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“Ugh…!”

A wave of pain engulfed my entire body.

“Ah…”

Was this the aftermath of my annihilation from the goddess? Or was it because I merged with another version of myself, causing me synchronized damage as a result?

Swoosh…

I cleared my mind of all my chaotic thoughts as I rose to my feet, and then I began to examine my body carefully.

“Hmm.”

I noticed that my body was translucent. It appeared as if I had been thrown out of the other version of myself with whom I had assimilated with right until the point when the goddess’s hand glowed on my head.

If that was the case, where was the ‘other me’? Could it be that he had been entirely eradicated back then?

Moreover, where was this place? It was so dark here and it didn’t look like the dimension that I was at earlier.

“…..!”

As I pondered, I looked around and spotted the ‘other me’ standing in the distance.

“Erm…”

I approached the ‘other me’ cautiously, questioning his presence since he should have been eradicated by the goddess.

[Deletion in 00:01]

But I froze as soon as I saw a screen floating before him.

“…So you’ve come?”

“W-What?”

The ‘other me’ suddenly turned his head and spoke to me as I blankly stared at the ominous red window in front of my eyes.

“Wait, you can see me?”

How could this be?

“W-Who exactly are you?”

I was so startled that I blurted out the question, but the ‘other me’ only smirked as he replied.

“I’m another version of you from a different reality who went through countless regressions. A version of you that longed for rest after an eternity of suffering.”

“T-that means…”

“First, calm down, and then listen to me.”

As he said that, he slowly got up.

“This is a temporary place to stay before a character gets deleted. It seems like this is the power of the Sun God… I guess everything inside will be deleted once the countdown above me reaches zero.”

“W-What!”

“Don’t worry. I’ve temporarily paused it for now.”

The ‘other me’ quickly reassured me as I started freaking out when I heard that all the existence inside would be deleted.

“By the way, I need your help.”

“H-Help?”

He spoke to me softly.

“First of all, would you like to experience the rest of the ordeal and come back here… by briefly merging with me?”

“W-What did you say?”

Upon seeing me bewildered by his words, the ‘other me’ sighed and added.

“…It seems like I’ll have to make the decision myself before I disappear.”

As soon as the ‘other me’ finished his words, he pushed me out of the dark space.

Pow!!

“Ugh!”

His action propelled me out of the black abyss, as I then found myself back into the world of the Third Ordeal in an instant.

“F-Frey?”

Disoriented, I stood before four translucent main heroines. Their attention were divided, their minds a mess because of the things they had witnessed so far.

“Where have you been? Your presence suddenly vanished.”

For the first time, the transparent Ferloche showed a startled expression, seemingly not knowing what happened.

“Well, I’m not sure either. It was a strange experience…”

“Ferloche, is that true?”

“…ah.”

However, Isolet suddenly appeared besides my translucent body and cut me off, albeit not knowing that she interrupted me because she couldn’t sense me.

“First… I’ll have to finish this ordeal.”

I still didn’t know what was going on. But for now, I had to concentrate on what the ordeal was trying to show me.

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Meanwhile, at the same time.

“Ferloche, is that true?”

“Uh…”

Amidst the ordeal, Ferloche fervently prayed to the Sun God.

“Did you… kill Frey?”

As Isolet approached in front while questioning her, Ferloche’s brows furrowed in a frown.

“Answer me, Ferloche. If we intend to uncover the truth… we need to make sure everything is…”

“Everyone, please wait for a moment.”

While Isolet continued questioning her, Ferloche abruptly stood up from her position and looked at everyone before she began to speak.

“If I recite a special prayer that I do every night, I can visit the heavenly realm where the Sun God resides. So… I’ll pray now to discover the truth.”

“….Hm.”

Isolet, clenching her fist, responded upon hearing Ferloche’s words.

“Do it as quickly as possible. Please.”

“Yes, I will do so straight away… everyone, please be quiet so I don’t get distracted.”

Noticing Isolet’s urgent expression, Ferloche hurriedly began to focus all her holy power within her body.

Goooooo…

“It can’t be true, surely it can’t.”

At the same time, Ferloche emitted a painfully bright white light in all directions.

“Undoubtedly, this must be Frey’s illusion magic or some other trick. If I go verify it directly, I’m certain I can find out the truth.”

Her voice trembled as she then closed her eyes.

Shaaaaa…!

“…H-Hello? Sun God?”

After she opened her eyes once again, Ferloche, now in an astral body, cautiously spoke as she appeared in a magical space.

“Welcome, Ferloche.”

The space was enveloped in darkness, and a woman slowly emerged from the darkness and walked toward Ferloche.

“S-Sun God!”

Ferloche’s eyes widened at the sight of the woman.

“Why… are you engulfed in darkness? Perhaps, is there something wrong…”

“Hmm…”

“Oh, that’s not important. Please, explain what’s happening here. Who is the strange woman that I just saw talking to Frey? What were they even talking about? Also, why is Ruby’s appearance like that? I have done everything as per your instruction, however…”

Soon, the woman slightly turned and slowly approached Ferloche while she was anxiously bombarding the woman with questions.

“Ferloche, I am not the Sun God.”

“…what?”

“I am the Demon God.”

Once the woman in front of her said that, Ferloche looked puzzled as she replied.

“What… what are you saying?”

“It means what I just said. I am Eclipse, the Demon God, and not the annoying Sun God.”

“What the hell were you talking about? You were the one who appeared in this magical space every night whenever I prayed!”

Ferloche began to look pale as she said that.

“Every night, you were the one who encouraged me, supported me, and instructed me on what to do…”

“That’s because you’ve followed that stupid Sun God lying over there.”

The Demon God gestured toward a certain spot whilelaughing at the state that the Sun God was in.

“Don’t…”

The real Sun God, who was lying on the ground, gritted her teeth as she tried to get up.

“What a pity, Sister… Just one more day, and you’d have regained enough strength to defeat me easily.”

“Ugh…”

“What a great coincidence! You chose to erase the Hero from existence mere minutes after you gained your freedom. Pffftt, pfftt…”

The Demon God burst out laughing as she spoke.

“Erase the Hero…?”

“Yes. I’m talking about Frey, the poor Hero who stoically marched a path of ‘False-Evil’.”

Ferloche’s eyes trembled as she heard the Demon God’s words.

“That’s right, Ferloche. There’s something I wanted to tell you and your friends… and I think this is the perfect time for it.”

The Demon God, after using her dark energy to knock down the Sun God to the floor once again, slowly approached Ferloche and began speaking.

“When you finish praying and return to your world… make sure to pass on my message to your friends.”

“T-That…”

“I want you to convey this to them; ‘Thank you for driving Frey to the brink of exhaustion through countless betrayals, deaths, and suffering.’”

“What do you mean by that…”

“Thanks to that, he chose for his own ‘annihilation’ and gave me the perfect chance to make my final move.”

Upon hearing that, Ferloche finally realized that something had been going wrong for a long, long time.

“N-no way.”

“There is no way that’s true… it doesn’t make sense.”

However, only words of denial came out from the very lips that cursed the true Hero.

Given Frey’s history of villainy, accepting him as a Hero was impossibly hard to even fathom, much less truly believe.

“This is… not possible…”

Moreover, Ferloche, despite being widely hailed a ‘Saintess,’ was still only just a human. So, her instinctive mental defense mechanism was triggered, just like any other human who was in deep denial and pain would.

“Once I succeed in overpowering the Sun God, I will self-destruct and plunge the world into darkness.”

“What…?”

“I am destined for annihilation anyway. Right now, I can only appear here temporarily due to Frey’s destruction.”

“What did you say…?”

However, even the fragile mental strength remaining within Ferloche began to crumble upon hearing what the Demon God just said.

“He must pay the price for betraying me. He went through countless regression cycles because… he wanted to give a ‘Happy Ending’ to this world.”

“No, no…”

“Well, if Frey was here he could simply ‘Retry’, but now that he’s gone forever…”

The Demon God spoke with a disgusted expression.

“What are you going to do now? With Frey completely annihilated, there’s no one who can ‘Retry’ anymore.”

Her words carried a wicked grin.

“So, I guess I can take it a little bit easy.”

“What does this mean…”

“I will especially extend my generosity and postpone plunging the world into darkness for a little longer.”

Ferloche trembled as she heard the Demon God’s arrogant voice.

“Basically, I’m giving you a grace period.”

She concluded with a happy expression.

“You see, I really love witnessing the despair, suffering, and anguish of you humans.”

“…”

“So, I intend to savor my final ultimate entertainment; watching all of you plunge into the depths of pain and sorrow before my own self-destruction… Will you cooperate?”

“I-If what you’re saying is true… then what’s the point…!”

However, the Demon God’s expression was cold as Ferloche rose to her feet in desperation.

“All right, then… I’ll start the annihilation right now. We’ll slowly freeze to death together in a world without the sun.”

Goooooo…!

After gathering her strength, the Demon God unleashed a torrent of black energy towards her surroundings.

“It’s already humiliating to be fated for annihilation because of a mere mortal, and yet you dare to rebel as well… Do you wish for death that badly?”

“…Ugh.”

“Will you cooperate? If you cooperate and provide me with this final entertainment, I might prolong your existence, even if it is just for a bit.”

Ferloche clenched her teeth as she watched the Demon God, who had gathered a apocalyptic amount of black energy, threatening her with the world’s final despair.

“Just follow what the Demon God wants first.”

“…….!”

Ferloche was startled when she heard the distant Sun God speak to her without uttering a sound.

“I’ll try to find a solution.”

Unbeknownst to the Demon God, the Sun God telepathically relayed this message to Ferloche, thus making her grimace and emit a faint glow from her body.

“…All right.”

Eventually, Ferloche couldn’t stall the Demon God any longer and replied, her voice shaking in a swirl of complex emotions.

“I’ll… I’ll follow your instructions.”

“Very good.”

The Demon God approached Ferloche upon hearing that.

“I’m counting on you then. Okay, Ferloche?”

She snapped her fingers with a creepy and sinster smile.

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“…Ugh!”

Ferloche, who was praying, suddenly gasped for air and opened her eyes.

“Huah… Haah…”

Ferloche inhaled deeply, trying to desperately calm herself while kneeling on the icy ground of the garden.

“So, did you find out something?”

“Ms. Ferloche! What is going on? Have you found out anything?”

“Why did Ruby end up looking like that? Why did Frey disappear? And why is the sun shaking again?”

The girls immediately surrounded Ferloche and began to bombard her with questions.

“Ugh… uuuh…”

Ferloche appeared devastated as she began to shiver.

“H-Hero…”

She continued to tremble for a while in shock before she managed to speak once more.

“He was a Hero…”

Despite her guilt and denial, Ferloche gradually began to acknowledge the true reality.

“Frey… is a Hero…”

Silence filled the air for a moment.

“Ferloche, are you feeling sick somewhere?”

“Is the shock too much?”

“…Before anything, you should rest for now.”

Eventually, the heroines began speaking, most of them skeptical about what Ferloche had just said. In fact, they were not just skeptical. They thought Ferloche had turned mad from the shock of the final battle.

“U-Umm… that’s why…”

“Come on, please, get up, Saintess. First of all, you have to calm down…”

Their reactions were to be expected.

Even if their leader, Ferloche, was the one who said it, the fact that Frey was a Hero was completely nonsense in their mind. As such, absolutely nobody took it seriously.

No matter how what reality truly was, this was a common human reaction when facing an unbelievable situation.

“…..Ah.”

The moment Isolet heard Ferloche’s words, she let out a dumbfounded sound.

“…..!”

Serena, whose eyes were wide open, appeared to be the only exception among the girls to have properly deduced what Ferloche had said.

“Uh, uhh…”

Thus, Ferloche was forced to rise from her kneeling by the hands of those who pitied her and under the skeptical stares of those who now distrusted her.

“Frey is the real hero… and Ruby is the Demon King…”

Firm with the determination to buy time from the Demon God, Ferloche directly stated the only conclusion that was important during this time of confusion, panic, and distrust.

“Ah.”

Without letting Frey convey his last words or give him time to convince her, Ferloche had pierced his heart and shattered it.

“….Aaah.”

She quickly realized that she had sinned terribly.

“…What should we do? Should we use a Mental Strength recovery potion?”

“For now, let’s just force her to sleep for a while.”

As the realization dawned upon her, Ferloche went into a flurry of panic and madness. Seeing this, all the other girls thought her mind was broken, thus gazing at her with eyes full of pity.

Neighhhhh…!

– Screech…!

“”………?”

Suddenly, the loud screech of a halted carriage reached their ears, as they immediately tilted their gazese to the source of the sound.

“Frey, Frey!!”

“B-Big brother…!”

“Ah.”

Ferloche, too, shifted her gaze toward the carriage.

“No…”

It was only then she realized that everything she had experienced was true.

“Well done, our son! Now that my memories have returned, it means you have finally succeeded in defeating the Demon King!!”

“Brother… I-I’m sorry. It’s all my fault…!”

At the same time, a terrible sense of guilt and fear plagued Ferlouche’s very being.

Meanwhile, Frey’s family got off the carriage and hurriedly ran towards them.

“Let’s give them a hug. It’s been tough, right? Is there anything you guys want to eat… huh?”

Abraham, Frey’s father, approached them with a bright smile. But then, his expression wavered upon not finding Frey, leaving him momentarily speechless.

“I didn’t know that it will end up like this… I… I…!”

Ferloche’s emotions intensified once she saw Frey’s younger sister, Aria. It was because Aria’s face was already filled with traces of tears, her nose red from crying.

“Um… everyone.”

Although Abraham had been in a coma and his strength had significantly weakened, he had hastened to the location of the final showdown with the singular goal of finally reuniting with his surely tired son.

“Does anyone know… where my son, Frey is?”

He asked cautiously, his hand gently caressing Aria’s head, as she continued sniffling.

“……..”

At that moment, it was all too clear that something was amiss.

It wasn’t just the heroines that were about to descend into a hell on earth. Rather, the entire empire would follow them into despair.

This was only the beginning of a broken world.