108: Chapter 108 - A Story of Love and Hope
At this moment, Chu He’s face was deathly pale; PD bit his lip hard; A-Dai was crying so hard she could barely breathe.
"...That's right."
Roman watched as his hands bit by bit turned into light dust, admitting it calmly.
"Just now, my way of existence as a Heroic Spirit has vanished."
"It's not death. Rather, from now on, Solomon will vanish from the Throne of Heroes."
"The existence of the God's Proxy will vanish from Human History. The physical laws of the earth will be determined by human intelligence. King of Magic Solomon... through his own complete annihilation, will truly end the Age of Gods."
A-Dai's eyes were bloodshot, and her voice trembled as she asked the cruelest question:
"Doctor... are you... going to die?"
"Yeah."
That doctor, who was always cowardly, showed a smile stronger than anyone else's at the final moment of his life.
"Though it's scary and sad, this is something only I can do. So, even if it's painful, I must do it."
"This is enough. This choice is what you and Mash taught me."
The moment they heard these words, the players' psychological defenses completely collapsed.
"No... don't..." Tears burst from A-Dai's eyes. She gritted her teeth, wailing at the void in a breakdown like an abandoned child:
"You're... too cunning...! Doctor, you're too cunning!!!"
"Cunning, huh... Yeah, maybe it is indeed cunning... How embarrassing. In the end, I wasn't clever enough until the very end."
Roman scratched his head, and then his gaze became sharp again, staring directly at Goetia, who was beginning to collapse due to losing his power.
"But with this, all premises have collapsed. Goetia. Your immortality is now a thing of the past."
"The Magic Formula compiled to protect humanity, yet choosing to steal humanity's future."
"You abandoned your duty. Now is the time to pay for that sin."
"Duty—Duty...!" Goetia let out an extremely venomous roar: "Are you saying that I, that our duty as the Almighty, is actually to protect you humans!"
"Besides, do you think showing something like 'a human's life' to someone is interesting?!"
"I've had enough! No matter what you do, you can only vanish, leaving only terror in the end! A human's life is nothing but a story of hatred and despair! There's no joy in witnessing such a thing...!"
"You're wrong, Goetia." Roman's body had become transparent to the extreme, but his gaze was still gentle enough to melt the stars.
"It's true that nothing is eternal, and in the end, only pain awaits them."
"But these are by no means despair."
"Existences that face death and severance with a finite life. Existences that keep repeating partings and encounters even while knowing an end will come."
"...A journey as brilliant and momentary as the flash of a star."
He turned his head and looked at the sobbing players in front of the screen for the last time.
"This is the story called Love and Hope."
...
"No... too ridiculous. Not a single word of your nonsense can move me."
Goetia fell into complete madness, dragging his breaking body as he raged, "Die. Die here, humans. Our great work has not been affected yet."
"As long as I kill you, kill Fujimaru, and make all the Servants withdraw! Although our union has been undone, there is still enough time! I just need to release my Noble Phantasm again before the last pillar is destroyed!"
"Life needs no limits! A story predicated on death has no meaning to me!"
"Vanish, humans! Risking all 72 Demon Gods, I shall turn you into cosmic dust!"
Facing Goetia's final madness, there was no longer a trace of regret on Roman's face.
"It's finally time. I... no, the last vision we saw was your victory."
He straightened his back and, amidst the rain of light filling the sky, issued his final and most resolute command as the head of Chaldea to all Masters across the server:
"As the Commander of Chaldea, I issue my orders."
"Do not worry about me; you must crush the enemy completely and achieve total victory."
"As a human, you defeated King of Magic Solomon. Next, you must slay that beast calling itself the Demon God King right here."
Then, his body turned into the last wisp of light dust. That gentlest farewell remained forever in the Temple of Time.
"Alright, go, Fujimaru."
"This is the only destination you and Mash have reached on your journey."
...
With a "Boom."
At this moment, the psychological defenses of players across the internet were thoroughly and utterly shattered!
"What do you mean by complete nothingness?!"
A-Dai waved her controller like crazy in the Holographic Pod, crying until her eyes were red and swollen, her voice hoarse, "Old Thief Gu, tell me! What do you mean by erased from the Throne of Heroes?! What do you mean he can never be summoned again?!"
Vanish from the Throne of Heroes?! This meant that even if they pulled from the gacha, even if they used all the saint quartz in the world, they would never, ever see this doctor who liked strawberry cake again!
For these players who played gacha games and were used to Servants being able to revive after dying in battle or being re-summoned from the Throne of Heroes...
[Erasure of Existence] was a blow ten thousand times more cruel than death!
If it was just a physical death, they could at least find the records of [Solomon] on the Throne of Heroes and see his figure in their memories.
But Doctor Roman was truly gone.
Not even ashes would remain, his soul wouldn't even transcend; he was completely deleted from this world!
The light completely dissipated.
No more Mash.
No more Doctor.
On the players' field, it was empty, leaving only a solitary Master and a broken Cross-shaped Greatshield.
Dead silence.
A deathly silence enveloped the entire temple.
The players who were just breaking down and crying over the successive sacrifices of Mash and the Doctor all stopped sobbing now.
They had lost their sturdiest shield.
Lost their gentlest support.
But in exchange...
That high and mighty, invincible Beast I finally became a bleeding mortal.
In this extreme silence and intense grief...
"Old Thief Gu, do you think you can crush us like this?"
PD's voice was terrifyingly hoarse as he swiped violently on the holographic panel, "You use the setting as a knife to stab us, then today I'll show you what a revenge at all costs looks like!"
Lin Feng gritted his teeth, his hands gripping the VR controllers so hard his knuckles turned a pale blue-green.
A-Dai wiped her tears away, and in those eyes that were originally full of emotion and fragility, only one thing remained now.
A pure, extreme killing intent known as the 'Fourth Calamity.'