The statue returned to the battlefield, new weapon in hand. The scattered enemies had gathered into a single spot. Destiny stared at them, its rain-soaked back to the village. I directed the statue to stand beside it.
The front row of monsters had been immobilized, but the ones crowded behind were unharmed. They used their stone allies in front of them as a shield against Destiny’s gaze. A single poison breath could knock them all out, but right now there was a strong wind blowing toward the village. Destiny had to be careful.
Even so, with the statue and Destiny together, we could win.
It’s just…
I glanced at the top right of my phone screen. My fate points had been falling noticeably faster ever since Destiny evolved. We had maybe three minutes.
The monsters seemed to be laughing derisively at us, as if they knew.
“Now’s our chance!”
The statue leapt onto Destiny’s back and thrust the metal rod up to the thundering skies. Destiny realized what was happening and stepped backward, as close to the village fence as it could. It then lowered itself to the ground and kicked off, mud spraying out behind it as it charged toward the monsters. A split second before it crashed into them, it jumped, flying right over the group of enemies, hitting the ground running. But the statue was no longer on Destiny's back. It had jumped off in the air, landing straight in the middle of the crowd. It thrust its spear into the soggy ground.
Monsters rushed the statue, but I ignored them. I just hit a button on my phone and squeezed my eyes shut. A white flash seared the darkness behind my eyelids, and a thunderous roar hammered my eardrums. My villagers squatted down, hands clasped over their ears. It looked like they were shouting, but the thunderbolt drowned out every other sound.
A blinding flash and a deafening roar, then silence. The villagers on the ground got to their feet one after the other, slowly approaching the hole in the fence. I pocketed my phone and followed them.
The God of Fate statue was wet from the rain, standing under the now clear sky, glittering in the sunlight. Countless monsters lay dead on the ground around it, charred and smoking. My villagers raced up to the statue, got down on their knees, and began to praise the God of Fate, ignoring the mess the mud made of their clothes. It looked like a religious painting: the people gathered around a statue raising a metal rod to the sky in a heroic pose of victory.
“We made it…” I was too overcome with exhaustion to feel much emotion. I slumped back against the fence behind me and checked my phone.
“The Day of Corruption is over. No more monsters will appear today.”
“It’s over. We did it… We really made it this time!” Balling my hands into fists, I looked up at the sky. Anyone who didn’t know better would think the timely arrival of rain had been a miracle. And I guess it was—just a miracle I activated with my phone.
I’d begun by using the rain to flood the area around the village, where the monsters were. Kan, Lan, and I had prepared the spear—the lightning rod—in advance. Once the statue had it, I’d just called a thunderstorm, and the lightning killed every monster with a foot in the flooded area.
This was the plan I’d come up with—using the golem and the weather together, the whole battle leading up to that one moment.
“We did it. I’m capable of more than I thought, huh?”
After getting through the day, I felt a little more confident in myself. I stepped forward to congratulate the praying villagers on their efforts. But then I noticed my feet. They were almost transparent, from my toes to my ankles. I could see the ground through them.
“Right…”
My promised time here was up. I only asked to stay until the Day of Corruption was over. And now it was. As much as I wanted to join the celebration, that wasn’t possible. The arm I used to reach out to them was invisible to my elbow. I was going back to the real world, where I would be the player and they would just be characters.
It hurt, but this was for the best. I wasn’t going to run away from reality anymore. I might just be watching them from afar, but I’d keep them in my hearts. I’d pray for their happiness.
“Take care, you guys. I’ll keep working so I can spend as much on you as I need.” I kept my eyes on them, waiting to disappear from this world. Movement in my peripheral vision drew my gaze back down. Destiny was hopping up at my feet. “You’re back to normal, huh? Yeah, I think that suits you better.”
Destiny stopped hopping and looked up at me.
“Thanks for all your help. I had a ton of fun hanging with you, buddy.” I crouched down and offered it my disappearing fist. It put up a tiny front foot to meet it. Huge tears rolled from its round eyes.
Hey, crying isn’t fair! D’you know how hard I’m trying to hold it in?
I put my vanishing arms around Destiny, even though I couldn’t properly hold it.
“Thank you. Thank you so much. Take care of yourself, okay? And don’t eat anything weird. Make sure you’re nice to everyone, and…and…” I couldn’t speak through my tears anymore. Destiny’s face was the last thing I saw. I could swear it was smiling as it cried.
I floated toward a white light, through a space where I was the only thing that existed. It was incredibly comfortable, like lying on a featherbed.
“How was the other world, Yoshio-kun?” a voice said suddenly in the darkness, but it didn’t shock me in the slightest.