The Golden Headband

The problem was that he had reached the Gate of the Origin with no preparation whatsoever.

Now he understood why Loki had warned him.

Every trivial action carried meaning now, and every one of them drained MP. There was no way to recover it, either. A battle of endless attrition was raging on inside his head.

"Hrk... hrk..."

The effect had spread beyond his mind and into his body itself.

Deactivating the skill was impossible. From the moment the Gate of the Origin had manifested, this outcome had been sealed in advance.

His vision blurred. What lay beyond that blur was not 'death'.

He could feel it — a gray presence trying to swallow the human called Ryu Hwi whole. Something far more terrible than death. The very existence named Ryu Hwi was being rewritten, bit by bit, into something unrecognizable.

"Hrk... hrk..."

Ryu Hwi kept coughing up blood.

Ragna and Bisque were shouting something, but it barely registered, as if his ears had gone deaf.

No. Not yet.

His consciousness was fading. The existence called Ryu Hwi was slipping away. He could not fall here — not yet. Because Nox still stood before him. Because Asea still stood before him.

Nox — she was, in a sense, a being born of Ryu Hwi himself. A karmic loop, spinning round and round, had brought her into existence. As if to say his vengeance had been wrong from the start.

Don't make me laugh.

No matter how many times it happened, Ryu Hwi would take his revenge all over again. And if anyone dared condemn it as a sin, he'd scoff in their face and tell them to cut the crap.

All he'd done was shift slightly, and still his MP had dropped.

Corruption into an ᚨᛒᛇᛋᛋ existence? Whatever that meant, he had no intention of stopping. If it meant striking down what stood before him, then ᚨᛒᛇᛋᛋ or anything else — he'd become whatever it took!

Blood on his lips, he clenched his teeth. Within his hand was Delete, the trump card that could erase absolutely any existence. He would stake everything on this one strike!

The instant those ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠golden-glowing eyes met eyes boiling with rage, Ryu Hwi lunged at Nox.

"Will you not stop this!"

KUUUUM!

A massive crimson pillar split the space between the two and slammed into the ground, the impact shaking the earth to its roots. Swept up in the overwhelming shockwave, Ragna and Bisque finally lost consciousness. Only Selen Lilith's protection kept it from ending far worse.

Ryu Hwi staggered but stayed on his feet — because a heartbeat before something came falling, Intuition had seen through it.

Nox didn't so much as twitch. She simply tilted her head up, gazing at the crimson pillar above.

Atop the red staff towering into the sky stood an old man. A beard cultivated like a true Taoist immortal, and a scarlet robe billowing in the wind.

"It's fine to be full of fire and vigor at your age, but flailing about without a thought will get you nowhere."

The old man leapt down from the pillar and landed lightly on the ground. With a single tap of his hand, the crimson pillar shrank in an instant into a staff of about two meters.

"You touched what must never be touched, when death alone would have been a mercy. Foolish. Utterly foolish."

He clicked his tongue as he turned to Ryu Hwi. It was a voice Ryu Hwi had heard somewhere before — and it took him only a moment to place the old man before him.

"Great Sage... Equal to Heaven?"

"None other. This humble body is indeed the Great Sage Equal to Heaven. For now, stay still and move nothing. Even the slightest motion will squander what little spirit you have left."

One glance had been enough for the old man to read Ryu Hwi's condition.

Nox paid no heed to whether the Great Sage had appeared or not. She lowered the finger she had raised toward the heavens — pointed it downward instead.

In that instant, the stars of the night sky poured down like lasers.

"Tch. Ramping around like a thunderbolt unleashed — you're nothing but a rampage given legs, child."

"That's hardly something you get to say."

A wrongness of darkness that refused to melt into this night gathered in one place, shaping itself into the silhouette of a man. Wearing a suit that suited him not at all, he tipped his hat down slightly and unleashed his power. The collision of starlight embroidering the night sky and that encroaching darkness was spectacle enough to evoke the end of the world.

"My, my. How impressive. It makes even my fingertips tingle."

Crowley frowned slightly. Even his darkness could not fully swallow the night that Nox had created.

"Really — what on earth did you create? I would like to hear the details, Hecate."

At last, Nox's bombardment of stars punched through Crowley's darkness and came pouring down onto the ground. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠What barred its path was the elemental might of flame and water, wind and earth, and lightning.

"I told you, didn't I? I had no idea something like that would pop out of her. I figured bad luck meant falling into an ᚨᛒᛇᛋᛋ existence, and good luck meant breaking from the virus—"

Soaring high on the power of wind, Hecate blocked the starlight barrage flashing across the night sky one burst after another.

"Whoa, what is this?! It's not just raw power — it's eroding my strength itself!"

Hecate shrieked, but not a single soul spared her a glance.

Ryu Hwi was bewildered by S.E.N's sudden appearance. Why them? Why here?

Crowley turned to Ryu Hwi and clicked his tongue.

"Just so there's no misunderstanding — I have no intention whatsoever of helping you."

"Well, I intend to help."

"Monkey, would you kindly shut your mouth? If not for this situation, I would never have cooperated with you in the first place."

"The feeling is mutual, so rest easy."

Crowley and the Great Sage traded barbs and growled at each other, until at last the sage stroked his beard and turned to Nox.

"To put it simply — that being called 'Nox' is every bit as dangerous to us as it is to you. I know not how she triggered such a mutation, but that existence itself has become something indistinguishable from a 'virus'."

Ryu Hwi assumed he meant the Trucardia Virus, but the Great Sage shook his head.

"That would be a rather cute affliction by comparison. She is a variant even I have never seen. It has been a long while since merely looking at something sent 'danger signals' screaming through my entire body."

A variant so dangerous that even S.E.N itself felt the threat. Having fallen all the way into ᚨᛒᛇᛋᛋ, Asea had become something beyond even S.E.N's understanding.

With her attack blocked, Nox frowned faintly. Then, with the hand still raised to the sky, she drew a full circle in the air.

This time the darkness of night gathered itself, and in the blink of an eye formed a colossal sphere. The scale was so overwhelming that a curse slipped out of Crowley before he could stop it.

"Hecate, you and I are settling this later. Mark my words."

"Ahahahaha... well, surely Lilith bears some responsibility too, no?"

With a dry laugh, Hecate tried to slyly shuffle the blame elsewhere.

Staff in hand, the Great Sage glanced sidelong at Crowley.

"With a power as gloomy as yours, how could you possibly fail to block that?"

"Look who's talking, you inherently dreary old fossil. This is Nox's Field, entirely — exercising my power here is far from easy. Besides..."

Crowley looked up at the sky.

"There seems little need for me to strain myself blocking it."

Piercing through the darkness, eleven beasts appeared.

One was a serpent with two horns, forelegs, and wings. One was a dragon with the head of a lion. One was a monster in the shape of a mermaid. One was a serpent of seven heads. One was a chimera bearing a viper's head and body, a lion's forepaws, an eagle's wings and hind legs, and a scorpion's tail. One was a lion-headed magic beast wreathed in lightning. One was a savage hound of unmatched ferocity. One was a radiant monster wrapped in a raging storm. One was a human in the form of a scorpion. One was a being composed entirely of tempest. And one was a buffalo wearing a human face.

Those beasts, fearsome beyond description, hurled themselves at the sphere of night Nox had made. The moment they touched it, their very existences began melting into darkness — yet the beasts paid it no mind and tore into it with fang and claw. Then countless guns and missile launchers materialized on all sides, opening a concentrated bombardment on Nox. Every one of them was a weapon never once seen in any game labyrinth.

The weapons shattered into tiny blocks in an instant, reassembled into new armaments, and kept hammering Nox without pause.

Before long, two figures pushed through the curtain of night and revealed themselves. One was a man with the air of a salaryman worn hollow by life; the other was a woman draped in fur adorned with resplendent feathers.

Selen Lilith, who had been guarding Ragna and Bisque this whole time, narrowed her eyes slightly.

"Tiamat and Q have graced us too. Which means the rest of them will probably come crawling in as well, huh?"

Nox wore an indifferent expression, as if the relentless barrage had dealt her no damage at all. That composure made 'Tiamat' unable to hide her irritation.

"Q, I don't even need to ask — you ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠egged her on and this is what happened, isn't it? Just how do you plan to take responsibility?"

When Tiamat's fury flared, Q wearily pressed a finger between his brows.

"I have no idea what you're on about. Is this really the moment to pick a petty fight?"

"Planning to play dumb, are you? Fine. Then I have plans of my own."

Tiamat's eyes gleamed blue. Q's, in turn, bled red. As the two glared at each other like mortal enemies, Nox moved once more.

This was Nox's Field. The stage of night that Nox herself had made. Here, neither the eleven magic beasts nor the countless weapons conjured like magic could achieve anything of note.

"Damn it. I don't have the leisure to quarrel with the likes of you. Stretch that neck of yours out nice and long and wait for me, Q."

"That's my line."

With Nox before them, neither seemed to have room for a two-way feud. Q stole a glance at Ryu Hwi, smacked his lips lightly, then turned to the Great Sage.

"Old man Monkey, you've got some means of stopping that dangerous thing, don't you? A slithering snake like you wouldn't have popped out here without some countermeasure up your sleeve."

Tiamat glared at the Great Sage as well.

"How picturesque — a pack of dog-faced bastards all gathered in one place. Well, with six of us here, surely you've thought of something."

"Tsk tsk. Such disregard for one's elders. Allow me to correct one small misunderstanding."

The Great Sage pointed ostentatiously at the sky, toward the two of them.

"It is not six. It is seven."

KUWAAAAAAAAANG!

A thunderclap tore through the sky as if to punch a hole straight through it. The figure emerging from the far end of the night swung its fist down without mercy — toward the ground, toward Nox.

A fist thrown from the distant heavens, from a height it could never possibly reach. And yet that fist split the very air with an overwhelming shockwave and smashed into the earth. The force was such that the entire landscape shook harder than it had when the crimson pillar had struck. Even Nox failed to fully withstand the shockwave, one knee buckling beneath her.

The figure that had appeared from empty air swung its fists again and again, and each time a violent impact crashed down without end.

"This profoundly brainless assault..."

Crowley sighed as he looked up at the sky.

"Truly, every kind of spectacle under the sun. Has 'Orochi' come as well?"

Seven members of S.E.N had gathered in this one place.

It was the golden opportunity of a lifetime — a chance to bring down S.E.N in a single stroke. But his body would not move. Merely standing like this took everything he had.

Gasping for breath, Ryu Hwi carved every face gathered here into his memory.

The limit had arrived. The moment MP hit ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠zero, Ryu Hwi would cease to be Ryu Hwi and fall to something else entirely. He could no longer even see properly.

Then the Great Sage drew close to him.

"There's nothing more I can do for you, so this once, I shall help. Tsk — to think I'd have to use such a precious thing in this manner."

Ryu Hwi felt something tighten around his head.

"I know not whether you can hear my voice, but heed this warning. Do not remove this from your head. Thirty seconds is the limit. Any longer, and your mind will not endure it."

His consciousness was hazy, drifting — yet certain words reached him with unnatural, almost cruel clarity.

"This Tight-Fillet Crown is the rope that holds your life."

And then Ryu Hwi crumpled to the ground.

Faintly, distantly, he could hear their voices.

"What's your plan, Monkey?"

A woman's voice, steeped in arrogance.

"I intend to wait for the time Orochi is buying us and erect a 'prison'. This Legend of Lambda was built with a fair share of DQ's data, so its strength should suffice."

Then the old man's voice, rich with seasoned experience.

"You mean to seal Nox inside Legend of Lambda? That's nothing but a stopgap..."

Next came a woman's voice that made his blood pressure spike just hearing it.

"There is no other option at present, is there? We can prepare the means to eliminate Nox itself, so she will not remain sealed forever. Worry not overmuch."

"Haha, I see how it is. So you intend to use the UR Master as your assassin, do you? Splendid. The two of them destroying each other would be the finest ending imaginable. Not that the current him could manage such a thing, of course."

What could possibly be so amusing? That snake-tongued bastard snickered to himself.

"I hate involving myself in affairs like this... Lilith, wasting my precious, golden time. Do you even realize losses are piling up even now?"

A man's voice, brimming with irritation.

"Why are you blaming Lilith? Speaking one word in Lilith's defense as her avatar — if you hadn't egged her on in the first place, none of this would have happened."

"For a little brat, your ego is rather stronger than Lilith's soul, isn't it? Tch. Fine, fine. This once — and this once only — I'll give you my full support."

On the very edge of losing consciousness, Ryu Hwi lifted his dimming eyes one last time and took in their faces.

S.E.N. The faces of enemies he would one day have to strike down.

And with that, Ryu Hwi's consciousness sank into darkness.

In the bitter cold of the night air, he thought he could hear the gray one laughing.