Dark Fantasy’s Extra – Chapter 227

Author: Dawn

“Are you serious?”

Belle asked.

“Yes. This is my final atonement.”

Everything started here from the beginning.

“Back then, I created you – all of you – with naive thoughts. I just loved fairy tales and tried to imitate them. That was the problem from the start.”

It’s natural that Noah failed.

Ignoring human free will and just trying to create ideal protagonists according to his wishes – how could it possibly work out?

Everyone wants and likes different things.

Belle, who wanted to be an ideal protagonist, rejected being one.

Margarete, who wanted to be the most beautiful and perfect protagonist, ended up hiding her true face from everyone.

Bari, who wanted to be a pitiful yet merciful protagonist, enslaves the most wretched.

Rusalka, who wanted to be a princess protagonist married to a fine prince, became a greedy tyrant.

After piling up such failures, I created Vasilisa with a whatever-happens-happens mindset and ended up making a whole world disappear in flames.

In the end, unable to handle this position, I created Karen and Hilde trying to run away, only to die by the hands of Belle, my first creation.

It’s all my fault.

It’s my, Noah’s, original sin of ignoring their free will and arbitrarily placing expectations on them until they broke.

“You killing me, your sisters fighting each other, and the world being swallowed by war twice – it all started from that delusion and obsession about the perfect protagonist.”

The same goes for Vile, Zepetia’s grandfather and the human with the most brilliant mind in history.

Like me, he committed foolish sins and met his downfall after numerous hardships.

“The origin of that original sin is you, Belle. So I’ll make my final atonement to you. What you wanted was Noah. I can’t bring Noah back, but I can give you myself instead. Until this world ends.”

“…”

“What do you think?”

“…How foolish.”

“I’m sorry. But I…”

“No. I don’t mean you – I mean I’m the foolish one.”

Belle’s face showed neither hatred and resentment nor joy at final victory.

Just a small, empty and hollow smile.

The same smile her creation Dominic had worn.

“To think it would feel this empty… Do you know how much preparation I did over these 500 years, how much blood I shed? Everything was for this moment. To capture and drag down the god who molded me completely and controls all creation in heaven and earth… to make him mine. And yet…”

Small droplets formed in Belle’s eyes.

“This isn’t right… This isn’t what I wanted… You weren’t supposed to say such things first…!”

She plucked a Flower of Destruction and crushed it in her hand.

The flower crumbled into fine powder in her palm and scattered away.

“What about my efforts? What was my pain for?! My guilt, my resolve, my…! My Noah wasn’t like this!”

Belle suddenly stood up and approached me.

She threw herself down before me and rested her body on my knees.

“I hate you… I hate you, I hate you so much!”

“Belle…”

I hesitated but placed my hand on her head.

Even when I was Noah, she would sometimes sit before me like this.

But as people gradually increased and sisters were born, the times she acted spoiled decreased.

Was it because of her sense of responsibility as the eldest?

Anyway, it must have been because she cared for her sisters in her own way.

That same person sealed her sisters as ‘practice’ for capturing Noah.

And she did it through such an extreme method as the Flower of Destruction.

To bloom the Flower of Destruction that imposes the concept of death, the grower must also be prepared for death.

Not only must they bring themselves as close to death as possible, but they also need to carefully manage system authority.

Even Noah in his prime found it difficult and ended up just creating it without ever using it, so I can’t even imagine what efforts Belle must have made.

“Why didn’t you ever look at me?! Why did you keep making younger sisters?! I would have been enough with just you!”

“…”

“But in the end you tried to run away abandoning even me! You coward! You weakling!”

“I did.”

“And now you appear and turn all my resolve and efforts into nothing?! You bad… you bad person…!!”

Belle dug her nails into my legs where she was gripping them.

Like rose thorns, her resentment and sorrow pierce me.

“I’m sorry.”

I abandoned my identity as Noah.

But I’m still bound by the past because of those original sins including Belle.

I have to be bound.

I don’t want to become someone so insensitive and ruthless.

“Hit me if you want to hit me. Imprison me if you want to imprison me. If that makes you feel even a little better.”

“No! That’s not what I wanted!”

Belle raised her head.

“I just wanted you to look at me, that would have been enough…!”

“Noah certainly didn’t look at you. But as Eugene, I can look at you. That’s the most sincerity I can offer. Though I’m not sure if you can be satisfied with that…”

“…No, I cannot be satisfied.”

Belle wiped her eyes and stood up.

“I cannot accept this kind of ending. It can’t be this simple. And you even set a time limit? No. Absolutely, absolutely not.”

“But in the next era, the other children…”

The reason I said until this world ends was because of the war the other children would wage over me in the next world.

It was an inevitable choice to stop the fighting right now.

Thanks to that I bought time, but conversely speaking, my freedom as Eugene became terminal.

And the most sincerity I can offer Belle is giving her what little freedom I have.

In the end, I haven’t changed much from when I was just a lower-ranked hunter.

All I have is this wretched body.

“…Then I’ll join that war too.”

“Belle!”

“I’ll win there and make you mine forever. I absolutely won’t hand you over. Margarete, Bari, Rusalka, Vasilisa, and even Karen, all of them…!”

“…”

So it comes to this after all.

Is this all my utmost sincerity amounts to?

Ah, what a truly bleak era.

Even as a god, I can’t save one daughter who has become miserable.

In this long, long war, is my role just a supporting character rather than the protagonist?

In the end, the one who solves the problem…

“…Then there’s no hope.”

“What…?”

“This is the best chance I can give you.”

“What do you mean there’s no hope?”

“There’s still one person left, isn’t there?”

“…?”

“Hilde.”

“…What about that child? She’s just the weakest among us.”

“I asked Blanc to find my successor.”

“…What?”

“You know how strict Blanc’s standards are, right? She’s most suitable. But even Blanc might fail, so then I’ll entrust it to Hilde. To carry on after me.”

“That’s absurd.”

“But the others accepted it. They agreed to verify themselves whether Hilde is qualified or not in the next era.”

“They would never acknowledge her. Isn’t that obvious?”

“No, you’re wrong. They will acknowledge her.”

“Based on what grounds?”

“That’s how reliable Hilde is. My junior.”

“…”

“I’ll say it again. Once this era passes, there’s no hope for you or anyone else. Hilde will definitely win. So take me now while you can.”

“…Ha, hahaha… Ahahahahaha!”

“Fufu…”

“Ahaha, ahahahaha! You’re truly beyond help! After all that, you’re saying you’ll rely on the youngest in the end?!”

“No, first Blanc will…”

“Then I’ll prove it to you! That you’re wrong! No matter who Blanc brings, no matter how strong Hilde becomes, we will never acknowledge it!”

“You’re confident.”

“Of course. Because the result is too obvious.”

“You’ll regret it later.”

“We’ll see about that.”

“…Ha.”

How amusing.

Truly amusing.

So this is what a protagonist is after all.

The core of the story that solves problems just by existing.

That’s why I believe in Hilde.

That she can somehow manage it.

“Alright… Then we can end the story here. You must have struggled a lot to bloom the Flower of Destruction. What a waste.”

“…This isn’t the end. I will absolutely, absolutely make you completely mine in the future. For eternity.”

“Indeed. 500 years is a short time compared to eternity. However…”

“However?”

I stood up from my seat and approached Belle to embrace her.

She accepted it without resistance, staying still.

“Whether you succeed or fail in the next era, and whether I’m Noah or Eugene, either way I won’t hate or ignore you. So even if we part like this today, you can come find me anytime.”

“…Don’t think this time you’ve built up will crumble just because of this.”

“Right.”

The time and heartache Belle endured over the past 500 years, no, over several eras, couldn’t possibly be resolved by just this much.

But someday, there’s more time waiting in the future than all the time until now.

Even if we all meet our end far in the future – me, Belle, and Hilde – in an even more distant future we’ll have different relationships with different names and different forms.

“Then, let’s meet again someday.”

“…Someday, definitely.”

I said goodbye to Belle and walked out.

When I opened the door, the 1st-rank hunters waiting outside silently stepped aside to make way without a word.

“What an anticlimactic ending.”

And as I was leaving, Maia spoke again.

“What’s wrong with that? I think this level is just right.”

If I were Noah, I might have wanted a more dramatic ending, but I am Eugene.

“In the end, not a single thing was properly wrapped up, right? Are you satisfied with this?”

“I did tie up loose ends.”

“You did?”

“Yes. It’s just that there’s still quite a bit of string left in front after tying the knot. I told you before, didn’t I? Nothing ever completely ends. Even if something ends, that just means something else begins.”

“Something else…”

“I protected the immediate peace. I have to be satisfied with that for now.”

“Immediate peace? Your dreams sure are ambitious.”

“Why?”

“I didn’t mention it earlier, but Hilde and Sephira weren’t the only ones who went that way.”

“Then who else?”

“Red Hood, you know.”

“Uh…”

“Seems she has quite a unique ability? She was insanely fast? [Bullet Time] or something?”

“Ah.”

“At that speed, she should arrive soon, right?”

“W-wait! We finally ended things on a decent note, but if Karen barges in…!”