Chapter 100
The Epilogue of All Those Stories,
Yuri ha Geldina (6)
The final battle to conquer Shyulkellis—
the beginning of the last nightmare…
Could anyone truly describe, in full, the memories of that desperate struggle?
[Ria: They’re Abyssal Treants! There are an enormous number of them! At least a hundred thousand! First line, 33 formations of the Migratory Birds Corps! Magic units, advance forward!]
The Shyulkellis subjugation battle, having risen to the surface of the sea, plunged into utter chaos from its very entrance.
First came the suffocating, endless headache.
Because of the Neural Resonance Formation that had been deployed in place of His Excellency, Brainfragrance…
Was this truly the agony His Excellency had always borne in silence—
taking upon himself the abyss of everyone else?
[Bimon: Holtranx formation! Show those cursed beings the power of the First Progeny!]
Dimensions tore and shattered.
From the cracks, things crawled out endlessly, writhing…
Absolute Mutation entities.
They were beings blessed by Yotos—superior versions of all ancient horrors and the dead.
[Johan: Activating magic circle!]
[Ria: Fire!]
[Bimon: Thrust!]
Sixty-six True Kings who once worshipped Yotos.
The Absolute Mutations embodied all the abyssal traits once held by the masters of those thrones.
Gigantic, grotesque forms that seemed ripped straight from a madman’s imagination—
they were endless.
A mere extermination battle was meaningless.
The only solution was to break through and sever the heart itself—
to slay the core intellect, Yotos.
[Grifveren: Now this is more like it. Warriors! Charge bravely! Let them taste the blades of the assault corps!]
The sight of the Beastkin assault units carving through the Absolute Mutations was spectacular.
Yet the creatures did not truly die.
As long as even a fragment of flesh remained, they revived stubbornly, burrowing into the ankles and soles of the fallen.
Only purification by fire or light could erase the threat completely.
[Liam: Siren!]
Despite the overwhelming adversity, misfortune was not absolute.
There were two of the greatest fire casters in two thousand years—
Akyrea of Crimson Flame and Siren the Three-Tailed Fox.
Crimson inferno and pale green foxfire surged like waves, sweeping away the Absolute Mutations.
[Crimson Flame: I can’t see Shu’yulkula, but I can feel Nen’s aura from far away. It must be clinging to the heart of Shyulkellis.]
Even Shyulkellis’s structure—
an ancient demonic labyrinth that induced cognitive dissonance through geometrical paradox—
failed to exert its full power.
The ultra-colossal god-machine, Unit Zero.
Merged with the flagship Teritos, its power was nothing short of absolute violence, further reinforced by naval bombardment from the Steel Fleet.
[Halbaron: Head toward His Excellency Brainfragrance! Follow him, Kaisen! I’ll provide cover!]
The labyrinth’s ever-shifting pillars, ceilings, and statues shattered and pulverized under fists and artillery.
“Will the god-machine be all right?”
I couldn’t help but worry.
I had once believed it destroyed along with Unit 49.
[Halbaron: It suffered some damage fighting two True Kings at Mu Rondel, but this is nothing! Don’t worry—go!]
As the eclipse accelerated, even the seasons warped grotesquely.
Scorching heat with torrential rain.
Bitter cold with raging blizzards.
Control of the world itself had passed into the hands of the Absolute Tyrant of Calamity.
“Now, true darkness shall descend…
Those who reject the truth of darkness shall meet eternal death.”
A blasphemous statue—an unholy fusion of octopus and dragon—snickered as it whispered.
[Liam: Sharylione, we’re close to His Excellency’s signal, but it’s a sealed chamber… There seems to be a room beyond, but it’s blocked.]
“Where is it?”
[Siren: I told you. The path is sealed.]
“If the path is sealed, then we break through.”
Descending in the form of crimson thunder, I pierced the chamber ceiling and seized Sharylione’s hilt.
Rune Slash — Benekom.
Meaning: Destruction.
A power that inscribed the command of creation as a curse upon all existence, forcing it to obey.
KRAAAAAAASH────!
Beyond the shattered debris and dust stood Brainfragrance—
his body mutated, corroded by Shu’yulkula.
Even the scenery warped in terror.
Perhaps the ritual that violated both soul and flesh in the deep-sea ossuary was already complete—
the tentacles began to writhe.
“I open the gate to the sanctuary of the true ruler…
the path upon which the Lord of the Abyss shall descend…
Muhahahahahaha!”
The hallucination of a True King clawed at reality, twisting even the laws of perspective.
Tentacles erupted from the ground.
The sea surged violently from all sides, crashing in waves of sticky, boiling foam.
“Sharylione, Shu’yulkula is now as strong as five kings combined.”
“I know.”
“Then—”
Liam hesitated.
Was he about to say there was no time?
That Brainfragrance couldn’t be saved?
“No. There’s one way. You know what I’m thinking.”
If you’re the one who fought alongside me dozens—hundreds—of times across other timelines…
You’d understand without words.
Liam met my gaze and nodded firmly.
“Yes. I’ll take the left.”
As Akyrea’s and Siren’s flames held back the incoming waves, I gripped Galadiel’s hilt.
Phase conversion to lightning.
In a blood-red world even time couldn’t follow, I surged forward, cleaving every tentacle that rose.
Forty-eight in total.
Hallucinations probing my consciousness were dispersed by unfolding Yoniulan, shredding the space around my head.
“I open the path of darkness,
and the glorious leader shall descend to enlighten all!”
At Shu’yulkula’s command, the sea of corruption rose to my ankles.
Through the reeking mire of decay cut the primordial light—
the blade of Verkensia.
Kaisen and Liam, who had split to either side to evade interference, reunited their twin beams of swordlight into one.
[Halbaron: Kaisen! We’re tearing out every tentacle as it appears, but the undead are endless! The allied forces are at their limit—finish that octopus bastard now!]
Even as he spoke, hundreds of light shells fired from Unit Zero slammed into Shu’yulkula, buying precious time.
“Let’s go, Liam.”
The dance of light opened the path.
The primordial blade struck first in a brilliant flash,
and the blade of Psalms filled the inevitable gap between flashes.
We cut forward.
We pierced forward.
Covering each other’s gaps, carving open moments in time for one another—
[Alphonse: This is God-Unit 144! The core is destroyed! Retreating!]
[Edric: Mutated Kyrlun!]
[Graham: Follow the example of our predecessors! Fight bravely, First Progeny!]
As if we had always been one body.
Or perhaps—
Two bodies governed by a single will.
“Liam!”
“Sharylione!”
The moment our distance to Shu’yulkula reached zero, we shouted together.
Wave-phase conversion of Ribelden.
Releasing all the power accumulated through countless slashes, we stripped away every tentacle from Shu’yulkula’s true form.
Radiant Flame Sword.
Verkensia’s blade cleaved Brainfragrance’s flesh, exposing the core hidden within his soul.
[Akyrea: Nen…!]
A core like a pulpy tumor.
And another, radiant as the sun.
The two merged into concentric circles.
[Siren: But how do we—?!]
Rune Slash — Bakhu.
Meaning: Separation.
At the exact center of the concentric circles, I inscribed a creation glyph with Sharylione’s blade.
“The corrosion is already advanced. Even if the body were restored, death would soon follow.”
For a single instant, the corruption halted.
“But if Yotos is slain first, the very power of the Abyss will vanish.”
Brainfragrance’s core—isolated alone in another spacetime, sealed within a transparent cube.
From Shu’yulkula’s core, which extended hundreds of tentacles toward it, a cosmic body began to reconstruct.
If it thought I’d allow that—
It was gravely mistaken.
KRAAACK──!
Sharylione’s blade, blazing with transcendent heat, pierced its core.
[Akyrea: We did it…!]
[Siren: Yotos’s power has weakened drastically… Even if he descends now—!]
[Halbaron: Success! He couldn’t have held out much longer. The number of Absolute entities is dropping!]
In this world, despair always arrived at the very moment hope began to bloom.
The sensation through my blade was wrong.
A core is a jewel shaped by the soul.
This didn’t feel like piercing a jewel—
It felt like…
“Get back.”
The words slipped out instinctively.
Like smashing open a tightly sealed box—
awakening something that should have remained asleep.
I shouted desperately.
“GET BACK—!”
Then—
The twisted laughter of an ancient god, filled with madness and warped delight, erupted.
The world went dark.
All light trembled and hid.
Across the world, sensitive minds burst and died under the terror of that cursed descent.
How could one describe such insanity?
Matter and consciousness warped violently, contradictions tearing through cosmic order.
The stars realigned.
The Great Yotos Yole Yotiatos—
fallen Abyssal Lord, confidant of the Creator God Geldharia—
descended, shattering the laws of creation.
“Good morning, children of creation.”
Seven-headed dragon of insanity and nightmare, writhing in nausea.
Before his throne, all lifespans rotted.
Children became elders.
Men became women.
Elders became unborn flesh.
An absolute finger that made even dead stars tremble—
a form transcending time and space.
A melody…
A melody of madness…
Kaisen was hurled headlong by the storm of descent, bouncing across the ground before slamming into a pillar.
“Just by descending, spacetime is collapsing…?”
Had the five True Holy Swords not unleashed their light together, my body would have dissolved.
Not merely dissolved—
my existence itself would have been denied by spacetime.
“Did you really think I’d be fooled by your trivial tricks again and again?”
A gentle greeting, almost friendly.
Yet blood poured from my eyes and nose.
“I set up a few mechanisms.
One was a transfer field embedded in Shu’yulkula’s new power.
The other ensured that the moment its core shattered, all True Kings’ power would flow into me.”
“…?!”
“Shu’yulkula deceived you beautifully.
And you fell for it beautifully.
No need to despair—it was the natural reaction of foolish beasts.”
Within the suppressed melody of madness, only the space containing Yotos and Liam began to vanish—
as if gnawed away by invisible insects.
“Now then… shall I retrieve Verkensia first?”
Kaisen and Siren moved simultaneously.
Kaisen struck at Yotos.
Siren dashed toward Liam.
Only the latter succeeded.
Yotos effortlessly deflected Kaisen’s strike and smiled.
“So you’re the one who killed my adorable Sharly.
I’ll let you taste the greatest pain in the universe shortly.”
* * *
Above the sea, the heart of Shyulkellis—the Abyssal Palace—was shrouded in an Absolute Veil.
[…Liam…!]
The veil spanned the entire ocean.
It wasn’t a veil.
It was a universe—
one that severed all external interference.
[…Siren, don’t come…!]
Through Brainfragrance’s fragments, we could feel the chaotic tremors within.
Outside was no better.
Mad moans.
Chilling laughter.
Sorrowful wails.
Stars melted from the darkened sky like viscous liquid.
[Johan: Kaisen, what’s happening? What just occurred?!]
Wherever the liquid touched, nature transformed.
“Yotos has descended! And Liam—Liam was taken by Yotos!”
The world flickered—
ancient past, decayed future, present reality—over and over.
[Ria: Kaisen, the first line has collapsed. The Beastkin are holding, but the second line will fall soon! If that happens… we’re finished.]
I slashed at the veil again and again with the Holy Sword, reading the situation through Brainfragrance’s tremors.
Liam had briefly gained the upper hand with two Verkensias.
But after Yotos absorbed all the power of the sealed Forgotten Kings and reclaimed absolute authority—
He failed, by the narrowest margin, to defeat him.
[Liam: …Even with two Verkensias, it’s not enough…?]
I could only listen.
There was no way inside.
[Liam: …Then what power… what strength must I gather…]
If only I had the Holy Sword Aizaiah.
No—Rune Slashes didn’t work either.
My body was powerless.
My heart was even more so.
Was this endless mockery—beginning long before 1692, before even my mother’s era—
to end as yet another joke of an Absolute Being?
[Liam: …Even Verkensia’s future soul-box world can’t reach…]
As I finished my strike and collapsed weakly against Akyrea’s back, my mind went blank—like staring over a white cliff.
I couldn’t accept this.
Not again.
Not this untouchable, irrational ending.
And I couldn’t forgive this helplessness that smiled at me every time.
[Halbaron: Calm down and think, brat! I’ll protect the survivors on the front lines! You find the breakthrough!]
A suffocating graveyard.
The yellowed laughter of a cosmic being.
The stench drifting from a lightless universe beyond time.
“Why won’t the field cut…”
Even those simple words failed under the weight of confusion.
Yotos was laughing at me.
Crushing my hope—just like the day he stole my most precious treasure.
—Mom’s most precious treasure…
Once again, beyond my reach.
Beyond my blade.
Was he truly going to complete despair so arbitrarily?
“Kaisen, are you ready to fight?”
Akyrea’s question met only my hollow silence.
“We can’t even get inside—what a meaningless question…”
Akyrea held Brainfragrance’s sister, Setsunen.
Setsunen’s body had been restored, but her consciousness had not returned.
Akyrea burned away the abyssal tumors consuming her body with flame.
“I will open the path.
The time has come to end my journey.
You must go beyond and fulfill your destiny.”
“Your Excellency, how could you possibly—?!”
“All True Dragons are born to seal kings and their kin.”
“Your Excellency, you know better than anyone! Your body is already at its limit! Crossing the continent in half a day and aiding the fight against Shu’yulkula was a miracle!”
Akyrea gently stroked her sister’s hair, smiling sadly—
as if she might shatter at any moment.
“I endured all this—
so that when I met my parents again, I could speak proudly of my life.
Yet I always felt it was never enough…”
“Your Excellency, what are you—”
“Even now, I’m not certain.
But the time has come. I can delay no longer.”
I was wrong.
It wasn’t that Akyrea had lost her sanity to the Abyss.
I realized only later—
it was my thinking that was wrong.
“I, Akyrea—daughter born of Alakish’s love, raised by Dragon Sage’s grace—
am the only True Dragon to possess all five Flame Orbs.”
“…?”
“If I concentrate and amplify the sealing power into a single point…
wouldn’t it open a path, even briefly?”
Only then did I understand.
[Halbaron: Your Excellency, I can assist. Teritos has a system to focus energy into a single point and release it at amplified output.]
And only then did I fully understand—
Why Karenden, during the mythic trials, had sacrificed Shurviel to rehearse the path to the future beyond.
[Halbaron: Kaisen, the choice is yours. Whatever you decide, I’ll support it. If you do it—stand here with His Excellency before this cannon.]
Was this moment—
What all those moments had been preparing for?
“…Your Excellency illuminated this world with a truly great life.”
I don’t know why my vision blurred as I spoke.
Perhaps—
No, surely—
The blood and soul inherited from the Dragon Sage were weeping.
“Now… entrust that flame of life to me—
and rest.”
Akyrea must have known what I meant.
She nodded.
“Yes. I entrust it to you.”
Otherwise—
She would not have smiled like that.
A smile layered with three hundred years of storms, memories, regrets, and joy—
Just before her body exploded into flames bright enough to illuminate the entire world.
“My beloved sister, Nen is a pure child.
Let her live in a clear and beautiful world.”
Even if I had to bear pain equal to the weight of the world.
[Halbaron: Energy charge—200, 1600, 4400, 9500%!]
Even if the only way forward was to trample upon countless deaths—
Nameless corpses who all carried sorrow, rage, and hatred of the same weight—
[Halbaron: Now, Kaisen!]
I will go.
I will go to the very end.
To where all despair and nightmares originate—
To you, Yotos Yotiatos.
“Devour────!”
I will go.
Even if I am only a counterfeit—
I am the hero.
And you are the Demon King.
“────Sharylione!”
