CH 665

The Titan had fallen.

And with one breath, a part of Diane was wiped away.

I knew it.

Attacks with weapons other than relics would not be effective.

In the original story, only Ellen and Ludwig could fight the dragon. The others had to leave the dragon to them and exterminate the other monsters.

The others couldn't even attack it in the first place.

Back then, Ellen didn't have the Sun's Cloak, and Lament wasn't a Void Sword.

In the end, no one could match it.

Ludwig used the Alsbringer to summon a divine incarnation and faced the dragon in mutual destruction.

I had entertained the idea.

The situation was much different from the original story. So, new events could unfold due to the different circumstances.

Ellen's Lament transforming and obtaining the Sun's Cloak were situations that didn't exist in the original story.

So, I thought that perhaps we could confront the Void Dragon in a different way than in the original story.

I thought that perhaps we could overcome this final situation without using Alsbringer.

But it was a foolish thought.

The moment I saw a part of the army erased by a single breath, other possibilities vanished from my mind.

We could fight.

Surely, Ellen and I could fight it.

But even if we could kill it without using Alsbringer, there would be nothing left afterward.

-Roar!

It was an overwhelming violence.

A dragon from another world.

This situation was the last injustice I had to face.

Suffering from the unfairness I had created.

Paying the price myself.

What needed to be done had been decided from the start.

Killing that final monster on this spot using Alsbringer.

From the moment Alsbringer was in my hand, that was my fate.

Some doubts lingered in my mind, but now wasn't the time to think about them.

If it had to be done, it had to be done.

That's how it had been so far.

The only difference was that what needed to be done now was the last thing to be done.

Everything I had done to survive, because I didn't want to die, had vanished.

When the violence I had described in writing became reality and confronted me, all other thoughts disappeared.

But still, the Immortals were chasing me from behind.

All the warp gates were gone.

There were still a huge number of monsters that had already been expelled, but no more monsters appeared.

All I had to do was deal with that dragon.

I looked back.

The Immortal's army, which had suffered tremendous losses but was still powerful and trying to kill me, followed me.

I was annoyed by what was behind me.

It wouldn't matter if that thing followed me, but it was time to finish it off as well.

The Immortal wouldn't be of any help in fighting that thing.

The remaining monsters could be dealt with by the Allied Forces alone.

So now, the Immortal was just a threat.

So, there was no need to run anymore.

No one had to risk their lives to face the Immortal.

"Now..."

I pulled something out from my belongings.

-Click

As soon as I pressed the button on the artifact.

-Pop!

Two people appeared before my eyes.

"We don't need the Immortal anymore."

And in an instant.

The Immortals who had been slaughtering monsters and following me all this time.

-Crumble!

Turned to dust and disappeared.

A wave of neutralization.

The Immortals shattered as if they had all hit an invisible wall.

Two people appeared in response to my signal.

"Should we take care of all the immortals now?"

"Please."

One was Scarlett.

"Let's go, Lint."

The other was Kono Lint.

The two had been waiting for my signal.

Scarlett had been holding her breath, waiting for this crucial moment.

After Kono Lint had brought Scarlett, who had been imprisoned, to this place, they watched the situation and waited for me to send the signal.

It was obvious that the immortal would attack me, so they were waiting for this moment.

I had been running away until the moment the immortal could disappear.

Somewhere on the battlefield, my people were fighting the immortals as well.

That too, would soon end.

From the moment I gave the signal, Kono Lint would transport Scarlett around the battlefield in an instant, neutralizing all the immortals.

Scarlett could turn an immortal to dust with just a little bit of strength, and Kono Lint could quickly move her all over the battlefield.

As long as Scarlett was present, the immortal could not kill me.

Of course, there were many dangerous moments to see.

I had to erase all the immortals before they could do anything more out of the ordinary.

"Hey... Can you do... that?"

Kono Lint muttered, staring at the massive dark figure in the distance with anxious eyes.

"We can."

Yes, that was no lie.

"There's no time for long conversations."

Scarlett spoke with a resolute expression, but one that showed unwavering determination.

"Survive."

It wasn't a plea to save humanity.

Nor was it a plea to save everyone.

It was a plea to survive.

I couldn't bring myself to say that it was harder than saving everyone else.

I erased all other thoughts.

How absurd it was to think that I wouldn't use Alsbringer in this situation.

Even if I could fight it, what would be the point if everyone else died in the process?

As I dodged its attacks, more and more people died.

The dragon's screams and body were getting closer and closer.

As I approached the proximity of the otherworldly dragon rampaging through the rain, I saw someone running towards me from the opposite direction.

It was Ellen.

Roar!

Ellen reached it first.

With the Sun's cloak draped around her, she leaped high into the air, through the extended curtain of night.

She swung her Void Sword towards the dragon's head.

And then.

Slash!

The dragon's head was severed.

It was incredibly easy, almost anticlimactic.

The next moment, it vanished with a deafening noise.

"What... the?"

What had I just witnessed?

------

Because of the downpour, there might be some who had no idea what had just happened.

Those who were too far away might not even know that the otherworldly dragon had appeared.

However, those who had witnessed the spectacle from a distance would have been shouting in a mix of awe and jubilation, as they saw the dragon, which had neutralized the titan in a single blow, being sliced away in just one stroke.

The final boss had appeared.

And it had been sliced away by Ellen.

But there would be no one in the world more shocked than me.

That was not a monster that could die like that.

Not so anticlimactically.

Not so easily vanished.

It wasn't even a fight.

Ellen had merely swung the Void Sword, cutting down the monster as easily as any other.

The Void Sword, capable of cutting down anything.

If the powers of the dragons from the other world and the Lament were essentially the same, could the dragons from the other world also be cut down by it?

Only I was aware of the absurdity of the situation that had just unfolded.

I had intended to use the Alsbringer.

However, Ellen had easily dispatched the enemy I had struggled with, agonizing over every decision, in a single stroke.

Regardless, I didn't use the Alsbringer.

After Ellen's Lament took on the form of the Void, was that final monster destined to vanish so futilely?

I simply couldn't be sure if the Void Sword would work on it.

I knew the Void Sword could cut down 'anything,' but not divine relics.

However, the dragon from the other world was not an exception to the Void Sword.

Should I be happy about it?

Yes.

I should be happy.

But I knew it wasn't that simple.

The dragon had disappeared.

The Gate Incident would end once the remaining monsters in the area were dealt with.

The Immortals could be handled by Scarlett.

But.

My remaining tasks had just begun.

That's why I couldn't be happy.

Thud!

Ellen, who seemed to have flown through the sky, landed lightly on the ground.

Roar!

In the now-vast clearing where the dragon from the other world had appeared, Ellen, soaked in rain, was looking directly at me.

"..."

About a hundred meters, maybe?

The distance wasn't that great.

The dragon from the other world had vanished all too easily.

I had to confront something here anyway.

It's just that it changed from the dragon of the other world to another being.

I had to face the hero.

Somehow, the moment I saw the dragon from the other world, I thought I had to use the Alsbringer.

And I had actually tried to use it.

But if I did, what would happen to the future I had seen?

The future where I die, and Ellen dies.

What was that all about?

The thought crossed my mind for a moment.

It turned out like this.

There could never have been a situation where I would have to use the Alsbringer to hunt down the likes of the dragon from the other world.

Ellen looked at me from the rain.

No, that wasn't Ellen.

A gathering of souls that controlled Ellen's body.

An aggregation of vengeful spirits, perhaps even more massive and enormous than before.

It definitely had a will of its own.

When we first met, I had a conversation with it.

Could I win?

I had fought countless times in my dreams.

I had died countless times.

But could I win in this battle that had become reality?

It was destined.

As long as I was the son of the Demon King and Ellen was the sister of the hero.

It was bound to happen someday.

From the moment I got closer to Ellen, I sensed that this moment would eventually come.

Even knowing that it would happen someday, I didn't hesitate to get close to Ellen.

This was the price.

If I had shunned Ellen from the start?

If I had kept my distance without any help or interaction between us, perhaps.

None of this would have happened.

Even knowing I would regret it, I had grown closer.

I wanted to avoid this moment somehow, but deep down, I knew.

One way or another, I would have to fight a life-and-death battle with Ellen.

It was a predetermined course.

I had overcome the last trial with ease.

With that, there would be no more sacrifices of others to the dragons of the otherworld.

Instead, the trial was bestowed upon me alone.

A cruel trial, only for me.

I had to defeat Ellen.

No, merely defeating her was not enough.

I had to reclaim her without taking her life.

Somehow, I had to subdue Ellen, who was determined to kill me, without killing her, and even take her back.

I had to face a battle with slim chances of victory, without even being prepared to kill.

Was it even possible?

But there was one thing I knew for certain.

If the future I had seen was correct—

If I lost, it wouldn't be just me who died.

Ellen, who would have killed me, would take her own life.

I could have sacrificed my own life to kill that creature when facing the otherworld's dragon, but this time, I couldn't even die.

I couldn't even fight with the resolve to kill.

If I were to die, Ellen would die as well.

The Gate incident was over, and the last monster was dead.

But, could there be a day as cruel as today for me?

The torrential rain poured down, running down its face and eyes.

It looked like it was weeping helplessly, without any expression.

No, it was a being that was undoubtedly crying for real.

'It' pointed its sword at me silently.

"O Demon King...."

A voice that seemed like a blend of multiple voices.

It was a bizarre resonance that felt as though not only the eardrums but the soul would be torn just by listening.

Just hearing that voice seemed to recreate the pain and fear I had felt when it had swallowed my body.

How long had Ellen endured that?

A culmination of hatred towards me.

A collective of anger and sorrow from those who had to lose so much without any fault.

It had definitely told me before that it would take away everything I loved.

'It' spoke.

"Now, let us end this."

With a brief and concise declaration of war, it slowly approached me.

In the depths of the evaporated Diane, there was only Ellen and me.

The battlefield's deafening noise and the monsters' screams had grown distant.

-Swoooosh

-Splash.

The sound of footsteps splashing in the puddles amidst the rain was loud enough for me to hear.

No one would likely be watching this place, which had become a massive crater.

-Splash

-Rumble

Calm footsteps were neither desperate nor impatient.

The distance was certainly closing.

The atmosphere was different.

Ellen, who had reached the Master Class, was not only clad in blue aura armor but was also emanating an unknown pale white smoke from her body.

Countless vengeful spirits must be exerting their power.

Their true objective was not to end the Gate incident, but to kill me.

So, they would exert their most powerful force.

They would do everything they could to kill me.

-Grooooooow

An indescribable eerie resonance and faint melody flowed from Ellen's body.

The Hero.

Perhaps, Ellen at that moment could be considered the strongest among humanity.

Such a being wore the sharpest sword and the sturdiest armor in the world.

The vessel called the Hero contained the anger of all those who had died because of the Demon King.

It would be strange if the last enemy the Demon King had to face in order to rule the world wasn't the one right in front of him.

Amidst numerous unfavorable conditions, the one fortunate thing was that I was different from the otherworldly dragon Ellen had slain in a single strike.

I had previously confirmed that the Void Sword couldn't cut through divine relics.

-Splash!

With a light sound of splashing through a puddle, Ellen approached me and casually swung the Void Sword.

Her light and calm leap, along with the trajectory of the approaching Void Sword drawing an arc, almost appeared beautiful at a glance.

The Void Sword definitely couldn't cut through divine relics.

-Screech!

"Ugh...ugh!"

However, just because it couldn't cut through them didn't mean I could withstand it.

A single stroke of the Void Sword.

I managed to block it.

And my wrist broke.

[TL note: The long promised battle finally arrived]