GBP Chapter 172 The Final Chapter: "The Fool's Elegy"
Chapter 172 The Final Chapter: "The Fool's Elegy"
On the silent mountaintop, snowflakes drifted down, and the two looked at each other, but there was only silence between them.
"........."
Shido put down Tohka from his arms and looked at Mei, who had just emerged from the black mud, with an extremely complicated expression. He gripped his hands tightly, not daring to relax for even a moment.
Looking directly into the boy's complex gaze, Ming still wore his signature smile, which he always showed to outsiders—sunny and unassuming, as if nothing had just happened.
"Shido, you don't seem as surprised by my true identity as I thought. I thought you would be confused and question me loudly."
"No! I'm very surprised. Although I had already sensed the problem from Yoshino's words, I feel more anger than confusion!"
"Oh, anger? Well, I understand. After all, I've been deceiving you for a long time, and there's Tohka lying there unconscious. I can understand you."
"It's hard not to be angry to be deceived by someone I trusted so much! But more than anger, I want to hear your reasons for destroying humanity!"
Shido stared at the pale skin and the empty eyes of the person who owned it, and shouted angrily.
"The reason... I can't say now. Someone's watching. Ask me after you defeat me. Or if it's just the two of us."
"Why? Answer me now, Ming!!"
Shido once again displayed the Executioner in his hand, gripping it tightly and pointing it at the empty space in front of him. He seemed unwilling to listen to Shido's nonsense and only wanted to pursue the so-called—truth.
"This is so unlike you, Shido. I thought you would be a very calm person. This is quite unexpected, but I don't dislike your sincerity."
"I don't want to hear your nonsense, hurry up! Speak now! I'll take care of the beast, but... I don't want to kill you..."
"Hahaha, you don't want to kill me? Don't be ridiculous, Shido. Do you think I still deserve forgiveness for all the evil I've done? I don't need understanding, all I need is... for you to treat me as an unforgivable sinner."
“Ming…”
"Sorry, Shido, I can't say anything. But... I'm quite envious of you. You have so many friends who love you, admire you, and understand you. You're different from me, yet so similar. It's truly something to be jealous of..."
"What do you mean?"
Ming slowly raised his head, feeling the snowflakes hitting his body. He wasn't saying those words to Shido, but rather to the girls who had come to his aid.
"Is this your reason for killing your brother?! And this world...?"
"Is this...your reason? Mr. Ming..."
In the sky, four beams of spiritual energy descended from the sky, surrounding Ming and Shido.
Kotori, who had landed first, looked at herself with immense anger, her gaze towards her former friend now seeming more like that of a heinous murderer.
Ming looked at the crowd surrounding him, his smile unchanged.
However, Yuzuru and Kaguya, who had just landed, were very puzzled by what Kotori said, and looked at Kotori with a serious expression, asking:
"Kotori, is that naked man standing in the snow making sarcastic remarks really the Beast? Right now, his spiritual power is only at our level, and you two seem to know him..."
"I second that. However, Shido and you both seem to know him, even though Yoshino is still with you."
Kotori didn't respond to the two, but only glanced at Shido, then took a deep breath and angrily pointed the [Scorching Demon Slayer] weapon at Mei, saying:
"Hmph, you're nothing but a candle flickering in the wind now. Your spiritual power has long since dropped to an appalling level. Do you think there's any need for you to make sarcastic remarks now?"
"Oh dear, Commander Kotori? I didn't expect you to be back so late. It seems you didn't react as strongly to my exposure as I had imagined."
"I suppose so. Everything you did was too deliberate. You didn't even need to calculate how long it would take to figure it out."
"I see. So when was it exposed?"
"If you repeatedly recall her current data from when you used Yoshino's power in front of us, it would be easy to deduce how suspicious the only person present at that time, besides Shido who was frozen in the coffin, was."
Ming raised an eyebrow slightly after hearing this, but the smile on his face showed no signs of fading, a reaction that made Kotori feel a strange sense of pressure.
"So, is this the only piece of evidence? Commander, I don't want you to only find one clue when I deliberately leave a trace."
“Indeed, the time you deliberately injured yourself, and the time you helped seal Tohka, should have been your strongest alibi. But... what if you could incorporate Kurumi's clone ability? Any of your outstanding actions would seem too deliberate.”
"So, our reliable commander, what do you intend to do with me now?"
Ming clapped lightly, as if mocking and ridiculing their ridiculousness, like clowns on a stage, appearing so bizarre in the eyes of the crowd.
"It's very simple."
With a snap of her fingers, Kotori unleashed the full power of her angels, while she raised her Crimson Cannon and aimed it at the extremely evil elf who was already at her last gasp.
"Surrender! If you have any last words, just say them, and maybe we can grant you a quick death!"
"Ah, they really don't show any mercy."
This time, Shido did not stop him, but stared straight at Ming, wanting to get a reason for this man's evil deeds.
"For someone like you, if I didn't let the more than 100 million people you killed go free, who would offer their condolences?"
"That's true. May I say one last thing?"
"Given our past relationship, that's fine. But we'll only give you one minute. However, you can tell us everything you know, and we might be able to give you a few more minutes."
Ming's lips curled up, but his eyes grew even deeper. Even as Kotori approached step by step and pointed the cannon at his head, he remained calm.
He slowly began to speak:
"It's simple, Shido! Promise me one thing."
"Forehead?"
"I have one wish before I die: to have a date with you, just the two of us. How about it?"
"Huh? Aa ...
Shido was stunned; he hadn't expected Ming to make such a request before his death.
Kotori frowned as the intense heat of the cannon began to gather at the muzzle. She looked up and met Ming's unpleasant calm gaze.
"At a time like this, you're still making such an absurd request! Besides, we agreed to let you say your last words, not to save you, and you don't deserve to be saved!"
Upon hearing this, Ming sighed without any surprise. She didn't want to save him; it was her own fault, and besides, he hadn't planned to save anyone other than Sawa in the first place.
A pale hand silently blocked Kotori's cannon muzzle without her noticing, and Kotori's eyes widened suddenly, startling all the elves.
The ice rabbit began to inhale and exhale, gathering cold air in its mouth, and a storm began to gather around it, foreshadowing the approaching storm powerful enough to blow away an island.
Ke Ming quietly brought it to his lips and made a shushing gesture.
"No, no, no, you all have some misunderstandings about me. Lions are always predators, and I was killed by a few wild cats because I was injured. You seem to have confused the roles of hunter and prey."
A dagger shaped like a mirror grew out of Ming's palm, radiating a strange magical quality; it had long been integrated into his soul.
"Please take a look, everyone! One of the few exquisite magical artifacts in the Magician's Village, the Narcissus Moon Magic Mirror with the ability to reflect images!"
The moment Ming spoke, the elves launched their attack without hesitation.
Despite being bombarded by a barrage of attacks, Ming remained calm and composed.
He first used astonishing strength to forcefully neutralize the cannon in the piano with his bare hands, as if it were just an insignificant toy.
"We're both fire spirits, yet you're playing with fire in front of me? Kotori, I hope this spirit crystal burns your brain."
After his taunts, his gaze slowly turned to Shido, a mysterious smile playing on his lips.
Just then, a crisp sound of a mirror shattering suddenly rang out.
Before everyone's eyes, Shido and Mei vanished without a trace, as if by magic.
The crowd stared in astonishment at the void before them, unable to comprehend how Ming had managed to evade their powerful attacks, and how Shido had vanished as well.
Kotori was the first to react and shouted:
"Huh? His target isn't us! Wait... Shido!!"
Kotori was frantic with worry, but then Kannazuki's voice suddenly came through her communicator:
"Commander, you...you look up at the sky!"
Kotori hurriedly looked up and saw an inverted mirror slowly appearing in the sky above the snow-capped mountains.
In the mirror, Shido and Mei's figures were faintly visible, but their voices could not be heard.
"Damn it, he used that mirror to..."
...and during the meeting at the same time~
"Now that I've brought you to a space where it's just the two of us, are you still unwilling to reveal your true purpose, Mr. Ming?"
In this space, blackness seemed to be the only existence; it was as thick as ink, swallowing all light and color.
There wasn't a single extra sound here, only deathly silence, which created a strange sense of oppression.
In the center of the space was a vast underground lake, its water a pure black color, in which only Ming and Shido were present.
"Aren't you going to give up yet? You should know I'm not going to be saved."
“I understand, I don’t want to save you, and I can’t even forgive you for deceiving me and hurting Tohka, but I want to know everything about you before you die.”
The two stood facing each other. Seeing the determination in the boy's eyes, Ming put away the smile on his face and showed Shido his most authentic self.
He sees no color, only the purest black and white. He loves this world, and he hates this world. What is presented to Shido is his expressionless self, his most authentic self.
"Really... then what do you want to know?"
"I want to know the purpose of all this you've done. Why do you want to destroy humanity?"
"I didn't intend to destroy humanity. This was just an excuse to lure you out. Everything I've done has always had only one purpose, and I've used the people I know to do it. From getting close to you to trying to enlighten you, it's all been for ulterior motives. Are you satisfied now?"
Shido frowned, his gaze fixed intently on Ming.
"So what is your real purpose? For this purpose, you have hurt so many people!"
Shido roared.
Faced with Shido's actions, Mei simply plunged his arm into his heart and then ripped it open.
Shido stared wide-eyed, his face filled with disbelief and shock.
He stared blankly at Ming's chest, not even hearing Ming utter a sound from beginning to end. Where the heart should have been, there was now an empty hole of flesh and blood, with no trace of the heart.
Instead, there was a photograph, lying quietly amidst that flesh and blood.
Shido's body trembled slightly, but Mei simply showed the photo to Shido and covered the face of the girl in the center with his thumb.
The photo shows a girl standing under a cherry blossom tree, wearing what appears to be a school uniform from the Showa era. She has lively chestnut hair tied in cute pigtails. Based on these features alone, one might conclude that she is a gentle and lovely girl.
"What...what is this?"
"My goal, my ultimate aim, has been my sole commitment for the past 25 years, the only light illuminating my dark world, and what I truly desire—my 'dream'."
Ming spoke like a fanatic, his expression unchanged, yet Shido felt a chilling aura that defied description.
If I were to describe Ming today, the most fitting word to describe him would be "I," much like Gillespie after hearing that his "saint" Joan of Arc had been burned at the stake.
He was also known to later generations as the demon Bluebeard.
All the words Shido could say could be summed up in just six.
"Why, for something like this... Why... can't I understand you?"
"Can't...understand me? Yes...that's right, after all, I can't even understand myself now, which is so extreme and pathological..."
Ming's previous imposing and impassioned aura vanished, his voice trembled uncontrollably, revealing his vulnerability, and tears silently dripped onto the lake water.
Seeing Ming's teary-eyed appearance, Ming couldn't understand why he was crying.
Does it mean I won't cry if I swear I'll see her again?
Wouldn't he stop being jealous of the boy if he were helping him through his difficulties...?
Isn't it right now, at this very moment, in a space where only the two of them are shedding these tears, the last tears he sheds before he dies?
If he had the power to save Sawa, he would certainly not be so despicable and cowardly, and he would surely be able to stay with the one he loves forever.
He was so envious, so jealous, so eager to replace Shido. He couldn't understand why the happiness he had spent 25 years trying to reclaim was something a young man could do so so quickly.
Shido narrowed his eyes. He still couldn't sympathize with such a patient. Regardless of other people's responsibilities, the people he cherished, or the stability of the world, he couldn't let Ming go now.
He never put down the [King of Slaughter] given to him by Tohka, but held it tightly, pointing it at Ming, who had long since turned into a monster due to his obsession.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Ming, I cannot agree with your extremism!"
"Really? Thank you."
Yes, even he himself can't understand himself, let alone others. More than sympathy, hatred is what this man wants.
[Forbidden Spell Spirit Armor - Fifth Edition]
A set of jet-black military uniform appeared on Ming's body. It was his original spiritual attire, the only thing he inherited from his lover, and also the curse that had plagued him for 25 years.
It's also the only thing he can currently present as a presentable item.
The photo was placed inside his clothes, and his cane pointed at Shido, who was also pointing a sword at him. Before charging forward, he shouted one last time:
—Look at me! Itsuka Shido! Look at me! Hate me! Remember me!
—My name is Gangfeng Ming!!! The true calamity of humanity, the Beast!!!
Burn down neighboring realms! Destroy the celestial palace! Shatter the order of humanity! Kill heroes! Then kill you... or the man you killed!!!