Valoran Subjugation Battle (6)
"Hah... those bastards. If they came to kill me, they should've finished the job. Hah... why do they just keep scurrying away like rats?"
That is what they call a war of attrition.
"I know that. Damn it. I was just saying."
Ser scraped the blood clogging her throat and spat it out, kicking aside the scattered fragments of arms and legs as she staggered forward. Dark crimson droplets trailed after her lurching steps, pattering onto the ground.
"I never imagined completed Masters would even exist. Looks like we're completely fucked."
You said those things just now were weapons Erden created?
"Yes. How was it? Did you get a little taste of humanity's greatness?"
Ser chuckled under her breath, scooped up her discarded robe from the ground, shook it out with a few sharp snaps, and pulled it on to cover her shredded clothes.
...I have seen clearly just how far human malice can advance.
A voice thick with lament. Ser clicked her tongue and growled at the Spirit King.
"Then why the hell did you sleep through it and let the world turn into this mess? Do you even have a brain, ghk— koff... ptooey. Do you even have a brain?"
That was beyond my control as well. I never imagined Yggdrasil would lose so much power... I am sorry.
"You stab someone with a knife and then say you're sorry—does that fix anything? Forget it. Just shut up."
Barely steadying her body that threatened to collapse at any moment, Ser looked up at the sky. The sky that had blazed a clear blue while she was rallying the townsfolk had transformed into a death-laden crimson. And at its center, a red moon floated high and proud, blotting out the Black Sun with an ominous presence.
The red moon... so that child Valoran has finally made his decision.
"Hey. If you're going to say something you can't even explain, keep it to yourself. Why drop cryptic hints like that? It's annoying as hell."
Ahem...
Ser clicked her tongue at the Spirit King's awkward hum.
"I need to get moving. Is Karma all right?"
Mm... her condition is not ideal, but it is a wound that will heal in a day or two.
Karma, the highest-grade spirit she had sent to Rubia, had already been reverse-summoned. The high-grade and mid-grade spirits she had dispatched to monitor that side were the same. Completed ones had probably gone there as well. In that case, the casualties among the townsfolk would not be light.
Ser let out a heavy sigh and pulled out a communication crystal—the one linked to the chief of the Cartia Adventurer's Guild, whom she had met on the way. She cleared her throat and activated it.
Then—
"—Hah... hah, S-Ser-nim, are you unharmed?"
The voice of Bishur, the guild chief, came through, breathless and ragged. And behind it: wet sounds of flesh being torn, rupturing explosions, the clash of steel on steel, magic igniting and being shattered, the sounds of people dying.
Ser clicked her tongue and poured more power into the wind spirits, driving her steps faster.
"What's the situation?"
"—Completed Masters. Their numbers... hah... kuh... roughly fifteen. On our end, ghk, huu... we're blocking the path as best we can, but it won't be long before... they break through."
"Blocking the path? What do you mean?"
An ominous premonition crawled up from her toes. She increased the number of wind spirits and pushed her speed higher. Horrific scenes flashed past her vision. Corpses of people. Corpses of townsfolk. Faces she had seen when she gathered the residents and raised her voice—now tumbling across the ground.
And beyond them, a vast red hemispherical barrier blanketing the mainland. White and violet waves of power flickered intermittently across its surface. Rubia's and Hermila's waves. Outside the barrier... then the one inside was Noah alone.
She was about to change direction toward it when Bishur's voice, like a dying ember, reached her again.
"—...They're trying to... destroy the... Sanctuary of Memory... ghk..."
The Sanctuary of Memory. The place where Noah and Rubia had to undergo their trials, hidden from Erden's eyes. They had controlled information so thoroughly that not a whisper should have reached Erden. Or had it been inevitable from the moment those completed ones were already hiding in the village?
"...Understood."
Ser ground her teeth and tucked the crystal sphere into her robes. A traitor. Was there a traitor among the key officers? Or a Challenger? It was still too early to be certain. They might have been captured and had their brains extracted.
What choice will you make?
"My head hurts, so shut up."
Ser snapped in a fierce voice and pulled out the crystal linked to Hermila, activating it.
Then—
"—Ser-nim! Are you all right?!"
An enormous explosion roared through the connection, and Hermila's urgent voice cut clearly through it.
"...What's the situation?"
"—After all the guided orbs vanished, I tried to enter with Rubia-nim, but... the path is blocked."
"It won't break?"
"—Not a chance."
A voice steeped in despair. And the ceaseless explosions. Brilliant divine power stretched out, illuminating the sky. Yet the red barrier held firm, unyielding.
Ser steadied her trembling voice and forced her heavy lips open.
"The Sanctuary of Memory is under attack. There are fifteen completed ones. It looks like they're about to break through."
The sound of a swallowed breath.
"—That is my failure."
"There's also the possibility they were captured and had their brains extracted."
"—...That may be so, but."
"For now, just keep that in mind."
She tucked the crystal away and dragged both hands down her face, thinking. All the while, the sounds of people dying and the explosions never stopped.
A choice. She knew full well how great a change the choice she made now would bring. Even if there were fifteen completed ones, they could somehow be cleaned up. The Spirit King was awake now. And the barrier that even Rubia's and Hermila's power could not pierce—she could handle that as well. From the aura she felt even at this distance, it was not so different from a spirit's.
Abandon Noah and preserve the Sanctuary of Memory. Abandon the Sanctuary of Memory and save Noah. The former left room to plan for the future. Another massive variable could appear, so purely in terms of possibility it was fairly high. The latter meant relying on an absurdly low probability. But she could save Noah.
In that case...
Ser smiled bitterly and pulled out a crystal.
"I'll join you."
Then, in a low, settled voice, she said,
"Bishur-nim."
...So in the end you chose the future.
"What are you talking about?"
After ending the call and tucking the crystal back into her robes, she scoffed at the Spirit King.
"I chose that side because I believe."
She turned her head and looked at the red barrier.
"Because I believe in Noah-nim. Because I believe my friend will win no matter what—that's why I made this decision."
...Haha. Ahahahaha!
"So lend me some strength. Fifteen might be a bit much even for me."
Very well. I shall. My child. I will lend you as much as you wish, so swing it to your heart's content.
The moment the Spirit King's laughter ceased, tens of billions of starlights bloomed across the crimson sky and began to fall upon the despair-soaked earth.
A space where sky and earth had flipped. A space where the sky had fallen and everything tangled together. I stood there. Floated. Sank. Existed. Did not exist.
"I doubted the god I once believed in. I denied the heavens."
My existence was denied.
"And so I committed the act of falling from heaven."
How much time had passed? My mind was hazy. Cartia's voice ringing in my head had long since grown distant.
"Bringing down the sky. Falling from the sky. Whatever it was, my kin all followed me. Thus we achieved a feat that would remain in history."
My jumbled thoughts could not form proper reason. My body was heavy. The Qi Sensing painted in my mind was faint.
"Yet that history and those feats all vanished. Even those of our ancestors. Did you never find that strange?"
Clang—!
"Kh... ngh..."
The swing itself was light, yet the result that reached me was heavy.
"In that distant past your kind no longer remembers—have you never wondered where all the races who lived in that era went, or where that history disappeared to?"
It was not fast. Not fierce. A light, fluttering sword dance. And yet—
Clang—!
Whenever it—
Boom—!
touched me—
Crrrack—
strange memories seeped into my mind.
Celestials and demons. Elves and dwarves. Spirits and beastfolk. Humans. Endless war. Dragons waiting at the world's far edge. The End. And again. Celestials and demons. Elves and dwarves. Spirits and beastfolk. Humans. The first despair given to them—the Beasts of the End. Dragons. The End. Again. Celestials and demons. Elves and dwarves. Spirits and beastfolk. Humans. The first despair and the second. Dragons. The End. Again. Again. Again. And—
"I questioned it. And I realized. We are nothing more than a process."
The End.
"By the End, everything was erased and mixed together. That is why not even a trace remains now."
Valoran's mental image, swirling as if to devour my existence, surged and poured forth. Images reflecting many eras. The cycle of birth and annihilation. Souls never liberated, slowly worn away. Chaos where everything mixed together crashed toward me. I awakened every rank within my body and met it. Twisting, bending, warping, they intertwined.
"They were the heroes who illuminated their eras."
Thus our mental images met. First, the elves.
"They ended wars."
Swords clashed. Second, the demons.
"Achieved vengeance."
Ranks collided. Third, the celestials.
"Saved their kin."
Fists smashed together. Fourth, the beastfolk.
"Heroes who reached the world's end."
A voice reached me. Fifth, the humans.
"Yet they could not cross beyond the end."
My head spun. Unknown memories seeped in.
"But in the fifth, a variable appeared. Two souls remained in the same era."
Complete victory. Absolute victory. The victory I had so desperately longed for.
"Because of that, a path opened."
Cartia Frey.
The ceaseless sword dance cut off with a sudden halt. The swirling mental image subsided, and the red bloodstreams falling from the moon froze in midair.
"Adversary. What form did the End you saw take?"
At first it had been nothing but a vague blur. But with each era it passed through, it took shape.
"I could not see it. The previous heroes were the same, no doubt."
What was completed that way was something that still possessed no form. White.
"But you saw it. Felt it. Drew it. Therefore, you can reach it."
Crack— Fissures ran through the red moon, and the light of the Black Sun began to pour out.
"Mm. Sealing me in the dimensional rift was not a bad choice. How long has it been since I last stood here with a clear mind?"
The greatsword that had stood upright was lifted. The halted mental image twisted and surged once more. The falling blood began to flow again.
"Cartia, I offer you my thanks. Truly, thank you."
Valoran nodded as if delighted, a refreshing smile on his face.
"Adversary. I will ask one last thing. Will you become the greatest good, or the greatest evil?"
I adjusted my grip on Frey.
"Will you follow the heavens, or will you resist them?"
I raised my rank. In response, my blood qi writhed and soared. A piercing cold began to spread gently.
"Will you become the end, or the beginning?"
The red moon set. The halo shattered. Broken wings covered the earth.
"In the final moment—what choice will you make?"
The dark light of the Black Sun that had swallowed the red moon settled over the world.
Greatest good. Greatest evil. Following heaven. Reversal. End. Beginning. The End.
"In the final moment, I—"
True Qi that burst forth beyond the rank I had pushed to its absolute limit—
"...will save Rubia. That is my choice."
—shone brilliantly amid the despair where the dark light had settled.