"You truly are despicable."
Yama stood on the ground, glancing subtly at the empty space below her right shoulder. The smooth cut surface made the bone and muscle clearly visible. Lin had sliced her entire arm off with a single strike—fast, accurate, and ruthless. She hadn't been able to react fully.
It was the familiar smoke-and-mirrors tactic: diverting attention and using multi-point deception to find the moment for the final blow. Reducing the power gap by shortening the engagement time—both she and Lin were experts in this field.
"Cough, cough..."
Lin lay on the ground, coughing up blood continuously, unable to respond to Yama words. He held Yama severed arm tightly in his hand, their blood soaking the bandages crimson.
Yama walked forward and kicked Lin in the side, flipping him over to face upward. The kick sent his internal organs shifting; he couldn't help but spit out a large glob of stagnant blood. His whole body felt like it was burning in a fire, boiling as if he were about to melt. From his right shoulder to his left abdomen, a wound had torn open half his torso. The skin and muscle on his front were sliced open, leaving the skeletal structure and organs visible.
When Lin blade hit Yama, she had also retaliated with a strike that heavily wounded him. The wound caused by the Black Abyss would erode the rest of his body and could not heal. Of course, there was no need for it to heal; with such injuries, Lin would bleed out and go into shock within minutes.
However...
"I... won."
Lin looked at Yama face with a fading breath. There was something different in her beautiful rainbow eyes. Facing his declaration of victory, she only watched him in silence. The wind brushed past them, also blowing open the bandages on the severed arm in Lin hand, revealing the form of the limb within.
A pitch-black, twisted, and deformed Monkey's Paw.
Yama Herrscher form involved her entire body being wrapped in bandages. This appearance made it very easy to see if any part of the body was abnormal. Thus, the fact that her right arm joint differed from a normal person's was something Lin had noticed from the moment they met yesterday.
"...And what can this arm do?" A sneer appeared in Yama eyes. "You haven't defeated me."
"No... I... won."
Lin emphasized his victory again. He forced himself up with the little strength he had left—strength that was rapidly draining away. Blood flowed like water from the hideous wound, and his skin and muscle withered from the massive blood loss.
"The... third... wish... the object... of the wish... is 'you'."
"..."
"'You'... actually refers to 'Lin'. It is... the two of us... our wishes must be... identical... for it to be granted..."
"Now... it will... grant a wish..."
Ding-dong...
Lin raised the Monkey's Paw. Yama only watched coldly, not moving to stop him. A long, resonant bell rang out. Everything vanished within the rapidly flowing light.
...
Lin snapped his eyes open. The piercing sunlight and the smell of windblown sand prevented him from lingering in the haze of waking from a dream. He flipped up, alert to his surroundings. Not far away, he saw Yama sitting silently beneath the clock tower.
She had returned to her appearance from before the second wish. Her pupils had returned to normal black rather than the rainbow colors of her Herrscher form. She didn't suddenly attack to kill Lin. Noticing him wake up, she only glanced at him and remained still.
Lin watched her for a while before quietly walking over and sitting beside her.
"When did you find out?" Yama didn't look at him, but stared at the mirage on the desert surface in the distance, asking softly.
"...At the very beginning."
Yama was asking when Lin realized it was a virtual world. Lin answer didn't surprise her. After all, she had given the hints herself.
"You bit my tongue." Lin moved his tongue slightly; it was completely numb, indicating that time had once again moved forward. "Every time the bell rings and time progresses, the injuries on the body heal. But back then, the wound on my tongue didn't heal."
That meant it wasn't a world created by the progression of time. He confirmed it later via the boundaries of the bubble world, but the first realization truly happened at the start.
"So the hints were too obvious?" Yama remarked softly. "You won. I can already feel the bubble world gradually ejecting us. Next time..."
"I will come to save you."
"..."
Yama turned her head in a daze. Her mirror-like black eyes reflected a version of Lin that was different from the usual.
"What... save me?" Yama asked instinctively.
"You are waiting for someone to save you."
Lin didn't ask a question this time; he spoke with absolute certainty.
"I know myself well. I know that no matter the circumstances, I will love and believe in humanity."
"So, when you called me a lowly and wretched human, you actually already believed in me, didn't you?"
"..." Yama was silent.
"Believe that whether it's the people beside me, or all of humanity, or you—I can protect them all."
"I know it's hard, almost impossible. But to exhaust one's strength to achieve the impossible—that is what it means to be human."
"Refusing to accept a stupid reality and fate is my first step toward a HAPPY ENDING."
The scorching sunlight poured down from above. Yama burst out laughing. She smiled serenely, but then she reverted back to her iceberg-like demeanor.
"Truly... beyond stupid... what 'save me'... what 'HAPPY ENDING'? Are you some overaged middle-schooler who hasn't graduated from your delusions? Do you think that if you don't accept reality, it won't happen?" Yama said sharply. "You've finally become this stupid version of yourself, thinking you can save everyone by yourself?"
"Of course." A powerful, ringing answer.
"You really have become the heroic type you used to hate most," Yama said coldly.
"I am no hero," Lin corrected. "Neither of us are pure idealists anymore. we have strayed from the path we once took."
"...It seems you understand that yourself. But why still take this path? Hoping for the best of both worlds only leads to both sides losing in the end."
"Not even having the courage to take the first step only leads to the same result."
"Even if you end up becoming another 'Yama'?"
"I won't become anyone else. Just as you are still you."
Lin locked eyes with her. He saw himself in her eyes, and she saw herself in his.