The danger of the darkness stopped as sudden as it came.

Thanks to the Light Demon Lord Lucifer turning into the Dark Demon Lord Satan, the dark matter that was about to cover the whole world was possible to control.

The fiendish dark matter had returned to simple dark matter and was being retrieved by the body of Satan.

“There we go…”

And then, after everything was over, a single man came out from the mouth of Lucifer’s giant body -I mean, Satan.

“Haine-san!” (Karen)

I unconsciously ran towards him and hugged him.

Without minding about the public gaze.

“Haine!” “Haine-chi!” “Haine-oniichan!” “Haine-dono!”

The others were also rushing one after the other.

Of course, Yorishiro-sama as well…

“Haine-san, good work.” (Yorishiro)

“No, the ones who did a good work were you all. Everyone did their best and managed to save the world.” (Haine)

It felt as if their words were reaching directly to our hearts.

Should I say as expected of the Light and Dark God here?

“Kuromiya Haine!” (Michael)

The Demon Lords came down from the sky one after the other as well, but their expressions were that of uneasiness.

“What happened to Lucifer? This is…” (Michael)

It caused us quite a lot of trouble, and even made the light and darkness inside itself go into a rampage, but now, it is practically as good as new now.

It is a size smaller than that of the Light Demon Lord, and its body gave out a black lustre as if it had been varnished, not showing a single wound on itself.

“Right now he is the Dark Demon Lord, Satan.” (Haine)

Haine-san said.

“Looks like that Ates has abandoned her control rights of Lucifer, so taking advantage of that opening left, I took over and changed him. In order to make the dark matter spreading around harmless.” (Haine)

“Was there a need to go through such lengths?” (Raphael)

Raphael bites on.

“Eh? Raphael? Weren’t you dead?” (Haine)

“That’s of no importance right now. You should have been able to control the rampaging dark matter yourself, or eliminate it completely! And yet, why did you go through such troublesome lengths?” (Raphael)

“Because I couldn’t endure it, maybe?” (Haine)

Haine-san silently looked up at Lucifer.

“If it were in the past, I would have erased it without any hesitation. But after fighting you Demon Lords, I have learned that you Demon Lords also have a life, also have a heart. It is because I thought that…” (Haine)

“It was too pitiful to erase, then.” (Raphael)

Haine-san nodded.

“Especially this guy. He was being used by Ates since the beginning of this incident. He was being used without being able to distinguish right or wrong, so I questioned whether it really was okay to have him take responsibility for it.” (Haine)

“You…” (Raphael)

Those words reached out to the Demon Lords the most.

“Can’t have this guy hurt the humans anymore then!” (Michael)

“That was our objective from the very beginning though.” (Gabriel)

“With this, we have completely lost any reason to fight the humans!” (Uriel)

“Hmph, every single one of you are too soft.” (Raphael)

They were trembling probably because they were moved.

At that moment, I was sure.

The battle with the Great Demon Lord Lucifer, the battle with the Demon Lords in general -no, not only that, the battle that continued for a hundred years with the monsters had…at this moment, come to an end.

From now on, a new era will begin.

An era where humans, monsters, and Gods will live together in peace.

“…By the way, where’s Ates?” (Haine)

Haine-san made a light-hearted question as if it was bothering him a bit, but that question made everyone in the place stiffen.

“It was because her control had stopped suddenly that I was able to take over Lucifer, but…seeing that she is not around anywhere in sight, did she escape? Then we still have work to do!” (Haine)

Haine-san was pondering seriously on his own, but everyone in the place was serious for a different reason.

Even if she was such a helplessly evil person, it was still hard to tell him about her death.

“Haine-san!”

And from within that, as expected, the one to jump into to the fire first was Yorishiro-sama.

“Ates-san threw herself into the dark matter and…” (Yorishiro)

(She is not dead.)

?!

What was that voice just now?!

That voice that reverberates right into the soul!

( There’s no way you shouldn’t have noticed as a God yourself, Yorishiro. In the end, for us, a human body is simply a temporary vessel. No matter if it were to fall, our real self that is the God soul will not be affected.)

T-True!

We also knew that Ates’ true identity is the evil side that separated from the Light Goddess, and yet…!

“Ates! Where are you?! Where are you speaking from?!” (Yorishiro)

(It just means that everything went according to plan. The reason I erased the body of Ates was because I wanted to escape from that body. That was my real objective. It didn’t matter if Lucifer destroyed the world or not!) (Ates)

What does that mean?!

(If I were to threaten you people with Lucifer destroying the world, and you were to succeed in stopping it, I knew that you all would lower your guards!! That opening is what I was looking for!!) (Ates)

Ates’ voice showed slight regret for a bit.

(If the world were destroyed and the world where Haine-san and I could be together forever were created, it would have been perfect, but…! Now that it has come to this, I won’t wish for too much! I will keep it to one wish! It is fine as long as I become one with my beloved! Haine-san! No, Dark God Entropy!) (Ates)

It was at that moment.

From what we thought was now the harmless Dark Demon Lord, a small thorn flew out from its body.

No, that’s not it.

It isn’t a small thorn!

Satan’s body is gigantic to begin with, so even if it is small for it, if it were in human size, it is plenty of a normal size.

A small size for Satan would be…a spear in our eyes.

A pitch black spear came out from Satan’s body.

“That’s…!” (Karen)

I remember it.

That’s the shadow spear, Abel!

The divine tool that holds the power of shadow that Ates displayed when she escaped from the Light Church.

Moreover, its target is…Haine-san!

“Haine-san, watch out!” (Karen)

Ates’ last aim was, as expected, Haine-san!

The shadow spear Abel came out from a complete blind spot when we were concentrating in the voice of Ates, so at this moment, even Haine-san can’t react in time!!

(It is already too late! Now Haine-san, accept my last wish! And let’s become one!!) (Ates)

• 411: Accomplishment of the heroes

*Stab*

The sound of a blade entering flesh.

But the shadow spear didn’t pierce Haine-san, but me…Kourin Karen.

“Karen-san?!” (Haine)

I made it in time.

Just as it was about to happen, I went in between Haine-san and the spear and protected Haine-san with my body.

In exchange, the spear was stabbed deeply inside my body though.

(You……!! How dare you! How dare you, you damn brat!!) (Ates)

The voice of Ates reverberates from no place in particular.

(You are still getting in my way! Every single time!! If only you weren’t there! If only you were gone!!) (Ates)

“Ates! So this was your last card!” (Yorishiro)

Yorishiro-sama says as she runs to me.

Directed at the spear that’s pierced in me.

“So the reason why you incarnated into a human and even became a hero of the Light Church to make the shadow spear Abel was because of this?!” (Yorishiro)

“Explain, Yorishiro!” (Haine)

Haine-san showed desperation while supporting my body.

I am happy that he is being kind with me, but my emotions are not being elated. It was as if my emotions were leaking out of my body along with my blood…

“Shadow divine power is converted to light divine power. The shadow spear Abel specializes in controlling that shadow divine power.” (Yorishiro)

“…”

“Ates herself is the incarnation of a God, so if she were to strip off her flesh body and return to her God form, that form is quite close to that of divine power. If she changes herself into shadow and takes shelter in the shadow spear, and then, uses it to pierce Haine-san with it…” (Yorishiro)

“W-What will happen?!” (Haine)

“Darkness and shadow hold pretty similar attributes. If darkness and shadow were to mix through the shadow spear, it might have been possible for Ates to literally become one with Haine-san.” (Yorishiro)

“?!” (Haine)

That was the end goal of Ates.

For that sake, she made the shadow spear Abel.

(…That’s right. After destroying the world and creating a new world, Entropy and I would become one, and we would live our lives without ever being bothered by anyone. That was my ideal. My ultimate objective, and yet…!) (Ates)

The pitch black spear speaks begrudgingly.

So Ates’ soul really did enter this spear after her body perished.

(Not a single thing was fulfilled! My ambitions dashed…because of a single human worm!!) (Ates)

“Shut up!!” (Haine)

Haine-san shouted.

It was a raspy voice that I hadn’t heard from him before.

“Who cares about you! More importantly, Karen-san! We have to treat Karen-san as soon as possible!” (Haine)

“Wait, Haine-san! If you take out the spear right now, she might bleed out! Wait until preparations for the treatment are done!” (Yorishiro)

“Celestis! Please do something! Treating injuries is your specialty, right?!” (Haine)

Haine-san is being so desperate for my sake.

I am kind of happy…

It feels like I am being treasured…

(Who cares?! Who cares about me, you say?!) (Ates)

I could feel the despair coming from the black spear.

(No way! I have been thinking only about you for 1,600 years! I acted for your sake!) (Ates)

Rejection from her loved one.

That was the ultimate despair for her.

All her objectives have been thwarted, and she has no weapon or power left. All of those things that were supporting her, she lost them all. With that, Ates —no, the other Light Goddess, lost all strength and disappeared.

She might have really been just the shadow that separated from the true Light Goddess Inflation.

She was a part of a God, she only had a small part of the power compared to the real body, but she used her feelings for her loved one as support to make it all the way here.

Because she is only a small part of a whole, her emotions were limited. She could only like her sole love.

That’s why she could only hate everyone aside from her loved one.

Maybe she was actually…

(A pitiful person.) (Karen)

“Get a grip of yourself, Karen-san!! Don’t stop breathing!!”

A person shouts loudly in my ears.

Who is it?

Ah, Yorishiro-sama huh.

It took me time to remember.

“Celestis, please do something! If it is in your God Hero state, you should be able to close the hole in her body with water divine power, right?!” (Haine)

“T-That’s not possible! Because the place where this spear is pierced is Karen-chi’s…!” (Celestis)

Heart.

The shadow spear Abel had pierced through the left side of my chest.

“It is instant death! The moment she was pierced by it, her breathing and pulse stopped! Please accept reality! Haine-san and Yorishiro-sama, please don’t pretend as if you don’t see it!!” (Celestis)

“Lies! Karen-san can be saved! Isn’t that right?!” (Haine)

“Please open your eyes, Karen-san! Please breath! You are not the kind of person who would die here, right?!” (Yorishiro)

I see… I am already dead huh.

Then, the reason why I can see everyone around must be because I have turned into a soul and looking at them that way?

It may be that my ascension is being slightly postponed but will soon head to heaven in a while.

Haine-san, Yorishiro-sama, please don’t be so sad.

I have saved the world as a hero, and was able to fight for you two.

I am plenty satisfied.

You two can probably take off your flesh body and come to the heavens in an instant as Gods.

Because you are humans, and at the same time, the Dark God and the Light Goddess after all.

Please return to that heaven only after you have properly finished your life here.

I am the light hero, Kourin Karen.

I managed to finish my job as a hero.