Dream of The Beginning

One second. Five seconds. Three minutes…

The intense light which illuminated the entire Singularity kept going for several more minutes. At same time, devastating aftershocks spread out from the central battlefield more frequently during this period of time.

"ORA! ORA! ORA! ORA! ORA! ORA! ORA! ORAAA!!!"

Goetia sent flurry of furious punches at Ryan as he fought with all he had.

"MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA!!!"

Ryan grinned as he countered Goetia's flurry of punches in excitement.

Two combatants resorted to fistfight on the sky when their trump card nullified each other's.

The demonic halberd already turned into a pair of gloves as Ryan decided to fight in close combat. He wanted to savor this feeling of thrill for an even longer time if possible.

After all, although Goetia was strong, it was merely in terms of magecraft.

When its specialty was nullified, it was no different from an ordinary demon with a slightly stronger body.

Bam!

A straight punch from the left rocked Goetia's head.

"Where did your earlier indifference disappear to, King of Demon Gods?"

Another fist hit his chest, leaving quite a deep concave on it, sending Goetia flying through the sky.

"Let's dance some more!"

Swoosh!!

A pair of jet-black demonic wings unfurled behind Ryan as he sped up to chase after Goetia.

At that moment, Goetia used the inertia force from Ryan's punch to propel himself further from him. He did it to gain some time to cast his spells.

'…it's a pity. Just a bit more, and I shall attain true transcendence…'

Cold gleam flashed through Goetia's eyes when he saw Ryan which was chasing him.

'Although it is imperfect, it shall make do in this situation.'

Since things has reached this point, Goetia found no more reason to hold back.

This was for no other reason than he already felt a threat of death in his battle against Ryan this time.

As such, Goetia willed for every Demon God Pillars to return to him, abandoning the assaults of faceless demonic giants and Ryan's ladies.

The sky was soon shrouded in darkness as the seventy-two Demon God Pillars filled the sky. They returned to Goetia from every corner of the Singularity.

Ryan laughed loudly, feeling more excited when he saw what Goetia was doing, "That's right! Go on, use everything you have! I shall grant you an end at your strongest state, Goetia!"

The Demon God Pillars rushed into Goetia's back like a group of demonic tentacles returning to their host.

With each addition of Demon God Pillars merging with him, Goetia became stronger and its mana fluctuation peaked even higher.

–it was as if the strength of an entire Singularity was concentrated on Goetia.

. . .

Meanwhile, at the other battle sites,

"Hyahh!"

Ushiwakamaru slashed at the Demon God Pillar, expecting it to counterattack, but she then found that it suddenly ran away instead.

"Huh??"

Not far from Ushiwakamaru, Raikou was about to destroy a Demon God Pillar before it also abandoned all restraints and fled far away.

Similar situation also happened to other ladies as well the moment Goetia summoned seventy-two Demon God Pillars back to him.

The ladies realized that their opponents actually abandoned their fight and rushed back toward the central battlefield!

The ladies soon gathered at same place; looking at the center of Singularity with grim countenance.

"To think Goetia would call back the Demon God Pillars no matter what... Looks like Ryan pushed him real hard.

"The final battle should be nearing its end."

At that moment, they all heard a voice in their mind,

"Ladies, let me borrow your strength for a while."

Soon, they turned into nine bright lights which also headed toward the central battlefield.

. . .

When the last Demon God Pillar finally merged with him, Goetia opened his eyes.

His figure enlarged quickly, reaching the sky and trampling the earth. His imposing presence brought an unimaginable pressure to the world, fracturing the space around him.

"Your impudence ends here, Extraterrestrial Demon!"

A gigantic fist shot out fast toward the approaching Ryan, sending him crashing to the earth.

"Holy... fuck! This is getting interesting indeed! Uggh!"

Boom!

Like a meteor falling to the earth, Ryan was pummeled strongly to the ground, leaving a deep crater as result of the impact.

Few seconds later,

Bright light shed its brilliance from the depth of that crater.

Another presence which matched the current Goetia gradually showed his figure.

A demonic man with three pairs of wings on his back flew through the crater; one pair of frost wings, one pair of flaming wings, and one pair of demonic wings.

His horns gleamed in purple lightning. His demonic tail shot out wildly as it hissed softly like a snake.

He was holding Ishtar's divine bow on his left hand and the Sacred Lance on his right hand.

A dark circle comprising of All the World's Evils floating above him like a halo. Behind him, a six-colored Wheel of Samsara bloomed in its glory, shining its radiance to the whole world.

At this moment, Ryan was truly at the strongest state he could muster with his current progress.

Facing the giant Goetia, although his figure appeared small and weak, his presence was no less imposing than Goetia's.

"I dub this: Demon King ver. 2."

The ladies inside the soul altar: "..."

'Yeah. Should have expected such naming sense from him… Did he think he's a Super Saiyan with their various versions?!' They thought quietly as they were speechless after hearing the name for his current form.

"It's time we end this."

Goetia was unresponsive to his provocation. However, the band of light behind him was already activated at full capacity; he was prepared to incinerate the entire Singularity if it's what it took to obliterate Ryan completely.

Even if he must die, he would drag Ryan down with him!

Ryan nocked the Sacred Lance on Ishtar's bow.

At this moment, his feeling seemed to return to the time when he fought with Archer back then.

"The Past – Present – Future; All Eras converge."

Faintly, he seemed to understand Archer's feeling when he invoked his Noble Phantasm.

"I am Observer of the Past.

"Lantern of the Present.

"Oracle of the Future."

From this peak of power Ryan was currently standing at, he has begun to realize the weight of his existence to this world.

"I am the Beginning and the End;

"The Demon who arrived from distant Star!"

He channeled his entire power into it, imbuing the Sacred Lance with the Sixth Magic and his faith.

–This arrow was a tribute to both himself and his opponent; an arrow of judgement which severed one's fate.

At same time, Goetia already activated Ars Almadel Salomonis to incinerate the entire Singularity along with Ryan and himself.

As the searing heat which could even incinerate the present and the past started burning him, the light inside Ryan's eyes became even brighter,

"With my True Name, I announce: The End is here!"

"Receive your judgement, King of Demon Gods, Goetia!!!"

At the instant the arrow which bore the promised destruction was released from the divine bow,

A resplendent and beautiful six-colored light followed its trail like a peacock tail, bearing the vestige of Samsara.

The entire Singularity trembled the moment these two strongest existences in the world were staking their life on the line, seeking their path to supremacy.

The world began to fracture, the space-time constructing it began to crumble, as though they couldn't bear the clash of their strongest attack.

–The Incineration Ritual.

–The Judgement Arrow of the End.

Both of them truly had the power to destroy the entire world...!

. . .

The alarm resounding even more loudly as new readings kept rapidly showing up on the monitoring device at Chaldea Command Center.

The entire Chaldea was already starting to move away from the Final Singularity since they detected a sudden anomaly which stated that the Singularity was destroying itself from within.

Since Chaldea was previously pulled into the Final Singularity by Goetia, they could be destroyed along with the world if they didn't quickly separate themselves from the Singularity.

"Quick! Focus the entire mana reserve to get us away from the Singularity!"

Romani and Da Vinci sent several commands with fast reaction as they tried to escape the Singularity.

At that moment, 'Ryan' was looking quietly at the panic ensuing among them.

With a faint smile on his face, he was muttering softly to himself, "I see. The time has come indeed."

His body glowed slightly. He was going to use his power to help these people in escaping the destruction of Singularity.

After all, 'he' was the one who caused this disaster in the first place...

Gudako saw what 'Ryan' was doing, she looked at him with some suspicion, "What are you doing, senpai?"

Romani, Da Vinci, and Mash turned to look at Ryan when they heard Gudako. They also noticed the unusual state of his body.

"Well, looks like it's time for us to separate," 'Ryan' smiled calmly as he faced their suspicious gaze.

"You are… a doppelganger?" Da Vinci immediately saw through his disguise after he deliberately let his power leaked.

Since this 'Ryan' was merely a doppelganger, then his true body should be elsewhere.

She also remembered that Ryan once said that Goetia was his prey, so she quickly connected the dots with current destruction of the Final Singularity.

"Then your true body– I see, so it's like that. You really got us for a fool, Capt. Ryan…"

'Ryan' chuckled slightly, "Well, my job was merely to keep you all here so you wouldn't disturb my fun there. Since my true body already defeated Goetia, my job here has been finished. I'm glad I didn't have to use forceful approach to keep you here, Chaldea."

"Why are you doing this, senpai?" Gudako looked at Ryan with piercing gaze.

After she and Mash went through so many journeys, advancing through many hardships and meeting much adversaries, the thing that she wanted to do now was merely to give a good smack to the King of Mages…

Now that even such chance was robbed from her, she felt slightly at loss in her heart, as though a small void was left there.

Ryan scratched his hair with slightly awkward face as he looked at Gudako's piercing gaze. He felt slightly guilty for some reason.

"Well, sorry about that. I am quite a selfish person, honestly. Just as much you have the reason for your hatred to Goetia, I also have my own reason to kill him."

He went toward the surprised Gudako as he left the Jeweled Sword of Kaleidoscope in her hand.

"This is the relic of Second Magician – the Jeweled Sword. Don't worry to use it whenever the situation calls for it, that old troll won't mind it (probably)."

He didn't want to bring the tool which could become Zelretch's eye to another world. Since leaving it alone would also waste its true value, he decided to give it to Gudako instead.

At least it could come in handy if the Alien God truly descended to the world later after he left.

Then, he also gave a fox mask to Gudako as he whispered softly to her ear,

"In case your situation turns so bad from zero to hundred real quick, you should summon the Servant associated with this relic. He is quite dependable, though he is also quite a perverted bastard. Beware of him, Fujimaru Ritsuka."

If they let their guard down, there was no way that 'he' wouldn't 'devour' Mash and Gudako thoroughly…

Leaving the puzzled Gudako with these two relics, Ryan flashed in front of Mash Kyrielight and Fou.

"Well, since I am only a doppelganger, I could only use a partial authority of Sixth Magic. But, so be it."

Without waiting for her to react, six-colored light flashed, covering Mash's figure entirely.

"You shall have a new life, Mash Kyrielight, my cute little eggplant."

Fou: "Fou! Fou! Fou!!!"

–which translated to; "Stay your filthy hands away from my cute Mash, damned Extraterrestrial Demon!!!"

Fou punched Ryan repeatedly as he casted the Sixth Magic on Mash.

"Oh, easy there, mate! Can't you see I'm only helping her?!" After he finished casting the Sixth Magic on Mash, Ryan began wrestling with this cute-looking, fluffy demonic beast aka Fou.

They rolled around on the floor, pulling one's hair and fur, punching each other's face; they literally fought like two children fighting for their candy…

Meanwhile, Mash felt that her body seemed to be strangely fine. There was no obvious change which she could sense, but she instinctively felt that the change on her body was not so simple.

Da Vinci and Romani held a quick check-up on Mash. Soon, they were quite astounded when they knew Mash's current parameters were no different from a normal girl at her age should be…

After all, both of them knew that Mash wasn't supposed to survive this day, as all her cells should have reached their expected lifespan soon according to her design.

Yet, the fact presented to them an opposite reading to what they concluded previously.

Now, Mash could really live as long as a normal human would be…

"Reversing ageing– no, it seems to be more than that… Is this the doing of your Sixth Magic, Ryan?" Da Vinci already had some guess about the nature of his Sixth Magic, but then, even she felt that it was too outrageous.

At this point, Ryan already separated from Fou as that fluffy demonic beast returned into Mash's embrace. Although, it was still staring daggers at Ryan, as if warning him not to tarnish Mash's innocence.

"Who are you, really…?" Romani asked as he looked deeply at Ryan.

Ryan's figure was already turning transparent as he used up his energy reserve to heal Mash and pushed Chaldea away from the Singularity.

As his figure was about to dissipate, he finally replied,

"I am The Sixth Magician, Sorcerer of Six-Paths of Samsara.

"I am also Beast VII candidate, the Extraterrestrial Demon.

"I shall spare the world this time since I like Gudako and Mash so much. However, should the world become boring and loveless later on, it shall be my cue to return; for I shall enact the promised End at that time."

. . .

At the center of Final Singularity, as the world was gradually inching closer to destruction,

A young man was lying on the ground with his body full of injuries.

Half of his body was burned to crisp, revealing pearly white bones which were glowing in purple-gold aura. All of his wings were scrapped, torn off at the middle. He had a large, gaping hole on his chest which looked like a claw mark. 

He really looked like he was already stepping one foot into hell…

Despite his critical injuries, that man laughed loudly instead.

He felt really exhilarated.

"HaHaHa! This is it! This is the feeling I've been looking for…!"

The excitement and thrill he felt when he fought in battles were one of the matters that he enjoyed most in his second life.

That was what he wished for from that mysterious Goddess back then, after all.

Now,

Floating in front of him was a small, shriveled sphere which looked like just normal dirt.

However, its true nature revealed by Ryan's innate eyes was something quite grand; it was a [World's Seed (fragment)], the core of the Final Singularity.

This small thing came from Goetia's body after he was defeated, like a loot which appeared after defeating the final Boss.

Not only the [World's Seed (fragment)], defeating Goetia in his strongest state also gave him a whooping 712 Essence Points at once! 

With that much addition of EP, he now had 722 EP available for upgrading his stats and abilities.

'Now then, looks like some upgrades are in order. First of all, my Innate Eyes, base stats, and then Demon King Arcane Art…'

For a while, that young man was calmly upgrading himself amidst the destruction of the world. 

Following his advancement, fierce wave of energy fluctuations appeared from time to time as his aura rose even higher and all his injuries were healed quickly.

When he opened his eyes again, he glanced at the remaining time on the grey bracelet.

[06:12:45]

'…I still have some time. Well, this is enough, I choose [transport].' 

He already did most of the things he wanted to do in this world. Although some things caused few afterthoughts in his heart, but such was a life. 

No one was perfect... 

No matter how much one insisted they were perfect, that they have done their best; it was only an illusion on their mind. 

Happy memories, regrets, joy, and sadness were the spices of life. 

When one looked back on the road they have walked, 

Even if others found such afterthoughts to be meaningless and utterly useless, 

They would realize that these memories were the proof of their own life; the encounters which shaped themselves...

A bright light soon enveloped the young man, guiding him to another distant world.

After what seemingly like an instant, yet also which felt like an eternity, that young man was soon greeted by the sight of a grand and majestic hall.

A mechanical voice sounded in his mind, announcing his entry to this world,

[Welcome to the second floor of Pandora! May you find what you seek for, Ranker.] 

Moreover, he also found some familiar faces among the crowd gathering in that hall.