Scrape, scraaape.......
The sound of a sword tip dragging weakly along the floor echoed through the corridor.
His armor, always pure white, had been shattered beyond recognition. The arms that had once swung a sword as though to cleave the heavens could now barely hold it, leaving its tip to trail along the ground.
Yuto Belkain.
The young king and hero of the Kingdom of Belkain, favored by the Constellation of the Broken Star.
“.......”
Even the legs that barely carried him were steadily losing strength, but Yuto did not stop walking.
This body was dying. A sword thrust from behind had pierced straight through his chest. As if that were not enough, lightning had seared his entire body. He was enduring through superhuman willpower, but he had reached his limit. Even the aether forcing a body that should have been incapable of movement to keep going was nearly exhausted.
‘Wa......lk......!’
He swallowed the blood filling his mouth. He had already lost far too much. Swallowing it again was meaningless, yet Yuto did not want to spit out any more blood.
It would be easier.
If he collapsed now, abandoned everything, and closed his eyes, he could escape this horrific pain and finally find peace.
But Yuto could not do that. The despair and rage etched into his eyes burned too fiercely for him to sink down and close them.
He could not collapse here. Not after what his partner had done to let him escape. And― and not after his wife had died so horribly before his eyes, nor after his daughter had been taken from him.
He could not die now, in pain and despair. If he did, everything would become meaningless. His partner, who had sacrificed everything to help Yuto escape, would have died like a dog. Even now, the screams of his wife calling their daughter's name with her dying breath still circled through his head.
―Bzzzt......!
As he dragged his feet and sword onward, pain flared across the back of his hand as though it were being burned. Yuto bit down hard on his lip and looked at it.
The Constellation that had guided Yuto and granted him power until now. The light of the ‘Broken Star’ was fading.
No, it was leaving him. Yuto glared at the mark on the back of his hand with hate-filled eyes.
The Constellation that had made him a hero, the ‘Broken Star.’ The starlight that had always protected Yuto and illuminated the way through every deadly crisis had neither guided nor cared for him at the deadliest moment of all.
Today, on what could rightly have been called the happiest day of Yuto's life, the ‘Broken Star’ had betrayed him.
Along with the beloved friend he had held closer than a brother despite their lack of shared blood.
‘Shiro.’
Simply recalling that name made the corners of Yuto's mouth tremble with fury.
Shiro Listal.
The name of his dearest friend. The prince of Listal, a kingdom neighboring Belkain.
They had shared a bond lasting from the days when they were children who could not even speak properly. To Yuto, who had lost his father― the former king― at the tender age of nine, Shiro had been a brother unrelated by blood.
‘Shiro. Shiro Listal.’
Grind.
Once, he had recalled that name with nothing but friendship. He could do so no longer. His whole body shook merely from thinking it.
They had fought back-to-back on countless battlefields. Where Yuto's sword did not reach, Shiro's did, and whenever Yuto faced danger, Shiro had willingly shared the risk.
Without Shiro, Yuto could never have become a ‘hero.’ In this world, Callisto, the title of ‘hero’ was a name that belonged to Yuto and Shiro together.
His dearest friend. And more than that. The wife Yuto had taken was Shiro's younger sister. Though not a drop of blood connected them, Yuto and Shiro had unquestionably been family.
The sword of that irreplaceable friend and family member.
Pierced Yuto's back tonight.
He had watched Shiro's clear smile, familiar since childhood, twist into a sneer. He had watched Shiro cut down the younger sister he had once cherished with an indifferent expression. He had watched him pick up his sobbing niece like an object.
‘Why?’
Yuto clutched his chest. Blood still surged from the wound opened by betrayal.
‘Why...... did you betray me?’
They had learned the sword together from childhood and crossed blades together.
They had shared affection, and Shiro had been a friend worthy of respect. Together, they had joined forces to govern their countries. They had even sworn to work for the good of the world one day.
‘You were my friend and my comrade. When Father died...... you wept for me because you pitied me.’
When the former king was murdered by an unknown assassin and Yuto became king, he had been only nine years old. Belkain had survived afterward, and Yuto had established himself as king, thanks to the aid of the Kingdom of Listal.
How many years had they spent together? How many battlefields had they shared? If Shiro had wanted to betray him, he could have done so at any time.
‘The ideal we swore to achieve together― a peaceful world― was finally within reach.’
They had defeated the seven Eclipses who threw the world into chaos. Though that feat had been only the opening of the Holy War, it had brought them closer to the peace they had promised each other.
So why?
‘Why in the world did you betray me?’
Belkain had been swallowed by crimson flames tonight.
Shiro Listal― Yuto's brother, his comrade, and a man hailed as a hero just as he was― had trampled Belkain with not only his own kingdom's army, but the army of the Balistera Empire as well.
‘None of it makes sense....... We had barely managed to achieve peace. Why......?’
Even after such a devastating betrayal, belief in Shiro still lingered in one corner of Yuto's mind. He did not want to accept it. Perhaps Shiro had been forced to betray him for some unavoidable reason.
No― perhaps all of this was only the middle of a terrible nightmare. No matter how he considered it, how could it possibly make sense?
The friend and family member he had trusted most for so many years had betrayed him at the peak of his happiness. Even the Constellation that had protected Yuto, the ‘Broken Star,’ had joined that betrayal. How could something so absurd possibly be real?
[Hahaha.]
[Hahahaha.]
Mocking laughter rang through Yuto's mind as he denied reality through his haze. It was not the laughter of one being. It sounded as though dozens had entered his head at once to ridicule him.
[Ahahahahaha!]
The laughter echoed inside his skull. His head felt ready to burst. It was as though the brain inside it had been plunged into furiously boiling lava.
The legs that had refused to collapse despite his mortal wounds, forcing themselves to keep walking, came to a halt. They shook violently. Yuto had been favored by a Constellation and hailed as a hero, yet even he could not remain standing before that vast, horrifying laughter.
“Ugh......!”
At last, Yuto fell to his knees with a groan.
Thump, thump, thump! His heart raced as though it would burst, and his vision spun. No matter that he was called a hero, before these beings he was only human. He did not want to admit it, but now he had no choice but to feel the truth of it. Everything happening now was reality, not a nightmare. The vivid derision reverberating through his mind forced him to recognize it.
[A hero?]
Beings high above the heavens, far beyond human understanding, looked down at Yuto and whispered.
[Who do you think made you a hero?]
[Hahaha! A hero? You? You're nothing but a failed loser.]
[In the end, you accomplished nothing. Even this miserable ending was merely for our amusement.]
Thump, thump, thump! Amid their mockery, Yuto clutched his head. In his despair, he realized what these countless voices were.
Constellations.
The beings who had created this world and illuminated humanity from the darkness were mocking him. Yuto clenched his teeth amid their ridicule.
“Shut...... up......!”
Once, Yuto too had been ignorant. He had believed the Constellations were benevolent beings, worshiped them, and accepted their aid to fight the evil that brought chaos to the world.
That was why the devastating truth had shaken him. The Constellations did not invariably act for the sake of the world or humanity. Just as there were good and evil humans, there were also good and evil Constellations.
Yuto's father, the former king, had been murdered for the crime of discovering that truth. The enemy Yuto had searched so desperately for had been in the high heavens all along.
Those lofty stars toyed with the world for their own pleasure. The histories of kingdoms and the lives of humans were nothing more than entertaining plays to the Constellations.
The oath he had shared with Shiro to make the world peaceful had also been a vow to liberate the world from those wicked Constellations.
[Struggling won't help.]
[Because you failed!]
[This is your fate and your ending.]
[No matter how hard you struggle, you'll be alone in the end.]
Shiro, who had sworn that oath with him, had betrayed Yuto.
The Broken Star, whose light had guided Yuto down his path, had forsaken him at the deadliest moment.
The feat of defeating every Eclipse. The righteous cause of liberating the world from the wicked Constellations. All of it had become meaningless before this ending.
[Do you understand now? Your entire life was nothing more than a play staged for our amusement.]
[You became a hero because we wanted it.]
[And now you'll die because we've grown bored of you.]
Still kneeling, Yuto laughed with heaving shoulders. Blood welled up his throat and dripped onto the floor with his laughter.
“I see. So that's how it is.”
The Constellations had written and directed this damned play, and Yuto Belkain had been its foolish lead, mistaking it all for his own will without ever realizing he was merely a character in their script.
The lead would die miserably under the Constellations' ridicule. This was the play's final curtain.
“Ha...... Hahaha!”
The lead, now realizing that his entire thirty-five years of life had been toyed with, burst into laughter filled with despair and rage. The laughter of the Constellations watching the climax swelled even louder.
[No. That isn't true.]
A warm voice pierced the derision filling Yuto's mind.
[Yuto Belkain, hero of Callisto. Not every Constellation desires your unhappy ending.]
The mocking laughter vanished. At the same time, even the pain Yuto felt began to subside.
[Not all of us take pleasure in tragedy. You dedicated yourself to the world, and you deserve happiness.]
Another voice joined in. The blood flowing from his pierced chest slowly began to stop.
[You want revenge on the traitor who took everything from you, don't you? You can have it. You're still alive, after all. But― being alive isn't enough. You need power. More power. Only then can you take your revenge.]
A snickering laugh echoed. At the same time― something appeared before Yuto's eyes.
[The ‘Weaver of Dreams’ proposes a new ending.]
[The ‘Guardian of the Forest’ supports your happiness.]
[The ‘Seeker of Gold’ whispers of an opportunity for revenge.]
Yuto's eyes trembled. ―Rrrrumble. Thunder rolled inside his head.
[Please understand that this trial was meant for you. It was the best way to change your fate.]
Yuto's shoulders flinched at the new voice. He knew it. It belonged to the one that had bestowed its protection on Yuto so many times before― the ‘Broken Star.’
[The ‘Broken Star’ once again extends a hand to you.]
Yuto swallowed hard and stared at the Constellations' offers. Every one of them bore the name of a ‘Constellation’ he knew. Especially the ‘Broken Star.’ Yuto raised a trembling hand and reached toward their offers.
The voices in his head fell silent and waited for him. They seemed genuinely eager to see what choice he would make.
Anticipation.
That was all. The only emotion he sensed from the Constellations making those offers was anticipation for a new diversion. They felt no sympathy or understanding whatsoever for the betrayed and broken Yuto.
CRACK!
Yuto clenched his teeth and drove his fist forward. The ‘Broken Star's’ offer was the first to shatter beneath it. He continued swinging, smashing the other Constellations' offers as well.
“Until...... the very end.”
The pain that had briefly vanished returned. Blood once again poured freely from the wound in his chest.
“You...... keep toying with me.”
Yuto spat the words in a seething voice and staggered to his feet. Clutching the bleeding wound in his chest and dragging his sword, he began walking again.
The voices filling his head all cut off at once. All he could hear was the scrape, scraaape of his dragging sword, the shuffle of his feet, and the splash, splash as he stepped through his own blood.
‘Are they gone?’
The moment he thought that.
[―Ahahahaha!]
[―Hahahaha! Hahahaha!]
[See! I told you he wouldn't fall for it?!]
[So he wasn't a fool after all?]
Their mockery rang through his head once more. Dozens of voices tangled together into hideous discord. Their booming laughter broke free of his mind, echoed through the underground corridor, and shook the world before his eyes.
[What a stubborn human. You're in that state and still clinging to your pride?]
[What if we really did make those offers for your sake?]
The Constellations clamored noisily. Yuto did not answer and kept walking. Every one of their offers had been contradictory and entirely different from Yuto's true desire. Revenge was not what he wanted now.
He wanted to bring his dead wife back to life, reunite with his partner, and save his daughter. The ‘Broken Star's’ words in particular had been nauseating. The best way to change his fate? A trial meant for him?
‘I'd rather......’
His legs shook again as he forced them onward. It was not because of the Constellations. Yuto's body had spent so much strength that it could no longer walk. He could barely see ahead, and even the Constellations' mockery circling through his mind sounded distant.
‘If I were given...... one more chance.......’
The instant he had that thought.
Woooooo......!
Something devoured the laughter of the Constellations. ‘Something’ interfered with the world. The presence of the Constellations vanished, and the world around Yuto began to shake.
[Impossible!]
The Constellations' screams came from far away.
[The Void? Why is the Void......?!]
WHOOSH! Darkness surged through the corridor and swallowed the world. Pitch-black tentacles rose from the floor and writhed grotesquely around Yuto.
The darkness erased the Constellations' derision and gazes. Tentacles that vaguely seemed not to belong to this world approached Yuto.
Bzzzt, bzzzt.
A tentacle drew within inches of him and quivered amid static. Then a screen appeared, distinctly different from the Constellations' earlier offers.
[The Void watches you.]
Thump, thump, thump.
The faint beating of a dying heart lingered in the air. Yuto stood blankly and stared at the wavering black tentacle. It had nothing resembling an eye, yet strangely, Yuto felt its ‘gaze.’
That gaze held none of the Constellations' mockery or their anticipation of entertainment. All he felt was tranquil silence.
“You are.......”
Yuto opened his mouth without realizing it. The wavering tentacle approached his chest and carefully stroked his wound.
“―Ah.”
The moment it touched him.
Yuto instinctively sensed the nature of this ‘being.’ Its overwhelming status had silenced all the Constellations that had laughed and toyed with him so noisily. Unlike the other Constellations, this being made no offer for the sake of entertainment. Through its sheer status, it quietly and vaguely conveyed what it was.
And Yuto became certain. The being before him possessed the power to undo this terrible ending. It would make no offer on its own, but if Yuto wished for it and accepted it, it could fulfill his desperate desire.
Yuto clenched his teeth and released his sword.
With that hand, he instead seized the tentacle touching his chest and rammed it into the wound opened by betrayal.
“I don't know who you are.”
The blood pouring from his chest turned pitch-black. The blood flowing from Yuto's mouth did the same. With eyes darkening to black, Yuto glared at the tentacle. The darkness filling the corridor slowly surged toward him.
“Who you are doesn't matter.”
The tentacle driven into his chest convulsed. Darkness consumed his dying body and his soul, damaged to the point of breaking.
“What matters......”
―WHOOSH! The darkness concentrated around Yuto began to boil. It remained silent. It merely watched him in stillness. Yuto twisted his lips, now drenched in black blood.
“Is that I need you.”
CRUNCH......! Yuto gripped the tentacle more tightly and drove it into his chest all the way to its root.
Yuto's very existence vanished, swallowed by darkness.