From ancient times, the sun has been an object of worship.
It was nature's inherent fire, symbolized life, and was also a central point in the pitch-black universe.
The sun was, in a way, the source of life.
What would plants need to survive in places where sunlight doesn't reach?
It wasn't particularly strange that plants could utilize the sun's power, no matter how intense it was.
Perhaps the power of Sun Ring chose that guy because it felt such an intense emotional pull.
-Whoosh.
A bright yellow flaming arm sweeps past before my eyes.
Sun Ring's power, which gave up defense and switched entirely to offense, was quite threatening.
Although specialized in defense, its power itself was by no means weak.'Although Starlight is said to be stronger against humans than Sun Ring, that's literally against humans. Fighting against such a huge organism's weapons is a different matter.'
Swinging an arm wrapped in Sun Ring's flames with that bulk was already unfair in itself.
Just looking at how it made a wooden sword copying Osian's appearance earlier, you could tell its body was sturdy.
High-ranked ones using weapons too. How could there be such cowardice in this world?
'Well, from the perspective of game users, it's nothing new for such huge beings to swing weapons.'
Whether it's the corrupted Rommel using a sword, or this Ethereal Plant right in front of him.
While others might be surprised to see monsters using weapons, Osian accepted it easily.
That's because the boss monsters in the game he played actively used weapons unlike other games.
It's a world where even giant wolves hold swords in their mouths, and dragons fight wielding weapons.
'I can't complain just because a mere plant is showing such a sight.'
-Clang!
He deflected the plant's incoming arm with the Starlight sword.
The creature's arm shook greatly and bounced up, but Sun Ring's sparks spread everywhere, restricting Osian's movement.
Pure physical force was indeed superior with Starlight. Even considering the difference in weight class, Osian's superiority couldn't be denied.
However, true to its power, the Sun Ring scattered sparks everywhere, restricting movement.
The burning flower bud opened wide.
Solar energy gathered at the center of the bud and poured down like spears toward Osian.
Osian took out the Storm Shield in his left hand and wrapped it with Starlight's power.
Compared to the Golden Sun Ray it shot earlier, this was a weak attack.
But that was a fake to encourage carelessness on this side.
Its arm swung widely, and following that trajectory, Sun Ring's power flew like a crescent moon.
-Swoosh!
Osian rushed forward and slid as if sweeping the floor.
Sun Ring's slash aimed at his head grazed the tip of his helmet and swept through the underground waterway.
With the explosion, he felt the hot air spreading behind his back.
Part of the helmet grazed by Sun Ring's power disappeared, unable to withstand the heat.
Osian, with his left eye completely exposed, stared at the plant as the creature swung its arm toward him.
Following that trajectory, golden powder was scattered hazily like mist.
At first glance, it looked like pollen, but it was Sun Ring's power composed in the form of fine particles. It was imitating Mist's attack.
As soon as Osian pulled his body to the side, the golden flower powder caused chain explosions and devoured the space.
'It's not giving me any chance to rest at all.'
Osian changed the Starlight sword in his hand to Moonlight blade and swung it widely.
The cold air of Moonlight devoured the space like fangs and confronted Sun Ring's heat.
-Screech!
As cold and heat collided, intense steam rose.
Osian rushed toward the plant through that gap. His Nebula Silk sprayed stardust behind his back.
The plant didn't back down and swung both arms. The flailing, elongated arms became whips of flame blocking Osian's path.
Osian struck down the whip heavily with the Starlight sword as if crushing it with force and the whip was flatly pinned to the floor.
The plant tried to retrieve its arm to swing again but couldn't.
Osian used Moonlight to fix the whip arm to the floor.
It tried to resist by spewing hot flames, but Osian scattered all that heat with the remaining Moonlight.
The power of blue moonlight spread like an aurora and drove away the sunlight.
-Crack!
The plant tore off its own arm that was pinned to the floor.
Though its arm was cut off and reduced in size, it seemed unconcerned and swung its arm again.
Osian pulled out the Moonlight stuck in the floor and combined the two Moonlight blades into one.
[Moon Scar Sword]
[Clear Rainbow Piercing Sun]
It was his original technique that he used when defeating Lupona.
He collided with the plant's Sun Ring Whip creating a flash of light.
"Wow, my goodness."
Alania, who had retreated to a safe distance to avoid the fight, couldn't close her mouth as she watched Osian's battle.
"It's too beautiful."
The appreciation Alania expressed was an instinctive one that came out without her realizing it.
An ordinary person would be reduced to nothing the moment they got caught between those forces due to the massive density of power.
That's how dangerous the fight was.
That's why Alania tried to stay as far away as possible but even though she knew the danger intellectually, the scene unfolding before her eyes made her heart pound heavily.
The sun rising in the darkness.
Moonlight drawing curtains like aurora around it.
White starlight dotting the space above.
The dark underground space, once called a contaminated zone and defiled, was now dyed in beautiful colors reminiscent of the night sky.
The polluted world was purified and what took its place was the turbulence of pure power.
It was like witnessing the birth of the universe.
Meanwhile, the battle between Osian and the Ethereal Plant reached its climax.
-Screech!
Part of the cloak and pauldron that weren't protected melted away and disappeared due to Sun Ring's power but one of the Ethereal Plant's arms was completely cut off.
With that, it lost one of its weapons, and another petal fell from the flower on its head.
'Now the creature has only two petals left.'
But the Ethereal Plant's momentum grew even stronger.
It was a phenomenon that occurred as survival instinct grew stronger as death approached.
As the petals decrease, life burns more brilliantly.
-Zing!
As the petals spread, lasers shot in all directions.
Because the attack exploded too close, some of the lasers blew away the greaves on one of Osian's legs.
Though his body balance was disrupted, Osian recovered his posture in a split second.
He replaced the Starlight sword with Moonlight blade, then created a frost curtain to deflect the incoming lasers.
As the ice shattered, the laser's trajectory was distorted and crystal powder sparkled as it scattered in the air.
Amidst the countless reflecting lights, Osian's figure disappeared hazily like a mirage.
When Osian reappeared, it was behind the plant's head.
The Starlight sword deeply pierced what could be called the creature's neck.
'This guy.'
Unlike the expectation that it would convulse in pain, the creature's reaction was rather calm.
At that moment, Osian's crisis sensor rang an alarm.
Because from that gap created by piercing the creature's neck, yellow liquid surged up, bubbling.
Like a solar flare exploding, the body fluid imbued with Sun Ring's power devoured Osian's upper body as one burning petal fell.
The plant thought Osian would definitely not survive this time.
"You were holding the Sun Ring's power in your body, prepared to be stabbed."
Until it heard Osian's voice.
It was true that the Sun Ring's eruption had engulfed Osian. With that, the Starlight armor covering his upper body completely disappeared.
But Osian was wearing a protective coat of special material underneath.
Though the plant's attack was effective enough to blow away the Starlight armor, sadly, it didn't reach the protective coat.
"I heard it had excellent heat resistance, but this is beyond expectations."
Though Osian said this with a slight smile, his condition wasn't that good either.
With the protection of the Starlight armor gone, the heat the creature was emitting started to gradually affect him.
The overheated air alone was hot enough to scorch the airways and lungs just by breathing it in.
'I can endure if I suppress the heat with Moonlight power, but.'
However, Moonlight power alone couldn't inflict meaningful damage on it.
This plant, now truly one with Sun Ring, could only be defeated with Starlight.
Giving up Moonlight made him miss Starlight, giving up Starlight made Moonlight somewhat lacking.
There was a limit to quickly switching between the two weapons.
In a split second, Osian went through many considerations and just as the plant was about to move, he reached an answer.
'No need to think complicated. Even if I use game knowledge, there's no need to be too bound by it.'
There had been similar incidents before.
Osian created and used techniques that originally didn't exist on the spot during fights.
There was no difference between then and now.
Rather, his senses, heated up through various battles, were sharper than ever.
Deny limits and break the mold.
Spread freely the freedom gained from the moment of entering this world.
-Whoosh!
The plant bounced its body to shake off Osian.
Above Osian, who landed lightly on the ground, bright yellow body fluid poured down like a waterfall.
It was high-temperature body fluid that would melt a person alive.
By the time it was about to engulf Osian, he was already gone from that spot.
Osian, who had hazily disappeared, appeared right next to the plant and cut off one of its legs.
When the leg made of roots was cut off, the plant's body tilted greatly to the side, losing balance.
Osian stepped on the slowly falling creature's body and gripped the Starlight sword.
The plant's petals had almost all fallen off with only one remaining.
But because of that, the last remaining petal radiated brilliance truly befitting the final moment.
That dazzling light and heat tried to completely devour Osian.
Osian was holding the Starlight sword in his right hand. In that state, he would be roasted by Sun Ring's heat.
Osian stretched his left arm into empty space.
A bluish energy gathered above his palm, then turned into a sword.
Osian, holding the Moonlight blade, pushed back Sun Ring's heat.
White Starlight sword in his right hand and Blue Moonlight blade in his left hand.
Osian, holding one sword in each hand, swung them vigorously.
Starlight's sharp cutting power and Moonlight’s cold air whirled around like a storm.
That storm rotated at a terrifying speed, then slowly started to compress.
The compressed blue storm created a disc in the air.
A ring so cold and sharp that just looking at it felt like it could cut your skin.
"Star Moon Combined Technique."
Turn the sky.
Pull back the setting sun.
"Turning the Heavens, Pulling Back the Sun."
-Slash.
The plant belatedly realized that was the trajectory of Osian's sword swing, and that its bud had been cut off along that trajectory.
The severed bud fell to the floor and rolled like a decapitated head.
The last remaining petal fell to the ground pitifully as the heat and bright yellow flames that filled the underground disappeared like a mirage.
The sun that had been burning life as fuel finally set.
"It was a good fight."
And in that place, a new sun rose.
Osian received back Sun Ring's power from the plant's corpse as he defeated it.
Behind Osian, who held swords of moon and starlight in both hands, a halo in the shape of the sun faintly appeared.
"Phew."
Osian exhaled and completely withdrew his power.
With all lights extinguished now, darkness and silence returned to the underground.
All that remained nearby were traces of the fierce battle.
"A-are you alright?!"
Alania, who had been overwhelmed by the atmosphere, belatedly approached and checked Osian's condition.
Mist also approached Osian, worried.
"A-are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?!"
"No need to make a fuss. I'm just a bit tired, that's all."
"This wasn't a fight that can be dismissed as just being a bit tired!"
In truth, if he hadn't used the protective coat and simultaneously used Starlight and Moonlight at that moment, he would have had nothing to say even if he had suffered serious injuries rather than just being tired.
"Still, it ended well, so that's fortunate."
When Mist said that, Alania, though somewhat dissatisfied, had no choice but to let it go.
Belatedly, Special Forces members and elves rushed to the scene.
They too seemed to have suffered considerable injuries, suggesting the battle had been fierce on their way here.
However, there seemed to be no casualties. The only casualty was James who had fallen to the ambush.
"I thought it wouldn't be easy, but I didn't expect it to end already."
The Special Forces commander could sense just from the battle traces at the scene that this fight hadn't been easy.
The sturdy space designed to withstand the contaminated zone was broken and melted, truly in terrible condition.
Still, since the subjugation of the Ethereal Plant was complete, this should do.
"Huh?"
That's when Alania seemed to discover something and approached the center of the clearing.
On top of a small mound that could be called the Ethereal Plant's corpse, a single flower had bloomed.
It was a sunflower that glowed faintly even in the darkness.
"Ah, it's still here!"
It was Osian who stopped Alania as she instinctively tried to eliminate it.
"Why are you stopping me......?"
"......"
Instead of answering, Osian pointed to the sunflower with his chin.
Alania seemed to notice something from that action and examined the sunflower carefully.
Shortly after, she realized that flower posed no danger and she came to understand. That sunflower was perhaps the form that plant had so desperately wanted.
What the plant that survived in this dark and defiled place wanted might have been a single ray of sunlight.
"Let's leave it be."
This sunflower that had bloomed now was not dangerous at all.
This was merely the manifestation of a wish left behind by the dying Ethereal Plant.
"A beautiful flower has bloomed in this desolate place, after all."