It was an intense battle.

A boy was leaping towards the air, using the swords that appeared beneath him as stepping stones.

The pitch-black sword he wielded tore through the defensive barriers he had deemed invulnerable, leaving wounds on his body.

In that battle, Beatrice first thought of the word “defeat,” but—

“Cough…”

Such an occurrence did not take place.

The boy, who had pushed himself to the edge, suddenly collapsed, spitting blood.

Seeing the boy helplessly fall, Beatrice sighed lightly and muttered to herself,

“Oh, is it the same as before?”

Once again, there was no miracle in the outcome.

It was inevitable and unavoidable that the weaker would not triumph before unreasonable strength.

The boy’s sword, which was the only hope for Eva, was undeniably sharp, but ultimately, he could not overcome the very unreasonable strength he was born with and was broken.

In Beatrice’s eyes, which had lost interest in the obvious outcome, the view of the girl, who had lost her final hope and was in despair, reflected.

Feeling an inexplicable disappointment, Beatrice approached the girl to finish her off, muttering,

“I don’t know well, but that tenacious brat has fallen, so I guess it really is the end. Now, Eva, I’ll send you along with him.”

However, what entered Beatrice’s view as she was about to conclude was—

“…Lucy, please. Lend me your strength.”

It was the sight of the girl, whom she thought had given up hope, standing up with a sword in her hand.

While it’s certainly true she could wield her power with that sword…

“Tsk…”

Seeing the girl with the sword grimace in pain, Beatrice clicked her tongue softly.

It was only natural that using an ability that did not match would result in such backlash.

Nevertheless, she was slightly annoyed, knowing that even if she tried something like that, the girl could not contend with her.

That boy, who had incredible swordsmanship, could not win against her, after all.

Could an inexperienced girl wielding a sword turn the impossible into reality?

“─What the?!”

Of course, every time the girl clashed with Beatrice’s abilities, she was flung back.

Still, the girl continued to press on without giving up.

“…This side is also quite tenacious.”

Why?

Doesn’t she understand that she can’t win, that it’s an act of futility?

Does she still not realize the world’s absurdity?

If so, then I’ll show her.

Beatrice thought as she unleashed her powers without restraint.

As the ground disappeared due to her ability, the girl lost her foothold and was naturally drawn downwards.

Then, a beast resembling a bird swooped in to catch the girl from falling, but Beatrice paid no mind and attacked the girl along with that beast.

“─Gah!”

“…Eva, don’t you understand yet? No matter what you do, you can never defeat me. Simply put, unless a miracle occurs.”

And miracles do not happen in this world.

As if to teach her that, Beatrice ruthlessly pressed the girl downwards.

Before that unreasonable power, the girl, Eva, could not resist.

She merely fell down, as if yielding to an unavoidable fate, into the depths of darkness where no light reached.

As Beatrice observed that scene, she quietly muttered,

“…Is this the end? After all, you were no different.”

Thus, Eva vanished below the abyss, unable to overcome the world’s absurdity.

As before, this time as well.

Just as Beatrice was thinking that—

“…What? You still haven’t given up? Really, this is getting annoying.”

Beatrice saw the girl soaring up once more from the place she had fallen, with wings of flames flapping.

At that sight, Beatrice muttered, as if disgusted.

“There’s no helping it. If you still don’t understand, then I’ll show you: there are things you cannot change in this world.”

Regardless of how much one struggles, some things cannot be changed.

The world has always been like that, and it will continue to be so.

Beatrice knew this all too well.

And just as if to demonstrate to the girl that the world does not change, she launched a full-blown attack at her.

And she observed as the girl’s sword failed to block the attack.

With that, there would be no means for resistance for the girl, and this time she would truly fall into the abyss and disappear.

That was the natural result and it should have been so.

However, at that moment,

“…What?”

The impenetrable certainty began to crack.

“What is this… the flames…”

The flames of the girl, which had previously been entirely ineffective, suddenly began to burn through and annihilate her abilities.

Seeing that, Beatrice could not help but feel flustered.

It was impossible, beyond comprehension, an occurrence that should not be happening, and she knew what such an event was called.

“…Are you saying that a miracle has occurred in this situation?”

She had always believed that miracles do not happen.

She thought absurdities could not be overcome.

‘…The sun. Seeing the sun is my dream.’

But Beatrice had seen it.

‘I read in a book that outside world has a sky, not just a roof over your head, and up there floats a gigantic flame known as the sun.’

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She witnessed the girl soar up, breaking through layers of absurdities.

‘The little flame I just saw was beautiful. Then the sun, being so much larger, must be immensely beautiful too, right? I want to see that, to witness it and then draw it here, that’s my dream.’

From a place devoid of light, rising up like a miracle towards the sky, burning so brilliantly that it dazzles.

The brilliance of that flame, shining after overcoming every adversity, was so beautiful that Beatrice thought.

Surely the sun Eva talked about that day must have been something like this.

Ah, Eva. If only you had seen the sun, would you have shone just as brilliantly?

“…Ha, is that so?”

And finally, she realized.

“…I am.”

She merely wanted to see such a spectacle.

Coming to that understanding, Beatrice felt somewhat liberated as she spoke toward the girl who had plunged a knife into her chest.

“…Congratulations, Eva. You have won.”

To the girl who had brought about a miracle, Beatrice offered her congratulations, with a nostalgic look on her face as she reached out a hand towards the brightly burning sun before her.

But suddenly, a thought occurred to her that if someone like her touched that beauty, it might spoil it; thus, she quickly halted her hand from reaching the sun.

Then, recalling the promise she’d made, Beatrice chuckled and pointed downwards with her hand, which had stopped in front of the girl.

“…Now that hide-and-seek is over, and since you’ve won, I should keep my promise. What you were looking for is down below. You’ll be able to find it as you search.”

Having said this, Beatrice took a moment to survey her surroundings.

Was it just her feeling, or did the world, which had only seemed monochrome to her, now seem slightly different?

Indeed, the world was not merely a dull place after all.

“…Hehe, that was fun.”

With a bright smile that she hadn’t shown in a long time, Beatrice fell into the deep, deep abyss.

*
*
*
Down at the abyss, a small laugh echoed.

That laughter belonged to Beatrice.

Thanks to her ability that completely sealed off any external shocks, she was able to preserve her life.

“…Is this what it feels like to die?”

However, even so, she was slowly dying.

Blood was pouring out of the large hole in her chest, flowing out in chunks.

“…Surprisingly, it’s not so bad.”

In fact, if she wanted to, she could halt the bleeding immediately, but Beatrice didn’t bother to do so.

Even in the midst of dying, she didn’t feel particularly bad about it.

And she thought that perhaps it was because she had finally been freed from the contradictions that had bound her for so long.

Yes, contradictions.

Beatrice’s life had been filled with contradictions.

It all began after losing Evangeline to the absurdity of the world.

From that time, Beatrice lost interest in the world.

A world where one could not overcome the unavoidable, where miracles do not happen.

She had ceased to expect anything more from such a dull and boring world.

But looking back now,

“…I was just pretending all along.”

As she murmured that, Beatrice recalled the actions of her past self.

“…Hehe, I was quite the funny girl, wasn’t I?”

The things she had done seemed ridiculous in retrospect.

How could she have clung to her past when she claimed to have given up hope and excitement?

Of course, it was a past that had bound her tightly.

“…Now, I think I can finally let go.”

Having come to understand that miracles could indeed occur in this world.

Although the past Eva met a tragic end, somewhere a girl like that could emerge, experiencing a miracle and achieving her dreams.

Simply knowing that possibility made Beatrice feel the world differently than before.

Just as Beatrice was feeling this long-awaited sense of relief and was about to close her eyes—

A slight discomfort flashed across her face, which had been peaceful.

“…I was feeling good for once, and now an intruder has shown up.”

“Oh my, an intruder? But it was you who broke the contract and acted on your own, disrupting my plans, right?”

Turning her head, Beatrice spoke to the figure that had suddenly appeared beside her.

“To be precise, I didn’t break the contract. You asked me to fight the Witch of Gluttony if the world was to end, right? Since the world hasn’t ended yet, my actions aren’t exactly a breach of contract, are they?”

“Hahaha, playing word games over a contract, are we?”

“Really, it was you who started the word games over the contract first.”

“Ahaha, there’s no retort to that. Indeed, I hadn’t made a move against that red-haired witch before you did.”

Suddenly appearing as always, with her hood pulled up, the woman engaged in conversation with Beatrice and suddenly posed a question.

“…By the way, I never thought you’d end up like this. How did you lose? From what I saw, you’re someone who shouldn’t lose to anyone except the Witch of Gluttony. Did you perhaps hold back during your fight?”

“Hold back? Well, who knows.”

In response to the woman’s question, Beatrice chuckled lightly.

To be honest, it was true that her mind wavered for a moment during the fight against Eva.

With the ability to burn magic, if she had fought earnestly without retreating, the outcome might have been different.

But what significance does that hold?

In the end, she had lost, and it only mattered that Eva had achieved a miraculous victory.

So, Beatrice smirked mockingly and said to the woman,

“Seems like your perception is just off.”

“Hahaha, well, I guess that’s alright.”

Unfazed by Beatrice’s sarcasm, the woman murmured.

“Regardless of all this, my goal was to remove either you or the Witch of Gluttony, and in that regard, I’ve achieved my objective. If an uncontrollable piece on the board decides to remove itself, that’s just fine by me. Thanks to that, I’m one step closer to my goal.”

Beatrice looked at the woman, who seemed to be laughing to herself, with annoyance and asked,

“…I’ve been wondering for a while, but what exactly is your purpose? What are you scheming behind the scenes?”

“Oh, did I never mention it? My objective is…”

As Beatrice questioned her, the woman’s face was filled with an ecstatic smile as she answered.

“…World domination.”

After stating her goal, the woman clapped her hands as if recalling her purpose for coming here.

“Anyway, enough about that. Aren’t you curious why I came to find you?”

“Not really.”

“Ahaha, well, that makes sense. To get to the point, because of your reckless actions, I could no longer grant you my previous request, so I came here to make another request.”

“…Ha, what could you possibly ask of a dying witch?”

“Don’t worry. It’s a very simple request.”

As Beatrice scoffed, the woman grinned.

“Just die quietly as you are now. Once you’re dead, I’ll put you to good use.”

At those words, Beatrice felt her strength gradually ebbing away due to the coercive grip of the contract.

Since she had already thought about dying, she made no effort to resist.

However, as she looked at the woman smiling at her like she was a puppet moving according to her wishes, she couldn’t help but throw in one last remark.

“…You seem to think the world will flow entirely according to your will, but let me tell you, if you’re careless, you’ll face a substantial backlash one day.”

With those parting words, Beatrice ceased to move.

And as the woman sank her hand into Beatrice’s chest, extracting something that resembled a black gemstone, she smiled and murmured.

“That won’t happen. The conclusion of this world is already determined.”