Ryuutarou looked painful, but he still turned his gaze to Kouki.
Kouki turned his gaze towards Ryuutarou. This man, wounded by his own actions, had, despite this, always considered him a "close friend" until the very end. Kouki stared at him, as if to etch this image into his heart.
The two looked at each other and were silent for a moment.
"Ryuutarou...I'm sorry."
What broke the silence was a brilliant apology.
Although he apologized, he didn't bow his head. If he did, he wouldn't be able to meet Ryuutarou's gaze. Guanghui had made up his mind not to look away again, to face every fact and reality squarely.
Seeing Guanghui's gaze, Ryuutarou returned it with a calm look and remained silent for a moment.
Then, he seemed satisfied, raised the corner of his mouth, showing his white teeth, and responded briefly.
"oh."
That was his only response, no other words were needed.
This response was very Ryuutarou's style. A faint smile appeared on Guanghui's face.
This is enough between the two of them.
In this slightly relaxed atmosphere—
“W-What’s going on…?”
A cold murmur came from the sky, so cold that it made people feel as if ice was stuffed into their backs.
Shizuku suddenly raised her head and turned around, one hand on the black knife. Ryuutarou also wanted to take a stance, but because he had forced himself too much before, he still couldn't stand up.
Guanghui fell to the ground, looked up at the sky, and called her name.
“Eri…”
Huili's appearance was horrific. Not only were her limbs broken, but her entire skeleton was also completely distorted.
The pair of gray wings on her back flickered, flickering unsteadily, as if they would vanish and fall to the ground at any moment. She was covered in blood, every part of her body untouched by wounds. The blood seemed to have seeped into her eyes, turning them blood red.
Huili's appearance could only be described as miserable, but she just looked down at Guanghui and others from the air blankly.
Soon, Ling followed her to the scene.
Shizuku and Ryuutarou looked away from Eri and locked eyes with Suzu for a moment. After a brief moment of rejoicing over each other's safety, they immediately stared at Eri with nervous expressions.
Eri didn't even seem to notice Ling's approach, and asked in a hoarse voice:
"Why? Why? Why is the atmosphere so warm? Kouki, don't forget, they are all enemies. They betrayed you and chose that hateful enemy who completely stripped you of everything. Why are you chatting with them so friendly? Why is that? Tell me."
Despite pressing the question, Eri's unfocused eyes weren't focused on the light, but rather on the empty sky, as if she were asking and answering her own questions.
Her behavior seemed extremely abnormal, and her broken hands and feet swayed faintly in the air, as if she were performing a clumsy puppet show.
"Eri...I'm sorry. Whether it's Shizuku, Ryuutarou, or Suzu, I can't fight them anymore. I won't fight them. Because I've always been wrong about who I should be fighting."
Suddenly, Huili's whole body stopped moving.
“…What the hell is this?”
Huili's head jerked to the side at such an angle that it looked as if her neck would break.
His eyeballs began to roll non-stop, and a crazy will leaked from his mouth.
“What the hell? What ...
The same words kept repeating over and over, like a malfunctioning broadcasting machine.
The eerie atmosphere seemed to stick to the skin, giving people goosebumps all over.
Shizuku, Ryuutarou, and even Suzu couldn't interrupt her. The frenzied aura emanating from Eri made her feel as if her heart was being gripped tightly, sending chills down her spine.
“Eri, Eri, listen to me…!”
At this time, Guanghui opened his voice.
After being beaten just now, Guanghui realized a lot of things.
Therefore, he thought it was time for him to speak up.
"I... I'm a complete idiot, but now I understand that I must have done a lot to hurt you. So, even though you might think there's nothing more to say at this point, I hope to talk to you again...!"
Guanghui called out desperately, his tone was very sincere, and it was a call from the heart.
Maybe that's why.
Huili's gaze finally turned to Guanghui.
A face, expressionless as a mask, gazed upon the light. Its eyes, devoid of any emotion, were chilling. Those eyes seemed to hold a bottomless pit of darkness.
Even so, Guanghui never looked away.
In fact, Guanghui didn't know what to do or what to say.
Even he himself didn't understand what was happening right now. But even so, he knew he had to face Huili and not look away.
The girl in front of him was pursuing him, even if it was a twisted obsession.
More importantly, he knew that Huili would struggle in pain every time she slept, as if she were having a nightmare.
Guanghui believes that this time he must truly understand Huili. Because he changed her, he must face her head-on.
With such a thoughtful look in his eyes, Kouki truly wanted to face the eyes of the girl Nakamura Eri for the first time—
Instead, it made Huili figure something out.
Something seemed to be touched in her heart.
Eri relaxed her whole body, and then her most human smile yet appeared on her face.
A mixture of abandonment, ridicule, irony, and helplessness, an incredible smile...
Then, a word.
"fraud."
She spoke her final words to the world.
The next moment, a strong flash of light burst out from Huili's chest.
“T-That’s…!? Eri, you—”
Realizing the source of the flash, Shizuku shouted in shock and anxiety.
The thing that shone brightly on Eri's chest was 『Last Loyalty』.
That was the self-destructing magic item that Meld Loggins used to save Guanghui and others when they were in dire straits in the Great Labyrinth of Orcus.
However, the flash of light coming from Huili now was even more intense, it was simply incomparable.
That's probably a divine weapon-level performance, and the destructive power is unimaginable.
Before Shizuku could finish her words, Ryuutarou and Kouki seemed to shout something, but their voices were drowned out.
The intense light ravaged the surrounding area like an explosion, engulfing everything in the flood of light, shrouded in a brilliant white. All sound vanished, and the world was shrouded in silence.
Shizuku, Ryuutarou, and Kouki were helpless and could only reflexively raise their arms to cover their faces.
Only then did they discover.
I could actually raise my hand, and I could still perceive the world enveloped in white light and silence. At the same time, I noticed a long shadow stretching towards me on the ground.
That is the figure of a reliable guardian.
She is a barrier master girl who has successfully protected her companions countless times.
The girl unfurled her twin iron fans, holding them like shields, blocking the torrent of light, refusing to retreat an inch. And Inaba, as if to support her, followed closely behind her.
Even though they knew their voices couldn't reach her, Shizuku, Ryuutarou, and Kouki continued to pray wholeheartedly. Since they couldn't do anything else, they hoped that their prayers would at least be a source of strength for her.
Ling seemed to nod slightly.
Then, her figure was swallowed up by the strong light and could no longer be seen.
When Ling came to her senses, she found herself in an incredible space.
It was a pure white space. The bright light and impact from before were gone, and its width and height were impossible to discern.
In this incredible space, besides Ling, there is only one other person.
“Eri…”
"……bell."
The two stood at a distance, facing each other, their eyes widening slightly. Neither of them was injured, and they were still wearing their school uniforms. It was as if the summoning to another world had never happened, and both of them were in the same state as usual. The only difference was that Eri was not wearing her glasses.
This shouldn't be an ordinary space.
However, incredibly, both of them were very calm and just looked at each other silently.
After a while, Huili spoke first.
"What a strange place. Is it a marquee?... It doesn't look like one. Should I call it a near-death experience?... No, death is certain, so that's probably not it."
Incredibly, her tone was devoid of any extraneous emotion, but it wasn't completely emotionless either. To be honest, it was a very normal and ordinary tone.
The atmosphere was also very natural, without any pressure or tension.
Ling was exactly the same as before, without any hesitation and able to speak naturally.
"Will we die too? Ling thinks we can stop it."
"Who knows? If possible, I'd really like to drag you along on this journey."
"No, I don't. Suzu needs to live. I also want Shizuku, Kouki-san, and Ryuutarou-san to live... And of course, I want you to live too, Eri."
Ling frowned as she spoke. Eri scoffed at her words, appearing quite disdainful.
"Hmph, you mercilessly blasted me away, and you still have the nerve to say such things?"
"Ahaha, that's true."
Seeing Ling's wry smile, Huili looked even more unhappy. She made no attempt to hide her displeasure, instead continuing to grumble as if to vent.
"This world probably won't last much longer, so I'll take this opportunity to say everything I want to say. Suzu, I think you're truly evil."
"...Yeah. For example, what?"
"Let me think... Yeah, for example, he always has that silly grin on his face. Even when people say bad things about him, he's always smiling. Also, underneath, he's a perverted old man. He's clearly fighting each other, yet he still wants to be friends. That's really sick. There are so many other things, too many to mention. But the most disgusting thing is that he still uses his own name as the first person even though he's so old. That's really ridiculous, I don't think it's okay."
Veins popped out on Ling's forehead, and after a breath, she launched a counterattack with a smile.
"Yeah~ But, Eri, you're pretty evil, actually."
"What?"
"You always stand there with a smile on your face. Even when people say bad things about you, you just smile. Inside, you're just a gloomy and negative person. And you wear glasses, you're low-key, and you're the head librarian. Your personality is a bit too contrived. Besides, you have no right to comment on my first-person perspective. You deliberately speak in a boyish voice. A girl with glasses and a boyish voice as a head librarian will only make people think you're a total nerd. And you're talking about 'wanting to be the heroine,' haha. How long will your Chuunibyou last? Get well soon."
A vein popped out on Huili's forehead. Of course, she continued to fight back with a smile.
"How dare you call me a chuunibyou? Someone who keeps calling me 'onee-chan' can't be any more chuunibyou than me. And you seem to have lesbian tendencies, which constantly makes me feel unsafe. You're truly perverted to an outrageous degree, and that's truly disgusting."
"Ahaha, that's still a joke, right? Unlike that perverted woman who went astray because of a terrible first love, you have no right to criticize me. You're really sick to the point of being ridiculous. It's really disgusting."
"..."
"..."
""how!?""
The following scene was chaos.
Both of them had rude expressions on their faces that were not suitable for young high school girls, and they started to curse at each other rudely.
Rude and unpleasant words were exchanged back and forth. If there were other listeners present, they would surely have covered their ears. It was like this for who knows how long—
The two finally exhausted their vocabulary and fell silent, breathing deeply. At that moment, a crack appeared in the white space.
"Hmph, it looks like this world is about to end."
"..."
Eri spoke cheerfully, but Ling didn't respond. She lowered her head, her hands resting on her knees, her expression unseen. However, she couldn't hide the dripping liquid.
"...Why are you crying? You're such an idiot."
“S-Stop talking nonsense! Calling others stupid is the real idiot…!”
Ling fought back a sob, roughly wiping away the tears that kept flowing. Sensing the true departure was approaching, she couldn't suppress the emotions welling up in her heart.
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