Episode 252
Winter arrived at the end of the war.
Dale hadn’t expected the world to freeze over immediately. Yet when winter finally showed its face, the Shadow Lord accepted its presence with an unusual calmness.
Deep down, he had always sensed it would come to this.
Ever since that day when he grasped the chill of the universe’s end to gain power.
But nothing had changed.
─ Shadow Lord, you swore to be an apostle of truth. And everything that exists has an end.
Winter spoke.
In the white and dark winter night, leaving behind fallen warriors and a frozen artificial goddess.
─ And you will willingly accept that truth.
“……”
Dale didn’t respond right away. Behind him stood the ancient Mother of Darkness, who loved humanity.
“I don’t deny that this world will end in ice.”
After a pause, Dale finally spoke.
“I understand that everything has an end, and that end is not meaningless.”
The end of joyful things is also to end sorrowful and painful things.
There is meaning because there is an end. Life has meaning because of death.
Meaning can only be born within the finite.
That was the truth the Black Sphere realized, and Dale had come to the same understanding.
─ I’m glad you understand.
“But that day is not today.”
Despite everything, Dale shook his head calmly. The pure white silhouette of winter stirred again.
─ Are you trying to deny the truth that will come at the end of the world?
“Does it look to you like the world is ending right now?”
─ Are you spouting nonsense like the fools of this planet? Now that the end is upon you, are you trembling in fear and denying the truth?
Winter laughed incredulously. Dale did not.
“Do you really think your existence is the end of this world?”
Dale asked. Winter’s laughter ceased at his words.
At that moment, a cold unlike anything before began to swirl.
A presence that seemed to extinguish the world’s light and flame just by existing.
No, it wasn’t cold.
It was nothingness.
─ Foolish mortal, do you dare to question my existence?
“This universe hasn’t frozen over yet.”
Dale replied as if it were someone else’s concern.
“Thermal death hasn’t occurred, protons haven’t decayed. The sun still blazes on this earth, and the remnants of black dwarfs and matter drifting through the universe haven’t vanished. The world hasn’t ended. This planet is no exception. Even a high school student could understand that.”
With the power of the Shadow Lord, the eyes of truth saw through winter’s shadow. But even without such abilities, discerning the truth wasn’t difficult.
“Is there any reason to believe that a being who brings ‘the end’ just because the inhabitants of this planet are noisy is truly the end of the world?”
The white frost in the shape of a human silhouette, winter, indeed possessed the power that would come at the ‘end of the universe.’ But that didn’t mean he was the end itself.
─ Then what do you think I am?
“Fear.”
Winter asked, and Dale answered.
“People don’t fear death itself, but the shadow of death looming over them.”
─ …….
“The same goes for the end. What they truly fear is not the end itself, but the fear of the end cast over this world.”
Winter didn’t respond. But he understood the meaning behind Dale’s words.
“Your existence is merely an illusion born from the fear of the end.”
Scientists on the old world, Earth, knew. The universe would end through the Big Freeze. The elves of the Second Empire reached the same conclusion. They all knew the end that would come to the universe one day.
According to the second law of thermodynamics, this universe would eventually end in ice.
Perhaps all the intelligent beings across the universe knew that fact.
Winter was born from the truth of the end that everyone feared. But winter was never the end itself.
And just as the fear of death is more troublesome than death itself, the end was no exception.
A fake. Shub burst into laughter at Dale’s words, unable to contain the amusement.
“It’s an incomplete fear that can only exist through a grimoire.”
Winter didn’t laugh. No, he couldn’t.
But nothing had changed. Dale was merely observing the truth that appeared before his eyes.
Truth is cruel to everyone. Dale was no exception. He once believed without doubt that he was a hero from another world, but the true hero died on that white and dark winter night.
The two warriors here were merely ghosts of that day.
─ How amusing, young mortal.
Winter laughed as if entertained.
─ I wonder if you can still say that after this planet ends in ice.
He reached out.
The chill of the end, residing in Dale’s body, flowed out and into winter.
At the same time, the owner of the grimoire, the Book of Absolute Zero, Sephia, struggled to move her lips.
“Da…le…!”
At her voice, a flicker of disturbance appeared in Dale’s otherwise composed demeanor.
“Don’t hesitate, pierce my heart…!”
“I cannot do that.”
But the disturbance was brief.
Dale’s heart accelerated, and darkness began to scatter.
The ‘chill of the end’ no longer existed within Dale. The one who had given it to him had taken it back.
Yet Dale still possessed the primordial darkness.
─ Let’s assume you’re right, young mortal.
Facing Dale, who scattered the primordial darkness, winter wrapped in the chill of the end.
─ Do you think a mere mortal like you can resist the oldest and greatest fear in this universe?
“Mortal?”
Dale asked incredulously.
“Didn’t you say everything that exists has an end?”
And that meant only one thing.
“Even the oldest and greatest fear in the universe is destined to perish.”
Winter didn’t respond. But it wasn’t silence.
Absolute nothingness scattered.
Complete annihilation. As he said, winter’s existence was the greatest fear in the universe.
An end of thought that could neither be resisted nor escaped.
──And Dale could never defeat that existence.
Before he knew it, the chill winter scattered was swallowing Dale’s existence.
Sephia’s image faded, Shub disappeared, and Dale was left standing atop a world ended in ice.
There was nothing there.
When he came to, Dale was wandering alone on the empty winter landscape.
Yet, strangely, the scene felt familiar.
Then he realized.
Back when he faced the Immortal Emperor Frederick, the bubbles of the end he had shown.
Worlds that ended in ice upon meeting the universe’s winter, without exception.
At least the Immortal Emperor Frederick accepted that truth. He just arrived at a different answer within that truth.
‘When this world ends in ice and is swallowed by darkness again, what meaning do you think our struggles have?’
‘Nothing remains unscathed before death. People die, stars die, and eventually, even this universe will meet its end.’
The oldest, greatest, and most powerful fear in the universe.
No matter how strong Dale was, he couldn’t confront that fear with power.
‘But in an eternal life, the Immortal Emperor would never see joyful things or sorrowful and painful things end. Does the end of the world still feel like such a futile and terrible truth to you?’
He simply recalled the conversation with the Immortal Emperor Frederick. And he remembered the answer he had reached.
After remembering, he began to walk.
Aimlessly across the winter of the universe.
The loneliest journey in the world had begun.
How much time had passed? He couldn’t tell. It could have been eons, or perhaps just a few days. In this place, the flow of time held no meaning.
At the end of his journey, ‘winter’ stood before Dale.
A silhouette made of pure white frost, crouched like a child.
“Finally found you.”
Dale spoke, and winter turned its head.
─ Have you come to beg for death?
Dale shook his head.
“I came to tell you I’m not afraid of you.”
─ Still clinging to that reckless defiance, I see.
“My stance remains unchanged. You are not the ‘end,’ and therefore, there’s no need to fear you. At the same time…”
Dale shook his head again and spoke.
“I wanted to tell you that you’re not the monstrous demon or god of destruction you think you are.”
─ …….
“Because there is an end, there can be salvation, and sorrowful and painful things can come to an end. Your existence should not be the ‘fear’ born from everyone’s dread, but rather a blessing they should receive.”
Winter, crouched and silent, remained still.
─ Does a mere mayfly dare to lecture me, who remembers creation and the end?
“Why not? I simply pity you.”
After a pause, winter spoke, and Dale replied.
Laughter echoed.
─ How trivial.
After laughing, winter spoke.
“You’re too trivial to even bother with. I’ve lost interest. Get lost.”
Those were Winter’s final words. But that didn’t mean it was the end for Dale.
The world shifted.
The endless expanse of winter’s land faded away, and the world Dale remembered returned.
Days passed, feeling as fleeting as a momentary dream.
Accepting the end and fear. Paradoxically, that was the only way to truly deny the fear of the end.
And there, Sepia remained.
The hero and the goddess were gone, leaving behind the elven mage in Dale’s world.
“Sepia.”
“Dale…”
Sepia started to speak but stopped, reaching out toward her chest.
“The chill in my heart…”
“It won’t be cold anymore.”
“Yes, it’s so warm now.”
“At least the world won’t freeze over tomorrow.”
Sepia silently took Dale’s hand. The warmth of their joined hands was comforting.
The war had finally come to an end.