I placed a hand on the staggering girl's shoulder.
"That's enough."
"No, I can't... Karpeng... must die... I must... protect Rubia..."
She mumbled incoherently, half out of her mind.
Tough kid.
"I'll take care of the rest. So, just stay by the priestess' side. she must be feeling lonely, being all alone."
With that, I tossed her backward.
She fell into the arms of the priestess.
The sight made me chuckle.
That's for kicking me earlier, you rascal.
Ignoring the dumbfounded look she gave me, I quietly gathered my thoughts.
I emptied my mind.
I cleared away the overwhelming thirst for revenge.
The memories of the past.
My current resolve.
The hopes for the future.
I filled myself with them.
The headache vanished.
The trembling in my body ceased.
Fear, despair, and darkness disappeared.
My mind became clear.
My senses expanded.
I observed Karpeng's body.
I could feel its movements. Its breathing.
Its heartbeat, vitality, and anger.
I could sense everything.
I took a step forward.
I felt light. So incredibly light.
A laugh bubbled up from within me.
Lighter than when I had first reached platinum.
"Heh... To think it was this simple."
GRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAA-!
The beast's roar was fiercer than before, pounding in my ears.
But it didn't scare me in the slightest.
I glanced at the sword in my hand.
It was an old sword.
The blade was bent.
The edge was dull.
Rust covered it.
A weathered sword.
Anyone who saw it would laugh out loud.
But what does it matter?
As long as I have a sword, I can fight.
As long as I have the will, I can act.
With that, I swung my sword.
In one strike, I tore off five of its claws.
I swung again.
Its bloodlust scattered completely.
I swung once more.
Its wrist was severed.
I kept swinging.
Bones were sliced through.
Its bloodlust flared up even more violently. Bones regenerated.
Veins.
Flesh.
Claws.
It all regenerated.
But I pressed on without faltering.
Like a boy walking through the dead of winter.
Just like that boy who braved the bitter cold with nothing but his bare body.
The boy who ventured into the world to protect his younger sister, fearlessly.
Like my younger self.
I moved forward and swung my sword.
Not using any special abilities.
Just ordinary swordsmanship.
The swordsmanship I had learned when I first held a sword.
The swordsmanship of an ordinary adventurer.
I remembered and reproduced it.
My essence.
The strength to protect everything I held dear.
I remembered it and recreated it.
The sword, swung in silence, severed Karpeng's wrist with a single strike.
Sludge-like liquid splattered onto the ground.
A surge of bloodlust engulfed my body.
My flesh tore.
Muscles burst.
Bones shattered.
It wasn't painful.
In fact, it made me feel more alert, and I welcomed it.
Magic surged around me, wrapping my entire body.
But it wasn't a sharp, vengeful magic.
It was a magic that shone brightly.
A magic that felt warm, like Lux.
It was the magic born from burning my remaining life force.
Everything moved me forward.
I swung the sword again.
The wrist that had just regenerated was severed once more.
I pierced and swung.
Karpeng's right arm was slashed off.
Heinzel would have been proud to see this.
With a light flick of what is left of my arm, I scattered the dense bloodlust.
"So simple."
Bloodlust erupted in all directions, some of it aimed at Heinzel and the girl.
How laughable.
I swung my worn sword and sliced through it.
I pressed on without stopping.
I slashed, pierced, and swung.
At times, I punched and deflected with my body.
At Karpeng.
I ventured deeper into the frozen winter.
Into an endless nightmare.
Into my past.
I slashed at Karpeng's legs. They regenerated.
I severed its arms. They regenerated.
I tore open its abdomen, spilling its entrails. They regenerated.
I burst its remaining left eye.
But still.
It regenerated.
The bloodlust floating in the air gathered again.
It converged, again and again.
The bloodlust, now pushed to its limit.
It slashed. It shot. It exploded.
This was the fiercest attack I'd ever faced.
But if I stopped now, those dazed fools behind me would be in danger.
I walked into the storm of death.
And once again.
I swung my sword.
My arm was severed. I didn't need it.
I was using a one-handed sword anyway.
I swung my sword again.
Karpeng's legs were crushed beyond recognition.
It didn't need to move.
As long as I could sense it, I could slash it.
I swung again.
Its abdomen split open, entrails spilling out.
Noah endured even after her stomach was pierced.
I can't afford to be outdone by her.
I swung the sword.
Karpeng's bloodlust scattered.
But still.
The bloodlust floating in the air regained form and was absorbed back into Karpeng's body.
No matter how much I slashed, it never ended.
I couldn't slash it away completely.
Of course.
It was natural that I couldn't reach it.
After all, what I truly wanted to cut wasn't Karpeng.
What I truly wanted to cut was...
The world itself.
It was only natural that I couldn't reach it.
A frail human.
A mere mortal.
A small existence.
Trying to cut the world.
How foolish and presumptuous.
I dared to stand on the ground with two legs.
I dared to look up at the sky with two eyes.
And so, I lost my legs.
I lost my eyes.
But still.
I had to keep going.
Because I still had one hand left.
Because I still had one leg left.
Because a flicker of life still burned within me.
Because I still had something to protect.
I raised my sword.
And slashed.
I remembered the freedom I had once tasted.
The sweet taste of freedom was so alluring that I pursued it.
That's why I didn't break.
I slashed..
I remembered the bitter cold.
The cold that made my bones ache awakened my slumbering mind.
It kept my body moving without rest.
And so I pressed on.
I slashed...
I remembered the pain of hunger.
But it wasn't painful.
Because I had never known fullness.
Because I didn't know what it was like to be sated.
That's why I could feed my younger sister.
That's why I could endure.
I slashed....
I remembered the despair.
I tasted the gut-wrenching despair.
I experienced the deepest abyss.
But I wanted my one and only little sister to never know that despair.
I wanted her to only chase after hope.
I wanted her to hold onto hope.
That's why.
I could smile.
I could be happy.
I could dream.
I raised my arm.
And swung it down.
Karpeng's body.
Its bloodlust.
The landscape.
The sky.
The earth.
All were scarred by my blade.
A fierce wind surged from the center of the slash.
A blizzard whirled around me.
The cold winter poured out.
The flowers withered.
The trees shook off everything they had.
The snow falling to the ground covered the world.
Life was dying.
The end of everything was approaching.
The lonely, desolate winter.
The bitter season.
It trampled over everything as it advanced.
But.
Even so.
Flowers bloomed.
White, pure flowers.
They bloomed beautifully.
They rode the wind.
They stepped on the snow.
And they bloomed.
They rooted themselves in the rough soil.
They endured, strong and resilient.
Scattering their seeds endlessly.
They promised a future generation.
They awaited the next season.
And they announced a new beginning.
They didn't chase the past.
They didn't get entangled in it.
They didn't obsess over it.
They pressed on.
Towards the future.
Towards the next day.
Towards spring.
And so.
Winter passed.
And spring bloomed.
Summer followed.
Autumn approached.
And once again, winter would rage.
But after that.
Surely.
Spring would bloom again.
With my ruined legs, I stood up.
I steadied my swaying body.
I raised my trembling arm.
And then.
I brought forth spring.
The warm spring.
The spring when I met Havlon.
The spring when I nurtured hope.
The spring when I became an adventurer.
The spring when I was gifted my sword.
The spring where Lux's laughter bloomed beautifully.
The happy spring.
I brought it forth.
"I've finally reached it... I've finally touched it..."
Like scattering cherry blossoms,
From the sword I swung,
A line was drawn across the world.
A thin line,
That soon pushed away the entire scene,
Along with the dazzling sun,
The all encompassing sun,
The symbol of the goddess Lilith,
And for a brief moment,
It slashed through this world itself.
* * * *
"Ru...chi...?"
I heard Rubia's lost and sorrowful voice.
Dragging her creaking body, she crawled toward Luchi.
"Ru...chi... Lu...chi... un...cle...!"
She continued.
Endlessly.
She crawled toward Luchi.
She reached him.
She touched the stump of his severed leg.
She touched it.
"Ah... It was you..., wasn't it? You saw... just now?"
The corner of Luchi's lips lifted into a smile.
"Why... why did you-"
"I killed Karpeng. I slashed through winter. I slashed through my past. I slashed through everything. Even now... does my sword still seem pathetic to you?"
He was missing one arm.
Both legs were gone.
His entrails were missing.
His bones were all shattered.
And yet.
What are you so proud of? Why do you keep talking?
Just stop.
Please.
"Since I took down the big one... could you let me claim victory for this?"
I nodded.
Even though I knew he couldn't see it, I had no choice but to nod.
"And one more thing... Here, take this and... shoot it towards the sky."
With his one remaining arm, he fumbled in his coat and pulled out a handful of short sticks.
"They're all broken, but they should still work. Hurry up and take them. My arm is about to fall off."
With trembling hands, I took the 'fireworks' he had told me about.
Luchi motioned for me to hurry, urging me to shoot the fireworks.
I could feel Luchi's heartbeat.
I could sense his life.
A fragile, weakening heartbeat.
A faint, flickering life.
I could feel it.
"Why... why did you protect us?"
"I didn't protect you in particular. I'm just getting sleepy now... So, hurry and... shoot them towards the sky... Before it's too late... I want to... see that scene... the one you... talked... about."
I turned the fireworks upward toward the sky.
And ignited them.
A small flame sparked at the end of the stick.
The faint flame quickly grew stronger.
With a strange sound,
It shot up into the sky.
The flame reached its peak.
And with the sound of a bomb exploding,
It bloomed.
I couldn't see any colors.
I couldn't see any bright lights.
But.
More than ever before,
It was dazzling.
And beautiful.
"And... I'll give you this too... Cherish it... It's my everything."
With that, Luchi handed me his sword.
His weathered sword.
His unimpressive sword.
And then,
With the brightest voice I had ever heard.
A joyful voice.
A radiant voice.
With a voice that had become infinitely weak.
Laughing blissfully, he said,
"The sword my little sister gave me. The sword that slashed down Karpeng and slashed through the world. This sword that once touched the world... It should be worth something. You... take...."
With the sound of the fireworks exploding,
His last words were scattered away.
I could no longer sense Luchi's heartbeat.
I couldn't hear his breathing.
Nothing.
Could be heard anymore.
I let go of the greatsword,
And held onto Luchi's sword.
I gripped the flower petal he had left behind.
And then.
I aimed upward.
At the sky he had reached.
At this world.
And shot the last fireworks.
Hoping.
That he would see them.
Wishing.
That they were beautiful.
Endlessly.