[Exactly fiftyyyy!! Just as planned. (Maximum smug face.)]
[Well, that’s thanks to Blockentreed getting his part skipped. Wonder what happened to him.]
Psyger-100 & Ten-Don: "Sworvant!!"
The voices of the two Masters of the Sword overlap.
Ten-Don: "Trio... 【Sworvant’s Trio: Synchronist】!!"
Psyger-100: "Septet... 【Seven Sinker】!!"
The two conductors unleash sword dances of three and seven blades. A cage of gravity and twin shadow slashes moving in sync with the Master of the Sword slam into Siegwurm.
Player: "Oh, shit! That thing looks like it’s about to blow!!"
Player: "We’re not gonna make—"
Akitsu Akane: "Not yet!!"
She refuses to give up.
Biting down on a potion bottle, glass and all, the black figure races through the air for one final charge.
Five seconds remaining.
A laser fires from the sphere of light, now swollen far past the point of no return, straight at Akitsu Akane.
Holy Radiant Knight: "【Fara Protection】!!"
Protection from a Holy Radiant Knight flies in from somewhere, catches the laser as if bending its path, and saves Akitsu Akane at the last second.
Four seconds remaining.
Onmyo Guide: "【Atlas Bind】!!"
A binding spell from an Onmyo Guide flies in from somewhere and locks down the Dragon King’s raised right arm just as he is about to smash Akitsu Akane out of the air.
Three seconds remaining.
Emilia: "I will never... let you destroy Skull Azuchi!!"
President Emilia, who had somehow gotten behind Siegwurm, slams a full-force blow into his spine and forces him upright.
Two seconds.
Siegwurm: "I’ll block you!!"
Akitsu Akane: "I’ll pierce it!!"
A defensive barrier appears, and Siegwurm swings his left arm.
But Akitsu Akane, who should have been charging without stopping, suddenly freezes in front of the barrier. Then the Dragon King’s left claw passes straight through the body it should have hit.
No. It was a false image... an illusion reflected in the Water Mirror.
One second remaining.
Akitsu Akane: "Vorpal... Ninjutsu!!"
She shouts.
For one tiny instant, she beats her wings, steps into empty space, and pushes beyond the edge of Siegwurm’s awareness for the true final strike.
Bunny Bloom 【Cherry Blossom】 shines in her clenched hand. The light scatters into flower petals, swirling like blossoms caught in a whirlwind, like the tail of a comet, spraying bright flowers behind it as the dagger drives toward a single point.
Akitsu Akane: "【Full-Bloom Flash】!!!"
Zero seconds remaining.
◇◇
Silence falls again.
The destructive light Siegwurm had created... stops expanding.
The Cherry Blossom dagger forged by the Vorpal Bunny Divine Craftsman is buried deep in Siegwurm’s reverse scale, splitting it clean in two.
Siegwurm is not dead. But the moment his reverse scale was pierced and his final trial, "Supremacy-Destroying Core: Buster Piece," was stopped... the battle was decided.
Siegwurm: "—Magnificent."
A quiet word filled with everything he felt. It was only a game, only a program. Even so, Siegwurm’s words send a shiver down Akitsu Akane’s spine, and then, as if her strings have been cut, her body begins to fall.
Siegwurm: "Humans. Dragons. You have done well to bring me down. I have burned your radiance into my eyes... People of the First, spread across the world. People of the Second, who open up this world... If it is you, then you may even stand against the coming calamity of the Origin."
Because the trigger was never pulled in that final instant, the enormous amount of energy that had swollen to its limit begins flowing back inside Siegwurm, toward his core, like blood returning through the body.
But even Siegwurm cannot contain that much excess energy while already on the edge of death.
Siegwurm: "Looking back... it has been far. It has been long... So this is where my road ends."
Siegwurm’s body begins breaking apart from the edges. No one can say a word as the Dragon King slowly disappears into golden ash...
Akitsu Akane: "U-Um!"
Siegwurm: "—Hm."
There was one person who spoke to him.
The black-clad girl, battered all over, gets back to her feet, plants them firmly on the ground, and looks up at the dying gold in the sky.
Akitsu Akane: "Um... uh..."
Akitsu Akane stammers, apparently wondering herself why she called out to him... until finally, she chooses the words she always gives to a worthy rival.
Akitsu Akane: "Um! You fought all by yourself for so, so long... You were amazing! Thank you so much! And... good work!!"
Siegwurm: "────"
—Well done.
There is no way to know what Siegwurm thought in his final moments.
But for one instant... one truly tiny instant, his dragon eye shows not the Dragon King, but "Siegwurm" himself. Then his inner eyelid blinks, and the Dragon King returns.
Siegwurm: "Listen! Time has already begun moving again in this world!! The seals placed in the Divine Era are coming undone, and the stirrings of the Origin are becoming a heartbeat!!"
All of his wings are gone now. His left arm disappears next.
Siegwurm: "You must fight! Against the waves of the Origin that defeated the great people of the Divine Era, you must show the radiance of your lives!!"
His right leg disappears. Even after collapsing to the ground, the Dragon King keeps speaking in a proud, powerful voice.
Siegwurm: "Win! Humans who live after countless ages! You have surpassed even this Siegwurm... so there is no reason for you to fear the Origin!!"
Almost his entire body is gone now. Even so, the last parts left—his chest and neck—keep speaking, because there is still one thing he has to say.
Siegwurm: "—Good luck. May victory and glory await the future humanity walks toward."
And just before he disappears, a quiet message reaches only Akitsu Akane... no, only Akitsu Akane "and the other one."
Siegwurm: "—Be proud of that name, Noirlind... It is the name of a great man... after... all..."
Noirlind: "...!"
A golden wind flows across the blue sky. Which of the two did the pain on the girl’s face belong to?
The sky where the Dragon King, ruler of the heavens, had vanished was so clear and blue... and somehow looked just a little sad.
[The long, losing battle of Siegwurm the Sky Ruler has ended.]
[The fire in the heavens has gone out. A new flame now burns within humanity.]
[Final-battle phase ended.]
[Bonus Unique Scenario "Come, Heroes - My Destiny Spans the Ages" cleared.]
[All participants acquired the title 【Dragon Hunter】.]
[All participants acquired the title 【Dragon Slay】.]
[All participants acquired the title 【Higher Than Heaven, Brighter Than Gold】.]
[Players who destroyed one of Siegwurm’s horns acquired the title 【Heavenbreaker】.]
[All participants acquired the item 【Golden Dragon Ash】.]
[Players who destroyed one of Siegwurm’s horns acquired the accessory 【Spirit Horn Afterimage】.]
[All participants acquired the item 【Red Dragon Magic Fungus】.]
[All participants acquired the item 【White Dragon Magic Fungus】.]
[All participants acquired the item 【World Truth Book: Sky Ruler】.]
[The "curse" has disappeared from players who did not meet certain conditions.]
[The "curse" has changed for players who met certain conditions.]
[World Story "Shangri-La Frontier" has advanced.]
[The Origin begins to stir.]
[As the World Story advances, the following Raid Monsters have been added.]
[Raid Monster "Red Tempered Greatwings" has appeared!]
[Raid Monster "Wandering Great Plague Blue" has appeared!]
[Raid Monster "Crushing Great Black Bounty" has appeared!]
[Raid Monster "Tormenting Great Green Bond" has appeared!]
[Raid Monster "Swelling Great Black Fiber" has appeared!]
[Raid Monster "Dividing Great White Wall" has appeared!]
[Raid Monster "Corroding Great Green Palace" has appeared!]
[The respawn count for Raid Monster "Great Red Devourer" has begun.]
[Huh? Looks like one color’s missing, doesn’t it?]