My youth story cannot be a knight war

Until finally, they touched each other.

……

"Zaimokuza——eh!?"

His palms suddenly clenched, and Takasaka took several steps forward without warning. His eyes changed from nervous to dazed because of this change.

"W-What's going on? Where is this?!"

He raised his head and looked around in amazement at the vast expanse of white. All he could see was an infinitely extending white world and a faint mist that covered everything with a hazy hue.

"Yeah~ Mr. Kosaka."

"Zaimokuza!"

Suddenly, a familiar hearty laugh sounded behind him. Kousaka opened his eyes wide and turned around to look back.

Zaimokuza, dressed in black trousers and a white shirt, was standing right in front of him, waving his hand with a smile on his face.

"You're not--wait, why am I also...???"

Kousaka immediately walked towards Zaimokuza, but as soon as he took a step forward, he found that his original attire had changed at some point, and he was now wearing clothes of the same style as Zaimokuza.

"Well, this...it's a little difficult to explain, so I'll try to be brief."

He immediately raised his hand in surprise to check, while Zaimokuza opposite him scratched his cheek and explained to Kousaka.

"Mr. Kosaka, you can think that you are in my heart now~"

"Inner? Is this your spiritual world???"

Kousaka was stunned after hearing this, then his quick thinking immediately allowed him to deduced what Zaimokuza meant and frowned.

"Bingo~! That's right, Mr. Kousaka, you really are quick to understand~"

Zaimokuza snapped his fingers and said with a grin.

"What's going on? Why am I in your spiritual world? If we are communicating through consciousness now, then in reality——"

"Stop! Stop! Mr. Kosaka, you're asking too quickly. Let me talk to you more slowly."

Kousaka frowned and asked immediately, his words were as fast as a machine gun, which made Zaimokuza a little confused. He immediately waved his hands and replied with a wry smile.

"I used my own power to draw you, Mr. Kousaka, closer to me. Also...as for the real world, Mr. Kousaka, don't worry. This situation is only temporary."

"Soon, everything will be back to normal again."

"...Are you sure? We're being sucked up to an altitude close to outer space. If we don't return to normal quickly, we'll become the first people in human history to fly into space in our physical bodies."

After hearing Zaimokuza's words, for some reason, the depression in his heart not only did not lessen in the slightest, but became even heavier, and a sense of unease as if shrouded in a black veil was growing.

Suppressing the uneasiness that came from nowhere, Kousaka spoke.

"Hmm~ This is indeed a problem. But before that, we need to send you and the others back, Mr. Kousaka. Don't worry! This is just a small matter for me."

"..."

Zaimokuza nodded in agreement, but his seemingly normal answer made Kousaka in front of him silent instantly.

"...What about you?"

His right hand unconsciously clenched into a fist, and Kousaka spoke in his usual calm voice.

"Hmm? Of course I have to send everyone back~ Otherwise--"

"Don't interrupt me!"

For the first time, Kousaka spoke to Zaimokuza in such a tone of suppressed anger, and Zaimokuza, who had never directly felt such anger from the other person, was stunned at this moment.

With his eyes raised, his gaze fixed on Zaimokuza's, Kousaka's voice changed from extremely hot to extremely cold in the blink of an eye as he spoke coldly.

"Tell me, what would happen to you besides everyone else?"

Looking at Kousaka's gaze, their eyes met and the atmosphere between them suddenly became extremely depressing, as if the sky was gradually sinking.

After who knows how long, Zaimokuza turned his gaze away and spoke softly.

"...As expected, I knew it would be impossible to hide this from you, Mr. Kousaka."

“——What on earth did you do!???”

As soon as Zaimokuza said this, the vague uneasiness in Kousaka's heart was finally confirmed and began to increase exponentially. Unable to remain calm any longer, he took a step forward, his extremely depressed eyes like dark clouds rolling.

"Nothing, I just did what I had to do."

Slowly turning his head back, feeling Kousaka's almost frozen gaze, Zaimokuza's face showed that familiar smile again.

"I'm just going to shut down the 'Ultimate Darkness'."

……

"Really? Is there really a way to stop the coming of the 'Ultimate Darkness'!?"

Zaimokuza was immediately cheered up when Miou said this while turning her head to the side, and he spoke quickly.

"...Well, there are, but the success rate is very low, very, very low."

With his eyes lowered in front of him, Miou's voice was as soft as the wind blowing past his eyes.

"It doesn't matter! Having a solution is always better than having no solution at all. Tell me, I'll try it no matter what method you use!"

"Zaimokuza-san...you don't understand the true meaning of my words."

"?"

Slowly raising his gaze to look at the confused Zaimokuza, Miou said with a slightly dim look in his eyes.

"After learning that the 'Ultimate Darkness' was destined to descend upon this world in the future, our clan began an extremely lengthy period of research and investigation, striving to find a way to prevent it."

"This research lasted for many years. I've forgotten how long it took. I only know that when my own life was nearing its end, we finally found a solution that wasn't really a solution."

"First, we can draw an absolute conclusion—the arrival of the 'Ultimate Darkness' cannot be stopped. No matter how hard you try to stop it, you will ultimately fail."

Her words made Zaimokuza's heart sink instantly, and he spoke hurriedly.

"Then if it's impossible to stop it, why did you say—"

"Please wait a moment, Mr. Zaimokuza."

Miou raised her hand to interrupt what Zaimokuza was about to say, and then she made another move. She stretched out her right hand wearing the bracelet and pointed her index finger at Zaimokuza's forehead.

Before Zaimokuza could react to the significance of her action, the bracelet on the girl's slender wrist suddenly burst into a warm golden light, illuminating everything in front of him.

"—"

Then, Zaimokuza's mind went blank in an instant.

Immediately afterwards, Zaimokuza felt as if a dagger had pierced his forehead. The dagger pierced his scalp and bones, passed through the white matter of the brain, and reached deep into the brain, but did not cause any pain.

Thoughts, from the tip of this "dagger", countless things that cannot be described in words poured into the mind, as if millions of people were speaking in unison in the mind at the same time.

Countless pieces of knowledge flowed into his mind, which were pagan maxims that humans should never understand. These pieces of knowledge kept reciting the most terrifying truth in the world and the ray of light hidden in the cracks of reality in Zaimokuza's mind.

"--Well!"

As the light from Miou's bracelet faded, Zaimokuza took several steps back before steadying himself. He clasped his hands tightly around his temples.

Feeling the extra knowledge in his head, Zaimokuza's eyes trembled slightly.

"these are……"

"This is the knowledge we derived from the Gurongi Clan regarding the method of summoning the Ultimate Darkness and the entire hypothetical process. It is a continuation of the Gurongi Clan's summoning spell."

Take your hand back, Miou said softly.

"The victor of 'Kikiru' invites the 'Ultimate Darkness' with the corpse of the loser. At that moment, the victor becomes the 'beacon' for the 'Ultimate Darkness' to descend upon this world."

"Destroy this 'beacon', and once again sacrifice another 'Ultimate', to seal the path that brings 'Ultimate Darkness' to this world."

"—This is the only way we can find to cancel the arrival of the Ultimate Darkness."

After a long, long time, neither Zaimokuza nor Miou said another word. An extremely oppressive atmosphere lingered between the two, bringing a corresponding silence.

After an unknown amount of time, Zaimokuza broke the silence and spoke with his head lowered.

"…but this method is inherently an impossible paradox, isn't it?"

“…You are right.”

Miou also lowered his head and answered in a stammering voice.

"When the 'Ultimate Darkness' descends, the power of the higher dimensions will completely devour and assimilate the entire world. The entire process will not even take more than a minute. To think that you can kill the summoner during this process and repeat the above steps is, in the words of your time... 'nothing short of a pipe dream.'"

"But this is the only method our clan has found after such a long time..."

Touching the bracelet on his right wrist, Miou's eyes and tone were so bitter.

"Once observed by the 'Ultimate Darkness', your fate is already determined and cannot be changed. The only way to remedy this is to wait until after your fate has been fulfilled, but by then it's too late."

"…Is there no other solution?"

"perhaps……"

Miou raised her head and looked into Zaimokuza's deep eyes, which were filled with a complexity that could not be expressed in thousands of words.

"We can only hope... that a miracle will come that can match this fate."

……

"And the miracle actually happened~!"

Zaimokuza made a "yeah" sign with both hands and said with a very happy smile.

"Great! When I woke up, I really thought it was all going to end. Ah~ As expected, there are still good things in this world. Grandma is right. Good people have good things-"

“Are you kidding me???”

A hand reached out and grabbed Zaimokuza's collar, pulling him forward with force. Looking at the black hair in front of him, Zaimokuza kept his smile unchanged.

Kousaka lowered his head deeply, holding Zaimokuza's collar with one hand. His voice was calm at this moment, without sadness, pain, or disbelief.

"Is this what you meant by 'soon, everything will be back to normal'??? Are you some comedian who ran away from some circus? Or does being a circus clown also count among your two thousand skills?"

"Yeah, there is."

Zaimokuza thought for a moment, then nodded seriously.

Then, a roar louder than a force twelve ocean wave erupted from in front of him, lifting Zaimokuza's bangs.

"——I asked you what you were kidding!!!!!"

Kousaka raised his head, his eyes now bloodshot, staring at Zaimokuza who was close to him and roaring.

His eyes were now so ferocious and terrifying, even hideous. The anger in his voice was as powerful as an erupting Mount Fuji. Earth-shaking emotions burst out from his usually cold heart, gushing out as words wrapped in flames.

"Is this your solution??? This is what you want to do? Go and die without being discovered?"

This time, Kousaka stretched out both hands and grabbed Zaimokuza's collar, speaking in a hoarse voice.

"You knew about this before, but you didn't say anything? Because you planned to do this from the beginning, right?"

"Why didn't you say anything? Why did you make such a damn decision all by yourself? Who do you think you are? Huh?!"

Pushing Zaimokuza away suddenly, Kousaka supported himself on his knees with his hands, lowered his body and gasped for breath.

This outburst did not help him calm down the surging emotions in his heart. Instead, even his heart began to feel a real pain. Kousaka covered his left chest with one hand, lowered his head and clenched his teeth tightly.

He knew that it was meaningless to say anything now.

In fact, from the moment the "Ultimate Darkness" descended, everything was already destined, but no one except Zaimokuza could foresee what would happen next.

Zaimokuza deceived everyone, including himself who was closest to him. Although he was always talkative like a trumpet, he never revealed even once about his own ending.

He was truly an extremely good liar. His careless image and harmless memories of the past became the most perfect disguise in the world, allowing Zaimokuza Yoshiki to successfully deceive the entire world.

I should have discovered this long ago, I should have discovered this long ago... The knuckles of my right hand dug into the flesh of my palm from using too much force, but Kousaka didn't feel any pain at all, and his shoulders trembled slightly.

The premonition I had before coming here was indeed correct.

He was indeed going to lose something very important in this tower, something very important, something he was unwilling to lose even at the cost of his life.

That is, the best friend in life.

But I am powerless to stop it, because the result has already been decided by fate without my knowledge, and I have even missed the opportunity to listen.

After defeating the old fate, a completely new fate followed, leaving him no chance to react, with such cruelty that it was suffocating.

"Because of what I said, I knew you would have this reaction, Mr. Kousaka."