The Game Master's Authority

This 'terminal point' seemed stable, yet ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was anything but.

A bug had crept into the death processing itself.

The GA-ES guild members had hit zero HP, and yet the system refused to register them as dead. Not that it mattered much—their bodies wouldn't move, and they couldn't even log out properly.

It was a private hell.

Then again, this too was partly the fruit of the bugs GA-ES had sown across the labyrinth. They had reaped exactly what they planted.

He was hiding a power like this, all along?

Seven couldn't mask the hollow emptiness spreading through his chest. He had suspected Gabriel was keeping something in reserve, but the man's true strength soared far beyond anything he had imagined.

While they lay there—unable to die, tasting a living hell—Ryu7017, Ryu Hwi, sauntered into view with the leisurely gait of a man out for an afternoon stroll.

"What's this? You grabbed every form you had, real or fake, and in the end you were just serving as combat-power measurers?"

Khk—

The dagger sank into Seven's heart without mercy or apology. It hurt worse than any of Gabriel's blows.

He wasn't wrong.

Asea was not among the fallen. She had already been in a game-over state, trapped by the system error that blocked her logout—if she wasn't here, she must have clawed her way out at the last second.

It was a shame. If things were going to end this way anyway, he'd wanted to shatter Linzea right in front of her eyes, to watch that face drown in despair.

"Eh, whether I watch it from here or from outside, it's the same show, isn't it?"

Whatever YggON grumbled, Ryu Hwi let it slide off him like water. He was in too good a mood to care what noise came from the side.

"Gabriel. This is the final act."

Their eyes met. As if to say no words were needed, both settled into their stances.

"I don't much care about other people's circumstances, but before we fight, I'll ask one thing. What exactly is it you want?"

"My purpose has only ever been one thing. To achieve it, I needed to become Latia's lapdog—so I wagged my tail. Nothing more."

Gabriel delivered that humiliating admission without a flicker of expression.

"And in the process, you trampled plenty of people underfoot?"

"You were among them. Though in your case, I was only cleaning up after my idiot little brother."

"……"

"I simply grew tired of pampering that disgusting pig of a boy. The need for it disappeared. So I set this whole affair in motion. Does that answer your question?"

"Not a satisfying answer, but…"

Ryu Hwi let out a light sigh.

"It's more than enough to smash you without a second thought."

Three years.

It had been a long three years. Stripped of everything, ground down into despair, he'd been teetering on the edge of the abyss when he pulled YggON. And now, at last, he had arrived here.

"Linzea ends today."

"If you're going to do it, crush them thoroughly. Not that you could."

Ryu Hwi and Gabriel glared at each other for a beat—and then, without either one yielding the first move, they both lunged.

Their blades crossed again and again in the empty air.

There would be no probing exchanges, no leisurely "feeling each other out."

Ryu Hwi opened with his trump cards immediately.

"Tch!"

The attack was parried with almost insulting ease. As if to wall off the space between them, chains, spikes of stone, flames, lightning—every manner of power erupted into being.

Gabriel showed the reaction of a man who couldn't properly track Ryu Hwi's movements at all. And yet, entirely of their own accord, a barrage of skills fired in simultaneous waves to shut Ryu Hwi down.

Ryu Hwi clicked his tongue.

"At least seven, eight skills triggering automatically at once? These aren't bug-warped skills, and no ordinary gamer could pull this off."

He'd thought that if he unleashed attacks beyond human ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠perception, he could end it in a single stroke—but the world rarely cooperates. His worst-case prediction had just been confirmed.

"Gabriel. You have GM authority."

YggON's forecast had landed dead-on. Gabriel held the rights of a Game Master.

"At first, I deactivated them—wanted to test myself against you as a mere gamer."

Gabriel sighed.

"But against you, apparently even that is a luxury I can't afford."

A crimson spear wrapped itself around Gabriel's entire body. Where a tailored suit had hung moments before, Gabriel now stood sheathed in red armor from head to toe.

"Game Master authority, engaged. This armor and this spear are the very badges of office of World of Phantasm's GM."

A voice drifted in from somewhere. A mechanical timbre laced with static—yet it gave off an oddly familiar feel, like YggON.

"A knock-off?"

Ryu Hwi studied Gabriel. The voice had come from that sleek red armor and spear. He glanced back at YggON—a robotic vacuum cleaner floating through the air.

"Knock-off, huh."

His pride stung, YggON flew into a furious rage. Ryu Hwi ignored him entirely and fixed his glare back on Gabriel.

"GM authority, huh. Terrifying stuff, as expected. How on earth did you get a power like that?"

"And how did you get yours? Care to answer?"

"Luck."

Ryu Hwi answered in a single word.

It was the truth, but Gabriel barked out a laugh as if he'd just heard an excellent joke.

"Luck. So you're telling me sheer luck made you into a being that shakes this world? If that's true, it's comedy of the highest order. Well, fine—you gave me an amusing answer, so I'll return the favor. Do you know of 'World of Genesis'?"

Of course he did. 5555 had told him about it only recently.

"You were involved in that incident too, weren't you?"

"……"

Gabriel's expression stiffened, just slightly.

"That's the face of a man wondering how I knew. Let's just say I have a very talented acquaintance in that particular field."

"Hoo. You truly exceed every expectation I have of you. Yes—it's true. Thanks to that, I happened to obtain the GM authority of World of Phantasm. Not a single soul knew."

So it was luck for me too, Gabriel added, as if in afterthought.

"Now then. No need for long stories anymore, is there?"

Gabriel pointed behind himself.

"You are an intruder seeking to destroy this game labyrinth. I am the GM who protects it. That is more than enough."

"Fair enough."

What Gabriel was truly after remained a mystery. The man had offered to open the path to the 50th floor, then transferred every gamer there when refused—yet still insisted on playing the final gatekeeper.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

Whatever. Does it matter?

No matter what Gabriel was scheming, smashing it all to pieces would settle things just fine.

"YggON. Our opponent has GM authority. What are our odds?"

"In other words, he can use any skill or item that exists in World of Phantasm whenever he pleases?"

"Oh? Flattering me out of nowhere. What's going through that head of yours?"

In the end, it had all been self-praise. Now that was the YggON he knew. Ryu Hwi snorted.

"Then…"

The GM was the sovereign of this game labyrinth. Everything that existed in World of Phantasm lay within Gabriel's grasp.

A single sweep of Gabriel's crimson spear, and countless skills detonated in simultaneous waves.

Meteor Strike.Stardust Arrow.Magnum Break.Thunder Blade.Blood Sword.

So many effects bloomed at once that it was impossible to tell which skill had even fired. Not that it mattered. Gabriel wasn't activating them one by one—the skills simply poured toward their 'target' on semi-automatic. In effect, every skill in his arsenal had been set to [AUTO]: handle the enemy at your own discretion.

Even his movement flowed from skills that triggered on their own, gliding him across the battlefield exactly as he willed. His defense was an iron fortress. Even when Ryu Hwi hunted down an opening and landed a clean hit, defensive skills swarmed to shield Gabriel's body. And of course, his mastery and passive skills would all be running in the background as well.

"Makes me sick."

Darting about without a moment's rest, Ryu Hwi spat out the complaint.

"So it really is a knock-off version of you?"

Unlimited skill activation, no conditions, no costs, no ceiling. To Ryu Hwi, who had collected every skill and item through sheer gacha pulls one by one, it was enviable to the point ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of nausea.

His one advantage was that he could wield skills from outside World of Phantasm.

Ryu Hwi unleashed Parrying and batted aside the spear that carried a dozen skills upon it.

"Is that Parrying? Deflecting an attack alone restricts the opponent's movement and accelerates your own… what a broken skill."

"Says the guy doing this right now?"

For the moment, Gabriel was as good as the absolute ruler of World of Phantasm. Even now, this instant, Ryu Hwi was cataloguing Gabriel's kaleidoscope of skills—but a new pattern sprang out with every exchange, and precise analysis kept slipping through his fingers.

Then, in a heartbeat, a wide-area attack skill erupted and scoured the ground around him. Thanks to Intuition Lv 3 he could react instantly—otherwise one careless breath would have sent him straight to the afterlife.

"That bastard—he's running Blessing of the Demon God too, isn't he?"

"Using a boss-exclusive skill on top of everything?! That doomed bastard!"

Airless, unrelenting exchanges followed. Even when every attack was turned away, Ryu Hwi never stopped swinging. That ceaseless rain of blows whittled away, bit by bit, at the iron fortress Gabriel had seemed to be.

"You never disappoint my expectations. But—!"

Gabriel swept his spear, and meteors of light rained down on all sides.

Meteor Strike. Linpel Darius's signature technique. But its power was beyond any comparison—the version Linpel had swung couldn't hold a candle to this. Had he faced it back when he fought Linpel, Ryu Hwi would have struggled just to respond properly. But he was not that man anymore.

Damn it all. We still fell short.

Seven's fist clenched without his willing it. They had prepared exhaustively. GA-ES's bugs were a terrifying force, enough to shake the very balance of the game labyrinth itself. And still they hadn't reached Gabriel. The man's words about frogs in a well had been dead accurate.

No. It's not over. This round was our defeat—but there is a next.

Even if they were nothing but losers here today, GA-ES did not retreat. If only for the sake of the day they would challenge him again, they needed to watch this fight through to its very end.

Each time Ryu Hwi and Gabriel collided, shockwaves shook the world in every direction. Even the central core that had stood untouched through the collapse of the 50th floor was beginning to feel it now.

What a strange feeling. It's like watching the end of an era.

Seven was not alone in watching. The GA-ES guild members, 5555 sharing vision with Ryu Hwi, and…

Beyond Yggdrasil, countless spectators followed the final battle as it unfolded at blinding speed.

It was strange. The fight ran at ten times speed, yet every single movement came through with perfect clarity. Watching, anyone could naturally grasp how the two of them fought. No one could tear their eyes away.

Even for Ryu7017, this time he can't win.

Gabriel's ability wasn't merely free access to World of Phantasm's skills. His true power—the authority of the Game Master—hadn't even revealed itself yet.

"Ryu Hwi. Can you escape my 'Dominion'?"