Tatakau Shisho - Volume 08

by Yamagata Ishio

  Her friends when she was a child; a person that she never once talked to, her first love; the days she had spent aiming to become a soldier; the memories of battle she spent as an Armed Librarian.

  They should have all been important memories. However, they all started becoming boring, inconsequential memories.

  Her mission as an Armed Librarians. The pride in her heart. All of it was disappearing.

  And then she understood.

  “Everything’s going to end already, huh.”

  Her sadness lasted for a while. Before long, her expression softened like that of an acquitted prisoner. Mirepoc closed her eyes and let go of her will to live.

  The Power of Tearless Ending. Originally it had to be activated just like this with the song made by the Beasts of the Final Chapter. Only its original user Ruruta could make use of it by placing his hand over the head of the target.

  All of the other Armed Librarians lose their wills to live just like her.

  And finally, the Beasts of the Final Chapters broke through the Barrier and charged outside.

  Yukizona’s duty; Mattalast’s regrets; the Armed Librarians’ pride… Everything was crushed and the Beasts of the Final Chapter dashed towards the surface.

  The Beasts were singing. Inside the Sixth Labyrinth, in the ground level of Bantorra Library, and over all the premises. The Beasts of the Final Chapter kept singing.

  That song was carried by the winds and covered the Library.

  “What’s that song?”

  The normal librarians who still remained in the Library shouted.

  “Is it someone’s ability?”

  Everyone blocked their ears. However, the song spread into their bodies from their skin. Just like the Armed Librarians, the normal librarians lost their wills to live.

  Kyasariro also heard this sound as she cowering in fear at some corner of the Library. And she raised her tear-stained face and smiled.

  “Finally, it’s finally over.”

  She didn’t have to be scared anymore. She didn’t have to be afraid anymore. She didn’t have to run away. Kyasariro gladly received the Power of Tearless Ending.

  Her eyes slowly closed. And her body fell atop the lawn.

  The Guardian Beasts swept over the Library’s premises. All of them raised their heads to the heavens and sang the song of the final chapter loudly in a chorus.

  The people of the town looking worriedly at the Library were frightened.

  “What is that?!”

  “I can still hear it even if I block my ears!”

  People tried at the very least to run to a safe place. However, they soon understood it was meaningless. People sat down here and there around the streets. They all had a uniformly calm face and they all collapsed.

  Not minding the Armed Librarians at all, Olivia Littolet was working in her tailor shop. She was being taught skills of ironing and repairing by her tailoring master. Olivia was earnestly practicing so she could open a second shop.

  She stopped her hands when she heard a voice coming from outside.

  “…Is that someone’s voice? Is someone singing?”

  Thinking that it didn’t have anything to do with her, Olivia kept ironing. However, for some reason her hands stopped and she sat down on her chair.

  “…I quit.”

  Olivia turned off the iron.

  “What’s that song? Everything seems to become meaningless.”

  She felt as if she had once known something important. She felt as if she had attempted to accomplish something incredulous. However, it didn’t matter at all anymore.

  She probably did her best. But it didn’t matter at all.

  Olivia closed her eyes.

  The Guardian Beasts kept singing. The voice echoed away from Past God Bantorra Island and past the ocean.

  Inside a residence in the Ismo Republic, the President and the cabinet ministers held a meeting through the night. The president appealed for their departure from cooperation with the Armed Librarians. The other ministers were opposed to it.

  The president held a grudge against Luik for hitting him during the time of the Deep Blue Curse Rebellion. The ministers were confused at the President switching over to an anti-Armed Librarians stance.

  “…No, it’s fine.”

  In the middle of the speech, the President suddenly sat down his chair.

  “Let’s leave it be. It’s meaningless anyway.”

  There was no one to oppose the President suddenly saying this. All of them realized that everything was meaningless.

  At Toatt Mining Town, a single woman was baking bread to sell it. She was called Ia Mira. She remained at the bakery left by her deceased lover and continued the same work.

  Ia had a certain worry: recently a certain mining engineer started hitting on her. He told her that he wanted to leave town with her.

  However, Ia had a daily routine of carrying flowers to the place where her lover and her friend who was a mysterious boy had died. She was attracted to the man, but didn’t want to interrupt this daily routine.

  That worry suddenly disappeared.

  “…Oh, right. It doesn’t matter at all.”

  Ia turned off the oven, threw away the freshly baked bread and sat down.

  Inside a certain farm at the Ismo Republic was the foundation of a large machine. The rocket of the second phase of the space program, meant to fly from Ismo to Past God Bantorra’s Island, was supposed to be completed.

  A young man stood by the device. It was the young scholar who aimed for space, Kwane.

  “Wanting to go to space… how stupid of me.”

  Kwane sat down, holding his knees.

  “Say, Pina-san. You probably think so as well, right?”

  Next to him was his friend and sympathizer, the farmer’s daughter.

  “Kwane, you’re not stupid. If you are, then I am as well.”

  She sat down as well.

  “Even though everything’s useless anyway.”

  A man was riding a bicycle on the countryside of the Principality of Meliot. In his basket were bundles of letters and he slipped lightly through alleyways.

  Five years ago, he had lost all of his memories and began living in that town. Since he had nothing to prove his identity with he was anxious. However, with the kind people of this town, as well as the cooperation of a certain woman, he was able to make his living there somehow.

  Now he was married and his child was almost two years old.

  “Keiz-san, this is from your son.”

  The addressee seemed to be absent. The man tucked the letter inside the door and returned to his bicycle.

  It was strange, but he didn’t feel as if he had to retrieve his memories. He had the feeling that his past was painful and hard.

  He had been released. If so, this was where he belonged.

  “…Hmm?”

  He could hear something. And he recalled something. However, he couldn’t understand it.

  A few seconds later, the man stopped the bicycle and got down on the ground.

  He was the former Acting Director. Now, the man who was once called Photona Bardgamon slowly lost his will to live.

  A certain island in the southern frontier.

  Yankuu was there after taking a vacation. Since they needed manpower for digging wells he was asked to return there as a favor.

  With assistance from the Armed Librarians the migration to the island was somehow progressing. However, they still needed money to live. Until then he thought that he should continue to be a trainee.

  “Say, big brother Yankuu.”

  “Yes, Mani?”

  A voice came from above. Up there was his sister Mani. She was a True Man of the New Indulging God Cult.

  “You should stop it already.”

  “Huh?”

  He thought for a while of the meaning of those words. He couldn’t understand why, but he was able to understand them.

  “Yeah, let’s stop.”

  He did
n’t have to aim for Mani’s happiness anymore. He also didn’t have to think of anyone’s happiness. It felt the same as lowering a great burden he was carrying on his back. Yankuu sank down to the depths of the well.

  The headquarters of the Indulging God Cult at Ismo.

  The Overseer of Paradise Minth was scratching his head in front of his desk. In front of him were the mysterious words engraved on the desk. His subordinate Laty had no idea who did that nor their meaning.

  “Was I at fault, was my way of thinking wrong?!”

  Laty stared at him in shock.

  “Please calm down, Overseer of Paradise. What happened?”

  Minth shouted back at her.

  “It’s already over. I’m not the Overseer of Paradise anymore!”

  “What do you…”

  Minth then cried, wailed, and writhed. But before long, he calmed down and collapsed on the couch.

  Thank god, he’s finally calmed down, thought Laty. However, she soon stopped caring about that and collapsed to the couch the same way.

  At that time… January 12, 1929, 11:19 in Past God Bantorra Island’s time.

  All stories that spread around the world have ended. Both comedies and tragedies, both the grand and the trivial.

  All of the stories engraved by people reached their end at the same time.

  Just like that, the world has ended.

  Chapter 5: Despair Under the Sun

  Part 1

  Mattalast was collapsed at the Fifth Sealed Labyrinth. The Power of Tearless Ending made his mind sleep inside the darkness. However, some faint consciousness remained there.

  Even now he still had a single hope left. Even if he had collapsed, there was still Hamyuts. Even if it was her, she couldn’t fight Ruruta. However, she knew about the Violet Wish. She was the only person in the world to succeed it.

  The only one to possess the possibility of defeating Ruruta and saving the world was Hamyuts.

  Mattalast wished that the world would be saved by her.

  But that hope will probably not be fulfilled. He knew that as well.

  And yet he wished. Please. Fight, Hamyuts.

  You’re the only one that can protect the world after all.

  The Beasts of the Final Chapter filled the vast premises of the Library. They raised their heads to the skies and sang in a chorus. Making his way through their gaps, Enlike Bishile came running.

  “Shit, where are you, Hamyuts!”

  Enlike shouted. Until a while ago he defeated the Beasts of the Final Chapter by his own hands, but he realized it was useless and stopped. If he were to fight alone it would be endless. Since they were just singing, it seemed they were not going to harm Enlike.

  “…!”

  The inside of his head blacked out for a moment. He shook his head as if to chase out the song. Enlike was still enduring the Power of Tearless Ending.

  However, he also knew that he didn’t have much time left. One hour would be impossible. He wasn’t even sure about half an hour. If he were to lose focus, his heart might get stolen by sweet resignation in the next instant.

  “Don’t lose focus, hold your mind.”

  Enlike told himself.

  Right now, two things were supporting his heart.

  First, the fact that the world would end if he were to collapse now – the sense of duty that only he alone could save the world. The second was the hope that he still had a way to fight.

  The only road for victory entrusted to him by Olivia; the Violet Wish. The sole method to defeat Ruruta Coozancoona was saving him from the depths of despair.

  Because he knew this, Enlike was able to resist Ruruta’s Power of Tearless Ending and the song of the Beasts of the Final Chapter.

  “Ruruta, what is the cause of your despair?”

  Enlike knew everything that the Acting Directors of history knew. However, he couldn’t analyze Ruruta’s innermost depths. He also couldn’t tell what made him despair.

  As long as he didn’t know that, he didn’t have any way to fight.

  There was only one person who possibly knew of Ruruta’s reason for despair. It was Hamyuts Meseta.

  “Hamyuts! Hamyuts! Where are you?!”

  He ran to the entrance to the Labyrinth and called inside it. Since Enlike had no information-gathering abilities, he could only find her by running around.

  Ruruta Coozancoona was slowly walking through the Labyrinth. Among his multitudes of abilities there were powers of transportation. Using them he would be able to instantly reach the surface. However, Ruruta purposely elected to walk on his own two legs.

  He had no reason why he must hurry. The Beasts of the Final Chapter played their song and the people of the world all lost their wills to live.

  But there were probably still some people who resisted the Power of Tearless Ending in the vast world. Ruruta thought that he would wait until they accept the end.

  Releasing the Beasts and killing all people only later would be fine.

  “…”

  But he also had some worries. It was about the current Acting Director, Hamyuts Meseta.

  Although he had sensory organs that far surpassed ordinary human beings, Ruruta couldn’t see through people’s hearts. Even he couldn’t tell what Hamyuts was thinking about.

  The premises of Bantorra Library were filled by the Beasts of the Final Chapter. Hamyuts was looking down at the surface from the top floor of the Library, the Acting Director’s Office.

  “It’s taking unexpectedly long. Who would’ve thought it would take more than half a day? Really, that Ruruta…”

  She could probably not say that the Armed Librarians held out. Neither Mattalast nor Yukizona were able to even hold him off. The other ones were also defeated easily.

  It was simply that Ruruta did not hurry. After having lived for 2000 years he could spare a few hours.

  Thinking of this, Hamyuts drank her coffee all alone. Even if it was Ruruta he was naturally confused. She was drinking her coffee when faced with the destruction of the world.

  “…Delicious.”

  It was the last coffee or her life, as well as of the world. I’m glad I’ve made it well, thought Hamyuts.

  She confirmed with her Sensory Threads that Ruruta was walking through the Fifth Sealed Labyrinth. He didn’t seem to be in a hurry. Apparently she had about two or three more hours.

  “Thinking about it, Ruruta’s never drank any coffee even though he’s lived for 2000 years…”

  People started drinking coffee around 200 years ago. Ruruta never left the Labyrinth for the last 2000 years.

  He has received the Books of people who had drank coffee, so wasn’t it the same as him drinking it? She was somewhat curious about that.

  “I wonder if there’s coffee in the ‘new world’. If not, I think it’s quite the big loss.”

  Hamyuts kept rambling to herself. She didn’t think she’d have this sort of leisure before the end of the world.

  She was not affected at all by the song of the singing Beasts of the Final Chapter. She didn’t even try to withstand it, but simply kept calm.

  This was because she had wished for death in the first place. She had neither the will to oppose Ruruta nor to preserve her life. The attachment to life couldn’t been taken from those who desired death.

  “I feel bad for Matt, but I really have no will to fight. Frankly speaking it’s meaningless, so I don’t feel like it.”

  Hamyuts, the only person to know the Violet Wish. Hamyuts, the only remaining possibility to save the world. Mattalast bet on that hope in the end. However, that last hope was useless in the first place.

  She had already accepted her death.

  Desiring her own death.

  This wish had always been inside Hamyuts’s heart. Both during the fight with the Indulging God Cult as well as during Olivia’s rebellion afterward.

  However, that did not mean that she has always acted accordingly. Rather, looking at her from outside, one would probably thin
k that she was shirking away from death and it could look like nothing else.

  If she only wished for death, it would all be over in an instant with poison.

  If she wished to be killed in battle, she shouldn’t have had subordinates. The world’s strongest warriors were fighting in order to protect Hamyuts as a result.

  Even more, if she wished for defeat, she should’ve been weaker. If she was about as strong as Mirepoc, Hamyuts’s wish would have been probably granted without any issues.

  She desired defeat yet was the strongest.

  Hamyuts’s life was full of inconsistencies. She herself understood this well.

  “In the end I will be killed by Ruruta.”

  Hamyuts muttered.

  If she was to be killed, it should have been a different opponent. There was the unforgettable Colio. There were those who had cornered Hamyuts like Cigal, Mokkania or Kachua. There were also those who wrung out their courage to rebel against her like Volken and Olivia.

  These beautiful, sparkling memories were revived. If she had been killed by them, just how happy would she have been? In exchange, now that she was going to be killed by Ruruta, it would be so dull.

  She will simply be killed without a fight expending his desperate efforts, without any life-risking plan, without any sharpened murderous intent, but simply killed as if stepped on. How boring.

  “Why could no one kill me, I wonder. Even though I always asked everyone to kill me and kill me…”

  Was I doing this half-hearted? I should’ve been more evil. I should’ve thrown away my work as an Armed Librarian, throw away all comrades and subordinates, anyone and everyone, and just fight with everything I laid my eyes on.

  I should’ve been a monster that does nothing but fight and become the enemy of the entire world.

  However, she had chosen a different path. She lived as an Armed Librarian. Although she did evil, she also lived as a protector of the world.

  Was that decision mistaken or not? Even Hamyuts couldn’t tell.

  “…No one could have killed me, huh.”

  She complained in a lonely voice.

  Oh well, she reconsidered.

  Even if I start having regrets for being half-hearted now it wouldn’t help. I will be killed just as I wished to. That’s fine.