To The Final Battle

Ria-chan.

Her arms and legs moving spiritedly, she was dancing in delight.

The cat beastkin were dancing and laughing around Ria and the others.

Ria-chan.

Please, take care of the children.

She knew that they would one day have to part. However, it shouldnt have been this soon.

Maal vanished, smiling.

And then Ria woke up.

Oh, you woke up?

What happened?

The immigration has resumed. Its even gotten to the point that teleportation magic can be used again.

Two whole days.

Whats everyone doing?

It was half a lie. Shizuna, having heard what happened from Ohma, stayed next to Rias bedside the entire time.

And Maal?

Placed in a coffin, Maal was cleaned of blood and gore, making her look as if she was sleeping peacefully.

Irina, not understanding what happened too well, was staring at Maal with a vacant expression.

She pet Maals now-cold fur, touching the pads of her palms.

She was still angry. However, that anger was pointed to herself.

She had made a mistake. Somewhere.

She didnt know where or when, but she should have been able to avoid this.

You can stay here in the court. When this is all over, we can think about the future.

You humans are too serious. Souls will all get reincarnated eventually.

Ive said it before, but youre way too impulsive, even for an impulsive person. You caused immigration to stop for a while.

When asked how many people were dead, the responses ranged from anywhere between one and two billion.

How many innocent humans no, even things that werent human, just how many lives had she taken?

Well, the results not much different anyway. Its just needless worrying.

Ohmas way of thinking was something that Ria could not accept.

Her traveling companions visited Maneshs palace.

Her face buried in Carlos shoulder, Lulu cried silently.

Irina still kept on caressing Maals forehead, her face expressionless.

Maals three children still didnt entirely understand what had happened.

Looking at their mother inside the coffin, they clung to their father.

Their final farewells given, Maal was buried.

She sat down on a chair in her office, looking up into the air.

Guinevere spoke. She spoke of pragmatic things, not comfort.

Ah yeah

She missed the times when could she swing her katana in order to fix her problems.

Guinevere, where did I make a mistake

Although Guinevere wasnt much of a gentle person, unlike Ria, she could view things cool-headedly.

Even if she didnt continue, Ria still knew how the sentence would end. However, she had stopped Ars from doing it. In order to allow Earths humans to migrate over.

Yeah, its a hopeless tale. But Ria, you shouldnt have done anything. If you did if you did cause the human-demon war, you would have decreased the number of this worlds humans. Then, among those dead humans, many may have been your friends.

Perhaps you just have to keep what is important to you nearby

My son, and this country. Thats all.

Ria also had important people to her. The companions shed traveled with, the people she met in her journeys, her family, and this world.

Shed seen acquaintances died many times.

Even so, none of that was comparable to this sadness.

Ria

Please, dont comfort me right now.

She would live, holding this feeling of loss close to her heart. If Valis words were true, she would live for hundreds of millions of years. Tens, hundreds of people, including everyone she knew.

Ria wasnt certain that she would be able to endure it.

Carla gripped her hand.

Time passed.

Under those circumstances, Shifaka and Valis were visiting Ria.

Shifaka spoke in a fatigued tone. Just before this, hed taken ten thousand humans over to this world.

The prayers will fill, soon.

Prayers?

The gods of the Earth will awaken.

The majority of those left behind on the Earth would pray to their gods. Then, at that time, those gods would awaken.

So that they wouldnt become a hindrance to Valis, she would destroy the Earths pantheon. This was a request from the God Dragons.

The final battle is about to begin.

It was something that Ria was good at.

It wouldnt be the atrocity of killing wantonly, but a death match with her life on the line.

Old and young dragons flew in the sky.

Following the dragons, Machine Gods descended upon the Earth.

In the end, only somewhere around five million people were evacuated from the Earth.

Only five million. Upwards of 99% of Earths humanity were destined to die.

Ria did her best and staying calm despite that fact.

A conspicuously black Machine God came from the preceding Machine Gods and stood next to Ria.

Ars was speaking with telepathy, so Ria returned in kind.

[Good, Ill do the talking then. In the unlikely event that I die in this battle, Id like you to rule the Demonlands.]

[Even if Ive civilized the Demonlands, that only holds so long as there is an absolute existence, a Demon King, ruling them. There are many hot-blooded races.]

[Youre the only one. Youre stronger than anyone, know the benefits of civilization, dont discriminate based on race, and above all, are young.]

[I have my hands full with Ogress as it is. You want me to manage the Demonlands as well? Give me a break.]

This man was he trying to take advantage of Ria yet again?

[Definitely not. I want to see mine and Fernas child with my own eyes. Even so, Im thinking about contingencies. Isnt that the duty of a ruler?]

Even Ria had informed Guinevere on what to do in the worst case scenario.

[If the Demonlands fall into disorder, so will the rest of the world. But even so, I wont force you.]

Breaking off their conversation himself, Ars moved forward again.

Did something happen?

Saying that much, Ria hugged Carla.

Mm.

Smiling like a goddess, Carla responded as though there was nothing to worry about.

Dragons danced about Earths skies.

Peoples prayers began to take shape and, born from the Earth, they appeared.

Existences that were simply impossible, what could only exist in legend. Those very existences now appeared.

Although those humans had no hope left, they still clung to what they could.

Following the gods movements, the Earth rumbled as well.

What appeared wasnt limited to the various pantheons gods.

Even though they appeared, the dragons were challenged to battle.

The final battle had begun.