Game Over: Terminus Est
It took far too long for what was essentially a stare contest of a couple of minutes, at most. The preparations required to beat something like That Thing had taken a whole year and some more of Yukino's efforts with her nee-san's help and Hachiman by their side. The moment it was done, only Ariel's embrace kept the raven haired reincarnator on her feet while Hachiman collapsed with his back on one of the surviving trees.
Her nee-san released a wavering sigh and created a stone big enough to avoid slumping close to the ground and sat herself demurely, a small smirk firmly plastered on her face while the still aggressive forces loomed around them.
It… Mattered little, now that she thought about it. The idea that this might just be it made Yukino light headed, almost alright with the idea of being killed right there and then. But Ariel still held onto her, so Yukino pushed her thoughts away. Very aware that her train of thoughts was… Dangerous. She wanted to go back to Hachiman, but there was very little she was able to do to stop her clubmate's slow withering down when she herself felt about ready to let everything crash.
It had been such a long, painful job. From dragging her best man, or what remained of him, along while the city kept on burning. To the negotiations with her sister and the efforts of bringing Hachiman to a point where he was more or less in the right mindset to function in civilized company, to the eradication of the undead forces and the capture of the litch that changed Joseph's purpose from study material to another body in their ranks.
Haruno made some research on the Demon Lord of Darkness, but unfortunately took care of the remnants before the invasion. There was no way to reanimate a body that was no longer there, and so they had to make do with only the Demon Lord of Money. Who slowly drained Merica's coffers to use its power in the way they required it to.
No pressure, no magical light, nor transmutations. The gold simply… Vanished, the more they made it use its power. They could have used other forms of payment, but the only thing of more value was blood and Yukino refused to use lives as currency like that. War was fundamentally different, these people made a difference however small. But they were not treated like… Things…
Maybe. Yukino wouldn't know. She had never led a whole army herself. And she did not want to dwell into how the theory referred to the soldiers either. She… She was too tired for it. Not physically, as she had not been so healthy in a long while, but mentally. Yukino would even go as far as to say her soul was tired. Such a feeling overwhelmed her after this anticlimactic resolution.
"Research and reverse engineering was used. We had to risk a couple of demonic invasions but such were the risks." Yukino talked without really thinking. Hayama's stare would have weighed on her before, but in her mentally exhausted state she barely noticed "We… Basically went a step above what Nee-san did and reversed the teleportation magic's original purpose."
"So Eden is…"
"In the Demon World, yes." Her words made Hayama frown. More annoyed than he usually allowed his features to show, so Yukino helped herself to seeing some of those emotions seep from her former friend's face for her "You look wary."
"It is way too convenient." He tentatively commented. Ariel agreed with him.
"Nee-san already had the groundwork." Yukino couldn't fault them either. She herself did not believe this was it. It was never meant to be the way that monster ended. Yukino knew there existed a slim possibility it would be enough, but it was small enough she managed to push the feeling away to employ the tactic. She needed closure, this way was too anticlimactic. Yukino was tired, but if this was it she knew for sure she would never sleep soundly again "And with this, we get even a step further into our final goal." Aside from killing that thing.
Neither of the three missed Hachiman hugging his legs closer to his body, though only the blonds were unaware of what made him turtle up like that. They needed help. Not just Hachiman, for Yukino and even her nee-san. They were hanging by a thread… Yukino was at least. On the small hope that kept her pushing forward, kept her away from the desire to let her body just… Stop.
"I think we can get back home with this magic." Now that got Ariel to release her and back off. Yukino discreetly used Typha to help herself keep an upright position.
Hayama closed his eyes "No."
"I understand it will cost a massive amount of power." Yukino did not miss a beat "I am also aware I am nowhere near my prime. But we've been practicing, getting stronger. If we can decipher this together and play our cards right we could…"
"No, Yukino. That's… No." Hayama's voice broke a little as he shifted position so the nobles they had taken some distance from still did not hear them. A very dangerous move, but Yukino had stopped caring some good time ago. She noted in muted amazement how the prince seemingly used an earth magic-made hand in replacement of his lost one in spite of everything they knew about how elemental magic worked. Then again, Yukino punched a hole in reality to send a godling into another esoteric reality.
What she should expect and what she should not, blended together in her head. She was not even sure if their stunt should have worked or not. But as long as it did she did not care about the why.
Also, she did not know of the true nature of this world, so things having a tendency to go the way most of the reincarnators were trying to go was not something obvious and self-evident to her.
"At least I have to try." It was not an argument, nor a reason nor a plight for understanding. Only a controlled statement of what her side looked like and probably a myriad of hints of what her mental landscape looked like too.
"No, you don't have to! This… Gods, Yukino. Has it never occurred to you there's a chance to just settle down and enjoy the fruits of your labor?! You could go anywhere, literally anywhere but Gran Flamm, and you would be set for life! No one would be the wiser, and whatever you ended up doing would probably change the world and yet… And yet to choose to reappear in front of us with these insane ideas trying to sell them off to us? No, Yukino. What you're doing is lunacy." His desperation was matched only by the tightness of his expression. He turned to look at Hachiman but found no ally in the shell shocked boy. He ignored Haruno in favor of addressing Yukino again "Yukino, please."
She chuckled a bit, although she had no reason to do so. She was just buying herself precious seconds before Ariel could speak and say something that made more sense. Yukino was, had been, a master of politely ignoring Hayama. She was well aware now. But Ariel? There was something in the girl Yukino simply could not hope to ignore.
"I think I'm way past the point of no return." She landed her eyes on the nobles, who were still wary of her movements. She did not fault them "Hayama, I'm so glad you've found your place here. And thank you for everything…"
"You would have sounded more convincing if you had said you agreed with me." Was his bitter response.
"...But I guess this is our farewell." Yukino bowed her head. He would have known she would not accept his feelings so easily if they were making eye contact "I'm going back. I was never Maria Theodore, I just can't accept this world. Never."
"You have family." Ariel pointed out.
"They will understand." Yukino replied a bit too soon "I also had family back there."
"Really…" Hayama had no right to be so displeased, or maybe his family situation had been just as bad as Yukino's and he just had better judgment after being raised as a ruler. Who could know.
"Really." Yukino blinked, that would probably have been a joke in any other situation "Besides Nee-san is all I need for family… We've gotten along quite nicely lately."
"Weird." Ariel commented "I was under the impression you two never met. Then again, a lot of things seem to have changed from last time."
Both reincarnators blinked.
"Meaning?" Yukino blinked again, on guard for whatever Ariel was about to say.
"I have weird dreams." The blonde acknowledged without much fuss "Things that didn't happen, things that happened differently. I recognized Frey because of that, and I think it has a lot to do with Eden but…"
"That's not ominous at all."
"Probably not the best time to bring that up."
Both reincarnators looked at each other. The question hanging in the air like a Damocles sword ready to fall down on the first to open up the conversation.
Neither did, since the sky grew orange and then red.
Neither did because wind blew with the strength of an angry elemental, and the ground split as if to mimic the magic circle the reincarnators worked on for a year to kill a god.
Hachiman almost seemed to revive when the threat made itself evident. Haruno's black golem guard raised from the earth like zombies in a post-apocalyptic film. And Yukino summoned Typha to coil around her like a snake.
"You should take his highness far away from this place." Maria advised "No matter what happens now, it'll get ugly."
"Just like that?!" Ariel tried to get close to Yukino, but her water spirits blocked her and pushed the girl to her brother's arms.
"Be good Ariel. You're still a kid at heart." Almost everyone was, compared to Yukino's mental age "Bye Hayama, you were always too good for me."
Too nice, but there was no need to end it all on a bitter note.
They imagined Eden would teleport through the portal, or maybe land like a comet surrounded by fire and glory. She did not.
Eden ripped apart space itself, clawing her way out of the demon realm with pieces missing from her vessel as if she was a glitch in the Matrix and her body had not materialized properly. Her limbs were floating as if there were no missing parts, and the cuts and fissures resembled more the static a magnet made when placed on a TV screen than actual injuries. She looked positively pissed and at no point did she take off her eyes from Yukino.
"Had fun?" Haruno was the first to react.
Her golems rushed to the debilitated godling and dogpiled on her like the disposable toys they were.
It gave Hachiman the moment he needed to concentrate his elements in the tiniest point he could manage and shoot. Streams of concentrated plasma came to life where his fire had been polished to the point of almost burning white hot, streams of super-pressurized water cut apart the golems like a burning knife would butter. His firepower far exceeded what either of the Yukinoshita sisters could muster in short notice and they took full advantage of it.
Eden tried blocking and dodging. Her raw magic power far exceeded common sense, but there was only so much she could do to repel the reincarnated boy away when there were natural mechanics involved in his spells.
The godling lost her chest and right arm almost immediately, and she only escaped using fusion magic that rivaled the boy in magic imput.
No matter, there were more bodies to grind at the creature's patience. More stalling techniques the Yukinoshita sisters could employ to slow her down even a fraction.
Yukino grinned, and Eden's attention came back to her only to have to dodge another stream of plasma raining down on her.
Eden made a signal and all magic stopped, Hachiman's flame unraveled from the way he had compressed it and Eden protected herself with steam and plantlife, taking her attention off of the Yukinoshitas' spirits in the process.
"Vincent!" Eden's voice was a cacophony of screeches. Barely understandable enough to be considered human "Please save me!"
Ariel stepped forward as if in cue and shot her own magic at her. Eden closed her fist and all magic ceased to function again… Except for the element she was lacking.
"Guhu!" The thing had no choice but to recreate her body, she used steam to quickly cover her missing limbs and body parts and they regrew as if she was some sort of tree or mutant axolotl. Hachiman made sure to tear away at her as quickly as she repaired her injuries "Why?!"
"You took Rion away from me!" Who? That was not the time for Ariel to get personal with that thing!
"Fuck that! He was mine from the beginning!" Eden's defiance got her head pulverized by a fusion stream of water and earth.
Haruno and Hachiman's magic sprung roots and branches all around the godling, impaling her like steak and getting her restrained for a― Impaling her like steak but failing to capture her fully.
...Hmm?
"...Eh?" Yukino blinked. Hachiman was midair when it happened, frozen solid not by cold but because the world itself had grinded to a full stop. Yukino knew the feeling well, but it was the first time she could see the real world while being frozen in time like that.
"Enough." Eden stood in the midst of it all. Battered and broken, but otherwise calm "Little villainesses should know their place…!"
Yukino feared the worst for Ariel, but Eden's attention was on her.
"And you." There was so much spite even the Hachiman from back there would have been jealous. Even Yukino herself would have wondered just who hurt Eden so much to sound that way "I should've gotten rid of you from the beginning. Serves me right for thinking you were redeemable, I guess."
She shambled, more than walked towards Yukino. She had never grinned so widely before.
"You have one leg on the grave already."
"Mhm, thanks to you." Eden kept approaching.
"I won, this is nothing but a desperate act to stall. If I'm irredeemable, you're trash that couldn't do anything in the end."
"Yup, didn't think things through." Eden got at arms' length of Yukino and stared her down even with pieces of her face missing.
Yukino was not grinning anymore.
"Ah, I see you figured something's up. Clever bitch." Eden took off a strand of hair from Yukino's face, which moved as though time was not stopped at all "You're so beautiful… I hate that beautiful face so much. You should have stayed maimed like before."
"What is it?" Yukino tried to pull away from the touch, her face did not move a millimeter. Not even when Eden's other hand went straight to her chest.
Eden pushed, and the hand that was not there went 'through' and Yukino felt her connection to her spirit change.
"What I should have done from the beginning."
Yukino saw it then. The lines and steps that reigned this world, a whole world that unravelled and unfolded from a singular starting point that Yukino knew all too well.
She saw the line going straight then curving, then coming back to the starting point in an endless cycle of start and end with a handful of differences available to each loop.
She saw Marcus die, Ariel be cast aside and people that were infinitesimally like her but weren't become princesses and queens of Gran Flamm, she saw the Freys and Vincents waste away or become something else entirely, all dancing around the single point that started and ended it all.
She saw the anomaly. The boy that had become Eden's obsession before she even existed at all. She saw him struggling and failing, for he was not connected to the cornerstone that made this world make sense. She saw Eden as she was, as she truly was, offering a deal to the boy and being rejected. She saw the godling… The World turns to Ariel an offer her a similar yet infinitesimally different deal and the girl accepting.
She saw it all, and through those visions Yukino realized she was losing herself.
"I don't know why I didn't think about this before." Eden was being undone now, but the particles she lost were being absorbed into Yukino instead of being lost "You will serve as a suitable vessel… I'm sick of this, I'm sick of you. This game will now be about me."
Yukino saw on the corner of her eyes her love. Frozen in time but very much aware and struggling from the unimaginable power being unleashed in front of him.
Yukino closed her eyes.
"No." The stream was overwhelming but familiar. Something that would never be in her grasp and threatened to undo her very being to the core.
That was fine.
Yukino reached out. She had not realized she was struggling against the power but now that she did it was inconsequential to search the flow and look for Typha among it all. She looked at the lines again, at the branching timelines and the never-ending surge of Marias that had found their happy ending through the World's rule. She found herself and the moments they had theorized and practiced with the magic circles. She copied the one they thought would be successful and directed Typha to draw it around herself.
"No." Yukino repeated, and her eyes met with Hachiman's one last time "I win. I always win, you should never had gotten in the way of the things I love."
Her spirit hesitated, yet Yukino drove it to draw blood from her body, to use the crimson liquid as ink to draw the final touches and corrections for the most massive ritual ever done in that world or in the last.
Eden wanted to pull out, Yukino hugged her and allowed the both of them to fall with her growing godhood.
"Hachiman, I love you. Tell Yui-san I love her too."
Then, Yukinoshita Yukino stopped struggling.
A/N
Alright, here we go. Next chapter is the last! This has been a looooong trip, and it's the first time I've written so much and covered all I wanted to cover... And although I'm hella inexperienced, I still want to give the story closure instead of just pointlessly stretching it into dissolving the plot. So thank you all for hanging around and reading this far. I learned a few things on the ride, and there's no way I won't do this again. Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did, and see you in the next tale.