Chapter 329

Shion is Shion.

I am here.

Neither here nor there.

I am simply, now, here.

“…….”

The Cordis Great Imperial Palace.

The Seven Man-Gods surrounding me.

In order, the Clown, the Dancer, the Slave, the General, the Minister, the Mage, and the Emperor. Immediately after Ferbias fled, and immediately after the Hotus Eight Gods surrounded me, I realized I was wearing a crown.

Slowly, light began to seep into the gloom.

Dawn was approaching.

Yes, dawn was breaking.

That sun had risen every single day without rest, and it was rising again today.

I never dreamed that this fact would be so astonishing.

“Did you see it and return?”

The owner of the question was Continua the Great Emperor.

“Yes.”

I nodded.

“Then.”

Continua the Great Emperor asked without waiting.

He made a small gesture.

“Now, choose.”

I now knew he was Cordisias.

I had seen his 1335 years and returned.

My eyes also met Sen Sorti’s.

She was my mother.

Now I finally know.

“We have waited too long.”

***

“…….”

I looked into the face of Continua the Great Emperor.

His wrinkles were deep.

He must have been waiting for his forty-ninth death.

That face felt profoundly unfamiliar, as it was simply that of an old man.

“…My entire life…”

Those golden eyes.

That solemn face.

My father, who was too great to approach.

I had always thought he looked inorganic.

Like a monster without emotion, not even human.

But, now, he just looked tired.

“……My entire life.”

I thought that perhaps Continua the Great Emperor had simply been too exhausted.

Maybe the monstrously solemn face, the attitude of not even remembering his own child’s name, and the god-like weariness were all because his old soul was terribly fatigued.

Even after living for thirteen hundred years, because he still possessed a human heart, because he had experienced forty-nine lives and deaths, because he had struggled too much for things outside his grasp, he might have let go of what he held in his hand.

Such a thought came to me.

Even with god-like power and wisdom, Continua the Great Emperor might have been nothing more than a single human.

The very foolishness of viewing himself as a god seemed, on the contrary, to prove his humanity.

“…For my two lives, I hated you, Father.”

“And now.”

Continua the Great Emperor asked, almost spitting the word out.

“Do you still hate me?”

“The memory of hating you is vivid. I have many wounds that have not healed.”

“I suppose so.”

The Great Emperor looked unperturbed.

However, in my eyes, I could now see the very slight trembling of the corner of his mouth.

It was proof that he was hiding a fresh wound in his heart.

“But it’s different from hatred.”

I reconfirmed the crown on my head.

This was a symbol of reconciliation.

“I don’t like you. Still, yes, still….”

“…….”

“But I will say that you, too, could be that way. Yes, you could be that way. Because I have never lived as you.”

“…That is a gracious thing to say.”

Continua the Great Emperor lifted his eyes, as if he hadn’t expected it.

It was a rather human reaction.

I saw the Great Emperor’s human side for the first time, and it was quite surprising.

Sen Sorti alternated her gaze between me and the Great Emperor and in the eyes directed toward me, there was a hint of pride.

I felt a little embarrassed.

Because I knew I had not become such a great man.

“Then, choose now.”

The Great Emperor raised his hand.

He did not wear the imperial crown on his head.

“Zionis, no, Shion.”

“It doesn’t matter which you call me.”

“We have ruled for thirteen hundred years. You were born in the world we created, lived in it, and now stand before us in the capacity of a judge.”

The Eight Sages gathered close.

The shape of a flower with a thousand petals.

Beila Beile.

The Last Clown.

The shape of a dancer wrapped in layers of butterfly wings.

Ahmena Eln Yade Asmir.

The Last Dancer.

The dim shape, indiscernible as man, woman, old, or child.

Hika Hireium.

The Last Slave.

The shape of a steel lion walking on two legs.

Deballo Debius.

The Last General.

The shape of a giant with an eagle’s head.

Kerenneus Cansella Caseptus.

The Last Minister.

The shape of a silver dragon with forty-eight wings.

Sen Sorti, or Beluchian Pollinglight.

The Last Mage.

And simply the shape of a human.

Continua Cordis Magnus,

or Cordisias.

The Last Emperor.

Before them, a young man wearing a wooden crown.

Shion Pollinglight, or Zionis.

The Last Prisoner.

“Shall we.”

At the end of the story, the Great Emperor asks.

“Continue?”

***

“Continue….”

I turned my eyes.

“The word ‘continue’ has too many meanings.”

The dim throne room became faintly discernible.

The light seeping in from outside was strengthening, ready to pour down.

“…….”

Dawn broke.

It finally broke.

The sunrise I had waited for so long, which wouldn’t come, had suddenly rushed up close while I was momentarily distracted.

Sunlight shattered upon me.

The white and gold form of the Dragon overlapped with me.

“All of you.”

But I am a person.

Nothing more, nothing less.

I am merely a single person.

“You have already ruled enough.”

I said gently.

Because there was no reason not to be gentle.

“It is fine if it does not continue any further.”

***

I chose it.

Immediately, there were seven silences.

“…….”

“…….”

“…….”

“…….”

“…….”

“…….”

“…….”

The first to speak was the Clown.

“Is that so?”

He stroked his chin.

“Well, I suppose that’s true. Shion has suffered so much, he wouldn’t want us to keep ruling.”

“Kerenneus was especially awful. You deserve some punishment.”

“Huh? Do you think you would have done half as well if you were in my place?”

“It’s that attitude I’m talking about.”

“Be quiet, Hireium.”

“That temper hasn’t changed in thirteen hundred years.”

The Man-Gods exchanged words.

Without directing them at anyone in particular, they mixed their words together, like they were old hometown friends.

They looked quite close. Instead of replying further, I smiled lightly.

I soon made eye contact with Sen Sorti.

She looked embarrassed.

Because she could no longer hide that she was my mother.

I also felt awkward and gave a slight nod.

“A wise choice, Shion.”

“Yes, you made the right decision.”

“I’m sorry about the Dawn Brotherhood.”

“I am sorry too. Even though it was war.”

“I will not apologize to you, you brat.”

The Man-Gods poured out words.

In order, the Clown, the Dancer, the Slave, the General, the Minister.

“We are now the last.”

“As our names suggest.”

“Our feet are scattered first. It really is the end.”

“Then where do we go?”

“Hmph. Where would we go? We simply disappear.”

They began to disappear.

Because of my choice.

“Disappearing, what a strange feeling. Lacrosha must be disappearing too.”

“I’ve been waiting all along.”

“Me too.”

“Hmm, would it be greedy to feel regret.”

“Why should one scrutinize every single thought for whether it’s greedy or not?”

Sen Sorti and Continua the Great Emperor were the same.

“Shion.”

“Master …no….”

I tried to utter the word ‘Mother’, but realized I had never called anyone that in my entire life.

Sen Sorti’s heart ached for her son like this.

“…Mother.”

“You don’t have to call me that, Shion. I was not a mother to you at all.”

“No. That’s not true.”

I said firmly.

Since I thought this was the end, I wanted to say everything in my heart, regardless of how cheesy it sounded.

“You were always my mother. I was just unable to call you that.”

“…Those are undeserved words.”

Sen Sorti chuckled.

Tears streamed down her cheeks, and those tears were also disappearing with her.

All of the Hotus Eight Gods, except for me, ‘The Last Prisoner,’ were vanishing.

Were they meeting death?

Or was it something different from death?

Were they even going anywhere?

I looked at Sen Sorti.

I had only just realized she was my mother, but now I had to send her away.

Continua was the same.

I had only just attempted reconciliation, but now I had to send him away.

I felt regret.

But sadness did not end well.

The Crown of Paradox.

Because I had reconciled with all loss, and with all time, I came to understand the meaning of separation.

Because I realized that every parting had a purpose, I could see them off with a smile.

“Zionis.”

Continua the Great Emperor spoke.

“I did something I shouldn’t have done to you.”

He looked back on his 1335 years of life, and he felt sorry for me.

He had also shed too much blood to pretend to be this human now.

“I suffered and hurt so much myself, yet I passed that burden onto you too.”

“I suffered and was hurt. But… it must have been something I had to go through.”

“It must not have been easy for you to come to say that.”

“But at least I can say it now.”

I looked back at the deep resentment I had crossed.

The valley was so deep, so full of hatred and misery, that I couldn’t even see the bottom.

But it was over, it was a past event.

The time that I had cried out, asking when it would finally pass, was so long and filled with resentment, yet it had all become history.

The Eight Sages continued to fade.

They were accepting their disappearance.

“What will happen next?”

I unintentionally let out a chuckle.

Even while disappearing, Continua the Great Emperor was thinking about the next era.

The habit of living as an Emperor for 1335 years did not seem to fade easily.

“An era without you all will come.”

“That’s right. A new nation will come.”

The Great Emperor raised his eyes.

He shared the same eye level as me for the first time.

The Great Emperor’s eyes were gold, and my eyes were blue.

The Great Emperor thought that if his eye color and Sen Sorti’s eye color were mixed in the most beautiful way, it would be exactly that blue.

“Will you tell me the name of the new nation?”

“It will be a name you know.”

I said.

“Cordis.”

At the too-familiar name, all the Man-Gods turned their eyes.

They looked at me as if asking if I was serious.

Accepting their gazes, I walked slowly.

Then, I approached the golden throne and touched it.

This throne, which I had once so hated, this symbol of the Empire I had wanted to grind down.

But now, it was merely a chair.

Nothing more, nothing less.

If it was necessary for the people, I could sit on it any time.

That was the meaning of my reconciliation.

“…….”

Even Continua the Great Emperor found it difficult to speak easily.

Even so, the disappearance accelerated, and his lower body was already invisible.

Continua stroked his beard three times before he could open his mouth again.

“……Cordis, you say……”

“It means I will become the 51st generation.”

“…Don’t you want to make it new? You hated it so much, and it hurt you so much?”

“It’s because I want to make it new that I drove you all out, isn’t it.”

I chuckled.

“It’s not my world alone. I am just one person, and too many people are living on this land.”

“…….”

“Also, I don’t want to cause confusion for others because of my wounds.”

“…Even though they were such terrible wounds, so heavy and agonizing that no one else could know?”

“Precisely for that reason.”

The Regressor Prince’s words were without hesitation.

“Cordis is hatred for me, but too many lives are built upon it.”

“……So, you will take over.”

“Yes. I plan to reconcile with you too. If so, this is what I should say.”

I held out my hand.

“You worked hard, Father.”

***

“…….”

Continua did not take my hand.

He simply couldn’t. Instead, he slowly, very slowly opened his lips.

Only then did he realize the meaning of his 1335 years.

“Zionis.”

Continua the Great Emperor smiled.

“No, Shion.”

He couldn’t bear how proud he was of his son.

Looking at the son who chose not to follow the same path, despite all his mistakes and arrogance, his hardened heart overflowed with joy.

“My son.”

Cordisias laughed brightly.

“You are better than me.”

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