappy with my current ending. It was just that I'd never been able to do anything for the two people I'd always wanted to save.
Yamoto-san had put it very well. If the world the original scenario was based on was Fiori A, I'd reincarnated into Fiori B—another world entirely. I hadn't saved the original Fiori A Verner and Eterna!
Take this, you damn "witch"! This is my...
My...shameful desire, my greatest wish, my obsession! This is the stubbornness that fueled dozens of angry emails to the dev team, whining about the lack of a happy ending for my dear waifu! This is the fervor that got me blocked by said dev team! It's what pushed me to spam anonymous forums with complaints and annoy everyone while making a jackass out of myself because I couldn't accept reality! This is the frustration I felt when I begged people to write a happy ending for Eterna's route, only to get retorts like, "Write it yourself, idiot!" This is the despair, anger, and sadness I felt when I was told to "stop writing fanfics like they're freaking scripts," and that my writing was "an unreadable piece of trash" that "looked like a grade-schooler wrote it." This is the embarrassment I felt when people said that they "had no clue which character was saying what," that I "should know better than mix first-person and third-person POV," that "adding the POV of all the characters was way too old-school" and that it was "just plain boring." This is the confusion I felt when I read those comments. DON'T MESS WITH ME, OKAY?! Y'ALL TOLD ME TO WRITE IT MYSELF!!!
Hang on, Fudou Niito—what the heck were you doing while I was living as Ellize?! We're back to being the same person, so I've gotta share your dark history, brooooooooo!
I'd overcome all of these hardships, transmigrated all the way here, and was finally ready to blast my, uh, mess-of-emotions-that-wasn't-quite-hope-but-that-would-work-just-as-well at the "witch!"
As my sun hit the abomination that plagued this world, a shrill cry filled the air, and it started crumbling away. It might've been my imagination, but I felt like its last cry was even more desperate than the time I'd beaten it using legitimate noble emotions only.
The tattered "witch" disappeared until nothing was left behind.
"Is it...over?" Verner asked.
"Yes," I answered confidently. "I can't feel its presence anymore."
We won! The bonus arc is finally over too!
Sure, it was a bit of a sloppy victory—actually, it'd become downright disgraceful toward the end—but who cared? The important part was that we'd won!
The end justifies the means!
Besides, it wasn't like my feelings were that far off from hope, right? They were a...murkier, kinda gross version...but hope was hope!
"At last... At last, the 'witch' has been defeated!" Four-Eyed Pervert exclaimed, moved to tears. "Our glorious saint accomplished a miracle!"
"For the last time, I'm not the saint..." I answered, looking down at the idiot prostrating himself at my feet.
The real saint is right there!
Miss Farah looked absolutely fed up as she dragged Four-Eyed Pervert by the ear and forced him to get up. I heard her whisper, "Why in the world did I fall for someone like him?"
Excuse me? Sorry? Are you two an item in this world?!
Now that was a crack ship. Speaking of pairings, how was my very conventional OTP doing?
Oh my... Things are getting heated over there!
Verner and Eterna were locked in a tight embrace as though they only needed one another to live.
"E-El? What's happening...?"
"Huh?"
I'd been so focused on enjoying the lovey-dovey spectacle that I hadn't noticed Marie coming up to me. Her words pulled me out of my reverie, and I realized that something strange was happening.
A golden light was shining upon me, and I started glowing too. I wasn't sure how I knew, but I was convinced that I was about to return to my world.
"It looks like it's time for me to go," I said.
I finally understood why I'd been brought to this world.
Saints had originally been created by the will of the world to counter the witch. However, no saint could ever stand a chance against the "witch." I mean, saints were even part of the damn monster.
Out of options, this world had decided to take drastic measures and bring me here. I imagined Fiori A had gone to Fiori B and whined, "Hewwo, I'm in a jam—pwease hewp me." Fiori B had probably sighed and gone "You're hopeless..." before sending me over. Well, I wasn't sure if that was exactly how it'd gone down, but that was the idea.
Probably.
"You're leaving so soon?"
"I was never meant to stay here," I explained. "I'm from a parallel world. I was brought here to defeat the 'witch' by the will of your world. My mission is over now."
I was a bit like a temp worker—though I hadn't exactly given my consent or signed any contracts.
"A goddess sent by the world to drive away evil... I knew it! You're the one true saint!"
What was Four-Eyed Pervert on about? I didn't have the patience to correct him anymore, so I just let him say whatever he wanted.
I was about to go home, but I figured I might as well help out while I still could. I wasn't exactly one to do overtime for free, but I'd make an exception for today. Well, if I didn't, this world was done for.
For the first time ever, I used all of my MP at once to cast the biggest healing+nature regeneration spell I could muster. I immediately circulated my mana to replenish my MP and did it a second time.
I couldn't cover the entire planet with my healing magic, so I also created little mana spirits and scattered them around so they could heal people on the other side of the world. If I'd tried that in the past, I probably would've ended up sending most of them to unpopulated areas because I wouldn't have been able to see. Fortunately, now that I was the prophet, I didn't have that issue anymore.
Gotta go home with a bang! Let's go! Que será, será!
◇
It was a true miracle.
Ellize spread her arms and released a warm light that changed everything.
Desolate wastelands turned into fertile fields, and the vegetation that the "witch" had burned down flourished one more. Flowers blossomed, and the contaminated water of the lakes and ponds turned clear. The dark sky turned bright blue as the clouds vanished, allowing the rays of the sun to light up the world. The wounded and the ill regained their vigor as beautiful spirits flew across the world, sharing their brilliance wherever they went. Some of them merged with the earth, the sea, the mountains, and the forests, bringing them back to life.
Faced with this spectacle, the people of Fiori joined their hands in prayer. No one had ordered them to, but they all spontaneously felt the need to pray.
"Mr. Verner, that's all I can do for you," Ellize said. "Countless challenges will await you. I cannot bring back the lives that have been lost to the 'witch.' However, I'm sure that all of you will find the strength to move forward. You have a beautiful future ahead of you."
"You've already done more than enough, silly..." Verner said, an awkward smile on his face.
His comrade in arms had left him and the rest of the world an incredibly grandiose parting gift. His debt toward her had grown once more, and he knew he'd never be able to repay her. He wanted nothing more than to devote his life to give back to her, but she'd be returning to her own world soon.
At the very least, he wanted her to put her mind at ease before she left.
Verner looked at her and smiled from the bottom of his heart. He hadn't worn such a peaceful, gentle expression since the day he'd lost Eterna.
"I'll take it from here," he promised. "There're still monsters around, but they won't be breedin' like crazy anymore. Don't ya worry, I—no, we'lldo what needs to be done. Everyone here'll do it."
Ellize smiled back at him, and the two of them exchanged a firm handshake. Marie, who seemed reluctant to part with Ellize, hugged her to say goodbye.
The light that surrounded Ellize grew brighter—the time for farewells had come.
Ellize seemed to suddenly remember something. She let out a small "Ah!" before saying, "I almost forgot! If you're able to, please visit Ordinary Fuguten. The first saint is sealed there, but you should be able to release her from her prison, Miss Eterna. I'm sure she'll be of help to you."
"The first saint? Seriously? Didn't she turn into a witch?"
"She's a special case," I told Verner. "Do ask her, I'm sure she'll tell you her story."
"I see... Thanks, El. I can't think of a more reliable ally than another saint. We'll find and free her, promise."
While the "witch" had been defeated, there were still countless monsters endangering humanity. The first saint would surely prove to be a formidable ally in this new battle.
Having vowed to release the first saint from her seal, Verner felt his suspicion turn to certitude.
"Well then, El, give my regards to the 'me' of your world," he said, hoping to confirm his theory.
"Wh-When did you figure it out?"
Her reaction confirmed it. She was Ellize, not someone who simply shared the same name.
"When I introduced myself, ya looked surprised. Ya knew my name already, but ya seemed shocked by my looks. The 'me' ya know's still a student, ain't he?"
"He... He is, yes."
"Besides, ya said that ya were from a parallel world yourself. Y'know that was a pretty big hint, right?"
Still, this Ellize was so different from the piece of shit he knew that Verner was convinced that it wasn't the entire truth. The Ellize he knew was rotten to the core, and the girl he'd come to know was fundamentally different—they were like day and night.
None of that mattered, though. Whoever she may be, the girl in front of him was a kind soul and a dear comrade to him.
"Do you hate me?" Ellize asked.
"'Course not. You're you, and ya got nothin' to do with the piece of shit I used to know. You're our precious comrade and savior, El."
Seeing Ellize and Verner smile at each other ignited a spark of jealousy in Eterna's heart, and she clung to Verner's arm. She didn't say a word, but her face screamed, "He's mine!"
The fake saint who'd come from another world smiled fondly at her. "Take good care of her."
"I was gonna," Verner replied immediately, pulling Eterna into another embrace.
Image here:
Verner didn't need to say anything else out loud. His expression spoke for him—he seemed to claim to the world that he was Eterna's, and that Eterna was his.
Eterna blushed and hid her face in Verner's arms.
"I don't think we'll ever meet again, Mr. Verner, so I leave this world in your hands."
Verner nodded. "Take care of yourself, El."
He clenched his fist and thrust it forward. Ellize copied the motion.
The two of them belonged to different timelines. They'd most likely never see each other again. The fact that they'd met at all was nothing short of a miracle. However, Verner knew that he'd never forget their meeting. He'd only come to know her one month and three days ago, but he'd cherish their short time together until he passed. He already knew that those memories would become one of his most prized treasures.
"Goodbye, everyone. I wish you all the best!" Ellize said before rising into the sky.
The goddess was returning to the heavens after gracing them with her presence.
Verner and the others looked up at the sky. Supple had dropped to his knees and was praying like a fanatic.
A couple of minutes—no, a dozen—later, Verner lowered his head. Eterna was still nestled against his body, and he tapped her shoulder softly.
"We're gonna be busy from now on," he said. "We gotta make this world a better place—can't have her laughin' at us."
Eterna and Marie nodded, and the three of them walked away.
They'd keep on living in this world—the very one their new comrade had saved from despair.
Verner stopped and looked at the sky which Ellize had disappeared into one last time. He offered her the gratitude he hadn't managed to express with words inside of his heart, then set out once more.
◇
"Huh?"
I came back to my senses on my chair, slightly disoriented.
I brought my hands to my temples and rubbed until my blurry vision cleared up. I was in my room at home—not in the saint's castle, but rather, my log house in the forest.
My rocking chair was still swaying gently as I stared at the wall in confusion.
Huh?
I'd just checked the clock tower in the capital with my prophetic powers, but the time had barely changed since I'd gone to the other side. It was still on the same day here as when I'd left.
Wait, wait, wait... No way...
I stormed out of my room and went down to the first floor.
Layla was there, cooking dinner.
"Oh, Lady Ellize," she said with a smile when she saw me. "Fishing was good today, so we're having fish for dinner."
Layla and I took turns cooking, but she still did it more often than I did. She always fussed about taking care of the chores for me, but I wished she'd come to terms with the fact that I was no longer the saint soon.
Leaving housework aside, Layla was acting the same as usual. Had I been missing for an entire month, she definitely would've had a different reaction.
"I'm looking forward to it, Layla," I said. "Say, I fell asleep earlier. Do you happen to know how long I slept?"
"I'm not sure. It couldn't have been that long, though..."
Right...
That settled it. It had all just been a dream.
A dream, huh...? How cliché.
Still, I did feel like I'd been traveling for a month, and I remembered everything that had happened over there with frightening detail. Could dreams truly be that vivid?
Well, at least it had been a good one. I couldn't believe I'd literally seen my dream Eterna route play out!
I'd come to terms with my disappointment, when suddenly, something fell from my pocket.
"Oh my, isn't that an augurare, Lady Ellize?"
"You know about those crystals?"
"Yes. They're supposed to grant your wish if you keep one in your pocket. Soldiers often bring them to the battlefield as lucky charms. I'm surprised you'd have one, though. Do you have a wish?"
A crystal that grants wishes, huh?
I didn't remember buying anything like that.
"Found it on my travels. It's an augurare crystal. It's supposed to have the power to grant wishes. I kept it with me hoping it'd work, but I'll give it to ya instead."
Ah.
AH!!!
Verner! The other Verner had been the one to give it to me! Which meant...that dream hadn't been a dream at all!
YEEEEEES!!!
I picked up the blue crystal and held it tightly in my palm.
I'd been thinking about selling it after I'd returned to this world, but I changed my mind. This crystal was very effective, after all.
"I got it from a very dear friend of mine. Although I suppose the order was all wrong..."
My wish's been granted already.
Layla didn't get what I meant. She looked at me, confused.
(3.9k word count)
A/n: alright guys tell me what you think about this series.