"Hmm, seems to me that this is the end," the Wood Ouroboros Gaia muttered to herself in the midst of battle, seeming to have given up.
She had not yet been defeated. Though she was a little disadvantaged, there was still room for a comeback. However, she still looked up to the sky, seeming to have realized her own end. She could tell that the gigantic amount of mana that had made up the ouroboroses of Heaven and Earth had moved somewhere. The Fire Ouroboros, who was already pretty much dead anyway, had started to turn into particles as well. Gaia figured it was only a matter of time for her.
"What?" asked Asia.
"The curtains have closed…" Gaia said. "The curtains on this story of ours, that is."
The end was here. It was the end of the world, as well as the destruction of the story that lay beyond that. The time had finally come. After so many ridiculous events, the plot had gone so far off the rails that it could no longer be considered a story. All that was left was for the Goddess to tear the script apart.
Though she was loath to end this encounter with her daughters, Gaia still had one last job to complete before she disappeared. She looked at Irina and Asia. Then, a faint light emitted from the Wood Ouroboros's eye, which entered the fairy sisters's bodies.
"Th-this is…?" Irina asked, trailing off.
"I-I can feel the power…" Asia paused. "I'm overflowing with strength!"
Asia's SP was infinite once again, and her stats had gone up as well. On top of that, there was now something in her skill column that she'd never seen before—the skills of the ouroboroses, the arbitrators of the world, had been added to her list. At the same time, Gaia's body weakened, and she started to dissolve into particles of light.
"Wh-what did you do?!"
"I transferred as much of my power and authority as an ouroboros as I could to you two before severing our connection. With this, you two are no longer my avatars… Even if I disappear, I will not take you two with me."
Gaia's mouth twisted upwards as she grinned at them. Seeing that, Asia realized something. As I thought. She alone was somehow strange from the start… She alone had never wanted to kill Asia and the others. She had simply been messing around with them. In the end, all she'd done was tease and play around with her children. If it hadn't been for that, Argo would have been long sunk. In actuality, there had been many chances for Gaia to have done so. To her, Asia's rebellion and everything else had been akin to young children play-fighting with sticks. It was something to smile warmly at, not kill over.
"Don't you mess with me!" yelled Asia. "We're your enemies! Why did you…?!"
"Because I was happy. The two of you, who should have just been my clones, started to hold your own thoughts and opinions, and in the end, you chose a different path from me… That made me so happy, and seeing all that was so much fun…"
Ever since Asia's birth, Gaia had been watching over her. Even through her slumber, she could feel her pain and anguish, and now, she stood in front of her as an enemy. She had chosen her future with her own will. As a parent, there was no way that wouldn't fill her with joy.
"The Goddess's story has ended, so from now on, the story is all yours." Gaia paused. "Sorry for never doing anything befitting of a parent. Live well, you two."
"This isn't a joke! What are you even saying this late in the game?! If you say that… I… I… I never… You…"
I never even got to call you mother.
Asia didn't know if those words had gotten through to Gaia or not. Her enemy and mother turned into particles of light and disappeared fully, vanishing in front of Asia and the others anticlimactically. All that was left were her last words.
"How amusing…"
After watching her fully disappear, Asia fell to her knees.
"What the hell. That's so one-sided…" she eventually said. "If that's how you felt, why didn't you just say so in the beginning?! Why did you have to suddenly start sounding like a good person at the end…? How am I even supposed to react?!"
"She probably didn't want to have her determination waver. I… kind of understand how the Wood Ouroboros Gaia, our mother, thought," Irina admitted.
"Irina …"
"Parents are just selfish creatures."
Irina rested her hand on her little sister's head, stroking her hair in an attempt to console her.
With this, all the ouroboroses were done for. The Fire Ouroboros Surtr was the last one left, screaming, "Nooo! I don't wanna disappeaaaarrr!" in an unsightly fit as he turned into light. However, he was quickly dealt the finishing blow by Sakura.
Midgar was dying, the ouroboroses had disappeared, and the story was no more. All that was left was a brawl that would be a part of no story. The last rites were up to the Goddess and the Devil.
As Irina kindly comforted her crying sister, she quietly looked towards the direction in which Naru probably was.