The Collection of The End

——? ? ? ——

There is only a gray world.

Under the cover of the ash and snowflakes flying all over the sky, no matter whether they are the living or the undead, as long as they look at things in the normal way, they cannot clearly see the scenery a hundred meters away.

But the golden tree shadows standing in the sky are not included.

The giant tree took root on a plateau with many farms, fields, windmills and stone ruins. There were no residents at all in those houses, and they were covered with ash snow that reached the knees of ordinary people, making it completely invisible. What is grown in the field.

And in the center of these villages and ruins is a majestic city built around the roots of the golden tree. It is surrounded by layers and nested with the root structure of the golden tree. Although it occasionally climbs or rises suddenly, Lowered area, but overall still beautiful and stable enough.

At the same time, perhaps because of the canopy of the golden tree, the snowflakes in the sky only accumulated a thin layer in the city, and could not stop the steps of the knights in gorgeous heavy armor patrolling the city.

Tap tap tap...

The left eye with lines was closed tightly, and the girl in black robe riding a strange horse-like mount passed through the city and approached the flourishing root system of the golden tree along the "ring road". The armored knight turned a blind eye to this and even thought... Move out of the way.

Perhaps in order to avoid affecting this tree city, the huge entangled and curved roots of the golden tree stopped shining from the position close to the city, and the overall look was like cold obsidian - of course, it was the same as the city itself and the knights. It is gray that has lost all color.

The oxen and horses carried the black-robed girl on their backs and jumped up layer by layer along the roots of the giant tree. It could hardly maintain its balance, but the girl on its back seemed to have grown on its back. No matter how it tossed, it remained steady. at every turn.

"Puff! Puff!" It complained.

"[I'm sorry, Torrett]," the girl in black robe said in an unapologetic tone: "[I just suddenly remembered something and wanted to confirm it.]"

Torrett didn't respond, but just kept jumping carefully along the occasional footholds between the roots, and kept going up.

Finally, they reached the highest point of the Tree City: a huge circular square surrounded by golden trees.

On the square, there are no accumulations of ash and snow, instead there are scattered golden leaves. In the center of the square, there are seven huge stone chairs arranged in an arc that look like they are overlooking and watching the entire city. , on the stone chairs, there are six statues with different postures, but the details are seriously missing, and only the human-shaped gray-white statues can be seen.

The girl in black robe jumped off Toret's back and walked past the huge stone chair while staring at the statues.

"[dream, destiny, despair, desire, delirium, destruction, and...]"

She read out the name of the statue as she walked, and finally sat down on the only empty stone chair:

"[Death of Endless.]"

————

"Puff."

After chewing a circle of gold leaves in the square, Toret came to the throne and snorted at the black-robed girl.

"[Not yet, it's just a hunch. I don't know what I can find here," she played with the brass-colored dagger in her hand: "[Perhaps, I should have known, but I accidentally forgot. ]"

"Pfft." Torrett objected.

"[Yes... I remember every world that has ever existed and the 'death' of every intelligent creature in it. There is no such thing as 'forgetting'," the girl leaned back slightly and leaned on the back of the throne. : "[Rule out all possibilities...huh?]"

She originally planned to say something, but her attention was attracted by the illusion that appeared in front of her.

They were two huge shadows with completely faded colors that appeared opposite the stone chairs.

One of them was the girl in black robe herself. "She" seemed to have just experienced a fierce battle. The brass dagger had not yet been put back into its sheath, and she was talking excitedly to another shadow.

And the target of her conversation is... a ball of roiling mud?

"Pfft," Torrett said.

"[...]" Perhaps because she couldn't understand why the being who used her own image wanted to talk to a ball of mud, the girl in black robe did not respond to Torrett who seemed to be asking questions, but continued to remain silent without saying a word. .

However, the words always came to an end. After a few more words of silent conversation between the black-robed girl and the silt shadow, the situation suddenly changed drastically.

The "mud" fell straight to the ground as if it had lost its buoyancy, and then expanded in all directions at a very high speed. The entire illusion was based on this technique.

"Moo!" Torrett was so frightened that he jumped up on the spot. After realizing that it was just an illusion, he jumped back again and stamped his feet on the floor of the square - or shook his hooves?

A few seconds later, a new illusion appeared. The protagonist was still the black-robed girl herself and the mud. But at the same time, a vague figure appeared in the illusion, barely outlined by sparse and intermittent lines, and it looked like a humanoid " third person".

This time, it was this vague "third person" who was talking to "Silt", and the conversation seemed to have a very good effect. Silt did not suddenly fall to the ground, but slowly deformed, shaping himself into the same appearance as the black one. The huge stone chair that the robed girl was currently sitting on was exactly the same as the dark creation.

The humanoid shadow, so ethereal that it was almost invisible, said something to the girl in the illusion, and walked toward the stone chair while flickering indistinctly.

"Puff?"

"[I don't remember this happening,]" the black-robed girl shook her head slightly and turned the dagger in her hand: "[But there is no 'parallel world' 'here'."

call--

At this moment, another drastic change occurred in the silent "phantom". The throne made of mud instantly collapsed into a pool of fluid, while the phantom girl and the almost invisible humanoid shadow looked up to the sky in unison. go.

But there is nothing there.

The girl in black robe could only see through the angle of her "phantom" head that there seemed to be some kind of existence that was gradually falling at a relatively slow speed. Judging from her slightly dissatisfied expression, she should be an "acquaintance".

Next, the "almost invisible human-shaped shadow" and the "completely invisible" had a conversation. After the exchange, you can barely see the former taking two steps forward and raising his arms to the sky. , and then, the only remaining image composed of vague lines disappeared completely.

The black-robed girl's own illusion rushed forward for a distance, reaching out her hand to grab something but failed. Then, all the illusions disappeared together.

"【That is……】"

The girl in black robe sitting on the throne imitated her actions in the illusion and raised her hand to the sky. She felt it silently for a moment, and then slowly spoke thoughtfully:

"[The Faded One...Sir?]"