With the sky’s edge dyed in a deep blue, a new morning had dawned upon the legendary heroes.
“Dear, look,” Misty said.
The World Tree’s trunk has started to crack apart. At the same time, its vines, roots, and fruit gradually turned into particles of light. A silence proceeded to fall upon the ruined royal capital. However, the dark orb still hung in the air. Through the cracks in the orb’s shell, the eye that had been staring directly at Misty and her allies had started to frantically dart about.
“It’s trying to induce its own birth,” she said.
“Is he going all out, then?” Ramza asked.
“No, it wants a premature birth, even if that sacrifices some of its vitality. Do you see the black liquid leaking from the trunk? It’s slowly floating towards that glowing ball.”
Misty had mentioned this nascent calamity when they first squared off with the World Tree. Not to be outdone, Ramza made note of its potential to destroy the entire content in one fell swoop. The Demon Lord’s power couldn’t be stopped if this being was about to emerge right before their eyes.
“At this rate, it’ll die,” Misty noted. “Even if it has its roots across the continent and can feast on everything around it, it’ll soon starve to death. It won’t be able to sustain its appetite.”
“Then what happened to Ein?!” Ramza yelled.
No one held the answer as silence settled in. Just then, a dark-haired man appeared out of nowhere. Unlike everyone else, he had a few things to say.
“He’s still sleeping. Eventually, I’ll have him join me in the front row and we’ll watch the world burn together. Hand in hand, we’ll welcome those final moments as a pair.”
The man emerged behind the trio, prompting them to immediately whirl around and grab their weapons.
“I almost thought that Jayle had come back from the dead for a moment there,” Ramza said.
While they were all shocked, they knew this man wasn’t Jayle.
“Thank you for the kind heads-up, Mr. World Tree of Gluttony,” Misty said. “Could you tell us one more thing? You mentioned that Ein’s sleeping, but did you lose to him?”
“I wonder,” the man replied. He walked slowly ahead without a care. “But I cannot forgive her.”
The moment those words left his lips, the trio pounced on him, only to be quickly restrained by void tendrils that grew from his limbs.
“I suggest you don’t move,” he said. “As my mind and body are on the verge of unraveling, I don’t think I’d be able to hold back if I lose control. Why don’t the three of you just watch over me?”
No amount of struggling would allow them to break free. In fact, the more they struggled, the tighter their restraints became.
“I’m going all out now,” he said. “It would be meaningless if you low-life abominations tried to put up a fight against me. That won’t change, even if a certain Nightmare of Envy were to join the fray.”
An attack shot out from his blind spot.
“You knew I was here?” Arshay gasped.
While she’d been slumbering away from the battlefield, the Demon Lord forced herself to awaken when she sensed a change in the air. Despite secretly keeping tabs on the situation from afar, Arshay had quickly fallen victim to the World Tree’s void tendrils. Even if she exerted her immense power, she couldn’t break free with any of her spells.
“Stay there and watch the world wilt,” the man said. “You’ll all fall to the same fate soon enough and rot away. Equality at its finest.”
The World Tree’s footsteps were wobbly and unsteady. His vision had already started to blur, a sign that he only had a small fraction of his power left. Luckily for him, the girl he was looking for wasn’t too far away. She was still surrounded by that blue veil, making her easy to spot, and he smiled with glee.
“Hello there,” he said with a friendly smile as he approached. The blue veil glowed and flickered with vigilance.
Krone raised her head when she heard his voice. His face so closely resembled Ein’s that she was overcome with a mixture of grief and vexation.
“Stop,” she ordered.
“I don’t need to listen to you,” he answered. “I may hate you, but never will I feel any sort of sympathy. Do you know why?”
“Not at all.”
He drew nearer. Krone instantly knew that the World Tree stood before her, but she continued to embrace her beloved while refusing to flee. She glared at him with animosity, gripping the dagger that she’d brought for self-defense.
“That little trick is pointless,” the World Tree said.
A simple wave of his hand was all that was needed to shatter the veil. He didn’t even need to lift a finger as one of the vines crawled to her side and restrained her hand. Her blade slid from her grasp, but she desperately clung onto Ein, refusing to be torn away from him.
“You like to hurt frail girls, do you?” a scorn-filled voice snapped.
“Mm... He’s smaller than I thought. That’s why he lost,” a languid, sleepy voice added.
“Quite so. A far cry from Sir Ein, no doubt,” a loyal voice chimed in.
The restrained trio stood between Krone and the World Tree. Beside the young advisor was Misty, who brought the girl close.
“I suppose the fact that you were able to escape is worthy of some praise, but don’t insult me any further,” the World Tree seethed, displaying his annoyance.
He wanted to quickly kill Krone, unleash his power, and consume everything that he could. He’d gaze upon the destroyed world alongside his other half, and finally, he wanted to take a look at Ein’s face before the tree resigned himself to his death.
“You’re all nothing but a litter of weaklings that failed to die,” the tree spat. “I’ll take care of all of you in a flash.”
It was clear that he’d reached his limit, just barely clinging to his sanity.
✦ ✦ ✦
Ein walked through the mausoleum with a new light illuminating the walls every time he passed a fixture.
“I knew it was you,” he said as he reached the mausoleum’s depths. He looked up at the pedestal where the fabled sword had been sealed.
“I’m glad that I was able to meet with you again,” the man replied.
“The pleasure is all mine, Your Majesty Jayle.”
Jayle sat on the stairs that led to the pedestal and gazed at the boy. “You can sit next to me.”