Elior's knees trembled, his body almost giving in. The molten desert glowed faintly beneath the shadow of the Sun Presence, its light waa no longer gold but a sickly white, as if purity itself had curdled.
"YOU CLING TO FLESH AND FAILURE, YOUR KIND HAS ALREADY CHOSEN OBLIVION."
Its voice existed inside him, resonating through bone and marrow. The Overseer didn't need to shout to make the world obey.
Elior spat blood onto the glowing sand. "We have. At least we chose it ourselves."
The Sun Presence seemed almost amused. Its vast form pulsed like a star.
"SPEAKING OF CHOICE—SUCH AN INSECT WORD. HUMANS HAVE NO CHOICE. THEY CONSUME AND DESTROY UNTIL NOTHING IS LEFT."
Images flooded Elior's head. He saw centuries of human cruelty compressed into a single instant. War. Betrayal. Greed. The Overseer was forcing him to feel it all.
"SEE? YOU CALL YOURSELVES MAKERS, BUT YOU ONLY UNMAKE. YOU WORSHIP LIGHT, WHILE YOU LIVE IN SHADOW. YOU WERE NEVER WORTH SAVING."
Elior clenched his fists, shaking. "If we're.... broken," he said through gritted teeth, "then we'll fix ourselves. We don't need your blessing."
The Overseer's form dimmed for a moment as if frowning.
"MY BLESSING IS THE ONLY REASON YOU MIGHT EXIST. I CAN CRAFT YOU TO NOTHING, AS YOU WERE BEFORE YOUR FIRST SIN."
"Do it," Elior said. "I'd rather die human than live as your shadow."
The desert returned to life again. The Sun Presence began to descend slightly, the space between them twisted like a black hole. Reality itself trembled under its will.
"AS YOU COMMAND."
A beam of distorted light erupted from its core. Elior twisted his hand and sand spiraled upward, forming barriers that shattered instantly under the force. The beam grazed him, burning half his arm into ash. He screamed but didn't fall.
He dove forward, hurling chunks of hardened glass sand toward the Overseer, his movements fueled by raw defiance. The projectiles vanished before touching its form devoured by the void wall surrounding it.
"YOU RESISTED OUT OF INSTINCT," the Overseer said, "LIKE A SPARK IN THE RAIN. ALL WILL FLICKER, AND I WILL WATCH YOU GO OUT."
Elior stumbled but caught himself. His body was melting, but his spirit wouldn't yield. He whispered to himself, "Keep fighting…. even though it's pointless."
He spun his hands in circular motion—Rotation. The surrounding light bent, pulling matter inward, creating a miniature storm of sand and radiance. It clashed against the Overseer's cosmic shell, rippling space with bursts of color.
For a fleeting second, Elior thought he saw it react, its form shivered but then the laughter came again.
"BRAVERY WITHOUT WISDOM IS STILL FAILURE."
Another strike came. A silent flash that tore the air apart. Elior barely dodged, his side sliced open, ribs exposed.
Still, he smiled through the blood. "Then I'll fail again," he said. "And again, again, again, again and again and again, until I win."
The Sun Presence tilted, amused yet almost.... curious.
"THEN SHOW ME, LITTLE HUMAN. SHOW ME WHAT DEFIANCE LOOKS LIKE BEFORE YOU FADE."
Elior stumbled across the black sand, his arms trembling, skin burned raw. The Sun Presence hovered above him like an open wound in the sky.
Its body shifting between shapes the human eye couldn't truly perceive. Every time it moved, the air screamed.
"EVERY TIME I HIT YOU, YOU LOOK UP AGAIN," the Overseer said, voice echoing through the bones of the world.
"THAT'S A TESTAMENT TO YOUR SPECIES' STUPIDITY."
Elior spat, his teeth red. "Yeah.… we're good at that." He raised a trembling hand, forcing the sand to rise like a storm around him. The grains turned sharp, reflecting the Overseer's pale light but before he could strike, he felt a presence behind him.
"Grace—?"
She was standing there, breathless, her eyes wide in horror. She was shaking, staring at the blinding, grotesque radiance above. The Overseer's form reflected in her like a helpless child of deer circled by numerous wolves.
"WELL, WELL." The voice rumbled, almost amused. "YOU ARE A FRAGILE SOUL WHO STILL THINKS SHE MATTERS.
Elior's stomach dropped. "Grace! Get away from here!" he shouted, his voice cracking from the pain. But she didn't move. She was frozen as nerves locked by terror.
The Sun Presence turned its gaze toward her. The ground split beneath its focus, sand evaporating into pure light. A slow, deliberate gesture followed. A beam of twisted white fire formed in the air above its chest.
"NO!" Elior roared.
Without thinking, he threw himself forward. The beam descended like judgment. He wrapped himself around Grace, covering his arm, pulling every last grain of sand toward him. The desert folded in on itself, trying to shield them, but it wasn't enough. The light hit.
There was no explosion. A crushing silence, as though existence itself paused. Elior's back arched; his skin burned away in ribbons of glowing ash. Grace stunned, the sound of her cough had lost to the blinding brilliance.
When it faded, Elior was still standing but barely. His body was broken, his right arm gone, but Grace was untouched behind him.
"YOU DEFY PURPOSE," the Overseer whispered, lowering its massive gaze.
"AFTER THAT, YOU DECIDE TO PROTECT."
Elior glared upward through blood and smoke. "That's what.… we do."
Elior's breathing was ragged, chest heaving under the unbearable weight of heat and pain. The Sun Presence loomed before him, infinite and unknowable, the sky around it warped like molten glass.
Amid all that horror, his hand went to his pocket very slow, deliberate and pulled out something fragile.
Again,
It was a small, porcelain doll which almost looked like a human.
Its pale skin shimmered faintly with cracks that caught the dying light. Its glass eyes reflected everything yet saw nothing — a hollow purity, like innocence lost too soon. The doll's white hair was made of silk threads, soft but frayed at the edges.
It wore a tiny blue dress, faded and dust-stained, but lovingly stitched. It didn't belong in this world of void and blood.
Grace's eyes widened when she saw it. "That's—"
Elior's voice was quiet, almost gentle, breaking through the chaos. "It…. is Lea Infra."
Elior's fingers traced the doll's cracked cheek. "A blast will happen soon," he said softly. "It'll tear through the layers of reality, might even break it." He glanced at Grace, voice trembling but steady with resolve. "After it happens…. you'll need to fix it."
Grace shook her head violently. "What are you thinking to do?"
He smiled faintly. The darkness in his eyes was calm now — calm in a way only those who've already said goodbye could be.
" I was afraid of rejection. I was thinking being forgotten is better than rejection. "
Grace couldn't do anything but just to stare helplessly.
" I didn't know, how to express that feeling. Since the two most precious people I ever had in my life left, I was always cautious about everything. I want to say something, or I shouldn't. It won't do anything just hurting you.... maybe. "
" Will you leave us....? You are joking, right? Like the last time."
There was a silence, Elior was furnishing up his thoughts.
" Hehe, yes, I am joking. I will die but not Elior Jones. I always wanted to confess you that.... "
Elior exhaled deeply looking at her kindly,
" I.... Lo— "
A wind rose between them. On a sudden, divine spiraling wall of golden dust and sand that grew taller, separating them like the hand of fate. Grace's voice broke into screams, her body pressed against the invisible wall. "Elior!"
"Run!" he shouted, not looking back. "Run now!"
With hesitant, she ran backwards.
The wall behind her shimmered once before sealing completely, leaving Elior standing alone before the colossal Sun Presence.
He lifted a hammer out of his torn coat, the same weapon that had survived countless battles. He held it in his left hand, the same one that now also cradled the doll. For the first time since the war began, his Face revealed its full form.
From his both shoulders burst two demonic wings, branching like black roots turned to light. All vein within them glowing gold, angelic and divine. The contrast of sin and sanctity made him look almost unreal, a saint sculpted from the debris of a fallen world.
He lowered the doll gently onto the sand. The way he placed it was almost reverent as if laying a child to rest.
The hammer remained in his grasp.
Elior closed his eyes and began to speak to the heavens themselves.
"I call upon the Omega Light…. Sukarna, the eternal flame that burns beyond despair," he whispered. His voice trembled, but the conviction in it shook the air. "If this life is my offering, then let it be for the balance. Let your light pass through me!"
The sky cracked open.
A beam of golden radiance descended from nowhere. Purer than fire, brighter than stars. It fell upon him like a blessing, washing over his wounds, his blood, his soul.
For a moment, Elior smiled. He recognised the world before all this. How Johan used to force him to have a cigar back then in the Sect camp, and he'd always laugh it off, refusing, saying it wasn't his thing.
Now, from within his coat, Elior took out a cigar. A worn one, bent at the edge. His hand shook as he held it between his lips. The Overseer's vast presence trembled above, speaking in a voice that cracked the clouds.
"YOU CANNOT CHANGE WHAT IS WRITTEN."
Elior looked up at it, eyes shining with tears, determination and something deeper.... peace.
How lucky I am, I wouldn't even confess her. I failed again.... remained a failure.... I think it's better.... she would be more sad after hearing my words.... anyway.... who is going to care about such a failure....
Elior looked at sky. The angel under the bright light of heaven, was crying silently.
He saw his companions who he failed to save, those two strangers who called him grandson. They were looking at him from the sky, smiling brightly.
Tom, I hand you my.... legacy.
He let the hammer slip from his fingers. He could see last seconds of his life flowing slowly. He could feel everything around him, the hammer slowly falling.
His last words slipped out with a familiar kind expression,
" Why are you.... so kind to me, world? "
The hammer fell toward the doll. The moment it touched Lea Infra, the whole reality shook. A force so deafening it ripped the stars from the sky.
A massive explosion erupted, blinding white-gold. The desert split open like fragile glass. The reality itself began to crack, spreading like veins through existence, the sound of a dying world echoing through everything that ever was.
And in that light, fleeting and beautiful, Elior's figure vanished with the Overseer.