Ch.325Chapter 325: The Great Confrontation, and the Final Curtain (5)

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Despite losing one of her front legs, Desire’s assault to crush Liliansis showed no signs of stopping.

In truth, even if she wanted to stop, she couldn’t.

If she were to stop, everything would end with her head flying off along the brilliant trajectory drawn by the holy sword emitting golden light in Liliansis’s hand.

A hamster wheel that can’t be stopped even if one wants to stop.

There could be no better expression to describe Desire’s situation.

There was only one way to escape this inescapable wheel.

The only path available to her was to seize a thread-like victory by not giving Liliansis even the slightest chance to swing the holy sword that would pronounce her final judgment.

Of course, such pitiful circumstances weren’t particularly important to Desire right now.

【KROOAAAAAH!!】

Desire roared.

That roar clearly revealed that intelligence had long since evaporated, and she had given herself over to rage.

【Even with one leg gone!!】

She cut off her roar and showed her firm resolve not to back down despite being pushed to the extreme.

【HNNGH!!】

As she let out a battle cry and used her one remaining leg as support to lift her massive body into the air, her appearance conveyed not just anger but also a pitiful desperation.

Though she had taken the form of a massive dragon, if her limbs and tail had been functioning properly, she could have utilized all sorts of attacks using her physical body even against a human much smaller than herself.

Due to the loss of body parts from allowing numerous attacks, all of that had become impossible, and this was Desire’s final maneuver.

It was her last resort, using her sheer size and weight as a weapon.

Though she attempted this as an attack.

From the moment she leaped into the air, Desire already sensed it.

She knew that from the moment she executed this move, her only remaining path—to varying degrees—was to roll on this cold obsidian floor until her breath ceased.

It was a judgment unlike her.

She knew from countless experiences that as long as she remained alive, she could always look forward to another day.

The best course would have been to preserve this body—not a single part of which remained intact—and escape far away.

That way, she could have treated even this humiliating experience as a minor incident experienced in the process of being reborn as a better being, using it as nourishment.

Though it might have seemed difficult with an opponent who had pronounced overwhelming death right before her, it wasn’t entirely impossible.

Even if it was impossible with her power alone, with the help of her old friend who had maintained the flow of time infinitely divided into moments, she could have escaped this situation.

In the process, she would have had to abandon many things: this palace created by pouring out her divinity, though it had already crumbled.

And the demon army that would serve as her hands and feet when ruling this land she had carefully cultivated over long years.

There were many things she would have had to give up.

With her capabilities and the infinite time granted to her as long as she lived, she would eventually regain them all.

Despite both her body and mind understanding these advantages, Desire, who had lifted her massive body high into the sky, showed no intention of following that path.

It was surprising, indeed.

It’s difficult for us to understand why she made such a choice.

Anyway, befitting the description of a final offensive launched with only willpower driving a dying body.

Desire’s massive form, which reached its apex and then plummeted toward a single point, was threatening in itself.

Though she was in tatters for maintaining life, her still-intact mass and density made it possible.

For an ordinary person, this scene of a meteor—no, a massive comet—plunging to the ground without fully burning up would be enough to make one lose their mind, a display of violence that no one could blame them for.

Yet Liliansis Proxian, standing calmly at the spot where Desire’s body would fall, showed no sign of retreating or fear despite the overwhelming sight.

Woooong-!!

She merely emitted a powerful aura of mixed divinity and fighting spirit from the holy sword in her hand.

“Haaaaa…!!”

With an even more powerful battle cry, she responded to the comet-like disaster.

Now, the final moment.

Swooosh…!!

The holy sword Lumen in her right hand followed Liliansis’s hand, drawing an elegant trajectory from top to bottom.

It was merely an act of cutting through empty air with nothing to slice.

But immediately after that action, a golden sword path shot toward the sky.

The vertically drawn sword path flew powerfully as if to cut through Desire’s body, which loomed like a comet covering the sky.

【I too have will…!!】

Before Desire, who had painfully opened her mouth despite her battered state, could finish her words, the golden light enveloped her body.

SHWACK-!!

The sound of something made of flesh and blood being split by a blade rang out with tremendous volume.

【Ah…!!】

Desire, sensing something, let out a gasp before finishing her words.

But even that gasp couldn’t be completed.

BOOM-!!

The sound of a mass of flesh and blood, sliced by the blade, crashing into the obsidian floor drowned out her voice.

It wasn’t a sound that occurred just once.

THUD-!! THUD THUD-!!

The sound of Desire’s body, now mere chunks of meat, falling in pieces continued to strike and echo across the obsidian floor.

No one would enjoy watching the scene of shattered chunks of meat spraying blood as they fell to the floor.

But if those pieces of flesh belonged to the demon god who had disturbed this world, the gaze upon them might change.

Well, that was for the onlookers to judge.

What Desire’s consciousness recognized as it faded, watching through her one remaining eye as her entire body—not just extremities—fell in pieces, was not the cutting sound slicing her body.

【…What did I tell you? I warned you this would happen.】

It was only the voice of her old friend, expressing regret from an unseen place at her pitiful state.

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Consciousness rises to the surface like floating on water.

My eyes, which had naturally closed due to the impact of being struck by Desire’s tail and my exhausted stamina.

SHWIK-!!

The most crisp sound a metal blade can make when cutting through the air.

【KYAAAAARGH!!】

Desire’s tearing scream—she who never screamed during our life-or-death battle except when she lost her eye.

And finally…

BOOM-!!

The impact sound of a fairly heavy object hitting this obsidian floor.

“…Ugh.”

I woke up with a faint groan.

As I forced my heavy eyelids open with effort, only one thought crossed my mind.

What’s happening now?

Given that I can open my eyes with my body intact, it seems Desire couldn’t even attempt to take the divinity residing in my body, which would have been her most desperate action in this situation.

I tried to buy as much time as possible, hoping someone would arrive.

Though I never thought I would be saved by that person.

A faint sense of relief washed over me that the person who arrived was not only protecting me but also effectively dealing with Desire.

But even with my dulled senses, having just regained consciousness, I could feel how urgently the air around this area was flowing.

I tried to open my eyes as quickly as possible to help whoever was fighting Desire.

[Don’t push yourself. Stay as you are.]

Fafnir’s voice, now full of composure unlike before, tried to stop me.

But the situation I couldn’t confirm with my closed eyes only fueled my anxiety, so I ignored his words and tried to open my eyes and get up.

Swoosh-

A very careful touch gently gripped both my shoulders, trying to lay me back down on the floor as I attempted to rise, and my movement stopped.

It was such a gentle and kind touch that I could have easily shaken it off if I wanted to.

But strangely, I didn’t want to resist that touch, so I obediently rested my body on the floor as guided by the hand.

The warmth in that already gentle touch deepened even more.

“You must be in pain… rest…”

The voice that matched that touch so well was so affectionate.

My eyelids, which had felt so heavy, naturally opened without me realizing it.

“…”

My eyes met with Siz, who was looking at me silently.

It was the kind expression I had seen almost every day since returning.

But the expression Siz was showing me now also contained a lot of worry alongside that kindness.

“Sorry… for worrying you.”

I forced my mouth open, which was difficult due to fatigue, and apologized to Siz.

I could see another emotion being added to Siz’s expression, which had contained both kindness and worry, as soon as she heard my apology.

“…I’m sorry for coming late.”

It was regret.

I don’t know why. It was largely my fault that Siz had to struggle to come all the way here.

Yet seeing Siz express regret without a single word of blame toward me.

Is it a coincidence that your image overlaps with the one who was by my side until just recently and disappeared like smoke, leaving without a single word of resentment?

No, it can’t be a coincidence.

Both you who left and you who are by my side now.

You’re all the same Siz.

The filling sense of relief made my barely opened eyes close again.

Warmth strangely fills my body as it touches the cold obsidian floor.

It’s comfortable…

And I’m happy…

Is it okay… if I rest my eyes for a bit?

“It’s okay…”

Leaning on Siz’s voice full of kindness, which seemed to read my thoughts.

I closed my eyes again.

Falling asleep in a cold, dark space couldn’t be called a good experience even as a figure of speech.

But because there was a precious person supporting my body, lying on this cold, hard obsidian floor doesn’t seem like such a bad experience.

At least it’s much better than that time when I turned to ash and disappeared as soon as I lay down…

Sleep… is coming… again.