Sharon Pierce (3)
Sharon Pierce (3)
The final boss of the second scenario, Richard Pierce.
An existence you could never hope to beat in a straight fight.
But Ian prided himself on knowing most of Richard's patterns. He could, because he'd died to him countless times in the game.
'... Not that I ever actually managed to beat him, of course.'
Richard Pierce.
His sheer presence alone was beyond a player's ability to measure.
He was the North's greatest master, and had even overpowered the Blood Rock Sect.
In truth, Richard's full power had never once been properly gauged.
'But.'
The current situation was clearly different from facing him through a game.
Richard's own dantian had been destroyed.
Even the link to Sharon Pierce, whose dantian he had been feeding on, had been severed.
'I have to beat him.'
I have to beat him right here.
An opportunity like this would never come again.
If he survived and escaped, Grand Duke Richard Pierce's influence over future scenarios would be absolute.
Moreover, with their conflict now fully out in the open, hell would practically unfold for Ian.
The scenarios to come were already a cascade of insane difficulty spikes anyway. This fucked-up game had a virtually guaranteed bad ending. And on top of that, the worst possible situation—Richard Pierce's rage—would be added.
'If that happens, I might actually be better off dead.'
On the other hand, if he could defeat him here.
'I can create a favorable flow.'
He could change the story's course.
He could foster a new atmosphere centered around the Third Princess.
He could devise ways to check the power of the First and Second Princesses, as well as the Prince, including the Blood Rock Sect.
In the long run, it would buy him time to prepare countermeasures against 'those things.'
The conclusion was set.
'Even if I have to accept the risk, I'll defeat Richard here.'
How?
By leveraging his knowledge of Richard's patterns to the fullest.
First, draw out an attack, then exploit the opening.
This was why Ian, after signaling Yergina, had relentlessly provoked Richard.
"Looks like fighting the Blood Rock Sect has left you ignorant of the human heart. You can't even stop the precious dantian you raised from walking away like that."
"... It seems you truly wish for death."
"Go ahead. Let's see you try, without a dantian."
Ian's constant provocations struck a nerve with Richard.
— BOOOOOM!
With an explosive sound, Richard charged.
It looked like a massive horned beast slamming its body forward.
A straightforward linear attack saturated with overwhelming weight.
— Plook!
Ian caused the earth to erupt along his path.
The aim was to disrupt his footwork, since he wouldn't be able to properly utilize his mana.
"Pathetic!"
But Richard didn't even sneer, charging straight in with eerie footwork.
— Clang!
Ian struck an earthen wall again to offset the force, then transformed his staff into a shield and blocked Richard's sword.
The pain was such that his wrist felt like it might break.
And that was after deploying all manner of obstructions.
But this was not the end of this pattern.
Immediately after, a spike of ice extended from Richard's hand.
His signature trait was throwing unexpected daggers like this, even while fighting like a master swordsman.
Ian rolled across the floor to evade it.
A dodge made possible because he'd anticipated it, and because Richard's power with a destroyed dantian was a fraction of what it once was.
"!"
Richard's expression held a hint of surprise.
Ian didn't miss the opening.
"Yergina!"
— FWAAAAAH!
Yergina, having risen into the air, brought down her mace with a terrifying aura.
— KURUMMMP!
The ground shook as if an earthquake had struck.
The scattered dust settled, revealing Yergina's massively enlarged mace.
And beneath it, extending his sword, Richard was—
"Yergina. You still fight in a brutish manner, I see."
—calmly blocking her weapon with his blade, looking utterly composed.
"Son of a bitch."
Had this guy really just had his dantian blown away?
— CRASHAAAAK!
Richard's sword began to move as if dancing.
He was an absolute master of the sword to begin with.
Even with his dantian gone, he could never be an easy opponent.
Yergina, who had been blocking the sword with the chain of her mace, was gradually backed into a corner.
Just as Richard, seizing the momentum, planted his foot wide to swing his sword—
— FWOOSH!
A massive stone statue where he stepped exploded upwards.
The result of Ian activating the chemical trap he'd prepared nearby in advance using extraction.
"Kuht!"
Richard's form violently lost its balance for the first time.
Ian kicked off the ground, launching himself with a maximum-output leap.
— FWAAAAH!
A rough explosive sound erupted.
Normally, he'd apply magnetism to his landing point to decelerate.
"Huuup!"
Taking a deep breath, Ian reinforced his entire body.
Then he thrust a fist cloaked in lunar essence straight at Richard.
The sheer physical force born of an absurd speed was launched directly at Richard.
Richard, who had been blocking the mace with his sword, hastily summoned frost to shroud his body, but—
— CRUNCH!
Accompanied by the sound of ice shattering, Ian's fist connected with Richard's flank.
The moment it connected, Ian knew it instinctively.
'Let's never use this attack again.'
Despite having reinforced himself by every means, a searing sensation of crushed knuckles and a broken arm enveloped his upper body.
— BLAAAAAAM!
Well, thanks to that, Richard went flying into the wall, but—
The crater around him, ringed by cracks in the wall, spoke for the damage he'd taken.
The first meaningful damage ever dealt to the final boss.
"Ker-hack!"
He coughed and spat out a mouthful of blood.
But there was no time to stand around admiring that sight.
"Yergina!"
"Of course!"
With a tremendous battle cry, Yergina surged toward Richard.
Her mace, reinforced with frost, glowed a pristine white.
A devastating strike from a 5-Star hero was planted squarely into Richard.
The earth-shattering impact noise lasted only a moment.
Silence and dust filled the surroundings.
The strategy Ian had prearranged with Yergina, in case something like this happened, had worked perfectly.
"Haah."
Gripping his half-immobilized right arm, Ian let out a sigh.
Yergina, having pulled her mace from the wall, muttered.
"... Is he done?"
Uh. Wait, that thing—
Before Ian could even say anything—
— Slash!
Yergina's body was cut.
Blood fountained from the arms and legs of the fallen Yergina.
A single shadow advanced past her completely defenseless body.
"... God dammit."
Ian muttered.
The dust settled.
Richard stood there.
In the form of a blood demon, his hair and eyes completely stained crimson.
"... Monstrous bastard."
Ian found himself muttering.
"... Having a Phase 2 is just excessive."
Richard probably had no interest in what those words meant.
— Grin.
Wordlessly, the corner of Richard's mouth lifted.
His half-exposed gums, mangled from taking the mace hit, were those of a blood demon themselves.
Richard flew at Ian with terrifying speed.
Ian immediately raised his lunar essence.
Clang!
He blocked the first blow, but.
"... Shit."
A curse automatically escaped Ian's lips.
There was no way to block the pillar of ice that surged in almost simultaneously.
His vision instantly blackened.
— BOOOOOM!
"Iaaaaaan!"
Yergina, who had been watching the situation from where she'd fallen, screamed.
Crunch.
A sound of something being crushed rang out.
Ian, who had been floating in the air, dropped like a marionette with its strings cut.
◆
Sharon ran toward the mansion as if possessed.
She couldn't understand why she was doing this.
She couldn't pin it on a single reason—her mind and heart were far too tangled.
Mother.
For Sharon, who had spent her life seeing only her, this change was unimaginable.
But the reason for that change was clear.
Ian.
"... Ian."
Sharon murmured the name she had so despised.
— BOOOOOM!
Once more, an explosion resounded from the mansion.
Just how far had she wandered from the mansion grounds?
A blizzard raged down.
Suddenly,
Sharon felt it.
This situation, right now.
It resembled that day, back then, when her mother had left.
The relentless blizzard.
The snow piled high on the ground.
And the thunderous noise echoing over the snow.
"... No."
Sharon murmured.
Though she didn't know what she meant by 'no,' she still murmured it.
Her already running steps quickened.
She began to sprint at full speed.
Her body was already suffering from severe internal injuries, a consequence of forcibly severing the dantian-sharing technique, but that wasn't what mattered now.
A familiar landscape gradually came into view.
Except, a building that should have been there was missing.
Where the building had stood just moments ago, there was nothing but collapsed debris and snow.
Countless people lay fallen everywhere.
But,
one particular fallen figure caught her eye.
A pure white field of snow.
A field of cold, cold snow, seemingly ready to envelop everything in purity.
There, crimson blood was spreading.
A pool of red blood, melting the cold snow, was collecting like a puddle of water.
Steam wafted up from it.
... It was that sight from back then.
One day, over ten years ago.
It was the sight she had witnessed back then.
Only the person collapsed within it had changed.
Jet-black hair.
Dark circles deeply etched, as if he carried all the world's worries.
Pale lips that didn't feel like they held any life at all.
"... Ian."
Sharon's lips trembled faintly.
As she sank to her knees, they began to stain red with blood.