Final Chapter #4

 

“Don’t… disturb me!”

Michael’s eyes were bloodshot.

It wasn’t just his eyes. Covered in crimson blood from head to toe, he looked like a demon.

Michael’s sword slashed Anna’s arm, tore Eden’s throat, and ripped Akasha’s intestines open.

“It’s no use, Michael. You know it.”

All vital points and fatal wounds apply only to the living. Those who are already dead will not fall, no matter how many times they are healed.

Beneath the realm of darkness, if you wish to survive, you must cut me down, the necromancer.

But Michael now didn’t have the capacity to make such a cool-headed judgment.

Kwajik!

Akasha, who had been stabbed dozens of times, chuckled and bit Michael’s shoulder. Eden strangled Michael’s neck with both hands.

“Khuuuk!”

Michael let out a gasp. A fight with comrades who wouldn’t die even if he killed them.

To put it in Buddhist terms, there is no separate hell.

“I didn’t do anything wrong!”

Michael shouted, foaming at the mouth.

“It had to be done. You were prepared for it, weren’t you?”

Michael’s eyes were already unfocused. He glared at something unseen, as if he was going to kill it, and kept cursing.

After several minutes of fierce fighting, Michael collapsed to the ground.

He seemed to have no strength to move a single finger.

Even though I still had strength left, my mind had already been exhausted for a long time.

Akasha and Eden looked down at him coldly with hateful eyes and then disappeared.

Only Anna, with a heartbreaking expression and tears welling up in her eyes, returned to the world of the dead for the last time.

“Fuck⋯.”

Michael stretched out on the floor, breathing heavily.

Is this the end of the hero?

Although he was a great hero who amazed the world, his final appearance was not much different from that of countless others who had died before.

There were no winged cherubs coming down from heaven to take him away,

It did not ascend to heaven, enveloped in the radiance of light.

Michael, who was born as an ordinary human being, died in such a pitiful state.

“Is there… Richie…?”

Michael slowly opened his mouth.

“huh.”

“It was Estelle… right… Name….”

“that’s right.”

“I have something to ask… Estelle….”

Michael will die soon.

Probably soon, within a few minutes.

No matter what answer you give to Michael, the outcome will not change.

In terms of games, from here on out, it’s a choice where you can choose anything.

Michael dies, and I leave the hall a victor. What happened here is remembered only by me.

I could have laughed and cursed the dying Michael to my heart’s content, but I didn’t feel like doing so.

Because I thought it was my duty as the creator to calmly watch over this man’s end.

“say.”

“I wanted to know… the end of this world.”

“The end of the world?”

“What is there… If we go all the way… After that….”

what.

I never expected you to ask me this question. Honestly, it was unexpected.

‘I’m curious about what happens after the ending.’

For Michael, a character in the game, the ending prepared by “Nine Stars” is the end of his journey.

In Michael’s life, there is no afterlife. There is no need to wonder about it, nor should you know about it.

However, this world is not just a recreation of a game.

Even if you ascend to the throne, even if you clear every dungeon and conquer every challenge in the world, life goes on.

So Michael began to question the fate that had been given to him.

‘This is also my responsibility, so I must answer for it.’

I looked down at Michael’s clouded eyes and said.

“I don’t know either.”

“⋯How cruel⋯.”

“No, I really don’t know. That’s all I know. This world has a predetermined fate. If we were to compare it to a book, it would be the ending. The last page.”

To be exact, it’s a game, but since the concept of digital games doesn’t exist in this world yet, I tried to make it as similar as possible.

“Perhaps, if you had won, you would have reached the pinnacle of the world and reached the final page. Ultimately, I intervened and twisted that fate… but in any case, no one knows what happened after that.”

“⋯Is that so⋯.”

Michael sighed deeply and remained silent for a while.

At a time when I thought I might die like this.

“If the end of the world is… to rest on the throne… then it’s too boring… too horrible… no different from the current emperor…”

“I agree.”

“Damn it… Cool! The explorer who will open up the beyond… is you, not me…”

“⋯.”

“I’ll let you know⋯.”

“what?”

“The treasure I have gathered will be helpful.”

Michael must have had a change of heart at the last minute, and with difficulty he revealed where he had hidden the things he had accumulated over the years.

I don’t know exactly why I felt that way.

If I had to guess, it might be because I eventually realized that Michael and I are essentially similar types.

One who is not satisfied with the simple wealth and honor of this world, but who explores the unknown that no one has ever seen before.

However, Michael’s approach was overly dogmatic and ruthless, creating too many enemies and ultimately leading to failure.

Well, I have many enemies too, but I think the way I pursue it is more refined.

“Anna⋯.”

Michael’s gaze wandered somewhere on the ceiling of the Hall of the Sun.

On the dusty ceiling, where there was nothing, Michael seemed to be looking at something.

“Eden, Akasha… I’m sorry… If I’m reborn, then…”

Michael couldn’t continue. He remained frozen, his mouth open, and said nothing more.

The faint light of life that remained was completely extinguished.

“Goodbye.”

I stood up from my seat.

All that needed to be done was done.

The wheel of fate begins to turn again, transformed into something bigger and more solid.

The sole surviving Death Knight followed me, carrying Michael’s corpse on his shoulder.

The reason why it was not placed in the Ring of Preservation was to make it widely known that Michael was dead.

What happened after that was as expected.

The Imperial Army, having confirmed the death of Michael, the heart of the Empire and its last bastion, lost its will to fight.

The remaining imperial soldiers threw down their weapons and rushed to surrender.

***

Time passed by in a daze.

Julius Domitian III, once the emperor of the empire, was lost in a long dream.

His life, in the broadest sense, was not much different from before.

I still spent most of my time lying in bed, heavy and blinking, dozing off and waking up, and doing nothing meaningful.

However, there was a change in the environment surrounding him.

Now Julius lived in a cramped room filled with the musty smell of dust. He had no attendant to care for him, and he was always cold and hungry.

Only someone comes in twice a day to clean up his waste and give him just enough food to barely keep him alive.

‘Good.’

Julius, however, remained relaxed. The drug-induced aura that had been deeply embedded in the folds of his brain for over a decade was not easily shaken off.

But it was actually good. How painful it would have been to face this reality with a clear mind.

I hoped this hazy feeling would never end.

There were days when people would come to visit.

Now I can’t remember who’s whose face or name, but they would look at Julius like an exhibit at a zoo and chat among themselves.

The sight of the former emperor in such a miserable state may serve as a lesson.

‘That is also a good thing.’

But where did Michael go? Why is there no news?

Loyal Michael provided all the joy and took all the worries away.

These days, Michael hasn’t appeared in front of Julius.

But Julius wasn’t worried. One day, Michael would return and restore Julius’ crown.

All you have to do is wait leisurely.

Sometimes, instead of Julius, a little girl would come to see him.

I managed to remember this girl’s name. Estelle. She was as slender and pretty as a doll.

If it were the old days, I might have taken her in as Julius’s concubine, even though she was a little young.

‘This child is kind. He is truly good.’

On the days Estelle came, Julius was also very excited. He ate a lot of delicious food, and a warm fire was lit in the room.

Moreover, servants followed him in and even washed him. Before Julius knew it, he was waiting more earnestly for Estelle than for Michael.

“Okay, sign here.”

Every time Estelle came, she put a golden quill pen in Julius’ hand.

Julius signed as he was told, without reading what was written on the parchment.

My head was too heavy and my head hurt to read and think about each one.

Sign and stamp.

As if playing with a child, I wrote my name here and there and drew funny patterns. Then everything became happy.

‘But what good will my signature do for this child?’

Sometimes I wondered if a little scribbling on a scrap of paper was really enough to repay Estelle’s kindness.

Estelle also mentioned something about “authenticity.” Unbeknownst to Julius, she also mentioned that one of his nephews was a bright child.

Just a few strokes of a quill in a small room, and the empire’s glory continues and the world becomes peaceful.

There couldn’t have been a better story than this.

Julius decided not to think too deeply about it. After all, the work he’d been doing for Michael had simply shifted to Estelle.

‘He’s a really good kid. Yes.’

The sweet dream continues. It was a time of peace.