The sun was slowly setting on the horizon, painting the sky in crimson and golden hues. The last light of day seemed to fade away like a candle being snuffed out by the wind.
Arthur walked calmly down a street, carrying a few grocery bags in each hand.
"Ahh~ those two are getting more and more demanding…" he muttered with a faint smile on his lips.
"Who the hell asks for Italian food on a Monday?!"
Despite his complaints, his expression was one of genuine satisfaction. Cooking for his girls, even if it felt like a burden, was a secret pleasure to him — a different kind of joy, something that surpassed even the euphoria of flaunting his treasure or crushing his enemies.
"...Strange."
Arthur stopped in the middle of the street, raising his gaze.
He could no longer feel the curious or distracted glances on him. In fact… there was absolutely nothing.
The sound of cars had vanished, the footsteps of passersby were gone, even the birds had stopped singing. The world around him seemed swallowed by the silence of a grave.
Even the wind had disappeared.
The people who just moments ago had been walking by his side simply ceased to exist.
Arthur frowned.
"What's going on here…?"
He didn't hesitate. With a snap of his fingers, he changed.
His torso was bare, revealing his well-defined muscles. Red markings in geometric patterns spread across his skin.
Around his waist gleamed golden armor. From it flowed a scarlet cape that spread like waves, resembling a royal mantle. His legs were protected by ornate blue-and-gold greaves.
Small golden ripples began to float around him. Without wasting time, he tossed the grocery bags into one of them, storing everything inside the Gate of Babylon.
Now completely focused, Arthur closed his eyes. His senses scanned the space in search of any sign of life, but he found absolutely nothing.
It wasn't just silent — it simply didn't feel like anything alive existed around him.
Even the buildings nearby seemed unreal.
Their shapes were slightly blurred and distorted, as if fragile images projected onto a cracked television screen.
"This is definitely not the real world… but it doesn't feel like a mirrored dimension either," Arthur murmured.
The air itself felt heavy, pressing down on his shoulders.
Arthur walked slowly, guided only by his instincts. Each step echoed as if inside an infinite void.
Then, a sudden shiver ran down his neck. His spider sense reacted before his mind processed it, and Arthur leapt back almost automatically. The ground where he had just stood was torn apart by a colossal claw, leaving behind a steaming crater of shattered concrete.
He opened his eyes at last.
Before him, a colossal being emerged from some kind of spatial distortion. A monstrously large draconic entity.
It had flaming black wings.
Crimson eyes, burning with hatred and fury.
Its neck was covered with cracked metal plating.
Its reptilian body was clad in dark scales that gleamed like obsidian.
The dark aura emanating from it was suffocating. Each breath of the monster made the air itself tremble.
Arthur narrowed his eyes.
"...Why the hell is something that looks so much like Deathwing appearing here?" he muttered, already preparing for battle.
The monster roared.
"ROOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAR!!!"
Its roar made even the surrounding buildings tremble.
Arthur barely had time to react before the creature brought down another claw, each finger the size of a car. Arthur moved with a fluid spin, dodging the strike with ease.
"If it's not the real one, then it's a copy."
Arthur raised his hand, and instantly, dozens of golden portals opened behind him, spitting out all kinds of weapons, each one aimed at the monstrosity before him.
"Doesn't matter if you're real or just a copy."
His ruby-red eyes gleamed as a smile spread across his lips.
"—I'll crush you all the same."
The weapons fired like a swarm, slicing through the air at incredible speed.
Spears, swords, axes, and prototypes of noble phantasms were launched from the Gate of Babylon in unison, forming a storm of destruction against the colossal monster.
With a beat of its wings, the black dragon raised a wall of flames before itself.
The weapons collided against the fiery barrier, some melting instantly while others exploded on impact.
Arthur's eyes narrowed, though a smile remained on his face.
"So this won't be that simple, huh?"
The monster roared again and lunged at Arthur.
Its claw descended like a falling mountain, tearing the street apart in a single strike.
Arthur leapt at the last moment, his spider sense guiding him.
His body bent in impossible ways, every muscle working in harmony to dodge what would have been certain death for an ordinary human. He spun in the air, firing webs that latched onto two distorted buildings. With a mighty pull, he altered his trajectory like a human missile, crashing down directly onto the monster's head.
A massive golden portal opened above the creature's skull as blades began to emerge, raining down upon it moments later.
The blades pierced the dragon's black flesh, carving deep wounds.
Where the weapons struck, scales shattered and molten blood gushed forth, setting the ground ablaze.
The monster howled in agony, but instead of retreating, it spun around in a charge.
Its tail, as thick as a building, swept through the air toward Arthur.
Arthur crossed his arms in guard to defend himself.
The impact flung him dozens of meters away, smashing him through a concrete wall. Yet he landed with a smooth spin, kneeling on the ground, his gaze glowing like that of a predator.
A thin trickle of blood slid from his lips.
"You're tough…" Arthur took a deep breath, shifting his stance — fluid and unpredictable, like water in motion.
The dragon struck again, but this time Arthur didn't just dodge. He moved with speed and precision, instinctively adjusting to the monster's attack pattern.
No matter how relentlessly the creature attacked, not a single strike ever landed.
"You're pathetic, you brainless beast."
From a golden portal, Arthur drew a massive crimson spear — a prototype of what would one day become the legendary Gáe Bolg — and hurled it with superhuman force.
The spear pierced the monster's wing, tearing through flesh and bone.
The creature shrieked in agony, its left wing shredded.
Arthur immediately pressed forward.
Leaping at high speed, he soared over the dragon.
With a twist, he fired webs at the monster's head, yanking it violently downward. The asphalt cracked as the colossal beast was slammed into the ground.
Arthur landed atop its skull.
He raised his hand, and dozens of portals opened around him, each aiming a weapon directly at the dragon's head.
"Let's see if you can handle this."
The weapons fired all at once, unleashing a deadly storm upon the creature.
But it wasn't enough.
From the wreckage, the dragon's shadow rose once again. Its scales were shattered, its flesh torn apart, but its crimson eyes burned brighter than ever — brimming with pure hatred.
Arthur raised an eyebrow.
"So you actually withstood that?"
The dragon opened its mouth, and a black sphere of energy began to form in its throat, compressing until it became a dark orb on the verge of exploding.
Arthur smirked at the sight.
The dragon roared and unleashed its black blast, a beam of destruction capable of wiping out an entire city.
A complex magic circle formed before him, conjuring a barrier in his path.
The dark energy clashed against the shield, unleashing a shockwave that split the ground apart.
As soon as the dragon's breath subsided, the barrier dissipated, and Arthur charged forward once again.
In an instant, he was before the dragon's forehead.
"Whirlwind Water Stream: Roaring Aura Sky Ripping Fist."
Arthur struck the creature's skull directly. The shockwave was so powerful that the colossal body was hurled hundreds of meters away, smashing through several buildings before crashing to the ground in an explosion that fractured the entire illusory city.
The few remaining scales on its body were obliterated, fragments of broken bone tearing through its flesh and becoming fully exposed.
Before Arthur could react, the enraged beast rose once more. Its black wings were shredded, its armor of scales destroyed, molten blood gushed from its monstrous body.
Yet its eyes still burned with absolute fury.
"ROOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAR!!!"
The roar pierced the very space around them.
Arthur exhaled slowly.
"You really are persistent, beast… But it's time to end this."
The dragon charged, spewing black flames that melted everything in their path.
Arthur ignored the infernal threat, spread his arms, and a golden portal opened behind him, unleashing radiant chains.
The chains shot forth like golden serpents, cutting through the inferno and binding the monster's body.
The dragon howled, thrashing violently, but the more it resisted, the tighter the chains constricted. They bound its wings, its limbs, its neck.
Arthur advanced calmly toward the beast.
Deathwing pulled against the chains, its muscles straining, the ground cracking beneath it.
But Arthur simply raised his hand.
And then, before him, a golden portal larger than any before opened.
From within, a strange sword emerged.
Its shape was unnatural, not fitting what one would normally classify as a sword.
It was something that had been born before the very concept of what the world calls a "sword" came into existence. Thus, it could not truly be called a sword, nor did it resemble any known blade.
Though it had a hilt, a guard, and the length of a longsword, the section that should have held a blade deviated from any sharp weapon's design.
The so-called "blade" and tip were twisted in a spiral, opaque and drill-like. It took the form of a cylindrical pillar composed of three independently rotating segments engraved with crimson letters, each turning slowly in alternating directions — the middle segment clockwise, the upper and lower counterclockwise.
Its three sections represented, respectively, the heavens, the earth, and the underworld. Together they embodied the very way of existence, each spinning against the other.
The "cosmos" was therefore represented by the union of these three.
Together, they symbolized the universe itself.
This was the Sword of Rupture.
EA.
The moment Arthur grasped it, the dragon froze, as if even its rage had been subdued by a primal fear of the weapon.
Arthur smiled as he looked at EA.
"You must be in a foul mood from being woken up so suddenly..."
"But I'll have to ask you to join me in finishing this little feast," Arthur said with a grin, glancing at EA.
He then looked at the dragon, slowly raising EA toward the sky.
"Let's show this winged lizard your true power."
A crimson whirlwind of energy rose above EA, forming intricate branches of magical circuitry as the segments of EA began spinning faster and faster.
"The elements converge and solidify to give birth to the star where creation intertwines."
"And in death… you will bow before it."
Arthur aimed EA at the chained dragon, his smile widening as he shouted:
"—ENUMA ELISH!!!"
The sword unleashed a torrent of crimson energy that seemed to devour everything in its path. Deathwing, bound by the chains, let out one final desperate roar before being torn apart, its body dissolving under the overwhelming power of the attack.
When the light finally faded, Arthur stood still, EA aimed at where the dragon had once been.
Arthur took a deep breath, resting EA on his shoulder as he gazed upward in contemplation.
"At last, silence."
(End of Chapter)
"Hmph. If you really want to be useful, then entertain me, try to throw those pathetic power stones at me. Let's see if even your insolence can amuse a king."
Dude, I love you guys, this is the first time we've surpassed 300 PS, and besides that, we came in third place in popularity and collect. I love you my little mogrels.