How come that Yukiteru won if Ninth was still alive?

Question

I just finished watching the Mirai Nikki anime. Haven't seen the manga.

The last standing player becomes god. At the end, either Yukiteru or Yuno have to die. Yuno dies and Yukiteru is declared the winner of the game.

But how come, if Ninth was still alive?

I had some assumptions:

Maybe, at this point, no one cares about the game's rules.
- But then it wouldn't be necessary to kill either Yukiteru or Yuno. So it seems like the rules must be followed no matter what.
Everyone thought that Ninth was dead. So perhaps the "system" was fooled.
- But this would prove that the game's rules have no kind of "transcendental/godlike" authority, as they are incapable of telling whether Ninth is still alive or not. If that's the case, the rules can be bended. But if you could bend the rules, then it wouldn't be necessary to kill either Yukiteru or Yuno.
When Deus saved Ninth, maybe he kind of disqualified her from the game, so she's not a player anymore and doesn't have to die.
- I don't remember if this was mentioned or implied. Was it?

How did Yukiteru win the game, if Ninth was still living?

this isn't clearly stated even in the _Redial_ OVA. Maybe when Deus gave ninth powers it can mean that she isn't a diary owner anymore. I remember the scene where murmur realized how Deus' time ended faster than expected. thus transfering some of his powers to ninth — Kym NT, Apr 04 '16 at 09:03

score 8 · Accepted Answer · edited Jul 11 '14 at 01:41

When Deus saved Ninth, maybe he kind of disqualified her from the game, so she's not a player anymore and doesn't have to die.
I don't remember if this was mentioned or implied. Was it?

Actually, the rules aren't "The last survivor wins" but "The last diary owner wins". When Ninth came back, she had no diary anymore, because she already destroyed it to kill herself in the save. So after Yuno's death, Yukiteru was the last diary owner.

Besides that, Murmur doesn't seem to care about the winning conditions as she nearly made Yuno the new god even though Yukiteru was still alive.

score 6 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 18 '13 at 09:28

It's a mixture of all 3 points you mentioned:

Deus's time for the game was running out as his lifespan was ending, So when he saved her, it counted as a death (as she would be dead if he didn't intervene).

Scene of Deus's intervention

If you think of Deus's intervention as a revival rather than avoidance of the death it might be clearer.

How come that Yukiteru won if Ninth was still alive?

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