◈ 702. [STAGE 40] C’est La Vie (2)
“…Bon Hater.”
When I called, the real Ash smiled and called to me.
“Dunbringer.”
“….”
After briefly getting goosebumps and rubbing my forearms, I muttered carefully.
“No, somehow… it feels a bit strange to call each other titles like this.”
It’s like when people you know online call each other by their online nicknames when they first meet offline…
– Excuse me. Is that ‘Black Prince King Wang-jjang’?
– Oh, then that person is ‘My Wife Sena-chan’?
Isn’t this exactly what it feels like? OMG!
“What do you think? “Is there a better way to distinguish us than our middle names?”
But the real Ash didn’t seem to care at all. I wonder if Natural Born Fantasy Man’s perception is a bit different….
I was embarrassed and called him by his middle name again.
“Yes, Bonhater… you worked hard.”
“You too, Dunbringer.”
Bonhater grinned with a face like broken porcelain.
“You have done well so far, so you will do well in the future fight as well. “There is only one thing I want to ask you to do.”
And Bonheter said this:
“Make me happy.”
After hesitating for a moment, I asked cautiously.
“Are you talking about the serenade?”
“Of course I have to make Serenade happy. “There’s no need to say that.”
I clenched my jaw and made a noise.
“And the others?”
“That is something you must naturally do as a king, and what I would like to ask you is…”
Bonheter stretched out his hand and pressed his fingertips on my chest.
“You yourself.”
“….”
Bonhater bit his lip and smiled at me, who was dazed as if he had been hit in the back of the head.
“There will be many difficult times ahead. “I hope you find peace in the end.”
“….”
“All the hate that I was born with, all that sadness, all that hurt will disappear without me holding it, so please….”
With sincere blessings.
He said this:
“Be happy, me.”
Bonehater then turned around and walked to the edge of the collapsing white space.
I asked urgently.
“Where are you going, Bonehater?”
“It’s time to disappear.”
His voice was calm as he walked.
“As you inherited the entire legacy from Dusk Bringer, you are no longer just a secondary personality… but a full soul with a spiritual body.”
Bonhater shrugged his shoulders, saying, ‘I never thought the phone that fell to the bottom of the basement would actually come back as a queen.’
“It’s still in pieces, but it’s in much better condition than me.”
“….”
“So, touch the baton. “I handed over the flag to you, so it’s time for me to disappear.”
His entire body began to shatter and scatter.
“don’t worry. I left everything you need with you… Your memories of the strategy and battle experience will all remain within you. “It will still be possible to summon clones or build castle walls.”
“….”
“Thanks to you, I can finally rest with peace of mind. Haha, really…”
His voice, which turned into white powder and dispersed, was reassuring and just a little… sad.
“It was a long and tiring fight.”
“….”
“Okay then. hi. “I’m going to go get some sleep now.”
As I looked blankly at his back as he walked away with his back turned to me, I…
“…Bonhater!”
I quickly ran over and grabbed his shoulder.
Just holding on to it caused white ash to fly out and turn my body white. But I didn’t care at all and said to the person who was looking back curiously.
“Come with me!”
“…what?”
“Let’s go together until the end.”
I nodded seriously.
“Toward the true ending, or even the life afterward… together.”
“….”
Bonheter, who stuttered for a moment as if speechless, let out a laugh.
“Hey Dunbringer. “My past is uglier than you think.”
“….”
“In this episode alone, people who didn’t need to die due to regressive dementia died, and they committed all kinds of cruel acts.”
Bonheter clenched his trembling hands tightly.
“It’s not just this episode. “For countless hours, I have pushed countless people into the pits of hell in the name of saving the world.”
“….”
“It’s a sloppy yoke that doesn’t suit you, Dunbringer, who will open a new era. “It is for the good of all of us that a bone hater dies as a bone hater.”
“But it’s okay.”
I said with confidence.
“It’s okay, let’s go together.”
“…Are you saying you’re going to accept me like this?”
Bonheter’s voice trembled.
“Are you saying you want to become me too?”
“Me too.”
I remembered the guilt that lingered at my roots.
In all 742 games, I always threw my characters to death.
In order to clear the entire game efficiently, he threw countless subordinates to death without any remorse. There was no question about the action.
I was a monster.
He was a monster who did not regard people who knew nothing but efficient strategies as human beings.
“Your sins are also my sins.”
I grinned as I faced Bonehater’s puzzled face.
“My sins are also your sins. “We are the same.”
“….”
“I will not arbitrarily forgive the ugly things you have done. But…”
I slowly opened my arms.
“We will regret together and suffer together. And we will think together about ways to correct that mistake.”
“….”
“So… let’s go together, Bonehater.”
There is no such thing as a life that is just beautiful.
Everyone has an ugly side. I don’t want to ignore it and pretend not to know.
I want to acknowledge my ugliness and move on…
So let’s go together.
My bone hater.
“….”
From his face, which was heavily cracked, white ash flowed down his cheeks, which were broken like empty ceramics.
“Really…”
Then, with his broken face, he smiled so brightly and dazzlingly that I couldn’t believe it, and
approached me with open arms.
“There’s no need to say anything else later?”
I grinned.
“Sounds obvious.”
We hugged.
Bonehater’s entire body shattered like a sand castle, and the white ash poured down on my body. Eventually, all of those white particles began to shine dazzlingly and were absorbed into my soul.
Finally, Bonheter’s voice rang out faintly.
“Okay, let’s go. To the end of this road. Together…”
When I closed my eyes once, he no longer existed.
But I could tell.
The real and the fake, Bonehater and Dunbringer…
have finally become one.
Feeling a little embarrassed for some reason, I looked down at my body awkwardly and muttered.
“…I have become a literal Ash Kim.”
And the next moment, I left the mental world and returned to the real world.
I realized that I was standing over the corpse of a black dragon and that I still held the Banner of Light in my hands.
The warm sunlight falling on my head.
The darkness has finally cleared and the world has regained its color, emitting tens of thousands of colors like a prism.
“….”
Although it is a world that has been horribly destroyed, this place is more dazzlingly beautiful than any scenery I have ever seen.
“majesty-!”
People were running towards me.
Heroes poured out of La Mancha, which had made an emergency landing on the other side of the field, and people were running from the collapsed walls of the Crossroads to the end of the field.
Everyone was crying. He was running towards me with his arms outstretched, as if he was going to embrace me, even though he was crying and crying.
The snow that was falling from the sky stopped and melted in the air… scattering in the air and scattering dazzling light.
Under that ray of light, I laughed.
It was a more crushing defeat than ever, but it was a more daunting victory than ever.
***
[STAGE 40 – CLEAR!]
[STAGE MVP – Ash (EX)]
[Level Up Character]
– Ash (EX) and 168 others < Expand list >
[Dead Character]
– Dusk Bringer (SSR)
– Nobody ( SR)
– Other 188 people < Expand list >
[Injured characters]
– Evangeline (SSR) and 254 people < Expand list >
[Dead and injured captured monsters]
– Skarian (SSR) < Captured monsters >: Dead
– Other 30 < Expand list >
[Acquired items]
– Lake Kingdom Scepter (EX): 1 piece
– Black Dragon Dragon Heart (EX): 1 piece
– Black Dragon Magic Core (SSR): 8 pieces
– Others: < Counting >
[Stage Cleared Compensation has been paid. Please check inventory.]
– EX grade reward box: 1
– SSR grade reward box: 8
> > Get Ready For The Next STAGE
> > [Next STAGE: Lake Kingdom]
***
Violet’s eyes flinched. It floated slowly.
“…what?”
Field south of Crossroads.
Violet, who was lying flat on the dirt floor, slowly wiggled her fingers and toes.
It was fine.
“what? “Huh?”
Violet urgently raised her hand and touched her body. As expected, he was fine with no injuries whatsoever.
“Huh…? “What is this?”
Violet, who was embarrassed, realized that bright sunlight was shining on her face. Surprised, Violet sat up with her upper body bouncing up like a spring.
The sky was clear. The world was bright.
Morning has returned.
The Night Bringer has fallen. The World Defense Front once again protected the world.
“Hahahaha….”
Violet laughed with a mixture of joy and embarrassment in a foolish voice.
So how are you alive?
Not only was it thrown into the air, but a dragon lore like the Night Bringer’s blade attacked right in front of it.
How can I keep my limbs still alive like this…?
“uh?”
The answer was right next to me.
Violet found the dragon lying down next to her and shouted urgently.
“Parekhian?!”
Black Dragon’s Claw Parekhian was torn to pieces and dying.
Only then did Violet realize why she was safe. I remembered the last moments before I lost consciousness.
As he was falling from the air, Parekhian tackled him and caught him with the dragon lore, before falling to the ground.
As a result, Violet was safe… but Parekhian suffered injuries that he could not handle.
“Why on earth… for someone like me…”
Violet knew. If Parekhian had abandoned her, she would have been fine.
Parekhian’s mission is to bring Violet to the Night Bringer’s head. If I had used my speed at that point to escape, I would have been able to escape safely.
But Parekhian threw himself into the fight to save Violet. And now he was dying like this.
“…Are you safe, Violet?”
At that time, Ye’s inorganic voice flowed opaquely from Parekhian’s broken chest.
《I can no longer sense magical power… so I can’t check your condition. “Aren’t you hurt?”
“I’m fine, you stupid lizard!”
Violet kneeled next to the broken Parekhian and shed tears.
“Why… did you save me? If you hadn’t saved me, you would have lived….”
《…You showed me.》
Parekhian’s answer was absurd.
《That night you showed me… the stars.》
“What…?”
“It wasn’t just the stars. You showed me this world… So it was worth risking my life for you.》
Violet shook her head as if she was dumbfounded.
“Everything I showed you was an illusion, you idiot!”
《….》
“It was just a lie that imitated reality to make it look plausible….”
《It doesn’t matter.》
Is it an illusion?
Violet felt as if Parekhian had smiled slightly in that inorganic voice.
“Because I loved the lie.”
“Parekhian…”
“My life was a dark night. Because I had no eyes, ears, nose, or mouth. I spent endless time in the dark, unable to see anything.》
Violet placed her hand on Parekhian’s body, which was no longer moving.
Parekhian’s blue magic was formed in that area along with a faint mechanical sound. It was like putting hands together, Violet thought.
“But you were the first to give light to my world. You gave color to my world, which was all black.》
“….”
《You came into my heart holding a palette full of paints and painted my world with countless colors.》
Parekhian’s mechanical voice gradually began to sound. It was blurry and contained a vague warmth at the same time.
《The constellations that night were a more beautiful sight than anything I have ever seen in my life.》
“….”
《So… I have enough reason to die for you.》
After wiping my tear-stained face with my sleeve, Violet slowly moved her hand and placed it on Parekhian’s broken head.
And I showed him his final vision… a world filled with dazzling sunlight.
《Ah…》
Like colorful paints spreading on white drawing paper.
A variety of emotions arose in Parekhian’s empty voice.
《Look, Violet. The night is clearing from the sky.》
Parekhian whispered softly in a happy, satisfied voice.
《It’s a beautiful light purple color like you…》
Then, the blue light slowly faded from the dragon’s body.
Violet slowly hugged Parekhian’s dead body. I cried loudly and hugged him for a long time.
Until the now completely bright sunlight sweeps away the dawn and turns into dazzling midday. And so on.
