The End's Christmas (9) & Others
"Come here, you little rats. I knew you'd come here."
The lobby was shrouded in darkness.
The executioner greeted them.
"The sight of you struggling is quite entertaining."
A completely emotionless, dry voice.
That voice sounded like machine noise.
"You'd better not think of escaping."
"Damn it, we're surrounded."
Irien glanced around. Armed fanatics were positioned at regular intervals. They were monitoring every move of the group with their guns.
"Elia, do you have any smoke bombs left?"
"...None."
That one just before was the last smoke bomb.
It was a situation where they were completely surrounded.
"You don't know how to give up, you lowly bastards."
The executioner smiled mockingly.
"You will all die in the end. It's just a matter of whether it's sooner or later. So, I'll make you a proposal. I'll teach you how to die later."
"What is that...?"
A sudden proposal.
He pointed to Eve's backpack.
"A deal."
"Deal?"
"A vaccine and your time. How about it?"
That's how it is.
"Don't you think it's a fair deal?"
"...A fair deal?"
"Three lives and one vaccine. Isn't that a fair deal? No, in this case, I might be the one at a loss."
He's quite the talker.
A piece of trash that has taken hundreds of millions of lives.
"If I break this, what happens?"
"Well, you'll all die."
Wrong. No emotion of agitation could be read from the opponent. Either way, they had no choice. If they don't hand over the vaccine here, all of them will be exterminated by those crazy bastards.
"Since we're going to die anyway, can I ask one more thing?"
"Have mercy and answer. Tell me."
"How do you know about the vaccine?"
He shook his head sadly.
"Do you think I came here without knowing that? I am the 'vessel' personally chosen by the 3rd Elder. That kind of vaccine, whether it exists or not, in the end, the one who is chosen is me.... Well, there's no harm in having it. It's like a kind of insurance."
"Then why should we let you go?"
"Ah, you mean that? Anyway, the 09 sector is scheduled to be finished with the strategic spell 'Parousia' exactly 3 hours from now. The only life forms that can survive here are probably the 'vessel'."
Parousia (παρουσία).
An ultra-large strategic spell that completely exterminates all life forms within range. And it's a forbidden magic spell that hasn't been used even once since the founding of the country. Those crazy bastards.
Irien bit her lip so hard it bled from the despair that came again.
"Eve, the vaccine."
"...Yes."
Eve handed over a syringe filled with golden liquid.
Irien, having received it, asked him again.
"If I hand this over like this, is there a guarantee that you won't kill us?"
"Have your brains become as small as rats?"
He said that while shrugging his shoulders with ease.
"If you were going to kill us, you would have done it long ago."
Irien threw the syringe at him.
The executioner, turning the syringe over in his hand,
Raised his palm and ordered his subordinate.
"Kill them all."
"Damn bastard!"
"Your mouth is dirty. Make sure to use the vaccine well."
The sound of loading handles clacking all around.
Irien hugged the Elia standing next to her and hid her in her arms.
"Didn't I tell you at the beginning?"
The executioner added with a horribly twisted smile.
"It's just a matter of whether it's sooner or later."
At the same time as his words ended, bullets flew from numerous gun barrels. The moment the first bullet fired pierced Irien's back-
'Just once, when you recall my 'prophecy'-'
Eve shouted the priest's prophecy in her heart.
'I will save you from the crisis.'
A promise enshrined in an unforgettable eternal memory.
The prayer of that promise negates the reality of existence.
Prayer spreads itself and realizes the will of non-existence.
Existence becomes non-existence, and what was there becomes what was not.
"Θα είναι όπως θέλετε."
What to deny is the existence of time.
The ancient god of the forgotten ruins burned his last remaining power.
Eve's prayer became a miracle and was realized in the world.
'...What is this?'
Irien felt something hitting her body hard and sensed death. It was clearly the sensation of a bullet piercing her back. But strangely, the pain that should have followed after did not come. Did she die instantly? But if so, the weak trembling of Elia she was holding in her arms was still vividly felt.
"......?"
Slightly opening her eyes, she saw Elia's eyes wide with shock.
Irien turned around.
"What, what is this?"
The hundreds of bullets flying towards them had stopped in mid-air. No, exactly, all things except the three of them had stopped.
The executioner, who was turning around with a contemptuous smile,
The flames spurting from the fanatics' gun barrels,
And perhaps, his own fate that should have died.
"No time to stand there dazed! Run! Hurry!"
They ran for a long time but didn't get tired or out of breath.
They quickly left the research institute and headed towards the city.
"This... is it a dream? I've lived through so many things."
Snow falling from the sky,
Flames burning on the streets,
Black smoke rising from the flames,
And infected people moving somewhere.
All phenomena and rules of this world had stopped.
"What is this...?"
"It's the miracle of the firefly."
"...A miracle?"
Elia asked. Then Irien said playfully.
"Could it be that the three of us died together? I don't feel my heartbeat. Muscle fatigue. It seems like the body's functions themselves have stopped."
Is this reality?
Or am I hallucinating after death?
They were speechless at the miracle they witnessed before their eyes.
A contradictory sensation as if they were running directly in a dream.
"...Elia, Irien."
After observing the phenomenon for quite a long time while running.
Breaking the silence, Eve opened her mouth.
"Now we have to avoid 'Parousia'. Where should we go?"
"Exactly, now where should we go... uh, la?"
And at that moment, Irien, who was running, suddenly fell down like a string-cut marionette, announcing that the flow of time had resumed.
"Irien?!"
"Irien Sergeant!"
The feeling of life returning.
White snow pouring down.
The purple hills burning again.
Among the white snow, the petals of alium flowers fluttered in the heat.
"Hic, ah, I forgot to say, I got shot."
"What kind of nonsense?! When exactly!"
They were standing under a huge gossamer tree in the center of the burning flower field, examining Irien's wound. Elia's face, seeing the wound, turned pale. A huge penetrating wound. With the flow of time that had resumed, the scheduled death came to Irien.
"When I hugged you earlier."
"Why didn't you say anything?!"
"Time had stopped, hadn't it? It didn't hurt, did it?"
The uniform was dyed red with fresh blood.
Time had indeed stopped.
It wasn't a dream.
"Hic, this, I don't know, it seems like everything went wrong."
Coughing with a cough, she spat out a mouthful of blood.
Ah, this is hopeless. Damn, I'm really dying.
Fuck, it hurts like hell.
"Elia, hic, ah, sorry. Leave me."
"I don't want to! I don't want to! I absolutely won't leave you!"
Elia blocked the wound area with her trembling hands.
But she couldn't.
From the beginning, it was impossible for her small hands to block it.
Red blood was steadily pushing out between her fingers.
"Ah, aa! Blood, blood! What, what should I do-!"
"Hic. Hoo, hit, kuck kuck, ya, ice. Hic."
It wasn't a situation to laugh, but
Somehow, she couldn't help but smile.
The panicked expression she had been waiting for so long,
She was finally seeing it now.
"Let's ask one thing. Why, hic, couldn't you be so honest."
"Everyone's dead, everyone's dead! If I become honest, if I open my heart even a little, everyone will die! Instead, I wanted to die, I always wanted to! But everyone dies before me. No matter what I do, everyone dies before me! What should I do?! What should I do?!"
A desperate scream bursting out precariously.
Tears pouring from her dark green eyes.
The first time she had heard since they met-
The witch's sincerity.
"Come here, Elia."
In response to that sincerity, Irien smiled.
She squeezed out the last remaining strength and spread her arms.
Elia hugged her tightly.
"Don't cry."
She gently stroked her head.
The sound of the witch's sobbing echoing in her ears.
"It was hard, right, it's all okay. I'm sorry."
The sob was so pitiful,
Irien whispered again.
"...Don't cry, Elia."
A kind whisper.
"Irien, it's all my fault, it's all my fault-!"
"-Elia."
She wiped the tears in Elia's eyes with her thumb.
Who said it's your fault. I brought you here. I'll punish you.
It's not your fault, Elia. Please don't blame yourself.
"...It's not... your fault."
What should I say next?
I need to say something that comforts more.
Ah, consciousness is getting hazy.
The terrible pain of burns is now distant.
Is it good? Well, if it's good, it's good.
"...You... couldn't... not... be..."
"Irien, Irien...! Don't die, please, don't die!"
Did I know she could say such cute things?
I should have told you earlier.
I would have praised you much more often.
"I don't want...! I don't want to die, don't leave me!"
Thinking about it, that day,
I still haven't apologized.
Let's say I took the bullet for you. It's okay, right?
"Now, I finally... became... honest... ."
"Irien, Irien, please, no, Irien, please...!"
How can I leave this kid alone and close my eyes comfortably.
The world is really cruel. I should go and scold that guy called god.
I knew how to stop time, but couldn't save me?
What is that half-penny ability.... Is it really god-like?
"Live... remain. You... knew... right?"
"I don't want to, don't go, don't go, Irien, Irien...!"
No... wait, maybe I should be grateful.
Since you gave me time to say goodbye.
The pink petals of the gossamer flower passed in front of Irien's eyes.
"Under the hill where moonlight has descended, beneath the blooming gossamer tree-
A pitiful witch is sobbing pitifully."
A humming sound came from somewhere.
Violet? Violet's voice.
"Lonely witch, lonely witch.
- Everyone has left my side."
With difficulty blinking, Violet appeared.
Behind Elia's back, Violet was standing.
She was smiling while tying her hair up.
"Don't cry, you're not alone, the moon says.
Lie down now, close your sleepy eyes, beloved child.
Tomorrow, a bright sun will comfort you."
The world in front of her eyes-
Slowly began to lose its colors.
The fading vision was filled with Elia's crying face.
She was shouting something at her, but now it couldn't be heard.
"It's a bit... cold..."
The heartbeat of the heart grew stronger.
Comfort enveloped the whole body.
"Tha...t... El...ia...?"
The last memory to take is her crying face.
If I had to choose, I wanted to see a smiling face.
But still better than the honest not being able to-
"You... are... this... side... much... better..."
Violet, Yann, Treval... and Lupus.
I'm going to that side now.
"Cute... ."
Her hand holding Elia tightly-
Fell on the purple flower field.
Irien's time had stopped.