"Is there really no other way?"
"There isn't."
I brutally cut down Oni-kun's hope, asked in a trembling voice.
This world already had one foot in the grave.
It was now impossible to resolve things peacefully without any sacrifices.
It had already sunk that deep into the quagmire.
"Hey, does having a lot of Skills mean we're going to die too?"
The vampire girl's voice wasn't trembling.
But I could tell she was shaken from the way her pupils darted about.
"I'm currently upgrading the system's soul-protection function, modifying it so that only reincarnators survive."
It wasn't finished yet, but I'd make sure it was done before the system collapsed.
Actually, if it didn't get finished, I was planning to use that as a reason to delay the system collapse too, so there was nothing to worry about.
"Then just apply that to every human in the world!"
"Impossible. Doing that would require a massive surplus of energy."
We'd need enough energy to basically sacrifice another god.
If we had that kind of energy, we'd be better off just shoving it straight into the system.
"What happens to this world after the system collapses?"
"How should I know?"
I didn't know a thing like that.
My assigned task was to help the Demon King. I had no intention of watching over this world's fate after the system was gone.
"I'm asking you seriously here."
"I'm answering seriously."
What the world would become after the system's collapse was something the people of this world would decide — none of my business.
They could keep fighting between humans and demons for all I cared.
They could work toward restoring the collapsed hemisphere if they wanted.
Whatever they did, it was up to the inhabitants of this world.
Even if another collapse awaited them beyond that, there'd be no Goddess left to save them.
"White, what happens to the dead after the system is gone?"
"They return to the normal cycle of reincarnation."
While the system existed, souls that died in this world were simply reborn in this world.
But that was, in essence, an unnatural flow of souls.
The norm was for the dead to pass through the cycle of reincarnation and be reborn across all manner of worlds.
Once the system was gone, things would simply return to that natural state.
"So what about people who die before the system collapses, but haven't been reborn yet when it does?"
"Same thing — they return to the cycle of reincarnation."
The system was nothing more than a temporary storage facility for souls.
Once it was gone, everyone would simply follow the natural order of the world and rejoin the cycle of reincarnation.
The system collapsing wouldn't cause souls caught up in it to disintegrate or anything like that.
However, if the system collapsed while you were still alive, the backlash from having your Skills ripped out could kill you — or worse, shatter your soul.
To put it bluntly, the irony was that you were safer dead than alive.
Well, dying was still dying, so it wasn't much of a comfort.
"I see. So it's better to be dead."
Oni-kun seemed to understand that too.
And he'd made his decision.
"Got it. White, I'll cooperate with you."
Oni-kun said that and extended his hand.
O-oh.
Was this... that thing?
The handshake kind of thing?
I'd be rude if I didn't accept, right?
Hesitantly, I reached out and shook his hand.
It felt kind of weird.
While I was standing there feeling awkward, the vampire girl yanked my hand free from Oni-kun's grip.
Then she latched onto that same hand and shook it vigorously up and down.
What was this girl trying to do?
After shaking it to her heart's content, the vampire girl finally let go of my hand.
Then, for some reason, she glared at Oni-kun with nostrils flaring.
What kind of weird jealousy was that about?
While I was stunned speechless, the Demon King took my hand next.
Unlike her usual carefree grin, she had her face turned down.
"White."
She called to me in a voice so faint it might've vanished, while holding my hand.
"White."
The second time she whispered it, drops of water fell onto my hand.
Those droplets weren't just one or two — they kept falling, one after another, onto both my hand and the Demon King's.
"I'm sorry."
What did that apology mean?
"Thank you."
What did that gratitude mean?
The Demon King simply kept on crying.
The Demon King, who had loved the Goddess and only the Goddess, all this time.
Neither god, nor human, nor demon.
She was weak.
She didn't have the power to save the Goddess.
She was strong.
Alone, with nothing but the Goddess's ideals in her heart, she had watched over the world.
Her former comrades were long gone.
Even so, she fought on alone, in solitude.
And when the Demon King realized her death was near, for the first time she defied the Goddess's will.
She defied the Goddess's will in order to save the Goddess.
I had witnessed that resolve and those feelings.
It was only a glimpse — the way her subordinates saw her, filtered through the souls of Mother and the rest that the Demon King had consumed.
But even so, I had truly seen the real depth of her feelings.
I didn't want to save the Goddess.
To be honest, I actually disliked the Goddess herself.
Her very existence made me sick.
I acknowledged her way of being, but I could never bring myself to like her.
What I wanted, though, was to grant the Demon King's wish.
This girl's wish — weak yet strong.
She didn't have the kind of cheat that I did. She was truly weak.
And yet she kept living, kept resisting, kept protecting — a strong girl to the very end.
I wanted to add one last flourish to her story.
The Demon King,
Her soul had reached its limit.
The system, which absorbed a portion of another's soul in the form of Experience Points.
It was an unnatural form of Evolution that warped one's original soul.
The Demon King's soul, over the long passage of time, had accumulated a vast amount of Experience.
It had made the Demon King powerful — but it had also bloated and distorted her soul.
She could not ascend to godhood.
Her soul could no longer withstand the process of becoming a god.
The collapse of the Demon King's soul was now only a matter of time.
That was why, for one final great deed, she had become the Demon King.
At first, D had forced the role upon her.
But along the way — traveling together, being treated to delicious food, chatting away — they had grown close.
Or however you'd want to describe it.
I wanted to honor the Demon King's will, and grant her wish.
The wish to save the Goddess.