"..."

Looking down at the corpse of the man who was her family murderer, Nagisa is silent with an indescribable expression on her face.

The dignified face of the girl is not only filled with a sense of accomplishment at having achieved her goal, but also with a somewhat lost feeling.

"Can I say congratulations...?"

"Master..."

When I called out to Nagisa who was standing still, she looked at me with weak eyes as if she was clinging to me. This is a rare look for Nagisa, who is always so resolute.

"...I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your help. Thanks to you I was able to avenge my enemy."

"I'm glad to hear that. You did well."

"..."

Nagisa becomes silent again with a somewhat delicate expression on her face.

I waited for Nagisa to start speaking without saying a word.

"What... should I do now?"

After a while, Nagisa mumbled something like that.

Nagisa is at a loss. I wonder if this is what is called 'burnout syndrome'.

The kind of burnout where you have achieved a great goal, and you are so discouraged that you don't know what to do with yourself.

After all, she was supposed to devote her life to revenge, but she happened to meet her target and avenge him easily, and she seems to be confused by the fact.

"Master... please give me one more instruction. What should I do now?"

"Hey, hey... don't ask me. It's your life."

I reply in a quiet tone.

I understand Nagisa's feeling of having lost her purpose, but it's not up to me to decide what happens next. It is for her to decide for herself.

"It is okay to revive a school. Or pursue the way of the sword. You can go home and mourn for your father and your friends... your life is yours to decide."

"..."

"I can understand why you might feel a little discouraged when you've achieved your goal but life is no longer after your dreams and aspirations have come true. Your life is far from over."

"I see... I can make my own decision."

Nagisa thought for a moment, and then nodded clearly.

Then... she walked up to me and looked up at me with straight eyes.

"Master...no, my Lord. Please allow me to serve you again as your servant."

"..."

"I owe you a great debt of gratitude for all that you have done for the restoration of my school and for the mourning of my people. Please allow me to serve you as your vassal and to devote myself to you."

"...I see."

To tell the truth, Nagisa's reaction was as expected.

In the game, Nagisa had pledged her allegiance to Leon, the main character, after defeating Shinya Kushinagi, the target of her revenge.

Then comes the reward scene, which is a torture for me, as I am celibate until the day I defeat my father.

"...I'm going to make love to you, remember? I'm going to do something so great you'll be surprised."

"Hmm... is something wrong, my Lord?"

"Nothing... Nagisa, I've received your loyalty. I'll be counting on you.

"Yes, use it to your heart's content. As a sword and as a woman."

"..."

Nagisa smiled brightly and held out her hand.

I reach out to grab her hand, my face indescribable at the words that could be taken as a temptation.

But... just before I take Nagisa's hand, a fierce feeling of fear runs up my spine.

"Nagisa!"

"Whoa!"

I take Nagisa's hand and leaps forward.

The next moment... a sword is swung down on the spot where we had just been.

"Look out! Baskerville!"

"Too late! If you're going to warn me, warn me sooner!"

I glared at the assailant, yelling at Leon for issuing a warning too late.

"Haha, hahahaha...! It's sad, it's sad that you're so stupid that you think you've won...!"

"You b*stard! Why are you still alive?"

Nagisa looked at the attackers and shouted with wide eyes.

The one who had just swung down his sword was Shinya Kushinagi, the man who had just had his head chopped off.

His whole body was stained by the flowing blood, and he had wounds all over his body. He looked like nothing more than a mortal, but his head, which was supposed to have been cut off by Nagisa's sword, was still firmly connected to the rest of his body.

"...That's impossible. How did you come back from hell?"

It was an impossible sight.

In the game, Shinya's head was chopped off by Nagisa at the end. Of course, he was never resurrected.

I had no idea how the fallen swordsman in front of me had come back to life.

"You ignorant... you ignorant people make me sad...!"

Shinya took out a small sphere from his pocket with his crazy eyes shining brightly.

What emerged between his two fingers is a flaming crimson-colored jewel.

The oval-shaped jewel looked like an egg with a deep crack in the center.

"A phoenix egg!? How did you have that...?"

"Hmm...? You knew it well. As I thought, you're not just a small fry. It seems that it's not the hero or Nagisa Ojou-sama that I should be wary of, but you...!"

Shinya smirks at me and confirms my words.

'Phoenix egg' is an equipment item that can be obtained in the latter half of the scenario, and it is an accessory with an 'automatic resurrection' effect.

If you equip this item, you can revive yourself with 20% of your health when you are killed by an enemy.

Although it can be used only once, and it will shatter if used... it's a very effective accessory against enemies who would unleash a one-hit-kill attack.

Since it is not a unique item, it can be obtained any number of times by visiting the dungeon called 'Flame Mountain'... but it was completely unexpected that Shinya had it.

"Really, he's a foul enemy. It's too much to be expected for a boss character to be equipped with a resurrection item...!"

It is annoying that boss characters use recovery spells such as 'Behoma ()' or 'Curaga ()', but if they use resurrection items, the balance of the game will be broken.

It's not even funny to see the bosses that have been defeated with hard work and damage resurrected.

However... if I think about it, this may not be so surprising.

Now that the game has become a reality, I am free from various fetters.

I have been able to do many things that would have been impossible in the game, such as winning the heroine of the hero, saving people who were supposed to die, defeating enemies who could not be defeated in the beginning of the game.

Then... it is natural that the enemy could do the same thing.

They have items that they are not supposed to have, they have foul revival items... I guess the enemy side is also benefiting from the game's fetters being removed.

"It's a depressing thing... it would have been a nice ending if Nagisa had killed you... You really can't read the air, can you, you troublemaker!"

"Hahaha, you brat, I'm not going to follow your lead. But..."

Shinya looks at me, Nagisa, and Leon, Aeris, Melia, and Ciel, who are a little further away, in turn.

Nagisa and I are mostly unharmed. Leon and Melia are wounded, but their wounds had already been healed by Aeris.

Except for Ciel, who is unconscious, we still have enough strength to fight.

On the other hand... although Shinya was able to revive himself, the effect of the phoenix egg had restored only 20% of his strength. His torn 'demon's right arm' does not seem to have recovered either.

In this situation, Shinya had only one choice.

"Dark Bullet!"

I fire a spell at Shinya... but it is too late, and Shinya's body leaps up into the air.

He leaps to the top of a small rocky hill and looks down on us from above.

"I'll let your life be in your hands for now. But the next time we meet I'm going to eat you up without a shred of your soul!"

"Are you kidding me! Get down here!"

Nagisa shouts in desperation, but Shinya cries out with an ugly smile plastered on his face.

"It's sad. You think you have killed me, don't you? To think that you almost missed the murderer, who killed your father... you really are a sad person."

"Shinya...! Don't you have the pride of a swordsman? Come down and fight me!"

"I have no right to obey a command to come down. Even if I were wounded and I would not be defeated by you but your man is a bit of a nuisance. I'm going to have to step back now."

Shinya puts his sword over his shoulder and turns his hate-filled, fiery eyes on me.

"You brat... no, they call you Zenon. I will let the other demons (/Mazoku) know about you. From now on, all demons will be your enemies. You may sleep with a shiver!"

"...You're really a sore loser. Does this sound like a real loser? You reek of a small fry who's getting off on the wrong foot and will be easily beaten."

"...!"

I provoked him, but Shinya only twisted his face in hatred and didn't come down.

"Tsk...!"

I click my tongue and clench my fists so hard that my nails dig into my palms.

I let the man who killed Nagisa's family go. I miss the enemy I was so close to killing.

It was more humiliating than a simple defeat, and it was heartbreaking.

"I should have killed him here. I could have killed him...!"

But... Shinya had already escaped out of my reach. I grit my teeth and look up at Shinya standing on the rocky hill.

Shinya, too, looked down at me with hatred, and was about to leave.

"I'll never forget your face... the next time I see you will be your last. Remember that!"

"..."

"Farewell!"

Shinya turns around and is leaving.

And all I could do is to watch him go, helplessly.

"...Ah?"

"...Huh?"

But then... something unexpected happened, for us and for Shinya.

Shinya was about to turn his back and leave, but when he turned around, there is someone who had somehow come in his direction.

"You are... Gahaa!?"

Shinya was about to say something, but before he could finish, the person thrust out his/her hand forward.

The sword thrusts out and pierces Shinya's chest, through his heart, and down to his back.

"Its ridiculous, you... you...!"

Shinya's mouth was filled with blood foam and his voice was shaking.

This is not the way he expected to die. He was beaten by us, who were supposed to be inferior to us, and he survived by using a revival item... and just when he thought he could escape, someone pierced his heart and killed him without a second thought.

"Gah..."

Shinya's body collapses to the side and he tumbles off the rock pile.

He can only wear one accessory at a time. Of course, the phoenix eggs have already been used up.

No matter how hard he tried, there was no way he could revive himself.

"...Hey, hey, are you kidding me?"

Shinya's defeat reveals the person on the other side.

Realizing the identity of this person whom I had seen many times in the game, I let out a stifled voice.

Uuu... aaa...

A woman wearing a black dress stands in the background against the purple sky, letting out a voice that sounds like a groan.

Her skin is pale and lifeless. Her golden hair flows down her back. Her eyes are a chillingly cold jade green.

"Queen Margarita..."

She's the boss of this dungeon.

She is the Queen Margarita, the Queen of the Dead, a formidable foe comparable to the Four Heavenly Kings of the Demon King's Army.

In her right hand, Queen Margarita, dressed in a dress, held a pale blue sphere.

That is a soul, which was been attacked by instant-death attack used by undead monsters 'Soul Eat'.

And the soul of Shinya Kushinagi, which had been gouged out of her body, is in the queen's hand.

Shinya's soul now is desperately clawing at the seaweed like a creature trapped by a predator... but the queen throws it into her mouth without hesitation.

'GAAAAAAAAA!!!'

A hair-raising scream is emitted from Queen Margarita's mouth.

The scream from the queen's mouth is not her own. It was from the soul-eaten Shinya.

For the note, those who have been defeated by the [Soul-eat] cannot be released unless someone defeat the undead who have taken their souls.

So, Shinya could neither go to heaven nor hell, and she was to suffer in her body forever until the day someone defeated Queen Margarita.

'Ah...'

Queen Margarita licked her lips with her long tongue in satisfaction after eating Shinya's soul and turned her back without even a glance at us.

"..."

We watched in stunned silence as Queen Margarita disappeared into the depths of the canyon.

Thanks Ekmo for the detail...

Behoma is the FullHeal spell in Dragon Quest series. Curaga, also known as Cure3, Cure 3, Cure III, Cure4, and Curaja, is a recurring healing spell from the Final Fantasy series.