Episode 148

Hertz laughed madly and then slowly took a step toward me.

“If I just eliminate the master of Kirios now, then nothing will be able to stop me anymore.”

Feeling the ominous energy, I stepped back, but before I knew it, I found myself looking up at the figure that appeared before me.

A sea-blue hair fluttered in front of my eyes.

Askan, having materialized, stood between me and Hertz.

Even though his strength hadn’t fully recovered, he had forced himself into materialization.

“Ha! You finally show yourself before me, Askan.”

[I will end it for sure this time.]

At those words, Askan and Hertz clashed at a speed that left no room for error.

As white and black lights collided fiercely, a familiar voice rang from the distance.

“Sierra!”

“Ludwig?”

He ran straight toward me and grabbed my hand.

“The cracks are collapsing! You have to escape to somewhere farther away, now!”

“But, I have the duty to seal the cracks with Kirios once the core appears.”

“I’m not telling you to run away! We can wait for the next chance!”

“Ludwig, you know there won’t be another chance. The cracks are already collapsing.”

Even if we couldn’t kill Hertz, stopping more monsters from pouring out through the cracks—that was the duty I had taken on.

“But…!”

Ludwig was trying to persuade me desperately when suddenly, I heard Bergeus’s voice nearby.

“There you are, descendant.”

He, covered in heavy wounds just like Hertz, wiped the blood dripping from his forehead and approached us.

“There’s still a chance left. A last chance.”

“A chance? What do you mean?”

He looked up at the collapsing sky, then turned to Ludwig and said.

“Descendant, I will give you my power. If you can fully wield my complete power, you will be able to kill Hertz. For sure.”

“…….”

Wait, transferring Bergeus’s full power into Ludwig—wasn’t that basically the berserk transformation that happened in the original story?

Bergeus’s power wasn’t something a human could endure.

There was a high possibility Ludwig would go mad.

When his body could no longer endure, he would self-destruct.

“Of course, that’s only if you can endure me.”

Bergeus added, as if even he couldn’t guarantee it.

This was a gamble.

Whether successful or failed, Ludwig’s life would be on the line.

“That’s insane! Askan is fighting Hertz right now. Surely, he will…!”

At my words, Bergeus pointed toward Hertz and Askan and said.

“Askan can only buy time in the end. He can’t defeat Hertz.”

Just as he said, Askan was starting to be pushed back by Hertz.

“And I too failed to kill him. In the end, the only remaining way is to fully release my power through a vessel.”

“…….”

“I failed to kill Hertz in ancient times. Sealing him was the best I could do. But descendant, you are different. If you add your innate power to mine, you might be able to end him.”

Bergeus looked at Ludwig with his vivid golden eyes.

“Though I hate to admit it, your blood carries mine remarkably thick. Why else would I have coveted the body of a mere human?”

“…….”

“This may be the last chance given to this world. Will you risk your life and bring him down with your own hands?”

Ludwig thought for a moment and then soon nodded and said.

“Alright, let’s do it.”

“Ludwig!”

I grabbed Ludwig, but he already seemed to have made up his mind as he looked at me and said.

“If that’s the only way, if the last chance hangs on me, then of course I must do it. Because that’s the only way I can protect you.”

The situation had now reversed.

“…….”

The fingertips gripping Ludwig’s sleeve in a pleading way tingled.

Right now, the only one who could replace Bergeus was Ludwig.

Only he could kill Hertz and prevent the destruction of this world.

My head could understand everything.

But then, what was I hesitating for?

For a moment, I stood there stupidly, blank.

I was anxious I might lose this man forever.

Because for me, one person’s existence was more important than the destruction of the world.

“Of course not.”

Tears trickled down my cheeks.

“Don’t say things that sound like you’re going far away.”

Even though I didn’t want to be like this, the tears bursting from my eyes were irresistible.

Ludwig’s eyes grew wide as he watched me.

“Don’t leave me alone, Ludwig.”

“…….”

“Ludwig said he would protect my world, but my world has always been you.”

A world without him meant nothing to me.

Since when had he occupied such a large part of me, even to my own surprise?

Ludwig looked at me for a moment and then gently embraced me in his warm arms.

Soon, a kind voice whispered by my ear.

“I promise you, Sierra. I will somehow endure and return to you.”

“Hic, sniff….”

He looked into my face and wiped away the tears with his warm hand as he spoke.

“Please allow me to end this nightmare and come back. I want to protect it. Your smile, and the future we will have together.”

“…….”

For some reason, Ludwig’s words always felt trustworthy.

Even in this situation, I wanted to believe in the hope he had planted in me.

Facing Ludwig’s two eyes, I finally made a difficult decision with a trembling voice.

“…You must come back.”

“Of course.”

Ludwig softly smiled and finished wiping away the traces of my tears.

Seeing Askan being pushed back by Hertz’s attacks, Bergeus approached us and said.

“If your tearful farewell is done, let’s pass on the power now.”

Ludwig nodded, and soon Bergeus grabbed his shoulder and poured in his remaining power without holding back.

“Khugh….”

Ludwig let out a pained groan, struggling to endure the tremendous power that a human could barely withstand.

He twisted his body as if he was in unbearable pain and then suddenly collapsed on the spot.

“Ludwig!”

Unable to contain my panic, I immediately rushed to lift him up.

Between Ludwig’s black hair, his forehead now bore Bergeus’s crest.

He no longer seemed to be in pain, but his golden eyes had lost their focus.

“…….”

The berserk state had come.

The fact that his warm golden eyes were not looking at me made my heart drop heavily.

“Lu…dwig.”

“Since he said he would come back, trust him.”

Bergeus spoke, as if trying to reassure me.

At that moment, Ludwig, rising from my arms, moved at once toward a definite goal.

“Wh-what are you?”

Hertz, who was about to strike Askan, was suddenly sent flying into the fortress wall by Ludwig’s attack, crashing with a loud noise.

Kwa-gwa-gwang–!

From then on, it was a one-sided assault by Ludwig.

No matter how Hertz tried to dodge or block, he could not withstand Ludwig, who had opened Bergeus’s full power.

At a glance, it was clear who held absolute dominance.

“Wait!”

Ludwig, with indifferent eyes, unleashed an absurd assault at the aghast Hertz.

And finally, with all his power fully unleashed, he wrapped his sword in a blue aura and pierced through Hertz’s body.

“Kuaaaagh!”

Hertz let out a scream filled with pain as he took Ludwig’s blow.

The white light that pierced him grew so bright that it nearly blinded the sight.

And when it became possible to open one’s eyes again, there was no trace left where Hertz had stood.

Without a speck of remains, he had completely vanished from this world.

Soon, among the countless fissures in the sky, a crack from which white light seeped out appeared.

“That’s…!”

It was unmistakably the “core of the rift.”

As I looked up at the sky, Askan’s voice echoed by my ear.

[It has finally appeared. Now finish everything, Sierra.]

At the same moment his voice reached me, I felt my body gently lifted, and I closed my eyes against the mild gust of wind.

When I opened them again, I was falling through the sky, riding the wind.

Askan had moved me high into the air.

I crossed the void following the pull of gravity, my hair whipped fiercely by the rushing wind.

Below were the black rifts still endlessly spewing monsters.

Among them, I twisted my body toward the rift pouring out white light—the “core of the rift.”

Woooong– Woooong–.

As if responding to my quickening pulse, Kirios vibrated loudly.

It had to end now.

I raised Kirios high and took a deep breath.

Finally, as I neared the rift, I slashed through the “core of the rift” as I crossed the air.

As the core split, a blinding flash filled my sight.

Countless monster gates disappeared as if it had all been a lie, and the black clouds that had dyed the sky dark were cleared away.

The bright blue sky was finally revealed, and brilliant sunlight poured down.

‘I did it.’

The knights who had been fighting the monsters one by one raised their heads to the sky.

There was no other way to describe it but a miracle.

The annihilation of Hertz, and the war with monsters that would happen no more.

The task that past generations could not complete was finally ended by Ludwig and me.

As I fell through the air, I gradually lost consciousness.

In the feeling of warm sunlight and the wind brushing by, drowsiness overtook me.

Everything became distant.

“Sierra!”

Even Ludwig’s voice, calling from afar.