This is not the date I wanted.

"Shidao" looked into Shidao's eyes and said with certainty,

"I can't do such a thing as deliberately turning a blind eye to the pain that someone is hiding, even though they are hiding it enough to shut themselves off and escape into the universe. Similarly, although I understand Meng Yue's thoughts, I would also get angry when I see her speak ill of Rokuko without knowing anything about her. Ah - although it shouldn't be as harsh as you say..."

"Well--!"

The overly straightforward words were like a sharp arrow that pierced Shidao's pain, causing him to kneel on the ground with a pale face.

“Haha… As expected… I know… It’s really my fault no matter how I think about it… Haha… I have no room for rebuttal since I pointed it out myself… Haha… I really want to turn into ash and disappear from this world…”

"Well, wait until Rokuko's questions are over. Apologize to Mengyue sincerely. I'm sure she will forgive you."

Patting Shidou on the shoulder to encourage him, "Shidou" said,

"Go save Rokuko! If it were me, I would definitely do it."

"Go save Rokuko..."

Hearing "Shidou's" words, Shidou felt a surge of warmth in his chest.

"—!!"

At this moment, a picture suddenly appeared in Shidao's eyes. If "Shidao" had not appeared at that time, he would have to watch everyone die in front of him.

This feeling of helplessness and fear ruthlessly extinguished the fire that had just risen in Shidao's heart.

"Can you do this? I'm not as strong as you. I can't save the elves while protecting everyone like you can."

"…This is your misunderstanding, Gokawa Shidou. The truly powerful person is you."

For some reason, when he said this, Shidou felt that the other person's voice sounded a little distressed and sad.

"Eh? What are you talking about?"

Shidou raised his head in confusion. He found that the look in "Gokawa Shidou"'s eyes when he looked at him showed a hint of envy.

"My strength was simply set at the beginning of the story. Your strength was accumulated through your own hard work after forming bonds with many elves. To be honest, I envy you very much."

"Another 'me'."

In an instant, Shidou seemed to understand something. Looking at "Shidou's" smile, he wanted to say something, but didn't know how to express it in words.

At this moment, a huge earthquake suddenly occurred in the entire fantasy world.

The sky was collapsing, the earth was breaking apart. Looking around, everything within Shidao's field of vision, whether it was living or dead, was turning into powder and disappearing bit by bit.

"What, what's going on?"

“This world is going to disappear.”

As if he had anticipated this situation, "Gokawa Shido" replied very calmly,

"It's only natural. This is the world that Westcott created to trap you and the elves. Now that the elves have fled back to the real world, Westcott naturally has no need to maintain this world."

"Then let's run away quickly!"

"No, you are the only one who needs to escape."

"Itsuka Shido" shook his head slightly.

"This exit can only exist if I stay here. And even if it is not like this, when I go to your world, it will definitely disappear completely, which will only increase everyone's useless sadness."

"What are you talking about? How could I leave you alone and run away!?"

"Don't give useless sympathy to a fake! Move forward! Itsuka Shido!"

For the first time, "Gokawa Shidao" showed a stern expression and scolded himself harshly.

"If you agree with me, live with me!"

"...I understand! Thank you! Another me!"

Clenching his fists slightly, Gokawa Shidao seemed to have made up his mind and nodded firmly.

"There is one more thing that must be corrected... You are not a fake."

"Hmph~Thanks a lot."

Hearing Shidou's words, "Shidou" was stunned at first, then laughed very happily and stretched out his fist towards Shidou.

Shidou understood and stretched out his hand, and their fists touched.

"Come on, other me!"

"Take care, other me!"

Then, Shidou turned around, looked at the exit less than a few meters away, and took a deep breath.

As if he wanted to throw away all the worries that were binding him, Gokawa Shido ran and rushed into the gate with all his strength.

"Itsuka Shidou, this is my final advice!"

The voice of "myself" came from behind.

“You are strong! Much stronger than you think! Saving Rokuko and protecting everyone—you can do both, so prove it to Meng Yue with your actions!!”

As soon as he finished speaking, Shidao felt that the door behind him was closed, and the two worlds of fantasy and reality were completely separated.

Shidou didn't look back, but gritted his teeth and kept running towards the exit.

————————————I am the dividing line between reality and fantasy——————————————

From the very beginning, "Gokawa Shidao" was very clear that he was not Gokawa Shidao.

It - just in this imaginary space, like the big bad wolf and the witch, was given a mission as a "character" in a certain story, and other than that, it exists as nothing.

False name, false memories, false character—not a single one of the ingredients of its existence was real.

In fact, there is one thing wrong in Liangyi Mengyue's understanding of this world.

Although they can make the "characters" in the story their partners by resolving the conflicts in the story, under Westcott's malicious manipulation, all the "characters" in this world will be their enemies from the beginning.

"Gokawa Shido" actually appeared very early, but due to the character setting, his attitude towards Mengyue and others has been wavering between "partners to be protected" and "enemies to be eliminated", so when Mengyue and others were in crisis, he neither helped nor launched an attack, but hid and remained neutral.

Until then, at the moment when everyone was about to fall to their death, it felt the feelings of the prototype of its story - Gokawa Shido.

It is a love that completely disregards one's own life and death, and only hopes that the important people can survive. It is mixed with regret and unwillingness, but it is pure to the extreme.

The people he wants to protect and the people he wants to save are far more important to Shidao than his own life.

It is precisely because of this emotion that at this moment, it can truly become "Gokawa Shidao".

"Okay, that's enough."

Sitting peacefully in this collapsing world, "Gokawa Shido" sighed contentedly.

Once, though only once, he did save the spirits on behalf of Gokawa Shidao. Being able to achieve this goal, he had no regrets in this short life.

"All that's left is... disappearing along with this world... If only this were the case."

He slapped the ground with both palms, and using the reaction force generated, "Gokawa Shido" quickly dodged backwards.

Then, a beam of orange light fell on the spot where he had just been.

"Isn't it too late to release the killing intent now? The spirits and Gokawa Shidao have already left this world. There is no reason for us to fight, right?"

Looking at the empty surroundings, "Gokawa Shidao" said helplessly.

"Gokawa Shidao" does not feel nervous. This is a fantasy world. He is the closest to the perfect "Gokawa Shidao" in the ideal of the elves. With his strength, no character in the currently realized story can be his opponent.

however--

"Pfft!"

The bright red blood spurted out of his mouth uncontrollably. Shidao felt a burning pain coming from his abdomen, as if he was melted by magma.

"Shidao" lowered his head and was surprised to find that a charred hole had appeared on his stomach without him noticing.

"That attack just now... is weird? I clearly dodged it..."

The Healing Flame began to treat the wound that should have been fatal, but he couldn't help but be stunned by this strange phenomenon.

"—————————!"

Immediately afterwards, less than ten meters away from him, a pale afterimage suddenly emerged from the darkness, with a hint of ominous black lightning, and rushed in front of "Gokawa Shidao".

--Oops!

"Shidao" widened his eyes in surprise. Due to the misleading effect of the long-range bombardment just now, he had never expected that the enemy was lurking so close to him.

"Sandalphon!"

There was no time to complete the magical girl's transformation, and in a hurry, "Shidou" could only summon Tohka's giant sword and use it as a shield across his chest.

The opponent seemed to be wielding a pitch-black knife, slashing it hard on Aosagong's sword.

The sound of weapons colliding was heard. The opponent had no intention of holding back. "Shidao" only felt that his entire arm was directly scrapped under the reaction force of the collision. Aosagong and the opponent's knives were shattered in such a mere collision and turned into light dust and dissipated.

"Elves?"

Shidao showed a surprised expression. Based on the attack just now, he was sure that the knife used by the opponent was the same as Aozao-Kou's, which was an angel of spirits.

To be precise, it is the Demon King of the Reverse Elves.

However, "Gokawa Shidao" was shaken, but the opponent did not stop at all. Another pitch-black sharp blade stretched out from his other hand and chopped directly at "Gokawa Shidao"'s head.

(Dual swords!?)

Just as he realized this fact in his mind, the next moment, "Shidao"'s head was chopped off by the opponent's sword.

If the elf's angel is destroyed, it will take a very long time to cool down, so this situation is actually beneficial to "Shidao". Even if the angel is destroyed, he, who has most angels, can summon angels to fight back before the opponent, turning passivity into initiative.

However, he did not expect that the opponent was holding more than one knife. The time difference of less than half a second between the other angel who needed to be summoned again and the second demon king who was waiting for the opportunity to move doomed "Gokawa Shidao" to defeat.

However, he didn't know that even if he summoned angels for defense, the outcome would not change at all.

"————————————!"

The roar, like that of a wild beast, echoed in this collapsing world.

Even Westcott probably didn't expect that such a strange beast would be born in a fantasy world that was about to be destroyed. And then, it would perish along with this fantasy world without any meaning or resistance.

Fire! Fraxinus——EX!!!

==============================

——The fierce gunshots and the earth-shaking explosions echoed in Westcott’s ears.

The footsteps of destruction, the omen of the city’s collapse, the continuous collapse of piled objects, playing a beautiful melody leading to the end.

Just like taking a walk in a back garden and enjoying the scenery, Westcott observed the smoke and fire of war in Ratatoskr with a happy face.

At this moment, he was standing on a helicopter takeoff platform in the base. Although the helicopter behind him had already started, he was not going to get on the helicopter and leave. Instead, he was waiting for someone to take the helicopter.

The helicopter was not destroyed because the enemy was not expected to notice the changes here in some way and change their mind and choose another escape route.

The sea breeze blew past his nose, with a slightly damp and salty smell. This kind of air, which he could never experience while sitting in the office, made him feel very fresh.

Although the person he was waiting for had not appeared yet, he was not in a hurry at all. Patience was a skill that Westcott had always been proud of.

"Oh?"

Suddenly, Westcott made a somewhat unexpected sound. The reason was simple. According to the information fed back from the Divine Eclipse, Gokawa Shido and others had successfully escaped from the "Phantom Library".

"Although the intention was just to trap them, it's really amazing that they were able to come back alive from there."

Without any falsehood, Westcott expressed his admiration from the bottom of his heart. After all, according to his setting, it would not be strange even if Gokawa Shidao and others all died in the Phantom Book House.

However, for Westcott at this moment, this was just an insignificant little episode.

Why? Because he will meet his old friend whom he has not seen for a long time.

To be honest, the reason why he went to the enemy base alone without telling Alan and made a mess of the place was very simple.

It's just that simple: I want to show off my new toy to my old friends.

The sound of high-heeled shoes approaching, and the sound of a wheelchair being pushed could be heard faintly. Upon hearing this, Westcott couldn't help but smile.

Soon, Westcott saw his targets - Woodman and Karen - in the corridor leading to the airport.

Just like Westcott saw the two of them, Karen also noticed Westcott's presence. A look of panic appeared in her eyes, and she subconsciously stopped.

"——Hello, Elliot. It's been a long time since we've met face to face like this."

Westcott greeted him in a friendly manner.

"Yeah...long time no see, Ike."