Mitsuko was jolted out of her thoughts when Yurika approached her, the girl tilting her head to the side slightly at Yurika's question. Had she come across as antisocial? She was just waiting for the people who said they wanted to talk to her after the club meeting to do so, after all, but maybe that could have come across as not wanting to converse with her club members? This was hard.

"Ah, you don't have to worry about your questions, Yurumiya-san. I won't ask you to forcefully restrain your personality while in my club; that would hardly be my goal. If you would like to be my friend, then I will be happy to consider you as one." She replied with a rather curt nod. While there wasn't an overt amount of excitement present in the occult eccentric's tone, a slight lilt formed in her voice towards the latter half of her statement, what seemed like an attempt at a smile playing along the edges of her express.

"I do hope you didn't take my mother's business as a personal insult, though. I really just don't want to inconvenience her more than she already is, but if she ever has the time, I will mention your request."

Mura sat, listening to Seiko talk about why she became a journalist. Apparently such a job was almost tailor made for the girl in front of her, but then again she wasn't really surprised. But then came the worst part. Seiko started smiling, with a less than direct comment that was clearly a sign of ill tidings. And the it hit; the equivalent exchange ordeal. Mura really hadn't thought about such an outcome, but it was all too expected from a girl of her personality. Even before the question was asked, Mura could already tell what was going to be asked.

"Soooo, there's tons of rumors about what you do after school, you know. There are some pretty...colorful ones, too~"

Then the girl paused, clearly giving Mura some time to think about what she had just said. Unfortunately for Seiko, the colours Mura were seeing were far more monotonous than colourful; or at least thats what they could be described as. All she could see was every single shade of blood red.
"You... I..." she said in and out of short breaths, cheeks becoming redder as it went on, "You... IDIO-" she began to shout, only to stop as she realised that everyone would be looking at her and that Seiko had completely changed the subject. Now the topic was clearly blackmail related, which was also something that could only go badly, no matter which way Mura sliced it.
"The reason I joined... Hmm, now lets see... Snacks were a pretty big decider, but I also wanted to know if ghosts are real so I can talk to my brother after I ki- so I can speak with him. I can only assume he's dead, since I haven't seen him for a couple months." Her blush was slowly fading away, but the slight tears at the side of her eyes would give anyone staring even more reason to look on. Mura then stood, bowed, and began to make her way to where Mitsuko was so she could grab a waiver.]
"Thank you for the brownie, Seiko." she said as she walked away, giving a slight wave as she approached Mitsuko.

Wrong.

Something was wrong. The sound of a dull thrum from her backpack had alerted her to this. Something was not as it should be.

The unshakeable composure of the club president shattered. Without speaking a word, the girl dove for her backpack, eyes wide in panic for some unknown reason as she drew out a strange object: a small, stuffed cat.

"...that's...impossible."

---

■■■■■■■■
???, ???

The sea of clouds breaks out before me into that damnable thing I call a world. That which I praised, destroyed by these hands. That which I protected, cleaved by this blade. That which I loved, gone into the void, never to return.

I'm sorry.

The images form in my mind as I strain to keep them from overwhelming me, from letting ■■■■ have her final victory.

Snakes torn. Humans cleaved. An ocean of blood as magnificent an image as it is trite.

Hero. That was what they called me. I am not that.

Betrayer. Destroyer. He who strayed.

"Strongest Warrior" was always a lie.

"Greatest Hero" was always a falsehood.

"...heh, so is the pain you felt, ■■■■■■? I guess then, then I can understand why you chose that path."

I'm tired. I'm so very tired.

So then, it's okay, isn't it? It's okay if I...

---

■■■■ ■■■■■■
???, ???

I look upon the sea of flames.

Why did it come to this?

Was I a poor ruler, or was I simply too much of one?

I lost sight, I know it. I focused too much on that golden utopia, and that is why this has come about. If only I was more human, if only I was less of a king, then perhaps this would have not come to pass.

"Father!"

His voice cuts through the air. The voice of a pawn used by that monster. The voice of a child I had never given heed to. The voice of all of my mistakes that stare me in the eye with reckless abandon.

I don't want this. I never wanted this. I just wanted ■■■■■■■ to be safe. I just wanted to be an ideal king for my people.

■■■■■■■...I'm sorry.

"Goodbye."

Wielding these gifts I have been given, I confront my mistakes. Our blades meet as we dance the eternal. Father and son, king and usurper, we wage war in the name of our ideals, our emotions, our very nature.

It hurts. It hurts. It hurts.

Those eyes...why do you have those eyes? The dead should not have eyes like that. The dead should not be able to kill me like that.

Ah, I see. That's why, isn't it?

I really was too far away, sitting on that throne. I never realized, I never...

---

■■■■■■
???, ???

I toppled the false king from his throne and created a city where even the poorest individual had a house of gold, where none would go hungry or suffer.

You have to understand, you have to. I did it for them. Everything I did, it was all to help people.

I sought to create a perfect world. I conquered heaven and hell. Death was caged beneath my throne and suffering trapped in a gem. But then, it all ended.

He killed them. He killed my family, my friends, my followers. He destroyed everyone in an attempt to obliterate every trace of my reign.

Why do you exist?

Disappear. Disappear and leave this world alone.

I am evil. I have acknowledged this, but I will not falter. I will become this world's evil if that is what it takes. I will shoulder all the darkness in these three worlds upon my soul, so that nobody else needs to. I will destroy myself to save everything. I will become everything I hate to protect everything I love.

"I am the Demon King ■■■■■■, and this is my world."

The power to destroy the world. The power to create it anew. The power to surpass the gods.

I reach for my strength, and he reaches for his. The Demon King who seeks to save the world and the Perfect Human who wishes to restore it.

Space and time quakes as the two greatest beings in all of history clash against one another. The elements themselves quake in fear as I bend reality to my will, and he does the same. He is not my match, even with the power he has gained. The end is already decided.

I will win. I will create a utopia. I will do what no other could.

So, why am I not moving?

Why am I giving up while I stand at the edge of victory?

Why am I not fighting against his attack?

Why am I letting him kill me?

...Why am I crying?

---

It burns. If this is the pain he felt, it's no wonder he gave everything up to escape it.

You always were brilliant, old friend.

I feel myself split, but I struggle to hold on to myself.

Half flows up, half flows down. I stay in the latter, while the "I" who is not me goes up to meet the final fate of what I was.

You'll do an amazing job, I'm sure. You're me, after all.

But as I drift downwards into that evanescent maw, I see something.

They're mourning. They're mourning for me.

Have they forgotten what I had done? Have they forgotten those lives I ruined in insanity and rage?

...no, no, of course they haven't. But in spite of that, they...

They still call me a hero. They never stopped believing in me, did they?

Ha...

Then, neither can I.

Something else pulls on me. Something needs my presence. Something needs a hero.

Well, I can hardly turn down a request like that.

Let's go. If you call for my aid, I'll always answer.

---

My kingdom fallen, my land destroyed, my allies slain.

So, why do they not hate me?

Please, you have to hate me. Curse my name. Regret letting me rule. Hate me so that I can feel justified in hating myself.

Stop. Stop praising my life. It was a worthless thing, it led you all to ruin.

I don't understand. I can't understand. It would have been better if I had never been, then none of this would have happened.

But...in spite of it all, you're all still smiling.

Even if it ended in tragedy, you're glad it happened?

That's...you're all such idiots. You don't even know I can hear you, but you continue to talk like this.

Then, I'll come back. That is a promise to this nation. One day, I will return.

But for now...

For now...I have somewhere I'm needed.

So wait for me, please.

---

I fell. I lacked that conviction, and so I fell. And that is why...

"Never delay in your tasks. Never grow content with what you have. Always challenge yourself to become better. Humans...we truly are a marvelous thing, for with that challenge we can become great, we can surpass even the gods."

Why am I lecturing the man who has killed me? I really am hopeless, aren't I?

I manage to turn my vision to the sky, and for the briefest of moments see Them looking down at me.

They are smiling. If I still had my body, I would shed tears.

Thank you, and I'm sorry.

I'm so sorry.

"Make the utopia that I never could."

He can. I am sure he can. He, who slayed the great Demon King, will make the perfect world that I had always pursued.

"Go forth and be a most splendid king of the world."

And...when I am reborn, let me see the world you create. I am sure...I am sure it will be beautiful.

The darkness overtakes me the god of death I had conquered claims my soul.

And yet...

No, this is different. This is transcendentally different.

Because now I am not me. Now I am a me who was called elsewhere.

Ha...humans really are greedy, aren't they? Well, that's fine, because I won't stop loving that thing called humanity. If you need my help, then I'll come.

Show me something beautiful.

---

It wasn't a lie.

---

It wasn't a mistake.

---

It wasn't an impossibility.

---

I will be a hero.

---

I will protect this place.

---

I will save the world.

---

I will...

---

The world bent.

The world broke.

From within that simple stuffed object, something changed.

---

...that...what is this presence?

---

It's wrong. It hurts.

---

It can't exist. This world should deny it. So, how...

---

"Everyone, get out of here now, something-"



A single voice cut through the air, a thousand tones in dissonant harmony, and in the bend in space, something appeared that defied description.

It was not merely disgusting, but wrong. Impossible geometries of eldritch design were built into its very form, every inch of its body seemed to curve upwards into a higher dimension and downwards into a lower one. It did not merely defy Euclidean geometry, but also the principle of non-contradiction itself. It was an impossible existence, something that neither science nor magic could hope to understand.

Why did it exist?

How did it exist?

Both questions had ceased to matter, for...

"Well, no need to tarry any longer. I thank you for the opportunity. Good night."

There was no grand battle.

There was no everlasting war.

There were merely those words. For, the very second those words were spoken, everything else simply ceased to be.

Your essence. Your hopes. Your lost. Your forgotten. Your world.

All taken away in the night. All vanished softly and silently, to never be seen again.

There is no applause.

There is no applause.

D E A D E N D