・Epilogue

. What I saw when the core of Ischyos was shattered. That was—

—Wasn't that Delos?

────────

"Kh—Hahahaha! Splendid, splendid!"

Ischyos's body, having lost its core, tilts and crumbles into ruins.

Lewis's laughter echoes through the chaos. The phantom who should have fallen, shot through countless times by the attacks of Alice and Guest.

Despite having his trump card, Ischyos, destroyed, his composure did not waver in the slightest.

What is raining down from the sky is not a rain of rubble. It is the countless transaction certificates exchanged between the "Red Queen" and Lewis.

"Nothing could be more amusing! You yourselves have driven the final wedge into this world. What irony, hahahahaha!!"

"You. What are you laughing at—" "Alice!"

Mia's sharp voice interrupted Alice as she tried to ready her Vorpal Sword-Gun again.

"Up, look up! The moon is weird!"

. "What... is that...? Are you kidding me?" "It's the proof of ownership."

"The goddess Delos has been struck down by your hands. Congratulations. Congratulations!"

"With this, the collection of this world's 'value' is complete. Thank you, Delos. Thank you, Red Queen. Thank you, you empty-headed little brats!!"

"Don't mess with us!"

The sword-gun spits pale blue flames, and a barrage of magic bullets rushes toward Lewis—but.

"Kh!?"

Impatience flashes across Alice's face. As if oil were repelling water, the bullets that were supposed to be the "sharpest in the world" are deflected, unable to leave a single scratch on Lewis.

"Alice, the protection!"

Mia's voice is now a scream.

"I told you... that Ischyos you destroyed. That was the physical body of the goddess Delos itself, and the core was her soul."

—The moment Lewis uttered the words "Prostrate yourselves," the moon groaned and a gravitational wave slammed down.

"Kyaa!" "Guh!?"

Guest, Alice, and Mia. They are permitted only to crawl on the ground like crushed frogs, their bodies digging into the earth.

What is this?

I feel something. Some helpless power gap between us and Lewis.

"Now that the protection of Delos is gone, there is an overwhelming and absolute difference between you and me."

. "Diff... erence...?"

THOOM

The moment Alice tried to lift her body slightly, she was slammed down even harder.

"Kuh..." "It is—as expected, I suppose—'Value.'"

"You should understand it well. Ranks, Burning Grades... though the names differ, you must have demonstrated your 'value' through all sorts of methods."

Lewis held his golden prosthetic hand up to the moon and gazed at it infatuatedly. Its surface wavered like a heat haze.

"I have preyed upon all the value of this world (academy)."

An overwhelming power was swirling within him.

"Matches only happen between those in the same rank bracket. Hmm? Isn't that right?"

The gravitational waves intensified, and the remains of the arena, the spires, and everything that was once the academy crumbled in vain.

"Your favorite cafeterias and shops, your memories and recollections, even those miserable low-rankers—I concentrated them all into Burning Grades and swallowed them in one gulp!"

That tag in Guest's hand catches fire and burns away.

"In other words, the value remaining in this academy, and in all of you, is zero!" "D-don't be ridiculous! Agh!"

Splat.

Mia, who had shouted, was slammed face-first into the ground by gravity.

"Then you are valueless trash. Far from turning a blade against me, you aren't even permitted to raise your heads."

THUD

It feels as if his back is being struck by an invisible hand.

The collapse of the academy continues.

Everything is being crushed like fragile toys.

Just like valueless trash, as Lewis said, so easily—

"...Guest"

Alice's voice reaches your ears just as you are about to lose consciousness.

"It's not zero."

"Even if we can't take back our 'precious things.' Even if our memories are gone and the academy disappears..."

"You lived here."

"Please. Don't forget."

Before you could understand the meaning of those words, your consciousness was swallowed by the darkness.