The GM's Power

An instant of sluggishness washed over him.

No, it went beyond that — a sense of helplessness crept in, as if every ounce of strength that had dwelt in his body had been stripped away in a single breath.

"What the—?!"

Gabriel didn't miss a beat. The very moment Ryu Hwi faltered, he closed the distance in a flash.

"You are, without a doubt, the strongest gamer alive at this moment. But if this is the extent of the 'strongest' you can show me, then you cannot defeat me."

With a single sweep of Gabriel's hand, countless skills erupted all at once and crashed down over Ryu Hwi.

'That's it!'

A chill ran down Seven's spine at the power Gabriel had revealed.

That's why GA-ES — armed with every bug in existence — lost to just one man.

Gabriel's GM privileges allowed him to freely manipulate every skill belonging to World of Phantasm. Even the skills of others bent to his will. The bug-enhanced skills of GA-ES's gamers had been utterly useless before him.

And now Ryu Hwi's skills had been sealed by that same authority.

'So even Ryu7017 can't overcome it?'

The instant Gabriel's skills descended, Seven and everyone else watching were certain Ryu Hwi had lost.

"YggON, what's going on?"

The sealing of Demon God's Blessing and Sword Saint's Sword Mastery was catastrophic. Sword Mastery in particular was the foundational skill behind Ryu Hwi's superhuman strength.

"Damn it — skill swap!"

He swapped the sealed Meteor Strike for the Plum Blossom Sword Art.

A skill that unlocked the individual techniques of the Mount Hua Sect's plum blossom swordplay.

The moment he equipped it, several forms surfaced naturally in his mind.

Unlike Sword Mastery, every technique was an active skill — one that had to be deliberately triggered — and each carried its own cooldown.

Perhaps because it was still Level 1, only a handful of forms were available, and without the Mount Hua Sect's inner energy method, there was no separate ability enhancement to speak of.

Far more cumbersome to wield than Sword Mastery.

Through Enchant, he forced the Plum Blossom Sword Art and the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Dragon Charge Qi Art together into one.

A skill that should have required the Mount Hua Sect's inner energy method to function properly now drank deep of the Dragon Charge Qi Art's power.

At the same time, Ryu Hwi unleashed yet another skill.

SR+ — Swiftness Lv1

The flow of time itself slowed, and within that frozen moment, only Ryu Hwi moved at his own speed.

To everyone else's eyes, he must have simply vanished.

"Ghhk!"

Just when every soul present had predicted Gabriel's victory, it was Gabriel who left himself open to a counterattack.

Faster than even the defensive skills that rose to shield him, Ryu Hwi's blade reached Gabriel's throat.

Every one of Ryu Hwi's strikes was a critical hit that ignored defense outright.

And that lethal strike cleaved through Gabriel's neck.

Seven's breath caught at a scene that defied every expectation.

'Ryu7017 transcends even GM privileges?!'

Gabriel's GM authority had rendered even bugs useless — no countermeasure, no loophole, nothing.

And yet even that failed against Ryu Hwi?

'Did Gabriel actually lose?!'

But then another development left Seven stunned all over again.

Despite his severed neck, Gabriel did not die.

The instant the blade fell, a certain 'item' materialized before him.

The Phoenix Feather.

An item granting a single-use resurrection upon death.

Gabriel gently touched his own neck.

"The form of a dragon and the scent of plum blossoms. Skills from another game labyrinth, I take it. So the 'World of Phantasm skill seal' itself did work, then."

"I cut your head off and you don't even feel it?"

"Oh, it hurts. But 'pain' alone will never subdue me."

Resurrection by item or not, the agony should have remained all the same.

Yet Gabriel didn't so much as blink.

"I'm curious how long you can hold out, relying on such stopgap measures in place of your sealed skills. Tell me — have you any interest in joining hands with me, even now?"

"With a snake as vile as you?"

Ryu Hwi dismissed the offer in a single breath.

"One of us goes down here, you or me. That's all there is to it."

"I suppose so. Then..."

Gabriel let out a soft sigh.

The moment he spread both arms wide, countless 'items' materialized throughout the space.

Weapons and items of every description.

All of them things that appeared in World of Phantasm.

"...?!"

Surrounded on all sides by an ocean of weapons and items, Ryu Hwi swallowed hard.

"YggON, how is that the minor version of you?"

No matter how he looked at it, the ability seemed superior to YggON's own.

"That's exactly what matters right now! My core skills are sealed, in case you forgot!"

Gabriel waved his hand.

In that instant, a multitude of weapons appeared before him.

One after another, he swapped the weapons in his grip and drove Ryu Hwi back, back, back.

The traits affixed to each weapon stacked and compounded:

[Attack power rises with every strike]

[Speed increases while equipped]

[Fire-attribute damage]

[Lightning-attribute damage]

[Wind-attribute damage]

[Slows the movement of those struck]

At the same time, attack items came raining down on Ryu Hwi. Most were individually trivial, but in numbers like these, they were genuinely dangerous.

For the first time, Ryu Hwi got a taste of what his own opponents must have felt all this time.

'Damn it, so this is the power of a GM?'

An absolutely lopsided battle, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠his signature skills sealed away.

In a situation where a fraction of a second's error could cost him his head, Intuition and Enchant were his only lifelines.

'I'm leaving everything to Intuition!'

Ordinarily he would have balked at relying on it so completely, but right now there was no other way.

Even so, even pushing Intuition to its absolute limit, he was being pushed back — inch by inch.

His sword dance began to crumble, and wounds opened all across his body.

Even amid all this, Ryu Hwi focused on exactly one thing: Gabriel's attack patterns.

Hunting for the method — the one that would snap Gabriel's GM privileges and seize victory.

'Think. THINK. There's a way to bring down Gabriel Darius!'

Gabriel Darius could wield everything in World of Phantasm at will through his GM authority.

There was no way a resurrection item like the Phoenix Feather was his only one. He could revive as many times as he pleased.

Which meant there was only one option left: erase Gabriel's very existence so thoroughly that not even resurrection could save him.

Delete.

Uses remaining: 2.

One of those had to be saved to shatter this game maze's core.

In other words — a single use. One shot.

He had to punch through this endless torrent of weapons, skills, and items and land Delete.

'The patterns are too varied. No — there are no patterns at all. Everything in World of Phantasm is Gabriel's weapon. And my own arsenal sits sealed.'

A wall far too high stood blocking Ryu Hwi's path.

'GM privileges are without a doubt powerful. But there HAS to be a way to break through!'

No matter how tall the wall, he refused to give up.

'Three years. Three years of nothing but walls. I lived in the darkness, staring at nothing but the light.'

A single fish, trapped in the lightless deep, thrashes with everything it has.

Believing that light waits at the end of this darkness, the fish had thrown itself against the walls of its prison, again and again and again.

He could not stop here.

'I'm the man who pulled a UR!!'

That instant — as if answering his will — Intuition Lv3 presented him with countless 'paths.'

Paths where, even at Lv3, he couldn't tell which was right and which was wrong.

As if Intuition itself were testing him.

Roads with no visible correct answer.

Anyone else would have hesitated, frozen mid-step.

Then, unbidden, the journey that had brought him here rose in his memory.

Framed by Linpel and Asea, stripped down to an Unknown.

Three years of hell, treated as less than human.

When he'd finally clawed his way to an SSR account creation ticket, even that was stolen from him — he'd nearly met his end at the bottom of a garbage life.

And then he met the UR.

That was where it all began.

Overcoming hardship after hardship, he had at last arrived here — at the finale of World of Phantasm.

But this place was not the journey's end.

This was a new starting line.

'I'm escaping the deep!'

Ryu Hwi stepped boldly forward.

The moment his movements changed, Gabriel's assault grew fiercer still.

"Going for Delete, are you? It won't be ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠that easy."

Gabriel, of course, had read Ryu Hwi's gambit from the start.

To shackle his feet, wide-area skills of every kind erupted in waves.

Meteors from the heavens.

Flames from the earth.

With the twitch of a finger, he exercised godlike authority.

Everyone watching held their breath before that overwhelming power.

Everyone, except one.

A life that had been nothing but defeat — was defeat supposed to frighten him now, of all times?

That damn vacuum cleaner!

Even as he thought it, a bitter smile tugged at Ryu Hwi's lips before he could stop it.

"You got it — I'll keep squirming all you want!"

Ryu Hwi unleashed Limit Break and Enchant in the same breath.

Onto Peace Breaker2 — the further-evolved form of Peace Breaker — he enchanted the Flying Lotus Slash, elevated to (ygg) level through Limit Break.

Peace Breaker2 became a weapon where a single pull of the trigger unleashed eight attacks at once.

Charged with Sword Gang energy, the gunblade roared — eight cannon shots wreathed in the power of the Sword Gang tore across the open air.

He ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠drew the SR — Paladin's Shield from his inventory and blocked the attacks that slipped past his guard.

The Paladin's Shield, too, was a World of Phantasm item, but he had already confirmed that Gabriel's GM authority could only intercept skills, not items.

He pulled out sacrificial dummy dolls and scattered the aggro.

He hurled flashbangs in every direction to blind Gabriel — and lamentably, it didn't work. The red-armored AI that had granted Gabriel his GM privileges activated a counter-skill on the spot.

He batted away the torrent of attacks he couldn't neutralize with Parrying!

After deflecting the barrage, he exploited his sharpened reflexes and pulled the trigger immediately. Eight shots hammered out — only to be stopped dead by a transparent wall right in front of Gabriel.

When a colossal mass of ice formed overhead and plunged down to skewer him, his summoned beast Rammut burst from his shadow and melted it with flame.

Every tool at his disposal, every trick in his arsenal — Ryu Hwi threw them all into closing the distance to Gabriel.

And at this combat style of his, spurning every boundary of every system, Gabriel felt something like joy.

A hot passion kindled within his heart of ice.

The putrid, stagnant water that had sat festering for so long began, little by little, to flow somewhere new. Holes were slowly opening in the dam that had held the rot in place.

Gabriel had waded into the stagnant water to dredge it clean — only to realize the terrible stench had soaked into his own body as well. By the time he came to his senses, he too was a part of the rotting world.

Disgusted by this world brimming with filth, Gabriel — who had once wished for the whole world to collapse — felt a wind blow in from somewhere.

A mighty gale, strong enough to turn this world itself upside down!

Gabriel wanted, genuinely and completely, to defeat Ryu Hwi.

He found himself recalling the first time he'd ever heard the name 'Ryu7017.'

The first time he watched that escape-from-the-deep broadcast, an inexplicable shock had seized him.

A being that trampled the entire system Latia Soft had built as though it were worth nothing at all.

Knowing full well he'd make himself a target for legions, he'd revealed his identity without a care and even declared war on Linzea outright.

He raged across the board like a man for whom no obstacle could exist.

No one could tear their eyes away from that 'Ryu7017.'

Perhaps Gabriel had sensed, even back then, that a day like this would come. Right now, in this very moment — he was enjoying himself.

Any trace of the man whom even his own parents had called a 'demon' was nowhere to be found.

"Then block this, Ryu Hwi!!"

Gabriel's spear and armor transformed. His entire body was bathed in a black-red glow, and wings of steel erupted from his back.

The source data of the hidden final boss that existed in World of Phantasm only as a paper plan — and Gabriel, wielding his GM authority, had forcibly summoned its power into reality.

Ryu Hwi and Gabriel collided.

A raging storm swept everything in all directions, and—

"Ghk—!"

Gabriel's spear pierced through Ryu Hwi's heart.