“Do you want to retire?! You’re saying this all of a sudden?”

The man was taken aback, startled by the thunderous news. His adopted daughter, Auria, the most popular performer of the moment, had just declared her intention to retire after her next performance.

“W-well, if you’re tired, why not take a break instead? It seems a waste for you to retire when you still have so much potential.”

Naturally, the man vehemently tried to dissuade Auria. It wasn’t just the revenue she brought to the troupe he regretted losing; he was genuinely a fan of hers. As someone who loved the arts, he didn’t want to see a shining star like Auria leave the stage at such a young age.

“You once told me, Father, that when you find something you truly love, you’ll feel your soul tremble. I’ve found it. Something that makes my soul tremble.”

Despite his pleas, Auria’s resolve appeared unshakeable. The man could tell from her words that her heart had already drifted away from the stage.

“…Fine. If that’s how you feel, then I can’t stop you.”

With a heart heavy with regret, he ultimately decided to respect Auria’s choice. He was a fan who wanted to see her stay on the stage, but above all, he was a father who loved his daughter more than anything.

“…But still, Auria, I will ensure that as many people as possible will see your final performance. I want to leave a memory of a great diva named Auria in people’s minds. Is that alright?”

“If you do that, I would be delighted.”

Thus, Auria’s retirement concert was decided.

 

“What the hell…! Auria is retiring?!”

“No way!! This can’t be happening!!”

Once news of Auria’s retirement spread, the city went into an uproar. The ominous atmosphere that had lingered due to the recent series of murders was overshadowed by the shock.

In this city, whether they were wealthy, artists, or vagrants, everyone adored the diva Auria. The thought of not witnessing her final performance became a matter of deep regret for many, causing the theater to be flooded with people even before the ticket sales began.

To the point where many were willing to sell their homes just to get their hands on tickets due to the outrageous demand.

However, in response to such overwhelming demand, the owner of the Golden Troupe made an unprecedented decision.

“We’ll hold the performance at the central plaza! Since it’s my daughter’s last show, there will be no charge for entry. Anyone who wants to come can come!”

He announced that he would rent out the entire central plaza for the performance, offering it for free to spectators.

Of course, people’s reactions were explosive. The townsfolk cooperated like never before, banding together to prepare a stage for Auria in the central plaza.

On the day of Auria’s retirement concert, an astonishing number of people gathered in the central plaza.

The plaza was so packed that there was hardly room to step, with people climbing onto the roofs of nearby buildings to get a glimpse of the performance.

Although the noise created by the crowd was deafening,

“Wow, so many of you have gathered here today.”

When that single line echoed, the previously loud plaza fell into a surreal silence.

“I didn’t expect this many people to show up. I’m truly thrilled.”

Looking at the assembled crowd, Auria beamed with a bright smile.

“Thanks to you, it seems this will be the best ‘end’ I could hope for.”

Those who witnessed Auria’s genuine smile, one they’d never seen before, were captivated and swooned. The fact that the star they adored was joyful because of them brought them sheer delight.

Facing her adoring audience, Auria continued,

“Shall we start the performance now? Oh, but before we begin, there’s something I need to confess to you all. Regarding the recent string of murders occurring in the city…”

She smiled at her unsuspecting prey before her.

“That was my doing.”

In an instant, darkness enveloped the plaza.

“…Huh?”

“AAAHHHH!!!”

The slaughter began.

“What the hell is that monster?!”

“Yikes?! Someone’s dead!”

“Run for your lives!! It’s a witch, a witch!!!”

Suddenly, bat-like monsters appeared out of nowhere, starting to kill people.

The citizens fell into a frenzy, pushing and trampling each other in their desperate attempt to escape.

“What are you all doing!! If you don’t move quickly, we’ll all die…!!”

“Wha-what?! It’s blocked up ahead!! There’s some strange wall… Aaaah!!”

But they could not flee.

The plaza was already perfectly sealed due to the barrier Auria had set up.

“NO…! I don’t want this, I don’t want this!!!”

“AAAAHHHH!!!”

And as if to provide music to the screams of rats trapped in a cage,

“♬~”

Auria sang.

An opera filled with joy and ecstasy set against the backdrop of overwhelming tragedy.

The song continued for a while until the screams that had been background noise finally came to a halt.

After finishing her final performance, Auria turned to the last survivor remaining in the plaza and smiled.

“So, did you enjoy the performance? Father.”

At her words, the man, on his knees among the bodies, slowly looked around.

But all he could see were the dead piled high.

Seeing this, he frowned at Auria, the daughter he had loved above all else, and cried out in despair.

“Why, Auria. Why….”

In response to his question, Auria merely smiled brightly.

However, the father realized then and there that she was genuinely happy.

That revelation truly plunged him into despair.

What kind of monster had the being he had lovingly raised turned into?

“…I never intended to take you from this world. I didn’t wish to take you away.”

The man muttered regretfully, kneeling down and banging his head against the ground.

Again and again, he bowed in apology to those who had died at the hands of his daughter.

With the death of the man who had raised a monster as his daughter, the artist’s city met its final ‘end.’

Ah, they say parents willingly give everything for their children.

In that case, she had gathered people not just for herself, but had also sacrificed her own body to give a perfect ‘end,’ and indeed, he really was…

“You were the best parent.”

Auria hugged her dead father and shed tears of joy.

*

The ‘end’ of a city.

For Auria, it brought a stimulation that felt like her brain was melting.

Just savoring that thrill seemed enough for her to live happily for many years to come.

“…But if this is how the city ends, what about going even further?”

However, insatiable greed drove her to seek even more.

“Why not the end of an entire race instead…?”

Thus, the floating island in the sky, home to the Celestials and the Zoin, met its demise at the hands of Auria.

Of course, wiping out an entire race was no easy feat.

Some of the stronger Zoin and Celestials still possessed enough power to defeat Auria’s demonic beasts.

She could only wonder how things might have turned out if they had fought directly, but from the beginning, Auria wasn’t one to take the battlefield herself; she neither enjoyed it nor excelled at it.

So, Auria took her time, gradually instigating a split between the Celestials and the Zoin, who had previously been amicable.

Then, she seized the opportunity to attack when they were weakened from infighting.

When the two races realized Auria was behind the chaos they were experiencing, they combined forces to attempt to bring the floating island down, ultimately aiming for mutual destruction, which was nothing short of comedic.

For Auria, who was capable of moving freely through space, their method was utterly ineffective.

In some ways, the conclusion felt rather anticlimactic, but through that conflict, Auria learned a valuable lesson.

That it’s far easier to live without revealing one’s identity.

The more one’s name becomes known, the more people come seeking revenge, and it becomes cumbersome to execute schemes.

Additionally, given her personality as someone who considered herself a playwright, Auria preferred lurking in the shadows and manipulating the characters rather than stepping into the spotlight herself.

Hence, Auria began to spread false information declaring that she had died alongside the Zoin and Celestial as the so-called ‘Witch of Greed’—her true identity remaining hidden.

Pretending to be dead, Auria delightedly relished in her ‘end.’

But then trouble struck for her.

For the being known as the Witch of Gluttony had appeared into the world.

Her indiscriminate consumption of all living creatures became a major inconvenience for Auria.

Too many races she had taken her time to savor were wiped out in the blink of an eye.

It was as if someone had unceremoniously stuffed multiple hard candies into her mouth, forcing her to swallow them all at once.

Fortunately, the Witch of Gluttony was sealed away.

Leaving only one last candy—the city of humans.

Thus began a life of moderation that was half voluntary and half forced.

How to enjoy the last remaining candy in the most delicious way, and how to bring the story to a tragically fulfilling conclusion.

Auria pondered this for hundreds of years.

Eventually, she came to the conclusion it would be the perfect ‘end’ for humanity to meet their demise at the hands of the power source of the barrier that had helped them survive until now, the Witch of Gluttony.

To bring down the city of humans, Auria subtly began to employ her strategies.

She incited chaos in the city using the alluring beasts and sent the self-proclaimed proud Witch, Frieda, to create a breach in the barrier.

In the meantime, she also managed to release the Witch of Gluttony from her seal.

However, contrary to her expectations, the city of humans put up a far more formidable resistance than anticipated.

The Witch of Gluttony, freed from her confinement, was re-sealed by the envious Witch of Jealousy, who sacrificed her life in the process.

While the breach created by the alluring Witch Lily allowed yet another opportunity for attack, Auria also successfully repelled and pursued the slothful Witch of Apathetic*.

With that, the relics she had acquired eventually allowed her to defeat the Witch of Gluttony, newly released from her seal.

While this altogether outdid her expectations,

“Aha, this turned out quite well.”

Auria felt no displeasure—only pure delight.

The powerful beings, the Slothful Witch and the Witch of Gluttony, who could not help but die at the hands of humans yet were figures she had never wanted in her plan, had been eliminated.

She had always found the two less than satisfactory.

Initially, if humanity’s city had ended, her plan was to command them to fight until they destroyed each other, and now she had achieved an outcome far greater than that initial goal.

As a result of this development, it had finally become possible to pursue what she genuinely desired.

“Just in case, I had prepared this, and now finally, it can be put to use.”

With a bright smile, Auria pulled out a darkened gem from the dimensional space she had created.

It was the relic known as the Jewel of the Sky, once the power source of the floating island, an artifact of the Celestials and Zoin.

Through extensive research, Auria had managed to modify it to amplify magic.

The Tears of the Ocean relic she had previously given to Lily was an example of such enhancement.

Now, having pulled out the modified relic, which could rightfully be labeled as a demonic object, Auria produced two black stones from the dimensional space.

These were the hearts of the alluring Witch of Lust and the slothful Witch of Apathetic, which she had acquired just the day before.

Being the source of their powers, the organs that produced magic continued to pulse with energy even after the death of the witches.

With a significant smile, Auria inserted both hearts deeply into the Jewel of the Sky.

As the magic of the jewel, which had already been tainted by magic, absorbed the two disparate types of magic emanating from the hearts, it began to amplify.

The amplified magic expanded around the Jewel of the Sky, forming a perfect spherical shape.

This dark sphere, glowing ominously, resembled a black sun.

One type of magic would give rise to demonic beasts.

However, when different magics blend, it manifests as a destructive force that no living creature can withstand.

What would occur if that sphere were to fall and disperse upon land?

Thus, the space it filled would become a realm where no creature could survive.

Now that neither the Witch of Sloth nor the Witch of Gluttony was present, no being could survive there.

“It’s finally time. Let’s go.”

Auria gazed at the black sun with a smile.

And she uttered the goal she had been musing about, which she knew she would definitely achieve one day.

“To conquer the world.”

To conquer the world means to possess it entirely.

Auria desired the ‘end’ of the world.