A little earlier.
The Thorn Palace soaring into the sky. Somewhere inside.
"Cough!"
Metallic, carrying Lark on his back, spat out blood as he moved forward.
The old knight's body was pierced with thorn fragments, bleeding profusely with each step.
Currently, Thorn Palace was completely overrun by Everblack's branches.
The thorns were trying to eliminate intruders not permitted by Fernandez.
Every few steps, thorn stems fell from all around.
Metallic desperately dodged the attacks, but couldn't prevent his injuries from worsening.
Eventually,
Thud!
After accumulating multiple injuries, his sturdy knees hit the ground.
"I think this is as far as I go, my lord."
Metallic, spitting out more blood, murmured in a fading voice.
"I regret not being able to be with you until the end..."
"Thank you for coming this far."
Lark, kneeling in front of Metallic, praised the old knight with a strained voice.
"I've been grateful for a long time."
"It's been an honor to serve you, my lord."
"It was my honor to serve with you, Captain."
Metallic's large frame slowly collapsed forward with a faint smile.
"For the empire, and for your future, my lord... may there be light..."
Thump...!
The old knight died, collapsing into a pool of his own blood.
Lark, with only a forearm remaining, closed Metallic's unblinking, pale eyes.
"May you also find peace in your future."
After a moment of silence over his deputy's death since their first day on the battlefield,
Lark looked towards the inner palace. The entire passage was filled with thorn vines.
Lark, having lost all limbs, had no way to get through the thorns into the interior.
But Lark stood at the entrance of the passage on his knees.
Sssk-
Sssk-
The tree branches, hissing like venomous snakes, surrounded Lark, ready to tear apart the next victim with a fierce air.
"I am Lark 'Avalanche' Everblack."
Before them, Lark remained unfazed.
"I am the commander of the 1st Division, the pilgrim of the borders, the supreme commander overseeing the imperial forces, and the legitimate successor with royal blood..."
Lark declared fiercely.
"I am the guardian of humanity!"
The thorns shuddered and halted in place.
"I must meet my siblings... the guardians."
Despite his tragic state, crawling on the ground with severed limbs and knees,
Lark roared once more with an undaunted voice.
"Will you not open the way?!"
The branches rustled, trembling, and opened a path.
Lark entered.
The path was still long and treacherous - but he had a task to fulfill.
***
Boom! Whoom!
Inside the rising Thorn Palace audience room, Fernandez and I were engaged in battle again.
Fernandez had been concentrating his magic power on creating this 'Ark'.
And once the Ark was completed, he began to exert his full strength in the fight against me.
Sssrrr!
He covered his wounded body with thorns, then slowly stood up, wearing the thorns like armor.
In his hand was a giant staff made of thorns.
"Didn't you say round 2 starts now, Ash?"
Fernandez grinned in front of me, mouth agape in shock.
"Then maybe I should start getting serious too."
"Damn it, you're not a monster, stop going into phase 2!"
The ends of the thorn stems coiled like a nest of vipers, then... a flash of magic sparkled from within.
Flash! Flash-!
Whoom!
Beams of light flew in, exploding.
It was an unbelievable power. In front of such absolute output, my shadow army, formed from my afterimages, began to retreat rapidly.
"Damn...!"
I tried to mobilize all the mages within my afterimage unit to counter Fernandez, but it was overwhelming. We were quickly swept away.
A mage is a strategic weapon comparable to a fighter jet on Earth.
And while all fighter jets are powerful, there are obviously huge disparities in combat power between generations and technologies.
Just as there is an incomparable gap between a World War fighter and a modern jet.
And the magical combat power of Fernandez and me... if we were to compare, it would be like a biplane against a stealth jet.
Even if dozens of biplanes swarmed, they wouldn't leave a scratch on a state-of-the-art stealth jet.
Such a pure and overwhelming difference in output.
Wham! Whoom!
Fernandez, the strongest magician of the empire and the last magician in countless world lines, was terrifying when he exerted his full power.
After wiping out half of my shadow army with his wildly flung magic, Fernandez spoke calmly.
"In 15 minutes, this Ark will depart for the spirit realm."
"...!"
"It's an Ark strong and safe enough not to be swept away by the temporal drift of the spirit realm. In other words, it's impossible to leave from here."
Fernandez tilted his head and smiled slyly.
"How about it, Ash? Why don't you shut it down within 15 minutes and hope no other passengers board? Wouldn't it be boring if we were the last humans left in the world?"
"Please, cut the bullshit..."
It's like he's blabbering about distributing lottery tickets for redevelopment in the spirit realm, this damn fraudster!
"Product dumping! Solicitation! False advertising! These are all blatant crimes, you know?!"
I'll achieve my dream of a home in the real world! Not in some purgatory!
I maneuvered my shadow army and charged at Fernandez.
Despite half being wiped out by Fernandez's earlier attack, the remaining half clung tightly to him again.
As the clinging afterimages were torn apart one by one with thorns, Fernandez shouted.
"Why not just admit it! Your strategy is overwhelmingly likely to fail! Wouldn't it be safer, even in the spirit realm, just as a spirit, to continue existing?! That's a safer bet, isn't it?!"
"It's like a parent nagging a child dreaming of being an artist to take a safe job as a civil servant!"
Looking back, my... well, RetroAddict's parents were both complete opposite of that, for God's sake!
"What's the point of such a 'safe defeat'!"
I spat out with a boiling voice.
"That's nothing but a preserved... a taxidermied paradise!"
"It's better than not preserving anything at all!"
Fernandez also yelled.
"How many times do you think I've recorded your futile challenges shattering to pieces! Learn to compromise, Ash! Even a safe defeat is worth grasping!"
...There was some truth in Fernandez's words.
I suddenly thought of the card games I played with gamblers.
To win at Texas Hold'em poker.
You have to look at your hand, calculate the odds, and if it seems unfavorable, you mustn't hesitate to give up your stake.
That's how you win the overall game.
In short, it's a game where 'losing well eventually leads to winning.'
Isn't life the same?
Knowing when to retreat, compromise, and bend... that's how you survive the long journey called life without breaking or shattering.
...But.
If this game, this world's last poker game.
Then, even if the hand I hold is the weakest without any strong combinations, I must still go all in.
Without retreating. Without compromising. Without bending.
Even if it means getting broken, shattered, and ultimately falling apart into pieces.
I must fight.
That is my choice as a gambler.
"Do not say a safe defeat is not a defeat! What I desire is... victory!"
I don't need a bad ending, nor a normal ending.
What I desire is the one and only true ending.
And the world thereafter - where everyone lives on!
"As long as there's a non-zero chance of winning, why would I surrender!"
"No, you should surrender! Because I'll make you!"
Our empty arguments echoed in the void.
Neither of us had any intention of yielding, and we continued our fierce battle.
Fernandez, fully risen from his throne, strode towards me, and my shadow army trying to block him was brutally swept away.
Before long, Fernandez stood right in front of me, having crossed the long carpet.
Fernandez, merged with thorns, seemed much taller than usual.
Magic lights flickered behind Fernandez, who looked down at me arrogantly with his blood-red eyes.
"All I need is your soul."
Fernandez pointed his thorn staff at me.
"Your body will die first, Ash."
Facing him, I gritted my teeth, gripping the staff in my hand.
And then, at that moment.
"Stop-!"
A hoarse shout came from the entrance of the audience chamber.
Fernandez and I, startled, turned in that direction.
And there,
"...Lark, brother?"
In a tragic state, having lost all limbs but smiling warmly at us... stood my eldest brother.
Both Fernandez and I were stunned into silence.
"I've come to fetch you, brothers."
Lark, with unchanged warm eyes, softly whispered to us.
"Let's go home together."
***
It felt unreal.
Both the appearance of Lark in such a gruesome state and the words he uttered.
Go home?
Is that the right thing to say in this thorn Ark, high above the Imperial Capital, where every citizen is on the brink of death?
But Lark continued.
"Fernandez, it's not too late to turn back."
"..."
"Let's go back. And together, let's find another way to save the world. We are both 'guardians'... and brothers, aren't we?"
"What nonsense are you talking about, brother..."
Fernandez chuckled hollowly.
"It's too late to turn back. I've come too far."
"No. There's no such thing as a point of no return."
Lark was resolute.
"There must be another way to protect the world. Let's lower the weapons we've pointed at each other and talk."
"It's too late!"
Fernandez cried out, as if spitting blood.
"Who do you think cut off your limbs, brother!"
"..."
"How many people do you think I brainwashed! Killed! Just to get here!"
Fernandez raised his staff, and dozens of thorn strands wrapped around its end, transforming it into a giant spear.
"How many worlds have perished, do you think, for me to reach this conclusion!"
I also took my eyes off Lark and glared at Fernandez.
"Stay out of this, Lark."
"..."
"I'll finish this quickly and then, I'll take you with me to escape this place...!"
Flash-!
Fernandez and I charged at each other simultaneously.
Fernandez's giant thorn spear thrust at me, and my last afterimages thrust their swords forward. Behind them, I prepared my 'trump card'...
And then,
Flash!
Lark suddenly intervened.
It was astonishing how he leaped so agilely despite having neither calves nor feet below his knees.
Startled, Fernandez and I unknowingly changed the direction of our attacks. But it was a bit too late.
Thud! Thwack...!
Lark's sides were impaled by Fernandez's thorn spear and my afterimages' swords.
"Brother...?!"
"Brother?! What is this..."
Amidst our shock, Lark, with only his forearms remaining, grabbed the back of our necks and -
Whoosh!
Embraced us both at once.
Even as he spat out blood, he managed a sly smile.
"It's a hug of brotherhood, you rascals...!"
He no longer had his marble-like strong arms, nor the strength to wrap around our waists.
But neither Fernandez nor I could do anything but accept his embrace.