I was defeated in Stage 50.
The final strategy failed, and the world was destroyed.
Fifteen years have passed since then.
In this ruined world, survivors are still clinging to life.
And I am still rebelling.
Against the fate of destruction that has already come...
***
"..."
While tidying up my appearance, I looked in the mirror.
Through my black hair, which has grown long over 15 years of not being properly cut, I see my still-young face.
Since inheriting the power of two dragons, I no longer age.
But in my deeply sunken, tired eyes, the undeniable passage of time can be felt.
For some reason, I now...
Look very much like my father, Traha, who is already dead.
"..."
I turned away from the mirror, full of cracks and dirty stains.
I had to attend Lilly's funeral.
***
Lilly's funeral was held simply.
For 15 years after the world's destruction, Lilly had been a great help to us despite being unable to move her legs.
She appropriately distributed our scarce resources, placed our limited manpower where it was most needed, and supplemented our lack of warmth with her fire magic.
Without her, the remnants of our World Guardian Front wouldn't have been able to carry out even our last resistance activities properly.
But Lilly, who seemed like she would endure strongly forever, fell ill recently and didn't last long after that.
"This is a good death, isn't it?"
Looking at Lilly's face laid on the frozen pile of firewood, Sid spoke indifferently.
"In a world like this, to be able to die with one's limbs intact, in the arms of those who care for you, by the warmth of a bonfire... how fortunate is that?"
"..."
Sid remained calm even in the face of his mother's death.
This wasn't bravado or pretending to be strong. Truly, Sid considered it fortunate that Lilly died this way.
This child, who grew up in a ruined world, sincerely thought so.
And in reality, dying from illness was considered a relatively intact end. Compared to the miserable deaths of other heroes who fell before...
In this world that has become like this, cremation was indeed the only funeral method that could fully preserve the peace of the deceased.
Other methods couldn't maintain the integrity of the body for various reasons.
We prepared Lilly's funeral near the entrance of the cave we were using as a hideout. We gathered what little firewood we had and sprinkled hard-to-obtain oil.
At that moment, one of the heroes keeping watch around us approached me and quietly spoke.
"Your Highness."
I turned to see a woman with indigo hair dressed as a mortician.
It was Elize, the mortician swordswoman, one of the few remaining skilled warriors in the current World Guardian Front.
She wore an eyepatch over her lost right eye and a magical prosthetic in place of her lost left arm, but the sword coffin on her back was the same as 15 years ago.
Inside the sword coffin were the weapons of fallen comrades preserved.
The belongings of Serenade, who was her lost master and my lover, would also be preserved in Elize's sword coffin.
"Your Highness."
While I was momentarily dazed thinking about Serenade, Elize called me again.
Even though the world has been destroyed and Everblack no longer exists as a country.
Elize still called me Your Highness. Even in a world where status no longer matters. Even though my coronation will never happen.
"If we light such a large fire, 'they' will notice us."
"..."
"Their encirclement is already closing in on us. If we light a fire now and they pinpoint our location, we'll have to abandon this hideout we've just found."
It had been only a week since the remnants of our World Guardian Front moved to this cave, escaping from 'their' pursuit.
It was a comfortable hideout found after a long time. It was a shame to give it up.
But even if we hold out longer, it's only a matter of days. After that, we'll eventually be discovered by them and have to find a new hideout.
As we've done for the past 15 years.
"Do you have a place in mind for the next hideout?"
When I asked, Elize hesitated before slowly nodding. I nodded back.
"We can't carelessly conduct Lilly's funeral. Even if we have to move our hideout earlier than planned, let's send Lilly off properly."
"...Understood."
A faint sadness clearly swirled in Elize's eyes as she stepped back.
Although she had witnessed the deaths of countless comrades and recovered their weapons, Lilly's death seemed painful for her too.
Funerals in this era were really nothing special. What use is there in praying for blessings in the afterlife in an already ruined world?
We just quietly mourn and light the fire.
'...In the past, priests would bless the afterlife, soldiers would fire salutes into the sky, and I would recite poetry.'
I suddenly recalled funerals from the world before its destruction.
Come to think of it, when was the last time I recited poetry?
After the destruction, with too many people dying and unable to hold proper funerals, I stopped reciting poems for the deceased.
As much as I cared for Lilly, I wanted to utter even a single verse, but.
"..."
Now, I couldn't even recall a decent verse properly. I kept my mouth shut.
After everyone's mourning ended, it was time to light the fire.
Sid, who had been standing quietly beside me with an emotionless expression, snapped his fingers. Magical fire ignited the firewood beneath Lilly.
We watched Lilly burn, engulfed in flames, until the very end.
She had been my comrade since 18 years ago, when I first faced the black spider legion at the forward base.
Now that Lucas and Damien, who shared those times with us, were already dead or missing.
The departure of Lilly, the last veteran hero, made my insides churn.
The fierce magical flames soon subsided, leaving only ashes where Lilly had lain.
Sid waved his hand once more, and a gust of wind scattered even those ashes, making them disappear.
This was a funeral in the age of destruction, and it was the cleanest ending among the funerals I had seen over the past 15 years.
And for good reason.
Squeak...
Squeak squeak squeak squeak.
After the destruction, this world became infested with 'them'.
Before we knew it, a horde of rats had gathered around the entrance of our hideout cave. Moving like waves, they surrounded us from afar, their blood-red eyes glinting.
It's unclear what these rat hordes eat to maintain such numbers in this ruined world, but one thing is certain: they don't leave the bodies of my heroes alone.
To avoid desecrating the deceased, cremating and scattering even the ashes is the best option. At least Lilly's death will not be defiled by those creatures.
'...A good death, huh.'
Thinking of Lilly, who had now disappeared from this world without a trace, I took a long breath.
'A good death...'
I could feel the rat horde, undulating like waves in the distance, gradually closing in.
I looked around and said.
"Let's move. To the next hideout."
Once the rat horde starts to swell, it becomes unmanageable.
But more fearsome than the rat horde is the arrival of 'what comes next'.
The rat horde is merely the eyes, nose, and ears of the real enemies. Just scouts controlled by the real enemies.
Before the real enemies arrive, we must flee.
The survivors had already packed their belongings. In fact, it was an era where there wasn't much left to pack.
We began to move, following the guidance of Elize, our pathfinder. The rat horde surrounding us scattered all at once, making way.
While still fixing their bright red gazes on us.
Trying hard to ignore the rat horde, we advanced into the frozen world where white ash fell like rain.
In the distance, a black storm was approaching.
***
On the way to the next hideout.
With our robes or cloaks pulled up to cover our heads, we walk through the endlessly falling ash.
Although it was such a fierce downpour of ash that we could barely see straight ahead, we remained calm. In fact, this level of weather was barely considered bad weather, just an ordinary day.
That's the kind of era it was.
"Do you regret it?"
Suddenly, such a question came from beside me.
I turned to see Sid. The small boy was calmly climbing the ash-covered hill where his feet sank with each step.
I asked back.
"Regret what? Holding your mother's funeral? Leaving our hideout because of it?"
"No."
Clear eyes gazed at me from between the boy's heavily covered robe.
"Fifteen years ago, on the day of the last defensive battle, the choice you made."
"..."
"In the end, that choice of yours made this world like this, didn't it? Do you... regret it?"
I was momentarily dazed.
It was because my memory of what my choice was 15 years ago was unclear.
'Back then, when we reached Stage 50, I...'
Instead of killing 'The Sleepless Lake Princess', I tried to save her.
To do that, I met the Demon King separately...
Throb!
Instead of the moment of choice that didn't come to mind clearly, memories of the terrible consequences that followed the failed strategy overwhelmed me like a tidal wave.
Crossroad burning.
The final boss, 'The Sleepless Lake Princess', finally breaking through.
And following her, an infinite... truly endless horde of monsters.
Melting walls, the soldiers on them evaporating together.
"..."
I tried to communicate with 'The Sleepless Lake Princess' until the very end.
Because I believed it was the only way of strategy that could lead to the true ending.
But the final boss merely swung her sword mercilessly.
At this time, Serenade pushed me aside and took 'The Sleepless Lake Princess's' sword instead, dying in my arms.
Lucas stood alone against the enemy commander to allow me to escape from 'The Sleepless Lake Princess'. And he continued fighting until he sent all of us out of Crossroad.
I don't know his final moments.
"..."
Torkel died fighting, guarding the front gate until the end.
Kuilan, Kellibey, Verdandi, and the Rompeller siblings maintained the resistance line until the very end with the blessing of their racial gods, but eventually collapsed before the endless wave of monsters.
Numerous soldiers and kings sacrificed themselves to buy time.DiisCoover 𝒖pdated novels on n(o)v./e/lbin(.)co𝒎
To save me.
After escorting the group of defeated soldiers I led to the outskirts of Crossroad, Evangeline turned back and rushed into Crossroad again at the last moment.
Saying she would meet an end befitting the heir of House Cross.
Saying she didn't want to leave Lucas alone.
She ran into her hometown now swarming with demons and monsters.
I don't know her final moments.
"..."
On this day, the World Guardian Front was annihilated.
And the world began its destruction.
The endless horde of monsters led by 'The Sleepless Lake Princess' burned every land, sea, and sky in this world.
We, the final remnants of the World Guardian Front, tried to organize a resistance force to fight back somehow, but they were infinite and we had lost all our elites.
Even those who managed to survive lost their lives one by one during the 15 years of life on the run that followed.
And so, here we are now.
In a world that has already been destroyed, where the earth is frozen and the sky is burning.
We are living because we cannot die.
I am wandering through this hell... searching for a non-existent move to turn the tables.
"I heard from Mom."
Sid asked me again as I remained silent.
"That day, before the final battle, there was a chance to kill that monster. But you chose dialogue over war, and as a result, the world ended up like this."
"..."
"Do you regret it?"
I felt suffocated under the boy's clear gaze.
"If you could go back to that day's choice... would you change it?"
"..."
The answer didn't come easily.
That's when it happened.
"Your Highness!"
Elize, who was leading the way at the front of our group, shouted urgently.
"Enemy!"
Thud thud thud thud...
The sound of hoofbeats rang out in the distance and quickly drew near.
All survivors hurriedly drew their weapons. Elize shouted at the top of her lungs.
"It's the Apocalypse Knights-!"
As soon as her shout rang out, cavalry with fluttering cloaks charged at us from all directions, cutting through the ash downpour.
Plague.
Famine.
War.
Death.
These enemies that have tormented us relentlessly since the destruction descended upon us like dark clouds, swinging their weapons.