He raised his head and looked at the hero's party —the last survivors on the continent who had dedicated themselves to pursuing him. In fact, their battle had already been raging for several days; he hadn't bothered to count them, and most of the destruction in this city was the result of their fighting.
Or rather, when they began fighting, this city was considered humanity's last stronghold on the continent and was still standing strong; had they not fought here, perhaps the city would have survived, and they might have reclaimed the continent from the invaders and monsters and cleansed it of the Magicians' defilement.
Naturally, with the walls and defences crumbling as the fighting continued, the monsters and Magicians overran the city, so he didn't take full credit for the destruction.
And for that reason, too, the final hours of the battle were somewhat ridiculous and tedious, lacking any flashy or powerful moves; everyone was already exhausted, even him.
Hmm... right
This is the duodecimus month -twelfth month of the year-... at least it was before the battle began. In fact, he was on his way to her grave when he got tangled up with those scoundrels, for the twenty-third of the duodecimus is the anniversary of her death...
He looked up at the sky, but there was no snow, despite the cold that even the entire burning city had done nothing to counter.
Truly... He raised his hand gently and whispered
"Sanctuary of Annihilation- The Last winter"
Given the state of his body, he knew he wouldn't last long, so instead of fighting, he chose to offer his lament to her... Even if belatedly
Gradually, dozens, then hundreds, then thousands, then millions of specks of cold, desolate silver light appeared, dancing on the palm of his hand. They rose and spread through the air, mingling with the red embers in the mist, creating a gentle, peaceful scene amidst the winter's chill and the hell of fire
Like snow writing an elegy as the final page of a continent's history
from north to south, ravaged by the madness of a madman who once possessed everything and, on another day, lost everything, so he swore that nothing would remain, not even ink to write the story of what had happened
I miss you...
He didn't say it, but for the first time in years his eyes glinted with a faint sadness, like the last spark of humanity still tucked away in the deepest corner of his heart
I've missed you...
He said nothing... for years he had lost the meaning of everything... even before all this began...
Thirty years ago, or more, he was nothing more than a hollow shell; it would have been absurd to call him a living person, even though he was born a prince, second in rank to the emperor of his entire great empire. But well... let's just say that his childhood was not the brightest of childhoods, for certain reasons
For a man who had nothing and had even forgotten his own name... until she rudely burst into his world and imposed herself on his life with utter arrogance
Perhaps it was love, or obsession, or mere possessiveness, or perhaps even something more selfish, self-centred and brutal.
He didn't really know how he felt about her, but he clung to her and his whole world began to revolve around her. Yet she wasn't really a kind woman; she was officially certified as insane, a deranged woman who revelled in killing and destruction.
And even after she died on a snowy night on his birthday… It was funny, even to him, that his feeling wasn't sadness but anger—not at her killer, but at her...
How dare she leave him... How dare she die
He was overcome by a desire to kill... to kill her, but his dilemma was that she was already dead. He smashed her body to pieces, but his rage did not subside. He destroyed that city, but his rage did not subside.
Perhaps it was the moment madness took hold of him; he could think of nothing but ridding himself of the frustration and anger that filled his chest
He lived with that feeling for a while until one day he forgot it and could no longer even remember how it all began... Well, even to him it seemed excessive; he had never been the sort to act on his emotions because he could never really distinguish them properly, and since then—no, even before that—he had never truly felt anything... He had already lost the concept of emotions
True... a liar
He didn't miss her...
He wasn't sad
Because he had never loved...
Because... he didn't even understand the concept
His heart was like an empty abyss; he could never reach any real emotion within it. ..
Even his anger was nothing more than an excuse and a trick he had mastered to deceive himself... merely an excuse to justify his madness, just as he shielded himself with her love, he shielded himself with anger, resentment and sadness
And when the mask finally fell...
Only now does he remember it, as he watches the silver specks of light that erase anything they touch. The zombies are trying to reach him, but his artificial snow blocks them; they seem angry for some reason and dare not invade his space.
He smiled faintly...
And his eyes flickered with the slightest realisation as he remembered that day
The one who killed her that day was none other than him... Why?... Why did he do it? He closed his eyes, his breathing grew faint, and his heart stopped beating quietly, but the answer to his question never came... And it didn't really matter, neither now nor before...
Finally, his heartbeat ceased entirely, and after that final beat, he closed his eyes and breathed his last....
_______________
Eckehard Khaos von Grünewald Ehrenfeld
Crown Prince of the Hagelmark Nordreich Empire. For the first prince born into the imperial family after some drama, his life did not start off badly at all
Everything was going well until the day when everything turned upside down; and the more he tried to fix one thing, the more he destroyed two. Like sand, everything slipped through his fingers until, at some point, he stood alone, with no purpose or meaning to his life, and even his struggle no longer held any meaning
Was everything like this from the very beginning?... True, what neither he nor anyone else had realised before was that the beginning of the collapse of everything had already begun the moment his mother entered the imperial palace, and his downfall was absolutely inevitable, with no room for argument or denial, even whilst he was still in his mother's womb.
It wasn't his fault… and it wasn't anyone's fault but his mother's, who…