Chapter 60

“Don’t worry, you two.” Someone stepped ahead of Veltol and Sihlwald. “I’ll take care of the rest. It’s my job from here.” It was Emi. Her eyes were still red, her tears not yet dry. Still, she tried to move forward. “Let’s end this. The mystery…is all solved.” She pulled her hunting cap down. “I’ll cut to the chase.” Emi looked at the downed Eschaton Demon Lord. “Veltol, that is not you from the future. That is somebody else wearing the beyondization of the Eschaton Demon Lord Veltol, like the Collector did. Its regeneration power does not come from immortality, but beyondization.” “…What?” “I always thought the Eschaton Demon Lord Veltol was you from a future where you lost Machina, the Duchess of the Dazzling Blaze, and tried to destroy the mortals in revenge…but that’s not it. It wasn’t the Duchess of the Dazzling Blaze who died on Undine 31, 2099.” “It…wasn’t Machina?” said Sihlwald. “But Matoi said she disappeared after that date, right? Doesn’t that mean she died?” Emi nodded. “Yes, I thought the same up until now. The contradiction Veltol pointed out about the aether density and faith, the contradiction with the space-time theory about meeting your future self—I have no idea whether that theory is true or not, but if it is, then all the contradictions can be cleared.” She raised a finger. “It’s quite elementary, in fact. If fifty years in the future, my dear Veltol has already died, and the Eschaton Demon Lord Veltol here is a different person, then there are no contradictions.” “…But if that is not me from the future, then who is it?” “The culprit taking on the name of the Eschaton Demon Lord Veltol, wearing the beyondization of the symbol of fear that is the Demon Lord, and creating the future of doom…” Emi called her name. “…is you, Duchess of the Dazzling Blaze Machina.” The Eschaton Demon Lord’s shell crumbled. It peeled off, warped, and disappeared. It was the same breakdown the group had witnessed in the Man-Eating Gyoen in the Roost. From within the Eschaton Demon Lord appeared a girl with faded crimson eyes, white skin, and long hair the color of black coal. Her body cracked like white charcoal, and red flames fluttered like a snake’s tongue. “Machina…?” She so resembled one of her Six Dark Peers, the Duchess of the Dazzling Blaze. “Obviously, this is not the Machina that you know in the present, Veltol,” said Emi. “This is the Duchess of the Dazzling Blaze from fifty years in the future, after losing you.” “Machina…from fifty years in the future…?” The Eschaton Demon Lord—the Duchess of the Dazzling Blaze of the future—pursed her lips. “I don’t know what happened to you, since you’re invincible, but she lost you and decided to destroy the mortals. I’ve never met her, much less talked to her. But I know she is very loyal, since she waited for your return for five hundred years.” Emi had a sad look on her face. “The love she felt for you must have turned into the wrath that would end humanity.” “Machina…” Veltol walked up to the girl and gently held her. This was the individual who tried ending humanity fifty years in the future after Veltol died. Not the Machina in the present. She had no relation to the present-day Veltol. Yet still, he felt the weight of fault for having made her end up like this. “I…” Her voice was hoarse. “I…I did it again and again. To mourn my master, who was erased by the malice of humanity… For revenge… I looped through time to massacre all humans and burn their souls again and again…again and again… I killed and killed.” Her voice was weak like the flame of a candle about to consume itself. “I wanted to erase everything. To burn it down into ashes. To raze it all. People, memories, this whole world…” “You went that far…?” “There is no value in a world without Lord Veltol… I wanted to burn everything, even his name. It was the world’s fault Lord Veltol disappeared, and burning is the world’s penitence. The flames are the funeral for Lord Veltol…” Her breathing was shallow. Her body was cracked, crumbling to dust from its ends. Demise. Spiritual death—real death for an immortal. “Ahh, ahh, Lord Veltol… I…I wanted to see you one last time… That was all I needed.” “I am here.” Veltol’s voice brimmed with compassion. “No, no, you are not… You aren’t the Lord Veltol I loved. If you were, I would have noticed. But, ahh, but…” Weakly, but gently, with eyes that no longer reflected any light, she looked at him and smiled. “…thank you. I am grateful to have died by your hand. That…is enough salvation for me.” “Let us forge an oath, Machina.” Veltol hugged her tenderly so she would not crumble. “I vow to you, here and now, to nobody else, that I will not let you stand on the pits of such sadness ever again.” “Ahh…” Machina closed her eyes and wore a smile, faint like falling snowflakes. “Thank you…” She exhaled the relief of being freed from the weight of 1024 worlds. “Lord Veltol… I wish…I could have…made you curry…one last time…” The mastermind behind the future of doom. The Machina Soleige who took on the name of the Eschaton Demon Lord Veltol in the year 2149 FE. She vanished into ashes in Veltol’s arms. “…” Sihlwald said nothing. She watched her brother’s back in silence. “What…?” Gulagalad in Veltol’s left arm turned into white light particles. This was unlike the collapse it experienced when unable to maintain its own powers. At the sight of it, Emi said, “…The paradox is being corrected…because the future changed…” It was Gryphon 4, 17:36. The moment the space-time branched. The future had changed. At the same time, as though triggered by this change, the beyondized Demon Castle crumbled, replaced by the original landscape. “I’m sorry, Veltol,” said Emi. “About what?” “Your goal here. We couldn’t ask Mom anything about the Guild…” “Not to worry. The case you had followed all along was solved. That is enough.” “…Was it?” “Well, yeah.” Sihlwald stood beside them. “The Hero’s soul and the Great Detective’s deduction changed the future. How can you not call that solved?” “My sister is right.” Light came in—the light of Shinjuku City in the year 2099. “I will not allow any doomed future to happen.” The three of them returned to a world with the future changed.