The Curtain Falls on an Era

The True Demon God.

By all official lore, Darkness—the final boss of the Tower of the Demon God—was a being that borrowed the power of the Demon God Di-Ark.

True Demon God Di-Ark existed only in lore documents and paper plans. He had never once appeared in the actual game labyrinth.

But his source data had always been there, buried in the labyrinth's code—and Gabriel Darius, invoking his GM privileges, dragged that power out by force.

The result.

Gabriel, his entire body wrapped in the True Demon God's equipment, had effortlessly surpassed Ryu Hwi. Ryu Hwi's fully-empowered strike was knocked aside, and the spear Gabriel drove home ran straight through his heart.

It was Gabriel's victory.

"So this... was my limit, after all?"

Even with victory in his grasp, Gabriel's expression was anything but bright. The euphoria that had coursed through his chest moments before drained away, leaving that familiar sheet of cold ice behind.

If a new wind couldn't tear this world down, then a man reeking of the same nauseating rot as everyone else would have to be the one to do it.

It was not Ryu Hwi's voice. It was something alien—a voice that seemed to belong to no part of this world.

The voice landed squarely in Gabriel's ear. In that ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠instant, an inexplicable dread crawled up his spine.

The spear had pierced his heart. He was certain of it. Ryu Hwi was dead. Gabriel had won.

And yet, as if laughing in his face, something shimmered into existence before Ryu Hwi's body.

A design Gabriel knew all too well—an item he himself had used mere minutes ago.

The spear embedded in Ryu Hwi's chest slid backward and out, and he rose again without a single wound on his body.

Ryu Hwi smiled at Gabriel.

"You didn't actually think you were the only one with that item, did you? Not banning items—that's the blunder that's going to bury you!"

Ryu Hwi had pulled that item way back in the early days—right before his fight with Linpel Darius.

A single-use item that brought you back to life the instant you died. Convinced that a day would come when he'd need it, Ryu Hwi had hoarded it carefully ever since.

"Even if you bought yourself a life, it changes nothing!"

Gabriel lunged again, the True Demon God's spear thrusting forward.

"Oh, I fully intend to keep going. I've dug this deep—I'm not stopping here!"

Faster than Gabriel's thrust, Ryu Hwi triggered Limit Break once more.

And this time, the target was...

Himself.

"HRRRGH—?!"

His body burned. His pulse hammered wildly out of control. Power erupted from every fiber of his being, surging upward like a detonation.

Ryu Hwi smashed through the domain no human was ever meant to cross—and hurled all of that impossible strength straight at Gabriel.

The sheer, crushing force of it drove Gabriel's spear back.

Seizing the sliver of an opening, Ryu Hwi drew his next card.

SR — Summoned Beast Rammut, Infant Stage.

The shadow dragon Rammut exhaled a torrent of black flame.

It was a fearsome display of firepower, but punching through Gabriel's defenses was impossible. All it could do was blind his vision for a moment.

"Pathetic!"

Gabriel reset his stance and swept his spear, whipping up a violent gale that scattered the flames.

But the sight revealed beyond the fire made Gabriel's eyes widen against his will.

An object that shattered the entire worldview of World of Phantasm had just made its entrance.

A giant question mark floated above the head of every single onlooker.

A mechanical arm seized Gabriel by both arms.

"Ghk?! This cheap piece of—!"

Gabriel wrenched against the grip. The powered armor's mechanical arms groaned ominously, as though they might shatter at any second.

Screeeech, grrrind-grrrind—

At this rate, the armor couldn't hold.

Ryu Hwi knew that too. He blew open the hatch of the machine gauntlet and burst out.

"Gabriel!"

"Ryu Hwi!!"

Gabriel reacted instantly, unleashing his skill. A last desperate flail of power swept across the battlefield in every direction.

The True Demon God's lightning.

Black lightning from the Demon God swallowed the entire area.

A wide-area annihilation skill that erased everything caught within its radius. It was, truly, the authority of a True Demon God.

Everything began to turn to scorched waste.

Ryu Hwi strained his arm forward, desperately. He had come all this way—so close—and still he couldn't reach.

He needed power. The strength to climb out of this lightless abyss.

"HAHAHA!!"

Laughter burst out of Ryu Hwi unbidden.

"You bet I did. I'm the master of a UR!"

SSR — Intuition Lv 3. SSR — Blessing of the Demon God Lv 1.

He read everything with Intuition, and with the Demon God's Blessing he stepped beyond even the realm of the superhuman.

The powered armor—one step from blowing apart—evolved into an entirely new form. The commander-exclusive Powered Armor V17 clamped down on Gabriel with far heavier, far more reinforced plating.

Limit Break dragged every ounce of his power to its absolute ceiling.

His body screamed past its limits—but it still wasn't over.

He enchanted Sword Saint—now transcended into Sword God through Limit Break—along with Swiftness, which had ascended to (ygg).

The power of the Volcano Sword Art, charged through Meteor Strike, blazed blindingly bright and carved eight streaks through the air.

"FULL BOOST!!"

IGNITION!!

In the same instant, Ryu Hwi detonated every last reserve of energy stored in Peace Breaker 2.

A chain barrage that split even lightning itself.

Piercing through the Demon God's black thunder, Ryu Hwi's hand finally reached Gabriel.

The instant the light bored in, Gabriel Darius opened his mouth.

"An era is drawing to a close. A new one will begin. I would have preferred to bring down the curtain on this age myself... but I'll yield that role to you. You've earned the right."

Fine cracks began spreading across Gabriel's body.

"Everything I've built is about to vanish. I have no attachments left to this account—not anymore, not at this point... and yet, knowing it's about to disappear, I find myself regretting it terribly. Strange, isn't it."

Gabriel's composure infuriated him.

"You don't even feel bitter? You used the GM's authority and still lost?"

"Bitter... I see. So if this is what bitterness feels like, then I suppose that's exactly what this is."

"Looks like everything went exactly the way you planned, so I bet you're feeling pretty satisfied. Don't enjoy it too much. Whatever you scheme next, whatever you do—I will stand in your way. Every single time."

"Heh..."

Gabriel's body faded, bit by bit.

"That sounds entertaining too. I suppose I should see to my last duty before I vanish completely, then?"

A certain data file materialized in his vision.

"Take it. Data I've been safeguarding, waiting for this moment. Everything sordid about Latia and Linzea is inside."

"Why give me this...? What the hell were you actually trying to do?"

"A pity. With these two eyes... I wanted to watch this garbage world burn to the gr—"

With those final words, Gabriel Darius's existence was wiped clean from the world.

Account deletion. Complete annihilation from the game labyrinth.

Ryu Hwi watched in silence as Gabriel dissolved into scattering particles.

To slip his DELETE through the storm of Gabriel's attacks, he had analyzed, analyzed, and analyzed again. He had gambled his own life on it. And only because he had momentarily pinned Gabriel ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠down with a force that lay outside World of Phantasm's rules entirely had he managed to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠claw out a victory.

"I know."

He looked around.

Members of GA-ES stood frozen—game over, yet their logouts somehow failing to process. Seven glared at him with pure resentment. Ryu Hwi paid the eyes of a loser no mind whatsoever.

He walked past them, slowly. Step by step, moving forward, a thousand thoughts churning through his head.

So much had happened.

It was 5555's voice. No—it wasn't. The tone, the cadence, everything was different from her usual self. It wasn't 5555's personality at all.

"Zero?"

"Suit yourself."

Ahead of him stood the nucleus of this world.

Destroying World of Phantasm wouldn't end anything—not really. But by shattering this garbage game labyrinth, Ryu Hwi's revenge would advance to its next stage.

He came to the heart of this world and laid a hand against the glowing tree.

The tree that should have shone more brilliantly than anything was now withering away, shriveled and dying. It looked, in that moment, like the very embodiment of World of Phantasm itself.

"Master, what will the title of your next video be?"

Ryu Hwi shot YggON a sideways glance. What kind of question is that?

"After all, you won't be able to use 'Escape from the Deep Sea' as a title anymore. The place you're headed next, Master, is without a doubt—"

The dark deep sea, where no light reaches. A dying fish, wasting away in that lightless crush of water, had lifted its eyes upward once—toward the boundless blue freedom far above.

"The free ocean."

Silent Monday.

A massive anomaly had broken out in the game labyrinth World of Phantasm. Countless gamers inside the Tower of the Demon God and the central city had been swept up in the catastrophe.

Worse, the whole event had been broadcast live back to reality—and it exposed that World of Phantasm was, in truth, an unfinished game labyrinth that was flatly impossible to clear.

The one who resolved the crisis was a gamer named Ryu7017—the very same player Linzea Guild had a bounty out on at the time.

Ryu7017, Ryu Hwi, challenged the 50th floor, breached the unfinished zone through some unknown means, and reached its core. He then claimed victory over 'Demon God Di-Ark', the final gatekeeper of the 50th floor, and deleted the corrupted heart of World of Phantasm, collapsing the game labyrinth itself.

Some denounced Ryu7017 for tearing down the labyrinth that had held absolute market dominance—but the moment Latia Soft's and Linzea Guild's dirty secrets came to light, the outrage died on the vine.

History would record this incident as the trigger of a revolution that upended the stagnating game labyrinth industry.

World of Phantasm had collapsed.

Countless people watched the moment a labyrinth that had defined an era crumbled to nothing.

Unlike the grim word 'destruction' might suggest, the sight of World of Phantasm vanishing was nothing short of spectacular and majestic.

The crowd stared, dumbstruck.

The time scale should have differed by a factor of ten or more—yet the scene played out before their eyes in real time.

This was no landscape mediated by sight alone. The SEED implanted in their bodies was streaming the footage directly into their minds.

The residents of the game labyrinth, too, finally understood that this cruel world was ending, and breathed their last sighs.

May the next world be a finer one.

The labyrinth's residents were swallowed by the light—along with the gravestone that had stood watch for the Cheop hyeoldan.

"We really did it."

Bisque's emotions were a tangled knot.

"It's really... ending. World of Phantasm is really over."

The world she had spent so many years in—the world that had disappointed her to the very last—was ending. Somehow, the fact of it left her both strangely mournful and strangely relieved.

Noir took Bisque's hand without a word.

"..."

Ragna, too, watched the scene in silence.

World of Phantasm was gone.

It had been a shoddy game labyrinth, no question—but more than half of the world's current ether supply was mined there. If they threw themselves into clearing other labyrinths right now, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the immediate fire could be put out.

But after that?

"Latia Soft isn't going to suddenly drop some brilliant new game labyrinth on us, are they? So what happens now?"

Bisque shrugged at Ragna's fretting.

"What's to figure out? They're just paying the karmic bill for clinging to that pile of garbage all these years. And..."

"And?"

"There are definitely people out there who saw this coming and prepared for it."

A new age was approaching. Most people alive hadn't yet grasped that it was coming at all.

But Yggdrasil had no patience for such complacency.

Every human being with a SEED chip in their body saw that 'notice'—without exception, without privilege. That the SEED even possessed a broadcast function was news to everyone.

And then...

The world's transformation had been announced.