Meanwhile, on the battlefield outside.
The situation there was still unchanged.
No, in a sense, it was only getting worse.
"Run, run away!"
"Damn it, it's coming!"
Uoooooo!
The Apollo Familia was fleeing.
Until just a moment ago, Bell and Ryuu's efforts had given them enough hope to resist together.
But not anymore.
Bell Cranel had been badly injured and was now rampaging like a madman, while Ryuu was the only one who could stand in his way.
As a result, both of them were naturally pushed out of the giant's line of sight.
That meant neither of them could help the Apollo Familia now.
If there was anyone who could still do something, it would only be that slender eastern female warrior.
"[Shinbutoujou!]"
Futsunomitama!
Thud!
Goooooo!
A gravity barrier of violet light.
The heavy pressure once again seized the giant by the ankles.
Thanks to that, those who had nearly been struck by the giant's attack were able to escape safely.
That was the only resistance she could manage right now.
But...
"K-kh..."
Even that had truly reached its limit.
This was already the fifth time today she had used magic.
Of course, her mind was now practically scraped clean to the bottom.
This had only been possible because she had forced down the mind potions handed out by the Apollo Familia's supporters.
So using any more magic was impossible.
To begin with, she wasn't a proper mage.
She was merely one of the front-liners who had awakened a single spell by luck after leveling up.
It went without saying that, compared to true mages, her mind reserves were far from generous.
If anything, everything she had done so far had gone beyond simply doing her part and had produced results above and beyond expectations.
The problem was that the reality in front of her was even harsher and more vicious than that.
"Ahh, I can't... any more!"
Crack!
And so the final obstacle had just reached its limit and collapsed under its own weight.
There was nothing left to stop the giant's steps.
The annihilation of the Apollo Familia was now certain.
"Shoot!"
Kwa-gagagagagagak!
Thud thud thud...
"It hit!"
"It worked, even if only a little this time!"
"Good! Mages, fall back and regroup! Keep your bodies protected as much as possible! Take the fallen elf with you too! And the rest of you, charge again! Show me some guts!"
""Uooooooo!""
Even so, the mood on the battlefield was very different from before.
More precisely, the people fighting within it had changed—their resolve had changed.
The expressions of the adventurers, which at the start had been stained with fear and defeatism, were clearly different from before.
Despair and terror at the impossibility of victory were still there.
But the faint flame of resistance that had risen within them had no intention of going out so easily.
Yes, if anything, it was the stubborn grit of people who lived by the sword.
"Hold on! Hold on!"
"Cut it down!"
"Grrrgh...!"
It had all started with Bell Cranel.
Through that unremarkable boy who had seemed so fragile, they had found hope.
They wanted to live up to the expectations of the one who had not abandoned them, who had instead reached out his hand to them.
They did not want to make his faith meaningless, to let it all be in vain.
They wanted to properly apologize to him again, this time for real.
"Until Little Rookie comes back...!"
Hold out like hell until Bell Cranel returns!
Uooooooo!
Vigorous cheers rang out from all around, from everywhere.
The enemy had ceased to be the enemy, and the ally had instead become the one and only evil that had to be overthrown.
To those who knew the circumstances, it was an irony beyond measure.
But it was hard to simply laugh at them.
After all, that was what human beings were.
Clumsy, crude, and forced.
And yet humans were the kind of beings who could reflect on the past and become better, even if only in this way.
Children who carried such possibilities within them.
That was why the gods loved the children of the Lower World, and came down to be with them.
To witness precisely that possibility.
"Well, now that I look at it, those kids are a waste on Apollo."
"True. It's been a while since I've seen such fiery guts."
"Come to think of it, aside from a few exceptional ones lately, everyone's been kind of lukewarm."
"Mm! The hot comradeship of warriors! Ganesha, deeply moved!"
"Cliché, but... well, it's been a while, so I'll allow it this once."
As a result, the gods watching had a fairly good overall impression.
Since the War Game itself was basically a festival, their stance was that anything went as long as it was entertaining, so that was only natural.
In that sense, this War Game was a chain of utterly unpredictable events, something even the gods with all their long experience could hardly have foreseen.
In a situation like that, it was only natural that the ones who simply didn't like that sort of thing were the minority.
"Well now, that boy is even more vicious than Finn said."
Among them, the self-proclaimed goddess of no breasts was calmly analyzing the battlefield with a sharp gaze, pretending it was nothing.
"I haven't seen Welf since a while ago. I wonder where he's gone off to."
The one-eyed goddess worried about her child.
"An, what sort of hero are you hoping for?"
The wandering god of schemes wore a friendly smile while hiding his malice inside.
And the goddess of the hearth, who could be called the one directly involved in the battlefield, was...
"M-maaaagusss! What in the world have you done to my Bell!?"
...in a live panic, utterly at a loss.
She had an expression as spectacular as the sun god, who looked like he had fallen into the depths of despair and the River Styx.
If possible, she looked ready to jump straight into the middle of the battlefield right this instant.
The only reassurance was that the gods beside her were desperately holding her back.
But the real concern was elsewhere.
"Hmm..."
Tap. Tap. Tap.
The towering Babel.
From her residence there, the goddess of beauty was watching the battlefield, that rare festival.
The chief deity of the strongest faction, Freya, was in a very foul mood right now.
Orario's strongest adventurer, the "Warrior" Ottar, could understand that goddess's displeased and irritated feelings better than anyone.
The revered goddess beside him was most dangerous when she was in this kind of "expressionless" state, more than at any other time.
He knew that from long experience.
And the cause was surely that white-haired boy rampaging in the battlefield right now... no.
That white-haired boy who was currently "running wild" and falling apart in real time.
Ottar's guess was entirely correct.
"What a mess."
I don't like it.
The goddess Freya slightly, subtly furrowed her brow.
Bell Cranel came into her sight.
He was a boy who looked extremely precarious even from the outside.
But when she looked into the soul within him through her eyes as a goddess, his condition was even more serious.
The pure white color she usually enjoyed watching was gradually being stained black.
Like a filthy clump of germs, like a hideous mass of filth, it was defiling and humiliating the boy's soul, spreading further and further.
Watching that scene in real time, she felt as if the fire in her chest was about to burst and drive her mad with rage.
The only one who could paint that child with color... the only one qualified to do so... was herself.
That was something that magician boy absolutely could not do, and must not do.
"I was only planning to watch a little longer because he had some rather cute points."
"Looks like he was a nastier child than I thought."
Freya's cold smile and muttered words sent a chill down Ottar's spine for an instant.
Still, he forced himself to ignore that sensation and asked for her decision.
"Shall I move, Lady Freya?"
"...Let's see. What should I do?"
At the goddess's flat response, Ottar let out a silent sigh.
That uncertain, ambiguous answer was proof that she was seriously debating whether or not to intervene herself.
And from his experience, in cases like this, his revered goddess would surely...
"Ottar."
"Yes, Lady Freya."
"Sorry, but could you go over there for a moment..."
That was when it happened.
"Huh?"
Suddenly, after seeing something, the goddess's atmosphere changed completely.
Ottar instinctively realized that something had changed in Bell Cranel's condition.
And in fact, it had.
Something had truly changed inside Bell Cranel as seen by the goddess.
"The color...!"
The color of Bell Cranel's soul, which she had checked just moments ago, had been murky and dark.
It had been gradually stained with deeper and deeper black.
But now...
Now it was completely different.
"Ahh...!"
The black is being peeled away.
The darkness within the boy is burning and fading away.
No, that was not simply disappearing.
When all was said and done, that dirty, ugly blackness was also the boy's.
His soul and his heart.
The darkness within that every human being is forced to carry.
And now that darkness was shrinking.
To be more precise.
The boy's darkness was being swallowed by the boy's light, and beginning to shine together with it.
A strange phenomenon never seen anywhere, by anyone.
And because of that...
"Aaaahhh...!"
It was a sight more beautiful and intoxicating than anything else in the world.
A brilliant light of the soul beyond comparison was filling the boy's inner world.
Freya instinctively understood it.
The boy's soul had grown once more.
Bigger, stronger, brighter.
He had taken one more step forward as a hero.
"Haa, magnificent..."
Freya let out a deep breath.
She did not know whether this was simply the result of the boy's own efforts, or merely the magician's arrangement.
But the goddess of beauty, watching all of this in real time, could not stop the exclamations spilling from her lips at that intoxicating sight.
What stood before her was an extreme delicacy she could not possibly tear her eyes away from.
It was loveliness itself.
"Lady Freya."
"Let's just... watch a little longer."
With that, the goddess quietly cooled the cold anger she had felt just moments ago.
Yes.
After all, punishment was something to be given later, once she had seen everything through to the end.
*
The first to notice the boy's change was a certain goddess.
But there was no one here now to recognize it.
So the first to notice the boy's change was none other than her.
The boy's companion, the elf Ryuu Lion.
[Gah...!]
"Hm?"
[Aaaaaaaagh!]
"Cranel?"
Bell Cranel suddenly began screaming.
But why was it?
Ryuu felt that the scream now was completely different from the one before.
If his cries until just now had been like those of some excited beast...
Then this one was more like the cry of a person in pain...
Crack!
[Gyaaaaaaagh!]
"Gasp?!"
Ryuu was so startled that she froze.
The boy, who until just moments ago had been rampaging like a beast and running wild like a madman, suddenly began thrashing around by himself.
At the same time, the skull mask he wore cracked and broke a little... just a little.
Then the boy's hand slowly rose upward.
Grab!
Grrrkk! Grrrrk!
[Aaaaaaaagh!]
He began trying to remove the mask himself.
And with that, his scream... no, his agonized cry burst even more violently from his throat.
As if trying to tear away the directionless violence of madness that covered his eyes.
"Cranel!"
Ryuu ran.
She still didn't know what was going on, but even so, she ran.
Perhaps... perhaps hope had begun to appear.
Thinking that, she approached the boy who was suffering.
But...
Pow!
"Kh!"
[Gaaaaaagh!]
Apparently he was not fully back to his senses yet.
The boy reacted immediately to her approach and attacked.
Even so, one of his hands was still trying to rip off the hideous mask covering his face.
Ryuu saw hope there for certain.
"Yes, you're fighting in there too."
With the glimmer of hope that had begun to show, Ryuu smiled faintly.
But even so, the situation was still dire.
The Apollo Familia's belated struggle had achieved little.
And they, who should have been acting as strikers, were pinned down here.
So they had to somehow get Bell Cranel back to his senses here.
Even if the price was herself.
If only the boy in front of her could come to his senses.
"I'll save you now, Cran..."
Boom!
"Ugh, ngh!"
But as expected.
The harsh and difficult situation did not help her.
No, it only got in her way.
Uwooooooo!
Had it noticed the change on this side?
Or was it merely a coincidence?
The giant's gaze, which until just now had been fixed only on the Apollo Familia, shifted to the two of them.
And it reached out, trying to separate Ryuu and Bell Cranel from each other.
Ryuu hurriedly pulled back, avoiding the giant's rough hand.
"Damn it...!"
In the end, the distance between the boy and her widened.
At this rate, she couldn't help him.
"Don't interfere!"
Goooooo!
Boom!
The giant answered her fierce shout with violence.
And so Bell Cranel was left alone behind.
[Aagh...! Aaaaaaaagh!]
Crack! Crack-crrk!
The boy still did not stop trying to remove the mask, even as he writhed as if he were about to die at any moment.
And though the other arm, the only one left, desperately tried to block the boy's arm while dropping the weapon it held, the boy's arm held firm and kept resisting.
But in this state, the situation would only remain at a standstill.
Something else, another change, was needed.
"W-what should I do?"
Meanwhile, the one who noticed the boy's change after Ryuu on this battlefield was none other than Cassandra.
The word in the prophecy that clearly pointed to her.
The witch's role was to remove the mask.
Having recognized that, she had kept her eyes on the boy ever since he put on the mask.
And at last.
The time foreseen in the prophecy had come.
But...
"I-I can't..."
The masked boy's momentum was still pure ferocity.
His exclusive violence, rejecting and excluding anyone who came near, made it impossible for her to easily take a step forward.
So she looked for someone else who could fulfill her role.
"Kh! Aaaagh!"
"Hold on! Hold on, I said!"
"Kuhk!"
Boom!
Uwooooooo!
Everyone was already fighting desperately beyond their limits.
There was no room anywhere to think about what came next.
Those who had already run out of room were far from the battlefield, barely keeping themselves upright and only gasping for breath.
Even Ryuu, the one with the highest chance, was impossible to rely on for the moment because of the giant's sudden offensive.
And her childhood friend Daphne was busy with command as well.
"I-is it just me? Am I the only one...?"
As it said.
She was the only one left.
The only person who could help the boy here was her.
Only the pessimist, Cassandra Ilion.
"H-how... I, I..."
Still wavering.
Still too afraid to move her trembling feet.
And then, above her head...
"Eh?"
Boom!
"Kyahhh!"
Unexpected violence came crashing down.
"Ahh, it hurts..."
Cassandra's whole body was bruised and scraped up, a mess from the debris that burst over her like an explosion from the shock.
And in front of her...
"B-Bell?"
The boy had somehow come closer.
And though he still showed the fierce savagery he could not hide,
"H-how...?"
[Gaaah... Gyaaaaaaah!]
the boy had stopped even the act of trying to remove the mask that oppressed him.
Forcing his out-of-control body to move, he had saved her from the violence just now.
He had taken the real damage contained in it onto his own body instead of hers and blocked it.
"Why... would you go that far...?"
[Aaaaaaaaaagh!]
The boy still had no proper consciousness.
So was this merely a coincidence?
Had she just been accidentally helped by his reaction to reject everything that came near?
No.
It was absolutely not that.
She didn't know exactly why... but at least on that one point, Cassandra could be certain.
That just now,
the boy had saved her by his own will.
That she had once again been rescued without having to pay anything in return.
"Hic..."
At that moment, hot tears welled up in her eyes.
Her chest tightened with a nameless frustration and passion, and she bit her lip hard enough to draw blood.
She was ashamed.
She had been afraid of the changed boy and had done nothing.
And yet he had gone that far to save someone with whom he shared only a slight connection...
Even though it must have been painful.
Even though it must have been harder for him than anyone else.
"Bell..."
The boy moved for someone other than himself.
At that astonishing nobility and unyielding will, she could no longer find the words to continue.
No more avoidance or escape.
She could not allow it herself anymore.
"What's needed is... the courage to overcome fear."
In that instant.
Cassandra understood the true meaning of the prophecy.
What?
From the beginning, her prophecy had not tried to teach her something indirectly.
It had simply, honestly, without hiding a single thing, guided her correctly with the truth itself.
"Even I..."
And so Cassandra forced herself to stand.
Her body still had not shaken off the pain.
Her legs were still pathetic and trembling with fear.
And the cowardly desire to run away still filled a corner of her heart.
"Even I...!"
Tap!
Ignoring all of that, she ran.
With her resolve set, she too squeezed out the tiny scrap of courage she had, just like everyone else.
Her target was the boy in front of her.
That hideous skull mask imprisoning and oppressing him.
She had to tear that evil thing off, no matter what.
"Beeeellllll!"
[Gaaaaaagh!]
Even with her sudden surprise charge, the boy's ferocity remained sharp and precise.
Bell Cranel, who had somehow grasped the Hestia Knife again, aimed for her throat.
At this rate, whether she succeeded or failed, she was in danger.
And that was...
Thump!
The other "intact" hand swatted it away at the last instant.
Thanks to that, Cassandra escaped with only a scratch on her cheek.
"Hic...!"
For a moment, she truly thought she was going to die.
But even so, her feet did not stop.
"Bell, please...!"
At last, throwing herself into the boy's arms, she desperately grabbed the skull mask covering his face.
If she could just remove it now...
Stab!
"Ah..."
At the familiar sound of flesh and blade reaching her ears, her gaze unconsciously dropped downward.
Then she saw her clothes, slowly turning red.
And there, the boy's knife had pierced through her stomach...
"Cough!"
Before she knew it, she coughed up a mouthful of bright red blood.
Even so, she did not let go of the hand gripping the boy's mask.
But beyond that, she could not continue.
More precisely, merely holding on and enduring was the limit of what she could do now.
'Ahh, so I really can't do anything right after all...'
Just as she was thinking that and about to give up in defeat...
Drop.
"Huh...?"
A single droplet fell onto her face as she slumped down, losing blood as it drained away.
Cassandra reflexively lifted her head to see where it had come from.
"Ah..."
In her sight, the boy still wore the mask, so his expression could not be seen.
But through the eyeholes...
A transparent stream was slowly flowing out.
At that, she smiled.
As expected, this boy was far too kind.
So then...
"Bell..."
She didn't know what would happen later.
She didn't know anything about what came after.
She didn't care whether she herself was dying as much as the blood leaving her body.
She ignored the fear that had somehow vanished as well.
Right now, she simply...
Simply for the sake of this kind boy in front of her.
"Please..."
She clenched the slender fist she had never once truly formed before with all her strength.
She pulled her trembling, fragile arm back as far as it would go.
As she moved, the foreign sensation in her lower abdomen sent searing pain through her body, but she forced herself to ignore it.
"Stop already..."
Just once.
Just once, for the boy in front of her.
Just once, to repay his kindness.
For a tiny bit of courage that might be her last in life.
"Get up!"
This time for sure.
It was time to throw away her worthless self!
[Kk...!]
Whoosh!
But unfortunately.
The boy's reaction speed was overwhelmingly superior to hers.
And before she knew it, the boy had pulled out the knife embedded in her body and was aiming for her arm again.
And that...
Stab!
[Kaaagh!]
This time too, the "boy's" arm stopped it.
The boy's arm, which willingly thrust his own body into the blade in order to preserve her fighting spirit.
The hand holding the knife tried to pull back again, but the boy's consciousness, slowly returning, interfered.
With that, both of his arms were sealed.
And through that defenseless opening...
Pow!
The slender fist clutching a tiny scrap of courage landed, awkward but real.
Immediately after.
Grrrk... crack!
A visible crack appeared across the mask.
The gap between it and his face widened enough to be clearly seen.
Just a little.
The boy's youthful face hidden beneath it could be glimpsed.
That honest, kind, almost cute face for a boy was revealed to the world once more.
And through that gap of hope...
The "boy's" hand drove in.
Crunch... crack, grrrrk!
[Aaaaaaaagh!]
The "boy" decided that this time he would break free for sure.
Ignoring the condition of his injured arm, he used all his strength to grip the mask and tear it away.
Along with that, the boy's scream grew longer and louder.
And then.
Crack!
At last, the mask was torn from the boy's face.
The violent madness in his momentum was stripped away.
Not completely, of course.
About a quarter of it still remained, with fragments of the mask left around his eyes.
"Cassandra."
The gentle "boy's" consciousness had clearly returned.
Everything was thanks to one person.
Thanks to the sacrifice of one single witch.
Thanks to the one tiny scrap of courage she had squeezed out.
"Thank you."
The boy, who knew that better than anyone, sincerely thanked her for her struggle and sacrifice.
By then, the one who should have heard that thanks had already run out of strength and lost consciousness.
But the boy did not mind, and gently, carefully placed her down on the safest spot he could find.
Then, using the potion from the one remaining pouch he had "luckily" left, he poured it over her wound and said,
"I'll be back."
To end this stupid play.
Having declared that, Bell Cranel turned and ran.
Over there.
His companions were waiting for him on the battlefield.
Now, truly.
It was time to bring down the curtain on this foolish play.