[Author’s Opening Note: I-If you round it off, that makes fifty chapters.]
Chapter 468: O Dragon, O Dragon! We Race Toward the End of Our Longing — O Dragon, O Dragon! Part Forty-Five
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Basically, my brain got way too excited and is now close to stalling out.
Rust: "You look like a cat being held by the scruff..."
Sunraku: "I used my brain too much..."
I honestly thought I was just going to fall to my death, but Rust, who had merged with the Tactical Machine Beast again, caught me. Just like she said, I came back down to the ground hanging there like a cat.
Rust: "Can you fight?"
Sunraku: "Honestly, that’d be rough..."
Even I get tired if I spend too long fighting nonstop. Honestly, there’s no way I can do what I just did again. Maybe if Siegwurm were a punching bag, but right now the dragon has turned into one massive pain-in-the-ass time bomb.
What I need is enough mobility to dodge those lasers firing everywhere. In my current state, if I carelessly use something like Overflow, I’m definitely becoming a stain on the ground.
Saina: "Master, I have recovered the discarded weapons and the special crystal."
Sunraku: "Nice... Thanks."
Rust: "...For now, I’m going back into the fight."
Sunraku: "Don’t break it!"
I watch Suzaku—well, Rust—fly off and start thinking about what to do next.
There has to be something I can do, right? Fighting isn’t just about swinging a weapon around. There are already a stupid number of players here, so honestly, I doubt it makes much difference whether I’m fighting or not. But that’s one thing, and this is another.
Sunraku: "...........................Fweheh."
Emul: "I finally find you, and you’re making an unbelievably evil laugh..."
Sunraku: "No, no. I just remembered something I’d kind of forgotten about. But... can this actually work? I seriously have no idea what’ll happen. I don’t think it can make things any worse at this point, but... huh?"
What’s that black lizard doing? A suicide charge? No, something split off from its back... Ugh, that bastard can use physical barriers too?
Sunraku: "If I’m going to regret it either way, maybe regretting it after I try will make the bitter part a little easier to swallow..."
All right. Let’s do this. It’s probably too hard for me to stab that thing with a sword anymore, but I should still be able to catch it off guard.
Sunraku: "Saina, Emul, I need you to pass a message to our crew. Tell them—"
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...
All right. This is going to automatically expose who did it, but I was planning to do it someday anyway. The only difference is whether I do it now or later.
Now I just need to get to the coordinates... Oh, Araba-kuuun, what perfect timing... No, I’m not holding a grudge or anything. I just can’t forget that time I got distracted by you and ended up being used as a human skipping stone... Could you help me out juuuust a little...?
Crap, the Deep Throater virus is spreading... No! Eradicate it! Eradicate it!
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Noirlind: "—Yeah, I’ll admit it. I... no, I admired him. The supreme Dragon King. The brilliant, immortal gold. The ruler of the skies. To me, that form was the ultimate goal."
Noirlind, now shrunk to about the size of a large dog, says quietly.
Noirlind: "From the moment I became truly myself, I wanted to be like him..."
Color Dragons often become strange in shape as they specialize in their own functions. Noirlind continues, explaining that this is why the black dragon has a relatively normal dragon shape compared to the others.
Noirlind: "But then I grew stronger... challenged him so he would know that I existed... and realized something."
Akitsu Akane: "Realized what?"
Noirlind: "He’s already... finished......"
That sounds strange to Akitsu Akane, who tilts her head while still running. What exactly does Noirlind mean by "finished"?
Noirlind: "Something happened during his life, and that came to an ‘end’... Everything after that is what you see now. To him, even this very moment is nothing more than an extra after the ending."
Long ago, there were people who came down to this world. Something was created during their fight for survival... and it lost.
Not a loss in the sense of death or being unable to fight. It failed to protect the very foundation of its reason for existing. When everything was over, there were no "humans" left. Only the "human-like things" prepared as their successors remained... and at that point, no matter how much of the Origin Siegwurm burned away, the battle had already ended in defeat.
A defeated soldier of the Divine Era. That was the true identity of Siegwurm the Sky Ruler... no, of the Anti-Origin Incineration Bio-Unit "Siegwurm."
If Siegwurm had human emotions, maybe the dragon would have been stuck in the past and lived with regret. But Siegwurm accepted being a weapon. Before regret could even take hold, the dragon simply accepted that it was over.
Noirlind: "Do you understand how it feels to learn that the thing you admired was nothing but a spineless empty shell? Do you understand the anger of having all the work you put in brushed off with an emotionless snort!?"
That was exactly why Noirlind hated Siegwurm.
To be praised as a Dragon King while being that spineless was ridiculous. Noirlind had admired Siegwurm so deeply that when that admiration turned into hatred, it made the black dragon want to scream, "I’d still make a better Dragon King than you."
Noirlind: "But... after seeing him look that pathetic, I can hardly stand to look at him anymore."
Siegwurm had been hurt by his own power, openly said that he was about to die, and offered them another choice: kill him themselves.
Noirlind grieved over how pitiful that was. A dragon once praised as the ruler of the skies was practically choking itself while begging someone else to kill it.
Noirlind: "Then the least I can do is put him out of his misery. But... hmph. I doubt Siegwurm would be happy to die to a mere imitation."
Akitsu Akane could think of nothing to say to the black dragon’s small, bitter laugh.
Sunraku might have managed to say something clever in response. Akitsu Akane did not have that kind of skill. So there was only one thing she could do... speak honestly, straight from the heart.
Akitsu Akane: "A little while ago... I asked Sunraku-san something."
Akitsu Akane kept running while looking up to the people she admired. Sunraku, who always kept moving forward, was naturally one of the people she respected... and also someone who left her with endless questions.
Akitsu Akane: "I asked him, ‘How can you keep trying that hard? How can you work that hard without even having a goal?’"
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Sunraku: "That’s a hell of a question to throw at me out of nowhere... Also, aren’t you basically calling me reckless?"
Akitsu Akane: "Ah, um, that’s not what I meant!"
Sunraku: "Yeah, figured. I don’t expect that kind of twisted thinking from you... Let’s see. I’ve got something I’m aiming for too. Someone I admire, I guess."
Akitsu Akane: "Huh... Who?"
What kind of person could someone capable of moving like Sunraku possibly admire? A pro gamer? An athlete? Maybe even a fictional character?
But Sunraku’s answer was completely different from any of those.
Sunraku: "My future self."
Akitsu Akane: "Huh...?"
Sunraku: "No matter how much unique stuff a game has, in the end it’s absolutely equal for everyone."
That was true for old games played with buttons and controllers and for full-dive VR. Whether you were a kindergartener or an old person, pressing the button could make you throw a punch that killed a weak enemy in one hit. Whether you were a man or a woman, if you raised your level and upgraded your gear, you could defeat a Demon King capable of destroying the world.
Sunraku: "If the game can reproduce a movement, then it’s a movement a player can perform."
Sunraku adds that TAS is obviously impossible, then keeps going.
Sunraku: "Just because I can’t do something now doesn’t mean I’ll never be able to do it. I got my revenge on Lycagon (Shadow), and as much as I hate to admit it, this Lycagon’s Contusion proves that I won... Even if the me from the past couldn’t do it, the me from the future did."
Akitsu Akane: "So that’s why... your future self?"
Sunraku: "Exactly. Do you give up because you can’t do something? No. You give up because you want to quit. It’s all about motivation. As long as I still have that, I can do anything... Beyond all that effort, there’s always a future version of me that I want to become."
That said, humans are creatures who always live in the present. Sunraku blushes at his own words—though nobody can see it—before finishing with this:
Sunraku: "All I can do right now is try to be someone my past self could be proud of, right?"
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Akitsu Akane: "...I don’t think there’s one right way to look up to someone. Everyone has their own way of running and something they’re aiming for... But the feelings you had and the path you ran straight down can never be wrong!"
No matter what made you start, the road you ran should be something you could be proud of. Those were words Akitsu Akane had said long ago, back when she had first met Noirlind.
And the reason Akitsu Akane sided with Noirlind... those words were still the same as they had been that day. Just with one small addition.
Akitsu Akane: "I... can’t ignore someone who keeps trying and refuses to give up. So... let’s beat Siegwurm-san. You and me... together!"
[Author’s Closing Note: Life can’t be reset. So even if you get a bad ending, you have no choice but to keep going from there.]
[Author’s Closing Note: No matter how much drama there was, the people living there now are different from the people they once wanted to protect. Also, they kind of have more internal organs.]
[Author’s Closing Note: Sunraku’s lines get cheesy right after he clears a game. He realizes it himself and gets embarrassed all on his own.]