Horeo gulped down his saliva and asked, sobering p despite not recovering nearly enough amount of mana.

“…yeah… exactly…”

Zoemi muttered nodding his head, while the blood streamed down his lips and chin.

“MY CHILD, WHY IN THE WORLD DID YOU DEACTIVATE THE LAW OF ARIES?! DO YOU HAVE A DEATH WISH!? YOU ARE MY INVESTMENT! I CAN NOT LET YOU DIE, NOT AFTER YOU RESOLVED THE CATASTROPHIC EVENT FOR MY WORLD!”

“…huh…?”𝞸𝗏𝓛xt.𝚌𝓞𝑚

The black-haired boy flinched and his eyes widened as the voice of the faceless god, Guide, resounded in his brain.

“I AM TAKING YOU OUT OF THIS CURSED LAND. I WILL PUT YOU BACK IN THE OUTSKIRTS OF THE HEAVENLY STAR NATION SO YOU COULD RECOVER IN PEACE WITHOUT ANY OF THIS POISON AROUND!”

“N-no… wait… what about Miriette? Will she be okay there?”

Guide decided, making Zoemi ten up and ask while he hugged the dark-haired girl in his arms a bit tighter.

“The environment is too different because there is none of that poison polluting the earth and air in the rest of the world, she would be unable to recover her mana at the normal speed and fall into mana depletion far easier than she ever was here. If you don’t want her to suffer, leave her with the gold-haired guy.”

The faceless god seemed to calm down a little bit, as their explanation was spoken softly ut clearly so that the black-haired boy would be able to understand everything.

“…I don’t want to leave her though… If she can’t go… then I don’t want to go either….”

Zoemi declared, trying to gulp down his saliva, but gulping down a nauseating mouthful of blood instead.

“Out of the question. I am sending you away from here whether you want it or not. You are my chosen hero and I have the right to do that at least once – normally that one chance would be spent on bringing you to my world but that was already done for me by the great primordial – so one at my disposal is still valid and I am using that privilege right now! I will not let such a promising child as you die! Although I will be taking your masteries of the law of Capricorn and law of Libra away from you for the transwer to happen. Fear not, their pathways will remain open, but you will have to train to achieve the same level of strength as you displayed during the fight with the demon-lord-class enemy. And you will definitely have the opportunity to train them all until mastery because – YOU NOT DYING AND ARE DEFINITELY LEAVING THIS PLACE!”

Guide had no intention of backing off from their decision and raised their voice to make it clear to the bleeding boy.

“…but…”

Zoemi sniffled – which only got more blood to pour from his nose…

“Listen, the line of death is gone so the mana can leave and spread around. Things will change, there is a chance that someday either you or she will be able to see each other. Right now you have a choice to leave her here and let me send you away so you can recover to live long enough to see what the future of this world will be, or be sent away together with her, and watch her suffer unable to adapt to the immediate change. There is no third option – I will not allow you to die! Now pick!”

“Zoemi, I need to take you to the commoner girl so she could heal you up! Huh…?”

Horeo, who could not hear the heated voice of Guide, called out but then got utterly confused when Zoemi pushed Miriette into his arms.

“Good choice. As I said, there is a chance for you two in the future and you picked the right path for that outcome. Go on, say your farewells now.”

Guide breathed out in relief, while Zoemi remained silent, looking pitifully at the girl he loved the most in the world.

“Wh-what are you doing…?”

Horeo looked at the sleeping Miriette and then looked up at his teary-eyed best friend.

“Tell her that I will never forget her and that I will do everything in my might to one day be able to stand by her side… as long as she will still want me, of course.”

Zoemi smiled through the tears and blood and said in a trembling voice.

“Wait, what? Where are you going? There is no one here except me to use the telepo… Whoa…!”

Horeo shook his head and stepped forward, almost dropping Miriette, but recovering at the last second.

“We will meet again. Be a good king, okay? Don’t go overboard with the tyrant persona. And once again, I will do my best to come back.”

*whoosh*

“Once again, where do you think you are go…? HUH?!”

Zoemi smirked and looked up from Mireitte’s face over to the distressed Horeo, who raised his voice only to flinch and become wide-eyed.

Because right when Zoemi finished the last word, he suddenly vanished.

Not with the flash of light as if he used the light attribute, nor as if he sunk into the darkness or not even as if he dived into the earth beneath his feet.

The black-haired boy simply disappeared into the thin air, leaving the short trail of droplets of blood on the grounds as the only evidence of his existence.

“…”

*thump*

Horeo mouth’s moved like a fish suddenly pulled out of the water, but not a single sound escaped his lips before he suddenly dropped to his knees, barely able to hold onto the unconscious Miriette.

After a few more minutes the members of the King’s Guard, the corpse puppets of the gray-haired necromancer, and the surviving members of the Zoemi’s group brought back by Elsby, began to appear on the silent battlefield one by one.

——–

After Zoemi’s disappearance, Horeo and Miriette were recovered from the devastated site of the completed catastrophic event and escorted to safety – and the story they got to tell to the others took everyone’s breaths away.

Despite the win over the Ghosts of Bellcephora and the sinister treacherous bastard of the former queen, who ended up committing both patri and matricide with the full intention of following it up with fratricide that was nothing less than attempted regicide, the peace and quiet were only a faraway dream.