The boy, seeing the skull flying towards him, didn’t dodge and took a direct hit to his forehead, falling backwards.

“I’ve simply reached the end of my lifespan. From the beginning, when I met you, I didn’t have much time left.”

“…Even so, you didn’t need to suffer like that.”

“Isn’t that how humans are? Selfish, only caring about themselves, and blaming others when danger comes. But imagine how hungry they must have been to do that.”

“How should I know! Such things. I don’t even want to imagine. No matter what happened, you shouldn’t have been treated like that!”

“But in the end, it was humans who took care of us. When you were hungry, they brought you food, and even in difficult times, they offered sacrifices.”

“In the end, they just wanted their wishes granted.”

The girl sighed deeply as she stood up, dusting off the sand.

“I’m dying.”

“Nonsense.”

The boy’s eyes turned ominous. The girl frowned at the surging dark energy.

“Do you like me that much?”

“Huh? What are you talking about? I just said you didn’t need to be treated like that. And I didn’t like the humans either. Even if you disappear, it’s the same. I won’t stop.”

The boy said, his eyes shining brightly.

He turned his head abruptly after looking down at the broken body of the World Tree that no longer emitted light.

His intense gaze fell on Serena and Magnus.

“I’ll just start over. First, I need to break the contract.”

A black spear appeared in the boy’s hand. The entire weapon was pitch black.

The girl stood up and blocked his path.

“Let’s stop.”

“You stop. I……”

The girl reached out her hand. Drukan’s sword that was stuck in the tree transformed into a sword of pure white light in the girl’s hand.

From the tip of the blade to the end of the hilt, it was entirely a sword of white light.

“…What are you doing?”

“If you don’t stop, I’ll stop you. So step back and go back to sleep.”

“…Ha, how can you do this to me?”

The boy burst into laughter. After laughing for a while in disbelief, he finally started laughing while bending over.

“Fine, do as you please. I’ll do as I please too.”

It was at that moment when the boy charged towards Serena, kicking off the ground.

Magnus drew his sword, and the girl blocked in front of the two at a speed too fast to be seen, swinging her sword.

Thud–

With a chilling sound, the boy stopped in mid-air. The tip of his spear had pierced through Magnus’s sword and was barely touching between his eyebrows, but it couldn’t pierce through him.

“…World Tree.”

Black liquid flowed like blood from the boy’s mouth.

“Why……”

The girl’s sword had pierced through the boy’s chest. The pure white light began to slowly spread, as if taking control of the boy’s body.

“Why…!”

Black liquid flowed like blood from the boy’s chest, which had seemed impervious to any attack.

“I told you to stop.”

“How could you do this to me…!”

“I didn’t want to torment humans.”

“What did the humans do to you! They took your branches and stole your fruits! You even shared your roots, and when they stripped your bark, you just let them.”

The boy wailed.

His voice, crying out as if spitting blood, sounded indescribably painful.

Black tears flowed down the cheeks of the boy, who seemed to feel more betrayal than the pain of being stabbed in the chest.

“But what did they do!”

“……”

“They ended up blaming you for natural disasters! They tried to kill you! They tried to take you away from me!”

“Nyx.”

“I gave up everything for you… how, how could you do this to me? How could you…!”

The boy writhed.

The spear in the boy’s hand dropped with a thud. The boy grimaced in pain and groaned lowly.

“Then, shall we go together?”

The girl—the World Tree—asked. At that, the boy, Nyx, hesitated. He opened his mouth with a distorted expression.

“…What?”

“Let’s go together, Nyx.”

The World Tree reached out her hand.

“Where…?”

“Anywhere.”

“But you’re dying. You’re going to die. You’re going to leave me alone again… you’re going to disappear. I……”

Nyx shed tears drop by drop.

Serena stared at the two of them. She slowly raised her hand and gently rubbed her eyelids.

‘The tears have stopped.’

She opened her eyes wide.

The tears had stopped. That meant there was no longer a reason to cry. It meant that Nyx, her contractor, was no longer crying.

“Let’s sleep a long sleep together.”

“……”

“And someday, let’s travel together.”

“……”

“It will probably take a very long time, but even if we can’t escape being lowly creatures or mortals, if you help me, we won’t reach extinction.”

The World Tree spoke calmly.

Nyx’s eyes trembled slightly. The holy sword in the World Tree’s hand quietly disappeared.

The small girl staggered. Nyx gritted his teeth as he embraced her.

Her body slowly began to wither like a dry twig.

At the same time, the black energy flowing from Nyx’s body enveloped the girl’s body.

“……”

Nyx slowly raised his head. Serena silently looked at Nyx for a while before opening her mouth.

“Have you decided to give up on your plan?”

“Yes.”

“I see.”

“…I can terminate the contract, but if possible, I’d like you to maintain it. It’s burdensome for me alone to reconstruct the World Tree.”

“……”

“…Of course, I know it sounds absurd, and you must be very angry, and what I did was wrong, but… In the end, it just hastened what would eventually happen anyway……”

Nyx stammered, adding an explanation.

He went on quite a long explanation about how he had his reasons, despite doing wrong, and so on.

“If you’re angry, I’ll pay the price……”

“Don’t you have anything else to say?”

Serena crouched down to meet the boy’s eyes and asked.

“……”

“Really nothing? Nothing to say to Magnus and me?”

As Serena quietly asked, Nyx, who was now embracing the World Tree enveloped in a black sphere, moved his lips.

“…I’m sorry for dragging you into my selfish plan.”

“And?”

“And…?”

At Serena’s question, Nyx frowned. Was there anything left to say besides an apology?

“If there’s anything else you want……”

“Besides that.”

Nyx’s brow furrowed.

The boy was connected to Serena, so he easily found the words she wanted to hear.

“…I’d appreciate your help. Please.”

“You’re surprisingly obedient.”

“…There’s no reason to be ashamed of asking for help to save the World Tree.”

Serena silently looked at Nyx.

“Actually, I was going to say no.”

“……”

Nyx clenched his fist.

For Serena, it was a natural response. In fact, he had anticipated being rejected.

In that case, he would have to figure something out on his own, whether by going into the darkest forest or whatever.

“I see, then I’ll terminate the contract.”

Nyx answered heavily in his youthful voice.

“I was going to… but it seems my sucker tendencies are still there. Me. If I continue to maintain the contract, will anything change?”

“Serena! I’m against it!”

Magnus crouched next to Serena and opened his mouth.

Serena burst into laughter lightly as she saw Magnus pointing at Nyx, saying he was absolutely against it.

She reached out and suddenly grabbed Magnus’s collar, then kissed him on the lips.

“…Serena… you…!”

Magnus’s face turned bright red at Serena’s sudden and unexpected action.

She laughed lightly.

“Please. You’ll protect me, won’t you?”

“That’s a given, but… This kind of time bomb…!”

“Nothing will change. The World Tree and I will sleep a long sleep, and you’ll just continue to raise a rabbit.”

“Rabbit?”

“Yes, even if that’s the case, conversation will be impossible, and it will be no different from a mere creature, literally.”

As Nyx spoke, black liquid continued to flow from the hole in his chest.

Assuming that was blood, it was clear that Nyx had also suffered a critical wound.

“We won’t wake up for a long time. Even if you die… even if the child you bear dies.”

“…A child, I hadn’t thought that far.”

Serena blushed and rubbed her nape. Nyx’s face contorted as he saw Serena blushing at such a strange point.

Magnus’s face had also turned bright red.

“It’s really sickening to watch… Do all humans change like that when they fall in love? I thought it was a bit okay at first……”

Nyx said, shaking his head. Serena opened her eyes wide and burst into laughter.

“Aren’t you in love right now too?”