A tremendous force of rejection surged toward the "Angel."
Immediately after, a deafening roar. The sound of Laplace, who had been smashed aside by the "Angel" in midair, slamming into the ground.
And yet, Laplace wore a satisfied expression even as he coughed up blood. As if to show the reason why—up in the sky.
"No... no... this can't be...!"
The "Angel" wearing Liliana's appearance broke into panic, its face contorting with Liliana's own expression.
...Something could be seen falling away from its body. At the same time, the presence that Liliana had contained within her was fading, and the voice grew blurred.
What had happened from those signs was unmistakable. It had reached its manifestation limit.
There was nothing more to be done. The outcome was decided. Realizing this, the "Angel" glared down at the humans on the ground.
"I won't give up."
With an expression and tone of voice harboring obsession—or perhaps delusion—it declared.
"I will return. Someday, I will surely return. And when that time comes, this time for certain—"
"I will claim the Creation Magic—the magic of our Boss—into my own hands!!"
Those words, left as its final remark.
The inhuman being, the aberration that had formed part of this nation—vanished into the gaps between worlds.
"—!"
With a limpness, Liliana's body lost its strength in midair and began to fall.
Ermes rushed to catch her body on the ground and checked her condition.
She was breathing. There were no external wounds. Gentle exhalations could be heard—she was simply unconscious.
Liliana was safe as well. Confirming this, Ermes collapsed, his strength finally giving out.
"......Is...it...over...?"
"Yes. The 'Angel' could not maintain its manifestation and has dissipated. Of course, we only drove it back — we didn't defeat it. But at the very least, it shouldn't reappear for years."
Rose, who had likewise caught her breath, walked over and delivered the news.
Her words could surely be trusted. Hearing them, Ermes finally let out a breath of his own.
The "Angel" that had appeared suddenly in the midst of the decisive battle. It was the very entity Rose had been wary of — a non-human existence that had nested behind the pages of kingdom history, coveting genesis magic.
They had succeeded in driving it back. The battle of humanity had been protected.
—But. The cost of that victory was undeniably there.
"........."
That cost — Laplace. Every person present looked upon him with a mixture of emotions.
He lay collapsed on the ground, receiving every last one of those gazes.
He still seemed to be breathing. Still conscious, too.
But... everyone could sense that his time had already run out. The price of a mortal man single-handedly suppressing the genesis magic of an existence that had surpassed humanity. It had taken everything from Laplace's body. His stamina, his magic power... and even the light of his life.
...Everyone's gaze then turned, one after another, to someone other than Laplace.
In response, Ermes walked over to him and knelt down.
"Lord Laplace... I..."
"There's no need to say anything."
Those were the words Laplace delivered in his cheerful, unwavering voice to Ermes, who had been struggling for words.
"I don't need your thanks. I just did what I wanted to do, the way I wanted to do it.
I don't need your apologies either. We're not the kind of people who'd make a big sappy show of it, are we?"
Truly, there was not a shred of regret in him.
With an expression that said he'd done what needed to be done.
"I didn't do this for anyone. Not even for the Boss. I did it for myself.
I was the one who couldn't stand that damn angel the most. The end of a goal I'd staked my whole life on — snatched away not by a worthy rival like you lot, but by some know-nothing creature that never even tried to understand. I decided then and there that I was going to blow that bastard away, no matter what it took."
"..."
"So I did. Everything I did back there — that was my deepest wish and my greatest desire."
...Once he put it like that.
Anything they said now would be nothing but empty embellishment.
He had lived. Without needing praise, without needing understanding.
And yet — he'd chosen his own life. From a birth he couldn't choose, he had selected his own ending.
If that was the case, then truly, there was nothing to say.
"...Ha. That works. But since we're here, let me have the last word on my end."
To Ermes, Laplace continued with a laugh:
"Hey, Ermes. You've probably never really lost before, have you?"
"Eh...?"
"I'm not talking about wins and losses on the surface. You probably won every battle that truly mattered up until you met us. The family that oppressed you, the damn princes and damn nobles you clashed with — even if you bent at first, you always made them pay in the end, didn't you? You never once failed to beat the people who stood in your way."
Now that he said it...
Ermes had, in the end, crushed everything that stood before her. She'd fought hard and won. That was precisely why she was here.
And... she couldn't deny that it had felt good.
"...Yes. That may be true."
"Right? ...So then, what about me?"
To Ermes, Laplace—
"Our first encounter was a draw. The next one ended in interruption, and the hidden sanctum after that was a complete win for me. The final showdown also got cut short by that damn angel in the end, but I was the one who led the charge in driving that angel back."
"!"
"Ha. That look on your face — so you thought so too, did you? Then it was worth saying."
As if Ermes's stunned expression were the ultimate reward, he delivered his closing words.
"You know it, Ermes.
I have never once
,
lost to you
.
I'm the first man to face you as an open enemy and not go down. So I'm letting you know!"
Pointing straight at Ermes, he spoke what were surely the first such words of his life.
"— I win. How does it feel!"
Those words, strangely enough,
sank into Ermes's chest without a shred of resistance. That was precisely why he too smiled... while simultaneously letting a faint trace of bitterness show as he responded.
"...Yes. You've won."
Hostile to the very end. And defiant to the very end.
Ermes addressed words to Laplace — the man who had stayed true to that way of being to the very last — with a mixture of emotions and a genuine, unmistakable respect.
◆
After that, Laplace — who was still barely clinging to life — left what remained to Rose, while the sleeping Liliana was entrusted to Nina.
Ermes turned toward the other person — the one he needed to speak to, the one he needed to face.
"…Lord Chrono."
"Well, Ermes."
That man… Chrono von Feybrad.
He rose to his feet and faced Ermes. With a slightly relaxed manner, he called out to him.
"You came. Thank you. Then…"
With a gesture of thorough politeness, he declared.
"Let's settle this."
"…"
He had sensed this was coming.
That was precisely why Ermes faltered, at a loss for words.
"…Do we have to?"
"Yes. I understand how you feel, but this is not something I can concede."
"Even if you defeat all of us here, your wish won't come true. Even so?"
"That's irrelevant."
Ermes half-knew it already — but there were things he couldn't help but ask.
Chrono answered each one with care. As if gently instructing a child. As if praising a student who had found the correct answer.
"I staked everything on making that wish come true. That is my desire, my wish. Which is why I cannot stop. The moment I cease my stride toward my goal — that is the same as the moment my heart stops beating."
──He would keep moving forward to fulfill his goal. Until the very day he died.
In other words, unless someone killed him, he could not be stopped.
Upon hearing Chrono speak without a moment's hesitation, Ermes's face twisted, and he bit down on his lower lip……
"……Yes. I understand."
……He accepted it. He accepted the feelings he ought to embrace, the feelings he ought to face.
He had to. He himself had come to this realization in the midst of this battle.
Their feelings, their hatred for the kingdom. Their wish, for the kingdom's utter annihilation.
He could no longer dismiss that as mere nonsense, or brush it off as something incomprehensible. It would not be strange to think that way, nor would it be odd to feel that way—because he had watched this country and come to understand it for what it was.
That was precisely why. He had to face it and overcome it. He had to see it through to the end—both of them as equals, neither above nor below the other, each holding feelings of equal weight.
"……Thank you."
Understanding the resolve Ermes had just made, Chrono smiled gently, offering his thanks. Then, with a slightly troubled tone, he continued.
"Still, even so. I'm at a loss as to what to do about it. Thanks to that angel who can't read the room, we've both worn ourselves halfway to exhaustion. Even if we reset and go again from here, it'll be nothing but a mud-wrestling match. That would be a rather unsatisfying way to settle things."
A final resolution—that was well and good. But how to actually bring one about?
Continuing to rampage at each other like this was pointless and utterly anticlimactic—not the slightest bit beautiful.
The outcome had already been decided. Chrono's wish would not be granted. That much was a foregone conclusion. All that remained was finding a way to settle things in a way both sides could accept—and yet he could not figure out how.
Ermes, too, understood the questions and doubts churning inside Chrono. And precisely because he did—
"……Then."
He spoke quietly, making his proposal.
"Would you leave it to me?"
"To you?"
"Yes. In the final moments of this battle—a clash of wills and wishes that holds the kingdom's future in the balance, I would prepare a fitting stage—"
With unwavering resolve, he pressed a hand to his chest.
"—
The magic for that
,
I shall create it now
" he said.
Chrono opened his eyes slightly in surprise.
However, this was the effect of Ermes's magic. More than anything, he must have felt that Ermes—a man who had come this far—was worthy of his complete trust.
"…This is more than I could have hoped for. Please, by all means."
"Thank you. Then, please wait a moment."
After expressing his gratitude for their acceptance, Ermes returned to his companions.
After explaining the situation and receiving their consent.
First was the task of gathering the necessary magic power. This would be handled through Sara's " Star corolla " Magic Inscription Liberation. By gathering the remaining magic power from everyone—centered on Rose and Lucius, who still had some to spare—he managed to collect just enough.
With that done, and seeing everyone off.
Ermes returned to Chrono's side.
"I've kept you waiting. Now then—"
"Haha, you'll let me watch from a front-row seat? How generous."
Chrono. The man who had founded the organization that had plotted the kingdom's destruction—front and center.
And with each of their companions watching over them from around.
The long, long, long battle that began from the center of the Royal Capital, the same place as here.
To properly adorn its final act. To create a spell worthy of doing just that.
Ermes, with a thousand emotions swelling within him and everything he had gained until now poured into it.
He drew a breath, and sang.
"—[Attend with grace, lend your ear, for from this point forth are spoken the Twelve Mysteries]"
The long third chapter has finally reached its climax.
I hope you will stay to witness the spell he creates in the end.