How long had it been?
The only thing Jonas could see was red.
Time had long since lost meaning as waves of pain relentlessly assaulted his body, crashing into him without pause. His limbs felt distant, as though they no longer belonged to him, and all that remained was a faint, flickering awareness barely holding on.
Even so, he continued to swing his sword.
'Not yet.'
…
"Almost there…"
Sylvia's vision blurred and doubled, the immense mental strain pressing down on her like a crushing weight. Her head throbbed, and every calculation felt heavier than the last, but she refused to let go.
If she fell now, everything would have been for nothing.
'Not yet.'
…
Lylan had already recovered.
She rose to her feet, her gaze cold and empty as she watched the lone soldier tearing through her army. Without hesitation, she shut away her emotions, sealing them beneath a layer of indifference.
"Die."
Her voice rang out in the unfamiliar tongue of her home world. In response, the outlets on her back flared to life, releasing numerous beams that shot forward and slammed into Jonas.
'Did that kill him?'
The thought had barely formed when a streak burst from the dust cloud, cutting through the air and leaving behind a blood-red trail.
"Why won't you give up?" she growled.
Her arm shifted and split apart, morphing into countless writhing tentacles that lashed out toward the dying soldier.
Then, from the corner of her eye, she caught something else.
A crudely constructed aircraft, barely holding together yet somehow functional, was moving across the city. Slowly, it began to lift off the ground.
And in that instant, she understood.
"So, you won't fall until they succeed, huh."
Her gaze sharpened.
She could not allow that to happen. From everything she had learned, humans were creatures that had to be eliminated before they had the chance to grow.
Without another thought, she shifted her focus away from Jonas and redirected her beams toward the fleeing aircraft.
…
"Sister…"
Ethan's voice broke the silence from the back of the plane as Sylvia gripped the controls in the cockpit.
"…what?"
The two of them sat in a rare moment of quiet, both desperately trying to suppress the storm of emotions raging within them.
Shame. Anger. Grief. Regret.
They could still see Jonas below, fighting with everything he had to give them a chance to escape.
And yet, all they could do was leave him behind.
Even if they threw their lives away and went back, they knew it would change nothing. Against that monster, they wouldn't even be able to make a difference.
They were… weak.
If not for the incoming threat, Ethan wouldn't have spoken at all.
"Multiple attacks are headed for us."
His voice was calm, steady, as he stood and stared at the beams racing toward them faster than they could possibly escape.
"I see."
Sylvia's reply was just as composed, though her grip on the controls tightened.
The plane wasn't perfect, far from it, but it could still perform basic maneuvers. If she calculated everything precisely—
'We can make it.'
No.
They had to make it.
And Jonas… there was no way he would give up.
…
"Not on my watch!"
Jonas roared as he brought his hands down onto the tube-like outlets on Lylan's back, the ones radiating intense heat and energy.
The moment he made contact, the heat scorched his skin, burning through flesh and setting it aflame. The pain was overwhelming, but he didn't stop.
He couldn't.
With a single decisive motion, he cut through them.
"You're persistent!"
Lylan's body trembled as she focused, forcing him back and creating distance between them.
Only a few seconds remained.
That was all Jonas had left.
In truth, he should have died long ago. No human body should have been able to endure this much damage, to continue moving after being pushed this far.
'I won't question it.'
Whether it was his latent potential erupting at the final moment or something else entirely, it didn't matter.
As long as it let him do what needed to be done, that was enough.
"With this last breath of mine…"
He steadied himself, stretching his battered body as he prepared for one final strike.
"…Moonlit Sword Style — Heavenlit Finale."
The final technique.
The last page in the story of Jonas Lucifer.
…
They knew.
The moment they saw the light, they understood.
And with that understanding came an overwhelming wave of grief that threatened to break them apart.
They wanted to cry.
More than anything, they wanted to let it all out, to scream and weep until there was nothing left.
But they held it in.
For now.
Memories surged through their minds, one after another, each more precious—and more painful—than the last.
From their first meeting…
…to their final goodbye.
The laughter. The arguments. The quiet moments in between.
For a brief moment, they nearly broke.
…
"What kind of person do you want to be?"
Ethan and Sylvia blinked, staring at Jonas in confusion as he asked the question so suddenly.
"Where did that come from?" Sylvia asked.
"It's something my mentor once asked me," Jonas replied, his tone thoughtful. "My final answer was… a reliable adult."
"Isn't that a bit mundane?"
"I guess it is."
He looked up at the sky, his expression distant.
"But in this world, sometimes all we really need is something ordinary."
He paused, then smiled slightly.
"You'd be surprised how few reliable adults there are. Kids dream, but adults… they learn to accept reality and stop."
His gaze softened as he looked at them.
"That's why I want to protect those dreams. I want kids like you to be able to dream as much as you want."
He grinned, light and teasing, and the two of them frowned in response.
"And that's why I want you to think carefully about it," he added. "About the kind of person you want to become."
…
There was nothing.
No light. No pain. No sensation.
Only darkness.
People always wondered what came after death.
Heaven.
Hell.
Or simply… nothing at all.
But that wasn't what occupied his thoughts.
"Hey, Nalum… did I manage to become a respectable adult like you?"
There was no answer.
There couldn't be.
She was gone.
And yet, he could still imagine her voice.
"Do you have any regrets?"
"No."
"Did you try your best to live according to your ideals?"
"Yeah."
"Then you already have your answer."
'I lied.'
The thought came quietly.
'I do have regrets.'
A faint feeling lingered.
'I'm still worried… about the three of them.'
Even so, somewhere deep down, he believed they would be fine.
They had to be.
And with that final thought, his consciousness slowly faded away.