Ash had thought he would feel wronged, resentful, furious. He had every reason to feel wronged. The Doomsday Quintet had arranged his fate on their own, treated him as a vessel for resurrection, and forced him into a death match with the Serpent of Ending.
At first, Ash had thought this was an unavoidable doomsday catastrophe, but now they were actually telling him all of this could have had nothing to do with him at all. The reason he had fallen into this situation was purely because... the Doomsday Quintet had chosen him.
Some Ash had to suffer, so they had chosen him to suffer.
They had brought this disaster with them. If they had gone to some other World Line, if they had not chosen me, if...
Yet Ash's heart did not sink into those self-pitying emotions. He glanced at the red-haired Death Frenzy, clenched his teeth, climbed upward with all his might, and shouted, "Then what's the plan next!?"
"Plan?"
"After we escape hell, do we kill this new snake, or trap it in hell? There has to be a direction!"
"Aren't you afraid that once we leave hell, we'll—"
"Didn't you just say you wouldn't let me die?" Ash snapped. "Besides, right now I'm the only one who can serve as your Bond vessel. Without me, can the four of you Artifice Supremacies overlap Void Wings again and surpass Eight Wings? The reason they wanted to split me up before was because they wanted to believe the World-Devouring Serpent really was dead. Now that a new snake has appeared, if I die, it means they lose their last trump card. They may be mad as lunatics, but none of them are idiots. They won't be that shortsighted!"
"There's an exit up there." Ash raised his head and