After a silence that seemed to last forever, Finney inadvertently met Saintess Anqi’s gaze.
As if trying to stall for time or find something to do to make herself “look busy,” she turned and slowly walked toward Valo.
One step, two steps…
However, her hesitation was futile. Saintess Anqi, currently presiding over the judgment of the Villainous Demon King, was not about to suddenly say, “Let’s call it a day, peace is precious, we were just playing around.”
Eventually, Finney stopped a short distance from Valo.
The girl kept her head down, seemingly not daring to meet Valo’s eyes.
Her fists clenched and relaxed several times before she finally gritted her teeth and swung her hand!
Squelch
The Magic Holy Spear pinning her body down immediately flew out, and Valo slumped heavily to the ground.
The wings from her Demon King form, after barely managing to cushion her fall, vanished into nothingness.
Soon, Finney’s gloomy and decadent muttering drifted toward Valo.
“Valo Rante, this isn’t my fault… You should have been slain by me long ago. You were only able to live until now, only able to survive in the Clock Tower, because I hid the truth for you…”
It was unclear whether the girl was trying to persuade Valo to give up or trying to hypnotize herself.
“So for you, Mother, this is just a dream coming to an end, right? It’s not my fault… Don’t hate me, don’t hate me…”
‘What use is chanting? What does it matter? How does it change anything?’
Leaning in the corner, looking utterly pathetic with her chest a mangled mess of flesh and blood, Valo didn’t even have the strength to respond to Finney.
If the judgment scene in the Feini Route was normally decided by the favorability the main character had with Finney…
Then she was currently facing the most troublesome special case—the plot where her identity as the Villainous Demon King was exposed to Saintess Anqi, and the plot where Finney had to judge her, were being mashed together.
This led to Anqi using Finney’s responsibility and position as a Hero to pressure her into hurrying up and stabbing her mother to death.
‘The Saintess is being a total sore loser.’
Anxious? Pained?
Perhaps. It really, really hurt!
But once the pain from the hole in her chest had become numb from lasting too long, Valo did not feel despair regarding the seemingly inevitable Bad Ending before her.
Just as she had judged during her first meeting with Finney: Valorant held so many possibilities.
As long as the reality of the Bad Ending hadn’t occurred yet, and as long as she wasn’t dead, there was surely a glimmer of hope hidden within.
This moment was exactly like that one.
The Lady Saintess’s combo was very efficient, but luckily, she was one step ahead.
She had just forced herself to endure the piercing pain, holding back the Resurrection BUFF granted by the Phoenix Feather Robe instead of using it.
All for… this very moment!
Since two Bad Endings from the game were currently merged, the path for her and Finney would lead to one of two results.
Either: She had enough favorability with Finney that her precious Hero daughter still couldn’t bring herself to strike.
However, that wouldn’t be a good thing—Finney might not be able to do it, but Anqi wouldn’t hesitate.
Being the Hero, a guilty-feeling Finney likely wouldn’t resist either, eventually leading to the “Mother and Daughter Die Together” Bad Ending from the Feini Route.
A double portion of star-crossed lovers.
Or: Finney would choose to judge her mother, the Villainous Demon King!
Sacrificing family for the greater good, slaying the Demon King!
This would satisfy the Saintess’s demands and earn Anqi’s trust.
At this moment, Valo hoped Finney would make the second choice! Because only if Finney judged her would there be a glimmer of hope for both mother and daughter.
The girl before her was still hesitating.
“You were a Demon King to begin with, the target of the Subjugation Team from the start. This isn’t my fault…”
“Why is it like this… How great would it have been if you weren’t the Demon King? How great would it have been if you were really my mother…”
Glancing at Anqi, who was hovering in the air in the distance and already looking disappointed by Finney’s hesitation, Valo knew she couldn’t just wait for Finney’s decision anymore!
“Cough, cough…”
Struggling brought a surge of strength, and she spat out some blood.
Valo used all her might to let out a tragic laugh. “Ha? Don’t strip me of my demon status on your own, Female Hero.”
“There is no why, and there are no ‘ifs.’ I am Demon King Valo Rante II. Even if I truly became your mother, I would never give up this identity.”
She could truly feel the hesitation and reluctance of the girl before her.
She also acknowledged Finney; although there were many Matricide Scripts in the game, she was definitely a good daughter.
Well then… now it was time for her, the mother, to fight for her daughter.
“So don’t hesitate, Finney.”
Meeting the girl’s startled gaze, Valo closed her eyes as if exhausted. “Fulfill your duty.”
‘Can you please just hurry up and do it?’
The Hero daughter sacrifices her Demon King mother for the greater good, then, consumed by guilt, kills herself in a fit of rage.
Valo wanted to force Finney to choose this, and then change it.
“My only request of you is… take good care of your sister.”
“Kaika has no blood relation to me; naturally, she has no original sin.”
“I’m counting on you.”
She would first use guilt and a sense of responsibility to firmly tether the girl, preventing her from doing something as stupid as “killing her mother and then herself.”
“Mother!”
“Promise me!”
“Ugh…”
Then, she would wait for Finney to swing the blade and complete the Matricide Plot.
The Matricide Ending was also the final chapter of the corresponding Bad Ending in the Feini Route. In the game, reaching this ending meant game over.
So…
Didn’t that mean her “mother-daughter relationship” with Finney would come to an end?
After the ending, she would no longer be Finney’s mother—it was perfectly logical and natural, and she wouldn’t even have to initiate the separation herself.
As for her?
Hmph…
‘Shh… Mute the world and listen to the peak performance of a pro gamer.’
‘I won’t die~’
Didn’t she have a “Resurrection Coin” in her hand right now—the “Cheat BUFF” she got from conquering the Phoenix Feather Robe?
As long as she still had a somewhat human shape, she could be resurrected with full health.
And Finney clearly wouldn’t do something as grotesque as tearing her limb from limb.
This was Valo’s plan: the series of determined words just now were out of the kindness of her heart to help her Hero daughter. The real operations would begin after she “died.”
First, she would engage in a peak intellectual battle, fake her death, and then find the right time to use the Holy Relic’s BUFF to make a run for it!
After resurrecting, she would automatically be cut off from her status as the Female Hero’s mother, and many Bad Endings could be avoided.
‘Hee-hee… I must survive.’
“Hurry up, Finney,” Valo urged with a faint voice, seeing that Finney was still trembling and refusing to act. “This is the best ending for everyone.”
The girl suddenly burst into tears. “But what about you, Mother!?”
‘Mother is doing much better than you! I said everyone would have a bright future. Are you deaf, Female Hero?’
She had nothing more to say. ‘Can you just hurry up? It’ll be bad if it gets any later. The Saintess is still watching!’
Just as she feared, Valo’s gaze passed Finney in the next moment, and she saw the Lady Saintess in mid-air looking increasingly disappointed and dark due to Finney’s stalling.
Time was up!
“Finney, I hope you understand that the choice I gave you wasn’t an open-ended one.”
The Saintess’s smiling voice lacked even a hint of warmth. “To be unable to make a choice when facing the Demon King… in my eyes, your behavior itself is already a choice.”
The Holy Spear in her hand glowed, and she raised her hand to guide it.
“What a pity~”
“Then let me fulfill your wishes for you~”
Valo was truly panicking now. ‘Crap, crap, crap!’
‘I told you to hurry up and do it! If you had just sacrificed me for the greater good, everyone would have had a good ending. Why did you have to hesitate!’
Now that Anqi had made her move, what followed wouldn’t be Finney’s judgment plot, but a Bad Ending where Saintess Anqi took out two birds with one stone!
Not to mention Finney dying, even if Valo used the Phoenix Feather Robe’s BUFF, she might not be able to escape Anqi’s follow-up blow!
“Stupid daughter…”
‘Don’t get in the way of Mother’s survival!’
“Cough, cough, cough!”
However, her blood surged, and Valo couldn’t finish her sentence. Amidst a fit of painful coughing, she watched the Holy Spear in Anqi’s hand fly forth from the sky!
It was as fast as a meteor!
It didn’t give her a single moment to think of another way!
This was really the end!
But…
The chilling touch of death did not arrive in the next moment. Instead… the sound of sizzling reached Valo’s ears.
Subconsciously opening her eyes, she realized the Hero before her hadn’t chosen to sacrifice her mother, nor had she chosen to die with her…
Instead, she had caught the Holy Spear with her bare hands, making a new choice that Valo had never expected.
“Chi Luan, please protect Mother.”
Fiery red wings unfolded in front of Valo as the girl turned her gaze toward the distance.
“And then… there’s you.”
“I know doing this is wrong, but… this is my choice. If you still recognize my identity, then please respond to my will.”
The Zither Case on the ground was opening its mechanisms with a click-clack.
In an instant, countless crimson light swords gathered toward her from all directions.
“Transform, Pandora!”
Finney gripped the Holy Spear… and threw it back at Anqi!
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