EXIT

Several years later, and finally...

The church bell sings the beautiful ending of a wonderful love story.

White pigeons flew from the top of the tower as leaves followed them. The soft breeze of the wind made the warmth of the sunlight slightly cooler than before. It’s almost summer, and the humidity of the air is ready for a celebration.

Inside the church is a royal red carpet, filled with pink and white rose petals scattered. There are gateways and arcs decorated by colorful clusters of flowers for every fifteen meters of the carpet. And at the end of the long red road, at the altar, are two people who are professing their endless love to one another.

“I, Alaric, shall take you, Tiara, as my lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do us part.”

As I looked at my veiled bride, her twinkling blue eyes locked onto mine. I gently held her hand and put the wedding ring on her finger with a smile on my face.

“I, Tiara, shall take you, Alaric, as my lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do us part.”

Tiara replied with the same vow as she put the eternal ring to my ring finger. As she did that, she tilted her head slightly and made an adorable smile.

And then, the shrine maiden head Asumi has finally sealed our hearts together with her blessing. “You have declared your consent before the church. May the heavens in his goodness strengthen your consent and fill you both with his blessings. What destiny has joined, hearts must not divide.”

(P.S. I don't have any freaking idea why Asumi is acting as a priest in a Catholic Church. I think she has the authority or whatever in the Black Cross Church, so I'm afraid to ask.)

The church bell rings loudly once again. It was combined with the cheerful laugh of all the supporters of our love story, including our friends, our allies, and the Tialaric shippers from the reader’s cluster who voted for Tiara to win the poll against Amy in Book One.

“You may kiss the bride.” The shrine priestess has finally declared the long-awaited moment for both of us.

I slowly took off the veil of my wife, and it revealed the blushing cute face of my lover for a million years. Seeing a wonderful sight made my cheeks red too. We stared at each other’s compassionate eyes for a second, and then our faces drifted closer.

And then we kissed.

Everybody applauded. This is surely the happy ending that we deserved.

And we now achieved it once and for all.

<>

It’s not only Tiara and me who had a happy ending for our story. Everything is getting better and better for the side characters. And it would take a mountain of words to describe the end of their adventures, but I will still narrate it for you anyway since you already got this far.

Jeannette Amiella Fontaine von Noctis (That Alien Immigrant from a destroyed universe whom I rescued from Hell) decided to live her life in this universe. During Tiara’s final , Tiara recreated the universe where she came from but Jeanne decided to stay here anyway. She occasionally visits from universe to universe due to her job in the Cathedral Exa, so she can take any Jeannette’s place to blend in that universe. That’s how crafty and bitchy she is.

Heushac Efilion, my best friend, is now working in a kendo dojo company together with his sister. They decided to make their swordsmanship expertise as their business to train kendo players and even Gate Guardians who will defend our world for future generations. About his love life, he finally had someone that can ignore his putrid smell. I’ll just tell you who his girlfriend is along the way.

Helena Efilion, my pseudo-big sister is the head of the Efilion Dojo. Her fame as the grand slam kendo champion for the past three years has earned her a lot of fame and money to build this business she had with her baby brother. She’s still as strong as ever even though she’s not using any of her Gate Guardian powers in tournaments. About her love life, she and Lironeo Amerigus (Void Wolf) have been together for so long. In fact, they got married two years before my wedding.

Key, our adorable homunculus, has finally gotten her normal human body. She’s now a healthy-looking teenager with a lot of emotions, which is quite a different person which she ought to be. Having her speak not in monotone and doll-face is a new thing for all of us, but we got used to it over time. Anyway, our smart girl turned out into a chick and Heushac has been dating her for two years now. I guess somebody should have called 911 and FBI beforehand since my putrid friend has dated a minor. It’s too late now that she just turned eighteen.

Kristoff Anderson already had his happy ending at the very first chapter of this third book, so nothing is new for him. He still turns his head towards beautiful girls but Naomi is there to discipline him. He is now having his second child with his beautiful wife Naomi and they expect it to be a boy. They plan to name it Royce. Their daughter Riza would be glad to have a sibling to play with.

Benedict Hamerov and his lover Esperia are now living in a secluded place. Little is known about them, but there’s no need to worry, they will no longer summon Necross to any universe. Tiara has cleansed them both from their sins, so rest assured, they are no longer the villains.

Emily Teronette became the head of the Teronette household, together with her half-blood-sister. She finally had a sadistic fiance that matched her masochistic tendencies, and now they are a perfect couple. That is good because now she is no longer pestering me.

Drex Brynheim is now a successful gangster rockstar. The reason that he rarely appeared in this story is that he is busy with his career that he’s always absent. I think he’s tied with some events lately but I think he’s okay.

Eliseo Fontaine is now a supermodel and an icon for the LGBT community. She is now an advocate of human rights that promotes awareness on whatever-the-heck-the-world-have-problems-with and now she has a lot of social media followers. Anyway, should I use “He” or “She”? I’m still confused.

Diadem Solstice is now one of the strongest knights of the Black Cross Legion. He stepped up to position when his father retired, and now he is one of the bodyguards of the Black Cross Legionmaster. He is the personification of the saying “You either die a villain or live long enough to become a hero.”

Macho Steel.. err I mean Mister Khal Kent has retrieved his powers as a Gate Guardian. Aside from being a headteacher in Dradecim, he is also now teaching Gate Guardians in the Black Cross Legion. He’s also married now, and we’re glad that some girl actually finds him attractive despite his scary muscular looks.

The Nerd Squad also got the happy endings they deserve. My otaku supplier Ranley is now running an anime goods company that delivers overseas. The pretty boy Chrisprel is now a supermodel and often guests in Japanese and Korean Pop events, as well as cosplay and gaming conventions. The ugly bastard Daughty is now also married to a freaking Miss Universe and he often brags about it to us.

Erylle Fontaine and Yohan Romanov are no longer in this universe. They both bid farewell to us when Tiara and I once visited the Realm of the Frozen Soul, telling us that they will go back to their own universe for good. I don’t know what’s going on with those crazy god-like aliens but I think they are working with some happy ending too.

Asumi Kozukata and Ayano Mochizuki are still the same, leading the Kozukata Shrine. Asumi often leaves the place, so it was Ayano who is always in charge of the place. Nothing has changed much, except that their business is going strong with their joint venture of the Hikari Shrine.

Speaking of the Hikari Shrine… this is where the part of our happily-ever-after comes in. Tiara and I decided to live the rest of our life in Brightmore City right after we graduated college… Yes, it’s now a city. We are both running a school and a Gate Guardian Training Shrine for new pups, I mean, new shrine maidens who will take up our place once we’re gone.

The Sin Universe might have been defeated, but this is not the end. For Gate Guardians anyway. As long as humanity exists, Eidolons will still appear and corrupt the minds of the people to commit sins. And now that our story has ended, it is up for the new generations to continue defending justice and purging evil.

<>

It’s New Year’s Eve. The fireworks are beautiful as ever.

But it is not as beautiful as the lady who is next to me, who is happily resting on my shoulder. Holding hand in hand, having a picnic in the cliff where the best view of the skies was, we both cherished every second of this fireworks display.

“Hanabi.” Tiara weakly whispered. “I want to name our first baby Hanabi. I want her name to be as beautiful, like the same fireworks we saw the first time we met.”

“Yeah. Our baby girl will be the symbol of our eternal love."

I looked at the skies once again and spoke my feelings of happiness out loud.

"Just like the fireworks, our love is as colorful, as loud, and as explosive. Just like what we have endured for all eternity, even if we’re covered in infinite darkness, we shine the brightest.”

“Pfft! It’s so much not like you to blurt out cheesy weird haikus, Rikkun.” Tiara covered her mouth to prevent her outburst of laughs.

“H-Hey, I’m just matching the mood here, you idiot pup!” I went full tsundere as my cheeks went red.

“Ahahaha, I’m sorry, I’m sorry Rikkun.” Tiara raised her head and locked unto mine. Suddenly, she pressed her face forward until our lips touched. “I’m sorry, I’m not good with words. But actions speak louder after all. I love you, Rikkun.”

“I love you too, Tiara,” I said as I hugged her tight. “I promise, I will marry you seven million times more than we had spent on that bad endings together. I will go with you, wherever you go. I will never let you go.”

“That’s a promise,” Tiara whispered. “We’ll be together. Forever.”

“Toujours et a Jamais.”