Chapter 35 – The future I always wanted to see

I confirm the extinction of the demon king Ultimelt, before falling to my knees in this now empty room in the dungeon.

“Gu…”

Cracks start appearing on the floor, with me in the center.

The demon king’s power is going berserk, I can’t hold it back.

Power courses through my body like lightning, and I feel my reasoning power and character being swallowed up.

(…Have I hit the time limit?)

I managed to defeat the demon king in time, but…

It’s starting to look like I can’t maintain my personality.

Taking in those demon king cells all at once really was too much, especially since I don’t have the aptitude for them in the first place.

Right now, I’m just a calamity.

Demon kings cause tremendous damage around them just by existing.

At this rate, I might destroy everything by my own hand, just like future me.

“…”

And suddenly, my eyes that can see past and future me, see myself going berserk.

Destroying everything, like a demon king that became a true calamity.

That me crosses the barrier of time to stand in front of me, and reaches out to me, like he’s telling me to go that way too.

That’s one possible future, but…

“…I’m not going there.”

I wave my hand, as if erasing an illusion.

Normally, it wouldn’t be possible to undo a transformation into a demon king. A demon king would stay that way forever.

But not me.

“‘Time, turn back’.”

That phrase is enough to undo the demon king transformation, as my body returns to a time before I became a demon king.

My hair turns black again, the cracks on the floor stop, and the sword in my hand crumbles and vanishes.

“Ahh… Ahh…”

I returned to being human before I lost my reasoning power.

Still… I’m really dizzy, covered in cold sweat, and can’t get up.

My body was actually reaching its limit before I transformed into a demon king.

I used way too much magic, considering I wasn’t at my best anyway, and the burden of the demon king transformation on my magic circuits that crossed through time and is still here.

(…Transforming into a demon king really isn’t something to take lightly.)

Demon king cells aren’t a simple power up.

The risks and costs are too high. There’s also a chance that I can’t go back to normal, and the immense power that comes with it could destroy things and people around me.

(Having that said… I still need this power.)

I haven’t ended every demon king, so I leave the demon king cells in my body, with their time stopped.

Now I can live my normal life as a human, while being able to transform into a demon king if it’s really necessary.

That’s already a big difference compared to the first time, when I stayed a demon king.

“…Well then…”

I look up at the ceiling.

The dungeon that was stopped until now is creaking like it’s screaming, and rubble is falling.

This dungeon is on its last legs.

I turned back the time of parts of the dungeon, but stopping it from collapsing would be very hard.

I wanted to take it easy for a little longer, but it’s time for one last push.

I stagger my way to my feet, and face the rain of rubble.

The next moment, the entire ceiling collapses, and rubble comes down like a landslide.

The exit is already destroyed, and the control panel doesn’t work, so if I’m going to get out of here, I’m going to have to go up.

I muster up my last strength, and point the palm of my hand upwards.

“‘Time, stop’.”

The rubble stops in mid-air.

Since everything didn’t stop at the same time, it created a spiral staircase in the air, which leads up.

It looks like everything has collapsed all the way to the surface. I can see the starry sky from here through a big round hole.

The moonlight quietly descends like a thin curtain, and guided by this faint light, I step on the rubble spiral staircase.

“…Ahh… Ku…”

I drag my feet like I’m crawling upwards.

My stamina is almost empty, and I feel like I’m about to lose consciousness at any moment.

It hurts, it’s tough, but still…

(…I have to go back. Everyone’s waiting.)

I try my hardest to keep going up.

How many floors has it been? How many floors are left? I have no idea.

It feels endless.

“…Ahh…”

My mind is getting hazy.

I’m really dizzy, it’s hard to breathe, I can’t get quite enough strength in my legs anymore…

If I misstep, death awaits me.

Now that I think about it, my life has always been like this.

If I didn’t try to protect people despite being weak, gave up, and just accepted my weakness… I probably wouldn’t have had to lead such a hard life.

Still, I was the one who chose this path.

I can’t allow myself to collapse here.

There’s still things I want to protect.

Labrys’ face pops into my mind.

Is she safe? She’s not crying because she’s worried about me like she did that day, is she?

Is she finally going to smile at me when I come back…

(…I want to go back quickly and put her mind at ease.)

I fire myself up like that, but just as I’m finally seeing the surface…

“…Ah…”

Is it because I was feeling relieved?

All the strength in my body gives out.

I was almost there… But my body slowly tilts.

My foot slips out of the spiral staircase, and I’m hanging in the air for just a second, before…

“Idiot.”

Someone holds me and catches me.

My vision is blurry, so I can’t see this person’s face, but I know who it is just by this warmth alone.

“…I’m back.”

I place my hand on her head, as a way to say I’m all right, but that’s all I can do.

“…It’s all right now, Labrys.”

Is the last thing I say before my consciousness falls into a dark abyss…

◇

I’m dreaming.

“El?”

“Happy birthday.”

“Can we become friends like we were before…”

“You’ve become strong, Chrom.”

The place I thought I could never go back to, the people I wanted to protect, this irreplaceable peaceful time…

“Thank you for taking care of me all this time.”

“See you later Chrom.”

“I will save everything from here.”

These are someone’s happy memories.

“You’re the Chrom I know.”

“Today was fun wasn’t it? The three of us being together for the first time in a while…”

“It’s all right. I’m here.”

“So smile, Labrys.”

He was weaker than anyone, but tried so hard to become strong.

He shed many tears, vomited a lot of blood, broke many taboo…

And saved a lot of people.

It’s like the heroes I used to look up to when I was little.

That’s a nice dream I’m having.

“…Hn…”

I feel something dripping on my face, and my consciousness comes back to me.

It looks like I’m lying on the floor outside the dungeon.

The gentle wind caressing my face smells like flowers and dirt.

(…Rain?)

Something silently drips on my face, but it’s too warm to be rain.

I slowly open my eyes, and see Labrys’ crying face close to mine.

“La… Brys…?”

“…Idiot… Idiot…!”

She’s mad all of a sudden.

She buries her face in my chest like she’s hiding her red eyes.

“You’re all battered… And you wouldn’t wake up…! I was so worried!”

“S-sorry.”

The night sky is starting to look a little white.

I guess I really was passed out for quite a while.

I look around, and see we’re in a field of flowers close to the dungeon.

Labrys carried me all the way here… Wait, oh no.

“L-Labrys… All the enemies are gone, and look, I’m all right too. D-don’t cry…”

“…Sniff… I’m not crying…”

“H-hum, what do I do…”

I start panicking, and end up patting her head, but Labrys just turns away like she’s sulking.

“Geez… You’re not getting out of this that easily.”

She says, but did she calm down just a little?

Her sobbing is dying down.

“By the way, the dungeon… What happened to the mages in the dungeon?”

“…The dungeon is completely destroyed. Master Sirius and a survey team from the capital went in not long ago.”

I’m sure they came running when they heard of the destruction of the dungeon, but I don’t really think there’s anything left to investigate…

“And the mages were all detained by the survey team.”

“Detained?”

“There’s my testimony, and they all confessed. They kept asking to be taken to jail quickly or the monster would kill them… What happened to them to make them act like this?”

“Ha, haha… Maybe I threatened them a little too much.”

I was so focused on saving Labrys, that I probably released way too much bloodlust.

But oh well, it all worked out in the end.

I think I can consider this case closed for now.

“But… It really was you, wasn’t it? You fought that monster stampede, didn’t you?”

“…”

“…You’ve been helping people from the shadows a lot, haven’t you?”

I didn’t say anything, but she figured it out.

Labrys then looks directly into my face, like she made up her mind about something.

“…I have a lot to ask you. How come you have that power… How do you know things you shouldn’t… I want to know about you.”

“Well…”

It’s only natural for her to have questions.

I showed her a lot of things I didn’t want her to see.

But I can’t talk about that yet. Knowing these things might put her in danger.

So…

“I’m sorry, but I can’t answer that yet.”

“…Of course…”

“But… One day I will.”

“Eh?”

“One day, when a peaceful future when I don’t have to fight anymore comes… When we reach a happy future when we can just laugh away my circumstances… I’ll talk about it. So just wait until then.”

Labrys looks into my eyes for a while.

“…Promise?”

“Yes.

I put my little finger around hers, with determination to make that future happen in my mind.

“…I’ll be waiting.”

Says Labrys as she finally smiles.

The wind carries away the tears that were left on her cheeks, and glitter like transparent gems.

It’s the smile I didn’t get to see the first time.

The future I wanted to see for so long… Is here.

“Well then… Let’s go back, Labrys.”

“…Yes.”

I hold out my hand, and Labrys slowly grabs it with embarrassment on her face.

And then, we start walking.

The morning sun slowly rises in front of us, signaling the end of that long night, and painting the world with a bright color.

It’s like it’s announcing the start of a new future.