Hello I'm back, thy leg is healed but I don't have molars anymore.
===BREAK===
The sky, blanketed by volcanic ash, split open.
The opening of heaven.
That was the only way to describe the sight now unfolding above the Ark.
["A-Aah..."]
Even though it was a sight I had seen many times before through monitors, for a moment, it felt unreal.
What could I even call that?
Fire? Flash? Halo?
Or should it be called destruction itself?
There was no answer.
Only one thing was certain: whatever had poured out when the sky opened had swept over the Ark.
"..."
A stillness followed.
An eerie, almost unnatural stillness.
Despite the cataclysm that had just rained down as if to annihilate everything, silence reigned.
Was it because it had moved faster than the speed of sound, and the noise hadn't reached yet? Or had it simply erased sound itself?
Whatever the case, one thing was clear.
Nothing remained in the path of Ankelenth's breath from the sky.
Not even the common traces of death or despair—just pure nothingness.
That was what was left in its wake.
["The Ark… the Ark...!"]
Esther trembled in shock.
["Commander—we need to find the Commander! If she was caught in that…!"]
"Calm down. Isabel isn't in the Ark right now."
["But what if she returned! What if the Commander went back to the Ark—then…!"]
Once, I thought ghost-types had no emotions.
But right now, Esther had completely lost her composure—she was in a full panic.
"Esther. Calm down."
["We have to go find the Commander! "]
"We're going back to the Ark anyway. So calm down."
Only then did Esther seem to settle down, looking up at me.
["…Really?"]
"Yes."
Once I had barely managed to calm her, I ordered Janus to withdraw his power.
If Janus stepped back from here, it would be difficult to stop the region's rulers—but there was no other way now.
Ssseusss…
As Janus withdrew, the Beast horde began advancing again, led by the regional rulers.
I wanted to preserve at least some of Janus's strength, but if I did, I wouldn't be able to withstand a clash with Ankelenth.
No—even if I gave it my all, it might not be enough.
'No… it probably won't be.'
I knew all too well how reckless it was to confront the living apocalypse known as Ankelenth.
But that didn't mean I could just stand by.
If I gave up here, everything would be over.
"Let's go."
Ankelenth's wings spread wide.
At the same time, I finished prepping the Z-74 Jetpack and was about to launch into the sky when—
["Master! Wait!"]
Esther's warning was followed by a massive etheric wave rippling above my head.
[Heheh...]
Given my current ether sensitivity, I should've sensed this level of fluctuation sooner—but the overwhelming etheric pressure from the Great Will covering the front had delayed my awareness.
"Can you suppress it?"
["…Not right now. Countless wills are watching me. They keep… calling out to me."]
So strong was the etheric veil blocking my way that even Esther couldn't suppress it…
Even if the Great Will's ether blanketed the entire front, this was clearly abnormal.
No—it was only possible if the Great Will was directly focused on me.
'That means…'
The Great Will was watching me.
A vast etheric consciousness, one revered as a god, had set its eyes on me—an individual.
"..."
The moment I realized that, I felt the etheric veil slowly tightening around me.
[Kik, kikik, kikikik, kik, kikik, kikikik, kik, kikik, kikikik──]
[Carl Marcus...]
[Come. Come. Come. Come. Come. Come. Come. Come. Come. Come. Come. Come. Come. Come. Come. Come.]
[Cursed, soul, heir.]
[Don't go. Don't go. Don't go. Don't go. Don't go. Don't go. Don't go. Don't go. Don't go. Don't go. Don't go. Don't go. Don't go. Don't go. Don't go.]
[Fulfill, your, duty...]
Why was the Great Will going so far to stop me?
I would find the answer soon enough.
["Someone's coming… someone's approaching. I have a really bad feeling."]
Just as Esther said, someone was approaching from beyond the etheric veil.
To cross that veil—woven by the Great Will—so easily, meant that the Great Will had allowed their presence.
["…Master."]
As the sudden visitor drew closer, Esther's expression stiffened.
And it was no wonder.
In this battlefield, there was only one being I knew who would be granted such permission by the Great Will.
"Brother."
Lania Marcus.
The only family I had left in this world now stood before me.
"Lania."
Though we hadn't been apart for long, the aura she carried now was starkly different.
Had she made some kind of resolution?
Or had the Great Will changed something in her?
I couldn't tell.
"…So, this is the choice you made, Brother."
A faint glimmer of tears shimmered in Lania's eyes as she looked at me.
I still didn't know what those tears meant—but I had to correct what she said.
"Not yet."
"Then what?"
"You don't call it a choice when only one path remains. I'm simply trying to earn the right to choose."
"…If that's how you feel, I respect it. But I can't let you go any further."
Ether began to swirl heavily around Lania.
[Kkigik, kkigikik, kkigikik──!]
A far more potent etheric wave than I had ever known from her.
So intense that it gave me chills—despite my own heightened etheric perception.
But I had seen this before.
'Lania of Destruction.'
The form Lania achieved in the final stages of The Defense—a being considered the strongest in the entire setting.
"If this keeps up, the Ark will be destroyed."
"That's the natural order. Everything will return as it should. And we… will finally fulfill our duty."
"I can't allow that."
"Nor can I."
Lania gave a bitter smile.
"Step aside. I don't want to fight you."
"Me neither. But that doesn't mean I can let you head to the Ark."
"You think I can stop Ankelenth?"
Her eyes widened.
Clearly shocked.
"How do you know that name?"
"Is that what matters right now?"
Lania shook her head.
"…No, it isn't. I don't know how you learned that name, but if you know about Ankelenth, then all the more reason. I can't let you go to the Ark. If you do… you'll die."
"What if that's the choice I'm willing to make?"
"Then I'll stop you—no matter what."
"Is that so."
There was no point in talking anymore.
We didn't have time left, either.
Then, there was only one outcome.
Taang!───
The Ark-34 Shotgun flew into my hand and unleashed an A-985 explosive shell.
My opponent was Lania of Destruction.
A half-measure wouldn't land a scratch.
I didn't intend to kill her, but that meant I had to fight as if I would.
[Sto—p.]
Unfortunately, my ambush was effortlessly stopped by the etheric barrier surrounding Lania.
As the A-985 shell hovered in midair, Lania looked at me with a mournful expression.
"…I had hoped this moment would never come."
She whispered as she quietly extended a hand toward me.
At once, a massive etheric wave surged toward me like it would rip me apart.
KwaKwaKwaKwaKwaKwaKwa!───
Esther screamed.
["Master!"]
Just in time, Esther threw up an etheric barrier, narrowly blocking Lania's attack.
["I bl—ock…ed… it..."]
Ether clashed against ether.
It was a battle neither could afford to lose, but the upper hand was clear.
["Ughhh...!"]
Esther's barrier crumbled easily.
But I wasn't about to just stand there.
"Janus!"
[Gigit!]
Janus once again brought his power to the front.
The true Bone Lord.
A force worthy of that name.
Shshshshk!
Hundreds of bone tendrils burst forth toward Lania.
Caught off guard, Lania hastily raised a barrier—but it wasn't enough to stop Janus.
"That power is…!"
With a voice tinged with horror, Lania watched as the bone tendrils stopped just short of her face.
I hadn't stopped them.
Her barrier had.
Kkigik, kkigikik...!
The tendrils quivered midair, desperate to push through.
But Lania's barrier began pushing them back.
Kugugugugu───!
A force of overwhelming scale.
To counter it, Janus would have to unleash everything.
'…So, it's come to this.'
If Janus went all out, we might break through.
But Lania wasn't going all out either.
She hadn't yet shown the purple flame known as the Fracture Fire.
'If we go to the end… one of us will die.'
And neither of us wanted that.
Even if we were on different paths now—we were still the only family we had in this damned world.
"I'll say it one more time. Move."
"…I can't."
Her eyes, brimming with tears, stared at me as she blocked my path.
Why?
Why did she look like that, when she was the one standing in my way?
"I'll stop you, Brother. Right here."
Lania—known as destruction to the Ark—simply said that and blocked me, as if she would never let me pass.
"..."
There were no options left.
I would have to use everything I had to force her aside.
Even if it meant possibly ending her life.
[Summoning 'Ankelenth's Judgement'!]
The spear that pronounces death to all beings materialized in my right hand.
"That's…"
Sensing its power instinctively, Lania's expression turned to stone.
I prayed she would step down—but instead, she summoned even more ether around her.
Despite being family, we now pointed weapons at each other.
Weapons that could very well end the other's life.
"..."
A hair-trigger moment—one movement and either of us could die.
Then, a disturbance occurred in the ether pulse of the Great Will.
"…Huh?"
Lania sensed it too, and instantly dispelled the etheric spear aimed at me.
And then, I saw it.
Like Lania before—someone else piercing through the veil of the Great Will.
["…Huh? Huh?"]
Recognizing their presence, Esther's expression mixed shock with joy.
It was only natural.
They were people who had once fought and lived beside Esther.
["Commander!"]
Before her cry even finished, Isabel and the Shadow Order members began appearing one by one.
Despite a few missing due to various circumstances, almost everyone in the Shadow Order was there.
"Missed me?"
Isabel arrived in an instant, walking through the air like steps, wearing her signature relaxed smile.
"…How did you get here?"
"Hmm? Woman's intuition, maybe?"
Isabel chuckled softly, turning her gaze.
"Seems like I've got the gist. Leave this to us—Carl, you need to go."
"You won't be able to handle her."
Isabel was certainly no ordinary ether adept, but Lania, empowered by destruction, was a whole different level.
Even with the Shadow Order, leaving Isabel behind would be akin to sacrificing her.
"We'll see. My thoughts are… a bit different."
As she spoke, an ether wave swelled around Isabel.
But for some reason…
That ether wave swirling around her—was strikingly similar to Lania's.
===BREAK===
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