章節 65: 60th Move | A Date Which will Live in Infamy

AN: Just a heads up, the first half of this chapter gets really technical.

A lot of Xeelee Sequence inspiration.

Also, if you think this story has a happy ending, then you haven't been paying attention.

I just know that this chapter will be controversial, just like the crapstorm that is the 9th Move and the 57th Move. But I find such things necessary, as despite being a Perfect Homunculus, Scientia is far from perfect.

Longest chapter: 13K words.

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Early Morning.

Knowing that I cannot teleport to Shizue's last known location, I excused myself from the room and contacted Diablo, shifting into a set of white lab coats as I do.

"Diablo why did I just suddenly receive a message about Shizue suddenly being offline?"

I spoke with seriousness mixed with a hint of anger at the panel manifested in front of me, currently displaying the face of Diablo twisted in discomfort. Despite how much he's trying to hide it, I can tell by the sweat on his forehead that he too is panicking.

"Um, my Lady, I can assure you that everything is under control—"

"Diablo." I silenced him before he could make another excuse, "tell me the truth about why Shizue just dropped offline."

The Demon looked around, as if thinking of excuses, he opened his mouth to speak before I stopped it with a glare, emphasizing, "do not lie to me."

His eyes widen when he felt the aura I radiated through our bond as namer and named. I quickly deactivated the [Demon Lord Aura] I unleashed subconsciously, no need to worry Arcueid even more.

"A thousand apologies, Lady Scientia, I failed you. Everything was going to plan until the Insectar Razul showed up. Miss Shizue directed Stalker Team Carbon to acquire her remaining students while she try and stall for time. After Stalker Carbon acquired all the students, he went to contact Miss Shizue, only to discover some kind of Barrier had been erected around the City of Lura, something that does not allow information in or out. Later when Ranger Tungsten fired a Hypersonic Tracer Round in it and discovered the moment that the round moved within 3 millimeters of the barrier, a portal open up and the bullet gets teleported to the other side of the city—"

As Diablo spoke, I Doorway myself to his position on a large hill a few hundred meters outside of the city overlooking it. My brow furrowed at the sight of Lura being encased in a massive pitch-black dome that doesn't even reflect the Moonlight.

It's like looking at a cosmic void.

"A pocket participatory universe?" [Theoretical Physics] and [Quantum Physics] instantly recognized it for what it is. I can feel the tiniest hint of fear radiate from those two specialties, both of them feeling especially threatened that someone else had been able to recreate what only up until now they had the monopoly on.

This... this is an altered version of that cage that trapped Veldora for 300 years, I had a frown on my face as I continue to dissect the dome with my specialties aiding me.

My face paled at the thought of another variable inside this already complicated war, the back of my neck felt as if it was encased in ice at the prospect of someone as powerful as Chronoa joining the war on the enemy's side.

Before I knew it, Diablo was kneeling on the ground with his head facing down in respect, "my Lady, your knowledge exceeds my own, and even when I've read all of your books, I still do not understand everything you wrote. If I may ask, what is a pocket participatory universe?"

Taking a deep breath to calm down, I started recalling my past dabbles with such a concept and the fact that it brought more issues than solutions to the table. Suppressing a shudder, I thought of a way to explain what a participatory universe is while [Inspired Inventor] got to work on coming up with a solution to break the sealed-off universe.

"A participatory universe is something I theorized to be responsible for the creation of the multiverse during one early attempt at creating a Multiversal Theory of Everything. Within this pocket universe, everything— every atom, every molecule, every subatomic particle— is a wave, otherwise known as a superposition."

I had some really wacky theories back then, like, I first thought spirits were made out of Dark Matter, only that it couldn't have been true since Dark Matter doesn't interact with light or matter.

"Now, this pocket participatory universe exists in what's known as a Phase Space— where all possible states of a system are presented including all possible values of position and momentum. In the same sense as asking how many decimals are there between 1 and 2, the Phase Space creates an uncountably infinite number of configurations, with each of these configurations being a variation of the pocket universe in its own right, existing simultaneously and within each other.

The key ingredient to any participatory universe is that there must be at least one observer inside, otherwise, it'll be just another Schroedinger's Cat."

Wait, does he even know what Schroedinger's Cat is? Did I even write it down inside the books I wrote?

Seeing that I've somehow managed to get Diablo to do the blank eyes commonly associated with 'you lost me', I quickly thought of a better metaphor for him to digest, "Think of it like this: if a Many Worlds multiverse were like marbles spread out on a sheet of paper, a participatory universe is a single stack of marbles each on top of the other going up to infinity."

It was a concept created by a 20th-century physicist back in my old world.

After explaining it to him, I felt much calmer, like a teacher who was teaching actually competent students. My eyes narrowed in awareness, "did you purposefully ask me that question so I could calm down?"

Hesitantly, Diablo replied, "yes, my Lady, I thought that it would be best if you had a clear mind while thinking of a solution... and even anxiety can get the best of us."

"I... See." My shoulders relaxed.

Bits of the lab coat split off from their main body and formed a Visualization Port for me, a miniature version of the Imaginary Space from the Citadel.

With a single swipe of my right hand, the Port projected a hologram of the black sphere that currently encompassed Lura. Part of my lab coat turned itself into a harmless laser pointer and aimed it toward the black dome.

Playing around with the hologram, I noticed Diablo looked on in awe at the sheer ease with which I commanded the hologram, like how a young kid would be in awe at how fast their parents could type, the sheer speed with which their fingers moved at and the lines of words growing like bamboo stocks after heavy rain, the panels and holograms danced around my fingertips.

I played around with different possible solutions, trying to see if I could use Magic as a shortcut compared to building something, "now, to get out of that Phase Space, you'll need to create a tear in the fabric...of...space-time..."

I trailed off as I stared at the black dome. Only now did it suddenly occur to me the eerie similarity between it and the actual System.

Am I living inside a participatory universe?

Placing that on the back burner, with the aid of [Quantum Mechanics], I managed to devise a way to pop that bubble.

This method calls for launching a gravitational singularity towards that sphere.

As it turns out, superposition and wave functions exist as something more than mathematical equations; they are actual physical existences that one can manipulate if they have the know-how, otherwise, things like Quantum Variation Fields and Static Matter would be impossible. Extreme objects like black holes serve as a termination point for these wave functions, as all possible world lines end at the surface of those event horizons.

Normally, I wouldn't need to use a black hole, since I'll just need to become an observer to collapse those wave functions, but, there's a layer of folded space-time around the City that's letting only the visual wavelength of light in but nothing out.

I felt another chill run down my back, whoever made this had somehow created programmable spacetime and used it to maintain this participatory universe.

Chronoa, IF she is responsible for this, must have an Ultimate Skill specialized in the control of space-time since it rivals the very best of my technology.

Now, to smooth out that topological manifold, I'll launch a black hole towards it.

But here comes the issue; I can't just teleport a singularity in and out even if I use Doormaker. The same property which allows them to pierce that black dome is also what's preventing them from being moved: they are holes in the geodesic structure of space-time, quite literally the true anchors of the universe, unmovable, untouchable by neither energy, matter, or magicule since even higher spatial dimensions break down inside the event horizon. The only method I've devised of moving it is through gravity.

"My Lady?" Diablo's words yanked me out of my trance-like state. Realizing I'd been staring at an unchanging hologram for the better part of a minute, I cleared my throat.

"There is a way to free her." I thumbed my lips in deep thought. Turning to face Diablo, "What's your strongest ability that can manipulate gravity?"

"I can cast [Gravity Collapse], my Lady."

My mind got to work, gears turning as [Magic] recognized that name. [Gravity Collapse] describes a type of nuclear magic that increases the local gravitational constant to trillions of times that of normal, essentially recreating an environment not too dissimilar to the pressure baryonic matter experiences in the core of a collapsing star. After the magic is cast, the singularity then evaporates in a fiery explosion once gravity returns to normal.

It is a very powerful spell and is deemed to be the most powerful nuclear magic out there.

Sending a message through the Noosphere, a massive portal to my own Pocket Dimension opened up next to me, and from it, a Starbreaker Engine poked out.

It looked like the tip of a miner's drill and was made from a semi-translucent crystal-like material. The entire width of the portal is about the size of a three-story building.

There are many variants of Starbreakers.

Most of the time, I set the Engine to use negative mass and have it orbit around a star, sucking out colossal amounts of stellar matter like the Universe's most advanced drinking straw.

(AN: when you push on a negative mass particle, the particle moves towards you. This means that hypothetically, a beam of negative mass punching into a star would result in mass getting sucked up proportional to how many atoms the negative mass beam hits)

The Primordial Demon had to lift his head up in order to fully encompass it inside his view, drinking in its form, his face freezing in awe at the sheer intricacy of my machine as I stood just in front of it.

"Gravity is the weakest of the fundamental forces since gravitons can freely cross different sheets of spacetime like a human moving from one floor tile to the next. Using the fact that acceleration creates gravity, the synchrotron accelerator inside this Starbreaker Engine can generate such strong coherent gravitational wave beams when fired that [Space-time Engineering] describes them as being able to create lightspeed 'wounds' in space-time, capable of punching through anything."

A relatively simple principle, yet using this explanation is doing the Starbreaker a serious disservice on the level of calling quantum mechanics 'spooky actions'.

"They are some of the most versatile tools in my possession for macro-manipulation, and just one of them is able to push a singularity along like a piston." Diablo's eyes sparkled as he realized what I was asking for, and his mouth formed into a confident smirk, "I'm going to need you to create a photon-sized black hole, think you can do that and maintain it for..." doing some back of the napkin math here, "about 10 seconds?"

He had an eager expression on his face, like how a student would feel when they are about to impress a highly respected teacher. "Of course, I can. As a Primordial Demon, it would shame me to no end if I could not do something as simple as making a black hole!"

I mean, he's technically not wrong since all you need to make a black hole is to compress mass down to their Schwarzschild radius, a classic case of 'if brute force isn't working, you're not using enough of it'.

Using [Mekhane], I transformed parts of my Mathematics into a stick about the length of my forearm split off into two pongs on one end— an advanced handheld topology compass that can detect spatial anomalies as small as 0.1 attometers, or 10 quintillionths of a meter, something smaller than even protons; perfect for detecting ultra-small black holes.

With a single thought, the portal to my Pocket Dimension— and subsequently the Starbreaker itself— turned towards the dome. Using [Fundamental Force Manipulation], I generated a 30-centimeter wide high radiation blocking sphere 3 meters out from where the tip is facing.

I pointed to it, "cast your [Gravity Collapse] within that sphere, it can be anywhere within it, just that it IS inside that sphere."

My tone of voice and the fact that I said it twice emphasized to Diablo just how important that step is.

"Remember, it has to be photon-sized, no more, no less."

"Of course, Lady Scientia, I will not fail in this task you gave me." He assured me. Raising a hand, he cast the spell.

A monstrous amount of magicules was released from Diablo and started to condense inside the sphere, forming a tiny pinprick of white light.

The wind picked up, all of it blowing towards the singularity.

Instantly, 12 of my internal sensors went haywire. A pair of holographic heads-up displays projected itself around my eyes, currently showing me that I'm near ground zero of a gravitational anomaly.

Other than the wind, the nearby area remains mostly unaffected as electromagnetic shielding is proving its use, trapping the heat within the sphere and ionizing the gas inside into plasma.

Sporadically, bits of the nearby vegetation would get swept up by the wind and get pulled into the sphere, being vaporized the moment that the plant life crosses that threshold.

Due to the simple fact that any matter if compressed enough starts to grow hot, there should exist a star about 12 nanometers across that is slowly shrinking due to the sheer strength of gravity within that region of space.

It won't be fast enough.

Doing some quick math, you'll need around 33,665,883 metric tons of raw matter compressed down to a size of 0.5 x 10^-15 meters to create a photon-sized black hole.

Before I could inform Diablo of this fact, I got an alert from my Topology compass saying that a singularity had been achieved.

Looking up, I saw how the original pinprick of light—the black hole was covered by a mantle of plasma heated via Hawking Radiation, creating a miniature Quasi-star inside the shielding.

The hell? I stared down at the info given to me by the measurement tool. That can't be right, a black hole with a mass of 33+ million metric tons should have a temperature of over 3 trillion kelvin! It's the sole reason why I emphasized Diablo to create his black hole inside that sphere of electromagnetic shielding! I would still like to have a planet habitable afterward, please!

Besides, the Black Primordial has nowhere near enough raw mass to even form...

"—!"

It was only then that it hit me— that's right, there's a reason why black holes created from [Gravity Collapse] aren't self-sustaining; they require an outside source (in this case magicules) to maintain their gravitational singularity!

I was feeling stupid for mistaking it for regular black holes, they function a lot like artificial ones in that regard.

Shit, do I even need the Starbreaker? Couldn't I just ask Diablo to— oh well, too late.

I formed a tube of hard light around where the beam should hit. This tube is to ensure that no air molecules would touch the Starbreaker beam, after all, I don't want to cause a forest fire.

'Fire, low setting,' with a single mental command through the Noosphere, I activated the Miniature Starbreaker—

*Vuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu—*

A distinct hum

*Voooooooo——*

The very tip of the drill-like crystal fired out a thin red beam no wider than the width of your thumb.

The beam cut through the air and pushed the photon-sized black hole toward the sealed-off universe. Like trying to move any massive object, while the beam already slammed into the barrier at the speed of light, it took a few seconds to get the magical black hole moving.

The fact that the beam was unaffected by the Starbreaker showed how I needed a stronger space-time defect. Such as the black hole.

*—ooooooooooooooooo—*

The beam was mostly silenced by the hard light tube, the sound mainly came from the vibrations of the tube as the black hole moved.

The Starbreaker preemptively turned itself off, and the black hole continued its travel unabated.

In the span of fewer than 10 seconds from creation to its destruction, the tiny pseudo-black hole touched the very edge of that sealed spacetime bubble and—

Shards. Thousands upon thousands of colorful shards that used to make up the dome dissolved into nothingness. Correction, each 'shard' is a slice of distorted space that's returning to how it should've been as the universe corrects itself.

My face turns into one of awe.

It would be almost beautiful if I wasn't on the clock.

The instant that the black hole evaporated, just before the fireball could expand further than a few nanometers, Doormaker teleported the resulting explosion away into deep interstellar space. It would take several years for the people on this planet to see that flash of light, if at all.

Despite a participatory universe displaying a countably infinite number of possibilities, once that quantum superposition collapses, it'll display only the one most likely to occur.

With a single half-hearted thought, the Topology compass was disassembled and returned to the Block-Form Singularity Mathematics.

From this vantage point on a hill overlooking the city, I can see that it's mostly intact with small swaths of people residing by the edge of the now-destroyed barrier, finally being given an opportunity to escape. Only the Royal Castle near the center of the city is damaged with plumes of smoke rising and at least half a dozen castle towers being cut down.

Using [Mekhane], I managed to get a closer look and saw how Shizue was backed into a corner with fucking Luminous being one of three people surrounding her.

The next thing I knew, my instinct took over and I felt an extreme sense of deja vu. I felt my body was taken back to my old life, standing in front of that door, my mind imagining all sorts of scenarios that could result in her storming into her room.

The next thing I knew, I clutched my chest as the phantom pain from Rimuru's death echoed through my body once more like the ringing of a bell, the hair on the back of my head standing on end.

No, not again.

Never. Again.

*Boom*

The ground exploded when I leaped hundreds of meters into the air, leaving a confused Diablo in the dust.

As I gained altitude, my lab coat shifted into its armor state, and the handle of Asimov popped out of a portal that traveled with me.

Pulling out the sword with two hands, I drew the sword back over my right should as if I were about to unleash a heavy overhead slash.

Putting aside my disliking of magic, Asimov glowed a deep dark red as magicules started pouring in. The ebony was quickly absorbed by a coat of raw magical energy.

The coat started to grow more and more, extending out from its original physical limit like saplings growing into a proper tree.

The walled city of Lura grew smaller and smaller as I rose.

When I reached the peak of my jump and started to fall, Asimov was more akin to a gigantic cross one would find on top of your local church than any real sword, what with it gaining such a thick coating of magicules that it lost most of its details already.

To an outside observer, I would look more like a falling star, glowing a menacing red as if heralding destruction.

Well... they wouldn't be wrong.

Ignoring any of my specialties' suggestions and thought of only saving Shizue. I finally swung the massive cross-like blade the moment I fell below the 800-meter threshold.

Asimov's cutting section extended outward ad infinitum, splitting the city in half like a giant laser beam of death, carving a valley through the place and melting nearby brick and mortar buildings like candles in an oven set to the highest temperature possible.

For a brief, ever so small moment right after the beam had finished cleaving, the area where it had passed through was glowing like the midday sun—

*Ka—BOOOOOOOOOO————OOOOOOOOM——————*

—It exploded. Mushroom clouds grew along the length of where the light of Asimov had touched as if it were a fallen log. Right before the clouds could grow anymore, colorful barriers materialized mere meters away from the edge of the fireball, halting its growth in its track.

Lura is one of the most important cities in the entire Western world, as such, the many S-rank mages that once lived within the Kingdom over the centuries of its existence placed down legendary seals and other protection that made it one of the hardest human cities to siege, besting even the Capital of Ruberios in certain regards.

When the mushroom cloud touched the automated barrier, it continued with the path of least resistance and traveled upward kilometers up into the air, until the influence of the barrier could no longer be felt, creating a curtain of explosion reaching above the clouds.

To me, these barriers looked more akin to colossal smoke stacks commonly found in factories, what with the top spewing out the vaporized remains of bricks, mortars, and other humans who were caught up in the ray of doom.

Floating in the air like an uncaring god, I looked at such scenes of destruction while running on an emotional high, and... [Psychology] says I'm standing on an edge.

Ignoring that troublesome specialty, focusing on the present.

With this one action, I've all but declared war on the West.

I looked down at my clenched hands, the grip I had on Asimov was harder than iron. I just killed a little over 40000 people without batting a single eye...

You know, I thought it would bother me more honestly. Killing more people than most natural disasters in history? Yet I truly can't find it in myself to care for these... inse— humans.

Looking at the destruction in a clearer mind, I realized one thing was for certain:

There is no more turning back.

No. There was never any turning back.

Even if I were to ignore Shizue and let her get killed, Luminous would definitely tell King Aegir something along the line that 'the Conqueror of Flames was brainwashed by me— a Perfect Homunculus— into an assassin, and that I sent her to kill the King due to increasing hostility between Ingrassia and the Jura Tempest Republic' or something similar.

And if I hadn't let Shizue rescue her students, Ingrassia would've continued its arms race, with King Aegir furthering his agenda of militarization.

I didn't have a choice did I? No, of course not, this was bound to happen sooner or later.

I felt incredibly tired for a brief moment before my resolve solidified.

Alea Iacte Est.

[Silenced Emotion: 60%]

Instantly, all the doubts and fears I had about the future fled like sheep when they were in the presence of a wolf.

Right here? Psychohistory had given the Western Council a 99.57% chance of ganging up on the Jura Tempest Republic the moment we started losing the war against the East. Like... Japan in WWII, war was inevitable, the Western Holy Church is too widespread and I can't even suppress it since it'll be like a Middle Eastern country trying to ban Islam; it'll push people towards extremism unless I go full Orwellian surveillance state on them.

I don't know if I'm trying to rationalize it for Rimuru or my conscience.

'Diablo' reaching him through the [Soul Corridor] that exists between the named and namer, I recognize that I often don't use it since I prefer to see someone that I'm talking with.

However, this is no time for preferences.

'Yes, my Lady?'

'Go back to Tempest and contact General Rubedo, tell him to mobilize more forces, we are declaring war against the West.'

I could feel glee from the connection, 'Of course, my Lady, I shall do exactly as you say.'

With that, the Black Primordial teleported back to Tempest, and my soul felt even heavier than before, so much so that had I not been wearing the Mathematic, I probably would've collapsed.

It is time. Psychohistory's prediction is finally coming true. The World War is here, and if so then I'll need to end it as soon as I can. I snuffed out the last resistance within my mind and committed to doing what must be done.

'Activate Gunboat Diplomacy Protocol, Passcode: Z91LAB04PSNJFBW561PLHOQ4, [Activate]'

>Activation of Grand Fleet Confirmed. Estimated time to full combat-ready status in T-34 Administrative Hours.

Across the entirety of the Noosphere, a massive amount of power and resources are being diverted to the activation and outfitting of trillions of warships each more than capable of subduing a conventional Type II civilization.

With that done, I used [Mekhane] to pinpoint the exact location of Shizue's position.

Allowing gravity to take hold of me once more, I fell down to earth face down, feeling the wind blowing past me and making my hair go wild until I put a stop to that. Due to the angle from which I fell, I was in a collision course with the barrier... just as planned.

Holding Asimov firmly to the side, I started to press the tip against the shields as I fell. Sparks flew when the ebony blade scraped against some of the most powerful magical shields that humanity can create. Like a zipper being unzipped, I tore the barrier in two as I traveled down, only ending with my body crashing into the brick road that was still hot from being so close to Asimov's beam.

With such a large hole, the barrier quickly fell apart as it could no longer be sustained. Fortunately for the rest of the city, what poured out from that cut was only gas superheated to around 500 Celsius and bits of smoke here and there.

Walking in, the ground sank a little as I stepped not on solid earth, but instead on melted glass.

Boosting forward through the hellscape that reminds me so much of Corbin, the simple AI inside the Mathematic took over as I closed my eyes, trying desperately to bury that memory. The Block-Form Singularity Mathematics only stopped moving once I was within talking distance of Shizue.

"Shizue," I said as I opened my eyes.

Despite her being caught in the middle of that blast, Shizue's Siberium Chassis would've made her immune to my attack, sort of like how you'll distill salt from ocean water by boiling the water away.

Doing a quick scan of her with [Mekhane], I discovered that she's perfectly fine, just as I had predicted.

Realizing that she was in my presence, the Artificial Lich quickly kneeled before me, not caring of the fact that we were standing at ground zero in the aftermath of an explosion comparable to Hiroshima.

"Lady Scientia, I apologize for—"

I placed a hand on her shoulder, and the visor on my face retracted to show her my softened gaze, "It's alright, you messed up, but... I had a hunch that this was a trap, and it turns out that tiny part of my mind was correct." As I spoke, I turned towards a particularly rocky outcrop that somehow survived Asimov's rampage.

The outcrop faded from existence, revealing that it was nothing more than illusion magic.

I saw the trio of individuals from before; Granbell Rosso, Razul, and finally...

"Luminous Valentine." My visor reformed itself on my face. Stabbing Asimov to the ground in front of me while holding the handle in a reverse grip, I stared into the vampire's face which expressed only confidence.

"Well, looks like the Monster finally showed up."

"..." I stared at Luminous' posture that's currently oozing confidence. I'll admit, she would've looked cute if not for her being my enemy.

"Be careful my Lady! All of them are Ultimate Skill Users!" Shizue yelled out while my face morphed into one that displayed interest, "Razul has something called [Accelerator] while Granbell has [Sariel], Demon Lord Valentine has—"

I cut her off, "[Asmodeus], I know. Demon Lord Guy was the one who revealed that actually." Without turning to face her, my free hand swung to the side in a protective gesture.

A Doorway opened up behind me, directly in front of Shizue, "You will just slow me down, get to safety. Wait for my return."

I can almost hear Shizue's heart shatter. She still obeyed my order nonetheless and left through the portal.

"What? Not gonna get your subordinate to help you?" Demon Lord Luminous taunted with a smug expression that just makes you want to punch the person in the face.

If I fought here, there'd be plenty of civilian casualties.

Even as Luminous shrugged, she somehow did it with elegance every step of the way, "You're just going to rely on your pathetic technology? Not gonna use another Ultimate Skill? How arrogant are you, thinking that one Ultimate Skill vs three—"

I couldn't find it in myself to care anymore.

(AN: Play: Tsukihime -A Piece of Blue Glass Moon - Track #23 (EXTENDED))

*Boom*

Wordlessly, the half-melted ground exploded in gooey glory as I charged forward like a black arrow, my free hand stretched outward in front to grab Luminous' throat with me as I moved. A vapor cone formed around me as I pushed the vampire through the castle walls and out into the untouched city, pushing her through houses, market stalls, carts, blacksmiths, and people, forming a line of devastation as I did.

It was like looking at a runaway freight train bulldozing through a residential area.

*Boom*

By the time I stopped, Luminous was imprinted into a particularly strong city wall, and small bits of blood and wounds coated her body, "I don't need two Ultimate Skills to beat you three."

Her eyes were unfocused, her mouth hanging as though they were broken, and she was groaning out in pain, struggling to get words out of a crushed windpipe. Normal houses and buildings wouldn't have hurt a being like her, except everything in Lura is stronger due to the natural enchantment that's all over the place.

"Never once have I ever taken joy or pleasure in the act of killing. But for you three? I'm going to enjoy this," I shook my head a little bit as if pitying the vampire, the edge of my mouth curving upward, "Oh so very much."

I'm going to show them the depth of despair, which means I won't use any of my special technology. Instead, all I'll use is Asimov and the Block-Form Singularity Mathematics. I will drive home just how small they are.

Bringing up Asimov, I readied the pointy end towards her heart. Just before I was about to stab it into Luminous, I sensed Razul moving towards me with his fist ready. He shouldn't be able to even move me, so I continued my stab unabated—

*Crack*

Just as Asimov was about to pierce Luminous' skin, Razul appeared next to me and kicked me away to the sides towards a long stretch of a dirt street.

"Guh..."

Automatically readjusting my flight, the ground groaned out as I scraped against it. Left hand down, sword off to the right, like field tillers, my fingers and feet dug long lines in the earth as I slowed down.

Needless to say, I was more than a little surprised that Razul was actually able to touch my armor, much less move me; something that not even Milim has done.

And that attack... despite it appearing rather boring, it packed enough strength in such a small area to pulverize Mount Everest... but even so, it shouldn't have been able to move me! How is he able to touch me in the first place—

"—Ultimate Skill!" Of course, someone like Razul would doubtlessly have an Ultimate Skill specialized in combat, especially considering his past.

"—How dare you?!" Luminous lost her elegance as she shrieked like a devoted catholic nun stumbling upon debauchery. Her clothing automatically repairing itself, the vampire fingered the bridge of her nose in clear frustration "Of course, you are a Perfect Homunculus, after all, I should've known you do not—"

Ignoring her, I sent out a blast of dark crimson from Asimov with a single swing toward them. Appearing like a tidal wave to any observer, the dark wave collided with the duo, washing all nearby rubbles and houses away like structures made from playing cards.

Huge clouds of dust replaced what used to be houses and buildings.

"..."

A ray of light sliced through the dust cloud created by the destruction like a knife cutting through a loaf of bread.

*VUUUUUUMMMMMM—*

A loud hum. Magicules gather towards the area directly in front of where Luminous should be like moths to a flame.

"DIE, [Melt Strike]!"

Granbell burst through the dust cloud with his sword shining as bright as the sun itself. Drawing his sword back like a fencer about to stab their target, his longsword shot forward, coated in bright light, strengthened by all of his legendary power, with the intention of piercing my chest plate—

*ping*

Granbell's face froze in surprise, all of his wrinkles on full display as his eyes widened to as large as they could be when, instead of being disintegrated like I was supposed to from such an attack, all the sword did was stop at my warp-space, a quarter of an inch away from even touching the edge of my physical armor.

Capitalizing on this opportunity, my left hand curled into a fist, pulling back, I pushed it forward and smashed into Granbell's face, turning his head into chunky salsa.

There is a reason why Block-Form Singularity Mathematics is the logical endpoint of conventional defense, even after I increased its capacity by adding the peak of what's possible with Planck-scale engineering and Smart Matter.

Artificial Black Holes are in reality Lovecraftian fuzzballs made out of ultra-entangled quantum strings. Its behavior is so similar to a real singularity-based black hole that there's really no distinction between either of them beyond that in a fight, the singularity black hole would always win.

They do have a time dilation effect, but like with normal black holes, that can be mitigated through the sophisticated use of negative mass and antigravity.

Granbell fell, his head missing from his shoulders. The other two looked on in horror at the brutality of what I just did.

Oh please, don't tell me fights between other Demon Lords don't get this brutal!

My armor wasn't even touched by the blood.

In the latest iteration, the Block Form Singularity Mathematics uses Imaginary Math (basically math dealing in higher dimensions) to recreate the effect of an event horizon above the skin of the armor by tangling the quantum strings together into a fuzzball-like state. It's what gives the Mathematic its pitch-black look by red-shifting the light into oblivion. Akin to the atmosphere on a gas giant, the Mathematic entangles more strings the closer you get to the Smart Matter armor, creating a warp-space around me that grows in hardness as you go down closer to the event horizon.

This is an absolute defense that is enforced by the Cosmic Censorship Principle, a spacetime constant that states no information may escape an event horizon. The only way to pierce this is to wait until the event horizon dissipates into either a naked singularity or a bunch of untangled strings each carrying the information.

In English, it means I'm wearing a black hole as armor, and I'm 'storing' the damage I'm receiving for later inside the black hole.

The first to react was Razul.

"GRANBELL!" Razul screamed at the old man, charging forward with four funnels of wind behind his back.

Unlike the last time, I was ready. Asimov coated itself in red and black light, losing much of the blade's detail as it did.

In the span of less than a few dozen milliseconds, I readied my sword like a pitcher readies their bat against an incoming baseball.

Just as Razul got into melee range, I swung, and the tip of the ebony blade moved at speeds in excess of Mach 20.

Asimov, now coated in an aura of crimson, cuts into the insectar's exoskeleton, however, just before the edge could sink in deep enough to make a scratch, the blade— along with me— was pushed back by an overpowering force. I could barely hold onto Asimov as my body sprung along a vertical axis through the air like a ballerina.

*Crash*

I crashed through the roof of a house by the edge of the devastation, collapsing it as though it were made out of cardboard.

Time sped up by a factor of several dozen when I stopped spinning. Opening my eyes, I felt a need to vomit from the sheer disorientation of spinning 790 times within a time frame of fewer than 2 seconds.

Fuck, I was like a fucking ballerina! I need to include centrifugal force for the Inertia Dampener in the future.

Taking a moment in relative time to clear my mind, I was thankful that I smashed into a random building. Gave me a brief moment to think.

Was that reflection? I thought about it, Razul completely reflected my attack back at me like some kind of super reflection.

I... guess an Ultimate Skill could do that?

My lips thinned as I chewed on it. If only [Contessa] was here— hell, if the Ultimate Skill was here then I wouldn't even be in this mess in the first place!

Damn the System for breaking down my Ultimate Skill in a time like this!

Why must [Contessa] always fail me when I needed it the most??

Time returned to normal.

Raising a single leg, I smashed it into the ground at such a speed it generated enough inertia that the rest of my body returned to an upstanding position. Bits of broken wood flew off my body like the ammo of a catapult.

Picking up my single leg out of the hole in the ground, I started looking around, seeing the devastated Lura, many houses still intact while huge fires rage on in the distance. Razul floated up in the air with multiple colorful orbs of nuclear magic, but, where was Luminous?

Before I could try and find that annoying vampire, the orbs of nuclear magic shot out bright rays of degenerate matter. The beams slammed into me with no effect. There were a few particular rays that grazed my armor and ricocheted like a bullet, melting and igniting the area behind me where it had hit.

Holding Asimov with two hands off to the side, the sword flared up its aura, causing it once again to lose much of its detail beyond a vague sword shape.

Before the insectar could unleash his barrage once more, I slashed the blade at him as if to cut Razul down, letting a stream of purple and red lights towards him that brightened up the night sky.

Something's wrong.

Instead of dodging, Razul hovered in the same spot, motionless like a statue.

My intuition was proven correct when, instead of slaying the insectar, the beam was reflected back at me like some kind of mirror and I had just aimed a laser pointer at it.

Bursting out of the way before the stream could hit me, I grit my teeth in annoyance at the 'brick wall' in front of me, thinking of just how troublesome this is.

There has to be a limit, right? There has to be something that his Ultimate Skill can't reflect.

I used [Fundamental Force Manipulation] to drastically increase the gravity around Razul, causing him to briefly flutter like a bug in the wind before regaining control.

I smiled, so he has a limit? Then I'll just need to attack fast enough and in different ways to overpower his reflection!

And so it went, I quickly cycled through many attacks. Firstly, I used [Mekhane] and [Inspired Inventor] to turn my left gauntlet into a miniature Starbreaker, the thin red beam caused Razul much distress. As the Starbreaker beam fired, I nullified the two Nuclear forces to prevent the air from becoming fissile material.

Before he could adapt to the weapon, I changed again, this time using [Fundamental Force Manipulation] to weaken the Electromagnetic Force and turned his exoskeleton to be as brittle as a thin sheet of ice. Next, I all together nullified the Strong Force that binds his atomic nuclei. Instead of disintegrating, he somehow created... something different. Yes, while the Strong Force was gone and the Electromagnetic Force was weakened, he somehow compensated the missing Gluon (the particle that carries the Strong Nuclear Force) with something else, like using a different brand of glue.

That made me pause, so it's not Reflection? Some kind of energy manipulation? Force manipulation? Subatomic telekinesis?

"[Consecutive Melt Strike]"

*ping* *ping* *ping* *ping* *ping* *ping* *ping* *ping* *ping* *ping* *ping* *ping* *ping* *ping* *ping* *ping* *ping* *ping* *ping* *ping*

As I was thinking, something repeatedly slammed into my back at such force that it generated in its wake winds strong enough that it can only be found naturally in places like Jupiter.

I didn't even budge.

"Why won't you DIE?!"

Turning to look at the source, I saw that Granbell was somehow alive and well. He screamed at me so violently that spits went flying out. My face remained neutral, unmoved as it had been for most of the battle.

I am tempted to respond. Almost.

Asimov quickly lost most of its details as it became once again coated in crimson and purple. I did a casual full swing in an effort to horizontally bisect the Hero, only to leave a rather shallow cut as Granbell moved out of the way—

*Clang*

—Before Luminous came out of left field and slammed the cutting edge of her black sword into the back of my head, likely in an attempt to capitalize on an 'unarmored' spot, not realizing that even if she destroys my skull, the Mathematic would keep fighting so long as I'm wearing it.

That's if she somehow pierces the warp space.

I frowned, and at that moment—

"gah—!" Razul came from behind, his arms coming up through my armpits and over my shoulder before coming together at the back of my head, placing me in a headlock that I couldn't break out of.

The Mathematics created several spikes from my back in an attempt to get him off me, only for those spikes to be reflected back into the armor.

That is really starting to get annoying.

I can't damage him and he can't damage me, we're in a classical case of an unstoppable force meeting an immovable object.

I managed to move Asimov just enough and in time to stop Luminous' sword from touching my head again. If she and Granbell didn't have an Ultimate Skill, I could've easily dispatched them with [Machine Control] by making their bodies undergo complete cell death, or where cells cannot reproduce anymore, essentially turning them into living corpses that are on a timer.

From where he was standing, Granbell drew his sword back and aimed at my left shoulder, "[Consecutive Melt Strike]"

*ping* *ping* *ping* *ping* *ping* *ping—

I ignore Granbell's pitiful attempt at attacking me, Razul and Luminous are the real threats.

However, while I may not be able to kill them with [Fundamental Force Manipulation], I can damn well make it harder for them indirectly.

So I increased the gravity in a 30-meter radius around me to such a level it would be almost like standing on the surface of a neutron star, causing Luminous to instantly collapse with all her bones cracking in a sickening 'crunch' while Granbell just got turned into red paste again.

Roaring out in rage, my eyes widened and my mouth ajar as Razul somehow LIFTED me up and over his head and smashed me deep into the earth.

...Did I just get suplexed?

"..."

Due to the excessive gravity, fucker just unintentionally suplexed me more than 400 meters into the ground.

Even if Razul can't even hope to pierce my defenses, I felt an indescribable amount of annoyance and shame at being suplexed.

Say nothing of the fact that he somehow lifted me up when physical force alone shouldn't even move me, as physics itself changes due to the warp space that surrounds me.

What kind of Ultimate Skill does he have? It has to be something that controls something more than force, something that controls physics... Gravity? No, that wouldn't explain how he maintained his form after I removed the Strong Force, he's not a complete spiritual being like Diablo so he can't just make a new body after the last one got disassembled.

I'm really leaning toward Energy Manipulation.

Against an overpowering force, a planet's crust and mantle will behave more akin to fluids than anything solid.

(AN: Play Fate/Stay Night: Heaven's Feel - The Four Rings, only once)

The earth gave away as I tried to get my head aligned towards the bits of light from above. Once that's completed, Asimov glows a deep red, as if the sword itself is expressing anger at the embarrassing situation as well.

Drawing the sword back like someone preparing for an underhand serve of volleyball, the earth behaved more like water in the face of the unstoppable force.

Asimov coated in the as-of-yet thickest layer of red energy with waves fading outward to purple, black, then nothing, dissolving dirt and rock as they traveled like small tidal waves you'd find on a sandy beach.

It looked like I was holding a veritable dark maelstrom of magicule in the palm of my hands.

If I stood like this for five minutes I probably could create a cave-in of the city from the runoff alone.

I swung.

*VUOP*

Slashing upward, my body arched itself as the maelstrom lifted the many millions of metric tons of stone and dirt above me. Half of Lura started to bulge as a cavity formed underneath the city, the enchanted earth desperately trying to contain the energy.

*Rumble*

It's not enough. Rays of purple light pierced the trench I made from my initial assault before—

*KA—————BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO—————OOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMM——*

The pressure became too much and the entire bulge burst like a bubble, subsequently exploding as if a volcano had just erupted underneath the most beautiful city in the world, only, instead of spewing out lava, this 'volcano' released an overwhelming onslaught of purple light going up towards the sky, striking the heavens as a lance of violet energy.

For the briefest moment, the beam reached such a height that it could only be blocked by the fact that the planet was a sphere, meaning only half of the world was able to see that ray of purple light.

Walking out of that burning, boiling sea like a demon walking out of the pits of hell, I saw the area closest to the crater was a zone of melted buildings, currently taking the shape of bright puddles. A bit beyond that was houses that were completely unaffected by the heat. I was a bit confused as thermodynamics doesn't work like that, only to realize it's the magical protections built into the city active, dividing two regions to ensure that at least other parts of the place survive.

The temperature shields were invisible, so I could clearly see Luminous being encompassed by a translucent barrier, reconstructing Granbell akin to someone pressing rewind on a VHS.

The feeling of annoyance worsened as I tightened my grip, so that's how he returned.

I launched forward, and the melted ground beneath my foot exploded like someone throwing a pebble into a pond. My sword is already in a swinging motion to cut apart that barrier as I fly past several city blocks of medieval houses in less time than it would take for a human to blink, the atmosphere igniting in my path—

"—!" only for Razul to appear in my track, his right arm out ready to catch Asimov.

Shit!

The sword was just about to touch his exoskeleton before I withdrew as fast as possible, ignoring the problem of inertia entirely.

However, the sword didn't move as I intended. Instead, Asimov went the opposite way and easily cleaved through Razul's carapace as if it didn't even exist.

The force coming from the sudden reversal of the sword almost yanked it out of my hands.

The tip of the ebony blade went into the stone road. Both of us were in shock at what happened, Razul stared at his bloody stump as if he couldn't believe it was gone.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAH—!"

How the hell?! Is it not reflection? No... it's as if the direction and momentum within the sword had changed— momentum... momentum... momentum and direction... A daring thought crossed my mind.

Vector manipulation?

Yes... it all makes sense now! Vectors are essentially the magnitude and directions of both energy and matter. He somehow managed to move me by manipulating my own vectors! When I increased gravity, Razul could just decrease how much gravitational vectors affect him. When I removed the Strong Force, Razul enacted something akin to a miniature Laplace's Demon and controlled the vector of each of his quarks to stay together like some kind of micro-managing god.

Does his Ultimate Skill increase his micromanaging ability? Even for me, managing the quantum position of more than 21 octillion quarks is difficult.

"RAZUL!" Luminous screeched out as I was excitedly going over how [Accelerator] managed to nullify my own attacks, her voice somehow going through the barrier just as I pulled my sword up for another slash.

Before I could damage him even more, the insectar and the vampire with the half-regenerated remains of Granbell teleported away in a flash, making me miss.

"..."

God fucking damn it.

The sounds of teeth grinding were all one could hear aside from the crackling of the fiery pit.

While I could set up a spatial interdictor, I couldn't protect it and fight against the trio at the same time.

"Annoying... annoying annoying annoying annoying annoying annoying annoying— so annoying!" I growled out, the excitement left my body as I began to feel so very tired. My free hand clutched my face in irritation before ripping the visor off and exposing my golden hate-filled eyes to the world, "just die and meet your maker!"

I feel like I'm forgetting something. My movements were half-hearted.

The visor was reabsorbed into my hand like wax melting.

My movements were very sluggish at best. Despite me diverting (relatively for the average Joe) large amounts of the raw stellar matter I mined into magicule for Asimov to use, it still requires me to insert at least a tiny amount of my own, meaning that while it's super-efficient for me, I can't use it forever.

"Haa..."

A thin biomechanical emitter membrane covered my eyes, turning them completely green. The membrane lit up like a car's headlight at night, so bright as to make the fiery pit that was once the castle look more like flickers of candlelight rather than the actual inferno.

*VZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ——————*

I let out two intense beams of green gamma lasers from my eyes, laying waste to any remaining buildings in the path of the beams like a powerwasher hosing away the mud on a car.

It was so hot that the ground and buildings around the beam started to slowly melt like chocolate during summer.

The membrane receded, and I was forced to blink several times to get rid of any blindness. Like the differences between day and night, the buildings behind the shield that the now revived Granbell had cast to block my attack remained untouched while surrounding their position were a veritable field of rocks glowing shades of red, orange, or yellow.

"..."

Annoying...

That pair of gamma lasers I created by controlling the Electromagnetic Force using [Mekhane] was hot enough to heat the air around me to a temperature comparable to the sunny side of Venus.

I continued to curse inside my mind.

So bloody ANNOYING! It's like trying to swat away mosquitoes when you're out camping; they move so fast that no matter what you do, you're just forced to lay in bed while said pests continue to drink your blood.

"...hrmm..."

Time to bring out the electric fly swatter then.

Stabbing Asimov into the ground, I brought my right hand up, palm facing upward as if I were holding a wine glass to cheer my enemies. The warp-space around me started to distort, and all lights around my upheld hand started to bend as a loop of Cosmic String took shape in the center of my palm, dozens of arcs of electricity shot out every second from the invisible loop and into the Mathematic, making it look like I was holding a ball of lightning.

Cosmic Strings are one-dimensional hyper-dense topological defects. They naturally occur during the phase transition of the early universe, remnants left over after the end of the Grand Unified Theory epoch that came out of the Big Bang, the result of symmetry breaking. Just one inch of this manufactured Cosmic String has a mass of around 10 quadrillion metric tons and its width is just one Planck length. As the Universe's greatest wiring, Cosmic Strings conducts give-or-take one hundred quintillion amps of electricity, however, right now due to it being exposed to an atmosphere, they are merely conducting in excess of a few hundred thousand amps, which is why it's letting out so much electricity that I'm forced to divert it into the Block-Form Singularity Mathematics.

They are the Knives of God.

I once had thoughts of turning them into the ultimate electric wires, but using them for anything short of planetary-scale engineering is a waste.

These Cosmic Strings can move at lightspeed since they are defects in spacetime, not fully physical existences.

This 4-inch loop of Cosmic Strings' has a mass almost 20 times that of the entire Antarctic ice sheet or the same as some smaller tectonic plates.

Due to it having similar properties to a black hole, most shielding is useless in the face of it, the only ones that could conceivably work are Domain Walls or another black hole.

This relatively small loop of Cosmic String packs enough gravitational energy alone to pulverize Earth.

I felt my mouth deform into an unhinged smile, the sheer power I held in my hands was utterly intoxicating, the feeling of finally letting go, of ceasing to hold back, of embracing freedom...

It is almost orgasmic.

After I kill them, I'll lure Velgrynd into space and finally use one of my Hyperweapons. Quickly disabling the mental block I created using [Psychology], I was finally able to accurately recall the Hyperweapons I have in my arsenal like unlocking a vault and looking inside.

Let's see... I'm leaning toward the Thunderbolt since that's an even more effective version of Starbreaker, but the Collapse would offer a surefire kill. The Big Crunch and the Omniarch are out since they're too slow... while there are more Hyperweapons like the Divergent Pit, a combination of the Thunderbolt and some sacrifices of my warships should be enough.

Afterward, should Velgrynd reincarnate once more, the Ark would've already left, trapping her inside the dying System.

Meaning I don't need to create a gamma laser utilizing the power output of an entire galaxy to permanently kill her, the System will do that for me.

After the death of the Scorch Dragon, the West can't even hope to compete, so naturally, they'll fall in line. Everyone will fall in line.

I estimate it should take less time than how long it'll take for the Grand Fleet to be combat-ready.

This... is this the power I was so afraid of? The ability to enforce one's will over others instead of letting them choose for themselves? No, really, what was I so afraid of? It feels so good to just let go.

I was naive.

I was so naive, that I worried more about the environment of a dying planet than actually ending the war.

I worried more about looking good than ending the war.

I worried about such frivolous and useless things instead of focusing on the bigger picture.

This is the End of the System.

What was I so afraid of anyway? Seriously. I should embrace the full power of God.

The world will fall in line one way or the other, they will go on the Ark either as beings of flesh and blood or as digital prisoners.

The hot air around me smelled heavy with Ozone, and an invisible pressure descended down upon the world like a hydraulic press going against a thick stack of paper.

The vampire was frozen in fear. For the first time, I saw the confidence in Luminous' eyes die like a calf inside a slaughterhouse, akin to if we were in a stage play and I had stopped following the script. I took an unhealthily large amount of joy from the Mathematic showing a wet spot had formed underneath her skirt.

Granbell and Razul unleashed the strongest barrier spells they know.

I then pushed my index, middle, and thumb through the inside of the loop of Cosmic String. With the index and middle finger serving as the limbs of a bow, I used my thumb to draw the Cosmic String back like how one would pull on an elastic band to fire it.

"Say your goodbyes."

I see no god up here...

"Now, die—"

With the casualness one would find in a child eating candy, I pulled back as much as it's physically possible for my fingers without breaking them, closing my left eye and using my right to aim.

As if realizing it was pointless, Razul pushed the rest of his cohorts out of the way and blitzed toward me.

Wasted endeavor, I would be surprised if Ingrassia isn't razed off the face of the world.

Wait—

A moment of hesitation is crushed before it can start.

"—and meet your makers."

...other than me

The armor I wore anchored itself to this section of space-time as I unleashed the End.

—

——

————

————————

————————————————

Silence.

The world is unmoving as if someone had pressed the pause button, and everything stopped.

It was an automatic response from Mathematics when it detects a source of extreme gravity nearby.

Then... a deep rumbling, not through air but through the very fabric of space-time itself, so loud as to be actually audible.

It was like the built-up to a climax within an orchestra.

The rumbling grew. The assault of causality finally caught up to the light-speed Cosmic String.

And the World screamed.

(AN: Play: John Williams - The Starkiller (Audio Only))

Like the vacuum formed behind a bullet fired underwater, in the first femtosecond after I launched the loop of Cosmic String was the appearance of a trail of nuclear fusion that grew at speeds near that of light along the path the topological defect went through in an attempt to catch up.

It'll be successful. For while nothing material could approach the speed of light, this contrail is like the cutting point of a slanted knife as it is being pushed down. The point of severance could be faster than light, just as the fusing and severing of the atomic bonds by the Cosmic String.

The nuclear contrail speared through and consumed Razul like an inflated balloon. A flash of light brighter than the sun itself blinded me before the warp space changed and filtered out every wavelength of light brighter than a certain threshold of Lumen coming from the nuclear explosion, allowing me a clear view of the expanding contrail and the boiling earth.

In a time frame this small, everything is already outdated by the time I see it similar to distant stars billions of lightyears away.

This attack looked like almost the firing of a railgun from that one Japanese comic Rimuru had read a while back, except way more powerful.

Time marched forward, and the world was bathed in an endless onslaught of nuclear fire as every air molecule near me fused into heavier elements thanks in part to the extreme gravitational energy of the Cosmic String, igniting the atmosphere in a linear explosion going up and beyond the exosphere due to the simple curvature of the planet.

A nuclear fireball quickly consumed the entirety of Lura, turning every building into plasma as the temperature quickly reached into the range of hundreds of millions of Kelvins and was still climbing.

Zettajoules of energy were released by the Cosmic String.

The city of Lura was erased off the face of the planet in a fashion not too dissimilar to that of Corbin.

Every magical defense within the city was useless in the face of an attack capable of cutting apart whole galaxies if scaled up enough.

However, what little remained of the magical defense before its complete destruction had at least halted the growth of the nuclear fireball and hastened its dissipation, meaning that the Cosmic String won't raze the entirety of Ingrassia off the map by virtue of it moving so fast.

In simpler terms, unlike a normal nuclear explosion, the fireball and subsequent ash cloud would be gone quickly and therefore release fewer fallouts.

I stood at ground zero of the nuclear ash cloud, unharmed and clad in ebony armor, a world burning in the backdrop, everyone that still remained in Lura was most certainly dead. I can almost hear gods laughing.

Through the thinning ash cloud, I saw the aftermath of what happens when a Knife of God merely moves through an area.

It was Hell.

(AN: Play: The New Order: Last Days of Europe Soundtrack — Burgundian Lullaby)

Every clock within Ingrassia, no matter if it was mechanical or magical, stopped.

All the grassland and forests for miles around the city were ignited, and the ground in the immediate vicinity of Lura was filled with black spots that resembled humans. It was a phenomenon called 'nuclear shadows' as those who could not escape fast enough yet were outside of the immediate fireball radius were printed into the ground by the released UV radiation.

If someone took a picture of this place and uploaded it to the web, everyone would believe it's an artistic rendition of Hell.

The ground was bright yellow almost to the point of white, shining through the ever-thinning fireball.

The yellow was like a car's headlight during foggy weather, shining through the ash cloud, making sure that I could see exactly what I did.

"..."

Ah... that's what I was so afraid of, that's why I always held back: I am a bull in a china shop, I am a giant in a world of paper, I am Superman in a world of cardboard, I am a god in a world of ants.

Simply put, if I move too fast without proper precautions, maps will have to be updated to stay accurate.

A chill went down my back as I gazed upon a view that reminded me so much of the Annihilation of Corbin.

I gulped.

My body was freezing. Something that shouldn't have been possible considering where I was standing was hotter than the core of the planet.

I felt the annoyance evaporate like water on a hotpan, replaced by a sobering sense of dread, of realization of what I had just done. Like a person who just killed someone unintentionally, I fell into denial. I felt as if I was dreaming, floating above a sea of blissful ignorance while the hands of reality slowly pulled me down to the abyss.

I... I'm not responsible.

[Disaster Relief] got to work calculating the environmental destruction of launching a Cosmic String in an atmospheric condition. I ignore it.

No, no, I can't be responsible for this!

[Statistic] started giving me a number of the millions of deaths coming from such an event. I ignored it.

I wasn't thinking clearly!

[Negotiation] talked about how I've overachieved my goal of performing a Pearl Harbor. I feel like a log of hollowed wood, my inside completely empty.

[Strategy] notes that Ingrassia must have some mages capable of teleporting across whole countries. Thus, I can't do another Corbin and claim ignorance. Parts of myself felt disgusted that I was even thinking of how to pass off blame.

My legs felt incredibly weak, like how one would feel after they got off the world's largest rollercoaster. My vision became blurry, making it so I could only see different shades of yellow and orange.

One moment blends into the next like a painter mixing multiple colors together, it becomes all-consuming, overpowering any logical thoughts. I fell into a daze, my mind not inside my body as I tried to ignore the world.

"Haaa—Ha——haaa———"

My head spun around, and all I saw was the bright ground and dark sky. Red lines split the dark armor I wore away like roots cutting through the earth as I activated [Unlimited Alchemy] to try and see if there were any survivors. Yet all the magic could feel was the shattered souls of the recently deceased. All I could breathe in was nuclear ash. If it wasn't for the armor, I would likely be melted if not vaporized by the residual heat of the explosion.

Not wanting to see such a scene, I did the only logical thing in my daze-like state and looked down at the ground covered in yellow. Lines of coolness ran down my cheeks, and the molten earth around me periodically exploded in bits of steam when water droplets coming from somewhere hit the ground and were immediately vaporized by the sheer atmospheric heat.

The inside of the mushroom cloud was still dense enough that I could only see a few inches around me. Anything beyond that not making any light was obscured by the backdrop.

I felt the ash cloud start to move as my eyes fell on my gauntlet hands. For a split moment, I saw that it was drenched in blood.

I was surrounded by an ocean of blood, stretching as far as the eye could see.

"—hrk!" I squeezed my eyes shut, but the incoming darkness felt too oppressive. My chest felt heavy as I couldn't breathe no matter how much I tried.

No, this is a dream! Am I really responsible for the destruction of the prettiest city in the world? Am I really responsible for the deaths of millions? Have I really become a monster?

Guilt ballooned to such a level that my mind buckled under the weight.

"hehehehe... It's funny..."

Who said that?

Am I just like Relentless?

Am I Relentless?

Are they right?

"hahahahahahahaha——— It's just so FUNNY."

Who's laughing?

Am I truly a reincarnation of Relentless?

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA"

I grasped my face, my fingers digging into my skin hard enough that it almost drew blood. A deranged smile belonging to an asylum inmate formed on my face.

The questions without answers shattered my mind like taking a sledgehammer to a panel of glass. As I stood there in the middle of this nuclear hellscape, my hands clutching my head, my shoulders shaking as though I was naked in the middle of the South pole.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA——— sometimes, you just gotta laugh———HEHEHEHEHEHE—HAHAHAHA!"

Ah, I'm laughing. My thoughts were incoherent as I suffered what [Psychology] would call a mental breakdown. I could feel [Limitless Regeneration] slowly healing the edge of my broken mind, mending the pieces together.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, it's funny because I'm usually the one who chastises Veldora and Milim for lack of responsibility, yet when push comes to shove, I'm the one who broke first."

I felt an indescribable urge to destroy. If I am Relentless, then why don't I fully embrace it? The System is dying anyway, why don't I hasten it? Nothing matters on the grandest stage anyway—

Tilting my head up to look at the sky, through the ash clouds, I saw the moon high up in the sky through a gap in the plumes, a full white mirror-like moon, the blue glass Moon, above the crimson air.

(AN: Stop music)

I fell into silence.

My deranged smile disappeared.

The night is pitch black, completely starless.

The only sound is the crackling coming from the cooling ground.

I stood there, my broken mind latched onto the moon as a drowning man would with a floaty lifesaver, becoming utterly entranced by the prettiness of the Celestial Object. I suppressed any other thoughts with ease possessed by the likes of Stalin or Rudra when faced with dissent.

It looked so pretty, all of its darker spots only further emphasized its prettiness.

The world fell apart into nothingness as I felt my soul exiting my body. I felt alone as if I was all that existed underneath the gaze of the Moon. I could feel all my worries, all my dread, all my sins floating away like a helium balloon.

How long ago was it that I've been this carefree?

Ah... that's right, there's a reason why I'm so infatuated with THIS Moon, why I never even dared to mine it for resources.

Arcueid... she was someone who lived on the Moon... my hands reached upward as if to touch it.

I felt my mouth turn into a child-like smile, one I can't remember the last time I ever used.

It's... so pretty— no, it's beautiful. I felt myself get transported back in time, back to my old world, back to an age where I still had my innocence, back when I was on a camping trip when I was only eight and Kathy was six.

On that trip, during one cloudy night, I sneaked away from the tent and went to explore the forest with nothing but a flashlight. Walking for some unknown amount of time, I appeared in the middle of a clearing, completely lost like a high school sophomore on their first day.

I didn't panic yet, since I knew the flashlight still had batteries and my eyes were distracted by the stars, the sea of tiny white dots on the night sky concentrated into a river that is the Milky Way, parts of it were unfortunately blocked by clouds. Awe quickly turned to panic, fear, and all the emotions in between when the flashlight ran out of power, and I was nowhere near the campsite.

And I think I would've stayed lost was it not for the Moon's light shining down after the cloud's passing, showing me the way back to the tent area.

I think my fascination with the stars started that day.

I felt my heart calming down.

I have a duty. I need to win this war—

*Clap*

There was a single clap made by two hands coming together.

>Alert

My body moved on its own. Turning to face—

"[Keter - Chokhmah] [Absolute Severance] [Netzach - Malkuth]"

An intense pain bloomed in my chest as I stared idly at the sword sticking out of it. I gawked at the wound that was oozing out red liquid like a jelly donut that's been bitten.

The pain was gone as [Pain Nullification] activated.

Huh? I tilted my head, feeling an odd sense of confusion instead of urgency. My mind now healed by [Limitless Regeneration] wanted to ask why is there a sword in my chest.

Tracing the sword using my eyes from its blade towards the handguard, I saw that it was golden and highly decorated— bits of jewels dotted the surface. A sense of familiarity courses through my mind. I feel like I know the sword, it's at the tip of my tongue yet I can't say it as though it was purposefully erased.

I saw a black-haired girl gripping the sword, responsible for running it through my chest. She was wearing a white face mask with a red gem in the center, multiple grooves running across the surface of the mask vertically, with a single wavy horizontal groove running near the bottom making it look like something that belonged to a vampire, what with the two 'fangs' near the sides.

Who was she? Do I know her?

The girl then yanked the sword out of my chest while sending a kick my way.

"Hurk!"

I fell onto my back. My face stared upward toward the Moon.

The wound isn't healing. [Limitless Regeneration] healed my mind but not my wound...?

"[Retrograde Causal Saltation]"

I felt the feelings in my extremities disappear.

The person watched, standing completely still as I was sprawled on the ground.

Ah... am I... dying? Again? Under the moonlight's glow?

Memories rush back to me once I continue to stare up towards the white moon. Arcueid... I could've sworn I saw her face up there, with her beautiful smile.

My beacon, my light in the darkness, the first person I truly ever loved romantically beyond just a small crush.

I... I had once wondered... before reincarnating, I had a few dark thoughts, the most prominent one being 'Would anyone cry if I died tomorrow?'

Now I have my answer:

Rimuru, Veldora, Arcueid— they all would cry. The entire nation of Tempest would mourn my passing. Hah, ironic, in my old life, I didn't make many friends, but in this one, a whole nation would mourn.

"..."

I'm sorry Arcueid. After you pulled me out of my despair, I knew it was the right choice to spend the rest of my life with you, so I had plans of proposing to you after we had escaped the System, up there on the Ark.

Never once had the figure who stabbed me spoken.

And now... I looked down towards the unhealing wound currently gushing out blood like a Hawaiian volcano spewing out lava, a magic circle radiating ethereal lights formed just a few centimeters above it.

Like a person who's been in a car accident, I can't feel the lower half of my chest anymore. I can't help but shed a tear, not for myself, but for others.

I'm so tired...

Arcueid... I'm sorry... I'm so sorry... perhaps in another life...

My eyes looked up. Contentment, regret, and tiredness filled what was left of my body as my final gaze was the beautiful Moon, her soft light shone upon my disappearing body like some angel of death comforting a person about to be ended.

Once again I would die without saying goodbye... wait a moment.

>Give the ring box to Arcueid.

I felt the box disappear from my pocket dimension. My life flashed across my mind as my jaw faded out of existence, my new life, the beginning of the Goblin Village, the ogres, the Orc Lord, Charybdis, Veldora, Rimuru's death & resurrection, Walpurgis, and finally, Arcueid...

I felt as if something important was missing from that list. That said, where am I? Why am I dying in the middle of a melted hellscape?

But I guess it doesn't matter.

For...giv...e...m...e...

_____________________________________________

Unknown.

(AN: Play: Been Good To Know Ya (Cyberpunk 2077 Soundtrack))

Cold.

It was so cold.

Everywhere was pitch black as if I was blind. No matter where I looked, all I could see was nothingness. What I could feel on my back was... something fleshy, something that had the texture of smooth skin. Based on the direction that gravity was pulling me from, I could tell that I was currently lying on my back.

It was so cold that if someone told me I got transported into a universe experiencing heat death I would not be surprised.

My right hand touched my forehead as my eyebrow furrowed in an attempt to remember how I got here. The softness of my hair felt like a touchstone in this place of uncertainty and unknowability.

The silence was deafening.

I can't feel my technology anywhere, I can't feel the String Implants, and I can't access the Noosphere as if it didn't exist. That can't be right, I should be able to feel the Noosphere from all corners of the Observable Universe. Even beyond it.

I opened my mouth to speak, only for no words to come out.

There's no atmosphere...? My eyebrow furrowed even further in utter confusion, causing the fingers on my left hand to curl inward and grip something that felt like an arm.

The hell?! I yelled out in my mind as I got up, the gravity seemingly a little bit stronger than that of Earth's.

Activating [Unlimited Alchemy], red lines bloomed from my chest, broken shards of the original stone surfacing through the skin like a submarine surfacing through the water.

Using the glow from the lines, I saw that I was standing on top of an entangled web of... limbs? I felt my stomach turn at the sight, it was like looking at a human version of the Rat King.

And the skies, the skies have no starlight, the sky is pitch black as though a bucket of black paint had splashed across the entire thing.

Concentrating more red lines around my left palm, I turned it into something of a flashlight. Flashing it from the disturbingly fleshy ground and towards the horizon, I saw a sight I never thought possible.

It was a nightmare actualized into reality:

I could see countless bodies of myself... myselves? Other versions of me, all packed together like sardines, with barely any breathing room. As far as the light from my palm could reach, I saw no vegetation or even dirt, only a flat surface composed solely of other versions of me, all of them entangled into a colossal web as if they were strings in a yarn ball.

It was like I was standing on an entire planet made out of 'me'.

Is this Hell? My punishment for murdering over half a million people? In Dante's Inferno, the gate of hell would have the words 'abandon all hopes ye who enters'.

As if awakening from a deep slumber, the arms started to move, and they reached out for me. At first, it was slow, so I was able to mostly avoid their grasp by straining my muscles to their absolute limit and moving in a single direction. Like the thin ice above a lake, however, the moment that 'cracks' started to appear, they would spread, and wherever I went, the hands and bodies would wake up, trying to bring me down with them.

Eventually, they succeeded.

A hand grabbed my right foot.

I let out a silent scream as I was pulled down. Flesh encased me in claustrophobic closeness as more and more arms brought me deeper, some using anything on me they could find as leverage. I saw glimpses of other versions of myself, lit by the red glow, twisted by despair, and smoothed by apathy.

In a place without an atmosphere, no one can hear you scream.

[Victory]

End of Act I: The Tail's End of Summer

Final Arc | Act II: The Falling Leaves of Autumn

_____________________________________________

AN: Well, I hope that was an epic send-off.

So... how many of you guys did you see that coming? I foreshadowed it pretty hard in the last few chapters.

Now, this is how you start off a Total War with someone as gentle as Rimuru. Until the end, you'll see how war makes monsters out of everyone.

Also: I will not glorify war. Every battle will be brutal, it will be gruesome, that is how war is, yet I will also show the necessity of it, like how Britain and the US were forced to fight WWII in order to beat back totalitarianism.