Three types of monsters swirl around the ruins, closing in.
Countless rats led by the Great Rat Mother devour everything alive.
Tamn-Jin-Chi and the 108 Defilement Statues chant corrupted sutras, driving humans mad and making them kill each other.
The Apocalypse Knights, led by the Four Horsemen, negate human life itself through plague, famine, war, and death.
They destroy human habitats,
They destroy human hearts,
They destroy human life itself...
As if born for this purpose, the monsters ravage the world of the apocalypse.
The ruined city is already filled with human corpses.
As prey diminishes, the three monster groups begin to fight each other.The rat swarm surges like a wave, climbing over the giant statues - Tamn-Jin-Chi.
The colossal statues, unconcerned about the rats clinging to them, chant the most horrific sutras towards the Apocalypse Knights.
And the Apocalypse Knights brandish their bows, greatswords, scales, and scythes to slaughter the rats.
"...Haa."
In the middle of this surreal battlefield.
Sid let out a quiet sigh.
"We only came to find medicine..."
As we had done for the past 15 years, saying goodbye to comrades, moving our shelter, eating rat meat, searching ruins, fighting other survivor groups...
We were just trying to live another day like that.
But now, the destruction of everything was right before us.
Boom boom boom boom boom-!
The monsters, having long since discovered our location, rushed towards us through the gaps in the ruins.
Clap-!
As Sid clapped his hands and spread them outwards, a massive ring of light formed, cleanly erasing all the monsters that had swarmed the area.
But pushing back the enemies was only momentary; their empty spaces were immediately filled by the next wave of monsters rushing towards us.
Thud!
Elize, who had stepped in front of me, planted her sword coffin into the ground and spat out the activation words as if chewing them.
"Sword coffin, deploy."
Without even looking back at the widely opening sword coffin, Elize charged towards the pouring monsters and shouted.
"Sword 2, Sword 4, Sword 7, Sword 12, Sword 13... Damn it! Just launch all the weapons we can use!"
Woooong!
Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!
Various swords shot out from the sword coffin like rockets, raining down like a bombardment on Elize's position.
Elize caught these swords in mid-air one after another and struck down the monsters approaching nearby.
She brutally sliced through the grotesquely transformed ratmen, the defilement statues spewing evil sutras, and the Apocalypse Knights shooting curses with fluttering cloaks.
Clang! Clang! Slash...!
As the enemies were also tough and resilient, Elize's swords didn't last long before breaking.
But Elize paid no mind, discarding the used sword and grabbing the next one to thrust into the enemy's head.
"..."
Sid cleared the surroundings whenever magic gathered, and Elize directly dealt with the enemies that broke through that magic.
This alone maintained some balance on the frontline, but we still couldn't break free from their encirclement.
And far in the sky, two beings - the 'Sleepless Lake Princess' and Crown were approaching us moment by moment.
At this rate, escape was impossible, and we would be caught by them.
"Phew."
I closed my eyes and opened them, slowly awakening the dragon's power within me.
Grooooar...!
The earth vibrated slightly, announcing the dragon's descent to the world.
A panicked Sid turned to me urgently and shouted.
"Lord, you mustn't!"
"What's there to 'mustn't' in this situation."
More monsters swarmed in, to the point where even Sid's magic could no longer fully drive them away.
"Kuuugh!"
I saw Elize's prosthetic arm being caught and torn off by the enemies as she fought bravely.
There's no more time to hesitate. I awakened all the dragon heart and dragon blood within me in one breath.
"Ugh...!"
My vision alternated between black and red. I felt my existence instantly distancing itself from being human.
Having called upon the dragon's power too often after the apocalypse, I had now reached the point where my sense of self was corrupted every time I used the dragon's power.
Memories are lost, and the wills of the black dragon and red dragon mix, repel, and clash within me.
From the beginning, I was an existence patched together to continue fighting through Stage 50. It's only natural that I'm going mad after using it for another 15 years.
'It doesn't matter!'
I took a deep breath.
And towards the direction where the monsters were gathered most thickly - I exhaled with all my might.
Hwaaaargh!
Dragon Breath.
Black and red flames that couldn't mix shot out, pushing each other aside and burning everything in their path.
'Ugh!'
I tasted blood inside my burned throat.
As my winter coat burned away from the heat of the breath, my upper body, including my neck, was exposed to the world. My body covered in black and red dragon scales...
"Haa, cough! Cough!"
I coughed violently and spat out blood.
My body was a bit of a mess, but thanks to that.
"A path has opened!"
All the monsters in one direction were swept away by the breath and annihilated.
Elize, who had run to me, supported me and shouted.
"Your Highness, this way!"
***
As we barely broke through the encirclement and escaped, the survivors of the World Guardian Front were rushing to meet us.
They had been waiting, knowing a battle had broken out.
"We must escape this city immediately!"
I shouted urgently.
"Other monsters are a problem, but the two worst enemies of the Lake Kingdom are descending to the ground! Before we're caught, hurry-"
But perhaps it was our downfall that we had spent time breaking through the monsters' encirclement.
Before I could finish speaking, a woman in a dress, floating down from the sky... gently landed between me and my comrades.
"...!"
Under the split sky, shimmering starlight scattered around the woman.
The ends of her pale white dress, as if not of this world, had turned black, glowing ominously with the darkness of another realm.
Beyond the pure white mourning veil covering her face... I could see teal eyes that were once familiar, but now devoid of human emotion.
I uttered in a trembling voice.
"...Nameless."
With the vain hope that my old friend might recognize my voice and return to how she was before.
But of course, that was impossible.
Whoosh-!
Black energy gathered in the 'Sleepless Lake Princess's' hand, condensing into the shape of a longsword, and the monster swung it vertically.
Slash-!
Sid, who had rushed towards me urgently, pushed me aside.
The blow unleashed by the 'Sleepless Lake Princess' narrowly grazed me, and the trajectory of that sword... split the world from sky to ground.
The torn sky pours down, and the split earth collapses.
We can't win.
She's not that kind of existence to begin with.
She could only have been killed before she was completed as a monster, within the Lake Kingdom. Having escaped the Lake Kingdom and become the embodiment of all nightmares, she is literally invincible.
"We'll buy time, Your Highness! Escape!"
Elize, gripping a broken sword, urgently commanded the people.
"Sid, I'm counting on you with His Highness!"
"...Yes."
Sid, who had nodded silently, supported me. I shouted urgently.
"What are you saying, Elize! If we're escaping, we should go together-"
"Your Highness is our flag."
Elize said, biting down on a navy blue dagger.
"Especially in a world like this, please keep flying until the very last moment possible."
"..."
"I'll entrust this sword coffin to Your Highness. The wills of those who fell before us remain inside."
After pushing her sword coffin towards me.
Finally, giving me a complex look, Elize dashed towards the 'Sleepless Lake Princess'.
"Waaaaaah-!"
"Block the monster as much as you can!"
"Buy time-!"
All the remaining members of the World Guardian Front charged towards the enemy commander, shouting.
"Take this, my master's enemy-!"
The dagger Elize thrust out with her final shout failed to leave any wound on the 'Sleepless Lake Princess's' body.
The next moment, after confirming Elize being shredded and blown apart by the black energy, I tightly closed my eyes and turned my body in the opposite direction.
While my people bought time with their lives, I fled with Sid's support, carrying the sword coffin.
Once again, as we had done for the past 15 years...
***
Perhaps it was because the sky had split.
Ash no longer fell. Sid and I were crossing a white ice field under an unusually clear night sky.
"Haa, haa, haa..."
Sid exhaled irregular breaths.
We walked like that for a while, leaning on each other.
That's when it happened. Suddenly, a strong wind blew. Sid and I held onto each other and barely withstood the gale.
And when the strong wind stopped...
"...!"
The white ash covering the ice field was completely swept away.
The cleanly frozen plain perfectly reflected the clear night sky.
Starlight bloomed like flowers on the earth.
"Wow..."
Forgetting the current situation, Sid let out an exclamation like an innocent child.
"I know this isn't the time to say this, Lord, but isn't it beautiful?"
"...Yeah. It really is beautiful."
I murmured, surveying this landscape with Sid.
"It's like a flower field."
"A flower field? What's that?"
"A field where lots of flowers are planted."
Sid, who had never seen flowers or fields since the world became like this, didn't quite understand my words, but.
"I guess that flower field thing must be this pretty too."
He said, as if somehow understanding.
Thud.
Right after, Sid collapsed. I hurriedly caught the child and checked his condition.
"This is...!"
There was a long gash across Sid's chest.
It seemed to be a wound from when he pushed me away from the 'Sleepless Lake Princess's' attack. He had sealed it with magic and walked this far, but it was a wound that couldn't heal, and he had reached his limit.
Looking back at the path we had walked, I could see droplets of blood scattered here and there. My face contorted.
Had I really walked all this way, gladly accepting the support of the child, not knowing my godson had such a wound?
"Haha. Looks like this is as far as I go."
Sid, mumbling with blood in his mouth in my arms, looked up at me with clear eyes.
"Do you regret it, Lord?"
"..."
"That choice that day... do you regret it?"
I kept my mouth shut.
It was the content of that conversation I had with Sid not long ago.
If I had gone to find Nameless and killed her before the final defense battle began.
If I had prevented the 'Sleepless Lake Princess' from descending to the human world. If I had given up on the true ending and instead achieved the ordinary ending we had in the game.
We might not have seen this worst future.
Then my people, and Sid, could have lived in a better world than now...
That's when.
"Don't regret it."
"...!"
Sid continued calmly.
"Mom said so. That you fought to save the world, Lord. That if you hadn't been there, the world would have ended long ago."
"..."
"That you willingly took the lead on a path that everyone else in the world doubted, found difficult, and didn't want to take."
"..."
"You walked the path you believed was right, didn't you, Lord? If you have no shame in that choice... don't regret it."
The child's young voice held clear conviction.
"I think the reason my mom, and other people, followed you with their lives... was because that path of yours was right."
"..."
"So, for the sake of those who followed your flag... instead of regret, please fight until the very end."
As I looked into the child's eyes, I asked.
"...Sid. Being born into a world like this, weren't you unhappy?"
Then Sid blinked quietly and looked up at the sky.
"Do you remember? When I was very young. That day, like this, the sky was unusually clear."
A faint smile formed on the child's lips as he recalled the old memory.
"Everyone went to play on a hill covered in ash near our hideout. They said they'd give me a sled ride. I followed excitedly, not even knowing what a sled was."
"..."
"They put me on the last remaining sack of wheat, and Uncle Zenis and Brother Damien took turns sitting behind me. They gave me sled rides from the top of the ash-covered hill to the bottom."
Sid's face, as he talked about the memory, had somehow... regained the innocent and cute look that a child his age should have.
"Master Dearmudin and Sister Junior nagged that we should have magic lessons while the weather was clear, but before long they were waiting for their turn on the sled too. Haha, at the end, they even had a competition to see which was faster, the fire sled or the wind sled."
"..."
"After playing excitedly like that until the sun went down, when we returned, dinner was being prepared outside the hideout... I still remember. What Mom said that evening. She said, 'The weather is nice today, so let's eat out! And since we're eating out, let's have a special meal!'"
I know.
Everyone knows.
This world is hell.
"It would be a lie to say it wasn't painful... but there were definitely happy moments."
Absurd, nonsensical, nothing goes as I want. Even if I painfully overcome the hurdle right in front of me, it's still only painful.
A hell where no one but a saint could possibly live.
But, even in such a world...
"I liked those moments."
The child remembers moments that shone like stars.
I... remember too.
Those moments that bloomed between all those difficult days, beautiful like a field of flowers bloomed from weeds.
Sid smiled brightly at me.
"It wasn't a bad life."
I gritted my teeth.
Clenching my fists, I widened my eyes as they grew hot.
And I, too, smiled at the child.
"Same here."
We're living in this wretched landscape.
But does that mean we'll give up on the strategy?
...No.
"So, I won't have any regrets."
The strategy must continue.
Until the very moment life stops.
"I'll fight."
Believing in the path I've chosen, steadfastly.
Without giving up.
Thud...!
At that moment, someone landed on the far side of the ice field where Sid and I were.
Saaaa...
The final boss, spreading a suffocating evil aura, 'The Sleepless Lake Princess'.
And her brother, the Demon King's proxy, the one who made this world like this.
'The Pied Piper'.
Crown.
"Is this as far as you go, Ash?"
He muttered from behind his black smiling mask.
"This nightmare lasted 15 years before reaching its end... Truly remarkable willpower."
That's right.
And now, I finally realized.
"Well then... shall we repeat it once more?"
"..."
"The nightmare you fear the most."
That this nightmarish world... is none other than Stage 49 itself.
--TL Notes--
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