"URGH!"

  I've returned to Michelle. This is the truth of her heart: She is the one person whose life was as pitiful as Lily's. She never had a choice. Her own father, whom she loves so much, was the one who put her in this situation.

  This pain is excruciating. . .

  "And then Lily-chan continued to fight for me. No matter how painful it gets. No matter how hopeless it seems. No matter how utterly painful her wounds were. She just never stops. She never left me. She never stops trying."

  Her words multiply the pain in my heart.

  "Judge-san, I only have one wish. Will you grant it for my sake?"

  When I looked at Michelle's face, I was shocked.

  "Lunehart-san. . ."

  She was smiling as if she were holding back her tears, yet they were already rolling down her cheeks.

  "Will you please save my best friend?"

  Seeing her genuine feelings almost made me tear up, but I held it back. And then Michelle slowly fades away.

  I clenched my fist; my determination is absolute.

  "I will definitely save her, Michelle-san! In the name of the Judges, I'll make sure that she's free from all of these!!"

  .

  .

  .

  The surroundings where I met Michelle were gone, and now I am back in the darkness, in the throne room where Lily and her black swords were. Now, I confidently walk towards her.

  "STAY AWAY!!"

  Lily hurls a horde of black swords towards me. The swords break apart when they come into contact with me. I am no longer intimidated by her hatred. I enter the inner side of the circle of her black swords.

  I stand against Lily. I grab her on both of her shoulders.

  "Lily-san. I've met Michelle-san!"

  Lily's expression suddenly changed. She was frozen for a few seconds.

  "I understand your hatred."

  Lily was ticked hearing my word, and she sent more of her black swords at me, but the black swords could no longer harm me.

  "I understand why you want to destroy everything."

  "SHUT UP!"

  Lily struggles to free herself from my hold.

  "YOU ARE JUST SOME RANDOM GUY THAT I MET BY CHANCE! YOU CAN'T POSSIBLY UNDERSTAND ME!"

  "But I do; I’ve seen everything. You're in a lot of pain right now."

  "DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW MUCH I SUFFER?"

  "I do. You are really strong for holding yourself for that long."

  "DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY TIMES I WAS ABOUT TO GIVE UP?"

  "I know, but you never did."

  "WHAT IS WRONG WITH MY LIFE? ALL I WANT IS A NORMAL LIFE WITH A FRIEND! WHY AM I BEING PUT INTO THIS SITUATION?"

  "The people who put you in this situation will pay! And I don't intend to let any single one of them escape my Judgment!" The tone of my voice was deep and full of anger.

  "WHAT ABOUT MI-CHAN? MY BEST FRIEND DIED! AFTER ALL THESE YEARS! AFTER EVERYTHING I DID FOR HER! IT WAS ALL IN VAIN! I LOST HER ANYWAY!"

  I cannot answer that. I feel hurt hearing her purest and most personal emotions.

  "I AM THE QUEEN OF TIME! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW STRONG I AM? I AM THE NUMBER FOUR STRONGEST BELIEVER IN THE WORLD!! YET MY STRENGTH STILL CANNOT SAVE A SINGLE FRIEND! ONE SINGLE FRIEND! THE ONLY FRIEND I HAVE EVER HAD IN MY AWFUL LIFE!"

  I also cannot answer that. I just silently stare at her. Her expression is affecting me; I start shedding tears. Lily's expression looks so twisted and crazy; she's losing her mind.

  "Lily-san—"

  I pull Lily towards me. I hug her tightly. I press her head against my shoulder.

  "—I cannot help with what's already happened. But I will help you! I will free you from your nightmare. I'll help you destroy everyone who is involved in all of these. Everyone in the facility, including the man who called himself 'God'!"

  My words are finally reaching her. Lily hugs me back and grabs the back of my shirt tightly.

  Lily starts crying. She's sobbing heavily.

  *sobs sobs*

  "I tried everything!"

  *sobs sobs*

  She weeps harder.

  *sobs sobs*

  "I did everything!"

  She cries harder.

  "I killed so many people! People I don't even know!”

  Her fingers are gripping the back of my shirt harder.

  "There are times that I genuinely enjoyed killing people."

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  She pressed her head against my shoulder harder.

  "There are times when I was looking forward to my next assignment."

  Her tears are soaking my clothes.

  "Those assassination missions, I treated them as a way to improve my fighting capabilities!"

  Her voice cracked.

  "I never even found out why the facility was so insistent for me to go killing people!"

  She continues to sob.

  "I never had a proper chance to talk to Mi-chan after all this time. She cannot answer me every time."

  She continues to cry.

  I hugged her harder and tighter. I press her body against mine. I stroked her hair gently.

  "Lily-san, it will be over soon. Your pain will be no more. Your struggle will be no more. I will make sure that happens. It's gonna be alright! I'll save you, Lily-san!"

  My words are affecting Lily. She finally calmed down. She sounds so exhausted. She is at her most vulnerable state.

  "You can't touch the people of the facility without defeating 'God' first. And I don't think you can defeat him either."

  "Don't worry, I have a plan. And you will help me, Lily-san."

  "Me? But my power doesn't work on him."

  "As I said, I have a plan. Believe in me!"

  I look Lily in the eye as I utter those words. Lily is staring back at me with both of her teary eyes. Both of our faces look horrible, ugly, and red from all the crying. The whole room changes color to white. Not a single speck of black is present. Her black swords are fading away.

  "Can I truly believe in you?"

  "Yes, I won't let you down. I bear the name of the Judges. I can't afford to disappoint you!"

  I assured her with confidence.

  "Okay."

  Lily finally smiled a bit.

  "Lily-san, close your eyes!"

  She was confused at first, but she did as I said. I put my hand on top of her head and prayed.

  "May God's love embrace you."

  Lily's body is enveloped by holy light. The light then slowly disappears.

  ". . .-chan!"

  *?*

  "Lily-chan!"

  Lily opened her eyes and was so surprised by the sight before her.

  "MI-CHAN?!"

  "You're finally able to see me. Lunehart-san really did save you."

  "Mi-chan. . . I thought you died. . ."

  "I did die. I am but a spirit now. I was allowed to visit you for one last time."

  Lily hugs Michelle tightly. Michelle also hugs her back. They hugged each other silently for a few seconds.

  "I'm sorry."

  Lily began to cry again. Michelle hugs her harder.

  "It's not your fault."

  "But--!"

  "Lily-chan, I don't have much time left, but I will be fine from now on. Focus on what's ahead of you, okay? This is the only thing I can do for you."

  Michelle puts her forehead against Lily's.

  "I had so much fun spending time with you. You’ve filled a hole in my heart when I needed it the most. Thank you for everything, my dearest friend." Michelle gives Lily her final smile.

  After saying her final words, Michelle fades away. Lily is crying and sobbing for her friend for the last time. She cries very hard for a moment. I approach her and gently rub her hair.

  Seeing her cry from up close makes me shed tears as well. We both cried for a good few minutes.

  And then, after all of that, all that's left are the vast white emptiness, Lily, and me.

  "Lily-san, are you ready?"

  I offer my hand to her. Lily wipes her tears away.

  "Yes, I am!"

  Lily takes my hand.

  .

  .

  .

  The dome of light is slowly fading away.

  From behind the bright light, Light is carrying Lily's unconscious body in his arms. She has reverted back from her Second State. Her body is no longer in Berserker state. Light has successfully saved Lily. Light himself is still in Second State.

  He lands on top of a pile of building debris, and he puts Lily's body on the top very gently and carefully.

  "(She will be awake in a few minutes or maybe hours.)"

  Light looks to his left and right.

  "(I was too late. . .)"

  There are no traces of human civilization anymore. There aren't even corpses anywhere in the city. They all probably withered away. Almost all the buildings collapsed and were destroyed. The ones who still stood were in horrible conditions, too. This city has entirely become a ghost town that looks like it has been here for thousands of years.

  "It is said that—"

  *!!!*

  Light heard a voice. He never heard this voice physically, yet he knows who this voice belongs to.

  "—once a Believer has entered Berserker state, then there's no other path than death."

  Light stands up. A man is walking towards them from behind.

  "Yet I just witnessed something that makes that saying wrong."

  The man stops his steps. He is standing in front of the pile of debris. The memories of Lily's past are building Light's anger.

  "Who are you, and what did you do to free her out of that state?"

  Light turns around as his heart is filled with rage. All of the horrible things the man had done to Lily are filling Light's head. He is at the peak of his anger.

  The man's tone of voice also changes to intimidation. Light and the man glare at each other, both with very intimidating expressions.

  "Don't meddle with my affairs!"

  "So, you're the man who called himself "God"?!"

  Light and the man stared at each other. Both of them are showing their seriousness and anger.

  “What an appearance. Is that your Second State?”

  “. . .”

  Without answering or waiting for an answer, Light and Martin walk forward towards each other. Light walks down the pile of debris while Martin walks up to it.

  Light clenches his fist.

  "That's not going to work!" said Martin.

  "Try me!" Light replies.

  Light swings his fist towards Martin's face as strongly as possible. Martin was smashed towards the ground and bounced off a bit of the ground. Light immediately chased after him and punched him upwards, sending him flying towards the sky. Light flies up high, following after him.

  Light readies another punch. He increases the mass of his blackened fist.

  “City mass, COLLATERAL REJECTION!”

  He punches Martin right in his belly. Martin's body bent before it launched violently towards the ground. His body hit the ground, and the impact blew everything away. It creates a huge crater and generates a giant cloud of dust high in the air.

  Under the thick cloud of dust, Light falls fast towards where Martin is. He increases the mass on his feet. Light drops his blackened feet right on top of Martin's head. His feet were heavy, and they pushed Martin down against the ground. Martin's skull also breaks apart on the inside.

  Light then grabs Martin's shirt and throws him up in the air. He didn't even check the condition of Martin's head. He flies up again and is directly under Martin's back as his body faces up towards the sky.

  “Car mass.”

  Light palm strikes Martin's back with the mass of a moving car. Upon impact, Martin's ribcage came out from the front of his chest.

  Light puts his leg on Martin's back and pushed him up while he pulled Martin's hands down with his hands. He tears Martin’s hands away violently from his torso. He grabbed his leg, and he threw him again down towards the crater. Martin lands yet again at the center of the crater.

  Light raises his right hand as he floats in the sky with a whirlwind on his feet. He gathers a few cars that were crashed all over the city. He pulled and merged them into a ball of cars and threw it towards a nearby tall building. The ball of cars exploded as he expected it to. Immediately during the explosion, he absorbs only the flame of the explosion. He gathers such a large amount of flames in his hand that it forms a large ball of flame.

  Light throws the ball of flame in his hand towards the crater. The entire crater immediately caught fire, a great and raging fire.

  Light didn't stop there. He gathers iron from every kind of object he can think of, from all around the city. He gathers quite a large amount of iron, and most of it is either iron bars or iron poles. He swings his hand in a throwing motion towards the center of the crater, and all of the iron poles and bars launch towards it.

  Since there was a giant flame in the crater, he couldn't see anything, but he could hear sounds of flesh being pierced by the iron bars and poles.

  Light lands just outside the crater. He stood there and glared menacingly towards the center of the burning crater. After a few seconds, the fire vanishes without a trace. The man gets up and stands up without a single wound. The iron bars and poles were nowhere to be found.

  Light opens his palm and creates a small black hole. He then clenches his fist, and the black hole moves to the front of his fist. He launches the small black hole by punching it towards Martin.

  Martin's throat was pierced by the small black hole, and it exploded into a gigantic pitch-black explosion. Everything that the explosion touches vanishes without a trace. The size of the explosion was almost as big as the tall buildings in the city. The aftermath of the explosion creates an even bigger crater in the city. Light stands at the edge of the greater crater.

  ". . ."

  All of a sudden, four tall buildings appeared above Light and came crashing down towards him, traveling at the speed of light. Strangely, there's no explosion or collision. Light absorbs all four buildings in their entirety in a matter of seconds.

  At the center of the crater, Light saw something forming. After a few seconds, the thing that formed was Martin. He came back after he "vanished" for a bit, and he is without a single wound.