Singularity (Rimuru x Arifureta)

Epilogue | The Beginning After The End

"Where...?" Rimuru found himself overwhelmed with a feeling of déjà vu. He found himself in an endless void space. "What the hell happened?" He tried to recollect everything in his memory, but a phantom pain coursed through his soul every time he did.

It was painful—almost unbearable. His soul was damaged, that much was for sure. He tried to feel himself, but he realized all over again.

"Ah, it's times like this that I really miss you, Raphael..." He muttered, unable to contain a chuckle of utter helplessness and defeat. He had done everything he can, and he had done enough. Right? He tried to seek validation, but the monotonous voice of his old partner never came to reassure or reprimand him like it always did in his long voyage through the currents of life and death—through times and worlds.

Feeling his own consciousness drifting amidst nothingness, he carefully searched through his memories—carefully as to avoid the searing pain that felt like tearing his mind apart.

"Ah, I lost." He muttered with an empty smile. Then, immediately thereafter, the scene changed. He found himself sitting on a chair, and what seemed to be an empty garden. No, it wasn't empty.

"I can't help but be amazed by you over and over again, milord." A female-sounding voice muttered behind him, and Rimuru can't help himself looking back with a sentimental gaze. He recognized the voice, and it's one he really wanted to hear right now.

He noticed that his body right now was not the bluish-haired beauty of Rimuru, no, his body's form was that of his first life—the body of Satoru Mikami.

"You're here..." He said as he stared at the crimson eyes of his own body—no, it was Raphael. "For some reason, I always felt like you were with me all along—or is that just me coping? But now, I know for sure you're gone, and so am I. This all better be just a figment of my own imagination."

"Does it matter?" Raphael asked with a smile. Seeing that smile, even though he was dead, Rimuru clenched his aching heart.

Raphael's smile didn't waver. Rimuru was sure Raphael knew what he was feeling, but the Lord of Wisdom did not say anything. A momentary silence descended upon the two. The skies were orange and basked with a setting sun. The clouds were stagnant and thin, while the endless horizon of beautiful flowers and plants filled this entire world where only he and Raphael existed.

Between Rimuru and Raphael, was a street sign pointing to two directions. One read north facing Raphael, and one read south facing Rimuru.

"So? How was the World-Destroyer Dragon itself?" Raphael asked, still smiling as the wind carried the fresh scent of his hair all the way towards Rimuru.

"Insanely frigging strong. And after all you did, I still lost," Rimuru finally said after what felt like hours. "So pathetic, am I right?"

The two descended into silence once again. It wasn't an awkward silence—it was a knowing, comfortable quietness that Rimuru was all too familiar with. He's spent nearly all his mental age with Raphael, so having his company right now is the best send-off he could ever ask for, even if it was just a dream.

"I've put everything I had—and everything you left me—into fighting. To make myself feel validated, to find meaning to your death—and to feel like my existence mattered. Although it ended up the way it did, I still had fun. And for that, I can't just thank you enough, Raphael. I'm saying it now but it was an honor being your other-half... even if I failed to fill my part."

Raphael didn't say anything. He just stood there, his smile gone and replaced with a neutral expression. The loneliness that comes with strength, the one who taught Rimuru about love—