Editing Unlimited Fafnir:Volume 12 Epilogue (section)

===Part 1===

"Neun—My comrade. Owing to thy sister, two locations of darkness have vanished from Gaia. 'Twould be a major step of progress."

Vritra's long hair swayed while she was speaking to me.

Standing on the deck with the sea breeze blowing, I looked into her eyes and nodded.

"Yeah. Well, it's a great relief to hear that the people inside the unknown territories are safe and sound. Dispelling the darkness is enough to rescue them—Learning this fact is already a major breakthrough."

Our location was roughly ten kilometers south of where we had defeated Bahamut. The surrounding seawater was not frozen and Marduk was moored on the sea. The ''Naglfar'' could be seen some distance away.

To be honest, it was quite cold since there was no air barrier deployed on the deck. Since I had come outside without any winter clothing, this air temperature was quite unbearable.

"Hoo—Is that so? Nevertheless, this was different from banishing the darkness. I am afraid what Mononobe Mitsuki accomplished was invoke her authority against the people who were dissolved by the darkness and merely bestowed their former forms to them. Thereafter, she sealed the vast amount of end matter into herself. This was essentially identical to the method thou hast used to save her in the past."

"Even if that's the case, the difference in scale is completely different from when I used the authority. Mitsuki must have truly mastered Neun's authority. Vritra, wouldn't it be better if you think of Mitsuki as your comrade instead of me? Wait—Did you call me to the deck just to tell me this?"

Poking fun at myself slightly, I replied. For Mitsuki to rescue me when I should be the one protecting her, I was truly useless. Mitsuki was the one who should be addressed as Neun.

"On the contrary. This is not what I wanted to discuss."

Against my expectations, Vritra shook her head. Dressed in the school uniform, her skirt was clearly very short and her arms were exposed, yet she looked completely unperturbed by the cold.

"Then why did you call me out? We're having a strategy meeting immediately after NIFL finishes gathering intelligence and Major Loki gets ready. There's no time to talk in leisure."

Due to the dramatic change in the situation, our next course of action could not be decided immediately. Right now, all we could do was wait.

Incidentally, all the unmanned ships and drones behind us that were providing support fire had been destroyed by Bahamut's all-out attack.

"Dost thou truly not comprehend? I believe this is fate."

"Fate? What do you mean?"

"Thou asked me to switch comrades, but I disagree. Currently, thou art undoubtedly the axis around which all else revolveth. Many phenomena, originally thought to be coincidental, have gathered here. Sure enough, thou art Gaia's chosen one. The being to destroy the ninth dragon."

Vritra asserted with conviction. I doubted.

"But it's clearly Mitsuki who's able to bring forth Neun's power, you know?"

"Indeed. After observing this battle, a method to vanquish this darkness hath occurred to me. Thy existence is essential."

Vritra nodded. What she said next was even harder to believe.

"Method to vanquish the darkness?"

"In fact, thou ought to know already, but thou art simply unwilling to accept it. Such are the ways of mankind, I understand well after living among ye. Hence, I must be the one to spell it out. Perhaps thou wilt hate me."

Seemingly with some kind of regret—looking at me with pained eyes—Vritra revealed the method to destroy the ninth calamity.

"'Tis a very simple method. Let Mononobe Mitsuki absorb all of the darkness, then kill her along with it using Code Lost. Given a human vessel, the authority is able to work its effect. This hath already been proven."

"—!?"

After my mind went blank, the night of the fireworks flashed through my thoughts. Flowing out from within Mitsuki, the darkness had transformed into human figures... They took on the appearances of Mitsuki's parents and attacked. Using Fafnir's power, I killed them.

My heart pounded rapidly. More than surprise, it was wrath that surged within me. My body shuddered.

"Screw you!"

I grabbed Vritra by the collar, lifting her petite body into the air. However, she did not even frown despite what ought to be a painful position.

"I could not be more serious."

Seeing the immense determination conveyed in her expression, I gritted my teeth.

I did not want to know this method. My mind even refused to consider this method. Just as Vritra pointed out, I should have realized this method long ago.


'—Such awful people we have here.'


At that moment, I heard a tiny voice behind me, so I turned around immediately.

However, there was no one there, except for a black shadow stretched out along the sunlight's direction, standing there silently the whole time.