Boom, boom, boom, boom….
The clamorous music echoed in his ears.
Ba-dum.
The beating of his heart swallowed the music. The multicolored lights of the Giabella-Face transformed the night sky, yet they were consumed by an even brighter, more intense light.
"Ah," Noir moaned.
Now was the moment. Noir gripped her necklace with a dreamy smile. The dream she had hoped would never end had concluded. It had felt as if the night would never end, as if it would never welcome the dawn. Yet, the moment was near for an ending. She felt death. She had become as desperate as she had yearned to be.
Hamel felt the same as Noir.
Ignition.
Noir had always loved that. It was a technique with reckless abandon that cared only for the moment, not what came after — an essence of murderous intent that sought to destroy the opponent while sacrificing one’s own life.
He would kill. He would kill no matter what. Even if he died, he would kill. That resolve emanated from Hamel as he bowed his head. The throbbing beat of his heart synced with the music and accelerated further. Crackle, crackle!
The flames engulfing Eugene surged more violently, sparking deep red currents.
The flames of Prominence soared higher. The Wings of Light resonating with the Saints also grew larger.
[Aaaaah…!] The Saints screamed in unison.
The surging divine power, the ceaseless explosions — all of it became intense pain for the Saints. Yet Eugene did not ask them to endure.
[We must… endure…!]
Instead, it was the Saints who cried out. They were deeply resonating with Eugene now. They felt the pain of Ignition and knew that the agony they were experiencing was only a fraction of the whole.
This Ignition was different from any before. It transcended just igniting the Core or the cosmos or even the divinity itself. Eugene’s aspirations and miracles sought beyond that.
They had seen Ignition being used several times. It was a suicidal tactic that wreaked havoc on the user’s body. Honestly, Eugene had never liked using Ignition. He detested the circumstances that necessitated such a mad technique. He had thought several times that it would be better to retreat rather than use Ignition.
But he knew the truth. There was no situation where retreating without using Ignition was an option. If he did not employ it now, there would be no opportunity for retreat. If not now, he would never win.
Now, too, that was the case. As Ignition accelerated, the Saints also increasingly realized the presence of Noir Giabella. Noir Giabella was a distant, overwhelming being who alone could crush a city with her mere presence. She was capable of obliterating the continent and challenging the Demon King of Incarceration if she truly unleashed her power. She was truly an evil god.
But Noir felt closer now. She was not as distant as before, nor as overwhelming. The sense of inevitable defeat was wavering. If Eugene did not advance now, if he retreated, he might never again reach this point.
God might be nonexistent.
Both Anise and Kristina had once thought so because, despite fervent prayers, they had never heard the voice of god, and their prayers had not saved the world.
But now they thought differently. The indifferent, merciless Light had ultimately proven real. While it might forsake the hopes of its devotees, the Light sought the salvation of the world itself.
Their god was here in a desperate attempt to save the world, to overturn the predetermined apocalypse, and vanquish all Demon Kings.
Right now, the Saints felt the presence of their god more closely than ever before.
Eugene’s divinity surged. His divine might expanded. Yet, it was still insufficient. The vessel was too small. With his current capacity, Eugene could not overcome the situation. He yearned more deeply. He craved a miracle and thus caused one to occur. Divine power resonated with his wish, and an endless surge of divine power filled Eugene’s body, filling the universe near his heart.
He beheld the distant sea, a boundary that did not permit the footsteps of living beings. There, he saw the Light that had existed for eons, the God of Giants he once considered his friend in the ancient past, and the ancient gods who had allowed themselves to be devoured by the God of Giants at the brink of destruction. They had carried on as the Light.
‘It’s not enough,’ Eugene thought.
He could not contain all the divine power. He could only draw it out using Levantein as a conduit. Yet even that was not sufficient. The sword would never break, but Eugene’s body could not withstand the immense divine power.
But now he could bear it.
He lifted Levantein. Within the flames, there was a blade of glass. Without hesitation, Eugene turned Levantein’s blade.
Whoosh!
Levantein plunged into Eugene's chest. The glass blade, melting into flames and light, flowed into Eugene.
Thus, it was completed. The divinity of the Light became one with Eugene. The vessel expanded to the brink of shattering and finally broke. Yet, the light that had filled it did not spill out but mingled within Eugene.
"Ah, ahhh." Noir gripped her necklace while letting out a moan. She felt a force that would inevitably lead to mutual destruction. The miracle that Hamel now sought was solely to kill Noir.
Noir felt the same. All she desired was to kill Hamel. If she did not kill him, she would be killed by him. Either way, death was inevitable.
"Come, Hamel,” she whispered.
She extended her hand, which wore a ring engraved with Hamel’s name.
"Come to kill me,” she asked.
Eugene leaned forward. His flailing wings lay down beside him. His hands grasped the ground.
The simple power of the Annihilation Hammer — to push away whatever it touched, to shatter it, and to explode it — that power unfolded through Eugene's hands.
Boom!
The ground was pushed, shattered, and exploded. All of it became a violent propulsion. Thus, Eugene became a beam of light.
A dark red line split the darkness.
Crash!
Noir and Eugene collided. The hands that had reached out gently were crushed. From Noir’s mouth burst blood and fragments of her innards amidst the impact. It felt as if she had collided with the entire world.
"Ah, ah! Ahahaha!"
The pain was enough to knock her unconscious. But Noir laughed madly. She held her crumbling body together with dark power and twisted her waist.
"You’re like a beast!" Noir laughed as she shouted.
Crack!
Her elongated legs were entwined with dark power. A vortex of dark power accompanied her kick. A flashing light blocked the front of the vortex. The power that Eugene unfolded was the Spear Forest, but unlike before, the forest did not spew flames.
Instead, countless types of weapons surged. Each was forged of flames and light from divine power. Noir's dark power was blocked by numerous divine artifacts.
Noir kicked back the darkness and leaped backward. Her two Demoneyes lit up. The chains of Incarceration grasped the space around her, and the Demoneye of Fantasy replicated Eugene's attack.
Crash!
The entangled weapons shattered, and divine power mixed with dark power.
The sword-force split everything in two. It was a shallow cut, but it sliced through Noir's black dress and left a line across her pale stomach. There was no blood spilled. Noir laughed heartily as she restored her dress.
"It hurts!" she squealed.
The wound on her stomach did not heal. Wincing from the sharp pain, Noir laughed even louder and then slammed her hand downward.
Crack!
Eugene's knees buckled under the force. It was heavy. He clenched his teeth and swallowed blood, then straightened his knees once more.
Crash!
It was unclear whether he was stepping on the ground or the sky, but he pushed forward and leaped ahead.
[Aaaaah!] The Saints screamed.
The divine heat they felt even became flames that amplified Eugene's divine power. Eugene swept his hand through the air.
Swish!
Where his hand passed, darkness was erased, and light and flames emerged. Hundreds of divine swords appeared from that space, all aimed at Noir.
The ground, the darkness, no, the space itself shattered into fragments. A part of the world blocked the barrage of divine swords. The chains of Incarceration bound it all together, and the Demoneye of Fantasy sent a dream that turned a part of the world into a mere fantasy. This sequence of events unfolded in the blink of an eye.
A pale hand elegantly tapped the darkness. What followed was anything but elegant. Brutal violence engulfed Eugene. He didn’t bother to identify what form the attack took.
The scene was too bright. His mind was too bright. There was no need to see and judge to find an answer. His intuition, now one with his divinity, allowed him to accurately perceive and counter the attack.
Sienna staggered to her feet and watched everything unfold.
Being a divine being didn't mean being equal. At this moment, Sienna realized she could never intervene in this battle. No matter how infinite her magic had become, it was infinitely fragile against the forces clashing before her.
‘It’s almost….’ Sienna couldn’t complete her thought.
She swallowed hard as she watched Eugene. He wasn't wielding Levantein now. Rather, countless swords were being created from his gestures. The same Divine Sword that had defeated the new Demon King of Fury, Iris, and the Incarnation of Destruction were being born and shattered repeatedly, like cheap swords.
He wasn’t just forming swords, either. Now, Eugene was wielding every weapon he had handled since his days as Hamel. It was as if he was the incarnation of war itself.
Simultaneously, Eugene was Light. War and Light illuminated the night created by Noir. It was undoubtedly a battlefield of myths.
Sienna unconsciously clutched her chest. She felt something, but it wasn’t defeat or helplessness. What she saw broadened Sienna’s perspective. It enriched the magic she desired and the infinity she pursued.
"I can almost understand it,” Sienna muttered softly.
Eugene had once said it: War belonged to Agaroth, and the Light was something handed down.
But apart from that, what Eugene Lionheart's divinity was—
— I’m creating it.
That was all Eugene had said. He had not told her what his divinity was.
But she had grasped it without hearing it from him. She could almost grasp what his divinity, unrelated to the light or war, truly was. He had poured everything into this battle, even risking his own life, all for a desire he harbored deeply.
'It's close,' Eugene thought.
No longer was it far, nor was it shallow. It was near. If he reached out, he could touch it. But merely touching was not enough. He needed to delve deeper.
With a rumble, Eugene's left foot pressed down on the ground. His right foot shot forward forcefully, shattering the earth beneath.
Crunch.
The divine power contained in his body was compressed to its limit. It groaned as if his body was on the verge of shattering. Eugene twisted his waist and raised both arms, his empty hands grasping the light and flames that enveloped him.
'It's close,' he thought again.
He was close to Noir Giabella and just as close to death. Whose death would it be? Which of them would die first? That was still unclear. But the reality of it was vivid.
With a whoosh, the flames and light grasped by Eugene transformed into a colossal sword.
'What do I desire?' Eugene asked himself.
He desired the death of Noir Giabella. He longed for the end of a long, impossibly complex relationship that couldn't merely be called enmity. He longed for the end of this dream, of this night. He yearned for a brilliant dawn.
He yearned for victory .
The noisy music had long since faded away. The lights spewed by the Giabella-Face, now a mirror ball, had been swept away by other distractions. Not even the sounds of the battlefield — crashing, bursting, and breaking — reached him now. All Eugene could hear were the painful groans and prayers of the Saints and….
Noir's laughter.
He swung his sword.
The night was split.
The laughter abruptly stopped. It did not transform into groans or screams; it simply ceased. Noir was flung into the sky.
The impact was so immense that she couldn’t even emit any sounds. Blood spurted from Noir's mouth, yet silently.
Eugene saw her blood-streaked lips curve into a smile. He smiled just the same.
His lips were also smeared with blood. His wounds were healing, yet the blood continued to flow. The pain he felt did not subside either. It felt as if his soul was oxidizing.
Because their lives clashed, their ends drew nearer to each other. But it was not over yet. There was more they could do. They both smiled equally. They had collided and drifted apart, but both had charged at each other again.
"Ha... Ha…!"
His labored breath mixed with laughter. They began to laugh again.
The infinite dark power, the eternal nightmare, was being negated. The Light burned the dark power and brought down the infinite into the finite. The nightmare shattered into pieces and turned into reality.
It was endearing.
It was unbearable because it was so endearing. This act with Hamel was profoundly endearing. Now, she could truly imagine it. The very certain and near reality vividly illustrated death.
"Hamel," Noir called out.
Even the longest night came to an end. How much longer could they go on? How much longer could they fight?
He had slashed numerous times. He had burned her numerous times. Each time, death drew closer.
And inevitably, the first to die would be….
"You. How about you?" Noir asked.
He hated the thought.
Noir's arms flung open wide. The miracle had reached her. Her dark power surged violently. The lips splattered with blood twisted into a smile. Light pierced through Noir, yet the darkness remained unbroken.
Splat!
Noir's left eye, the Demoneye of Divine Glory, burst of its own accord, overwhelmed by a power far exceeding its limits.
All of Noir's dark power transformed into chains. The Demoneye of Fantasy alone shone brightly. The chains wrapped around the world, embodying the same nightmare for both Eugene and Noir. The seemingly eternal night and the dawn that would follow were denied.
The worst nightmare dawned.
Scarlet Twilight filled the world.
Noir opened her heart wider.
Crunch….
The Divine Sword pierced her chest and twisted further. It narrowly missed her heart. The roiling flames tried but failed to consume it.
"My Hamel," Noir whispered softly. Eugene's face contorted in pallor.
They were in an incarcerated space, a twilight similar to a nightmare. Eugene knew what was to unfold next.
"Do you feel the same death as I do?" she questioned.
The twilight's light enveloped everything.
"Eugene!"
The world encircled by chains melted in the burst of red light from within. Sienna screamed as she flew towards it, understanding what Noir had just done.
Noir created a world just for the two of them, ensuring the force did not disperse. She opened her own heart for that brutally simplistic attack.
And then it burst. She had caused her dark power to rampage.
It was self-destruction. Even Noir, the caster of that attack, could not escape death.
So, they would die together? For their mutual end? She had known Noir was mad but never thought it would be to this extent.
".....!" Sienna suddenly stopped.
She could see Eugene in the melting crimson light.
He was alive, not dead. But his condition was dire. Eugene slumped down, blood gushing out as he sat.
Fssst!
Prominence crumbled into ashes. The lone remaining Wing of Light gradually dimmed as well.
Eugene barely lifted his trembling hand to the side. The Wing of Light vanished completely, and an unconscious Kristina appeared. He barely caught her with his arm, but Eugene's body could not withstand it. The arm supporting her snapped.
"Your arm!" Sienna screamed as blood poured from the severed arm.
Eugene looked at it through blurred vision.
"How long has it been since I last lost an arm," Eugene murmured with a chuckle. "Keep it… safe. I'll reattach it later.”
"Hey, hey! Are you... okay? Are you really okay?" asked Sienna.
"I’m not okay... but alive," Eugene muttered.
After bleeding out more, Eugene staggered to his feet. He had nearly died. He had barely managed to slice through the nightmare and burn the chains. If it weren't for the sanctuary and miracles, he would have truly died.
Having nearly died and not dying felt almost the same. Eugene looked up at the sky.
The pitch-black night sky looked as if it might collapse at any moment.
Eugene sensed Noir somewhere out there.
"Soon, then," Eugene chuckled and clutched the torn stump of his left arm.