I, Mika Elbar, reached a new low.

I was determined and proclaimed that I would get strong enough to get my revenge on Dreyar and protect those dear to me. But where am I now?

I may have achieved my revenge but I still feel empty after killing Dreyar.

Wait. Empty was the wrong word.

After all, I could not have the feeling of almost losing myself now if I were feeling empty inside.

Harik. Lereon. Lisa. Cylia. Ophelia. Olivia. Rachel. Belian. Sara. Elsa. Lily. Sylvia.

I lost everyone whom I swore to protect.

They were close and yet, I was not able to reach them when I had to. After spending two years away from most of them, I was finally able to reunite with them but it felt like a fleeting moment before they disappeared from my sight.

’Let’s go on a trip together once the war is over!’

I’m sorry...! If I hadn’t involved you in this and sent you somewhere safe like initially planned, then you wouldn’t have died...!

The image of me having fun with them during a trip flashed my mind for a moment.

"Keh...!"

I palmed my face and dug my nails deep into my skin.

"I’m sorry..."

It was as if it was yesterday when I hung out with everyone.

But the reality was that it felt like that because everyone died so quickly.

"I’m sorry...!"

Again, I failed miserably. I swore to protect you but it was me who sent you to your deaths...!

The war was over but I feel like the loser.

I have nothing left nor was I able to accept the deaths of them properly.

Or did I grow desensitized to death? Would my past self mourn more about Belian and the others? Was it because I was familiar with the feeling of having lost people dear to me? Or because the little ounces of humanity I had inside of me started to vanish, too?

Whatever it was, I could only tell that I was feeling disappointed and unreasonably angry right now. Not just at me but everything else around me.

"Sorry, but at the very least..."

In the end, the only thing I could do was fight. The only thing I could put my confidence in was my strength. 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

No.

I take that back.

I should not feel confident about strength that could not even be used to help those I wanted to help.

"...I will have you taste my frustration...!" I muttered with gritted teeth.

I stabbed Excalibur into the ground, unleashing its secret ability which negated every ability around me.

I drew my silver sword and pointed it at the unfazed Lanzar.

"Mik-"

"Let me handle this." Lanzar interrupted Zeima, signaling with his arm not to move.

Zeima heaved a sigh.

"Then, please hurry up. We don’t have much time left."

"I know." he responded sternly and with a sharpened gaze.

Lanzar stepped forward.

The Holy Spear still remained in his hand but thanks to Excalibur he would not be able to enlarge it.

"I alone will be enough for you." Lanzar declared indifferently.

"Tch..."

I followed my instincts as my body charged at Lanzar.

I swung my sword with all my might against him but he parried it with his spear.

"What makes you think that you could beat us? Or rather, what is the reason for you fighting us?" Lanzar asked sternly.

"Shut up...!"

I applied more force, pushing him back slightly.

"How annoying."

"!"

Lanzar flipped his spear and wiped my feet off the ground in the same motion.

"Ack!"

He stomped at my stomach with one foot.

"Isn’t Lanzar getting too much invested...?" Raspalia wondered without changing her aloof expression.

"..."

Zeima just glanced at Lanzar pitifully.

"Why did he choose you...?" Lanzar muttered frustratedly.

"Do I look like I’m happy that he chose me...?" I retorted, struggling to get his foot off me.

It seemed like I irritated him even more.

"Argh!"

Like a ball, he kicked me away.

"If it weren’t for his injury, then everything would have been fine...!" Lanzar said, clenching his fists.

Injury?

"You’re treating me like I’m the bad guy here...!"

"Huh?"

Lanzar glared at me.

"Not just because of him... But all of you, too!"

Once again, I jumped at Lanzar with my sword retracted.

"Because of you, I had to suffer so much!"

Lanzar and I exchanged strikes with our weapons. While he landed some blows on me, I managed to scratch his face a few times.

"You guided me to this path, knowing fully well how it would end! How could I be content?! Because of all the choices you forced on me everyone I loved died!!!" I screamed from the depths of my lungs.

None of the three reacted for a moment.

"Is that so? Is that how you really feel?" Lanzar asked.

"Ugh!"

He landed a clean hit with his spear and slapped me across my face.

"..."

With ragged breathing, I had to kneel on one knee.

"Are you blaming us for your fate?"

"Tch..."

Of course...

"Kill me already."

...I don’t.

If it were not for the system and the others, then the world would have ended at the hands of Lucio. In a sense, the angels saved the human realm.

If it meant toying with the life of one person, then it would have been a small price to pay.

That was something I realized a long time ago.

However, I still wanted to point my hatred at the system and the other angels.

Otherwise, I could not have kept a sane mind. In the worst case, I would have maybe questioned my reason for living.

"If anything, then it would be my fault for blindly following the system and allowing him to push me into this path..." I stated out of energy as I gazed at the cold ground.

"Please kill me... Let me at least join my comrades..." I begged with a shaking voice.

But the three angels did nothing aside from looking at me indifferently.

"There’s nothing for me to do anymore... The world was saved from Lucio...!"

"We can’t." Zeima replied.

"...?"

"As much as we want to grant your wish, we mustn’t kill you." Lanzar added.

"Why...?"

"Because we were ordered." Raspalia responded.

My gaze shifted in the other direction.

"Then, can you at least save my friends...?"

"..."

They did not respond.

"I apologize but our time here’s up." Zeima answered, sounding like she pitied me.

"W-what do you mean by th-"

"?!"

Suddenly, my body began to shine.

"We’re being called back." Raspalia explained.

"Not yet!"

I got up and tried to hurry over to Sylvia and Lily."

"Mika Elbar. Let’s talk again once you have calmed down."

Lanzar chopped my neck from behind.

"Ack...!"

You bastard...

No good... My consciousness was about to fade...

I sensed how I was picked up and carried on Lanzar’s shoulder.

The ground appeared smaller as I was most likely lifted to the sky.

The light was so bright...

I felt like I could fall asleep at any moment.

"Sylvia... Lily... Wait for me..." I muttered.

From above I could finally see the rose-like ice labyrinth that Sylvia created.

Was she perhaps trying to create an environment almost no one could enter easily...?

Damn it...!

A warm light engulfed my entire body.

But at the same time, I lost consciousness.

"..."

The next thing I knew once I opened my eyes again was that I was sitting on the floor with my body being chained up like a prisoner.

"Are you finally awake?"

"Hm?"

A man was speaking to me, however, my vision was still too blurred to recognize him.

"So you’re the one Mikaela chose, huh?"

"Who are you...?" I asked, sounding sleepily.

"Heh." the man huffed.

"I am God."