"Good night Yuri," Rika said.

He looked down at the serene expression on his sister, surrounded by flowers. Rika brushed aside a loose strand of hair, tugging it behind Yuri's ear. He took a step back. If wasn't for the lack of the rise and fall of her chest, he would have really thought she was just sleeping.

Rika wiped away his tears. He had cried enough. They all had known that Yuri's death was coming. She had told them herself.

All the time in the world was not enough to prepare. Rika was selfish enough to ask for more despite having an eternity.

Becoming God was a blessed gift and twisted curse. They had been lead to believe that becoming God would bring an end to the realm and allow them to return home.

The former was true. The latter was not.

When Yuri achieved the final step to becoming God by killing the last Guardian Angel, several things happened as the realm began to close. They had been thrown into a new, smaller realm. The God Candidates began to collapse. They nearly lost Kuon if Yuri hadn't forced the Apostle Program on her. Rikuya didn't survive the conversion. Unaffiliated humans got to escape, but anyone who had teamed up with Yuri was stuck, including Uzuki. Then the Angels… any Angel under another God Candidate didn't survive. Ain and all of Rikuya's Angels quickly died before Yuri could do anything. Free Angels still roamed, but they soon fell unconscious into Sleep Mode, a variant of hibernation.

Yuri could reverse it, bring them under her command, but compatability was an issue for some and they never woke, completely stalled out. There were hundreds of Angels she couldn't wake.

All the changes took another week. During which Yuri taxed herself to the fullest extent. She had brought so many people under her command to save them from being wiped out or falling into Sleep Mode.

Finally, when everything finally ran its course and Yuri's own integration had finished, the damning truth came out.

Conditional Immortality.

Until the next God came, they would be near immortal. They were frozen physically, never aging.

By becoming God, Yuri had essentially became the boss of the company and everyone under her command was now her staff. She hadn't taken the news well. By trying to save everyone she doomed them to suffer with her instead.

But there was nothing they could do, but wait. They mourned those they had lost, the family and friends they would be unable to see again. They healed. They explored the small realm they had been thrown into, a small town. They established a system, rules so they wouldn't drive each other around the bend. Then they got to work. Yuri was handed a blank slate and a new world for hers to create.

Millenniums passed, the tiny fledging of life Yuri finally managed to create slowly growing on her version of Earth. They coped, growing as family. They managed to laugh and cry and bicker. They watched the world that Yuri created, the world they helped shape because Yuri always took their suggestions to heart, grow and spread.

As they entered their ninth billion year, Yuri with eyes sparkling with old wisdom sat straight up and calmly said, "I'm going to die soon."

If was the first time in several millenniums that they had a fight among themselves that bad. But in the end, all Yuri could do was look at them sadly.

Rika left Yuri's room heading straight to the living room where everyone else was gather. "Yuri has passed," Rika announced solemnly, looking out at his family.

Everyone looked miserable. Mayuko was probably taking it the worst of them all. Kuon wrapped an arm around her shoulder, pulling Mayuko close for comfort.

"Now what happens?" Yu asked, smoke from his cigarette curling.

Rika opened the large brown box that was waiting on the table. He pulled out a familiar Mask: the angry Mask that once marked the Guardian Angels.

"No," Uzuki said.

"Why?" Hayami asked.

"Rika," Yu said.

"Last instruction from Yuri," Rika said equally weary. "A new realm will open and the selection of a new God will begin. Our last duty as hers is to be the gatekeepers, the final obstacle, the Guardian Angels. Guide those who are worthy, kill the unworthy, and this time when the game ends…" He looked at all of them in the eye.

"We'll get to join to her on the other side, finally able to rest."

Oops meant to finish this before the explanation of Guardian Angels happened. That didn't happen.

Anyways, was tossing around the idea that the Guardian Angels were like Apostles or Angels under the command of the previous God. The reason why they're so strong is because of they've done it this before, this game. The reason why they know so much is because they lived through the game.

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