The World to Come

Even after all this time, the Truce that Keitaro and Toko had made with Jack and Ella was still in effect. However, a meeting had been scheduled to discuss where to go from here, and to presumably end the Truce formally.

Keitaro had mostly recovered from the injuries he got fighting Yuri and was ready to go as was Toko, but they first had a visitor…

“Long time no see, Mr. and Ms. Owari.” The strange child-like entity known as Nulla appeared before them.

“It’s you!” Keitaro pointed at them.

“Yup, it’s me. Hope you don’t mind me dropping in unexpectedly, but…” Nulla adjusted their posture. “This is important.”

“What is it then?”

“With just Tokyo and New York left, I don’t need to tell you that you’re approaching the endgame, and while I said you shouldn’t worry about it,...” Nulla shot them a sidelong glance. “I think you oughta at least start giving some thought to what you’ll do if you win.”

Keitaro closed his eyes. “What we’ll do…”

“I-if we win…” Toko whispered.

“Like I said before, becoming the rulers of Kosma doesn’t just make you two king and queen, it makes you the gods of the new world that will be created.” Nulla looked at them straight on. “That just begs the question, how will you remake the world?”

This had completely slipped Keitaro’s mind. He had been so focused on surviving, but if what Nulla said was true, victory brought so much more than that…

“Anyway, just keep that in mind.” Nulla stretched, getting ready to leave. “This’ll probably be the last time we see each other…”

“Hold on!” Keitaro reached out. Ever since he first saw Nulla he wondered this, but had never actually asked. “What are you?”

“What am I?” Nulla chuckled and then gave a deep sigh. “I don’t quite know myself…”

***

The last meeting Keitaro and Toko would have with Jack and Ella was in Berlin Palace. While Keitaro thought it was just to formally end their Truce, a letter from Jack made him believe there was another option.

“We may have found a peaceful end to the Genesis Tournament.”

He didn’t think it was true, but a part of him still did believe. Believe that the violence would stop and that their survival could be guaranteed.

“We talked to Nulla…” Jack began. “There was something I had been wondering… Was it possible for somebody to surrender their Core?”

“Wouldn’t that just kill them?” Keitaro asked.

“Nulla said it wouldn’t. Assuming they gave it willingly, they could technically live for as long as the Core.”

“That wouldn’t even matter then because the Cores would need to be destroyed.”

“Yes, that is what Nulla said, but…”

“I see… So this is what you had in mind…” Keitaro crossed his arms. He had no intention of giving up his Core, but he was still curious. ”So, what made you come to this conclusion, and what were you planning for once you got our Cores?”

“Well…it all started the night we first came here, to Kosma…” Jack leaned in close, almost conspiratorily. “In my dream, the Archangel Michael came to me. I couldn’t believe it, but I knew it to be true. It felt realer than any dream I had ever had, and I could sense his overwhelming power. He told me that this world, Kosma, is a test from God, and that it is me and Ella’s responsibility to recreate the world in His image.“

Keitaro’s brow furrowed. “That’s insane…”

“I thought so too,” Ella cut in. “That was until the Archangel Gabriel appeared before me. He was the one who told us of this plan.” Ella looked at Keitaro and Toko with pure sincerity. “And he said that you both will be given eternal life in God’s new world as long as you help us.”

Keitaro and Toko were taken aback by this sudden revelation. This entire time, they had thought that Jack and Ella were just like them, so it was offputting as Japanese agnostics to hear such religious, and especially Christian, zeal.

However, after the initial shock, Keitaro and Toko quickly realized that they absolutely couldn’t go through with such a plan. Even if the thought of paradise was tantalizing, it just wasn’t something they could count on.

“I respect your beliefs, but…” Keitaro adjusted his jacket. “I don’t think your god will save us from this world.” Keitaro stood up. “We won’t be surrendering our Cores. Once we return to Tokyo, our Truce will be formally concluded.”

“Hold on! Please just think about it!” Jack tried reaching out.

“There’s nothing to think about.”

“Come on, what do you think’s been happening here!? This is all obviously the work of God!”

“It’s something supernatural, that’s for sure. Maybe it really is God, but we’re not going to gamble our lives on that.” Keitaro turned around dramatically. “This world is chaotic and mysterious, so we’re going to choose for ourselves what to believe and what’s the right thing to do.”

Without another word, Keitaro left with Toko following closely behind.

Jack and Ella were upset. They wanted to finally be able to end this peacefully, to fulfill God’s will, but Keitaro and Toko were just a pair of heathens who had insulted God and chosen rebellion.

***

As Keitaro and Toko rode the Yamato back to Tokyo, they stared down at Kosma below, or what remained of it. When they had first arrived, Kosma’s grandiosity was unparalleled, but now, most of it had been destroyed, some cities being little more than piles of rubble.

Keitaro sighed. “It’s really the end…”

“Yeah…”

“So… Have you thought about it? How you’d remake the world?”

“W-what?”

“Come on, there’s something you’d want to do, right?”

“I-I… I don’t know…”

“Yeah… I was afraid of that…” Keitaro rubbed the back of his head. “It’s strange, isn’t it? Before we came here, if you would’ve asked me how I would remake the world, I’m sure I would’ve had a list a mile long, but now it seems…almost trivial…”

“Yeah…”

“Well, I guess we can worry about that when the time comes, right?”

When the time comes… What kind of world will they make?