Tears erupted from Krone’s eyes and flowed freely down her cheeks. “It took you so, so long.”
“I’m sorry,” Ein apologized.
“I’ll never forgive you. Never ever. Not until we return home together.”
“Yeah, I know,” he said gently as he wiped a tear from her eye. He drew her close and muttered, “Wait just a bit longer. I’ll...”
“Aghhh! Why?!” the World Tree shrieked. “Why do you keep resisting me?!”
“I’ll defeat him right now.”
While the World Tree stood on the edge of insanity, Ein had just made a firm declaration. Krone nodded back. His allies were tempted to speak up, but they soon shut their mouths when they noticed Ein approaching the glutton with his sword drawn. There was nothing they could do or say—the heroes could only sit back as an inhuman display of swordsmanship unfolded before their eyes.
“There’s nowhere to run, World Tree!” Ein roared.
“Run? I’ve never done such a thing!” the World Tree shouted back. “I’ve only traveled down the best route to satiate my thirst and hunger!”
“Excuses! You ran from our fight and tried to lock me within my own heart!”
The World Tree gasped with annoyance.
“What the matter?” Ein called. “You’re not fighting with the same gusto you had earlier!”
Refusing to face the crown prince head-on, the World Tree dodged a strike before running up the larger tree’s trunk. Ein chased after him, kicking his way up the tree and slicing through any branches that impeded him. In a panic, the World Tree summoned a horde of Phantom Hands and attempted to melt down a series of ice pillars in order to use Ocean Current. However, they were no longer fighting in the spiritual realm, making the World Tree’s attacks useless.
“Give it all back,” Ein said. “Everything you’ve taken from me, I want back!”
He cut down every attack that came at him, using Toxin Decomposition EX and Absorb to convert it all into power for himself. Ein took advantage of every opening he could find to swing his blade. The World Tree started losing power with every hit he took, but inversely, Ein just kept growing stronger and stronger. After fighting their way up the tree’s, the pair finally arrived at the very top. From that spot, they could see the continent beneath them in its entirety.
“This is where it ends,” Ein said.
The World Tree had no choice but to resign himself to his fate—he had no hope of flipping the odds in his favor. Now standing on the lofty treetop, the pair stared into each other’s eyes. The World Tree looked utterly defeated, but had shifted his gaze to the dark orb floating in the sky before he outstretched his arms.
“Let us end this together,” he said as Ein fell silent. “I’ll risk it all and drop my full potential upon the world.”
“You think I’ll just let you do that?” Ein asked.
“But you can’t stop me anymore. Even if you kill me, and you will, the newborn is already wailing and it cannot be stopped.”
It was all too late. From the moment he’d made this decision, the World Tree had unleashed a curse upon the world. The cracks in the dark orb of light grew larger, revealing a fetus that lurked deep within the sphere. Its time had come. As clear as day, an ominous power could be seen seeping out of the being. It rocked Ein to the core of his soul—it was unlike anything he’d ever fought before. It could destroy the world in an instant, he surmised.
He hadn’t once considered the world’s overwhelming vastness before, but Ein’s intuition told him that this being commanded a great power. Even so, he remained calm as he stood before his enemy, firmly gripping his blade.
“I’m the one who brought you into this world,” Ein said “And for that, I’ll take responsibility until the very end.”
“I’ll say it again,” the World Tree crowed. “You can’t stop it. Even you don’t possess the abilities to stop such an overwhelming power!”
His guffawing echoed above the skies of Heim. He claimed that there’d be no winner in this battle, but Ein wasn’t sure if that was true. No, if the world really is destroyed, he’ll still win... Even if it isn’t how he planned to.
“We’ll just die together!” the World Tree cried.
“No, you’re the only one who’s dying here,” Ein replied.
The prince skewered the World Tree with his blade and drew him close. None of the glutton’s wounds appeared to be healing—he’d reached his limit as well. When the crown prince finally freed his foe from the deadly embrace, the tree walked away feebly and gazed up at the sky.
“You’ve forgotten one thing,” Ein said.
“What did you say?” the tree asked.
“You’ve forgotten my power.”
The tree gasped before he laughed and dismissed the idea. “It’s impossible, even for you. You can’t absorb that much power.”
“I’ll just continue to keep doing what I’ve been doing all along—purify the toxins and absorb it from there. That’s it.”
A vertical crack ran through the dark orb of light. If it opened like an eggshell, surely the countless eyeballs trapped within would be dispersed throughout the world. Heim would serve as the central hub, but the voices of men and women of all ages would echo across the globe. It seemed that even the clouds were drawn in as everything spiraled into the orb. It really does look like it’s trying to consume everything around it.
The orb blasted a swirl of black-and-purple light directly at Ein. All at once, he could feel the curse overtaking his body. An intense pain grasped his soul, as if his flesh and bones were being melted away by its searing intensity. The curse had even started to turn his skin an ashen black. I’m fine. I can still fight. The crown prince took a deep breath and outstretched his arms like a pair of wings. He activated Toxin Decomposition EX and Absorb. He pulled the dark blast of light into his body and absorbed the orb’s power. After a few moments, the particles permeating the air gradually dissipated into Ein’s body.
The eyeballs within the orb quickly shifted their attention to Ein before an earsplitting screech erupted from the orb. It was unclear if the screams came from a pain associated with absorption, but the creature within was either trying to flee or redirect its rage at the man stealing its strength away. The curse targeting Ein only grew stronger as it attempted to swallow him whole—turning his skin darker than the black of night all the way up to his neck.
“There’s something I’d like to tell you,” the tree said.
The World Tree no longer had the power to stop the boy, nor did he intend to. He spoke as Ein stood with his back turned to him. The final result of this clash would soon be uncovered. As the sphere in the sky started to lose its form, the eyeball within simply gazed down at Ein before it disintegrated into mana and was absorbed. The curse eating away at Ein’s body had slowly crept up to his cheeks, but it was too late.
“If you ever find yourself drowning in your own power one day...” the World Tree murmured.
He said nothing more, but the implication was clear: Should that day ever come, he’d be born again. He’d use his second chance to definitively fuse with Ein and transform into a Demon Lord that would devour the world in hopes of satiating his hunger.
Ein kept his back turned and firmly declared, “I’ll end my own life before that could ever happen. You’ll never be born again.”
The World Tree had expected as much; it was exactly the response he’d imagined. The realization made him burst into a fit of laughter.
“Heh heh...” he chuckled. “Yeah, I’d expected as much from you.”
His body was slowly disintegrating. Carried by the wind, he was slowly absorbed into Ein’s body. Moments later, the exhausted void sphere fell towards Ein before melting away into his body. It let off a burst of silver light before it crumbled away. The swirl of light dissipated in the clouds that had gathered, allowing the bright morning sunshine to dazzle upon what was once Heim’s royal capital.
Aside from the skin around one of his eyes, Ein’s entire body had been consumed by the curse. His skin had turned black. But when the clouds dispersed, a silver light almost instantly purified his body. Ein felt the strength leave his body as he fell off the tree. Right before he lost consciousness, he gazed up at the colossal canopy.
“Huh, you don’t look half bad when you just stand there,” he muttered.
The tree’s lush green leaves wavered in the wind as the prince fell through the branches. With the massive tree now splendidly towering over him, Ein quietly closed his eyes.
✦ ✦ ✦
Krone used her fingers to gently comb Ein’s messy hair out of his face. She used her head to shield him from the sunlight that peered through the branches. But as a gust of wind blew through, a smidge of sunlight managed to spill into his eyes.
“Mmm...” Ein started.
He furrowed his brows, shocked by the brightness. The chirping of the birds encouraged him to awaken, and he slowly opened his eyes.
“Where...am...”
As his vision slowly returned, he found himself face-to-face with the very woman he’d be yearning to see again. He soon realized that he was sleeping atop her lap, and the corners of his mouth tugged upward to form a smile.
She smiled back happily and playfully. “This is where we first met.” Her tears fell onto his cheeks. “I was shocked when you fell off the tree, but Sir Ramza quickly leaped in to catch you.”
There was a brief moment of silence, and Krone said, “What will you say to me first, Ein? ‘Long time no see’? Or perhaps ‘Thank you for lending me your lap’?”
She’d said those exact words when they’d reunited in Magna’s port. Her beauty had only heightened since then. Her voice was always pleasant to the ears, akin to the ringing of bells in Ein’s mind. Back then, he remembered the words that had naturally flowed out of his mouth—it was the same in this situation as well. He had no reason to think. His words had already been chosen for him.
“How about, ‘I love you’?” he replied.
A single tear rolled down Krone’s cheek and fell upon Ein’s face. These words were so impossibly important, and he’d made his beloved wait so long to hear them. She placed her hand on his cheek and gave a small nod.
“I love you too,” she replied.
As the sun’s rays shone upon them and the birds chirped in the distance, the two were in their own world, having just exchanged a set of priceless jewels they’d never trade the world for. Their faces inched closer as they slowly kissed.