Tatakau Shisho

The last Singer Nieniu. Ruruta vicariously experienced the 18 years of her life.

He saw the moment she tried to throw away her power of the Singers. The moment when she heard his distant wailing and became a Singer so she could save him.

She had sung to save people for a long while. And Ruruta came to know of the time she met him.

“What is this?”

Ruruta was thinking as he read the Book. He didn’t know any of this. He didn’t recall having met her or having heard her song.

However, a Book couldn’t contain any falsehood. If so, then what was this?

At that time, Ruruta noticed there was a blank period in his memories. Starting from when he despaired at his inability to defeat the Beasts of the Final Chapter and till the time he resolved his mind to definitely beat them. He had no memory of that period. Why had he forgotten? Why had he not noticed that he forgot something so important?

His head hurt. Hurt badly.

Inside the Book, Ruruta of the past was worrying. He was going to kill Nieniu so he could become stronger. He then gave up and abandoned saving the world. And finally he decided saving the world in order to protect her.

Why had he forgotten that? Ruruta was unable to understand and nearly shouted.

Ruruta and Nieniu separated for a while. Inside the forest, she was waiting for the time when Ruruta would save the world. She practiced singing alone in order to bring happiness to the new world.

Three days later she received a wooden letter from Ruruta. He unabashedly wrote inside just how much he loved her. She read that embarrassedly. Days and months went by.

One day Nieniu noticed: no letter came from Ruruta in about ten days. She decided to once again go to the capital as something might have happened to him. Preparing for the journey, she went to sleep intending to head out the day after.

That night, she woke from sleep due to feeling pain on her face.

“…!”

She tried getting up from her blanket. But the next moment a blunt, hot pain ran through her shoulders, back and legs.

“…W-who is this?”

Because of the shock and pain she could neither get up nor move at all. She realized she was being hit by a stick only after the attack stopped.

“…Who are you!?”

Nieniu shouted. The reply was laughter. It was the voice of people who held their stomachs laughing while pointing at her. Once they finished laughing she was attacked once again. She could hear her bones crack. Nieniu cried in pain and fear.

“Ruruta! Rurutaaa!”

She called the name of her beloved. He had written in the letter that he could find her no matter where she was. He had written that he would definitely come if she calls to him. However, all she received was insults and loud laughter. Reflected in her eyes were the feet of the man encircling her.

“Stop.”

A man said to stop the crowd. She knew from his voice that he was Vooekisal. She knew that hateful man was Vooekisal.

While reading the Book, Ruruta thought. What’s Vooekisal doing? And at the same time he recalled: when the fight against the Beasts of the Final Chapter started he couldn’t see him anywhere.

Yes, it was that day. The day the battle of Ruruta against the Beasts started.

What happened that day?!

“…Ruruta… help me… please come quickly…”

Nieniu’s bones were broken. She couldn’t move anymore. The people looked down on her simply sobbing.

Around her were Vooekisal and the elite warriors serving Ruruta. Each of them was a warrior with a high status and power. They all gathered around a single girl to hold her down.

Ruruta reading the Book felt his mind go blank. As if a thin film covered the sight in front of him. Much like a sight inside a dream. I wish this was a dream, thought Ruruta.

“Let’s stop beating her now.”

The attacks stopped by Vooekisal’s voice. Laughing, the warriors looked at the collapsed girl. One of them spat on her cheek.

“…Ruruta, please come, why aren’t you coming…?”

Vooekisal hated her. Nieniu realized that. But Ruruta told her that he had ordered Vooekisal to not hurt her. He had told her that he would rush to her if Vooekisal were to go against orders.

Also, Ruruta said… that he fought to protect her. He asked her to make the people of the world happy with her song. Then why was this happening?

“…Ruruta, why?”

She called his name countless times. Every time the warriors surrounding her laughed as if impatient.

“She still hasn’t realized!”

“That’s hilarious! She keeps crying ‘Ruruta, Ruruta’!”

“You still don’t get it eh you shitworm?”

Nieniu had no idea what they found so amusing and what they were laughing about. Ruruta was supposed to have come if she calls him. There was no way he wouldn’t.

“Do you still not know?!”

Stepping on Nieniu’s head, Vooekisal spoke.

“You’ve been thrown away!”

More laughter echoed. Nieniu felt an impact as if her head was beaten.

You’re lying, Ruruta isn’t such a person.

At the same time Ruruta reading the Book was thinking. Why have I not rushed there? What was I doing when the girl I love so much was hurt like this?

Right, I was having my last meditation during that time. I didn’t even think about what Vooekisal was doing.

Ruruta shouted at his past self. Why don’t you come! Please! Please come! However, no matter how much he shouted he could never change the past.

“…Nieniu, right? You shit-covered worm.”

Echoed Vooekisal’s voice as he stepped on Nieniu’s head.

“Can you imagine how much I wanted to kill you? Do you realize how much I gritted my teeth looking at Ruruta flying to you?”

She could hear his teeth grinding. The sound of Vooekisal’s anger.

“Lascall babbled on about Ruruta becoming stronger ever since meeting you. But there’s no way that shadow of a former Librarian Angel would ever understand the truth about Ruruta. Do you realize what you’ve done to him?”

Nieniu had no idea. She only saved him. She only stopped him from committing suicide and consoled his heart.

He had certainly once given up on saving the world because of Nieniu. But he realized it was a mistake and returned to fight for the world. Then why must this happen?

“You have defiled him. You have defiled our great savior Ruruta.

Until meeting you he was perfect. A being with no fear or hesitation that could save the world. A being that transcended both humans and Gods!”

Vooekisal shouted while kicking Nieniu’s head. In her pain Nieniu raised a scream.

“It’s all! Because you’ve seduced him! Right!”

Ruruta shouted in anger at the past Vooekisal. What are you saying! It was nothing like that! I was weak, hesitant, and I tried running away! I was a mere boy born with transparent hair who acted out the part of a savior!

“What do you mean by love! What do you mean by fighting for her sake! As if the world could be saved by lust for a lowlife! A true savior is nothing like that! They must be the ultimate being beyond any human!”

Nieniu tried saying it was all wrong. However, an impact ran through her throat. Vooekisal’s shoes kicked her throat and an unpleasant sound echoed from inside her mouth.

“He’s fallen to a mere human being! All because of you! Our great, perfect savior that was beyond God, became a mere human!!!”

While reading the Book, Ruruta felt something snapping in his head. His overwritten memories were revived.

“But it’s over. I’m already relieved. Ruruta has regained his heart of a true savior. You no longer have any place in his heart.”

You’re lying. There’s no way he would throw me away. He told me he loved me so much.

“…W…hy… Ruru…”

Nieniu tried voicing. Vooekisal stepped on her throat again.

“You’re still talking?!”

Nieniu realized that the voice coming from her throat was definitive. No matter what happens she would never have a voice again. She knew from that sound. Nieniu lost her singing forever.

“…I’ve waited long for this day, I can finally kill you, I can finally, finally kill you. Don’t think you’ll have a pleasant death. We will thoroughly beat you to death.”

He kicked Nieniu’s body away. His subordinates also attacked. Until she could never move again.

With her entire body crushed, her neck broken, Nieniu became unable to even feel pain. She was dying. She knew that clearly.

Vooekisal gave instructions to his subordinates with his chin. They carried Nieniu’s tattered body outside.

Stop, what are you doing. Save her! Don’t kill her! Ruruta shouted. However, his voice couldn’t reach the past.

“Bury her. You will die alone there.”

A hole that was big enough for a human was dug outside the cave. They threw Nieniu inside. They threw soil, rotten porridge and horse dung at her from above. With no power left to resist, her body was dirtied and buried.

“This fictitious girl was erased. When this fiction called Nieniu disappears Ruruta will awaken from his dream.”

Vooekisal said. The next moment, a clean, loud snapping sound resounded in Ruruta’s head. The memories that were lost in his mind were being reborn.

“You have found how to use the tool brought back by Hihak’s squad?”

This happened half a month ago. Hihak and the other hundred warriors challenged the Punishment Angel in deadly combat, returning with the seventh Memorial Weapon. A few days later, Ruruta took a rest in his chambers.

The one fixated on the seventh Memorial Weapon was Vooekisal. He insisted that the Passed Stone Blade Yor didn’t count and so they have yet to gather the seven Memorial Weapons. Ruruta thought that it was nonsense but since he wouldn’t lose anything he let him do as he pleased.

“No, I still do not. However, I believe it will definitely be useful for you, Ruruta.”

“How easygoing of you. The battle is pressing ever closer. I had already said that I don’t need the seventh anyway.”

Saying so, Ruruta took up the water jug on top of the table.

“Since it is a cup, perhaps we need to insert some liquid to it, or perhaps liquid will gush out of it.”

Saying so he drank water. At that moment he felt some discomfort.

Now he could remember it. That day Vooekisal was the one to bring him water. And for some reason he and his aides looked concerned about that.

“It has only a name. Fiction Obliterating Cup Argax.”

And, at the moment he told the Weapon’s name, Vooekisal unmistakably smiled.

Now he understood. Fiction Obliterating Cup Argax. It was a Memorial Weapon that caused one to lose their memories. Vooekisal already knew about it in advance and he concealed it from Ruruta. Even after obtaining it he pretended to not know how it worked, and then he made Ruruta drink from it.

He fussed over Argax so that he could use it to rob Ruruta of his memories of Nieniu.

All to make him into the true savior he had envisioned again.

A strange noise burst inside Ruruta’s head. As if his skull was cracking. Ruruta’s memories of Nieniu were reborn accompanied by a sensation like an explosion. He recalled how much he loved her and how much he wanted to protect her.

And he was assaulted by reality.

Right now he was touching the Book of that beloved, Nieniu.

Ruruta thought. I shouldn’t have read this Book.

And he had an intuition: he mustn’t read any further.

However, the Book continued.

Buried in soil and feces, Nieniu suffocated, unable to do anything. Suffocating was painful. It was one of the most painful deaths in the world.

Ruruta had abandoned her. There was no longer any doubt about it. Hugging her while crying that day and wishing for her to make the people of the world happy… all of this was mere lip-service.

Why? She couldn’t understand it. Or was Ruruta that kind of man in the first place? Selfish and whimsical, thought nothing of people’s lives… Ah, so it was like that. Thinking back, perhaps it had been like that.

She recalled the chief’s words.

‘Nieniu… that is the most proper ability for humans to have. The real meaning of being right is to be happy. True happiness never comes to those who lose their righteous heart.’

She lived believing her words. However, they were all wrong.

Why have I been working so hard until now?

I wish I hadn’t met Ruruta. I wish I hadn’t sung for him. I wish I hadn’t loved him.

I wish I hadn’t listened to the chief. I wish I hadn’t become a Singer. I wish I hadn’t had this power.

And finally, she thought…

I wish I hadn’t been born.

The next moment, Nieniu heard some sound as if a lock was opened. She felt as if she was floating despite her being inside the ground.

“…Am I… dreaming?”

Right – that vague feeling was like when she was showed a dream by Orntorra.

However, there were no Beasts in the dream world. Instead there was a metal door she had never seen before.

I’ll open that door, thought Nieniu. She noticed that she wasn’t feeling any humiliation, sadness or anger.

This isn’t the time to feel sad or angry. I have to see something important on the other side of the door. She laid her hand on the door and it opened up without any resistance.

Inside the door was an immense vortex of light.

Inside that light were three beings. They couldn’t be seen, they had no shape, and they made no sounds. However, she could still perceive their existence. They were anything and everything at the same time.

“…This door has finally been opened. Now my duty of collecting Books has ended.”

One of the three was “past”. The Past Overseer Bantorra.

“Ceasing function of all Librarian Angels. Sealing Bantorra Library’s First Archive with causality erasing barrier.

The Books of all remaining humans will remain abandoned in the ground.

With this, Bantorra will cease all duties as Past Overseer until a new paradise is born.”

The second of the three was “present”. The Present Overseer Toitorra.

“Nothing has changed about my duty. I will continue to oversee the present. All so I can bear a new paradise.”

And the third was “future”. The one to dispatch the Punishment Angels, the one to destroy the world using the Beasts of the Final Chapter – the Future Overseer Orntorra. Orntorra then spoke to the other two World Overseers.

“Thank you for working for so long, Bantorra. Please rest for a while. Let us meet again. At that time, house the records of an even better paradise in your Library.

Also, let us keep working together, Toitorra. Without the present there will be neither past nor future, so your duty will never change for all eternity.”

The two World Overseers, Bantorra and Toitorra left. Only Nieniu and Orntorra were left inside the door. He started talking to her.

“The door has finally been opened. Being able to open the door, what frightening beings humans are… Although you have blocked this door from opening countless times you now came here.”

“…Where are we?”

“There is no name to tell you humans. If I had to, I would call it the Overseer Domain, or perhaps, Land of the End, something like that.”

Nieniu could feel that Orntorra was extremely sad.

“Nieniu. You must see the truth. That is the fate of the one to open the door and reach the Land of the End.”

“…Y-yes.”

“First I shall borrow the power of Bantorra. I shall show you the past.”

The next instant, a vast amount of Books appeared inside the vortex of light. They appeared to be tens of thousands, or hundreds of millions, or perhaps more than that, Books of the entire humankind.

Nieniu touched those Books. When she touched just one, the past of all of them surged into her head.

Humans have been living in this world since millions of years ago. The World Overseers guided them, governed them, and recorded them.

There were various kinds of paradise there. A world where Magic developed to the limits, a world where science was pursued to the limits, a world where people lived not much different than monkeys… There was a great diversity of worlds, but all people were lead to happiness by Orntorra and recorded and housed in Bantorra’s Library.

“…What does this mean? There were several worlds?”

Nieniu voiced her questions.

“Exactly so. The world you have been living in until now was the 694th world we have made.”

She kept reading the Books.

There were 693 worlds until now. Although their shapes were different, they developed the same way and ended the same way. Just like the world Nieniu was living in.

A long, peaceful era continued. Inside the long peace appeared people who did not follow Orntorra.

People wanted more than they were given. They wanted pleasure much above others and pleasure by oppressing others. The pleasure of stealing, of mocking, of killing. They pursued the happiness they were not given by Orntorra.

The numbers of people increased, the world became disturbed, and thus people who could be oppressed or deprived appeared.

And, as the paradise collapsed to be irreparable, Orntorra made the decision to destroy the world.

“…That’s… now?”

“Yes, the moment you are about to die in now is the world’s time of destruction.”

“What do you judge to bring the end of the world?”

She felt as if Orntorra wore a sorrowful expression. Although she couldn’t see him.

“When a single person reaches an unjust despair. The moment when they regret their entire lives, hate all the people they have met, and think that they should never have been born.

And that person must possess a good heart. If a villain receives such punishment and despairs there might still yet be salvation. However, if a person with love and mercy, one who has done good deeds comes to unjust despair, there is no longer any salvation for them.

A world that brings despair to good people… can no longer be permitted to continue.

You have regretted your life, and thought you should not have been born. That is the trigger to the end of the world.”

“…No.”

Nieniu was shocked. But she certainly thought this as she was about to die.

“Bantorra, thank you for your cooperation. Next I have to show you the future.”

The Books disappeared and instead the scenes of people’s future were reflected.

“This is the future after Ruruta defeats the Beasts of the Final Chapter and the world escapes destruction.”

Several scenes were reflected at the same time. There was a terrifying variety of misfortune there.

Nieniu saw a girl crying in front of her father’s remains after he had gotten caught up in war. She saw an old woman in the city tormented by hunger and dying, begging passersby for food.

“…Stop, I don’t want to see that.”

“However, this is the certain future. After the world has not been destroyed.”

She saw a man who, after acquiring a huge fortune, was unable to find someone to love and died in disappointment. She saw a man who threw everything away for his dream, even his life, but died without accomplishing anything.

And, she saw boys on a certain ship with bombs embedded in their chests, all heading towards an enemy they couldn’t possibly defeat.

Nieniu saw endless misfortune. She could perceive just how much they suffered and how many times they wished they hadn’t been born.

“…Such a world mustn’t exist.”

“Indeed, it must be destroyed.”

Orntorra’s voice approached her.

“You and I will destroy the world and then create a new paradise.”

His voice already resonated inside Nieniu. She became one with Orntorra, and no longer Nieniu. Her personality disappeared and she was controlled by a single will.

“…Yeah, I understand what I am supposed to do, Orntorra.”

Nieniu’s hair turned colorless.

“…Let us destroy the world. Making everyone happy means destruction.”

There was once a girl who wished to make the people of the world happy. Had she disappeared or had she stayed as she was?

And thus, the being meant to destroy the world, the controller of the Beasts of the Final Chapter – “The Colorless-Haired Stone Statue” – was born.

The ground exploded and Nieniu’s body returned to the surface. Her hair turned colorless.

Her pure wish of destruction moved her body. Laughing loudly, she sent several Beasts of the Final Chapter after Vooekisal and the rest who had already left. They tore them apart, crushed them, chewed them and turned them into scraps of meat.

But that was only the beginning. She had to kill all living and moving people. Both children, the elderly, men and women, as well as Ruruta Coozancoona and herself.

And thus began the first destruction of the world.

“…”

Ruruta detached his fingers from the Book.

He lost his expression. His mind couldn’t catch up to reality. He had already completely repelled the power of Argax and all memories of Nieniu came back to him.

Why has it turned out this way? I have fought only to protect her, but now her body is in front of my eyes.

Why is Nieniu the one here? If it was anyone else I could have rejoiced in victory. Anyone other than Nieniu, it doesn’t matter who, anyone other than her…

“…Should the world have been destroyed?”

Ruruta now knew the true reason of the world’s destruction. As well as the hell this world would turn into.

What had he saved the world for?

It was to protect Nieniu. But she was already gone.

What had he protected the world for?

To protect the world of man. To build a new world.

However, a new world would be built even if Ruruta hadn’t protected it. The world that Ruruta protected was full of suffering, conflict and discrimination, and the world after the destruction would be a new paradise.

A single phrase floated into his mind.

It was all meaningless.

These were much too cruel words for Ruruta. However, he couldn’t deny them.

It was all meaningless.

Gaining power, protecting the world, loving Nieniu…

It was all meaningless.

“Ruruta-sama. It is not yet over. If you determine everything to be meaningless, you may destroy the world. You have that kind of power.

Once you have destroyed the world, surely a new paradise will be born.”

“Me… destroying the world?”

Ruruta looked at his hands. It was definitely possible. If he’d do that, the world would be reborn. It would be reborn into paradise, into a new era.

“…I can’t.”

I have lived to protect the world. And I have done it. This life, my life, has been meaningless. I hate that.

“If you take pride in having protected the world, then you can live in the new era.

The world you have protected will surely compose a new story. Even if it would not be a paradise.”

Live in the new era?

I can’t. I can’t have anything like that. This world no longer has Nieniu in it.

“Are you concerned about that girl?”

Yes, Nieniu. What I wanted to protect was a world where I could live alongside you. I wasn’t able to get that no matter if the world was destroyed or saved.

“Is it not a simple thing? You should simply forget all about her.”

Lascall’s words echoed in vain to the ears of Ruruta who sat completely expressionless.

“There are many people in the world and many women as well. You can simply find a new love and create new happiness. If you forget all about that girl it will be over.

Obtain a beautiful wife, produce adorable children, and live your life without any worries.

If you, once in a while, recall her, you can simply softly mutter ‘oh, thinking of it, how poor was Nieniu’… you can simply turn her into that sort of being.”

I hate that. There was only one Nieniu. There is no other Nieniu anywhere.

“She was a dull girl. Her only merits were being able to sing and being somewhat kind. You can find any amount of people like that, can you not?”

No. There’s only one Nieniu.

She wished for it and I promised her… that I would make her happy.

No matter what I would lose for it.

Ruruta took Nieniu’s Book in hand. And then he brought it to his mouth.

“Ruruta-sama. What do you intend on doing?”

Lascall said, and Ruruta answered.

“…I have no other choice.”

“Do you realize what would happen if you Eat that?”

“…I have no choice.” 𝑓𝓇𝑒𝑒𝚠e𝘣𝓷𝘰ѵe𝑙.com

“That girl no longer possesses a human heart. Destruction is her only duty and the only thing she rejoices at. She is the very will of destruction.

Making such a thing happy is absolutely impossible even for you.”

“Even so.”

“…That road will only lead to despair.”

“Even so. I will make Nieniu…”

The Book shattered and fell into Ruruta’s mouth.

I will make Nieniu happy. That is my only wish.

Chacoly became speechless. She was the only one throughout history except Ruruta, Nieniu and Lascall to know the truth about the Beasts of the Final Chapter. Even she, who born as a tool and possessed no normal human heart, broke into cold sweat.

Although he had supposedly been restrained by her Soul Sharing, Ruruta muttered.

“You…”

Chacoly could feel that her ability was being repelled.

“You can never beat me.”

After Eating Nieniu’s Book Ruruta dove inside his own Imaginary Entrails. He looked for her form inside the vast desert.

A stone statue fell with a plunk atop the sand. It possessed Nieniu’s form yet it wasn’t her. It was the Colorless-Haired Statue.

“Nieniu. Open your eyes.”

Ruruta set the statue up and called for Nieniu. Yet she said nothing. She remained the Colorless-Haired Statue and wouldn’t say anything.

He tried touching the statue. Perhaps he would realize something doing that. As he did, he could perceive what she was thinking about.

“…Ruruta, that is no good. You have to destroy. You have to destroy the world.”

“Please don’t say that. I finally managed to save it.”

“…It is no good. That is meaningless. We have to destroy the world.”

“No, no! It’s the world I’ve protected! The world I’ve lived in!”

Ruruta kept talking to the stone statue for days and days.

It was sad that the Colorless-Haired Statue spoke with Nieniu’s voice. She even kept Nieniu’s cute yet sometimes annoying habit to insert a short silence before speaking.

For one day, two days, and much more than that, Ruruta stayed at Nieniu’s side. He hoped that at least a little of the old Nieniu would be reborn.

“I didn’t betray you, they took my memories away. So please forgive me.”

“…I do not care about that anymore. Let us destroy the world.”

“I cannot live without you.”

“…Right. So destroy the world.”

“It’s my fault. It’s all my fault for forgetting about you.”

“…You have not done anything wrong. The one at fault is the world not destroyed.”

“I killed all the people who’ve killed you. So you no longer have any people to hold a grudge against.”

“…I do not grudge anyone. I just want to destroy the world.”

“Return. Please! Nieniu, return to your kind self!”

No matter what words he chose, Nieniu only kept talking of destruction again and again.

Unable to bear it any longer he exited the Imaginary Entrails, and as he did so Lascall who waited for him faithfully smiled at him.

“Ruruta-sama, what do you intend to do? Do you plan to keep on loving a statue that can do nothing else but speak of destruction?”

“Shut up Lascall! Go away!”

Lascall disappeared just as told. Ruruta held his head in despair and sat down for a long while.

“…Why did it turn out like this? I just wanted to make Nieniu happy…”

Ruruta once again returned to the Imaginary Entrails. He thought of trying to use his inborn Book-Eating ability in another way.

Could he possibly extract only the memories of happiness from the souls melted into his Imaginary Entrails? Could he not give that to Nieniu?

Could he not gather happiness and transmit it to Nieniu?

It was a random idea. But it came up because he was confident he could do it.

“I order you. O souls eaten by me. Give me your happiness.”

Steam began rising from the desert. It gathered next to Ruruta and became a handful of water. He poured it on Nieniu. She should have experienced the happiness they have felt.

“Nieniu, are you happy? Have you become happy?”

He spoke to her.

“…It is no good Ruruta.”

“No good? Why?”

“…Because there is no real happiness in this world.”

It was a failure. But there was some response. Nieniu spoke of something other than destruction for the first time.

“Then I just have to find a true happiness. If there is one, you wouldn’t have to destroy the world.”

“…There is no true happiness. Destruction is the only proper choice.”

“No, there is, there is true happiness in the world!”

Ruruta shouted. And he exited the Imaginary Entrails.

“I just need to look for it. I just need to find it. The true happiness that I will give Nieniu.”

Ruruta was walking so he could return to the royal capital. He was followed by Lascall Othello.

“Finding the true happiness, is it? Finding the perfect happiness to shatter Nieniu-sama’s despair? That is quite impossible.”

Lascall said. However, Ruruta didn’t answer.

“Nieniu-sama is already the will of destruction itself. Destruction is her happiness in and of itself. Destruction is her only happiness.

Never mind giving her other happiness, there is no need to make her happy as is.”

“No.”

Ruruta replied. f𝘳𝚎𝐞we𝐛𝑛𝐨𝘃e𝘭.co𝘮

“I will gather much more happiness than any will of destruction. I will make her notice there is much more happiness other than destruction.”

“It is impossible.”

They approached the capital.

“If there is a true happiness, a perfect, unblemished happiness somewhere in the world, Nieniu will reconsider. I will make her understand there are much more wonderful things than destruction.”

“But that is only if such a perfect and unblemished happiness truly exists in the world.”

They entered the capital. People raised cheers and came closer.

At that moment, he saw Hihak’s face. The man who’d brought back Argax.

Ruruta used his powers before he could even think.

Nieniu was no longer Nieniu of the past. And Ruruta as well was not like he was before.

A long time passed.

The Magic Right to turn into a tree that belonged to Hihak Yammo allowed Ruruta to overcome his lifespan. He had never thought his ability would become useful. But Ruruta needed time; even he himself knew not how long he would need.

And Ruruta looked for a castle he could spend a long time in. He no longer wanted to return to the royal tower he’d once inhabited. He flew around the world and found Bantorra Library.

Past Overseer Bantorra had abandoned the world. The mechanism that turned people into Books remained, but he already quit up collecting Books.

Ruruta took up position in the very depths of the Labyrinth. He didn’t want to meet anyone. He couldn’t bear meeting any people. And so he decided on this place as somewhere no man would come to. He unleashed the Beasts of the Final Chapter in the Labyrinth to stand guard.

He ordered humans to collect Books. He ordered Lascall to deliver Books.

A long time further passed.

The organization to collect Books – the Armed Librarians – was born. At first their only job was to deliver Ruruta Books, but gradually they transformed and became rulers of the world. The Present Management Agency was also born, many nations were born, and the shape of the world began to change.

As long as they brought him Books Ruruta cared not what organization they would create. He said nothing and merely waited for Books.

Before long the Indulging God Cult was created. No matter the name, no matter the organization, all they needed to do was bring Books of happiness. Ruruta left them alone as well. He simply waited for Books.

Receiving Books of happiness, he would extract the happiness out of them and give it to Nieniu. Ruruta repeated this process thousands of times. Although experiencing thousands of failures, he kept Eating Books.

If he Eats the next one, and the next one, and keeps on Eating, then surely it would come one day. Thinking so he kept waiting. People who hated Ruruta and wanted to kill him appeared. He erased them and kept waiting.

There were times he gave up everything and wanted to die. He stifled these thoughts, and, connecting his hopes to the next Book, he kept on waiting.

He single-mindedly kept on waiting.

Along the long time Ruruta created a building inside his Imaginary Entrails. He hardened the sand of the desert, piled stones and built it up all by himself.

It was a small theater. Ruruta placed the Colorless-Haired Statue in the middle of it.

“Nieniu. I made this theater for you.”

Ruruta whispered.

“One day, when you go back to yourself, please sing here. Sing a song that would bring happiness to the world. I wait for that day.”

Ruruta whispered to Nieniu countless of times. Even after ten years passed and even after twenty.

“I will wait. As long as my heart doesn’t fold, I will keep on waiting for however long it may take.”

A hundred years passed, then a thousand, and Ruruta kept whispering.

“I will wait. For as long as my heart can endure.”

Chacoly read all of Ruruta’s memories for 2000 years leading up to that very moment. At the same time, she realized that her power was not connected to Ruruta.

“I will never lose to you.”

Ruruta said. He abandoned happiness. He gave up his own happiness, and only wished for Nieniu to be happy.

Chacoly’s power awarded other people with happiness. She was meant to kill Ruruta with happiness. However, someone who gave up on their happiness couldn’t be killed with it.

Chacoly painfully realized…

She would never win against Nieniu.

“Begone. And die.”

Ruruta’s body was set ablaze. The violet petals surrounding his body burned to a crisp. Inside the flames a single needle burst from his feet. It was trying to pierce Chacoly’s chest.

“UWAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!”

Chacoly screamed. The instant before the needle reached her chest, her form was gone from inside the Imaginary Entrails. She didn’t run away; she just wasn’t able to maintain her Soul Sharing ability. The moment she realized she had failed she couldn’t keep it.

And so Chacoly Cocot crumbled down. Her body didn’t die – yet she lost her function to kill Ruruta for all eternity.

And that was the end of the record about the tool born to defeat Ruruta, Chacoly Cocot.

She was perfect. All of her actions went according to her designer Makia’s plans. Joining the Indulging God Cult was unexpected, but she could be said to have operated even more functionally than what Makia had thought.

The cause of her defeat was one – the fact that Makia’s design was wrong from the root.

A tool fundamentally wrong in design, no matter how perfect and refined, would eventually end up as no more than a piece of junk.

After Chacoly disappeared from the Imaginary Entrails Ruruta sat down on the theater’s floor. He breathed heavily, his shoulders shaking. His breathing did not settle for a long, long time.

“…Nieniu, I will wait. For as long as my heart can endure.”

Ruruta spoke to Nieniu’s statue.

“But perhaps I’m at my limits. It might be tomorrow. It might be in two days. It might be the next year or in a decade… I will not be able to bear it any further someday. What should I do, Nieniu?”

Ruruta touched the stone statue. He could then hear Nieniu’s voice.

“…Oh, I was worried, Ruruta. I am glad you did not die.

Now, Ruruta, let us quickly destroy the world. Destroy it as soon as possible.”

He removed his hand from the statue. And then his body crouched over the stage. From his mouth rose neither sobs nor groans; he could only wring out the voice of despair.