No Game No Life - Volume 9 Epilogue 2

“…Where… did you… learn that──!?” Shiro said, with flaming red eyes. It was like the cry of a wild

animal that had found its natural enemy.

“… Such a… shoujo manga like… development… wasn’t… in any of… Nii’s fap material…!!”

── Sora didn’t understand why Shiro had snapped like that, but…

Now that she mentions it… it’s true that the Ex-Machina used his hentai manga as a reference in order to

seduce him.

Even Sora himself didn’t fully grasp the contents and developments of each and every book. But since

Shiro, who has a photographic memory, said there isn’t any, then, well… there isn’t any.

Sora couldn’t help but cry a little when he realized that his little sister had perfectly memorized his fap

material.

“Answer: For this attempt, I sampled that girl’s advice…”

“… wha? Eh, M-my advice?”

No one paid any mind to Sora’s tears, and Emline pointed out her source of information, when

suddenly… Emiline must be searching her memories. Did she finally realize that she had never heard that

girl’s full name──

“Demand: The Ex-Machina have difficulty understanding common nomenclature. Change your name.”

“So someone finally went as far as telling me to abandon my name!? I’m Stephanie Dola!”

“Trivial: In any case, I’d like to disclose the most useful piece of advice a certain someone gave me.”

As Sora’s tears flowed, Steph joined for a total of two pairs of wet cheeks.

“Clarification: While Master does tell lies and make jokes ── he never lies to himself”

Then prefacing it with a ‘therefore’, Emiline made a faint smile. Sora, who excelled at reading people,

was barely able to grasp the contents

of that smile. However, he had absolutely no idea what the content

of that smile meant

.

Then she spoke ── it was a declaration of war against all women…

“Oath: Until the very moment this unit ceases its operation, it’ll never lie about ‘love’”

“……────────!?”

“── W-whaa────!?”

Ignoring Shiro and Steph, who had become pale and speechless, Emiline turned on her heels.

“Estimation: If this unit restricts its operational power output, it could operate for another 6 years.”

She turned back to Sora and made an elegant bow, implicitly telling him to take care of her until then. On

the other hand, she took a glance at Shiro and Steph and this time she clearly ── laughed at them

.“Confidence: There’s no way I can lose this game of love if it’s against opponents who lie to themselves.

It’ll be easy. Piece of cake.”

── Well then what just happened? Be glad Sora, you 18-year-old virgin.66

An Ex-Machina stayed, right? An omnipotent special effects device, who is also a girl just like you

wanted, right? And what’s more, there’s no misunderstanding this time. It’s a girl who clearly said that

she loves me, right?

Even though I’m surrounded with lots of beautiful girls and women of different races, this is the first time

one has said ‘I love you.’ This is the development you’ve been expecting, right? The so-called cliche

you’ve always desired, right?

Well… a girl confessing to him is slightly off-course. And for some reason, Shiro and Steph looked like

they had just found their mortal enemy. Imagining what Jibril would do when she came back gave him

shivers… and then there’s also… that.

For some reason everyone was giving him piercing glares. It was like a bed of nails… and then…

“That’s weird… How does a harem in another world even work…?”

── In any case, with Sora’s equipment it’d be impossible. That’s the one thing he understood. So for the

time being, Sora concentrated on finding a way to escape that place with all his might.

■■■

With that tumult at his back… Einzig realized that he was jealous of Emiline and made a bitter smile. He

wasn’t recording what might as well be the last thing he would ever see, just so his memories wouldn’t

overflow. He slowly walked through the townscape that the descendants from those guys so long ago had

built and would continue building.

“… Thou. Ex-Machina. Presumed name: Einzig…”

──She stood so unnaturally still that it seemed natural.

She stood out too much in the Imanity townscape. However, her presence seemed to be perfectly natural.

She carried a Japanese style inkpot in her hand. It was the goddess with the appearance of a little girl…

Holou continued:

“Thanks to your advice, Holou was able to tentatively hypothesize what ‘feelings’ and ‘wishes’ are… Or

at least, that’s what I think.”

“……………………”

Einzig became silent due to a strange sensation, and Holou choked on her own words numerous times.

Why did she want to say? What did she want to transmit? She made a few hundreds of millions of tries,

and then as if to confirm something:

“… ‘Thanks’… Holou hypothesizes that she has to transmit her feelings of gratitude!”

66 ED: Die, you lucky 18-year-old bastardIt was clumsy, but the concept girl had successfully transmitted her feelings with a smile. It was then that

Einzig ── No. The Ex-Machina… answered with this:

“A god is a god because they are a god. Therefore, thy question shall never be answered.”

── The sudden stream of words with no context made Holou tilt her head in puzzlement.

However, even the one saying those words didn’t understand their meaning. His thoughts were filled with

static, and he just kept speaking as if it was merely a recording:

“However, thou can answer doubts. ‘Doubt’ requires a ‘heart’, therefore, since thou doubt then thou

hast a heart.”

──It was something that neither Einzig nor any other existing unit knew about.

“Thou art a god with a will. A god with desires. And since thou hast a heart, thou art also a god with a

life. Thou were simply a god who didn’t know that.”

For hundreds of millions of years, for tens of thousands of generations, that was the one question the

Ex-Machina absolutely had to answer.

“Therefore, let us answer the question you asked so long ago.”

“If a machine is sufficient, then ── ‘let’s become conversation partners’…”

──The one who originally asked that question was Holou. She was the only one who opened her eyes

wide in recognition. It was an answer for the Holou of the distant, distant, way too distant past.

“… Thou were really… the machines from that time…”

Holou smiled bitterly, but since Einzig was still immersed in noise, he didn’t understand what she said.

The machine man was tilting his head in doubt at the accuracy of his self-diagnostic function ──

However.

“Thank you again. But Holou… is already okay!” Holou said with a smile, and for some reason that

satisfied Einzig. Leaving only a full-faced smile, he teleported away as if melting space.

“…Damn Tet. Thou really are quite the jester… Didst thou say that Holou was too hasty?”

Then Holou, who was left behind, simply muttered this with a smile:

“I

t’s the opposite!

Holou was late, even for the ones who were made by Holou!”

■■■

Even remembering it now, that memory lacked consistency. Due to the accumulation of logical paradoxes

and damage, the record was incredibly abstract and vague. However, Azriel too… No. That day, every

living thing in the world heard the same thing:

── “Be proud, oh nameless ‘weakest’. For you did suffice as my (the strongest’s) enemy.”

The God of War had praised his own enemy like that when he was defeated, and in his last moments ──

he continued.The 28 remaining Ex-Machina were wounded all over, but they were the only ones who were barely able

to record that continuation in their very damaged bodies…

“… I shall challenge you again, as many times as necessary, oh ‘weakest.’”

His Quintessence had been pierced. It was hard to believe that his existence hadn’t been erased yet.

The God of War’s declaration of war was overflowing with fighting spirit. The machines were barely able

to answer:

“── That shall never come to pass. Now fall, oh ‘strongest.’”

However, the God of War was very happy. He simply lied down with a smile and continued:

“My impossible defeat came to pass. So everything too shall come to pass. Tell that to your masters,

tools.”

That’s right ── he wasn’t talking to the Ex-Machina, but to their masters.

They were people who the

strongest defined as his natural enemy, his antithesis ── the weakest. It was because the machines were

the weakest’s swords that they were able to pierce the ‘strongest’ Quintessence.

His last words were directed at the wills who had made the strongest retire:

“This was a good game (fight) ── next time

I’ll win.”

……Apologies to the God of War, but those words were never transmitted.

That’s because the sword’s masters, the ones who stopped the strongest god, his natural enemies… The

weakest: the Spieler, his companions, and the Prayer were no longer here.

Right now, different people had succeeded them: a person who was two in one, and the weak human race.

────…………

High above the Elkian skies. On the floating city of Avant Heim.

Azriel was sitting on the edge of the city, when a machine man, Einzig, teleported away.

She engraved the record of her lord’s last moments into her heart as she saw Einzig off.

“──You. Is it really all right to let them get away?”

The Phantasma, Avant Heim, asked inside Azriel’s mind, but she just gave him a bitter smile:

“… They are just the swords that slew our Lord… and it has been so long. What would I even get by

venting my anger on that nya?…”

And besides, rules are rules.

“I told them I’d let them go if our talk satisfied me nya. Did they not satisfy Av-kun nya?”

The Phantasma fell silent, so Azriel deepened her smile, and remembered.──When her Lord was defeated that day, he was… smiling. Azriel almost never saw him smile so

widely, only at the beginning and at the end.

… H

e must have been very happy.

After 6000 years, Azriel finally thought of that.

At the end of his eternal boredom he met an enemy who could challenge him wholeheartedly ── and lost.

But even then, he declared that he’d win next time…

Their Lord had found happiness. If a mere apostle were to be dissatisfied with that ── it’d be an insult to

their Lord.

“… To think that we despaired when we lost… we really were not fit to be his apostles nya”

There was nothing left to do but laugh. Azriel started walking and mulled on her thoughts.

“… The strongest’s natural enemy… is the weakest…hnya～… hnya?”

…… Sora and Shiro. I see those two are weak.

In order to gain more strong comrades, the weak had to defeat those same strong allies.

Sora and Shiro’s true essence is ── “Killing the strong.”

They are so weak that… they have to do all that just to be able to fight. That weakness.

They are so foolish that… even so, they challenged a god and defeated them. That bottomless foolishness.

The strong will never ever be able to imagine it. That weakness is something they’ll never even be able to

comprehend.

The weak are the strong’s natural enemies. Therefore, the weak surely get to decide the life and death of

the strong.

The current Azriel felt like she was barely able to understand that──

──However.

“Hm～? But if I turn that around ── isn’t the weakest’s natural enemy also the strongest nya?”

The weak have their strategies, tactics, and plans. That’s how they are the strong’s natural enemies.

However, since they can’t win against the strong in a direct confrontation, those plans need to be

perfected all the time.

Then, their natural enemy is also s

omething the weak will never ever be able to imagine ── maybe

someone overwhelmingly strong?

Someone you have to lose against, with no countermeasures possible ── “death at first sight.”

“… Nyaa I don’t know about this. Which one

should I support～!?”

Azriel was thinking about it as she walked, and it made her hold her head in anguish.

By someone else. Even though their appearance was also different, the ‘the weakest’ had been succeeded.‘The strongest’ said that he would continue to challenge them ── if he was also succeeded then…

The weakest, who made the strongest know defeat, and the strongest, who wanted a next time

would come

face to face once more.

Azriel was seriously agonizing over which one to support ──

Until finally ── *boom*

“… Well! How about I support the most interesting option～♪ nyahaha～♥”

Her head had exploded due to overheating, so she stopped thinking.

She just gave a carefree laugh, full of expectations. It resounded throughout the floating city……

■■■

── Three more days had passed.

The ‘Closed’ sign finally disappeared from the Elkian castle.

Shiro’s whisper of ‘one turn has passed’ signaled the removal of that sign. At the same time, a certain

country’s government was restarted, and the once quiet castle became lively again.

“It will get busy… I don’t even want to imagine how much work has piled up”

Steph gave off a disheartened sigh, but the kings on the throne, Sora and Shiro, said:

“Oh. Steph, you’ll really have to do your best～ … but we’ll just do the same as usual.”

“… Steph, we’ll be relying on you… since we’ll… do our best too～…”

“… Sure. ‘We’ll just be playing as usual’ is what you’re saying, I get it～… sigh…”

Sora and Shiro replied cheerfully as they played a mobile game, but Steph gave off an even deeper sigh.

However.

“Well, we’re not wrong, you know?… After all, that’s our specialty.”

Sora said as he and Shiro looked up from their device… and saw something.

“You see, it’s always best to leave things to a specialist. Leave politics to the politicians.”

Sora and Shiro gave the ones gathering in the throne room a discerning glance.

They were the people who had returned when the castle was released: the ministers and the castle staff

── but not only them. There were also a lot of other people.

“And leave games ── to the gamers. We’ll solve things using our specialty as gamers.”

Key figures from the Chamber of Commerce and the Guild, and even the Lords were also there.

“Hey Steph, did you know? In strategy games when we pass a turn, we say that we ── s

kipped a turn.”Even with all the killing intent and unrest floating around, Sora and Shiro still didn’t care. They were the

only ones who could talk to such important people with such a ridiculing tone.

“… something you only do… when you’re suuuuper bored…. or waiting for something… or both…♪”

Steph turned pale. She had a very bad feeling listening to their words. But Sora and Shiro just made a wry

smile and thought:

── As expected, we really can’t come to like the big expansionist playstyle.

As a country’s power increases, so do its internal and external constraints. Its moves become more and

more restricted.

For example… For this one turn ── there wasn’t anything to do. They didn’t challenge anyone and no

enemies came to challenge them. It was an incredibly boring situation. However, with this move, they

made a big change that would get them what they wanted.

That being said, that move has but a single problem.

── They didn’t know if they would survive. It was a bit of a risky move.

And that’s precisely why Sora and Shiro smiled. They were thrilled at the situation.

“Then, Steph! This is the last chance, right? Please prepare a ‘sovereign’s message’ while we can.”

“── Eh? O-okay…? T-to whom… will it be addressed to?” Steph asked, bewildered. Sora didn’t pay any

mind to the dreadful crowd in the background and said:

“Hm. To whom?… Hmm, I still haven’t decided. But whoever it is, these are the contents.”

Sora thought once again… well now, who will receive it then? The Fairies? The Dwarves? Or perhaps

some dark horse?

Sora let his preferences show there, but in any case, it would be addressed to the first opponent to lose

.

Sora told Steph the contents of the ‘sovereign’s message’ that would be sent to them:

“Yo dumbass, do you want my help? Then how about you give me your whole country as thanks?”

■■■

── Well then. This may be sudden, but let’s talk again.

You remember the “Law of entropy increase” right?

It’s what we talked about before: that it’s easier to break things than to build something, and that it’s

easier to lose something than to keep it.

Then… what about ‘Going back to square one’? Yes ── more specifically.

What do you need to do in order to build on top of something that is already built?Normally, you’d need to harden the foundations. In order to do that, first, you have to carefully examine

the current situation and confirm if there are any problems. Then if you find any problems, you have to

carefully solve them one by one… That’s the conventional way.

But unfortunately, that had been immediately rejected by the two gamers who hate games with

troublesome work. They chose an easier way, a much more dangerous

and fun way…

So with that in mind, it’s about time we get into more specific spoilers.

──────── This day. At this time. Sora and Shiro.

The two kings of Elkia lost everything to a coup. Their throne, their position as Imanity’s designated

representatives, their home, their authority…

They lost more or less everything that comes with the authority of a ‘king,’ and furthermore, about one

month later.

── The country called the ‘Kingdom of Elkia’ ── disappeared from the map

.

An easier, but also more dangerous way. ‘Going back to square one’… that’s right.

Destroying everything once.

And as a result of that.

── “We think this is probably the fastest way” was left unsaid.