New WorldShadow - 398 (Patreon)

Chapter 398: Shadow, Do What You Think Is Right

Two days and one night later, that evening, everyone gathered once again in the same hall.

After two days and one night of nonstop rescue efforts, getting cursed at by the people they saved, then watching those same people run straight back into the loops hanging from Gijera, everyone had, unsurprisingly... fallen into depression.

With his head buried in his arms on the table, Cid felt genuine frustration welling up inside him for the first time. The urge to start cursing was pouring endlessly from the depths of his heart.

This short span of time had already shocked Cid beyond anything he could have imagined. Worse still, they had split up at the beginning to speed up the rescue efforts, which meant that, aside from Natsuki-chan, everyone had ended up caught inside for at least a few minutes.

Cid had found and rescued them within minutes, and the experience had even come with the unexpected benefit of making them immune to further attacks. Even so, the lingering look in everyone's eyes after they were rescued had left a very strong impression.

"I just don't understand. Are those civilians insane? We're clearly trying to save them, so why are they attacking us?"

Clutching her head, Yukina Himeragi spoke in a low voice.

"Did... did we do something wrong?"

For a girl like her, who had only recently completed her training and had been out in the real world for less than a year, everything she had experienced that day had practically shattered her entire worldview.

"How could we have done anything wrong? Those people are the ones with something wrong with them. We're doing this for everyone's sake."

Sayaka Kirasaka was arguing against Yukina Himeragi, yet her voice sounded weak and hollow. Clearly, after two days and one night of effort without the slightest result to show for it, even she had begun to waver.

Growing up within the Lion King Organization, the two of them had always been taught to uphold justice and protect the nation and its citizens.

But now, they were being forced to confront a cruel reality. The citizens they were supposed to protect had turned against them, while the justice they upheld was causing those very people harm.

"For people whose minds have fractured after becoming addicted to a state of bliss, they no longer need the justice of reality to restrain them."

Sitting beside Cid, the drowsy Natsuki Minamiya said this for reasons even she probably couldn't explain. Perhaps it was simply her instincts as a teacher kicking in.

Cid immediately stared at her in shock.

As if only then realizing that she had said something she shouldn't have, Natsuki Minamiya hurriedly shut her mouth and smacked herself awake with her fan.

But the words were already out.

Their morale had already been low, and that single remark sent it plummeting off a cliff, as though everyone had just taken a missile head-on.

"From the night before last, when Gijera rose from the ground, until now, not a single person anywhere in the world has called for help online. Not a single God or Demon has come to Kyoto either. It's possible that... we're the only ones in the entire world who are still conscious. Onee-sama is probably having some wonderful magical-girl dream right now."

Even Souna Shitori, who normally remained perfectly rational, gave an exceedingly grim assessment.

"I miss Akeno and Koneko-chan. Before I came here, we agreed we'd check in with each other tonight, but neither of them has contacted me."

Hearing Rias's voice, Cid knew things had reached about as bad a point as they possibly could.

A normal person was the sum of all their social relationships. Yet now, in this vast world, there were only the six of them, perhaps seven if Natsuki Minamiya, who wasn't in her true form, was counted.

An endless sense of isolation surrounded them. Their friends and families had already sunk into another world, and that fact was invisibly pressuring the few people who remained awake into making a choice.

Kanade, who had remained silent all this time, suddenly raised her head.

After a moment's hesitation, she spoke.

"Maybe that beautiful, paradise-like dream means we've misunderstood Shadow all along. Maybe Gijera is actually a gift Shadow gave to everyone in the world."

I didn't! It isn't! Kanade, don't put words in my mouth! I'll sue you for defamation!

Kanade, who had been the first one to pull herself together earlier, had now stepped forward at this critical moment and delivered a devastating blow to everyone.

Seeing the others beginning to waver, and realizing that they were on the verge of going from the Anti-Shadow faction to the Pro-Shadow faction, Cid shot to his feet and slammed his fist down on the table.

The tremendous crash immediately drew everyone's attention.

"Even if this is a gift from Shadow, we don't need it. We can stand tall and tell Shadow that we don't need a gift that lets us run away from reality. I'm sure Shadow himself would want to see us wake up proudly and openly, then ruin yet another one of his plans."

"But right now, everyone has chosen the beautiful world inside the dream."

Even Natsuki Minamiya, who had survived being hung from the tree only by exploiting a bug with her dream avatar, was beginning to crack.

The dream's illusions were eating away at her. The temptation of a world without war or discrimination, where everyone lived together in peace, had gotten so strong that even she had started talking nonsense.

"This world is filled with war. The ugliness in people's hearts has never disappeared, even when faced with outside threats. The dream world lets everyone experience something far better than this terrible reality. Everyone falls asleep and has their desires fulfilled. If that happens, wouldn't all the conflicts in this world disappear?"

It really was nonsense.

To Cid, Natsuki-chan's logic wasn't much different from saying that if everyone in the world were killed, there naturally wouldn't be any wars left.

"Cid, perhaps it was wrong for General Yasaka to push us forward in the first place. Just as Shadow said from the beginning, all we were doing was taking a shortcut and cheating our way through..."

As though she had finally made up her mind, Souna Shitori stood.

Her voice carried both temptation and hope, as though she desperately wanted Cid to give her the answer she wished to hear.

"Sleep is something every living creature in this world desires from the bottom of its heart. Compared to this terrible world, where things have already become as bad as they possibly can, maybe losing ourselves in a spiritual world isn't such a bad thing... Perhaps, for you, Cid, the only person in this world capable of waking up through your own will, I should put it more precisely."

"...If you were the only person left in the world right now, would you be able to save this planet on the verge of collapse?"

"This isn't about how strong you are, or whether you're willing to do it. No matter how you look at it, this situation is the result of everyone's actions."

"If the world is destined to be destroyed, then I think every living creature in the world would sincerely choose to die in happiness rather than meet its end in agony."

Faced with Souna Shitori's question, Cid answered.

"I can."

His gaze firm, Cid gave her an unequivocal answer.

"Living is painful, but reality is gradually getting better. So no matter how painful it gets, we should make dreams even more beautiful than the dream world come true here in reality."

Yes, Cid admitted that every so often, some lunatic would appear and try to destroy this world.

But wasn't he here?

Otherwise, what had been the point of fighting all those bosses with their shitty mechanics?

Until the day this world truly chose to destroy itself, he would keep fighting.

Not just for everyone else, but for himself as well.

As for wars, the ugliness in people's hearts, the lack of unity between different factions... none of that was worth worrying about.

Once Cid's plan got underway and he launched an attack against the entire world, all of those problems would work themselves out.

Looking at things that way, this world was obviously pretty peaceful no matter how he viewed it.

Even civil engineering technology had recently undergone several major breakthroughs in rapid succession.

The future was looking brighter by the day.

"I'm really sorry after everything you've all done for me, but... I miss Mother-sama so much. This is the first time I've ever been away from Mother-sama for this long. If I just stop struggling, will I be able to see Mother-sama again?"

Kunou spoke in a daze.

For most of the people in the room, going two days and two nights without sleep was exhausting but still manageable.

Kunou, however, was the youngest among them, and the combined physical and emotional strain was already becoming too much for her.

Her longing for her mother, the exhaustion from rescuing people without rest, and the shock of being attacked by the very civilians she had saved were close to crushing her young body.

She lowered her head and began sobbing quietly.

Even someone as strong as Cid fell silent at the sight.

After a long while, Cid gently placed a hand on Kunou's head.

Feeling the warmth of the large hand resting on her head, Kunou trembled.

Her quiet sobbing stopped, and she raised her head from her hands, staring at Cid through tear-filled eyes.

"I know I don't have any right to say this, but... I don't think your mother would want you to fall into the Dream World with her. That's why she saved you from the vines at the critical moment and entrusted you to Rias and the others. You are the continuation of your mother's life, and proof that she fought hard to live."

"The... continuation of her life?"

Cid lowered his eyes and sighed.

"Living your life to the fullest, then passing everything you've accomplished on to the next generation. Falling, growing, and repeating that cycle again and again. To me, that's a kind of eternal life. I think it's incredible."

"So... if you choose to give up now, your mother really will die, because there won't be anyone left in this world who remembers her."

"Rather than being alive but already dead inside, I think most people would rather die while still remaining alive through the traces they left behind in this world."

"..."

The entire room fell silent once again.

This silence lasted even longer than the last.

It was the silence of their reason struggling against their desires.

Cid closed his eyes as well and waited for their response.

They had all experienced the beauty of the dream world, however briefly.

If even they were beyond saving, then Cid could only...

After a long while, Cid felt a faint tug from beside him.

He turned and opened his eyes, only to see Kunou standing there with her head lowered.

"There are parts of what you said that I don't really understand. And I know... what you're saying is probably right. But I still miss my mother."

"..."

Once Kunou broke the silence, Sayaka Kirasaka followed with a question that sounded less like a genuine question and more like an excuse.

"Besides, what's happened over the past two days already proves that we have no way to wake the people who are asleep. The longer this goes on, the less willing they'll be to wake up. What are we supposed to do?"

"...Wait, everyone. I have an idea. Since everyone is immersed in the paradise of their dreams and refuses to return to the Hell of reality, why don't we simply call reality 'paradise' and the dream 'Hell'? Then everyone will run away from the dream and immerse themselves in reality!"

"Kanade, are you even awake?"

With Kanade's interruption, the atmosphere somehow returned to what it had been yesterday morning.

Cid, however, only let out a deep sigh.

He turned, pushed back his chair, and headed for the door.

"Senpai, where are you going?"

"To do what I think is right. To do what I should do as a person, instead of sitting here making excuses so I can run away. If that's all we're going to do, then we might as well hide in the dream. At least then we'd get to enjoy a pleasant dream."

With those words, Cid slammed the door behind him.

The door struck the frame with a tremendous crash.

Hearing what Cid had said, the girls instinctively rose to their feet, wanting to follow him.

But when they looked around and saw everyone else in exactly the same state, unable to make themselves take even a single step, they lowered their heads in shame.

Outside, Cid walked through the ruins that had been torn apart by massive tree trunks.

He closed his eyes, and black liquid surged from his body, forming a black coat around him.

At that moment, Cid found himself rather envious of Ultraman Tiga.

At least that Gijera hadn't been anywhere near as troublesome as this Divine Tree version of Gijera.

Its disgusting rule that people had to awaken through their own realization, otherwise destroying the tree meant killing them along with it, meant that even if Cid wanted to destroy Gijera to prevent the world's destruction, he couldn't simply do it.

Then there was nothing else to be done.

Cid had never been the sort of person who would keep running away just because of the sunk cost fallacy.

Since the lives of this world had already made their choice, Cid would naturally respect that choice and offer them his blessing.

And then... send them on their way.

Cid had always been an extremely self-centered person.

In a certain sense, asking him to regard Humans who had completely surrendered themselves to their desires as living beings was simply impossible.

His plan had failed.

More accurately, the sudden appearance of Gijera had brought the so-called plan to an end before it had even begun.

Oh well. This isn't bad either.

I'd already hinted to Rias and the others that all of this was part of my plan anyway.

Since I've already come this far, I might as well see it through.

I'll make it true and complete the achievement of destroying Gijera.

The world is beyond saving anyway.

At this point, there's no difference between being alive and being dead.

If they don't want to live, then they might as well die.

Yes.

This is one of the trials I, as Shadow, have bestowed upon the world.

As for the Humans who cannot overcome this trial, then just as I said from the very beginning, let them all be destroyed.

And as for every living being above...

Let them drown in their absurd dreams.

Let every life in this world become part of his achievement as an Eminence in Shadow!

"What fragile lives."

Black liquid spread across his face, forming a pitch-black mask.

Through the openings over his eyes, his crimson gaze reflected in a puddle on the ground, filled with unwavering determination.

"Then I shall be the one to end this world!"

Let him, Shadow, descend upon this world as the terrifying darkness that destroyed all things.

Let him become the Demon King of the End.

His decision made, the black figure vanished from the spot.

His destination was the Divine Tree known as Gijera.

...

On the other side of the world, Ophis strolled leisurely down the street, eating a banana while holding her daughter's hand and looking at the mummies around them.

Along the way, she casually slapped Lilith's hand away when the girl tried to grab her banana.