Chapter 466 Emperor of the Wes (2/2)
”… so do I.” Rio nodded. ”May… may I ask? Why… why are you here?” he managed to brave himself enough after one more sip.
”—I've some free time before all hell breaks loose,” Lino said. ”I'll simply follow along for a while and observe silently. Just go about your business casually, alright? Don't mind me too much.”
Lino flashed one last grin before suddenly vanishing, leaving Rio to sit in dumb and daft silence. The Great Emperor… was the same, yet completely different, than what the rumors would make of him. So much more, Rio mused. Until today, he only fought for a figure, for a symbol, for an abstract concept that he simply accepted rather than understood. He fought for a banner, for his Emperor, for his Empire. Yet, today… it was all upturned, as though heavens swapped with earth and rain began falling upwardly.
He would fight for a man, he realized, for a person, for someone who, just like him, saw something more to life than fighting. Rio's lips curled up into a smile of content, his entire body relaxing. Just like that, a dam in him broke, and he found himself becoming a Fiend Titular. He found himself crossing the bridge many of his Seniors were still confused over. Merely by admitting… there was more to life than blood.
Lino was currently sitting on one of the trees by the edge of the field, his legs heaved over the branch, humming a low melody. He mused inwardly over Rio's reaction, feeling a faint gush of pride swell within him. Contrary to what Rio may think, people rarely showed him that sort of respect anymore. Lino didn't complain, however, as he never requested it. There was a reason he hated making rounds through the various departments as almost nobody dared treat him like just another person.
What made him the happiest today, however, was that he realized people still had dreams beyond today and beyond tomorrow and beyond the swelling of the war. He wouldn't be able to act the dome of protection eternally throughout the war, wouldn't be able to uphold the falling skies; the story, in the end, was much bigger than him. Eventually, however, the war would be over. All of it would settle. What of them then? They needed to look for life beyond this line.
”—are you certain you wish to completely erase the Hell's presence from the Western Continent?” the familiar, robotic voice echoed suddenly inside his mind. ”They won't give it up willingly.”
”I don't expect them to,” Lino shrugged. ”They'll leave the same way they came, or they won't leave at all. It's as simple as that.”
”… Asthar still held back on a lot of accounts,” Ataxia said. ”If you plunge yourself into a war with him as well, you'll be stretched on too many fronts. You're increasing the risk unnecessarily. Let them have the vanity; keep open the Western Front and use it as a form of tempering for the young soldiers.”
”… you are misunderstanding something here,” Lino said, the look in his eyes turning deadly. ”Though it may be an Origin War I'm fighting, I've absolutely no intention of dragging it on pointlessly. What use is a chisel when swords won't be used nearly enough to grow dull?”
”You speak rather casually of ending the Origin War. But, it exists well above you, Lino. Even if you kill Two, and disband the Descent and even if you vanquish every last Devil… do you think the Origin War would suddenly end? Don't be naïve.”
”—I'm not being naïve,” Lino replied. ”I'm being absolute. Descent, Hell, Holy Grounds, Empires, Gaia, Bearers… this will be the last Age the world will ever witness them.”
”… indeed, you're not naïve. You're a moron. You understand the human heart better than most, and you still expect that to end the perennial state of chaos?”
”… you've lived long enough to know there's no such thing as 'perennial', Ataxia,” Lino sighed, leaning back against the trunk of the tree. ”All things… will eventually come to an end. Why not the state of war and distress? The discord will always exist, but I'm not trying to end that. Violence… can be extinguished, though.”
”It can't,” Ataxia said. ”And if you truly believe that… you've become too idealistic yourself, something you spewed others about your entire life.”
”… then offer me the alternative,” Lino chuckled bitterly. ”I can't spend the rest of my life fighting, chasing after all those who hate me and reject me, grooming armies, watching loved ones fall to ash, having my heart cracked and broken time and again. What's the alternative to trying and end and prevent all of that? Or, perchance, do you want me to be like all my predecessors? Fight and fight and fight and fight… and fight till my guts are flowing through my eyes. Die a death of content, knowing I have tried?”
”I haven't chosen you to be like the rest, nor have I groomed you to be like the rest,” Ataxia said. ”I have always told you, Lino, the answer isn't in ending anything. Do you think those before you never had the same opportunity as you? To 'end' it all? They had. Yet, unequivocally, they chose not to.”
”… that's them, their lives, their stories.” Lino replied, glancing up at the darkening skies. ”This is mine.”
”…”
Ataxia said nothing after, seemingly having realized Lino wouldn't change his mind. Though he talked big, he was as clueless as anyone on how to go through with it completely. Only a portion had been mapped out, only the prelude, the prologue to the penultimate point. He was too weak yet for it… but not for long. Eventually, the curtain would unfold, beyond would begin, and all this… would come to an end. A new world would then begin.