Re:Zero - Starting Life in Another World as a Skeleton

Chapter 263: Death

Kaito stood atop the bone dragon, surveying the carnage below.

The crimson light-curtain of the boundary was a jagged scar across the Gale

Prairie. He swept his gaze across the withered earth, his brow-ridges knitting

together in a phantom frown. This grassland was meant to be vibrant, teeming

with the vulgar energy of the living; now, because of that [Boundary of the

Crimson Purgatory], it had been reduced to a silent, ashen tomb.

"Truly... a most displeasing sight," Kaito murmured.

But as soon as the words left his jaw, a more pressing logistical concern

entered his mind. Did I overdo it? Mass-ascending an entire host to Tier 6 in

one go... Greed was going to have a catastrophic meltdown trying to manage the

administration. Nearly one hundred million Tier 6 undead units—even to Kaito,

the number felt statistically absurd.

As Kaito pondered the impending paperwork, a gargantuan portal was finalizing

its alignment within the crimson dome below. Grey radiance spiraled into the

void, screaming as space was torn apart.

The soulfire in Kaito's eye sockets narrowed into cold points of light.

"Hmph. Attempting a tactical withdrawal?"

He let out a dry, clicking huff. In the next micro-second, Kaito unleashed his

singular offensive Authority.

"[Authority of Death's End]."

The command echoed not through the air, but through the fabric of reality

itself.

Above, the moon was suddenly eclipsed by a shadow that didn't belong to the

clouds. In the absolute dark of the heavens, a colossal eye began to unfurl. Its

diameter exceeded several kilometers; it possessed no iris, no pupil—only an

all-consuming, light-drinking void. It hovered in the high atmosphere, its gaze

locking onto the interior of the crimson barrier.

Every unit caught within that harrowing stare felt their essence being weighed

and found wanting.

Kaito's voice rang out again, vibrating across the entire battlefield. "Stupid

heretics. Pray that my mercy outweighs my wrath."

The million-man Necrotic host within the dome froze. Their movements were

terminated mid-second.

A skeleton soldier in the front rank was the first to succumb to the "Logic

Override." The soulfire in its sockets winked out for a heartbeat. In the next,

a sapphire-blue flame ignited. It stood straight, its skeletal frame vibrating

with a new, absolute loyalty to the Evernight Empire.

Then came the second. The third. The ten-thousandth.

Like a line of falling dominoes, the Necrotic legions collapsed to their knees

in a wave of forced conversion. As they rose, Kaito channeled the [Faith

Ascension] through the shared link. A million soldiers shattered their

Tier-limiters, breaking through to the summit of Tier 6 in a blurred strobe of

power.

The conversion of a million souls was completed in minutes.

Thanatos stood before his extraction portal, the violet-gold fire in his eyes

pulsing with a frantic, jagged rhythm. The converted Evernight soldiers—his own

former elite—spun around in unison. Their hollow gazes locked onto the swirling

rift he had spent his last reserves of Od to anchor.

Their objective was clear: Terminate the extraction point.

Thanatos didn't hesitate. He knew these soldiers were effectively immortal under

the Evernight banner. He raised his gauntlets, withholding nothing.

"[Space-Time Imprisonment]!"

Dozens of grey Mana-chains erupted from the dirt, lashing the first wave of

charging soldiers and pinning them in place. But the Imperial numbers were a

deluge. For every unit he shackled, a hundred more lunged from the bone-sea.

Thanatos's Od was hemorrhaging.

One wave. Two. Three.

He methodically sealed every soldier that breached the perimeter of the portal,

his movements becoming more sluggish with every incantation. Finally, the last

mobile Evernight unit within the dome was bound by the grey chains.

But the tax had been paid. Thanatos was dry. His Od was a vacuum. He no longer

possessed the strength even to maintain the Crimson Purgatory. The sky-dome

began to vibrate violently, the red light-curtain spiderwebbing with fractures.

Thanatos had no time for recovery. He staggered toward the portal, his boots

dragging through the dirt. Just reach the event horizon. Return to the grey.

Rebuild.

Just as his fingertips neared the warped light of the gate, a set of footsteps

echoed from behind him.

Tap. Tap.

He recognized the rhythmic cadence of those boots.

"Unit One..."

He turned his skull slowly.

Lia stood ten meters away. Her body was undergoing a horrific metamorphosis. The

simulated human flesh of her face was peeling away in dry, ashen flakes,

revealing the bleached bone beneath.

It was the lingering effect of [Authority of Death's End]. Any life-form touched

by that gaze was methodically ushered toward the grave.

Thanatos stared at her. Memories flickered through his tactical

processors—ancient data from a thousand years ago. He saw the infant in the

vat. He saw the centuries spent crafting her into a masterpiece of destruction.

He remembered the first time her jaw had clicked together to form the word

"Father."

And now, she stood there. Aligned with his annihilation.

Thanatos's dimming soulfire erupted in a flare of raw, agonizing betrayal.

"Even you..." he vibrated. "Even you would choose treason against me!"

Lia offered no verbal response. She stood perfectly still, watching him. Half of

the flesh on her face had already disintegrated, revealing a stark, white

cheekbone. But her violet eyes remained as calm and vast as the Void.

Thanatos took a heavy, leaden step toward her. He raised a hand, wanting to

seize her throat. Wanting to demand a logic for her choice. But his arm stalled

mid-air, trembling with the weight of its own exhaustion.

He was empty. He couldn't even manage the Od to kill the daughter he had

created.

Thanatos's hand fell limply to his side. "Why...?"

His voice was a ghost of a sound, saturated with a fatigue that defied his

undeath. "I gave you life. I gave you power. I gave you a name..."

"Why would you betray the logic of your origin?"

Lia still didn't speak. She simply raised a hand and gave him a gentle, firm

shove.

Thanatos, caught off balance and lacking the Od to anchor himself, fell

backward. He tumbled into the warped light of the gate. The grey radiance

swirled, swallowing him whole.

Lia stood before the collapsing portal, watching the point where Thanatos had

vanished. A small, hauntingly human smile touched her remaining lips. For the

first time in her existence, she had made a choice that wasn't a directive. She

hadn't followed an order. She had followed a "Logic Error."

"Father," she whispered. "The sensation of death... it is not as cold as you

described."

"I have never felt so... liberated."

She tilted her head back, looking up at the massive, closing Eye in the heavens.

She extended a hand of bare bone, as if trying to touch the unreachable divine.

As her consciousness began to fray, her mind drifted back to a dark, reeking

tunnel. She saw a little girl named Amy. She felt the warmth of a loaf of rye

bread in her palm.

Lia began to hum. The melody was simple, but her pitch was imperfect—a

structural flaw she no longer cared to correct.

"Slime, oh slime, so round and neat~" "I bring you scraps and things to eat~"

"Mama smiles, and I smile too~" "The Evernight is bright and new~"

Her voice grew thinner, fading into the whistle of the wind. Her form dissolved

into a cloud of shimmering motes, vanishing into the Gale Prairie.

The extraction portal collapsed into a spark. Simultaneously, the Crimson

Purgatory shattered into a billion blood-red shards, evaporating into the night.

Tranquility returned to the grasslands. The war of the vanguards was over.

☆☆☆

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