Faust, once again filled with desire, attempts to build a new world of freedom for the people.

Faust says.

With that, I will prepare a land for millions of people, where they may not be safe, but can work and live freely.

Green and fertile, where both people and livestock will soon joyfully settle in the new land, and bold and diligent people will immediately migrate beside the massive hills they have built.

Even if fierce waves from outside madly crash against the embankment, inside will be a paradise-like welfare.

Faust speaks thus, desiring paradise.

Blinded by the sins he has committed, he doesn’t even know that Mephistopheles is digging his grave instead of tilling the land.

ㅡ(From the play Faust)ㅡ

…

“…!”

Alice, whom we had been desperately searching for, was before our eyes.

Alice was smiling at us, without any change.

There was so much to say.

What had happened to Alice… If she had been watching us all this time…

“Alice!”

“Hello, kids.”

As soon as we saw Alice, our bodies moved first, and we hugged Alice.

Feeling the warmth, the tension that had built up so far released, and a wave of sorrow for all the hardships washed over us.

“I thought I’d never see you again… Let’s go back now.”

“Yeah. Let’s go back!”

Alice hugged us tightly and said the words we most longed to hear.

Singularity, projecting God, whether we are creations… none of that matters anymore.

Since we found Alice, we just had to go back together and continue our adventure.

Alice hugged everyone once and opened the way back.

Very calmly, indeed.

“The singularity means the end of the story. Literally. But if we continue the story, there’s no reason for the world to end.”

Alice said this to ease our worries.

The singularity is the end of the story.

As long as we continue our adventure, the story will not end.

I guess I can go on an adventure again.

I was really happy about that.

But.

I still couldn’t shake the thought that it ended too easily.

The story doesn’t end here.

That was a really nice story.

Such a sweet and free… ending.

“Alice…”

“Hmm? Is there something you want to say?”

“Is it really right for the singularity to end so easily?”

“…You’re asking if this is the right solution?”

I noticed Alice’s hesitation.

So, I stopped on my way.

The club members were surprised, but they didn’t try to stop me, perhaps because they had the same thought.

Alice seemed flustered by our atmosphere.

Again… she’s hiding something.

I walked in the opposite direction Alice had walked.

Then Alice stuck close to me and chattered, trying to persuade me.

“Ha-rim. I know what you’re thinking. But what you’re trying to do will be different from the best ending you all desire!”

“…”

“Then why did you hesitate? Just now, too. You hesitated a lot until we arrived.”

“Th-that’s.”

I left Alice and rushed to the end of the path.

Even in a place of only darkness, I realized there was a curtain and pulled it aside as if parting curtains.

Then, there was a transcendent Alice, exuding an aura that was clearly unusual.

Looking to the side, the Alice who had been there until just now was gone.

The transcendent Alice was bound.

Simultaneously, she was also holding onto the ropes.

Following the ropes that bound Alice and that she was holding, there was a giant mirror, and all sorts of ominous things were writhing in it.

Huge and disturbing possibilities beyond comparison to the monsters.

That is the end of the story.

And the singularity Alice was blocking.

“We’ll save you, so just hold on a little longer!”

“No… there’s no need for that.”

Alice is projecting God.

As a mirror herself.

What mattered to me was whether Alice had made that choice.

I asked Alice.

Why she made such a choice.

“Dorothy said everyone is playing a role in a role-playing game. Honestly, that didn’t resonate with me. I didn’t feel like I was being dragged around by it.”

The singularity Alice is blocking.

If the singularity means the end of creation.

In other words, if it means the end of the story, then Alice just had to return with us, go on adventures, and continue the story.

However, seeing Alice’s actions of staying here and sending us back with a clone, it seemed she wasn’t going to stop there.

“Mephistopheles showed you countless miserable ends you could face at the end of hell. It was such a terrible thing to experience as a creation… but I know. The concept of a derived world is in the realm of creation, so really, anything can happen. It’s foolish to pity every single one of those possibilities. Even if the role of Alice is based on a fragile girl.”

Alice.

Fragile and kind, yet not ignorant enough to be easily exploited.

The transcendent demeanor was clearly due to the great stress from seeing the terrible things at the end of hell.

Nevertheless, she didn’t follow Mephistopheles’ induction.

But why is she trying to stay here?

Why did she try to send us back with a clone?

“Alice. You already know, don’t you? There’s no need to project something like God. Please, just come back with us!”

“I certainly don’t want to project God. But, I intend to use this power. Because I’m afraid.”

Afraid of what?

Alice has already told us what she’s afraid of.

I remember it clearly.

[…That you all are just a dream. That when I open my eyes, my affection and emotions for you all will scatter, and I’ll wake up unable to even shed a tear, that’s what I’m most afraid of. That’s why, before I experienced such cruelty. I liked the death I faced for your sake. Because to me, it was the most meaningful end.]

Alice was afraid of waking up from a dream.

I had heard that the endings of Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass both end with waking up from a dream.

I didn’t know that ending would apply to Alice as well.

I thought over Alice’s fears.

If we are creations, then from Alice’s perspective, we might be just a dream, like in the ending of a fairy tale.

That was what she feared most.

The reason the Red King is the strongest among Alice’s monsters is also in the same context…

“When I died once, watching your backs, I could feel at ease. I thought If I don’t open my eyes like this, this last moment will be solely mine.”

Death is a dreamless sleep.

Through the end called death, Alice can avoid waking up from the dream.

This is Alice’s way of twisting the story.

Alice, even to the point of wanting death, wished that we were not just a dream.

Yes. She said it after the Neverland incident too… that she accepted her death with satisfaction.

She wishes so much that it’s not a dream.

However, that was impossible.

Because we are creations, characters in a story, she was thinking that we would disappear when the story ended.

As long as we are creations, we are already nothing more than a dream.

And I have to shatter that thought.

“I think I know why you cried back then.”

When Alice and I went to the Institution, we saw a comatose girl.

And beside her, a toy pony, her guardian.

It was a memento of her older sister, who had already died.

The older sister died, but the younger sister continues to live.

Now I think I know why Alice cried then.

The girl and her older sister.

She must have seen us and the younger sister overlapping.

“Alice. Honestly, I can’t clearly see how this situation is flowing. But I think I know how you feel. Even if you wanted death, the reason you didn’t was… because you wished for our well-being and happiness, right?”

“…”

Alice is more afraid of our story ending and disappearing than of herself dying.

She answered my words with a bitter smile.

That’s right.

“Actually, it’s natural. I’d wish for my friends to have a good ending too.”

Now I’m starting to see Alice’s psychology.

What Alice ultimately desires is.

For us not to be a dream.

That’s why she wished for our story to continue.

Like a kingdom that continues to prosper freely.

She wishes it wouldn’t end.

But the end of the story is approaching, and we’ll disperse like a dream.

That’s why Alice remained here, trying to do something with the power of projecting God.

Continuing my own speculation, I realized what Alice was trying to do by staying alone.

“In another original world… you wanted us to live, didn’t you?”

In the original world, there is God.

In derived worlds, there is no God.

But by creating a symmetrical structure with the overlapping phenomenon and Alice’s mirror to project God, she thought she could create another original world.

Sending the clone Alice with us, we play in the land of freedom Alice created, and instead, the real Alice watches over us as a higher being and takes care of us.

The story of Alice, becoming like a god, adjusting so that our story doesn’t end.

Alice would become a conceptual being like God and reign.

“That’s the fate of a derived world. The story has an end, and now is that time. But if you hold the hand of the clone Alice and go back, your adventure will continue. I will remain here. But it’s okay. You are more precious to me.”

Alice, who says we are precious.

I couldn’t hold back anymore.

It was us who had to help Alice when she made the wrong choice.

I’m also afraid of parting with Alice, but this isn’t it.

If we erase our memories and are with the clone Alice, we’ll have a happy ending, but that’s just an evil that looks like good.

I bit my lip and spoke to Alice as if spitting out.

“Don’t talk nonsense!”

“Ha-rim…”

Alice flinches at my answer.

Her eyes, which looked transcendent, trembled like waves.

Alice spoke to me in a voice as trembling as snow, trying to convince me.

“If this continues, your story won’t continue. Then it’s really the end. If it doesn’t continue, it disappears!”

At first glance, it seems like Alice is rejecting our efforts to save her.

If Alice doesn’t save us, it seemed like we would perish forever.

However, I didn’t think so.

I grabbed Alice’s shoulders tightly and spoke angrily.

“You’re arrogant!”

“…What?”

Alice and the club members’ eyes widened in surprise at my remark.

I know Alice is exhausted from seeing the ominous possibilities in this hell.

I understand what she’s worried about, what she’s afraid of, and how much she thinks of us!

But all of that has clouded her eyes.

“You’re stupid! Why do you think you can do everything as you please?! Do you really think you’ve become a god?!”

“Ha-rim…!”

The club members tried to stop me, but this had to be clearly conveyed to Alice, even if it meant getting angry.

“I know you saw all sorts of terrible possibilities we might face. I fully understand Alice’s feelings for us! But arrogance is arrogance!”

“Ugh…”

Alice flinched at my rebuke.

Alice has become arrogant now.

By obtaining a strong power capable of greatly influencing the world.

Her power has grown stronger, but the terrible things Mephistopheles showed in hell amplified Alice’s fear and blinded her with arrogance.

I recalled what I experienced in this dungeon.

I knew these weren’t intentionally created by Alice.

They were influenced by the strengthened Alice and possessed properties similar to monsters.

That is, giving hints.

What kind of hint? It was a hint about the solution.

1st floor, 2nd floor, 3rd floor, 5th floor.

They all alluded to the terrible things we could experience as creations.

But the 4th floor… Eden’s snake tells us something else.

The sin brought by Eden’s snake.

That is “arrogance”.

Arrogance, not eating the fruit of knowledge of good and evil, but disobeying the words of the orchard owner…

“Caring for us as a god? Continuing the story? That’s all just an illusion! Are there any stories that never end? You know that well! People who don’t die don’t exist. Just like I could trip over a stone here and die. A story can end! But what! Is that not allowed?!”

“…!”

I’m telling Alice.

That the premise itself is wrong.

It’s sad that the story ends.

But Alice also said.

That there’s no story that doesn’t end.

But the story can’t end here, so you’re saying you’re going to continue it?

Wrong. It’s all wrong.

It’s as absurd as eliminating the concept of death because death is scary.

There is no way such an action is right!

“If the story ends, let it end! If that’s our fate, I’ll accept it! You, Alice, should know how absurd it is to make us continue our adventure to keep the story going…!”

We could die from a meteor collision.

A car accident, an illness, tripping over a stone, even choking on candy.

Our story can end like that.

There is no law that says it absolutely cannot.

But it’s absurd to eliminate death because it’s sad.

It’s the same for not ending the story.

Denying all ominous possibilities that might occur and trying to guarantee only a joyful future.

That’s no different from devaluing the act of living in this very moment!

It’s good to cherish an ideal heaven in your heart.

But that’s only meaningful when you pursue it.

It’s meaningless if Alice sacrifices herself to be there.

I looked Alice in the eye and said.

“Alice. It’s a trap!“

“A trap…?”

“Mephistopheles said we were just creations, not real people. Mephistopheles belittled us as fake humans and mocked us as worthless! But I think differently!”

Mephistopheles’ blatant ridicule.

From that, I sensed the devil’s intention.

It’s foolish to believe the words of a real devil.

I took a deep breath and shouted at Alice.

“Who said our world disappears when the story ends!”

“It doesn’t disappear even if it ends…?”

My words, which shook all foundations, made Alice tremble.

Gradually, Alice’s reason returns.

The haggardness disappears, and vitality returns to her clouded eyes!

“Alice, it’s all a trap. It’s not the path we’ve walked to deny the predestined fear… right?”

“Denying fear is… my arrogance…”

Alice seemed to be slowly realizing something from my fiery argument.

The sin of creation Mephistopheles spoke of.

Consumed by the sin of not being real, she had become blind.

We are beings in a creation.

Longing for reality, wishing for the story to continue forever, yet thinking in a way that is detached from reality.

Trying to resemble the original only makes one further away from it.

A story is not reality.

However, because it infinitely resembles reality, the way to confront it must also be the same.

“…Ah… It was arrogance.”

Alice looked at the giant mirror behind her.

All the terrifying and ominous things writhing within it.

The things she thought signified the end of the story.

The things Alice had been confining were, in fact, not the end of the story at all.

The identity of the singularity is not the end of the story.

The sin that all derived worlds possess by longing for the original.

It was the form of arrogance.

“Because it’s scary… Because anything can happen in a creation. I was so afraid of that, I committed arrogance by desiring to become an ordinary original world. That was like a judgment against it. This is all a trap…”

A voice is heard from somewhere.

Mephistopheles: (Leading his burning body) If only I had a little, just a little more time, it would have been a success! Are you guys, mere creations, ultimately human?! To ruin things at the very, very end!

“Then, as Alice.”

Alice grasped the ropes that bound her and that she herself was holding, tightly.

“I will sever it.”

POV Switch – 3rd Person

As she pulled the ropes, the arrogances she had confined within the mirror sprang out.

They were black and terrifying, but the moment they emerged from the mirror, they shone like a cluster of stars.

“Even if the story ends, the world doesn’t disappear. I thought I was dreaming, but this place was reality after all. Thank you. From the beginning, I was dreaming a dream I was okay with waking up from.”

As Alice shattered the mirror that had confined all arrogance, the world, freed from the overlap, began to find its place.

Alice thus awoke from her nightmare.

Next chapter is truly the last one!

As always, if you spot any mistakes, feel free to let me know—and I hope you enjoyed the read!

—Chi