The Elf Empire, Yggdrasil's Eastern District Prison.
In the evening, the birds stopped chirping, giving way to the hissing of insects. In a particularly secluded building at the outskirts of the east, in the capital, there was a massive building that was concealed by three barriers.
One barrier concealed the prison, another barrier served as an alarm for whoever came in and out of it, and the last barrier was an impregnable wall that couldn't be trespassed unless with an eleventh-tier skill.
There were several prisons, but this one was by far the most important of the Empire. All of those imprisoned here were Moon and Star Elves who were corrupted and had served Decem Hougan's dynasty for decades. They either paid for their crimes or awaited execution.
All of them, except for two Moon Elves. In this putrid place at the bottom of the prison in the deepest level, there were a pair of moon elves who were shackled, blindfolded and isolated.
Not because of their crime, but because of their power.
In front of their cell, two silhouettes manifested from a spatial portal, bypassing all barriers as if they were a joke. These two elves heard steps coming towards them and got on guard. It had been a while since anyone came to see them for anything other than giving them food.
They heard a voice first, it was the voice of a girl that they couldn't quite recognise, but it sounded familiar... like someone they had fought with in the past.
"Are you sure? You can't blame master for this later~".
They didn't understand what she was talking about or what master it was. But the voice they heard next gave them hope.
"... this is one of the last steps to erase my past".
!!!
"Albedo!" Both Moon Elf kids screamed enthusiastically and rushed forward, falling in the process since they were both shackled and blindfolded.
The woman walked to the bars, and upon hearing her name be mentioned by them, she shivered.
"Aura, Mare..."
Both Dark Elves, now Moon Elves, had been her companions in the past, fellow guardians of Nazarick. They had been captured by Galadriel during Ains' offensive against the Elf Kingdom... their prison time was undefined, but due to their loyalty to Ains Ooal Gown, they couldn't be released.
"Albedo! You're here, hehe! I knew Ains-sama wasn't going to abandon us!" The girl... or boy? spoke with happiness, thinking that their master had sent Albedo to free them, although they didn't know who the other person was she was with.
"Ains-sama won't come".
Those words were dry, lifeless... scary. When the two elves heard them, their smiles dropped. They couldn't see Albedo, but for some reason, due to her voice, they couldn't imagine her as the same Albedo that they knew.
And they were right.
The Albedo in front of them was a demoness with longer wings, falling white hair and longer horns. She emanated an aura of lust and darkness that was unparalleled.
The mere scent she emanated made them blush, but the fear in their hearts was greater.
"H-Huh? What do you mean, remove this blindfold, Albedo! There is not much time, the guards come every two hours, they're about to come now".
"The guards won't come either... I am sorry, Aura, Mare!"
They didn't know what was happening, but they felt death looming. Unbeknownst to them, a Halberd was just about to tear them apart when Kurumi took Albedo's sleeve and stopped her.
Albedo's eyes went pitch-black and her pupils white when she looked at Kurumi, awaiting her explanation.
There was silence, with only the candles on the walls to bring even if a bit of light.
"Why do you have to go so far? Let me do it, it will hurt you less–"
"If you do it, I won't be able to hold back, and I will kill you, Kurumi".
"..."
Both monsters had a stare down, and while Kurumi's appearance resembled that of a high-school girl, Albedo knew better. She knew the past was the past, and in the present... she and Kurumi wouldn't be able to slaughter each other no matter how hard they tried.
Death was no longer a possibility.
"Do whatever you wish, just don't regret it" Kurumi let go and turned around... she wasn't Albedo's nanny.
With the green light to continue, Albedo resumed her conviction. She tore the enhanced metal bars apart with her bare nails and took Mare and trashed him against a wall.
*BAAANGG!!*
The shock made the elf cough up huge volumes of blood as his sister screamed. At his last moments, Mare's blindfold unfolded, and he managed to see the gaze of his assailant.
Albedo's eyes were shivering and bleeding. She was crying blood.
"Al-bedo...!" She tried to talk, but the blood in her throat didn't allow her to.
"You have to die... just so I can finally be happy with Ray-sama".
"A-Albedo, stop! Why are you doing this?!" Aura rushed to aid her sibling, believing that Albedo was brainwashed or something, but there was nothing she could do. The shackles disabled their capability to use spells and magic.
"Because I can't stop thinking of all of you. I-If I don't kill you all, I will just suffer... and if I suffer, my master will suffer... but I can't allow Ray-sama to suffer because of me".
Albedo was nearly psychotic; her gaze indicated that she wasn't mentally sane. Kurumi looked at her and sighed, wondering if she was going to go through the same eventually... after all, there was someone whom she was going to kill, whom she didn't want to kill.
Albedo didn't want to delay her or the Elves' pain any longer.
With one clean slice, the heads of both elves rolled. She did it as painlessly as she could.
But it was only painless for them, not for her. She collapsed on the ground, looking at her bloodstained eyes. Kurumi knelt down to help her. Her shadow extended, and she consumed all the blood and both bodies.
Soon, Albedo's hands were clean too.
"He is connected to all the Moon and Star Elves, master knows what you have done", Kurumi whispered.
"And he will understand why I did it. Let's go, there is only one obstacle left".
"Okay..."
Kurumi created a portal that transported them to the balcony of the palace of Yggdrasil. There, the Sun God was sitting, watching the moon high in the sky.
A cute beauty with long pink hair was slumbering on his lap, and he caressed her hair as she snored. He was covering his face, as if he had just experienced immense pain.
Albedo knelt in front of him; she took his palm, and he looked at her. Ray caressed her face, "I'm sorry".
"Do not apologise, master... this is necessary" Albedo stopped crying; in fact, she felt all her emotions that had been in disarray come back to normalcy when she saw his face.
Like a drug that numbs all the pain and makes you forget reality, that's what he was for her... a drug.
"Are you going to go all the way? Why won't you let me do it?" Ray asked her as he had countless times. But she insisted once more, and he had to respect her wishes.
"It has to be me... so that I don't harbour hatred towards anyone other than myself. You understand me, don't you?" Albedo put his hand against her cheeks and rubbed it.
She had hopelessly fallen in love with her master. And she would get rid of anything that stopped her from achieving happiness. And right now, the only thing that was stopping her from being happy was the guilt of her betrayal.
'So long as they exist, this guilt is not going to disappear... I have to destroy all of them, and my memories of them'
Ray kissed her forehead, knowing that she came here with a request, "What do you want me to do?".
"Please, create a gate exactly at the border between the Re-Estize Kingdom and the Sloane Theocracy. I will shatter their army, master..."
Ray didn't answer; instead, he thought about declining... about taking care of it on his own.
'If I am the one who kills Ains Ooal Gown, then she won't have to suffer as much' He thought.
'But if you kill him, there will forever be a dark spot in her heart towards you...' Elysir finished, 'There will always be a little part of her heart that hates you'.
"... as you wish".
And so he did.
A transdimensional gate created by the sun god, it was the only signal that could travel across the continent. When the sun was covered by the moon in the form of an eclipse, everyone on the continent could see it.
Only the Sun God was capable of this.
Black Scripture got their signal, and Ains Ooal Gown got his signal. Both sides prepared their army and marched towards the gate where they expected to meet a weakened Sun God.
But what they found at the gate was only two individuals.
Tokisaki Kurumi, Nightmare.
And Albedo.
"A-Albedo? Where is he?" Ains Ooal Gown, concealed as the adventurer momon, showed up, followed by Narberal Gamma and Sebas Tian. Behind him was the Re-Estize Kingdom's army.
Black scripture also looks at her, recalling that conversation they had prior in which she said once the skies darkened, that would be the signal. Here was the signal, and here she was... but where was Osiris?
Albedo's gaze darkened, "Take care of everyone else... leave Ains Ooal Gown to me".
"Of course~" Kurumi nearly salivated. She flicked her fingers, and a gigantic clock appeared behind her.
"Come out, Lucifugus".
*RUMBLE!*
Her appearance changed, long white hair and her yellow eyes turned blue. Kurumi extended her hand forward, and the world stopped. It just stopped dead.
Nobody was able to move, not even Albedo. Arms began to protrude from every single person in both armies except for Ains, Narberal and Sebas Tian.
Easily more than fifty thousand people, the abyssal hands clenched around their necks and started to tighten up.
"Give me your time~".
*CRUNCH!*
When the world went back to normal, Ains Ooal Gown opened his eyes, it was as if not even a millisecond had transcurred. But when he looked around, the place was deserted, and what remained were rivers of blood.
The armies were gone; it didn't matter if they were Adamantite, Orialchum... in front of the concept of time, they were all weaklings... they would all return to the dust.