The beginning After the End.

(Author's note: Good morning or good evening, dear readers.

First, I wanted to notify you that this is the last chapter of volume 1, the next one will be back in Danmachi with the adventures of Mikhael and the others.

Second and most importantly, I wanted to thank you for all the support that has come from all of you.

I honestly didn't even expect to get past chapters 2-3 originally because writing is something I wanted to try out purely out of curiosity.

So I thank everyone who reads and especially those I see always commenting in the chapters.

Anyway, that's all, until next time :D)

Narrator POV:

"So it's been a year, huh? It still seems a shame that i didn't had another fight with him. Still, to think that they would both die on the same day in different years..."

A large group of different people gathered in a cemetery. They all came from different places and some didn't even know each other.

But they were all coming to visit two special people and their families to commemorate the anniversary of their deaths.

"Beowulf-sama, please shut up and be respectful in this place."

Nick hit the non-atmosphere-reading fool's head with a no small amount of force. Making him rub his head while he grumbled.

"Another year...that's really a long time."

Hermes was dressed in black like everyone else there, as he looked at the 4 graves in front of him.

A lot had happened since his best friend died.

The world had changed.

Rebellion had become an organization that advocated peace.

And so do they.

After the death of his sister, he became the leader of Rebellion. At first, it was really difficult, but with the support of many people, he managed to get ahead.

The immature boy from the past had grown up and now he was a leader...

Feeling his hand being squeezed, Hermes turned his gaze to the side, snapping out of his daydream.

And he looked towards the woman with hair as black as night who was holding his hand and with her other hand she was holding a babay carriage that had a baby in it.

And a husband and father.

"It's been a while, Hermes."

A young teenager approached the family, greeting the man she met with to discuss matters every few months.

"Yes, it was two months, right? Emilia. How is everything going at Kage?"

Hermes turned his gaze from her to the successor of his best friend. At first, he didn't understand what his best friend wanted to do by giving power to the daughter of his enemy.

But after meeting her personally, he could understand it.

"Everything is going well, as always." The young woman approached and left a bouquet along with many other bouquets. "It seems that the other executors already came here..."

"Is that so? I'm glad."

"By the way, you never told me your son's name." Emilia turned her gaze from him to the baby who was sleeping peacefully in the stroller.

"His name is Mikhael, I wanted to see if he could receive some of that bastard's luck." Hermes scratched the back of his head.

He had decided to give him that name as a tribute to Nemesis' real name.

"Is that so? It's a good name..." Emilia remembered for a moment that fool who wanted to die.

"Miss, didn't I tell you to dress warmly when you go out in winter?"

A middle-aged man approached and put a coat on the young woman's back. And she looked at the old man who was carrying a bouquet.

"Really...Charles, it's not that the weather is too cold today."

"Still, you never know when you might get sick from the coldness, miss." Charles simply gave his characteristic courteous smile as he left a bouquet in front of the grave of a certain young man.

He would not give up in that point, making the girl sigh. She surrendered to arguing with the affectionate old man.

"Anyway, see you another time, Hermes, Nyx." Emilia left along with Charles after a few minutes.

Looking at both figures that looked like a grandfather and granddaughter, Hermes had a smile.

"We'll wait for you in the car." The taciturn woman squeezed her husband's hand and gave him some time alone.

While she was leaving accompanied by the old man that offered himself as the family's bodyguard, "the guardian of Athena".

Looking with love and warmth at the back of the woman who accompanied and supported him in these years.

Hermes turned and left some hydrangeas on the grave. The meaning of that flower was "rebirth."

Because that was a flower that could bloom again in abundance even after being trimmed or pruned.

And he prayed.

He prayed so that those two brilliant people could meet again in another life.

He prayed so that they were happy, without ever having to suffer tragedies again.

And he prayed so that her sister could fulfill her secret dream (it wasn't a secret at all) of having a big family with him.

And then he walked away, leaving behind the flowers and a prayer that, unbeknownst to him, was answered.

And he would be surprised in a few years when a couple suddenly showed up at his door one day.

Surprising him to almost death by seeing two ghosts in broad daylight.

But no doubt making him immensely happy, if the tears on his face had anything to say.

And so, time passed.

The seasons changed.

And the years passed.

And the people passed.

Almost 100 years later.

The four graves, one of a certain warm and kind mother, one of a certain vain and lazy servant, one of a certain young woman that shined like the gold, and one of a certain young man as beautiful as a rose.

They still existed, having been perfectly maintained as a monument by the future generations.

That entire cemetery had been declared a world cultural heritage.

Because future generations discovered the secret history behind the two organizations that fought to the death.

And the story of those who gave their lives to gain the true peace that they had.

So they kept this place intact in honor of those who fought against tyranny.

***

"So you're telling me you're basically some kind of god?"

In a library whose interior had no end, with an infinite number of books located on all the shelves in the corridors that never ended.

"Yeah..."

"And you're telling me that you've basically been watching Mikhael's 'story' since its beginning?"

A beautiful woman with golden hair looked in bewilderment at a woman sitting on a throne that was clearly a replica of Nemesis's throne.

Trying to understand what she had been hearing for the last hour.

"Exactly..."

The woman had fine black hair, long eyelashes, and a little dark circles under her eyes. A thin face and pale skin. And calm and cool countenance, but strangely, also nervous.

A slender and quite thin physique, along with her somewhat taciturn temperament but which in reality unintentionally demonstrated a great internal drama.

She was a woman who could be called "beautiful" but strangely, also "ordinary."

"And that basically Mikhael is on his way to a supposedly fictional world, and I'm going to be sent there a little before him as an apology from you to him?"

The woman who was clearly nervous but maintaining a calm frontage, nodded her head showing a unique smile that Aurelia would call "unlucky".

"Well, you can understand it like that"

"But why would you do all this?"

"Well...it may seem a little silly but I really don't like bad endings. Plus, Mikhael's story certainly appealed to me and I think it's only going to get more and more wonderful."

The woman's eyes shone as she spoke of Mikhael's story.

Aurelia found it difficult to distinguish if she was a fanatic talking about her favorite book or a girl in love talking about the boy she liked.

But she obviously didn't know the scale of the events.

That The oldest dream created the system in an attempt to find a story long enough so that she wouldn't feel sad or abandoned when it finished.

And that she met a certain young man and his story according to the plans of another entity beyond everyone's understanding.

And her feelings upon discovering the characteristics of the true nature of that young man's existence.

A hope beyond despair.

The one who bears the task of salvation.

The singularity that leads the way to a better future.

But most of all, what made her heart beat with excitement to find something like that.

The never-ending story.

A story with the potential to achieve "happily ever after."

Therefore, she began to carefully watch the young man's story.

She watched as he grew up, enjoying the adventures of the adorable boy.

She cried when tragedy struck his life and he lost the smile that she found so beautiful.

She saw how he grew little by little while closing himself off from others.

She saw him meeting with his maid and the comedy of their daily life, laughing at the silly things they came up with.

She saw how tragedy struck him for the second time and wanted to intervene, but she had already made a deal with "that being", leaving her defenseless as she saw the young man falling into an abyss.

She watched as he met a woman so bright as the sun that reached out a hand and stpped his fall, doing what she wanted to do.

She saw their story, full of romance and action.

And she watched the end of it, feeling deeply sorry that it ended like this.

Only to see how that ending transformed into a new beginning.

She saw how he met many people.

And she watched with relief as he moved forward, feeling happy from the bottom of her heart for him.

That's why she kept three surprises for him, although she couldn't interfere directly. Nothing said she couldn't do it indirectly, right?

And now, after giving the girl a couple of gifts as thanks for helping the young man.

She would send him a surprise, eagerly awaiting his reaction.

And she was left alone in the endless library, carefully looking through the system at the events in the young man's daily life.

Although unknown to her, one day that young man would arrive at that library.

He will look around and will say that it was certainly a good collection of books.

But it was too lonely a place to be there all the time.

And he will extend a hand to her, inviting her to be part of his story.

And she will accept with tears streaming down her face along with an unfortunate but then happy smile.

***

"Sorry, I didn't expect such a reaction from the center. Looks like I really made a mistake this time, huh"

A long-haired man with a crown of thorns on his head stood with the help of another man.

His closed eyes were bleeding, as if he had received a punishment for trying to see something he shouldn't and he had an apologetic smile on his face.

"You don't need to worry, we are already used to your overflowing love for humanity"

An expressionless man dressed in a priest's outfit helped him up. They were already used to similar things happening.

"However, this time is different..."

While a man with platinum-blonde hair and sky-blue eyes stood next to them. While he looked with extreme seriousness towards the horizon.

At that moment, when the man with the crown of thorns was going to ask him what he was talking about.

A roar that gave him goosebumps sounded in the distance. Not from a calculable distance. But an angry roar that came from the very end of the times.

Like to announce the arrival of the senseless beast whose only objective was to destroy everything.

"I-impossible!!!" The face of the man with a crown of thorns contorted in the sheer disbelief he felt.

"Did the center really send The wind of decadence just for because of my attempt to see into the future of Little Garden?"

The wind of decadence or The end emptiness. The last and most powerful of all last trials of humanity.

A beast that lurks at the end of time. With a "wind" that erases everything, even the very concepts.

The embodiment of the end of all stories.

It was undoubtedly the reason why the Last Embryos were considered natural disasters.

Currently, it was not yet time for him to appear, but the center could summon him from the end of time to use him as a tool to erase those who violated it is rules.

"No, it's not just what you did." The second man closed his eyes, as he used his powers to try to deduce something and arrived at the answer in a few moments.

"Those bastards from Ouroboros broke other rules!!!. They guessed that you would try to see into the future to help humanity."

"And they provoked the center to almost the limit by breaking some rules, at that moment you were the last straw that broke the camel's back"

"Double digit..." The third man, one with platinum-blonde hair calculated the power that the center allowed to use to the wind of decadence this time. "No, almost a single digit..."

Causing the other two men's faces to turn pale.

Double digits were already Little Garden's maximum combat power. There were only about 20 of them among the billions of gods in Little Garden

And even they were only three of those 2 digits. Sending something that almost reached a single digit was a death sentence.

"Sorry for dragging you two into this." The first man bit his lip as his face filled with guilt.

"But we can still sacrifice two of us to complete the Trinity and become one again, then whoever is left should be able to reach the realm of a single digit"

The second man quickly thought of an extreme solution for this extreme situation.

"Right now, even if we complete the Trinity, it will be of no use, only qualified humans can pass the trials and destroy the Last Embryos"

Even if they managed to defeat the wind of decadence, he would not die.

Because the center dictated that only humans could destroy the last trials of humanity.

And the center of Little Garden was something infinitely close to the supreme 0-digit realm, being at the peak of the 1-digit realm.

"But you know that's impossible...there is no human capable of reaching that level!!!, Even if we look for the most talented, at most he could go against a 3-digit Last Embryo."

The second man told to the third, who reminded him that that plan would not work either.

"...I have a plan"

Then the man with platinum-blonde hair and sky-blue eyes told them a plan that he created at that moment.

Causing surprise and disbelief that he would really want to do something crazy like that.

But having no other choice, the three agreed to follow that plan.

And the first and second man willingly sacrificed themselves while giving their spiritual essences to the third.

And by that, completing the Trinity in one and making the third enter into the 1-digit realm.

At the same time, completing the authority over "omnipotence."

Taking his weapon and armor. The man did not just stopped there to feel sad for the sacrifice of the other two "I" of him.

And he headed into the void, where he fought for an indeterminate amount of time.

And he won.

But as the three men expected, The Wind of Decadence was called to back and protected by the center of Little Garden, preventing his death.

And the man with platinum-blonde hair returned to Little Garden, wounded because of the fight.

Even as a being in the 1-digit realm, the all-erasing winds of The End Emptiness were dangerous to him.

So, preventing anyone from finding out about what he was going to do after and ignoring the restriction that the center placed on him in little Garden thanks to the paradox of omnipotence.

He started with his plan.

First, he used his authority to see into the future outside of Little Garden, more specifically, almost all the other worlds in the void.

And he recorded those futures in his memory.

Then, he looked towards a certain future of a certain existence.

And he looked at his future creation, a being born from his own sacrifice after leaving her everything he had.

She followed the orders he left her.

And she placed a certain soul into the reincarnation cycle of a certain world so that soul would be born as a human.

And that soul was one that "one that her creator had created in his final moments before passing out of existence."

Then, by sing her authority over "omnipotence" to manipulate the fate of that world.

That being made all the futures and stories that its creator saw in the void appear as fiction, to give the information to that certain soul.

And at the same time, she created a barrier that distorted the cognition of anyone but that soul, so that they would not realize the strangeness and unconsciously ignore that information.

And that soul was born and got a name: "Mikhael"

Which meant "he who is equal to god."

And thanks to the specialty of his soul and a certain power left by that being, that newborn had a special characteristic, it was a singularity.

A human who was not bound by fate and could even change it.

Second, following his orders, that being took advantage of the plans of the world's wills.

Who all had planned together to create a seed of authority to create a being at the 2-digit level.

They wanted to create and support a savior who would help their worlds that were on their way to ruin.

While in many universes of those worlds, everything was going well, many parallel universes were on the path to destruction.

Therefore, they decided not to expect any mercy from the powerful beings of the void.

Instead, they tried with great effort to create a seed of authority, and that being helped, without them knowing, to make that process possible.

And they put in that seed the concept of "hope beyond despair."

Seed that was guided by she, toward the newborn named Mikhael.

Getting him to be chosen as it is owner naturally.

And providing him with the characteristic "Hope beyond despair."

And she didn't stopped there.

Then, that being went and intercepted a creation of a being called "the oldest dream".

And she gave it to the newborn. To whom the system joined after noticing its great potential thanks to its characteristics.

Giving it another characteristic, a "story with great potential."

Finally, she cut off her arm, splitting part of her spiritual essence, causing her power to drop to a 2-digit level and the restrictions on her to loosen.

And she introduced that right arm into the soul of the newborn.

Making the potential and characteristics in his soul mix with a fragment of the authority of omnipotence and form a miracle impossible to replicate.

"The never-ending story" characteristic.

Then, that being already achieved,she made a deal with The Oldest Dream to not let her interfere, just as her creator ordered.

And Mikhael lived his life without the system waking up due to a lack of energy and without the seed growing.

And he died.

And after his death, that being appeared.

She gently held his soul as she tried to ignore the guilt she felt.

And she sent Mikhael's soul into the void.

Right in the direction where a certain dragon was.

After that, she waited, as she watched his journey.

And she looked in surprise at how the young man's new appearance was similar to her creator.

But she ignored it as natural since that was a soul created by her creator.

And also the young man had a similar appearance to Adam.

Who was created in the image of one of the versions of other world of her creator too.

And looking at all that, while little by little everything came together to achieve his plan.

"Demon king of salvation, huh? It's a good path."

The wounded man with platinum-blonde hair smiled in satisfaction knowing that his friends' sacrifices would not be in vain.

In this way not only "the end" could be eliminated, avoiding the destruction of all worlds/multiverses in the void if the humans in Little Garden failed in the competition.

But there would be another participant in the competition between humans and gods in Little Garden.

And by deceiving almost everyone, including the man's allies.

That "human" would certainly give those bastards of Ouroboros a "little" surprise.

Then, the platinum-blond-haired man stripped himself of all his power, authority, and even the spiritual essences of his friends.

Only leaving his own original spiritual essence that was engraved in his soul.

And he used everything to create a certain being and leaving all that power to her.

Along with all the orders that she had to follow and the process of the steps of the plan.

And of that man, only his soul remained, which was left right in the palms of his newborn creation.

Who placed that soul in the reincarnation cycle of a certain world so that soul would be reborn as a human.

"From now on your name will be Mikhael, Mikhael Ascart."

A beautiful woman said holding a baby who had been abandoned.