"Anno."
Thread of the Root looked at the end of Britain's Thread of the Root and could not help but smile.
"Is it time already?"
Anno nodded.
He turned his head and glanced from Lawrence all the way to Annanu and Enkidu, a somewhat peculiar expression on his face. However, because his facial muscles were stiff, it looked rather strange.
"The Root can already accept this version of me, Alaya, Gaia."
Thread of the Root turned around. He walked to the version of himself from Britain and, with his back to the two Counter Forces that had already been disqualified, spoke.
"I will enter the Root, make up for the Root, and fulfill your wishes. Consider this my repayment—for bringing me, your lost child, back from beyond the world."
His face was shrouded in shadow, carrying an inexplicable air of melancholy.
"But there are some decisions I have to make. You did indeed bring me back, but—"
"I have still decided to kill you."
"Anno, let 'us' begin."
Those were the final words Thread of the Root spoke to the two Counter Forces who were no longer Counter Forces.
The white knight also looked at the two Counter Forces and nodded.
"How did being a knight feel?"
Thread of the Root looked at his knightly self and asked with a smile.
Anno fell silent for a moment without answering.
Perhaps he had wanted to give a bitter smile, but perhaps he thought it would not look good on him.
"At least I fought for that country until the very end. I have no regrets. It's just..."
He thought of his king, yet merely shook his head.
At the moment of death, he had learned everything. So—
There was nothing left to say.
"Leave behind your wish, Knight of Chalk, Anno."