Chapter 383: Her Wish
“What’s that?”
“…”
In the imaginary realm where the Sun God, Moon God, and Glare were temporarily confined.
“I don’t have any memories like that, no matter how much I look back…”
Lunar, who was sweating profusely as she observed the records of the zeroth cycle, muttered while trembling.
“I can’t accept this. It’s absurd.”
“…”
“Sis, you don’t have any memories of this either, right?”
“Uh, uh-huh?”
The Sun God, who had been looking at her with a worried expression, tilted her head with a look of bewilderment.“Surely… I don’t have any memories like that…”
“Exactly, it’s a trap by that eye. Who gave that pendant in the first place? It must be that thing’s trickery.”
Trying to calm her heart, Lunar muttered to herself after hearing those words.
“O-Our cute little lady, can you send a message to the Hero? The content is…”
As Lunar, still trembling, was about to request something while patting Glare’s head…
“But Lunar, something’s strange.”
“…?”
The Sun God, who usually had a dazed expression, spoke with a serious expression for the first time in a long while.
“The memories are strange.”
“Memories?”
“Until now, I thought I had created the world… but for some reason, I can’t remember the moment of creation.”
The Sun God, speaking in an uneasy tone, looked at Lunar with a troubled expression.
“If I created it, the world wouldn’t be like this…”
“That’s… because of Eclipse. She interfered and made it that way.”
“When did she interfere? How did the war start? Do you know?”
“…”
Lunar fell silent at those words.
“Could it be… our memories were erased too?”
Muttering with a blank expression, she continued.
“Even the memories of us gods were erased? When the zeroth cycle itself vanished?”
“That seems to be the case. Otherwise, it doesn’t make sense…”
“S-Star God!!”
Lunar, suddenly shouting desperately, opened the chat.
“No, Eldest Sister!! I usually don’t call you that because of the huge age difference… but come out!”
“L-Lunar, calm down…”
“You are the Creator God, you must know! Tell us if this is real or fake…”
- Crackle…!
As Lunar frantically typed and banged on the sturdy walls surrounding them, starlight began to seep through the wall next to her.
- Crash…!
“…Sister!”
Finally, shattering the black wall, a stunningly beautiful woman basking in starlight appeared.
“What is this? You finally call me ‘sister’… It’s been so long. But I’m in male form right now? This is a bit awkward, ya know.”
“Y-You look like a woman, though.”
“…Hic.”
The Star God, who was speaking while staggering with a deeply flushed face, hiccuped and blinked at the Sun God’s words.
“Right, I brought out my main body to infiltrate here after so long… Hic, I shouldn’t use this form lightly…”
“Why do you drink so much… Never mind, just answer the question.”
For some reason, the eldest sister, who had lost her dignity as the Creator God and became addicted to alcohol, had been observing from a distance. Lunar, looking at her with her usual annoyed expression, regained her composure and spoke.
“Is that zeroth cycle thing real? It can’t be, right? There’s no way that’s real.”
“…”
“If that’s real, it’s the worst-case scenario. And it’s so tragic. The Outer God must have tricked us, right?”
“…”
The Star God remained silent, her expression serious.
“Sis?”
Lunar, speaking with a glimmer of hope, started sweating as she watched the Star God fall into a deep silence.
“You’re joking, right? Please tell me you are.”
“Sigh.”
“No, no. Don’t make that face. Please…”
“Now do you understand why I had to become an alcoholic?”
Upon hearing those words, Lunar’s legs gave out, and she collapsed to the ground.
“Since that thing revealed the truth first, it’s not against the rules for me to acknowledge it…”
“It’s real? That…?”
“I hoped they would remember, so I gave him the pendant, but I never thought the memories inside it would manifest. That thing is truly vile.”
As she spoke, the Star God took a drink, her expression unusually forlorn today.
“I’ve told you countless times that the world is being manipulated, but it’s all become a blur now.”
“We need to intervene immediately. If we don’t interfere with this ordeal right now–”
“We’ve failed. That thing has been waiting for this exact moment.”
The Star God spoke quietly but forcefully as she gripped the bottle in her hand.
“I brought my main body, which I’ve been saving until I regained a bit of strength, but that thing has been pouring all the power it accumulated from devouring multiple dimensions. So I came to save at least you all.”
“Why… why is it doing this? Why use all the power it’s accumulated from countless dimensions just to devour ours?”
“…Because our dimension is worth it.”
The Star God’s gaze was fixed on Frey and Ruby, who were being enveloped in the light of the pendant and returning to reality.
The bottle she had been holding shattered, its fragments falling from her hand.
“Then… What do we do? If even you can’t intervene…”
“We can only watch.”
The Star God stood up slowly, heading toward the exit she had created, and added quietly.
“Their choices.”
The sky in the real world, visible through the exit, had darkened.
“…”
For a moment, the setting sun in the sky and the gaze of the Star God crossed paths.
.
.
.
.
.
H-Hero, the Moon God says what you saw was a lie. She says she has no memory of it!
Ah… The Sun God says their memories were erased…
The Star God says the meaning of the pendant…
Frey, who was reading the messages appearing before him with a forlorn expression, closed the window before he even finished reading all of it.
“Huff, huff…”
He was already vaguely aware that all this was real due to the returned memories. But the messages he just received confirmed it, cementing everything as truth.
In a situation where there was no room for doubt, Frey clutched his pounding, aching chest and breathed heavily.
“Ru-Ruby.”
“Why are you panting like that, you fool?”
“Ruby… sis…”
As he reached out, Ruby, enveloped in light and clinging to him, tried to comfort him.
- Srrk…
Fortunately, this time his hand did not pass through her. Frey’s hand gently caressed Ruby’s cheek.
“Your hands are as rough as ever.”
“…”
“Which is why you always rubbed your cheek against me instead of using your hands.”
Feeling the familiar touch of his hand, roughened by harsh training and battles, Ruby closed her eyes for a moment, then slowly opened them and looked at him.
“I’m sorry… Ruby…”
“Hush.”
Before she knew it, Frey was crying with his head buried in her chest
“It’s okay, it’s okay… my Frey.”
Looking down at him with a calm expression, Ruby thought, once a little kitten, always a little kitten, and started gently stroking his back.
“It’s not okay… nothing is okay…”
“This bastard. I’m fine, so why are you talking so much?”
“With every regression I made, every regression Ferloche made… you must have suffered so much…”
Saying this, Frey trembled.
“Why fret over something you don’t remember? It must have been harder for you, being hunted by me continuously.”
“But–”
“Don’t worry about every little thing.”
Ruby spoke coolly and gave an awkward smile.
But her words were only half true.
“…Actually, we both remembered, didn’t we?”
“Hmm?”
“Subconsciously, I mean.”
Although the existence of the zeroth cycle had completely vanished, the memories remained in their subconscious, subtly influencing them.
“Me wanting to be your lover, choosing that route while traveling across the Western Continent…”
“Frey.”
“The meaningful things you said during the Third Ordeal…”
Ruby’s pupils trembled slightly upon hearing his words.
“What did I do to you…?”
“Stop blaming yourself…”
“The curse I cast on you during the Third Ordeal… that curse… ugh…”
The curse that slowed the target down and inflicted excruciating pain until death. Realizing that he had used that curse on Ruby, Frey looked up at her with a pale face.
“The violence I inflicted on you wanting to be your lover? Those horrific tortures?”
“I inflicted similar tortures on you.”
“I thought you didn’t understand love. I thought no one had ever loved you. You gave up everything for me…”
“You did the same, Frey.”
Embracing Frey, Ruby rubbed her cheek against his neck and whispered.
“The one to blame is that eye demon. You did nothing wrong.”
“What do you mean…”
“Shh, be quiet.”
Ruby wiped away Frey’s tears with her hand and then kissed his eyes.
“We met again after so long… Are you going to keep showing me this side of you? Frey?”
“Sis…”
Their faces drew closer as the boy and girl looked at each other.
“Haah.”
“Mmm…”
Their fingers intertwined, and their tongues entwined.
- Drip…
Hot tears rolled down their cheeks.
It was unclear whether Frey, Ruby, or both were crying.
They remained intertwined until the tears stopped flowing.
“…How did you recover your memories?”
After a long time had passed, Frey pulled away from Ruby and asked, trying to compose his emotions.
“The system disappeared, and as my mind cleared, the countless regressions brought back the memories bit by bit.”
“Ugh, ugh…”
But as soon as he heard those words, Frey’s mind shattered once again.
“I’m sorry… I’m sorry…”
“You did more than I did, so what are you apologizing for?”
“It must have been painful… and excruciating…”
“It was my choice.”
Ruby embraced him again and began speaking with a smile.
“Every time I regressed, I touched Rosyn’s notebook, gradually recovering my memories. That notebook had the power to restore forgotten memories and even in the deepest subconsciousness.”
“Roswyn…”
“Once I recovered all my memories, I focused on ‘atonement’ because of the sins I had accumulated.”
Ruby spoke with a sorrowful expression.
“I destroyed this world so much. I killed many people and ruined many things.”
“No, no! That wasn’t your fault–”
“Even if I lost my memories, my sins didn’t disappear. The only way to erase those sins was through the atonement quest.”
Ruby continued with a wistful expression.
“I was trying to reject fate, like in the zeroth cycle.”
“…!”
“I kept atoning, thinking that the remaining power of the Demon King might be because of my sins. So don’t worry too much.”
Hearing this, Frey asked urgently.
“So, did you succeed in defying fate?”
“…I failed. The eye demon was thoroughly prepared.”
Ruby chuckled and began caressing Frey.
“Because of that, I unnecessarily burdened them. Once they learn the truth, those kind-hearted people will surely feel guilty.”
“Ruby…”
“So, please, keep the truth hidden.”
“…What?”
Suddenly, tears streamed down Ruby’s cheeks as she spoke softly.
“Frey, I have a wish. Will you grant it?”
“A wish? What wish?”
Looking at her with a bewildered expression, Frey grabbed Ruby’s hands and spoke.
“I’ll grant anything. Anything at all. Just tell me. Even if it burns my soul, I will–”
“Kill me.”
“…What.”
With her forehead gently pressed against his, Ruby continued in a trembling voice.
“Kill me, annihilate me, and end the Fourth Ordeal, and this endless cycle of tragedy.”
In front of her eyes, a quest window appeared, unlike any before, now tainted black.
Final Quest
Sacrifice (0/1)
Reward: Guaranteed soul destruction, demonification…
“Please, Frey.”
Ruby, who had been quietly watching the system window, finally pushed it aside and buried her head in Frey’s chest.
End the fourth trial
“You have to move forward.”
“Ruby…?”
Tears streamed endlessly from the eyes of the girl who had decided to sacrifice everything for the boy.