Fimbul deserters—two uncapped copies are enough, right? The meta is one-sided Varuna Bonito Kengo now anyway!!

Chapter 466: Dragons, O Dragons! Part Forty-Three

—I sing of my black half.

—Beyond dreams lies the Abyssal Source, the black god who stands alone through arrogance.

—There is but one throne, and there is likewise but one Law. Thus, the right half of my being is the black Law.

Those are words that tell of a god who existed in the world of beginnings, in an age even older than the Divine Era.

As if responding to those words, Psyger-0’s right half turns pitch-black. From the knight’s back, a torrent of immaterial power erupts in the shape of a wing.

But one thing must not be forgotten.

At the beginning, there were two gods.

Which means the next one to be spoken of is...

◇

Psyger-0: “—I sing of my white half.”

With the shattered golden dragon horns in view, the grotesque knight continues the chant.

Psyger-0: “Beyond dreams lies the highest heaven, the white god, a tyrant through greed.”

In complete contrast to the demonic-looking right side, the left half turns white, taking on an almost divine appearance.

Psyger-0: “The All is but one, and there is likewise but one Law. Thus, the left half of my being is the white Law.”

Black on the right, white on the left.

That is incorrect. The divine remains should be arranged white on the right and black on the left. But while the arrangement is wrong, it is no mistake. For a human body still so small and limited, the power of the Origin is simply too much to bear.

By sheer coincidence, Antinomy in its new form is extremely close to the Divine Era idea of “supernatural power detuned so humans can wield it.”

Psyger-0: “On my left and right are two mutually contradictory Laws—yet my one body shall bear them both.”

The power pouring from the greatsword planted in the ground is a pulse of the Origin.

The black and white dividing Psyger-0 down the centerline, together with the wings of the Origin, are drawn into the greatsword as though wrapping around the knight.

Psyger-0: “My right bears the Law of Erebos, my left the Law of Aether. Twin Laws reversed. With the two gods and my own body, I manifest Taiji.”

The great earth.

The greatsword draws an immense amount of “power” up from it.

Opposite-phase power flows into the greatsword, now shining in white and black. It forms a Taiji diagram of power bordering on the very source of existence, churning immense masses of “white” and “black” through their opposite colors until they spiral into a vortex.

Psyger-0: “O Origin, manifest. My body is the boundary point of Taiji, the one who shows the Law to the distant mortal world.”

The sword’s name is Paradox, Sword of Taiji. Its blade, supposedly an inanimate object, unfolds as if growing and forms a gigantic circle.

The power drawn up, poured in, and spun into a vortex is compressed within that circle.

The golden Dragon King witnesses every last part of it... and stops trying to evade.

Siegwurm: “My name is Siegwurm. An anti-Origin incineration bio-unit—the greatest masterpiece of the great Sieg Lindwurm! And so... and so! I will never flee from that!!”

Light ignites inside Siegwurm’s mouth. Psyger-0 faces the Dragon King’s resolve head-on—the resolve, passed down from the Divine Era, to confront an attack directly and smash it apart—and falters ever so slightly...

Then, as if to push the knight forward from behind, a barrage of buff spells slams into Psyger-0. A quick glance reveals Psyger-100, who apparently rounded up every support-class player she could find nearby at the last possible moment, along with those support players, all panting hard after finishing their work.

Even looking into the distant sky, that person is no longer there. The blue flame, black lightning, and deep-navy light that claimed the record have already vanished from the dawn sky.

But even so, there is no longer any fear left that could make Psyger-0 retreat.

That spell releases its power only when three activation conditions are met.

First, the complete chant, with no shortening or omission permitted.

Second, the separate Taiji Gauge granted to whoever has the sword and armor equipped must be at 50:50.

Third, the caster’s Encroachment Rate must be 100 or higher.

Only after all three conditions are met does the spell become available for use.

And now, with every condition fulfilled... the double helix that speaks of the two principles, white and black, becomes radiant light.

Psyger-0: “Let my own body conflict with itself... the myth of the Twin Laws... Zend-Avesta!!”

Siegwurm: “Breath of Bane!!”

On one side, an all-out breath that annihilates magic. On the other, a myth unleashed by driving a fist into the center of the ring-shaped blade.

Power collides with power. The spiraling wave of black and white locks head-on with the golden breath that burns the Origin.

—If this had been the Psyger-0 of the past, the deadlock would have ended in victory for the gold.

—If Siegwurm’s horns had been in perfect condition, the Dragon King’s breath would have incinerated the legacy of the Origin.

But those were only hypotheses based on the past.

As things stand, Siegwurm has now lost four horns to the ballista archer, the golden Avenger... and the rabbit who traveled into the distant past. Losing those energy generators has reduced the breath’s output, while the grotesque knight, by contrast, is strengthening the wave of the recited myth even further with human power.

A weakened Dragon King against a newly updated maximum record... there was no comparison.

Psyger-0: “Go...!!”

The gold is swallowed by the black-and-white spiral and disappears.

Then the light of the myth, twisting like a tornado, slams directly into the golden Dragon King’s head. A monochrome explosion erupts and knocks Siegwurm’s enormous body flat on its back beneath the open sky.

Psyger-0: “U...gh...”

The armor and sword that once bore a covenant of inevitable destruction now lose their power under a different restriction.

The grotesque helm, now faded to a dull gray, closes its eye, and Psyger-0 drops to one knee, barely able to remain standing.

Psyger-100: “Rei, can you fight?”

Psyger-0: “Gauge-wise... not right now...”

Psyger-100: “I see... It’s powerful, but being unable to move afterward is the problem. It doesn’t seem very practical against Lycagon.”

Psyger-0: “Sis............”

Ever since her younger sisters unlocked Lycagon’s EX Scenario, Psyger-100 has increasingly started judging everything in SLF by whether or not it is effective against Lycagon. Psyger-0 gives her older sister a wry smile.

Maybe Psyger-100 dislikes getting information from someone who has already cleared it—especially when that person is family. Lately, whenever her younger sister lets something about Lycagon slip, Psyger-100 starts sulking, so Psyger-0 has kept quiet as well. But it is getting to the point where Psyger-0 has to wonder whether some kind of help might be necessary.

The slightest relaxation.

The battle certainly isn’t over yet, but the satisfaction of having “done everything I possibly could” causes Psyger-0’s vigilance to ease ever so slightly.

The surrounding players also let their guard down just a little after seeing such a powerful attack connect.

And that single instant...

was far more than enough time for the Dragon King to make up his mind.

Siegwurm: “—Ah... I see. So this is to be my place of death.”

A “chill” rendered with Shangri-La Frontier’s full realism crawls over every player participating in the decisive-battle phase.

Siegwurm: “To subdue the Origin itself and bend it to one’s will... now that I think of it, that was the very ‘summit’ the great people of the Divine Era first cast aside... Then this should be cause for joy... I suppose.”

He speaks as calmly as a still sea, but the voice coming from inside the dust cloud seems to force every player to shut up and listen—as if a cutscene has begun.

Siegwurm: “O my dear friend, little Vysache. It seems I will be the one to go on ahead after all... But precisely because of that, I must set one final trial.”

The dust clears, revealing Siegwurm’s form... Who was it that gasped?

Siegwurm: “O humans. O humans of the First, spread far and wide. O humans of the Second, who open up this world of divine remains. This is the final trial Siegwurm sets before you.”

There is no trace left of that almost divine golden radiance. Siegwurm’s entire body has burst “from the inside,” burned so badly that there are fewer intact areas than ruined ones. The Dragon King looks as though the body itself has become golden flame, while only the voice continues to speak calmly.

Siegwurm: “What I unleash now is That Which Strikes Down Harmony: Buster Piece, using my own body as sustenance and kindling. My death is an unavoidable fate... but if you do not stop it, this land will perish.”

Two suns—no. The Dragon King’s entire sunlike body swells, and the golden “power” pouring from every part of it converges on a single point... directly in front of Siegwurm.

Siegwurm: “The magic-annihilating flame has already passed beyond my control... Are you sure? The spillover will burn you.”

The sphere of light, still only about the size of a human, flashes for an instant... and in the next moment, numerous lasers burst from it and fire indiscriminately in every direction.

One unlucky player caught by a direct hit is vaporized, while NPCs are blown away by the blast waves from explosions where the lasers strike the ground.

Siegwurm: “Hm? You...”

The confusion makes Siegwurm’s gaze waver after remaining emotionally flat until now.

The muttered word, “Why...,” is directed at...

Noirlind, who, for some reason, deliberately moved to take the attack.

Originally, I was going to call the new finishing move Kali Yuga, but then some new lore appeared, so it became Zend-Avesta.

There’s also a reason I didn’t just call it Avesta. At this point it’s pretty obvious what influenced Siegwurm’s character, huh?

As for its effects:

• The lower the target’s Encroachment Rate is compared to the caster’s, the more damage it deals; if the target’s is higher, it deals less damage.

• It hits 50 times. Its power multiplier increases every two hits, so in practice it strengthens across 25 stages.

• After activation, the Taiji Gauge drops to 0 and the caster’s Encroachment Rate rises.

The Taiji Gauge has a “Black Gauge” and a “White Gauge” extending from the left and right toward the center. Do something good in karma terms and the white side rises; do something bad and the black side rises.

It also rises if you hit either type of Origin Kin. 51:49 won’t do; I’m not letting you use it unless it’s exactly half and half. The fastest way to fill it is to repeatedly attack a total stranger until they’re half-dead, then heal them afterward.