"Raizel!?.....What's with you.." I whispered, his sentence trailing off in confusion.
"Indeed, it's me. I'm the warrior for the world, the person to change the world into the righteous way," Raizel remarked, appearing as confident as ever.
"Soul of Righteousness, Reiji Riomy, or The Empty Puppet, Edward Raizel? Which one of you is standing in front of me?" Rasaki asked, showing a narrow smile as he looked into Raizel's eyes.
"I am both," Raizel replied straightforwardly, no hesitation in his eyes. He appeared prepared, confident, and careless in his words and actions. As if he was aware of everything that was going to happen, aware of the fated future lying before his next steps.
"I did something yesterday morning. Nothing special, nothing so noisy. Simply, I killed the person who was hiding his emotions only to guard the stories blindly without looking for the flaws existing within them. I killed him, I erased his existence itself from the face of the world," Raizel added, calm and confident as before.
He deeply glared at Rasaki and smiled completely fearlessly. Then he spoke, "I held an interesting truth within myself back then. But it turned out to be the wrong idea I was holding for so long. I disguised myself as a selfless person who only knows the path of a guardian. I'm not going to say I disguised myself, I was forced into this belief. No, let's say I wanted to find the truth by following this path. But what was the conclusion I found? It's nothing special or extraordinary, just the fact that humanity is foolish and selfish as it was from the dawn of the ultimate story. But the path I chose was right, surely flawless, yet; it wasn't something that could lead me toward the destiny of salvation where I can stand proudly and shout that the world is no longer selfish, where I can be confident about a world without the concept of chaos. So what could be the point of my consistency over that fundament? Nothing really, just stupid stubbornness. So I set sail one more time toward another destiny, perhaps the final and perfect destiny I'm running toward; or perhaps not, as that is the sentence I've been saying over my infinite attempts throughout this long journey. So it's turning out to be a joke at this point, being confident or hopeful about this." Raizel smiled casually in the final part of his sentence, appearing totally careless as his confident expression immediately disappeared from his face.
He shook his head to break the stress and spoke again, trying to return to his confident voice, "Anyways, I've tried countless times in countless ways, so another attempt should be fine. But there is a reason why I'm a confident person now. And the thing is this: throughout my journey, I've come to a concluding fact, and that is; humans are innocent from their own perspective. Also, they're villains, selfish and blood-lusting demons from others' perspectives. I've been through countless perspectives throughout my journey. I looked upon the world through every mortal I've met; I tried to understand their emotions. At last, I came to this thought: every single existing mortal is selfish. Their view finds the final destiny only in the point of their own selfishness, and their selfishness for their loved ones. They're not selfless, never meant to be."
Taking a short break by keeping his gaze downward, Raizel added his final sentence, "But I am the protagonist of redemption. I shall be the one to change the destiny of mortals by changing the very truth of the world from its depth. I shall ascend above all the layers and change the very script of the final story by removing the very concept of selfishness from the page of the script." His voice unintentionally became extremely loud while speaking the final part of his sentences.
Rasaki just smiled, as if not a single sentence from Raizel could bother him. It was all blank to him, nothing special nor ever could be. But there was a strange change in his expression. Rather than a careless expression, it became intense and terrifying over time.
"If so, then you were meant to be the protagonist I've been waiting for. Surely, I am the antagonist of my story, but it's been a while since I've looked for the perfect protagonist. And the protagonist was meant to be you… yet you failed to be the protagonist," Rasaki remarked, shouting very loudly at first, then slowly lowering his voice in the final part of his sentence.
I knew the way he was going to treat Raizel; definitely as the protagonist, as his will meant to do. But his final sentence simply surprised all of us, trapping us in a puzzle of questions as we tried to figure out the reason behind his rejection, the reason why he didn't want Raizel to be the protagonist.
The answer came from him in the very next moment as he spoke casually right onward, "The reason is that, no matter how much you try to hide it, you can never hide the emotions you are holding in your heart. And those emotions—they'll surely be the reason for your demise. You know what? No one can destroy the thing they're holding in their heart; no one can win while holding weakness in their existence. And you're no different, Raizel."
"I refuse to believe that. I know who I am. I knew my role in every story I was in and slowly went ahead toward the fated destiny. I never failed; I was never meant to do so. And thus, I refuse to believe that I have emotions that can hold me back. The curse known as 'emotions' can never approach me. Everything I did was nothing more than a purposeful act."
Rasaki kept smiling, laughing as time went on. "I'm looking forward to seeing the truth, seeing the future that will reveal it."
Rasaki canceled our entrance permission as our figures slowly began to disappear from there. All of us were silent the entire time, and the final moment was no different. But the person who shouted while disappearing was Raizel. Using all his might, he challenged Rasaki, "My words can never be wrong. I am certain and will always be. You'll remember my words forever, Rasaki."
Meanwhile, Rasaki kept up his fearless laughter, laughing until his own appearance disappeared from our sight.