The silver storm swallowed the two.
The storm which reached the heavens shredded the ground, grinding everything into dust.
The woman shaped monster stared at the sight. 
For some reason her expression was hard.
Could it be that...
Her eyes were not filled with joy but rather shaking with anxiety.
I went overboard?
There was no change in the silver storm. The monster, as if disappointed, breathed a heavy sigh.
Well it can't be helped.
In other words this was my miscalculation.
At that moment, red bloomed within the silver.
Something dark drifted in the air. Its identity unknown. It was just terribly ominous... enough to scare even a monster.
...What's that?
...Blood?
The red soon cleared revealing the two wrapped in a strange material.
Scrooge!
That's a void too is it?
Holy Shroud.
Carol spoke those words without anyone asking while I held her.
Blood continued to flow from the shroud. The precious blood of the saint. Shed for the sinners of the earth.
That blood could perform miracles. 
However this shroud wasn't like that at all.
My God, My God, Why Hast Thou Forsaken Me?
This one was thirsty for blood. 
It sought retribution for blood.
Ouch!
When did that happen?
Surely things that are touched by the blood aren't...
Did we get her?
Scrooge! It's coming!
There wasn't even time to breathe. Another dangerous attack had arrived!
Cut them down!
We can do this!
Eve's song became even louder. It was clear the time limit was approaching soon.
Let's hurry Scrooge! We're running out of time!
I know!
Hurry! Secure Eve!
Damn. Having to deal with a monster like that. We're past our prime...
Now's not the time to be complaining! If we make one wrong move it's the end of the world!
We should just let the monsters deal with the monsters. Those damn human experimental subjects... where the hell did they...
What happened?!
You! You're the one on the run...?!
It's coming again!
Damn!
Motherf*cker! At a time like this...!
Persistent!
I will...
...protect her!
You will...
...right here...
...Meet your doom and die!
We've reached the limit eh?
Scrooge! Use me!
TOP: Without letting go, hold her firmly.
BOTTOM: Use her like recklessly like she would break.
...You're pushing yourself too hard...
Trust me.
Because I am already yours.
Grant me power Carol. My gold!
Hot and round... it was a Chakram Circle of Light.
What... Angel Loops eh?
It was so out of place it almost made me laugh.
Turning round and round the number of loops increased. Two became four, four became eight. Sixteen, Thirty two...
They grew endlessly. They circled me making an even bigger circle.
Ring-a-Ring-o Roses!
Intercepting the Gatling Gun, the Angel circles attacked all at once.
It was but a drop in a bucket. The circles arced avoiding fire and hit the big ass monster from various angles.
Ow! Ow! Owowowow!
The Angel circles danced round and round the monster. Dissecting its strong armor like a hot knife through butter.
Unable to bear the attack, the monster jumped away to escape. It jumped with more power than one might imagine considering its bulk.
However!
It's no use!
Changing orbit the Angle circles chased the monster.
Trying to escape upwards was a mistake. It couldn't avoid the attacks in that stance.
Like hungry vultures, the bloodthirsty angel rings inundated the monster.
At that moment, everything was covered in flames. The angel wheels were melted like lollipops.
The flames would soon swallow us too...
Through activating the ability of the King the flames were dismissed.
In order to search for a new void I reached out my arm. The expression on Carol's face was mixed with joy and fear.
Because of continuous use, now the void within Carol was still immature.
When my fingertips touched it, the void tried to escape by twisting its body. But it would not escape.
You just need to shut up and be used by me!
Accompanied by a long scream was a long blade which I pulled out with my right hand.
Or it might be considered a graceful sword or even called a holy sword.
However as it had been retrieved prematurely, the blade was distorted and scratched. It was a poor attempt for a sword.
After all... it was more like a saw.
As the metal grated against metal, I should have covered my ears, the monster thrived and squirmed.
But the saw continued to bite without separating... cutting through cables and artificial nerves.
Twisting itself, the monster rampaged even more.
But I couldn't let go of the saw now. I had to firmly put an end to the consciousness in the machine.
Be a good girl!
It's OK.
Because Mother will protect you.
We fell. Head over heels.
Like a spider who failed to grab its web. We fell down.
It was always like this. We just survived... and fell...
As we fell.... I reached out my hand.
Carol's whole body was trembling with shock. Due to the overuse of voids, her face was as pale as a ghost.
She couldn't think properly but her body was in pain and rejecting my right arm.
Even so... I would...
Carol!
I'm fine...
Come... Scrooge...
To kill that behemoth, I needed more power. Something bigger, stronger, something more heinous...
The thing I touched was an ambiguous and mushy chaos. It felt like even I would decay from just touching it.
I understood. The power I sought... was my weapon.
Instead, one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and blood and water immediately came out. 
(John 19:34)
That's right. A spear that would unleash divine wrath. Longinus!
A spear was fully tainted. It could corrupt any space, even the air.
The tainted spear undermined my right hand causing severe pain. I couldn't hold it for long.
The world is a uterus.
My right arms muscles ballooned explosively. Here and now I would pour all of my monster strength into that spear.
All of my strength.
All of my power.
All of my murderous intent.
With my body and soul I threw that poisonous spear!
Don't cry.
The spear pierced the behemoth. It wriggled and sunk deeper into the machine.
While gouging and injuring.
The uterus is dead.
It collapsed. Rot. Became filthy.
My precious...
Everything is rotting before it is born.
It fell down.
Mana.
Shu. It's fine now Shu.
Shu!
It's amazing! Mana-sis!
I know right? It's Sis' secret place.
I'm only telling you Shu.
The sun has set completely.
Even though I thought it would be a little better since this is up high. It wasn't good at all.
This place is completely different from that view I saw with Shu.
The sky here is really cloudy.
I don't have anything anymore.
That view back then... The vivid sunset and the sparkling sea.
It was my precious treasure.
Everything has fallen from the palm of my hand.
And the most important thing of all... Shu... You aren't by my side.
Why? What went wrong?
Was it because I'm a monster?
I don't have anything anymore.
Since I don't have anything... then everything can just be lost.
Let's finish it off. Everything. Let's make it all empty.
I don't need something like a new world. That's right.
A world without Shu... has no meaning at all.
The singer was there.
But what was I supposed to say. What was this girl thinking while singing to the end of the world?
Her expression was without fear or regret. As if nothing was stopping her she was just beaming.
While to me she just seemed terribly empty.
I wonder if bringing the world to an end is fun...
With not a single righteous soul. They wondered on their own in woe towards their reward of evil.
Turn all the evil ones into salt! That's fine right? I don't dislike that idea.
Right. That might be it.
Wiping out the rotten world might not be bad either. Even so, we didn't need to turn everything into a pillar of salt.
Let's end this.
A clear sound rang out and Ouma Mana shattered into pieces.
...What?!
Only the surface appeared to be her. The insides were almost all AP crystals. Had the cancer progressed that much?
No. That wasn't it...
A little further away, Ouma Mana appeared again.
Without caring at all about me she continued to sing. Maybe she really hadn't noticed me at all...
What just happened? I had no way of knowing.
This time it was almost as if she really was a ghost...
It's useless.
I mean it doesn't have a physical form anymore.
...Present.
You're still alive?
I thought I might die... Seriously... cos you're so violent...
But even for you... you can't kill something that isn't alive... right?
What do you mean?
Ouma Mana perished a long time ago at the church that time.
But the Apocalypse Virus... no... that's not it... The will of the world would not let Eve die.
There's no longer any way to stop it. That's too bad right?
This outcome is probably unexpected even for the Da'ath as well...
Yeah. That's probably true.
But... That's got nothing to do with me!
Present moved fluidly. It was so sudden that my reaction was delayed for a moment.
C'mon!
I avoided it in the nick of time.
This is great! It makes my heart pound!
In Present's hands was a sword made from AP crystals.
Swinging the sword down exaggeratedly she turned the blade towards me.
Scrooge! Use me...
Don't be reckless!
I took Carols hand so we could run.
We had used that many voids... She should still be recovering from the damage.
We would have to continue without voids for a while!
Your profile when you jump is beautiful.
In particular your neck line when you twist your body is irresistible!
After dodging the slashes chills ran down my spine.
Silver sparkled around Present. I started running as soon as I recognized them.
Your running form is lovely.
Crystal swords pierced the ground around my feet one after the other. If I stopped even momentarily my feet would have been pierced.
Tormented by the rain of swords I ran.
The strength of your feet pounding the ground as if releasing hatred makes me swoon!
Stop messing around!
I'm mortified. I'm deadly serious.
I seriously love you guys.
I told you to stop messing around!
Are you trying to commit suicide with Eve?!
Surely not!
I wondered if she was reading my movements. Present dodged my blow as I pounced.
Slashing over her shoulder. The sword approached in an arc. I couldn't avoid it.
We won't perish.
Kicking the center of the sword I was able to block Present's attack. But she regained her posture almost simultaneously.
It was a storm of offence and defense. Both of us close to dealing a fatal blow at any moment.
For a monster battle, the theories of human combat were pointless. What unfolded was a battle that went beyond theory and technology, it could be called a war of attrition of the soul.
In the midst of such a storm, Present smiled sweetly.
Evolution or Natural selection doesn't matter. We don't need to be bound by such things. For we are free beings.
Spouting gibberish!
At that moment, the building shook severely.
The shaking didn't stop. It became more and more violent. It became so bad we couldn't stand.
Now what?!
The long awaited moment has arrived! We are getting close to Eve's finale!
I looked down at the city lined with buildings with herds of cars between them.
Originally it was probably more lit up. Due to power outages the scenery was dotted with darkness.
It was a beauty similar to the AP crystals which were beautiful on the outside but held death and decay within.
Suddenly the darkness grew. The remaining Neon lights were swallowed up by the darkness... and then...
I knelt involuntarily. This wasn't a metaphor, my entire body became heavier.
Not being able to withstand the force, the roof began to collapse.
Falling over, I held Carol. her delicate body felt like lead.
What the hell was going on?! Surely this wasn't...
that gravity was increasing?!
Huh?
Do you know it? Scrooge?
The gravity of the entire universe is gathered at the center of hell.
The building collapsed inwards. Everything fell like a whirling waterfall.
At the center of it all, we fell almost irritatingly slowly, like a leaf fluttering in the wind.
A black abyss had opened where we were about to land.
If all gravity was gathered in hell then the sinner would fall as much as the weight of his sins probably.
I fell. Towards the deepest place of hell, the center of the world... the bottomless pit.
I who had no past nor future, I who was empty... if I had to fall...
My sins would be there.
The me who I should have lost would be there.
The flies rustled in my head.
But there was no headache anymore.
I drifted between consciousness and my thoughts. Everything disjoint and became meshed.
I was close to the end of my journey and I had a premonition.
When I got everything back... I would be ruined.
Someone was staring at me.
Staring at someone while they were sleeping wasn't a good hobby to have. And I only knew one guy with that habit...
I didn't really remember much in the first place anyway...
Is that you Carol?
Unfortunately. It's me.
I immediately woke up.  I could feel my own face turning pale.
It was that damn abomination. I was almost curious why I hadn't been killed.
It was when I tried to jump up... that I noticed that my body couldn't move.
This is...!
This was Present's handiwork. My entire body was covered in AP crystals.
Damn!
I struggled to get out but I wasn't surprised when I couldn't. While doing so, more and more AP crystals continued to cover me.
You don't need to look so disgusted. You're hurting my feelings...
While mounting me like a horse Present smiled.
It was a smile that made me want to punch that pale face.
Somehow I was able to move my neck. I looked around my circumstances...
It was an incredibly strange space...
A world filled with AP crystals. It looked like everything had been frozen.
What is this place?
The center of hell right? Then this is Cocytus I guess?
I see. I had been frozen by the coldness of my sins. Dammit.
And within Cocytus, surrounded by a kind of cage was a sleeping girl.
Ouma Mana!
From the sleeping Mana came her song. As if responding to the song, the crystals grew.
If I didn't stop that, the entire world might be covered in a similar landscape.
This is a cocoon which protects Eve's closed mind.
Her frozen soul will freeze everything.
Smiling meaningfully Present looked away from me and stared at a single point.
I followed Present's gaze and then I finally noticed.
Within the pillar of sparkling silver crystals, was a figure trapped within.
Carol!
You're all worked up. It makes me envious.
Present moved her face closer. I could feel a sense of danger from her... and then...
Please look at me too.
Present released my body. If she was going to continue like that I would bite her face off.
Haha... You're a real cold guy.
What are you trying to pull?!
I just want to put things back...
I had no idea what she was thinking but Present began to undress slowly.
I'm sick of being left out.
What...
Present was almost naked. I was startled at its form.
...?! That body!
...was covered in cancer.
It had also progressed considerably. It was almost mysterious that it had progressed so far.
No... this was different. Rather than being affected by cancer... it was...
being assimilated?
This was similar to Ouma Mana's condition. She had fused with the Apocalypse virus. They were now one being.
I was lost. I don't even know which way it happened anymore.
Present lamented her body which neither merged with the Cancer. Saying that it had been lost.
I was the same.
Just as Present had lost her human flesh, Past had probably also lost something too.
I had lost my memories, the memories of my life as a human.
I didn't become anyone special. I couldn't get the golden touch, nor produce voids. 
I couldn't understand what Present was saying. The only thing I could understand was the craziness stagnating at the back of her eyes.
No... It wasn't just me. You are the same! Scrooge!
Present's white hands grabbed my throat. I who couldn't move was at her mercy.
We are lives which would never evolve or be selected. Abandoned by the world... halfhearted monsters.
In other words... we're special.
The cancer that dwelt within Present, slid into my body. No it was different. This too was also assimilation.
We are the same thing. Split into different bodies... a single soul!
So Scrooge? Why don't we become one?
Present was trying to take advantage of me!
I have no intention of committing suicide with you!
I told you already right? We won't perish...
If we are separate from evolution or natural selection then we are immune! For eternity!
Let's pledge our eternal love to each other. You and I and...
That's exactly right. We won't perish.
Because we exist outside the normal circle of life.
But... you are different.
Without warning the AP crystals which detained me shattered.
What?
My right hand burned. A gentle pain... and then...
You are...!
Scrooge. He who regrets.
Come collect your gold.
TOP: Take it.
BOTTOM: Don't take it.
Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. (Mat 26 27-28)
It happened again. Again in my head, the flies stirred.
Take and eat, this is my body. (Mat 26:26)
I was going to be eaten by the insects...
Why? I was just... this time...
It's meaningless Present.
You weren't chosen by the future.
In Cocytus those with the worst sins were punished.
Cain killed his brother. Antenor welcomed the enemy. Ptolemy killed Simon Maccabeus at a banquet.
And Judas betrayed Christ
In other words the sin which is most connected to Cycotus is... betrayal.
It was like that was it?
You were "Yet to come" were you Carol?
Why?
Had everything been orchestrated from the very beginning? Was it all one elaborate trap?
What exactly was the objective?
Why did she help me? Why had we fought with the Da'ath? Why had we fought with Past and Present?
Was that part of Da'ath's plan? Or was there another unrelated reason?
Countless doubts appeared and disappeared. 
I couldn't gather my thoughts.
When I finally thought of something, the question barely came out as my voice was shaking so much.
Why?! Why did you get close to me?!
It's not like that.
I'm not "Yet to come".
Stop messing around!
She spoke In her usual elusive and easygoing tone. 
That was the most annoying thing of all.  
It's the truth.
Anyway... Yet to come has always been with you.
What are you talking about?
Again the same headache. Flies rustling.
Always together. You've touched them multiple times.
Void genome can analyze one's intron sequence and draw out the power hidden within people.
That is a Void. The idea of a soul converted into a physical form.
Fighting together. Killing. Dying.
Voids can only be drawn from children 7 years old or younger.
All other people are not supposed to have a void in the first place.
...wait.
The destruction of a void means the death of the owner.
A void is a person's heart and the shape of their soul. An irreplaceable and unique existence.
It's the person themselves.
Surely not...
You broke so many... using it recklessly didn't you?
Look! It's our baby!
The world is a uterus. The uterus is dead.
Everything is rotten before it is born.
That's right Scrooge. These kids are the final ghost.
Yet to come. Our baby.
Live
All your choices are meaningless.
Live
All your choices are meaningless.
Live
All your choices are meaningless.
TOP: Live
BOTTOM: Give up.
What a poor child.
Da'ath's human experiments. The mating of modified human experiment subjects.
The results are as you can see. My uterus is affected by the cancer.
This one... These ones can neither be born nor die.
A fetus that would infinitely live and die in the womb. Unrelated to natural selection. Eternal life.
In other words I could touch them. As they shared my genes.
I had drawn voids from them... using them to crush and kill...
Naturally that's why only weapons appear. I mean these children know nothing but death.
...Carol.
Hmm?
What did you want from me?
I understood... Everything.
Except for one thing. I couldn't tell what she was thinking.
Why had she continued like this... Along this fruitless journey...
Revenge.
It was me who was the root of the curse... I had forgotten everything, living life without a care in the world...
If that was the worst she could do in her own way then...
I would comply and accept her punishment.
This was Cocytus. The place where traitors were punished.
After a while... she...
Nothing.
She spoke In her usual absentminded way.
Oh. That's right. This girl is...
Completely empty. She's literally a void.
Well then Scrooge... what shall we do now?
Since we've come all this way... let's end it with a bang!
Whatever you decide, it might all be meaningless anyway...
TOP: Atonement.
BOTTOM: Revenge.
You're so strange. What exactly are you atoning for?
Well... I guess so... at least at the very end shall we do something good?
Let's save the world, Scrooge.
Scrooge. Use us.
Thorns. I guess you could call it a Guilty Crown...
Oh... no... I see...
It's a flower that blooms...
What... it blooms after all! These kids can do it if they try...
Right! I forgot to tell you something important!
Merry Christmas!
I felt like I had been saved. I felt like I was about to cry severely...
Somehow I smiled and replied to her bright smile.
Merry Christmas.
