It's the Final Battle! Everyone, Assemble
(Author: I like an SAO Ordinal Scale-like structure.)
After Mea Mitsui defeated her own father, Keter, the King of the Ten Archangels of Sefirot, and achieved reconciliation through her earnest plea.
It was before dawn that, after devouring the Tree of Evil standing in the town, the final enemy appeared.
──The enemy's name was "Grey Sheriruth."
The true identity of the jet-black monster that had transformed by taking the Tree of Evil into itself──a creature that could only be described as a "Great Tree Giant"──was Sheriruth, the Abyssal Qlippoth who, five years earlier, had self-destructed as the sacrifice for Abyss Zero's return and whose fate had remained unknown, now revived.
He had not died back then. Having hidden himself in the human world, he had continued waiting for the day he would be resurrected, still harboring malice even after Abyss Zero had fallen into slumber.
What caught his eye was the power of the Trees of Evil that had appeared in this world──Greysphere.
Now that his connection to Abyss Zero had weakened, there should originally not have been enough time for the Abyssal Qlippoth to reincarnate. However, the power of Greysphere, who had originally been a being separated from Abyss Zero, became the finest source of energy for him.
After absorbing power from the Trees of Evil around the world while hiding in the human world, Sheriruth fused with the last remaining Tree of Evil in Akebono City, and was reborn into this world as "Grey Sheriruth," possessing power that greatly surpassed what he had once had.
If one focused only on the single point that he was reborn through the power of Greysphere, then perhaps he, too, was the same kind of being as Riin, the reincarnation of Adyeshach.
However, because even at the time of his rebirth he had not cast away the malice he possessed as an Abyssal Qlippoth, he did not possess the reason that would allow him to converse with people as Riin could.
The heart within him was not merely unchanged from when he had been under Abyss Zero's influence, but a ferocious madness that had grown even stronger.
Even in response to Mea's and Riin's calls, he returned only killing intent, enough to spare even after destroying the world.
"If something like that starts rampaging, this town will...!"
Its violence and atrociousness had both been overwhelmingly strengthened.
The Great Tree Giant, standing over 200 meters tall, would bring nothing but destruction to this world; a single landing by that enormous body would likely leave the town in an irreparable state in an instant.
──Yet at that moment, only one person, T.P. Eight Olishua, curled the corner of her lips into a grin at the explosive birth of Grey Sheriruth.
From the very beginning, she had predicted that he would revive here.
Therefore, she──and the others──had prepared thorough countermeasures so that he would not damage the town.
『Now, Nee-san!』
『Got it.』
Receiving Eight's instructions through long-distance telepathy, Charon, who until then had been standing alone on top of Akebono Tower, which had a good outlook, finally broke her silence and began to move.
Anticipating a situation like this might happen, Charon materialized using the power that Eight had shared with her beforehand, temporarily regaining the strength of her prime and transforming into the form of the supreme angel, marked by ten wings.
Fixing her dignified gaze upon Sheriruth, she raised her right hand high with a movement that, compared to her usually barely-changing expression, seemed to carry an unusual degree of determination, and summoned a single notebook into her hand.
The Phantom Thief Notebook──that notebook, in which an enormous quantity of the power of darkness had been gathered, contained the power that Eight, as the "Supernatural Ability Phantom Thief," had collected from children all over the world for this very day.
"──────"
Using that notebook, which could be called a mass of supernatural energy, as a medium, Charon chanted an incantation in ancient Fairy World language only the angels of old could wield.
Then, centering on the place where Grey Sheriruth was about to descend, she activated a sacred art on a colossal scale that extended beyond the entirety of this town.
『By my hand, open──'Underworld Dream Mirror.'』
The moment she spoke the name of that art, Akebono City, where they and Grey Sheriruth confronted each other, switched over to the "Mirror World."
The Primordial Archangel Charon possessed a unique ability to manipulate dimensions and space at will.
Using that sacred art, she created a "Mirror World" modeled after Akebono City, and simultaneously transferred only those she wished into that world. Because it activated in an instant, to everyone except her, it would likely have appeared as though the non-combatants had suddenly vanished from their surroundings.
The scenery of the "Underworld Dream Mirror"──the Mirror World──was essentially Akebono City itself, cast into a world of darkness. However, since it was not the real Akebono City, no matter how much the buildings were destroyed within that space, the real Akebono City would not be affected in the slightest.
It was a secret technique of the Primordial Archangel Charon, activated so that the saviors could challenge Grey Sheriruth in the decisive battle without worrying about damage to their surroundings.
"Charon-sama... Amazing..."
『My daughter has done her best. If I couldn’t do at least this much, I don’t have the qualifications of calling myself her mother.』
"...No, you don't need qualifications."
『Hm...』
Witnessing the power beyond understanding of the Primordial Archangel, who had once been called the Archangel closest to God, Mea Mitsui once again offered her unstinting respect.
As she flew past the top of Akebono Tower where Charon stood, Mea bowed deeply to her.
"Um... Thank you, Okaa-san. And... I'm sorry I couldn't thank you until now."
When Charon had saved her from Greysphere’s terminals, she had not been able to thank her.
Although Charon had called her "daughter," she had been unable to call her "mother."
Only after facing her father, Keter, had Mea finally become honest with her own feelings, and accepting Charon as her "mother" with those honest feelings, she said it again, even at a time like this.
『Heh...』
Upon hearing those words──Charon froze for a moment as if taken aback, before a truly goddess-like smile of affection appeared on her face.
『Go, Mea. ...However, don’t push yourself. If you get hurt, I’ll be saddened. Kabbalah-chan says so as well.』
"Kyui!"
"Ah... fufu."
Although she sent Mea off without stopping her from heading to the final battle against the true enemy, concern for her daughter's safety could be seen in her eyes.
It was hard to call it an ordinary family... but even so, at that moment, Mea felt as though she had experienced "a mother's love" for the first time in her life.
Charon would devote all her effort to maintaining the space she had created, so she could not leave that spot and participate in the battle.
At her feet, Kabbalah-chan excitedly wagged her tail while looking at Mea with her round eyes, as though cheering her on.
──Go. Mea could truly feel that she was saying exactly that.
"Yes! I'm off!"
Receiving the will of the two of them, Mea's spirits soared as though she were invincible, and with her richly colored wings beating, she headed toward the Great Tree Giant, Grey Sheriruth.
Thanks to Charon, there was no longer any need to worry about damage to the town. As long as Mea had her family’s support, there was nothing left to fear.
──It could be said that it was only natural for Mea Mitsui to display furious valor in the battle against Grey Sheriruth.
Although she had already fought through consecutive battles, Mea still had enough strength to continue fighting. Along with her three further-powered-up forms, she boldly pressed the attack against Sheriruth using the technical disruption abilities of the aurora-colored beams and scales released from her richly colored wings.
And whenever the enemy erected a solid barrier to strengthen its defense, the grey flash unleashed by Riin, who swiftly rushed to her side, would "corrode" that barrier in the blink of an eye.
"Riin!?"
"I'll fight too, Mea. Thanks to you, I think I finally understand... who the one I truly should be fighting is."
"Yeah... Yeah! Let's do it together!"
After talking with Mea and witnessing her battle, Riin, who had found his reply, smiled at her with the look of someone who had been freed of a burden.
He had come to understand that the ones toward whom he should direct his power were not Mea and the others, but those who wielded their own power with tyranny, without regard for anyone else.
──And now, the grey fallen angel who had once been nothing became a new savior protecting this world.
Unable to hide her joy at his choice, Mea nodded vigorously with an excited voice.
The joint battle fought by the two of them was a spectacle.
Whenever Riin nullified Sheriruth's barrier with the power of corrosion, Mea would slam her violent aurora light into the enemy's main body.
As they toyed with their enemy with skillful coordination that was hard to believe had been improvised, each fully understanding the other's role, Grey Sheriruth let out a cry of resentment toward Riin, who had turned his fangs against one who had once been his own kind.
『ArE yoU betrAyIng mE, AdyEshach!! Are yOu tAking thE sidE of a fAke toO!?』
"It’s Riin! I've had enough of a life where all I did was go around destroying everything in front of me like back then! You be reborn too! To where you truly belong!"
『ShUt uUUuUuup!!』
It was a cry from the soul.
Even if he would never forget the sins of his previous life, even if he was no one... Riin resolved to accept that he would continue living as "that kind of existence."
Therefore, no matter how deeply Sheriruth's cries pierced his heart, Riin did not waver.
And above all... there was now a girl who had given him the courage to face the cruel yet beautiful world before him──a girl who had took him out of the grey void.
After glancing sideways at her, he slammed his fist into the Great Tree Giant, and Sheriruth groaned in pain.
Following the example of the clash between Mea and Keter that he had personally witnessed just before, Riin shouted with all his heart.
"Besides... she's not a fake! Even if she's not an angel, even if she's not Daat! To me, she's more genuine than anyone!"
"YoU hAlf-fAilEd* REincArnatiOnnn!!" (tl note: something or someone who failed to become what they were supposed to be and is incomplete/halfway there)
"Riin! Get away!"
As if agitated by Riin, who had become exhilarated while speaking human-like naive words, Sheriruth's attacks grew even fiercer.
The jet-black flashes released from his entire body, though driven purely by brute force, became a gapless barrage through sheer overwhelming output, assaulting the two of them.
──However, in the next moment, that barrage was wiped away by blasts of light and darkness that cut in from the side.
At that sight, Riin smiled, while Mea's eyes widened in surprise.
"Isn't that right? T.P. Eight Olishua!"
"Yes, it’s just as you say."
『DaAt!?』
It was Eight's power of darkness that canceled out the barrage attacking Riin──
『Do not place too much confidence in your speed. If you have chosen to take the attack, use the power of Hod.』
"...Otou-san...!"
──and the power of light released by Keter shot down the barrage attacking Mea.
It was the moment the strongest Archangels came rushing in as an ally to the two of them.
──And they were not the only reinforcements who entered this "Mirror World."
"Rikidou Chouta, reporting!!"
『WhAt!? YoU arE...!』
"Not gonna let ya get away this time, Sheriruth! Looks like yer luck's run out now that we've met here.*" (tl note: original text uses “it’s been a hundred years” a Japanese idiom used when one finally encounters the enemy or someone they've been searching for for years)
"...Chouta-san!?"
Suddenly, a gate opened, and a muscular young man wrapped in icy air dauntlessly leaped out, bringing an ice axe crashing down upon the enemy.
The young man with the distinctive pompadour hairstyle was Rikidou Chouta, a freezing supernatural ability user and one of the strongest aces of the Savers.
"Yo, Mea-chan! Looks like... things've gotten pretty serious..."
"R-Really?"
"Whoa there, reinforcements are just getting started!"
"...!"
A beat after him bursting in, two Archangels emerged from the Gate next.
Both were Fairies familiar to Mea, with whom she had already formed acquaintances.
『A hundred years, he says... That musclehead has only lived a little over twenty years, so what is he talking about?』
"Malkuth-sama?"
『No, I don't think Chouta meant it that way. Apparently it's a familiar expression from a human-world culture called rakugo. It's used like, 'This is where your luck runs out now that we've met!' or when you've finally come across someone you've been searching for over many years.』
"Chesed too!"
The two petite angels, a girl and a boy, were both among the Ten Archangels of Sefirot──the Archangel of the "Kingdom" Malkuth and the Archangel of "Mercy" Chesed.
『Hey! So you've finally awakened, Mea. You look beautiful like that.』
"Ah... yeah, thanks. It's rare seeing you like this too, Chesed... Malkuth-sama, you haven't changed."
『I just kind of felt like it.』
『Did you just look at my height and laugh? Just because you've grown a little taller and we're about the same height now, don't get carried away... I mean... don't you look beautiful like that?』
"Ehehe... thank you very much. ...But weren't all of you supposed to be overseas?"
Perplexed by the appearance of reinforcements who should not have been able to come here, Mea was answered by the black-haired Archangel while firing arrows of light.
『It's what's called a tengu's secred passage.』(tl note: One of the inventions that appears in "Kiteretsu Daihyakka." By forming a loop with red tape and sticking it to a wall or floor, it functions as an instantaneous teleportation item that connects different spaces.)
"Binah-sama!"
『I first gathered everyone into Elohim, then opened a gate from there to this town and sent them through. It's a sort of atypical warp by way of another world. ...Keter will probably scold me later, but I'm glad we made it in time.』
Unlike direct teleportation like the one used by T.P. Eight Olishua, this means of travel, which made use of Gates to another world, allowed for dynamic movement that ignored the laws of physics, making it possible to transport large numbers of people to the intended location.
"Then..."
If that’s the case… Mea caught her breath, wondering whether “that person” could come to this town as well.
Sensing the stir in her heart the Archangel of "Understanding" Binah answered nonchalantly.
『Yeah, he's here too.』
──At that instant, rainbow-colored flames, brighter than anyone else's, assaulted Grey Sheriruth.
『GyAaaAaaAHhhhHhhH!?』
The Great Tree Giant let out an agonized scream that seemed to tear the heavens apart.
Scattering rainbow-colored sparks from the halo that traced the shape of an ∞ symbol like jet propulsion, the savior of dawn* returned to her side. (tl note: a name pun)
At his arrival, the corners of Mea's eyes teared up without her realizing it.
"Sorry to keep you waiting, Mea. You did well protecting the town while I was gone."
"...! ...Yeah, Mea… did it."
Akatsuki En──Mea most beloved older brother in the world.
Faced with his utterly unexpected appearance, the words that spilled over had lost all eloquence… But even without many words, her taciturn older brother understood her feelings more clearly than anyone.
After gently patting Mea on the head as if to show his appreciation to her, he turned his gaze toward the personification of of destruction standing within the mirror Akebono City and nodded.
Rainbow and aurora.
Though their appearances differed, the two saviors clad in rich colors each took up a sword and fixed their eyes upon the enemy they had to defeat.
"We'll bring him down together. With all of us."
"Yeah!"
Not only them, but looking down at the ground, more and more volunteers who had rushed to their aid, regardless of race or nationality, were gathering.
Rikidou Chouta.
Kazaoka Tsubasa.
Yamikumo Arisu.
Yamikumo Kakeru.
The goodwill ambassador.
Haniel.
Zaphkiel.
Hahnfu Lee.
Malkuth.
Chesed.
Binah.
Akatsuki En.
Keter.
Charon.
Kabbalah-chan.
And──T.P. Eight Olishua.
The feelings of everyone who had come to help supported Mea Mitsui and Riin, two who had once been nothing.
And the more they wanted to answer those feelings, the more they granted the two of them limitless strength.
There was only one reason for her victory.
It was the peerless bonds she had built up until this very moment through hundreds of millions of fortuitous encounters.
──Therefore, no matter how mighty the enemy was, there was no way they could lose.
"Now, Mea!"
"Lend me your power too, Sefira... Holy Dragon Ain Sof!"
Amidst the fierce battle, Mea did not let the opportunity created by everyone's support slip away.
Following the path Riin had opened, the girl unleashed the final strike that would bring this battle to an end.
Gathering all three colored ribbons that had been untied from her ponytail into her hand, Mea spread out the white hair of her Sefira Form, returning it to the same straight hairstyle she had before.
Held in her outstretched hands was neither a ribbon, nor a thin sword, nor a shield, but a single greatsword over three meters long.
Those ribbons given to her by the three Archangels were woven with fibers from the World Tree Sefira.
That is to say──when the Holy Dragon Ain Sof assimilated with the World Tree, the final power he left behind as he died had also been imbued within them.
Now that she had become able to draw out that power, borrowing the power of the dragon of light──Mea unleashed her finishing blow.
"Ain Sof Aur!!"
Ain Sof, the great god of Fairy World, who had continued watching over the two worlds until the moment of his end.
Carrying his feelings as well upon the golden shining blade, the slash Mea unleashed sent Grey Sheriruth's very existence beyond a magnificent flash of light.
『...ThiS lIght... I sEe... So tHis is...』
As she watched his body crumble away like sand, Mea felt, if only slightly, that the presence emanating from Sheriruth was becoming more peaceful.
"Ah..."
"Don't go, Mea... It's alright now."
"Riin..."
Feeling pity for him as he weakly let a few words slip from his lips just before fading away, Mea started to reach out her hand toward that light──but Riin, standing beside her, grabbed her arm as if to stop her.
He quietly shook his head, then silently offered a prayer for his former comrade as he disappeared.
Mea likewise followed his example and offered a prayer.
『So tHis... is whAt it mEans... to pErish...』
"Farewell, Sheriruth."
"...Good night."
Someday, somewhere other than here... I hope you can be reborn.
Borrowing the words of the angel who had once watched over his own passing, Riin spoke as he witnessed the end of the Abyssal Qlippoth.
Mea, too, wished at least for a peaceful sleep for him, who since ancient times had been unable even to die and had continued spreading malice.
『...Ah... DaAt... Is tHis... whAt a hEart... is...?』
"...Rest in peace, Sheriruth."
And the words spoken by T.P. Eight Olishua in answer to his question were the last words he ever heard.
──And so, the series of incidents that would later come to be known as "The Nightmare Reincarnation" came to an end.
In the town, illuminated by the morning sun after every calamity had vanished, the gathered saviors each let out a breath of relief, having finished a great task.
The charismatic Rikidou Chouta patted the shoulders of the young people who had endeavored themselves to this battle in appreciation, while Kazaoka Tsubasa and Binah and the other angels of Fairy World narrowed their eyes comfortably at the dazzling blue sky of the now-open human world.
Yes, the battle was over.
By the hands of the proud saviors who had gathered in this town──
(Author: Since I didn't make it to the epilogue, there's still one more chapter.
It was fun getting to write so many characters again after such a long time. Konami.)
(July 1, 2026. Thank you to my patrons:Isaac Martinez, RaiNi, Kyubie, Breadlava, Shaq ,Morriel, ProlificTool, jake bomn, Nobody, Sleepy Sylph, jonathan kim, Luke, jerome vent, and Lord_Clamiral)