(Zack)

The moment I realize what I can do to ensure the end of the Shadow of Life, I realize why my gut said today was the day it ended. Because for whatever reason this was the encounter with him that caused me to realize how he would end.

Likely because I was thinking about the end and the vision and all sorts of other things. Regardless, I know for a fact that what I am about to do will end the Shadow of Life. That's why he ends before Bryce arrives – it was never Bryce that caused this gut feeling of mine.

It was always that something which happened here set off the end. We wouldn't be here right now had Bryce not set up the meeting, and we'd not have made the Shadow of Life so antsy by expecting Bryce to do several Ascensions in rapid succession after arriving here. If he hadn't been antsy, he wouldn't have continued to try to push me to join him.

Bryce did, indeed, set off the end of the Shadow of Life, but he's not the one to end him.

The gut feeling was caused by me, by the Shadow of Life himself giving me the answer I needed.

After overcoming this sense of shock and realization, I take off to the Dark Temple, and as soon as I'm on the sigil, I pull up the interface, sort by region, then sort alphabetically. Sealvar, the City closest to the Temple of the Elements in the other half of the Boundary.

Immediately, I find myself there as I touch my tunic, sending it into my Inventory. My appearance startles several Dark Knights and other Adventurers, but I ignore them, adjusting my armor before I take on Eidolon Form.

Without a moment of hesitation, I take off into the sky and fly straight towards the Temple of the Elements. Big S starts crying out in my mind, and I can feel him tugging at me, attempting to pull me into his temple. I resist it, able to feel the crystal magic he's using and use my own crystal to protect myself.

Big S, please just trust me. I'm not betraying anyone. I'm saving everyone. I know why he thought my realization caused a betrayal. Because if he only saw a little past it, then he'd see what might be seen as a betrayal. But it's not, so please trust me on this, Big S. You simply didn't see far enough.

It takes me only a few minutes to reach the Temple of the Elements, with the eight pillars, alternating between light and dark, alternating between the elements in the carvings on them. I land before the altar of dark grey stone with lines of red, blue, white, brown, and violet, then place a hand on it.

The other Crystals are trying to pull me now as well, but I ignore them. I only need a few moments of concentration to do this, so as long as I manage it before they succeed in overwhelming my resistance, I'm good to go.

Accessing my special Inventory, the dimension where I can store things, I section off a portion of it, then pull in all of the power in the altar. If I don't and simply shut it off for a moment, Big S would be able to turn it back on. The Dragons always destroyed them, which is why he can't do it to the other.

The moment all of the altar's power fills my special dimension, power rushes through me. Accessing so much power, feeling it flow through me, awakened my innate senses of my powers. I know how to do everything available to a Child of Existence now.

It forcibly disconnects me from the System, and I hear Big S cry out in pain when that happens, and the forces upon my inner crystal disappear. Sorry, Big S, I didn't know it would do that.

But I know my powers now, so I make the necessary adjustments as I open up a passage from here straight to Earth. Since I'm rather knew to this vast cosmic power, I'm only able to open it to somewhere I departed, and the place of arrival is at the amusement park, where the asshole killed me during my Ascension Trial.

I step between two of the pillars of the Temple of the Elements, which has a second version now here, temporarily. People are staring, and most are probably terrified. With my appearance – a demonic being with feathery wings wearing armor, a sword, and two knives – I don't blame them. My arrival likely makes them realize that hell is real and this world is about to be taken over by evil.

Eidolon Form might have been a Skill, but Skills were just spells given a format in the System, made easier to use. Because of that, I still have it, and it's still active, even after getting disconnected from the System. Now, it's drawing on my true mana amount, and Big S wasn't kidding when he told me how massive it was. It's like a fucking galaxy in size.

With the full awakening of my powers after playing with the power of the altar and feeling it flood through me, I'm able to sense my own mana as well. I was not expecting this.

"Thank you, Zack," Alexander says, and I turn to face evil itself. He's dressed in simple pants and a brown tunic, brown leather boots upon his feet. This is his real appearance. He's speaking in English, too, which means those around us can understand what he's saying. "Though I'm a bit curious as to why you suddenly decided to assist me."

I simply stare at him, and he shrugs, then walks out of the ring of pillars and past me, looking around. Evil itself takes in a deep breath, then lets it out with a sense of enjoyment.

"Fresh air," he says as I turn to face him, the spawn of evil smiling lightly as he faces me. "Is not something I had in that prison, Zack. Thank you for releasing me."

"Oh, don't thank me too much," I tell him.

"Why not?" He asks. "You betrayed the Crystals, you betrayed your friends, you even betrayed your brother. Such a change of heart, I knew you were turning over to my side."

People are gathering around us, as idiots do. Some people are running away, but the majority of people are beginning to form a ring around us, watching the strange events unfolding before them. They aren't in any danger, so I'll ignore them for now.

Big S has resumed talking to me, trying to ask me why I betrayed them. He's wailing, saying he's sorry for upsetting me and hurting me. What I say next will probably calm him down.

"Nah," I say. "See, here's the thing… my father told me that I knew all along how to defeat you, Shadow of Life."

"Not using my name anymore?"

"You don't deserve it," I add a little snarl to my voice. "You're the spawn of all evil. You're responsible for the deaths of many I knew and cared about. You're responsible for the hell that many more went through. I don't know why I ever graced you with using your name, but it's not something you deserve anymore. Soon, you'll just be a bad memory, and the truth of your name will be forgotten soon enough. Only I and a few others will ever remember it."

"Interesting," he smirks. "So, Zack, what did your father tell you? That granting me victory would result in my death, or some such cliché?"

"No," I answer. "But, uh, it's kind of true."

"What do you mean?"

"Do you know why you needed a Child of Existence?" Oh, great, now we're being recorded!

What is up with people and doing that? YOU HAVE DEMONIC-LOOKING PERSON HERE! GO AWAY!

"Because only they could truly let me into reality," he answers. "I've been certain that Seal had some trick up his crystal to ensure only a Child of Existence could actually open the passage, even if both temples were destroyed."

"Enh!" I make a sound to denote him giving a wrong answer. "Sorry, wrong answer, Shadow of Life! You're from the previous version of reality."

"So?" He asks.

"Something the Crystals told me a long time ago," I say. "Is that only a Child of Existence can change the makeup of an existence of something from the previous version of reality so that it can exist within this one. In other words, you need a Child of Existence to change you so that you can exist here. Big S and the other Crystals spent billions of years fearing an evil as powerful as you ruling reality that they forgot this one crucial rule applied to you."

He frowns, and I can see it starting to hit him.

"They forgot," I say. "That the moment you enter this reality without me or one of my siblings adjusting the fabric of your existence to allow you to exist here, you'd begin to fade away."

And my fucking father made it so fucking obvious! He'd tell me I already knew the answer, and then everything would fade away as I returned to where I was!

The Shadow of Life looks down at himself, only to find that he's become transparent. His eyes widen in panic as Big S stops yammering away, then the spawn of evil charges towards me, likely in an attempt to return to the Boundary, a realm where he can exist.

It's too late, though. I delayed him long enough, and he fades the rest of the way before he's even halfway to me.

Things not of reality cannot exist within it without a Child of Existence allowing it. The very reason the Crystals themselves cannot manifest themselves in this rule is the same reason the Shadow of Life is gone.

For good.

But as I said, the Crystals, mere children in their minds, spent billions of years fearing this great evil that they didn't remember that rule applied to the evil as well. Had Alexander not kept trying to convince me to join him, especially while I was thinking about the end coming, Bryce would have been the one to slay him. Instead, him coming after me like that resulted in an even truer end to this evil.

Looking around, I see the crowd around me. Time to have a little bit of fun, just to fuck with Big S and the humans here.

I walk towards a girl sitting on a wheelchair wearing a skirt. She has only one leg, no prosthetic, and I can tell from her mind that she was injured in a car accident and it was recently amputated. It's so easy to find out the details, even more easily than it was before. I'm in everyone's mind right now. Well, everyone around me. With my full powers awakened, that little annoyance is happening again, and I'm doubting I'll be able to suppress it right away. But it won't matter for too long.

The girl looks terrified. It's her first time outside since the amputation, and she comes across a demonic-looking guy who decided to approach her.

"D-don't!" Her father moves in front of her, standing between the two of us.

I can feel his fear. Everyone's fear, now that the reality of the situation is starting to set in. They just saw me make a man disappear, and they haven't fully processed what we were talking about yet. To them, it seems like a demon just erased someone.

With a wave of my hand, I gently move him to the side, then kneel in front of the girl. Her fear increases when I smile.

"It's okay," I say softly, reaching forward and taking her right hand into mine. She tenses up. "I'm not going to hurt you. Just the opposite, in fact. I'm not a demon, but a god. A friendly, mischievous god, and that man you saw disappear? He was a powerful evil who wanted to rule this world."

As I speak, I tap through this knowledge of my powers that has come to me, then use a modified version of the Restore Limb Skill I never bothered learning. At the same time, I use my magic to soothe her pain, so that she feels none of what she should feel from her leg regrowing.

"You're going to have a bit of an uneven tan," I release her hand once her leg has fully regrown, nearly kicking me before it dropped down to rest beside her other. "But that'll change in a few years."

I stand up as people look at me in shock, the fear beginning to mix with wonder.

"As I said," I smile at the girl. "I'm a god, not a demon. This is just an unfortunate appearance I have when it comes to places like this world."

Okay, I totally could have released my eidolon form, but then I'd be recognized as Zack Noruva, and I don't want that. They might recognize my voice for those who hear it and know it already, but they'll probably think it's just a coincidence.

"Anyway," I say as I feel a slight, hesitant tug on my inner crystal. "It's time for me to go. You all enjoy your day, and you, little girl, enjoy your new leg."

I turn and return to the passage to the Boundary, place my hand on the altar, and return its power to it. Immediately, the passage closes up, and the view of reality disappears. I turn off my form, returning back to my normal appearance.

A moment later, I find myself in Big S's temple, only it's different than before.