Epilogue

It was over.

Even now, Richard still felt as though he were dreaming. But four world-ending beams had struck Lucifer's body at once. In his current state, there was no way he could resist.

Richard watched with his own eyes as Lucifer's body shattered beneath the combined beams of the four Ultramen. His body disintegrated, his darkness was purified, and even that savage gaze and malice vanished completely within the radiance.

Richard saw the atoms composing the dark giant erased into nothingness, until the existence known as "Lucifer" was vaporized in a shockwave that seemed poised to sweep across the starry sky.

Though it felt like a dream, this time it was truly over. Dark Lucifer had been defeated. He had defeated the final enemy, the one who had manipulated everything from behind the scenes from beginning to end. This time, his mission had truly come to an end.

Lucifer's last trace of ash dispersed. The three Ultramen besides Noah exchanged glances. In the end, none of them said anything. One by one, they silently transformed back into light and shot off in different directions, vanishing into the universe.

From beginning to end, they had not exchanged a single word, as though verbal communication was redundant and unnecessary for beings on their level.

Protecting this starry sky, this universe—this was their shared duty and mission. They had all sensed the crisis facing this universe and come to resolve it. Now that the problem was settled, each of them still had their own missions calling them.

Actually, when Richard had brought Lucifer to this world and time, he had considered whether he might encounter the original Noah. But apparently, that had not happened.

He did not know whether he had taken Noah's place in this story, or whether the Noah of