Chapter 73 : Face To Face

After I was incapacitated, the underground insects turned their target toward the other three.

Screeech!

“Watch out!”

As another attack came toward Lenis, Elfin threw herself forward, grabbing her and rolling out of the way.

It seemed the underground insects needed time to unleash an attack on the same level as the one that hit me—this one was much weaker than before. Still, it was strong enough to take the lives of the three.

“Aaargh!”

A massive dark spear grazed Elfin’s ankle, and she let out a pained groan.

Under normal circumstances, her ankle would’ve been severed completely, but fortunately, the power of light I had imbued earlier still lingered in her limbs.

Her ankle didn’t get blown off—it just ended up badly injured.

“Elfin! Are you okay?!”

“I-I’m fine… ugh!”

Having thrown herself to save Lenis, Elfin hadn’t been able to protect herself.

She staggered in pain and collapsed.

At this rate, we were running out of time.

I, barely able to breathe, gasped and called out to Ravi.

“Huff… huff… cough… Ravi, can you hear me?”

“I hear you… I hear you, Alvis! Please don’t die…”

Ravi trembled as she wept, seeing me on the verge of death.

“Ravi… help me… up there… ghk!… to that woman above…”

“Woman…? Ah… who is that…”

“No time… hurry…!”

“Y-Yes!”

Ravi, holding my bloodied body, leapt upward with tears streaming down her cheeks.

If we stayed here, all of us would die.

So even the slimmest chance at survival had to be seized.

As Ravi jumped toward the woman bound in chains, the underground insects shrieked.

“Kill them! Who knows what’ll happen if they make contact!”

“Skewer them both at once!”

Another massive dark spear shot toward us, and from the ground, Elfin and Lenis shouted in alarm.

“Alvis! Ravi!”

“Both of you, dodge! You’ll die!”

“Ugh…”

Knowing she couldn’t dodge in mid-air, Ravi prepared herself to die, using both arms to lift me upward.

She couldn’t defend herself at all—but thanks to her, I was able to reach the woman bound in chains.

‘Please… let this work… Anything at all!’

Without this last sliver of hope, there was no way out of this place.

I silently wished to find some kind of solution as I reached out and touched the tip of the chained woman’s foot.

And the moment my fingers made contact with her toes—I went blind.

I was in a completely empty space.

Ravi, Elfin, Lenis, the thick darkness that had surrounded us, and the underground insects were nowhere to be seen. Just an empty void.

The side of my torso, which had been half blown off by the dark spear launched by the underground insects, was somehow back to normal. I felt no pain either.

But I didn’t feel like I had escaped.

“Where is this…? Where did everyone go?”

『At last, my voice has reached you.』

“!”

A clear, serene voice echoed through the entire space, but there was no one in sight.

Still, I instinctively knew whose voice it was.

“Is this… the woman who was chained? No… Are you the goddess Lunea?”

『Goddess… Mortals once called me that. But having lost nearly all my power and fallen to the earth, I can no longer claim that title in the same way. However, it is true that I once bore the name Lunea.』

“Then… were you really bound in that dark place, trapped by those underground insects? A goddess?”

『Shamefully, yes. I was betrayed by those who were once my priests, believers, and followers. I became nothing more than a tool to empower them—drained of my strength and exploited as they pleased for thousands of years. Before my power completely disappeared, I used what little remained to secretly send out calls for help to wherever I could reach.』

“You… called for help?”

『My plea took root in many worlds, each in its own form. In your world… it seems to have manifested as something called books and games.』

“…! Then you made those?!”

『That’s not quite accurate. I only ensured that my voice—my plea—could influence the worlds it reached. The actual creation was up to the people in each of those worlds. Still, the result was no doubt influenced by me.』

It felt like I had just asked, “So you’re the one who made that trash game?”, and she answered with a calm, “Not exactly.”

『I don’t know exactly what you saw there. But what you witnessed were the inevitable conclusions of many possible fates that could unfold in this world. They were the results that would have come to pass had nothing changed.』

“In other words, they were the outcomes if the underground insects’ plan wasn’t stopped?”

『Exactly.』

“Then why not just rely on this world’s holy warriors? Why come to me for help?”

『After my fall, the so-called ‘holy warriors’ in this world became nothing more than illusions. The betrayers and usurpers who stole my power created them to maintain the illusion that all was well. They’re just puppets, pawns on a board. The ‘holy warriors’ known to the world today… cannot stop their plan. No, they won’t stop it.』

What the hell?

Bryden just… stood by and watched?

『He is a man more concerned with honor, reputation, and how others perceive him than with his own thoughts or convictions. While not directly aligned with the usurpers, he moves as they wish in order to protect his image and status. Everything you’ve experienced indirectly was a way for you to see the world from his perspective—how things unfold from his position.』

“……”

Thinking about it just made me feel absurd.

Holy Warrior Bryden NX was a game with a storyline so incomprehensible that players had no room to change the course of events.

You simply followed a predetermined, idiotic railroad track.

That’s why it got so much hate.

There were even parts where defeated heroines from previous light novel games were depicted not being comforted, but instead cornered further by the story.

And in scenes where it felt like you could make a different choice, the game forced you to fight and kill them without offering any alternatives.

But now they were saying that wasn’t because it was just a trash game—but because the protagonist, Bryden, was the real problem?

Hard to believe, but when I remembered how he cluelessly ruined his relationship with Ravi back in the Carat Dutchy with some careless, insensitive comment, maybe it wasn’t entirely baseless either.

『That’s why someone was needed to change the situation. Not someone from this corrupted world, overrun by traitors and usurpers—but someone who knew this world well. Someone who loved this world and its people deeply. Someone who, no matter how angry or frustrated, never looked away—never gave up on us. Someone who could become the lifeline of this world… and my last hope.』

“And that someone is… me?”

『Many across countless worlds heard my plea in different forms. But all of them gave up—faced with unbreakable walls, fruitless efforts, and various frustrations. Only one person… only you never gave up on our world.』

Well, yeah.

You make a game that crappy, of course people rage-quit.

I just stubbornly kept going, hoping maybe things would turn around.

『And so, your souls were exchanged. The original Alvis of this world now lives in your world, in your original body. Just as you now live here in his.』

…Now that I think about it, that pisses me off.

He probably gets to live a comfy, normal life while I’m stuck suffering through all this crap.

Still… I guess getting to live alongside girls like Ravi, Elfin, and Lenis—something impossible back there—might make it worth it?

But that wasn’t the real issue right now.

“I have a lot of questions, but none of them matter right now. I’m literally about to die. I got kidnapped straight into the underground insects’ base with no way out. I heard your voice and made contact, but now I don’t even know what I’m supposed to do here. Where even is this place? Where are the others? The insects? How do I escape?”

『Savior from another world… no, Alvis. The power you possess is a fragment of mine, from when I was still a goddess. Even the traitors couldn’t steal all of it at once. Instead, they extended their lives using my power, then corrupted it over time and made it their own.』

“What are you getting at?”

『The power they couldn’t corrupt, they temporarily lent to fake Holy Warriors—using them to justify war, extermination, and suppression. Those warriors harmed others, tainting the power in the process. The corrupted energy was then reabsorbed, and the remnants reinserted into my bound body… over and over.』

“So what’s your point?”

『When they returned the leftover power taken from former Holy Warriors, I used all of it to summon your soul and grant you that power. The traitors never realized. After that, I became an empty shell, powerless and trapped. But you used that power righteously, and now the strength you hold is far purer and stronger than what they wield.』

“Then I just fight, right?”

『…No. Unfortunately, they’ve stolen too much of my power. You can’t fight them all at once. But I can use my strength to open a portal for you to escape this place. The problem is… I only have enough power to let three people through at once. Alvis, what will you do?』

What kind of question is that?

I didn’t even need to think about it.

“Send Ravi, Elfin, and Lenis first. Just make sure those three can escape safely.”

I couldn’t see anything, but somehow, I could feel the goddess smiling.

『…As I thought, your soul is truly noble and pure.』

The empty space vanished, and I returned to the moment right as the dark spear flew toward Ravi’s heart.

FLASH!

A brilliant light filled the entire cathedral.