Tune of Demise

 is an event in SINoALICE.

Parrah:

What a great opportunity this is!

Noya:

Getting to watch a tale as it dies... this will be very educational!

Parrah:

It containts traces of a vast power.

Noya:

We want you to retrieve the powerful armor hidden there.

Parrah:

See a doomed tale aaand get some gear!

Two birds with one stone, no?

Noya:

Don't dally, lest the world meets its end!

Parrah:

Hurry along, now! And wreck the place!

Noya:

We need you to snatch its treasure!

Parrah:

Alright!

Have fuuun!

Verse 1
Humans and nightmares coexist here.

The ruins in this world

are a sacred place for us.

We protect our most precious treasure.

It is a strange and wonderful world

that rests on the delicate edge of a knife.

We would do anything

to protect it.

That is the strength of our love

for this twisted place.

We were made to keep the ruins safe.

Hulking bodies to block the entrance.

Hands of boulder to knock out intruders.

This is what we had been taught.

Our bodies may not be crafted for the

handling of small birds or the tending of

flowers,

but we proudly believed them perfect

for protecting our home.

It is a shame... that we were wrong.

We found something we cared about

even more

than the ruins. Such was our downfall.

We couldn't maintain

the delicate balance.

We're sorry. So sorry.

Forgive us. Forgive us for failing in

our purpose. We know that regret

won't change the past,

but still we beg for forgiveness.

The truth is... We feared the

crushing guilt that awaited us

should we ever stop repenting.

I've thought about it so many times...

That day... The day we defied orders and

failed to kill the cursed priestess.

And yet, given the same choice,

we'd make the same decisions

once more.

Verse 2
I wished Id never learned

the sensation of human emotion.

And yet... I feel blessed

to have seen the quiet girl sleeping

so soundly in my hands.

Emotions can be complicated

and frustrating.

For us, the black-haired,

red-cloaked girl

was precious beyond words.

Without a home to protect anymore,

she was all we had left.

She was our treasure. Our "Honneur."

However, by the very nature of her

existence, we were destined

to destroy her.

Verse 3
...Ten years earlier.

"You golems are here

to protect me,

right?"

The priestess grinned at us

somewhere deep inside the ruins,

safely away from peering eyes.

"What you ask of us is no easy feat."

We'd spent years looking after her,

but nothing could have prepared us.

That day...something was wrong.

Normally, she'd speak to us with love in

her eyes

and a cheeky grin on her face. But not

today.

"A cursed child now grows inside me."

She forced a smile, as if possessed

by a sudden burst of bravery,

and made a most comber request.

"It must be killed, lest it bring

calamity to this world.

But...I..."

Her request was not for destruction,

but to protect the

unborn child.

We never faltered when making

decisions, but her request filled us

with doubt for the first time.

In the end, we agreed to help.

Her laugh dripped with bitterness.

She smiled again and said, "I knew

you'd agree."

Those were the last words

we would ever hear her say.

It happened in the fall.

The crimson, rain-soaked amaryllises

were the perfect symbol

of those buried, latent feelings.

The scene clenched a fist around our

hearts of stone–

hearts that should never have felt

anything at all–

and wouldn't let go.

Verse 4
It was time for us to fulfill our promise.

Before us stood a man,

soaked in blood.

We knew at a glace he was the one

the priestess loved. As cold as he was,

his eyes burned with a startling intensity.

The gleam of passion drew us in

without protest.

In his arms were two infants.

One was human, but the other... The

other looked

like a demon. The human child

drew no breath. Its chest was still.

A hole in its lungs, no doubt.

The man found it hard to speak,

but at last he managed to beg us to take

the two children, one dead and

one living, and give them to the

priestess without mentioning that

they were twins.

Verse 5
Five years passed before the end came.

Bewildered as we were

by the burden placed upon us,

we did our best to raise her.

We kept her deep within the ruins,

hiding her existence from the world,

just as the priestess had instructed.

But trapped in this limited world,

never venturing outside

or talking to

normal humans,

the girl grew up never

learning how to speak.

We knew this couldn't possibly

be to her benefit.

And yet, with our limited knowledge,

we could find no alternative.

All we could do was love her.

As the seasons passed,

she began to speak.

No...

She began to sing.

I don't think even she knew

what the songs meant.

We could never understand

the words that went with her music.

They sounded like an ancient language.

At least that's what

the eldest golem said,

so I believed it to be true.

I'm not sure as to why she sang.

But it was clear from her face,

and the swelling of my mortared heart,

that her songs were no curse.

Verse 6
Years passed...until a new day dawned.

The day our peaceful world ended.

It began when a human got lost

in the inner ruins the girl called home.

When her song reached his ears,

the poor man turned to stone.

Stone is the natural state of golems,

but when a human turns to stone,

they freeze, unable to move or speak.

We feared it was only a matter of time

before more humans found out about

our home...and about her.

And we were right.

Search parties formed to find

the missing man. And they did.

Verse 7
They would prove to be our demise.

They say trouble comes in threes.

It pains me still to say they were right.

As the search parties swarmed,

searching for the missing man,

so too came the adventurers

in pursuit of treasure.

We knew the end was fast approaching.

Despite this knowledge, we vowed to

protect our home from harm.

We golems spread out and

formed a wall to keep the humans at bay.

The priestess had been a close friend,

and I wanted to uphold our promise,

so I rushed to the spot

I knew I would find

her daughter.

Verse 8
I ran deeper into the ruins,

faster than I'd ever run in my life.

I could hear the priestess' words

repeating over and over in my head.

"Please look after

our child."

"But if crisis strikes,

and the end is nigh...

Then please, before that happens,

you must kill her."

"If you don't, she'll use her song to

destroy the world, including

all who would trespass in the ruins."

The time had finally come.

I was created to follow orders.

I was created to protect the ruins.

Now, the only thing I could do

was follow my greatest order yet...

Kill the human child I had raised.

The gods are cruel.

At last I reached her.

The half-demon girl sung

in a frenzied madness.

And then I finally understood.

Her song was one of calamity,

a ward of self-destruction

to protect these ruins.

The truth finally known,

being true to the princess

gained a new sense of urgency.

It was simple enough.

Felling this slender girl who'd

never set foot outside the ruins

was certainly easier than facing

the thieves who

invaded our home.

But the feelings that gripped

my heart wouldn't allow it.

Verse 9
Before I realized what I was doing,

I held the girl tightly in my arms as we

fled.

She never stopped singing,

turning everyone to stone as we ran...

Even those who fled the fighting.

The town was set ablaze, and the smell

of smoke and singed hair permeated the

air.

The few who escaped with their lives

were slain by the power of her song.

The human statues were frozen in

anguish,

trying to cover their ears even in death.

Then came the day...

...when the world truly ended.

Verse 10
There was...an invasion.

They brought with them strange dolls,

their eyes the same as the girl's...

The stare of one who has no home.

However, it mattered very little.

We kill those

who invade our world,

and this time we would not fail.

She may not have long to live, but

if I can extend her life by one day, I

would do anything to ensure her joy.

I care nothing for the ruins now.

We must protect her... We have to.

"I don't care how many valuables

they steal from these ruins..."

"They won't take our treasure.

Our true treasure..."

Cursing ourselves for weakness, unsure

that we could protect that which we

loved most,

we left our world behind.

No matter how hard I tried,

the dolls' laughter continued

echoing in my head.

Epilogue
Parrah:

Oh, what a moving tale of love.

Noya:

But that's why their world came to an end.

Parrah:

How naive. Oh, how naive!

Noya:

How incredibly naive.

Parrah:

So you girls better not forget...

Nothing good comes from surrendering yourself to sappy emotions!

Noya:

Alright, then! Keep it up!

Parrah:

Pity is for the weak! What a useless emotion! Remember why you're here!

Noya:

Kill each and every one of 'em!

Parrah:

Goodbye for now! See you in the next world!