After taking multiple steps, Reiji stabbed the ground using the crimson red sword, putting all of his strength into the flashy weapon. Following that, he sat down on the ground while holding the sword in his hand, stabbing down the ground as a signature of the might the sword carried. I couldn't see Reiji's face; it was totally hidden under a dark shadow. As I got close, I could see a face; a face trembling unstoppably, with those eyes trembling along with it.
He was whispering something I couldn't hear at first. Then my ears heard the whispers coming from his broken voice, "Why did I do this? Was there anything wrong with everything I did? No, absolutely no!...Then why are my emotions overwhelming me? Why is something forcing me backward? Why does everything seem so blank to me? Why is everything so cursed to me? Why?????" He shouted his final word.
He pressed his head while holding both of his ears. Something crashed into his concern, into his ears; it was the sentences coming from Liona and Araya. Every single sentence, every single word, every single moment Reiji witnessed with them till now was crashing into his concern, his eyes, and his ears.
"I don't want to know whether I need a reason to care about you or not, but the thing I will always believe is that; I will always love you, Reiji." A sentence from Araya, lurking in Reiji's memory and thoughts. No matter how hard he tries, no matter how much he screams; her voice keeps bothering him without a pause. As if Araya is standing in front of him, resounding the sentence with her soft and calm voice.
"It was my dream to befriend you guys, but it seems like I've failed every time I've tried. Perhaps it's my failure; but I will never close my attempts, until I draw my concluding breath." Liona's voice whispered in the depth of Reiji's mind. It was calm, but stormy for Reiji. It was a voice that felt heavenly, but cursed at the same time. For him; it's something he loved, but nothing that he is supposed to do.
Suddenly, both of their figures appeared in front of Reiji's sight, and kept whispering like earlier. It wasn't their physical appearance, but Reiji's imagination. They were speaking, showing no sign of pausing. Reiji kept screaming, begging them for a concluding point to their words. But they would never listen to him, could never do so.
While screaming; Reiji shouted with all of his strength awakening in his voice, "Shut up! You guys are false, you guys are wrong, all of you are wrong and will always be. There is no way I will be the wrong one here, there is no way the way of salvation is wrong, just shut up!" His body was still shaking like earlier; no matter how much he tried, he couldn't bother himself to stand strong. Regardless of the amount of his attempts, his soul couldn't decide the truth he wanted to believe in. The cycle of truth and false kept forcing him to fall into the puzzle of questions.
"Do I love them? Do I care about them? Are they truly my friends? No, there is no way someone standing in my way is going to be my friend, never will be."
Some pieces of tears dropped from his eyes, out of his consciousness, as he immediately removed them. He changed his expression into that of a helpless person and spoke while letting some of his tears come out, "Then why did I come to endure this? Why is it me crying over their deaths? Why is it me suffering just because they died? Why? Why don't my emotions follow my will….why?"
"Why????" He shouted at his finest, crying out pretty loudly alongside it. His voice caused a massive quake around the surroundings, resounding for a while.
While he kept screaming, something exploded right there in Reiji's body. The surroundings were covered in a world of dark snow, taking away everything under the presence of the dark snowstorm. Some moments passed since then. Slowly, the dark snow disappeared from my sight.
As it disappeared, my sight recognized the presence of a couple of figures there. One was a familiar figure to me; the mighty warrior of the land, Reiji. It wasn't the Reiji I saw a few moments ago; it was the Reiji I saw at the beginning of the story, perhaps a Reiji with a much rougher and mightier appearance. With his usual mighty appearance, he stared at the figure standing in front of him, with a little presence of surprise running all around his eyes. And the other figure…I didn't know whether to believe my eyes or not, but the person I saw in front of my eyes was Raizel all along, the emotionless person I've known for so long. His eyes were blank as usual, like a shattered soul without the capability of carrying emotions. Nothing was surprising about his appearance, but the most surprising thing was the moment of his appearance.
Reiji's emotions were divided at that very moment, from his own anxiety and conflict between his choices. The persons I could see in front of my eyes were the personas that had been fighting for thousands of years inside a single mind and soul. One held the will to fix the world in a chaotic way, hating everyone around him with all of his negative emotions. For him, every mortal was a sinner; they were from the darkness and would always be a sight of darkness to consume peace. The persona who believed in the chaotic way of salvation he'd been following.
The other one was the persona without emotions, the being who does everything just for the world. A persona without any hatred for the world, a persona who could no longer feel pain or sadness. It was the persona who lost all those emotions and love for his friends, the one who could no longer feel the presence of love and emotions in his heart. The one to be the most selfless existence in the history of every possible story.