Chapter 1146: The Curse God's Finale
"What are you doing?"
A cold voice came from behind.
The ever-gorgeous Queen Morgan, accompanied by an inexplicably tense Artoria, arrived by his side.
"Huh? I'm not doing anything! I just thought it's bad for her health to keep sleeping like this, so I wanted to wake her up!"
Eiji immediately put on an innocent face.
"Hmph."
Her Majesty the Queen snorted lightly.
Given that you're the great hero, I'll let it slide this time.
"Help me freeze her."
We'll find a way to save her in Pan-Human History later.
"No problem!"
Eiji patted his chest and agreed.
Then he mobilized the magical energy of the Fairy Knight to freeze Beryl with absolute zero ice.
This way, regardless of whether it could extend Beryl's lifespan, at least she wouldn't be easily kidnapped.
In the sky.
As the engine roared, the Storm Border gradually appeared in their sight, finding a barely intact open space to land.
"Artoria! I'm so glad you're okay!"
Fujimaru Ritsuka rushed out first, giving Castoria a tight hug.
When she noticed Artoria was missing, she had guessed what she intended to do.
Thankfully, she survived in the end!
"Ahaha... I wanted to look cool, but Her Majesty stopped me."
Artoria scratched the back of her head awkwardly.
Looking back, it seemed she never quite succeeded or failed completely—almost nothing was accomplished by her own hands. As the prophesied savior, she was truly inadequate!
"Your Majesty Morgan, so you really didn't die?"
Da Vinci also stepped out of the Border, looking at them with awe.
"But to be honest, we weren't all that surprised either."
Muramasa laughed without surprise.
"That's right. Sir Eiji doesn't seem like the type to abandon the... uh, Her Majesty Morgan."
As soon as he saw Morgan's face, Tristan almost called her the "witch," barely stopping himself.
Otherwise, he'd likely face a combined beating from the couple.
"Listen, whether it's Tonelico or Eiji."
Grimm supported Percival, his face covered in blood, as he approached the two.
"Can one of you heal my eyes?"
"I refuse."
Morgan coldly rejected him.
"Still as shameless as ever, Grimm. Even though you sided with Pan-Human History, you still want me to heal you?"
Eiji initially intended to help.
But after hearing Morgan's words, he immediately stiffened his expression, pretending not to hear what Grimm said.
"Don't be like that, Tonelico!"
Habetrot quickly ran to Morgan's side, hugging her leg with an apologetic smile.
"See, we didn't actually fight, did we?"
"Totorot... After 2400 years, you've become smoother too."
Morgan frowned at her and sighed helplessly.
"Ahem! Grimm, remember the great kindness of the Queen!"
Eiji coughed heavily, drawing upon the power of the Water Spirit's White Steel from within to restore both of Grimm's eyes in one go.
The others looked at Eiji with strange expressions, strongly reminiscent of seeing a sycophant.
"Do you really need to be so afraid of the Queen?"
Muramasa looked at him with confusion.
"Bam!"
Eiji's expression changed, and he threw a punch.
Muramasa was instantly silenced.
Idiot!
Have you forgotten what I did before?
I promised wholeheartedly to stand by the Queen's side, only to turn my sword against her immediately after. From Morgan's perspective, it's practically no different from betrayal!
Even now, he still felt he owed Morgan a great deal.
Fortunately, when he was sucking her blood earlier, things got a bit ambiguous. As the saying goes, couples may quarrel at the head of the bed but make up at the foot—though they hadn't actually shared a bed, her anger should have subsided a little, right?
Eiji sneakily glanced at Morgan.
Just then, he met her icy gaze.
He coughed lightly twice and fell silent.
"But with this, the collapse has been resolved, right?"
Little Da Vinci cheerfully chimed in, breaking the awkward atmosphere.
"Now we can call it a happy ending for everyone. So, at this moment, I'd like to bring up an old matter with the Queen—about our previous deal—"
Back in New Darlington, in order to obtain information about magecraft, Morgan had chosen to trade a Holy Lance with Chaldea.
Now that everything was over, the Holy Sword had ended up in Eiji's hands.
While it was true that he should also regard the Alien God as an enemy, Chaldea still needed to prepare for all possibilities. Since there was an opportunity to obtain the Holy Lance right in front of them, they couldn't let it slip away!
"About that matter, it can wait a little longer."
But at that moment, Eiji suddenly interrupted Little Da Vinci's proposal.
His gaze swept over everyone, and his eyes slowly narrowed.
"I didn't notice it before, but thinking about it carefully now, isn't there someone missing among you?"
They had been fighting all along.
Otherwise, their minds had been completely occupied by the overwhelming amount of information.
Only now, after the battle had ended, did Eiji remember.
Among them, there was a certain individual who had never appeared from the beginning to the end, ever since the apocalypse started!
"Someone's missing?"
Everyone looked at each other.
"That's right, it's Oberon!"
Fujimaru Ritsuka scanned the surroundings and suddenly realized.
Only then did everyone understand.
"Indeed!"
"When did Oberon disappear?"
"I didn't notice at all!"
Oberon often acted alone.
So, they had long grown accustomed to Oberon appearing briefly and then vanishing.
But at such a critical moment as the final battle, what reason could Oberon have for acting alone? And why would he disappear again?
"Oberon..."
Eiji murmured softly, then let out a cold laugh.
"Is that so? The voice earlier sounded somewhat familiar. I wondered who it was, but it was him after all?"
"Voice?"
"During my fight with the Cursed God, I was about to deliver a decisive blow, but a voice suddenly told me that Baobhan Sith was inside the Cursed God's divine core."
"So that's why you suddenly changed your fighting style?"
Muramasa held his head, finally understanding.
"But why would Oberon...?"
Fujimaru Ritsuka couldn't comprehend it.
"Why would he hide from us and secretly warn Eiji?"
"...That wasn't a warning."
Morgan remained silent for a moment, a cold smile curling at the corner of her lips.
"The Lord of the Autumn Forest, the Insect Fairy, the island's self-destructive will, Oberon... Is this the truth of it all?"
"You've been watching all along, haven't you? Aren't you going to show yourself?"
Eiji's eyes turned cold as he shouted sharply at the surroundings.
And then.
The direction of the wind changed.
A lonely, illusory wind began coiling around them.
"Heh haha, so you've finally noticed me, huh?"
A pitch-black shadow, like a phantom from a dream, materialized before everyone's eyes.
"I was growing so impatient waiting, I almost jumped out on my own! But hey, you bastards really understand the logic of an actor's entrance after all!"